Corner Bookmark

Hello. I was thinking about what to post today, when I thought about those cute little corner bookmarks, that you simply slide over the corner of whatever page you are stopping at. I also wanted to use the new Stampin Up set called "Circle Circus" again, to show you another one of the cute stamps in that set. So, here is what I came up with:

That image is one stamp, stamped 3 times with different colors, then punched out and layered.

Here is a photo of how I got started:

First I cut a piece of Stampin Up Crushed Curry card stock 4inches square. Then I scored it in both directions in the center (2 inches). Next, as you can see in the photo I cut out one of the two inch corner pieces and folded on the score marks. Next fold in one of the pieces, and apply snail adhesive along at least two of the edges. Then fold in the other piece to adhere, and you will end up with your bookmark shape. So, we just need to decorate it. This brings me to my next photo below:

As I said at the beginning of this post, I stamped the image 3 times with 3 different colors. Here I used Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, and Rich Razzleberry. Now, first punch the Soft Suede image with Stampin Up's Scallop Circle Punch. Second, punch the Melon Mambo with a 1-1/4" Plain Circle Punch. Third, punch the Rich Razzleberry with a 1/2" Plain Circle Punch. Each time you punch, make sure you are as close to being centered over the image as possible. Turn the punch upside down when you punch, so that yo can see what you are doing. The last step is to layer your punched circles on each other with some adhesive and then to the front of the book mark to get the finished look you saw in the first photo. Now, since this is going to be squished inside a book, I did not use any dimensionals to pop up the layers, but that would be super cute to do on a card. That is about it for today. If you have any questions, let me know. Blessings, Lisa

Fabulous Find and Circle Circus

I was at Hobby Lobby on Saturday, and my husband and I discovered that they had a bunch of home decor on clearance, I mean crazy low prices. I got a cute wood rectangular box to store my Prima 'Got Flowers' bottles in to keep them all organized. I only paid $2.80. Here is a photo of it:

It is a little rustic for my decor, but I like the crosses, and it does keep my flowers organized, so it was a keeper. So my tip for today, is to always check out the clearance aisles, you never know what you might find for a bargain. Ok, on with a card.

I wanted to do something simple, and use a new stamp set that will be on sale through Stampin Up this week on July 1st. So, I chose a stamp from the set called Circle Circus. My new favorite stamp set. It is so versatile, I have decided that all of you have just got to have it! It has more than a handful of circles each with a different design and size, and can be punched out with circle punches if you so choose. I chose to use just one circle stamp on the cards that I am showing you today. They are both the same except that on is in the new in-color Melon Mambo, and the other in Rich Razzleberry. So, here they are:

MELON MAMBO

RICH RAZZLEBERRY

So, I stamped each one on Whisper White card stock in a random fashion, and mounted them on a card base that coordinates with the color ink. Then, I took the bright pink glitter from Stampin Up's Glitter Stack - Cosmo and applied it to each of the centers with SU's 2-way glue pen. You know me, I gotta have sparkle. Then, I took a sentiment from Trendy Trees stamp set, and stamped it in Whisper White Craft ink from SU in the coordinating colors and punched it with the Word Window punch and adhered. Actually, I fibbed a bit. I did this the opposite/bad way for some stupid reason tonight. I punched the word window first then stamped the sentiment. Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!! Don't do it that way, it will not come out straight! It is much easier to line the punch up with the sentiment and then punch it out. That was today's tip number 2!

That is all I have for tips and stamping today. I will be back again another day with some more of the new stuff coming from Stampin Up! Blessings, Lisa

Sneak Peek of New Stampin Up Stuff

I finally ordered and received some of the new stuff from Stampin Up. I have to say that they have some awesome new stamp set coming out in the new Catalog! I don't think I have ever been this excited about a new catalog before. Well, anyways, I am showing you a card made with one of those new stamp sets and it is called "Autumn Days".

I used some of the new in colors which you can see in the next photo........................................

From the left we have
Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, & Dusty Durango

Oddly enough, my favorite color of the bunch is Crushed Curry.

Now, onto the card. I stamped the Quail with Soft Suede, and colored in his feathers with Taken with Teal. I am waiting on Bermuda Bay because Stampin Up has placed a hold on it due to some manufacturing issue. However, they are racing to get it fixed so that we can all order and enjoy it. The card stock that I mounted the quail onto is however, the real Bermuda Bay card stock. Pretty similar to Taken with Teal, isn't it? I stamped the sentiment with Taken with Teal as well, and the sentiment is from the stamp set "Trendy Trees".

The two accent pieces on the card are Dusty Durango on the top right, and Crushed Curry on the bottom. I stamped tone-on-tone with the leaf stamp for "Autumn Days", and also tone-on-tone with the wheat stamp from that set as well on the bottom.

The layout for the card is the card sketch from Wednesday over on Splitcoast Stampers.

That about sums it up, if you have any questions, you know what to do!


Before I go, I would just like to take a moment to say that I was very sad to hear of the passing of actress Farrah Faucet, and pop singer Michael Jackson. I grew up watching Charlies Angels in the 70's and Michael Jackson videos in the 80's. So sad, and they will be missed by many.

Blessings, Lisa

More Ocean Commotion and Sponging

I was originally going to put the image that you will see today on yesterday's mosaic card, but was afraid that it was too big and would cover too much of the mosaic pattern that I worked so hard on. So, I worked out another layout for this stamped image:



Ok, the very first thing that I did was to cut out a rectangle with my Spellbinder's Nestibilities Rectangle die-cuts. Boy do I wish Stampin Up would carry these things, but then that catalog is so full already. Anyways, I left the card stock in the die-cut, and then stamped along all of the four sides of the rectangle with the water swish stamp form the Ocean Commotion stamp set, and my Versamark ink pad. Then, I added clear embossing powder to the swishes, and heat set.

Next, I stamped and heat embossed two Sea Horses from Ocean Commotion. Then, I got out my stamping sponges, and my Night of Navy and Ballet Blue ink pads, and started sponging some ink onto the edges heavily and the center very lightly, until I had achieved the look that I had envisioned. Then, I wiped the ink off of the swishes with a tissue. Next I added the sentiment from SU's Retired "Warmest Regards" onto a tag, added a bit of ribbon to the tag and a blue Rhinestone brad from Stampin Up, and adhered that to the card.

The final thing that I did was to adhere some ribbon scraps and brads for a little embellishment.

The next time I will have something prepared with some of the new stuff from the upcoming Stampin Up 2009-2010 catalog. New stamps, new in-colors, I can't wait to play with my new stuff that arrived today! Until then, Blessings to all. Lisa

Faux Mosaic Fish

I saw an interesting technique on Splitcoast awhile back and have been wanting to give it a try. It is called Faux Mosaic, and it allows me to use some card stock scraps that I save in my altered heart box (see category list on the side bar for that one). I have this habit of saving absolutely anything that I think may be useful, yes I am a "pack rat", tis inbred in my immigrant genes on both sides of my family. Anyways, here is the card, and I used the stamp set "Ocean Commotion" from Stampin Up.

Here is a photo of just the mosaic pattern:

I think the easiest thing would be to just list by number the steps involved in making this:

1. The first thing that I did was to gather scraps out of my box that were all in the cool blue colors. On this card I used Night of Navy, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, and even a few of the retired Bliss Blue all from Stampin Up.
2. Next, I cut the ones whose shape that I didn't like.
3. After that, I cut a base for the mosaic to a size that I liked.
4. I cut a piece of Stampin Up's double sided sticky sheets to the size of my card stock base, and adhered it. Remove one side of protective sheet, lay it on the card stock, smooth it out, then remove the other side to expose the other sticky side.
5. Place card stock scraps onto sticky sheet in any random positions that you like, leaving space between each one.
6. Sprinkle embossing powder over entire mosaic piece. Shake off excess, and heat set. I chose to use silver EP here.
7. Take your Versamark pad and apply it to the mosaic piece directly over and over until the entire piece is covered.
8. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over entire mosaic piece, shaking of the excess.
9. Heat set. That part is done.

Now for my Fish image! I stamped the image onto my Versamark pad, then onto an SU Ballet Blue ink pad, then kind of rolled the edges of the stamp on a Classic Night of Navy ink pad. I got a little more Navy on here than I wanted, but oh well. This part is called the "Rock and Roll" technique. Isn't that just like me to combine two techniques on one card just to be difficult? Next, I stamped the fish onto some Whisper White card stock, and added some clear embossing powder to it and heat set. Heat embossing? Oops, that makes three techniques on one card. Sorry ...my bad. Next, I cut out the fish with a square Spellbinder's square nesties die-cut , left the image in the die-cut while I sponged some ink around the edges so I would leave that nice white border around it. Next I cut a mat for the fish with a larger square nesty. Then for a little extra effect, I drew some bubbles with my Sakura Micron pen which can be found at any Michael's store. Phew, that was a long post, I hope I didn't put any of you to sleep.

Now, to close, I want to share a photo of my too sweet miniature Doxie, after my daughter dressed her in a doll blanket. Poor dog! She shook that little old body of hers for a few minutes to get herself free of it.

A Father's Day card

I won some blog candy recently over on Becca Feeken's blog. I am so proud to call Becca a friend, she's a great person and very talented crafter. Click on her name to visit her blog; you will be amazed at what you will see. One of the things in the blog candy was a set of Just Rite stamp sets. If you have never seen them before, click here. I have a couple of cards on my craft table that I am still working on, but in the mean time, I wanted to show you a card that I made with some of my blog candy.

Now, try to ignore the smudge in the upper left hand corner; my kitty got up onto my craft table and walked on it with her dusty paws. Urgh! I made this card to send to my father on father's day, but my daughter saw it, and begged to give it to my husband instead. Sorry dad, you had to settle for a phone call. Anyways, I made all of the circles including the one the stamped image and it's matting with my Creative Memories Circle Cutting system. I used my two way glue pen from Stampin Up to a couple of them to add the royal blue glitter. The solid circle with glitter is a sticky foam dot, that I simply dipped into the glitter. The other dots were made with different size sponge daubers from Stampin Up and Archiver's. The striped patterned paper is from a bitty stack of Provo Craft paper I had in my stash. The rest of the card stock is from Stampin Up of course. The ink and markers used to stamp with and color are also Stampin Up.

I had a question about how the wavy frames were made on my previous post, so I will throw together a picture tutorial and post that as soon as I get it done. If you have any questions about this card or any other project here on my blog, please feel free to leave me a comment or drop me an email, I will get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time.......Blessings, Lisa

Whimsie Turtle is Missing You

Hello. I just had to play with this adorable Whimsie Doodle Stamps Turtle again. I thought since she is whimsical looking, than she should be surrounded by something whimsical. Here is what I came up with:






So, I looked through all of my cutting tools, and my Creative Memories Wavy Frames cutting tools stood out. So, as you can see, I cut the turtle out and matted it in a square shape, but then cut out a second mat with one of my Wavy Frames, and adhered the image on it. Then I cut a skinny frame from the same shape, applied my Stampin Up 2-way Glue Pen, and some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, then adhered the skinny frame in no particular position.

The turtle was colored with Stampin Up markers, and the tiny red flowers are some Jolees that I had in my stash. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is mounted on some wavy square punches. The ribbon is from Making Memories, the eyelets are from Stampin Up, and the sticky gems are from Michael's. Any questions, feel free to click the contact me on my sidebar and send me an email. Blessing, Lisa

This Turtle is....

too cute for words. Check her out:


This is from a new online stamp company called Whimsie Doodles. Right now, she is only offering digital images that can be re-sized to you liking and printed out onto card stock and placed on cards. I don't know if she has any plans for selling rubber stamped images or not, maybe she doesn't know yet either. However, this image was offered totally free, and if you click here; you can go to her blog and download it for free and find out what digital stamps are all about. You can also browse her store, if you click on the icon that says "the store". Her name is Melyssa and she designed her images herself including this cute turtle. Ok, on with what I did with this cute little turtle.

I re sized the image so that I could place it on a card made with Stampin Up's Big Shot/Sissix die cut...Large Scallop Die. I placed two of the scallop circles together, scored them both at the same time and completely covered the small area above the scored line with snail adhesive, thus making it into a card. Next I cut the turtle out with my Creative Memories Circle Shape cutters, and also a matting for my turtle out of some Stampin Up card stock. Next I colored in the turtle with my Stampin Up classic ink ink and blender pens. I chose to do this by squeezing my ink pad together, thus placing ink inside the lid to use. You can also place a drop of ink into the lid with a re-inker in you choose. Next, I sponged a little bit of SU Certainly celery on the edges of the circle that my turtle is on and then adhered it to the matting. Next, I sponged some SU Pink Passion ink around the edges of the scallop circle card base, drug the edges of the scallops along the ink pad, and adhered my image to the card base. The last thing that I did was to add some embellishments to the card. All of the flowers are Prima flowers, and the flower centers are sticky gems from Michael's. Then the final thing was to add some Stickles Glitter Glue to the rose that the turtle is holding. I hope you like it as much as I had fun making it. Until next time, take care......................Lisa

Lord Give Me Strength

because my daughter is having a slumber party tonight. Yes, I have 8 little girls (including my daughter) sleeping over tonight. I swear if I had a blood pressure machine at my house, my pressure would probably be up tonight. I have one child, a daughter and a husband that goes to bed early, so I am so not used to this much noise in my house this late at night. Even the cat came into the craft room with me to escape for a bit. Poor thing is so tired, I will bet she sleeps the whole day away tomorrow. Where is a bottle of wine when a mom is looking for it. Oh yeah, I don't keep alcohol in the house. Darn!

Well, I hope to get back to making cards tomorrow (Saturday), if I get any sleep tonight! Until I recover, blessings to all!

Lisa

There is a Cute Little Mouse...

on the card that I made today. When you see her, I think you will agree with me.

See what I mean, isn't she cute sitting there in that little teacup? Setting aside my water coloring of course, she is just a too cute image to work with. She is part of a stamp set called "Cup of Stuff" from The Greeting Farm Stamp Company. You would think I were working for them with all of these cards that I made from only 2 different stamp sets, but no, I just love their stamps. Anyways, the card base is Stampin Up Ballet Blue, the 3 strips of patterned paper are from a retired pack of SU DSP. I stamped the image two times onto watercolor paper, so that I could cut out the one that I water colored and pop it up with foam dots. I water colored with Stampin Up Classic Ink and blender pens. The base that the mouse is on was cut with a Spellbinder's Nestibilities rectangle, and the mat with a scalloped rectangle. The sticky gems are from Hero arts, and the card layout is this weeks card sketch over on Splitcoast Stampers. Here is a photo of the layout. It is so versatile, it will definitely get used over and over in my crafty world.

Until next time..........Blessings, Lisa

Flower Punches and Faux Stitching

I was inspired today by a card that I found while I was browsing blogs. The blog and card is by a lady named Sheri Thompson, the card that inspired me can be found here. Browse her blog, maybe she will inspire you too. Here is my take on her idea:


Now, Sheri did some real stitching on her card; however, I cannot sew on fabric let alone on card stock. So, on my card I used the "Faux Stitching" technique with my white gel pen. First thing I did was to punch the shapes out from my card-stock. Oh, save those shapes to use at another time, don't waste them. Then, I chose some DSP to put behind the openings left by the punches. Sheri used several different papers behind hers, I just used one style. It is a great way to use up small pieces of patterned paper that you have left over from previous cards or projects. SAVE THOSE SCRAPS! I just keep mine in one of those disposable leftover containers from Reynolds, they stack up nicely. After adhering the patterned paper behind the openings, I applied the faux stitching. I left the inside alone because I only used one strip of Patterned paper, but if you use multiple patterns, you could cover them on the inside with blank card stock, or patterned paper. The ribbon that I used is from American Crafts, and my card base is Stampin Up's Lavender Lace. Just in case you are curious, the patterned paper is Stampin Up's Retired DSP So Saffron. So, go look through your punches, and your paper scraps, and make some quick cards. Until next time.......Take care. Lisa

Blue Birthday Bunny

Ok, I have had a busy weekend, so I had to pull a card off the table that I finished when I was working with my Greeting Farm Bunny stamp set. I have a little something in the works with paper punches for my next post. In the meantime, here is today's card.



I stamped the bunny images two times on water color paper just as I did the other bunny images, so that I could cut him and the balloon out and pop them up. I also put a layer of Stampin Up Crystal Effects on the balloon, and let dry, then put another layer of CE on it and let it dry before cutting it out. You can see this a little on the photos, but the photos don't really do it justice. If you have never used Crystal effects before, you have got to try it. With the double layer on it; it looks like an epoxy embellishment or sticker. Awesome in person! Anyways, The royal blue dsp is from K & Co.'s recycled card stock pad, they come in Monochromatic color pads made completely from recycled paper. I got it at a Super-Walmart. They are double sided too, plain color on one side, patterned on the other. The scalloped corners and right side of the card were made with one of the new EK Success border punches. The bunny and his mat were cut with my Spellbinder's Nestibilities Rectangles and Scalloped Rectangles. The sentiment is from Stampin Up page 208 in the current catalog, but soon to be retired at the end of June. The sticky blue gems are from Michael's recollections collection. I think that covers it. If I left something out or you just have a question, click on the "contact me" on my side bar or leave me a comment. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Blessings, Lisa

A Stampin Up old favorite

Hello. I decided to get out an old and retired Stampin Up stamp set and make a card with it. The retired stamps deserve to be used just as much as the new ones. So, when you can't decide what to stamp with, get out one of your old favorites, maybe you will become inspired. I used the set called "A Little Love". It has alot of cute little images with a sentiment right under it with the image on the same stamp. My niece is a sophomore in college, and next week she has final exams. So, I decided to make a handmade card to send to her to brighten her day. Here it is:

I saw something similar to this a very long time ago on Splitcoast stampers web site, and have been wanting to try it. The frame around the images is actually popped up higher than the images in the squares. I made this by creating a template out of clear acetate. However, I still did not manage to punch the squares as even as I had wanted to. Funny, they were even on the template? haha. Oh well, life goes on. the images were colored with my SU markers, and they are on 1" squares. They are mounted on 1-1/4" squares, and the square openings of the frame are 1-3/8" squares. The scallop border was made with one of the new EK Success border punches. I also brightened up some of the swirls on the DSP that is on the frame with my SU white gel pen. Oh, and the frame is mounted on some water color paper to give it some strength. All card stick and DSP is from Stampin Up, and that sums it up. Have a great weekend and happy stamping!

Lisa

Bunny Birthday Card

Hello. I had another card made from The Greeting Farm stamp company lucky bunny set, so I thought I would share it. Here she is and holding a birthday present.

I started out like the other Bunny card stamping her two times on water color paper, then water coloring one of the bunnies and cutting it out. The plain bunny was cut out with a Spellbinder's Nestibilities rectangle, then mounted with foam pop dots onto a Nestibilities Scalloped Rectangle. The present is sparkly because I added Stickles glitter glue to it. The next thing that I did was to adhere the colored bunny on top of the plain one with foam pop dots. The frame around the bunny was made by running a scalloped and a plain nestibilities rectangle at the same time through my cuttlebug. I also ran them both through with some water color paper to ad to the back of the frame to make it stronger. The rest was pretty easy, I created a border with some DSP and some ribbon, then added the Prima flowers for embellishments. I gotta go for a bit, but I will be back to list the remaining supplies.

Ocean Commotion

I have expressed my fascination with seahorses several times on past blog posts, and so I couldn't help posting this card. The funny thing is that I received this stamp set months ago, and have been unable to come up with any card ideas with it. That is pretty strange since I love it so much and also love seahorses so much. So, here is the card, and I need to go get supper as the natives in my house are getting restless. I will be back later to talk about the card.

Well, here I am but a little later than expected. I never got back to the computer last night. Anyhoo, I was racking my brain to come up with my own idea for this stamp set, when I thought............"Inchies"! I will try to turn it into Inchies. For those of you who don't know, "Inchies" are a one inch square piece of stamp artwork. Lucky for me the seahorse fits into two inchies, so the above it what I ended up with. Now, after I got the seahorses stamped, I decided that I wanted them embossed, so I simply colored over the images with my Versamarker, and embossed them with some clear embossing powder. The Bashful Blue seahorse is popped up with some foam dimensionals, whereas the Apricot Appeal seahorse is not. Keeping on with the "Inchies" theme, I punched out the sentiment with a one inch paper punch as well. As you can barely see in the photo, the background was stamped with the swish stamp of "Ocean Commotion" stamp set and some Versamark watermark ink. That is it, pretty simple card to case. Back later with another card. Have a great day! Lisa