Crazy about copper!

Wow! That's all I can say about the new Krylon Copper Leafing Pen! I had so much fun creating this card for a dear friend in church. Her birthday is Tuesday, so I'm not late with this one.

This card measures 5"x5" square. I used Colormates cardstock for all the layers on this card because I love their rich, intense hues. The base layer is 5" square and is Colormates Dark Terra Cotta. The next layer is 4.5" square and is made using Colormates Dark Chocolate Malt, the next layer is 4" square made using Colormates Deep Orange Dream. On these 3 square layers, I took my Krylon Copper Leafing Pen and "edged" all 4 sides of each of the square layers. I then background stamped maple leaves from Clear Dollar Stamps "Leaves" set using Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie and Adirondack Caramel inks. The two large maple stamped leaves were stamped onto White Paper Trey Cardstock and then cut out using the Spellbinders Nestabilities regular round die and my Cuttlebug. I made a larger round mat for the stamped image using Colormates Dark Coffee Brown cardstock and the next size up round Nestabilities die. I copper-colored the Dark Coffee Brown mat edge with the Krylon pen. I then sponged the edge of the circular stamped image using Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie ink. The edge was then copper-colored with the Krylon Copper pen in the same manner. I restamped the same two maple leaves on another piece of white cardstock and then cut them out. I dot doodled around the Dark Coffee Brown mat using a Signo Gold Gel Pen. The edge of the circular stamped image was dot doodled using a Brown Fine-Tip Felt Marker. The cut-out leaves were adhered to the stamped other leaves using popped up American Crafts Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps' "Pretty Little Scriptures" stamp set. This was stamped on white cardstock using Black Stazon ink. The edge of the sentiment was sponged heavily using Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie ink. I copper-colored the edge with the Copper Leafing Pen. I dot doodled around the edge of the sentiment using a Brown Fine-Tip Felt Marker. I made a mat for the sentiment out of the Colormates Dark Brown cardstock. Again, I copper-colored the mat using the Copper leafing pen. The sentiment was glued to the brown mat.
I anchored the pretty Michael's brown & gold metallic ribbon to the card base back using glue runner. The matted stamped leaf image was glued down to the card base along with the matted sentiment over the ribbon. To embellish, I added 2 gold small brads to the lower left corner, using my Karen Foster Click-It punch. I tied a pretty bow to the ribbon that runs vertically down the card and added a glittered gold leaf button above the sentiment. The button shank was removed before using. To finish, I dot doodled aroud the edges of the bottom and third layers using the same Brown Fine-Tip Felt Marker. The edges of the second layer was dot doodled as well, but with a Signo Gold Gel Pen. A card lining was made to size using Paper Trey White Cardstock.

This card packs a lot of glittery punch with the Copper Leafing Pen. If you haven't tried any of the Krylon Leafing Pens, treat yourself to one...you'll be delighted with the results!

A little late...

Hello! I bet you thought I disappeared! Other than having an incredibly busy week, I've been stamping away! And tonight, I had a birthday card that I had to do in a hurry because a fellow stamper friend of mind had a birthday today, and guess who is late?

Here's the deets: The card base is constructed of K&Co.'s Designer Collections "Mira" and "Bailey" papers. The card size is 5.5"x4.25". The base was cut to size, and two bottom horizontal strips of paper were cut using coordinating paper. I created the scalloped bottom border using the Stampin' Up's Slit Punch. The decorative medallion and sentiment is from a new Inkadinkado set called "Just Saying". I stamped the medallion in Stampin' Up's Taken with Teal ink onto Paper Trey White Cardstock. I then cut the medallion out using a Spellbinders Nestabilities regular round die and my Cuttlebug. I heavily sponged the edge of the circle using Stampin' Up Green Galore ink and then I lightly sponged the center of the medallion using the same ink. The sentiment was stamped over the sponged green center using Stazon black ink. I added dot doodles around the center of the medallion using a Bic Mark-It Fine-Point Pink Marker. I dot doodled around the outer edge of the medallion using a Bic Mark-It Fine-Point Teal Marker. After gluing down the two bottom horizontal borders, I dash doodled around each scallop point using a Signo White Gel Pen. Next, I anchored the Michael's Lime & White Polka Dotted Grosgrain Ribbon to the card base back using glue runner. The medallion/sentiment was then popped up on adhesive American Arts Dimensionals for depth. I added a decorative buttery from K&Co. Brenda Walton's "Grand Adhesions" to the medallion edge.

To embellish, I added self-adhesive Pink Rhinestone Dots from Kaiser Scrapbook at the center of each scallop border point and then I added self-adhesive gold beads above each pink rhinestone for added interest. To tie the color scheme together, I glued down a strip of matching lime green & white polka-dotted grosgrain ribbon along the bottom of the card. Two bow knots to tied to the ribbon running horizontally across the card. To finish the card, a lining was made using Paper Trey White Cardstock to size.

A little buzz...

Today, I was a stamping busy bee! I am preparing some cards for some sneak peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps' October release stamps set for October 1st, but I cannot share those just yet. I did get a chance to make a card for a friend late this afternoon and thought that I'd share this one with my readers.

I have been making so many Fall and Winter type cards lately, that I decided that I wasn't ready to let go of Summer just yet. So, out came this cute dollar stamp set from Studio G. I decided to use the Bee and the "What's Up?" sentiment. I used designer paper from K&Co.'s "Mira" collection. I love this paper collection! The colors are so vibrant really pop! I used a gold colored paper for the background of the card, and cut a strip for along the top of the card with a coordinating gold and orange patterned paper. I cut a square out of another coordinating patterned lime colored paper and stamped the bee in black ink with Adirondack Pitch Black. I stamped the bee image again this time on Paper Trey white cardstock. I colored the bee with Prismacolor Pencils, blending the colors with Odorless Mineral Spirits and a Blending Stump. I then cut out just the body of the bee and then popped him up using American Crafts Dimensionals over top the stamped bee image. I matted the bee image with Paper Trey white cardstock sponging the edges generously with Stampin Up!'s Almost Apricot ink. I dot and line doodled around the white mat edges using a Sakura Black Gel Pen. Additionally, I dot doodled around the same mat closer to the bee image using a Bic Orange Fine Tip Marker. I line doodled around the bee image with the Sakura Black Gel Pen. I popped up the bee image on the white mat using the Dimensionals again.

The sentiment was stamped with Stazon Black Ink onto a solid gold colored piece of cardstock. I then punched the sentiment out using the large Stampin' Up! Oval Punch. I used the same punch to make another oval, this time in a coordinating orange solid piece of cardstock. I dot doodled around just the edges of the gold oval with the Sakura gel pen, as well as line doodled around the orange oval. I glued the gold oval over the orange oval, and popped that up with Dimensionals, as well. I embellished the sentiment using a yellow paper flower from Jolee's Boutique, punching the center and anchoring it with a black mini brad.

Additional embellishment on this is a felt stitched flower that I glued a black round metal dot from Colorbok in the center, and the grosgrain orange dotted ribbon is from an Offray Microspool.

I wonder what friend will receive this? Hmmm....

Peek-a-boo!

Frustration raises it's familiar head again as attempts to update this blog on a daily basis, are thwarted. Blogging is, a continual learning process. The logistics of creating one, learning the ins and outs of formatting one, making decisions about the contents of one...all these things are difficult enough. So, it's easy to see how the discipline of daily blog entry is just that: discipline. I, in all my initial intentions, desired to create a blog that would inform, share and delight. It is difficult to inform, let alone delight when one is detoured from blog entry.

As transparent as my excuses may be for not having posted since last Sunday, I must apologize to any would-be faithful readers. I promise, however, that tomorrow will bring a post worth waiting for....

My rainy day

The dark clouds cast a shadow in my bedroom yesterday morning. Rhythmic droplets dancing on the window unit air conditioner awakened me from my deep slumber. The outer rain bands of Hurricane Hanna had come to visit us. I quickly got out of bed to start my rainy day in my little yellow house. After lingering over a hot cup of coffee and checking email, I decided to devote my day to creating a few cards.

This one that I'm sharing today was inspired by the beautiful green printed designer paper from K&Co's collection called Margo, a lovely rich, green, muted with teal tones and accented with berry. I just love this paper! The stamps that I used to create this card is from a set called "Clear Leaves" sold by Clear Dollar Stamps. This set is amazingly versatile. There are many types of leaves in this set, and they are all realistic and natural looking.

First I cut a 5" wide x 10" high piece of Paper Trey white cardstock, scoring it in half, making the card size 5"x5". I cut a green patterned print mat to 4.75"x4.75", and then a berry solid colored piece of cardstock to 4.25"x4.25". I created a background pattern by scatter stamping 2 different leaves stamps in Versamark Watermark Ink and Stampin Up!'s Forest Foliage ink. Next, I created 3 nesting rectangular mats by hand, using a metal straight edge and Xacto knife. The outer mat in berry, was paper pierced around the border using the Stampin Up! Mat Pack and a paper piercing tool. Next, I added the green mat, and then the white mat. On the white mat, I stamped leaves in Stampin Up!'s Forest Foliage, and then colored in the white areas of the leaves with Prismacolor Pencils, and blended it in using a blending stump and odorless mineral spirits. I sponged around the white mat edges using Ancient Page Bordeaux ink. I then glued all 3 mats down, and then popped up the bottom mat using 4 square Dimensionals from American Crafts to add dimension. I doodled white dots and evergreen dots with gel pens and felt-tip pens around the mat borders. The sentiment was stamped on a separate piece of white cardstock that I had trimmed to size, then sponged around the edge using Ancient Page Bordeaux ink for added interest. I stamped the leaf on the white cardstock, using Stampin Up! Forest Foliage ink, using the stamping off method. This gives it a second generation ink intensity which softens the image. I overstamped the sentiment using Adirondack Pitch Black ink. I doodled dots around the edges of the sentiment with an evergreen felt-tip marker. I embellished the card with a teal green ribbon, a pink photo anchor held in place with a pink rhinestone jeweled circular brad. I finished it off with a fabric covered circular big brad with pink jeweled bling. White doodle dots were added around the outside green/teal mat. Voila! Done.

A dry spell...

Indeed! Here in Maryland we've had a long spurt of dry days paving the way for many dry, brown leaves to drop to the ground long before it's usual time. When my husband and I took a day to visit Cape May and the Stone Harbor, New Jersey area, we came across a lovely flower and produce road stand on the way home. There I found a few "finds" that I just had to purchase. One was a blue hydrangea that was one fantastically healthy looking plant! I have another in my backyard, but between the large sugar maple tree that casts it's shade for most of the day and the numerous dry days we have had, it has met it's demise, I'm afraid. So, I was delighted to find a young, healthy replacement. When we returned home, I found the perfect spot around the side of my little yellow house, but I have had to hand water my new hydrangea every other day until it develops a good root system in the ground. I do hope the Lord brings some rain with the remnants of Hurricane Hanna as predicted, this weekend.

Parallel with the weather dry spell (that rhymes, doesn't it?), is my dry spell in uploading creations to share. It is not that I haven't created. I most certainly have. I have been as busy as a squirrel scurrying for nuts in late fall, as a September guest designer for Clear Dollar Stamps. The beautiful stamps that I have been using are a few of the new stamp sets that Clear Dollar Stamps will be offering for sale beginning October 1st. I will have plenty of photos to share and maybe even a few new ideas at that time. In the meantime, I hope that you will come back to visit sometime soon, as I hope to upload a few creations that I've made with some already released stamps.

By the way, if you're not familiar with Clear Dollar Stamps, click on the link on the right sidebar and treat yourself to a new shopping and/or browsing experience. Their stamps are quality polymer clear stamps and very reasonably priced...and who doesn't love that?

For Grandma Rose

Well, I was able to stamp last night...not just one card, but two cards! I wanted to post one of the cards in particular. One that I've entitled "For Grandma Rose". Grandma Rose is the grandmother of a dear friend and fellow sister of Splitcoaststampers.com, Laurie Ratajczyk, and Grandma Rose loves receiving handmade cards! I wanted to post this card as it's a fairly simple card to make yet looks like some time was put into it. Earlier, in my post, I forgot to mention that I "cased" this card from a good friend, also from Splitcoaststampers, Linda Anderson. "Casing" is when we cardmakers case copy another cardmaker's layout but change it up a little. So, I owe the layout of this design to Linda. This card measures 5-1/2" wide by 4-1/4" high. The designer paper that I used to create this card is from K&Co. I used a rose colored background drop against 3 coordinating papers: one is a rose, olive and ecru paisley print, an olive solid, and a quilted type print of ecru, olive, and rose. I glued all 3 panels to the rose background. Next, I made 3 nesting square mats using my Spellbinders Nestabilities in my Cuttlebug: Large was rose, medium in olive and small in white cardstock from Paper Trey. I sponged the edge of the white small center with Stampin' Up!'s Old Olive, after stamping the focal image in Stampin Up! Rose Red and Old Olive. I doodled around all 3 image mats with a black felt-tip pen, then popped them up on American Crafts Dimensionals square tabs for dimension. I embellished with 2 black square brads that I turned sideways to look like triangles, and then created a stacked ribbon for the finishing touch. To create a stacked ribbon, take 2 different width ribbons, glue the narrower one over the wider one then use as you wish. After I stacked the black and white polka dotted organza ribbon on a wider piece of white organza ribbon, I ran it under the matted, stamped focal image and secured it behind the sold rose background. Then, I made 2 more small pieces of the same stacked ribbon, tying them off a in 2 knotted ties. I then took the rose colored card base with all elements glued down and glued that to the foundation of white cardstock, 5-1/2 x 4-1/4". Voila! There you have it!