{ Spots, Dots & A Silly Whale! }

Some images Copyright Stampin' Up!

Just playing around with my new Cuttlebug folder and die. I love this little whale!


Like I normally do I rolled by brayer over all the dry embossing. I sponged the edge of the whale and the water spray and doodled on the artichoke and safforn borders. The designer paper was a bit to bright for this card so I altered it quite a bit. I stamped off my SU Crosshatch background stamp then stamped it over the designer paper. I heavily sponged the edges of the designer paper and lightly sponged over the rest of it. The first layer is vellum which I torn after adhering it to the artichoke cardstock. I find it pretty hard to adhere small items to dry embossed paper so I used Crystal Effects to adhere the starfish. I couldn't find a good place to add a sentiment, so I just stamped a birthday sentiment on the inside. The layout is from today's SCS sketch challenge.


Supplies:
Stamps: SU Crosshatch
Paper: SU Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Brocade Blue, Ballet Blue, Vellum; DCWV Retro Prints
Ink: SU Bravo Burgundy, Brocade Blue
Other: SU Write Markers Hodge Podge Hardware; Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder & Die; Misc Brayer, Sponge Daubers, Ribbon
Techniques: Sponging

{ Just Playing Around }

Well I don't really know how I feel about this one. I like the background a lot. but I don't really card for the ribbon and the sentiment w/it's layers. I did this for today's SCS sketch challenge which is where I got the layout from. I've been playing with it for hours! Seriously. The background turned out exactly like I had in mind when I started and it didn't take too long. But I couldn't seem to do anything else with the card. I tried five different sentiments, set in different ways and I tried three or four different kinds of ribbon with different hardware. This is the best I could come up with. I was really discouraged and didn't feel like stamping anymore, but the mail man just came.... some new goodies just arrived! So my motivation to stamp is back!

The background was done with reverse masking. I used a piece of cheep cardstock and my scalloped square punch to make a template. I made it by punching the scalloped square out four times to make a larger square. I then lightly taped it to the card and applied pastels to the base of the card to make the large brown square. I then stamped the flourish images three time and colored parts of them in with watercolor crayons and went over that with Stickles- oh boy to I love my new Stickles! I also used the watercolor crayons and Stickles on the sentiment which I punched out with my scallop punch, sponged and layered onto a larger scallop punch. I also wrote over the sentiment with Crystal Effects to make the sentiment pop a little more. That may be difficult to see in the picture, but in real life it looks great! The base cardstock and the sentiment layer are sponged with chalk ink.

So the mail man dropped off two new embossing folder and a new die. The folders are from the new line, I got Spots & Dots & Traffic Jam. Looks like Provocraft fixed their folders this go around. So there are no more light squares that will imprint on the cardstock! I was so happy to see that! I know it's dumb and hardly noticeable, but it really bugged me! Anyway, off to play!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Leaves Flourishes; Stampendouos Sentiment
Paper: SU Very Vanilla, So Saffron
Ink: Color Box Chestnut Roan
Embellishments: SU Ribbon
Other: Marvy Scallop Punches; Ranger Stickles; SU Pastels, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, Crystal Effects; EK Success Round Corner Punch; Misc Sponge Daubers
Techniques: Sponging, Reverse Masking, Watercoloring

{ Designer Purse }

Today's SCS challenge was an inspiration challenge. The item to be inspired by is a $2900 Valentino Purse. I saw the challenge last night before I went to bed and fell asleep thinking about what I was going to make. I haven't put my Cricut to any good use since I bought it (big waste of money!) and I knew there was a purse in one of my cartridges so I figured this would be the perfect reason to pull the Cricut out.

To make the purse I used a purse box from the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cartridge on my Cricut. I selected the blackout option so I wouldn't have all the slits to put it together with. I then cut off all the tabs and stamped my flowers on it. I used the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder for my Cuttlebug with a rolling pin to give it a very light texture. It's really hard to see in the picture, but in real life it looks great! I cut a new handle out using the old one as a template in a little darker color which I also used for the center of the purse and the little tabs on the bottom. All the edges of the purse and tabs are sponged with the same chalk ink I used for the flowers. I'm not one for faux stitching but since I don't have any gold thread I used it here on the center and edges of the purse. I must say I am really happy with it in the case. I anchored down the tabs and handle with gold brads and used a gold charm that says "dream" in lieu of a "V" for the focal point. Not only do I have no use for a card with a "V" focal point, but this was the only gold item I had that would work. Actually ended up being perfect because I want to give this card to a good friend of mine who loves purses and I'm sure she's dreamed of having a beautiful, expensive purse like that used for the challenge picture!

The rest of the card was very simple. Just a lot of layers. The top one was obviously run through my Cuttlebug. The layer is actually to long for one run through so I had to do it twice. The seam is hidden by the ribbon. The purse itself is popped up pretty high with pop-up strips. I hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Supplies:

Stamps: AC Moore $1 Stamps

Paper: SU Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink

Ink: SU Craft Always Artichoke; Color Box Rouge

Embellishments: SU Ribbon, MM Brads; Misc Dream Charm, Ribbon

Other: SU Ticket Punch; Cricut & Tags, Bags, Boxes & More Cartridge, Cuttlebug & Embossing Folder; MM Paper Piercing Tool; Misc Gold Pen, Pop-up Strips

Techniques: Sponging, Faux Stitching, Dry Embossing