A Sunflower for the PPA Challenge 87

Today is the day!!  It’s  a technique challenge at the PALS PAPER ARTS.  They challenge you to make your card/project using punches.  I found this to be easy……I LOVE sunflowers….can you tell?

Are you familiar with Flower Soft?  I really like the look of it; but, most of the time I fall short of having just the right color.  Most of what I have on hand is for Christmas.  I wanted to make a more realistic center for my flower today.  I’ll first show you my inspiration, then my card and then what I did for the look….

Inspiration ~ this sits on my craft table, its one of those pens and a flower of your choice wrapped in floral tape.  It’s housed in a small glass  container with clear beads.  This has been around for a while; but, if you have not seen it and are interested, let me know and my next post will give you directions.

                  

The result ~

          

I used three punches for this sunflower.  The Blossom Petal punch was the main source for the petals and leaves.  I sponged all inside portions of each petal with More Mustard Ink to add more depth and curled each petal up and outwards.  The leaves are scored with a stylus at each scallop.  The stem is your Two Bird Step punch with a bow made from Olive Green hemp.

The center – punch out the middle daisy from your daisy #2 die three or four times, depending on the thickness you’re looking for,  then wad (yes, wad….just like you would if making a scrunched up flower) in a ball..then unfold…..

                     

Glue one layer on top of the other layer until you have the look you want.  Looking back I wished I had tried separating each petal just like you do for a scrunched up flower.  I think I would like the different textures that it would give off.

This is the fun part.  Take an inexpensive paring knife (I keep this one on hand at all times….it comes in handy a lot) with a piece of Stampin Up card stock – color of your choice.  This card stock is the best, it maintains its color all through the paper plus easier to handle because of its weight. And then just scrape and scrape and scrape until you have the desired amount needed…

            

There’s your flower soft.  It works really well, especially if you’re in a jam and just need a little bit.  I kept scrapping until I could fill a 1 1/4” punched circle for my flower center.  It holds together with your multipurpose glue. 

            

Almost forgot…the inside ~

                

A smaller flower using your Boho Blossom and Two Step Bird Punches with the addition of a brown brad from the Neutral Collection of brads.

Supplies needed ~ all SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – V. Vanilla, E. Espresso, O. Olive, D. Delight and Patterns DSP
• Punches – Two Step Bird, Boho Blossom, Blossom Petal, Daisy #2, MS small tag and Circle punches
• Stamps – only one, Teeny Tiny Wishes w/E. Espresso ink
• Misc. – Neutral brad, hemp and half pearls from my stash

There’s a lot in today’s post, I hope I have covered all bases.  If I have left something out let me know!!!  I am only too glad to fill you in on missing pieces.

AS ALWAYS, thanks for stopping by!

 

More Baja Breeze and sneak peek

After this card I will give the Baja Breeze paper a rest.  It’s hard not too use it when you like so well. *smile*  Again, I paired it with the Springtime Designer Series paper.  Hope you like it.

      

I stamped the butterfly onto the Springtime DSP, using the butterfly punch, I punched it out and punched one from a piece of Always Artichoke.  Added a couple little half pearls that happened to be a match for the Baja Breeze in between the two layers on both sides.  The butterfly trail is made from a piece of olive green hemp that I had on hand and tacked it down where I wanted the trail to flow and ran it upward for the body and antenna (piece of the hemp that came unraveled).

I then took two scallop circle punches and used it in the lower right hand corner, giving a see thru scalloped circle with a border. 

• With the small scallop circle I punched one from the DSP.
• With the 2 3/8” scallop circle I punched the same hole making the border. 
• Using the small scallop circle I punched a hole in the lower right hand corner of the card base.
• Placed the border over top of that scalloped hole. 

The border can be seen here ~

         

Remember that first piece of punched DSP made with the small scalloped circle punch?  I used it on the inside to be seen thru the scalloped hole on the card front.

As seen here ~

      

I used the stamp from the Punch Bunch (Sale-A-Bration) stamping it in Always Artichoke, then stamped again in Baja Breeze, cutting out the flowers.

I did distress the DSP edges with Baja Breeze, added an Antique brad on the ribbon and used the rounded corner punch on two of the corners.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, A. Artichoke, B. Breeze and Springtime DSP
• Stamps – Punch Bunch and Flight of the Butterfly
• Punches – 2 3/8 and small scallop circle and rounded corner punches
• Misc. – A. Artichoke and B. Breeze ink, Antique Brad, Seam Binding Ribbon, half pearls from my stash.

And that’s it for today!  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think….I love hearing from you. *smile*

A Sneak Peek for tomorrow’s card….

                                

 

An Easter Card For You

Happy Tuesday everybody! 

I was please how this card turned out, hope you like it as well.  We are on the chocoholic side in this household,  I felt compelled to make a chocolate bunny ….. lol

      

I kept it clean and simple.  I added three lines (1/8” apart) made with the bone folder, going both horizontally and vertically, although you can’t really see the horizontal ones that well…….trust me they’re there.  Those lines are directly above the ribbon, the vertical ones you can see, just to the left of the green leaves.

In making the bunny, I began with Soft Suede card stock and then stamped it in Early Espresso.  I thought this might give the bunny a little more depth.  I clear embossed both bunny and sentiment.

I just happened to have an Easter Egg sticker on hand, one of those nice ones – 3D.  Next to the egg you will find a flower from the paper daisies with a brad from the Subtle collection.  Mounted it all on Crumb Cake – then popped it all up with dimensionals.

Hopping on to the inside ~

        

From this angle, you can see those horizontal lines a little more clearly.  You can see, also, where the front Crumb Cake portion of the card was popped up with dimensionals.

And that’s it for today…..like my card, clean and simple!  I talked too much yesterday *smile*

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, C. Cake, S. Suede and G. Green
• Stamps – Teeny Tiny Wishes and Chocolate Bunny
• Punches – Oval, Eyelet Border, Little Leaves and Beautiful Wings dies
• Misc. – Stickers and Ribbon from my stash, Clear EMP and E. Espresso Ink

As I have said in the past – if there’s anything I can help you with DO NOT hesitate to email me.  I am most happy to help out anytime!  Thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you’ll come back!

 

A Couple Shares and a Trinket Box

Good golly what a week it was!  The weather was really nice all week, close to 60 degrees most days.  I was able to get a lot of yard work done.  *smile*  We were able to find pine straw in this area at a reasonable price and was able to get half the flower beds done. 

Our oldest son came home for the weekend, he just returned from Iraq.  That was worth its weight in gold!  Our youngest son was able to spend most of the weekend with us as well!  If our daughter and her family were here all would have been perfect….but still…Life is GOOD! 

Then this morning, this is what we woke up to…..  Can you believe it… We measured 2-3 inches!  It was beautiful…no wind, just a gentle giant slowly falling on the ground one flake at a time!

        

The second memorable moment was to open my email and find a congratulations note from “The Paper Players” where I had been chosen as a ‘Cut Above’ for my entry last week!  I was given a winners badge to post on my blog.  Now how good is that?  Thank You ~ Paper Players!  Below is a peek at the sketch that was given and my entry.

                            

 

I don’t have a card for you today, but I was playing around with this box idea.  I have seen several out there and wanted to make one.  And the end result was……..

             

          

           

I found the directions for the drawer section on Splitcoast and then added an easel card on top making it the same size as the drawer.  The drawer is 4 X 6, perfect for holding a Post It pad with pen. It could contain a few trinkets or if using it as a gift box….a gift card would be pretty nice.  Three little travel size Kleenex packs fit in there perfectly as well.  Use you imagination…..the sky is the limit.  *smile*  On the top of the drawer, in the above picture, I decided a lone initial would add a nice personal touch used gold embossing powder and distressed the edges of the oval.  The swirls scribbles die from Stampin’ Up was used for the final touches.  Everything was distressed using Soft Suede ink.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – E. Espresso, B. Breeze, V. Vanilla and K&Company
• Dies – Swirls Scribbles, Tim Holtz and Nested Hearts Spellbinders
• Misc. – B. Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon, Antique Brads, Gold Emp, S. Suede ink, Heart shaped doily and Victoria lace

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing an Easter card.  I’m really please how it turned out … come back and take a look.  I think you’ll like it too!!!

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO VISIT, I LOVED HAVING YOU!

 

Four Frames Stamp Set

Available on May 1st will be The Four Frames Stamp Set along with Paisley Prints DSP.  You’re gonna LOVE IT!!!

Right away I had to put one of the frame stamps to work along with the Blossom Petal Punch.  One of my favorite men in the world… “The UPS man”… is expected, any day, with the Paisley Prints DSP, but for now I’m using the Springtime Vintage DSP.

Take a lookie…..

A simple inside ~

             

The new frame stamp was colored with Baja Breeze and Always Artichoke Inks.  The flowers were sprinkled with dazzling diamonds.  The solid frame border for this stamp is done with your Decorative Label Punch.  A tutorial for this method can me found at Carla’s Scraps found HERE.  After using the bond folder on each petal and assembling each, I mounted my flower on a couple Spellbinder die cuts with a Filigree Designer Brad.  I was afraid dazzling diamonds would be a little much on each petal I instead used a diamond EMP.  A few silver brads were added at each corner and in the center of the small flower on the frame stamp.

A TIP:  I was able to run my seam binding thru the scallop of my Spellbinder, in and under one side then up and out the other side.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – V. Vanilla, Springtime Vintage DSP, A. Artichoke and B. Breeze
• Stamps/punches – Four Frame and Decorative Label
• Misc. – Seam Binding, Half Pearls, Dazzling Diamonds, A. Artichoke Ink, Spellbinders and Filigree brad.

Thank you for taking the time to visit.  I hope you are able to visit me again soon.  Have an AWESOME day!!!  I’ll be back on Monday *smile*

 

A Flower…from a little something different

You know every once in awhile I just have to get away from the everyday “grind” and dig into my stash and get out a couple of my favorite little things and play.  That’s what I did with todays card.  Most is Stampin’ Ups, but sometimes wondering through our local craft store something will catch my eye!  As much as I LOVE Stampin Up! these little guys just had to come home with me…

 

 

 

Inside ~

   

   

They are 3D stickers! The one on the front is actually 3 layers and the inside one has 2 layers.  But aren’t the coloring on them just beautiful!  The center of the flower both front and back are glittered, just giving the daintiest  touch. I have saved more of these for another time *smile*  Stampin’ Ups DSP was perfect for the background!

Although not real visible I used a bronze eyelet on the Designer Label punch to run the twine through.  To match the soft coloring on the inside flowers, all Crumb Cake and Always Artichoke card stock had distressed edges done with Crumb Cake Ink inside and out.  The HELLO stamp from the Pendant Park set was all that needed to be said.  This card left a big SMILE on my face…..I hope it did the same with you! *smile*

Supplies needed ~ all are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, C. Cake and DSP/Neutrals
• Accessories – Twine, eyelet, Half Pearls, Decorative Label punch, C. Cake Ink and K&Company stickers

Tomorrow’s card is made with Springtime Vintage DSP.  I think you will enjoy that one as well!!!  COME BACK YA’LL….I’ll be showcasing same time and place!!

An Easter Card

Spring is here everybody…get ready for that yard work.  We have cut our grass already……and the weeds are hollering “We Are On Our Way” !!!  By August I’ll be wishing for cold weather *smile*

With Easter just around the corner, I thought I better get busy with my card list.  I have seen this cross, cut from the SU lattice die, a couple of times and liked it.  I don’t know its originator, but I can tell you that DO Stamping with Dawn found HERE  has a video tutorial on it.  It’s really not hard to do……just get a visual on the cross shape and snip away the unwanted pieces.

Clean and Simple

    

     

Remember those little buttercup looking flowers I made the other day?  I used them again here.  Made them all white with just a bit of sponging in the center with a Ranger Antique Linen ink.  Used my gold leaf pen on the lattice and edgings  of the paper.  Heat embossed the sentiment with gold powder and added a couple brads at the corners.  I was please with the outcome.

And the inside ~

   

I used a couple Spellbinders here, distressed the edges to coordinate with the flowers on the front, and used two stamps from the All Holidays stamp set.

Supplies needed ~ All are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, G. Green and B. Banana (retired)
• Punch/Die – Lattice, 5 petal and Two step bird punches, Spellbinders and McGill
• Misc. – Brads, Gold Leaf Pen, Ranger Ink and Gold EMP

Hope you like todays card, I’ve got a pretty one for you tomorrow….STAY TUNED!!!!!!

Just a quick thought for all you stampers out there today, please keep our country (others as well) in your thoughts and prayers.  There’s a lot going on right now and I hope only the VERY BEST for all those concerned!

 

THE PAPER PLAYERS ~ Challenge #39

The good people over at The Paper Players, they are found HERE, are introducing a new challenge…..CLEAN AND SIMPLE.  This challenge will be added to the fun each month.  This week’s C&S challenge was created by Jaydee, here is a look at her sketch.

                  

THANK YOU JAYDEE!

 

And here is my card ~

 

You have seen these flowers once before from me made with the Blossoms Petal punch.  However, I have no idea about the border piece.  I have not seen this out there before……but who knows????

Below is a picture of how I made that piece with the scalloped border punch.  I think it is pretty self explanatory but if you have ANY QUESTIONS, any at all, email me!

  

TOP ROW – cut two borders at your desired length or a little bit longer.  Trim off extra paper on the other side of the punched border.  How much depends on your desired width. 

MIDDLE ROW – apply glue or adhesive on one piece, place the other piece on top BUT stagger the scallops.  DO NOT line one scallop underneath the other scallop.  This will give you the diagonal effect.

BOTTOM ROW – lace your ribbon (1/4” works best) from one scallop to another.  If you cut your border a little longer than needed, now is the time to decide your exact length.  When I reached the end of my row I added a mini glue dot on the back to attach the end of my ribbon.

Supplies needed ~ All are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, P. Plum, O. Olive and Pretty in Pink
• Punches  - Blossoms Petal, Two Step Bird and Scallop Border punches
• Misc. – Half Pearls, Regal Rose and P. Plum Inks, Ribbon from my stash
• Sentiment – WOW Flowers

Hope an AWESOME weekend was had by all!!  Sunday was the first day of SPRING!!!  Yippee!! I am so very happy that you stopped by for a visit with me today…..please come back!

See You Tomorrow!!!  

 

It’s Here… PPA 85 ~ Sketch Challenge

It’s that time again for another Sketch Challenge at the PALS PAPER ARTS (http://www.palspaperarts.com/) Here is the sketch for your inspiration, it’s a good one ~

                 

AND this is how mine turned out…

                  

I think it’s all there…..just where it’s suppose to be.  *smile*  The flowers are a little extra.  I didn’t have a bow, so certainly had to add a flower in there somewhere. 

Another favorite stamp set for me is the Vintage Vogue.  The ‘F’ stamp has the word friends just off to the left, I masked over that before stamping as to allow the ‘F’ only to get inked.  Then reversed the masking so that I could stamp only the word ‘friends’ and that allowed me to put it wherever I wanted.  I wanted to mix the leaves up a bit using three different leaf styles.  The largest is from the Blossoms Petal Punch in the Occasions Mini Catalogue.  The stamping done on this card was clear embossed.

For an inside view ~

                  

Sometime within the next few days I hope you to are able to find the time to participate in this fun challenge!

Supplies needed ~ all are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – L. Lace (retired), C. Celery, G. Green, C. Coral (retired), A. Appeal (retired)
• Stamps – Vintage Vogue
• Inks – Most Retired, L. Lace, C. Coral and A. Appeal
• Punches – MS leaf (2), Blossom Petal, Lrg Oval, Sml Oval, Slot (retired) Beautiful Wings die
• Misc. – C. Celery Ribbon and Subtles Assortment of brads

You will be noticing that from time to time I’ll be using a lot of retired card stock and inks.  The deal there is not long before the new catalog came out I had ordered one package of each color all at once.  :-(  Then we heard about the possibility of retiring some colors and bringing in new ones. Hummmmmm! So I just ordered some ink spots and using them up when I can.  There are many beautiful colors and some of the new ones are so similar to the old ones that the retired ones that I use can easily be substituted.   You have to remember I am relatively new to the Stampin’ Up family……..but learning as I go! 

Okay Good People that’s it for me.  I will be back on Monday…….hopefully with some more cards to your liking!!

Come Back And See Me!!!

 

 

Butterflies In Flight…

I just love my Beautiful Wings die.  When running them thru your big shot, it cuts and embosses them at the same time.  You can let them stand alone or stack them.  With this card I did both. 

I have to tell you the whole time I was making this card I kept humming the tune by Tim McGraw…….”cause you’ve given me the most beautiful set of wings”…….”1-2-3-like a bird I sing”…..are you humming it now? *smile*  Keep it going…..

 

             

On the larger butterfly I made the body…kept cutting an oval piece down until I got it to the size I wanted and then added a couple pieces of black wire for the antenna’s.  Each butterfly was cut in Daffodil Delight and the edges were sponged with More Mustard.  The more I look at this card the butterflies remind me of Mama Butterfly with her three kids *smile* The small butterflies are mounted on the Little Leaves die as if to be holding on.  The Spellbinder circle die provided the mat for all to be mounted upon.

The background paper is from the Patterns DSP Stack/Neutrals and behind that is textured Daffodil Delight card stock.  Both cut in triangles with the top layer being 1/8th” smaller.

A simple inside ~

                       

 

Okay were done you can stop humming…..

Supplies needed – All are SU unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – D. Delight, W. White, G. Green, Patterns DSP/Neutrals
• Beautiful Wings and Little Leaves dies
• Misc. – Half pearls, wire and ribbon from my stash and M. Mustard Ink

I have had many emails with questions on the various cards that I’ve done and I appreciate each of them!!!!  I am a firm believer “if you don’t know…….ASK!”  I am only a click away and am more than glad to help you.  Don’t hesitate!

With that said I’ll close here hoping all is well with you and your families and I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow… right back here!