Eastern Elegance Card

I love the colors Smoky Slate and Crushed Curry together!  The Eastern Elegance Designer Series Paper artfully blends these colors together.  I used a couple different sheets - both sides to decorate this gate-fold card.

Supplies:

Card stock: Smoky Slate (131202), Basic Gray (21044) and Crushed Curry (131199)

Ink: Crushed Curry (131173)

Stamp Set:  Hello, Lovely (w130240, c130243)

Eastern Elegance Designer Series Paper (130131)

Label Bracket Punch (132153)

Enjoy!!

Convention 2013 Make & Takes - Tag a Bag Gift Box

Gift bags were last week, this week we're starting off with a fantastic yet simple gift box.  The box and food-safe acetate sleeve are part of the Tag a Bag gift boxes kit.  I love these fresh summer colors, but can you imagine it in Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, and Pool Party with Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper for a hostess gift at Thanksgiving?  Or Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Whisper White with Season of Style Designer Series Paper for Christmas time with ?  I can!  Yum!

To dress it up we made a lid by scoring a 4-3/8" x 6-7/8" piece of Bermuda Bay card stock 1" in from the edge on both long sides.  You can round the corners with the 3/16" corner rounder punch, or use paper snips to round and taper the edges for a professional finished look.  The lid was stamped with the Hello, Lovely and Gorgeous Grunge stamp sets in Bermuda Bay ink for a subtle  tone-on-tone look. Versamark ink would also work well, especially if you wanted to emboss with Iridescent Ice embossing powder for a little extra shine and sparkle.

The "feathers" were created using circle punches:  2-1/2" for the Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe DSP  feathers, and 1-3/4" for the Coastal Cabana feather.  

1) Punch your circle out of each color of card stock, 

2) Place the punched card stock circle back in the punch to chomp a football-shaped piece from one side.

3) Fold the resulting football shape in half  - long ways - and snip with scissors to create "feather-y" edge.  

Pierce the top of each feather, along with a little tag from the "You're the Best" stamp  - stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe ink - attach to the Summer Starfruit (2') ribbon using some linen thread and tie it all together with a bow...  With a box this cute it doesn't matter what the treats inside look like.  

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Tag a Bag gift boxes: (item #130927 $6.95)  8 boxes with sleeves.  6-7/8" x 2-1/8" x 2-1/2".

Summer Starfruit 3/8" stitched satin ribbon (item # 126846 $8.95 for 10 yards)  24" length was perfect for this project.

Ink:  $5.95 each

Bermuda Bay (item# 131171)

Crisp Canteloupe (item #131176)

Card stock:

Bermuda Bay (item #133197 $6.95 for 24 sheets 80# weight)

Coastal Cabana (item #131024 $6.95)

Calypso Coral (item #122925 $6.95)

In Color Designer Series Paper  (item # 130136 $21.95 for 40 assorted sheets)

Convention Make and Takes - Using "The Crime Scene" stamp set

Donna Griffith, from Demonstrator Training at Stampin' Up, presented the "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set at convention.  She said that her initial reaction to the stamp set was that it looked like a crime scene - tire tracks, splatters, police tape... This make and take used the "Gorgeous Grunge: (aka: "The Crime Scene") set and the "Hello, Lovely" set.  

The "tire tracks" are in Crisp Canteloupe, the splatters are in Summer Starfruit and Coastal Cabana (stamped off)  and Old Olive.  I made my own "Washi Tape" and decorated my arrow  using the "police tape" stamp.  The original make and take recommended the Epic Day washi tape.

The colored twine was a neat trick, we took plain white baker's twine, pressed it between a stampin' sponge and a Bermuda Bay ink pad, and pulled it through.

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Gorgeous Grunge set (wood mounted item #130514 $24.95/clear mount item #130517 $17.95 set of 5)

Hello, Lovely set (wood mounted item #130240 $32.95/clear mount item #130243 $24.95 set of 10)

Card stock: 

Whisper White (item #100730 $8.50 for 40 sheets)

Coastal Cabana Core'dinations Textured card stock (item #131195 $9.95 for 12 sheets, assorted color collection)

Crisp Canteloupe (item #131294 $6.95 24 sheets)

Whisper White Envelopes (item #107301 $6.50 for 40 A2 size - fits 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card)

Stampin' pads - $5.95 each

Coastal Cabana (item #131175)

Crisp Canteloupe (item #131176)

Summer Starfruit (item #126991)

Old Olive ((item #126953)

Calypso Coral Stampin' Write Marker - part of  Subtles Collection (item #131263 $28.95 for set of 10 colors)

Epic Day Washi Tape (item #131269 $4.95 set of 3 rolls)

Silver Glimmer Paper (item #124005 $4.95 (2) 12" x 12" sheets)

Very Vintage Designer Buttons (item #129327 $5.95 for 24 buttons)

Island Indigo Baker's Twine (item #125575 $2.95 for 25 yards)

Hello, Lovely Make & Take - part 3

This blog is my take on the "&" card in the bottom right corner of the idea sheet.  Ampersands are hot right now, probably because of their curvy, free-form appeal.  The original was simply the "&" stamped in Bermuda Bay classic ink, and then just stamped off 3 or 4 more times, creating a little visual echo on the corner of the card.  I kept with this original idea, and added a little bling.

I stamped an extra "&" onto a separate piece of Whisper White card stock, cut it out and used some Stampin' Dimensionals to give it some pop.  The "you" and "ME" stamps come from the "You make me happy" stamp in the set, stamped in Old Olive and Crisp Cantaloupe and trimmed to fit the card.  Also from the set is the arrow fletching stamped in Coastal Cabana on the top left.  The chevron banner is more of the same strip I cut to make my first card of this series.  The kit came with ribbon and glimmer paper for the gift tag, there was enough to make the silver heart and add just a sniglet of ribbon to this card.  

Enjoy!

Stampin' Up Convention 2013 - Hello, Lovely Make & Take part 2

Here's the second of the make & takes from the kit (see previous blog entry).  The original pattern had the arrows in Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, and Old Olive.  The chevrons were made using the Hexagon Punch and Bermuda Bay and Old Olive card stock.  A little paper piercing added some dimension to the corners.

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Hello, Lovely stamp set - set of 10 (wood mount item #130240 $32.95; cling mount item #130243 $24.95)

Note Cards (item #131527 for 20 cards and envelopes)

Bermuda Bay card stock (item #131197 $6.95)

Old Olive card stock (item #100702 $6.95)

Coastal Cabana classic ink (item #131175 $5.95)

Crisp Cantaloupe classic ink (item #131176 $5.95)

Old Olive classic ink (item #126953 $5.95)

Hexagon punch (item# 130919 $15.95)

Piercing tool (item #126189 $3.95)

Essentials Paper Piercing Pack (item #126187 $7.95)

Stampin' Pierce Mat (item #126199 $4.95)

Stampin' Up Convention 2013 - Make and Takes!

Hello, Lovely make & take part 1

This July, I went to my very first Stampin' Up Convention!  Talk about an amazing Girlz Weekend Out.  I went by myself and made 5 new best friends.

One of the many fun things about convention, is that we get to test new product through Make & Takes, Mini Classes, and Product Playgrounds.   They give us the stamp sets and consumable materials for all the sessions on the first night (in a very swanky convention bag - this year's model was a custom Stampin' Up back-pack complete with padded laptop carrying pocket - ooh!  Loved it!).  On "Expo Day" tables are set up with tools and volunteer demonstrators guide participants through making the projects.  Participants get to choose when they want to complete those projects... or if they want to be like our crew and go to the mall instead...  we skipped doing the projects at convention.  Hey, there was an amazing mall just across the street from the convention center - we just couldn't resist the allure of retail therapy!

Now that I'm back, here's the first card that I made using the same ink, stamps, and products that were in the make and take package, with a few added twists of my own.

This is a scan of the instruction and idea sheet that came with the make & take.  Included was 4 of the new 5" x 3-1/4" Note Cards and envelopes.  It is interesting to note that even though the cards have the same great finish of the Whisper White card stock sold individually, the card stock of note cards is heavier weight.

Supplies:  (available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net)
Hello, Lovely stamp set, set of 10  (Wood mounted blocks: item #130240, $32.95.  Cling mount stamps: item #130243, $24.95) Acrylic Blocks C and H recommended.
Note Cards  (item #131527 - $5.95 for 20 cards and envelopes.)
Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Ink Pad  (item #131176 - $5.95)
Old Olive Classic Ink Pad  (item #126953)
Bermuda Bay Classic Ink Pad  (item #131171)
Coastal Cabana Classic Ink Pad  (item #131175)
Old Olive card stock  (item #100702- $6.95 for 24 sheets)
Whisper White card stock  (item #101730 - $8.50 for 40 sheets)
In Color 2013-15 Designer Series Paper Pack  (item #130136 $21.95 for 40 sheets)
Rhinestone jewels  (item #119246 $4.95 for a sheet of 150 self-adhesive jewels)
Stamp-a-ma-jig (item #101049 - $11.95)

Here was my retouch of the card on the lower left hand corner of the instruction sheet.  The original sheet had just the 4 stamp pattern on the plain card front.  I stamped them separately on a 1-3/4" square of Whisper White card stock, mounted it on a 2 x 2" square of Old Olive card stock, and cut a little banner of Crisp Cantaloupe Designer Series Paper that was 1/2" x 3".  The Rhinestone jewels were part of the make and take package, just hard to see in the first picture.

Hints:  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig was essential to getting these stamps positioned.  Also, because my new ink pads were super juicy, it worked well if I stamped off the ink lightly on a scratch sheet of paper before stamping on my card stock.  When using clear blocks and cling mount stamps with the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I find it helpful to mark the corner of block that fits into the jig, that way I know that I'm holding my stamp the same way each time. I use a "Sharpie" marker to mark the block, and it cleans off easily with the "Staz-On" ink cleaner when I'm done.

Enjoy!