These Should Bring Some Smiles

When I saw a turkey made with scalloped circles, I knew it would be a great craft to do with the families at the Ronald McDonald House as our November activity. These are actually bodiless at this point; I decided to do some of the tedious small detail work this afternoon so that the crafting would go more smoothly. Don't they just crack you up? You can check out this post if you want to see the finished bird.

If anyone is interested in joining me in this volunteer opportunity, feel free to contact me. I go monthly, and it's usually mid-week and mid-month.

Easy Elegance Comes with Persistence

This is a post about how it pays to not be satisfied with a first attempt, even if you're under a deadline. I saw this card on Karen Graff-Povis' blog last month and put it in my starred file of cards that I use to inspire me.

As I considered her card this morning (because I have my first stamper coming for this month's Stamp-A-Stack this evening), I began to pout because I wasn't sure how I could replicate the embossed look on the large background piece of Karen's card. Then it hit me. I said I'd feature a card using Bride Specialty Paper (BSP)! Perfect!

I pulled out the BSP and chose Night of Navy (NN) to achieve the contrast I wanted. I used the same stamp set Karen did--Baroque Motifs--and approximated the measurements of the different layers. When I finished, I decided to use the striped pattern in the BSP as the card base, but when I attached the NN layer, it was mostly hidden. It looked okay, but not quite the display of elegance I was going for. I thought there was too much space between the image, the ribbon, and the sentiment. So I began again.

This time, I made the NN layer smaller, 3.75" x 5", and made the Bride DSP layer 3.5" x 4.75". The focal panel, which I wish was glossy white but I don't have it, is 2" x 3.5". The NN layer behind it is .25" bigger. This creates plenty of exposure for both Specialty Papers.

A little touch of white satin ribbon and the card is complete. I think this would be a great wedding or anniversary card, either of which is always good to have in the stash.

Gobble, Gobble...

That's turkey-speak for, "thankful for you"! This is the card I came up with after finding this ADORABLE turkey made with scallop circles on Michelle's blog, http://istampedthat.com/2009/09/20/turkey-time/. I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to use it two times this month--for next week's Stamp-A-Stack, and with the families at the Ronald McDonald House!

This is the card I designed for my SAS. The base is Dusty Durango, and it is a gate fold (5.5" x 8.5" scored at 2 1/8" on each end of the 8.5" side). The turkey is made with 4 scallops, 3 that are cut in half and mounted on a whole scallop base. The card stock I used to create this Tom were: Crushed Curry, Ruby Red, Soft Suede, and Dusty Durango.

The "head" of the turkey is 1 scallop circle cut so that there's a single scallop at the top and 3 at the bottom. The eyes are made using Whisper White card stock and a 1/4" circle punch. I created pupils with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker. The "bill" is made with the slot punch, and the wattle (yes, I had to look up that term!) is made with the smallest heart in the 3 Heart Punch. The "feet" are made using the 5 petal flower from the Boho Blossoms Punch (retired). A shout out of thanks to my fellow demonstrator friend Patti for allowing me to borrow this to give my bird something to stand on!

The sentiment for this card was created using a brand new product from SU! called My Digital Studio (MDS). MDS is a digital papercrafting solution that allows you to create cards, photo cards, photo albums, scrapbooks, fliers, multimedia projects, DVDs--the list is almost as endless as your imagination! I put it through its paces because I don't have a Thanksgiving specific stamp set, and I wanted something larger than any of my "thanks" stamps could offer.

MDS has a collection of over 5000 products that SU! offers in physical form--card stock, stamp sets, Designer Series Paper, embellishments, punches, and Simply Scrappin' Kits--that I can utilize to create something digitally! Once I've created it digitally, I can print it myself or have it professionally printed--more on that in another post. Don't think that this program isn't something for you. It's so easy to use, it's amazing! More to come!

I used one of the included alphabets and resized it--which you can't do with regular stamps!--to craft this custom sentiment. I printed it on Very Vanilla card stock, cut it to size, and added the turkey. I was able to customize the color of the letters so that they matched the card base too!

I hope you like my turkey. Watch for more to come on MDS! I'm getting certified and can't wait to share all that I'm learning with you.

Just Playin' Around...

Had this little pumpkin idea come to me in my inbox and tinkered around with a scene for it. It's made with 5 scallop circle punched circles that are scored down the middle, attached to each other, then to the card base. Add a bit of Chocolate Chip card stock to make a stem, and that's it!

I'm Not Sure I Like This

This card was inspired by the colors of the season and a card I saw in this month's Stampin' Success magazine. The original used a smaller tree, but all I have is the one from Season of Friendship. The original showed using coordinating colors of Designer Series Paper to create "rolling hills", and to pop two of the layers up on Stampin' Dimensionals to make it look more 3D. Since my tree is so much larger, I'm not sure the effect worked, but it's growing on me.

I laid all the layers flat and tacked them together on the So Saffron base with some removable adhesive so they wouldn't scootch while I was stamping the tree. I had to fill in some tiny gaps with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker. I wanted to create a sky of clouds, so I punched out a scallop circle and used a sponge dauber to create them. I started at the top and used Sage Shadow ink. The cloud is created by the negative space not inked. Does that make sense? Anyway, I hope you get the idea. If you don't, let me know, and I'll take pictures. I thought it was a little underwhelming, so I very lightly sponged some Really Rust onto the area to give it a bit more color.

The leaves in the DSP "hill" are a very different size than those on the tree, so I limited myself to stamping a few on the limbs and not confusing things by having any on the ground. I inked those in SS and RR.

There's no sentiment because I can't decide what kind of card this would be useful as. Thinking of you, surely, but what other sentiment would work? I'm just not sure at all about this card...

An Experiment with Circles

As you can tell by the past two posts, I draw a lot of inspiration from fellow crafters. Squareheadedstamper (her term, not mine), Brandi Wiggins-Cote of Canada provided the catalyst for this card.

I used a 3.25" circle of Garden Green card stock, which I cut in half and folded, freehand, to create these little cuties. I haven't perfected the technique enough to show you step-by step how I achieved these trees, so I'll work on that and post pictures when I get it better figured out. These were beginner's luck.

I decorated the trees with 1/4" circles in Real Red and Metallic Silver card stock. I also strung them with "garland" made with the silver and gold elastic cord currently available in the Holiday Mini Catalog. For the center tree's "ornaments", I tacked glue dots in place and then sprinkled the entire tree liberally with Dazzling Diamonds. That didn't seem flashy enough, so I dug back through my other Christmas stamp sets and found a tiny poinsettia in Season of Joy. I stamped it on Cameo Coral and cut them.

The background "snow" on Not Quite Navy card stock was made using a stamp from the Snowflake Spot (retired) set. It was inked with white craft ink, sprinkled with Clear Embossing Powder, and set with my heat tool. I tore a piece of Whisper White card stock to create a "snowbank", and stamped "all spruced up" from Fun & Fast Notes in Garden Green. This card reminds me somewhat of the Charlie Brown Christmas special, where there were all kinds of beautiful trees and then there was the sad one that Charlie ended up loving.