Monthly Archives: October 2016

Oct29

Celebrate Watercolor

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So, I was approached by one of my club members about trying to recreate an image she saw as a card… I love a challenge so…

Here is what she sent me.  Said it came from an ad she saw.

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Very pretty.  I love the flowers.  I love watercolor.  And, this is something I think I could do.  So, here is the card I came up with:

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I love stamping on watercolor paper.  It’s so thick and takes ink very nicely.  And, it has great texture.

I used a fruit stamp (peach) from the Spring 2016 Occasions catalog (sorry, it’s retired now) but you just need anything circular.  And it doesn’t have to be perfect at all.  Ink that baby up and then SPRITZ it with water till it’s messy.  And stamp. (Watercolor paper is very important here cause it has to soak up the water).  I just found a long skinny stamp to be the stem (I think it is a balloon string… can’t remember now). Easy-peasy.  I used So Saffron and Wisteria for the flower ink colors.  And, I bordered the watercolor paper with Tip Top Taupe and put it on a Sahara Sand card base.  I decided to make this card 3.5 x 5.5″ cause I wanted it skinny to match the flowers.  But, it still fits in a regular ‘card’ envelope (though a matching envie would be fabulous too…).

Anyway, it was SUPER simple, SUPER fast, and SUPER fun…  go try one!

 

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Oct21

Christmas Pines

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I love Christmas Greenery.  The smell, the color… (not the pokeys).  So, here is a way to get the fabulous look of the greenery without having raw fingers from all the needles. 🙂

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This uses the Christmas Pines stamp set and the coordinating Pretty Pines Thinlits.  I LOVE it.  I cut the pine branches out of a couple of different greens (artichoke and wasabi) just to give depth and dimension.  I love how the copper thread and the linen thread add both rustic and elegance to this little look.  And, my favorite thing about the stamp set are the sentiments and the fonts.  Easy to read but very nice. The mini-pine cones are a nice touch too.  SU outdid themselves this holiday catalog with the little embellishments.  Subtle, yet perfect.

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I highly recommend the die brush for getting out the little pine branches from the thinlit.  It cuts well, but the brush makes poking them out way easier.  It is definitely a must.

Happy creating for the ‘season of joy’!

Oct18

The Winner is…

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Back on World Card Making Day (Oct 1) I had a little challenge… to comment on my post with the name of someone who you were going to send a card.  Well, it took me longer than I anticipated to get it worked out, but I am happy to announce that the winner is MYRA H!!!  YAY!!!

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She won a pack of 5 cards that she can send to someone else!  Happy Mail!!  Love it!

Go check out her blog.  She has some fun projects and hand crafted items!

 

Oct17

Bringing in Christmas

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I thought I’d share some Christmas Cards.  Cause it’s that time to start thinking about them.  It’s coming soon!

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One of my most favorite sets from the 2016-17 catalog is this Foxy Friends.  And, there are many cute fox cards out there, but I especially LOVE the reindeer.  This set is so versatile.  You can make many different animals.  So it is a MUST.

This is a very simple card.  Some stamps, some twine, and the fabulous jingle bells.  I LOVE JINGLE BELLS.  They were a part of the SU Christmas Collection a couple years back and then were gone and I was so sad.  Now they are back and better than ever cause they come in both silver and red.  And, they are only $4.50 for 60 pieces.  That is a STEAL.  Get some today so you can start making some Christmas cards!  Christmas cards with jingle!

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With the coordinating fox punch, you can cut out the pieces as well.  Here I added some dimension to his face by popping it up just a bit.  Very subtle, but a little touch that makes this card fabulous.  The ivy is another example of how you can ‘shape’ a photo-polymer set to fit how you want.  I curved it a bit more to fit on my card panel and around the reindeer a little tighter.  Very easy.  Just place on the block how you want.

There you go.  Happy Christmas Card making.  More ideas to come.

Oct13

First Birthdays!

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In Hawaii, a baby’s first birthday is a BIG deal.  It goes back to plantation days where infant mortality was high and if a child made it till his first birthday, it was likely to survive.  So, there was a big celebration.  Well, that tradition has lived on and is still celebrated today.  So, many of my card customers are looking for first birthday cards.  So!  I made some!

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I LOVE this owl.  Made with the Playful Pals stamp set!  I love how he peeks out from behind the 1!  The nice thing about the photo-polymer stamp sets is that you can kind of ‘shape’ the stamps to be how you want.  So, I was able to add a little more ‘curve’ to the ‘look who’s turning’ to make it perfectly fit the circle punch out.

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And of course, the numbers set is fabulous for these important ‘numbered’ birthdays. So, here’s to the first birthday and the wish for many, many more!

 

Oct9

The Relatives Came

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The Relatives Came

So, every summer we make a trek across the globe from Hawaii to Kansas.  With children.  2 year old twins. (ok, we’ve only had 2 year old twins once, but they were 1 and 3 months the summers before this past one).  And, oh my.  Any parent knows you kind of have to PREP the children for such an, um, adventure.  Anyway… So, I did.  I came across this fabulous book in my oldest’s child’s book stash (no idea where it came from, but I am so glad we have it).  “The Relatives Came” by Cynthia Rylant.  It’s an awesome book of family fun and how exciting it is to be together and to make memories with the whole family.  This reminds me of the purpose of these exhausting treks so, I decided to use it to make a little countdown.

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And, of course, I decided get a book for and make  a count-down for all the relatives too, so they could look forward to this with anticipation.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the countdown calendars I sent to the relatives.  It was cuter.  Had days until ‘the relatives come’ instead of ‘Kansas’.  But, of course, I decided to do this about 30 hours before it had to be in the mail…so I was finishing them in the car on the way to the post office. Cause that’s how I roll.  Anyway.  Go buy the book.  Call your ‘relatives’.  Enjoy family.

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For the record, we made it there.  And back.  And, I am happy that I will never have to travel with 2 year olds again.

REALTIVES ARE COMING!

RELATIVES ARE COMING!

And there’s going to be a whole lot of hugging and

laughing and eating until the moment they leave!

(that about sums it up)

Oct5

A Cookie Cutter Halloween

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October is here, ya’ll.  IT’S HERE.  Ready or not.  So, today is to help you get ready.  20160927_193418

 

This is a super fast little project to get those favors made for the kids’ classes.  And, the pencils?  Target Dollar Spot.  The most amazing place in the world.

This favor uses the fabulous new glassine bags from Stampin’ Up! They are food safe, but I decided to be nice to ALL the innocent and not give candy.  🙂

The mummy couldn’t be easier.  Stamp, punch, done.  I chose it specifically because it didn’t need coloring or anything but you could do that if you wanted.  There are other cute images in this Cookie Cutter Halloween stamp set, but we were totally going for fast and mass-production.  Add some googly eyes (or not) and the little binder clip (another fabulous new SU product) some paper scraps and you are DONE!  The sentiment is from Spooky Fun.  It’s a cute and perfect little set to keep to use every year.  Cute words and images that will coordinate for every Halloween.

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I saw on someone’s pinterest making the little pumpkin out of a circle punch, the jack-o-lantern face and a stapled piece of the kraft rope trim.  JUST LOVE IT.  Could make millions of jack-o-lanterns.  And WAY less messy than carving one.

Quick.  Get some made today cause it’s coming… the end of October is coming…  fast.

Oct3

Go Pink!

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Go Pink!

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Welcome!  This is the FIRST EVER Ultimate Pink blog hop!  It’s PINK MONDAY in honor of breast cancer awareness month.  Stampin’ Up demonstrators all over the planet wanted to join together to make the interwebs pink.  Pink.  In honor of those before us and those who will follow who have to fight this ugly disease.  Pink.  Cause it’s beautiful.  And these women are beautiful. So there’s no better reason to go pink.

In keeping with the theme, I decided to use Pop of Paradise and Pop of Pink Designer Series Paper!

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I LOVE the drama of pink and black together.  And it doesn’t even matter the pink!  Light pink works, dark pink works, bright pink… the options are endless.

I’m writing to you from the great state of Hawaii and one of the ‘unofficial’ symbols of our islands is the pineapple!  I love pineapple.  It is delicious.  So, when this stamp set came out, I knew I had to have it!

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And, though one doesn’t usually imagine a pineapple pink, I JUST LOVE IT.  It’s fun, different, and cheery!  A perfect way to send a ‘thank you’ greeting.

The little thank you banner that comes in this set is so fun.  Though Stampin’ UP! has an endless supply of thinlits, this sadly isn’t one of them.  However, the hand cutting is VERY quick.  Only takes a couple seconds.  Not nearly as hard as you’d think.  The pink used here is Melon Mambo.

And, a couple of scores/punches on the envelope punch board and you have a custom envelope that is sure to brighten anyone’s mailbox.  The size of this card is 5.5×3.5  Sure, it’d fit in the normal A-2 card envelope, BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT???!!!  When you can use such fabulous DSP to make a custom, form-fitting envelope!??

I originally tried a white card base for this card, but decided the black adds so much more drama.  Happy drama is always welcome.

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So, Thanks for joining us today!  And, go pink this month too… make a pink card, wear a pink shirt!

To move to the next person in the blog tour, click the frog box just below:


Oct2

Fall Leaves

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If you’ve been following these little calendar posts, you will probably have noticed that I am a FAN of the Lighthearted Leaves stamp set (and coordinating framelits).  HUGE FAN.

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So, It was a no-brainer when trying to decide what to use for October…  And, the corrugated cardstock!!  LOVE IT.  The background lines are from the Chalk Lines stamp set…  You notice, that cover for the calendar is the same everything…just a different background paper color… imageHead on over to see what Anne and Cheryl have for you!

Oct1

WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY 2016!!

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Today is World Card Making Day!  Which is a fabulous day!  Everyone should make a card.  Do it.  Today.  It’s therapeutic.  If you cannot make a card, at least send a card.  Take back the snail mail from ads and circulars. Communicate via pen and paper.  Support a post man (disclaimer:  my father-in-law is a retired postman, however no money exchanged hands in this endorsement… 🙂 )

Anyway, here is what I have in honor of World Card-making Day!

20160928_162352I just love this succulent stamp set!!  It’s called Live, Love, Grow.  It’s just the perfect set for world card-making day.  Cause it’s FAST.  You can make a bunch and get them sent out right quick!

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I am in love with the copper thread.  This is a new color addition to the thread line this year and it is just fabulous.  Perfect for fall.

And, you just have to see how I decorated the envelopes.  I found these perfect stamps, (SHHHHH, they aren’t from Stampin’ Up! but they were so cute I could NOT resist.)

 

In honor of the occasion, I’m going to do a little prize give-away.  Comment with the first name of someone you will send a card to today and I will put your name into a drawing for a pack of cards (this succulent card included).  You must comment by Sunday Night (Oct 2) to be considered for the giveaway.  I will contact the winner on Monday!

And, Of course SU! could not let this day go by with out some fanfare.  Check out their specials in honor of WCMD:  wcmd_flyer_demo_oct0116_us

ALSO:  For the whole month of October, all Designer Series papers are on sale:  buy 3 get one free!  This is a fabulous time to stock up!!

Ok!  Enough reading!  Go get making cards!  And send cards!