Friday, December 28, 2007

Bali Breeze & A Beautiful Thing

It has been so dreary in Erie, PA this week, that I had to bust out the new Stampin' Up! Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper and put some color back into our world. The layout for this card is based on this week's Splitcoast sketch challenge , which called for a very simply border and a circle with the top cut off. The ways to use it challenge was to use Stazon waterproof ink, so I combined the two challenges and came up with this card.
For the focal image embellishment, I stamped the flower from A Beautiful Thing three times on watercolor paper with StazonOn and colored them using an Aquabrush and Groovy Guava Classic Ink, then set these aside to dry. I stamped the smaller flower image in Tempting Turquoise on Whisper White cardstock and punched a 1/8 inch hole in the middle of each flower before cutting them out. You will find that it is much easier to punch the hole before cutting since these flowers are soooo tiny. I then inserted a Turquoise Rhinestone Brad through both flowers for a layered look; outlined the flowers with liquid glue and sprinkled a heavy amount of Dazzling Diamonds over the entire flower. These were then set aside to dry completely before adhering to card.
The card base is layered mats of Bali Breeze DSP on Pumpkin Pie cardstock. The circle is cut using the Coluzzle cutting system from the same piece of Bali Breeze, but I adhered it to the mat so that the opposite side shows. Before adhering to the River Rock card base, I tied a piece of Groovy Guava Double-Stitched ribbon around the matted layers and stamped the sentiment using Black Stazon ink just under the ribbon and to the right of center. Once the flowers were dry, I adhered them to the card with glue dots with two of the flowers to the left and one to the right. The flowers not only add dimension but they provide a finished balance to the focal image.
Even though the camera skills are rough, I think the picture fairly depicts the paper's bright colors and Dazzling Diamond accents. This was a really fun sketch challenge. I think I may go off and make another. I've been dying to do something with my Moose You set and this may just be the perfect layout for what I have in mind. Thanks for looking, EdieB

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Happy Holidays


Happy Holidays from Roscoe. Hope you are having a wonderul holiday. I am enjoying spending time with my DH and my big boy-Roscoe. He is a bit out of sorts since we have been home for the past 4 days and not allowing for his quality sleep time. But, you have to admit, he does take a lovely photograph. TFL, EdieB

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Holiday Post-It Notes


Angie Juda at Chic n' Scratch shared the instructions with me to make this fast & easy post-it note holder. Check out Angie's blog. She updates often with adorable projects & cards. Very fun blog to visit. Anyway, for my post it note, I used Real Red and River Rock cardstock layered with my favorite Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper - Dashing. I might as well warn you now. I am already thinking about what I can do with the Dashing paper over the Valentine's Day holiday. Dashing isn't just for Christmas anymore! :O)

I used the Merry Christmas sentiment from Tags on Board, stamped in Real Red Classic Ink on Very Vanilla cardstock. Next, I punched the image out with the large oval punch and trimmed it down a bit smaller so I could mount it on a large oval if Old Olive cardstock. I adhered these together and embellish with gold brads and used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop it up on the cover. I plan to sneak these to my co-workers desks today as yet another Secret Santa gift.
To make your own post-its, cut your cardstock 8 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches. You can get 3 post-its from one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. Fold this in half and crimp at the middle about 2 inches. Embellish as you wish and you are done!
Thank you for stopping by my blog again & a BIG thank you to Angie for sharing this fun project with me. Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Secret Santa

Isn't it fun to see a bunch of these cute little boxes together like this!? I am playing Secret Santa for the girls at work this week. They all know it is me, but I am vehemently denying it. I even put little treats on my own desk. They think I am crazy, of course, which only makes it more fun.

Anyway, I made 20 of these cute Q'bee boxes which are filled with Peppermint Patties, Hershey Kisses, and mini Hershey Chocolate bars last night and 10 candy canes the night before. You can find the directions to make your own Q'bee boxes here and you can see pictures of my boxes open & closed in my December 2 post.

The candy canes actually have three tags each on them and they are tied with Always Artichoke and Real Red grosgrain ribbon. I used stamps from Perfect Presentation, Tags So Much & Season of Joy to stamp the tags on Very Vanilla paper. I mounted them on Real Red & Old Olive cardstock and then, on the back of each tag, I adhered Dashing Designer Series Paper. I should have took a picture of the tags too, sorry about that. They were very festive though. And, you know, I just have to say-the Stampin' Up tag punches are so handy to have around. I use them for all my little gift items. They are not only fun, but they are practical-which means it was a good purchase (rationalizing stamping spending).


Have a great day & happy stampin'! EdieB

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Sleigh Bells & Christmas Blessings

I made this card for my boss, Steve. Every year we purchase him a membership to a local car wash. While he gets the same present every year and it cannot be a surprise at this point, his wife, Kathy, says he loves it. The membership comes in the form of a traditional, old-fashioned paper gift certificate. To keep in line with the old-fashioned theme & to at least provide an original gift wrapping of sorts, I made this 9 x 4 inch card to fit the gift certificate.

While I tend to use all Stampin' Up! supplies & paper, this card has two layers of My Mind's Eye "Festive" Christmas Signature printed papers. The card base is Naturals Ivory layered with Bravo Burgundy & Always Artichoke cardstock and then the aforementioned Mind's Eye papers. The main image is from Sleigh Bells Ring stamped in Bravo Burgundy Classic Ink on Very Vanilla ultrasmooth cardstock and mounted on Bravo Burgundy cardstock. The sentiment, "Christmas Blessings," is from Star Studded Season. It is stamped in Bravo Burgundy Craft Ink on Very Vanilla, sprinkled with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set. I stamped the holly leaves & berries using the ink-direct-to-rubber technique with Stampin' Write markers; the brush end. I cut this out and mounted it above the sentiment using Stampin' Dimensionals and glue dots. I like to put a dimensional in the middle of the image and then glue dot either end to give it less lift, if you can imagine that. For balance, I added 3 gold brads along the right bottom and for a festive look, I tied it off with Vanilla wide organdy ribbon & gold cord, which I have been hording in my stash. What the heck, it is the holidays & I do have a great boss, so I broke out the wide organdy ribbon! What this photo does not clearly portray is the healthy sprinkling of Dazzling Diamonds glitter used about the main image, heavier in the trees. Gives it that glistening fresh snow look. Speaking of fresh snow, I am going to sign off and get back to the Buffalo Bills & Cleveland Browns game.

Thanks for stopping by for a look. Have a great evening. EdieB

Friday, December 14, 2007

Seeing Spots


Hand-crafted gift cards not only make great last minute gifts, but they make great gifts with a personal touch. When I am making cards for gifts, I like to make the same card but in a series of complimentary colors since it is so eye catching to see the coordinating cards all together like these cards here. The card layout does not have to be difficult, but you should use at least one simple embellishment like the ribbon on this card. Another easy addition is using Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the focal point. A wow technique is stamping on Designer Series Paper. On this card, I added the flourish or curly cues from Doodle This to provided more detail leading from the focal object. I punched the focal embellishment from Basic Black with the Scalloped Circle Punch and layered it with a 1 3/8 circle in colored cardstock and then a simple circle design stamped from Seeing Spots in Basic Black on Whisper White.
CASE yourself with any card that you have already designed by changing up the colors. I'm sure you will love the results. Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Monday, December 10, 2007

Friends & Flowers Flip Flop Book

One of my stampin' sisters, Max, asked if anyone had a Scor-Pal since she was thinking about purchasing one. That reminded me of this mini book project, the Flip Flop Book. Scor-Pal is not only a great tool for card makers & scrapbookers alike, but their website has a fantastic project gallery which you can see here. You will find the directions for this book in the Oct-Nov Newsletter. Notice that most projects at Scor-Pal use Stampin' Up products!

This project did require quite a bit of scoring and folding. The cool thing about the Scor-Pal is that the scoring surface is 12x12 and it has various measurements across the top so you don't have to keep moving your paper over each time to make a score.
For my Flip Flop book, I used the Friends & Flowers Simply Scrappin' Kit. You can actually make two of these books from one Simply Scrappin' Kit and still have paper and stickers left over. So, you can make one book to keep and one book to give as a gift. I actually had some left over even after making two. To give you an idea, a SSK comes with 2 sheets each of 4 different colors of 12x12 cardstock, 3 sheets each of 12x12 double-sided designer series paper, and 2 sheets each of 3 different kinds of self-adhesive die cuts. The self-adhesive die cut sheets are 6x12 inches and one sheet is all border stickers. The best feature is that everything coordinates and compliments each other so it takes the thinking out of matching up colors and such.
This picture is taken from above with all of the mini book pages opened. It gives you a good idea of just how many pages you can open and flip back and forth to combine for different layouts. There are seven 6x6 pages to scrap pictures on and 3 different gate folds where you can put more pictures, embellishments, or use for journaling. I haven't yet put pictures in my book since I have been so busy making Christmas cards, but when I do I plan to embellish the pages more.
I made the flower on the cover by stacking 3 die cut stickers and adding a Build-A-Brad brad for the center. I know that sounds redundant, but I'm not sure how to say that better because it IS a "Build-A-Brad brad." :O)
Anyway, the 1/2 inch circle die cuts fit perfectly with the Build-A-Brad so you have brads that match any project and any Simply Scrappin' Kit. The flower in this picture, which is just a bit out of focus, is also made by layering die cut stickers and it is topped off with a Rhinestone Brad, so you can at least see a couple of the possibilities. Give it a try and see what you come up with. I would love for you to share your designs with me as well. Please email pictures to my address listed above.
Thank you for stopping by and looking. Please let me know if you have questions about this or any other project here at EdieB Stamps. Take care, EdieB



Friday, December 7, 2007

Laurie's Sleigh Bells Ring

You may notice that I have posted a list of my favorite blogs to visit. One that I visit every day is Laurie's (SCS Lauraly) Me, My Stamps & I. Last week she posted this card which first caught my eye because she titled it "Easy, Easy Christmas Card". Hey, I like easy!. Of course, the rich monochromatic Pomegranate everything with the choice of the Sleigh Bells Ring image gives this card a certain Victorian era elegance.

So, I just had to CASE (Copy And Share Everything). I made it my own by changing it up, but only a bit. You can make this card too. The card base and cardstock layers are Purely Pomegranate with Whisper White and Holiday Harmony Designer Series Paper. The Image is from Sleigh Bells Ring and is stamped in Purely Pomegranate. I made this card my own by finishing the corners with the Ticket Corner Punch and adding 4 gold brads at each corner of the stamped image. I love how brads and eyelets tuck perfectly into the rounded Ticket Punch corners. The Pomegranate Satin ribbon is wrapped around all the layers and tied in a simple knot. There are only a few days left in which you can pick up the gorgeous ribbon at half price. Yes, buy one roll of 15 yards for $9.95 and get the second roll FREE. The ribbon is offered in Purely Pomegranate and Chocolate Chip. Email me if you want to get in on this great sale that ends December 15.

Thank you Laurie for the inspiration and thank you all for visiting my blog and sharing in our joy of stamping. EdieB

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Let It Snow!

I thought this card was appropriate for the snowy day we had here in Erie, Pennsylvania today. It was actually pouring snow this morning; big fluffy flakes-the kind you can catch on your tongue. Roscoe & I went outside to play at 5:30 am when the moon was still high and reflecting off the snow so that it looked bright yet tranquil. Shortly after that, the neighbors came out all bundled up to shovel their drives and brush snow from their cars. We all greeted each other and commented on how much snow fell overnight. There is nothing like the feel of the first heavy snowfall. I had so much fun, it made me smile all day while I was at work.

This card is meant to depict the swirling snow flakes on the winds of a winter storm; well, Erie style storm. The base of this card is Brushed Silver metallic cardstock folded in half and layered with Whisper White and Night of Navy. First, stamp the Night of Navy with the swirlies from Season of Joy using White StazOn ink. The snowflakes and sentiment are all heat-embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. To get a neatly embossed image on a dark color, you absolutely have to brush your cardstock with an Embossing Buddy first. This reduces the static of the cardstock so that the embossing powder sticks only to the Versamark or Craft Ink-stamped image. Check for rogue flecks of embossing powder before heating and swipe those flecks away with the stiff bristled paint brush that came with your Powder Pal trays. BTW, one of the first things that I purchased from Stampin' Up many, many years ago is my Embossing Buddy. It's a little flatter than a brand new one, but it still works great after all of these years. If you like to emboss, I recommend you investment in one if you haven't already.

Two final noteworthy thoughts: First, Stampin' Up! has THE best metallic cardstock. The weight of the cardstock is exceptional and it does not crack when you score and smooth it with your bone folder. Also, it is two-sided. It is difficult if not darn near impossible to find two-sided metallic cardstock. Finally, it has such a nice finish that I recommend that you use StazOn when stamping directly on any of the metallics. The StazOn dries quickly and reduces your smudge risk.

Thanks for looking & Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Christmas Joy

Christmas Joy features Stampin' Up's! gorgeous Purely Pomegranate silk ribbon that just happens to be on sale now through December 15. When you purchase one roll of silk ribbon for $9.95 you receive a second roll FREE. Yes, FREE. The ribbon is also offered in Chocolate Chip. Your free ribbon can be the same color or you can choose one of each color.

You know, both Pomegranate and Chocolate Chip are great accent colors for those Valentine's Day cards too. Think ahead stampers. Stock up now!

For the card shown here, I paired Purely Pomegranate with Always Artichoke. The card base is 5 x 5 square Always Artichoke cardstock layered with Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White and Prints Designer Series Paper in Artichoke. The "Joy" is stamped in Always Artichoke and is from the Illuminations stamp set which is actually part of Stampin' Up's! Tapestry collection. This set is a great investment. It is a versatile set of four stamps with an image that is appropriate to nearly every occasion. In addition to the Joy stamp, the set includes Cherish, Hope & Thanks. The silk ribbon really goes with the elegant look of this stamped image. It reminds me of a Victorian Christmas look. There is a bit of sparkle touched at the center of each loopy, which is not easy to see in this picture, and I finished off the card with two gold brads to give the layout a sense of balance.

Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoy and Happy Stampin'! EdieB

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Q-bee's Peek-a-boo Boxes

I am totally hooked on making these cute little treat boxes. You can download the template here Q-bee's Box. To further confess, I am co-dependent on Dashing Double-Sided Designer Series Paper and the Season of Joy Stamp Set, so I made this card & Q'Bee's Peek-a-boo boxes to match. I hope to make enough of these to put out on my co-workers' desks come Christmas Friday, which is the Friday before Christmas which is on a Tuesday ;-)
Any-hoo, for the card, I stamped the word collage image from Season of Joy in Real Red and mounted it on Real Red Cardstock. The base card is Real Red Cardstock layered with River Rock and Dashing which is outlined with the faux stitch stamp from All In A Row using Old Olive classic ink. I set a jumbo eyelet using my Crop-A-Dile through which I pulled Old Olive 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon which is then wrapped around the side of the card and adhered with a glue dot. I simply tied a knot and tacked it down with a glue dot instead of fighting to tie & set the bow evenly. The Peek-a-boo boxes are also decorated with Dashing paper. The color blocking dimensions are easy to remember. The lid paper measures 1-3/4 inches x 1-3/4 inches and the sides measure 1-3/4 inches by 3/4 inches. The pointsettia is stamped in Real Red using the flower stamp from, again, Season of Joy. It is embellished with 3 gold brads and adhered with a dimensional. The other box is topped with the Dec 25th circle stamp from Perfect Presentation layered on Real Red Cardstock and then again on Old Olive punched using the Designer Label punch and embellished using gold brads. I don't know if you can really see to peek inside my Peek-a-boo box, but the best part IS inside-Hershey Kisses wrapped in holiday foil. I hope you try this fun project yourself. Thanks for looking, EdieB

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Stampers Showcase Again!

Remember this card that I posted a week or so ago? Well, I woke up this morning to find that it is featured on Stampers' Showcase! I am so excited. Two cards in one week. How fun is that?!
I am so glad I can share my card and excitement with you. See below for instructions to make this card yourself. It really is a fun project.







I'll like to share a couple of other cards with you that I had on Stampers' Showcase before I started blogging. Happy Together is a cute card to make for your sweetie. I stamped the cute birdies from Zoofari over and over on whisper white and colored them with Bashful Blue & Groovy Guava classic inks using an Aqua Painter. I mounted the chickies on Purely Pomegranate Cardstock and then matted that on Bashful Blue and Groovy Guava. The sentiment is from Happy Everything, which looks a bit crooked to me now from this view.
I was so sad that this was a hostess set last year and had to retire. You may remember this set: Reason for Life. This butterfly works for everything, focal image, background image, scrapbooking & cardmaking and it is fun to color the little flowers different shades to make the flowers "pop," as my friend Anna Banana would say. Well, hopefully, it provides you inspiration if you don't have this set at home. The colors used are Ballet Blue & Creamy Caramel. I used to reach for Ballet Blue automatically when setting out to stamp, but this year I find myself reaching for Soft Sky. I think Soft Sky may be the It color this year. What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by. Please email me if you have questions or would like directions for any projects. EdieB