Adoption - The Gift of You

Here's a card I made for the Featured Stamper Challenge at Splitcoaststampers today in honour of Sabrina, aka Cook22.  HERE is the beautiful card which inspired me.  I used a new set soon to be available at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps called The Gift of You - it's part of Korin's Stamps for a Cause Series and this one celebrates adoption with 15 heartfelt sentiments.  The best part is that for every stamp set sold $10 will go to Henan Kids International to help orphans in Henan, China!

This card is also in honour of my Mum and Dad who prayed for a wee baby to adopt over 40 years ago and got my little brother.

 

 

Supplies include:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps The Gift of You

Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares

Spellbinders Nestabilities Squares

Flowers (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Jute twine (American Crafts)

Cheery Lynn Design Fanciful Flourish die

Stampin Up Lucky Limeade ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Fancy a Cuppa?

I've been enjoying my tea and coffee these cold winter days which made me think about this fun project I made while I was on the Dirty Dozen Design team at Splitcoaststampers in April through September 2011.  The cards designed while on the DD team are kept exclusively for the Fan Club members during that time but I'm sharing this one now, it was one of my favourites.

That month our theme was Comfort Zone and tea is definitely one of my creature comforts - it warms me up from the inside!  I discovered soon after I moved here that whether it's a crisis big or small, the British and Irish put the kettle on for a cuppa!

  It's made with a Waltzingmouse A Nice Cup of Tea template which you can find HERE.  I embossed the edges of the tea cup and saucer in gold using Stampin Up's Wedding Elegance and then did the same with the tag using the Waltzingmouse sets Very Vintage Labels No. 4 and Say it With Style.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. 
The handle has a number of layers of gold embossing.
I used a paper that has a translucent look for the effect of porcelain or fine china - I bought it loose in sheets without any indication of a company name.

Hey Chick!

 

I got new Paper Smooches for Christmas - thanks to my son, Josh!  Love how easy to colour and cut out these little critters are!  I made a very simple CAS thankyou card with MFT Die-namics - Say What for the speech bubble and PTI's cloud dies for the clouds. 

 My card making resolution for next year is to make more cards with regular sentiments such as "thank you", "thinking of you", and "happy birthday" as it seems I'm always running out of those!

Supplies include:

Paper Smooches Chubby Chums

Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler

Fiskars Circlel Cutter

Copics

Jute twine (American Crafts)

Papertrey Ink cloud dies

My Favorite Things Say What Die-namics

God is Love

 

I made this card in honour of Sylvia Blum, aka ~Fee~, who's today's Featured Stamper at Splitcoaststampers - love her style with both clean and simple cards and more complicated ones!  HERE is the card from Sylvia's gallery which inspired me.

I stitched down four panels of jumbo scallops and created the sentiment banner with MFT's Fishtail Flag's Die-namics and my new favorite font by Kimberley Geswein - Strawberry Limeade!  Even the name is fab!

These are also my favorite crafty flowers, they're from Wild Orchid Crafts, - they have a wonderful, extensive collection of beautiful blooms.

This Bible verse was the very first one I memorized when I was about four years old with my Mom's help.  And though I'm not fantastic at memorizing it, God's Word has been a complete rock of security in my life over the years, as well as hugely shaping and influencing in my character.

Supplies include:

Lilybee Designs dp

My Favorite Things Jumbo Scallops, Fishtail Flags Die-namics

Rose (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Pins

Sewing Machine

Sweet Little One

Only a few more days until Christmas, and I've already moved on from making Christmas cards. 
Here's a card inspired by the Badgely Mischka Spring 2013 Runway Collection which is the Inspiration Challenge website over at Splitcoaststampers today.  The soft blush, creams, and pearly vintage hues inspired me to make a vintage baby card.  I love Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Vintage Baby set - the images are so easy to use and this one in particular is very easy to color even you don't feel that confident about coloring. It was also very easy to mask with a stamped image on a post-it-note so that I could sponge around the image with Distress ink while still in the Nestie. All panels have been stitched and I added some lace and pearls to help with the vintage look. The rose has been sponged with SU's Blushing Bride ink to match and the bow is jute twine made by American Crafts.

 

Supplies include:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Vintage Baby

Kaisercraft Sweet Nothings dp

Copics

Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals Petite

MFT Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics

Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

SU Blushing Bride ink

American Crafts jute

Flower (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Sewing machine

Pearls

Lace

Poppies in Jars

 

Here's a card I made for the Sketch Challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week.  Korin gave us a really flexible layout.  I love poppies and I love jars so this set really appealed to me!  It's colored with copics and the tiny sentiment is punched with SU's smallest oval punch.  And that's it - a really easy thank you card!

Supplies include:

Stampendous Poppy Jars

Lilybee Designs dp

Stampin Up Real Red card stock

Stampin Up small oval punch

Twine

Button

Button Flowers

Here's a card I created for today's Featured Stamper Challenge at Splitcoaststampers - it's Gail, or GailNM and HERE  is her beautiful card which inspired me!  I love a pop of color, especially red, against crisp white, so Gail's card really appealed to me!  

I stamped the flowers (from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Your Friendship set, though they are now only available as a digi called 6 Petal Flowers) on pink card stock and sponged the edges with red ink - I did this a couple of times to create more depth.  It's an alternative to colouring if you're not in the mood!

The flowers are layered on an embossed bg with a square frame, made using Nestabilities Squares.

Supplies include:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Your Friendship

Spellbinders Nestabilities Squares

Craft Concepts Budding Vine embossing folder

Buttons

Stampin Up Real Red, Lucky Limeade ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Winter Bird

Here's a card I made for the 200th CAS Challenge at Splitcoaststampers - to be inspired by this fabric:

It was a quick card  - I masked with post-it-notes and then sponged with gray ink along the top of the card.

Often I will mask a circle and sponge inside for the sun or moon on a card like this but this time I simply cut a  circle with a Nestie for the sun.  I used Memory Box dies for the bird and branches.  The berries are the leftover holes from using a button punch.  I was aiming for the look of a milky sun on a misty winter's morning with frost covered branches and red berries.  Though I'm not aware of cardinals existing here in Northern Ireland, I know they're a winter bird in many parts of North America.

Supplies include:

Memory Box Grove Branch die

Memory Box Nestled Bird die

Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles Small

Stampin Up Basic Gray ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Stampendouds (sentiment)

Stampin Up Daffodil Delight, Real Red card stock

Cream Linen card stock

Tie the Knot

Here's a card I made for CASual Friday's challenge - CFC81 Knotty or Nice.

I went for a wedding card in a color combo which I hope is elegant - gold, black and cream!

The knotty element is two champagne glasses cut using Die-namics from cream linen 

card stock sponged with Antique Linen ink -  they're tied and knotted together using gold cord.

The heart is cut using flocked dp which adds a lot of texture and elegance IRL.  

The sentiment is computer generated using my new favourite font, Lavanderia - it's 

popped up on the heart on a banner cut with My Favorite Things Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics.

Supplies include:

My Favorite Things Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics

MFT Let's Toast Die-namics

Spellbinders Nestabilities Hearts, Circles Small

Gold Cord

Brushed gold card stock

Brushed gold brads

DCWV dp

Cream Linen cardstock
Ranger Distress Antique Linen ink

CAS Ornament

Here's a card made for the Featured Stamper Challenge at Splitcoaststampers today - it's Diana, aka mayodino – I enjoyed her entire gallery, but especially the sponged designs, so I chose this ornament card to CASE.  
I'm also entering this in the fun challenge, Addicted to CAS  #2 - Code Word Bauble!
I sponged a Spellbinders Nestie circle, added some die-cut snowflakes and spritzed white acrylic paint on it with a toothbrush.  If you're going to try this, I suggest thinning down the paint with a few drops of water, otherwise the paint will be too thick to "spritz" properly.  Also do a test run on a piece of scrap paper just to get the feel of what it takes to get a nice even "spritz"!

 The top of the ornament was made with shiny silver card stock, the upper edge cut with an oval Nestie and the bottom cut with a scalloped oval Nestie with some added score lines.  
I used black wire for the loop at the top (twisted the wire around a paintbrush handle in order to achieve a more perfect circle shape) and “hung” the ornament with twine.  

The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, A Cocoa Kind of Christmas - I love the font Korin used in this set!

Supplies include:

Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles, Ovals, Scalloped Ovals

M-bossibilities So Trendy embossing folder

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps A Cocoa Kind of Christmas

My Favorite Things Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics

Cheery Lynn Designs snowflake die

SU Cool Caribbean ink

Ranger Distress Broken China ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Twine

Wire

White Acrylic Paint

Toothbrush

Shiny Silver card stock

Smooth White card stock

CAS Roses

Just having some fun with Papertrey Ink's The Sweet Life stamp and die set.  The stamp set involves three step stamping, so you need shades which provide some contrast.

 I originally wanted to go for yellow roses but didn't have several shades of yellow, though I plan to try yellow and orange.  The dies are fabulous - the card stock just pops out effortlessly!

This is my favourite type of card to make, a bright pop of color against a crisp white background.  

Working with such bright inks certainly brightens up a cold winter day!
I've also posted this for today's Free For All Challenge, Springtime in December at Splitcoaststampers.

Supplies include:

Papertrey Ink The Sweet Life stamps, dies

Papertrey Ink Signature Greetings

Stampin Up Lavender Lace, Orchid Opulence, Pink Passion, Certainly Celery, Lucky Limeade ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Smooth White card stock

Creative Experessions Lattice embossing folder

Country Retro

 

Here's a card I made using the sketch challenge over at Splitcoaststampers given to us by Korin. With all those panels it was a perfect chance to mix dp's which I love to do - here it's a mix of some favorite October Afternoon papers.  I used Papertrey Ink's Bloom Builder 3 die for the red flowers.  The edges of the card base have been sponged with distress ink - if I could have just one ink pad other than Memento Tuxedo Black, it would Ranger Distress Antique Linen, because I love the way it makes paper/card look like it's been in Grandma's attic for a long time!

The sentiment is from Verve's Circular Sayings.  I hope this card will encourage a friend who's been going through a really bad time.

Supplies include:

Papertrey Ink Bloom Builder 3 Die

Verve Circular Sayings

October Afternoon dp

Stampin Up Real Red card stock

Buttons

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Ranger Distress Antique Linen

Twine

Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles Large, Small

Sewing Machine

Country Wildflowers

Here's a card I made recently for a Ways to Use It Challenge which Cathy (cathymac) gave us at Splitcoaststampers - using the bleach technique - and I managed to get through the whole process without ruining any clothes!

I've used SNSS's Wilflower set on Stampin Up's Cherry Cobbler card stock - as you can see the bleach causes the stamped area to fade to a creamy pink. I find this technique works well with solid stamps like silhouettes rather than stamps with finer lines. Another hint while using this technique is to use your bleach sparingly - I put some on a piece of folded paper towel on a flat plate, just enough to thoroughly moisten it but not enough to make it dripping wet.

My last suggestion would be to try it out on piece of extra card stock first - the result is always different depending on the color and make of the cardstock. For example some hardly showed at all, and with others the result seemed muddy, but there were plenty that ended up pretty and pleasing!

I added the main image oval to an embossed panel of kraft....the color combo said "country" to me so I added a gingham ribbon bow as a finishing touch!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies include:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Wildflower

Spellbinders Nestabilities Ovals

Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler card stock

Papermania Kraft

Ribbon

Pearls

Twine

Bleach

Button

Sizzix/Stampin Up Square Lattice embossing folder

CAS Noel

 

I made a card for the Less is More challenge this week, which is a Color Challenge Red and Green .
Chrissie and Jen gave us some beautiful inspiration with their samples.
 Couldn't resist that color combo against a crisp creamy white background!

  I was delighted to see that the sponsor this month is My Mum's Craft Shop - I love the selection and personal service that Kitty provides and they stock a great selection of MFT Die-namics - need I say more?!

I used By the Letters Die-namics to cut letters from burgundy RED cardstock and a Cheery Lynn Designs holly die for the GREEN holly.  The bg is embossed and I added some large matching brads for berries! 

Supplies include:

My Favorite Things By the Letters Die-namics

My Favorite Things Fishtail Flags Die-namics

Cheery Lynn Designs holly die

M-bossibilities Elitel embossing folder

Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade cardstock

Brads