Sunday, February 28, 2010

Laughter


Well, I was playing around the other day and used Cathie Allen's "pressing out the details" technique to make this background. It's fairly involved so I won't go into detail here. I will say the daisies and butterflies are Impression Obsession stamps and the Laughter saying is by Stampendous.
I used Brillance Pearlescent Orchid, Pearlescent Purple and Versamagic Spring Pansy and Mango Madness inks on Cathie Allen's Superstock (130lb) for the background.
I edged the card with a Tombow Marker.
If you have any questions about the background technique contact me.
All supplies are available from Crafty Capers. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

More Burnished Velvet


This medallion/doily/flower (or whatever it is) came from a Cricut cartridge (thanks again Dianne!!). I was perusing Dianne's cartridge when suddenly this shape jumped out at me and I thought it would be perfect for the glitter technique "Burnished Velvet". Dianne and I tried to cut a Be Creative tape sheet with the Cricut but it only cut 1 layer of backing and the tape not the second backing layer. That did not stop us though!
We put the tape on a scrap of cardstock and then proceeded to put down the glitter! Colors used: Moss Green, Yellow and Lavender.
Then I cut the shape out with a Spellbinder Circle.
The rest of the card is fairly self explanatory. Designer paper is Basic Grey Origins. The Thank You is from Stampendous. The Cuttlebug folder used on the yellow cardstock it Textile Texture. I did the drawn corners with 969 Chocolate Tombow marker. The silver pieces in the corners are Hero Arts Metallic Decor.
For those of you looking for something to do this Sunday we still have 1 spot left in the Fab Folds in February with A Muse stamps @1:30. Cost $25. Contact Crafty Capers if you want to register. We'd love to see you and Glenda's classes are always fun!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Happy 70th Birthday

I received a cool (store bought) birthday card for my birthday back in January that was all fuzzy. As soon as I saw it I knew I could reproduce it (only better) using Stampendous' Fun Flock! My MIL is turning the big 7-0 in April so thought this would be a good opportunity especially since the inlaws seemed facinated by the fuzzy store bought card.
My friend Dianne and I had a play date this morning and she was kind enough to bring her Cricut machine with her so I cut out the 70 numbers using her machine. Thanks Dianne!! I stuck the numbers onto a rectangle of Be Creative Tape then filled in the exposed tape with Stampendous' Sunshiny Yellow Fun Flock. I matted the piece as shown then thought I'd make the card interactive with a pull out "happy birthday" tag. The happy birthday is from Stampendous' Bday Messages Perfectly Clear set. I stamped the words with Versamagic Agean Blue ink and embossed with Stampendous's Stamp N Bond embossing powder which turns sticky when heated then applied Blue Suede Fun Flock. I mounted the 70 piece with foam mounting tape on 3 sides so the tag slides behind then pulls out. The flower on the tag is a cut out from a leftover Basic Grey Sugar Rush paper from the 70 cutout.
The ribbon is from A Muse. The flower gem is from Kaiser Craft with a mini rhinestone in the middle attached with Glossy Accents.
Thanks for looking!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Strawberries

I taught a beginner stamping class on Saturday and after class I was showing them a few bonus techniques including "Direct to Rubber" where you apply paints or markers directly to your rubber stamp! Anyway I whipped off this image using my Tombow markers, a Penny Black stamp and white glossy cardstock. I then figured I should make it into a card since it looked so pretty and I really do love this stamp!
I used Spellbinders Labels 2 for the image and it's yellow Bazzil mat. The pattern paper is Basic Grey Origins. The green mat and main card are Bazzill. The pink ribbon stripes are by American Crafts. The bottom glitter stripes are Be Creative tape (5mm) and Pink Glitter Ritz. The rhinestones are by Kaiser Craft.

I've got a funny story about the pink bow. You'll never guess where it came from! Any guesses?? No?

It was one of my SHOE BOWS from my high school grad dress! (Hey it was the 80's). I've scanned a photo of me and my highschool BFF Jennifer to prove it. Now no laughing those dresses, and I'm sure, my shoes, were the height of fashion in 1988! :)
Anyway, the bow was very easy to attach since it still had the shoe clip attached to it! I can take the bow off and use it on another card in a few years!! See the belt on my dress? Someone used that in a card making class at Crafty Capers a few years ago! It pays to never throw things away!!

New arrivals


We've had a couple of items arrive of note in the last few days. First, our March scrapbooking kits arrived on Saturday. The theme is "Iris Luck" but you certainly don't have to be Iris to appreciate the layouts! The kits contain enough supplies for 3 layouts as well as photos and instructions. They retail for $27 each. If you need help or want a little social evening Ann will be teaching a class based on this kit Saturday March 13 @ 9:30 am. Please contact Crafty Capers if you want to register.
Also, the Take 10 magazines arrived today. These magazines are a great source of cardmaking inspiration.
Supplies are limited for both the monthly kit and magazine. Hurry in to Crafty Capers to get yours!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A pick me up for a Friend

I've got a friend who moved across the country 18 months ago. Some of you may remember Yvette from her time working at Crafty Capers the spring/summer 2008. I know she misses BC quite a bit so thought I would make her a special present.
The front and back covers of this book are 4x4 coasters (like you put drinks on!) covered in Bo Bunny Love Bandit paper. I stamped the word Friends using an Inkadinkado stamp in Crafty Capers Teddy Bear embossing powder and used my NEW We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper! For years now I have wanted a corner rounder. I bought what I thought was a corner rounder from EK Success but was actually their "inset" design which had notches out of the rounded corners. I liked that too but it was not a plain rounder. Anyway, I love my Corner Chomper! Not only does it go through cardstock it will also go through coasters with no troubles.
Inside my book I added a picture of my sisters, Yvette and I taken last May when she was out last. I added a Flourishes friends saying from the "Peaches and Cherries" set stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia ink. I added a package of post it notes so she can keep organized - one of her favourite things!
I used my seldom used Bind It All machine to put the rings in the book. Gotta use that more often!
Thanks for looking. Check out Yvette's blog and if you wish send her some BC love!


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sunny Silhouette


For those of you who saw yesterday's posting you will recognize this stamp. Yep, the Hero Arts Silhouette stamp again.
This time I used my brayer with my Ranger Soothing Sunset dye rainbow ink pad on glossy cardstock to create the gorgeous background. I then stamped and embossed the Hero Arts stamp using my Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and Crafty Capers Gold Pearl embossing powder. I love how the embossing powder mellow out the brown ink!
I matted everything as shown and added a scrap of blue ribbon, Prima flowers, Bazzill brads, Heidi Swap labels. The sentiment is by Stampendous.
Thanks for looking!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Watercolor flowers

On the Spellbinder blog they have been talking about pyramid cards. I thought I would give it a try! Basically, pyramid cards are layers of the same image with each layer getting smaller. The stamp is a Hero Arts one called Designblock: Silhouette. This image is very solid so I used my Tombow markers to color it then I used my Ranger mini mister to spray the stamp to make sure the markers were nice and wet. I stamped the image twice on Bazzill cardstock then re-inked the stamp again with my Tombows and stamped a third time.
I used my Spellbinder Labels 4 to make the layers. Have I mentioned I LOVE this label shape! I layered the labels as shown with my foam mounting tape then matted it on scraps of Bazzill cardstock. I had a scrap of Bazzil bling (purple) that someone had embossed with Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy folder it matched perfectly so I used that too but cut the bottom with my Long Deckle Rectangle Spellbinder die. I punched holes with my Cropadile Big Bite and threaded ribbon through the holes and added Robin's Nest Dew Drops as well as shown.
All supplies are available from Crafty Capers. Thanks for looking!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

One final Valentine


Well tomorrow is the big day! I thought I would show you 1 final valentine then we can put the hearts away for a while.
I wanted to make a card using Stampendous Fun Flock to show people what it is like. Just to let you know Fun Flock is a touchy feely sort of thing so this card really is best seen and touched in person!
My friend Estelle showed me how to make this card but for the life of me I don't remember what she called it and I've done a quick search and can't find it online either. If someone knows the name of it please let me know and I'll post a link to a tutorial.
I cut, scored and folded where necessary for this card then I cut a couple of pieces of Be Creative double sided tape one for the long front piece and one for the front low panel. I stuck the tape to pieces of cream cardstock. I had the Stampendous music heart already stamped and cut out laying around so I stuck that to my long piece of tape then added Stampendous Chili Red Fun Flock to the still exposed tape areas. I pressed down quite hard to make sure I had good coverage. I stuck the piece as shown to my card and I added Hero Arts pearls to the panel. I did the same to the front panel (the low one) except I had some leftover tape flowers cut out so I put them on the tape piece and then added it to my card. I put Chili red Fun Flock on that as well and added yellow Glitter Ritz to the flowers and more pearls. My middle panel I stamped some Perfectly Clear Stampendous swirls with my Versamark ink then embossed them with my Stampendous Stamp N Bond embossing powder then when the powder turned sticky I added more red Fun Flock.
The back sentiment is computer generated embellished with Sunshiny Yellow Fun Flock and a Spellbinder die cut flower out of Be Creative tape.
Thanks for looking!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Valentine Countdown

Have you started your Valentines yot? The count down is on!
I actually started this card a few weeks ago but kind of forgot about it when I had a few days off. It started out when I saw a video from Tombow with quick how tos to use their glue pen and adhesives. It got me inspired to dig out my Tombow glue pen which I've had for a good 18 months and not really used, in fact I was not even sure I liked it! Now I have seen the light and LOVE it! The key is to press down when you use it. The glue comes out like a hot damn when you do that!
I colored this Impression Obsession heart with my Tombow Markers then used my Tombow Glue Pen to add Glitter Ritz yellow, fire red, liberty blue and grasshopper glitter. I let everything dry then cut out the heart.
I used Bazzill Bling Diamond cardstock as my card base and for most of my matting. The designer paper is Bo Bunny Calypso. I just happened to notice 1 design has a few hearts on it so I pulled
it out. To jazz up the paper I pulled out my Ranger Inkessentials white gel pen and added some dots to the paper as well as some faux stitching. The ribbon is from Crafty Capers. I've included a close up the heart so you can see the coloring and glitter (I hope).
Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Another Valentine!

More Valentines using Basic Grey Sugar Rush papers! I thought I would play with a fancy fold for a change. I did not use any instructions just eyeballed where to score the front with my Scor It. I used lots of Spellbinder Nestabilities on this one. Smooth circles, scalloped circles and inverted scalloped circles. I have had my inverted scallop circle for over a year now and must confess I have not used it much but recently I've been using it quite a bit to change things up. Those of you who took my recent Glitter class will recognize it. I really like the look of the inverted and regular scallop nested together gives the mat a pearl type look.
The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory. The heart punch is from Punch Bunch and the sentiment is by Hero Arts (same as yesterday's supplies).
Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Sugar Rush Flower

I've been playing with Basic Grey's new line "Sugar Rush" I really like the colors!
Here is a card I did for Valentines day using my Spellbinder Nestabilities. It's a simple card and certainly not a new idea. I started by cutting a scalloped circle and using my scissors, cut into the circle to make petals on the flower. I've included a close up hopefully you can see what I've done. The center of the flower is a smooth edged Spellbinder circle. I finished the blossom by adding an Aumumn Leaves button and some twine.
The leave of the flower are a Punch Bunch large heart and more Sugar Rush paper.
The sentiment is a new one from Hero Arts.
All supplies are available from Crafty Capers. Thanks for looking!


Monday, February 1, 2010

Loopy Blooms

Here is another of the new Stampendous set Crafty Capers got in last week. The set is called Loopy Blooms as soon as I saw it I thought it screamed "use Tombows on me!". I've included a picture of the set so you can see what it in it.
I started by cutting 2 ovals (Nestabilities) out of blue and green Bazzill cardstock then I stamped the loopy blooms on the blue
oval with my Versafine Onyx black ink then stamped the blooms again on a scrap of watercolor cardstock. I colored each blossom with my Tombow markers then cut out the flowers and mounted them on top of the ones I had already stamped on the blue oval.
I cut out a border with my Spellbinders dies (I think this one is In Spades but I can never remember). I thought the border looked a bit plain so I stamped 3 flowers from the Loopy Blooms set and colored and cut them out and mounted them on the border to jazz it up a little. I stamped the sentiment as shown along with a dotted line (very light Memories Soft Pool ink) and a ladybug also in the Loopy Blooms set.
Can't believe how quickly this card came together AND I brought everything I needed from the shop home to make it. It usually never fails I get home and realize I should have brought X with me!
Thanks for looking! I'm back to work tomorrow so we'll see if I can get any stamping done!