Quilted explorer

For my birthday (34, my goodness ... I'm just getting started!), Mom bought me some Lili of the Valley stamps and die cuts, and I'm been itching to use some of the adorable little boy stamps! The Little Pirate and Sleeping Reader make a nice set.

In order to use two stamps on one card, I decided to make what I'll call a Notch Swing Card. The concept is simple: secure a piece of paper slightly larger than the cut-out space by cutting small slits, or notches, in both. I put this card together in SCAL, and if you'd like to try it you can download my SVG files via the link at the bottom of this post (please leave a comment if you do).

I couldn't resist making something for the Columbus Day challenge at CCEE Stampers ("Make a card with a ship, ocean, or anything that relates to this day."). I grew up near Puerto de Santa María, where Columbus set sail for his second voyage to the New World. For seven years, I spent Columbus Day with the Girl Scouts, trekking to the church where he prayed before his voyage. Columbus Day isn't very popular in the States these days, since people doubt his "discovery" legacy, but I've always enjoyed the lesson of Columbus: Follow your dreams; They might not lead where you imagined, but it will be a great adventure.

The background was inspired by the Photo Inspiration/Use Your Scraps challenge at DYSU. Not only are the colors in the photo example beautiful, I liked the idea of using up my scraps to create a quilted feeling.

I sewed on the buttons, and I'm entering this into the Button Up! challenge at Divas by Design. I stamped & colored the images on Hammermill cardstock, fussy-cut them, and glued them onto the blue linen paper.

Here's card closed flat:

Here it is winging open one way (see photo at the top of this post for the view with it swing the other way):

I put the message section on the back so that the inside served as a sort of background for the front. Here's the inside:

And here it is open from the back:

Inspiration:
CCEE Stampers / CCEE1141: Columbus Day

DYSU #41: Use Your Scraps + Photo Inspiration
Divas by Design #12: Buttons

Stamps: Lili of the Valley

Paper: stash (scraps), Hammermill, China Blue Eyes Linen Finish Card Stock from Mark's Finest Papers

Tools: Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors, MS detailing scissors, Marvy heat tool, sewing machine

Other: ZipDry glue, Simplicity thread, Recollections embossing powder
Copics: E13, YR00, E35, E31, E47, E37, YR09, B18, B39, B32, B23, B00, BG15, BG10, RV11, YG67, YG63, G99, G07, YG03, YG41, Y000, YR31, YR12 (I also used YR12/Loquat for all the edging)

Download card cut files (svg)

Pretty Spooky

Wow, I'm so honored to have made the Top 3 for Dude Time Doodles' Think Pink challenge. I'm so excited I could poot! (Please see my card to understand that last statement!) I couldn't resist taking up their invitation to participate in this week's challenge, and I'm excited to be trying out for their Guest Design Team call too. Won't you join me?! The deadline is October 18.

I don't usually do this, but I combine two color challenges onto this one card. For the background color scheme I used the Brown theme at DYSU, and I incorporated the Pink necessary for the Dude Time Doodles challenge.

Apart from the color, the other part of the Dude Time Doodles challenge is to use their fantastical freebie, Eyegor. Isn't he just something else! The hanging pieces are actually Shrinky-Dinks that I printed out and shrunk in the toaster oven. The middle one has a tiny Eyegor on it!

For the layout, I went to the always-great Fetch-a-Sketch.

Inspired by the theme at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, I tore the background pieces, and used my distressing tool on all the edges, including ones I cut with deckle scissors. I also sponged some Antique Linen distress ink onto the image piece.

Thanks for the inspiration everyone!

Update: Whoo hoo! This card won me the November Guest Designer Spot at Dude Time Doodles!

Puppy Kisses & Fancy Stitches

I spied Bronte Kisses by Mo's Digital Pencil, and I just had to have it! All proceeds from this $1 digi will go to Pet Orphans of Southern California. This special set includes 3 lovely quotes, and I used one as part of the main image for this card. As you can see by the photo on the right, the resulting card was a big hit. (What you can't see is Allen, the white one, licking and then sitting on the card. It's fine though!)

I wanted the challenge of a color combo, so I chose SPCC's: River Rock (I used Kraft), Bashful Blue, Whisper White. For a sketch, I chose Mojo Monday. I was blown away by Julia's paper-pierced card, so I decided to try my hand at the Sew challenge at Do You Stack Up? (DYSU). I found all sorts of inspiration & tricks at Mel Stampz. Seriously, Mel's tutorials are so good that you totally believe you can do it!
I created piercing templates by putting a dotted "stroke" on a square (with the digi) and a circle. I did this in InDesign, but you can do it in Word too. I drew the "thread" with a gel pen and then used my awl to create the holes.

For a little extra something, I glued white ribbon to cardstock, and ran it through my sewing machine with 2 colors of thread. Funky! I love how my thread collection is a story of items hemmed...Curtains, bedspreads, slacks. All hemmed by Mom, I'm sure. She visits once a year, and it's still faster than waiting for me to do it!

The dogprint paper is simply stamped with watermark ink. The white background was embossed in my Sizzix. It's a happy accident that my only light blue ribbon also has a stitching theme!

I distressed the edges of the inside pieces; I like how the brown piece kinda looks like leather. I've never understood making dog collars out of leather, though: if you have more than one dog, it's like putting a chew toy on them!

Inspiration:
Mojo Monday #200: Sketch
DYSU Challenge #28: Sew, Faux or Real
SPCC #109: River Rock, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Faux Stitching tutorial: Mel Stampz (with lots of great links)

Stamps: Bronte Kisses by Mo's Digital Pencil, StampCraft
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz scissors & paper distresser, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, awl, Sizzix Texture Boutique
Other: ZipDry glue, Elmer's gel pen, stash button, Celebrate It! & Offray ribbons, Versamark watermark ink
Copic markers: YR01, E13, FBG2, B0000, BG000, B05, RV02, E11, E31, E000
Update 6/25/11: This card won SPCC #109 as well as the random drawing at Mojo Monday. Thanks everyone! I love my Verve stamps from Mojo, and look for my SPCC Guest DT project in the coming months.