2009 April » Rainy Day Creations

April's "Dirty Challenge - Playing Favorites"

Apr 202009

This month’s Dirty Challenge on Splitcoaststamper’s is to make a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day card using our newest and one of our oldest personal crafting favorites. It can be stamps, techniques, colors… anything!

One of the first techniques I learned as a stamper which continues to be one of my very favorites is to use markers and color directly onto the rubber stamp. Then before stamping the image, you lightly spritz the stamp with water. I use this technique all the time and have never gotten tired of it. In fact I have still been known to squeal with delight at the results. I LOVE it!!

For my newest favorite I used the new SU! set called “Thoughts and Prayers”. I just recently (finally) got a chance to mount it and absolutely adore the lovely and fresh images.

You can check out all the cards/projects for this challenge here on Splitcoaststampers. Oh and if you are looking for some inspiration for a Mother’s Day card or project, check out this gallery on Splitcoaststampers. It’s full of wonderful creations (over 3000 of them!!) just for mom!

Happy Crafting!

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Stamps: SU! Thoughts & Prayers, All Holidays; CHF Weave Backgrounder

Papers: SU! Whisper White, Old Olive

Inks: SU! Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: SU! 5/8″ White Satin Ribbon; Primas; Stickles; Flatback Pearls

OSW - SCS Inspiration Challenge #176

Apr 182009

Today over at Splitcoaststampers the Inspiration Challenge is an on-line store called Skeem where you can find beautiful candles and perfumes. The inspiration for my project came from the candle pictured here on the left. It reminded me of a piece of double sided designer paper that I purchased several months ago. I had not yet done anything with the 12″ X 12″ piece, so I decided to do a One Sheet Wonder (OSW) with the entire sheet. I’m such a paper hoarder which means that doing a project that would use up ALL of the paper was a big deal for me! lol

Here is the finished project. The set consists of 6 cards and my favorite little box (template by Leslie Miller) in which to put them all.

Below each card is pictured individually.

On this first card I did a little stitching in the lower right hand corner.

And the box with an elastic band to hold it all together…

I had so much FUN!! And I don’t seem to be suffering any negative effects from using that entire piece of designer paper! Oh and for anyone interested, here is the template I created for the OSW.

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Happy Stamping!

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Stamps: SU! “Priceless” and “Fun & Fast Notes”

Papers: SU! Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Baja Breeze; Making Memories “Hillary Lace Flower” Designer Paper

Inks: SU! Old Olive and Not Quite Navy

Accessories: SU! Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Brads, Flower Fusion Felt Flowers, Paper Piercing Template and Tool, Photo Corner Punch; Cuttlebug; Oval Nestibilities; 1/2″ Circle Punch; Embroidery Needle and Floss; Primas; GG Ribbon; Elastic Cording

A Stamp Simply Challenge - ssnotime83

Apr 172009

Every Friday Sharon Johnson (notimetostamp) has a Stamp Simply Challenge on her blog. This Friday’s challenge is to “Thread It Thru!”, and I’m so happy that I got a chance to play along! For the threading on my card, I used a Martha Stewart Ribbon Edger Punch on both sides of the striped Graphic 45 designer paper. A twill ribbon was then threaded through the holes made by the punch.

Both the image and sentiment stamps are from the Cornish Heritage Farms set, “Scene It, Mountains”.

The card base is Memory Box’s Mocha card stock. The striped and dotted designer papers are from the Graphics 45 “Fashionista” collection. The butterfly is from the Graphics 45 “Botanicabella” collection.

Flatback Accent Pearls were used at the center of the Art Flower and for the butterfly body. Some sparkle was added to the flower with a Stardust Glitter Pen.

If you want to play along, too, visit Sharon’s blog here and get the deets!

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Stamps: CHF Scene It, Mountains
Papers: Memory Box Mocha; SU! Very Vanilla; Graphics 45 Designer Paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU! Ruby Red, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Flatback Accent Pearls; Art Flower; Stardust Glitter Pen; Copics; Twill Ribbon; Martha Stewart Ribbon Edger Punch

Central Park Embossed

Apr 102009

Ever since seeing this post over at mel stampz, I have wanted to try making my own embossing template. The new set “Central Park” from SU! had the perfect stamps to give this a try with an outline stamp of a stem and 3 leaves and a filler stamp for the the outline.

To make the template, I stamped the outline image 3 times on SU!’s Whisper White card stock and cut them out. (A light weight cardboard could also be used. However because of the tighter cutting required for this particular image, I opted to use card stock making it a bit easier to get into those more difficult areas with my scissors.)

Next I glued the 3 pieces together and trimmed any overlaps that occurred from the images not being cut out exactly the same. This is important in order to get a deep, crisp and clean embossed line.

Once the template was finished I ran it through my Cuttlebug. Be sure to use an embossing mat on the opposite side of the card stock from the template. This single image is actually the reverse of the stamped image.

With this template, it can be run through in either direction!

You can also use the positive or negative side of the embossed image. Here I have used my stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the filler stamp was positioned right over the embossing.

The positive:

The negative:

I added some faux stitching around the negative embossed image.

Here is the finished card.

Well I was having so much fun that I decided to play some more. This time I started by embossing my card stock with the Swiss Dots embossing folder before using my Central Park template. Just for some embossing interest, I used the negative embossed Swiss Dots for the positive Central Park embossed image. And rather than using the filler stamp for the leaves, I distressed the embossing by rubbing my ink pad over the entire image several times.

And the finished card… TOO FUN!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and beautiful Easter!

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Masculine Card: (SUO)

Stamps: “Central Park” and “On Your Birthday”
Papers: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Old Olive, and DSP “Bella Bleu”
Inks: Certainly Celery and Basic Black
Accessories: Old Olive 1/4″ Twill Ribbon, Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon, Basic Gray Corderoy Button, Brads, Photo Corners Punch

Feminine Card:

Stamps: SU! “Central Park” and “On Your Birthday”
Papers: SU! Whisper White, Taken with Teal and Certainly Celery; DCWV Designer Paper
Inks: SU! Certainly Celery and Taken with Teal
Accessories: SU! Fleurette, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Border Punch and Brad; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; Primas; Flatback Pearls; May Arts Ribbon

Blog Candy Winner

Apr 092009

The winner of my Blog Candy is #66, Traci.

“I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins and the sea lions look like a great bonus. Maybe one day. Looks like you had such a great time. I love the set you are giving away. You make such wonderful projects. Traci”

Congratulations, Traci! Hope you have many happy moments with your new stuff!

BLOG CANDY - One of My Best Days Ever!!!! SU! 2009 SAB "Polka Dot Punches" and More!!

Apr 062009

LET’S DO IT AGAIN ONLY BETTER!

In February I offered some of the 2009 SU! SAB sets for Blog Candy. Well I’ve got one more of the “Polka Dot Punches” set to give away. But this time I’m also including a brand new pack of the “Delicate Dots” Designer Series Paper AND the “Ribbon Bundle” of 5/8″ Certainly Celery poly-twill and So Saffron grosgrain ribbons!

The Blog Candy is in celebration of one of my best days ever! I’ve just gotten home from spending Spring Break in Mexico, and I finally got to do something that I’ve wanted to do for years! I swam with and got hugs and kisses from dolphins and sea lions! It was such a joy to play with these wonderful creatures!!

Okay okay back to the Blog Candy…

To enter your name for this Blog Candy, simply leave a comment ON THIS POST. I will close this post on Wednesday, April 8th at midnight at which time a winner will be drawn using random.org.

Good Luck!!

THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED FOR COMMENTS.

Treasures

Apr 022009

This week is my high schooler’s Spring Break, and we are on vacation! Woohoo!! Yesterday my DH and I went scuba diving in the Bay of Banderas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We saw treasures that only the ocean floor has to offer.

But there are many kinds of treasures, and before leaving home I played with some of my new SU! ones! Here is a card I made using just that… some new SU! treasures mixed with some of my oldest favorites like the tiny dots from the “Itty Bitty Backgrounds” set.

This is the first time that this big beautiful bird from “Friends 24-7” has seen ink! And I couldn’t wait to use my new Scallop Oval Punch with the new “Oval All” stamp set. The corduroy buttons and brads add such wonderful texture!

Yup!! I had FUN!!! Sure hope you find some treasures in your day, too!

Happy Crafting!

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All products used for this card are from Stampin’ Up!

Stamps: Friends 24-7, Oval All, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Papers: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, DSP Parisian Breeze

Inks: Classic Ink Pads in Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana – Markers in Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celer, Old Olive, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Chocolate Chip Double Stitched 1″ GG Ribbon, Piercing Tool and Template, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Chocolate Chip Corduroy Brad