Picnic Time!!

Here is a quick card I did with the girls at my tech class this month!

My card base is cherry cobbler.  I layered baha breeze on top,with some sponged white clouds for my sky.  Do you know how to do that? Well, let me tell ya!  First, I take a post-it note and punch our 1-3/4"scallop circle through a piece,making sure to get the sticky part ;)  Using the post-it note(or another thin paper) sponge around the top of the scallop with our white ink, moving the post-it note from place to place to give the effect of clouds.  How fun is that?!

I layered a piece of DSP from the love letters dsp with the edge punched with our eyelet border punch.  I thought this piece reminded me of a checkered tablecloth?

My whole watermelon is made with our 1-3/4"circle punch in garden green cs. Want to know how to make the 'ripple look' too? Ok then, I used my watercolor crayons!  Drawing squiggly rick-rack lines across the circle in both always artichoke and white.  Using the aqua painters, I blend the colors until I get my desired look.  I try to use more white on the center and towards the top to give it the dimension it needs. If you don't have one of these-get one! lol I <3 mine!,but you can also use a pint brush;)and water.

For my cut piece of watermelon, I layered my circles,punching out a rind(punch smaller one first then center over and punch again with your larger one) I used real red cs for my center and adhered the rind to that.  I then hand trimmed my watermelon into a pie shaped piece.

Well, ever since I got my triple layer blossom bouquet punch, I knew that my little scraps would be great little seeds!  Karen(one of my girls) is not completely thrilled that I need to find something to do with EVERY little scrap ;) so she says she will use a black marker to accomplish the seeds LOL,but mine will be dimensional!

These seeds are scraps of early espresso cs-leftover from a previous project!

My little plate is made using both my large and small(soon to be retired-:'( WAH!!!)oval punches.  I cut 2 ovals from our so saffron cs.  I placed the small one under the large with our dotto repostionable adhesive.  I dry embossed with my embossing stylus but you can use our awesome bone folder too!!  Then took off my smaller oval and wallah- a cute little plate!!

The stamped sentiment is done with our Full of Life set and markers in choc chip,real red and garden green.

Well, life is a picnic...so eat hearty!! Using our tiny scalloped circle from the itty bitty punch pack, take a 'bite' out of that watermelon!  Hope you enjoyed my little picnic card!

Until Next Thought, 

Kris

A Fathers Day Card-A Day Late!!

This is a card I made with the new stamp set 'the Open Sea"

It is a "spring card"

Directions:

I cut a piece of early espresso card stock 4-1/4"x9"

I make a score at the 5-1/2" mark.From that score line, I measure up 2"on both sides of card, and also measure 2" down.  I score from one sides top marks to the opposite sides bottom marks, doing this on both sides to create a 'criss-cross' over the center score mark.As shown below;

From the top 2 marks, I cut to center of top(2-1/8') to create a diamond shape.

Sorry my pics on this are not the greatest!

Here is another version of this technique: Split Coast stampers Spring Card

My measurements are a little different, but their explanation is probably much better;)

I stamped the 'woodgrain stamp set' in white ink on my espresso cs, on both the front and the back and also on a piece of scrap,which needs to be big enough to make the porthole.

The porthole is done by punching a smaller circle first in espresso cs and then lining up a larger circle punch(I believe I used the 1 3/4 then a 2" circle punch). The cutter is done with black ink and just a slight bit of water color. I also punch this in the larger circle size.  You of course,can use what sizes you have ;)
I adhered these layers together and added 5 antique eyelets.  Attach to the top of my card.
I layered marina mist and very vanilla papers on the card base. These I distressed,sponged and stamped randomly with more images from the Open Sea Stamp set. I used cherry cobbler,soft suede and early espresso inks:

I had meant to actually post this ON Father's Day, but as always...a day late;)...
Hope you enjoy and give a go at a 'spring card fold' !!
Happy Belated Father's Day to all the Fathers!

Until Next Thought,

Kris

Take Me Out to the Ballgame....

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!!!

This is a little gift basket I created for my sons baseball coaches.  It all started when I found this cool chip bowl at Party City.  I know you can't see it very well, but it is shaped like a baseball mitt-sooo cute! Thus, my theme ;)

In the basket there is of course peanuts and cracker jacks! 

I also added some things that reminded me of being at a ball game.  Some big league chew, sunflower seeds(because they are the rage in the dugouts),baby ruth candy bars,popcorn,hot dog containers(found at local dollar store)and finally a bottle of (root root root for the home team)root beer!!

For my thank you card, 

 I used a little inspiration from a fellow demonstrator,Debbie, I changed mine up a bit, I think my cap is smaller?  So, on to the directions:  To create the cap, I cut a strip of card stock(this one I did in garden green,but you can match to your colors) 1-1/2"high. I cut 3 partial wide ovals,using our extra large oval punch.  I layered these together to form the cap.  For the button at the top of my cap, I used the medium circles from our owl punch(I thought my itty bitty circle was a tad too big;))  The brim is also a wide oval, just trimmed on an angle.  I sponged around the cap ovals to give it some depth.  With our white gel pen, I added out teams letters.  The card base is also in the garden green.  I added a layer of bashful blue with white stars inlaid embossed with our square lattice impressions folder.  The sentiment is from the stamp set Word Play

  I stamped the sentiment 'thanks a million' with garden green ink on whisper white card stock. I also stamped some stars from the stamp set Extreme Elements in bashful blue in the background.  I puched this image using our decorative label xl punch.  To create the bat, I stamped a piece of kraft card stock with my Woodgrain Stamp in soft suede ink.  I then punch it on a slight angle with our word window punch and also the shape from our Itty Bitty Punches to create the handle-I trimmed one edge off the itty bitty punch.  The ball is also from the itty bitty punch pack with some hand drawn seams in real red ink and some black ink around the edge for a little depth.  I layered this tag on a larger one made with this technique I've shown on this previous post.

 Added to the gift basket with some baseball themed ribbon(sorry :( non-SU!). And a million thanks to all our volunteer coaches!

Until Next Thought,

Kris

Thanks for SEA-ing me through...

Hello Stampin' Friends.... I have been slacking on my blog again, but I hope you enjoy this project.

I made this for my son's pre-school teachers.

As we live close to the Jersey shore, I thought it fitting to make them something SEA-worthy;)

I started with one of those cute little picnic baskets and found everything I could think of that had to do with the "SEA".  Some of the things that are in here are SEA salt chips,SANDies cookies,goldfish,gummy fish kabobs(with lobsters and sharks too;)) SUN chips,crabbers crackers,lifesavers,some sea themed coolies, and some SALT Water taffys made right here at the Jersey shore!!

Now I know none of that rambling had to do with paper-crafting!  For my very minimal paper crafting, I added some tags to my fish kabobs(which you can't see! very well).  AND my tag for the front of my basket.

This was done with some pacific point card stock for the back layer,stamped randomly in Pacific Point ink with the anchor from our stamp set "the Open Sea". I also stamped the anchor on a piece of whisper white cs and punched out with our circle punch.(I stink I forget the sizes I used!!)and layered on daffodil delight circle .  I used an antique brad through my anchor top and added a piece of our cherry cobbler bakers twine.

 As for the front layer, I used My Digital Studio for the sentiment, in pacific point also,and stamped the schooner in baja blue ink behind my sentiment.

Now interestingly enough, I have a family full of Sea captains!! Both my brothers and father are captains!

Now funnily enough, I had a hard time thinking of things to say like is it a sailboat or a schooner?, what the 'h-e-double hockey sticks' do you call the top of an anchor where I placed my brad???

Oh they will be so disappointed in my Sea-fairing skills ;)

Well I hope you enjoyed and that you will be SEA-ing more projects from me schooner than you think.  I know bad form! Just couldn't help myself;)

Until Next Thought,

Kris

Strength and Hope and a fun design, too;)

Hello!!

Warm weather seems to be setting in for good, and with it comes butterflies and lots of flowers! Here is a card I created after playing around a bit,for my May swap with some of my SU! friends:) I wanted to use some of the new stamp sets from our Summer Mini Catalog.

The 1st card is the actual one I am sending for my swap(hopefully you gals get it before my post;).

It uses our Strength and Hope set.  This set is not only gorgeous, but SU! is donating $2 from the purchase of this set (or the digital download version of it)to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Pretty and Awesome=Pretty Awesome;))

I used very vanilla card stock as my card base(4-1/4x5-1/2). The butterfly is on a piece of very vanilla embossed with our new 'Flower Garden' Embossing Folder,layered on peach parfait and baja blue.  The butterfly itself was stamped on glossy card stock in black staz-on ink.  I then mixed together a few drops champagne mist shimmer paint with a few drops of more mustard re-inkers. I used a piece of crumpled up plastic wrap and pounced it on the butterfly and allowed to dry.

  It is gorgeous! The photo does not pick up the sparkle,but trust me-Pretty Awesome;) !!  I sponged some peach parfait around edges and to the center,and pop dotted to my layered cs.

The 2nd card, uses the same set in addition to the new 'Flower Fest'.  This sets images match some of our punches so, OF Course I just HAD to have it :)!  

The base of card #2 is in soft suede.  Several of the flower images were stamped on whisper white cs.  I then watercolored with our blender pens and the following colors:so saffron,peach parfait,wild wasabi,and pacific point. I layered it on a piece of so saffron cs.  The flower was stamped on a piece of peach parfait cs in tangerine tango,punched out with our 2-3/8" scallop circle,and highlighted using white ink and a blender pen.  A pearl was added to the center. The leaves are stamped on pear pizzazz cs with always artichoke ink.

Now on to the fun design;))

This is an inter-locking design. I measured the half way mark of the 4-1/4 side of my card base, I mark it with a pencil or tiny score mark.  From there, I use my mat pack and measure towards the center of my card, approximately 2". I make a hole with my paper piercer  through the entire card(both top and bottom layers).  Using my cutter, I make a slit on the TOP piece of the card from the bottom corner to the center circle that was pierced.  On the BOTTOM (or inside) piece of my card i make a slit measuring from the top corner to the center circle.

This can be done either way,as long as your top and bottom slits are opposite and meet in the middle(hope that makes sense?)

You then inter-lock the two slits:

I decorated both inside pieces with the flourish from 'Strength and Hope'.  The 1st is in peach parfait and the 2nd is in early espresso ink.  The fronts were run through my big shot with the 'vintage wallpaper' embossing folder after I made the slits, I didn't want the grooves from the embossed front to make the slits off a little.  Well, I hope you enjoy this technique and that you will give it a try too!!

There are a couple little extras I ended up adding.  On the 1st I used our Four Frames Stamp set(sorry, this won't be available until our new catalog in July!!)and the decorative label punch. On the 2nd a strip of peach parfait punched(dotted ribbon scallop punch) ribbon was added underneath my flower layers.  I hope I got it all, if not-OOPS!

Until Next Thought,

Kris

'Always Elegant' Cake

Hey Stampers!  I am trying to get a card posted at least once per week.  So for this weeks card we have a three tier cake.  This could be a wedding or an anniversary cake, even a birthday cake!-just add candles;)

The card base is 4-1/4 x5-1/2 on whisper white card stock.  I have seen many cakes done this way and have had it in my mind to make one with my touches added to it=)  I cut three strips of whisper white cs each one a little larger than the last( I didn't actually use any measurements,just went with it)  I rounded the corners of the tops only.  I used blushing bride as my frosting. I stamped the design from Always Elegant SS and using the stamp-a-ma-jig for precise placement added the 'frosting'(also from Always elegant ss). I sponged a little around the edges.  For the cake stand, I used a strip of blushing bride cs.  I punched out the Eyelet Border Punch once in the middle of my cs.  I then slid it over to the place where I though would look thin enough to be a table leg.  I then did the same to the other side.  

I made three flowers out of  blushing bride also.  To do this, I punch 6 small flowers from the Itty Bitty Bits punch Pack(LOVE these!!)  Using my mat pack pad(you can use a mouse pad if you don't have one of these-but I suggest you get one!!) and my paper piercer, I push gently toward the centers of my flowers and roll at the same time.  This causes the flowers to roll up and gives them some depth. I sponged some rose red around the edges,and with a little mono adhesive sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on my flowers.  I use a dab of tombo mono adhesive to place 2 of the flowers together.  I punch a couple of the leaves in Garden Green cs from our Bird Punch.  I layer these both on the top of my cake.  

I played around a little and added a strip of embossed whisper white to the base of the card and ran a piece of sticky strip along the top.  I sprinkled this with dazzling diamonds.

I stamped the saying 'Best Wishes' from our Sincere Salutations SS in basic black ink.  I made a little boo-boo by smudging my best wishes(OOPS!) so I added another leaf flowing over to the cake.  See there is always away to salvage a mistake;)

Well, I hope you enjoy your cake! I'd prefer a brownie myself;)

 

Until Next Thought,

Kris

Just "B"

Just b...

Just b... can stand for so many things!

I think it is the story of my life right now:

Just boys,

Just baseball,

Just because,

Just blah,blah,blah,

Just BLOG!,

Just begin (already!),(oh wait they may be your thought;))!!

Just BUSY!

So,anyway, I have been absolutely so busy that I haven't had anytime to play with my stamps and paper for weeks!

It is just un"B"elievable!

So on to my just butterfly card! I took out my paper and couldn't think what I wanted to play with first,so I went searching for a challenge.  I decided on SUO's butterfly challenge!  I don't know I guess I am not feeling very colorful today because I chose a neutral pattern. My card base is basic black cs.  I layered a piece of sahara sand on top.  This I stamped with basic black ink and some circles from the "circle circus" stamp set, in a random pattern. I also realized after I chose this challenge and had a thought in my head that I had lent my sister both my butterfly punch and my stamp set "flight of the butterfly"!!  LOL.It is always the way things go,just because;).So, on to plan "b" I moved onto the "punch potpourri"stamp set.  I stamped the butterfly and flower images on sahara sand cs in basic black ink.  To the flowers I added some darker lines with my sahara marker, and then punched out. My butterfly had to be hand cut out(the nerve!!)  I used a strip of sahara sand cs sponged with black for my saying "just b...".  This is from the set "notably ornate".  I used my marker to color in just the part I wanted,then center stamped it on my strip of sahara,and added three little dots with my marker. 
 

I adhered my flowers to the left of the strip.

I knew my butterfly needed something to make him standout.  I chose to make a rolled body for him. I used a piece of dsp from the neutrals paper stack, in sahara sand.  I trimmed a 12"strip, making 1 end larger and then coming to a point at the end.  I used my paper piercer and tightly rolled the paper around it, starting at the larger end. I used a dab (at both the beginning and the end) of mono glue to hold the roll tight.  This adhesive is awesome!!  I used a piece of twine folded over and threaded it through the rolled body.  I tied a small knot at the end to keep it secured.  Then the other end acts as an antenna.  I thought this turned out really cool-what do you think??

I added him to the right side of my strip and attached it to my card front.  Well my friends, I am sorry to have kept you on hold for a little bit, but I hope my card was worth the wait!

Until Next Thought,

Kris