Big Blue Eyes

I've got another layout of one of my beautiful daughters to share with you today. I've mixed several paper lines - just proves how versatile Stampin' Up! products are!!

This is Paige and the final of the portrait shots that we had taken this past December that I plan to scrap. 

I'm planning to enter this layout into Elle's Studio Thursday sketch challenge so here is the sketch we were given.

For my layout I started with a piece of 12x12 card stock in Bashful Blue. I inked the edges with Concord Crush and then layered  a piece of Sweet Shop DSP on top. The photo and journaling block (just a piece of Whisper White card stock) were mounted on Concord Crush card stock and then I added strips of papers from Cheerful Treat and Flirtatious DSP. 

One of the papers in the Flirtatious Specialty DSP is these awesome laser cut doilies so for the title I cut out three of them, layered them over some more Cheerful Treat paper and a piece of 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon in Concord Crush and adhered my letters on top. The word BIG is from the Word Play stamp set and originally said 'Wish Big' but I only needed the second word so just cut off the top of the stamped image.

I treated my letters in the same way as this layout. These are from the Alphabet Soup On Board set. First I inked them up with Bashful Blue, then I coated them in Crystal Effects and finally, to accent the word 'blue', I added a bit of Dazzling Details while the Crystal Effects was still wet. NOTE: I would do a second coat of ink before adding the other products next time. I'm not super happy that the letters look more grey than blue. But ... it is what it is.

For this embellishment I cut out another of the laser cut doilies and added a plastic flower (from my Twelve embellishment tin so not Stampin' Up!) and a Glimmer Brad. I also added a couple other brads from the Sweet Shop Jelly Bean and Everyday Enchantment collections. The Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack is exclusive to the Sale-A-Bration catalogue so I can't provide you a link but to view the catalogue please click here.

Here are more of the brads I used on this layout - more than I normally use, to be honest! The green one is another from the Sweet Shop Jelly Bean brad collection and the lighter purple one is from the IN COLOR Printed Designer brads.

Sketchy Thursday layout

Hmmm ... I just realized that I forgot to put a title on this layout for Sketchy Thursday. Oh well.

Here is the sketch:

And my take on it.

The background paper is from the Flirtatious Specialty DSP line - a gorgeous girly line! I inked the edges in Concord Crush ink for a slightly distressed look. I used a piece of Basic Grey card stock to mat the larger photo of my youngest daughter and then put that on top of a large piece of Concord Crush card stock. I ran my Scallop Trim Border Punch along the bottom of this for a bit more detail.

I mounted this small black and white photo onto a piece of Concord Crush card stock and Silver Glimmer Paper that I cut out using the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies. Onto the card stock I stamped  the wood grain heart image from I {Heart} Hearts in Whisper White Craft ink. I love the subtle pattern it gives.

For the journalling block I used the Labels Collection Framelits Dies and sandwiched a piece of grey patterned paper from the new Twitterpated DSP line between two pieces of Whisper White card stock. (The stamped lines are a non-Stampin' Up! stamp that I've had for ages.)

My embellishments were made with more of the grey patterned paper and Silver Glimmer paper which I used both the Hearts Framelits dies and the Heart-to-Heart Punch to cut out several sizes and shapes of hearts.  

In lieu of the banner detail on the sketch I used a row of hearts. I tried adding a banner here but it just didn't seem to work with what I already had so ... Sketches are really just a jumping off point anyway!

Oh, and you may be wondering about the rather glaring yellow-green apple in the middle of the journalling. Well, I am participating in an on-line class over at Big Picture Classes called Twelve. In it we were given 12 topics to scrap book about and we assigned one of (you guessed it) 12 colours to represent each topic. We were then asked to gather 12 or 13 small embellishments from our stash in each of the 12 colours. Every time we complete a layout from one of our topics we add one of these embellishments as a visual reminder to ourselves that it is a) for Twelve and b) for a particular topic. This layout is for my PEOPLE topic which I have designated as yellow-green. So ... I went hunting in my yellow-green embellishment cup and found this punched out apple and knew I could use it in place of the word 'apple' in my journalling. Clever, no?

Well, must get this entered into the Sketchy Thursday challenge. It's their last sketch challenge which I'm rather sad about. I've entered a few in the past and always enjoyed the process. I wish the design team over there all the best. Thanks for all the fun!

New products to showcase

I've been playing a bit (lot) lately in my craft room (hole) and wanted to share some of the items that I've cranked out. First up are some Valentine's Day cards using new products from the Occasions Mini and the Sale-a-Bration catalogue.

I will be sending these to 4 of my fellow ScrapHappy members for our Valentine's Day Card Swap.

They were fun and fairly easy to do so I am thinking I may have to offer a class!

For this one I started with some Very Vanilla card stock (cut and folded to make a 5.25" x 5.25" card) which I inked around the edges with Poppy Parade. The patterned papers are a DSP from the upcoming Sale-a-Bration and called Everyday Enchantment. I used the new Framelits Dies Hearts Collection to cut out my hearts and edged the largest one with the 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon in Pear Pizzazz. The stamped image in the centre is from Take it to Heart as well as the banner image. I used stamps from I {Heart} Hearts and Itty Bitty Bits to decorate the banner.

I played with the colour scheme on this one but the general design is identical. The ribbon I used here is Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim which is normally vanilla but I ran it over some Poppy Parade ink as that matched the paper better. Love how the look is completely changed! 

Note: make sure the ribbon has extra drying time before you start manipulating it or you will be left with red fingers!! :)

And since I had all the papers out and was in a crafty mood I created this.

This is my most favourite layout to date! It was pretty involved but I am so in love with the results I think it's going to get framed!

I started with the HUGE rosette. I'd started making one weeks ago when my friend Sandra came over to play with all our new products. Once I saw just how big the rosette was going to be I put it aside until I could figure out how to use it. 

Well, inspiration hit yesterday! 

This is a new die for the Big Shot called Designer Rosette. Here I used the die 4 times and glued the 4 rosette quarters together to form this giant one. Then I went hunting for some paper to set it off and found myself drawn back to the Everyday Enchantment that I'd already been using. 

I had cut out this scalloped heart earlier using the Heart Framelits and tried layering a doily I'd also cut out earlier using the new Paper Doily Sizzlits Die. I liked the look and when I added a the stamped image on top I was in love. I stamped the image in Basic Grey to match the framing of my black and white photo.

This picture was one taken in December when our family went for formal portraits. I mounted it first on Sahara Sand and then on Basic Grey card stock. Then I wrapped it with some Calypso Coral 1/8" Organdy Ribbon from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue. I affixed the bow with a matching Printed Designer Brad - the brad and the ribbon are being sold in a combo pack and they match the Everyday Enchanment DSP. Yummy! Finally I punched out a butterfly, added the date and tucked it under the bow (see below). 

A close up of the bow/brad/tag combination.

And last, but certainly not least, the title. I took some of the On Board Alphabet Soup letters, covered them with Calypso Coral ink and then put a layer of Crystal Effects over top. Love them!!

Here's a shot showing the dimensionality of the layout. The letters look precarious but they are glued down pretty well!

Oh, and the spray you see was achieved using the Color spritzer Tool and my Basic Grey Stampin' Write Marker. Now that I've finally figured out how to use it properly, it's become a bit of a go-to tool. I love the fine mist it creates. Perfect for a slight antiqued look.

Well, there you have it. Thanks for stopping by.

Birthday card and notepad gift set

Okay, I promised a view of the gift I made for my aunt. Here it is ...

I covered a piece of thin card board (actually, a cut down cereal box) with some Cheerful Treat DSP  and then added a note pad and a pocket to contain some cards.  

Here are the cards I made. I had some fun with the products and techniques for each card.

These first two may seem occasion/gender specific but I truly believe they can be used for any number of occasions. Graduation, marriage/engagement, new job, baby, etc.

I embossed the background paper then inked the edges with Soft Suede. The sentiment was cut out using the new Framelits Label Collection and stamped with the Elementary Elegance stamp set (available soon - it's in the Sale-a-Bration catty!) Believe it or not, the two pieces of striped patterned paper are from the same sheet of paper! See how where you cut out your label shape changes the entire look of the paper? Makes Stampin' Up!'s DSPs so versatile.

For this card I embossed the Melon Mambo card stock and then used my 2 1/2" circle punch to punch out the circle and half circles. The background image was created using various stamps from the Circle Circus stamp set in Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride and Concord Crush. For a little bit of sparkle I added some rhinestones. (I see that one has gone wandering ... oh well, too late to fix it now!)

For this one I used my Scalloped Trim Border punch all around a piece of Lucky Limeade card stock which I then stamped in Lucky Limeade with an image from the Take It To Heart stamp set. A banner in Melon Mambo and a few pearls finished it off.

This one may be my favourite. The butterflies are cut and embossed using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. I added the little antenae with a Stampin' Write marker. The curvy sentiment is from the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set.

And last but not least, I embossed the Concord Crush card stock and then rubbed some Whisper White Craft ink over the embossed image. Love that effect! The middle cut out was inked (liberally) with Lucky Limeade and an image from the Posy Punch stamp set was stamped in the middle. The Happy Birthday is popped up with Dimensionals.

To help keep things closed, I added these buttons and used some Bakers Twine to join them together.

Some Lucky Limeade Ruffled edge ribbon along the spine finishes things off.

Hope she likes it! Clicking on any of the links above will take you to my on-line store in case you want to purchase any of the products or check out pricing information. To see the new Occasions Mini, please click here.

Occasions Mini Birthday cards

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season with your family and friends.

A few days ago, my Upline Sandra came over with her kids for a play date. Really, WE wanted to play! We'd both received our pre-order shipments from the Occaions Mini and Sale-a-bration catties and wanted to try out some of the new items. So we made sure the kids were fully engrossed in Lego or Wii and we got busy!

I have 2 aunts with birthdays coming up so I made a couple birthday cards.

This was the first one I made. I used Very Vanilla Card stock for the base and stamped it in Lucky Limeade with the butterfly image from the Sale-a-bration stamp set Elementary Elegance. The circle is punched out of Blushing Bride card stock with my 2 1/2" circle punch. Then the flower .. ah, the flower ... There is a new stamp set with matching punch in the Occasions mini that I LOVE! It's called Mixed Bunch and the punch is called Blossom. I stamped the top image and then both punched and fussy-cut it out and mounted it on top of another punched out flower from the Twitterpated DSP (see below for a close up of the flower). I held everything together with a brad from the Sale-a-bration Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad pack. 

The ribbon along the bottom of the card is the new 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon in Blushing Bride and the Happy Birthday tag is cut out using the new Framelits Dies - Labels Collection.

I liked the design so much I did it again.

This time the background stamp I used is from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and I used Basic Grey ink and Baja Breeze card stock and pleated ribbon.

Hope my aunties like these cards! I also made a set of birthday cards for one of my aunts but I'll show you that in a few days (just in case she checks!)

Thanks for stopping by. The Occasions Mini catalogue goes live tomorrow so check my website for ordering information. Sale-a-bration starts on Januray 24th. For every $60 you spend on Stampin' Up! merchandise, you get a free item from the list.  If you are in need of some staples this would be a good time to stock up! You still have a few days to order Clearance Rack Blitz items - they go away after January 5th so act fast! These deals are A-MAZ-ING!!!

Have a good evening - see you soon!