Embellish Life

Sweet Cupcake

  I haven't stamped in a while, here's my first card in months. I was hosting Bunco this past week and needed some door prizes. I went into my stash of cards to come up with some packs. But I wanted a "new" card to add to them. I bought this set when it was on special in October. A very quick card, using SC199 from SplitCoast.

The cupcake was stamped on WW with Close to Cocoa ink. I used Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol to color the image. It was popped up on the double layer, which was also popped up using dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped on WW with CtoC ink. Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon and Diamond Stickles finished up the car.

Everyone who got this card in their packet loved it.

Good things happen in 3's!

Are you a believer that good things happen in three's? Well, this week I am. First, I hear from my SU Convention Buddy that she was able to get all the items I wanted from the momental mall. Second, we get the phone call from the Chaplain's office telling us that there is space for us in the retreat. And third? Someone from SCS sent me a PM saying they had the Convention tote bag available for sale. How cool is that? A little more than what I wanted to pay for it, but I probably would've sold it for the same amount anyway. WooHoo!

Crabby Recipe Card

I made a 6 x 6 recipe card for Polly, who is PCSing back to the states this month. The one here is my card that I made as well. The crab and clam were created by stamping on a transparency with black Stazon Ink. Then, using Crystal Effects and Classic Re-inkers I "painted" the images, finishing with a dusting of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The eyes were colored in with the White Signo Gel Pen. The end result - adorable!

For the rest of the page, the background is Cool Carribean, recipe printed on Whisper White. Sahara Sand ink and cardstock was used for the sand. I attached the transparency using Silver Brads.

A very fun page to do. I plan on teaching the Painting/Transparency technique to the stamp group in the fall. I think they will enjoy it.

Birthday Whimsy for Kayla

I made this quick and easy card for my sister's belated Birthday, which was on Sunday. The layout came from the June 2007 Stampin Sucess, with just a few changes. I used the retired SAB set, Birthday Whimsy, as the focal point image. Stamping Regal Rose on Whisper White cardstock, I mounted onto a piece of Regal Rose cardstock. I stamped "happy birthday" on another small piece of WW, and attached to the Regal Rose square. Using a 2-way glue pen, I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the candles of the cake.

For the main card, Old Olive is the base and Paisleys & Petals were the accent papers. I mounted the birthday cake onto the card using Stampin Dimensionals.

I was very pleased with the end result of the card. I thought about more embellishments, but just couldn't think of anything else without the card looking overly gaudy.

The card is very cute!

Teacher Gifts 2008

With the end of the school year here, I quickly made a few projects to give as gifts for the teachers. I decorated a coffee break tin, pen and notebook for my son's teacher. On these gifts, no stamping was done - I only used the retired Primary Colors Simply Scrappin Kit. The finishing touches were various ribbons, star punch and red stickles. I was extremely happy with the end result and his teacher loved the gift!

Faux Silk Technique

I finally had a chance to work on a few cards this week. I saw the technique that was posted last Wednesday and thought it would be a nice one to work on. I loved Beate's tutorial and card, but didn't want to exactly copy her layout. So, I broke out a new stamp set, Infinite Goodness, one of the new Hostess sets from the SS08 catty.

The Faux Silk technique uses tissue paper to create a textured background or focal image. For this card, I stamped the leaves in Stazon Ink on the white tissue paper, then carefully colored the leaves in with an Aquapainter and Always Artichoke ink. Once the coloring was finished, adhered the tissue paper to a piece of Whisper White Cardstock using a glue stick. Spray adhesive, Mod Podge or any other "wet" glue could also be used. After the piece was dry, I trimmed off the excess tissue paper.

The pears were also created using Faux Silk. The texture of the cardstock pieces is very unique. When I was finished with the Faux Silk pieces, I completed my card.

I had fun working on this one, so I will teach the technique at the ROSC Rubberstamping meeting this month.

Notebook, Bookmark and Beaded Pen Gift Set

This holiday brought me many ornament and gift exchanges. For the third and last one, I decided to step away from the traditional ornament or bottle of liquor. During the ROSC Bowling holiday party, we were able to pick a gift for the first strike bowled that day.

I thought that decorating a 5 x 5 journal and a beaded pen would be a perfect gift, since most of us are ladies that bowl. The thought of one of the guys picking my gift did cross my mind, but Mike said they could give it to their wives or could exchange with someone else who picked a gift.

I chose the Dashing DP for the album, because it was one of my favorites from the SUp Fall/Winter catalog. The "f" was cut out of Old Olive cardstock using the On Board Simon Lower chipboard as a pattern. I did the the same with the tag, using a chipboard piece as a template. Yes, I am a chipboard hoarder. On the tag, I stamped "Friendship" from the new set Celebrate Everything, in silver encore ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The "f" and tag were popped up using dimensionals.

The jumbo paperclip bookmark was made using my Cuttlebug Dies and chipboard coasters. Coasters I picked up at Chili's one night at dinner. The cut out coasters were covered with more Dashing DP.

I covered the pen with Dashing DP first, and then used sticky tape to attach the beads.

All 3 projects were dressed up with various embellishments - clips, eyelets, buttons and ribbon.

The recipient of my gift, Emmy Marcharoni, loved the whole set and said it was just her style.

Another satisfied customer!!!

Big Fabulous Flower

So, after seeing so many wonderful cards on SCS with this set, I just had to buy it for myself. I am extremely happy I did, as this one is becoming my favorite set (for the moment). Don't we all have a favorite set "for the moment"?

I made my card using Kraft cardstock as the card base, cut to standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" size. Other cardstock used was Whisper White and Brocade Blue. The big flower was stamped with Brocade Blue classic ink on Whisper White cardstock 3 times. Then each image was cut using sharp scissors around the petals to make 3 different sized layers. Once cut, the layers were adhered to one another using Stampin' Dimensionals to give it the popped up look. The smallest layered flower was embellished with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I stamped Dare to be Fabulous first in Close to Cocoa classic ink on a 3 1/8" x 1 1/16" piece of Whisper White cardstock and then used the Rock n' Roll technique with Brocade Blue around the edges. This gave the image the two-toned look. Very fun!  I used a corner rounder for the 4 corners of the stamped piece. Then layered on a piece of Brocade cardstock, 3 1/4" x 1 1/4" with the corners rounded as well. The Kraft cardstock base was stamped with the Linen BG stamp in Close to Cocoa classic ink.

I used a ribbon slider from the Hodgepodge hardware kit to thread on the Wide Brocade Grosgrain ribbon, which I wrapped around the card base and adhered with Sticky strip. Next, I used Stampin' Dimensionals to layer the flower on top of the ribbon. Then the sentiment was added in the lower right corner.

Criss Cross Card Project

In October, I taught this card to a stamping class - Criss Cross Card. My sample used Kraft, So Saffron, and Whisper White cardstock. The designer paper was some that I received in a swap on the SCS Wish Rak. I followed the tutorial by Beate Johns that is on SCS in the resources/projects section. Journaling Fun stamp set was used to make the lines and the Spiral Punch for the side of the white cardstock to make the notebook paper. The apple image is from Crayon Fun stamp set, which I watercolored with classic ink and aquapainter. To give the card a final look, I used the Tag Punch to make a tag out of Kraft cardstock, attached to the insert with eyelets and wrote "A+" on the tab, to give the card that school touch.

Crabby being Snappy for a birthday

I made this card for a SWAP. I never have enough birthday cards, so I thought I'd use the cute little crabby from Crab & Co. I found the layout on SCS from Sharlene Wale. I liked how she used the Word Window punch as a slot for a tag. The base is 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" - typical card dimensions. I have many layers on this one. Certainly Celery was stamped with the present and hat, layered onto the Cool Carribean base. The Not Quite Navy layer was also stamped with the present and hat, punched on one end with the Word Window punch, and then layered on Cool Carribean. Mr. Crabby was watercolored with Real Red and Sahara Sand on Natural White cardstock using an Aquapainter. I used the Sm and Lg Tag Punches to make the tag, which I stamped the birthday cake on in Basic Black, then watercolored with matching colors. I added a black eyelet to the tag and Squiggly eyes to the crab. The final touch was the Black Gingham ribbon wrapped around the Celery layer and tied onto the tag. My husband said the card was heavy because all of the layers. I laughed and told him, more layers = a better card.