Dragonfly Spotlight

     Hello and welcome! Today's card project features Dragonfly Dreams and Butterfly Basics stamp sets...both just absolutely lovely. To add a little bit of pizzazz to my card, I used the spotlight technique. This is a super easy way to add appeal to any project.

     Today's card is also my entry for this week's Global Design Project 126 which is a sketch challenge. Here is the layout that we are following for this week's challenge.

     So on to my card...I used Very Vanilla as my card base (A2 size). I used a piece of Island Indigo and Gold Foil sheet for my layering pieces, and again a piece of Very Vanilla for my art piece (3 3/4 x 5").  I started by stamping my dragonfly using my Basic Black ink pad and then clear heat embossing it afterwards, to make it easier to colour later on. I then moved on to stamping my branches of leaves off to the right edge using Old Olive and Basic Black ink pads. This was followed by stamping my sentiment...making sure it'll fit into my oval.

     Once all my stamping is done, I moved on to colouring my dragonfly. I then used my Wink of Stella to give the wings a bit of sparkle, before covering the wings with my Fine Tip glue pen to give it a glossy finish. While letting the glue dry, I cut out my bigger oval out of my Island Indigo cardstock, and then a smaller oval onto my art piece (once the glue was dry).

     To put my card together, I started with layering my ovals first, then layering my art piece onto the gold and Island Indigo pieces. Before adhering my cut-out ovals, I attached my ribbon which I coloured to match my Island Indigo pieces, and wrapped this around all my layering pieces. Finally it was just a matter of lining up my cut-out ovals and adhering it onto my card. 

     Here is my finished project, I hope you like it! Thank you once again for stopping by and hope to see you next time. Have a lovely day!

Ink & Share Blog Hop featuring Sale-a-Bration

     Welcome to the very first Ink & Share Blog Hop! Right now you are hopping along with me all the way from Calgary, Canada. Come hop along with a group of talented independent Stampin' Up demonstrators from all over the world every month for some inspiration and creative ideas!

     I am so excited because this is my very first blog hop...I am new to blogging and I'm trying to go out of my comfort zone and try out new things.  For our first hop, we are featuring Sale-a-Bration items. All our SAB items are awesome...it's so hard to choose which one to use! But I finally decided to go back to my favorite stamp set...Lots of Lavender. It's just so beautiful, I can't stop playing with it!

     For this card I stamped my lavender bouquets on a piece of Whisper White cardstock using my Basic Black ink pad. I then clear-heat-embossed my images as I will be colouring my flowers. Once coloured, I cut my images out and moved on to my sentiment. 

     I used a sentiment from the stamp set Ribbon of Courage, which I gold-heat-embossed on a stitched circle die-cut piece of Basic Black cardstock. I had my sentiment off to the left side of the circle as I wanted to layer my bouquets beside it. 

     For the rest of my pieces, I used a Fresh Fig (standard A2 size) card base, a layering piece of Whisper White cardstock (4 x 5 1/4"), and scrap pieces of Blackberry Bliss and Peekaboo Peach cardstock. I also cut out a piece of the Painted with Love DSP (2 x 4") and then added the Year of Cheer washi tape into the mix just to tie into the gold embossing. 

     Once I got all my pieces ready, it was easy to assemble my card. I first adhered my Whisper White cardstock onto my card base, then layered all my scrap pieces of cardstock, washi tape and DSP  off to the left side. One bouquet is glued onto the layering piece as well, while the rest of the bouquets were glued onto my sentiment piece, which I adhered using dimensionals on top of my looped twine. Finally I added a few embellishments using sequins and a few White Perfect Accents which I coloured in to match my card. 

     And here is my finished card, hope you like it! Don't forget to check out my fellow demonstrator's lovely creations and keep hopping along with us...who knows where you'll end up! Next on the hop is the talented and super awesome stamper Shirley Merker.

Melissa Tennison

Joanne Hodge

Lisa Kmiec

Tricia Butts

Deb Naylor

Ginger Rabesa

Amy Grendel

Jacqueline Bobeldijk-Schilder

Laura Mackie

Ingrid Heijnen-Hermens

Linda Handford

***PHOEBE BORROMEO-CARR***

Shirley Merker

Karen Pearmain

Malissa Laws

Kirsten Aitchison

A Little Wild Slider Card

     It is my cute goddaughter's third birthday this weekend (Happy birthday Isay!!!) and I wanted to make her a special card. I decided to make her a slider card using the adorable animals from the stamp set A Little Wild...I'm hoping that she would like this fun interactive card.

     For this card I am using a piece of DSP (I think this one is from last year's SAB...what can I say...I'm a paper hoarder!) and Tangerine Tango cardstock both measuring 5 x 5'. I trimmed my frame to have a 3/4" border on the top and bottom, and 1/2" on the sides. For my slider piece I used same color cardstock that measures 4 1/4" x 11", and a Thick Whisper White piece measuring 3/4 x 4 1/2". I also punched two 3/4" circles on a Thick Whisper White cardstock. For the push/pull part I punched a tag piece of Lost Lagoon cardstock. 

     I also used the Special Celebrations stamp set for my sentiments. Then I scattered a few confetti stamps inside the card and added gold lines outside...and that's basically my card! For the video tutorial, just click on the link below.

     I hope you enjoyed my card for today crafters and I wish you all a lovely day! Thanks for stopping by and see you next time!

Southern Serenade

     It is the end of the week (thank God!) again, and it is time for another Global Design Project challenge. This week, it is a colour challenge...using the fun combination of Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Dapper Denim.

     For me, this color combo is a bit intriguing as I would never have thought to put these three colors together. I must say though that after looking at my finished card, I think this combo is brilliant! It is fun and playful, and I sure had fun playing with these colors.

     For this challenge, I decided to use my Southern Serenade stamp set because I just love this stamp set and I can't wait to play with it. Not only does this set have gorgeous images...it also has a lot of lovely sentiments. I think it's an awesome value because you can certainly create beautiful cards with just this one set.

     Starting with a Whisper White cardstock (4 x 5 1/4") I stamped my flowers in my Basic Black ink pad and then clear-heat-embossed it. Then I moved on to doing my background using the lacy flower stamp in the set with my Melon Mambo and Dapper Denim ink pads. I did not bother masking my flowers because I decided to go for a textured look for this card. The flowers were then simply coloured in using my blender pen and my Daffodil Delight ink refill.

     I stamped the sentiment on a die-cut circle piece of Basic Black cardstock using my Versamark pad and then gold-heat-embossed it. For embellishments I used my Flourish Thinlits Dies and die-cut a few blooms on a piece of gold foil sheet. I also used a piece of Daffodil Delight circle die-cut, and a strip of the glittery gold washi tape (from last year's SAB) that I coloured with a black marker. 

      So here is my finished card...thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my card as much as I did creating it, and I hope to see you next time. Have a lovely day!

Last-minute Valentine Card

     I did it again...I lost track of time and forgot to do my last Valentine card. So right on Valentine's day, I am making my final cards. It is a simple two-for-one card, and again I used my Heart Happiness stamp set along with my Ribbon of Courage and Flourishing Phrases stamp sets.

     I believe that there is beauty in simplicity, and there is something to be said with making simple cards and stepping them up as well. My cards for today involved just heat embossing. I used my Versamark and white embossing powder on my Cherry Cobbler cardstock (3 1/2" x 5 1/2") and then reversed it on my Whisper White cardstock (same dimensions) by stamping my images with Cherry Cobbler ink pad instead and then clear heat embossing it. The important thing to note is that you'll need to use a stamp positioning tool for this to make sure you get two exactly identical pieces of card fronts. Unfortunately, I haven't received my Stamparatus yet, so I'm still using my old positioning tool. 

stamping images on Cherry Cobbler cardstock using Versamark pad for white heat embossing

re-stamping images on white cardstock with Cherry Cobbler ink pad for clear heat embossing

   

     This is what my card fronts look like after all my images and sentiment have been heat embossed. I could have left it like this and it would've been a nice simple card, but I wanted to step it up a bit. So I taped both cards together and cut them both on the diagonal. And then I did a little switcheroo after. Here's what that looks like.

     These card fronts were then just adhered onto my Basic Black A2 sized card base with foam tape for additional dimension. Now I wanted to of course add some shimmer, so I used the silver glitter washi tape from last year's SAB. And for embellishments, I added these white sequins. These sequins didn't come in red, so I improvised and just colored them in with a red sharpie. Problem solved!

     So from very simple cards, I stepped them up a bit by cutting and a bit of switching, and adding some embellishments. Here's my final cards. 

     I'm not sure which version I liked better...the simple or the stepped-up ones. One thing for sure, experimenting fuels creativity. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed today's cards. Have a lovely day! (It's almost the weekend...yay!!!)

Simple Heart Happiness

     I have just received my top secret Display Stamper supply box from Stampin' Up for the upcoming OnStage in April, and I have been too engrossed with playing with my new toys that I completely forgot to make another Valentine card for my blog! (So much for my time management!) So because I'm pressed for time, I created this very simple and easy-to-do card using the Heart Happiness stamp set.

     For this simple card I chose my background from the Petal Passion Memories & More card pack. This card pack is just chock-full of beautiful paper that you can easily turn into cards...not just for scrapbooking! My hearts are heat embossed on Sweet Sugarplum cardstock using my Versamark pad and white embossing powder, and then I just fussy cut them as I do not have the coordinating dies for this. My sentiment is from the Sale-a-Bration stamp set Happy Wishes...'You make me so' is white heat embossed on Basic Black cardstock and 'Happy' is stamped on Whisper White cardstock with my Memento ink pad.

     To put my card together, I put some dimensionals on my 'happy' sentiment and the small heart, and scattered some sequins for embellishment. I then just adhered my card front to my Pink Pirouette card base, and that is my card! This card took me little time to make, so this would be awesome for mass-producing! I hope you enjoyed my simple card for today crafters and have a lovely week ahead of you!

Orange Blossoms Valentine

     I bought the Orange Blossom stamp set a while ago but unfortunately never had the chance to play with it...until now. In my constant search for inspiration, I happen to stumble upon the Global Design Project website, and this week's design challenge inspired me to finally use this stamp set. 

     For my simple card, I stamped my images on a die-cut stitched circle using Flirty Flamingo, Dapper Denim and Wild Wasabi ink pads. This stamped circle was then layered on top of another die-cut circle in Dapper Denim and then adhered to a Whisper White cardstock that has been ran through the Big Shot with the Petal Pair embossing folder. This entire piece is then layered again on top of another Dapper Denim cardstock before adhering to the card base.

     I wanted to stick with the Valentine's theme and so I chose the 'I love you' sentiment from my Flourishing Phrases stamp set, which I then heat-embossed with silver embossing powder. For embellishments I picked a couple of vellum foil pieces from the Sweet Soiree embellishment kit, scattered a few silver sequins, and added shimmer to my flowers using my Wink of Stella. And this is my card for the day.

     Hope you enjoyed my card for the Global Design Project challenge this week. This is my first time to participate, what a great idea to keep everyone's creativity flowing! I'm looking forward to the next one. Hope to see you next time crafters!

This Little Cupid Piggy

     Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and in honor of this, I'm doing a few cards with this theme in mind. Today I decided to make a playful Valentine's day card using my This Little Piggy stamp set. This set was one of my must-haves from the Occasions catalogue because I thought it was just too adorable! 

     I started by making my own glimmer paper for my clouds using the Dazzling Diamonds and the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets. I just stuck one side of the adhesive sheet on a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then poured the glitter onto the other side of the sheet.

     I don't own any cloud dies and so I made do with what I had...which was the cloud stencil from the Pattern Party Decorative Masks. I traced the clouds and just cut them out...easy glittery clouds.

     Next I stamped and colored my pigs. For the cupid pig, I did the mirror stamping technique (tips on this technique here) because I wanted him to face the other way. I then just drew in the bow and arrow in his hands, colored them in, added shimmer using Wink of Stella, cut the pigs out, put dimensionals at the back and then set them aside. 

     My background piece is a 3 3/4 x 5" piece of Pool Party cardstock that I ran through my Big Shot with my Softly Falling embossing folder and then sponged with my Island Indigo ink pad. Finally my sentiment is from the retired set Sealed with Love, and I heat embossed it with my silver embossing powder on a cut-out Berry Burst heart. I cut out the same heart on a piece of DSP, and then added a half of the silver foil snowflake for embellishment as well as some small sequins. I also added a layering piece of Silver Foil sheet that's 4 x 5 1/4". And here is my finished card.

     I hope you enjoyed my playful Valentine's day card for today crafters and I wish you all a lovely day! See you next time :)