graveyard skull & PPA5 (#2!)

Are you a fan of Edgar Allan Poe? Do you love baroque gothic motifs this time of year? Then you probably love this stamp set like I do! From the Crypt has the most amazing artwork. Pumpkins and skulls, ravens and spiders and bats, oh my! I paired this gothic beauty with the cast-a-spell designer paper for an erie delight. I started with this layout from the amazing Mary Fish. Using a base of old olive cardstock (4 1/4 x 11") folded at the top, I layered a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of basic black cardstock and dressed it up with 1 1/8 x 5" strips of the DSP. I cut a 3" circle of pumpkin pie & vellum cardstock with my circle nestibilities. Then, using my stamp-a-ma-jig (love it!) I stamped the fantastic skull on the vellum with basic black ink. Layering the vellum over the pumpkin pie dilutes the orange a bit but still gives a much needed punch of color. And the vellum just makes the skull look even more erie... Can we just talk about the artwork on this stamp for a minute? Look close and you will see ghosts rising from the ground, ravens circling, crooked old tree branches--this set is not for the faint of heart. It's perfect for the halloween season! A strip of basic black gets a simple sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes inked up in whisper white craft ink. Finally, three "chrome" studs (jo-ann's) break up the 3 panels and give just the right amount of shine. Oh, and I almost forgot the spiders crawling up the inside...right onto your arm...eeek!


supplies: stamps: From the Crypt, Teeny Tiny Wishes
paper: old olive, basic black, pumpkin pie, vellum cardstock & cast-a-spell DSP
ink: basic black, whisper white craft
extras: circle nestabilities, "chrome" spot stickers (jo-anns)

sassy sprite

I'm not sure which dollar bin she came from (really!) but dressed up in rich razzleberry and matted in crushed curry she looks downright elegant, dontcha think?! This is a large (5x7) card for a co-worker. Not my favorite size but necessary for all the staff well wishes. The large size of this one actually gave me the right sized canvas to create this super-sized flower. It's made from the new ornament punch in the Holiday mini and we're just one day away from being able to order it (September 1st)! The ornament punch is so cool--you're going to love it. It coordinates with the fabulous Delightful Decorations ornament stamp set that will make christmas card-making a piece of cake! Anyway, I punched out 6 "ornament" shapes from the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and arranged them to resemble a flower. The credit for this great idea goes to Jeni Allen--check out her Stampin' Spot blog. I used my oval nestabilities to create the sassy sprite in the center of the flower. The flower landed on a rich razzleberry background that was run through my cuttlebug with the birds & swirls embossing folder, matted on crushed curry and clipped with the ticket corner punch. The banner for my sentiment is more Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and the stamp from Sincere Salutations looks great inked up in rich razzleberry and stamped directly on the designer paper. Three gold rhinestone brads (circles, fire) provide just the right amount of sparkle for this sassy sprite. Hope you like it!

Supplies:
pre-made card (michael's)
paper: rich razzleberry, crushed curry & whisper white CS, razzleberry lemonade dsp
ink: rich razzleberry
stamps: sincere salutations, sprite (Kolette Hall for Studio G)
extras: birds & swirls embossing folder, scallop edge punch, ticket corner punch, oval nestabilities, rhinestone circle brads (fire)

sneaky pumpkins & PPA5

Oooh, the new holiday mini catalog is fab-u-lous! I can't wait to share it with you on September 1st. Until then, here is a sneak peek at two of the oh-so-fun new stamp sets called Sweet Centers and Pumpkin Patch. For the sweet center, I punched out a 1 3/4" hole, dropped in the plastic sweet treat cup, filled it up with a sweet treat (here I used just the orange reese's pieces) and covered up the back by attaching it to another piece of cardstock. For this treat, I first stamped one of the pumpkin faces from the Pumpkin Patch stamp set on the outside of the treat cup with jet black stazon ink. The Pumpkin Patch stamp set is very versatile because it comes with 3 different pumpkin faces that you can stamp on just about anything. Notice that all 3 of the pumpkin faces here are different? To create my focal pumpkin, I covered up the edge of the sweet treat cup with a 3" circle that I ran through the cuttlebug with the distressted stripes folder and punched another 1 3/4" hole from the center. The pumpkin buddies, also from the Pumpkin Patch stamp set, are stamped in pumpkin pie (of course) on whisper white and hand-cut. The stem, curly vines, and patch of grass are all from the same set, inked up in old olive and stamped right on my whisper white panel. I finished off the bottom of the main panel with a piece of the Cast-a-Spell designer paper (gorgeous) and covered up the edges where the two papers meet with 1/4" old olive grosgrain ribbon. Happy sneak peek!
edited 8/27/09: The Pals Paper Arts team just announced this week's theme challenge with the theme of Halloween so I have entered this card in their challenge. Be sure to check them out--what a talented group of ladies!

glass decor

Whew! It's been a long time since my last post. We've had some illness in our house but all are well again. I've been itching to use the Decor Elements that came with my SU starter kit and found a great use for them at my office! There is a glass panel next to my office door with a metal frame that made the perfect "shelf" for a stack of books (I am a librarian, afterall) and this beautiful potted orchid from the "Shelf Life" decor element. They went on easy-peasy and adhered to the glass smooth as silk. Check out the Decor Elements catalog and see what strikes your fancy!

our feline friends

Here's a card I made a little while ago for a dear friend of mine who lost her dear friend. Very simple, not too much to explain...kraft card base (5 1/5 x 8 1/2" folded at the top) run through the cuttlebug with a swiss dot embossing folder (one of my absolute favorites!) on the bottom third. I stamped the kitty in basic black ink on the main panel and then, using a post-it note, created a mask so I could stamp the grass around him. I wanted it to look like he was sleeping in the grass--just as my kitties do in our yard. The basic black kitty is from hanko designs. I just fell in love with this cat when I saw him; it's hard to find animal stamps that are not too whimsical or too literal. I like the stylized depiction of this design. The tall grass stamp (impress rubber stamps) is stamped on and off in kiwi kiss (miss it terribly). The sentiment inked up in basic black is a very versatile one from the Love You Much set and the 3 little rhinestones (michael's) give a respectable amount of polish to this sympathy card. Thanks for looking and send a little thought out to all the kitties in your life--past and present.

I love to play @ PPA!

I'm so exited to participate in the first Pals Paper Arts challenge! I've been a long-time reader of Mary Fish's blog (who hasn't?!) and am looking forward to great things from the design team of her downlines. This card meets the PPA Challenge #1, PPA1, using a slight variation on layout #52 (FTL52) from the Clean and Simple blog (another favorite). Here I started with a sahara sand base cut to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" folded at the top. The thoroughly modern dsp provides a beautiful panel of bermuda bay pattern set off by soft suede scalloped edges. Since I didn't have any of the rose red ink that coordinates with the thoroughly modern dsp, I substituted the "in color" melon mambo on the biggest flower from the "petal pizzazz" set. I cut it out and added a little oomph with a flower burst embosslit, an SU exclusive, that had been brayered with melon mambo before running through my cuttlebug. To tie the flower in with the other two colors, I punched out a 3/4" circle of bermuda bay and topped it off with a 1/2" circle of the soft suede pattern from thoroughly modern dsp then popped it up on stampin' dimensionals. The sentiment from "upsy daisy" was inked up with my melon mambo and bermuda bay stampin' write markers and stamped on whisper white cs. Don't you just love having the in color markers?! Lastly, it's punched out with the new modern label punch and tucked it under the flower. What do you think?
edited to add: Oops! I just realized that I used soft suede instead of the challenge color--chocolate chip! I think I intended to use one of the thoroughly modern patterns that included soft suede so there was, apparently, no getting me off the soft suede train. Sorry about that!

Supplies:
stamps: petal pizzazz, upsy daisy
ink: melon mambo
paper: sahara sand cs, soft suede cs, whisper white cs, thoroughly modern dsp
extras: stampin write markers (melon mambo and bermuda bay), scalloped edge punch, modern label punch, 3/4 " and 1/2" circle punches, flower burst embosslit, brayer, stampin' dimensionals.

sunset wheat

A "guy" card I actually am proud to post! That doesn't usually happen...but this one came together nicely. I needed a birthday card for my brother-in-law and I got the idea to cut shapes from a six-pack beer case. Specifically here, I used Leinengkugel's Sunset Wheat because the images were so, dare I say it, "pretty" and since my BIL lives in Wisconsin Leine's was a perfect choice! I started with a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" card cut from pacific point (retired) textured cs and folded at the top. I tried to punch out parts of the carton but it was too much for the punch so I ended up using my tabletop paper cutter to cut out the sections that I wanted. I think next time, I will scan the carton and print it out onto cardstock so that I can punch the desired sections. Anyway...after I cut out my sections I played around with the layout until I liked the distribution of color and pattern. I mounted them onto a piece of river rock (retired) cardstock using an alternating pattern of up and down with stampin dimensionals. This helped it look not so flat since 3 of the 6 squares were on dimensionals. Three brown eyelets (jo-ann's) gave a final touch of masculine metal to the front. For a little more interest, I rounded the bottom right corner of both panels with my corner rounder. The sentiment is stamped in basic black from the "on your birthday" set (*love* that set!). But wait, look at the inside! A beer mug stamp from the dollar bin at Michaels was stamped in basic black on another river rock panel and then colored in with my crushed curry marker. And see the envelope behind there? I love stamping the front of the envelope with a related image--sort of a sneak peek to what's inside. Do you recognize the image? It's the wheat from the "autumn days" inked up in crushed curry. It is similar to the hops/wheat image from the beer carton, dontcha think?

welcome baby

I made this card using Lauren Meader's onesie tutorial for a baby shower we went to today. So cute! This card is super easy and stinkin' cute don't you think? Lauren says it should only take about 10 minutes to make and really it does! I cut a 4 1/4 x 11" card from whisper white with the fold at the top. Then I cut a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 piece of my patterned paper--here I used DCWV "nana's nursery". The head and leg holes are cut with a 1 3/8 circle punch and the scalloped circle punch. The sentiment is stamped from the "short and sweet" set in certainly celery and attached to a scalloped oval punched from lavendar lace cardstock. The sizzlits buttons #5 die passed through my cuttlebug on some more lavendar lace cardstock to make the buttons for the bottom of the onsie! I finished off the inside with the deer image from the "forest friends" stamp--a good match to the non-SU patterned paper, eh? Oh, and don't forget the back! The leg and head holes looked too plain so I finished them off with more scalloped edges. Hope you like it!