Rainbow Night in the Offudio

It started with a simple enough plan: punch some hearts to create a border and then put colored paper behind them. 

I love rainbows. I have this thing where I NEED colors to be in Roy G Biv order. When folks say, "It's a rainbow!" and are talking about multi-colored and NOT Roy G Biv order, I'm bothered. Greatly. 

Things should be in order: Roy G Biv and ombre! It makes my heart pitty pat with delight! 

I've been known to reorder displays in stores in order to fix it for them. ;oP

In this case, I'd made the rainbow teacups a couple weeks back but didn't feel I'd worked all the rainbow out of my system. 

I pulled the card stock and cut it into 3/4" strips and got to work. 

I punched more hearts--this time a bit lower--and repeated the process. 

But then, I had rainbow scraps left behind...

I didn't want to just toss them and saw my heart punch lying there, and well, this happened:

Be still my heart!!

And then, well, there was that punch Nana had just given me, just lying there as well, and, there those scraps were so this happened:

Doncha just love it when things come together??? :oD 

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Stamp Sets: Friendly Phrases, Express Yourself

Paper: Whisper White (heavy and regular), Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Coastal Cabana

Ink: Gorgeous Grape

Miscellaneous: Dimensionals

Tips:

*I cut the bases at 5"x3.75" so I could mark the mid-point at 2.5". 

Then, I marked the card like this. I LOVE working with the grid paper behind me, it makes it incredibly easy to draw straight lines using a ruler!

You can see I marked an additional line 1/2" up for the second card. (The first, I just popped the punch all the way up.)

By marking that 1/2" line, I was about to line up the heart punch like so, making my border relatively even. 

And, as those who know me well know, I believe in keeping it real. Look at this mess!!

Whew!

I lose stamp blocks, stamp pads, Tombow, etc. in this mess!

Oy!

It's amazing I can get anything done, lol!

But, this is mess is what led to the creation of those cards. When you have stuff ust lying around, you can pick things up and put them together. ;o) 

Mosaic Madness Birthday Card for Paul with Cutout

Paul's birthday is next week, so while I'm here in Williamsburg with Rachael, I decided to play with my brand new stamp set, Mosaic Madness to make him a card. Mosaic Madness is the most versatile set I've ever used and expect it will be Stampin' Up's biggest seller ever. I also purchased the punch and the embossing folder that complement the stamp set and decided to use all three to make the card. Then, I got the idea to punch out one of the cells on the front of the card and place one of the punched images inside the card to peek through.

After I embossed the front piece I punched out the piece at the bottom right (see below).

Next, I stamped and punched the three images. The inks I used are Gumball Green, Night of Navy, and Raspberry Ripple. I put the red and blue ones on the front of the card using demensionals so they'd pop up and glued the green one inside the card aligning it to fit perfectly into the punched-out space. 

Here on the inside of the card, I attached the birthday greeting. To make it I used one of the sentiments in the Friendly Phrases stamp set, which I cut out using a Framelit.

--Lissie

Secret Garden DSP

As I may have mentioned, it was cold, grey and dreary and I was craving bright and sunny.  I picked up one of my new stamp sets and set to work creating my own DSP.  I used bright, bold colors and selected a set with both solid and line stamps. 

Then, I cut it apart and used it to make cards. :o)

In this card, I used a Copic marker to color the bling so it would match the stamped images.

And, this card uses a variation on the stamped paper I used for the rest of the cards since I used Pumpkin Pie for the orange flower instead of Calypso Coral.

This card was made when I saw all the scraps lying on the desktop.  I fiddled with them a bit and this was the result.  :o)

This was truly a fun bunch of cards to make and I'm already thinking of how I could use that same stamp set with a different color scheme.  :o)

These cards us:

*Stamp Sets: "Secret Garden", "Friendly Phrases", "Sweet Essentials", "Bloomin' Marvelous"

*Inks: Calypso Coral, Real Red, Poppy Parade, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Kiwi Kiss

*Paper: Whisper White

Blowing Kisses Birthday

I can't seem to stop using this sweet "Blowing Kisses" bunny.  He makes my heart feel light and happy and I find him utterly adorable.

Miss Gracie had a birthday earlier this month, and being the spot on auntie I am, I got this card out right away...yeah, no.  No, I didn't.  But, I called her on her birthday and let her know we were thinking about her, and hey, this extends her birthday a bit, right?

I stamped the bunny and grass on watercolor paper and colored him using markers and a water pen.  I then cut him out using my Deckled Rectangles Nesties. The "ribbon" is two strips of paper cut 1/2" and adhered together using  two-way tape.  I figured out a nifty trick to cutting the chevron in the end, I take my 1 1/8" square punch, and match it up to cut a notch out using a corner. 

I finished it off by stamping the sentiment from "Teeny Tiny Wishes" and using VersaMark to stamp just the heart part of the balloon from "Blowing Kisses".

I know this image is fuzzy--I'm sorry. The sentiment is from "Friendly Phrases" and I added the heart balloon to finish it off. 

Happy Birthday to Miss Gracie!

--Rach

This card uses:

*Stamp Sets: "Blowing Kisses", "Teeny Tiny Wishes", "Friendly Phrases"
*Paper: watercolor paper, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla
*Inks: black StazOn, Pretty in Pink, and Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink and Crumb Cake markers
*Accessories: Deckled Rectangles Nesties

Buttons Buddy Birthday

I mentioned the slew of January birthdays we have and here's yet another card for one of them.  I can't help myself, I just adore the Button Buddies piggy with a birthday hat on his head. :o) He's such a cheerful little guy. :o)

Since my nephew's favorite color is green I went with Wild Wasabi for the base.  I mimicked the polka dots on the hat with the Swiss dots embossed on the white layer.  I also figure no birthday hat is complete without some pom pom trim and the Daffodil Delight picked up the yellow in the hat's dots. :o)

I finished off the inside with the same sentiment I used on Lydie's birthday card and the same cute little cupcake from Warm Words. :o)

--Rach

This card uses:
*Stamp Sets: Button Buddies, Curly Cute, Friendly Phrases, Warm Words
*Papers: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Cutie Pie DSP (retired)
*Inks: Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, Real Red
*Accessories: Daffodil Delight pom pom trim

Curly Cute Cupcakes

January is a month of many birthdays around these parts.  It's our second heaviest month behind July.  I've been busily making birthday cards and trying to make sure each one is unique and suited to the recipient. 

This card is for my niece, Lydia. I chose the DSP with polka dots to mimic the dots on the cupcakes.  I'll come right out and admit I'm a sucker for polka dots.  :o)

I found the sketch at the Paper Players, and it's such a versatile sketch you'll be seeing it a couple more times. ;o)

And, the inside. 

I got it addressed, stamped and mailed just in time for Lydie's birthday. Whew!

--Rach

This card uses:

*Stamp Sets: Darling Dots, Curly Cute, Friendly Phrases
*Paper: Bella Rose DSP (retired), Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
*Inks: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Pretty in Pink markers, Pretty in Pink and Riding Hood Red stamp pads

Blowing Kisses for Baby

You know what they say about good intentions...

I had every good intention of making cards and sending them and entering challenges, and somehow they just didn't come to fruition. It was so much easier to get in and make cards when Ellie was a little baby.  Now she's this busy toddler who is into everything and I just can't leave her unattended.  The thought of what she could get into simply boggles my mind. 

I've determined, though, no more excuses.  I love making cards and getting my creative juices flowing, and if I want to do something, I just have to make the time to do it. 

My cousin and her husband just had their first baby and I'm SO excited for them! I knew I could combine the challenge at the Paper Players with the need for a baby card and come up with something sweet.  :o)

A big challenge for me is stepping outside the box with regards to stamps.  For example, if the stamp is a Christmas or summer stamp, I have a tough time thinking of a way to use it other than for its intended purpose.  "Blowing Kisses" is a Valentine's stamp, but that sweet little bunny just called to me and I knew he was perfect for this card. 

I stamped him in Staz-On on watercolor paper and colored him using Crumb Cake and Pretty in Pink.  The grass is colored using Wild Wasabi and Pretty in Pink.

I found a piece of pink gingham paper I had stashed away and it pulled the card together.  I'm such a sucker for gingham and baby cards...:o) 
 

I always like to so a little something special on the insides of my cards and I loved the way I was able to tie in the balloon from "Blowing Kisses" with the sentiment from "Friendly Phrases".

Hooray for getting into my space and stamping again! :o)

--Rach

This card uses:

*Stamp Sets: "Blowing Kisses", "Teeny Tiny Wishes", "Friendly Phrases"
*Paper: Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, watercolor, Very Vanilla, Memory Makers pink gingham DSP
*Ink: Black Staz-On, Pretty in Pink, Crumb Cake and Wild Wasabi markers