Summertime, and the Living is Easy

Hey Stampers! No, I haven't fallen off the planet. I've just been enjoying the relaxed routine of summer. My son finished his sophomore year of high school the week before Memorial Day, and so we've been in that mode since. Hope you have been enjoying some R&R too.

I saw a telescoping card online and decided I wanted to put my own twist on it. It was created by Lisa Zwolanek, and I think it's such a unique, yet EASY card to make. It'll really make someone's day, I just know it.

As you can see, it starts out as a pile of concentric circles. My card has 5 layers and the layers are attached using brads. This allows them to swivel as they open, and it's just so cool!

I used 3 circle dies for the Big Shot--the 3.5", the 3", and the Circles #2 plate, which has 4 sizes--2", 1.75", 1.5", and 1". I used the 2.5" circle punch as well. That's a LOT of circles, but trust me, it's just a matter of layering card stock to get the number of circles you need in the colors you want. If you don't have a Big Shot, you could trace circles or use a smaller set of graduating circle punches to achieve the same effect.


Once I had my circles cut out, I chose the Circle Circus stamp set, in keeping with the card's obvious theme! It allowed me to create some backgrounds for the words I chose, which are from Best Yet (retired). I used the current InColor collection for the card stock and the inks, and I'm looking forward to recreating this in the NEW InColors, which premiere July 1 when the 2011-2012 Big Idea Book & Catalog becomes available for ordering.

JUST 24 HOURS LEFT TO ORDER FROM THE CURRENT CATALOG! Click here to shop online.

If you'd like to get your hands on a new catalog, just leave me a comment and we'll connect! Even though you can't order from it until July 1, I can get it to you NOW! Isn't that great!

I'm Supposed to be Making Dinner

I have no idea what I'm supposed to be making for dinner, but I know that you, my blog readers (hello? anybody still out there?) have not had a post in 3 weeks, so instead of trying to figure out dinner, I'm going to show you a card I've made. Because it's not that I haven't been making cards; I just haven't had time to write about it!

This is a card I made after I saw one like it on Dawn O's blog. I created this for the girls at Jesse's House to make during our monthly get-together on Sunday afternoons. They loved the little froggie image from A Flower for All Seasons, and each one put her own twist on my original design. It was so fun to see them expressing and nurturing their creativity. I used Pear Pizazz DSP from the InColor pack of 6"x6" sheets that is an freebie option for hostesses, and used my Daffodil Delight marker to add some accents on the center panel. The froggie image was colored using Crumb Cake, Pear Pizazz, and Daffodil Delight.

This is the other card the girls made that afternoon. It was so fun to teach them how to make clouds using a template made from scallop circle punches that I cut in half and attached in a row. A little piece of sponge and some Baja Breeze classic ink, and we had a great sky for the butterfly from Flight of the Butterfly to flit along on. I love the color combination of Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, and Whisper White. It screams SPRING!

There's more, I promise! Thanks for your patience.

Word Play Birthday Presents

There's always need for a birthday card, and when my new downline, Bekah, found a card by Angie Leach on the gallery for demonstrators only that she wanted to make, I knew I'd be using the layout too. It's just too cute and really quick to assemble! I used the Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack for the InColor Collection, which features Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, and Blushing Bride. These colors are in the same order as the packages, with BB featured as the card base. The boxes measure 1.75" wide x 1.25" high, 1.5" wide x 1.25" high, 1" square, and .75" wide x 1" high. There are many many different patterns to choose from, so I could make this card again using the same paper but the flip side of the DSP, and it would look different. That's BOING for the buck, friends! The bow at the top is made using Whisper White 1/8" taffeta ribbon. Can't believe we didn't have this width ribbon as an option for cards before this year! I use it all the time! It's adhered with a glue dot. The sentiment is colored direct to rubber using the Stampin' Write Markers for the InColor Collection. I don't own the stamp pads for these colors, but with the markers in my supply cabinet, I can color coordinate my card anyway. Wish BIG is from Word Play, a versatile new set featuring 12 different sentiments crafted using unique font combinations. When Bekah made this card at her workshop, she gave the gals the choice of sentiments. It was fun to see how a different stamp can make the card applicable for a completely different occasion. Tomorrow I'll show you how the same sentiment, combined with Extreme Elements, makes a fantastic birthday card for a guy. See you then!

Celebrating New Life

A friend of mine became a grandma for the second time last week. This grandchild had some stressful circumstances during her gestation and surrounding her arrival, so I wanted to make a keepsake for the baby so that she would know how loved she is and has been since before she made her debut.

The mother likes the colors brown and orange, and I know the baby has a quilt in those colors, so that influenced my palette for the card. I used the heart from retired Loop to Loop and stamped it in Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, and Peach Parfait. I wanted the hearts to overlap to communicate how many hearts joined together on behalf of this child before she was born. The "you are loved" stamp is a random one I've had for over 10 years, and I love its simple message in a stylish font.

The card is a simple gate fold with a piece of Crumb Cake down the middle to anchor the heart image to. I used some Chantilly Crochet Trim to soften the card.

For the interior, I pulled out my Billboard Alphabet for the Big Shot and used Early Espresso card stock to create the letters. Old-fashioned names are very hip these days, and Lucy Jean is very in vogue. The letters are glued onto Very Vanilla card stock and matted with Crumb Cake on the Peach Parfait base.

I hope you can find some way to use your paper crafting to enter into someone else's joy this week.

Giving Thanks

Halloween cards are all the rage on the card blogs these days, but I don't know anyone who actually SENDS Halloween cards, so I'm skipping that holiday and giving you a glimpse at a great card you can make for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I shared how I made a non-traditional baby card using the Friends Never Fade set, and while I had it out I thought I'd see if I could adapt the same color scheme and image for use as a Thanksgiving card.

I chose Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede, and Old Olive as my color scheme and colored direct to rubber using my InColor Collection Stampin' Write Markers. I love having markers for this kind of detail work, and I like that I can try the colors out by purchasing the markers. Ink pads used to be the only options for the InColors, and I'm so happy SU! listened to us demonstrators and gave us markers!

Once I'd stamped the image on Very Vanilla card stock, I used my 2" scallop circle punch to crop it. I just bought the latest circle punch size, 2.5", from the Holiday Mini Catalog, and I wanted to put that to use, so I punched a circle from Poppy Parade card stock and layered the two together.

Then I inked up the Thanksgiving message from Seasonal Sentiments in Soft Suede and stamped it on Very Vanilla. It measures 1.75" x 3" so I could tuck it behind the circle image. I like how the wording seems to curve along the edge!

The patterned paper is from Greenhouse Gala, cut at 3" x 5.5". Did you know it was designed to coordinate with Friends Never Fade? I had scraps of Very Vanilla and Poppy Parade laying around, so I layered them behind to create a matting that ties everything together. Again, as with the last card, I added some Chantilly Crochet Trim and placed a thin strip of Soft Suede behind it so that the pattern shows more.

This card is one I'd really like to receive, as the message communicates how the sender feels about me and is so encouraging. Perhaps Christmas is just too crazy a time for you to think about making cards or even getting cards you've purchased in the mail.

Why not adopt a different approach this season and send out Thanksgiving cards instead! Your card would be a great way to bless those who've invested in your life this year. I'd be happy to help you calculate what you'd need in terms of supplies to make these.

Non-Traditional Baby Card

Friends of ours just had their third girl, Ruby Elliot, and I wanted to make a card welcoming her. I didn't want to use a traditional baby stamp set though, so I combed through my sets and pulled out Friends Never Fade. I like the floral image and thought I could give it an autumnal look.

Poppy Parade from the latest InColor collection seemed like a good choice because its orange-red reminds me of bittersweet. Love that stuff! Anyway, I colored the petals of the flower using my Stampin' Write Marker and added some Peach Parfait (another InColor) accents. I love how SU! does the color coordination work for me, so I can focus on creating. I decided to use Pear Pizazz, also from the collection, for my stem and foliage. Then I stamped it on Very Vanilla card stock. I sponged the edges with Soft Suede to soften it a bit and set it aside.

The color scheme was coming together nicely, so I only had to choose what other elements I was going to incorporate into it. I pulled out my A to Z small background stamp because I wanted to add a subtle inference to childhood to this card. I used Versamark for a tone on tone look and embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder.

Then came the tricky part: choosing a sentiment. I ended up going with "small wonder" from a retired Hostess set because it communicated that this baby is a special and unique wonder. I inked it with Soft Suede and used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to position it.

The Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder demonstrated its versatility again by adding some great texture and femininity to this card while not overpowering the main image. I used Very Vanilla again, cut to 4 1/8" x 5 3/8", so that the Pear Pizazz card base would still be seen.

Next I went to the ribbon drawer and chose Victoria Crochet Trim because baby girls make me think of frills and lace. I also added three Crumb Cake flower buttons from the Neutrals Designer Button collection because I wanted to create an element that would make reference to Ruby being the third girl in the family.

Why not give yourself this same challenge the next time you have an occasions card to make? Choose a set not normally thought to be used for that application and see what your mind comes up with. It knows how to think outside the box.

Corregated Cardboard "Sleeve" Card

Can you find inspiration from a piece of cardboard? Yep. This is how things happen sometimes. Kathleen's card inspired Lorri. Lorri's card inspired mine. Why I never thought of this, even though I handle approximately 200 sleeves a day, is beyond me. And the crafter who DID think of this? She doesn't drink coffee or tea! Just goes to show you that creative catalysts are abundant.

If you want to create the look of a coffee cup sleeve, all you need is a piece of corregated cardboard from any box. As you can see from the picture, although you probably already knew this if you enjoy nitpicking of any kind, cardboard is a sandwich of two thin layers of paper covering a fluted piece of fiberboard. You can read all about it here. To achieve the desired effect, simply remove one of the layers of paper to expose the fluted innards. Voila--you have a great card element!

I need a get-well card for a friend of mine who broke her leg a month ago. I always want to watercolor the images from Morning Cup, so I stamped the mug and the percolator on watercolor paper with Early Espresso Classic Ink. Brown Staz-on ink would've been better, but I don't have any, and as long as you don't use too much H20, you'll be okay.

I used my Stampin' Write Markers in Crumb Cake and Poppy Parade and didn't color the images completely. I laid down some heavy color on the edge and then used my Aqua Painter to pull the color away from the edges and fill in the image. In some cases, I went back over an area with the marker to deepen the color, but I love how fast and easy it is to get a watercolored look by using these two tools. I'm certainly no Picasso, yet I get consistently good results with this method.

Most of the rest of the card is a CASE, but I wanted to use the percolator since the message evokes the image. So I added it to the cardboard layer. The idea for the hearts came from the original percolator image, but I wanted them to be bigger, so they were punched in Poppy Parade using the Heart-To-Heart Punch. The 2" Scallop Circle Punch and the 1 3/8" Circle Punch were used to create the pieces that have the mug on them. I adhered 5/8" Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon to the cardboard, then tied Crumb Cake 3/8" taffeta ribbon and Hemp Twine around it to cinch it a bit. The base is Always Artichoke, a 7" x 6.5" scored at 3.5".

InColor Collection Inchie

I've been slow to embrace the new InColor Collection. I think it's because I'm enjoying the renovated Color Collections and I don't feel I need more colors. I bought them, though, so I need to use them! The great thing about this new set of five is that it will be available for two years instead of just one. That takes the stress out of having to use them or lose them in a shorter period of time.

My first attempt uses a layout from Julie Freysinger and all the colors in the collection. If you haven't been "introduced", here are the colors in the latest InColor Collection: Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Concord Crush, and Blushing Bride. The base I used is BB, and the rest of the colors are represented in the 1" squares that are mounted on a 3" square of Crumb Cake card stock.

I know I've told you this before, but I LOVE THESE INCHIES! They're from the Level 1 Hostess Set Cute by the Inch, and they're so fun to work with, especially if you enjoy coloring direct to rubber. I like that I can apply color right where I want to and create this little painting of sorts. I'll have another card featuring this set later this week.

One last note about this card: in case you're wondering how I got the ribbon to appear as though it's going all the way around the card, I cut a slit in the scored seam of the card and threaded it through and tied a square knot.