The Open Sea, With a Vintage Twist!

Good morning!  I don't know about you but I'm so happy it's Friday, I'm definately doing the "happy dance."  Today I wanted to share the second project we made at last weeks Vintage Technique class.  I wanted to have a card that was more masculine and The Open Sea stamp set was perfect!  We started with a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock that we ran through the Big Shot with the striped embossing folder to create the horizontal lines.  Next we took the solid stamp from the Distressing Essentials kit and the tea stain ink spot and swiped it across the stripes. 

Next we stamped the ledger image repeatedly with Soft Suede ink on Very Vanilla cardstock.  Then we crumpled the paper in a ball and smoothed it out so it's all wrinkled.  The next step was to use the same solid stamp with the blue ink spot and rubbed it over the top so the blue only got on the "high points" of the cardstock.  Next we spritzed the cardstock with water and  crumbled it back up again.  The next step was to use a stamping sponge with the tea stain ink and rubbed the cardstock in circles so it got all smudged.  We used the cutter kit to distress the edges of the cardstock and then used circle file also in the distressing kit to create tears randomly in the paper, including seperating the cardstock in one of the corners and curled the top layer around the file for added dimension. 

After adhering the pieces of cardstock together we wrapped a piece of blue 3/8" denim ribbon around the paper and then used another piece of ribbon and a metallic brad to create the little flags.  The edges of the ribbon were really easy to distress just using my finger and rubbing it along the edge. 

The accent piece was created by stamping the globe image with Crumb Cake ink on Very Vanilla and then stamped the boat in Not Quite Navy ink before punching it out with a 2 1/2" circle punch.  We once again used the cutter kit to distress around the edge of the circle, crumpled it up and then used a sponge and Crumb Cake ink to swirl ink on the image.  We also punched out a piece of Soft Suede cardstock with the decorative label punch, distressed the edges with the cutter kit and cut it in half so we could add a piece to each side of the circle.  We used dimensionals to adhere the circle to the card so it really "popped."

This card was a big hit with the ladies and lots of fun to make.  We didn't add a greeting but at this point I'm thinking this will be a perfect father's day card, love it!

Happy stamping,

Diana

Just Believe - Vintage Style

Good morning.  This week I wanted to show you the projects we made in last weeks Vintage Technique class.  This was the first project we made and was inspired by a video I saw by Tami White, she her video HERE, and uses the distressing essentials kit, and Just Believe stamp set.  We started with a piece of watercolor paper and we inked the flower image with Stampin' Write markers.  Before stamping we spritzed the stamp several times to get it nice and wet and then stamped which resulted in a unique watercolor effect that was different for each person.  After letting it dry we took the script stamp from the French Foliage stamp set and randomly stamped on the paper with Early Espresso classic ink.  Next we took the solid stamp from the distressing kit and inked it with the Tea Stain ink spot and drug it across the paper, since the watercolor paper is textured you just get ink on part of the paper which creates a really cool look.  Next we matted that piece of a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock as a frame and wrapped Island Indigo Baker's twine around the paper before tying a bow.

The next layer was made with a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that was run through the Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder.  The edges of the paper were torn and offset so you just see part of the paper.  The designer series paper layer is from the Twitterpated DSP and the edges were distressed with the cutter kit and then sponged with the Tea Stain ink spot.  The final touch was adhering all the layers to the cardbase which was made from Crumb Cake.  I purposely left a greeting off so each person could tailor their card to their needs, or leave it as it is for just general correspondence (it's always fun to get actual cards and letters in the mail and it doesn't happen enough these days!)

This card was a big hit and we all liked how we were able to create beautiful watercolor images which any formal training.  Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for the next projects.

Happy stamping,

Diana

Fresh Vintage - Sketch Challenge

Good evening.   We had a great weekend, not only did we have fabulous weather and spent a lot of time outside and in shorts no less, but I had a fun class on Saturday morning, saw The Lorax last night with the boys, and spent the day relaxing outside celebrating a friends birthday.  For this weeks Stamping 411 challenge I wanted to create a card that was bright and cheery and since sale-a-bration will be ending soon the Fresh Vintage stamp set and matching DSP and brad would be perfect.  The cardbase is Crumb Cake and I matted a piece of Everyday Enchantment DSP on Poppy Parade.  I distressed the edges of all the layers with the cutter kit and then sponged them with Crumb Cake ink.   The main stamped image is on Very Vanilla cardstock and the floral image from the Fresh Vintage stamp set was inked with Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, and Lucky Limeade Stampin' Write markers.   The geometric image is from the same stamp set and was stamped in Crumb Cake ink.  The greeting is in Soft Suede and is from the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set. 

The decorate accent in the bottom right of the card was so easy.  I used the Oval Punch to cut a piece of Lucky Limeade cardstock and the Modern Label Punch with Peach Parfait cardstock.  Both of these pieces were sponged with Soft Suede ink before being layered and folded over the edge of the card.  The final touch was a brad from the Everyday Enchantment brad pack.  This card turned out so elegant and pretty and it's even better that most of the items I earned FREE during sale-a-bration. 

I hope you enjoyed this card and the weekend as well.

Take care and happy stamping,

Diana

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Good evening!  I hope you all had an great St. Patrick's day.  I wanted to quickly share the card I made for Aidan.  I know this isn't one of the big card giving holidays but Aidan loves getting handmade cards and I knew he would like this.  This card uses the Build-a-bear dies and the Big Shot to create this fun little guy and this outfit.  The background uses the Every Little Bit stamp set and Garden Green ink stamped randomly.  The greeting is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and I matted with a piece of Basic Black cardstock cut with the punch windows mover's and shapers die and the Big Shot.

This card all started with the hat.  I saw this great punch art tutorial by Maria Vanderform, check here tutorial out HERE.  I'm not all that comfortable with punch art but this was really simple and I had fun coloring the dazzling details with the Olive glitter.  It's soo cute and thought it would fit perfect on top of the bears head.

Aidan loved this card.  Unfortunately, Mocha had other plans for it and preceeded to tear the bear off the card and chewed him up which brought Aidan to tears.  I guess I'll be remaking this little bear tomorrow to make Aidan happy.

Have a happy Sunday!

Diana 

A Birthday Packed with Fun!

Good morning!  Today is supposed to be almost 80 degrees today here in VA and I'm loving this nice spring weather.  Today I wanted to show you another card I made with the Packed for Birthday stamp set that is about as bright as it's going to be outside.  For this card I started with Daffodil Delight cardstock for the base and added a piece of Pacific Point DSP which was bordered with a piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock that was punched with the Scallop Trim border punch on the bottom and Poppy Parade cardstock that was offset punched with the Scallop border punch (I showed this technique at the last card class which was a big hit!)  The greeting is from the It's Your Birthday stamp set and matches the "funness" of the images in the Packed for Birthday stamp. 

For the main stamped image I stamped it with Basic Black in on Whisper White cardstock and then colored in the different pictures with TONS of different colored Stampin' Write markers.  I used the same stamp to stamp the pinata image on another piece of cardstock and colored it in with the same markers and cut it out with my Paper Snips.  Next I added a piece of Island Indigo baker's twine for the pinata string and tied a tiny bow.  The final step was to use dimensionals to glue the pinata so he "popped" up.

This is such a cute and fun card, great for a kid's birthday.

Enjoy,

Diana

Packed for Birthday - Sketch Challenge

Good evening friends!  We spent the majority of this weekend getting Aidan healthy since he came home from school sick on Wednesday.  Needless to say, he was going so stir crazy by today we had him spend the majority of the afternoon outside and playing with friends which he loved.  During our healing weekend I was able to get a few moments in the studio and decided to make a bright and cheery card for this weeks Stamping 411 challenge.  This card uses pretty much every color from the Brights collection and is so fun.  The cardbase is Pacific Point and is layered with a piece of Daffodil Delight designer series paper.  I added a piece of Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the DSP and a bow. 

I used the Packed for Birthday single stamp and my stamp-a-majig to stamp image four times on Whisper White cardstock so it looked like black and white printed paper.  Then I stamped the image again on a another piece of paper and punched it out with a 1 1/4" circle punch and proceeded to color in the images in the circle with Stampin' Write markers before matting it on a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock that was punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch.   This technique is great when you want to highlight one particular piece of an image (or don't want to color everything in).  This piece was matted on a piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock and a strip of Tangerine Tango that was punched out with the pinking hearts border punch. 

  

The final touch was to add a greeting.  In this case I used the On Your Birthday stamp set and stamped it out with Basic Black in and punched it out with the Modern Label Punch.  I also used the Big Shot to cut out a mat out of Rich Razzleberry cardstock and the Punch Windows Movers and Shapers die.  This card is so fun it's sure to make someone's day very special, love it!

Have a great week,

Diana

Mixed Bunch - Leadership Samples

Good morning friends.  I've been working on finishing up some of my Make & Take projects from past Stampin' Up! events.  Today I wanted to share two of the projects from January's Leadership Conference.  Both the card and box use the Mixed Bunch and Loving Thoughts stamp sets along with the Builder Blossom kit.  It's great how easy it is to make beautiful flowers just by layering the different flower layers and adding a button in the middle.  The box is so cut and uses a Fancy Favor box for the top and and super simple template for the bottom.  This box is so cute I'll definately be making more of these.

Enjoy and have a great start to the weekend!

Diana

Sweet Cake - Sketch Challenge

Good evening! We had a fun-filled, on the go weekend which was highlighted by baseball tryouts and Aidan's first Tae Kwon Do tournament on Saturday. It was so crazy but we were so proud of Aidan and he was so excited. When I finally made it into the studio yesterday afternoon I decided I wanted to make a really fun card for this weeks Stamping 411 challenge. I decided to use the Sweet Cake stamp set for the focal image along with the Sweet Shop Speciality DSP for the colors. I started with Pool Party cardstock for the cardbase and ran it through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I used two different pieces of Sweet Shop DSP (the Wisteria Wonder polka dot piece has raised dots, love it!) The DSP with ice cream is matted on a piece of Lucky Limeade cardstock and the Wisteria Wonder DSP is matted on a piece of Soft Suede cardstock that was punched with the Scallop Edge border punch. 

The main stamped image is lots of layers, first I stamped the whole image in Calypso Coral ink and cut it out with paper snips.  Next I stamped just the cupcake image with Soft Suede and Wisteria Wonder inks and then cut the cupcake out.  I added Dazzling Diamonds to frosting of the cupcake so it sparkles.  Next I stamped the cherry with Real Red and Lucky Limeade ink, cut it out and colored in the cherry with Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.  The greeting is stamped with Soft Suede ink on Pool Party cardstock and the small heart was cut out of Silver Glimmer paper.  I'm absolutely in love with the In Color ruffled ribbon this year and used Lucky Limeade for this bow.  The final touch to the card was to stamp one of the swirl images from the Sweets for the Sweet stamp set with Calypso Coral ink, punched it out with the 1" circle punch and matted it on a 1 1/4" Pool Party circle.  I added a heart brad from the Sweet Shop Jelly Bean brads. 

I'll admit this card took a lot of time to make with al the details, but I love the end result.  There's so much glitter and sparkle the picture doesn't do it justice.  Remember nows, the time to pick up all the supplies to make this card and earn FREE sale-a-bration items with every $50 order.

Enjoy and have a great week,

Diana