Boho Square

Another quickie for you today. We made this card at one of my previous Stamp Camps. It's hip to be square! (I crack myself up :)

The card base is a 4-1/4 square piece of Old Olive stamped with the same color ink with the Stitched background stamp. The colored squares (Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Regal Rose) are stamped with 2 of the Boho Background stamps and then punched out with a 1 inch square punch. They are layered together on a piece of textured Old Olive cardstock. The flower is punched from the 5-petal flower punch. So easy! The color combination came from the 'trendy' color combos SU! highlights in the beginning of the catalog. It could be changed up with pretty much anything! So many possibilities!

I'm excited tonight to be starting another Stamp Club. I have so many other stamps and products that I would love to share with my stamping buddies, and they seem to be just as excited to be shared with! Have a great night!



Supplies:

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Stitched (SU!)
Paper: Old Olive, Old Olive textured, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink (SU)
Ink: Old Olive, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Regal Rose
Accessories: copper brad

Ahoy Little Sailor!

I'm back with another card! I'm on a roll!

I made this card for a co-worker of mine who had a little boy not too long ago. I love this little boat from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings!

The card base is Real Red, followed by a layer of Brocade Blue that has been embossed with the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder. The horizontal strip is Night of Navy, and I added some faux stitching with my paper piercer and white gel pen. The little boat image is paper pieced from Sahara Sand, Brocade Blue (that had been stamped with the Polka Dot Basics stamp set) and Real Red. This was layered onto PTI SS White and then Sahara Sand. The card measures 4-1/4 square. The cutie sentiment is also from Bitty Baby Blessings stamped in Brocade Blue ink. Easy, simple card! Thanks for stopping by!



Supplies:

Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings, Polka Dot Basics (PTI)
Paper: Real Red, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand (SU!), Stampers Select White (PTI)
Ink: Palette Noir, Brocade Blue (SU!)
Accessories: Paper piercer, white gel pen

Poppies

I knew that it had been a while since my last post, but I didn't realize it had been that long. I apologize, life sometimes gets away from me. But I'm back and feeling creative and inspired again and hopefully I can ride that for a little while.

I am going to share a project that I made this weekend. I have been wanting to make a soldered piece ever since I saw this piece that Debbie Olson had made. If you don't read Debbie's blog, then you must go there NOW and every day after today. Her work is amazing! Seriously.

I have played with stained glass before, so the whole soldering thing wasn't new to me. But what a great way to take stamping to the next level.

Here's what I made using Stampendous' Poppy Stems.



The image was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then colored with my Copics (which I love so, so much). I cut the image down to fit inside the 2x2 piece of Memory Glass. I didn't have a hanger or jump ring for the top, so I used a square paperclip. It has a different look to it... and as much as I hoped it wouldn't look like a paperclip.. it still does :) Oh well! I picked some yummy orange American Crafts ribbon to hang it from and off it went to my friend Julie for her birthday (I hope I didn't spoil your surprise!)

So what do you think? I think I will be doing this more often. I really like the way it turned out, and my mind is just buzzing with all the other things I can solder!

I promise I will be back with more tomorrow! Thanks for hanging in there!



Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy Stems (Stampendous)
Paper: PTI SS White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic Ciao markers, 2x2 Memory Glass, Soldering supplies

Mom's Pond

My mom has a big koi pond in her backyard. It started out small and then the next year my brother and I were recruited to dig it a little bigger and then the next year we brought some friends and dug it a little bigger.. it is about 1,000 gallons now and its been a while since it has been expanded.

When PTI came out with the Pond Life set, I knew that I needed it for cards for my mom. This is the card I made her for Mother's Day:

This is my favorite card sketch right now. I have a few more cards I've made over the past few days using the same sketch.

The card base is PTI Spring Moss. The patterned paper is from the Everyday Blessings pack. For my little pond scene, I started by sponging Aqua Mist for water and Soft Sky for the sky. I stamped the grass in Spring Moss and the swirl of water in Aqua Mist. The lilypad was stamped on Old Olive in Old Olive and cut out. The water lily was stamped in Pixie Dust and Pink Petunia VersaMagic. The frog was stamped in Sage VersaMagic and also cut out. Finally, I stamped the dragonfly body in Pearlescent Sky Blue and the wings in Pearlescent Starlite Black. Then I layered two vellum wings to make him look like he just landed! I used lots of foam tape to add dimension. This piece was layered on a piece of Old Olive. I added some Green Ivy Dew Drops to the side and added the sentiment.

That's it! My mom loved it and I know I will be using this set again for her!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great night.



Card supplies:

Stamps: Pond Life (PTI)
Paper: Spring Moss, SS White, Everyday Blessings patterned (PTI), Old Olive (SU)
Ink: Spring Moss, Aqua Mist (Palette for PTI), Old Olive (SU), Pixie Dust, Pink Petunia, Sage, Midnight Black (Tsukineko VersaMagic), Pearlescent Sky Blue, Pearlescent Starlite Black (Tsukineko Brilliance)
Accessories: Green Ivy Dew Drops

Monday, Monday

I am a big fan of the Discovery Channel. One of my favorite shows, of course, is Dirty Jobs. The show's time slot is moving to Mondays and the commercial for it features the song Monday, Monday written by The Mamas and the Papas. Hence, today's title because the song gets stuck in my head every. single. Monday.

I do have a card to share with you, but before that a little jabber about my weekend. On Saturday night, Bill and I went to see Jason Deutsch play. Jason is a fantastic musician, and the brother of a dear friend of mine (hi Josette!). Jason played at mine and Bill's wedding, so that was the coolest of the cool. Jason is awesome, his songs are incredible, and he is such a sweetheart. He was promoting his new cd release called Peaceful Oblivion. Everyone: go see him and buy his music! Seriously, we need to support our local musicians.

Ok, so here's my card:

I made this for Mary when I sent her the Anniversary Set that she won. I used the small cross stamp from Simple Little Things and stamped some patterned paper. I used Summer Sunrise and Cognac Palette Ink. Then I sponged on a little Ranger Distress Ink in Old Paper. This was then layered onto a piece of Summer Sunrise cardstock that had been paper pierced. I stamped the larger cross from Simple Little Things in Summer Sunrise, Cognac, and Burnt Umber and cut them all out. I layered them on top of each other and added a copper brad. Its like a big ol' fancy flower. The sentiment is also from Simple Little Things. It reads 'So Happy For You' but I just inked up what I wanted. The card base is Chocolate Chip. That's it! Easy as pie.

Enjoy your evening. Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear from you!



Card supplies:

Stamps: Simple Little Things (PTI Anniversary Set)
Paper: Chocolate Chip (SU), Summer Sunrise, SS White (PTI)
Ink: Summer Sunrise (PTI), Cognac, Burnt Umber (Palette), Distress Ink Old Paper (Ranger)
Accessories: Paper piercer, copper brad

Two Lovely RAKs

I just love getting RAKs in the mail. I have two that I received recently.

The first is from Mary - she was the winner of my Anniversary set giveaway. I love the multi-colored flowers and the combination of Summer Sunrise and Berry Sorbet. Mary, thank you so much for the thank you card, I love it!



The second card is from Jackie (Teal on the PTI forum). She sent me this beautiful RAK using Berry Sorbet and the Butterfly Kisses stamp set. I love all the polka dots. Thank you, Jackie, for the sweet sparkly card!



Its another hockey night here in Pittsburgh, so I'm not stamping again. Maybe I should have stamped.. this game isn't turning out so well! Hope your night turns out better!

Groovy Flower

Thanks to everyone that stopped by during PTI's Blog Hop. Your kind comments were very appreciated. It was also great to have a chance to look at everyone else's projects - they were all fantastic. I am looking forward to next month's Hop!

Again, I apologize for the sporadic blogging. I was so proud of myself there for a while since I was doing a good job of posting everyday. My job has been pretty overwhelming recently, and I am wrapped up in playoff hockey, so I haven't been very motivated. The card I am going to share today is one that we made at Stamp Camp. It has a very simple layout, but it was one of my favorites.

The card base is a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. Layered on top of that is a strip of Afternoon Tea Designer Series Double-Sided paper. I pulled the colors from the patterned paper for the main image. The stamp set is Live Your Dream, from the Occasions Mini Catalog. Instead of directly inking my stamp, I used my Aqua Painter and painted the ink onto the stamp. I huffed on it and then stamped it onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock - it gave the image a sort of washed out, weathered look. If you've never tried it - give it a shot! It was a fun technique. I used Wild Wasabi for the stems, Groovy Guava for the flowers, and Chocolate Chip for the flower centers. I then stamped the butterfly in Soft Sky on a separate piece of cardstock and cut it out. I added some sparkle with my Sakura Clear Gel Pen and mounted it on my main stamped image with foam tape.

The entire piece was layered on a piece of Groovy Guava. I added a strip of Chocolate Chip Poly-Twill ribbon finished off with the flower slide from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, both available in the Occasions Mini Catalog. Finally, I stamped the triple flower stamp from the Live Your Dream set in Chocolate Chip to the upper left side. That was it!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great night!



Card Supplies:

Stamps: Live Your Dream (SU!)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea DSDS (SU!)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky (SU!)
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Poly-Twill ribbon, Flower Slide from Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware (SU)!

April Blog Hop!

Hi everyone! Welcome to another edition of PTI's Blog Hop! When I saw Nichole's challenge for April, the part that stuck with me was the theme of the small squares. I wanted to make sure that my project maintained this concept. I thought about what I wanted to do, and then the other day, sitting at my desk at work I spied this:

It is my pencil cup, which was originally a mosaic glass votive candle holder... so using that inspiration, here's what I came up with:

It is a lantern!

Here is closer shot (bear with me, I have a few different photos to share with you to give you the full effect!)

I started with a clear paint can (this one was purchased at Staples). I then cut a piece of vellum to line the inside of the paint can. This was going to be my base for the mosaic. I used a 3/4-inch square punch to punch out my tiles from the Father's Knows Best patterned paper sheet provided by Nichole. Since the squares on the paper were 1-1/2 inch square, I could get 4 squares out of each!

Next, I adhered the patterned paper squares to the vellum, keeping the pattern random. After all the squares had been adhered, I just slipped the vellum inside the paint can! It was a perfect liner, and was so easy.

Then I was ready to begin working on the outside of the paint can. I used white StazOn to stamp the fancy square from Simple Little Things, (the Anniversary Set) randomly on the outside of the can. I was hoping it would create a shadow effect once the lantern was lit. I added a strip of brown twill ribbon to the bottom rim of the can, and pearlescent Dew Drops around the top rim. The final touch was to tie different colored ribbons to the handle and I was ready to light it up!

While I did use a candle for my photographs, I would recommend using one of the battery-operated votive candles if you should make something like this.

Here's a view with the lights out:

It turned out just as I had imagined! The stamped images on the outside create a pretty patterned shadow when the lantern is lit. Here's a close up:

Well, what do you think? Wouldn't this be a great addition to a deck or patio? Even a non-hanging version (with a battery-operated votive) would make a beautiful centerpiece for an evening party or wedding!

Thank you for stopping by - I am really looking forward to reading all your comments. And don't forget to head back to Papertrey Ink's Forum to vote for your favorite, most inspiring project! Please keep me in mind! I can't wait to see what all the other participants have come up with!

Thanks again for stopping by and participating in the Blog Hop!

Project Supplies:

Stamps: Simple Little Things (PTI)
Paper: Vellum, April Blog Hop Father Knows Best patterned paper sheet
Ink: StazOn white
Accessories: Acrylic paint can, Lemon Tart and Summer Sunrise Topnotch Twill (PTI), Chocolate Chip twill (SU), yellow ric-rac (American Crafts), Pearlescent Dew Drops (The Robin's Nest)

April Blog Hop is tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Papertrey Ink's second monthly Blog Hop. This month, 25 blogs were chosen to be listed on the Featured Blog List! And what do you know, my blog was picked!! How exciting is that! So check back tomorrow to see my project! I am very excited about it.. I did my best to think outside of the box. I look forward to seeing you then!

Blue Butterfly

This card is one that we made last week at Stamp Camp. The layout for this card was taken from one of my previous issues of Stampin' Success.

The card base is Brocade Blue. Layered on top of that is a strip of Bashful Blue, Shimmer White, and Night of Navy textured cardstock. The Bashful Blue is stamped with the fancy scalloped circle from the Kind Thoughts set in Bashful Blue ink. The flower centers are highlighted with my Sakura clear sparkle gel pen. The butterfly is stamped in Night of Navy on a piece of Shimmer White and then cut out. It is layered on top of a circle punched out of Shimmery White. The sentiment is from All Holidays, stamped in Night of Navy. I like how it is slightly larger than the cardstock and the little flourishes extend off the paper.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed today's card. Stop back tomorrow for more Stamp Camp cards!



Supplies:

Stamps: Kind Thoughts, All Holidays (SU)
Paper: Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Shimmer White, Night of Navy textured (SU)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories: Sakura clear sparkle gel pen