French Foliage

CASE of  Heather Summers card.  Rock and roll your French Foliage stamps in More Mustard then Chocolate Chip ink pads to give realism to the leaves.  After stitching on leaves, fluff them out for dimension.  I think my sewing machine may be used exclusively for cards now.

Paper: Pool Party, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, International Bazaar Designer Series Paper

Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip

 Stamps:French Foliage

Tools: Scissors, sewing machine, sponge

Embellishments: Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon

A Funny Thing Happened to Some Beautiful Butterflies

A series of unfortunate events happened that would be a modern day Shakespeare comedic tragedy which has a happy ending. 

 It starts out as a normal Stampin' Up! craft moment where I'm cutting out butterflies using Beautiful Butterfly Bigz and my Big Shot when I notice fine scrap bits on the die.  Knowing there are sharp blades lurking beneath the foam, I decide to be cautious and use a lint roller with one sided adhesive paper to collect the debris. 

  This is where the tragedy occurs.  The lint roller sticks to the die and when I pull it off leaves a layer of the adhesive paper behind.  I try to use the lit roller again, thinking that the first layer will stick to the second layer and come free together.  Now this is where the comedy starts.  I have 2 layers of sticky adhesive on my die and cannot peel it off.  Not sure how many more times I try this but then I think I need to make my die less sticky.  How do you make your lint roller less sticky?  Get lint on it.  So I stick the die to the carpet.  Now the die has layers of adhesive paper and the stuff you might expect to have on a lint roller if you stuck it to the carpet.  Seems less sticky so I try to cut some card stock.  Like the Little Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, I now have layers of adhesive paper, stuff you find on carpet and card stock stuck to the die.  I decide to stop there BUT set down the die on cork sheet.  Realizing what I've done, I try to quickly pick the die back up only to find that now I have cork stuck to the die.  A friend suggests Goo Be Gone because it works on vases to take off price tags.  I knew this wouldn't work because foam is porous so I stopped right there.

My Beautiful Butterfly Bigz is no longer a functioning tool.  It is now a freak Dagwood Sandwich.  I put it away for awhile.  

 I LOVE that die and I want to use it again so I call Stampin' Up! Customer Support for help because surely this has happened to someone else and they know what to do.  Can you believe no one has ever done this to their die before? 

 This is where the happy ending happens.  After loads of sympathetic laughter on the other end of the phone a new Beautiful Butterfly Bigz is on the way to me from Stampin' Up!.

All the players take a bow and thank Stampin' Up!.

 Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, First Edition Specialty Desiner Series Paper, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight

 Tools: Beautiful Butterfly Bigz, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Big Shot, Paper Trimmer

 Embellishments: Rhinestone Basic Jewellery, cork sheet, Linen Thread 

Thanks A Bunch

 Inspiration for this lock and key card came from Elaine Uhl.  It looks complicated but really, it is so simple because the Window Frames Framelits do all the work.  

 Stamps:Friendship Preserves

 Paper:Orchard Haarvest Designer Series Paper, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze

Ink: Cajun Craze, Island Indigo

 Tools:Scissors, Big Shot, Window Frames Framelits

Pumpkin Patch

 The inspiration for this card came from pink buckaroodesigns.  The original card had 3 pumpkins on the front but my punches were larger so I could only fit 2 on top of the Basic Black card stock that was run through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots Folder.  It was so fast and easy to create that I thought "that's it?  I'm done?", that's when I decided to make the pop up in the card.  Same oval punches from inside but now they are folded and adhered together.

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Ink: Crumb Cake (for sponging around ovals)

Tools: Bird Builder Punch, Extra Large Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Folder

Embellishments: Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon

Past Workshops

 I'm not exactly sure when we've done these items but it's been in the past year.  If you are not attending, this is what you are missing.  We make cards that open non-traditionally such as this gate fold card above.

 We also use hostess sets which can only be purchased when you are the hostess of a class.  SO easy to get this set.  Ask me how.

 This adorable card and milk carton was made using a stamp set that was only available for a limited time.  When you see something you love, you have to snap it up right away.

This card uses the brayer and the big shot to make a plaid dsp out of a plain piece of white card stock.

Supplies for these cards can be found here.  Thanks for stopping by.

Picasso in Toronto

 Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist who spent most of his adult life in France.  This summer his personal collection of art was on display at the AGO.  I had the opportunity to visit this collection with my friend Sue.
 My card is not anything like he would create but the idea is to create what we feel passionate about.  Stampin' Up! is my passion. 

Stamps:  Artistic Etchings
Ink:  Basic Back, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, First Edition Specialty
Tools: Big Shot, Paper Piercer, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL, sponge
Embellishments: Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Linen Thread

Hearts Can Blossom

I found this really cool video tutorial to make pop up ornaments.  With it I was able to create my own ornaments.  So easy to do.  I used the Floral Frames Framelits (3 inches sized frame) which can be purchased here.  With 2 sheets of Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper you can cut out enough flowers (17) to make 3 ornaments by cutting each piece of paper 3.25 inches x 3.25 inches.
The most difficult part, which isn't really difficult, is threading the ribbon through the bead.  I used 1/4 inch ribbon but you could use 1/8 inch instead.
Click here for video tutorial of Tami's pop up ornament.

First Edition

You would be surprised to find out how much First Edition Specialty DSP is used on this card!  I used 5 x 1.5 inch strips of paper in the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL, which is just about 1/2 of a 12 x 12 sheet!  I cut them in half, sponged on Crumb Cake and adhered them to the bottom 1/3rd of the card.  Inspiration was taken from here:  http://jgsnook.blogspot.ca/2011/03/jay-gees-nook-challenge-6.html

Stamps:  Artistic Etchings

Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake

Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, First Edition Specialty

Embellishments: Linen Thread, Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Tools: Paper-Piercing Tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL, Big Shot

All items can be found here: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/smalltownstamper/ 

I am thinking of using this for my swap at the Hamilton Regionals, August 18, 2012.  What do you think?  Wound you want to trade your card for mine?  Inspiration for this card came from here: http://lvstmpn.wordpress.com/ And the tutorial is from Splitcoaststampers, here:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/freestandingpopupcard/ 

 Because this card has so many layers, brads and pearls I did make an alteration to the tutorial for this card; instead of using a knife to cut a slit for the tag to pop through I used the Word Window Punch. The punch makes the cut tidy and leaves lots of room for any embellishments.

Stamps: Creative Elements, Kindness Matters

Ink: StazOn White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral

Embellishments: 3/8" Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, Antique Brads, Pearl Basic Jewels

Tools: Colour Sprits Tool, Big Shot, Designer Frames Folders, Top Note Bigz, Word Window Punch,  Boho Blossoms Punch, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Heat Tool

All items can be found here: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/smalltownstamper/