Antiqued Eiffel Tower

This was the last card I made in my current stampin' studio. Then I packed up all my stamps and accessories, getting ready for the move on Saturday. Today I packed up the rest of my things and my hubby took down all my wall-mounted cabinets and Bygel rods. It looks so empty now! I was a little sad but I have to keep reminding myself that bigger and better things are coming. TOMORROW! I can't believe we get the keys to the new house tomorrow. Feels like I've been waiting for this day for 9 months. Oh wait, I have ;)

For this card, I used the color challenge provided by The Paper Players Challenge. We were challenged to use Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler on our card. And I happily obliged because that is just a most fantastic color combination. This color combination screamed vintage to me, so I decided to go in that direction with my card.

Tips & Tricks:

*Scared of vintage? Don't be! I've used the Artistic Etchings stamp set for both modern AND vintage cards. It's all in the accessories and techniques you use. Paper tearing and sponging with Crumb Cake or Soft Suede is a good start.
*I love using the little medallion stamp as a lighter background for the Eiffel Tower. It's as though the sun is setting behind it.
*Even though I used Not Quite Navy on this card, the Island Indigo Baker's Twine coordinates perfectly, too. Sometimes we 'cheat' a bit with the accessories ;)
*As you can imagine, the Antique Brads were the obvious choice for a little something extra on my card ;)
*Although this card would be a perfect masculine card, I think a woman would enjoy it, too :)

I hope you've enjoyed this card! Next time I'll be back with a little project I made using the NEW version of My Digital Studio ~ MDS2. It's awesome! And then, the project after that will be made in my new studio :)

Wish me luck for the move for Saturday! I think we'll need it. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (for sponging)
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Island Indigo Baker's Twine, Antique Brads, Stampin' Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Big Shot, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder

Quintessential Flower with Summer Smooches

I made this card for both The Paper Players Challenge as well as the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. But because of busy summer weeks and week-ends, I never got around to posting it before the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge closed. It was a lovely sketch so I'm glad that I got to use it!

The Paper Players Challenge was a super fun one. They set up a tic-tac-toe board and we had to choose three elements for our card in a row: left to right, top to bottom or diagonally. My three elements were a floral card using ribbon and punches.  I decided to combine the Quintessential Flower stamp with the Summer Smooches DSP. I also used all the colors from the DSP on the various layers of the flower.

Tips & Tricks:

*Not sure how to combine a bunch of seemingly different colors together? Grab a sheet of DSP. SU! tells us which colors are in it and which colors will look fantastic together.
*I'm loving the Sweet Essentials stamp set. I needed some more greeting sets, I was getting bored of the ones I have. This set definitely fit the bill!
*I love how the Quintessential Flower is five stamps in one! So many options for one simple stamp :)
*SU! card stock is thick enough to distress and pull apart. I did this on my greeting.
*I love the Baker's Twine, especially the 2011-2013 In Colors twine. It's so cost effective and you get 25 yards in the package. So I don't feel bad when I wrap it around the card stock three times ;)

I love how the colors worked out and love The Paper Players idea for a challenge! So much fun :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Quintessential Flower, Sweet Essentials
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Island Indigo Baker's Twine, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Jewels - Rhinestones

Christmas with Delightful Dozen

I know I know, another 34C day in Ottawa and I'm posting about Christmas! Maybe that's why this heat wave has no end in sight? I'm tempting fate... but I had to get one more card ready for my Christmas in July Class on Thursday. I'm totally excited to eat some cookies, stamp some Christmas cards and listen to Christmas music ~ a stampin' friend is bring her Michael Buble Christmas album :)

One of the main reasons I bought the Delightful Dozen stamp set was for the Christmas stamp. It's so elegant, it's gorgeous. It stands out and really is an image in of itself. So when I saw that The Paper Players Challenge this week was to use a word stamp as the focal point/main image on a card, it seemed like this card was meant to be!

The sketch is my own. I've been working on my own sketches for a little project I'm planning for the fall... don't want to release details yet, but stay tuned, it will be exciting! I also used the strip of circles stamp from the new Chock Full of Cheer stamp set which coordinates perfectly with the gorgeous Be of Good Cheer DSP. Who would've thought that Gumball Green would look so great with Cherry Cobbler? I'm not usually a big fan of bright green, but I do love this one!

Tips & Tricks:

*I really wanted the greeting to stand out so the layer which it is stamped on is quite big.
*When I put my card together, it looked good. But, something was missing. I added a few Basic Jewels - Rhinestones to the stamped ornaments and suddenly the card was 'fixed' ;) Still love those jewels!
*Because I don't have to 'smoosh' my stamps into the new Firm Foam Stampin' Pads to get good ink coverage, I rarely have to worry about having 'rock' lines on my cards. Look at how crisp the images come out!

Hopefully this card doesn't set us up for an even longer heat wave. I think my hydro bill is going to be the highest ever this summer... better get stampin' to pay it! ;) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Special Thank You for a Special Teacher

My daughter Anna is finishing up Senior Kindergarten this year and she has been lucky enough to have the most fantastic teacher for the past two years. She is patient, caring and just plain fantastic. We truly couldn't have asked for better. Last year I gave her an alphabet collage (on the left) that she loved. We didn't know she'd have her again this year again and I knew I couldn't really top last year's gift (I gave her 10 handmade cards and garnet earrings straight from the Czech Republic). But I could make her a great card ;)

I used two challenges as the inspiration for my card:
1) The Paper Players challenged us to use Basic Grey, Lucky Limeade and Melon Mambo in our card.
2) Try Stampin' On a Tuesday (a NEW one for me!) gave us a great sketch to work with.

I was pretty happy with the final product and her teacher liked it too :) My daughter goes to an all French school so I used this non-SU! embossing folder that has 'Merci' in it.

Tips & Tricks:

*I colored the apple stamps from Fruits and Flowers with Stampin' Write Markers, cut them out and then re-stamped them with Basic Grey ink and cut out the center heart.
*The apples and hearts are both mounted on Stampin' Dimensionals to make sure that they pop out. I love how easy it is to add texture to cards with these little sticky pop-ups.
*To coordinate my button 'thread' with my card (and to add a bit of visual contrast in colors) I threaded a thin strip of card stock through the button. It really pops!
*I did stamp the whole apple, including the center heart, in Melon Mambo. I wanted that little bit of pink peeking out from under the grey ;)
*I've been in a bit of a Crystal Effects mode lately. I love the glossy look it gives my card elements. I've had the same bottle for almost four years now and used it for many many projects. Talk about good bang for your buck!

I'm glad Anna's teacher loved her card and hopefully this will inspire to make a special card for your child's fantastic teacher. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Flowering Tea Cups

Yes, yes, you probably think I took another blogging break. But I didn't - promise! My computer went kaput and I wasn't able to update my blog easily off my iPad. So I took an unwanted break ;)  But now I'm back and ready to share this card from last week.

I'm going to miss the 2012 Occasions Mini. It has a lot of lovely stamp sets that I hope end up carrying over into the new catalogue. One of them is the Tea Shoppe stamp set. Yes, this stamp set again. But it's soooo pretty! :)

This card is based on a sketch from a 'new-to-me' card challenge site: The Paper Players. This card used lots of gorgeous retiring products as well as Occasions Mini 2012 products. Don't you just love the gorgeous Attic Boutique DSP as well as the Lace Ribbon Border Punch? I'm really going to miss that punch. Unfortunately I missed the Sketch Challenge window for this week because of my computer not working, but I thought this card was too pretty not to share ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*Love the flower? I used the Attic Boutique DSP as well as the Build-a-Blossom Punch. All the petals are individually punched out. I folded them in the center and then distressed them a bit with my bone folder to give them more dimension.
*I really love the patterned In Color Brads. So pretty :)
*I'm really going to miss the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. Get it now, while you can - it's on this year's Retiring Accessories List. I especially love layering ribbon over it.
*Aren't those tea cups sweet? I used my Soft Suede and Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker to color them and stamp. Just don't forget to 'huff' (i.e. breathe) on your stamp before stampin' when using markers to make sure the stamp is moist enough :)
*The flower on this card was quite a bit of work - not really a card class card ;) So I simplified it a bit using the Blossom Punch as well as the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.

Sorry again for my absence and 'til next time - tomorrow, promise! - keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!