A Father's Day Gift

This is the top of a box I've made to give as a Father's Day gift.

It will be filled with handmade cards.

Most men don't do like the task of getting cards for special occasions, (at least in my experience), so that was the premise behind this gift.

They get the gift of not having to go purchase cards for a while!

Here are some other angles of the box, then I'll post some of the cards and how I created them.

This is the inside of the box that will hold the cards.

I used Sahara Sand CS and some of the Nautical Expedition DSP.






















These are pix of the side and front of the box. I braided some of the Cherry Cobbler/white Baker's Twine, and used it as the tie closure for the box. I had a little piece left over, so adhered it to the box's side. I also adhered some linen thread tied in various knots.

And here are the pieces I prepared before going on a card making spree!


I stamped the images from The Open Sea in Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy and Early Espresso on Confetti Vanilla CS and then proceeded to cut a good many of them out, or use them with punches. I liberally added brads and Baker's Twine and Linen thread, and any other thing I could think of! LOL

And here are some of the cards I created!























I love working with this stamp set and DSP. They just so EASILY create a lot of card ideas!

I hope you enjoyed the photos of this project. If you have any questions about dimensions, leave me a comment!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Copy Cats

I mentioned my stamp club ladies had been taken with this card.




So, I thought I'd show you some of the cards they all created while here.



This was Bernadette's. Love the little black embellishment behind the greeting. Just enough to set it all up nicely.

Here's another



This was Linda's. She added some pizazz by adding color to the roses on her card. And the polka dot ribbon (retired) adds a little somethin', somethin' to this one.


And here's another take on the idea - Linda used Cherry Cobbler and when she was done with the basics, she added Dazzling Diamonds glitter - looks much better in person than in a photo, have to say!



LOVE their ideas! They keep me going...


Do you have an idea to share? Post a link in the Comments section so we can all see it!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Outline Cutting

This is a technique I culled from a book of techniques my stamp club ladies (hi everyone!) did about 5 years ago.

It's called Outline Cutting - not a very unique name, but it's a simple and easy, yet powerful, technique!

Instructions:

• Stamp an image about 1 inch up from the bottom of the front of your card.
• Fussy cut (as Sandi MacIver calls it! LOL) around the images you've stamped, cutting off the bottom piece. Since you ARE fussy cutting, you'll probably want the image to be one that's easy to cut.
• Adhere a 1-1/4" strip of matching cardstock to the inside of the card so that it highlights the stamped images on the front of the card.
• Add a greeting and a verse inside of the card, and you've got a beautiful, fast card!
  

As I mentioned, my stamp club ladies created a book of techniques as our club project over the club year.

We'd do four techniques each meeting. Make a sample of the technique, then I provided typed instructions for each technique.

We stored them all in one of the 6x6 photo albums, one technique to each set of pages. Sample on one side with the instructions on the opposite side.

I can't tell you how many times I've pulled that book out and paged through it, looking for something "new".

Not that any of it's new - it's just being recycled - again!

But that's OK. I had forgotten about this technique until I was looking for something for my club ladies to do at this month's meeting.

And they had a blast with it!

They all remembered it from that long ago, and all admitted they'd forgotten about it as well, but how much they loved having that Technique Book to use as a reference tool!

I actually had a second project planned for them to do, but they all got "into" making these cards, so I never pulled it out of my bag of tricks - we'll save it for another time...

Here are some others I made, while making samples for the club ladies.

I made this one using the Hope & Strength set we're selling to support Breast Cancer Research. Each time someone purchases this set, the matching DSP, or the MDS downloads, Stampin' Up! donates $2.00 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Pretty cool, eh?

Anway, here's the sample:



And here's a baby card using the technique. I love this little teddy bear!



Here's one I made using Cherry Cobbler ink - and then I decided to add a piece of retired DSP (Christmas, 2010) as an accent piece.



And, finally, a very simple, but elegant card - I decided to turn it into a wedding card.

I added a piece of Crumb Cake CS that I'd run through the Square Lattice embossing folder to the bottom inside. I love how this one turned out!

So did my club ladies, evidently - they all made one very similar to this one! Of course, they all put their own spin on it.

I'll show you those tomorrow...

Have questions about this technique? Leave me a Comment, and I'll try to 'splain myself better!

Need to know which stamp sets I used? Leave me a Comment...

Aw, heck - leave me a Comment about anything! Make my day!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Color Challenge - Perfect Plum & Old Olive!

The other day I was blog hopping, as is my wont, and I came across a Color Challenge using the colors above.

Gotta tell ya - not my first choices of colors!

BUT, I decided since they WEREN'T my first choice that maybe I needed to try and work with them and see what I could come up with.

Now, a little reminder...

I'm a very simple stamper.

Until about three years ago I didn't even like adding ribbon to a card...

And then, one day, lo and behold, I looked at the samples I'd been playing with, and they all had ribbon!

How did THAT happen?

Don't know... but ever since then, a card looks a little bare without ribbon...

ANYHOO...

Back to the color challenge that wasn't really "turning me on"...

Old Olive
Perfect Plum
Marina Mist
Basic Black

I'll admit, once I got working with this color combo, I was able to come up with a few simple, useable cards.

Wanna see?


And when this one was "done", I kept looking at it and thinking it needed just one more thing - and that's when I added those beautiful pearls. Did you see them?

Go ahead, look again... I'll wait...

Besides limiting my color selections, I also limited the stamp sets I used.

I saw this color challenge as more masculine colors, and wanted the stamps to match the mood.

The stamp sets I used were On The Grow (Item 123075 [W] $15.95) and The Open Sea (Item 123030 [W] $26.95). Both these sets are available in the new Summer Mini-catalog.

Don't have one? Call or email - I'd be delighted to get one in the mail for you!

Or you can go to my website and see it online, if you'd rather.

Here's one using The Open Sea.




I added some of the new Bakers Twine to this one, and used the largest stamp in The Open Sea as a background stamp to add some visual interest.




I used the Baker's Twine on this one, too, and the threw in a little embellishment using So Saffron. I also put Crystal Effects on the flowers in the basket on the scooter - gives it a little pizazz, which I thought it brightened it up a bit.

I think that's why I'm not crazy about the color combo - it's too dull for my taste! But I was able to create using them, so this was a good challenge for me to undertake.

I love those bright colors, ya know... And they're always my first choice.

Just a reminder that May is National Scrapbooking Month and that Stampin' Up! has a scrapbooking special for you!

Several stamp sets on sale for 30% off, and a LOT of My Digital Studio (MDS) downloads available - also at a discount!


30% Off Stamp Sets
Page Description Wood-Mount Item Wood-Mount Sale Price Clear-Mount Item Clear-Mount Sale Price
54 Party Hearty 111532 $18.87
54 Célèbre en grand (French) 111722 $18.87
87 Grunge Rock 117080(W) $14.67 120555(C) $11.17
94 Animal Stories 116716 $11.17
106 Printed Petals 116679(W) $13.97 120444(C) $10.47
108 Simple Friendship 113397 $18.17
147 Word Play 120308(W) $29.37 120651(C) $20.27
162 Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower 120272(W) $22.37 120648(C) $16.77
17* Días Felices 115720 $13.27
20* Cumpleaños 112899 $11.17

*From Celebrando Creatividad

Are you interested in any of these sets? Call or email - I'd be pleased to order them for you.

For the MDS downloads, you'll need to order them online from my website, as they're downloaded on to YOUR hard drive - ready to be used immediately! How handy is that?

Thanks for stopping by - come back again soon!

Steampunk

Ever hear of it?

Until last Thursday, I never had.

And then I saw TWO references to it in one day.

The first was a posting to Facebook by a friend, who had a link to a Steampunk event being held here in San Diego. I followed the link simply because of who had posted it.

She's a very creative lady, and I thought maybe she'd inspire me in some way.

And she did! Thanks Del...

The second was a posting by Sandi MacIver (here) showing a card she'd made in the "style". Which, by the way, she doesn't explain, she just tells you to Google the term.

So, I did.

Sandi always inspires me, and since I've been playing with the stamps she featured on the card she posted, it piqued my interest.

I liked what she'd done with it, and as soon as I started checking out my Google results, I totally saw the style!

I decided to attend the Steampunk event on Sunday. This was the first time they'd ever held an event here, so it was a little discombuberated (sp?), but interesting.

A little background, if I may...

This genre is a mixture of Jules Verne (10,000 Leagues Under The Sea), Victoriana, magicians, and any number of pieces of equipment that are steam powered (hence the term Steampunk).

It includes anything you can think of that's Victorian, including corsets (for men and women!), hats,and feathers; First & Second World War outfits ( gas masks, pilot goggles, hats, airplanes, dirigibles, steam powered trains)...

I chatted with a few people who, like me, were NOT in costume (lots of costumes!) trying to find out what this whole thing was all about. It seems as though just about anything goes...

It also has strong ties to comic books and science fiction (think Jules Verne again) and anything with cogs and gears, and microscopes, and other scientific equipment (old fashioned types)...

Just different! But I must say, I had fun people watching!

Wanna see some pix I took while there?

This guy actually made his "backpack". The doors on the back of it opened.

I overheard him tell someone he'd started with an old army backpack (it looked leather, so maybe from WWI???) and actually used the straps for that as the straps for this contraption.










This couple were registering for the "Steerage" fee (the designation for a one day ticket).

She's wearing clothing from either WWI or WWII - it's clothing I remember seeing as a child. I was born at the beginning of WWII, so clothing 10-15 years older would not have been unheard of at the time.

He's more into the goggles and gloves of, maybe, a pilot??? I think he was wearing airline wings on his label.


Some people had on cut-away coats, which I think are from the Victorian era.

Others wore pilots caps (WWI) with goggles attached, like the photographer in this picture.











And this gentleman had a huge handlebar mustache, and wore an eyepiece that had lots of cogs and gears on it - it looked like it was supposed to be helpful at working on clocks and watches, maybe peering at microscope slides.

I overheard someone ask him something about a magic show, so I think he might have been the magician on the program.






As I said, it was interesting! I could see getting dressed up in some of these clothes - kind of a more modern Renaissance Faire type event... And I've always enjoyed Renaissance Faires!

I made this card a couple of months ago - do you think it qualifies as Steampunk?


That's all I have right now, but I'm working on pulling something together, given some of our current stamp sets... It's a genre that's a little foreign to me, so the creative process is evolving!

So, - what's YOUR take on Steampunk? Had you heard of it before? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanks for stopping bye - come back soon!

Strength & Hope

This was Natalie's contribution.

It was made using the stamp set, Strength & Hope . SU! is currently holding a campaign highlighting and benefiting Breast Cancer Research featuring this set and an MDS CD with DSP, stamp brushes and embellishments.

$2 from the sale of either the stamp set or the DIGITAL Designer Series Paper, stamp set and embellishments CD (Item 124475 $9.95) will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The stamp set is available in English, Spanish and French, and of those are available in either wood or clear mount.

The campaign is on from May 1st thru August 31st this year. When you purchase these, know that you're also contributing to research in hopes of eliminating this disease.

Here's a close up of the image you get using the Flower Garden embossing folder.


Please note! The image from this product is REVERSED in the mini-catalog!

If you want your flower on the left, it will be DE-BOSSED, rather than embossed.

But, that aside, I love the image it creates!

And here, finally, is my contribution...


We stamped with Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight inks, then took daubers and rubbed the same color all over the image, burnishing the ink into the paper.

There are a couple of background pieces that were run through the Square Lattice embossing folder, and then everything was mounted on Rich Razzleberry CS.

If you have any questions about any of the cards, I should able to answer them - I made the cards myself! LOL

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!

Blossom Bouquet

Here's another one of the Shoe box swaps from my Team meeting in April. I guess I'd better hurry up and share the rest - we're already into May!

This was Patti's...

We used the Blossom Bouquet punch (Item 122464 $23.95) and punched out blossoms from Pacific Point, Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait card stocks.

Then we played mix and match - and look how cute it turned out!

Oh yeah - those are Glitter brads in the middle of the punched images!

And the ribbon is the Poppy Parade Stitched-Poly. And we just frayed the edges of the ribbon! I didn't even know you could do that! See, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Hee hee

This was Becky's card...


We used the scallop punch on Tempting Turquoise CS, then attached that to some Pawsitively Prints DSP. We attached a small orange strip and then we stamped and punched with 3/4" circle punch three flowers from the Bold Blossom set. We also stamped some leaves on the Pear Pizazz card using Versamark ink.

And, finally, we added some BLING! Yep, rhinestones. Adds a nice happy little touch, I think.

The Pawsitively Prints DSP is one of my favorites. It's designed to be used with the Build-A-Bear dies - and is great for that - but I like the fact that all the patterns in the papers are very small.

That helps them become useable with a lot of other dies and punches - die-cuts and punched pieces with small patterns will work almost anywhere.

Hope you enjoyed something you saw tonight!

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon...