Emboss Resist Swallowtail

This may have been my favourite card from my Simple Cards Class this month... I stamped the Swallowtail on First Edition paper with VersaMark and embossed with Black Stampin' Emboss powder. Then I used sponge daubers to colour (quickly) with More Mustard, Baja Breeze & Rich Razzleberry inks. The sentiment is from a Sale-a-bration set (free with a $60 order until March 22nd) called Vintage Verses. I punched it out with the Large Oval punch and popped it up on a Rich Razzleberry piece cut with the Apothecary Accents Framelits. A couple Rhinestones finish the card off.

Stamps: Swallowtail, Vintage Verses
Inks: VersaMark, More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla
Other: First Edition DSP, Apothecary Accents Framelit, Lg Oval Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Black Stampin' Emboss Powder

Madison Ave Origami Diamond Card

This card is made from one sheet of patterned paper (I used a piece of the Sycamore Street paper you can get free right now during Sale-a-Bration). We made this card at my Stepped Up Cards Class last weekend. If you'd like to see how to make the card base, you can watch Wendy's video on Youtube by clicking HERE.

 

This is the card closed, with the top flap in the front pocket. I dyed the piece of Canvas Creations (Spring Catalogue) with Island Indigo re-inker and water (three different containers with different amounts of re-inker). I dried the canvas with my Heat Tool in between each layer of colour so I would get the look I wanted. I used the Madison Ave stamp set (also free during Sale-a-bration) to stamp on the canvas, and added a Sycamore Street button to the middle of the flower. It's hard to tell in this picture, but I punched the corner and two sides of the Whisper White card stock with the Scallop Trim Corner and Border punches. The Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon is tied around the top flap.

In this photo, you can see the card with the flaps opened, so you can see the second stamped panel. I used the Madison Ave stamp set again, and Fabulous Phrases for the sentiment.

The inside of the card... I added some more stamping with the Madison Ave stamp set.

Stamps: Madison Ave, Fabulous Phrases
Inks: Summer Starfruit, Tangerine Tango, Pool Party, Island Indigo
Card stock: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit
Other: Sycamore Street patterned paper, Scallop Trim Border punch, Scallop Trim Corner punch, Sycamore Street button, Island Indigo Baker's Twine

Honeycomb Butterfly CASE

Mindy Backes posted a card exactly like this one, and I loved it so much I had to copy it for my Stepped Up Cards class this month. I used the Honeycomb embossing folder and Bitty Butterfly punch as well as the Tea for Two patterned paper and the Delicate Details Lace Tape (all from the Spring Catalogue).

 

I used the Color Spritzer to add a little Island Indigo dots to the Honeycomb embossed layer. The Scallop Dotted Ribbon punch peeks out below the patterned paper strip with the Oh, Hello sentiment.

Stamps: Oh, Hello
Inks: Jet Black StazOn, Island Indigo Stampin' Marker
Card stock: So Saffron, Island Indigo, Pink Pirouette
Other: Tea for Two patterned papers, First Edition patterned paper, Bitty Butterfly punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Basic Rhinestones, Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Delicate Details Lace Tape, Scallop Dotted Ribbon punch.

Standing Z-Fold Baby Card

I created this card for a private class (they requested a baby card) and it features Watercoloring with Watercolor Crayons, the Vine Street Embossing folder and a Standing Z-fold Fancy Fold card.

 

The card base is a standard Z-fold (4 1/4" x 11", score @ 2 3/4" and 5 1/2"), but the oval panels get propped under a Petite Curly Label punch (under the ribbon at the top) so it stands up. I love the Distressing Tool on the Watercolor paper... well, all paper actually. I embossed the Two by Two stamped image with Black Stampin' Emboss powder (it helps me keep the colours separate when I watercolor) on Watercolor paper, then used a Blender Pen to colour the image with Watercolor Crayons. I've been waiting for Oval Framelits, and am so happy they're in the Spring Catalogue!

I used this same layout (different papers and colours) for a card in my Stepped Up Cards class last month that features the Chalkboard technique, so I'll be sharing that soon!

Stamps: Two by Two
Inks: VersaMark, Watercolor Crayons
Card stock: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Watercolor paper, Crumb Cake
Big Shot: Ovals Framelits, Vine Street Textured Impressions Folder (SAB)
Other: Black Stampin' Emboss powder, Tea for Two patterned paper, Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Petite Curly Label punch

Secret Garden on Crumb Cake

I saw a card made by Karen Barber on Pinterest, and had to make one of my own! We'll be making this at my Stepped Up Cards Class this weekend...

The flowers from Secret Garden were stamped with VersaMark and embossed with White Stampin' Emboss powder. Then I coloured them quickly with my Aqua Painter and White Craft Ink. I dried the white ink with my Heat Tool, then used Sponge Daubers to apply ink to the flowers. I used a darker colour in the middles (with the Sponge Daubers again), then added some marker in the darker colours to the very centre. The flowers were finished with Basic Rhinestones in the centres and I stamped some Gumball Green Leaves in the open spaces. The beautiful Pink Pirouette/Rose Red Two Tone Ribbon from the Spring Catalogue is tied at the top of the card and my Sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Textured Circle Birthday Card

This is one of the cards we'll be making in my Big Shot Class this weekend.

I ran different shades of blue card stock (Midnight Muse, Island Indigo, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze, Pool Party) through different Textured Impressions Folders (Lacy Brocade, Elegant Lines, Chevron, Fancy Fan & Argyle), then punched 1 3/8" circles from the embossed card stock. I layered them so they overlapped, added a tiny pearl where each set of circles met, added some Pool Party Seam Binding (my favourite) and a sentiment tag from the Pretty Petites stamp set (Sale-a-Bration) punched with the Petite Curly Label Punch (Sale-a-Bration) and tied on with some Linen Thread.

Watercolor Smoosh Silhouette card

We made this card in one of my Stepped Up Cards Classes... it features the Watercolour Smoosh technique and Serene Silhouettes Stamp set.

 

I dripped a few drops of Classic re-inker (Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Pool Party) onto the Silicone Mat. I spritzed it with water, and allowed the inks to run together, then pressed a piece of Watercolor paper onto the mat a few times until it was covered with ink. I heated the Watercolor paper with my Heat Tool to dry the ink before I stamped the tree from Serene Silhouettes with Jet Black StazOn ink.

Stamps: Serene Silhouette
Inks: StazOn Jet Black, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party
Card stock: Watercolor paper, Midnight Muse, Soft Suede, Pool Party
Other: Window Frames die, Comfort Cafe patterned paper

Sale-a-Bration - Vine Street Textured Impressions Folder

I love that there is an embossing folder available as a Sale-a-Bration freebie this year! I love my embossing folders because they take a really simple (and perhaps otherwise 'boring') card and take it up a notch! You can see this in action in this video:

February Scrapbook Class - You & Me

This is one of the layouts we're making this month in my Scrapbook Class (spaces still available ;-)

I love the Parker's Patterns papers in the Spring Catalogue, and I combined them with several pieces of card stock texturized with embossing folders and the Big Shot. Add a little ribbon, some paper strips with brads (I used the Petite Curly Label punch to get the funky end on the strips) and a title cut with the Typeset Alphabet dies and the Big Shot and it's done! This layout was based on one by Lyssa Z.

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso
Big Shot: Typeset Alphabet, Chevron TIF, Arygle TIF, Houndstooth TIF, Stripes TIF
Other: Daffodil Delight Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Neutrals Brads, Petite Curly Label punch, Parker's Patterns DSP pack

Warmest Wishes - Blooming with Kindness

Lyssa Z posted this card on her blog recently, and I loved everything about it! We're making this card this weekend at my Simple Cards Class.

Stamps: Blooming with Kindness
Inks: So Saffron, Basic Gray
Card stock: So Saffron, Whisper White
Other: vintage faceted buttons (SAB freebie), black/gray two tone ribbon, white Bakers Twine, Distressing tool

Bloomin' Marvelous In & Out card

This is one of the cards we made at my January Gold Stars Ink. stamp night last week... This month I featured Sale a Bration products and we made six cards! I couldn't help myself... I wanted to showcase as many of the items we can get for free with a $60 order during Sale-a-Bration. We are also making this card on Friday at my lunch hour class at Western. This card is a little different because of the fold, but it's really easy to make!

Start with a 12" by 4" piece of card stock. Score at 2", 4", 8" & 10". I die cut a Window Frame shape with the Big Shot to attach to one side, but you can use any shape. The pieces of patterned paper (Sycamore Street--also a Sale-a-Bration freebie) are 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" and the stamped circle was punched with the 2 1/2" circle punch. The Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set might be my favourite Sale-a-Bration stamp set... I really like the distressed look of the images, and the variety of sentiments. I used Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry and Summer Starfruit inks (pulled from the patterned paper... Love it!)

Henry Says... 2 for 1!

Elephants are my favourite animal, so I couldn't resist the Henry Says stamp set in the Spring Catalogue. At my December Gold Stars, Ink. team meeting, we made this card, and everyone could choose which version they wanted to make.  

The patterned paper (from the Print Poetry paper stack) could be flipped to get a masculine or feminine pattern. We stamped Henry onto basic gray patterned paper from the Neutrals stack and cut him out. The paper side we chose determined the colours we'd stamp with (Primrose Pink, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, and Midnight Muse) with the other stamps in the set. We also used the Borders Scoring Plate to add a subtle texture to the note cards before we added the other elements.

Secret Garden Lattice Window Card

This is a card we made in my January Big Shot Class.

 

I cut the window in the Whisper White rectangle with the 3" Circle die and attached a Lattice die cut (also Whisper White) to the back with Stampin' Dimensionals. The flowers and leaves are from the Secret Garden stamp set (stamped with StazOn Black, Tangerine Tango and Summer Starfruit with a little Gumball Green on the tips of the leaves). Then I used the Secret Garden Framelits to cut out the flowers and leaves and added them to the card.

Stamps: Secret Garden, Sweet Essentials
Inks: Summer Starfruit, Tangerine Tango, Gumball Green, Rich Razzleberry, StazOn Jet Black
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry
Big Shot: 3" Circle die, Lattice Die, Secret Garden Framelits