What is with the huge spaces??

Seriously, I apologize in advance for the huge spaces in the tutorial. When I go in and edit the post, they are not there, as soon as I hit publish....blamo there they are. So, me being so super computer illiterate am not able to change that. Sorry!

Tea holder tutorial...

Here is a tutorial on making the tea holders:

1. Start with a sheet of cs, cut down to 10X5.5". Score the long side 1" from each edge as shown in picture.

2. Score the shorter side 3.5", 4.5", 8", 9".

3. When you look at your cs, you should see 4 small squares, cut the sides of them so your cs looks like this.

4. Now, Fold all the scored lines using your bone folder. Imagine your cs divided into 3 sections. Tape the small slit flaps in the center section to the larger flaps. This should give you the start of your box shape.

5. Next, tape the long flaps on your "first section" and fold them up and secure them around the "center section" as shown in photo.

6. Basically, you want the edge of the flap you just folded and adhered to be facing the back of the box.

7. This is what your box should look like now.

8. Now fold the sliding lid back and eyeball how long you want your ribbon handle. I stuck down a piece of tape, stuck the ribbon to it, added another piece of tape over the ribbon and then added more tape to the rest of the flap. Line up and secure against other flap. Repeat for other side.

9. This is what the finished edges should look like on the lid.

10. decorate as desired. For quick reference, the turquoise mat on the front of the box is 3 1/4X3 1/4, the patterned paper of the front of the box is 3 1/8 X 3 1/8. The strips on the lid are 7/8" X 3 1/4 (turquoise mat), 3/4X 3 1/4.

Supplies:

Stamps: pun fun. Cs: wild wasabi, tempting turquoise, whisper white and bali breeze designer paper. Inks: blk staz on, tempting turquoise. Access: turquoise grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch, pomegranate stitched ribbon, mega scalloped circle punch, fiskars circle maker, paintbrush and dimensionals.

I hope this tutorial was easy to follow! Enjoy your day.

cheers!

Dino-Mite!!

I was so excited that Stampin up! added a new dinosaur set this year! I had been waiting and waiting and was finally rewarded this season. My daughter is dino crazy so buying this set was a no brainer.

For this card I actually followed a sketch by Taylored Expressions and really liked the outcome of this card. The only thing I changed up on the sketch was the tie and slot punch on her version were on the other side of the dino, for space issues, I reversed them. I used the east coast prep patterned paper and took my cs colours from the designer paper. I stamped the palm tree tops in wild wasabi and then stamped them again onto a scrap on whisper white, cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals. For the tie, I used the wide grosgrain across the card but used the narrow grosgrain for the actual tie along with some mustard grosgrain for some contrast. I added a sentiment with the oval punches and my computer.

Supplies:

Stamps: prehistoric pals. CS: more mustard, real red, wild wasabi, tempting turquoise, whisper white and east coast prep designer paper. Inks: more mustard, close to cocoa, wild wasabi. Access: 5/8" real red grosgrain ribbon, narrow real red and more mustard grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch, dimensionals, both oval punches.

Gotta run, off to work in the snow!!!! I can't believe it's snowing here! Hope everyone has a happy day.

Carte Wedding...

Last weeks colour challenge on Splitcoast was: Kraft, orchid oppulence and sage shadow. If you would like to check it out, click here. I had to use lavender lace instead as I don't have the orchid ink. I decided to use my friends "carte postal" set that I borrowed from her and make a wedding card. There is lot's of heat embossing on this card!

I stamped the baroque bg onto the sage panel with versamark and then heat embossed it with clear powder. I stamped the square medallion in sage ink, I stamped the swallows in caramel ink and then covered the pieces with versamark and embossed them with clear powder as well. I layered the center image onto lavender cs and used the horizontal slot punch on each side, so I could thread my ribbon through. The center image is up on dimensionals along with the swallows to really add some dimension to this card. I added a small sentiment using the oval punches and threaded it through the ribbon so it hangs nicely. I had run out of gold brads so I took my silver ones, heated the brad (using scissors as tweezers) using my heat gun, dipped the brad into my gold emboss powder and then re heated it with the gun...voila! gold brads. For the finishing touch, I added a rhinestone to the center image for some bling factor!

Supplies:

Stamps: Carte postale, baroque bg, and small script. CS: Kraft, lavender lace, sage shadow, and whisper white. Inks: versamark, sage shadow, lavender lace and creamy caramel. Access: May arts ribbon, gold cord, brads, dimensionals, clear and gold emboss powder, heat gun, horizontal slot punch, ticket corner punch, rhinestone, and crystal effects.

These colours were really a challenge for me and totally out of my comfort zone. That's the beauty of the challenges....make you really stretch your imagination and get you stamping. It only took me over a week to try this one out...ha ha ha!

Thanks for stopping in!

Sexy male body...

Firstly, before I get started...I cannot take any creative credit for this stunning male body card. Kelly, aka Emmiestamps shared a template on how to make the male torso and also a female version and they are simply adorable. You can check out her blog here. (to find the template on her blog you must scroll all the way down to her archives and click on January 2007 and scroll down her posts until you reach the " His and Hers Valentine's" post. Is she seriously not crazy creative....I love her work and follow her blog almost daily.

Back on track....I have a friend who is going to a Wedding shower and needed a fun card. Once I saw Kelly's sexy torso card, I knew it would be perfect. No stamping, and a super fast and easy card to make. I cut out the template and cut the A2 card (with fold at the top) in at the sides to create the torso shape. I used the template and cut the "pecs" out of another piece of creamy caramel cs and attached it over the "torso". I punched out 5 word windows to create the six pack. I had some scrap patterned paper (Harley Davidson patterned paper) and used it for his boxers. I added a small strip of basic black cs along the top to create the waistband of the boxers and some black grosgrain for a tie. His nipples were made using a circle punch. For the finishing touch I free handed a littel belly button.

Supplies: CS: creamy caramel, close to cocoa and Harley Davidson pp. Access: word window punch, torso and pecs template, circle punch, blk grosgrain ribbon.

See...easy peasy!! And, very stunning and eyecatching. My friend said to me..."I don't thing anyone else will have a card like this at the shower". These cards are just the cutest and the female one is HOT! I tell you. Great for anniversary cards, valentines day for your significant other, bachelor or bachelorette parties, showers and even Bday cards....the possibilities are endless!

Whoooo's Bday?

When I was last in my "somewhat local stamp store" I picked up this adorable stamp by Stampendous. It's from their Olie & Olivia line. I almost didn't buy it as I didn't know what sort of cards I would make with it but it was so cute and kept calling my name that I couldn't resist and bought him right up!!
I needed to make a card for my Father-in-law's Birthday and wanted to use this stamp. I stamped him in basic black and coloured him using my prismacolour pencils, gamsol and a stump. I find colouring using this medium very relaxing and soothing and I love the finished look. I added a blue line around the image to really make the image pop. I matched the image up with the striped paper from the "picnic" designer paper and took my colour combo from that. I added a couple of jumbo eyelets to finish this masculine card.

Stamps: Ollie & Olivia (Stampendous). CS: bashful blue, old olive, pumpkin pie, whisper white, picnic designer paper. Ink: basic black. Access: jumbo eyelets, prismacolour pencils, gamsol, stumps, computer for sentiments.

I will give directions for the tea caddy that I last posted soon within the next few days. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and the Easter bunny spoiled ya all. My family and I headed to Victoria to spend the weekend with my Grandma. It was a nice relaxing time but, not nearly long enough.

It's been awhile....

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been very busy with some special card orders, a scary family incident and a scheduled class I held. I unfortunately, did not photograph much of the special order so do not have a tonne of new cards or designs to share. I do have this "afternoon trio" that I designed for my next class in April. I made a littel tea caddy that holds 5 tea packettes, a matchbook card that holds a tea pack and then a joy fold card. I had a lot of fun designing these babies!

If you would like to see a great tutorial on joy fold cards, you can find here on Beate's blog. They are super easy to make and make a big impact.

supplies:

Stamps: Live your dream, pun fun, warm words. CS: soft sky, choc chip, groovy guava, whisper white and afternoon tea designer paper. Inks: basic black, soft sky, wild wasabi, cameo coral and old olive markers. Access: oval punches, word window, mega scallop punch, chocolate twill ribbon, blue bayou dble stitched ribbon, blender pens, dimensionals, paper distresser, distress ink, sponge, slit punch, mini safety pin, and tea.

I figure this class would be super pretty for a Mother's Day class or, just by changing the sentiments, it can become all occasion.

This is a better shot of the joy fold open. So elegent isn't it?! I love the way it stands opened up, so different.

Totally non stamping related, my husband hit a deer on the hwy here on the way home from picking up my brother (last Sunday)....completely wrote off his car. Luckily, he nor my brother were hurt, which is amazing seeing as the speed limit where he was driving is 110. Even the police, emergency crews that showed up told them how lucky they were. Very scary!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and happy Easter long weekend!!!

Soft eggplant wishes...

I made this for last Sunday's featured stamper on Splitcoast. Parisotremba was the featured stamper and this is the card I cased. I changed the stamp set, ribbon and added white eyelets in the corners of the main image. I thought this was such a fun cheery card and I couldn't wait to try my hand at it. I used my brayer to add colour to the cuttlebugged layer.

Stamps: stack of presents (Inkadinkadoo), cute converse. CS: elegent eggplant, certainly celery, soft sky and whisper white. Inks: elegent eggplant. Access: cuttlebug, emboss folder, crop-o-dial, eyelets, ticket corner punch, 5/8 wide celery grosgrain ribbon, celery and eggplant grosgrain ribbon and brayer.

Patchwork Dreams...

The layout for this card is following Beate's weekend sketch challenge. I have had this patterned paper laying around for at least a couple of years and I finally put it to use. I love the soft colours in this card...it is blush blossom, and sahara sand. The sahara sand did seem to photograph a lot darker than it really is. I stamped the flowers once in sahara and then again in blush blossom, other than that, I don't think I need to explain anything else as this card is pretty straight forward. I think it turned out super elegent and by just changing the sentiment it could be used for a wedding card.

stamps: Happy harmony. CS: blush blossom, sahara sand, whisper white and patterned paper by Wild Asparagus. Ink: sahara sand, blush blossom and basic grey. Access: silver organdy ribbon (offray), glue dots.

3X3 mini puns...

Friday's limites supply challenge was to make cards smaller than the regular 4.25X5.5 size cards and to use up some scraps. I knew right away that I was going to make some cute 3X3 notecards and a mini box to put them in. I also knew that the new "pun fun" set would be perfect for my all occasion note cards! I did happen to stumble across a sweet box holder on Holly McMillen's (also known as "toy" on Splitcoast; her stuff is AMAZING!) blog here. I paired up the pun fun with Basic Grey's 2 scoops paper. I must say, I love the way this little gift set turned out. The only thing I wish I had been able to do was colour the skunks stripe with my gel pen (but, the darned pen won't work....guess I got a dud...lol) I did apply fun flock to his stripe but don't you think it would have stood out so much more with some white colour under it?

Stamps: Pun fun. CS: whisper white, wild wasabi, so saffron, blue bayou and Basic Grey 2 scoops. Ink: basic black, blue bayou, soft sky, basic grey and ruby red marker. Access: dble stitched ribbon, dimensionals, blender pens, horizontal slot punch, 2way glue pen, fun flock, brads, circle punch. cuttlebug, emboss folder, sakura stardust pen.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Hawaiian Chalks...

I wanted to try my hand at the chalkboard technique again and decided to use the retired "do the hula" set. I love this set! I think the chalkboard technique worked perfectly with this set.

I stamped the blossom and leave in whisper white ink onto basic grey paper and dabbed the calk onto the white ink. I added a light pink over the blossom and then added an apricot type colour over it to make the blossoms as close to the guava cs as possible. I stamped the weathered bg over the whole main image in basic grey ink and roughed up the edges with my paper distresser. The card base is wild wasabi with whisper white and groovy guava matted on top. The guava panel has the cheesecloth bg stamped over it in white in and then a whisper white panel, wasabi and then the basic grey on the top. I used the ticket corner punch to add some detail to the main panels corners. The sentiment is actually on top of the hodgepodge hardware and then tied on with the wasabi double stitched ribbon. I this this technique is super pretty and love how it gives the images such a soft look.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ginger blossom sketch...

Yesterdays sketch challenge on Splitcoast was a great one...as soon as I saw the sketch, I knew the basis of my card. Unfortunately, this card did "change" a lot before it was completed and I was content with it. I'm sure you all know exactly what I am talking about....one of those cards that you fiddle with, fiddle a little more, a little more and then it's finally complete.

I stamped the card base with the flower bunch stamp from "embrace life" in groovy guava onto the co-ordinating cs. The mellow moss panel is stamped in the matching ink using the canvas bg. With my smallest circle punch, I punched out circles in ruby red cs and adhered them along the edge of the ginger blossom paper to make scallops. The main image is stamped in basic black, and then I used my blender pen to colour the leaves with river rock ink. The blossom was stamped and embossed onto ruby red cs unsing black emboss powder. I used my ruby red marker and coloured the doubled up areas to give the blossom some depth and contast. I added some double stitched river rock ribbon and added my sentiment. The sentiment and the blossom are both popped up with dimensionals.

Stamps: embrace life, canvas background. Cs: groovy guava, mellow moss, river rock, ruby red, very vanilla and ginger blossom patterned paper. Inks: basic black, river rock, ruby red marker, and versamark pad. Access: black emboss powder, heat gun, small circle punch, river rock dbl stitched ribbon, dimensionals, blender pens, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 1/8" circle punch, largest oval punch.

Thanks for checking out my latest!

Best Birthday clown...

Woo Hoo! Grab your sunglasses cause this is a bright one!! Lol. Bright colours take me right out of my comfort zone but sometimes, you just need those bright colours for a certain type of card...Ya know what I mean? Beate always posts a weekend sketch challenge on her blog, so I decided to combine it with the weekly technique tutorial on Splitcoast (check it out here) chalkboard technique. What a fun technique, I love the way it looks!

I started with a real red base and stamped the dotted background with white craft ink. I added a strip of Basic Grey colour me happy patterned paper matted with a strip of basic black cs. I stamped the Birthday sentiment and added a jumbo eyelet with some Making Memories (?) ribbon. The chalboard technique is super easy to do. Basically you want a solid type stamp and stamp it onto dark cs using white craft ink. Then, just dab on chalks, use a swiffer cloth pad to wipe away the excess chalk...voila!

Stamps: Clowning around (retired), dotted bg, it's your Birthday. CS: real red, basic black, brilliant blue, whisper white and Basic Grey colour me happy patterned paper. Inks: white craft ink, basic black. Access: chalks, qtips, jumbo eyelet, crop-o-dial, Making Memories ribbon (?).

Cherished Seaside...

Okay....have I mentioned how much I love this new set yet?! Love, love, love it!! Amy Rysavy, a very well known blogger, offers a sketch challenge on her blog on Fridays. I decided to play along and this is what I created using her sketch. I LOVE how this turned out...it was exactly what I envisioned...yay! I stamped the shell in black staz on onto whisper white cs and watercoloured it using soft sky, close to cocoa and blue bayou. I roughed up the edges using my paper distresser and then spritzed it using the colour spritzer tool and a chocolate chip marker. I stamped the "cherish" stamp from the retired lexicon of love stamp set over and over (using a stamp-a-ma-jig) onto close to cocoa cardstock to get the circle panel. For the bg on the cardbase I stamped the cheesecloth background in white craft ink. I added the remaining layers and some double stitched ribbon to finish it off. This will go into my growing collection of Mother's Day cards to sell.

Stamps: Seaside, Cheesecloth bg (retired), lexicon of love (retired). CS: blue bayou, soft sky, close to cocoa and whisper white. Inks: black staz on, cocolate chip, soft sky, blue bayou, close to cocoa and white craft ink. Access: paper distresser, colour spritzer tool, chocolate chip marker, stamp-a-ma-jig, fiskars circle cutter, double stitched ribbon, and paintbrush.

Thanks for checking out my blog and I hope everyone had a great weekend! Back to the grind tomorrow!!

Taken with scallops...

I made this for todays featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast. (the challenge is to case a card in her gallery and change at least 2 things about her design). I changed the colour combo and stamp set used. You can see her card I cased here. I used a super fun retro colour combo: taken with teal, elegent eggplant, certainly celery, basic black and whisper white. Not too much detail needed to tell ya as this card is pretty straight forward.

Stamps: always. CS: taken with teal, elegent eggplant, certainly celery, basic black and whisper white. Inks: taken with teal and certainly celery. Access: giga scallop circle punch, SU scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, mega circle punch, jumbo eyelets, crop-o-dial, cuttlebug, and emboss folder.