Oscars-Inspired Floral Note Card

I love the fashion-inspired challenges provided at the Runway Inspired Challenge and this (RIC79) must be my favorite.  We were given a selection of Oscars looks from which to choose as our inspiration and I chose this one (among others; stay tuned for future posts and I'll come back here and link them):

Photo: Oscar.go.com

When I look at this dress, it translates to the floral image from Butterfly Basics** (a set in the Occasions Catalog), Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Blush Blossom, florals, a bit of sparkle (see her ring?) and vellum.

To mimic the construction of Keira Knightley's dress, I mounted Sahara Sand on itself, but used Stampin' Dimensionals to give it a lift.  The lettering on the dress is recreated using the "Thanks" from the Hello You Thinlits (I bought the bundle).  

I wanted the floral to be subtle, much like it is in Knightley's dress, so I inked it in Sahara Sand, as well.

The Blush Blossom blooms are simply punched using the 7/8-inch Scallop Circle punch, scrunched and sueded.  The top layer is the soft sueded "inside" of a circle and it's mounted on the smooth "outside" of a circle.  Double your card stock that way!

A Rhinestone Basic Jewel in each center is inspired by Knightley's lovely ring.

**The Butterfly Basics and Butterflies bundle (and individual items) are currently unavailable, but will be back in stock to order soon.  The strike on the Pacific Coast docks will require weeks of work to sort out and these items will be on their way to SU! Headquarters soon. If you're interested in ordering them, please let me know and with no obligation to purchase, I'll notify you when they're available to order again.

Thank You and Birthday Cards for Shabby and MOJO Challenges

This is a quick post, as I'm off to our Relay for Life today and I need to finish packing...  These cards were created, inspired by the Mojo Monday MOJO353 and The Shabby Tea Room TSTR226 challenges.  Here are the sketch and inspiration photo.

Here's the scoop:

• I used the Large Polka Dot TIEF to mirror the boots' big dots in the photo.  

• The inspiration for the color palette comes from the photo, as well.  We've got Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe.  

• Pearl Basic Jewels add a fun touch to the left edge (also my super-sneaky way of adhering my vellum -- I just snuck some Two-Way Glue in small dots beneath the pearls on the vellum), flower centers and on the sentiment.

• My Label Bracket punch gave the sentiments that extra touch on the sides.

• The Four You stamp set has really useful and fun sentiments.  Both of my cards' sentiments come from this set...

• I made simple tissue paper flowers by punching plain tissue paper with my 1-1/4" Scallop Circle punch and then sponged Pink Pirouette ink on them.  

These were fun and easy to make.  I love the shape of the Labels Collection Framelits.

Starburst and a Sale-A-Bration Sunshine for a Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

I made this card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #211.  I love those sketches and sometimes my schedule is just right to allow me to participate and enter.  

I've been looking forward to making a sun shape with my Starburst Sayings (OC, page 34, W133182, C133185) and Framelits (#132967) and my Banner Punch (SAB, page 13, #133519). The Banner Punch is a 2014 Sale-A-Bration freebie that I earned with a $50 merchandise purchase.  

Studio Suggestions:

• I used my Color Coach (AC, page 139, #130118, with 2012-14 In Color Cards #130120) for guidance in my color scheme;  Real Red, Summer Starfruit and Marina Mist are crisp and clean together. 

• I love the Candy Dots (AC, page 143, #130931), too, which I placed on the right. Glue Dots (AC, page 174, #103683) are hidden beneath, adhering the Vellum card stock down (AC, page 156, #101856).  I used a Stampin' Dimensional (AC, page 175, #104430) on the left, hidden beneath the smaller Marina Mist starburst.

Sale-a-Bration runs through March 31.  Click {HERE} to check out the fun freebies!

White Space with Vintage Vogue

Hey, hey and welcome to the Studio!

For today's card, I participated in a white space challenge over at 365 Cards. I've never tried a white space challenge before and found it to be a fun and interesting one. Basically, the rules were that stampers could do whatever they wanted outside of the oval, but that the oval in the middle had to stay, well, white...

I was excited to get to use one of my favorite sets from the new Occasions Mini Catalog. It's Vintage Vogue...

As you'll notice, I used my Backgrounds I Texturz Plate ("Flourish") to add some dimension and visual interest to the white vellum oval in the center.

The "Friends" piece was inked with Elegant Eggplant and stamped on Whisper White card stock. I tore the edges to give a bit of a shabby chic effect...

I love the look of layering punches (stay tuned -- that's going to be a post all its own someday). Anyhoo, this sentiment and flower were too big to do a Word Window/Modern Label combo, so I trimmed the sentiment/flower piece to replicate that effect, using my Paper Snips.

Finally, since Valentine's Day is in the offing, I chose to use Pretty in Pink card stock (with images from Vintage Vogue inked in Classic Elegant Eggplant) and the softness of a satin bow. The Pretty in Pink portion was adhered to the card body using Stampin' Dimensionals. Speaking of the card body, I used an 8 1/2- x 11-inch piece of card stock and cut it in half lengthwise ("hot dog" style, to my former students), or at 4 1/4-inches. Then at the 5 1/2-inch mark, I folded it in half to create the card body.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Vintage Vogue (please refer to the link on the right for the Occasions Mini or contact me for your own hard copy)

Ink: Elegant Eggplant Classic

Papers: Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stocks, Vellum paper

Accessories: Big Shot, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates, Paper Snips, Modern Label Punch, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Hope you have a great start to your short week! Thanks so much for joining me here!

Stay tuned for a post about Stampin' Up!'s new clear mount stamps...

Time to Write Thank You notes

This weekend marked the end of Christmas Break and at our house, that's the deadline for writing Thank You notes for Christmas gifts. As is often the case with making all of those Christmas cards, I'm left with bits of this and that (each step was made in mass quantities to make the process more efficient). I always seem to miscount and end up with extras of some of the pieces (and just enough of others -- go figure!). I hate to waste, so I incorporated them into my design... I also wanted to use my "From Our House" set.

The scalloped design from that set really stands out (in real person -- trust me!) when it's inked in Night of Navy and then embossed using Clear Detail Embossing Powder.

**STUDIO SUGGESTION: I use my VersaMark ink, followed by my choice of color in Classic Ink to ink my image (Craft Ink works here, as well, minus the VersaMark step). Once the image is stamped, I dump Stampin' Up! Clear Detail Embossing Powder all over it (in a Powder Pal or over a piece of scratch computer paper to catch the unused powder). Using my Heat Tool, I heat-set the image. The particles in the Detail Embossing Powders are so fine that they work well in small or detailed images really well. Another benefit of using the Clear Detail Embossing Powder is that it allows you to use it with *EVERY* one of Stampin' Up!'s great exclusive colors...**

I used my I'm-Cheaper-than-$4!! tool (Paper Piercing Tool) to pierce each dot in the scalloped image to add more texture.

You'll recognize the snowflake/scalloped circle/vellum circle piece from my family Christmas card. I also had the die-cut and embossed vellum circles, Bravo Burgundy circles, and polka-dot embossed Night of Navy pieces left-over to use in this card.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Berry Christmas (from 2009 Holiday Mini)

Papers: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgundy card stocks and Vellum Paper

Ink: Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press and Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folders, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates (Small Polka Dots), Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, Merry Details Sizzlit, Scallop Circle, Modern Label, Small Oval and 1/16-inch punches, Circle Scissor Plus, Silver Brads, and Stampin' Dimensionals

**THANK YOU!!** for visiting today! ;)

O, Christmas Card...

Happy New Year!


As I was tidying up from Christmas, I realized that I never posted the card that our family sent out this year. I love Bordering Blue and Night of Navy (they're among my favorite color combos). This year I included Bravo Burgundy, as well.
This was the first year that I utilized my Big Shot in our Christmas card. What a fun way to add some delicious texture (and I could feed multiple layers of Vellum Paper through to make the card-making more efficient).


I embossed the Night of Navy piece with the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plate (small polka dots).


The large Vellum Paper Scalloped Circle (made with the Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die), Vellum Paper (Modern Label Punch) and Bordering Blue Scalloped Circle (Scallop Circle Punch) were fed through the Big Shot with the Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

The vellum circle over the Bravo Burgundy piece was embossed using the Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folder, but that is in the Holiday Mini, which is only available until January 4, 2010. Same goes for the snowflake, which was punched out, using the Merry Details Sizzlit and the "Merry!" from the Berry Christmas set, which was inked in Whisper White Craft Ink on a Small Oval Punch of Night of Navy card stock. I'm hopeful that the Petals-A-Plenty, Merry Details, and Berry Christmas set will show up in the 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalog...

It's hard to see in the photo, but the snowflake is attached to the Bordering Blue Scalloped Circle and Vellum Paper circle with a silver brad and adhered to the Bravo Burgundy piece with a Stampin' Dimensional.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps: Berry Christmas (from 2009 Holiday Mini)

Papers: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgundy card stocks and Vellum Paper

Ink: Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Big Shot, Finial Press and Petals-A-Plenty Textured Impressions Folders, Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates (Small Polka Dots), Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, Merry Details Sizzlit, Scallop Circle, Modern Label, Small Oval and 1/16-inch punches, Circle Scissor Plus, Silver Brads, and Stampin' Dimensionals

Since I make a slew of these (I won't tell you how many), I can't use bows or knots because they can sometimes result in extra postage. Take a lesson from my dear friend, Lori... If you make a card (or several) with a knot or bow, take it to the post office and have someone at the counter feed your card through their plastic template. If it gets hung up (because of thickness), the card will require more postage. Dear Lori didn't know her card was over 1/4-inch (I think that's the limit -- I'll verify that) and she got ALL of her LOVINGLY HANDMADE Christmas cards back in the mail due to insufficient postage...

Even without a bow or knot, I still take mine to the post office to make sure that they're not too heavy (due to photos) or thick (even this year, I wasn't 100% sure with the brad+Stampin' Dimensional combo).

I hope 2010 brings you good health and much joy. Thank you for your visit!