Soft Winter Palette

Happy Friday, Everyone! 

Phew!  That was a long week!  It is so hard to get back into the swing of things after being off for the holidays.  But, we survived!  We have the possibility of ice/snow/sleet here on Sunday and I know alot of kids (and adults!) are hoping for a snow day.  The way I see it, that is more time to craft! 
Have you seen the gorgeous winter inspiration photo at Curtain Call?  I had to play-twice! 

I just love these soft colors; they have the look of a warm, comfy throw, and we need that right now!
I used the Embossing Folder Stamping Technique found here for my back panel which gave it a soft, watercolored look.  The sentiment is from Stamplorations; 'heartfelt' is stamped in Baked Brown Sugar and the 'thanks' is stamped in Versamark and embossed in silver.   
My flowers are from one of my most favorite SU sets, Elements of Style.  I only stamped a small portion of the image and then fussy cut it out.  I used the blender pen to add a little more color (Baked Brown Sugar) to the flowers. 
Some burlap for texture and Simon Says Stamp Moonstone and Fall Festival sequins add finishing touches.  Three of the sequins have pearl centers. 
My sketch inspiration is from Stamplorations~

 My sentiment is new as are my sequins so I am uploading to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, 'new'. 
Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed and warm weekend!

Lee Ann  :)

Fun Colors and a Farewell with The Card Concept

Hello Everybody!

We have a new challenge at The Card Concept; sadly, it will be my last challenge, but my plate was getting a little bit too full.  I hope you all will continue to play with this amazing team of ladies!

Lesley picked out some beautiful colors for us this week in this color challenge~

When I saw these colors, my first thought was a misty morning meadow, so that is what I created- well, sort of!
My background is stamped with a background stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Leafy Background Flourish and More, using the Faux watercolor technique.  I matted this piece with soft suede and framed it with white cs.  I added a circle element using a doily and a some Pool Party cs.  One of my all time favorite floral images is from a retired SU set, Elements of Style.  I stamped this in black and fussy cut the flowers out- seriously, I find fussy cutting relaxing!  I layered this onto my circles, then added a butterfly from the Sweet 'n Sassy Set, New Beginnings, and cut it out with its matching die.  A sprig of the Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish was tucked in behind the butterfly and flowers.
I added a tag sentiment, stamped in Soft Suede.  My sketch inspiration is from last week's Freshly Made Sketches~

Thanks so much for stopping by; I hope you can join us this week!  Check out all of the inspiration here! 

Blessings,

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used-
Stamps- Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps- New Beginnings, Leafy Flourish Background and More, SU Elements of Style and
Paper- Neenah Solar White, SU Soft Suede, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Mixed media paper
Ink- Lucky Limeade, Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Suede
Other- MFT Circle Stax and Fish Tail Flag Stax Die-Namics, SU paper doily, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps New Beginnings Butterfly Dies, Spellbinder Rectangle Dies, Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish Die, Wink of Stella Glitter pen

The Crew in March

Good Morning and Happy Friday to You!

Can you believe we have already completed the month of February??  Here it is, March 1st, and that means a new SU Creative Crew gallery and challenges at SCS.  So without further ado, here are the challenges and cards I have made for them-

DSP/Color Focus: Fan Fair dsp and island indigo

 For this card, the flowers were stamped twice in Island Indigo and fussy cut; then fussy cut flowers from one the the stamped images were layered on top of the other image and adhered with dimensionals to give them depth.  The pink scalloped oval frame is also adhered with dimensionals.

 The butterfly was stamped in Craft Black and heat embossed with clear ep.  It was colored with Island Indigo and So Saffron reinkers and aquapainter.  Once dry, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint was stippled onto the So Saffron areas of the butterfly, which of course, you cannot see in the photo. 

 Catalog Focus: Check out the Fan Fair Product Suite in the IBC, pp.106-117. Romance us with Elements of Style or Everything Eleanor. Take us away with Postage Due or Papillon Potpourri. Intrigue us with Daydream Medallions or Nature's Price.

 The butterflies were stamped in Island Indigo on Very Vanilla; the larger was punched out and the smaller, fussy cut.  Champagne Mist Shimmer paint was stippled onto the butterflies.  Dazzling Diamonds was piped along a few of the butterfly lines. 
Holiday Focus-
Use a wonderful quote as a focal point in your project. (You may use any quote that SU! has ever produced, even retired, but you must let us know the year of the stamp and the stampset name.)

This card is 5.5 x 5.5 inches square.  The Gumball Green Polka Dot embossed panel is 5.25 x5.25 inches.  The Whisper White panel is 4.75" x 4.75" and stamped in Poppy Parade with the flourish from Elements of Style.  The So Saffron panel is 3.75" x 3.75", die cut in the center with a Window Framelit and the scored around the edges at 1/8".  The Island Indigo panel needs to be small enough that it is not visible behind the So Saffron panel and is die cut with a smaller Window Framelit.  The Indigo and Saffron panels are adhered together.  The sentiment is stamped in Stazon Black on Whisper White and the flourish from Elements of Style is inked up in So Saffron, stamped off once and then stamped over the sentiment.  This panel is adhered to the Poppy Parade stamped panel and the Window Framelit panels are popped up on dimensionals and adhered around the sentiment.  

Three sets of Little Leaves are die cut in Gumball Green; flowers are punched from the Itty Bitty Punch pack punch in Poppy Parade.

  

The  humming bird is stamped in So Saffron on Naturals White cs and then fussy cut. To color the bird, you first saturate the cut image in water, folding/squeezing it like a sponge so that it absorbs as much water as possible.  Once soaked, uncrinkle/unfold paper and drop drops on reinker ink onto wet paper and watch ink spread!  To get a ruby colored throat on my hummingbird, I used a paint brush to dab Poppy Parade reinker ink on the spot.  Once inked as desired, put bird in a coffee filter and dry carefully with a heat gun.  Once completely dry, press stamped image onto Versamark pad and then sprinkle with clear ep.  Repeat this process multiple times until desired thickness reached.  To give the bird a golden edge, drag the edges across the Versamark pad and then drag through gold ep; heat. 

That's it for today's Creative Crew projects; hope you can join us!  Have a blessed day!

Lee Ann :)

Products used- All Stampin' Up
Card 1-
Stamps-Elements of Style, Pretty Petites
Paper-Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Fanfair dsp
Ink-Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray
Other-Oval Framelits, Little Leaves die, Petite Curly Label punch, Heart charm(retired), dimensionals, Faceted Vintage button, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, blender pen, Polka Dot ef

Card 2-
Stamps-Swallowtail
Paper-Island Indigo, So Saffron, Basic Black, Whisper White, Natural Composition Specialty dsp
Ink-Versamark, Island Indigo reinker, So Saffron reinker, Black Craft
Other-clear ep, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, paint brush to stipple on Shimmer Paint

Card 3-
Stamps-Easter Blessings, Papillion Potpourri
Paper-Early Espresso, Natural CompositionSpecialty dsp, Very Vanilla
Ink- Versamark, Island Indigo
Other-Pool Party ep, pearls, Butterfly Punch, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Island Indigo ribbon, Dazzling Details, Paint brush to stipple on Shimmer Paint

Card 4-
Stamps-Trust God, Elements of Style
Paper-Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Naturals White
Ink-Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Stazon Black, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Versamark
Other-Clear ep, gold ep, Window Framelits, Simple Scored, Dimensionals, Little Leaves die, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, pearls, white ribbon, Polka Dot ef

Elements of Style

Good Morning, Everyone and Happy Saturday! 

It is a beautiful, sunny day here and hopefully much of our ice and snow mixture will melt.  I hit the craft room early this morning and made a card for 2 challenges at SCS- for the inspiration challenge and for the Lovefest challenge, sponsored by MFT. 

I decided to go with the colors blue and yellow, based on my inspiration piece, but then I added in Cajun craze to define the embossed bricks a bit more.  I inked up the embossing folder with the Cajun Craze pad and embossed.  I stamped the flower in More Mustard two times.  I colored the images with More Mustard and So Saffron using a blender pen.  I fussy cut flowers that I wanted to pop up on dimensions.  I cut an Island Indigo vine using my favorite flourish die.  The bow was made using Becca's Bow Maker.  'Friends' is from the Tiny Tags set and is punched out with the jewelry tag punch. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Lee Ann:)

Supplies Used-
Stamps-Stampin' Up Elements of Style and Tiny Tags
Paper-Whisper White, Island Indigo, Midnight Muse, Naturals White
Ink-More Mustard, So Saffron, Island Indigo, Cajun Craze
Other-Cheery Lynn Fancy Flourish, Jewelry Tag Punch -SU, Baja Breeze seam binding, Island Indigo ribbon, dimensionals, Tim Holtz ef

Happy Anniversary!

Stampin' Up is celebrating 25 years of being in business, providing beautiful stamps for all of us who love to get inky.  One of the Creative Crew Challenges this month is to create an anniversary card. 
Here is my card-

You can view the entire Creative Crew Gallery at Splitcoaststampers.
For this card, we were given a great sketch to follow.  I used the "25" stamp from the Merry and Type set, embossed it in silver and punched it out with the extra large oval punch.  The flowers are from Elements of Style and are stamped in Always Artichoke and Lucky Limeade.  The image panel is cut using the "out of the box" technique.  Additional flowers were stamped and fussy cut out and either placed behind the image panel or popped up on dimensionals.  To frame the panels, I have scored around the edges of the card base.


Thanks so much for visiting my blog and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies used (all Stampin' Up)-
Stamps-Merry and Type, Elements of Style, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper-Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Twitterpated dsp, Lucky Limeade
Ink-Always Artichoke, Lucky Limeade, Stazon Black and Versamark
Other-Simply Scored, Extra Large Oval Punch, Dimensionals

Christmas Style

I am very glad that I am being productive today (in a crafty sense-not housework!) and I am also happy to feel my mojo coming back.  I really liked the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week, so gave it a go with another new stamp, Quint-Essential Flower.  This is such a versatile stamp!  This stamp can be colored and used for just about any occasion, including Christmas.

Here is my interpretation of this sketch-

-Freshly Made Sketches Winning Card-

 To make this card I used-

Stamps-Quint-Essential Flower, Elements of Style, Tiny Tags

Paper-Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Whisper White

Ink-Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray

Other-stripes ef, Polka Dot ef, large and small Scallop Circle punches, 1/2" circle punch, 1" circle punch, White Organza Ribbon Dimensionals

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by; Have a fantastic weekend!

Lee Ann

June 22, 2012
5:30pm
I am still crafting and going strong.  It is a peaceful Friday with nothing pressing going on.  Don't you just love those kinds of days?  Bella, my dog, is doing better.  I had to take her to the vet yesterday as she had stopped eating or drinking for a couple of days.  She seems to be on the mend now so I have all of this free time.  What better thing to do than papercraft!  I am enjoying all of the new goodies Stampin' Up has in the new catalog.  This card uses the new Apothecary Framelits and the wonderful paper piercing TEMPLATES!  I love paper piercing and now it is fool proof!

To make this card I used:

Stamps-Thoughts and Prayers

Paper-Whisper White, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse, Patio Party dsp

Ink-Soft Suede and Midnight Muse

Other-Apothecary Framelits, Paper Piercing Templates, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

Pearls

This went together very quickly and easily; perfect for the type of card that sadly, is needed so frequently.  

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of blogland!  Have a fantastic weekend!  

Lee Ann