Upsy Daisy Life

Well my life has been turned upside down and inside out lately and now for two days in a row I have found the time in the morning to post to my blog.  That is an odd thing, for me to have time in the morning.  Lately at night after I finish stamping I have just been too tired to take the time to upload my cards to the computer and type out my blog.  Trust me you would not want to read those posts when I am beat.  Anyways, I have been kind of on a roll with these cards that have a white card base, I did another one last night.  I was going through the girls closet trying to get rid of the clothes that are too small and I ran into a cute little sailor dress that inspired the colors for this card.

The saying and the daisies are embossed with clear embossing powder so they really stand out on the card.  There are two ways you can do this, one you can use your SAMJ (stamp-a-ma-jig) and first stamp in your color and then stamp in versamark.  Or you can ink your stamp up in the versamark ink first and then ink it up in the color you want the image to be, and then stamp on your paper.  And then of course you can pour on your embossing powder and go from there.  Just make sure that you always use the versamark ink first or you will ruin your versamark pad.   The little piece of ribbon is attached to a mini library clip that doesn't show up too well in the photo.

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy

Ink:  Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Riding Hood Red, Versamark

Paper:  Whisper White, Night of Navy, Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Mini Library Clip, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, clear embossing powder, dimensionals

Tools:  Eyelet Border Punch, Heat Tool, Crafters Tool Kit, Sponge Dauber

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Wonderful Wet Watercolor Rose!

When I saw the tutorial that Patty B put on her blog for the wet water coloring technique, I just knew I had to try it out. I am water coloring challenged but this was so simple and produced fabulous results. I had the basics of the card already completed waiting for something to be put on it. It was left over from another card that I changed directions on late in the game. So all I had to do was add the rose and the sentiment.

The rose is so pretty and sparkly in real life since it is done using the shimmery white cardstock. You will just have to make one for yourself so you can see how pretty it really is.

Stamps: Fifth Ave Floral, Upsy Daisy

Ink: Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Craft White

Paper: Whisper White, Shimmery White, Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Walk in the Park DSP

Accessories: Whisper White taffeta ribbon, stampin dimensionals, clear embossing powder

Tools: Crafters’ Tool Kit, Aqua Painter, Word window punch, 1 inch circle punch, Designer Label Punch, Heat Tool

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Another LNS challenge

Sorry, my stamping has been put on a bit of a back burner this week.  First off it was wonderful because my husband came home earlier than usual almost every night this week.  It was nice to get to spend some good quality awake time with him and the kids actually got to see him and do things with him.  They had a blast celebrating his birthday.  The get a kick out of calling him “an old fart”, something they overheard me tell him last year just before his birthday when I didn't realize they were around.  The best was when they went to church telling everyone that their dad was now “as old as a fart”!  Anyways, it cut into my stamping time.  I did get to do a little stamping but I was working on a swap that is now down that I should be able to show you next week.  I am really happy about how it turned out.  I have also been busy editing photos and working on a tutorial for the princess dress bow holder since I have been getting so many requests for it.  It is sure taking a lot of time and when I go back and look at it, it doesn't look like it should be taking so long.   Well anyways, I finally got around to doing the weekly challenge for the Late Night Stampers group.  This week it was a sketch challenge.I decided to rotate the sketch and off set some things a bit but it evolved out of this sketch.

  So of course it would have to be overcast right now, and for some reason the sponging on the cameo coral layer looks like I took a pink highlighter to the paper.  It is so much more subtle and pretty in person.  The white cardstock it shimmery white but it is not showing up in the picture. 

Stamps:  Oval All

Ink:  Cameo Coral, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Black

Paper:  Shimmer white, Cameo Coral, Basic Gray, Walk in the Park DSP

Accessories:  Stampin Dimensionals, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon

Tools:  Eyelet Border, Oval, Scallop Oval and Wide Oval Punches, Stampin Sponges

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Get Well Wishes

This is another quick card, although it really took me too long to create.  That is what I get for not stamping regularly last week.  When I get out of the “groove” it takes a little while to get back into it.  This took me 35 minutes to make but really only 7 or 8 of that was on the card itself.  I did a lot of staring at paper to get “inspired”.    This card is for Scott to send to one of his clients.  Maybe, just maybe, one day making all of these cards for his work will pay off with a new client for me.  If not, oh well, at least I enjoy making the cards.

(The tip of the cone flower was sponged with Ridding Hood Red ink to make the center a little bit darker.)

Stamps:  Inspired By Nature

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red

Paper:  Whisper White,  Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose DSP, Urban Garden DSP

Accessories:  Kiwi Kiss/ Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Chit Chat Rub-Ons, stampin dimensionals

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Love Always

I always love my stamping time and I haven't had any this week until today.  We had a nasty bug going around the family  that started about a week and a half ago with the bigger kids and Scott.  Well starting on Monday afternoon it hit the rest of us.  It has been a hard couple of days with both my two year old and 4 1/2 month old demanding a lot of mommy time.  But I am happy to report that we are all on the mend and doing much better now.

This card is again created for the Late Night Stampers group challenge.  The challenge was 3D paper flowers.  I made my flower with hearts from the Heart to Heart punch.  The petal were all punched out of pink pirouette cs, then they were cut down the middle and sponged with riding hood red ink (with the ink increasing the further back the petals were.)  The center is a punch from the boho blossoms punch and the leaves are from the central park stamp set cut out and mounted with dimensionals. 

Oh and I sewed on a card for the first time.  When I did my big spring cleaning I moved the sewing machine out of the closet on top of a printer stand next to my desk and while I was staring at my card for something more to add to it, I glanced over and saw the machine and specifically the stitch that looked like leaves on a vine.  I need to work on sewing straight though.

Stamps:  Central Park

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Bella Rose DSP

Accessories:  Half Back Pearl from pretties kit, brad (holding the flower together), Chit Chat Rub-Ons, stampin dimensionals

Tools:  Heart to Heart Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Sponge, Sewing Machine

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Bunny Clippie

I was just downloading Easter pictures off of the digital camera and thought I would share my latest clippie.  I used Stampin’ Up! ribbon where I could, I just wish SU! would carry more ribbons in the 7/8 inch size.  So the background of the face is not SU! ribbons but the rest are.

I hope to be back later with some stamped work.

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Just a Quick Hello

This is a super quick card that I made up last night.  I am trying to drum up some business for a workshop so I was trying to make a card that shows several products, looks good and is simple to create.  I like the way that this card came out, only there isn't any stamping involved.   

We are off to go to the Zoo and enjoy the end of spring break.

Ink: Baja Breeze

Paper: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Urban Garden DSP

Accessories:  Pretties Kit, Chit Chat Run-Ons, Vintage Brads

Tools: Crop-A-Dile

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Flying out of the boxes

So yesterday there was no stamping, I watched some kids for a friend and we had a play date here.  But after having 8 kids (one 7 year old, 2 six year olds, a 5 year old, a 3 year old, two 2 year olds and a 4 month old) I was beat.  Things went really great the kids all got along and there were absolutely no problems except my lack of energy that evening was zilch.  So I took the night off. 

I really enjoy the cards where you have the traditional square/rectangle of cardstock, generally a neutral, and there is part of the image that is too big for the box.  I finally decided to try to make one of my own.  I don't know if I have seen instructions on how to actually do it so I am not sure if I did it the “right” way or not but it worked.  I just stamped my butterfly and drew a square around it and cut on the lines.  This was the color challenge for the Late Night Stampers Group.  I really like color challenges because that seems to be the hardest part of stamping for me.  When I see a color challenge it usually helps me pick out the stamp set and design that I want to use quickly and easily.   This card is made to fit in the open ended envelopes that SU! carries so the card measures 3 3/8 by 6 5/8.

Stamps:  Flight of the Butterfly

Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Chit Chat Rub-Ons

Tools: Eyelet Border Punch, Big Shot, SU! Backgrounds #1 Flourish Texturz Plate

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Big Shot Tip

I have been asked by two different people on how to use the texturz plate on the front of a card base like seen in this card here, so I figure that there are probably more out there struggling too.  I am glad to know that I was not the only one who struggled to figure it out through much trial and error.  I even still have all of the messed up card fronts to prove it. (If you have messed up ones don't throw them away, you can use it for layers on a card!)  My allergies are pretty bad today so I am not going to do a video so you don't have to hear me sniffing and my yucky scratchy voice, but I have some pictures for you.

Start with your multipurpose platform open to tab 1.  Then if you want to use a shim now is the time to place it in your sandwich.  (A shim will make your stack thicker and give you a deeper impression.)  Next you want to line up the score line or fold line for the card along the edge of your texture plate.  You want the front of your card facing down on the texturz plate like this.

Now you would carefully place your silicone rubber pad on the stack also lining it up with the score line in the card.  Top it all off with the impressions pad.  Then feed the stack through the bigshot so that the backside of the card that is not being embossed goes through first.If you lined it up with the score line you will have a perfectly embossed card front! This is the way not to do it, the way I tried the first 7 or 8 times.  The silicone rubber has a tendency to squish and slide/walk/shift, what ever you want to call it.  It just doesn't stay in the same exact way you put it but that is part of what makes the embossing work, it has the “give” in it.  I tried using removable adhesives and all sorts of things with no luck until I switched it around and did it the way shown above.  This it the way not to do it.  Do not have the cardstock sticking out the back of the sandwich!Trust me this is what you will get if you do, it isn't so pretty.

 

Supplies:  Big Shot Machine, Multipurpose Platform, Silicone Rubber, Impressions Pad, Stampin’ Up! Backgrounds #1 texturz plates, SU! cardstock

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Double Challenges!

I still cannot believe it, I got the three older kids showered and in bed at 6:40and when I went to check on them at 6:57 they were asleep, I did some dishes and laundry and now it is just me and little Emmalyn up and she is content in her bouncer next to my desk!  Time for mommy to play.  I just found a new sketch challenge by Mary Jo Price that I thought I would try and combined it with Kristina Werner’s Color inspiration and came up with this creation.  Here are the two challenges:

I love the colors that Kristina chose, I will be so very sad come June 30th when we say goodbye to Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze, I just love these In Colors even so much more than my beloved Wasabi from last year.   The sketch challenge was simple and clean and a great one to work with!

I really like the leaves in the Central Park stamp set and was inspired by the catalog for the main image of the card.  Well I pretty much cased the catalog for the leaves.  When I first stamped the leaves I forgot that the square was going on the card diagonally and made it a little too big.  I had the leaves carefully set up using the rule of thirds so that the two stems crossed where the bottom and right thirds lines met but when I had to trim it to make it fit the card it is not in the same spot so it is not as visually appealing.  This is a little diagram for the rule of thirds.  Technically I think that the top left intersecting point is suppose to be the most visually interesting and appealing, the one circled in red was the one I was going for before having to trim my cardstock down to fit the card.  I used the eyelet border punch to frame the main image.  I cut 4 strips and mounted them to the back of the white cardstock so that just the top hole of the eyelet poked out from behind.  Both of the chocolate layer are attached to the card with dimensionals and the set of leaves that is cut out is also attached with dimensionals.

Stamps: Central Park, Sanded Background, Holidays and Wishes

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze

Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss

Accessories:  Clear Rhinestone Brad, Baja Breeze Button Bouquet Button, Stampin Dimensionals

Tools:  Eyelet Border Punch, Crafters Tool Kit, Trio Flower Punch

 

Wow can you believe it, two cards in a row with out ribbon!  Have a stamperific day!  Kirsten Brown

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I must confess…

… that I am a chipboard hoarder. I don’t have a lot of chipboard, just 2 sets and a bulk buy, but I think I have yet to use a single piece up until today. I wanted to use this week’s color challenge from SCS which is Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip and also incorporate the challenge from the Late Night Stampers group which was to use a bird of any kind. I had a lot more envisioned for this card, but I didn't realize exactly how big the bird was. I had to mount the body and tails up on dimensionals so that I could mount it on top of the legs to make it fit the card. The sentiment, when I choose to use the card, will just be on the inside, so for now it is blank.

I also want to give a shout out to the Late Night Stampers group. It is a yahoo group available to demos and non demos. There are weekly challenges, lots of fun people, raks, contests, wonderful tips for stamping and business related and so much more. I can’t believe it but I just won a contest for $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! product and all I had to do was post a picture of a card to the group and I was chosen a winner. It doesn't get much better than that. Plus the lady, Sherrill, who kind of owns the group is so nice and really wants to help others out. Go check it out and sign up and let them know I sent you! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LNSconvention09/

Paper: Bella Rose DSP, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Stampin Dimensionals, So Tweet On Board Chipboard

Tools: Sanding Blocks, Sand Paper

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