Month: July 2017

Marvelous Monday to you all! We are on the downhill side of summer, at least I always think summer is half over when we hit July 4. In honor of all the lovely growing things of summer, I have made this shutter card today.

It looks more complicated than it is, but you do have to be precise in your measurements or it won’t work. All card cuts are at the end of this post.

I began with Whisper White cardstock for my card base, Cut at 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″. I know, I said cuts are at the end. In order for you to know where to score, you need to know the card base size. I scored with my Simply Scored tool at 2-1/8″ and again at 6-3/8″. These 2 lines make your gatefold card.

The front pieces are cut from Pool Party cardstock and Delightful Daisy DSP with the Pool Party as the mat. These are adhered to each other and to the card base with liquid glue.

Ok, are you ready? Now for the fun part, and the part where you need to really pay attention. I learned this technique from a You Tube video by Jan Brown from the UK. See it here. There are other tutorials out there, but hers is easy to do.

Since I am new at blogging, I forget sometimes that I need photos of various steps. Guess what? I don’t have any photos of the inside process. I hope I can explain.

The gatefold opens up to reveal a surprise.When fully opened, it looks like this.

Isn’t that cool? When I started on today’s project I had it in my head to do a Z-fold card, and went online to find some measurements for that. You know, if you can CAS, why re-invent the wheel, or in this case, the measurements? Then I found Jan B’s video and decided to try it. I think this is one I will do several times, changing up the colors and sentiments.

Ready? You need 2 pieces of Pool Party cut 3-1/2″ x 4″. The first item of business is to find the exact center of these and mark it with a light pencil dot.With the 4″ side against the top of the Simply Scored, score at 1/2″ on both pieces. On the opposite side of your score line, using a straight edge, mark from the corners up to the center mark, creating a large V shape. Cut this piece out. Tip: You can save one of these pieces as a template for the next time you make one of these cards.

Lining them up perfectly, use the one you just cut as a template to mark the other identical piece. If your marks show, flip the pieces over so the marks are underneath. Now, fold on the score marks to the underneath side.

Use Fast Fuse (Liquid glue would work, but don’t use SNAIL, it isn’t strong enough for the  use this will get) on the little flap you just created. Before going further with these two pieces, let’s make the center piece, the one with the hole in the middle.

You will need to liquid glue your DSP to the mat and lay it in the card, centering it side to side from your score lines, and lining up the top and bottom with the edges of the card base. If you need to make light marks to get this placement correct, it is better than guessing. Find the exact center of this piece as well and using a 2-1/2″ circle die or circle punch, cut a hole in the middle.

Put 3 Stampin’ Dimensionals on both ends, leaving the middle free of adhesive, but don’t put it in the card just yet.

Centering from top to bottom of your card base, lay your V cut piece, Fast Fuse side up, with the flap edge next to your score line in the center of your card base, not on the side piece. Don’t get it ON the line, stay, maybe 1/16″ away from the score line so everything will fold nicely. Remove the adhesive backing and fold the side piece over the center and press to adhere. Repeat for the other V shaped piece on the opposite side, being sure to line them up perfectly with one another. Be certain both ends of one piece lie atop the other.

With the card open, and the V shaped pieces folded toward the center, you are now going to stamp a sentiment in the diamond created by those 2 pieces. For my sentiment I chose Happy Birthday from the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set and stamped in Pool Party. The little flower is from Best Birds. I inked the flower with my Peekaboo Peach and Pool Party Stampin’ Write markers and stamped it under the sentiment.

Next comes your center piece, the one with the hole. Center it over the diamond and your sentiment and adhere. Close the card, open it and see the magic! Surprise!

The belly band is not necessary, but I like the way it holds the card closed and gives a place to embellish.  In hindsight, I think I should have put pearls down the body of the butterfly, which is cut from Pool Party with the smaller die in the Butterflies Thinlits. I used the die, upside down, to trace another butterfly on Whisper White and fussy cut it, trimming to fit (almost) the fancy one. Using liquid glue I adhered the pool party butterfly over the white one., folding the wings up where they join the body.

The band itself is 1-1/8″ by 11″, wrapped around the closed card and trimmed. Probably you could just cut it at 10-1/4″ and it would be fine. Instead of measuring where to score, I just wrapped the band around the card, trimmed the excess, and, using liquid glue, stuck the ends together.

Liquid glue on just the body attaches the butterfly to the band, a little off center to allow room for another sentiment if you wish. The Sentiment is from Birthday Blooms and is stamped in Pool Party. I had to lift the wing out of the way to do the stamping.

WHEW! This card is finished! I think it is pretty special for a special someone. Please let me know what you think.

If you don’t have a demonstrator and need supplies, please use the button at right to shop my online store.

BONUS DAYS are going on NOW. Might be a good time to get those supplies you want.

Also, if you join my team as a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, during Christmas in July, you get lots of extras. Contact me for more information.

Card Cuts:

Whisper White 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ for card base, scrap for butterfly;  Pool Party (2)3″ x 4″ (shutter), (2)2″ x 5-3/8″ (front mat), (2) 1-3/8″ x 5-3/8″ (inside side mat), 3″ x 5-1/2″ (Center mat), 1-1/8″ x 11″ (belly band), scrap for butterfly; Delightful Daisy DSP (2)1-7/8″ x 5-1/4″ (Outside), (2)1-1/4″ x 5-1/4″ (inside), 2-7/8″ x 5-3/8″ (inside center).

Product List

Sunday. The first day of a new week. I hope your day was good and that your week will be good as well.

Today I made a card for a gentleman friend for his birthday. I really do like making masculine cards, though sometimes it is a challenge if you don’t know them well enough to know if they hunt, fish or do woodworking. Perhaps they all like the look of wood, leaves and texture. I’m hoping my friend does, as I used the Vintage Leaves stamp set and Leaflets Oak leaf die for my card.

I began with a Basic Black cardstock base. Card cuts at the end of this post.

Next, I dry embossed a piece of Very Vanilla with the Woodland textured embossing folder. This is one that I really, really like and use it often. Next up are the leaves. I wanted texture, so opted to use 3 different papers instead of stamping.

The first set of leaves left me thinking something wasn’t quite the way I had envisioned, which necessitated going through my collection of papers. Ultimately, I settled on the Copper foil, corrugated paper and a piece of what I call ‘Walnut’ from the Wood DSP stack. I die cut the three oak leaves, one from each paper, and using a glue dot to hold the stems together, spread them a little apart and tied a bow with a strand of burlap and double strand of copper thread.

I put several Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of the copper leaf, and a couple on the outer edges of the topmost walnut leaf and adhered them to the embossed mat.

At this point I decided the front needed something else, and settled on an acorn using the acorn builder punch, which is now retired. For the acorn, I turned the Wood DSP from which I had cut the leaf, over (it is double sided), using the lighter side for the acorn. The acorn cap is cut from a piece of gauzey (is that a word?) brown paper for yet another bit of texture. I wanted a little definition  between the acorn and the cap, but didn’t want anything as thick as dimensionals, so I used a few glue dots to lift the cap a bit.

The stem is placed under the bow and the acorn is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The last bit for the card front is the sentiment label. Using the Happy Birthday stamp and from Teeny Tiny Wishes and Versamark ink, I stamped and heat embossed the copper sentiment on a scrap of Basic Black cardstock. This was cut with the smallest die from the Banners framelits set, then adhered to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. A copper brad to added a finishing touch.

This completes the card front.

For the inside panel of the card, I cut a mat of the ‘Walnut’ Wood DSP and added a piece of Very Vanilla for the sentiment. I first stamped the oak leaf from Vintage Leaves in Soft Suede, stamping off once. Using a couple of sentiments from the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set, I stamped the message in Basic Black. This was liquid glued to the Walnut mat, then the whole thing glued into the card base.

That is all for the card. On to the envelope, as you know, we can’t have naked envelopes!

Using a Very Vanilla medium envelope, I stamped a Vintage Leaves oak leaf to the front, stamping off once in Soft Suede.

The flap got a piece of the Walnut Wood DSP and the envelope is now finished too.

I hope you like this card. You can find the supplies I used listed below as well as the card cuts. If you don’t have a demonstrator, please use the button at right to shop my online store.

Card cuts: Basic Black 5-1/2″x 8-1/2″ and scored at 4-1/4″; Very Vanilla 4″ x 5-1/4″ embossed, 3-3/4″ x 5″;  Wood DSP 4″ x 5-1/4″. Copper foil, Corrugated Paper and Wood DSP for the leaves. Wood DSP for the envelope flap and acorn, scrap of textured paper for the acorn cap.

 
  Product List

Vintage Leaves Photopolymer Bundle

[140235]

$43.25

Leaflets Framelits Dies

[138283]

$25.00

Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set

[143666]

$27.00

Banners Framelits Die

[132173]

$27.00

Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[139673]

$8.50

Acorn Builder Punch

[139681]

$18.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$8.50

Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126978]

$6.50

Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder

[141636]

$5.00

5/8″ (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon

[141487]

$7.00

Copper Metallic Thread

[141696]

$3.00

Basic Black 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[121045]

$8.00

Very Vanilla 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[101650]

$9.00

Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack

[144177]

$10.00

Copper Foil Sheets

[142020]

$4.00

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Glue Dots

[103683]

$5.25

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Today I decided it is time to check out the challenges. I am inspired by the relatively simple design of the challenge from Freshly Made Sketches 

When I saw this sketch I knew I wanted to do an all white card, using textures to keep it interesting.

I began with Whisper White cardstock as my base and for my first mat.

The second mat is cut from Shimmer paper, so it is still white but more of an off-white.For the texture on the mat I ran it through the Big Shot with the Softly Falling embossing folder. This folder is so versatile, I just love it. I wrapped a piece of white 3/8″ ribbon around this, taping it on the back and liquid glued it to the white mat.

Next comes the art piece or focal point. I rather loosely followed the challenge and stamped the large rose from Birthday Blooms on velum with Versamark and sprinkled it with white embossing powder. After heating it, I fussy cut the flower, which takes the place of the circle. Another decision to make. How to adhere it to the shimmer paper? In the end I used a tiny bit of liquid glue at various points around the flower under the embossing to stick it to the shimmer layer.

The sentiment, also from Birthday Blooms, was stamped on Whisper White in Versamark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I wanted a nice shape for the sentiment, so I stamped an image from Rose Wonder, also in Versamark and heat embossed it around the sentiment. Using the matching Rose Garden Thinlits die, I cut the sentiment piece and adhered it over the rose with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Three pearls finished the front of the card which is adhered to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The inside is finished with the sentiment from Thoughtful Branches, stamped in Smokey Slate on the Whisper White mat, and glued into the card base.

This completes the card.

The envelope got the same white on white treatment. I stamped the smaller rose from the Birthday Blooms set in the front corner with versamark and repeated the same image across the flap four times. After sprinkling with white embossing powder and heating it, the envelope was finished and ready for the card.

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I did in making it.

If you do not have a demonstrator and wish to purchase supplies, please click on the Shop Online with Me button at the right.

  Product List

Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[140658]

$19.00

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set

[140697]

$27.00

Rose Garden Thinlits Dies

[140619]

$31.00

Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Stamp Set

[143539]

$27.00

Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[101856]

$8.00

White Stampin’ Emboss Powder

[109132]

$5.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$8.50

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin’ Pad

[131179]

$6.50

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[100730]

$9.00

Shimmery White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

[101910]

$8.00

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Medium Whisper White Envelopes

[107301]

$6.50

Pearl Basic Jewels

[144219]

$5.00

Card cuts used in today’s project:
Whisper White 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ for card base, scored at 4-1/4″, 2 pieces 4″ x 5-1/4″, scrap for sentiment
Shimmery White 3-3/4″ x 5″
Vellum large enough to accomodate stamped image
4-1/2″ piece of white ribbon

Good Friday morning everyone. I hope this has been a good week for you and that the upcoming weekend will be all that you want it to be.

Today’s card features the Stampin’ Up Cool Treats stamp set and the matching Frozen Treats dies. I also used the DSP that coordinates with these, but unfortunately it is retired. Just find an appropriate paper and you can duplicate this with ease.

I first cut a sheet of Pool Party cardstock in half vertically at 4-1/4″ x 11″, and scored it at 5-1/2″.

Next I decided on the bowl instead of the cone for my treats, and cut it from a scrap of the DSP. You could just as easily cut it from Crumb Cake cardstock. Then, I used the largest ‘scoop’ die to cut 3 scoops of ‘sherbet’: one each from Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Yellow and Peekaboo Peach.

The white topping (marshmallow?) I cut from a scrap of Whisper White with the die that looks like topping. No sundae is finished without a cherry, cut with the cherry die from Real Red. The spoon is cut from a piece of silver metallic paper.

I cut 2 pieces of Peekaboo Peach at4″ x 5-1/4″, one for the front mat and one for the inside. Then I cut 2 from the DSP at 3-3/4″ x 5″, again one for the front and one for the inside. I liquid glued the DSP to the mat and this was the background for the front of the card.

Over this I adhered, again with liquid glue, a doily with part of it going off the left edge of the mat. There is a circle in the center of the doily that I used  as a guide for the size of the circle cut from Whisper white using the Stitched Shapes circle die. This I ran through the Big Kick with an older Stampin’ Up embossing folder that has diamonds to sort of repeat the diamond shape in the bowl. This circle was backed with a Peekaboo Peach circle cut from the scalloped Layering Circles die that is just bigger than the Stitched Shapes die.

I glued the circles over the doily then, with Stampin’ Dimensionals, adhered the bowl to the circles. Under the bowl I adhered a Peekaboo Peach banner stamped in Early Espresso with a sentiment from the Cool Treats set. The end was cut with the Triple Banner punch.

Lemon and lime sherbet scoops are liquid glued under the bowl. The Marshmallow topping and cherry are glued over the orange sherbet which was then adhered using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Woo-hoo! The front is done!

On the inside I glued the DSP to the Peekaboo Peach mat and into the card base. Using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for placement, I stamped You’re Sweet in Early Espresso, and the second sentiment, both from the Cool Treats set.

The envelope got a cone with a couple dips of sherbet stamped on the front and a piece of the DSP on the flap.

I hope you like this card. If you don’t have a demonstrator, I will be more than happy to help you.

Product List

Cool Treats Photopolymer Stamp Set

[142982]

$27.00

Frozen Treats Framelits Dies

[142756]

$27.00

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

[145372]

$30.00

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

[141705]

$35.00

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[122924]

$8.00

Peekaboo Peach 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[141417]

$8.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

$9.00

Silver Foil Sheets

[132178]

$4.00

Tasty Treats Specialty Designer Series Paper

[142770]

$13.00

Delicate White Doilies

[141701]

$3.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[126974]

$6.50

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

$4.00

Well, the day is winding down and there is no card to post.

This has been a VERY busy day, one that I had hoped would bring rain to my  parched neck of the woods. It seems the rains/storms either fizzle out before they get here, or they split and go north or south. I have had a total of PERHAPS 6 tenths of an inch since the last big rain May 23. And those 6 tenths were from at least 6 different events.  The cornfield is tasseling and this morning I saw the silks shooting, much like the fireworks of yesterday. The corn will suffer very soon if some rain doesn’t fall.

I usually don’t make much of a deal of my birthday, but it seems many people knew about it (there are no secrets anymore!!!) and wished me many happy returns of the day, so I couldn’t ignore it. My eldest granddaughter phoned first to invite me to lunch or breakfast, but I had already had breakfast and was having my younger daughter for lunch (No, I didn’t HAVE her for lunch, she joined me for lunch at my house!) so we met for coffee.

It was so cute, she has a 3 1/2 year old daughter and baby boy. The girl was on the speaker phone with her mommy and yelled, “Happy Birthday Gigi! Is it your birthday?” I am actually GG, stands for Great Grandma, since she has too many other grandmas. Then after we met she wanted to come home with me. It just about broke my heart to tell her it was up to her mommy, who, of course, said, “no.” It is a big hassle with moving car seat, etc., so she told the little one that maybe they could come later after naps. She probably forgot about it by then, which I am sure her mother hoped.

Anyway, there were other phone calls, texts and Facebook messages, so all in all, I wasn’t forgotten. And, it isn’t over yet. My two girls and their husbands are taking me out tomorrow night since I had Eastern Star tonight. On top of being Worthy Matron, I was in charge of refreshments also, so there was no way to skip out on the meeting. So, we just extended the birthday by another day! Can’t beat it!! So many thanks to all for the wonderful greetings!!!

Signing off for July 5, 2017

For today I wanted a card to give to the hosts for dinner and fireworks, celebrating the day our forefathers embarked this new country on the road to greatness. I knew it had to be red, white an blue (of course), and have stars and stripes as well to represent our flag.

I began with Real Red cardstock for the card base and liquid glued a striped paper from the Love Notes DSP (retired). To represent the stars in the flag as well as maybe some celebratory fireworks, I cut a scrap of Pacific Point with the retired Starblast die. This was placed over the stripes so the topmost star came nearly to the top of the DSP and adhered with liquid glue. Card cuts at the end of this post.

The red strip near the bottom is a 1/2″ scrap of real red placed a scant 1/2″ from the bottom of the striped piece.

I used another scrap of the blue to cut a banner and stamped Happy in versamark using the Happy Birthday stamp from the retired Birthday Blast stamp set, covering the word birthday with a Post It note while I inked it. After removing the paper I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the placement just right and stamped the banner. Using White embossing powder I heat embossed the message.

For the 4th, I used the same heat embossing technique and white embossing powder on the Versamark stamped number 4 from the Number of Years set. To make the ‘th’ I stamped it on largest star punched out with the die for the starblast. (I always save these bits and pieces. You never know when you might want them.) This was also done in Versamark ink and heat embossed with the white embossing powder. Both the 4 and the ‘th’ were attached using Stampin’ Dimensionals. The card front is done!

For the inside, a mat of Pacific Point under another piece of the striped DSP formed the backdrop for the sentiment.

Using the same stamp set, I stamped the word Celebrate in Pacific Point and added 3 more stars, the ‘waste’ from the front die-cut. I considered dressing them up with a bit of Wink of Stella, or glitter, or something, but not for very long. I am a pretty simple person and not big on bling, so I left well enough alone!

This card says what I wanted it to say in a very simple way. I hope you like it.

Real Red 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″, 1/2″ x 5-1/4″

Pacific Point 5-1/4″ x 4″ for the inside mat, 2-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ for the starburst, using the leftovers for the banner and the 4.

Stripe 1 piece 5-1/4″ x 4″ and 1 at 4-3/4″ x 3-1/2″ for the inside.

Today I made a very simple thank you card to share with you. The card base is Crumb Cake. The mat and art piece are both from the Wood Textures DSP.

The sentiment from All Things Thanks was stamped on the lighter wood DSP in Early Espresso. It looked too plain so I added some smears and blotches with a stamp from the Touches of Texture set. This piece was liquid glued to the wood grain mat and onto the card base.

For the inside I did some more ‘texture’ on a piece of the lighter grained wood DSP and stamped “You’re the Best” also from All Things Thanks.

This is the quickest I have ever made a card. So simple for a guy who did a good turn.

Crumb Cake card base cut 5-1/2″ x 8-1/4″, Dark wood grain cut 4″ x 5-1/4″, Lighter wood grain, cut 2 @ 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″

I have need of an anniversary card soon, so today’s card will fill that need.

Before we start on the card, I want to make you all aware of the Stampin’ Up promotion that started yesterday and runs through July 31. For every $50 you spend, you get a $5 coupon that you can spend in August. See below. More on this later.

OK, On with the card.

In order for the lovebirds to fit on the front with the sentiment banner between their bills, I made this card 5″ x 7″. I began by cutting my card base from Pool Party card stock at 10″ x 7″ and scored it at 5″.

Since the Softly Falling embossing folder is too small for this card I used an old Cuttlebug embossing folder that looks like dotted swiss. How many of you even know what dotted swiss is??? I cut 2  pieces of Whisper White 6-3/4″ x 4-3/4″ (one is for the inside) and rounded the corners using my envelope punch board (now retired). The corner rounder punch would work just as well.

Anyway, I wanted the texture to be the star here, so I embossed 2 more scraps of Whisper white, one using an old folder and one using the Petal Burst TIEF. I cut them out using  the largest and third largest hearts from the Sweet and Sassy framelits. The smaller one is adhered to the larger one with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The banner is stamped in Pool Party ink using a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and die cut using the smallest die from Bunch of Banners. I adhered it to the topmost heart with Fast Fuse.

The lovebirds are the 3rd! set that I cut using the Birds and Blooms dies. I just couldn’t get them to look the way I wanted until I used a piece of Pool Party script from the  In Color DSP stack (now retired). The script was appropriate for this card and made the birds pop without detracting from the embossed hearts.

Before attaching all the pieces I wrapped 2 pieces of ribbon around the embossed mat, taping it on the back. I then centered the 2 hearts and Fast Fused them in place. The birds are adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Two tiny pearls form the birds’ eyes and a bow with long tails woven under the birds finished the card front. I used a glue dot to adhere the bow.

I rounded the corners of the second piece of Whisper White that I cut at the beginning. Then I cut the largest heart from Sweet and Sassy from the same DSP I used for the birds and liquid glued it to the mat.

The banner is from the Bunch of Banners dies. Using two sentiments from the Banners For You stamp set, I stamped them in Pool Party on the banner and, using liquid glue, adhered it to the heart.

At this point I was ready to glue the mat to the inside of the card base, but something was lacking. It needed more, but not too much ‘more’.

There has to be a good way to find small parts in all those stamp sets, but I haven’t figured out how to do it without looking through them for what I want. I found the little corner embellishment in the Helping Me Grow stamp set (retired) and stamped the corners in Pool Party. Much better!

NOW the inside is done and glued into the card base.

I attached the front to the card base and this project is done. The envelope is not finished, but it will have a stamped heart or 2 on the front and some of the DSP on the flap.

I hope you like this card.

Sorry folks! Busy day today and I did not plan ahead. So, no card today. Check in tomorrow though to see what new goodie I have for your enjoyment.