Call Me for a Latte

I combined today's Bella sketch (BSC59) and MFT's Who's That Girl Challenge (MFTWTG14) to produce this card. This week's MFT featured set is "Call Me" - but, I don't have it. I played with the theme and the additional colour challenge: blue, brown and white. I've been holding on to this Wübē paper for a long time. Love it! The 'call me' challenge led me straight to it. I then created the telephone swirl and sentiment in Illustrator with my wacom tablet and pen. 'Lattebella' is stamped in Adirondack dye ink in espresso and coloured with copics. I've played a bit with the original sketch because I don't yet have oval nesties, so I used circles and lowered the horizontal strip to accommodate the larger image. No bling; just a little 'close to cocoa' sponging on the edges of some of the cardstock panels.

Stamps: lattebella, Stamping Bella

Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso; SU close to cocoa classic ink

Paper: Gina K 120lb Pure Luxury cardstock; SU chocolate chip, close to cocoa, soft sky (flat and textured), and tempting turquoise cardstock; Rhythm n Blues Waves, Wübē

Other: nestabilities circles/scallops; eyelet setter; eyelets from Magic Scraps; pop dots; computer, Illustrator and wacom tablet

Copics:

Sweet Swirls

I used Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #46 sketch for this card. I have no cupcakes--I know, you're thinking "what!!"--so I turned to my computer and Illustrator and created my own. You're also probably thinking that this cupcake belongs in Whoville, but I hope you think it's kind of fun. If you like it, feel free to save a copy to your computer and size/print/play with it--if you do, please let me know what you come up with! I printed on Gina K 120lb Pure Luxury cardstock (it really is as good as Karen says!) and coloured my image with copics, then added cotton candy and golden pink coloured stickles. My sentiment is a combo from savvy stamps' "sweet pea" and Hero Arts' "from the Heart." I used markers and huffing on the "sweet" and covered up the text I didn't want with a sticky note before inking "Heart" with SU pumpkin pie. At some point between stamping, glitzing and photographing this card, I smeared the sentiment. I also stamped it on the left without thinking about following Taylor's sketch more closely, so I flipped the sketch and embellished the right top corner.

The layers of this cupcake card... the base is pink pirouette textured cardstock; then pumpkin pie, which I ran twice through my distressed stripes cuttlebug folder to emboss the length of this strip(5.75"); the patterned slice is Basic Grey Oh Baby! Girl Natalie; and the image is matted in basic black and then pink pirouette cardstock. I also used the Fiskars threading water punch for the pixie pink scalloped design along the bottom, but added petal pink liquid pearls for a little frosting. The green polka dot ribbon is from my stash and I used both sides to repeat the dots and the solid colour.

Stamps: from the Heart, Hero Arts; sweet pea, savvy stamps
Ink: SU pumpkin pie; SU pretty in pink and basic black stampin' write markers
Paper: Gina K 120lb Pure Luxury cardstock; SU pumpkin pie, pink pirouette, pixie pink and basic black cardstock; Oh Baby! Girl Natalie, Basic Grey
Other: cuttlebug 'distressed stripes' embossing folder; pop dots and dimensionals; stickles; liquid pearls; computer, Adobe Illustrator, Wacom tablet and pen; Fiskars edge punch

Copics:

Half dressed

I like the ‘half-baked challenge’ (WT196) on Splitcoast for this week and immediately thought of the little sneak peak teasers for the Papertrey Ink releases. I rummaged through my stash of old scrapbooking supplies and found this embossed ‘chick’ paper, which combines well with these images from Inkadinkado. The card and techniques are quite simple: I coloured the images with copics; cut and embossed with my circle/scallop nesties; embossed the white background panel with my 'swiss dots' and the kiwi kiss panel with my 'stylized flowers' cuttlebug folders; and followed Wednesday’s sketch (SC206). I was trying to just show enough of the images and text to allow whoever’s looking to fill in the rest, but my teasers are a little obvious.

I thought I'd also show you the original project behind this fabulous embossed pattered paper. When I was teaching scrapbooking and stamping classes at Cherished Scrapbooks, a local scrapbook store in the Oakville/Mississauga area, I created this canvas for our wall of instructors and staff. This was years ago as my little guy Henri was just a baby and Karen worked there too, but I still love the paper and colours today.

Stamps: dress/purse/shoe from Inkadinkado set

Ink: Memento tuxedo black

Paper: SU groovy guava, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango and whisper white textured; Gina K pure luxury 120lb cardstock; 'chick' paper, unknown
Other: circle/scallop nestabilities; SU celery and olive organdy and SU black grosgrain ribbon

Copics:

Warm Woolies

There's so many directions to go with Kristina Werner's colour challenge #34 this week! So yummy! I have a second design in mind but couldn't get past taking this one quite literally, so I pulled out some baby alpaca wool I actually bought recently at Spun Fibre Arts in natural and my reinkers to dye my own yarn. After knitting the sweetest little swatch, I ran a line of each of the colours to create a striped knit pattern. The wool sucked it in and wanted more! So I gave it and now am still waiting for the dye to set and dry. Dabbing with paper towel softened the colours; heat setting just singed the swatch. Although these challenge colours are so gorgeous, there's a lot of them to work together, so certainly celery appears only in the dyed wool and in the sponged embossed background panel. I liked the way the other colours worked together. Simple layout here: the rectangular mats are cut and embossed with nestabilities; the background panel is embossed with my cuttlebug swirls folder, then liberally sponged with all of the colours in the challenge; a little paper piercing on the pale plum panel; and my warm wishes sentiment is stamped in bordering blue to keep away the winter chill. The grosgrain ribbon is from a retired SU collection.

Stamps: warmest wishes, Hero Arts

Ink: SU pale plum, perfect plum, bordering blue, certainly celery and sage shadow (classic ink and reinkers)

Paper: SU pale plum, perfect plum, bordering blue, sage shadow and whisper white card stock,

Other: rectangular Nestabilities; cuttlebug 'swirls' embossing folder, baby alpaca wool; toothpicks; pop dots and dimensionals; SU ribbon; paper piercer

Dashing

Today's colour challenge (CC196) on Splitcoast is fabulous for Christmas! I found that Basic Grey's Dasher paper from the Blitzen collection was perfect for this colour combo and together with the Winter Post stamp set. I used my SU Stampin' Write markers to highlight parts of the snowflake and the post mark, which are both popped out with dimensionals. Since my rectangular nestabilities aren't long enough to give me a border the length of my card, I used the long edges and pieced them together--the snowflake embellishment is hiding the seam. I cut and embossed the circles with my nesties. I should have stopped there! Unfortunately my stickles in xmas red were calling and I goofed at the very last minute.

Stamps: Winter Post, SU
Ink: SU sage shadow and chocolate chip; SU stampin' write markers in taken with teal and real red
Paper: SU whisper white, taken with teal, riding hood red and sage shadow; Blitzen Dasher, Basic Grey
Other: circle and rectangle/scallop nestabilities; SU ticket corner punch; SU riding hood red taffeta ribbon; aged copper hodgepodge brads; dimensionals; cuttlebug swirls embossing folder

December Birthday

I created this card for last week's bella colour challenge (BCC57). How many people in your life have birthdays in December—thought this was perfect for my niece Michaela who celebrated hers on Sunday because it combines winter with pink and balloons. I used my SU watercolour wonder crayons to colour bella; paper pieced her balloons to tie in with the K&Co Peppermint Twist paper in the background; and debossed the image with a scalloped edged rectangular nestie. The layered flower and cuttlebug snowflake cover up a little mistake. TFL!

Stamps: balloonabella, Stamping Bella
Ink: Staz On in timber brown; SU ballet blue (sponging along the edge); SU stampin' write marker in ballet blue (bows)
Paper: SU ballet blue; watercolour paper (unknown); Brenda Walton 'Peppermint Twist' deluxe specialty paper pad, K & Co.
Other: rectangle scallop nestabilities, SU fresh favourites II eyelets; sponge; cuttlebug snowflake die; SU watercolour wonder crayons; aquapainter; embossing folder; stickles in waterfall

Karen gave me an idea

Well, actually, Karen gives me lots of ideas. But when I saw her Snow Swirled card for last week's sketch challenge (SC205), I saw the light at the end of my "got to make over 50 Christmas cards" tunnel. I'm determined to combine our family photos with a hand-made creation, but my original design is somewhat time-consuming! Karen's is gorgeous, of course, so why am I bothering to post something that so closely case's hers?

Mine is simplified without the paper piercing and expensive brads. Remember, I’m trying to make over 50 cards here! I used my big note die to cut both the photo and the frame, then trimmed the outer scored edge from the photo. For some, I sanded the edge of the photo to give a distressed look, but I've found that sometimes depending on the developer (I just print online to Costco.ca) and the colour near the edge of the photo, the sanding can reveal a red tinge. This is usually yukky, but it worked with the Christmas theme and colours. In the end, my card actually follows SC120 more closely.

Stamps: none
Ink: none
Paper: SU very vanilla, chocolate chip, baja breeze and Ski Slope DP

Other: Big Shot 'Big Note' die (SU/Sizzix); very vanilla and red riding hood taffeta ribbon; hodgepodge and brads; SU ticket corner punch; photos by Kelly Wilk Photography

A winter wish

This card is double duty for two challenges: TECC45 (Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge 45) and LSC197 on Splitcoast. Lots of rules to follow. First, Taylor's sketch was fairly specific--I used circles though instead of ovals (basically because I don't have oval nestabilities yet!). For the Limited Supplies challenge, I was asked to use

1. snowflake images only whether stamps, patterned paper...

2. a monochromatic colour scheme

3. some sort of “bling” or sparkle

4. one word only

I think I stuck to snowflakes--the 'swiss dots' embossing folder created the flurries. ;) My monochromatic scheme is winter silver, white and muted blue/soft grey. My bling is mostly in the silver embossing. And my one 'wish' is focal to the snowflake embellishment. The chipboard snowflake is inked up with basic gray classic ink, then sponged with white craft ink, embossed with detail silver embossing powder on the edges for a distressed look, and finally, sponged with more white craft ink and heat set. The snow flurries are also heat embossed in silver (but I used Versafine for finer detail). I was inspired by Karen's bella card recently; I've layered my nesting circle/scallop/circle in the same way.

Stamps: snow flurries and sentiment, SU

Ink: SU sahara sand classic, basic gray classic, whisper white craft; Versamark in onyx black

Paper: SU whisper white and going gray; Blitzen Fresh Snow and Jack Frost, Basic Grey

Other: circle/scallop nestabilities, SU 1/2" circle punch; SU detail powder in silver; heat gun; SU basic gray taffeta ribbon; silver hodgepodge brads; sponge; cuttlebug 'swiss dots' embossing folder

Challenges on Splitcoast

This week I took on several challenges and posted these two to Splitcoast, but didn't have a chance to give the full details here until now. Busy with kids and Friday appointments at Sick Kids--today was especially long.

First, MFTSC59: My other ride...

I ordered my first stamps from 'My Favorite Things' this week. I'm so excited to be back into stamping and inspired by my friend Karen. Make sure if you have an 'enabler' in your life who got you on to MFT that you let Kim know (see Refer a Friend in Forums on Splitcoast). My card doesn't actually use an MFT stamp but I loved their naughty sentiments, particularly "My other ride is a pole!" My minivanabella from Stamping Bella, which is a little too close to home with the three kids and minivan in constant motion, was perfect for this. I searched for patterned paper that had vertical lines (the pole) and found this kinky, 'amplified psychedelic' from American Crafts. The rest is quite simple. I cut the freehand curve on the reverse side of the patterned paper using Martha Stewart's straight blade (the one that inserts into the handle). The great sentiment is printed on my laser and the image is coloured with copics. I'm so looking forward to trying the Gina K pure luxury 120lb cardstock I ordered this week. I'm okay with the copics but have seen so much better!! ...a little sponging around the edges and some simple ribbon.

Stamps: minivanabella, Stamping Bella

Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso

Paper: SU whisper white textured, purely pomegranate, chocolate chip; American Crafts amplified psychedelic

Other: dimensionals; ribbon, unknown; Martha Stewart straight blade with handle

Copics:

The other one, WT195: Three Birds (for Karen)

Confession: I had already created this card days before even seeing this Splitcoast challenge, but I thought it would be perfect for an embellished envelope. I had just been to Scrapalicious in Oakville to drop in on Cathy for a long overdue but quick hello and spotted these Hero Arts birds (a set of 4). My square nestabilities arrived the same day from Scrappin Great Deals!! Cathy gave me some pointers on using copics, the most important tip being a reminder to pick up colour from the tip of one marker to transfer temporarily to another making a third colour. This was a breakthrough for me! Not only did this produce better blending but it was a relief to know that I didn't need all of the hundreds of colours available! Thank you, Cathy!

So basically, the design came from a great piece of patterned paper (SU) for colour inspiration: river rock; old olive; and real red, or in this case, riding hood red for a more muted contrast. I wanted to include three of the birds in the set and decided to use a long note in river rock. Time to part with my stash! I used the square nestabilities for clean cuts and embossing. No sponging, no stickles...just clean and simple. The envelope repeats the pattern from the paper with punched river rock, real red and old olive circles. The birds are stamped over the circles and envelope and coloured with copics too. Okay, copics don't work so well on envelopes, but no surprise. I touched up incomplete lines on the stamped bird images with my chocolate chip marker.

Stamps: birds, Hero Arts; sentiment, SU
Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso
Paper: SU designer paper, river rock, old olive, chocolate chip, real red, riding hood red

Other: copics, square nestabilities, chocolate chip grosgrain, SU long notes and envelope

Shop a Little-Color Inspiration Challenge

Love Kristina Werner's challenges. Since I was already playing with bellas for this week's BSC challenge, I knew I wanted to use 'emmybella' and her shopping bag. I looked around on Splitcoast and blogs for interesting card holders and found Nichole Heady’s tutorial. Combining bellas, Kristina's colour inspiration—celery, teal, white, chocolate chip and pumpkin pie—and a gift card holder, this is what I came up with.

Basic Grey’s Skate Shoppe in ‘Drop in’ was the perfect paper to pull it all together; with a little sponging around the edges, the colours are all there!

Since I do a lot of work on the computer, I often create sentiments in InDesign if I don’t have the right stamp. I’ve seen “shopping therapy” out there and “ you go girl” but I liked the teaser “need a little...” The inside says “sumpin’, sumpin’...,” (a visit to Brandi Wiggins-Côté's blog got me thinking). Seemed to fit.

I embossed the orange background with my cuttlebug ‘Spots & dots’ folder; used the BG paper for the card slider pocket and strip in the background; and printed the sentiment on my computer. I played around with chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon for the slider and so my slot, which I created with my JudiKins pen knife, is slightly bigger than it needs to be for the celery organza I ended up using. Also since I went with a slightly narrower pocket sleeve than illustrated in Nichole’s tutorial, I couldn’t get my circle punch in to create the half circle after I had already sealed the pocket with terrifically tacky tape. So, I used my coluzzle circles. I coloured emmybella in copics and made her shopping bag pop with small punched circles and orange tissue. This is my favourite part! I wish the Shop card at Cadillac Fairview was fully loaded for me, but it’s all used up—I just put it in there for the picture.

Stamps: emmybella, Stamping Bella
Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso
Paper: SU pumpkin pie, whisper white, certainly celery, taken with teal and chocolate chip cardstock; Skate Shop “Drop-in”, Basic Grey
Other: cuttlebug ‘spots & dots’ embossing folder; coluzzle circles; SU corner rounder and decorative edge punches; certainly celery organza ribbon; dimensionals; terrifically tacky tape; Making Memories mini brads powder (childhood collection); JudiKins knife; computer; tissue paper

Copics:

Happy Boots

Today I took my first Splitcoast Sketch Challenge, Bella #57! I was actually searching through my stash to create something for the colour challenge Kristina Werner posted today. That one's still to come--I have until Thursday, don't I? I came across a slice of Kaleidoscope's "All About Me" Dots/Teal paper, which ties pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss and blues in soft sky and something close to baja breeze all together. This happy paper was perfect for Billybootabella!

I don't have the oval nesties yet and discovered today that I've also lost the 'in-between' size coluzzle ovals. Hmm, I don't like 1/4" mats usually, so I needed a fix. But first, I embossed the white background with my cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' folder and sponged the edges with soft sky ink. I punched circles out of the patterned paper and scallops in coordinating kiwi kiss and pumpkin pie. To add depth, I sponged the scallops with the same colour ink. Billybootabella is coloured in copics. Guess what, I took pictures this time:

I have a mix of copic sketch markers and ciaos and no real preference when it comes to the actual colouring.

Her umbrella is stamped out of the patterned paper and shimmering with H2O twinklers in sage applied with a blender pen. I thought her excellent boots needed some twinkle too.

So, back to the fix. The blue oval mat is the reverse side of the patterned paper. I sponged both oval layer edges and worked as far in as her umbrella with soft sky. I think this softens the contrast and the felt flowers are not just there to look pretty--I hope you don't notice how thick my mat is with them there!! I used diamond stickles on the mini brads to distract even more, just in case...

Stamps: billybootabella and sentiment from billboardabella, Stamping Bella

Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso, copics

Paper: SU soft sky textured, pumpkin pie, whisper white, kiwi kiss cardstock; Kaleidoscope "All About Me" Dots/Teal

Other: Coluzzle ovals; SU 1 3/8 and scallop punches; kiwi kiss satin ribbon; pop dots and dimensionals; H2O twinkers in sage; blender pen; diamond stickles; SU felt flowers; American Crafts mini brads powder

Little Happy Snowman

I case'd Tessa Wise's Snowy Trees Card layout and colour scheme with this one. Love her wintery designs! This cute little snowman is from a Sunshine Design cube. I coloured his scarf and mittens, nose and shadows with copics. The edge of the top layer of SU bashful blue is torn and highlighted with Stickles. To reduce the layers, I went around the nesties scallop edge with my copic green (I know, that's very specific!). A little paper piercing, scoring with Scor Pal and rounded corners. This layout is so simple, but it's the offset focal image that makes it, I think.


Stamps: snowman, Sunshine Design; Many Merry Messages, Stampin' UP!
Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso, copics (I will get better at recording the colours...)
Paper: SU Ski Slope Designer Series paper; SU river rock, old olive, soft sky and whisper white cardstock
Other: Coluzzle; scallop and circle nestabilities; SU mat pack (paper piercing kit); soft sky double-stitched ribbon; stickles

Inspiration from Starbucks

Starbucks design has always impressed me--from their suggestive siren to the cups, packaging, merchandising and print media. Have you seen their wreaths this year?! Awesome! I'm working on one now with wool and shiny balls and I'll post it when it's finished. This year's holiday cup is no exception. I love the distressed red, deer and I think there's even a bird in there somewhere, Karen. So, I was inspired to make a card...


Starting with a clean sheet of SU whisper white, I stamped the snowflakes with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I cut branches from several large sticky notes to create the tree mask, then sponged and distressed the background with both SU real red and riding hood red ink (I think). I also made the darker marks using my brayer wrapped randomly with elastics. After I removed the tree mask, I clear embossed the Inkadinkado bird, lightly sponged over the tree and stamped a few red flakes. I stamped the buck from the SU Winter Post set with VersaMark and embossed with white embossing powder--unfortunately not detail white by the looks of it. Of course, I had to mount the black on green because of my inspiration, so I used Wasabi. I'm not sure who would want this card, but it was my little challenge. Does anyone want to take it and run with it--the challenge, that is!

Stamps: bird and snowflakes, Inkadinkado; Winter Post, Stampin' UP!; Merry Christmas, I'll get back to you...
Ink: VersaMark, SU real red and riding hood red
Paper: SU whisper white, SU basic black, SU riding hood red textured, SU wasabi
Other: Coluzzle, white and clear embossing powder, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, sponges, brayer, elastics