Cupcake Sweet Friend

Another no-red card. But orange seeped in again. It's such a refreshing color, especially this time of year.

This card was one of those cards that start out so differently than I had intended. It was full of mishaps and detours. For instance, I hadn't intended it to be on a black base. I was actually going to make it white. But after goofing up part of the white on the front I had to cut it down and use another background.

I knew I wanted to use this designer paper from Pocket Full of Posies by DCWV. I love the softness of the green and the little sparkles that are unfortunately not visible in the pics. (Actually, I can see the glittery-ness now that I am looking at it on my laptop. Go figure.) And I knew I wanted a clean-looking card, thus the (original) white base. I had originally not intended to use any black. But once I put that polka dot ribbon against the other elements I was smitten with the look.

I can't believe I didn't do any dry embossing on a large scale like I usually do. I did emboss the oval after cutting it out using an oval Nestie. I also cut out the scalloped oval with the Cuttlebug, but that's all the cuttlebugging I did.

I used my favorite Martha Stewart punch - Doily Lace - twice to give a layered look. It always looks so smart in white.

The cupcake is heat embossed using Brilliance Graphite Black ink and Judikins Detail Black ep. The coloring-in was done using Prismacolor pencils. You can't see it, but I originally made the white oval with another cupcake on it. I didn't like the way it turned out so I did another one, cut it out, and glued it over the other one. Saved me the hassle of redoing the oval cutting and embossing.

I had not meant to put a bow on the oval, but right when I was finishing up the original card, I realized that I had laid my hand on my Stamp-a-ma-jig with wet black ink on it and messed up the finished oval. Ugh! Rather than start over, I sanded the cardstock to remove as much of the dried ink as I could. Then I punched a hole over it and added the ribbon. Worked well enough.

The black polka dot ribbon actually conceals another boo boo that I made trying to run a line of paper-pierced holes along the white cs over the designer paper.

One thing I wish I would've done differently is heat emboss the word stamp, or at least use the Brilliance ink. I used Memento Tuxedo Black and see now that it's not as dark as the Brilliance ink.

I used Sticky Doos to pop out the ovals and the designer paper.

I think that's about it. Do you ever have cards that are so much trouble to make?

Recipe:

Stamps: Inkadinkado Birthday Cupcake, Taylored Expressions Sweet Celebration

CS: Black, White, Pocket Full of Posies by DCWV, Bashful Blue

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Cuttlebug, Oval and scalloped oval Nesties, Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch, Sticky Doos, Judikins Detail Black ep, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Black polka dot ribbon, 1/4" Blue organdy ribbon, Prismacolor pencils

Petal Prints Thank You

Petal Prints is one of my favorite sets. I imagine by now that it is retired. Too bad. That set, in my mind, is a classic and will never grow old. Sometimes I just have to pull out an old favorite and play.

I had my sewing machine set up for another reason and figured it was high time I used it on a card. If it wasn't such a hassle to set up I'd use it more often. Someday I hope to have it in me to rearrange my study so that I just have to slide my chair over and voila! I can stitch on my cards.

Notice no red on this one? Couldn't help the orange. That paper was calling to me. It's from the Pocket Full of Posies matstack from DCWV. I love the papers in that pad. They're good and thick and the colors are vibrant.

This card went through many anguishing changes. I was actually going to do the Mojo Monday sketch for this week and just couldn't get it to look right to my satisfaction. It was blah and dull and I wanted to jazz it up some. I won't go into all the details, but I found that turning the card on its side and messing with the design sketch a bit helped me get a happy result.

I started with a black cs base. I stitched the line around the orange designer paper before adhering it to the black. I also added the ribbon beforehand, but not the bow. I added that later.

For the circle I used 2 Nesties, a regular circle and a scalloped circle. Then I glued them together and ran the whole piece through the Cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles folder. The blue paper is by K&Company from the 6" x 6" Addison pad. I used Sticky Doos to pop it up on the card.

The main piece was the hardest part to get right. I had a few boo boo pieces I had to toss aside. But I finally got it right. I used SU and CTMH markers to color the stamp from SU Petal Prints. Then I huffed on it and stamped. I did that three times. Then I just kept stamping around on the paper with the remnants of ink left on the stamp to fill in. Then I used my SU Basic Black marker in the Inkworx Air Art gun and spritzed black ink here and there. Then, once it was dry, I stamped the word phrase using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to put it right where I wanted it. The black ink used was Mementos Tuxedo Black.

I decided to stitch around the flowers after I was done. I used a combo of Mono Multi glue and Sticky Doos to put the flower piece on the card to keep it level as it overlapped different elements on the card. Then I added the blue rhinestones with Mono Multi. The bow was added last, also with Mono Multi.

For the inside of the card I added white cardstock with flowers similar to the ones on the outside. I spritzed them with the black marker, as well. It looks like one corner of the white cs has come loose, but it's just the shadow of the black cs making it look that way.

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Petal Prints, SU Curvy Verses

CS: Black, Pocket Full of Posies matstack designer paper from DCWV, K&Company Addison designer paper, White

Ink: Mementos Tuxedo Black

SU Markers: Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Mellow Moss, Old Olive, Basic Black

CTMH Markers: Sunflower, Autumn Terra Cotta

Other: Sewing machine, Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle, Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Inkworx Air Art gun, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Black polka dot ribbon, Blue rhinestones, Sticky Doos, Mono Multi

Thread cutter find

After my physical therapy yesterday, hubby and I went by Hobby Lobby to pick up some skeins of embroidery floss for my latest cross stitch project and, as usual, I looked around. I saw that they had some nice vintage-looking sewing accessories at a reduced price and found a thread cutter I had been admiring online.



Knowing that Tim Holtz sells one like it for roughing up the edges of cardstock, only his is made of plastic, I grabbed one. It was nice finding a lovely version and saving a little money, too.



Works like a charm!

Birdie Get Well

Hey, I stamped! It about whooped my shoulder, so I'm not sure when I'll stamp again, but I'll take what I can get.

I needed a card for my MIL's best friend who is going through breast cancer treatments and is a dear, dear lady. She's always got a cheerful countenance and I wanted to send her a cheerful card. This bird from Inkadinkado's Birds Galore set seemed just right.

I stamped the bird in Brilliance Graphite Black to get a really bold image on the designer paper (K&Company K-ology 6x6 Hannah paper pad). Since the stamp was a clear stamp I put the pad on the stamp rather than the stamp on the pad. This helped me get a better overall impression. I just kept kissing the stamp with the pad until I didn't see anymore light spots. Brilliance ink is a hybrid of dye ink and craft ink. It dries slowly enough that you can emboss with it and fast enough that you can use it as a regular dye based ink, but with a bit of a waiting period. It's also a true black, not a really dark brown, blue or purple like some black inks. It's a very versatile ink.

I used the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder on the designer paper because I can't help myself. I sponged Rose Romance and Ruby Red inks on it to pop out the embossing. I used the Doily Lace punch by Martha Stewart on white cs to tuck under it because I love the effect. Just love the look that punch gives everything it touches.

I used the corner punch, as you can see, and a rectangular scalloped Nestie. I put white rhinestones on 3 of the flowers behind the bird. I sponged the bird section like I did the top portion.

For the base of the card I stamped with the SU Canvas background stamp on Ruby Red cs with Rose Romance ink. Worked perfectly with the designer paper colors. Unfortunately, the Canvas stamp is smaller than my 5" x 5" card base and I ended up with a line of demarcation due to overlap. So I worked it into the design and added more lines. Fixed that boo boo, quick! It might be hard to see in the pic, though.

I popped out the main portion of the card and the "get well" piece and punched holes around both the "get well" piece and the black cs.

Ugh, my shoulder can only take so much typing. It's starting to feel fatigued. Let me get the recipe up and be done. Thanks for looking!

Recipe:

Stamps: Inkadinkado Birds Galore, SU Canvas, CTMH Spunky Greetings

CS: Ruby Red, Black, White, K&Company K-ology Hannah designer paper

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black, Rose Romance, Ruby Red

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch, Nestabilities Scalloped rectangle, Silver brads, White rhinestones, Sponges, Sticky Doos, 1/16" hole punch, Paper piercer, Sponge mat from Mat Pack, Diamond Glaze (to glue down rhinestones), Corner punch, Black polka dot ribbon

Homemade stamp cleaners

Thanks to my lovely non-blogging friend, Hilva, for directing me to Linda Heller's latest stamping adventure: testing homemade stamp cleaner recipes. This is one thing I really would love to be able to make on my own. I spend too much on cleaners that I use up way too fast.

Check out Linda's post and video here.

Thanks Hilva! Great info! Now, where do I find that rose water?

Great idea for making those sentiment stamps handier

Some Crazy New Word Set??

Dad's Pickup - CC193 and TECC43

I am in a mad dash to get this done and up before I go in for surgery tomorrow. I tore my rotator cuff several years ago and am finally getting it fixed. I can't wait for this pain to be gone. I've lived with it for far too long. Stamping has even become difficult.

Anywho, I had a couple of cards I needed to do before the surgery since I won't be doing any stamping during my recovery (at least that's what I'm assuming). I got one done yesterday and the other I'm not sure will be done by tonight. Ugh! Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I might end up having to buy a pre-made for that one.

My dad turns 70 on December 11th. He's retired, and he and my mom run a little ranch in Texas with longhorns and donkeys and chickens. Well, when he retired and went into the longhorn business he needed a good pickup truck to haul hay in and take trash to the dump and haul the cattle trailer and...you get the picture. He ended up getting a really nice one that looks kind of like the modern version of the one on this card. So I had fun making up this card just for him.

He was telling me yesterday that he had had to milk one of the longhorns recently when her newborn calf got sick. He penned her up in the shoot they use for vetting purposes and milked her! What a guy! At first, she didn't know what in the world he was doing to her, but the next time she really liked it. lol We women who've breastfed can relate, yes? That relief we felt after the baby nursed was sheer bliss.

Back to the card: I went with Color Challenge 193 on SCS using Real Red, Basic Black and Kraft. Perfect for my dad's card. I used Taylor's TECC43 design sketch, as well.
For the black base I used the corner punch on the corners and then used my paper piercer to add holes along the edges. For the red piece I cut the cs, did direct to paper with Real Red ink, ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Distressed Stripes embossing folder sideways (notice the stripes don't go up and down? I liked it that way) and DTP'd it again with Real Red ink and attached it to the black.

For the Kraft piece I stamped it with the truck from SU Classic Pickups in Basic Black ink, then DTP'd it with Creamy Caramel, punched the corners, did a more spaced-out hole pattern (I put a hole at each end, then one in the middle of those, then one in the middle of those, etc.), and attached it to a piece of black cs.

I stamped the truck again on white cs and colored it first with a Real Red marker, but found that my Prismacolor pencils were superior to the markers for this particular image. I used a Silver pencil and then a Light Umber to do the metal on the truck (the Light Umber softened the Silver a bit). I used Crimson Red to go back over the truck body and used Black for the tires and to highlight some parts of the body. I also used the Light Umber for the windows to recede them a bit. I cut the truck out and then I put Diamond Glaze on the windows to imitate glass. I used Sticky Doos to pop it out on the Kraft piece.

For the word stamping I used the "Happy Birthday" stamp from Taylored Expressions' Sweet Celebration set. But I stamped it crooked! Oops! Do you think he'll notice? The "DAD" part was stamped using CTMH Storytime upper case alphas. Then it was punched out, paper pierced and mounted onto a black punchie. I popped it all up as you can see below and did lots more paper piercing because I can't get enough of it! What is the allure, I wonder? Oh, who cares! I like it!

No pics of the inside, but all I did was DTP some Real Red cs with Real Red ink and punch the corners to keep the theme going. I also paper pierced around the edges of the black back of the card to match the front.

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Classic Pickups, Taylored Expressions Sweet Celebration, CTMH Storytime upper case alphas

CS: Black, Real Red, Kraft, White

Inks: Real Red, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel

Other: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder, Corner punch, 1" and 1.25" circle punches, Paper piercer, Spongy mat from Mat Pack, Sticky Doos, Diamond Glaze, Various Prismacolor pencils, Real Red marker

Great use for the gate fold

Charmaine at Oodabug Alley has a nifty idea for utilizing the gate fold card. Very creative!

Nifty ideas for storing ribbon

Boy, the nifty tips are coming at me today! Here are several for storing your rolls of ribbon. Very creative. That site, in general, is quite the find!

(h/t Today's Creative Blog)

Sharpening your punches with a soda can?

My friend, Hilva pointed me to Linda Heller's great tip blog Stampbusters where you can learn some nifty stamping tips like how to sharpen your punches with, of all things, a soda can. Thanks Hilva! I'll be adding this one to my sidebar!