Just for him -- birthday card

In my upcoming Card Buffet on March 18th, we will be making this simple Masculine birthday card.  Now, I admit, I have a hard time making cards for the guys! cause 99.9% of my stamps are flowers!!!  Yes, I LOVE flowers -- in real life, AND in stamps, too, obviously...  So, when sorting through my stamps, I landed on the Just Believe stamp set, which has a nice little leafy branch silhouette, perfect for what I had in mind...

I embossed my Crumb Cake card base with the Striped embossing folder -- ANOTHER freebie during Sale-a-bration!  I cut Vanilla and Early Espresso die cuts with my Labels Framelits -- I LOVE these babies!  I think I have already gotten my money's worth out of them, I've used them so much.  I stamped the branch in Early Espresso on the Vanilla label die cut, then sponged the top half with Pumpkin Pie ink, and the bottom half with So Saffron ink -- to give a bit of a sunset appearance.  A strip of Mocha Morning designer paper along the bottom, and some retired Early Espresso satin ribbon, and here you are!
I added a glitter brad from the Basic Glimmer Brads pack, to give that little extra special touch...

Island Floral Easter Lilly

One of my goals for this year is to use crafty treasures that haven't seen much (if any -- gasp!) stampin' love.  I was working on an Easter card idea, and immediately thought of the large flower in the Island Floral die -- which I think I have used only one time.  So, here it is!  I cut out two Whisper White flowers with the Island Floral die, and used a sponge dauber to add Certainly Celery ink to the centers of the petals.  I then spritzed the flower centers using a Pear Pizzazz marker and the Color Spritzer tool. I curled the petals a bit with my bone folder, and then spritzed the flowers liberally with my Champagne shimmer mist (Champagne shimmer paint with alcohol).  I doubled a length of yellow embroidery floss, then doubled it again (so there were 4 strands) and threaded that through the hole in the flower center, secured the floss on the back side, then snipped the loop on the front side and separated the strands to look like flower stamens.  If you wanted to take the project up one more notch :), you could add some little yellow or pale green beads to the tips of the strands, but I didn't have either one on hand, so alas, no beads!

The Medallion background stamp was the perfect backdrop on my Pear Pizzazz panel, stamped in Certainly Celery ink.  I then embossed the oval design in the lower right corner, using the Textured Frames embossing folders -- a free item during Sale-a-bration! and stamped Happy Easter from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set on a scrap of Whisper White, and punched it out with the Wide Oval punch -- the perfect size to fit in the oval textured frames.  Of course, a couple of the little butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit adds that perfect touch. And don't forget the Basic Pearls!

I punched the long skinny, leaves using the Blossom Petals punch and Always Artchoke card stock -- another sadly neglected color in my stamp room.  I sponged the leaves with Always Artichoke ink, to make them a little darker. 

Colors used: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz
Inks: Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz marker
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Medallion
Accessories: Wide Oval punch, Island Floral Bigz die, color spritzer tool, beautiful wings embosslit, textured frames embossing folders, stampin' dimensionals, embroidery floss

This is one of the cards we will be making at my upcoming Card Buffet on March 18th.  I hope you can come!

Feel inspired to give some stampin' love to neglected treasures in YOUR stamp room!

Sale-a-brate just a little longer...

with a Card Buffet! :)  Choose from eight different cards, all featuring products you can get for FREE with a $50 order through March 31st, during Sale-a-bration!  Kid's birthday, Easter, a card for him -- I've got you covered!  Check out all the details here: "Bring a Friend" Card Buffet. 

Clear Block background stamping

Here is another card we are doing at my upcoming Techniques Club class -- featuring the clear block background stamping technique.

I started with a 3 3/4 x 5" Watercolor paper panel.  I then inked up my size E clear block with Crumb Cake ink and then spritzed it liberally with water -- you want to see the water beading up a little, but not running down the block in rivers. :)  Next, stamp the block onto your water color paper -- holding the block in place for a few seconds while the paper absorbs the image.  Let you panel dry for a little while (or heat with a heat gun) before stamping the Field Flowers images in Wild Wasabi, Concord Crush, and Wisteria Wonder inks.  Use a sponge dauber and Concord ink to add the dark purple around the entire edges of your water color panel.  It's hard to see in the photo, but I then spritzed my completed stamped panel with my home-made Champagne shimmer mist (Champagne shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol) -- this final spritzing lets the Concord ink edging blend a little into the water color paper, creating a much more subtle look -- AND makes your project incredibly sparkly!

And that's pretty much it!  I used my most favorite new product -- the Lables Framelits -- to stamp the sentiment on, and added some basic Rhinestones for bling. 

Color palette: Water color paper, Wild Wasabi card stock and ink, Concord Crush card stock and ink, Wisteria Wonder card stock and ink.

Enjoy! and if you're excited to make this card, come to my Techniques club on March 9th at 6:30 and try this out for yourself! :)

Happy stamping!

Techniques Class 2 -- Fabulous Florets Magic!

This little card features three different stamping techniques we will learn at my upcoming Techniques Club class on March 9th -- 1) Masking, 2) Reverse masking, and 3) Embossed Frame techniques. 

Step 1: Cut two Whisper White panels -- 5 1/4 x 4".  Use the 3" circle die to cut a circle out of the upper portion of one of the panels.  This panel with the 3" hole is going to be your "reverse mask".
Step 2:  Put some temporary adhesive (Dotto works GREAT!) on the back of the panel with the hole, and adhere it to the other white panel lining it up perfectly.
Step 3:  Stamp the flower from Fabulous Florets on a sticky note, taking care to stamp near the sticky edge -- cut out the flower very carefully, leaving no border around it.
Step 4:  Stamp your flower in Cherry Cobbler ink inside the masked circle in the upper right corner.  Now, use your "mask" -- the carefully trimmed sticky note image, and stick it onto the flower you just stamped.  Stamp a second flower in Baja Breeze ink slightly to the left, overlapping the first image -- this gives the effect that the first flower is in the foreground and the second flower is behind it.  Apply the mask as needed and stamp the leaves -- see how the leaves look like they are coming out from the base of the flower rather than just dangling in space?
Step 5:  "Reverse Masking" simply means you are using the negative (punched out or die cut space) to create your effect.  Here, I used a sponge dauber and applied Wild Wasabi ink around the edges of my reverse mask/3" die cut circle panel.  Once I was happy with the effect, I removed my reverse mask and then have a lovely floral image surrounded by a perfect 3" Wild Wasabi "halo".

Now, for the Embossed Frame technique -- if you look at the card carefully, you'll notice that where the flowers are stamped is smooth and flat, while the surrounding area is embossed with an embossing folder.  This is how you do that.
Step 1:  Take a piece of sturdy chipboard (5 1/2 x 4 1/4") -- I love our On Board Long Board as it is the perfect width and thickness -- and use the 3" Bigz circle die to cut a circle out of the center of your chipboard panel.  (You can use any shape, but you will need a Bigz die rather than a sizzlit, as you need to be able to cut through chipboard.)
Step 2:  Choose an embossing folder and put your stamped floral panel inside.
Step 3:  Add a little temporary adhesive on the back of your chipboard panel.  Line up the 3" die cut hole in your chipboard with the 3" green "halo" circle you sponged onto your card in the reverse masking step. 
Step 4:  Put through your Big Shot using the following sandwich:
-- Tab 2 of your multi purpose platform
-- embossing folder with stamped white panel inside
-- Chipboard frame centered over top
-- Cutting pad

That's it!  You have a perfect embossed frame around your stamped image!  I used a sponge dauber and Baja Breeze ink to high light the embossed pattern.  I also embellished my design with Basic Pearls, dazzling Diamonds glitter and the two-way glue pen, and the lovely new Baja Breeze pleated satin ribbon from the Occasions Mini.  To make the Cherry Cobbler flower stand out more, I stamped a second flower on a scrap of white and cut out the inner flower of the image and popped it up on dimensionals.

Here is the same card using a different color palette -- Pacific Point, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, and Wild Wasabi.

Whoooo Loves You?

You can never go wrong with these cute little owls made with the Owl Punch!  Add a Santa hat and use him for a Christmas project, turn him upside down and trim off the feet for a perfect little ghost, add a party hat for a birthday theme, or turn him into a darling pengquin! -- SO many ideas out there for this little fellow!  Here I punched two owl bodies out of Poppy Parade card stock -- and embossed them with the square lattice and Houndstooth embossing folders.  I punched the jackets out of scraps from the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-bration paper pack.  Of course, that lovely paper along the bottom is also from the same designer paper stack.  I stamped the chocolate chip card base and the inside cream panel with the stamp from the Sale-a-bration set -- Fresh Vintage.  I love how the stamp coordinates with the paper -- always makes it easy to make a nicely coordinated project!  I punched a couple of hearts (using the owl punch) from the red glimmer paper to add a little love above the owl couple. 

The moon is the 2 1/2 " circle punch with the little "love" stamp from the Tiny Tags stamp set, stamped in the top left corner in Chocolate Chip ink.  Finally, I added a couple of branches for them to sit on using the Bird Punch -- such a versatile punch that I find myself reaching for all the time!

The owl punch DOES come with all the parts you could ever need for intricate eyes punched from card stock, but I find all those little pieces to be somewhat tedious, so I always just grab my googly eyes!  HOWEVER, should you feel inspired to make some tedious eyes, here is a tip to help: take your stylus (or any blunt tipped instrument -- even an "out-of-ink" ball point pen could work) -- add some of the multipurpose liquid glue (the stuff with the green lid) to the tip and let it dry overnight.  It dries tacky, so it works perfectly for picking up all those tedious little owl eye ball pieces and applying them to your project!

Happy Valentine's creating!