Blue Thank You

blue thank you

Who would have guessed the difference a new black stamp pad would make!?   I have been reinking my well used black stamp pad, but as it was beginning to come apart I bought a new one.  Wow,it was  so much easier to get a good silhouette.

I sponged the sky first for this card, leaving a lighter patch for something.  I didn’t really know what when I started the card, sometimes that is just how my cards develop. Neither Brocade Blue or Ballet Blue were quite what I wanted so the sponging is a combination of both plus Bashful Blue.   I didn’t want to put anything too dominating in the space so I split the whole piece into three and stamped a blue flower in a square for the ‘thank you’ rub-on.

Thanks for droppng in.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy
Inks: Ballet Blue, Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Basic BLack
Cardstock: Whisper White,  Ballet Blue, Basic Black
Also: Chateau Bella Rub-ons


Happiness is

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The Featured Stamper on Splitcoast last Sunday was Jaydekay.  I haven’t had a chance to play for a while, but I managed to browse through Judy’s beautiful gallery on Sunday afternoon and find some inspiration.

I chose Judy’s card here

To make mine I punched the sun out of a post it note and used it to mask a circle while I sponged the sky with Apricot Appeal, Real Rust and Always Artichoke.  I then stamped the daisies in artichoke and drew around their edges with a pinky-gold gel pen.  To make the clouds I ripped thin strips out of a piece of paper and sponged through the spaces.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy, Happiness is a Journey
Inks: Apricot Appeal, Always Artichoke, Real Rust
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Real Rust, Very Vanilla
Also: Sakura GellyRoll Metallic gel pen


Stampers Dream January Challenge

Stampers dream Jan challenge

I  haven’t tried a Stampers Dream challenge before but I was inspired by the sketch  when I saw it on Laurie’s blog.

All the paper is  Berry Bliss designer paper which I co-ordinated with a Pretty in Pink card and a Whisper White oval for the butterfly.  I started with a little faux stitching around the butterfly, then a little more around the rectangles and so on.  I have stamped a smaller butterfly inside the card and added a little stitching there as well.  I keep meaning to get out my sewing machine and try some real stitching, but the marker works so well…  The happy birthday is hand written and there is pink sponging around the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy
Inks: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock:  Whisper white, Pretty in Pink, Berry Bliss designer paper
Also:  Pink gingham ribbon, Close to Cocoa Stampin marker, Creative Memories oval cutters


Still winter

My children are big Narnia  fans, so when I saw Sharon’s challenge this week I thought of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where in Narnia it is “always winter, but never Christmas”.  So although, we may use the same stamps we used at Christmas, the challenge is to make a card that says “Winter”  It is very much “still winter” here and we had a snowstorm this week to prove it.

Still Winter

For my card I decided to continue playing with the snowy landscape idea, once again using Lovely as a Tree.   I punched a small moon out of a post it note and tore a strip of paper to mask my snow at the bottom.   I sponged in all the sky first using summer sun, apricot appeal and pumpkin pie.  Then I stamped the background trees in grey with the mask still in place.  I then swapped the mask over and covered the sponged sky and lightly stamped the trees upside down to try and make a shadow.  It didn’t work that well so I sponged more shadow in grey.  Finally I stamped two black trees and a greeting.

It’s nice to be stamping again. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Snowflakes
Inks: Summer Sun, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Going Gray
Cardstock: Whisper White, Apricot Appeal, Going Grey, Basic Black


A couple more notebooks

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It has been very quiet here lately hasn’t it?  We had friends from Australia here for twelve days and we had a wonderful time with them.  Now they have gone and things are slowly getting back to normal.  As school has started again I have prep and marking so stamping is not really getting a look in just yet.

I do have these two notebooks to share,  I made them to pop into the stockings of the two girls  who were staying with us.  The pink one on the right was for the nine year old and the brown for her 14 year old sister.  I bought the notebooks at Walmart; they are called “Fat Little Books”.  I did very little to decorate them.  The one on the right has one piece of designer paper plus the monogram and ribbon.  The brown one has two pieces of paper and a torn strip but again, super easy.

I hope to be back soon, with something new,  thanks for dropping in

Supplies:

Stamps: Just Rite Trompe Script
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi Berry Bliss Designer paperPetals & Paisley designer paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi
Also: Chocolate and  Pink  grosgrain ribbon, Circle Punches


Three Notebooks

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Supplies:
Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley
Inks: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Le Jardin Designer paper, Almost Artichoke
Also: Apricot grosgrain ribbon, Mead notebook from Staples

Every Boxing Day we go and hang out with some  friends of ours at their Open House.  We enjoy meeting up with their extended family again and just having a relaxing time with them.  They have three girls ranging in age from ten to eighteen so I thought notebooks would be an appropriate gift.  The youngest is getting the pink one, she is a pretty in pink girl!

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Supplies:

Cardstock: Berry Bliss Designer paper
Also: White, Chocolate and Light Pink  grosgrain ribbon, Mead notebook from Staples

I carefully took off the covers as I had seen LeAnne do here then decorated each notebook with designer paper and ribbon.  I left a narrow border on each notebook which dictated the colours of paper I used.  After stamping the sentiments I distressed the edges and dragged them across the stamp pad.  All the ribbon is stuck on with sticky strip.  I repunched the holes with a single circle punch and then reassembled the notebooks.

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Supplies:
Stamps: Ageless Adornment
Inks: Ruby Red
Cardstock: Garden Green, d.p. from an old slab I got at Michaels years ago
Also:  Mead notebook from Staples


Beyond Quick

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Sharon’s challenge this week is exactly what I was doing anyway, so it just spurred me on.  I dropped in on the her guest designers too and picked up more ideas.  Her challenge was to make a card so simple that you could make six in 30 minutes.   I didn’t time myself but I made eleven last night, some like the ones above and some like the Wintergreen I posted the other day.  I haven’t used Sage Shadow in ages, but I really like the crisp, snowy look the card has.  But rather than make them all the same I pulled out my favourite Christmas combination Cerise designer paper, with vanilla and red!

The punches are the key to making this card quickly.  The designer paper squares are punched with the 1¼” and the mattes with the 1 3/8″ punch. For the stars I used the SU small star punch. That’s it.

Supplies:

Stamps: Best Yet
Inks: Sage Shadow, Real  Red
Cardstock: Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Wintergreen d.p., Very Vanilla, Real Red, Cerise d.p.
Also: square punches, star punch


Wintergreen

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Just a quick easy card for you tonight.  It will be quick to reproduce, which is what I need to do at this stage.  It wasn’t that quick to make but that is because I couldn’t decide on the orientation, then I couldn’t decide on the stamp!  All you need for this one is two strips of co-ordinating designer paper, a stamp small enough to punch out, a greeting and a piece of cord.

Supplies:

Stamps: Winter Post
Inks: Sage Shadow
Cardstock: Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Wintergreen d.p.
Also: silver cord


Gingerbread Creations

I mentioned a while ago that my dining room table and kitchen counters were covered in gingerbread creations in their varying states of completion.  Well, all have been competed and  carted off to the competition at a local museum.  Several people asked to see them so I have a picture of each of the designs my children had a part in making.

The village below was made by my son (centre) and his two eight year old buddies.  Each child made two houses and they landscaped together.

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My younger daughter(centre) and two friends designed and created the country church and surrounding yard.

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My eldest (left) and two friends designed, assembled and decorated the dollhouse replica.

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If you would like to see more there are some details and close ups on my family blog


the wondrous gift is given

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Last night I sat down and wrote in most of my Christmas cards, discovering in the process that I needed a few more.   The inspiration for this one was a picture I saw on a friend’s blog yesterday.  This kind of scene  can be seen around here quite often at sunset or sunrise.

To make it I tore a piece of card to place across the bottom to mask my snowy area.  I positioned it  at the bottom before stamping the trees in versamark.  I embossed them with black and then positioned the masking strip a little higher before sponging my sky, first in Pretty in Pink, then Almost Amethyst,  Going Gray and Bashful Blue.  I sponged a little Amethyst behind the trees and stamped some background trees in Going Grey.  To give the foreground snow a bit of definition I tore tiny strips out of a piece of paper and sponged through the holes.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Wondrous Gift
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Cardstock: Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Basic Black
Also: black e.p.