Up on the Housetop

I actually find myself in the odd position of being kinda caught-up with my holiday cards...but I can always make more! I couldn't resist using a couple of the super holiday freebies from Tellen's Place Designs...and it was the perfect opportunity to finally use the reindeer-themed stamp set from Studio G (I think) that I've had in my Christmas stash for years. Gotta love those little hooves! For the layout, I turned to Mojo Monday Sketch #218. Thanks everyone!

This card is all about texture (you know how I love texture!): The base is a shiny, textured Core'dinations cardstock; the bright white piece is Hammermill cardstock heat-embossed with snowflakes in Kaleidoscope (glittery, clear embossing powder); the oval is plain Recollections paper with the sentiment stamped with chalk ink & heat-embossed in Kaleidoscope; the strip uses the same Recollections paper but the hooves are heat-embossed in copper. I colorized the image in brown & printed it on white linen cardstock. Santa's beard is covered in white flocking (as is Ally's outfit on the inside, see below), the white on his hat & coat are heat-embossed with clear powder, and the snow on the chimney is heat-embossed in Kaleidoscope (I love that stuff!). I "paper-pierced" the edges with my sewing machine.

Can't believe Christmas is right around the corner! I'm certainly feeling the spirit :)

Hey Baby

I'm almost embarrassed to mention that I won the Top Tip prize for Top Tip Tuesdays' Birthday/Easel Card challenge (thank you! Love Stamp&Create), but obviously not embarrassed enough to skip their challenge this week, which is Birthday Time. The theme is described as 'Happy Birthday' or a project to congratulate/celebrate a BIRTH.

I decided to make a Baby card with help from the sketch and Mellow Yellow theme at the Pixie Cottage. I've been a little blue lately (season change) but I've also been been thinking a lot about babies. This hasn't necessary made me less blue, but it's led to several cute cards!

Speaking of being blue, I hope you'll send some good thoughts to everyone at Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack, who is enduring a hectic move due to the recent storms. The Shack has really inspired me; for example, I learned how simple it is to manipulate soft, hot shrink plastic, like I did for this embellishment, on their Off the Page forum. 

Thank you for the inspiration, everyone! I had lots of fun making this. This adorable baby digi was given to me as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) from Tellen's Place Designs. Thank you!

Nature Boy

Ever since participating in their Banksy challenge, I'm hooked on Daring Cardmakers! This week's challenge is Krafty: use kraft paper as well as 3 natural items. I also adore Cards for Men, and chose Ground for their "G is for..." challenge. I used the decidedly hip swirl stamps from the Raisin Boat Make a Splash set. The star of this show, of course, is Skate Board Edward from Tellen's Place Designs. Love this guy! He reminds me of summer.

For my "natural items" I grabbed a couple of small leaves from the yard (Hurricane Irene made that easy; I think they're Maple & Mulberry), put them in the freezer for a few hours (to kill bugs), dried them out with my heat tool (with only some burning), then sprayed them with hairspray to set. I made the cork button by slicing up one of my long-hoarded wine corks, adding holes & eyelets with my Crop-O-Dile. I sewed it on with baker's twine, which I'm hoping was made with "natural" cotton and dyes (I'd've used hemp twine if I'd had it)!

Inspiration:
Daring Cardmakers: Feeling Krafty (plus 3 natural items)
Cards for Men Challenge #18: G is for... (Ground)

Stamps: SB Edward 2 by Tellen's Place Designs, Make a Splash set from Raisin Boat
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, hole punch, Marvy heat tool & punch, Crop-O-Dile
Other: Versamark & Memento inks, ZipDry & Tacky glues, stash eyelet, stash baker's twine, Recollections embossing powders, Sutter Home cork, stash eyelets, leaves, hairspray
Copic markers: RV11, E13, E33, E11, E31, E35, E47, C-1, C-5, C-7, BG49, BG15, BG10, FYG1

Enchilada, Mama?

I'm participating in a recipe swap at Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack (SDSS), and had a leftover embellishment that I decided to make a card with. Since I used Enchiladas for my recipe, I had colored this cute Cook digi from Tellen's Place Designs and added some handmade paper enchiladas (adapted from a paper taco I saw in a magazine; see instructions at the bottom of this post). Mom got a real kick out of this idea, so this card's for her.

I was really drawn to this week's photo at Cupcake Inspirations (right), and had lots of fun with it. Yes I know Anne-Marie: more purple! But there's plenty of pink in there too!

I was inspired to make a Sliding Pop Up Card thanks to Croms' great tutorial at SDSS. I made a few earlier in the year, but it was fun to try again.

The paper flowers are from a bunch we bought recently in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They really hold up well & bounce back from anything!

Inspiration:
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #124
Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack: Sliding Pop Up Card

Stamps: Kiss the Cook by Tellen's Place Designs, sentiment by TLC Creations
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors & corner/border punch, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Cricut & SCAL, Recollections punch
Other: ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Copic markers, Offray ribbon


How to make tiny paper enchiladas:

1. Tortilla: Cut or punch out a circle, and fold it loosely into thirds. (I used a 3/4 inch punch)
2. Lettuce: Cut out a piece of green paper slightly longer than the circle & about 1/8 inch wide. Use scissors to "fringe" the edges on the short sides.
   
3. Enchilada: Glue lettuce onto middle section of tortilla. Fold up enchilada. Apply a small amount of glue onto bottom flap; fold over top flap and secure with a clip to dry.
   
4. Cheese: Glue a mix of yellow & orange flocking onto top of enchilada. (I used only yellow in this example)

When life gives you lemons, make fruit salad

You may remember my recent "Little Sunshine" card; well, Mom suggested that I make the same family another card for their granddaughter plus their two current foster children. That's the kind of suggestion I live for. I can't tell you how much I respect these folks: they have opened their hearts and home to many foster children over the years, adopting several and helping others to live happy childhoods until they can be adopted. Now that's what I call courage.

Inspiration:
iCopic Blog Hop Challenge: All about Children
Simon Says Stamp: Food & Drink
Card Positioning Systems Sketch #232

Stamps: Crayons The Baby and Picnic Ally-n-Edward by Tellen's Place Designs, Round Sentiments I set by SP & Company
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, Core'dinations, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool, Sizzix Texture Boutique, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark watermark ink, Stampendous embossing powder, AtYou Spica glitter pen
Copics: E37, E47, E17, E35, E33, E13, E11, Y08, YR12, Y13, Y04, Y17, Y02, YR31, RV02, RV11, G02, BG09, BG49, YG67, YG41, B00, BG000, B32, B23, B05, FB2, B39, B18, B28, BV02, BV00, BV000, V17, V06, R27, YR04, FY1, FBG2

In the pink, with a little help from my friends

So my sister-in-law just got engaged to the most wonderful man, so we have a new niece (his sweet daughter). I made a card for her upcoming birthday, very similar to the one I made for our niece in July, but I wanted to include something for both of them (like I did last time). Let's face it, this is just an excuse for me to craft something!

I wanted to try my hand at a Flag Book, inspired by Extreme Cards & PaperCrafting. The card features digis from Tellen's Place Designs and Karen's Doodles. I also couldn't resist adding some ruby heat-embossing.

I added photos, although I'm not including them in these pictures:

Our dogs are black and white; the parents of our black dog live with the recipients of this card & are also black and white. For the white one I simply added white flocking. For the black one, I colored it with black and dark gray Copics and then went over it with the Colorless Blender to bring back the highlights.


Copics: RV11, RV23, RV02, R35, 100, C-7, 0, E000, E50, YR01, E17,E37, E35, E13, YR12, YG03, YG63, G02, B39, B18, FB2, B23, B32, B00, B0000, FRV1

Have a great day everyone!

A little Sunshine, with help from Verve Stamps

I've received such lovely responses to my recent projects featuring images from Tellen's Place Designs. The owner, Terry, told me she likes my coloring! which means the world to me. Mom asked if I could one of the bathing beauty images for a card for her friend's granddaughter. I actually have a photo of the sweetie in question in our living room, modeling my first Feria dress. I'm hoping to see them when I visit my folks this winter.

I made a joy fold card with Ally Beach Cool and my beautiful new set from Verve Stamps. I won these from the Mojo Monday 200 Celebration, and I've gotta tell you, I'm hooked! Not only are the stamps beautiful and excellent quality, check out how they were sent:

Wouldn't this make a great gift?! And you know I saved the wrapping for future use!

For the backing paper, I stamped a mix of the sun stamps in watermark ink on light yellow paper, then heat-embossed with transparent-yellow powder. I added detail with different yellow markers. The card itself is 4.25x4.25, so I cut the backing paper into 1.875 squares. For a little something extra, I added matching bows on the front and back.
I added flocking for texture: yellow on the bear, and light blue on the towel.Of course, I couldn't help but want to share this in a few challenges:
Critter Sketch Challenge #76: Summer Fun
The Crazy Challenge #78: The Sun is Out
Allsorts Challenge Week 114: Free & Easy

Stamps: Ally Beach Cool by Tellen's Place Designs, Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool
Other: ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Versamark & Memento inks, Stampendous embossing powder & flocking, Smirk glitter pen, Offray ribbon, American Crafts stamp marker
Copics: Y02, Y000, Y17, Y04, FY1, YR12, RV11, RV02, BG000, B05, FBG2, FB2, E17, E13, E47, E37

Flippin' Out with Tellen's Place

As soon as I saw these bathing beauties digi stamps at Tellen's Place, I knew I had to make something with them for my nieces. My sister-in-law recently posted a video of them jumping into the pool for the first time, and I decided to make my life really complicated and make a flip-book out of it.

Flips-books are a pretty simple concept, but getting photos to line up isn't so easy. Since this was a movie, I ended up creating the images from screenshots. Yes, it took me forever. Yes, it was worth it!

I made a fold-out envelope to keep it in:

Thank you TLC Creations for the gorgeous digi paper that I used for the flip-book cover, name plate, and punch-flowers.
The ribbon is from very first Stampin' Dymonz blog candy!
It was a huge hit -- we received the best thank-you call from the sweet recipients (ages 4 & 5).

Flip-flopper

When I saw the freebie for the current Tellen's Place Challenge, I just had to mix it with the Flip-flop Card technique and the flip-flop digis I snagged from Shelly's Images.

I was really inspired by the Buttons, Bows, Brads & Bling recipe at Dutch Dare Card Challenges. Happily, I had 2 sizes of blingy brads and star buttons that matched the paper perfectly.I used my Crop-O-Dile to punch a hole in the flower brad to insert the sentiment brad.

For the large flip-flops, I printed 2 pairs and popped it with foam tape. I edged the buttons, flip-flops, flower & sentiment brads, and mats with Copics.

Here's the front, card closed:
...and opened:
Here's the back, card closed:
...and opened:
Inspiration:
Tellen's Place Designs: Anything Goes
DDCC #121: Buttons, Bows, Brads and Bling

Swing (Flip Flop) Card tutorial: Splitcoast Stampers (with printable template)

Digi stamps: Swimsuit Jess by Tellen's Place Designs, Flip Flops 2 by Shelly's Images
Paper: Core'dinations, Hammermill, stash
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & finger knife, Tim Holtz scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Crop-O-Dile II, needle
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark & Memento inks, Copic markers, Sakura gel pen, Smirk glitter pen, CraftSmart Embroidery thread, awl, buttons from stash (thanks Mom!)
Brads: Oriental Trading Co., Recollections

Update 6/25/11: Wow! This card won the Tellen's Place Designs: Anything Goes Challenge. Thank you!

Picnics, Puns, and Punches

When I entered the Tellen's Place Anything Goes & Must Use a TPD image challenge, I remember thinking how AWESOME the prize package was. Well, never in a million years did I think I would receive it!

Their DT member Sandra from England (& of Rose Petal Creations) put together a beautiful handmade box full of goodies, including the most beautiful embellishments I've ever owned, several wonderful varieties of ribbon, bunches of paper flowers, and a whole bunch of fun Tellen's Place images. Seriously, I cried a little. I love receiving packages from countries with "Royal Mail"...it seems even more special! I'm going to do my best to use these treasures to create beautiful items, but it's going to be so difficult to part with them.

My first project with my prizes is this flap card with Dorothy Diva, one of the included images. I'd neither made nor heard of a flap card before Joyanna's post on the Scrap Shack cardmaking group. I had terrible fun coloring her. I added flocking to the flower & ribbon details and red-gold heat-embossing to the shoes (because it's Dorothy & how can she go home without red shoes‽).

For the card, I was inspired by two challenges: the fruit theme at Simon Says Stamp, and the punches theme at Stamp-n-Doodle. I have big plans for these little fruit...they're so cute and fun to make!

The "Berry Sweet Wishes" sentiment (see image on bottom right) inspired a berry emphatic groan from my husband, and you can try for the same response by downloading the jpg.


Inspiration:
Simon Says: Let's Get Fruity / A Photo Inspiration
Stamp-n-Doodle Recipe Challenge: Use more than 1 punch/diecut + circles
Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack cardmaking forum: Flap card

Tutorials:
Flap card: Splitcoast Stampers

Stamps: Dorothy Diva by Tellen's Place Designs, pile of gold (for strawberry seeds) from Lucky Day set by SP & Company, dots (for blackberry seeds) from Studio g, AnAkronism font
Paper: Hammermill, Recollections
Tools: HP printer & ink, SCAL, Cricut, Marvy heat tool, Sizzix Texture Boutique, Recollections & Marvy punches, Martha Stewart border punch, squeeze hole-punch
Other: ZipDry, ZIG glue pen, Glossy Accents, Stampendous flocking & embossing powder, Martha Stewart embossing powder, clear Atyou Spica pen, green Sakura gel pen, embroidery thread

Say Whaat?!

This week's challenge at Stamping Dymonz Creative Space is to color this great image, Say What by Tellen's Place Designs (TPD). Thank you for the freebie! And since it's an SD challenge, there are several fun rules, one of which is to use cream-colored lace ribbon. I only had white, so I "creamed" it with Copics. I also let myself be a little bold and added shadows and highlights with my beloved Iridescent Mauve copic. As soon as I saw this challenge, this card idea popped into my head. I can imagine needing a card like this someday!
Several people have mentioned that this digi reminds them of their Moms, so I colored her like my Mom. I'm pretty sure this is her current hair color...I can totally imagine her wearing this dress.

Inspiration: Stamping Dymonz Creative Space Challenge #2: Working with Digis
Digi stamp: Say What by Tellen's Place Designs
Supplies: Recollections, Hammermill and Brazzill cardstocks, Versamark inks, HP printer & ink, RagMop Regular typeface, SCAL & Cricut, birdie stamp from Pick a Peck set by Raisin Boat, border stamp by the Paper Co., Stampendous embossing powder, Marvy heat tool, Simplicity lace ribbon, ZipDry glue
Copics: E31, RV23, E33, E51, Y000, C-1, B23, V06, BV04, BV000, BV00, BV08, V17

Hope you like tent cards!

I cannot get enough of tent cards! I had so much fun making my first one for the Scrap Shack cardmaking group that I turned right around and made this for the current Tellen's Place challenge.

One of the requirements is to use a TPD image, but they have lots of freebies...plus good prices. I had so much fun making this card with their freebie that I bought Mary & Bev, which I've already used for another tent card! I had tons and tons of fun coloring this, and the flags, and think I'll make lots of this card.

I'm also crushin' on the color combo of kraft-and-pink. Tying the string onto those hand-cut banners took some doing, but it was so worth it.

Inspiration:
Digi stamp: Gift Mandy by Tellen's Place Designs

Supplies: Hammermill and Recollections cardstocks, Memento ink, HP printer & ink, SCAL & Cricut, VersaMark watermark ink, Stamendous embossing powder, Marvy heat tool, bakers twine, ZipDry glue, MS scissors

Copics: BV04, BV000, BV00, B23, V17, RV04, V06, RV42, RV11, RV23, E000, E17, E02, E50, E47, YR00, YR01, E35, E37

Download my Tent Card cut-file template (please leave a comment and let me know you're using it. And I'd love to see any resulting cards!):
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Update 5/27/11: Wow, I won!!! More info here. Thank you everyone at Tellen's Place!

Vintage-y Birthday Card for a non-vintage friend

I usually prefer to make or combine embellishments instead of using kits, but I couldn't resist making a card with the ephemera that came with my Graphics 45 Fashionista paper pack.

I stamped & heat-embossed the red bits, using two stamps from the gorgeous {ippity} stamps I won from last week's Card Positioning Sketch Challenge!!! Thank you Banu, I love them. Seriously, check out this line of stamps...they are high-quality, unmounted rubber stamps, but they come with foam attached so that you can put them on your block and get stamping.

I even managed to squeeze Birthday Sundae's Anything Goes and Tellen's Place EmbalmingEmbossing challenges into this card. Hope she has as much on her big day as I did making this!

The cake isn't from the set, but it seemed just right. I know she likes chocolate cake, so I colored it with copics. I used E17, E 08, and E11...it came out so nicely that I actually got hungry! The 3 is a glittery rub-on from my stash.

Inspiration:
Tellen's Place Challenge: Embossing
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #3: Anything Goes Birthday

Supplies: flourish & wreath stamps from Regal Greetings set by {ippity} Stamps, cake stamp from Together Forever by Stampin' Up! (2007), sentiment stamp from Studio G, Graphics 45 Fashionista paper pack, Martha Stewart embossing powder, border & scalloped punches, and detailing scissors, Offray ribbon, ZipDry glue, Marvy heat tool, Copic markers

Black Diamond

I love fancy folds for cards, so I loved the diamond fold challenge at Craft Your Passion. They have a fantastic tutorial to help you get started, plus incredible inspiration by the DT. I decided to try this week's Tellen's Place challenge as well, which is to use a black background.

For the card base I used Recollections gold paper. I used a texturing plate to emboss black Core'dinations cardstock (because its tough and can really take some punishment) and was pleased with the leathery result. For the medallion, I used a lovely new rubber stamp on translucent polymer clay. After baking it, I "aged" it with gold ink. Mom's been bugging me to try clay on cards for some time now, but it seemed like one thing too many. Now I think I'm hooked!

Inspiration: Craft Your Passion Challenge #32 Technique: Diamond fold
Tellen's Place Black Background Challenge

Supplies: Recollections & Core'dinations cardstocks, ZipDry glue, Fiskars papercutter & corner punch, embossing texture plate & texturing tool, ColorBox pigment ink, Sculpey polymer clay, Rubber stamp by Inkadinkado

Update 12/3/10: This card made the top 3 for Tellen's Place Black Background Challenge.