Stampin' Up to the rescue

It's been ages since I stamped using Stampin' Up images but I am so behind on my Christmas card making that I needed to find a quick, easy to duplicate card for this year.  I looked through the Holiday Catalogue and found one!  This is totally CASED from page 36 :).  

I used some silver cord instead of the trim they used and found a great pack of metalic designer paper at Michael's.  I sprayed the card base with some shimmer mist and it really is quite lovely in real life - so sparkly.  There were a few steps but once I got my assembly line going, I was able to crank out 24 of these - half in bronze and half in silver.  I added a few sequins to finish it off.

   
I hope you're having a good day.

Cheerio.....Leslie

Sweet Treats

This is a card I made for a sweet lady who sent in the most amazing spread of breakfast treats for us at work a few weeks ago.  The most beautiful box arrived filled with homemade scones, little pots of jam, butter, lemon curd and she even put in napkins and knives for us.  It was a gorgeous presentation and delicious treat!

I only stamped the sentiment, which I thought was perfect, from Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU).  The rest of the card is embellishments, card stock and die-namics - the Fancy Butterfly (MFT), the banner and scallop circle from First Place Award Ribbon (MFT) and the lace doily, ribbon and Flower trim is from SU.  I used a kraft note card with Marina Mist card stock.

A sweet thank you for some sweet treats!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Sweet baby

I was asked to make some baby thank you cards and there's nothing sweeter!  I decided to mix things up and came up with these three designs.

 

 I stamped the images onto Bella's Bestest paper with Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured them with copics.  The little lamb is from Stampin' Up and the teddy bear is so old I can't even make out the company - it was one of my first stamps oh so many years ago.  I found some square pink notecards that were already embossed with little circles and a centre bit which fit the little teddy bear perfectly!

I used a variety of embellishments/tools which I've listed below but obviously the main theme was pink :)

I love making little thank you cards and especially for new babies!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Stamps: Lamb (retired SU), teddy bear (unknown), Sheet Music Backgrounds (MFT)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black, copics, Pretty in Pink (SU)
Paper:  Bella's Bestest paper, Pretty in Pink (SU), Pink notecards (unknown)
Other:  Perfect Polkadots embossing folder (SU), pink ribbon (SU), Simply Scallops die-namic (MFT), rhinestones, pink atyou spica pen, Wink of Stella pen

Happy Birthday - SSSC213

I saw this cool idea for a birthday card for my boss a while ago on Pinterest.  I can't find the original card but it did come from this SU demonstrator's blog.

The sketch is SSSC213 which was perfect for this little guy.  I used the Owl Builder punch to make the owl and personalized him with a stethoscope which I made with the oval punch.  I added a black rhinestone in the middle to make it a little more realistic. 

The sentiment is stamped in Steel Gray ink and I kept the card glitter-less as my boss doesn't like glitter :)

 

Cheerio.....Leslie

Stamps:  PI Birthday Girl (MFT)
Ink:  Steel Gray (MFT)
Paper:  Bella's Bestest paper, SU Baja Breeze, Kraft, Black, SU Winter Frost DSP
Other:  SU oval punch, SU Owl Builder punch, Large Octagons nesties, SU Baja Breeze seam binding, white gel pen, black rhinestone

Giddy Up!

I attended a Stampin' Up class yesterday and it was so much fun to be together with my friends again.  I love to stamp on my own but I love stamping with my friends even more!  It got me in the Stampin' Up mood and I came home and made two little cowboy cards.

The second card is similar but I masked off his little horse and added some hemp cord as a lasso for him.

The copics were used for both cards and I used the Atyou Spica gold pen to shine up his badge.

Wow, this is the third "boy" theme post in a row!  Time to get out some pretty girly paper and images :)

Cheerio.....Leslie

Stamps: Cowboy Kid (SU retired), PI Cowgirl (for the sentiment)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black ink, copics

Paper:  Crate Paper Toy Box Collection, SU Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso
Other:  Perfect Polkadots embossing folder, brads, MFT Hemp cord

Thank you

Happy 2013! 

I was itching to get back into my stamp room to create after the holidays but was procrastinating as I hadn't written my Christmas thank you cards.  So that was my priority this weekend and I'm happy to say they're all finished!  I cased this card by Nancy Littrell.  It's a perfect thank you card - quick, simple, flat to mail (which is important) and I think, really lovely.  The image is a two step stamp and I always find those easy to stamp as I don't have to worry about them matching up perfectly.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy and stamp-happy 2013!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Stamps:  SU Watercolour Winter, MFT Thanks a Bunch
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black, SU Real Red, SU Old Olive
Paper:  White, Red
Other:  MFT First Place Award Ribbon die-namic, brads

Baby Rosalie

Congratulations to Tom and Kailynn on the birth of GORGEOUS baby, Rosalie!  Isn't she precious?!

Rosalie had to have a very special card for her arrival!  I didn't have a sketch to work with so thought I would give the SSSC171  sketch another try but I went a little off course :)

I inked up an old Stampin' Up! stamp in Memento Tuxedo black ink.  This sweet little lamb stamp is so old I don't even remember the name of the set.  I coloured it with copics and added a bit of sparkle with a pink atyou Spica pen.

The paper is retired SU Pawsitively Prints DSP paired with So Saffron, Certainly Celery and some sweet pastel pink glitter card stock I got at my LSS.  I fussy cut out the lamb and mounted her on the pink circle and added a Certainly Celery Lacey Circle nestie behind.  I really wanted it to look like a pull toy, so added some pink striped baker's twine knotted and two pink rhinestones to the wheels.  Rosalie's name was stamped with a tiny alphabet set and cut out using Fishtail Flags Stax and Fishtail Flags Layers Stax die-namics.  I added two little paper roses to finish it off.

I did the inside too and stopped myself from using Fishtail Flags Stax again - LOL.  This time I used Simply Scallops die-namic to cut out a strip of matching paper.

Welcome Rosalie and I think you'll agree - she is one beauuuutiful baby!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Christmas Stockings

Here's another card from the assembly line production this past weekend. I saw this last year on someone's blog (sorry, can't remember where) and I saved the photo. 

I made two colour combos and will admit this one was a bit more fiddly with gluing the little silver stocking bits but I love the sparkly silver paper!  The stocking is from SU Stitched Stockings stamp set and it has a matching punch which made it so much quicker than cutting around each stocking and it's tiny silver bits!  I added a little bow with red bakers twine and a real jingle bell to the top of the stocking and a rhinestone in the middle of the stocking.

I used my red copic to colour the rhinestone on the silver/blue combo.  The sentiment is from Seasonal Sentiments and I stamped it in either Cherry Cobbler or Baja Breeze depending on the card.  I made a border with the Simply Scallops medium die-namic and topped with a bit of SU Cherry Cobbler Scallop Dots ribbon.  The bottom bit is embossed with SU Stripes Folder.  I'm not sure which colour combo I like best but I'm happy I have 16 more cards to add to my box :)

Cheerio.....Leslie

How to assemble a Snowman

Hee hee, that title cracks me up :)

I have several people at work wanting cards this year so I dedicated this past weekend to mass production!

While I love making "one of a kind" cards (with lots of detail, sewing, etc) I also enjoy mass production - crazy, I know!  This was a card I designed for a recent Christmas card making session I attended with some of my very special stamping friends.  Denise was the hostess and she LOVES snowmen so I made this one especially for her.  She loved it....but really, what's not to love about snowmen?!

I stamped the snowman in Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured him with copics.

The snowman is from SU Snow Much Fun set.  When mass producing I look for a simple layout, one that doesn't need all the same pattern paper or embellishments.  For this card I used Crumb Cake as the base paired with Cherry Cobbler that I ran through with the Perfect Polkadots embossing folder.  The pattern paper is from Authentique Wonder collection and I used several different strips.  The sentiment is from the same Snow Much Fun stamp set and I punched it out with the SU Decorative Label punch.  You can see from the mass production photo above that all the snowflakes are different as I used a variety of punches, brads, donuts and bonbons on them.  You know the saying.....no two snowflakes are the same!  I added some glitter along the bottom for the snow.  For my assembly line I usually work in even numbers either 8 or 10 - after that I get bored - LOL.  I started with 10 Crumb Cake bases, then embossed 10 Cherry Cobbler layers, then cut 10 strips of pattern paper, then 10 sentiments punched out, then 10 images stamped, 10 Crumb Cake layers and then I get started on the colouring.  I colour 10 hats, 10 noses, etc - that way I'm not picking up my copics too many times.  Then I make little piles of each element and get to work gluing everything down.  Once they're all glued I apply the glitter.  The final step was the snowflakes and I will admit I used a mixture of ones I already had punched out from previous projects ( I NEVER throw out a snowflake!) and then each one got some sort of bling embellishment.

Of interest it took me about 2 hours to make these.  Don't know if that's good or bad but I enjoyed making them so it's all good to me!  I'm sure it could be done faster with some elves helping, but they all seem to be unavailable right now - hmm :)   

Cheerio.....Leslie

Wedding season

It's wedding season and I recently had a friend ask me to make her five wedding cards.  Lucky for me they could all be the same design, just different colours!  I pulled out Fifth Avenue Floral from SU - I absolutely love this set and it's one of the few I kept when I 'retired' from SU :)

The layout is cased from a card on SCS - you can see "houstonarmywife's" beautiful card here.  I changed it a bit and made up 5 in various shades of pink and purple.  I embossed the rose with white embossing powder (gosh, haven't pulled that out in a while) and coloured it with my aqua painter and reinkers.  The embossing folder is Textile Texture and I added 3 leaves from MFT Royal Leaves Die-namic behind the rose which I popped up.  I used part of a sentiment from Clearly Sentimental about Anniversaries, some white ribbon and added 3 little pearls.  I really like all the texture on this card - from the embossing folder to the leaves to the raised rose and I finished it off with a light spray of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Marshmallow. 

Happy Wedding Day to all five brides!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Butterfly Thanks

I needed some quick thank you cards and I found an old Stampin' Up catalogue with a sample similar to this card.  It was a simple and clean layout so I just changed the colours!

I stamped the butterfly from the Strength & Hope set in Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Marina Mist and added a tiny rhinestone to each one.  The Certainly Celery grosgrain is a perfect match and the sentiment is from MFT Fresh from the Oven.  These were fast to make and, I think, so pretty.

Cheerio.....Leslie

Happy Birthday Cousin Helen!

Today is Cousin Helen's birthday and I needed a card that was relatively flat to mail and not too "fussy, frilly or cute".  Helen is a Stampin' Up demonstrator in England and one of the top 20 demonstrators there!  Her blog is full of lovely cards and ideas and even a special "Caturday" post every Saturday - check it out.  I knew I had to use a SU image on her card and I think I remember Fifth Avenue Floral was one of her favourites. 

The layout is CPS 264 - this is the first time I've done one of their sketches and I really must do more.  I stamped the flower in SU Marina Mist and the cardstock is also SU Marina Mist with some Early Espresso.  The designer paper from MME Lost & Found pad.  I used my new By The Letters die-namic for the letters and loved the way Karen overlapped hers on this card so I did the same!

I'd love to post a photo of Cousin Helen and me from my recent trip there, but we didn't take one, so instead I'll post a photo of something else I love about England - the countryside - and no, I didn't climb to the top of this! :)

Happy Birthday Helen!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Snow Much Fun

Here's another card from the cottage weekend.  This sweet snowman card was designed by Lindsay Anne for us all to make.

I stamped Snow Much Fun from SU in Memento Tuxedo black in and coloured him with - gosh I can't remember if it was pencils and OMS or copics :)  I added tiny dots of glitter around him and some stickles down one side of him - I will admit I got a little carried away with the stickles - you know me and glitter!  He's mounted on a large scallop circle nestie with some paper piercing in each scallop.  Lindsay Anne gave everyone a piece of ribbon to tie across the top but I knew I'd be mailing this one overseas so left that off to save postage!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Halloween treats

This is a very quick post with some super sweet little treat favours I made.  I took a bunch for my co-workers this week and last night took some for every one's place setting when we went out for dinner with friends. 

I can't take credit for either of these brilliant ideas though!  The hat is from this blog post and the little EEK package is two Hershey chocolate nuggets (mmmm).  The tutorial is here.  Angie has the best little gift ideas and does great tutorials!  The hat was made with retired SU Halloween paper rolled into a cone shape and a circle for the base punched out of Basic Black cardstock.  The nugget holder was exactly the same papers.  I stamped some address labels with a stamp from It's a Wrap Holidays set (SU Holiday Mini) in Cajan Craze ink to match the paper and wrapped them around the nuggets.  I punched two scallop circles and just wrapped them around the two nuggets and tied it up with a bit of ribbon. 

I love making little treats as table (or desk) favours and these were super easy!

Cheerio.....Leslie

Sweet Sunday Sketch - Cowboy

I realize I have lots of cards for little girls but none for little boys.  My defense is that I don’t have any little boys stamps except this one retired set, Cowboy Kid, from Stampin’ Up.  Note to self: Buy more boy images!

I used Karen Giron's SSSC114 for my card and will admit I struggled with the little round flower bit.  I know with sketches, “it’s just a guide” but I could not figure out what to put there.  It didn’t help that I had the card all put together and then realized I’d forgotten that little bit!  So I got a second opinion (thanks Karen) and am pleased with the result.  I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured him with copics. 

I added a few coats of clear glaze pen to his “star” and sponged around the edges to soften the white a bit.  The cardstock is some I bought on one of my trips to England and the patterned paper is from a HUGE box of 12 x 12 that I bought a couple of years ago from Costco and have never used!  I had a good look and there are some lovely patterns in there.

Happy Easter!

Cheerio…..Leslie

Happy Birthday Anna

Yesterday I showed you my boss’s birthday card and today I’m showing you my boss’s wife’s birthday card.  Anna is more than just my boss’s wife – she is my friend, she is lovely, she is very “Martha Stewartish” and crafty.  She is SOLELY responsible for introducing me to this crazy stamping world!  It all started over 22 years ago when she sent me a baby thank you card – just a small pale blue card with one little teddy bear stamped in blue in the centre.  That was it.  I was intrigued.  Where did you get this?  You made it?  How?  Stamping?  What’s stamping?  Well, as you can guess, the rest is history!  I fell in love with stamping.  I still have the very first card I made (maybe I’ll post that one day for a laugh).  Stamping led me to Stampin’ Up (where I was a demonstrator for almost 10 years and have recently retired) and stamping led me to so many, wonderful ladies – many who are now good friends of mine. 

Anna loves Stampin’ Up so her card is ALL that!  I recently went to my friend Mo’s house for a class to make a special folds card.  When I saw the set we were using I knew it would be Anna’s birthday card!  The card base is soft suede with an embossed edge using the Framed Tulips embossing folder on crumb cake cardstock, some baja breeze and vanilla cardstock.  I used some pretty baja breeze seam binding, an antique brad over the bow and that was the front finished. The inside is where it’s all happening!  I used glossy cardstock and we stamped the beautiful “Nature Walk” images with Black StazOn and coloured in some of the images with the matching markers.  A bit of sponging, some spritzing with the colour spritzer tool, the special folding & cutting and it was done.  It may look complicated but it was surprisingly easy and you can make the card any size you want. 

I apologize for the inside photo - those are two scary looking shadows - it's very difficult to photograph a popped out/in card but trust me, the card is very pretty in 'real life'! :)

So to my dear friend, Anna...happy, happy birthday!!!!

Cheerio…..Leslie