Desk Calendar

Hello again! I thought I'd post a past project that my hostess club members got to make during one of our meetings this year. I used two 4x4 inch chipboard coasters that were covered with designer paper, and lightly sanded the edges. The coasters are joined with two Round Tab punch-outs. The calendar is printed from Cat's 2010 template that she so graciously shared on Splitcoast and was trimmed down to size. What a timesaver - thank you so much Cat! The calendar pages are held together with a little library clip, so that the months can be changed out easily. The back page has repositionable tape for easy removal, so that you could print out a whole new year and reuse this little creation. The flowers were stamped and cut out, and held together with a little flower brad. It is adhered with dimensional popdots. I hope you enjoy your Friday, and that you can come back again soon.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue stamp set
Paper: Sweet Pea DSP, cardstock: So Saffron, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Bigshot/Butterfly embosslit, Sweet Pea paper, scallop edge punch, mini library clip, Round Tab punch, dimensional popdots, Sending Love epoxy brads in chocolate chip, repositionable double-sided tape, sanding block

Black & White - Ollie...

Happy Saturday to you! I thought I'd share a birthday card made for my younger son today. The background in Whisper White uses the new embossing folder available in the Summer Mini catalog called Square Lattice - one of the really neat things about this particular folder is how you can have two subtle, but different, designs with items that are embossed with it. If you click on the picture above, a slightly larger picture should appear and you can more easily see the little crosses in the pattern are debossed (going inward). A few posts down titled Sponged Backgrounds shows you a card with the little crosses facing outward. Anyhow, since this card was made for a male teenager, I had to be careful not to go overboard with the "girly" embellishments. I think the cardstock texture adds just enough to keep the card interesting, don't you think?

The neat background stamps on the main panel are from Extreme Elements. The black ink was stamped off on scratch paper two or three times before the final stamping on my main panel. Promotion plug here - you can order this stamp set, or a number of other selections, in Stampin'Up!'s Scrapbooking Promotion this month and receive Free designer brads through May 31st.... read all about it HERE. The Extreme Skateboard stamp is awesome and was stamped in Versamark/black ink, then heat embossed in black embossing powder. The black frame was made using a ruler and craft knife, then glued to the main panel before final assembly.

I really love the Extreme Skateboard stamp because it fits my son to a "T". Although he's more into the Ripstik now than the skateboard (which is quite amazing because it only has 2 wheels, not 4!), this image is good for both. I love watching him do tricks (and yes, my heart does skip a beat now and then!), and one trick he's good at is called the "Ollie". It's where you make the entire skateboard (or Ripstik) "jump" or "pop" off the ground with you still on it, land and keep on going without your feet (... or other body parts... yikes!) touching the ground.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon. :)

Black & White Daisies part 2

Here's the last grouping of cards using Upsy Daisy and Well Scripted. Again, trying to keep within the the Black and White theme (ok, and gray too!). They are a bit simpler in design than yesterday's post, but the benefit is that they assemble much faster!

Tomorrow's card is for a male teen - I hope you can stop by if you need an idea or two! Take care.... see you again soon.

Black & White Daisies part 1

The next few posts are cards that I made using just black, gray and white cardstocks, embellishments and inks. The grey tones that you'll see on the stamped portions of these cards is a simple technique of just using the same stamp repeatedly without reinking in between impressions. Today and tomorrows cards are using basically the same main image of Upsy Daisy with different sentiments from Well Scripted - I just changed up the layout a bit on each one. The card above also uses Versamark ink and white embossing powder/heatgun along the bottom, as well as the Eyelet Border edge punch. I added a flower and ribbon layer for the card below.... a quick and simple touch if you're pressed for time.



I hope you like them and can stop in tomorrow for slightly different layout variations using Upsy Daisy. Saturday's post is a birthday card in black and white created for one of my sons.... kids grow so darn fast! Have a great day!

Black & White Sizzlet Storage

A good friend of mine asked me one day "how are you storing your little Sizzlet dies?"..... Good question! At the time, I was using the little pockets of a quilted bag that stores my Bigz and XL dies, but soon found that I had to pull everything out of the pockets to find what I needed. OK, this was the perfect opportunity to get creative and make something pretty and useful.

So how do you like my Sizzlet Storage Box? Believe it or not, this is an altered processed cheese box (ie just like Velveeta cheese comes in) and fits the Sizzlet dies perfectly!!! I carefully disassembled the box lid and used it as a template on the Night & Day DSP (retired, holiday mini). I reassembled the box lid in conjunction with the DSP to give the lid strength. The black ribbon lace is from my gigantic ribbon stash with a layer of the Whisper White Organza ribbon on top. I matted this to white and black cardstock, and added black brads. The flower was created with heart punches to create a rose that was lightly sponged on the edges in black and spritzed with Champagne Mist/alcohol spray and adhered with gluedots/popdots...

Thanks for checking in... have a super day!

Sponged Backgrounds

As you've probably gathered by now from my posted projects, I love to sponge ink! Usually, it's along the edges of layers, but every now and then, I love to make my background with this technique. This background uses a torn post-it note with sponged ink to create my hillside on Blush Blossom cardstock. Not rocket science by any means, but I love the effect. The colors used on this card are Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa and Ruby Red. There's one small layer of Cameo Coral cardstock around my main panel. I used my homemade Champaigne Mist Shimmer Paint spray (which my hostess club members will get to play with this month!) all across the stamped panel. In real life, the spray adds a beautiful, subtle glittery effect across the entire surface.... it's so pretty! Just use a small spray bottle, fill with one teaspoon of 70% rubbing alcohol and about 7 drops of Shimmer Paint... shake well before each use, and you are ready to rock! Ribbon and little pearls finish off the main panel. The textured background is a new embossing folder in the Summer Mini called Square Lattice. The stamped trees are from Trendy Trees....

Have a great weekend! See you soon!

Mother's Day

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday - I had to work the night before, so Sunday morning had me sleeping till noontime. Then I was up to help the kids with school projects - why do teacher's pack the "big" projects so close to the end of school? Ugh!! Anyhow, my Mother's Day ended with a delicious dinner made by DH - he's the cook in our family... I'm so spoiled, I know.

These cards were made last week for Mother's Day, and I got as far as watermarking the pics and then forgetting I had them in my folder to post - Doh! Anyhow, the sentiment can be changed up to fit any occasion, so if you need a quick card, this may fit the bill.

It was made with SU's notecards with envelopes - these are a must-have item for your stash and are perfect to use as a base for last minute cards. The floral spray comes from Watercolor Trio - a new set offered in the Summer Mini Catalog. It was selectively colored and stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Old Olive and Ballet Blue markers, and then finished with a Barely Banana butterfly (try saying that five times fast - I can't even say it once without twisting up my words! hee hee). The matting is Barely Banana and Ballet Blue. The sentiment is from Well Scripted. The background is En Francais, a new favorite of mine! Slight sponging finishes the cardbase edges...

The pic below shows one closeup for better viewing, you can click it to make it larger.

I have a series of black & white projects and cards lined up to start next Monday - I hope you can visit and check them out! Have a great day...