Two Step Stamping

I'm on a roll with the Anna Griffen paper lately....so I decided, why change it?!

The floral stamps I used on this card are from Close To My Heart. It is a two step stamping set and I really enjoyed using it. I haven't done much of this technique lately, so it was nice to get back to it! The stamp set is called Simple Blossoms. The sentiment is from my MFT Simply Said set. I find I go back to this sentiment over and over again. It always seems to be the right size for the card that I am working on!

I stitched around the white cardstock with my sewing machine. The flowers and leaves were stamped and then hand cut. Some of the leaves are flat and some are layered for dimension. The blooms are all popped up with dimensionals. The ribbon is shear and such a close match for the card that it almost gets lost. It is from Close To My Heart also.

The inks that I used on this card are all from Close To My Heart too. I don't have the colours at hand right now...if you really need to know, just leave me a comment and I will get them for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Prettie Wednesday!

It's time for my weekly Prettie post! And, in an attempt to turn over a new leaf as far as challenges go, I used acetate on the scrapbook page that I have to share with you today! :)

This page started with two Paper Pretties stamps. I had the idea of using Luke from Sealed With a Kiss along with Sophia from Cuddle Me. Lexi got the axe for this layout! LOL! I thought that using Luke and Sophia together would make a cute father/daughter themed scrapbook page. So, I went digging for photos of Kevin and Rebekah together to see what I could come up with.

I started with patterned paper that I adore. It is from Creative Imaginations and it is called 'strength'. The words on the background of the page are all about fatherhood. There are words like leader, wisdom, strength, devotion, loyal and guidance. What I love even more than the sugary sweet words are the colours. Blues and greens...my favourites!

I haven't had the time yet to fiddle with Microsoft Paint and my scanner...so you'll have to settle for photos of my 12 x 12 pages for now! I hope to be able to scan them in the near future......

Here is a close up of Luke and Sophia with the acetate frame I used as part of the challenge. Thanks to Joanne for giving me the frame! When I was on the phone with her one day we discussed the acetate challenge posted by Christie...she was kind enough to offer up this frame that she already had on hand... It helps to have friends who hoard stuff too! LOL!

Sophia's dress was paper pieced and Luke was coloured with water colour pencils and blended with OMS and a blending stump.

The frame was treated with two colours of ink....StazOn Stone Grey and a brown that is part of my Making Memories Distressing Kit. I also used fine grain steel wool to distress the surface of the acetate a bit. The last step was a layer of Mod Podge to set everything and to make sure that the buttons on the corners wouldn't fall off!

The 'Daddy's Girl' title is from EK Success. I used Marvy punches and paper scraps for the hearts. The journaling is done on notebook paper that was in my recycling bin, with a CTMH Legacy Writer in black. The edges of some of the hearts were inked with Outdoor Denim ink from CTMH.

Behind the journaling there is some vellum that was torn and then crunched up. I love the texture it gives to a page. I find myself cruching up lots of things lately! :) The edges of the cardstock were also distressed using a 'v' blade from CTMH.

Some of the cardstock was from my scrap bin and some was from DCWV. The mini clothes pins are from The Card Connection and have been in my stash FOREVER. I was so proud of myself for having used them!

Make sure to pop on over to Paper Pretties today. Jules will have a product review there for you to see. You can find it on the Paper Pretties forum under Product Reviews. The product she will be reviewing (Maya Road Chipboard Blossoms) and all chipboard in the Boutique will be discounted from now until Saturday at 11:59 p.m.!

Have a great Wednesday!

Girlfriends

When I made this card, I did several different variations of it. All of the girls are wearing different clothes, but the nitty gritty of the card is the same. So, I won't torment you with looking at all of them!

I have had this stamp set for a while and hadn't even used it! It's a sin! It is Meet Me At the Cafe by MFT.

The cardstock comes from a scrapstack that I got at Costco. The floral patterned paper is from Anna Griffen (I think!). The striped paper used on the cafe awning was from my scrap bin.

The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from Michaels. The images were coloured with a combination of water colour pencils and crayons.

This card is a variation of one that I saw on someone else's blog...but I can't remember who! In an attempt to give these ladies the credit they deserve, my best guess would be that I found it here or here. Having said that, I am getting much better about writing down where I find things now. :)

I hope you all have a great day!

Challenges

I have been totally out of the loop when it comes to challenges over at Paper Pretties. I am just now figuring out what is going on! LOL! I think part of the problem was that I post my weekly projects on Wednesdays....the same day that the challenges are to be posted. I have been so focused on posting my weekly projects, that I have been missing out on the challenges. I am going to attempt to change that!

So, from what I can tell (after the fact!) the last two challenges were issued by Danielle and Joni. The were to create a masculine card and to use paper piecing, respectively. I decided, in the interest of getting caught up (albeit a bit late!) that I would kill two birds with one stone and make a card that met both criteria!

So here is my masculine paper pieced card! And, it was for a customer order to boot! How great is that?!


I used MFT set Let's Hear it for the Boy. The rug and recliner were paper pieced with scraps from my scrap box. The rest of the image was coloured using water colour crayons and pencils. The image was then fastened to a piece of cardstock which was distressed with a distressor from CTMH. The card base is generic brown cardstock and the patterned paper behind the main image was from my scrap box. I scrunched it up and then smoothed it out to give it a messy, distressed, rumpled, manly kind-of-look. LOL. I used staples on the corners, and yes, that is the tab from a pop (a.k.a. 'soda') can on the top corner! Lately, my masculine cards have all been adorned with assorted metal things.

From what I can figure out now...the next challenge was issued by Christie and it is to use acetate.

I think it is due on this coming Wednesday.......I think.....

40th Wedding Anniversary

I have been working away on a 40th wedding anniversary album for a friend recently. It is a gift for her parents, and her father happens to be French Canadian. I was excited to be able to incorporate some beautiful French papers that I have had in my stash since I lived in Geneva. They are from a company called DDDesigns that operates out of Quebec, Canada.


I had some photos...but many of them were not great quality. I was trying to figure out how to make the most of what I had to work with. One of the photos is from 1968...and it is of the car that the bridal couple rode in on their wedding day. I wanted to incorporate the photo, since I didn't have many to begin with, but it wasn't a strong enough photo to carry a layout on its own. I knew I would have to be pretty creative with the layout.


Luke and Lexi (Sealed With a Kiss) is one of my favorite stamp sets from Paper Pretties. I am always trying to think of new and creative ways to show this cute little couple off. I had been thinking of portraying them kissing in a car....so when I received the old photo from my friend, the pieces came together.


I did a two page 8 x 8 layout. First, I sketched the car on bronze shimmery cardstock and then cut it out. I then stamped Luke and Lexi in StazOn and coloured them using SU! crayons and an aqua painter. They were then attached behind the windshield of the car. Rhinestone brads made cute headlights and a silver gel pen provided accents on the hood of the car and bumper.


The French phrase you see on the page is the equivalent to what we would say in English when pulling the petals off a flower....'he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me', etc. The more literal translation doesn't mean much in English....it is, 'I love you a little, a lot, passionately, like crazy'.

On the opposing page I used the old photograph. I made a black cardstock frame to help draw attention to the photo. I then covered a chipboard arrow with the same patterned paper used on the opposite page. Some heart shaped brads from Making Memories were fastened to each corner of the chipboard. The swirls next to the photo were made with a foam stamp from a Kit of the Month by Creating Keepsakes. A bit of black dashes, dots and checks ribbon was the finishing touch.

Well, I am just about finished this project. I plan to get it in the mail tomorrow. I hope the recipients like it!

Have a great night!

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday to You!

I got an email a little while back from Julie Masse over at Paper Pretties. The email was to let us know that May 1st was Christie's birthday. So, I got hoppin' on a card. I actually started out with a sketch, but my card ended up looking nothing like it. That is often the case with me and sketches!


The stamp set that I chose is from CTMH. It is a really fun set....with four different shoes and 'pocketbooks' (known as purses where I come from!). This sexy, slinky dress is the main image in the set. I used red ink...ColorBox Chianti, to be exact. It is nice that the images are solid ones, alleviating the need to colour them in!



The papers are from K&Company...the K-ology line. The flower came in the same kit as the papers. It is one of those kits that has been in my stash since forever! I decided that with Christie's birthday on the horizon, the time had come to cut into it!

I can finally post this card....since Christie should have received it by now....although, I have to say that my mail to Canada seems to be taking longer recently....

Oh well, happy birthday Christie! I hope you are enjoying your cruise!

Happy Mother's Day....Sort Of....

I had a card club customer (try saying that 10 times fast!) recently who needed a birthday card for a friend. I really wanted to use my new stamp set from MFT...Happy Mother's Day. The little hitch in that plan was that the card wasn't for a mother!


I decided to go ahead and use the stamp anyways, and I just masked the wording that goes around the perimeter of the image. A woman holding a flower pot can be appropriate for a friend, right?


I think the blue patterned paper is from Anna Griffin. I stitched around the perimeter of the image and the background with the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. I used a bit of dashes, dots & checks ribbon to make the little tabs on the right hand side. Rhinestone brads hold the ribbon in place.



The left side looks a little plain to me...but I really love this patterned paper and I didn't want to cover it up with another embellishment. So, I decided to leave well enough alone!

The image was coloured with SU! crayons and an aqua painter. I stamped a few extra lilies on a scrap piece of paper and then coloured and cut them out too. I then used some Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive to layer them on top of the flowers in the main image. I curled the flowers upwards from the stem and tried to show it in this photo....although, not very successfully. I seem to have problems with close up photos being out of focus sometimes... If anyone out there has any tips, feel free to share! I am not above advice! :)

Have a great day!