Crimped Build a Blossom

Well this one was sure a fun surprise! I wanted to play with the new in color, Pool Party. So, I just started playing around. I'm also excited that the Build a Blossom set made the transition from mini-catalog to the Idea Book & Catalog. Now I get to have all sorts of fun using it again! I experimented with a few flower ideas/combinations when I stumbled upon the Pool Party & Night of Navy combo. Love it! Thank goodness for clear stamps. They made stamping the second layer on top of the first a breeze! My stamped flower wasn't enough though...even with the two colors of layers. I started working on the center of the flower & tried at least three with no luck. :( Silly me! I just needed to add a few petals created with the coordinating punch for this set! I wanted to give them a bit more dimension so I ran them through the crimper before adhering them. Perfect! I did the same to the Night of Navy background square & lightened the whole thing up with a Whisper White background. Lots of experimentation for a simple card, but I'm pleased with the end design!

Shimmer Butterflies from Scrap

Ah, we've reached the end of my creations from January's Quarterly Quarter party. This one doesn't photograph as well as I would like, so you're going to have to trust me on it. The whole card base is sprayed with gold Smooch Spritz which makes it all shimmer. Unfortunately, all that really shows up here are the larger blobs. In reality, it brings out the shimmer from the brushed gold circle behind the heart. The whole focal image is from my jar of unused bits. I did add texture to the Always Artichoke circle, but everything else is straight from the left overs bin. :) I almost decided against pairing the So Saffron heart with the Brushed Gold circle, but some of the other ladies convinced me that it is a good match. It's ever so nice to have other opinions when your designing a project! My husband does the best he can, but I think even he grows weary of me asking if "this looks okay".

Top Note Elf Shoes

Merry Christmas! It looks like I had one last Christmas card in me after all! I've seen these cute little feet on blogs all over the place and wanted to give them a shot myself. You just cut a Top Note in quarters & then use the Large Oval Punch to make the top of the shoes. I found the remnants of Candy Cane Lane designer paper I had around made for great elf socks! Glue dots are an easy way to make perfect glitter circles for the toes. Great fun! I hope you have a lovely holiday. I'm off to enjoy mine!

Reindeer Mojo

How about that little reindeer? He just has to make you smile! My second "fun with punches" adventure may be even more cute than the first. I have a soft spot in my heart for penguins (even though one once bit me in the rear), but this little guy has some serious personality. I searched around on Splitcost Stampers to look at punch ideas and found a similar reindeer, so I fiddled with it a bit to make him work for me. I may have gotten a little carried away with his antlers, but I can scale them back next time to fit him into an envelope. I actually used four punches to make Rudolph: his nose is from the Owl Punch, his face is the Designer Label Punch, his ears are from the 5 Petal Flower, and his antlers are from the XL Bird punch. Lots of toys, but super simple to assemble. Oh, and the sketch is courtesy of the folks over at Mojo Monday. Again, I switched things up a bit, but that's part of the fun!

Guest Book

Yikes, sorry about the glare on this one. I never claimed to have any skill at photography, but I've already given this to its proper owner so there isn't a chance for a retake.

One of my dear friends is hosting a reception for her stepson this weekend and asked if I would put together a guest book for them. It was a new challenge for me because I really didn't know what colors to use & because it's a larger format than I'm used to working with.

I wanted to do something elegant so I stuck with black & white at first. Then I tried adding red, but it looked like some sort of bad Valentine at that point. The solution came along with the UPS man. I ordered some of our brushed gold cardstock for Xmas cards and found it provided just the touch of elegance I was after. It also embossed in the Big Shot beautifully. There's a lot of embossing going on here between Big Shot use and heat embossing on the sentiment & the birds themselves. Sorry the photo didn't turn out better, but the end result worked well for the happy occasion. Whew! I had my fingers crossed on this one.

House Inspired

As its title indicates, this card was inspired by a house. My friends and I joined in the Bike Longmont ride last night through old town (I of course was on my full sized trike since I never learned to ride a bike...) and as we went past one home, I knew I found my next card. I think I even said "Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, and Barely Banana" out loud.

The banana looks a bit too orange in this photo, but works well in the real world. You'll have to trust me on that one. It was also fun to not have the "something missing" feeling at the end of this project. It's a keeper.

Elf Easel/ Mojo Monday 141

The last Monday of each month, Mojo Monday has a "Circle or Square?" challenge. I have been turning it into my easel of the month card. That way, I can still use the square sketch and I can practice one of my favorite formats!

I knew I wanted to make a card with the Ornament Punch elf and Merry Moments designer paper, so I thought I would hold on to the basic idea until the ladies at Mojo Monday came out with their next sketch. Whenever I'm a little stuck but have a few ideas to start with, I find playing with a sketch is a great way to get the ideas flowing again. Sometimes the final card doesn't match the sketch, but it provides a great launching point!

Today's creation is part of my Christmas in June collection. It's not too late to sign up to host one of these fun events. Get your friends together to make Christmas cards before the craziness of the season sets in...WAY before!

Polished Stone Hearts

Sorry for the absence yesterday, but work does have a talent for getting in the way. Today's project is another "what do I have laying around" creation. While experimenting with the polished stone technique to make the rose card recently, I made a bit of paper with Regal Rose & Rose Red reinkers. Today I decided that it would make fun hearts. Too often hearts are only used for Valentines or wedding cards. I decided they are great for every day cards as well. Otherwise it's like keeping the good dishes only for special occasions. Let's use them all the time!