Dynamic Duos #9

I love Crumb Cake - who doesn't?  I usually use at least three colours when making my cards, so picking only two this time for the Dynamic Duos challenge was certainly a challenge for me.  However, you can pretty much pair anything with Crumb Cake, knowing it's going to turn out lovely.

As I'm typing this post, I'm looking at the Stitched Satin ribbon I've got on the desk right now and thinking I've got another combo to try out.  Will update this post later if I have time!

Selective Brayer

Usually I like to have lots of layers on my cards, and quite a bit of distressing too, so this card was something totally different for me.  I don't use my brayer very much, but I saw this idea with the select inking and wanted to give it a try.

I started out by tearing a couple strips of DSP to make the guide and then glued them to my working surface, then I slid my cardstock underneath them.  For the ink, I covered my brayer in Pool Party and covered the whole strip, then followed the the new Gumball Green one the bottom 2/3, and some Island Indigo up top.  The new ink pads are jucier than heck, so I had to give it a few goes before I got the variation that I wanted (I think I'll go back and try this again with a little more Pool Party showing through).  Also, the Island Indigo is very dark so I rolled off most of the ink before applying it.

Leaving my base in the guide I inked up the foliage stamp from Just Believe, and added it to the coloured strip.  I hardly ever use black and I forgot that it takes a while to dry, so I actually ended up smudging the first few tries before I just left it in there (and still managed to smudge - the butterfly on the right is hiding one).  While I was waiting for it to dry I stamped the big butterfly from the new set Papillon Potpourri in Versamark and heat embossed it with black powder.  Then I coloured it in with Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie and punched it out with the coordinating punch (LOVE punches).  the black butterflies are from the Embosslits Beautiful Wings and they're just glued to the base but I used a dimensional to give the main butterfly a little lift.  Finally, Curly Cute made an appearance for the sentiment.  I think this would also make a really nice sympathy card.

Hand Stamped Sentiments #124

Hello Saturday!  I have absolutely nothing that needs to get done today, so I stayed up late last night playing in my room.  I meant to try out some more of my new goodies, but I saw this sketch on Hand Stamped Semtiments and had an idea for it.

I've done many quilting cards before, and love the extra dimension the embossing gives.  Lately I've been on a square card kick (but I hate that I can only get one card out of a regular sized piece of cardstock).  Unfortunately, the biggest square card the folders can accommodate is 4.25".  So, I used the textures impressions plates (they've retired now - sorry!) to get my quilting done for this one.

Other than size, the difference between the TI plates and the embossing folders is that the EF offer a much deeper, crisper texture.  I really prefer the EF, but I wanted to make a nice big card, so that wasn't an option.  As you can tell from the picture, the embossing is quite subtle, but it shows much more in person.  Overall I'm still really happy with the card.  The colours are sure to brighten someone's day!

Freshly Made Sketches #41

Today was the LAST DAY OF WORK!!!!!!  Yayyy!!!  That means I now have 2 months of during which I can go to my craftroom allll day, and not be bothered by anyone.

I was peeking around for some inspiration and found this sketch on Freshly Made Sketches.  As soon as I saw it I knew which set I'd mount (lol...) and off I went.  Tallyho!  (Insert corny noise here.) 

Horse Frontier is one of the new sets from the 2012 - 2013 Stampin' Up catalogue and I knew I had to have it.  I live in a ranching part of BC, so this set is perfect for folks around here.  The stampede is this weekend so it really was a natural choice for this card.

New Goodies!

No, I didn't die.  The end of the school year always seems to suck every ounce of time out of me, so it wasn't until today that I finally made my way out to my craft room for a long overdue trip.  Hubby and I sat and watched a (horrible) movie together this evening.  By 10 minutes in I knew it wasn't for me, so I grabbed my markers and Everything Eleanor and played a bit.

I did similar strips of flowers and colouring with blues, as well as one with pinks, but I was in the mood for a yellow card.  I love the stark contrast between the softness of So Saffron and the bold statement of black.  The Fancy Fan embossing folder is also new and I L.O.V.E. it.  ALSO new is the little framelit.  Works just like a Spellbinder, but coordinates with Stampin' Up.

As I mentioned, it's the end of the year and I wanted to thank a colleague that always inspires me and provides me with great mentorship.  I'll sneak into her office in the morning and leave this on her desk.