Sweet Sugar-Coated Embellishments

Danielle's glitter-striped die-cut words were really appealing to me, so I decided to try her technique.

Instead of applying the Scor-tape after die cutting, I added the strips of tape to the paper and then die cut.  Then I peeled off the backing and applied the glitter.   I used a couple images from Funky Florals to finish my strip across the bottom.

Thanks for looking!

Amy

Scent-sational Cards and Limited Supply Challenge

After watching Nichole's video tutorial on making scratch and sniff cards, I decided to start by re-creating her card.  It was a great way to start.

The only change I made to the card is that I used SU Cherry Cobbler card stock and ink.  I really love that color and thought it was appropriate here.

I did make another Scratch and Sniff, but I'm using it for the limited supply challenge.  For that card, I used a sketch "recipe" I used earlier:

Here is the card:

I love these colors together and thought they'd be perfect for the peach.  Unfortunately, my peach jello (a generic brand) did not smell strong enough for the scent to come through as a scratch and sniff.  

Thanks for looking!

Oven-fresh Accents

For this challenge I made embellishments with my Bitty Baby Blessings stamps and dies and shrink plastic.  First I die cut the shapes.  Then I colored them with Copics on the front and back.  After they had color, I then stamped them with black Staz-on ink.  The impression wasn't great, so I went over it with a fine Sharpie.  Then the fun was shrinking them with my heat tool.  Here is the card I made:

I used Signature Greetings II and Banner Builder stamp sets to finish the card.

Thanks for looking!

Amy

Gallon-Quart-Pint challenge

For the gallon-quart-pint challenge, I decided to look back at the sketch and color recipes from the morning challenge.  I chose this sketch:

And my colors came from this color recipe:

Here is my card:

I used the linen and canvas impression plate and Round and Round stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

Amy

A Sprinkle of Salt

Nichole and the design team shared 2 different salt techniques.  I tried both.  First, I decided to color some watercolor paper with my Kool-Aid dyes from the Tea Stain challenge and then sprinkle sea salt over the paper to make splotches (very technical stamping term, I'm sure).  Once the paper was done, it really didn't need much to make a card!  Here it is:

I mounted the watercolored paper onto a Berry Sorbet card base and added a sentiment from Sending You Sunshine on a Half and Half die cut.  Somehow (okay-- I know it's my bad photography skills) the harvest gold paper looks brighter than in real life, and the yellow in the bottom corner of the card is hardly showing in this photo.  In reality, they work together really well.  

I also tried the glue and table salt dots with reinker.  I decided to use my SU Because I Care set with a sentiment from Happy Trails.  Here's the card:

I tried to use the combination of the salt/ Scarlet Jewel ink and a Copic that was a little more blue to mimic the hydrangeas my grandma had on her bushes this summer.  She had a couple bushes that had flowers like this -- some parts more blue and some more  pink/purple.   

Thanks for looking!

Amy 

Rolled Dough Designs

I had never worked with paper clay before.  It's a nice option to have around when I want a custom embellishment.  First, I rolled out the regular paper clay -- probably more messy than I want to get on a regular basis, but I did like the results.  Here is the ornamet that I made with it, the filigree border die, and that wonderful "smile" stamp.  Really, I promise I didn't use that one on everything I've made this weekend.

Then I turned to the Delight paperclay.  That was a lot less messy and die cut well.  I decided to try several dies.  First, I tried the Trendy Tree Tops:

I colored the tree, trunk and heart with Copic markers.  If I had this one to do over again, I'd die cut the trunk out of the top so I could piece it together and wouldn't have to layer.

Then I started with buttons.  I had colored some clay with my old SU Blue Bayou ink refill and had put glitter into another batch.  I cut buttons from all of it.  When I chose the patterned paper (My Mind's Eye -- The Sweetest Thing) I was going to use for the card, I colored some buttons a darker blue with Copics and stamped the white glitter ones with Kraft ink (SU Crumbcake) and BB Text Style to get the right colors.  Here is the card:

After affixing the buttons to the card, I covered each one in Diamond Glaze.    I love the glazed look for these.    The sentiment is from Quilled Elegance -- another set with sentiments I could use over and over and over...

Thanks for looking!

Tea Staining Techniques

I was really drawn to Betsy's "tea" staining with Kool-Aid, so I decided to go that route with my dying.  I cut some bookmarks and tags from watercolor paper and some ice cream toppers (from Sweet As Can Be dies) and flowers from cream felt.    I took a cue from Nichole and stamped a couple of my bookmarks and tags with Mehndi Medallion and Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder to get a resist.  After everything was dry, I put my card together using another sketch "recipe" from this morning:

Here's the card:

I couldn't resist using that "Smile" from the new Stamp-a-faire set again.   I added a scoop of harvest gold felt to the two scoops I had dyed and a few sprinkles of SU glass glitter to top them off.

I haven't used all of the pieces that I dyed yet, but I did put the bookmarks together.  Since they were not very strong and were a bit warped after being wet, I backed the bookmarks with some rustic white card stock.

Here are the bookmarks!

I played around using a paintbrush like Erin did with the coffee and with dipping like Betsy did in her video.  And what do you know?  There's that "Smile" again.  :)  I'll save the tags and flowers to use later on.

Thanks for looking!

Amy

Mixing Mists to Match

This afternoon, Nichole shared a recipe for mixing our own spray mists using Papertrey ink refills.  The ink refill included in my Stamp-a-faire box was Scarlet Jewel, so that's the color I mixed.  Since Scarlet Jewel is not one of my go-to colors, I decided to use another of this morning's color recipe cards.  This is the one I chose:

And here is my card:

I cut the hexagon cover plate with my Big Kick and used it as a mask over Kraft card stock.  I used the special Stamp-a-faire exclusive Reasons to Smile stamp set and my Fabulous Frames dies for the focal point.  

Thanks for looking!

Amy

Breakfast Bake and Take

The first challenge for Stamp-a-faire is a great one to get me warmed up.  We had a choice of color combinations and sketches to combine to create a great card recipe.  

Here is the color combo I chose:

And her is the sketch I chose:

And here is my card:

Maybe it's a little spring-y for late August, but it's a gorgeous day outside, so it works for me.  

In addition to the colors listed above, I used Framed Out #1 stamp set and dies and the Sweet Spring stamp set and Copic markers to color.   

Thanks for looking!

Amy

Stamp-a-faire 2013

This has been a crazy first week back at work for me, so I am beyond thrilled to be spending all day today at my craft desk doing what I love.  I admit that I didn't start at 7am as the posts and challenges on Nichole's blog began to roll out.  I've decided that I'll pretend I'm on Pacific time today -- mostly because I wanted to sleep late.  But I've cleaned my desk (mostly) and completed the first challenge (post to come) and am rolling right along.  

Happy to be crafting with PTI fans from around the world today!

Amy

End of camp cards!

I did it!  A weekend cramming session has helped me have a card for each day of Summer Camp!  
The challenge for Week 3, Day 4 was to do something that is out of the ordinary for me.  I was inspired by Heather's card where she used the epoxy circles to embellish her card.  It occurred to me that I have 4 (not 1, mind you -- 4!) unopened packages of Making Memories Page Pebbles.  I didn't buy them -- they were in my goodie bag at Stamp-a-Faire a couple summers ago.  So I've had them for 2 years unopened.  Maybe that's what I need to use.    I kept with the color combination of the week and sketch #1.

I chose Papertrey's Gracious Vases set.  For my Page Pebble embellishments, I stamped each flower onto Winter Wisteria card stock.   Then I used my pebbles to highlight one section of each flower and trimmed each to the size of the pebble.

Week 3, Day 5 brought another selection of color combos!  I chose this one:

This is such a happy combination, I wanted to make a really fun card.  I decided Polka Dot Basics would help highlight the colors.  

For the sentiment, I turned again to Wonderful Words:  Birthday.  I repeated the "happy" in the colors of my color combination.  Then I used the trick from Week 1 of layering die cuts to help "birthday" stand up off the page.  

A Few More Card Camp Cards

I'm still playing Summer Card Camp catch-up, and still having fun.  The last card for Week 2 was to choose one of the color combos. I chose this one for this card:

I decided to try a card like the one that the wonderful Jess Witty had created.  I used the same image stamp sets (Botanical Silhouettes and Peaceful Garden) and general layout she had used and changed a few things.  What a neat idea to have 3 layers of stamping!  

I moved on to Week 3.  Week 3 brought a new color combo:

I just had to try Jennifer McGuire's diagonal banner.  Love this!  I also took the idea of using tone-on-tone stamping to incorporate two shades of a color.  

Despite what my picture shows, the gems really do match the colors!  For this card, I pulled out Wonderful Words:  Birthday.  These little $5 sets from Papertrey are such gems!

For Day 2, I took inspiration from Sarah Moerman's card.  I pulled out my Hexagon cover plate from Papertrey and my Happy Hexagons stamp set and went to work.  

I finished it off by heat embossing the sentiment from Think Big Favorites #17 (PTI).  

Then for Day 3, I was inspired by Shari Carroll.  I liked her circle with the hexagons.  I decided to incorporate a star as the sketch had indicated.  

I think if I were doing it over again, I would have incorporated some background stamping on the kraft circle.  

Two more days of "homework" to go!

Catching up on Summer Card Camp

I did well the first week of card camp and made 4 out of 5 cards.  Then we went on vacation.  And then we had Vacation Bible School.  But I've finally done a little stamping today and am making some headway!  

I started with the last card for Week 1.  The homework that day was to try out one (or more) of the additional color combinations.  I translated the one I chose (the third one) to be Peach Parfait (SU), Raspberry Ripple (SU), Concord Crush (SU), Hawaiian Shores (PTI), and white.  I also used one of the sketches for the week, but turned the card base horizontally.  

This was my first time using my new PTI Rosie Posie step 2 set.  I love the results!  Very fun!   (For the "Step 2" I used Orange Zest (PTI), Purely Pomegranate (SU), and Blueberry Sky (PTI).    I really liked these colors together and NEVER would have chosen them on my own.  

Feeling good about things, I moved on to Week 2.  I translated the weeks' colors as Vintage Cream (PTI), Spring Rain (PTI), Simply Chartreuse (PTI), Ripe Avocado (PTI) and dark brown -- in some cases I used Early Espresso (SU) and in others I used Dark Chocolate (PTI).  For Day 1, I decided to follow Kristina's example and dive right in with the circle card.  

My Nesties came in handy for this card.  I used some patterned paper from SU (Washington Apple, retired). The stamps are from Papertrey's Flutterby Friend.   I printed and cut the "It's Your Day" banner with my Silhouette.  Then, as I was placing the banner across the card, I decided to partially cut out the butterfly's wings to layer over the banner.  I colored the leaves and butterfly with Copics and added some Stickles to the butterfly's wings.   

I did 2 cards for Week 2, Day 2.  For the first one, I used my Quilled Elegance set from Papertrey.  Boy, I love that set.  It's so, so pretty!  I used my Versamark Pen to cover the Copic-colored images and heat embossed with clear powder.  I carefully cut away part of the flowers to hang over the edge.  I popped that panel up over some Simply Chartreuse patterned paper (PTI).  

Also for Day 2, I tried another sketch.   When I saw the circles on the third sketch, I knew I had to pull out my Circle Circus set from SU. 

 I am so very guilty of using only my PTI sets and forgetting I even own some really fun SU sets (as well as some from other companies).  But this sketch helped me remember my cute little Circle Circus set.   I used tone on tone embossing (Versamark with clear embossing) for all of the circles.  Some circles were punched, others were die cut with my Nesties.  The "Smile" is from Happy Trails (PTI).  That font alone makes me smile when I see it.  I rounded the right-hand corners with my Corner Chomper and added  some "stitches" with a white pencil.  

Moving on to Day 3.  A shaker card?  I had never made one because I had never wanted to cut that much foam tape and try to make it into a circle.  (Yes, I know you can buy the circles of foam tape, but I don't ever make shaker cards.  See the problem???)    But Kelly Marie Alvarez used fun foam cut with circle dies. I have LOTS of fun foam!   I had to give it a try.  Too bad my nighttime cell-phone photography just doesn't do it justice.

I created my own sky background on Vintage Cream cardstock (PTI) with Spring Rain ink (PTI) and the Heart 2 Heart #6 cloud dies (PTI).  I used the striped pattern from the Simply Chartreuse pattern pack (PTI).  My clear window is cut from packaging.  The stamps (and die) are Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI).  The most stressful part for me was deciding what would "shake" inside the card.  I settled for some of Stampin' Up's chunky glitter and some punched circles -- some covered in glitter, some colored with Copics.  

Then Day 4 comes with a challenge:  Use holiday stamps for a non-holiday card.  Honestly, this is a little less stressful than the first week's 10-minute challenge.  I looked through my holiday stamps and settled on a set I've had for a long time.  I don't know what company made the set, but I bought it for its string of Christmas lights.  I decided that the string of lights could become a branch with leaves!  

I patterned the layout of my card (very obviously) after Dawn McVey's card for Day 4.  I love Dawn.  Her cards make me happy.  Since I had a branch, I needed a bird.  I found my bird in my Polka Dot Parade #5 set.  He's a plump, happy bird, isn't he?  I stamped him in Dark Chocolate (PTI) and Spring Rain (PTI).  The "Happy Birthday" and the music notes are stamped in Early Espresso (SU).  I colored the "leaves" with a Copic marker.     

Well, that's about all the card-making and blogging I can squeeze into one day.  I'll be back at my desk tomorrow afternoon to get the rest of my cards made and posted!  I don't remember having any cram sessions in college that were this much fun!

Amy

Summer Card Camp Day 4

Oh, the challenge for day 4 was a tough one for me!  The dreaded 10-minute card challenge.  Okay.  I decided to give it a try.  I gathered the supplies I would use and sort of planned out my card as I did that.   Things started to go wrong with my first stamp.  I had cut my card base and masked off the edges to stamp a background within.  Then I stamped my text background stamp upside-down!  AGH!   I cut another panel of white paper and started stamping my background again.  Then I trimmed it and added that to the center of my card.   From there the main challenge was finding my scissors, my adhesive, my dies... mind you, they were all out on the table; I just couldn't find them!   I knew there was no way I'd finish in 10 minutes, but I think I did pretty well at about 13 minutes!   Here it is:

I decided after I took the picture that I should add some Stickles to the cupcake icing, so the actual card now sports some bling.

Supplies:

Paper:  Stamper's Select White (PTI), Poppy Parade (SU), Island Indigo (SU), Peach Parfait (SU)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine), Peach Parfait (SU)
Stamps:  Think Big Favorites #13 (PTI), Background Basics Text Style (PTI)
Dies:  Papertrey Ink

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Day 3

I went to my scraps for this card for Day 3.  The herringbone strips are actually cut from the strip that is intended to be trimmed from 12 x 12 papers!   The other scraps had accumulated as I've been playing with this color combo this week.

It was fun to pull out a new stamp set and die that I haven't used yet from my most recent PTI order.  :)

Supplies:
Paper:  Harvest Gold (PTI), Island Indigo (SU), Peach Parfait (SU)  <-- down="" echo="" ends="" from="" i="" just="" m="" of="" p="" pack="" parade="" park="" pattern="" poppy="" s="" scraps="" select="" stamper="" strips="" the="" this="" to="" white="">Ink:  Poppy Parade (SU), Island Indigo (SU), Peach Parfait (SU)

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Day 2

Day 2 of Card Camp gave me a renewed relationship with my stamp positioner. Jennifer showed a great way to use it combined with masking to use multiple colors on one stamp.  I had to try it -- and, I must say, it's a technique I'm going to remember to use again!

Supplies:

Paper:  Aqua Mist (PTI), Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink:  Hawaiian Shores (PTI), Island Indigo (SU), Poppy Parade (SU), So Saffron (SU), Peach Parfait (SU)
Stamps:  Background stamp (??), Beautiful Blessings (PTI), Mat Stack 1 collection

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Day 1

This week, I started the Summer Card Camp at Online Card Classes, so today I am playing catch-up on posting the cards I've made for the week.

On day 1, we were challenged to create cards using the color combos and sketches for the week.  Jennifer McGuire had used a die-cutting technique to add dimension to the die-cut sentiment by stacking multiple cuts together.  I had seen this before with shapes, but had not considered the impact it would have with a word or sentiment, so I had to give it a try.   I also had to try her technique of stamping a chevron with a sentiment.

Supplies:
Paper: Island Indigo (SU), Poppy Parade (SU), Peach Parfait (SU), Harvest Gold (PTI)
Ink:  Island Indigo (SU), Poppy Parade (SU), Peach Parfait (SU), So Saffron (SU)
Dies:  all Papertrey Ink

Thanks for looking!

Another Sketch Challenge

This card is based on Sketch #2 from today's sketch challenge.  I also gained some much-needed inspiration from this card by Dawn McVey.  I can always get inspiration from her!

Stamps:  Signature Greetings II, It's a Jungle Out There, Bitty Baby Blessings
Ink:  Berry Sorbet
Paper:  Bitty Dot Basics (Berry Sorbet), Melon Berry, white scraps (not PTI)
Dies:  Fabulous Frames, It's a Jungle Out There
Doily (Stampin' Up), Berry Sorbet Ribbon