No Time To Stamp?

This is the card that Deb and I did jointly as a demo/project for all in attendance at the 2nd Annual Stampin’ in the UP event about a week ago.  6 x 6 sheets of designer paper were used on each card — all were either Basic Grey or Memory Box.  The card packets were passed out in the morning, and then Deb worked one on one with each girl to Copic color their image, coordinating it with the designer papers they had in their packet.

I came home from the event with no finished card and no image — wouldn’t you know!  So Deb kindly colored up this image and got it to me so I could do this post.  Each girl made a similar card, but all had different DP’s and Silk Ribbon colors — they were SO gorgeous!!!

Here’s a closeup of Deb’s colored image, Happy Birthday by Our Daily Bread Designs.  The girls all loved this image and had SO much fun learning to Copic color it!

After their image was colored, I took them in small groups and showed them my favorite, QUICK way to put a card together, using minimal layers, minimal cuts, Silk Ribbon and the Bow Easy.  Following this method you can use your card either vertically or horizontally.  We all used 6 x 6 DP sheets, and they work GREAT for this method, but any paper will do.  But for my measurements below, just realize we are working with 6 x 6 sheets, so all lengths are 6″ long.  The card is a standard A2 - 5.5 x 4.25″.

• Start with 2 sheets of 6 x 6 DP — one Solid (or small print) and one Printed (medium print).
• Cut your Solid Sheet so you have two strips — one 1.5″ wide and one 3/4″ wide.
• Cut your Printed Sheet so you have a 4″ wide piece.

2nd photo:

• Take the 3/4″ strip of Solid and turn it upside down so the white side is up.
• As shown in photo, adhere the 1.5″ Strip to the 3/4″ Strip, white side up, forming what I call a little *piping*.

• Apply adhesive around all 4 edges of your card front and adhere your 4″ Printed piece to the card front, as shown, lining up top and right edges  – YES, it is hanging off the edge by nearly 2″.

2nd photo:

• Now take your Solid strip with piping and attach to card front, lining up top and left edges.  It will overlap the Printed sheet just a bit.

• Now, go to your paper cutter, open the card up and insert so the card inside is facing up towards you.  Line up the edge of the card with the cutting blade and cut.  You are cutting off that excess DP.
• 2nd photo shows the card with the excess DP cut off.  This is just SO much quicker than trying to cut the DP exactly to fit.  I do this ALL the time — I always cut larger and then cut off.

• Now it’s time to apply the ribbon and image.   Wrap the ribbon around the card front, securing with heavy double sided tape under the area where the image will be placed, and then adhere the image. 
• You’ll note on this card we did not mat the image.  The paper was a crisp white and all DP’s had a lot of interest and offered contrast, so the image could stand alone and pop off the DP just on it’s white base — just another step saved!

2nd photo:

• Using your Bow Easy, make a bow.   The one in this photo is a double bow.  See  links below if you don’t know what a Bow Easy is.
• Using 1/4″ Silk Ribbon in a color to match your bow, run the ribbon under the wide ribbon, as shown.  Then lay your bow on top of the wide ribbon and over the narrow ribbon.  Now you can draw up those narrow ribbon tails and tie them in a snug knot to hold the bow in place, then using your fingers or a tweezers, pick up the knot and run it under the bow so it is out of sight.  You can clip the 1/4″ tails to make them look like a part of the bow.  Clip the longer tails as well to a proper length.

And here again is the completed card — quick, easy and pretty!  My absolute MOST favorite way to throw together a quick card!

Refer to this post if you aren’t familiar with a Bow Easy. 

Refer to this post if you’d like to read a Bow Easy Tutorial. 

Refer to this store page if you’d like to purchase a Bow Easy.

Refer to this store page if you’d like to purchase ribbon.

Thanks for stopping in!  Hope this little photo tutorial of our demo project was of benefit to someone!!! Have a wonderful remainder of the weekend and we’ll see you soon!!!

Keyword ssnotime81 -There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload yourproject at Splitcoastand/or your Blog, anytime at all! You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!)can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!! Please link back here.

The Incredible Edible Egg! Since Easter is fast approaching, I thought we would have some fun this week and take a look at the traditional Easter Egg. Let’s try to contain eggs in our creations this week– and you know me, I’m easy! Could be a beautifully decorated Easter egg, eggs in a birds nest, or in a frying pan, or a 3-D project containing jelly bean eggs or chocolate eggs. Let’s just get a bit *eggy* this week!!! No other rules - but to have FUN!!!

Today I’d like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to Barb Schramfor serving as our Guest Designer for the past month of March. Barb’s work is so out-of-the-box and always a treat for the eyes! We enjoyed having you Barb and we hope you stick around and keep playing with us. THANK YOU!!! You all can keep up with Barb at Explore. Dream. Discover.

And with a new month, I’m so pleased to announce our Guest Designer for April — Jenny Gropp. WELCOME, JENNY!!! I’m sure many of you know Jenny from both SCS and her Blog, One Krafty Kat. Jenny does some amazing work with a lot of attention to detail and I’m so excited to have her with us this month!!! Can’t wait to see her creations!!!

Check out the greatsamples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today on the blogs of these designers:

• Jenny,April Guest Designer
• Tammy
• Janine
• Jennifer
• Julie

Please bear with us as we are all uploading and linking on Thursday night.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

What wonderful samples!!! Thank you girls!!! Much appreciated!!!

Heres my egg creation for today:

Can you tell it’s an all-dressed-up Easter Egg? I had nothing that was egg shaped, so I just used my Oval Nesties, and I think they work OK! My memories of Easter as a child are mostly of the outfits we would always get and wear — a fancy dress, complete with shoes, hat, gloves and a purse! It was so much fun. And to think I don’t even like to get dressed up any more — LOL!!! It was so much fun then!!!

My card has only a stamped sentiment — the rest is just playing with DP and ribbon to decorate my egg. And my Prima on top serves as my eggs *hat* for Easter — LOL!! All ribbons used are by May Arts and available at the Stamp Simply Ribbon Storeabove my blog banner. The rick-rack is by Wright’s in the sewing section of Wal-Mart or other stores. My card base is 4.25 x 4.25 square and with the flower on top, it is 6″ tall.

Stamps: The Cross of Christ by Our Daily Bread

Paper: SU Black, White, So Saffron and Almost Amethyst Prints DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: May Arts Gingham in 3/8″ and 1.5″, Silk in 1/4″; Rick Rack by Wright’s from Wal-Mart; Prima from Michaels: SU Brad, retired Deckle Scissors, Dimensionals; Marvy 1/2″ punch (flower center); Spellbinders Petitie Oval Nestabilities, Tags Trio Dies; Red Line Tape, Glue Glider; Martha Stewart Punch on inside.

Shopping:

Stamp Simply Ribbon Storecarries these and other May Arts Ribbon, above my Blog header.

Joan’s Garden carries Spellbinders, Martha Stewart and Glue Glider.

Thank you so much for stopping in today. Hope you can throw together some egg creations for us all to see and enjoy!!! Hope you are having a good day and weekend to come!!! Thanks much — see you soon!

Today’s card could serve equally as well as an Easter card or a baby girl card. I used an Easter sentiment for today. I’ve paired SU’s lovely Bella Birds DP, with a Martha Stewart Felt Applique Bunny and my gorgoues May Arts satin ribbon. Not much stamping here, just a fun card to put together.

If you missed my last post, I just want to point out that I’ve added new Sheers and SILKS to my humble little Ribbon Sale listed in the tab above my Blog Banner. I have really fallen for these luxurious silks — just so yummy!!! I have them in 10 colors and 2 widths and you can see them here. Back to my card for today, using pink silk — here it is:

See what I mean about it being suitable for either Easter or a baby girl? I think so, anyway! I’m loving pinks and yellows together of late and this card uses a bit of added grayish blue as well. The layout I used is from this week’s Weekend Sketch Challenge hosted this week by Charmaine.Easy and fun sketch! If some days you feel stumped, start with a sketch — it’s a sure fire way to get you going!!!Here’s some closer detail views:

I can’t tell you how much I’m loving using this new silk ribbon. My bow is made using the 1.5″ width. It is SO lightweight and it just ties up so nicely. And see my neat bow center/knot? Well I did that by taking the 1/4″ width of the same pink silk, running it through holes on my tags and thentying it to the bow knot. The 1/4″ width perfectly covered the real knot and makes for a neat appearance while also serving to hang my tags — and it’s quick and simple — no fuss!!! The sentiment stamps are from The Cross of Christ by Our Daily Bread and fit perfectly on my little Tags Trio dies by Spellbinders.

And here’s my Martha Stewart Felt Applique bunnyfrom a sheet I picked up at Michaels. He is just mounted on some Nestie cut ovals and the little scrollies in the corners are from my newFlourish Accent Nesties. Fun little do-dads!!! I just run them through my Xyron X and they stick wherever they are placed.

Stamps: The Cross of Christ by Our Daily Bread

Paper: SU White, Pink Pirouette, Barely Banana, Bella Birds DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: May Arts Silk Ribbon available at My Ribbon Sale above my blog banner;Spellbinders: Petite Oval Nestabilities, Flourish Accent Nesties and Tags Trio; Kaiser Rhinestones; Glue Glider; SU Corner Rounder and Dimensionals; Martha Stewart Felt Applique.

Shopping:

May Arts Ribbon is available at My Ribbon Sale above my blog banner.

Joan’s Garden carries products used on this cardby Spellbinders, Kaiser, Glue Glider.

Thank you so much for stopping in again! I so appreciate it each time you do!!! I hope you all had a great weekend and are off to a good beginning of a new week!!! Thanks much — hope to see you again soon! Thanks!!!

My original card just wasn’t cutting it for me — nothing terribly wrong with it — but it just looked plain, unfinished. This original card was made for a color challenge at SCS a few months backand I uploaded it over there, but never did post it on my blog as I just felt it wasn’t quite *right*. So this evening I decided to try to do something about it. Let me show you the original, the remake, and then I’ll explain what I did.

I just thought it was so plain, something was lacking, maybe the colors were poor choices for this card — here’s the remake I did this evening.

I think it’s a huge improvement — how about you? My remake is large, a full sheet folded in half, so its 8.5 x 5.5. I took my original card and cut the front of the card off — and there you go, an image panel to work with! The only thing I did to that image was to add the black pearls. I think you can see them better here.

Just a little thing, but they added a lot! I then white embossed my sentiment along the bottom of my new card front, scored a partial line a little above my sentiment using my Scor-It. It adds so much IRL, but is barely visible in my photo above — but if you look real closely you can see it. I then adhered my image panel to the card and I was done! A remake that made a dramatic difference (in my opinion anyway), but took only a very short amount of time. I do feel so much better about this card now!!!

Stamps: Cross of Christ by Our Daily Bread, Graceful Wordsby SU

Paper: Cameo Coral, Sahara Sand, Black, White

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, Craft White, VersaMark

Accessories: Petite Oval Nestabilities and Tag dieby Spellbinders, Scor-It, White Embossing Powder, Ribbon, Cording, Pearls, Mounting Tape, Cropadile, Eyelet, Ticket Corner Punch

That does it for tonight again! Thanks again so much for taking your time to stop in. I truly do appreciate it!!! Wishing you all awonderful week ahead!

Tonight I needed to make a card for our Pastor — did you know it is Pastor Appreciation month? Well, there’s not much month left, so tonight was the night to make it. I had already colored my image by the time the Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS popped up, so it was with great pleasure I could scan the gallery of an online friend, Kay Kalthoff, a/k/a SpeedyStamper, to find a card that would suit my already colored image, and I certainly found one, right on the first page — how lucky!!! It was a super simple layout with a single image and single sentiment — JUST PERFECT!!! This is Kay’s card that I chose to case. And here’s my card for our Pastor.

I was in a simple white mood tonight! As for the challenge, I stuck with the basic layout but I changed colors, images and the size of the card. Mycard is 5″ high x 5.5″ wide. I used a set I haven’t used yet from Our Daily Bread Designs, called Fruit of the Spirit. I found this fruit bowl quite easy and relaxing to color and I was pleased with how it came out. Once colored, I cut and embossed it using myRectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, added my sentiment tothe card front (love the size of this sentiment), popped my image up on foam mounting squares and I was done.

Stamps: Fruit of the Spirit by Our Daily Bread Designs

Paper: PTI White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, foam mounting squares

And before I go I have a question for you all — although I’ve kept a good supplyof SU paper, ink and embellishments, I haven’t purchased any new SU sets for a long time, probably a good 7/8 months. I’d like to get a few new sets for Christmas, and I’m going to a workshop on Wednesday. Just wondering, what areYOUR favorite SUChristmas sets in the current book? You can help me decidewhatto buy!!! THANKS!!!

And thanks so much for stopping in again — I truly appreciate it! We have our Harvest Brunch at church today, so that’ll be fun!!! I’m teaching 2 classes here on Tuesday, so I’ll have to try to get ready for that — and that should be fun, too!!! Hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Sunday!!!

This is an index card to add to my Scripture Box. I thought the Lord’s Prayer was a perfect addition to my box. The idea behind the Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge is to make projects containing scriptureasan aidto memorizing that scripture, adding one new project each month. Well, I’ve fallen behind, but I will get caught up! This is the 4th index card for my Scripture Box, and though I have committed the Lord’s Prayer to memory since early childhood, I just wanted it in my box, sohere is today’s index card.

Isn’t it pretty! I just love making cards for my Scripture Box. They are all 4 x 6. This is the first I’ve made in a vertical orientation — the rest are all horizontal, but it’ll still store in the box horizontally. Youcan see the box here, along with a tutorial on how to make it using my Scor-It.I find these Scripture Cards very easy and relaxing to make — they are just such fun little canvases!!! And they have a meaning, a purpose, and a home in their nice little box. A very rewarding project!!! I suggest you try one if you are so inclined. You can read about the Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge here.

I used two sets relatively new to me by Our Daily Bread — The Lord’s Prayer and The Cross of Christ. They work beautifully together — such gorgeous sets to work with.

Stamps: The Lords Prayer and The Cross of Christ both by Our Daily Bread.

Paper: SU Basic Gray, Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss. Periphery DP by Basic Grey.

Ink: SU Basic Gray (stamped off once). Versa Fine Onyx Black.

Accessories: SU: Corner Rounder, Ticket Corner Punch, Round Tab Punch, Pretties Kit, Taffeta Ribbon, Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Piercer, Mat Pack, Cropadile. Martha Stewart Leaf Punch and Bird Punch.

Thank you so much for stopping in again!!! I truly do appreciate it!!! Friday brings our usual Stamp Simply Challenge once again — hope you can join us all!!! Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week!!! (Oh, this is my 2nd post for today, so scroll down to see the earlier one if you missed it.)