Birthday Pedestal

The idea for this card came directly from the SU 2011 Occasions Mini Catalog. I did change a couple of things but it is basically a CASE. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get the images centered and straight but that was the most difficult step in making this card. I'm really like the pom pom trim and it gives the card the dimension it needs since all of the other elements are flat. This was a fun and quick card to make.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Ice Cream Parlor DSP; Ink: Black, Tangerine Tango; Stamps: Bring on the Cake; Other: Wide Oval Punch, Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango Pom Pom Trim, Atyou Spica Glitter Pens, Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive

Gumball Machine

I've been trying to use up some of the elements from Ice Cream Parlor DSP that was available as a freebie during Sale-a-brations 2011 and had seen various versions of the gumball machine and thought that this polka dot paper would work well with the gumball machine since it has various colors in it.

Here are the punches and paper used to create the gumball machine:
Base: tab punch and real red
Base Front: small oval punch and brushed silver
Globe: 1 1/4" circle punch, whisper white and acetate
Top: 3/4" circle punch and brushed silver
Gumballs: crop-a-dile (largest hole) and various colors

To get the circular curve at the top of the gumball machine base you will need to insert the punched element back into the tab punch just above the notched edges and punch again. To get a clean punched acetate circle I attached a small piece of the acetate to copy paper with some removable adhesive and punched through both layers. Just be sure you are using a thin acetate.

Once I had all the elements punched out the assembly was quick. I used tombow multi-purpose adhesive to attach all the elements together. You only need a small line at the top and bottom of the white card stock to attach the acetate. Once I had the gumball machine complete and it was dry I attached it using dimensionals to a piece of whisper white card stock that was layered onto tangerine tango. I stamped the sentiment on whisper white, colored in the word "cake" and layered it onto tangerine tango.

The card base is a standard A2 card in whisper white with the top portion embossed using a polka dot embossing folder. The bottom section has a piece of DSP attached that measures 4" wide by 2 3/4" high. I added the tangerine tango pom pom trim across the top of the DSP with tombow multi-purpose adhesive and then attached the gumball layer using a double layer of dimensionals and then adhered the sentiment piece with the bottom left corner under the gumball layer.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Real Red, Brushed Silver, Ice Cream Parlor DSP; Ink: Black, Markers; Stamps: Bring on the Cake; Other: Acetate, Dot Embossing Folder, Tangerine Tango Pom Pom Trim, Black Brad, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Tab Punch, Small Oval Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Crop-a-Dile, Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive, Dimensionals

Sailboat Punch Art

My niece is expecting a baby boy any day now and is going with a sailboat theme for the baby's room. I wanted to make her some thank you cards for the gifts she received at her baby shower and thought I would try to make something that matched the theme. I wanted the sailboats to be a little whimsical but I don't own the stamp set "Nursery Necessities" so I had to create my own with punches. Once I figured out the size sailboat I wanted it didn't take me long to complete 24 of them. Probably most of the time taken to create any card is in the planning and design. Once that is done it is pretty easy to mass produce any card once you have all of the elements prepared. The bedding is all blue but I thought it needed a pop of color so I added the red. In keeping with the nautical theme the sentiment reminded me of a life preserver ring and of course I had to add a some kind of rope or knot, in this case it is bakers twine knotted in a square knot.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy, Night of Navy DSP, DCWV Glitter Paper, DCWV The Stack 5; Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red; Stamps: Riveting, Small Sayings; Other: White Bakers Twine, 1/2", 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8", 1 3/4" Circle Punches, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Hello "Birthday" Blossoms

When I first saw the Hello Blossoms stamp, the image of this card came to mind. I only used the flower stems and colored them using a garden green marker. To make sure the stems lined up evenly I used a stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped the images onto a piece of whisper white card stock that measured 5 7/8" long and 2 5/8" wide. Once I had the stems stamped I added various flower blossoms that had been punched from various colors of SU card stock using the boho blossoms punch and the trio flower punch. The blossoms were attached using tombow multi-purpose adhesive. The letters were stamped using the Alphabits stamp set (retired) and each letter was punched out using a 1/4" round punch and then adhered to the card using tombow multi-purpose adhesive. Both the "grass" and "sky" were punched using the scallop border punch and DSP from Four Seasons and Pool Party. I added the smallest butterfly from the Beautiful Wings embosslits die and place a rhinestone in the center.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Four Seasons and Pool Party DSP, Various SU Card Stock; Ink: Garden Green, Black; Stamps: Hello Blossoms, Alphabits; Other: Boho Blossoms Punch, Trio Flower Punch, Scallop Border Punch, 1/4" Round Punch, Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Rhinestones, Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive

Penguin Paradise

My grandson is almost 3 1/2 years old and he loves to be with me in my stamping space. There are so many neat things for him to explore and he loves to color. He also likes to help turn the handle on the Big Shot and tells me he needs to "crank it". A couple of weeks ago he was spending the weekend with me and he was my assistant to create this card for him to give to his Dad. I didn't think he would do well with stamping an image so I went looking for something that he could easily glue or tape to a card base and I found these penguin images from the Penguin Paradise Simply Scrappin' Kit that was retired several years ago. I prepped the card base using bashful blue card stock and then tore some strips to create waves. The waves edges were sponged using white craft ink and then I added a few clouds too. I had my grandson attach the penguin images to the card base and all I did was tell him that he had to put them at the bottom in the water. The large penguin was attached with double sided tape and the small one was attached using dimensionals (I did have to fix the small one since it was lopsided). Of course he kept asking me when he could "crank it" and he wasn't happy that this card was not being embossed. Needless to say I had to put some card stock in an embossing folder so he could "crank it". While he was doing that I added the large fish using dimensionals then stamped and attached the sentiment.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Penguin Paradise Simply Scrappin'; Ink: White Craft, Black; Stamps: Best Dad Ever; Other: Dimensionals, Dew Drops

Sail Away

This is the card I made for my husband for Father's Day. I wanted to create the look of a porthole and hopefully I achieved that. To cut the porthole I used the Spellbinders Nestabilities circle dies. The sailboat was stamped onto whisper white card stock using night of navy ink and stamped again onto vellum card stock so I could cut out the sails. The sails were attached to the main image using mini glue dots at only the top and bottom section of the sails so that I could create a 3D effect with the sails. I wanted to keep the card very clean and simple so I decided not the emboss the night of navy panel and just added the sentiment at the bottom.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Vellum, Brushed Silver; Ink: Night of Navy; Stamps: Sail Away, Best Dad Ever; Other: Nestabilities Circle Dies, Dew Drops, Silver Brads, Dimensionals

Birthday Ties

I'm glad that Stampin' Up finally came out with a masculine set that wasn't just for the outdoorsman (fishing, hunting, sailing, etc). For this card I kept the layout simple. I only used 4 of the 5 tie images from this stamp and inked them using basic gray ink and stamped them onto very vanilla card stock. After cleaning my stamp thoroughly, I then colored the polka dot tie using the daffodil delight marker and stamped the image onto a piece of scrap very vanilla card stock, cut it out and attached the cut out image to the main image using dimensionals. Once I had the panel layered together it just seemed to need something else. I thought about brads or eyelets but it just didn't provide enough color so, using the photo corner punch and daffodil delight card stock, I punch out the corner pieces and attached them to opposite corners and it provided the color I was looking for.

Supplies Used: Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Charbon DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight; Stamps: Best Dad Ever; Other: Photo Corner Punch, Dimensionals

Niece's Graduation Card

Sorry for not posting anything for the past few weeks. What can I say...life sometimes gets in the way and we just have to make the most of it. I really haven't had much time to stamp lately but I'm finally getting back in the swing of things. Since I needed some inspiration to help me get back in the stamping/creating mode I went straight to Splitcoaststampers. The layout for this card came from a card created by Andrea Walford that I saw here. I changed the colors and background paper but kept the layout basically the same.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Only Orange, Pink Passion, DCWV Glitter & Embossing Pack; Stamps: Word Play; Ink: Black, Pink Passion; Other: Rhinestones, Circle Cutter, Dimensionals