Saturday, January 26, 2013

Seeing Spots


Last night we made this card ---- which means I have a lot of punched out circles left. 
Twenty-five green and twenty blue to be exact. 

Embossed Quilt
I was going to just throw them in my bowl of pre-cut shaped to use another day - yeah right!  But my bowl overflows so I forced myself to use the circles for some cards.  By the time I got done, I was really seeing spots :-)   Here are some of the ways I used them.

Cascade

I did several Cascade designs but soon became bored with that so came up with some other designs.

Retro Flower
This one reminds me of flowers in the 70's.  Easy to do and I will probably add a sentiment in the upper right corner.

Olive Brick Road
I might add a ribbon on the right hand side.  Or a stamped image mounted on Olive or Navy.

Off Centered
I like the off-centered circles.  I will probably add an image mounted on the Night of Navy card stock on the right hand side. 

Quilted Stripe
 
For this one I used a scrap of Whisper White that I had laying on the table also - a win-win situation.
 


And among all the circles I found one ring so had to use that on a card, right?  I made two more rings and made this card.  That gave me two more spots (a vicious circle) - and I did use them on one of the above cards. 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Purple Ladybug

Have you ever seen a purple ladybug?  I have.  One of the little girls at church has a purple ladybug pillow pet that she dearly loves.   We were on a road trip together last summer and she had to have her ladybug to cuddle with on the trip.    I made note of it so I could do something special just for her on her birthday card.  Well, her birthday is next week so I had to get started.
I had saved a blogpost by Debbie Henderson that showed a punch art ladybug.  It is really very simple.
 

Purple Ladybug
It did turn out cute, didn't it ?  I hope she likes it.
 

 
The card uses some retired DSP with Certainly Celery leaves and flowers.  Where else would you find a ladybug?    I used the polka dot Elegant Eggplant DSP for the ladybug body and the scallop around the sentiment.   The rhinestones were colored with a black permanent marker but for some reason they looked like a dark purple.  Worked for me. 

And while I was playing I used some of my new toys from Sale-a-bration and the Spring Catalog.


Feeling Sentimental
 I wasn't sure I wanted this stamp set but had to choose something and had already gotten the ones on my wish list.  I 'm glad I got it.  It really looks so impressive in real life.   I used Gumball Green and Midnight Muse.   I double stamped the sentiment on a whim - I did it in green and thought it needed something more so I tried adding the blue.  I just did it free hand and thank goodness it looks good.

Oh Baby Quilted
Another of the embossed cards that look like quilting.    I used some scraps of DSP for the 1 inch squares but the embossing sort of hides the designs in the paper. 

Baby Quilt For You
This one really looks like a baby quilt.   Showers are being planned for my daughter and granddaughter so I will have occasion to use a couple of these cards.  Such exciting times! 

I want to try this with primary colors to see how that will look.  I like this color combo but not sure it is the best for this technique.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Frigid weather, hot soup and some fun cards

 
Hot soup for lunch
Today was one of those day that I love being able to work from home.  No cold walk into the hospital from the parking lot.  But I did have to run an errand just before lunch so came home and had a nice hot bowl of Kale, White Bean and Sausage Soup which I made over the weekend.  It is so delicious!
 
Here are some cards I made last week as samples at the embossing folder class.
 
Well Worn Honeycomb
 This was my favorite - and also was a favorite of the ladies attending the class.  It uses the Well Worn Designer Series Paper which is discontinued but is currently available on the Clearance Rack (if we did not buy it all - many of the ladies wanted some after seeing this card).  I used Crumb Cake card embossing with an Soft Suede inked up embossing folder.  That was put on Not Quite Navy and Soft Sueded then a Very Vanilla card base.

Sweetheart Honeycomb
 This one also uses the Honeycomb folder.  I used some stamps from the Tiny Tags set and Raspberry Ripple ink to decorate some of the hexagon sections.  The heart is Primrose Petals embossed with Elegant Lines folder.  It is mounted on Primrose Petals cardstock and a Whisper White base.
 

Circles and Rings - Double Embossed
This one uses Pale Plum and Certainly Celery card stock rings and circles adhered to a Whisper White background and then embossed with the Snowburst Embossing Folder (also on the clearance rack) 


Razzleberry Heart
For this one I embossed the lower edge with the Vine Street folder available free during Sale-a-bration.   For the polka dot embossing edge around the sentiment, I have a piece cut from the Polka Dot embossing folder that is just one row of dots (I also have one with two rows of dots).   The heart is embossed with the Elegant Lines.  When doing these hearts I embossed a scrap of card stock, then punch out the heart so I could get the exact area I wanted.  I really like the Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry colors together.  I will make more of these!

Double embossed trio
The square frames are made using the 1 inch and  1 1/4 inch square punches.  These were made similarly to the rings on the Circles and Rings card about.  Punch the smaller shape first and then center the hole from that punch in the larger one.  So simple! I adhered the frames to the Sahara Sand card stock and embossed it all with the Houndstooth folder.
 

Kite flying
I created the scene on this card using scraps of card stock them embossed it all using the Square Lattice folder.  Doesn't the circle look quilted?  The DSP is a scrap from a retired set.

You Rock!
A masculine card with the Honeycomb folder.  I cut along the hexagons and then wrapped linen thread around it.  Old Olive, Cajun Craze and Rich Razzleberry - on Sahara Sand is a nice manly color combination.
 
 
I am so loving the Honeycomb embossing folder.  Sure hope they come out with a punch to match the hexagon.



More new toys

Had a chance to play with some more of my new toys tonight....


I played with a new technique - triple stamp.  
Card stock-  Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple
Stamp Set - Mixed Bunch
Embellishment - 1/4 inch grosgrain Pretty in Pink


 Another triple stamp card. This one uses two colors of ink.
Card Stock - Summer Starfuit., Midnght Muse
Stamp Set - Clockworks

This is a very easy technique and can be used for any theme you want .


 I did a couple more cards with some retired DSP I have. 
Card stock-

Card Club weekend


This weekend is the first card club of 2013.  I was so happy to have osme new products to play with from the Spring Catalog and Sale-a-bration brochure.   And also found some fun techniques to use with my older toys.
 
 
Quilted double embossing
These circles are easy to make with the 1 inch and 1 1/4 inch punch.  Just punch the smaller circle and then center the hole from that in the larger punch.   This looks like a quilted square to me. Colors are Night of Navy, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight. 

 
Sponged Honeycomb
This is the new Honeycomb embossing folder.  I simply love it!   I created a stencil by taking a scrap of card stock and embossing it.  I then cut out the center of one of the Honeycomb hexagons and used that to sponge the colors on this card front.  The colors are Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green and Primrose Petals.
 
 
Sycamore and Vine
 
This card uses the Vine Street embossing folder.  I did just one vine along the edge of the card stock.  I like how the same design is repeated in the Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper.    Both are free during Sale-a-bration.

Tunnel card inside

Inside the card is a pop-out center with the sentiment placed behind that. It is called a tunnel card.
 A fun card to make and give.   More paper from the Sycamore Street collection.  The die is from the Apothecary Accents set and the stamp is one of the Wacky Wishes.  
 
More cards coming soon.   I have lots of photos from the Embossing Folders Class I had last weekend.  So much fun!




Thursday, January 17, 2013

New products - let's have a class!

I received some new embossing folders from the Occasions Catalog and love them!  So we are having an embossing folders class.  Attendees will make 4 beautiful cards using the embossing folders. 

My current favorite embossing folder is the new Honeycomb.  It is so much fun!


Here I use a stencil cut from a scrap of card stock that I embossed with the folder and sponged ink onto the honeycomb sections.  Cute!

A little different.  I am using this design for a class on embossing folders.  The stamp set is retired but you could use any sentiment.

For this one I used the Tiny Tags stamp set and made it into a valentine or anniversary card.



I think this is my favorite. I used Crumb Cake card stock and inked the folder with Soft Suede.  The hexagons were cut from Well Worn DSP.


Some other fun with embossing folders - I punched the circles by using 2 circle punches and doing the smaller one first.  Then punch around the hole you just made. After gluing them to the white card stock, I embossed with the square lattice.  This gave me a lot of inner circles (sort of like donut holes).

I used those circles for this card.  It is embossed with Vintage Wallpaper.  I also used the new Ciao Baby stamp set and 7/8 inch scallop circle punch.



Here I have used the new Cloudy Day folder for the sky and also to cut out some clouds from Whisper White.  The bottom is embossing with the Vine Street folder. 

More embossing folder cards coming up soon.  I have had so much fun finding things you can do with them.