Using Some Twelve Inspiration

I have been participating  (or trying to anyway) in Stacey Julian's Twelve class over at Big Picture Classes all year. I was really good up to about May and then I sort of fell off the wagon. I was still creating layouts (as evidenced on my blogs and galleries) but I was forgetting to use my designated Twelve embellishments (we all pulled out minimum 144 different embellishments in 12 colours and keep them stored in a muffin tin to be added one to each layout completed) and I was definitely not thinking about what I was creating or why. Anyway, I just finished the first layout of the year using a piece of Inspiration from Stacey herself. At the beginning of every month Stacey posts 12 new Triggers on the class site. They are designed to inspire us to create, think or just for our viewing enjoyment. As soon as I saw the triggers this month I jumped up to create this ...

It was inspired by this layout by Stephanie Howell.

I knew I had multiple doily stamps that I could use to recreate the look of her background paper and the doily Sizzlits dies in the catalogue would be perfect for the embellishments. I used Gossamer Lace, Lacy & Lovely and Artistic Etchings in Craft White on Crumb Cake (the Amour stamp is also from Artistic Etchings and is in Crumb Cake ink) to create my background image. 

We used accents of purple at our wedding so I looked for some purple patterned paper and found this one in International Bazaar. I knew that I wanted a different title work than my alphabet stamps or my alphabet dies could give me so I had to turn to my non-Stampin' Up stash for some glittery AC Thickers. 

I cut out several different doilies using the Delicate Doilies and Paper Doily Sizzlits. I cut them out in both Whisper White and Vellum intending the layer them. In this picture you can see the large Paper Doily with a smaller doily from the Delicate Doilies both tucked behind the picture block. The purple ribbon is also not from Stampin' Up - it's actually leftover from creating our wedding invitations! I accented the bow with one of the Vintage Faceted Designer buttons. The yellow heart behind is punched from Echo Parts Dots and Stripes and is my Twelve embellishment indicating that this layout was based on some sort of Inspiration. (Yellow is my Inspiration colour.)

I tucked my journalling behind my picture on a little tag I created from a leftover scrap of Whisper White card stock. 

Here's what that tag looks like.

Last but not least is the embellishment cluster behind the title. One of the smaller doilies from Delicate Doilies in Whisper White  with a couple vellum ones over top. Another couple Vintage Faceted buttons, some more ribbon to ground everything and a little hand written label that adds a bit to the title.

I am really pleased with this layout. I haven't scrapped any of my wedding pictures yet and now kind of feel inspired ... we'll see! I will for sure be creating more customized background papers though!

Thanks for stopping by today. I'd love for you to become a follower and leave a comment telling me if you've ever created your own background papers before.  Here are your links to Stampin' Up! supplies featured in this layout.

Lacy & Lovely stamp set

Gossamer Lace stamp

Artistic Etchings stamp set

Paper Doily Sizzlits Die

Delicate Doilies Sizzlits Die

International Bazaar DSP

Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons

Masculine Birthday Card

The colour scheme is probably going to look awfully familiar to you by now!! :)

This was made for my Father-in-law who celebrated his --th birthday (numbers are no longer allowed!!) on Monday. We got all his grand kids together to celebrate the occasion last Saturday and this is what I gave him. The papers are from International Bazaar DSP and, of course, I had to throw in some of the wood grain pattern from Natural Composition Specialty DSP. Told you it was a familiar combination!!

The sentiment on the front of the card is from Wacky Wishes which is a new Hostess Rewards stamp set. The sentiment above (on the inside of the card) is from Delightful Dozen. Both sets are excellent to have on hand for any and all occasions!

To dress up the front a tiny bit, I used one of the new wood look Naturals Designer Buttons.

Thanks for checking in today. I have exciting news! I am going to be participating in my first ever Blog Hop!! A group of like minded Canadian Crafters and I are going to Celebrate Canada Day in a way that suits our passions - by showing off our Canada inspired cards and layouts. Here`s a teeny tiny sneak peak ...

To see the rest (and my card) you will have to check back on July 1st at 9:00AM PST. There will be prizes so I hope to see you all then.

Here are your links from today`s project:

International Bazaar DSP

Natural Compositions Specialty DSP

Naturals Designer Buttons

Wacky Wishes Hostess Rewards stamp set

Delighful Dozen stamp set

Happy Father's Day

This is what Christine and I came up with last night for Greg (Marley and Paige did their projects at school.)

I gave Christine a piece of Whisper White card stock and a couple images from the Best Dad Ever stamp set along with 3 colours of ink and let her go nuts. VERY hard to give up control like that!! I think the results are pretty good though. She is only 3 after all!!

I chose what I considered the best portion of the "masterpiece" and used my Top Note die to cut it out in a pleasing manner. Does the colour scheme look familiar? I totally stole it from the card in my last post - the papers too! The one substitution I made was Island Indigo instead of Pool Party I think this may be my new go-to colour scheme and papers for masculine cards!!

Here's the inside sentiment.

And this is what the entire set looks like.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you and yours a very Happy Father's Day.

Get Well card

Greg emailed me yesterday asking me to create a Get Well Soon card for a colleague who had broken his leg. Sure, I said, no problem. I'll just whip something up! Ha!! If you ask me to make a card for a girl I'm good. Flowers, pink, lace, hearts, butterflies, glitter, done! But ask me to make a card for the masculine of the species and I am stumped.

Stampin' Up!s new Natural Composition Specialty Designer Series Paper to the rescue! It's gorgeous kraft based card stock that's been embossed with a variety of designs in brown. Here, take a look ..

I took the wood grain pattern, ran it through my Big Shot and came up with this ...

The stamp set is called Word Play and is a great set for all occasions. I also used a piece of First Edition Specialty DSP and the argyle pattern stamp from Patterned Party on some Pool Party card stock to create extra texture. Backing the sentiment is a piece of International Bazaar DSP. This pack has some great patterns and colours that I think are going to be good for masculine layouts and cards. I can't wait to use more of it on future projects!

There are more layers here than I normally would use but I really like the end product. Thanks for stopping by. Links to all the products featured on this card are listed below.

Natural Composition Specialty DSP

Word Play stamp set

First Edition Specialty DSP

Patterned Party stamp set

Top Note Die for the Big shot