Friday, October 30, 2009

Franz Porcelain Card

Supplies: Blush Blossom, White CS. Stamps: SU Fifth Avenue Floral, Verve sentiment, Sizzlet Seasons Greetings die (leaf branches), Nestabilites. Ink: Creamy Caramel.

Hi All,

I'm Hosting the IC this weekend! Hope you'll join in!!

The website I've chosen for inspiration this week is Called Precious Possessions. They have an amazing collection of beautiful Franz Porcelain to choose from. "Franz Porcelain is a collection of Chinese porcelain, blending oriental character with Art Nouveau style. Inspired by the love for nature, Franz Porcelain developed delicate butterflies, fragile flowers, whimsical animals, and other motifs. Every piece of Franz Porcelain blends the essence of Oriental culture with the styling inspired by Western artistry."



I chose the Azalea Allure Ornamental Tray. I just loved the softness of the piece and could see stamping a sentiment right smack in the middle of it!!



The base and layers are made with Nestabilities and Blush Blossom and Whisper White CS. The stampset is SU Fifth Avenue Floral.

I stamped the Lily from the set 3 times onto Blush Blossom, colored with Copics and added a teeny bit of stickles and white Sukura Gel Pen dots to the petals. The leaves are a Sizzix die cut branch.


I hope you'll head over to SCS and join in the IC with me this week!! I'd love to see you in the gallery!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Anthropologie Bag

I want to be buried at Anthropologie! Love this website that Stephanie chose for our Inspiration Challenge over on SCS this week! Earlier this summer in NYC I actually got to see it in person! So this took me a whole minute, maybe (!), to find something inspiring from there, must be a record!! I chose this cute cute cute Frill-Seeker Satchel! I went with more of a rust color on my card because I just couldn't match the bag color well with the brown CS I have. I ran a sheet of SU Rust Pattern Prints DP through the Finial Press Embossing folder, punched a MS Lacey Border onto two of the edges, shaped them just a bit and then layered them onto a Bazzil rust colored CS panel that I had stamped some leaves onto. Stitched along the top of the layers with rust colored hemp. Made some little tassles (took for-ev-er!!) out of the same hemp and attached them using a SU jumbo eyelet. Finished it off with a TG greeting from SU Holiday Best set. Not so easy peasy but still so very fun!! Thanks for the awesome website Steph! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Halloween Dares!

This set is a result of being behind on my Doubledog Dare challenges that you can find here!!

These are the 3 challenges that are now done:



-- A Sketch (#33) created and hosted by Ms. Bev (aka Beestamper)






-- Martha Stewart Coffin Halloween Treat Box (#40) hosted by Julia (aka Artystamper: Create with Me)





-- Halloween goodie bag from Joanne (aka SleepyinSeattle) (next week's...oh yah I'm even early, woo hoo!!!)





The card follows Bev's sketch (perfect for Halloween Bev!!) and is embellished with bats, ghosts, die cuts, DP, confetti figures, and a sentiment from the stash of goodies Joanne mailed to us for our challenge! So much fun!!




The coffin is the MS Coffin Box pattern that Julia had us follow. This was way easy and is such a neat little box when it's done. It is also decorated with some of the goodies that Joanne sent!




This was an absolute pleasure, it's like you DDC girls planned it out this way!!

Anyone can try out any of these challenges too - there's no time limit!! Check out the Doubledog Dare Thread for all the challenges and upload to the gallery using keyword DDC any time you want to play along!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

No Guilt Cake and Matching Card -- Tutorial!


Supplies: Battery operated tea light (2 for $1.o0 at Dollar Store), SU Exclusive Flower Folds die, SU Afternoon Tea DP, Choc. Chip and Very Vanilla CS, SU Satin Ribbon. Punches from Martha Stewart, EK Success and Punch Bunch. Faux half-back pearls from Michaels, faux pearl string roll form Michaels.
OK, I admit the cake is really little! But it's so fun to make, and so cute!! NO calories, NO fat, NO guilt!! This set is for my sister Tina's birthday at the end of the month.

You have to try it!! All you need is a battery operated tea light, DP and any embellishment you want. Here's easy step-by-step tutorial (use whatever materials you have, this tutorial is how I did the above cake with the materials I had):

Wrap the tea light with your choice of DP, leaving about 1/8" border on top. Battery operated tea lights can vary in size, so just measure or eyeball the one you are going to use. You want to make sure there is an extra amount of DP around the top of the tea light.




Snip at even intervals all the way around the exposed perimeter of the DP.







Fold down the edges and glue to top of tea light.






Die cut the smallest flower of the Sizzix Flower Folds die (SU Exclusive). Punch a 1/4" hole in the middle, then use your craft knife to slice random criss-cross marks across your hole.





Slip the die cut flower over the flame of the tea light. Adhere the "petals" to the sides of your cake.




Choose tiny sized embellishments to add to your cake. I used my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch (the 2 smallest petals) and an EK Success leaf punch. I then added mini brads to the centers of my flowers and attached them to the top of the cake.



Next I then added half-back white pearls from SU Pretties kit to the scallops on the side. I rimmed the bottom with a string of faux string pearls.



Seriously, thats how EASY this cake was to make!!

AND NOW FOR THE CARD...

For the card, I used the same Sizzix Flower Folds die. This time I cut all four shapes from the die in the matching DP from SU. A cut two additional Chocolate Chip flowers to give a shadow look to the flower.

Here you see the the largest flower in brown on the bottom, topped with the matching size flower in SU DP -- both are adhered completely to the base card . I laid a 13" piece of SU 15/16" Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon across the top of the largest flower and secured it with 2 mini brads (notice the brads don't match each other since I know they'll be covered completely in this project).

I continued layering the die cut flowers on top of the largest one, using the next smaller size with each layer. I finished with the smallest flower from the die.

In the center of the flower, I cut a brown scalloped circle with a Nestibilities die. I stamped the round "Enjoy your Day" from the SU "Riveting" set in Chocolate Chip, and added a Blue Moon "Celestial" bead to the center of the circle. (I secured the bead with clear plastic stretch cord sewn through the bead with one stitch bottom thru top.) Mini Brads from ??? secure the circle to the flower since there are so many layers here!.



This is how it looks when the flower layers are completed. I punched 3 Certainly Celery fern leaves (punch by Punch Bunch) and tucked them under the flower.



To finish the card, close up the petals of the flowers, layer by layer, beginning with the inner most petals.





The result may be bulky. Make sure the top folded petal is one that will be wrapped by the ribbon (as shown here). That way, the one petal on top will be able to keep all the other petals under it, closed.






Tie the center of the flower closed with the ribbon strands.







This is how it will look with all the petals folded and tied shut.





And this is the card when Tina unties the ribbon!

Seems like lots of steps, but really truly ladies, it was much faster making it than it was doing this tutorial!! Check out THIS LINK for additional Flower Fold cards like this one!!

Have fun stamping today! Hugs!

A Fall Belli Card -- Play Along to Win Freebies!!

Supplies: Die Cuts and More frame die cut, leaves die cuts. Kaiser half-back pearls, Flower Soft in heather with orange Copic enhancement. RibbonFX Mikes, Corner punch, Stamp set by Inkadinkado.
Hi All, Join up with the Belli DT over on the Creative Belli Blog to see more of these fun Die Cuts from our sponsor this week -- Creative Cuts and More! Post your creation to the Belli blog and you could win the Haunted House Castle set from CC&M!! (See Belli Blog for details!!) The Belli gals are making "Fall" theme cards with at least one leaf and featuring die cuts from our sponsor for the challenge this week. I've used several leaves from DC&M as well as the black "frame" die cut that sections out the card for you. This is really fun to work with!! As you can see, I just added simple embellishments to each section and the card was done!! The tree is by Inkadinkado and embellished with faux pearls and Flower Soft. The cute little squirel is a fabric brad from Recollections Autumn collection. So be sure to stop by the Belli Blog to see more ideas and fabulous inspiration and PLAY ALONG!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Not A Get Well Card

Supples used: Stamps: Artfully Asian, Paper: Basic Grey Scarlet's Ltr Collection, AC Spcialty Christmas Foil in Gold, Very Vanilla, Black. Accessories: Nestabilities, EK Success Border Punch, faux gold coin, gold dot pearls, gold stretch wire Today's amazing Featured Stamper is Chris aka Glowbug! Every card in her gallery is complex and gorgeous at the same time, filled with dimension and texture. What a great body of work!! I chose her Happiness Blooms Card to case. I kept the layout and punching but changed everything else so I could use the material I have. I paper pieced the leaves using the same Basic Grey DP. Omitted ribbon. This is also for this weeks DDC, hosted by JDMommy (Anne), to make a masculine Get Well Card without ribbon and flowers. Ummm, somehow I forgot the "Get-Well" part and made it a Thank You... So Sorry I blew it Anne!! Do I get make-up points because it's red??? LOL!! Congrats again to Chris, your gallery is amazing, and you are totally deserving of the spotlight this week!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Vintage Santa Card

Supplies: SU Linen BG Stamp, Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas set. Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgandy, Bazzill Places We Love CS. Basic Brown, Bravo Burgandy, Creamy Caramel Ink. SU 1-1/4" striped ribbon, sequence flower, button. Punches Used: Martha Stewart Fern, Corner Loop, Border Loop, Mod Snowflake and Mini Tag punches.
Another fab website that Stephanie found for us to get inspiration from for this week's Inspiration Challenge. She pointed us in the direction of this awesome TzaddiShop on Etzy! I chose this SHIMMERZ necklace for the wonderful color inspiration. My card uses Gold Shimmer CS for the snowflake but I couldn't get that captured very well. I used 5 different Martha Stewart punches, which made it all so easy! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

More World Card Making Day Cards!

Here's some more cards I made for the WCMD party over on SCS!! Our cards for this celebration (if we choose ) are going to be sent to Operation Write Home for our troops!! Yay!! I love that!! This one is for Crafty Secrets WCMD Challenge! You gotta use dimension and Pop on the card, and if you use any of their products on the card, you get a free gift from them! This is a tiny 4"x 2-3/4" note card from SU. I used a cute little Kewpie Doll image from their Kewpies set and added a little Santa Hat for the "dimension" requirement. He/she is colored with PrismaColor pens. I just looove this Kewpie set!! I have used it for so many cards and occasions, but never for Christmas before! The sentiment is Inkadinkadoo from Costco and the bit of sparkle is Stickles! This one is my Ornament Card for the WCMD Magnolia Challenge! You had to either make an ornament or a card with an ornament. I was putting this challenge off thinking it was a tough one but this ended up being the easiest one to do! I love the concept of putting a real ornament on the card! The little snowman is part of a pack of miniature ornaments by "A Tree for Me" from HL. They are flat-backed, so the adhere easily to the card! The recipient can remove the snowman and use it as a decoration or ornament for themselves! I love that! The blue card base is actually totally sparkly CS from DCWV Glittered Winter Card Stack. I used Nestibilities to make the window and the ribbon is Michael's Holiday Bow-Tique. Super easy peasy! Then I made this card for the Stamping Bella WCMD challenge! This one took some thought because the challenge was to create a card to show what you and your girlfriends do to have some fun! And, we had to throw in some some 1980's-ish colors and/or DP! Usually when I get together with my GFs, it's to make cards and/or to EAT!! So I used this cute little "Catie Cupcake" image by Poppy Stamps (Note to Julia -- you know this is your fault!! LOL!!) that has a little munchkin with a cupcake! Yum!! And as for the 2nd part of the challenge to use an 80's color palette, that really threw me! I lived thru the 80s, but I have no style now and I had no style then!! So I Googled and found this graphics website to figure out what colors to use. Turns out the colors were very similar to all the colors in my fav "Me and My Big Ideas" Fashion District DP pad, so that's the DP I went with. Yay!! Another challenge done! So I did all but two of the 11 challenges plus the Inspiration and Featured Stamper challenge this weekend! Whew!! I'll spend tomorrow's blogging time checking out what everyone else was able to do this weekend! I had a blast!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!