A Thank You

I love the days I get to play with Christine!  It's a great sharing time.  This time I learned another way to make ribbon roses (I'll show them off on a card soon), how to emboss a "hole" so that you end up with an embossed frame around an image and we looked at some great sites.  As for getting much done ... well, this card looks simple, but I made heavy work of it!

I used the Sweet Stitches paper and fabric from Stampin' Up.  I chose a corner of the dp, matched the 'stitches' with So Saffron c/s and added a layered label with a sentiment from the "You're a Gem" set.  I made the fabric by taking a 2.5 x 6" piece of fabric, teasing the edges to fray them, folding it in half lengthwise, basting, and pulling the basting tight.  I popped a fabric-covered brad in the middle.  Cute, no?

Stamping Royalty -- Not!

I was working towards getting some cards ready for the Stamping Royalty competition at Paper Crafts Magazine.  Then I looked at the calendar.  The cards need to be in the office by next Friday -- not going to happen!  Because their rules say that the cards cannot be on any website or blog, I have not been posting as I complete them.  So today, you get them all!  I am going to submit them to The Stampers' Sampler "Feeling Themeless" catagory.

From the top:
A Seat for a Friend
Paper:  SU Night of Navy, Sage Shadow.  Staples White c/s
Ink: SU Distressing Inks in Blue, Tea Stain, Early Expresso
Stamps:  SU Have a Seat, You're a Gem
Accessories: cotton twine, wooden button

Spotlight Bird

Paper:  SU Metallic Bronze.  Staples White c/s.  K and Co dp

Ink: SU Distressing Inks in Tea Stain, Soft Suede

Stamps:  SU Nature Walk, French Foliage

Accessories: Staedler watercolour pencils.  Waste plastic.  Copper tape.  SU Seam Binding ribbon

Enjoy

Paper:  SU Very Vanilla, Natural

Ink: SU Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery

Stamps:  SU You're a Gem, Charming

Accessories: SU ribbon, Cuttlebug texture plate, felt flowers (hand made)

Happy Bird-day

Paper:  SU Very Vanilla.  Staples White c/s. K and Co dp

Ink: SU River Rock, Crumb Cake, Kiwi Kiss

Stamps:  Inkadinkadoo

Mask: Heidi Swapp, hand made dots

Accessories: Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, dollar store pearls, SU label punch

Brian's Valentine

My husband is off to Montebello, Quebec, to look at airplanes.  They park the planes on the ice, and the show is outdoors.  Funny -- I elected to stay home and look after the animals!  I've made this valentine for him when he comes home.

The ruffle idea came from Roni Johnson at Inkstains with Roni.  One of my favourite blogs!  She has more ideas in a week than I'll dream off in months.  She sews crepe paper streamers, ruffling as she goes, then spritzes, stamps, and glitters it to perfection.
The heart is a stamp from Flourishes.  I stamped first in Apricot Appeal, then overstamped with Early Expresso.  It gives a bronzy effect.  Underneath is a stencilled flourish from SU, which is done in Champagne Shimmer ink.  The card base is Creamy Caramel and some Bobunny dp.  I stamped the ruffle before I sewed it with French Script and Chocolate Chip.  I trimmed the edges with scallop scissors, ruffled it, and then dipped the edges in Creamy Caramel smooshed on my craft mat and spritzed with Vanilla Perfect Pearls.
Inside, I stamped the sentiment from the Flourishes set with Perfect Medium, and then went over it with gold Perfect Pearls.

Glitzy -- but he's worth it!

June Pfaff Daley: Sweet Sweater Rosettes

June Pfaff Daley: Sweet Sweater Rosettes

I have been looking all over the Internet for these roses. Thanks, June! I am off to try them. Stay tuned for the results.

Matt's Valentine

My desk mate and friend, Mathew, deserves a special valentine.  I made a set of cards for him at Utreat this past weekend, and he used one to introduce himself to a yummy man he met in the grocery store.  Perhaps he can slip this shimmery Valentine into his dreamboat's pocket!

Card base: Kraft, Bordering Blue (SU), white cardstock (Staples)
Stamps:  Elements of Style (SU), How Do I Love Thee
Stencil: Carte Postale (SU)
Ink: Weathered Wood (Ranger Ink), Crumbcake Classic, Shimmer (SU)
Accessories:  ribbon, shimmer brad (SU), key (Michaels)

Thanks to my friend, Christine, who let me come over to play today.  This card turned out so well because of her influence!

One Man's Garbage...

I learn a lot from watching Tim Holtz in action. One thing he did for the Twelve Tags of Christmas for 2010 was run some scrap plastic through his die cutter with a texture folder. Here's what I did with that idea...Bonjour

I rescued a piece of plastic packaging material from the scrap bin, trimmed it of any bumpy bits, and ran it through my Big Shot with a CuttleBug texture folder. It looked like a leaded window to me. I decided to use it as a window to peek into a garden of roses. I used my new Baby Blossoms two-stage stamps to create a bit of early summer in January. I like the combination of Real Red with Sahara Sand.

Ribbon Organizer

I saw an organizer when I was in Florida that looked like a make-up bag -- but a hairy one. It was a ribbon organizer. The walls of the bag were perforated with eyelets, and ribbons were laced through each eyelet. AT $25.00, I thought it was a bit rich for what it was.

I planned to modify a makeup bad I owned, but I realized that I wouldn't get the cropodile down far enough to punch the holes. So, I raided my fabric stash, and here's the result:

I punched rows of eyelets, sewed the seam, added a drawstring (that's the orange seam binding) and filled the bag with ribbons. To use, I just pull!