Bird Song

I went on a mission to find some soft and floral papers in a pack of some sort and came home with a pile of love from Papermania called Rose Garden, this is their 2nd outing and I am really liking them.... not my normal pick, but nice to find what I wanted and mix it up a bit....

3 Panels of Paper atop another panel before punching the bottom scallop border.  The best part was I got to use the set that got me hooked on Verve stamps!  I love this swan, a simple application of colour to the wings and head this time.  The sentiment fit nicely into the lovely rodent frame too!

I got to try out some new ribbon too, which dyes really nicely with Copics BTW, but this time just plain white.

Thanks for dropping in, hope you are having a great week!

What's in it?
Stamps:  Verve: Swan Song; WaltzingMouseStamps: Vintage Circles
Paper:  Papermania: Rose Garden; SU: Pink Pirouette
Ink:  SU: Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi; Copic RV11; PTI: Hibiscus
Extras:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Scallop Sm, Circles Sm; EK Success Diamond Scallop Border Punch; Tafetta Ribbon, Making Memories Button, PTI Twine

Choco Love

A quick and simple thank you card, the type that you need when gifting a box of chocolates.... so why not throw in a bit of chocolate, in the sentiment, the cardstock and paper choices.  I am loving the curvy rectangle nesties too, did some playing around with these on the weekend, lots of things to explore... both a label and some detail on the layers and card edge for this card.

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Love's Flower
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg; SU Chocolate Chip
Ink:  SU: Chocolate Chip
Extras:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Curvy Rectangles; Kaiser Pearls; Making Memories Ribbon; Buetron  Buttons; Papertrey Blossom Dies

Blessed to the Core

I took on the Caardvarks Core'dinations Challenge to make a Monochromatic Card, well a few actually, this one the more serious one, some extra playing around below.

Lots of sanding in this one to bring out the core of the cardstock.  Core'dinations is best for this, such a soft cover of colour, comes off really smoothly, especially with the super fine sand paper that my Dad found for me in his shed.  The Papertrey Impression plates came up really nicely with this cardstock and I will be going back for more of this style in the future.

I coloured the Very Vanilla Cardstock with different strengths of the Antique Linen ink to deepen the colour and make sure this was all mono browns... a subtle approach to a Sympathy Card.  Easy to add details to the lovely impressioned background.  Well worth the time it takes to hand cut one of the sentiments from StampIt.

What's in it?
Stamps: StampIt: Sentiment; Papertrey: Background Basics--Text Style
Paper: Core'dinations: Cappucino and Latte; SU: Very Vanilla
Ink: SU: Chocolate Chip; Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Antique Linen
Extras: Prima Pearls Brown; American Crafts Pearl Brads Earth Tones; Martha Stewart Border Punch; Antique Lace; Papertrey: Tin Types and Giga Impression Plates, Flower Dies; SU: Little Leaves Die

This one focussed on the Blue Core'dinations... I had fun applying impressions to the little butterflies, and then double punching a set and having a plain rubbed back under wing...  I love the bigger Polka Dot embossing folder by QuicKuts, and it gives the embossing a nice fresh and slightly modern look.  The base card has a shine, something from my stash, came up nicely with the Spellbinders Impressability.

What's in it?
Stamps: StampIt Sentiment
Paper: Core'dinations Navy
Ink:  SU: Not Quite Navy; Random Blue Shiny Card
Extras: Bella: Blue Blossoms; Spellbinders: Nestabilities Circles Sm, Impressability; Quick Kuts: Polka Dot Embossing Folder; Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch; Antique Buttons, Kaiser Pearls

And then I had to try some pink Core'dinations.... thought a little tearing might be nice with the pink, so ripped some strips for the background and some circles to make the roses, lots of bending and distressing in those little ones!  I added plenty of shine to this one with some Perfect Pearls and a spritzer.

What's in it?

Stamps: Waltzing Mouse Stamps: Labels Five; StampIt: Sentiment

Paper: Core'dinations: Fuscia; Papermania: Rose Garden; SU: Pink Pirouette

Ink: Papertrey: Hibiscus

Extras: Hero Arts: Metallics Dots; Kaiser Pearls; Perfect Pearls

Queen Cathleen

This week's Queen for the Day on Splitcoaststampers is the very lovely Cathleen Torina, I chose to CASE her Don Li-Leger card, I loved the panel work, but had a calling for a bit of pink and red on a birthday card, so went with a silhouette and replaced the die cuts and ribbon with some border punching, a sentiment and a few butterflies.  A bit of detail, not too much fuss and flat to post... ticked all boxes.  Thanks for a wonderful gallery to peruse Cathleen, just gorgeous creations!

What's in it?
Stamps: Big Wish and Budding Blossoms by Verve
Paper:  SU: Bella Rose, Basic Black
Ink: Black
Extras: EK Success Scallop Scallops Border Punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch and Kaiser Bling.

Verve Squeeze

A very quick attempt at one of the Verve Release Challenges before deadline.  I wanted to give some new Papermania sheets a whirl, so went away from the beach summer theme for this soft feminine birthday card. 

I mixed inks and copics to get the colours on the flower, coloured a piece of white twine with a copic to bring in the touch of blue and did my best to colour the spiky flowers with a few different shades.  Bed calls up early to finish off some more things before sitting down to the Verve Release Party, hope to see you there peeps...

What's in it?
Stamps: Big Wish and Budding Blossoms by Verve
Paper: Papermania: Rose Garden; SU: Pretty in Pink
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; PTI: Hibiscus and Berry Sorbet; Copic: RV11, RV14, B41
Extras: Spellbiners: Curvy Rectangles Nestabilities; Kaiser Pearls, Prima Flower, PTI String.

One of a Kind...

A simple card, allowing focus on the one butterfly and the "One of a Kind" sentiment.
Lot's of Pink I know!! I coloured a truck load of these butterflies so you will be seeing more of these soon, one of those things you do when house sitting... But this simple card to start, the 'fly is popped on the top wings only, with the base sitting flat on the Label, which has its border coloured with a copic marker too. Then a simple case of clean panel work, one embossed the other edged with a border punch. Finished off with some gorgeous PTI ribbon and a button from my what seems to be never ending box of buttons and flowers from MM… I can see the bottom now, hope it doesn't run out before I get my other buttons out of storage….

What's in it?
Stamps: Hero Arts: Be Yourself, Antique Engravings.
Paper: SU: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette and a dash of random pink in there too
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic: RV11, RV14, RV29
Extras: Papertrey: Ribbon; Making Memories: Button; Spellbinders: Label 3 Nestabilities; Anita's Rhinestones; EK Success: Scallop Scallops Border Punch; Quick Kuts: Polka Dots EB.

Strawberries and Cream

This week’s Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoaststampers was a goody, lots of Crate Label’s to draw inspiration from....Is it cheating to find an actual match for a piece of cardstock that I had?

Here are the Joe Demarco Strawberries, and this card was inspired by the same image from a piece of Graphic 45 paper from the Domestic Goddess range... how perfect!

The most hilarious thing is that I am not generally a lover of blue and I hate strawberries, just as well this card is for someone else hey?!!!

I figured the Jenni Bowlin “Cream” button paired well with the strawberry image too. Hmmm “strawberries and cream”... the only place I would eat this is at Wimbledon because of the long tradition... and even then I would likely just buy them and give them to someone else--bring on the Tennis!!

I found this little bit of pierced paper lace in my “Maybe Later” dish and thought it would fit the theme, so it was a nice and quick way to incorporate the sentiment. I coloured up some Chino Pearls with a blue copic for this one, nice to have the richer base underneath the colour when working with Kraft.



What’s in it?
Stamps: Verve: Thanks
Paper: SU: Kraft Card; Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess—Farmers Market & Quilting Bee
Ink: Papertrey: Chocolate; Copic: B23
Extras: Kaiser: Chino Pearls, Jenni Bowlin: Chipboard Buttons; Pergmano Paper Piercing Template; SU: Eyelet Border Punch; Cuttlebug: Vintage Die; Vintage Lace, Twine

Vintage Chic

It is time to check out the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club Challenges for this month and see what the Dirty Dozen have to offer as inspiration for the Very Vintage theme. If there was ever a theme that would provide variety this is it, lots of different ideas to check out and vintage goodness to soak up!! I parted with some vintage findings that have stayed very deep in my hoarding pile for many years, a perfect time to get over myself and just use them!!

This little card is a modern twist on Vintage Chic… I saved a drink can so that I could press the Tin Types Impression Plate on some real metal (as all of my real metal is still in storage), I was originally going to rub some cream paint over it, but went with the clean look once the card started to come together… The ruffle is built from multiple layers of crepe paper, cut all at once with a ric rac die. I pulled them apart and layered them at different intervals before blasting them with the pink shimmer, I did heat with a heat gun, this helps the paper to hold more shape. I mixed it up with some suede ribbon on top, nice to have the different textures on the one card.

I love the birdhouse trio stamp and have used them in a different way in the Fan Club Gallery, this time stamped onto paper and cut out, I did darken up some of the image with a marker, the same marker was applied to the pearls to make sure the colour tied in well… then a little bit of hand cutting to finish off with the sentiment. I think I will be using these stamps a whole lot more, lots of fun, especially with the pink and silver theme…
This little number is going to take flight across the Pacific, perhaps it is coming to your place?

Thanks for stopping in!

What's in it?
Stamps: Stampendous: Birdhouse Trio; Papertrey: Big and Bold Wishes
Paper: SU: Pink Pirouette; Pepsi Max Can.
Ink: SU: Pretty in Pink; Copic: RV11.
Extras: Papertrey: Tin Types Impression Plate, Ric Rac Die; Cherry Glimmer Mist; Kaiser Pearls; Suede Ribbon.

Whopping Big Flower

I was drawn to the Prima Vintage Flowers, but they really are whopping, not just in diameter but in depth also, I have hestiated using them for this reason, but I happened upon a scrap of Vintage Cream Bazzill that is the exact shade of this flower so put them to use when CASEing Pat Smether's this week's Featured Stamper at Splitcoaststampers.

Pat is a lovely lady and represents the essence of Splitcoaststampers well, she is well known for her floral arrangements and cowboy ways... I didn't feel up to trying to make a cowboy and his appear out of this air so went with the floral theme, CASEing Pat's Rockin' Robin card.

I replaced the single bird with a group of birds, popping up a couple of them and glossing them as well.  The centre panel is pressed with a plate from Papertrey, then it was as simple as building the panels.  I added quite a bit of ribbon behind the flower, both to tie in the black and to make sure the flower didn't look like it was sitting out on a limb, larger than life...

I like the rich colours of the Domestic Goddess range of paper from Graphic 45, takes me back to a quilt I once made...

What's in it?
Stamps: Flourishes: Birds in Vines; Verve: Because of You
Paper: Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess--My Pretty Garden; Basic Black, Vintage Cream Bazzill
Ink: SU: Riding Hood Red
Extras: Spellbinders: Nestabilities Labels 4, Shapeabilities Fancy Tags; Prima Flower; Black Grosgrain by Kate's Paperie, Papertrey: Giga Guidelines 1Impression Plate; Dimensional Magic

MOJO133 Material Girl Wish

It was time I got stuck into using my Cosmo Cricket Material Girl Papers, I originally bought the small paper pad, along with a couple of full sized sheets, I particularly liked the tape measure in the larger make, and also bought one of the sheets that has all the little frames and pictures that co-ordinate.  So here is a card for MOJO 133 that uses all of those.  The extending panels are stamped with the stripes and dots combo in the Bountiful Backgrounds set, this provided the colour tie in for the main panel and therefore I went with the red cake and brown sentiment.  Took a bit to get the panels balanced, but got there in the end, using a good dash of the papers, and measuring tape as a faux ribbon.  The cake is popped up with an extra layer on the flower, all coloured with RHR and Antique Linen.

I took some liberty using a different shaped panel and instead of straight lines for the pearl, I framed the tips of the feature panel... happy to cop a fine from the Challenge Police if necessary...

Thanks for dropping in!

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve: Big Wish, Bountiful Backgrounds
Paper: Cosmo Cricket: Material Girl
Ink: SU: Riding Hood Red; PTI: Chocolate; Tim Holtz Distress: Antique Linen
Extras:  Kaiser Pearls, SU Twine, Vintage Button

An Oval--Well sort of...

This week's Verve Sketch required an oval, but alas I don't own anything that could shape and oval, and to save doing it by hand I slit a circle underneath a tag die to give the illusion of an oval, hopefully the sketch police are ok with this!

Another white card base, this must be a new trend... not likely!  The challenge called participants to choose between green, red or purple living rooms.  This is just about the only purple paper I own, so used both sides to build the panels and the circle and topped with a new tag and a fun sentiment from Verve.  Some flowers were required for the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping in, I am hoping to keep up with the Verve Sketches this month, will see how I go :-)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve: Big Wish, Feel the Sun
Paper: American Crafts: Play--Paddleball and Hokey Pokey
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Elegant Eggplant,Opal Opulence, Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie; Spica: Black
Extras: Spellbinders: Fancy Tags Shapeabilities

For the Latest Queen

I finally got around to participating in Spilitcoaststampers Queen for the Day Game from the Friday before last, this time honouring Queen Pat Smethers.  A CAS version of Pat's Virginia's Garden card... This card particularly caught my eye because of the die cut scrolls, which are ends from my new, thanks to KathyJ, Fancy Tags.  I also like the paper panel idea, so changed up the sentiment panel to suit what die cuts I had and took it from there.

What's in it?
Stamps:Verve: Enjoy
Paper: MME: Feeling Groovy--Pure Joy; Random Orange Card; SU: Kiwi Kiss
Ink: Papertrey: Chocolate
Extras: Spellbinders: Fancy Tags Shapeabilities; Random Button and Ribbon; Kaiser: Pearls; Papertrey: Twine

Labels go a Waltzing

I love that Waltzing Mouse Stamps put out labels to match Spellbinders' Nestabilities, I didn't even have a die cut machine or any dies until I saw these stamps and decided I needed some of them.... so now I have a growing collection of both!

I started with two die cuts and stamped the different sized labels after cutting these out.... much easier than in reverse and made easy with the clear stamps.  I then coloured in bits of the label and the embossed edges with a Copic Marker.  The little flower is also coloured in the same marker.

The scallop paper was made easy with my new Papertrey scallop die, these cut really nicely and it is great to have a large scallop in my collection now!  I wanted this card to sit relatively flat so gave the fluffy bow the flick and went with a simple ribbon treatment and a good dash of bling to finish this card off.  These rhinestones are a champagne-like colour and I find go well with Kraft card.

I thought this was a bit girly without being too pink, thanks for looking in today... see you soon!!

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve, Celebrating You, Love's Flower; Waltzing Mouse Stamps: Label 3
Paper: Kaiser: Imagine; SU: Soft Suede
Ink: Papertrey: Chocolate; Copic: RV14
Extras: Kaiser Rhinestones, Random Ribbon, Papertrey Lg Scallop Die, Spellbinders: Label 3 Nestabilities

Card and Ink, what else do you need?

Another outing for my newly aquired Taylored Expressions!  This time the Discover Your Wings stamp set, which I have had my eye on for quite some time, just lovely images and the stamps are a dream to use....

You can't get more basic than just using card and ink, this one has no other embellishments, just simple applications of ink on card.  Lots of gentle rubbing of ink that is, and of course another opportunity to Spica it up, adding dashes of black shine to the tips of the flowers and foliage.  This butterfly is gorgeous, nice bold outlines and plenty of space for your own expression.  Once the inking was done I added some Spica lines down the side of the black panel and took a scrap of black card and scrunched it up to build the rumpled ribbon look.

I love this look and will be coming back to these stamps very very soon, tks for dropping in!

What's in it?
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: Discover Your Wings
Paper: SU: Regal Rose, Basic Black
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Worn Lipstick, Barn Door; Spica: 23
Extras:  No need for anything else!

Stars and Wishes

An SFYTT Sketch as inspiration for this little Birthday Card.  Took this opportunity to ink up a few more images from WaltzingMouseStamps, I am really liking the Labels 3 and haven't even touched the surface of use for the circle images yet, but nice to squeeze one in here.  I did have trouble rustling up male papers, but turned to Nutmeg and managed to get the colours together in the end.  A bit of random ribbon, a couple of buttons and some of my favourite stars and this was done.

What's in it?

Stamps: WaltzingMouseStamps: Label 3, Vintage Circles; Verve: Big Wish; SU: In the Stars

Paper: Cosmo Cricket: Nutmeg, SU: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Kraft
Ink: PTI: Chocolate
Extras: Random Ribbon and Buttons; SU Twine; Spellbinders Label 3 Nestabilities and Circles Sm, EK Success Parisian Border Punch 

Say Hello to Copics and Taylored Expressions

It was fun to break open a new box of goodness, this time from Taylored Expressions... Not a big "colourer" I have finally decided to enter the world of Copic Markers and see how I go.... and the You're My Hero stamps set was a good place to start.

Some nice bold colours to jazz up the guitars, I couldn't quite believe that I had this bright blue Bazzill in my stash but it popped out just when I needed it!  Lots of black stamping and then the colouring on the guitars.  I have popped the arms up a little off the page along with the sentiment tab.  Both the background circle and ring are cut from the same piece of paper, with the ring over-coloured with Copics, just enough so that you can still see the pattern of the paper through the marker.  It was great to also incorporate my new Spica pen, for dashes of rock glamour amongst this primarily male card.

I got so excited with my new stuff I even decorated the inside of this one... Loving the Taylored Expressions, they stamp like a dream and clean up real nice, nothing quite like a bit of RUBBER!!!!!!






What's in it?
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: You're My Hero; Stampendous: Ribbons
Paper: Making Memories: Noteworthy Delaney Ledger Circle; SU: Basic Black; Bazzill: Some sort of Blue Colour :-)
Ink: SU: Pumpkin Pie, Not Quite Navy; Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic: YR04, YR07, YR09, B23, B39, B41; Spica 23
Extras: This one is all about the card and stamps!

Sweet Blogger Award

The lovely Michelle at Pink Paper Paradise sent a little Sweet Blogger Award my way this week, how special is that!  The best part about blogging is the camaraderie and support from all around the world... it is great to share work with others that take the time to comment and encourage, so I have based my "pay it forward" list on these qualities:

Alanna
One of the first people "who didn't know me" to frequently visit and comment on my blog posts!

Deena
One of my first followers :-) Sweet!

MicheyMoo
Points for the name and all of her sweet comments and encouragement!

Teresa Kline
Sweetness personified, in all of her creations and what she gives back!

Kathy J
My bestie, nuff said!

Susan
A newbie, my newest follower!

Sue W
A great commenter, it makes my day when she visits!

Crystal
A recent commenter here, like that she came and comes back!

Dot (no link she doesn't do cyber)
My first work colleague who I found through papercraft!

Rosietoes
Does the circuit and still finds time to visit little old me and leave some LOVE!

Thanks ladies, and thanks also to all those ladies who comment but don't have a blog themselves, this is a shout out to you too!!  So glad that you share some of your time with me and the little thing that is Edna15!!

Quick Tab Hi

I stamped off the sentiment plaque and butterflies when at Dot's recently… so nice to put them to use straight away. Another CAS card on a white card base… eeekkk! It was also good to cut into this paper which must be half a decade old…. Plenty of white space, and room for pops of colour…. Loving these little butterflies, have plans to use them on some little gift cards, especially the dotted one, so fresh and fun!

What's in it:
Stamps: Bella: Impressions
Paper: American Crafts: Play Mother May 1; SU: Regal Rose Card; Random White Card
Ink: Rose Red Marker on letters, Random Pink for Stamping
Extras: Heidi Swapp Chipboard Letters, Random Ribbon, EK Success Scallop Scallops Border Punch