3D Cards! Combining some old with some new...

This month, Stampin' Up!'s demonstrator magazine had a few pages dedicated to 3D cards. Well, after seeing this 3D pop-up card I knew I had to make one! Luckily, my Father-in-Law's birthday was yesterday so I made one for him. This type of card is great for pop-out elements such as the scallop Happy Birthday. You could do many more pop-out elements but it was my first time doing it and I didn't want to over do it!

Seeing that we're going to be switching catties in a few short days, I combined some old with some new, including my favorite DSP from the last cattie - Parisian Breeze - and my favorite new In Color - Rich Razzleberry. The cardstock that makes up the main part of the card is Soft Suede - also a new In Color. I wanted to include a space to write a little something so I used the Big Shot to make an enevelope into which a small greeting card can be placed. So I guess it's a card within a card ;) To tie it all together (and keep it together) I made a belly band using Baja Breeze (my fave old In Color) textured cardstock and the new polka dot Rich Razzleberry ribbon. As an aside, I LOVE the new In Color ribbons! You can either use the polka dot side OR the plain underside. I used sticky strip in a few spots where I thought the card may need a bit of extra holding power. Take a peek and let me know what you think :)


The card recipe for my 3D card includes:
Stamp Sets: Crazy for Cupcakes, Teeny Tiny Wishes, So Many Scallops (retired)
Cardstock:Soft Suede , Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze Textured Cardstock, Whisper White, Parisian Breeze
Ink: Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, VersaMark
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, VersaMarker, Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Big Shot, Scallop Envelope Die, Rich Razzleberry Ribbon, Stampin Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

Crazy for Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes. I probably ate too many of them during my pregnancy :p And it's no surprise I finally ordered this stamp set in my 8th month (I'd been eyeing it for about 7 months at that point!) I immediately mounted it and made these cards. I wanted to play with some retired DSP that I had as well (Berry Bliss from the SS 2008 Catalog). After playing with this stamp set I love cupcakes even more than before. But I absolutely LOVE making birthday cards with it! It's so fun, so versatile, and there are so many possibilities - these cards are clearly just the beginning! You can add glitter or Crystal Effects to the sprinkles, cut out the candle or cupcake top to add texture, play around with the greetings and do many many other things!


I'll be back with more soon as I've been busy making some new cards for Belly Laughs. In the meantime, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Gift for My Midwife

I'm once again resurrecting my blog. I've had my baby, he's now 6 weeks old and I'm trying to get back to this blog! I had my discharge appointment with my midwife this week and I made her a pregnancy shadow box to show her my gratitude for the wonderful care she gave me and my baby. The practice will be getting a new clinic space in the near future and I thought something new for their walls would be nice.

I made the background of the shadow box by weaving two pieces of Designer Series Paper together. I had never done this technique but I just love it and I'm hooked! It's definitely time consuming, but worth it. I also took advantage of my Big Shot using the Bigz Top Note Die (an SU! exclusive) and I dry embossed it with the Big Shot Texturz Plates. Here's the shadow box - my midwife loved it, hope you like it too!

Full shadow box:
Picture only:
Detail of paper weaving:
The recipe for my shadow box includes
Stamp Sets: She's All That and Everything Baby (both retired)
Carstock: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Green Tea (retired) and Parisian Breeze DSP
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Paper Piercer, Flower Fusion Too, Fire and Ice Rhinestone Brads, Corner Rounder Punch, Slit Punch, Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Big Shot, Top Note Die, SU! Texturz Plates

Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Watercoloring - Blending and Shading

Stampin' Up! recently put out a training video for demos regarding watercoloring. It was perfect timing because having just gotten my Watercolor Wonder Crayons (WWC) I was looking forward to trying new techniques with them. This video focused on blending colors to create different shading effects. The idea is to start with the lightest color and then darken edges which would appear darker with the light hitting them. Then you create a shadow effect with a complimentary color on the outside of image.

I tried these techniques with two different stamp sets. The set of WWC that I have are Rich Regals. So I did one image in blues, one in pink/red. I think they turned out pretty well for my first try. What do you think?

For this card, I used Bordering Blue for the lighter color and Ballet Blue/Brocade Blue for the blending/shading. For the outer shadow I used Night of Navy. I also finally got to use my Chunky Sprinkles glitter and my Sale-a-Bration Polytwill Certainly Celery Ribbon. Love them both!

The card recipe for my sock monkey includes:
Stamp Set: Sock Monkey
Cardstock: Kraft, Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Chunky Sprinkles, Tombo Mono Adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals, Polytwill Certainly Celery Ribbon, Mini Glue Dots

And for the second card. Yes, I know that I've used the Fifth Avenue Floral yet again but I LOVE it, and it's a great set for watercoloring, especially blending/shading. I used Regal Rose for the base color and Rose Red for the darker blending/shading. For the outer shadow of the rose, I used Brocade Blue. I also got inspiration to use various Designer Series Papers together on the same card from a stamping friend of mine. Finally, I think the Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware completes this card well :)

The card recipe for this Fifth Avenue Floral Card includes:
Stamp Set: Fifth Avenue Floral, Fresh Cuts
Cardstock: So Saffron, Parisian Breeze DSP (retired), Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Basic Black, VersaMark
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Tag Corner Punch, Very Vanilla Hodgpodge Hardware, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Hope you like these cards! Do you have any watercoloring tips/ideas? Be sure to share them! And don't forget, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity :)

New Stamp Sets, from Elegant to Fun!

I got a couple of new stamp sets from the new cattie. I've been busy, so I haven't had time to play with more than two of them - but the two I did play with I LOVE! These are two very different stamp sets... Fifth Avenue Floral - a classy, elegant, simple stamp set. The second is Man's Best Friend. I love dogs and I got this stamp set for myself really... what more can I say? It's just too darned cute, lol!

When I first saw the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set in the new cattie, I loved it, but it thought, WOW - that would be a lot of colouring in! But then I saw some samples on Splitcoaststampers and I realized the flowers are so big, elegant, and just gorgeous - I could just layer them maybe colouring in only one, or even none! In the card below, I did color in the big rose, but mainly because I also finally jumped onto the Watercolor Wonder Crayon bandwagon and they arrived with my new stamps. So I HAD to try them out (I LOVE LOVE LOVE them, btw). I have created cards with this set where I coloured in no flowers, and some where I coloured in all of them, and they all look great (well, in my opinion...). I of course had to splurge on the new Eyelet Border Punch, which is also used in this card ;)

The recipe for this card includes:
Stamp Sets: Fifth Avenue Floral (new), Warm Words
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip,Taken with Teal, Versamark
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1" Double Stitched Ribbon, Black EB, Eyelet Border Punch, Wide Oval Punch, AquaPainter, Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Regal Rose), Heat Tool

And this is my 'fun' set that I got for myself - Man's Best Friend. A day after I got it I put it to good use, making a 1st Birthday Card for a good friend's daughter. She loves our little dog (or more like she's fascinated with her) so I thought it was fitting. I made a border with the paper piercer on the pink layer, I thought it looked too plain without it. It's a simple card, but sometimes simple is better :) I think this set is so cute, you don't have to do too much with it to make a great card.

My recipe for this card includes:
Stamp Sets: Man's Best Friend, Family Phrases
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Ridinghood Red, VersaMark
Accessories: Silver EB, Heat Tool, 1/4" Chocolate Chip Polytwill Ribbon (retired), Wide Oval Punch, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack

Hope you like my latest creations! Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!