Inspired Designs

Trying to catch up.....

Sorry for the lack of posts this past month.  I was trying to prepare for classes and get ready for the trip.  All this preparation left very little time for stamping. 

Hawaii was absolutely fantastic.  The weather was wonderful, we saw some amazing things   and we met some really   great people. I loved the make'n'take session and seeing all the sneak peeks.  We also managed to capture some beautiful pictures and I wanted to share this one that we took of a large turtle in the lagoon.    

I am going to try to make sure to post more this month.  Right now I am busy preparing for my April classes and sorting through the orders that arrived while I was gone.  I am also in the process of planning a 10-15-20 for this spring. Speaking of which, I should get back to getting those cards done.  Thanks for stopping by!

And Now These Three Remain

I can't even begin to tell you how much I have missed not being able to stamp this past week.  Between subbing, techique classes, the kid's activities and trying to get my house in order for my sister's arrival, I haven't had any down time.  When I saw the technique challenge today I knew I had to take a break and make a card.   

Today's challenge was to create a ribbon framed card.  I love ribbon and love finding new ways to use it in my projects. Claire Brennan provides an excellent tutorial on how to make these kind of cards on her blog, waltzing mouse makes...

I decided to theme my ribbon framed card around a Lent theme.  I used plum pudding and lavender moon ink to make the cross.  I added clear rhinestones accents to the cross and adhered it inside of an embossed rectangle.  A larger rectangle was embossed around the smaller one and a ribbon slot punch was punched in each corner of the embossed rectangle.  I cut four lengths of plum pudding satin ribbon and tied a knot in the center of each ribbon.  I centerd the knots and then threaded the ends through the slots.  Sticky strip was used to adhere the ribbon to the back of the cardstock.

I inked the "Faith.Hope.Love" sentiment from Everyday Blessings set in plum pudding ink.  I love the passage from the Bible that these words come from and I thought they added the perfect touch to my card.  I stamped this sentiment in the lower right corner of the white mat.  I added a clear rhinestone between each word.  I used dimensionals to pop this mat off a larger plum pudding mat and then added these mats to a white cardbase.

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Stamps: PTI - Everyday Blessings

Ink: Plum pudding, lavender moon

CS: Select white, plum pudding

Accessories: Cuttlebug, nestabilites, slot punch, clear rhinestones, sticky strip, dimensionals, PTI - plum pudding satin ribbon

Punched Leprechaun Scalloped Envelope Box

I love making these scallop envelope boxes.  This one has a St.Patrick's day theme to it ... to match the card I made last week. 

The box is made from 4 scallop envelope diecuts that are adhered together.  I added a black and hawaii papaya mat to each side and then adhered a punched leprechaun or punched pot of gold to each side of the box. 

These sweet St. Paddy's day are super easy and fun to make.  I can hardly wait to fill it with some yummy treasure of my own!

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Stamps: None

Ink: None

CS: Old olive, basic black, pumpkin pie, blush blossom, brushed gold, hawaii papaya dp

Accessories: Big shot, scallop envelope die, sticky strip, crafter's tool kit, circle punches - 1 3/4", 1 1/4" 1/4", 1/2", small and large oval punches, 5 petal punch, word window punch, 1/4" square punch, small tag punch, scallop circle punch

Hoppiness Is....a Crimped Envelope Pocket Card

When I saw the technique challenge today and it involved crimping I thought of waves in the water.  I have been wanting to use my new Hoppy for You set for awhile now and I thought it would make a cute scene on the front of an envelope pocket card.  You can find instructions on how to make this kind of pocket card here.

I stamped all my images on whisper white cardstock and cut them out, leaving a thin white border around each one.  I used the aquapainter to color the cattails and lilypad with close to cocoa and kiwi kiss ink.  The log was stamped on creamy caramel cardstock in close to cocoa ink and cut out.

I created the envelope pocket by sealing an envelope and then cutting off the top 1 1/4".  I sponged baja breeze all over the front of the pocket and topper and then pulled pacific point ink off the edges.  I ran the pocket through the crimper to create the sense of waves on a pond. 

I stamped the sentiment from the set in basic black ink and punched it out using a small oval punch.  I matted this oval with a larger pacific point oval mat.  I adhered all the images to the front of the crimped pocket using sticky strip.

I tied a lenght of pacific point striped ribbon around the topper and used embroidery floss to sew a kiwi kiss button in place.  These pocket cards are super easy to make and I definitely recommend that you should try making one yourself.

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Stamps: Hoppy for You

Ink: Basic black, kiwi kiss, close to cocoa, pacific point, baja breeze

CS: Whisper white, pacific point, creamy caramel

Accessories: Envelope, pacific point ribbon, button bouquet, sticky strip, crimper, white embroidery thread, sponge, aquapainter

A Sweet Easter Chick

Sorry I have been MIA most of last week.  I had a few subbing days at the school and then we said goodbye to our librarian on Friday.  I spent alot of time volunteering for her and it just won't be the same place without her. 

Yesterday we went to the city to buy new luggage for the SU! trip to Hawaii.  I have old luggage from when I graduated high school and we knew it probably wouldn't stand up to the rigors of air travel.  The luggage was ancient and definitely needed to be replaced.  We are so happy with the new stuff we picked out and now we can't wait to go!  

Now onto to my card .... today's featured stamper is Kelly (Kelly H on SCS).  She has a wonderful gallery full of fantastic cards so it was pretty hard to pick just one to CASE and modify.  I decided to use this one - What Was I Thinking.

I wanted to use an Easter theme for my card so I used my only SU! Easter set, A Good Egg.  I kept the layout similar but added one more layer to the base. I changed the colors, the dp, the stamp set and added some ribbon and a button instead of a scalloped edged border with three button embellishments.

I aquapainted the sweet easter chick with so saffron and pumpkin pie ink.  I stamped the same image on some pretty in pink dotted petals and paisley dp.  I cut the broken bottom of the egg out and adhered it over the watercolored chick and then cut the whole image out.  The chick was then popped off a layered scallop circle of pretty in pink, so saffron and tempting turquoise mats.  White gel pen dots were added to each scallop.  The layered sentiment was stamped in tempting turquoise ink on whisper white cardstock and punched with the small oval punch.  It was layered on a larger pretty in pink oval

Two pieces of petal and paisley dp were adhered together to form a mat for the stamped images.  I ticket corner punched each corner.  A length of so saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon was tied around the middle, where the two pieces of dp met.  I used white embroidery thread to sew a pretty in pink button onto the ribbon and dp.  The dp mat was popped off the pretty in pink card and white gel pen dots were added to each corner.  The layered sentiment was adhered in the lower right corner of the dp mat and the matted chick was popped off the left side of the cardfront with dimensionals.

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Stamps: A Good Egg

Ink: Basic black, tempting turquoise, so saffron, pumpkin pie

CS: Pretty in pink, so saffron, tempting turquoise, whisper white, petals and paisley dp

Accessories: Big shot, nestabilities, large and small oval punch, white gel pen, so saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, soft subtle buttons, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, white embroidery thread, aquapainter