FMS 69: Elements of Style

Hello again :)

Freshly Made Sketches comes out with a new sketch every Wednesday, this is the sketch from Wednesday January 16, 2013:

Diagonals rarely appear on my cards, so this is a nice change-up :) Here's what I came up with for this sketch:

I made a sophisticated birthday card using the stamp set Elements of Style and lots of early espresso embossing powder. The flowers, humming birds and sentiment were stamped in versamark and heat embossed with early espresso (carry-over from the holiday mini catalogue). The humming birds were snipped out and popped up on dimensionals. The flowers were sponged with blushing bride in a bit of a emboss resist technique. The antique brad is the final touch of sophistication to the card.

Thanks for visiting! :)

Supplies used:

Stamps: Elements of Style, Blooming with Kindness (sentiment)

Paper: Beau Chateau (ret), Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride (ret)

Ink: Versamark

Tools: Scallop Border Punch

Accessories: Early Espresso Embossing Power, Antique Brad, Sponge

Introducing "Inspired By..." Challenge!

Woohoo! It's finally the weekend! Today Charissa over at Snippets by Design and I are debuting another card challenge, Inspired By...

With this challenge, one of us will pick a picture of something that can inspire us in card making. The photo can be anything from a beautiful nature scene to a fun article of clothing. The cards can contain anything about the photo that has inspired you, for example, colours, shapes, etc. This week's inspiration photo was selected by me: a delicious sushi dish!

From this, I saw lucky limeade, tangerine tango, so saffron, and circles! Here's the card I thought of:

This card displays the quilting technique, running the entire face of the card through the big shot using the square lattice embossing folder. I used the Outlined Occasions stamp set, from last year's Sale-A-Bration, and coloured it with markers. I popped up the entire face plate to add some dimension.

Thanks for looking today and I hope you enjoyed Charissa and I's second challenge. Pop over to her blog and check out how this photo inspired her! 

Supplies Used:

Stamp Sets: Outlined Occasions (ret)

Paper: Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Grey

Tools: Nestabilities Circle 

Accessories: Tangerine Tango & So Saffron Markers, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

KCRR #1 - Our New Exciting Challenge

Good morning! Or should I say, GREAT morning? I think great :)

Today my stampin' pal Charissa Laarman and I are debuting our very own challenge! ...drum roll please....

Yay! This challenge was inspired by Naki & Nina's double dare challenge, where each person would pick off the top of their heads a card-making element, and they would create a card using those elements. Charissa and I wanted to make ours different, so we came up with a long list of 225 items, then we used random.org to randomly generate two numbers off the list. This is the initial list, of course, the list will expand and contract as Stampin' Up! introduces new items and as items retire, etc. 

This week, the randomly selected items were the jewelry tag punch & the square lattice embossing folder. Here is my creation using these two elements: 

It is the middle of winter here, but we have been having unusually warm weather, which has me thinking about spring! ...and daffodil delight :) such a cheery colour! This card has a lot of elements, based on an older Mojo Monday sketch but I really like how they all work together to create a non-traditional wedding card. Oh - adding the pearls on to the safety pin was my mom's idea... so clever!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the debut to our challenge! Pop over to Charissa's blog to see what she has created with these two elements :)

Supplies used:

Stamps: Love & Laughter, Tiny Tags

Paper: Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, 2012-2013 In Colours Paper Stacks, Brights Paper Stacks, Howlstooth & Scarringbone DSP

Ink: Basic Grey

Tools: Hearts Framelits, Scallop Border Punch, Jewelry Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

Accessories: Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Striped Satin Ribbon, Pearls, Safety Pin, Dimensionals

Colour Q: Experimenting with Colour

Hello! Today I find myself experimenting with colour :) This is generally something I struggle with and I often tend to use no more than three colours per card. I find that once more colours are thrown into the mix, creating a coherent card is far more challenging. Today I wanted to play with Colour Q:

Naturally, putting all these colours on one card scared me! Here's what I came up with:

I have to admit, it is not my favourite card, yet I liked it enough to share :) I like the panels background. I wanted the panels to by my main focus, but thought the card was just too plain with only the sentiment and the panels. To jazz it up, I added the ribbon & butterflies.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Vintage Verses

Paper: Summer Starfruit, Poppy Parade (ret), Brights Paper Stacks, Birds of a Feather DSP

Ink: Basic Grey

Tools: Labels Framelits

Accessories: Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Stitched Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Silver Anniversary: Faux Patina

I hope today finds you well :) I have had this idea for a 25th anniversary card in my mind for a few months now, and it feels great to finally get it out on paper. We tried the faux patina technique  in a card class with my upline, and I loved it! Since then, I have used it a few more times to make birthday and thank-you cards, but I thought it would look extra special for a beautiful 25th anniversary. Now, no one I know will be celebrating a 25th anniversary soon, but it is never a bad idea to have a variety of cards in stock because you never know when you'll get that odd request for a special card :)

The faux patina technique is a time consuming, but not a challenging, technique. There are a few steps involved:

First, ink up the embossing folder you want to use, I am using lacey brocade & midnight muse ink. To do this, rub the ink pad all over the embossing folder and run your paper through the big shot.

Next, sponge the colours you are using all over the embossed page. I am using baja breeze & basic grey (lightly applied).

Then we heat emboss! Make sure to use your embossing buddy prior to applying the versamark. I dabbed the versamark all over the page, then covered the page with silver embossing powder. If I think that there will be too much silver, or not enough of the sponged colours are showing, I wipe some of the embossing powder off with a paint brush before heating.

Viola! The background is complete :) See, not hard at all :)

In order to make a more vintage look, try other colours! I have used early espresso on the embossing folder, sponged with marina mist & wild wasabi, and used gold embossing powder.

Thanks for looking and leave me a comment if you have any questions! :)

Supplies used:
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Apothecary Art
Ink: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Brushed Silver Cardstock, Baja Breeze
Tools: Labels Framelits
Accessories: Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Tim Holtz Sponges, Silver Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Victoria Crochet Trim, 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Hat Pin & Jewels from Pretties Kit (ret), Baja Breeze & Basic Grey Markers, Dimensionals

MOJO Monday 276: Cupid Loves You

Hello again! I hope Monday was good to you :)

I played along this week with the Mojo sketch and came up with this pretty Valentine's card. It's almost that time of year again!

As you can see, the card follows along nicely with the sketch. I popped up the entire face plate to add some dimension to the card. Dimensionals are a necessity in my crafting room and I use them on basically every project!

Thanks for looking! 

Supplies used:

Stamps: PS-I Love You (ret)

Paper: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Love Impressions (ret), Blushing Bride (ret)

Ink: Basic Grey, Real Red

Tools: 1-3/4" Circle Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Nestabilities Scallop Circle & Circle

Accessories: Victoria Crochet Trim, Pleated Satin Ribbon (ret), Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

3x3 - Possibly the Cutest Size!

Happy Monday! I hope you had an excellent weekend :) My weekend was great! I had a birthday last week and the celebrations continued into Sunday. With three birthday dinners and one lunch, I think it is best if I don't eat out for a while! :) Here is a snapshot of my little sister and I on my 24th birthday and of Beefy trying to share the ice-cream cake:

Another exciting thing this weekend - my best friend Michelle (who also happens to be my boyfriend's sister) and her boyfriend arrived home from an exciting trip to Colombia! They were gone for three weeks over Christmas and New Years and it is so great to have them back. Not to mention that they brought a lot of exciting loot back from their travels with them :) Here are two of my favourite things they brought back: a beautiful bag/purse (don't you love the colours!?) and a fabulous poncho scarf called a chalina which can be tied over 50 different ways! I absolutley love both the gifts and am so grateful to have such thoughful people in my life.

That's enough about me... let's take a look at one of the cutest, in my opinion, card sizes: 3x3! This first set I made for a craft fair back in December, but my mom loved them so much that she snapped them up even before the craft fair started! Aren't they adorable?

I made another set for Michelle to take to Colombia with her (I know Christmas is over, but I really wanted to show these because I absolutely love them). Also adorable!

Michelle brought quite a few of my papercrafts to Colombia with her and I was delighted to hear that the recipients of my cards loved them! One person even went as far as to clear everything off their mantle and display my card as their centerpiece. How awesome is that? :)

Thanks for looking! Check back later tonight for another post :)

Supplies used:
Stamps: Easy Events, Short & Sweet, Jolliest Time of the Year (ret)
Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Be of Good Cheer DSP, Michael's DSP
Ink: Basic Grey, Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, Real Red, Early Espresso
Tools: 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 1-1/2" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Sizzex Tags Die, Diagonal Score Plate
Accessories: Blender Pen, Primrose Petals Marker, Raspberry Ripple Marker, Gumball Green Marker, Basic Pearls, 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon, Sponge, Polka Dots Embossing Folder