Project: Give thanks with MAWTT

Claire is sponsoring us over at Moving Along with the Times and I was thrilled to see her Give Thanks challenge this forgnigh.

I really couldn't decide what to make for the challenge as I love making thank yous and wanted this one to be extra special. I bought this stamp set with Claire in NYC when I was visiting in Sept and they still crack me up - there are dozesns of greetings as you can make so many puns with Donut as the punchline!

I started with a strip of white card and blended from yellow to turquoise using Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feather. The donuts are stamped using a dye ink and then the toppings (sprinkles, icing, combination) are done using pigment inks so they stand out. The white-iced, sprinkled donuts also feature glitter lue for extra fun.

I love this set and was so glad to play with it as part of this challenge, I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Project 278: A double set using Stampin' Up sets

A few weeks ago Claire came to visit and brought with her a big order I'd placed with her as my Stampin' Up rep. There happened to be a sale on at the time so I took advantage...to say the least!

As Christmas approaches, I'm always looking for ways I can personalise presents and give people something specifically made for them. Card sets are a great way to do that and I put my new kit to the test making a few sets.

The headline card uses the 'Tap tap tap' set and I kept these pretty simple. I stamped the typewriters on a cream grid printed card from My Minds Eye and used an accent red or black print paper for the border from the same set. I used 3 different sentiments and kept one blank to give them a variety. I added a silver candy for a bit of hardware. I have the recipient in mind and she'll like them, I'm fairly confident!

The second set features 'You're sublime' a set full of funny puns and I just thought these would be perfect for another friend. I stamped them all out and colored them in using ProMarkers. Then I die cut them using a stitched circle die and layered them over a textured vellum paper I cut using a scallop circle die. I rarely use vellum and here I'm just using it as a normal backing paper...it went well with all my colors and thought it would let the stamp stand out but not look too plain.

Neither took too long but they're really well suited to the recipients. That is what it's all about!

Project 277: A runway inspired challenge and playdate

Claire has been a long-follower of Runway Inspired Challenge and I think I've only been brave enough to enter once. I love the DT inspiration and thought I'd have a go when Claire sent me the inspiration photo from Banana Republic:

I used a Stampin' Up set called Flower Patch to get the flower dies and stamps all layered up. I used a cream printed pattern from My Mind's Eye as I wanted the cream color to shine out against the blue-grey paper. I loved the tiny turquoise accents on the dress so I punched a flower border using a EK Success punch that my mom or Claire got me a few years ago. I used another blue strip behind the greeting as I didn't want the cream to be more than an accent. I rarely use peel offs but I thought it really worked for this layout.

I'm pleased with the layout though think I could have been a bit braver with my interpretation...maybe I'll work my way up to that.

Project 276: A metallic CAS Christmas card

I love dropping by CAS-ual Fridays and this month they have a metallic theme to play along with.

I got this great stamp set for free with a card magazine and haven't tried embossing it before today. It's a dream! I thought it would look starkest using silver glitter embossing powder against a black background. I added touches of red glitter to the baubles and dotted some around the tree with some red sequins. I left it sentiment free - kind of obvious what it's for I thought!

I'm still pretty new to heat-embossing so I was delighted with this result and will definitely make a few more to feature this gorgeous stamp.

Project 275: A western layout double challenge

This week Claire showed me 'Shopping Our Stash' blog and I was inspired by this week's Western Theme challenge. Just this week Claire gave me a bumper haul of Unity stamps and it included a gorgeous cowgirl stamp.

I was desperate to use her for something special and I thought I'd get ahead (ok - really ahead) and make a birthday card for my husband as he often calls me Jessie the Cowgirl after the Toy Story 2 (and 3) character. 

I also liked the layout at Sketch Saturday and knew that she was a good shape to feature in that central panel. 

I made it a portrait orientation instead of landscape to better use the image. I colored her with ProMarkers and added the sentiment from Stampin' Up Endless Birthday Wishes. The papers are both scraps that I had kicking around my stash, I thought the orange and red felt Western, particularly the plaid. The sparkly stars complete the sketch and these are from a 4th July care package a girlfriend sent me years ago - I love them and they just work so perfectly for the theme.

I loved using this stamp and am so glad I found a new challenge to play along with this week.

Project 274: A layered flower card for a colleague

This card is for my colleague Erika, who has been on my team for the past year and a half and loves all girly things. Last year I made her this pink and purple butterfly card and this year I decided to use the same colors but interpret the layers, papers and textures in a different way.

The first thing I did was go through my scraps and grab everything pink and purple and find a good collection as a base. I used a Stamping' Up Flower Patch die and stamp set to cut all the pieces and then layered them up and topped with sequins, candies and gems.

I went for a long DL card (just like last year) so I could get even more flowers on the page. The greeting is a bit messy - I stamped a greeting using 'Endless Birthday Wishes' but it didn't work out so I went over with a pen and it was a little bit shaky. I still like it because it looks handwritten but I wish it was just a bit stronger.

I hope she likes it - I love using this set in new ways and the layered colors are a bit busy but work with the minimal color scheme. Will be fun to try this with different colors for a simplified look.

Project 273: Double challenge autumnal thanks

I've dipped in and out of challenges this second half of the year, primarily out of having too many fun new things and wanting to play with them free of the stress of challenges!

However, I saw two challenges this week that really caught my eye: the theme of Autumnal Thanks at Paper Players and the sketch at Retro Rubber. 

The leaf pattern is made using Inkadoo Fossil Leaf stamps in different inks and the stamp set is one  I've had for about a year and a half  and revisit again and again. So lovely. The greeting is a really lovely Thank You from a set Claire gave me about two years ago.

The  paper is from American Crafts and it's this lovely deep orange, kind of hard to use but perfect for an autumnal challenge. The brown candies are a favorite, it was almost indulgent to use 3 in a single card! I love how naturally everything came together, this was a case of less is more and I'm glad I kept it straightforward as it keeps all of the elements well showcased.

Project 272: Personalized engagement card

A great friend of ours just got engaged and we are so delighted. I wanted to make them a personalized card to celebrate and took the opportunity to play with one of my new favourite die sets: an alphabet set I bought with Claire at The Ink Pad in NYC.

I started with an X-Cut lopsided heart die, adding in the initials of the couple using the new dies. I love these dies because they work just as well in negative space as they do with the cut out.I lined the left hand side of the letters with gold glitter glue to make it stand out more.

I didn't want anything too formal - I wanted it to feel light and fun and I think the greeting does that well instead of a traditional Congrats. The papers are from Studio Callico and they are so cheerful.

Finally I topped it with a candy that matched the turquoise paper.

Amazingly, I did this without my ATG as it broke this weekend. I am not coping well with this so if anyone has tips on how to fix it when the trigger stops releasing the tape, please share!! 

Project 271: A double take on Christmas cards

I had a bit of a play around this weekend and wanted to try some different Christmas cards. I had seen a craft magazine where a shaker card mimics the shape of a snow globe and I thought that would be a really fun thing to experiment with.

I used a spotted Christmas paper from a DCWV stack as my background and cut out the circle. I decided to shake things up (a terrible pun, forgive me) and use a bit of red foam that would be visible as my separator for the sequins - I thought it would help define the dome of the circle and I'm glad I did. I put a sparkly tree sticker int he middle and then filled it with gold and silver sequins. I hand cut the little black base and added the peel offs. It's got a bit of a retro quality but the colors keep it kind of fresh. I like it.

With the offcut of the circle I made this little guy. I had a mini square card blank and so I free-styled a bit by cutting a scrap of green paper into a tree, adding some needles with a ProMarker and added a blingy star and some glue dots for baubles. It took 5 minutes and I like it more than some of my other Christmas cards that took far longer!

A really fun experiment, will definitely try more snow globes for special cards in the future.