Stop! Thief! Scraplifted...

Hello and Happy Saturday! Today's project was created for the final week of 365 Cards' first year's challenges. All week long, we've been focussing on each 365 Card designer, examining her style and then scraplifting an element of a card she's shared. This card was created by scraplifting a bit of Gloria's vintage style.

Here's her card:

Here are the elements of Gloria's style that I chose to include in my project:

• ephemera,
• lots of layers and
• a more masculine color palette.

I love Gloria's use of ephemera! I love to include items like ticket stubs, newspaper or other media in my scrapbook pages. I found it a bit of a challenge to find items that meshed together for a card, however. I searched through my stamp sets and decided that I'd start with the Sense of Time set (I used the clock face and the gears). I also love the look of the oak tree (or is that an elm?) from Lovely as a Tree. To mimic Gloria's ephemeral look, I masked the clock face and sponged So Saffron Classic ink around the outside. I also crumpled the piece of card stock stamped with the gears (I stamped the gears in So Saffron Classic ink).

**Studio Suggestion: Creamy Caramel Classic Ink is among my go-to tools when I'm looking for a vintage look. After stamping the gears in So Saffron, I crumpled the piece of Whisper White card stock and then sponged over it with the Creamy Caramel. That color brings out the wrinkles in a subtle, worn way.**

Gloria's included lots of fun touches and I sought to mimic that with my Build-a-Brad. I stamped the gear image in Not Quite Navy on Sage Shadow card stock and punched a gear out using my 1/2-inch Circle Punch.

I also used a bit of Very Vanilla Wide Grosgrain ribbon (which I colored using my Creamy Caramel and Bordering Blue Classic Inks) and a paper clip to add to the ephemeral feel.

Finally, since I am Color Challenged, I relied on my Color Coach to help me pick a palette of colors that would support my fave for vintage projects, Bordering Blue. In the end, I think the palette is one for both men and women. I used Sage Shadow, So Saffron and Not Quite Navy to complement the Bordering Blue. I also used Whisper White (for a "clean", crisp look) and paired it with the Very Vanilla grosgrain to further stress the idea of vintage...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Sense of Time and Lovely as a Tree

Papers: Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Bordering Blue, So Saffron and Not Quite Navy

Inks: Not Quite Navy, So Saffron and Creamy Caramel Classics

Accessories: 1/2-inch Circle, 1/16-inch Handheld and Corner Rounder Punch, Build-a-Brad, and Very Vanilla Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

Thanks so much for visiting me today! I hope you have a restful and fun weekend!

A Woodsy Happy Birthday to Uncle Coot!

First of all, I wanted to wish a very happy fortieth birthday to Uncle Coot! We love you very much and are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Uncle Coot is an avid outdoorsman, so for his birthday card, I went to one of my all-time favorite sets, Lovely as a Tree. Since he is also a woodworker extraordinaire (he does exquisite homebuilding, finishing work and has built some amazing furniture for my kids), I was also anxious to use the background stamp, Woodgrain. In an effort to capture rugged outdoorsman in papercraft, I opted to use three of my favorite techniques for texture. First, for the Bravo Burgundy piece, I sueded it and mounted it on a piece of Very Vanilla. The second rugged piece is a crinkled and crumpled piece of Brilliant Blue that I crumpled big-time, smoothed out, and then fed through my Big Shot with the Top Note Bigz die. Finally, for the piece with the pine tree, I used the Distressing Tool from the Cutting Tools to rough up the edges.

The birthday sentiment was inked in Garden Green then stamped on Very Vanilla and punched out using the Modern Label Punch. Finally, to make it stand out more and to tie it in with the rest of the card, I inked the edges with Bravo Burgundy. It's adhered to the Brilliant Blue piece with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Woodgrain, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Papers: Garden Green, Brilliant Blue, Bravo Burgundy and Very Vanilla card stocks

Inks: Garden Green and Bravo Burgundy Classics and VersaMark

Accessories: Big Shot, Stampin' Up! Top Note Bigz die, Distressing Tool, Modern Label Punch and Stampin' Dimensionals

Thank you so much for your visit to the studio! I will leave you with the beautiful morning we were given today... Not very rainy for the Pacific Northwest in January, but you won't hear me complaining!

Christmas Sketch

I've had a lot of fun tinkering with the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper. One of my favorite designs is the evergreen boughs. For the sketch this Sunday, I opted to use my Number One Go-To Set, "Lovely as a Tree" for the focal point. For fun, I chose non-traditional colors (using my Color Coach; you know how bad I am with color!). Finally, I stamped the flourish stamp (it's to signify wind blowing) from the "Snow Buddies" set on the backside of the More Mustard card stock and used that as my guide to pierce the design to the left of the pine tree. I am going to make several of this card, as it will be useful for "Thank You!" notes, cards for the men in my life, etc. Truthfully, it doesn't even have to be for Christmas giving!

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree (How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...)

Papers: Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, and Bravo Burgundy card stocks and Merry Moments Designer Series Paper

Inks: Old Olive

Accessories: Paper Piercing Tool (a *steal* at $3.50!), Paper Snips, Natural Hemp Twine, Ticket Corner and 1/16-inch Punches

Simple Cards

Here are some simple cards I made for my moms group to stamp. The group consists of new and experienced stampers, so I have to be sure that everyone is successful and enjoys their final products. I also love to throw in a technique or two. There are two major constraints on my planning, though. First, the projects have to be simple because we don't have a lot of time and my supplies of scissors, punches, stamps, inks, etc, are limited. I want all of the moms to have time to complete our project. No one wants to go home with something she couldn't finish. Second, we really have to watch our pennies. I have to look to things like sueded card stock as lower-cost embellishments.

These projects are also good make-and-take projects for workshops, because the aforementioned constraints apply there as well.

Dreams du Jour card:

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Dreams du Jour

Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic

Papers: Kraft, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla Card Stock

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels; paperclip; Linen Thread

Special Technique: Using a towel (I'm a weenie), I repeatedly crumpled and smoothed out the piece of Baja Breeze card stock until the layers started to want to peel. I gently peeled them apart, leaving me with two pieces of "sueded" card stock, which adds visual and textural interest (**Excellent for scrapbooks!**).

Love You flower punch card:

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Short & Sweet and Boho Backgrounds

Inks: Gable Green and Basic Black Classic

Papers: Gable Green, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White Card Stock

Accessories: 5-Petal Flower punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Whisper White 5/8-inch Satin Ribbon

Lovely as a Tree card:

I wrote about this card in an earlier post (see "Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian"). I love this design and can't wait to play with it! I made a few changes for this group:

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Lovely as a Tree; Fundamental Phrases

Inks: Chocolate Chip

Papers: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, and Whisper White card stock

Accessories: Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon; Linen Thread; Sizzix Big Shot; Top Note Bigz Die; Handheld rectangle and 1/16-inch punches; Word Slot punch

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian!

Here's a birthday card I made for Uncle Brian for his birthday. I CASEd the design from Mary Ellen Scheiber. I'm going to be futzing (sp?) with this one to see what else I can do with the base of this card...

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

• Stamp Sets: Lovely as a Tree; Fundamental Phrases


• Inks: Chocolate Chip


• CS: Certainly Celery; Chocolate Chip; Very Vanilla


• Accessories: Vanilla grosgrain; Linen Thread; Sizzix Big Shot; Top Note Bigz Die; Handheld rectangle and 1/16-inch punches; Word Slot punch

Happy Birthday, Unc!

Thanks for looking, everyone!