Polished to Perfection

JustRite Christmas Day 3

Today, I thought I share with your this fun Christmas Lunch Box tin that Angela and I worked on for CHA.  This is the largest tin that ProvoCraft makes and would be perfect for fudge, candy or a set of Christmas Cards.  The paper is Basic Grey -Holly leaves from the Fruitcake Collection.  I multi - loaded the Stamp image with Green and red Versamagic ink and purposely left it looking distressed so that it would match the vinatge feel of my paper.  This is one of six interchangeable border and centers from JustRite JB - 01850 Christmas Stamp Ensemble.  You will also need to purchase the  JB-08117 Harmony Classic Circle III (the wooden stamper). 

Here is the view of the backside of the LunchBox:

Notice that the borders are the same on each image, but that the centers are different.  That is because the stamp sets are interchangeable!!  You can even use the new expanded font to write your own message in the interior of the stamp.  You will just love the versatility of this stamp set!!

Stop back in tomorrow for JustRite Christmas Day 4

 

Happy 10th Birthday Jack

Today is my Son Jack's Birthday...we are a Bi-Coastal family and Jack lives with his mom during the school year which is why I stamped I miss you on my ribbon....and if you have been reading my blogs - you will remember that I have never actually sent a card- so this is a first!! ( I use my cards for class samples) Jack will be very surprised!! Probably not as surprised as my husband was when I told him I had made this card for Jack. 

I love this elephant from the Happy Heart Day set from Stampin' Up!! I am having so much fun designing cards using him.  For this version I stamped him on a tiny star print from Pebbles Inc and then cut him out.  I painted his toenails green with my Melon Spica Micro Glass Flake Pen . Next I designed my background mat on this fun paper from Best Creations - it reminded me of blowing bubbles. I used my rectangle scalloped nestibilities to die cut my design and scuffed the edges with Graphite Black Brilliance Ink.  Since I am on this mission to really use my stamps - you will notice that I used stamps from 3 Companies to create this card.  The happy birthday is from Lockhart Stamps and the heart flowers, XOXO. Love You and Miss You are all from My sentiments exactly...I loved the fact that the verse in this set was perfect for stamping on ribbon- I used brillance ink to stamp on my ribbon.  The ribbon is from American Crafts.  I chose this Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder - to accentuate the circles in the DP.  The epoxy stars are also from Best Creations.  I colored the heart flowers using my Copic Markers.

Here is a view of the interior of the card...which holds Jack's Gift Card in it!!

Outlines Rubber Stamp's Cupid Corn Valentine Treat Bags

For those of you who love Candy Corn ...you will be very excited to hear that it isn't just for Halloween any more...it is now made in white, pink and red and called Cupid Corn.  You can find it at Walmart or in some grocery store chains.  For those of you who need a great idea for your children's Valentine's Day Party ...this might be it!! 

If you have been reading my blog for months - you know how much I love projects that use up scraps and this project is ideal...since it uses tiny pieces of paper.  If you are not familiar with Outlines Rubber Stamps you should visit their site they have tons of tutorials and projects available on their website.  I love their stamps because you can do so much with them.

These treat bags were made with their Valentine's Day Frames.  I stamped these on Luster White Paper using Adriondack Pitch black ink and then colored in the images using my Copic Markers.  I like to 3-D these frames so I stamped the C363 I Love you image a second time onto the pink floral paper from Pebbles Inc and used foam pop ups to pop the framed I Love You.

For this treat bag Iused C288 Be Mine and popped up the outside frame...using narrow foam strips.

Here I added Rhinestones from KaiserCrafts to the C248 Kisses frame and decide not to 3-d the topper...but I did stamp the image 3 times on different papers to get this design.

This treat bag is C419 XOXO. This frame had several coloring possibilities but I decided to color in both the inner and outer circle designs.  To individualize each treat ...you can now switch the frames from each stamp set around to create mutiple designs.  This is a perfect project for the whole family to participate in.

Tonic Studio's Butterfly Punch Card #2

Here is a sneak peek at today's card...I'll be back this afternoon to share with you the directions...but I just couldn't wait any longer to share it with everyone!!  I told you I was having a blast with this butterfly border punch from Tonic Studios!!  See you soon!!

Sorry for the delay in posting instructions with CHA just around the corner - I have lots of deadlines to meet.   Now I just love the possibilities of this Tonic Studio Butterfly Boot Punch.  You can use it as a single image or you can use it in the Border Punch System.  You can link the butterfly designs or you can vary the heights of the butterflies, which is what I chose to do in this design.  I envisioned a beautiful garden with butterflies flying above it.  I started by punching the butterflies then using -a peg leaf stamp for Rubber Stamp Tapestry I placed the leaves under the Butterflies leaving room for the Daisies using Versacolor Fresh Green. The daisy peg stamp is from the SFL 34034 Pansy & Daisy  peg stamp set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. I stamped the daises in purple brillance ink and then I highlighted the center with  Sky Blue Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens.  Next I used the leaf peg stamp to design a daisy border across the top once again leaving room for my Daisy to be stamped next.  Using the stamped leaves as a guideline I then used my Melon Spica Micro Glass Flake Pen to highlight the leaves.  I used my Cuttlebug Swirl A2 Embossing Folder to dry emboss the purple cardstock is from the World Win Papers.  The Purple and White and the Green and White Polka Dot Ribbons are from Creative Impressions.   The background paper is from A2Z Essentials.  I then punched the butterflies up the side of my 5 x 7 card...I love that this punch can be used in both directions.  For a little bling I added rhinestones from KaiserCrafts and I used my clear Spica pen to the last butterflies I punched. I so wish my photgraphs showed off the Spica's better.                  

Tonic Studio's Butterfly Border Punch - Card #1

Furthering my quest to use the scraps I keep generating I designed this card.  Don't you just love the Tonic Studio Butterfly Border Punch??  Yep...those beautiful tiny butteryflies and dots are a border punch!!! I love anything with butterflies and I have been dying to use this punch since I got it...and every once in a while I have been playing with it..punching it into scraps envisioning all the cool things I could do with it once I finished all my Christmas Projects....I am sure you will see several projects using this punch.  To view the other projects I have made using Tonic Studio Punches go to the category typelist of the right handside of my blog and click on Tonic Studios- this will allow you to see all the projects I have posted using Tonic Studio Punches. 

I decided to use black cardstock for my card so that the butterflies would pop and I decided to add a Peel Off Butterfly Sticker also from Best Creations.

I used my Copic Sketch Markers to color in the Butterfly so that it would coordinate with my paper.  I used the following colors:

Here is a photo showing you the beginning of the Copic Coloring of the butterfly:

All of the glitter paper from Best Creations is suitable for additional Copic Color to be added into the design I need to play a little more to see how much shading can actually be acheived on this printed cardstock.

I decided not to do any shading of the butterfly as I didn't want to draw to much attention to it- as this might throw off the balance of the card. This particular set of Peel off Stickers also came with some beautiful floral stickers which I added just below the punched butterflies.

Next I used my Heidi Swap large clear Thanks stamp and embossed it in super fine detail balack embossing powder from ranger.  Then I added in Seafoam White and Gold Embossed Flourishes use my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Flourish Plate 1 Set - in the same way I added them to yesterday's Cherish Card.  Stop back in tomorrow to see the next card I designed with this great punch!! 

Cherish Love - With Flourishes

Angela - is always getting after me to use my scraps ---or at least organize them - so as I was designing my congratulations card it occurred to me that just by adding a few stamped flourishes to the paper from Best Creations I could easily make a beautiful simply card.  I am sure that many of you would love to have the time to stamp and make intricate cards...but sometimes just simply is striking.  Here is a picture of the entire 12 x 12 sheet of paper:

Here is just the section that I started this card with:

I simply added in some black flourishes like yesterday's card - embossed in superfine detail black embossing powder from Ranger.  Then I added the Word Cherish from Heidi Swap embossed in black and then I decided that I needed to balance off the white on the right hand side of the card by adding some white flourishes on the other three sides of the paper.  Then I began thinking about the things that I Cherish and I decided to add the word love- which is from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Word Phrase set.  (Wahoo!! I am really getting to use this entire set!!).  I added the bottom love first and then decided to stamp it an extra time just to emphasis how much I Cherish Love..wether it be from my husband, my family or my frriends it is an essentail ingredient for my design process!!  For a little extra detail I used my Tonic Corner Punch.  I just love making designer paper my own!!  Now that I have showed you how simple it is to enhance your designer paper maybe you will be inspired to try it too!!...it's lots of fun!!!

Congratulations - using Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Newest Peg Stamp Release - Heart Buttons

My personal design challenge for 2008 - is to get more out of each of my stamp sets.  AKA - use them more than once!! As I was posting last night's card I kept thinking about a design using the new Heart Buttons SH020021 Release from Rubber Stamp Tapestry in a more black and white format...which is where last night's design started...but as my husband put it - the finally design had a real bumble bee look with the black and golden rod. So I went to bed thinking about how many other designs there were to be made with this versatile set.  I also thought it would be nice to show you more step by step photos of the design process and to remind everyone - that you don't always see my first attempt at a design - sometimes the designs just fall onto the paper and sometimes what seemed like a great design idea does not translate into paper or perhaps what at first seems like a mistake becomes a brilliant discovery. So today I thought I take a little time to share with you the design process. 

First I started by die cuting a scalloped rectangle with my Spellbinder's Nestability set in White Luster from The Paper Cut. (I love this white cardstock because it is Copic Compatible and readily available in many Brick and Mortar Stores.) Then I placed my die cut on a piece of scrap paper and I stamped the tiny leaves from this set in graphite black brilliance. I purposely stamped each leaf twice before re-inking - so that I would have depth in my vine work and I also stamped the image off the scalloped edge so that part of the image was on the die cut and part of the image was on the scrap paper.  Then using the Congratulations form the Rubber Stamp Tapestry Clear Phrase Stamp Set - I stamped the word in graphite black brilliance. 

Next I die cut a slightly larger scalloped rectangle using my Spellbinder's Nestabilities set and I also decided to dry emboss it with the Cuttlebug A2 Textile Folder. I placed these together and tried to decide which designer paper I would use next.  I decide on GP051 from Best Creations.

Now the 12 x 12 sheet of paper is absolutely stunning - but as you start chopping it up for cardmaking - you begin to loose the strength of the design.  So I used the large Flourish from Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Flourish Plate 1 set to strengthen the paper design by embossing in super fine detailed black embossing powder from Ranger.

Wow- what a big difference a few simple flourishes can make. Next I stamped a few tiny heart buttons in Rocket Red Brilliance....but I chose to only stamp the image on the card the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stamp of the ink...the first stamp I stamped onto scrap paper as I wanted the heart buttons in the background to be softer so that I would be able to build my hearts up from the back to give them a more 3 dimensional layered effect.

Next I added in more tiny heart peg stamped images in Rocket Red Brilliance - by re inking between each stamping to get a deep red heart button which would sit at the top of the design and then I added additional stamp images which were the 2nd and 3rd stamped image of the same ink loading of the stamp.

Next I decided to color in the button holes of my buttons using my  B110 Copic Sketch Marker.

Now along the way I did put a smudge on my project which allowed me to try something that I certainly would not have dared to try on my finished stamped image...I dry embossed the entire stamped image with the A2 Textile Cuttlebug Embossing Folder...I didn't think it would work ...but it did and I loved the dimension it added to the card. And since the embossing folder is slightly translucent I could also decide which part of the textile design I wanted to use for the center of my card.

I hope seeing how the card was designed inspires you to design your next Creation.  My next New Year's Resolution was to use the scraps left over from my projects...so stop back tomorrow to see a fast simple card I designed using the leftover pieces of the Best Creation's Designer Paper.

Happy Cupcake Day aka Valentine's Day

Now I must confess that the inspiration for this card came as I was devouring my sample box of Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Chocolates which I had purchased to make an altered wrapper for...but as I was unwrapping the ???? chocolate of the box and peeling off the cupcake baking cup - it occured to me that that I could make the cutest cupcakes with mini cupcake baking papers. Although I didn't realize how long tonight's design would take to create....I could have baked and decorated 3 dozen cupcakes faster. But finally it all fell together and I am quite happy with the final card.

I purchased Wilton Love Heart mini baking cups and cut 4 wedges out of 1 cup... when I think of baking for school Valentine's Days Parties - I always think of cupcakes!! Next I drew a cupcake to fit inside my cupcake baking paper (don't worry about how it looks as no one is going to see it). Using Decoart snowtext writer I frosted the top of the cupcake using a pallete knife and then I sprinkled it with white glamour dust.   For the Tiny heart buttons I used the button heart from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Peg Stamp set SH020021 Heart Button.  I stamped this using gold rocket red brillance ink and then I cut out the stamped images and placed them on the wet frosting. My cupcakes took quite awhile to dry since they needed a fair amount of frosting to make them look 3D. Here is a closeup view of them:

The polka dot ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the Happy Cupcake day stamp is from Lockhart Stamps. I used Brillance black ink to stamp the image onto the polka dotted ribbon.  The background is the heart A2 Cuttlebug embossing folder .  The dollie background was created by cutting 2- 4" dollies in half and placing them behind my matted heart image.  The delicate silver corners are Peel-Off Stickers from Best Creations.  In the closeup you can also see that I added delicate silver peel off stickers to my cupcake papers as well.

Say I Love You With a Giant Hershey Chocolate Bar

 

When I think 0f Valentine's Day I of course think of Chocolate and what better way to Say I Love You then a giant Hershey's chocolate bar!!  This week I was on a mission to really use a whole clear stamp set and to get the most out of it.  To create this giant candy bar wrapper I used the Heart Frame and the I Love You Script from my Inkadinkado Love Letter Set.  I thought the heart frame would be stunning surrounded with the delicate flowers from my Pottery Garden Peg stamps from Rubberstamp Tapestry.  First I stamped and embossed in Rich Red embossing powder (Ranger) the heart and script.  Then I stamped the greenery using bamboo versacolor all around the heart and the outside edge of my white cardstock. Remember when using your peg stamps to stamp your image twice before reinking, this will give your flowers more depth.  Next I stamped the larger flower from this set using rocket red brillance Ink. The small flowers were stamped using purple brillance ink.  Here is a closeup of the stamped image:

The red cardstock is crimson red from WorldWin Papers.   To embellish the end of the candy bar I selected a vintage button from my collection. The red white polka dot ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the love charm is favor accent (these can be found in the wedding section of Walmart or Michaels- they come in 20 or 50 in a package and are great little add ons to Valentines and Wedding Projects.  The gorgeous paper with all the bling is from Best Creations GP027. Here is a closeup view of my vintage buttons, the paper and my charm:

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Using the same layout I also made a Valentine's Day Card.   For this version I stamped my larger flower in purple around the heart frame and in purple and red around the outside of the mat.  Here I was able to allow the heart image to have a little more breathing room since I wasn't restrained by the shape of my candy bar.  (PS- this is the longest time I have ever had an uneaten candy bar in my studio!!)

To add a little bling to my card I used these cute gem embellishments which were original just clear...I used my Copic R59 red marker to quickly change my centers from diamonds to Rubies!! Gotta love your Copics- It so nice to make what I have in my stash work instantly - without having to return to the store to find the perfect embellishment!!

Thanks for visiting!!!

Happy Birthday with a Little Flourish

There are so many great papers out on the market now that stamping an absolutely stunning card can be acheived in only a matter of minutes.  I love rich texture - so I loved this paper from Best Creations... it has glitter and layering which inspired the final card design.  To create this card I used a Flourish from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Flourish Plate I clear stamp set,  Happy Birthday Script from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Phrase set ( which again has beautiful delicate lines and a huge array of words for all occassions).  The beautiful frame is from the Love Letters Clear stamp set from Inkadinkadoo - another great versatile set (the forever card used a piece of this set) What I absolutely love about owning clear stamps is how versatile the sets are and how easily I can create new images by using designs from multiple sets.  If you have not ventured into clear stamps yet...you don't know what you are missing!!  More Designs for less Money, Easy Storage, the ability to see exactly where you will be stamping plus the ability to create your own images by interchanging your sets. So let me show you the original paper I started with first:

Isn't it just gorgeous!!

Next I added in some flourishes in the upper left hand corner. I stamped multiply flourishes with versamark and then I sprinkled superfine gold embossing powder from ranger and chocolate embossing powder from Gelatins across the stamped images - randomly...this gave me several gradations of color within the same flourish. Now of course I should explain that the Chocolate Embossing Powder from Gelatins-really smells like chocolate and it keeps it's scent for 2 or 3 weeks after you emboss with it ----sounds like a great embossing powder for Valentine's Day-----Doesn't it!!   Next I stamped my frame using Adriondack Espresso embossing powder.  Then I added the Happy Birthday in superfine black embossing powder, which I could easily line up to stamp since my stamps were clear.  I love embossing powder- I like the raised shiny surface and the crisp lines I got from both these acyrlic clear sets.  Now I reviewed my design and slowly added more flourishes...a couple at a time...the first layers I used both the gold and the gold/ chocolate mix (which I now have in an empty jar - for my own personal embossing recipe).

Now I decided to add more Flourishes in just the chocolate embossing powder (besides the great chocolate scent - this is a really rich chocolate brown embossing).  By this time my husband surfaced into my classroom to ask if I was planning on sharing any of my chocolate stash.  He was a little disappointed when I announce that I didn't think my embossing powder was edible.

I wish I had taken a picture of my original medallion...it had beautiful design and dimension, but it was entirely silver, which wasn't the direction my card design was going in.  So I used my Krylon Gold Leafing Pen and altered the center medallion.  I used my B110 Copic Sketch Marker to highlight the spokes of the medallion and I added a beautiful Gold Rhinestone from KaiserCrafts to the center on the Medallion.

Next I placed Olive Swirl Ribbon from Creative Impressions on the card...don't you love how this ribbon replicates the swirls in my flourishes.  I decided to try using V2 Vellum Adhesive Spray to adhere the ribbon as it is so sheer and I am very happy to report that it worked beautifully!! 

Now I wasn't 100% happy with the overall design, I felt I still needed a little something to balance the card design so I decided to add 1" and 1/2" mirrored squares into my design. These are from Darice and come as as a mixed bag with 2 sizes. Since many of my blogging pals have been playing with inchies - I thought it would be fun to incorpoarate these mirrored inchies.   I used sections of the flourish stamp that I stamped the card with,  on the mirrors and embossed them with the Chocolate Embossing Powder.  Be very careful if you try this...the mirrors got extremely hot when I embossed them.  I played with them on my card until I liked their configuration....and of course I asked my husband for a little design consultation.  I think he has even missed blogging!! (Please don't tell him I told you that).