Penny Black: Every which way - Love is in the air!

Hello and thanks for stopping by :-)

It's only 1 week to Valentine's Day - which will also mean that February will be half over!!  Boy, time sure does fly, doesn't it?  Anyway, onto my card.......I have still been playing with my new Penny Black: 'Every which way' stamp set - I love this set - it has such c-u-t-e images.  Please excuse the shadow from the ribbon on my photo - popping the card so the sun was right on the front of the card to avoid the ribbon-shadow washed out both the image and dry-embossing, so I went with this photo.

I grabbed my Crafts Too: Happy Valentine embossing folder and popped it through my Cuttlebug.  I really like this folder as you can use it portrait or landscape with the way the pattern has been done - much more practical that way.  I cut out the centre panel just leaving the embossed line, then layered it onto some red cardstock, then cut the middle out of the red cardstock leaving a narrow red border.

I popped a small piece of white cardstock underneath the (now) blank centre panel, and drew a faint pencil line around the centre panel which gave me a guideline as to where I should stamp my image and sentiment to make sure they were in just the right spot.  As these stamps are clear, it also makes things much easier because you can see where to stamp.  I coloured the image with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and OMS, then lightly chalked the sky with Kaiser blue chalk, then added some pink I-Kan-dee pearlescent chalk here and there (alas, not captured by the camera).  I stamped the balloon part of the image again onto the back of some Red Glitter cardstock and cut out the balloon and glued it to the image.    Next, I attached the image panel underneath the blank centre panel, then attached the whole thing to a blank white cardstock front.  I find it easier to do it this way instead of trying to stamp the image on the cardstock front and trying to line everything up perfectly (rather than stamping the image on a separate piece of cardstock) - but that's just me - you might it easier the other way!

I tied a bow with my Bow Easy and glued it on with fabric glue.  One thing that I really love about my Bow Easy is that when I have a ribbon that is patterned and clearly has a wrong side and a right side, when I tie the bow with my Bow Easy, the pattern remains uppermost - something I find difficult to achieve otherwise and it becomes a real fiddle twisting and turning the ribbon to get it right-side up (I am so bow-challenged!).

And I even did the inside (keeping my New Year's resolution of doing the insides of my card before I move onto the next card):-

 

Whoops - one of my little punched hearts is a little crooked!  Oh well!  The scalloped heart was diecut using my Spellbinder Scalloped Heart Nesties and Red Glitter cardstock (LOVE this stuff - can't you tell?!!!) and the pink heart with my Heart Nesties.  For the white cardstock heart:  the next-size-down Heart Nestie is much smaller and when I diecut my white cardstock, it looked a little silly as it made the pink cardstock have a very wide border, so I placed the same Heart Nestie I used to diecut the pink cardstock and traced around the inside of it onto my white cardstock and simply handcut it.  I just use nail scissors (they have a curved blade) which make is easier for cutting the rounded parts.  Then I simply stamped the sentiment and punched a couple of red hearts from my Carl CP-8 Heart duo punch and glued them on.

Challenges:  

I'm popping this card into the following Challenges -

Allsorts Challenge Week 89 - Must be love, love, love

Saturday Challenge #120 - Valentine 

Splitcoaststampers 'Ways to use it' Challenge WT308 of 'i HEART you'

Well, that's about it from me - thanks again for stopping by!  Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:  

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Every which way' 30-008 clear stamp set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Designer paper:  Best Creations red glitter cardstock

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Crafts Too Happy Valentine embossing folder, Spellbinder Heart and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Odourless Mineral Spirits, paper stumps, Kaisercolour chalk, I-Kan-dee pearlescent chalk, ribbon, Bow Easy, Cardstock:  KW Doggett 'Knight' white (for image), regular white (for card base), candy pink, soft red

Punches:  Carl CP-8 heart duo

Cuttlebug White Christmas card

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I have had this idea running in my head to make an all-white, mostly Cuttlebugged card for Christmas, and this is what I came up with.  I LOVE all-white cards - they always seem to scream elegant - and I hope that I have gone some way in achieving that.

You can probably see how I made the card, but I shall explain a little of it - and if you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to either leave a comment or drop me an EMail (my addy is on the top LHS of my Blog).  

Firstly:  make sure your corner-punch the cardstock before you do the dry embossing so you don't squash or mark the embossing.

There are four layers to the card:  the base, the snowflakes embossing, the dots embossing and the trees.  To do the dots panel, I embossed my cardstock, then very, very carefully added a top and bottom Scor-Pal line between the dots (there isn't much room so you have to be very accurate making the line - if it's crooked, it looks pretty-ordinary!), then cut the cardstock just slightly under/above the line.  At first, I did the panel without the Scor-Pal line, but it just didn't look quite right - it seemed to need a "finished edge" to it.  Note that I added the ribbon to this panel in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy - then I glued this panel to the card base.

The diecut trees are a Cuttlebug Treetops die/folder combo which I bought back in 2008 when I first bought my Cuttlebug, and when I Googled it, it seems to be readily available in Australia - not sure about overseas.  There are four different trees in the set, but I decided to just have 3 the same on my card.   In any case, I think that even if you don't have this die, you could hand-cut some trees and either leave them plain or perhaps run them through your Cuttlebug with some other folder.  I popped the trees up on 2mm mounts (dimensionals).

The sentiment was stamped with Sky gray pigment ink and heat-embossed with Pearl clear embossing powder.  I love how it made the sentiment look a bit silvery, but not as bright as silver - just nice and understated - I didn't want it to stand out too much. I also ran my ink pad around the edge of the oval just to make it stand out a bit more against the Snowflakes embossing. This panel is also up on 2mm mounts.

Challenges:

I am entering this card into the Allsorts Challenge - Week 80 of "Monochrome" - it doesn't have to be black and white;  you can use shades of one colour or any colour and white.

I am also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple CAS75 Challenge of "Dry Embossing".

Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Sentiment - Waltzingmouse 'Seasons of Love' Tags clear set

Ink:  Artnic Sky Gray pigment

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, CB Embossing folders:  Swiss dots, Snowflakes, CB Tree Tops 37-1854 die/folder combo, Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, 2mm mounts, white organza ribbon, Bow Easy, Pearl clear embossing powder, heat-gun, Scor-Pal, Cardstock:  white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer card using Stamp-It Reindeer Text stamp

 

Hello and thanks for dropping by :-)

I whipped up a simple card using a lovely vintage stamp from Stamp-It Australia called "Reindeer Text".  You can find the stamp here at Fat Cat's Card Corner.  It was stamped onto cream cardstock with Vintage Sepia ink and then diecut using the newly-released Spellbinder Eyelet Square Nestabilities.  The nestie fitted the image perfectly (don't you love it when that happens?!).  These nesties are not on Fat Cat's website yet, but keep an eye out:  I'm sure they will be soon.

I heavily distressed the image with Antique Linen ink and a seasponge (as are all the layers on the card) and the image panel is up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).  I added a little red rhinestone to his nose - check it out with this close-up:

If you don't have such a tiny rhinestone, you could just use some Red Stickles instead.  My rhinestone actually came from one of those little Basic Grey bling pictures - I like them because they usually have some very tiny rhinestones on them and are smaller than the Kaiser rhinestone sets. 

The ribbon came from Kenny's Cardiology (you will find this store at most larger Australian shopping centres) - where I buy my DD her Beanie (Kids) bears.  When I was in there the other day, I noticed that they had a stand of rolls of wide ribbon, so being a ribbon-a-holic, I had to get some LOL.  I love the sparkles in this particular ribbon - think I might get some more...... ;-)  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements, and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

Challenges:

I am entering this card into 2 Challenges.  The first is Allsorts Challenge Blog where this week's challenge #73 is 'Inspiration from a Song Title'  Well, of course it's Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (bet you're singing it now.....).  The other Challenge is Papertake Weekly Challenge which is 3 of a Kind - which can be anything like 3 papers, 3 buttons etc.  I have used just 3 colours on my card:  cream, brown and red.

Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stamp-It Australia 'Reindeer Text' 3902E (self-cling rubber stamp)

Ink:  Versafine Vintage Sepia, Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress

Designer paper:  Kaisercraft 'Be Merry' 6 x 6 pad

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Eyelet Square Nestabilities, tiny red rhinestone, seasponge, 1mm mounts (dimensionals), Bow Easy, ribbon 1-1/2" - 38mm wide, Cardstock:  brown, red, cream

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch

Elzybells: A little Winter magic!

Hello and thanks for dropping in!  Here is a quick little one-layer Christmas card using my favourite Cuttlebug folder from the Winter Wonderland set.  I really love the embossing on this particular folder - it's just so pretty.  It is available at Fat Cat's Card Corner here.  I actually started this card in August - but only just got around to colouring the image - it's just been sitting on my desk buried amongst all the other stuff (you know how it is LOL!!!).

I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils and OMS, plus I used a Lyra Skin tone pencil for the face which I recently bought from my local Art Store.  Lyra pencils blend beautifully with OMS.  I added some Liquid Applique to the coat and ear muffs and let that dry overnight before I applied my heat-gun to make it "pop".  I did actually paint over the Liquid Applique (once it had cooled) with white acrylic paint because the Liquid Applique comes out an off-white colour which looked kind-of "dirty" against the white cardstock, then added Kindyglitz on top to make it sparkle.  I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk.

The snowflake on the ribbon was diecut using the Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die set, and the snowflakes dotted around the embossing were punched from my Martha Stewart Snow Flurry edge punch (they are the leftover punchies when you punch a border with it), and these snowflakes are up on mounts.   I added tiny red rhinestones to the centres.   Here is a little closeup:

I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

Both the image and sentiment are by Elzybells Art Stamps UK who are closing on the 30th September.  These particular images have sold out, but there are still alot of other stamps - including Christmas ones - that are still available but you'd better be quick!!  I still can't believe they are closing - it is such a shame :-(

Challenges:

I am entering this card into the Crazy 4 Challenges C4C56 of "Bling".

And the Allsorts Week 71 Challenge of Plain and Simple.

Plus I am also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Free for All Challenge F4A21 of Snowflakes and Pearls from July - which was what I was originally started making the card for.

Anyway, that's about it for me.  Thanks for visiting - I'll be back in a few days with a Vintage Christmas card!  

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Elzybells Ice Skater 10-080, Sentiment from Elzybells 20-053 Mini Messages - Winter

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Snowflakes ef from Winter Wonderland set, Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die set, OMS, Prismacolor Pencils, paper stumps, Lyra Skintone pencil, white liquid applique, white acrylic paint, Kindyglitz Crystalina, Bow Easy, gingham ribbon, 1mm mounts, Kaiser rhinestones SB711 red (largest rhinestone on ribbon), Basic Grey Bling-it red rhinestones (tiny red ones on snowflakes), Kaisercolour chalks, heatgun, Cardstock: white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner, Martha Stewart Snow Flurry edge

Popcorn the Bear - Thanks a Bunch - sunflowers birthday card

Hello and welcome to my Blog!  I am finally back on deck after being away for about 2 weeks.  Yay!!  You might need your sunglasses for this card!!

I needed to make a birthday card for my Godfather's partner's birthday this week.  She is a wonderful and vibrant lady who emigrated to Australia from the Philippines about 20 or so years ago.  I know that she really LOVES bright colours, so when I was looking for some ideas, I came across the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC249 - 'Cost Plus World Market' website - where you choose an image that inspires you - and I chose the orange scarf from the 3 photos they had there because it was so bright and cheerful, plus when I thought of yellow/orange, I thought of sunflowers, and chose this picture as well from the Cost Plus World Market website.  I would love to have a field of sunflowers in my backyard just like in the picture - they just exude warmth and vibrancy.  And then I remembered I had this 'Popcorn the Bear' image holding the huge bunch of sunflowers - ahh, perfect!  

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured it with Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS) and Prismacolor pencils then chalked the sky and ground.  I ticket-punched the corners.  The tag was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the Tiny Tags dies; I lightly inked around the tag with 'Olive Pastel' chalk ink so the edges would stand out better against the main image panel.  I stamped the sentiment with Stazon Jet Black - I find this ink seems to work better with clear (photopolymer) stamps (as opposed to rubber) and I get a clearer image.

The orange designer paper is by My Mind's Eye and comes from a 6" x 6" pad (of some 48 sheets) called "Bloom and Grow" and was already embossed (just in case you thought I put the paper thru my Cuttlebug).

The tiny orange hearts near the duck and on the tag are the leftover punchies from my Arrows Border punch, which I added a bit of glitter to.  I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

Challenges:  I am entering this card into the Allsorts Challenge Week 69 of Colours of Autumn.  I think mine should qualify with the orange, green, brown and yellow tones.

Thanks again for stopping by - I'll be back in a few days with another card!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Crafter's Companion 'Popcorn the Bear' Thanks a bunch PST-TKS unmounted set, Sentiments from Impression Obsession Sentiments 1 WP16 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black, Stazon Jet black, Colorbox Olive Pastel chalk

Designer paper:  My Mind's Eye 'Bloom and Grow' 6 x 6 pad

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border, Stampin' Up Ticket corner punch and Horizontal slot punch

Accessories:  Cuttlebug + Tiny Tags die set, ribbon, Bow Easy, OMS, Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Kaisercolour chalks, Kindyglitz Crystalina, burnt orange brads, Cardstock:  KW Doggett 'Knight' (white), burnt orange, pale olive

Penny Black: Just next to you - Happy 21st Wedding Anniversary!

Hello and thanks for visiting my Blog!

It's DH's and my 21st Wedding Anniversary today!  Yep, 21 years!!  We married in 1989!  It doesn't really seem that long ago and it's amazing how the time has flown and how the world has changed since then.  We are having a little celebratory dinner at home with our 6 yo DD.  She is very excited about it and can't wait to celebrate her own wedding anniversary seeing as a little boy in her class wants to marry her - yep, he's proposed (several times actually)!   It just cracks me up when I see how excited he is to see her when we arrive at school and wants to hold her hand straight away.  Sheesh - he's only 6 but he's sooooo smitten.  Anyway, I am digressing.....

I made this card (obviously) for DH and coloured the image a few weeks ago, but was stumped at what to do with it.  It sat on my desk until I saw the Challenge over the ABC Challenge Blog of  "R is for Red".  "Perfect" I thought and when the Postie brought me my long-desired Cuttlebug Love Language embossing folder and die set (courtesy of EBay), I put them together and this is what I came up with.   Simple and unfussy.  Sorry it's not a great photo - my camera doesn't photograph reds very well and adjusting the image with my photo imaging software doesn't help much - there doesn't seem to be anything between underexposing and overexposing the photo.  The dogs are actually darker IRL but look a bit washed out in the photo.   I'll have to try and get some advice on how to photograph red cards from somewhere.

I'm also popping this card into the Allsorts Challenge #46 which is no DP's!  I love making cards with no dp's - clean and simple with just a bit of embossing for texture.  Right up my alley.

I coloured the image with Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils and lightly chalked around the image with my Kaisercolour chalks, then ran my Warm Red ink pad around the edges of the oval.  I added to some glue to the hearts on the image, add poured on some very fine red glitter.   I punched a heart from red cardstock, and glittered this as well.  I stamped the sentiment with Stazon jet black ink as it seems to give better coverage on clear stamps than the Memento ink.   I did the ribbon in 2 separate elements so the writing wouldn't be upside down and so I could get the writing even on both sides of the knot.

Thanks for stopping by to have a peek at my card.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Just next to you!' 1921F, Sentiment from Elzybells 'Spring Cubes' 20-015-CC clear stamp set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stazon Jet Black, Colorbox Chalk Warm Red

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Love Language ef, Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, .008 fine red glitter, corner punch, Carl CP-2 Heart punch, Gamsol, Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Kaisercolour chalks, Ribbon 1/2" - 13mm wide, Cardstock: white, red