Sunday, September 28, 2008

More Lucky Bunnies

After I noticed that 2 of the bunnies in the Lucky Bunnies set were facing in opposite directions with one hand up in the air, I thought of making them do a high five and here it is! I'm not sure that everybody will get it, but it's still a cute card anyway, right?

I used another Splendid Sketch for this card and more of the Nana's Nursery Baby Boy paper pad. The sentiment was done using the Close To My Heart Tiny Typewriter Alphabet stamped onto a Cuttlebug tag.

I tied the organdy ribbon in a loose knot in the middle and then tied the silver cord with the sentiment tag through the knot. Those little orange dots are Bella's Baubles from Stamping Bella.

One last note: if the green bunny looks a tad different than the one pictured in the stamp set, it's because I cut off his head and repositioned it to the left side so that they wouldn't be bonking heads while doing their high five. TFL!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Little Gal Cupcake

I was so excited to have won a set from Kim Hughes' blog and even more excited when she posted that it would be a NEW October stamp set!! I received the set yesterday and loved it so much I had to make a card right away with it!

I used the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #35 sketch, the new set called Little Gal, which is being released on Thursday, October 2nd, and another of Kim's sets, Tag! You're It! for the sentiment.

The cupcake is actually the top of an ice cream cone, which Kim showed on her blog here. As soon as I saw the image, I thought cupcake because I'm a little obsessed with them right now!

Not only are the stamps Kim's designs, but I was also influenced by her style - you can see that I used her technique of inking just a very thin line on the edges of my base paper, and the cherry stem is actually a piece of Waxy Flax that I colored brown with a Copic (I bought a bunch of Waxy Flax after seeing Kim use it on her blog).

Final design note: The little dots in the corners of the squares are french knots made with embroidery floss.

Thanks to Taylor for a really fun sketch and BIG huge hugs to Kim for the set - it's awesome!!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Kelly Panacci; Dark Chocolate cardstock, ink, and satin ribbon - Papertrey Ink; cream cardstock and paper piercing template - Stampin' Up!; Graphite Black Brilliance ink - Tsukineko; snaps - Making Memories; Nestabilities.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cupcake Favor Box

I have to admit that today's project wasn't totally my idea. It's based on a couple of stamps I bought ages ago from Darcie's that are meant to be stamped multiple times, cut out, and made into a box. I decided to try and enter the Kitchen Sink Stamps' monthly contest again at the very last minute, and this idea just popped into my head for the Anything But A Card category.
This cupcake from the Happy Birthday Cupcake set wasn't made specifically to be a box, so I was lucky that it worked out perfectly! I stamped the cupcake 5 times onto the pink dotted paper, and 5 times onto the striped paper. I cut out the entire image from the dotted paper (leaving a strip at the bottoms to be folded under and attached to the box bottoms), and only the liner portion from the striped paper, then layered the liners onto the dotted cupcakes.

Next, I punched holes into both sides of each liner and set a tiny red flower eyelet into each hole. I cut 2 big pentagon shapes from the same dotted paper and glued all the extra strips to one, centering each cupcake on each side. Then I glued the other big pentagon over all that to hide the strips. There were some funny points sticking out between the cupcakes so I cut those off and it looked way better. {Hopefully all that makes sense!}

Lastly, I threaded some organdy ribbon through all the eyelets and tied it into a bow, first inserting the flag stamped with "it's party time" from the Never a Loss 4 Words set.

Here's a shot from the top so you can see the construction a little better.

Now I know that this project is incredibly labor intensive so it's not something you'd want to mass produce, but for just a couple friends, I think it would make an adorable little gift! I hope you like it!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Fancy Pants Designs (Celebrate line); Ruby Red ink and light pink organdy ribbon - Stampin' Up!; ribbon tag die - Spellbinders {I dove-tailed one end}.

Blog Candy for a Great Cause!

As you may have seen, Carolyn King's grandmother recently passed away from complications of Alzheimer's and she wanted to do something special for the caregivers of people affected by the disease. Both of my grandmothers also suffered from Alzheimer's and I was a part-time caregiver for one, so I know what a difficult job it can be, and what a debilitating disease.

Go check out her blog for the details: http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/2008/09/heart-to-heart-blog-candy.html

Sorry I posted this a little late - you only have until the 26th to enter.

Yapples Swedish Collage

Starving Artistamps is having a Swedish Collage challenge on their blog right now and I decided to give it a try. Boy was this difficult, and my card isn't really collage-y, but I still really like it so it'll have to do!

According to the blog, the main elements of Swedish collage are:
~the shape of the card is SQUARE
~a bold mix of PATTERN PAPERS is used
~CHIPBOARD titles (in any language!), BUTTONS and/or STAPLES are often incorporated into the design
~COLOR COLOR COLOR the more color the better! (this is not your regular vintage style collage frequently done in the states! Ban the brown!)

I used a mix of papers from the DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies stack, along with the orange piece from Kelly Panacci. I stamped Yapples on the orange paper and on white CS twice. I cut out one whole white image, and then just the eyeballs of the other. I cut out the entire orange Yapples, except for the teeth and then layered it over the whole white Yapples. Lastly, I rounded and popped up both eyeballs. (BTW - did you know you can make him cross-eyed just by turning one of the eyeballs the other way? It's pretty funny!)

The little dots on the HEY are tiny blue rhinestones (wish I could capture the sparkle in my pictures) and I thought the crazy zigzag stitching would go well with Yapples. TFL!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Splendid Cupcake

I'm still playing with my Pink Poison stamps - today is the Cupcake set, and also Amy R.'s Friday sketch #29.

I have a lot of cupcake stamps, but I must admit that this is one of my faves! It has really clean lines that are perfect for paper piecing, and it looks so yummy!

I used all the same Daisy Bucket papers as the Lucky Bunnies card, and also the same banner (LOVE that image too!). I colored the cherry, shaded a little, and colored some white Waxy Flax for the button with my Copics.

Thanks to Amy for another fun sketch and Marie for the stamps!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Lucky Bunnies

I can't seem to do a card without using a sketch these days, and today's card is no exception. I used Splendid Sketch #1 from the Splendid Stamping with Pink Poison blog. I used the Lucky Bunnies set, also from Pink Poison (isn't this the cutest bunny ever?!).

I did my usual paper piecing on the bunny, balloon and banner, and popped up an extra head, the balloon, and the banner for dimension. Another detail is that I used some sewing thread for the balloon string and did just the littlest bit of shading on the banner with a Copic.

In this close-up shot, you can see that I did flocking on the ears and belly. My method for flocking is described here.

I really love how this card turned out! Thanks to Marie at Pink Poison for the fun sketch and the adorable stamp set!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Witchybella

Today's card was made with Jen's Sketch For You To Try. There is also a prize up for grabs if you use a Bella, so I took the opportunity to ink up my Witchybella for the first time.

The ribbon is velvet ric-rac from May Arts, the flowers are from Prima, and the centers are faux drops from Michael's that I covered with orange glitter glue. TFL!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Angel Anya

I recently came across a new-to-me stamp company called Pink Poison. She has some of the cutest stamps ever! I tried to resist, but it didn't take me long to place my first (and definitely not last) order! I *adore* the Anya stamps so here's my first Anya card.

I had to do some paper piecing and paper tole with her that I hope you can see in the close-up angled shot below. I pieced and popped up her dress and hair bow, and I also popped up an extra face, bangs, wings, and arms.

I colored her skin and hair with Copics and glittered her wings with Stickles. The sentiment is from Stamping Bella and both of those punches on the bottom are Stampin' Up! And of course that patterned paper is from the same Nana's Nursery Baby Girl pad that I can't stop using!

I hope you love her as much as I do!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hello!

Whew! It's been super busy around here! I actually made this card a while back, but didn't have a chance to post it. It was made using the Page Plans card sketch #20.

I used some old Chatterbox paper, cut the letters out of craft foam with my Quickutz dies, and the flowers were stamped with an image from the set Beautiful Blooms multiple times, then cut out and layered with some pearl Dew Drops. The bracket piece behind the Hello is actually a stamped image too, but I can't remember which company made it (I think I got it in a scrapbooking kit a looong time ago). The last touch is May Arts ribbon and some sewing.

And the reason why I've been so busy lately - our new baby boy, Griffin! He was born on September 4th, just 3 days before my own birthday! We brought him home on the 6th and life hasn't been the same since! He's generally a good baby, but does have his fussy moments. He was a little over 9 lbs. at birth so he's already really strong, lifting his head up when he's on his tummy and he already turned over by himself!!

He's sleeping a lot so I'm hoping to get back into cardmaking, and maybe some scrapping too once I get the pictures printed. Thanks for visiting and I hope to get back to semi-regular posting soon!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Doodle Factory Blog Candy

I adore Doodle Factory stamps and they keep coming out with new ones! They've got Halloween images this time, and you know how much I love Halloween stamps! Check 'em out!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Spooky Greetings

Today's card was made using the MFT Sketch #45. I've had this adorable set, Monster Squad, since the last MFT release, but only now got around to actually making a card with it.

The kids were colored with Copics, cut out, and popped up. I colored the mini staples with an orange Sharpie marker to hold down the black twill. TFL!