Playing with a new stamp set

I broke out another unused stamp set today - Simply Soft. It features pretty detailed flowers and has 2 step stamps (I didn't 2 step them today though). This design belongs to Lana Harvey from Lana's Stampin' Cottage. I loved her card so much I didn't change anything except to suit my own supplies.

I made two colour variations:

We'll call this card 1.

And this is card 2.

Materials:
Cardstock: Card 1 - Very Vanilla, Lovely Lilac (retired Stampin' Up colour). Card 2 - Whisper White, Island Indigo.
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Island Indigo, Stazon black, Old Olive marker.
Stamps: Simply Soft.
Accessories: Victoria crochet trim, Basic Pearls, Blue organza ribbon (Kaiser Craft).
Tools: Big shot machine, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Top Note die, sponge, aquapainter, Beautiful Wings embosslit, mini glue dots.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I cut the top notes before stamping the images on.
2. I used an aquapainter to colour the flower heads and buds. I used an Old Olive marker for the stems and leaves.
3. The stamped top notes and Vintage Wallpaper layers are sponged with the feature colour (Lovely Lilac or Island Indigo).
4. I'm not good at tying bows so the ribbon is adhered in two parts. A length is cut and stretched across the front of the card. The ends are taped behind the card layer. Another length is used to tie a bow around the first part. Hey, it works for me!
5. Card 1 would look so much better with matching ribbon but I didn't have any.

Stuff Ups:
1. I would have used the 2 step stamps but forgot to use my stamp-a-ma-jig on the outline stamp. It was fun to aquapaint any way.
2. I would use Certainly Celery or another light green marker rather than Old Olive. I feel it is too dark for the look that I want.
3. The sponging is uneven but I can live with it.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The overall look of the aquapainting is ok.
2. The way the organza ribbon matches the Island Indigo was a lucky surprise! It looks lighter than the cardstock in the photo but that's due to the nature of the ribbon versus the camera. In real life it matches perfectly.

The last of the brown (for now)

So I made this card for my friend Tracey whose birthday is today (Happy birthday Trace!) and my husband said it's nice but I've been using too much brown lately (yeah, brown has been my neutral colour of choice, mainly because I bought a whole pack of it). I thought this sounded like a challenge (in a warped kinda way) so I'm making cards without brown for a little while! This is the last of the brown for now:

The design of this card is from an old Stampin' Up catalogue. I've tweaked it to suit my whims.

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Elegant Soiree DSP.
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake.
Stamps: Blissful Botanicals and Sophie's Sentiments by Lawn Fawn.
Other: Fiskars Eyelet border punch, Victoria crochet trim (I've called it lace in the past but it's not really called that), Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold, American Craft ribbon, circle punch, Basic pearls, Big Shot machine, Beautiful Wings embosslit, mini glue dots, sponge, Fiskars corner rounder punch.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I lightly misted the Whisper White panel with the Perfect Pearls and let in dry before stamping on the sentiment.
2. I sponged around the butterflies with Crumb Cake ink.

Stuff Ups:
1. I messed up the alignment of the border punch so I had to do that again.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. I got the sentiment stamped correctly, first time! Gosh, I love Lawn Fawn stamps!!

Clean and Simple Birthday

I wanted to make a clean and simple birthday card for my friend Nean so I set myself a 20 minute challenge! This is the result:

The green does look much better in real life (like most cards do) and is textured which hasn't been picked up too well by the camera. That's probably my fault, not the camera's.

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Kiwi Kiss textured, Island Oasis DSP, Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Tempting Turquoise.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments.
Other: Big Shot machine, Top Note die, Victorian lace, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Basic Pearls, Modern label punch, dimensionals, mini glue dots.
Non Stampin' Up: None.

Tips and Tricks:
1. There are none really, this card is as easy as they get. I suppose I'll tell you that I cut up the Basic Pearl Strips into segments of two or three pearls and used them as the butterflies bodies.
2. The butterflies are stuck on with mini glue dots.

Stuff Ups:
1. This card could certainly be jazzed up with a bit of time and effort but I'm pleased with it as is.
2. Probably should have used Old Olive instead of Kiwi Kiss but I really wanted to use textured cardstock and I don't have textured Old Olive.

Patchwork Birthday

I've seen this patchwork technique quite a bit on the different blogs that I visit and couldn't resist giving it a try. I learnt a lot for the next time that I attempt it!

This is a similar design to the one in 'Double but Different Part 2'. I made this for another niece's birthday. Normally with my cards I make a single layer insert to write on, particularly if the base cardstock is a dark colour. For this card I made a double layer insert using the same DSP as I have used on the front of the card. Here's a photo:

I'm pleased with the way the insert turned out. It ties it all together nicely.

(This is a very strange coincidence and it's times like these I can't help but know there's got to be a higher power watching over us all - I couldn't remember if the brad I used was called antique or vintage so I went to check in my bag where I keep the brads. I flipped on the light and saw a big spider just about to crawl inside the bag I needed to check. If I had been a moment later I wouldn't have seen the spider - just rustled around in the bag and possibly would have been bitten!! So there you go. Also, old spidey is no longer with us. I made sure of that.)

Materials:
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla (as the base to stick the squares on), Cottage garden DSP (retired I think).
Ink: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments.
Other: Top Note die, Big Shot machine, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Square punch, Chantilly lace, Antique brads, sponge, dimensionals, Modern label punch, paper piercing tool, mat pack, basic pearls.
Non Stampin' Up: Perfect Pearl Mist in Heirloom Gold.

Tips and Tricks:
1. The patchwork -

• I cut a piece of scrap Very Vanilla cardstock the same size as my card. I should have used PLAIN paper!! If you have a go, please try plain paper first.
• I ran my glue tape in close together lines across the scrap of card.
• I used my new square punch to punch out the squares from different sheets of the Cottage Wall DSP and stuck them carefully onto the glue tape.
• When finished I ran it through the big shot using the top note die.
• I ran the patchwork die cut through the big shot again in the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.
• I sponged around the outside of the die cut with Old Olive ink. Yeah it's a bit too dark - I got carried away.

2. The base card is sprayed with the Heirloom Gold mist.
3. I cut a strip of DSP and glued it onto the base card to break up the razzleberry.
4. I punched out two modern labels and cut one in half, spaced it out and glued it behind the other to give that extra bit of border. I sponged around it with Old Olive.

5. The lace -

• I cut a piece and glued the ends behind the top note die cut.
• I cut two shorter pieces, twisted them once and thread them underneath the glued on piece.
• Then I stabbed a hole through them and the cardstock with my paper piercing tool.
• The antique brad was pushed through and secured.

6. I added the smallest basic pearls to the modern label punch out to give it a lift. I added them after I took the photo, so sorry you can't see them.

Stuff Ups:
1.  The Very Vanilla cardstock made my patchwork a little bit too thick for the embossing folder so some of the embossed bits split a little. Plain paper would prevent this problem I'm sure.
2. I used too much ink around the top note die cut.
3. Trying to get the brad through all the lace and cardstock was a challenge. It ended up quite bulky so I popped the die cut up on dimensionals to compensate.
4. If I'm being picky, I would only use one type of striped paper and more of it as the two pieces I used don't totally work. At the very least I would try to punch the stripes at the same angle.

Double But Different Part 2

So the first twin card is in my previous post. This card I made for Emma. I hope both of them like their cards!

Here's the card recipe (I know I should say procedure but recipe sounds so much cuter):

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip.
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, Versamark.
Stamps: Bliss, Itty Bitty.
Other: Top note die, big shot machine, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Hemp twine, Itty Bitty buttons, Victoria lace, modern label punch, basic pearls, mini glue dots.
Non Stampin' Up: sentiment stamp from CheeseCake Party by Penny Black, Zing gold glitter embossing powder by American Crafts.

Tips and Tricks:
1. There are small pearls on the vintage wallpaper embossing but the photo doesn't highlight them.
2. The butterflies were stamped by using the 'Rock and roll' technique. I'd recommend that you search youtube for a video demonstrating the technique. I inked up the stamp in Rich Razzleberry then rolled the edges around on a Chocolate Chip ink pad. Voila! Two toned stamping.
3. The Victoria lace is just some scrap ends I had left over that are tucked and glued under the top note die cut with mini glue dots.
4. I used a mini glue dot to anchor the middle itty bitty button to keep them faced up.

Stuff Ups:
1. The clear mount block I used for the 'rock and roll' technique was too big which inhibited my control over the amount of 'roll' I could do. I would use the smallest block I possibly could if I were to do this technique again.
2. I probably should have glued all three itty bitty buttons or none at all because it looks a little lopsided with just one glued.
3. The gold glitter embossing powder - while I like the gold colour it produced, the glitter in the powder caused the end result to be a bit lumpy. I would have liked a smoother end result. Ideally, a gold powder without glitter in it would be a better choice.

Double But Different Part 1

I've just made two birthday cards for my husband's twin nieces birthday (they're grown up not kids) and since the two of them are so different, I've made very different cards. This is the card I made first for Jess.

Materials:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Specialty DSP (retired I guess, it was in the summer mini catalogue).
Ink: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze.
Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Teeny Tiny Sentiments.
Other: Sponge, Modern label punch, Basic Pearls, Victoria lace (also from the summer mini), dimensionals, mini glue dots, Butterfly punch.
Non Stampin' Up: Nothing, woohoo!

Tips and Tricks:
1. I used caution when sponging the specialty DSP which means use ink sparingly. I lightly inked my piece of sponge then dabbed it onto scrap paper a few times before using it. I started at the edges and in circular motions I applied and buffed the ink onto the paper. It took a while to do. When finished, I used a clean sponge to buff over the whole image which removed any excess ink from the embossing and made it pop!
2. I adhered the butterflies with mini glue dots.
3. The sentiment label is sponged in Early expresso around the edges and lightly sponged on the face with Baja Breeze. I did this to dull the brightness of the bare Very Vanilla cardstock. It's popped up on dimensionals so it doesn't interfere with the lace.
4. I used all 3 sizes of basic pearls on the sentiment punch, starting on the outside with the largest. I cut a pearl strip into smaller segments of 2 for the butterflies bodies.

Stuff Ups:
1. I wasn't carefully enough in measuring my DSP so I had to trim it after the sponging and lost some of the great edge effect I got from the sponging process. I responged the cut edge but it's not quite the same.
2. The 'happy birthday' sentiment is a little off centre but I can live with it.