Monthly Archives: July 2016
This Thing made Itself
Many times I start a project without knowing what it is I want to create. But on this project it was like the project had a mind of it’s own. I just hung on for the ride to see how it would turn out.
I think it is cute cute cute. It turned out to be a little replica of the Scrapbook Store I work at. So I used a little poetic license as the real store is in a strip mall with a little less charm than this little cottage, but the colours and the sense of “Happy” you get as you enter the shop is bang on.
Enjoy…………and watch for the Grand Opening coming soon!
Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge July
I loved the Inspiration Photo for this month’s blog hop. Here it is:
Mixing patterns is an art and a difficult one at times. I wanted to capture the patterns and the “old but new” sense in the design. I was wishing I had a furniture image set so I could try to recreate the scene, but since I did not have such a stamp, I settled on creating a sweater instead. The Fair Isle stamp set along with Color Pop Florals helped me capture the sense of pattern mixture and the colours came from coral and blue dye inks from Simon Says Stamp.
Altenew Wedding Challenge 2
I made another variation on the card I did for the Altenew Wedding Challenge.
I like this one even better but once again the lovely glitz of the purple foil does not show up well in the photo.
Supplies: Altenew Majestic Bloom stamp and die, Deco Foil in purple, Laserjet printer, laminator, Simon Says Stamp Congratulations die and card base and Scor tape
Altenew Wedding Theme Challenge
As soon as I saw this challenge I knew what kind of a card I wanted to make. I wanted to combine the Majestic Bloom with some silver foiling. I thought it would make an elegant wedding card.
There are two problems with foiling. One is that cards with foiling look much better in real life than in a photo. It seems the camera just does not capture the shimmer at all or it comes out as a giant ball of glare. I concede that the fault my lay with the photographer :-). The second problem is that foiling tends to capture all the limelight, and it is hard to jazz up anything else on the card, without it being too much. In this case I gave the flower a coating of Sparkle Spritz. Anyway you will have to take my word for it, that this card does look quite nice in real life.
My New Addiction
Last winter in Phoenix, I was introduced to the ancient game of Mahjongg. What a humbling experience. My first few attempts at the game were pathetic and I felt like I was on a roller coaster…………………….hanging on for dear life ………………and feeling totally out of control. Each game got a little easier though, and eventually I would add a few more elements to how I would play (like some defense and having a back up strategy) I am still pretty lousy but am totally smitten with the game. So smitten, in fact, that I wanted to combine this new addiction with my other addiction of cardmaking.
I could not recall ever having seen a rubber stamp with Mahjongg as the image subject, so I was anticipating problems. I needn’t have fretted though, as it was Ruths Jewish Stamps to the rescue. I am not kidding …………this is the name of the stamp company at which I found Mahjongg stamps.
Here is the first card I made with these precious stamps. It just makes me smile. Thank you to Ruths Jewish Stamps for making my day.
Supplies: Ruth Jewish stamps Mahjongg Diva and tile stamps, Inky Antics Gambling Worldly Women, Memory Box cross stitched rectangles, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, Copic markers, unknown scrap glitter paper, Scor tape
Make it Monday #256 Papertrey Ink
Once I got over the shock of Melissa making a one layer card 🙂 , I started to look through my stamps to see which one I could use to spritz watercolour.
My first attempt was using the snowshoe and sled from Two Feet Deep. Both items were shades of brown and just seemed so dull when I watered them down. Attempts to add brightness and shine seemed off the mark, so I started over again.
This card is the result. I think I like it better although the snowshoe one is growing on me.
Just for comparison, here is the Sled/Snowshoe one.
Paper Smooches- Summer Challenge
I had a couple of new to me Paper Smooches stamp sets in my new drawer. I thought that this month’s challenge would be an opportunity to try them out. The problem was that one of them had absolutely nothing to do with the subject of summer. It is the stamp set called Off the Charts and has graphs and pie charts and the like. It looked more like school than a beach! What to do? Using the”Got Lemons, Make Lemonade” philosophy, I decided to make a scene depicting “Summer School”!
In the end, I pulled out just about every Paper Smooches stamp set I have, to pull together this card. I have to mention that the stamp set Great Chemistry from Paper Smooches gets my personal award for versatility. I have made the Chemistry Professor into every one from a monster, to Mark Twain and to today’s Beach Bum.
In fact, I am going to post the Mark Twain card here today as well. My co-blogger Sandra told me that I was probably the only person in the world, that would see the humour in this card. Probably, has something to do with my interest in the history of English literature, which is not a wildly popular subject among cardmakers. Anyway, she was right as it did not get picked for publication on a theme about Mark Twain quotes……………………sigh.
Still and all, my little Chem Prof is pressed into service today as a hairy-legged beach bum, and I think he is adorbs.
Here he is in his role as Mark Twain. He even LOOKs like Mark Twain!
Papertrey Ink-Create with Us July 2016
The Create with Us Challenge from Papertrey Ink is to find inspiration from the products and samples shown in the countdown to the July release.
Usually, one particular sample or product draws my attention, and I will make a project from that inspiration. This time, however, the inspiration came from a number of different sources. I was inspired by the summery cotton candy colours of several of the Tiny Town Sweet Shoppe samples. I liked the idea of using the Sweet Shoppe as a box to hold a gift card or candies. I really liked the idea of inserting the Sequin and glitter test tubes into the Sweet Shoppe box as a gift for Scrapbookers and finally by the idea that one could put real cupcakes sprinkles into the box as a gift for a baker.
As a result of all this inspiration, I knew I wanted to make a gift box in bright summery colours. I do not have the base die for the house, so I could not use that. I do have the matchbox die that is part of the All Through the House die set, so I used that.
In the end, I made four different boxes and utilized several different Papertrey Ink stamps and dies. One sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.
Supplies: All through the House matchbox die from Papertrey Ink, Papertrey Ink Shaker Jar die, Papertrey Ink Friendship Jar Fillers and Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers stamp sets, Papertrey Ink Shakers and Sprinklers dies, Wow embossing Powder, Pico embellisher in Wedding Dress and Shimmer, Recollections embossing powder, American Crafts Summer patterned paper, Doodlebug Designs patterned paper, Recollections cardstock and Scor tape.
Papertrey Ink Challenge 255
The Challenge this week at Papertrey Ink is to use string art and a diecut. It seems like the challenges in the last three weeks have been progressively more challenging at least for me.
I got an idea immediately, but figuring out how I could actually carry out the idea took much longer. I had some problems with stray ink and bad stamping that frustrated me and slowed me down, but finally, I ended up with something I could post.
I am thinking that I took some liberties with the term “string art” but the key elements of string and a diecut and Papertrey Ink products are there, so I think it fits the spirit of the challenge.
Supplies: Papertrey Ink Guiding Light stamp set and dies, Bazzill floss, Kaisercraft embossed wave paper, Impression Obsession dirt stamp, Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts dye inks, Pico embellishers white, silver and shimmer, Wink of Stella glitter pen, Recollections card base, Xyron sticker maker, Foam tape and Scor tape.
Happy Canada Day!
I wasn’t going to make a Canada Day card this year. Somehow as the day progressed, I felt like I had forgotten to do something. That something was to express my pride in being a Canadian, and making a Canada Day card helped me do that.
I made a slider card on my Pazzles cutter. Now, Scrapendipity has a slider die from Art impressions that will make a slider for you. Unfortunately, my stack of Canadian animals was a bit wider than the slider die allowed. Had I chosen to use the die and just crop a bit, I would have had time to get groceries as well as make this card, and I would not be having a popcorn sandwich for dinner. Take my advice..buy the die.
I think the card is quite cute though. Happy Canada day everyone.
Note the attention to detail………I taped the stick! My only complaint is that it seems Spellbinders thinks we play hockey with pucks the size of beach balls. 🙂
DebSelby
Maverick Muses 