it's finally here!

As I write this tonight, it's actually cool enough to have the windows open and today it was beautifully cool for our area. Yahoo! I guess all my fall cards have made an impact--tee, hee! Today's post is a large 5x7 card for a male co-worker's birthday. I really like how the colors turned out--it took me awhile because they were out of my usual zone but I like the combination. I was inspired by this card over on the fabulous Nancy Riley's blog. I loved her use of the {in colors} and the Season of Friendship stamp has long been a favorite. The main panel is stamped with the Season of Friendship (#111776) tree in soft suede ink. I stamped the little tri-bunch of leaves all over the tree to fill it out with autumn color. I intended to stamp just a few leaves but I was not happy with it and as I added more and more, I came to a point where I realized that I liked the full look of it and just kept going! There might be one too many but you know how hard it is to know when to say "when"! LOL! The leaves are inked up in crushed curry, dusty durango, rich razzleberry & just for good measure...kiwi kiss (retired) makes a return appearance. Has it been hard for you not to use kiwi kiss too?! The tree is partially matted with some dusy durango cardstock attached on dimensionals to a larger mat of rich razzleberry that was stamped with the Sanded background stamp (#109294) in soft suede. I stumbled for awhile longer (sometimes it just takes me FOREVER!) over where to put the sentiment and I ended up using the Teeny Tiny Wishes set (#115370) popped out with the Word Window punch (#105090) and attached to a Modern Label (#116630) of crushed curry. I just love how the Word Window fits perfectly on top of the Modern Label punch! I punched a small hole in each end of the modern label and using some hemp twine "tied" the sentiment onto the card. Oh, I almost forgot the inside! A couple pieces of light cardstock are a must to line the inside of a dark card base and it provides the perfect blank canvas to carry over a little bit of the front image on the inside. I think stamping a matching or coordinating image on the inside just adds a little professional touch, don't you? I'm pleased with the results and hope you are too...thanks for looking.

Supplies:
stamps: season of friendship, sanded background, teeny tiny wishes
ink: soft suede, crushed curry, rich razzleberry, dusty durango, kiwi kiss
paper: very vanilla, soft suede, dusty durango, rich razzleberry cardstock
extras: word window, modern label, and 1 1/16 circle punches, hemp twine

inspired by fall: PPA9

Lately, I keep turning to my autumn stamps and inks in the hopes that fall will soon arrive here in North Florida. No such luck so far with temps at 91 yesterday, ugh! Since I am so eager for fall to arrive, I couldn't help but play along with the Pals Paper Arts design team and their Picture Perfect Inspiration challenge #9. They inspired us with this beautiful photo from Pottery Barn. I am really loving the Autumn Splendor stamp set and used it to it's maximum advantage for my card. Here's the task:

1. Started with a A2 side-fold chocolate chip card base
2. Randomly stamped a 2 3/4 x 3 3/4" piece of very vanilla CS with all the leaf images from Autumn Splendor (#116503) using more mustard, always artichoke, really rust and chocolate chip.
3. This main panel is set off by a 3 x 4"mat of always artichoke.
4. Next, with a piece of hemp twine, I tied the end of the GORGEOUS 1 1/4" striped chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon (#115617) and notched the top. The ribbon gets adhered to the back of the always artichoke mat with enough hanging down to wrap around the back--but don't do that yet!
5. Next, I cut a 3 1/2 x 4 1/2" piece of more mustard from the autumn vine (retired) DSP.
6. The always artichoke mat is up on dimensionals and can now be attached to the more mustard DSP. The striped ribbon gets a little bit of SNAIL on the bottom edge and wraps around the back of the more mustard DSP.
7. The acorns from Autumn Splendor were inked in chocolate chip and then colored with the more mustard stamp pad and an aqua painter. I popped them out with a 1 1/4" circle punch and sponged the edges with close to cocoa. The acorns landed on a 1 3/8" circle of always artichoke and a scallop circle of really rust. The edges of the scallop circle also got a sponging of close to cocoa.
8. Finally, my stamp-a-ma-jig was just the thing to ensure that the chocolate chip Happy Thanksgiving greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370) was spot-on perfect.
   

It sounds more difficult than it was--truly. I hope you like it. Thanks for looking and be sure to check out all the great cards over at PPA9!

paradise island

Good friends of ours, both opticians, own a fabulous optical boutique, Alligator Island Optical, and I make handmade cards for them to send as a thank you to their customers. I also get great deals on glasses--a girl can't have too many! Anyway, I made 10 of these cards this morning to replenish their stash. I CASEd it from this card by Kimberly Van Diepen. I just loved her use of colors with the Paradise stamp set (#113778) and the layout of the stamped images. It adds a little extra fun element when the images run off the edge, I think. I changed a few things since I was making these in quantity and they also needed to be easy for mailing. I also changed up the mat a bit and used my tiny mosiac CB folder on the old olive cardstock. Because this CB folder looks slightly like alligator skin, it has become a staple on all the cards I make for the boutique. In case you're interested, here are the measurements of each element:

1. A2 card with side fold
2. old olive mat: 3 1/2 x 4 1/2"
3. bermuda bay mat: 3 1/4 x 4"
4. whisper white main panel: 3 x 3 3/4
   

Thanks for looking and be sure to check out Alligator Island Optical!

supplies:
stamps: paradise (#113778), short & sweet (#115060)
ink: bermuda bay, old olive, crushed curry, basic black
paper: whisper white, bermuda bay, old olive CS
extras: tiny mosaic CB folder, stampin dimensionals

PPA8: Keep It Simple Sweetie!

No, you're not going crazy and neither am I...you did see this card a few days ago. This is a card I designed for my stampin' group last week and it was a perfect fit for this week's design challenge at the PPA! The Pals Paper Arts design team asked us to K.I.S.S a card...that is "Keep It Simple Sweetie!" Since clean and simple is my favorite design style and I had this one already made it was a natural fit. The design team challenged us to:

1) keep it clean with lots of 'white' space
2) keep to a simple design
3) takes a minimum time to create
4) with limited layers and embellishments...
Check! I think it's a fit. For directions and supplies, please see my original post, or scroll down a bit on this page, LOL! Don't forget to go "Play @ the PPA!

need a nail file?

Here's a little hostess gift I made for a friend. Yes, those really are Stampin' Up! emery boards and they match the Thoroughly Modern designer paper--is there no end to the creative ideas at company headquarters?! These are a supply item available only to demonstrators--just one of the many perks to the SU team. Anyway, here's how I made it:

1. Cut a 3 x 12" piece of Thoroughly Modern DSP
2. Place two emery boards on the paper and fold the two ends in toward the center--they won't exactly meet but that's okay because the belly band will cover it. Place a piece of sticky strip on the each inside edge of the bottom half to seal up the bottom.
3. With the 3/16" corner rounder round the top two corners--this gives it a more professional look.
4. Create your sentiment for the inside. Here, I used the scallop oval and large oval punch out of bermuda bay & whisper white and stamped it with the "thank you" from the Short & Sweet set--inked in soft suede to match the paper, of course!
5. Next, to create the belly band cut a 2 x 9" coordinating piece of DSP and wrap it around the package overlapping the ends in the back and closing with snail adhesive.
6. Slide the belly band down, fold the top half down and then slide the belly band back up and over the top half. The belly band should cover both top and bottom edges.
7. Decorate and embellish as desired on the front. Here, I used the Daisies #2 Sizzix die with more coordinating DSP.
Super quick and super cute, eh?!

Supplies:
stamps: Short & Sweet
paper: Bermuda Bay & Whisper White CS, Thoroughly Modern DSP
ink: Soft Suede
extras: Corner Rounder punch, Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Daisies #2 die

delightful merriment

I love this stamp set and punch! This is what I love about SU--coordinating stamps and punches. Coordinating helpers like these are perfect for mass producing holiday cards especially with this simple layout. I can see a group of us making a bunch of these in an hour or two--throw in some christmas cocktails, some Frank on the CD player and it's a party! Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself...it's still only September. Pretty easy to see the details on this one. I used Very Vanilla cardstock, a strip of Merry Moments designer paper and a little peek from a Chocolate Chip scallop edge. I stamped two of the ornaments from the Delightful Decorations set (#116517)--one in real red and the other in old olive. The ornaments are punched out with the coordinating Ornament punch (#116794) and layered on top of each other with the red ornament up on dimensionals. The chocolate chip "string" is part of another delightful set from the holiday mini catalog called Berry Christmas (#116509). So many to choose from! Warm Words (#115108), one of my all-time favorites, provides the perfect holiday sentiment inked up in cheery real red. Be Merry!

supplies:
stamps: delightful decorations, berry christmas, warm words
paper: very vanilla & chocolate chip cardstock, merry moments DSP
ink: real red, old olive, chocolate chip
extras: ornament punch, stampin dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, scallop edge punch

you liked it, you really did!

OMG...I am so excited! The design team at Pals Paper Arts chose my pumpkin patch card as one of this week's artist picks! It is a complete and total honor to be recognized by such an amazingly talented group of artists. The ladies at PPA provide us with a fantastic challenge each week and it's been a real treat (pun intended!) to "play @ PPA". Check 'em out--maybe you'll be inspired to play along too. Thank you so much!