Scrapnextras

Verve Sneak Peek!!

Verve Visual is releasing four brand new stamp sets this Friday.  You are about to sneak a peek at one of them, but be sure to check out the Verve Visual blog for even more sneaks all this week, as well as a chance to win one of the new releases!  Over the course of the week you'll see all the amazing new stamp sets in the hands of the incredibly talented Verve design team.  Here's my take on one of the new releases; Floral Whimsy.

You know I just love flowers!  I love them in the garden, in a vase and especially in a stamp set, so "Floral Whimsy" was in my heart the moment I saw it!  Although fun and whimsical as it's name suggest, it has a sensitive and beautiful side too. 

The vase was inked in More Mustard then rocked and rolled in Ruby Red and stamped on vanilla card stock. The rock and roll technique and produced a very unique effect with the acrylic stamps. I used markers to ink up the stems and flowers direct to stamp, and added some more colour to the blooms using the aqua painter, as well as some shading in a light grey to give the image some depth.  Copper stickles were added to the flower centers for little added sparkle, and the edges of the panel were sponged to add focus and colour before mounting it on More Mustard, Ruby Red then Chocolate Chip card stocks.

The base of the card is More Mustard, and the designer papers are from Basic Grey "Sublime" and SU "Ginger Blossom".  Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon is tied around the width of the card, and three copper brads are positioned below the knot.  The sentiment is stamped in Basic Black on a light yellow vellum then cut into a circle and placed at the upper right intersection to finish the card.  Although spring has just arrived, it's nice to know this set will take you through the year with just a subtle change in colours!

Don't forget to pop over to the Verve Blog to see Amy's and Charmaine's fabulous creations with Floral Whimsy, and get yourself entered to win this set!   It is definitely a winner in my eyes!

Weekend Sketch Challenge

I finally made time to do Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge #47.  I really like Beate's sketches as they are usually very versatile, in that you can work with just about any stamp set.  However the weekends aren't always my best stamping days, so I haven't done one for a while.  But this Sunday was Mother's Day, so I treated myself to some extra stamping time and here's what I came up with.

I wanted to keep it fairly simple, and I have been enjoying working with designer papers and that's how this card came to be.  I started with a base of white card stock, and from my designer scraps chose a piece of Summer Picnic and Real Red Prints DP.  I pieced them together and layered them on Wild Wasabi.  I hadn't yet used the Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon I just "had" to have, so I tied it around the designer papers and attached that section to the base with dimensionals. 

The sentiment from "Small Sayings" a retired set, is stamped with Versafine Onyx black on white.  The cherries were coloured with markers direct to rubber and stamped to the left of the sentiment then the section was cut out with an oval nestability.  I layered it on a scalloped oval in Wild Wasabi and attached it to the front panel with dimensionals.  As a finishing touch, I added three tiny red gems (ICONs by MAMBI).  That's all there is.  Clean and simple.

My in-laws are going to drop in tomorrow to celebrate Amy's birthday, so I am going to postpone Technique Tuesday until Wednesday.  I do have a sneak peak of the new Verve stamps I will schedule to post tomorrow, so I will have something to share!

I hope you are having a wonderful Monday!  Thanks for dropping by.  I love it when you do!

Mother's Day Cards and RAK's

I wanted to share the gifts or card gifts that my daughters gave me for Mother's Day.  It is truly the best part about being a Mom, sharing in the joy of them presenting these marvelous hand and heart-made gifts.

This is Amy's Card.  This girl is after my heart!  Everything is popped up on "dimensionals"!  Well, in this case it's small pieces of corrugated cardboard, but the idea is there!  This is so special since she also included a cup of my favorite java...Tim Horton's coffee!  Don't you just love the steam coming from the mug? This is just so precious, the hearts all crimped, and it's layered several times on coordinating card stock!  I'll be recruiting this girl one day soon!

Carly's gift is just adorable!  A paper pieced teddy bear!!  Actually it's sort of a foamy kind of fabric, but so sweet.  It just makes me smile typing this.  There's a lot of cutting here for a 7 year old.  I love the eyes too, and isn't he just the cutest holding the heart?  Oh my...melt my heart!

Carly also made a card on the computer.  Honestly, both girls know Power Point as well as I do...they learn it in school, and do reports and presentations on it.  I don't know if this card was made in Power Point, but it still shocks me that computers are so much a part of their curriculum.

Here is her card.  She has coloured it so beautifully, and selected a crown as her clip art choice.  Now I have to show you the back, because all artists sign their work.

Isn't that adorable????  See the I {Heart} U?  From my little angel.  What can I say...this is really what motherhood is all about!

Well, I also wanted to share some of the other wonderful RAKs I have received over the past few weeks.  This first one is from Silke Ledlow {MY LIFE}.  She sent me the card she made when I was Featured Stamper.  Little does she know that this arrives just shy of my birthday too!  I just love her colour scheme and all the bling!  This one shines so much it lights up the room!  Thank you Silke, it really is a pleasure to have one of your amazing creations!

Jessie {Can You Say Addicted to Stamps???} strikes again!   A card was all she needed to say congrats on being selected for the Dirty Dozen, but no, she sends all this cool stuff.  These little button brads are just the cutest, plus ribbon and stickles.  She spoils me I tell ya!!  Thanks a million Jessie!  You are rockin' girl!

Julee Tilman {Poetic Artistry} owner of Verve Visual sent me this gorgeous card!  I just love the colours and the way she used these stamps!  Julee, you made ME smile with this!  Thanks so much!

And finally, Denise, {The Paper Landscaper} sent me this adorable card.  Her colouring is so fabulous, it's really a shame I couldn't capture it in the photo.  There is sparkle around the flower centre and it just shines!  My girls just thought it was the cutest thing!  And it is!  Thank you Denise...I love it!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  I thought I would share the last Mother's Day card I made with my new stamps from the Little Paper Shop!  This little bird house and humming bird were so perfect for my Mother in-law that I had to make a last minute card.  It will arrive a bit late, but I'm sure she'll love it!  She love's her birds and always has her feeders full!

I started with Naturals Ivory card stock for my base, standard size with a top fold.  I grabbed some of my Basic Grey "Blush" paper for the back drop, and layered it on Chocolate Chip.  The ruffled Chocolate Chip ribbon is from the retired "Flirty" ribbon set.

The birdhouse is from the Nature's Garden set and is stamped on Naturals Ivory in Versafine Onyx Black.  I watercoloured it with my markers and aquapainter, and added some Crystal stickles where I thought there might be flower blossoms!  It adds a little bit of sparkle in real life, but doesn't show well on camera at all.  I sponged around the edge of the image panel with Pretty in Pink, then Close to Cocoa, to give it a more rustic appearance.  The panel is attached to the card with dimensionals.

I stamped the humming bird in Versafine Onyx Black on a scrap of Naturals Ivory, and coloured him the same, and cut him out.  He is positioned just off the birdhouse panel, to add that feeling of movement then attached to the card with dimensionals.

To finish the card off I did some sponging around the edge in Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa, and added a silk flower with a fancy brad at the intersection.  The sentiment is from the All Occasions set, and is stamped directly on the designer paper in Versafine Onyx Black.  You all know I stamp the inside of the card, and you can just get a peek of the little corner arbour stamped and watercoloured on the bottom of the inside...it's also stamped on the envelope!

I wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day, with breakfast in bed and flowers and yummy dinners..or whatever makes you happy.  I will be sharing the Mother's Day cards my dd's made me tomorrow, along with some RAKS and tags that I'm getting way behind on.  I hope you can drop by.  Have a great evening!

Double Challenge Card

Hey, thanks for dropping by again!  I figured I might post twice today, I just had to get this one photographed, since I finished it yesterday.  I combined this week's Colour and Sketch challenges for this card, and I think it turned out pretty nice.

We had to work with Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery, and follow the sketch, with the offset half circles.

Stampin' Up! has extended the expiry dates on the Occasion Mini Catalogue to June 30, so that made me reach for "Just Celebrate", which is available in the mini, now until June 30th! 

The card base is Pretty in Pink, standard size, top told, and a layer of Lovely Lilac Follows. I chose a Certainly Celery Prints designer paper for the foreground and used the ticket corner punch on the corners, and added gold brads.

The circle is Pretty in Pink, and I wheeled it with the Petals jumbo wheel in Pretty in Pink ink.  The circle was cut with the largest Nestability circle template, then I folded to determine the centre, and cut it in half, positioning it as per the sketch.

The cake from "Just Celebrate" is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, and coloured with my markers and aquapainter. For the icing I couldn't resist adding some Cotton Candy stickles, and some gold stickles for the flames on the candles.  I stamped Celebrate on the lower portion of the whisper white panel, then tied Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon around the belly.  I used the corner punch again and layered it on Pretty in Pink, then Lovely Lilac, and added gold brads in the corners.

I decided that it needed more sparkle, so I dabbed some Crystal Stickles on the dots in the Petals wheel image, and called it done!

My oldest DD is having her birthday party tomorrow, and we are going to the school dance as part of the activity!  Woohoo...cheap and "clean house" fun!  I don't know why I didn't think of that before.  Her birthday isn't until next week, and we will have a family celebration then.  I don't know how my day will go so if you don't see a post tomorrow, you will know we are partying big time! 

I hope your weekend is shaping up for lots of fun for you!  Thanks for dropping by...I always love it when you do!

Amy's Sketch

Happy Thursday!  I have two very different cards to share this morning,  both using the same basic sketch!  Amy (Heartfelt Greetings) is back with her Super Sketch Sundays, and I am having a blast working with them.  Amy uses designer paper with much more comfort than I do, but using her sketches is giving me more confidence mixing up my papers, because she always makes the requirement of using patterned paper!  I also love being able to make beautiful things from scraps, and making even a small dent in the mountain of scrap designer papers I have amassed makes me happy!

I hadn't pulled out "Doodle This" in quite a while, so I thought it was time to show it off again!  It was my favorite set when it first came out, and I still love the whimsical feel of it.

The card base is Whisper White, and I layered 4 different colours of the Prints designer papers as per the sketch. (Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst)  It made me think of a quilt, so I pierced around the outer edges to add to that feel. 

I stamped the smaller flower from "Doodle This" in Versafine Onyx black on Whisper White, and watercoloured it using my markers and aquapainter.  A bit of Crystal Effects was added to the little swirly dot on each of the petals, and I love the pop it gives! The sentiment is from Verve Visual's "Happy Thoughts", and it is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  I added piercing to the corners and tied a strip of Pretty in Pink gingham ribbon around the bottom.  The white panel is layered on Certainly Celery, and then attached to a panel of Pretty in Pink.  The right hand border of the Pretty in Pink panel was scalloped using the corner rounder, then each scalloped was pierced in keeping with the rest of the card.  When it was all put together it really seemed to need something else...something to match the shine on the flower, so I added some clear baubles in the corners, and then I called it done!  Isn't it just the prettiest spring birthday card?

I did another using the same sketch, this time using up some of the papers from the retired Brocade Backgrounds papers.  This time I chose to work with "Stitched Exotics", a set that I got recently, that I haven't put to ink often enough.

I started with a Chocolate Chip base layered with River Rock and the scraps were placed as per the sketch.  The centre panel is Very Vanilla, and the large flourish stamp is stamped twice in Chocolate Chip.  The flower was inked in River Rock,  and the outline of dots was inked in Chocolate Chip using the marker.  I stamped it on a scrap of Very Vanilla and cut it out.  The smallest flower was stamped on scrap in Old Olive and punched out with the 1/2" circle punch, and placed on a Build a Brad, which was added to the centre of the flower.  The flower is adhered to the panel with dimensionals, and piercing added to the edges of the panel.  It it then mounted on River Rock and Chocolate Chip card stock. 

The sentiment is from the retired hostess set "So Many Sayings", and was punched out with the Word Window punch and then adhered to the upper right hand portion of the focal panel, which is adhered to the card with dimensionals.

I had planned posting this yesterday, but time got away on me.  So I will probably end up with two posts today!  I hope you'll be able to pop back a bit later.

Have a good one!

Technique Tuesday; Spell it Out!

Each month I choose a Stampin' Up! product as my Feature Product.  This month I will be featuring Alphabet Stamps!  All Stampin' Up! alphabet and number sets purchased through me, are on special this month.  My Technique Tuesday feature during the month of May will feature Alphabets.  As well, throughout the month of May, you can expect to see lots of projects on my blog featuring Alphabets, and I will be demonstrating with them during all my May workshops.   

Here is the special for April:

• 10% off any Stampin' Up! Alphabet sets including Define Your Life
• My May hostesses will receive 20% Off!

If you wish to place an order, you may contact me via email.  I accept all major credit cards.  Canadian orders only please. Sorry, them's the rules!

Technique Tuesday:  Spell it Out and Dress Up Your Alphabets

When I started this whole crazed paper crafting thing, it was all about scrapbooking.  Before I was introduced to stamping, I had an obsession with alphabets and purchased every variety of sticker, punch, chipboard, die-cut, stencil....you name it I have it.  When I learned about stamping, I was thrilled.  Finally a way to ensure I never run out of "Y"s and always have the perfect colour.  Yes, I love my alphabets.  Even though I don't do as much scrapbooking as I used to, I still love my alphabets, and still get a lot of use out of them.  This month I will be featuring Alphabets, how to get the most out of them...I love anything that I can make versatile!  I will explore some different techniques and uses and I promise some scrapbooking in addition to the cards!

Today, I wanted to just Dress Up the alphabets.  You can get a lot of mileage and create tons of different looks from just one alphabet set just by adding a few personal touches!  So this is not a tutorial really, instead just touching on some of the ways you can dress up your alphabets with markers and pens.

Here is a quick sampler that I made up, and really this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I did some faux stitching, circles, and a scarecrow double line stitching.

Here are some other ideas that you can try, and I will try to put into action over the course of the month:

• stripes
• plaids
• polka dots
• outline; outline with dots
• X's & O's
• your turn....

Here's a card I made Spelling out my sentiment and dressing up my alphabet with a white gel pen.

I happened to pop in on Amber's blog, The Stamping Scrapbooker, this morning, and she posted her colour challenge card for her design team challenge, with an invitation to play along!  That narrowed down the colour choices for today's card; pink (Pretty in Pink), Green (Certainly Celery) and Grey (Basic Grey) so I played.

The card base is Basic Grey and the white has the Swiss Dot embossed on it!  Thanks to my elf Dawn, (Stampinscotsgirl) who replenished my supply of Cuttlebug embossed papers (really I had only used 1!!!)  I worked with the Big Deal alphabet, stamping the word "Love" in Basic Grey classic ink on scraps of designer papers.  I also stamped "u" in Certainly Celery ink on Whisper White card stock.  I took my white gel pen and added dots to each letter, just to dress them up, and give them a whole new look!

The "LOVE" letters were punched out with the 1 3/8" square punch, then layered on white, then grey.  A large heart brad (Making Memories) was placed in the centre of the "O" just for fun, before attaching the section to the card!

I cut the "U" out after adding the dots.  I punched a scalloped circle from Basic Grey and added white dots to each of the scallops.  A circle of Pretty in Pink and Whisper White are layered on top, and the "U" is popped up with foam tape.  A small heart brad (MM) was added to the "U" as well...just because I can!  I tied Pretty in Pink gingham ribbon around the lower portion, adding a slip of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon for a splash of colour.  The scallop circle is adhered to the card with dimensionals.

There you go. Now it's your turn to dress up your alphabets!  I know the variations are endless, and whether you come up with your own, or use one of my suggestions is up to you.  ***If you want to play, make a card or scrapbook page, then link it up through the comments section here, so we can all come back and see it.  If you upload to SCS use the keyword "xtras2".***  I would also love to hear some words, phrases or sentiments that you can use your alphabets for as well..so bring 'em on!  U-ROCK!

Happy Tuesday to you all!  Hope you are having a fabulous day!

For Mother's Day

Mother's Day is on Sunday, so I thought I would share a few Mother's Day Cards this week, just in case you need some extra inspiration for that last minute card.  I created this card for the February Stampin' Up! contest call for Mother's Day cards.  Guess what?  I won!

This card was a modified version of the Valentine card I created for my daughter.  You can see it here.  I could just see how wonderful it would be for a Mother's Day card, and since I was creating it for a Stampin' Up! contest, I needed to make a few changes to make sure it was Stampin' Up! only(SUO) to comply with contest rules.

The card is Whisper White, 6 1/2" square, and scored at 3 1/4".  The DP is from Bali Breeze.  I used the Jumbo Outline Alphabet and stamped the letters on Rose Red, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink card stock using Whisper White Craft ink.  They were embossed with White embossing powder, and punched out with the 1 3/8" square punch, and layered on Whisper White card stock.  The Whisper White was then layered on Rose Red, and that panel was popped up on dimensionals. 

The right hand border is pierced from top to bottom, and the left hand side has half backed pearls accenting the top and bottom of the DP.

The large flower is from the Pretties kit and is coloured with the Pretty in Pink marker, then a smaller white flower from the Pretties kit is layered on that, followed by a Rose Red Felt Fusion flower.  Another half back pearl is adhered to the centre.  The hat pin from the Pretties kit is threaded with several pearls and spacers and is inserted into a jumbo pop up glue dot, which attaches the flower to the card. 

I wish I hadn't had to send the actual card off, so I could give it to my Mom.  I know I could make another, but if you know anything about me, I am not fond of re-creating something, or doing multiple cards of the same design.  I need to move on to the next idea that is just crying to get onto paper!

Well, Happy Monday!  It's spring, it's sunny and I get to stamp today!  Life doesn't get much better than that.  I hope your day is looking just as bright.  Thanks for dropping by...I always love it when you do! 

Spotlight on Circles LSC166

You know I think I stumbled on one of my most favorite colour combos!  I stack my paper colours in separate slots (wire cubes with cable ties).  Last night as I was deciding which colours to work with for Jen's Limited Supply Challenge, there was a sheet from each of these colours, which are in consecutive slots, sticking out.  I thought they looked pretty good just sitting there, (even if they were all sticking out rather messy like), so I decided to go with them.  And I think I'm in love!  Odd how things come together, I mean they've been stacked like that for about 5 years, and I never saw it until now!

This week's Limited Supply Challenge was a spotlight on circles.  You could use any stamps embellishments, papers and ink, but the only tools you could use were circle punches or templates.  That totally works for me, because I love circles!  Plus I've been meaning to try the mutlticoloured scalloped border that Dawn Easton  (Treasure Oiler Designs) recently used on some of her amazing cards.  I was also going to try Lauren Meader's sketch from last week, but it morphed into something different!

The colours are So Saffron, Taken with Teal, Cameo Coral and Chocolate Chip.  The card was quite simple.  I punched 4  1 3/8" circles, one in each colour, and adhered them to the Very Vanilla textured card stock.  I coloured the flower stamp from Live Your Dreams with markers, then stamped it on vellum paper.  I used my nestability to cut it out, then I inked up the sentiment from Verve Visual's new set "Great Expectations", in Basic Black, and added it to the circle.  The vellum is attached using 2-Way glue under the coloured portions of the stamped image.  Even close up, you can't see it!

The card base is So Saffron, and I trimmed 3/8" off the bottom.  The scalloped border was done by punching 1/2" circles in the three other colours and attaching them with 2 way glue as well. I had a small boo boo, where I smeared some of the ink from the vellum that hadn't quite dried, on both the Vanilla and Cameo Coral.  I remedied that by using the slot punch and attaching a flag of ribbon to cover it!   suppose that disqualifies me from the challenge, but it had to be done.  I was in such a panic at the time, it never occurred to me to use a circle punch!

I think that about covers it!  I'm really thrilled with this colour combo and the way the card turned out!  I am looking forward to some family time this weekend, but I think I'll have a chance to stamp too!  I hope you will make some time for yourself too...maybe to stamp, maybe to do something else just as fun!  Thanks for dropping by!  You know I always love it when you do!

A Few for Fathers Day

You know, I have a really hard time with masculine cards.  I suppose it's because I can't put flowers on them, and I have so few "generic" stamp sets that will work.  I usually have a few masculine themed sets on my wish list, but they tend to get bumped every time a new floral set comes out.  So, when Verve Visual introduced "Father Figure", I was in heaven.  While it's basically a sentiment set, I find it works just fine on it's own.   The words paint a pretty nice picture...see for yourself:

One of the things I love about this set is that it has "Husband" in it.  There are lots of Dad and Father sentiments, but rarely "Husband".  So I thought I would start with a Husband card.  I kept this very simple, starting with a white card base, and working with Soft Sky, Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava. 

The bar of dots was stamped at the top in Soft Sky, then another row was stamped in Groovy Guava.  Using the 1/4" circle punch, I punched some circles out in each of the three main colours and adhered them above and beneath the bar of Groovy Guava dots.

The tag starts with Soft Sky, with a bar of dots in Blue Bayou on the top.  The definition was aligned on the clear block, and I added the "I'm so proud...." stamp, then inked them both up in Versafine Onyx Black.  The corner rounder was used on the bottom of the tag, and the top has a 1/2" circle of Blue Bayou adhered with a 1/4" hole for the Soft Sky ribbon.  The tag is popped up with dimensionals just to give it a bit more presence.

Finally, the word "Husband" is stamped in Blue Bayou on the lower right, and a very simple card is done!

For this card I worked with Julee's Mojo 25 sketch.  The card base is the retired Buckaroo Blue followed with a layer of K&Co "Addison" designer paper.  A band of River Rock mounted on Buckaroo Blue is next, then a scrap of River Rock Prints designer paper follows.

The definition is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Naturals White, followed with the bar of dots, top and bottom.  The word Dad is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Naturals White as well.  Each section is sponged with Buckaroo Blue ink then layered on Buckaroo Blue card stock.

The sections were bigger than the sketch called for, but with a little modification it works.  I used black brads to attach "Dad" to the word panel.   To finished the card off, I added brads to all the corners of the sections.  The words work so well by themselves, that I don't think anything else is needed!

Here is the last card, and for the record, my girl's #1 pick!  I also like that this set really sums up the roles our men play in our life. 

I wanted a bit of whimsy here, and attached the words like they might be signs on a tree house!  I used a variety of styles of brads, and the wood grain paper is from a retired pack of Stampin' Up! designer paper.

I think this is a fun card, and one that all three of us girls can give our Man!

Verve Visual also has a Star Studded sale on right now!  All their star themed sets are 15% off, with free shipping on purchases over $40.00!  You can pick up this set "Father Figure" at the same time!

How's that for power packed post!!  Three cards.  I was going to try to stagger them, but you know, I will end up making more for Father's Day anyway!  I still have my Dad and Father in law to do, so I'm in for a few more.  And of course I love to explore the versatility of a set, so that's yet to come too!

I hope you are having a wonderful day!  Thanks for dropping by...you know I love it when you do!