July's Creative Crew Challenges Cont'd

July's Creative Crew holiday-focus challenge is to create a national spirit project. Express what your country mean to you.

I ended up with a couple holiday-focus cards, because my first card below used retired stamps. I try to avoid that, but I really wanted to express what my country means to me... wide open spaces. I grew up in the midwest, riding my horse across open farm fields. Big sky and the freedom feeling of just riding across open space is really my definition of America.

I wanted to try a brayer card in sepia. ColorQ challenge #88 started me down this path, so I thought I would stay with those colors.

I also drew inspiration from 'Ocicat' on SCS.

Stamps: Wanted, Le Jardin Botanique; Paper: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White; Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede marker; Accessories: Sponges, Brayer, Post-it notes, Circle punch.

My other project is a Fourth of July celebration tree. Weird?

I find Independence Day cards/projects to be difficult, but this one works... I think anyway. I added some bling to help make the holiday sparkle.

Stamps: Season of Friendship, Something to Celebrate, Happiness BG; Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP, Nautical Expedition DSP; Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark; Accessories: White embossing powder, Itty Bitty punch pack, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Button Latte, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Rhinestone jewels, Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain ribbon, Sewing machine, Thread.

I haven't had a chance to play with the scrapbook-focus challenge, focus on family. I've got a page in my head, and I hope to catch up with that in the coming days.

ETA (7/30/11): I finally got my family-focused scrapbook page done. This is the tail end of our France trip last year with the in-laws, visiting the city of Eze and Monaco.

I wanted to use bright blues and greens, because all the colors in Monaco are so bright and vibrant. This is only the first page I've gotten done from this trip. Many more waiting to be created. This is page 36 of Project 52.

MDS Elements: Urban Oasis DSP, Summer Home embellishments.

Make sure you head over to the demo side of Splitcoast and play along with us! Thanks for stopping by!

July's Creative Crew Challenges

Hello new In Colors! I'm posting July's Creative Crew challenges a little early, since we'll hit the ground running on July 1 with the new catalog and Convention around the corner. For the DSP/color-focus challenge, focusing on the new In Colors, I created an In Color rolled flower tree.

I'm not sure I should have gone with so much rhinestone bling, but what's done is done. I created a kind of patchwork background with First Edition DSP scraps, to keep it subtle and the focus on the colors. No ribbon either. What'cha think?

Stamps: Season of Friendship; Paper: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, First Edition DSP; Ink: Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso; Accessories: Sponge, 1" Circle punch, Scallop Edge punch, Rhinestone jewels, Sewing machine, Thread, Dimensionals.

The catalog-focus challenge this month is playing with new stamps! I pulled out the new set My Friend and coordinating paper Pocketful of Posies. Starting with Mojo Monday sketch #196, I came up with this groovy little number.

Stamps: My Friend; Paper: Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Pocketful of Posies DSP; Ink: Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Versamark; Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Cupcake Builder punch, Neutrals Collection button, Linen thread, Sponges, White embossing powder, Coluzzle.

If you are a SU demo, make sure you stop by the demo side of Splitcoast and play along with us! Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC22 Anniversaries

We are celebrating anniversaries over at SU-Only Challenges today. I thought I would make a card that would be more fitting for a couple who have been married a long time, perhaps a 25th or 50th wedding anniversary?

I used the Mother of Pearl technique on the clock face. Hopefully this card doesn't give a depressing feeling of time passing by... I hope it spurs on joyful reminiscing about the wonderful years gone by.

Stamps: Sense of Time (retiring); Paper: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP (retiring); Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Whisper White craft, Black Stazon; Accessories: White Frost shimmer paint, Plastic wrap, Sponges, Victoria lace, Pearl jewels, Circle punches, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Little Leaves die, Scallop Circle #2 die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Graduation!

I've got a couple nieces graduating this weekend, and I've seen some cute owl grad cards. In fact, I had to buy the owl punch for this reason!

I love to custom the colors for the graduating school colors. I used my Basic Black marker to dye the White Baker's Twine for a tassel. And some Crystal Effects on the nose and feet.

Lorri Heiling's card was my main inspiration.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francais; Paper: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White craft, Basic Black marker; Accessories: Owl punch, Curly Label punch, Scallop Circle punch, White Baker's Twine, Crystal Effects, Real Red taffeta ribbon, Pumpkin Pie taffeta ribbon, Basic Black satin ribbon, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Advanced Big Shot Class

Hello Everyone, Today I'm going to share the projects we did at the Advanced Big Shot class this week, including links to videos and tutorials so you can recreate at home.

The first card we did uses Partial Embossing, as shown by Tami White at Hartford Regionals this spring. I embossed two layers of thin cardboard, cut out, and glued them together, and taped them on top of the embossing folder.

My design is based on Jen Timko's card. I only have a cardfront because after a bunch of fussing with lining up the layers just right, disassembling, trying again... I ended up gluing it on the base upside-down. Little Missy thought that was hilarious!

We stamped Elements of Style on Presto Patterns DSP, watercolored with Aquapainters, and die-cut into the butterfly shape. Then the edges and white areas were sponged with Crumb Cake and spritzed with Soft Suede marker and Color Spritzer tool.

Quick reference sandwich (from the bottom): closed multi-purpose platform / 1 cutting pad / embossing folder with cardstock inside and cut out cardboard taped to the top of the folder.

Stamps: Elements of Style; Paper: Very Vanilla, Marina Mist, Presto Patterns DSP, First Edition DSP; Ink: Marina Mist, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White Craft, Black Stazon, Soft Suede marker; Accessories: Baja Breeze seam binding, Chantilly Lace, Antique brad, Pearl jewels, Sponge, Aquapainter, Cutter Kit, Color Spritzer, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Beautiful Butterflies die, Big Shot.

Next up, the Embossed Frame, originally shown on Patty Bennett's blog. In this case, rather than the wood template, we used two layers of medium thickness cardboard with the oval cut out, glued together.

We added a colorful accordion-fold flower for fun.

Quick reference sandwich (from the bottom): Shim under Tab 1 / using Tab 1 on Multipurpose platform / cardboard template with oval cut out / cardstock inside embossing folder centered over cardboard template / cutting plate.

Stamps: Sweetheart, Cheep Talk; Paper: Whisper White, Beyond the Garden DSP; Ink: Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: 3/4" Circle punch, Scallop Edge punch, Finial Press embossing folder, Big Shot.

And finally, the Half-cut, Half-fold card using Movers & Shapers, originally seen on Marie Shaughnessy's blog.

I like the effect of the flamingos "standing" in the grass in the background.

Stamps: Valentine Defined, Something to Celebrate; Paper: Real Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Love Impressions DSP; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Regal Rose, Real Red; Accessories: Full Heart punch, Scallop Trim punch, Movers & Shapers Punch Windows, Big Shot.

Quick reference sandwich (from the bottom): Impressions pad / cutting plate / Movers & Shapers die / cardstock / cutting plate placed over half of the die.

A little more details: Since we didn't use the Movers & Shapers platform, this gets a little futsy on the little heart die. It was easier with two pairs of hands. First, Teresa Payne-Neal gave some video tips for using the Movers & Shapers without the full platform. I've used this method to cut felt hearts before.

Starting with 4-1/4 x 11" cardstock, score at 2-3/4 and 5-1/2". Use temporary adhesive to hold down the cardstock to the heart die,

and permanent snail adhesive to hold the cutting pad in place on the top of the sandwich.

I would suggest playing with this technique with copy paper to get the feel for which side to tape down.

Thanks for stopping by!

June Club Projects

Today I'll share the projects we did at stamp club this month. Last Tuesday, I already showed the wedding punch art card we made.

I love every sample I see with The Open Sea and Nautical Expeditions DSP. And this combo is very popular! To stand out, I thought I would try a fun and different fold, a Joy Fold.

Here is the outside -

and the inside -

Stamps: The Open Sea; Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Nautical Expedition DSP; Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy; Accessories: Early Espresso Baker's twine, Circle #2 die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

And this card is my favorite! I can't take credit for it. It was wholly CASEd from fellow blogger, Sara Mattson-Blume. A fun fishy View-master card -

This is the best view-master card I have seen! Very fun!! I grabbed the Pacific Point RGB numbers off My Digital Studio to create a custom computer-generated sentiment in MS Word.

Stamps: Fish Frenzy wheel; Paper: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White; Ink: Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz, Pear Pizzazz marker; Accessories: Sponge, Brad, Circle punches, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, 3-1/2" Circle die, Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

If you are local and would like to join my stamp club, drop me a line or stop by my New Catalog Launch Party on June 29 or June 30. Sign ups will be available at that time, and we will start up the new stamp club season in August. Thanks for stopping by!

Technique Tuesday: Inset Embossing... and More Talk of Retirement

Hi Everyone! Another sample from the Technique Class. This is the intermediate project from March, Inset Embossing. It goes by other names as well. I already shared the technique page, as I did this technique for a swap, but here I added an accompanying card (please click on the photo).

This came out as a pretty good masculine card. I don't really have a problem creating masculine cards; I must not be a girly girl. When I went to add this photo, I found I already edited it. Hmmm, did I add this already? Things have been getting so busy here, that I am not sure. Sorry if I am repeating myself!

So here, I used a combo of stamping and punch outs to create the background. Then run the background through the Square Lattice embossing folder to make it appear it is all one piece of paper... like magic! :)

Stamps: Sense of Time, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla; Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Black Stazon; Accessories: Sponge, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, Eyelet, Crop-o-dile, Linen thread, Soft Suede ribbon, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Circle #2, Big Shot.

Sense of Time is another stamp set that is retiring at the end of this month. I love the vintage and masculine machinery images in this set. The clock face is quite large, so it works great for 3-Ds.

And I also used this set with a fun technique called Brick Wall.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dream Gardens Projects

So, if you were here this weekend, you had a chance to click through the Stampin' Addicts Retiring Sets Blog Hop. Thanks for coming back today for a little more info. I'm also going to take the liberty of including some other previous projects made with this set... perhaps you'll find you can't live without it?

My first hop project was a brayered card using the upcoming In Colors.

After stamping and embossing the main and leaf images, I brayered with Pool Party and Island Indigo. I sponged the sunset with Calypso Coral, and the horizon with Lucky Limeade and Basic Black. The stampin' process is similar to this card.

Next I made a cute little tea bag holder. Here's the front view. There's a couple little pearls on the DSP that seem to get lost.

And the inside view -

This project came together very easily following the Stampin' Addicts 3-D tutorial.

My 3-D sample was a fun little project I had in my head. I started with the idea of a Japanese screen, and a luminary seemed like the obvious choice.

I found a neat lantern box tutorial, which gave it a pagoda kind of feel (I hope). Here I embossed the geisha image on the backside of some vellum cardstock, in order to make it look more like a shadow. I cut little slivers of black cardstock to assemble my Japanese screen. The flowers on the DSP look like they could come from the Orient too, no? The roof was created by crimping 3/4" pieces of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I did shrink the height down a tad so the base would stand 4" tall.

I mentioned I have used this set for lots of different techniques. Here's a run down, with links back to the original posts for more details.

Simply Adorned charms with Poppin' Pastels -

Faux Mother of Pearl card -

Split Negative card -

ATC with Bleaching and Polished Stone -

Good-bye fair lady, but don't worry. I am not getting rid of you! If you are looking for supply lists for the current blog hop projects, please click back to the main blog hop post. Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Addicts Retiring Sets Blog Hop

** If you are here for the Flag Day Giveaway winner drawing, please scroll down to the second post.**

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts official good-bye party, the Retiring Sets Blog Hop! Have you scoured through the retiring list? I recommend you mark up your catalog with all the retiring sets, and by all means, grab those talking to you before they are gone! If you have been following the blog hop in order, you have just come from Yapha's blog featuring the Bugs & Kisses. Weren't her projects adorable?

Today I'm featuring the stamp set Dream Gardens. I think this is such an elegant and artistic stamp set, and I have used this set for so many techniques, including split negative, faux mother of pearl, and lots of techniques suitable for silhouette images. This set is also perfect for smaller, technique-heavy items, such as ATCs, inchies, or as you will see below, Simply Adorned Charm inserts.

For my first project, I thought I would brayer with some new In Colors. I used the reflection technique here.

Stamps: Dream Gardens, Pocket Silhouettes; Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White; Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Parade, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Versamark, Versamarker; Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Brayer, Sponges, Signo white gel pen, Post-it notes, Pearl jewels, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Of course, the natural project for this set is any project having to do with tea. Here I made a little tea bag holder.

Left is the front view, and right is the inside view.

Stamps: Dream Gardens; Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Love Letter DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Versamark; Accessories: Black embossing powder, Basic Black taffeta ribbon, Scallop Trim border punch, Pearl jewels.

Hopefully no one will mind if I reuse a project from the past... I used this set to create Simply Adorned swaps for Convention last year. The special technique here is Poppin' Pastels, and this was one of my favorite uses for this set.

The left and right sides are the front and back of the charm insert, respectively. The swan comes from the geisha's kimono, and it was embossed in gold.

Stamps: Garden Dreams; Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Ink: Versamark, Basic Black; Accessories: Stampin' Pastels (Regal Rose, So Saffron), Gold embossing powder, Acrylic fixative.

And finally, my 3-D project, a fun little luminary.

Hopefully this is reminiscent of a Asian pagoda, at least that's what I was going for.

Stamps: Dream Gardens; Paper: Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Vellum cardstock, Beyond the Garden DSP; Ink: Versamark; Accessories: Black embossing powder, Corner Rounder punch, Crimper, Stylus, Chipboard, Sticky Strip.

Don't forget to come back on Monday for more pictures and details on how to make these projects. If you aren't yet a member of Stampin' Addicts, you can sign up here. Make sure you check out the next stop to see what Lisa put together using Matchbox Messages. Her projects are always amazing.










The complete hop list:
1. Tanya (tanya27) -- From the Crypt
2. Sarah W. (WillsyGirl) -- Cardinal Christmas
3. Betty (kittystamp) -- Blowing Kisses
4. Rhonda (rhondag) -- Birthday Bliss
5. Holly K. (catrules) -- Always
6. Sara (lilyinkpad) -- Lots of Bots
7. Adriana (escape2stamp) -- Animal Stories
8. Yapha -- Bugs & Kisses
9. Heidi (hlw966) -- Dream Gardens
10. Lisa Y. (genesis) -- Matchbox Messages
11. Twila (tjdstampsalot) -- Pick a Petal
12. Kim (s1itcher46) -- Friends 24-7
13. Jennifer (jentimko) -- All Holidays

Thanks for stopping by!

And the Winners of the Flag Day Giveaway are...

Thank you to everyone who visited during the Flag Day Giveaway event, especially to those who took time to leave a comment.

Now for selecting two winners of the suitcase tutorial PDF file. Using random.org, the random numbers are...

Our winners are...

Michele said... It is so awsome.. it looks perfect.. Thank you for sharing.

Liz Gross said...

I can't believe how creative all of you ladies are! The suitcase is great! Hope I win!

Your tutorial giveaway will be in the mail in a minute! Please contact me at runningwscissors@earthlink.net if you don't receive it.

Thanks for stopping by!

3-D Thursday: Club Appreciation Gifts

** If you are here for the Flag Day Giveaway, you can find my giveaway post here. **

We are finishing up stamp club this month for the current catalog year. As a thank you for sticking with me all year, I made these little lotion and nail file packages for my club ladies.

I followed Stampin' Bunny's tutorial, changing up the dimensions. I started with a 6-1/2 x 8" piece of cardstock. I scored the 6-1/2" side at 2-1/2 and 4". On the 8" side, I scored at 2-1/2, 4, 6-1/2". I then trimmed the first and third flap to 1-1/2" (see photo).

Ok, not 100% clear since the middle flap is folded up, but that middle flap is longer than flaps 1 and 3. Flaps 1 and 3 measure 1-1/2" from the closest score line.

Stamps: All Holidays (retiring!); Paper: Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Thoroughly Modern DSP, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Ice Cream Parlor DSP; Ink: Soft Suede; Accessories: Crop-o-dile, Small oval punch (retiring!), Large oval punch, 1" Circle punch, Early Espresso baker's twine.

Thanks for stopping by!