Tag Archives: Inspired by Nature

White flowers, tall grass

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I really hope the Inspired by Nature stamp set remains in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog:

Tall grass, white flowers

  • Inspired by Nature stamp set
  • Whisper White, Shimmer White, Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery card stock
  • Certainly Celery Classic ink pad
  • XL 5 Petal flower, XL Boho Blossom and Eyelet Border punches
  • Baja Breeze seam binding
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive)
  • Pearl Jewels, Bone folder

I’ve made these flowers before, but with much brighter colors.  I actually started out with the card base, the eyelet panel, and the seam binding ribbon – kind of a backwards construction process.  I just sat there staring at the blank card – do you ever do that?  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.   If I could figure out why inspiration flows so beautifully on one day and so hideously another I would be thrilled.  At least I would know which days to stamp and which days to do all the other Stuff that has to be done!  There’s nothing quite so discouraging as thinking you’re going to have time to work on something fun soon, in just a little while, as soon as this is finished…and then suddenly you realize it’s bedtime.  If I knew the 3rd Tuesday of every month was super-mojo-day you can bet I would clear out my calendar for 3rd Tuesdays!

Enough dreaming…these flowers are very simple and fun to play with.  The 5 point flower is scored through the petal and creased.  I line my ruler up with the tip of one petal and the valley between the two opposite petals in a straight line and use my bone folder to create the crease.  I keep a short 6 inch ruler on my craft table for just this sort of thing because some days I just can’t seem to manage a full 12 inches of ruler.  When all the petals are scored I press each one together on the score line not quite to the center of the flower.  Stick a Stampin’ Dimensional in the center of the flower and put one of the big Boho Punch flowers on top of the dimensional.  Snip between the petals of the Boho 6 petal flower (the middle size one) and bend them up a little, then use a dot of Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive) to adhere them to the stack.  Drop on a little pearl or bling and your flower is ready to go!

Although these flowers have a little bit of dimension, since the bow is Seam Binding the card is flat enough to be a One Stamp Card – woo hoo!  This card fits into the Stampin’ Up! Small Open-End envelope.

Blue and green…my favorite combination

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You didn’t think I’d show you all the cards I made in one post, did you?

Friends Never Fade in Marina

  • Friends Never Fade, Inspired by Nature and Wonderfully Worn stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and Marina Mist cardstock
  • Greenhouse Garden Designer Series Paper
  • Marina Mist,  Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight and Chocolate Chip classic ink pads
  • Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon (retired, substitute Early Espresso)
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals; brayer

I think I love the monochromatic designs in the Greenhouse Gardens Designer Series Papers as much as if not more than the beautiful multi-colored pages.  And in case you haven’t figured it out, blue and green is my all-time favorite color combination ever.  It doesn’t matter which blue or which green – but don’t go trying to find some hideous combination and make me look ridiculous, ok?  You know what I mean.

This is my debut of the Wonderfully Worn background stamp.  You know I’m a tone-on-tone kinda girl, and this stamp is perfect for adding just a little depth to a layer without being distracting.    Just to be thorough, let me remind you that the best way to cover a background stamp is to brayer it – it’s the easiest method for getting an even coat of ink.

You could so cut that yellow center out with the 3/4″ circle punch, but it wasn’t doing it for me so I trimmed it with my paper snips.

Monochromatic inspiration

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The new catalog uses a monochromatic theme for the pages that begin each new “chapter” of stamps, and the color theme for the All Natural section is neutrals.  It really inspired me when I saw it, and although all the stamps used on that page were new I wanted to recreate that feeling.  I looked through my stamps (never mind how many there are, I’m sure I’ll need new ones!!) and found the look I was seeking:

Inspired by Neutrals

  • Wood Grain, Elements of Style, Inspired by Life and Define Your Life stamp sets
  • Naturals Ivory, River Rock, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake (Kraft) and Very Vanilla card stock
  • Soft Suede, Sahara Sand and River Rock Classic ink pads
  • Crop-a-dile, Jumbo Eyelet and Linen Thread

Did you see that little scrap of River Rock?  I have a folder with just a few scraps that I was — you guessed it — hoarding jealously.  Now I can use them up!  As of July 1st, River Rock is back in the family.  I’ll admit that this Color Renovation is taking a little bite out of my stamping budget, but if it means that colors like Baja Breeze and River Rock are back  in the palette I’ll work with it.  I can make a budget and stick with it.  It’s not like I have to have everything all at once.  Really.  I don’t.  Not at all.

Excuse me, I have to go.  My hypnotist appointment is soon.  I don’t need it all at once…I don’t need it all at once…I don’t need it all at once…

An In Color Trifecta

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Whew!  Time for some antidote to pink!  Not that there’s anything wrong with pink…but I’m swimmin’ in the stuff this week.  Some friends are expecting a baby girl the beginning of next month and we’re getting having a small get together this weekend to celebrate.  I’ve got a couple of Pink Projects in various stages of completion and it’s time to put the pedal to the metal and get them done!

In the meantime, I made another cover for one of my many Circa notebooks. I have a LOT of these notebooks that I use for a variety of purposes.  If  I don’t personalize the covers, then I tend to get a little cranky when I’m looking for a particular one and have to flip through 2 or 3 others in the process.  (By the way, if you read the post where I lamented my AWOL Aquapainter, it was hidden in plain sight.)  I like to make fresh covers for the pleasure of it and to keep myself on my toes.

This notebook has red Rollabind discs, so I knew red would be in my color scheme.  I chose Riding Hood Red (IC’09) to celebrate the new Color Renovation, and Wild Wasabi (IC’08) and Crushed Curry (IC’10) just fell into place behind it.  A three-generational-In-Color trifecta!

Inspired by Nature Levenger Circa Cover

  • Inspired by Nature and Flight of the Butterfly stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry and Basic Gray card stock
  • Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry and Riding Hood Red Classic ink pads
  • Wild Wasabi striped ribbon (retired), chipboard letters (retired) and Sponge Daubers

Inspired by Nature was one of the sets demonstrators received at the 2008 Stampin’ Up! convention.  I learned a great technique at convention when we did our Make ‘n Takes:  we used Sponge Daubers to selectively apply ink to the stamp.  The sponges avoid streaks that sometimes appear when you use a marker on bold images, and they give the image a slight softness.  You can also spritz the entire stamp very lightly for a watercolor effect.   I added the Basic Gray into the mat layers because the Riding Hood combined with the Wild Wasabi and Crushed Curry created  a confused Christmas/Rasta kind of look…not quite the effect I was going for.  Serendipitously, I realized  I really like Basic Gray paired with Crushed Curry – I’ll be putting those two together very soon.

A Manly Tree

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The tree from Thoughts and Prayers is just right for a masculine card.  It lends itself to earth tones and has such a balanced, solid feeling that makes it so suitable for special occasions:

Stampin' Up! Thoughts and Prayers Masculine Tree

  • Thoughts and Prayers, Woodgrain, Vintage Vogue and Inspired by Nature Stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Old Olive and Not Quite Navy card stock
  • Old Olive, Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy Classic ink pads
  • Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy Stampin’ Write markers and Blender pen
  • Aquapainter, Stampin’ Sponge, SAMJ and Ribbon Originals Elementary ribbbon

And now the very astute of you are thinking “Ha!  The abundant sea air has finally driven this woman bonkers!  There’s no Vintage Vogue here – she is so obsessed with that stamp set that she’s hallucinating!”  Ah, my friends, behold the inside of the card:

Vintage Vogue Stampin' Up! interior

And here you have your Vintage Vogue, ever so slightly crooked despite multiple attempts AND the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I decided it was meant to be this way.

To create the multiple colored effect with the tree and the border for the inside, I inked the stamp in Old Olive and used a blender pen to selectively remove the Old Olive ink.  It’s very simple to go back and add in the color that you want with a Stampin’ Write marker (Soft Suede for the tree trunk, Not Quite Navy as flowers on the border).  This has the advantage of being faster than inking the entire stamp with markers, and it also helps avoid the dreaded “skipped rubber” when you are using only markers and miss a spot entirely.

This card was made for my son, who was Confirmed over the weekend.  We are quite proud of him, and I thought you might enjoy one final photo:

Dad, Matt and Mom

True confession:  I made him stand on the step below us.  He’s as tall as his dad  (or perhaps even taller, I haven’t measured today).

Looking for a quick card?

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I think I finally “get” clean and simple.  Truth is, I was just looking for simple when I came up with this idea, and the clean part just followed along:

Happy Easter, Forest Friend

  • Forest Friends, Inspired by Nature and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • So Saffron and Whisper White card stock
  • Soft Suede and Sage Shadow Classic ink pad; Pretty in Pink Classic ink refill
  • Big Shot and Movers and Shapers XL Bigz die
  • Curly label and Scallop Trim Border punches; Aquapainter
  • So Saffron striped grosgrain ribbon and Stampin’ Dimensionals

The Movers and Shapers die is SO easy to use.  It took me a long time to spend the money – I kept thinking I could do the same thing with one of our punches.  You can get close with the punch, but you are limited to punching within a short distance of the side of the card.  The big difference, though, is that beautiful pierced border that the Bigz die puts around the opening.  That embellishment really makes a difference – and did I mention it’s quick?  You put a piece of paper on the die, run it through the Big Shot, and out comes a trimmed, scored and punched card, ready to roll.  This is the thing to use when you have a lot of cards to make.

I’m having an absolutely fabulous Saturday.  My son is driving himself all over the island to his many activities today – Scout work day, youth group project, lunch with friends (we’re meeting him there), then up to the harbor to go on a whale watch with his friends as a belated birthday celebration, and finally to the track meet (we’ll go watch him compete).  Did I mention he is DRIVING HIMSELF?????  You don’t know how happy that makes me.  I know he’s happy to have his license, but I’m telling you, I’m the one who is truly thrilled.  We’ve had some very serious discussions about maturity, responsibility, and the consequences of abusing the privilege of driving.  Each time as we wrap up, I remind him that if I have to take the keys away because he has abused his privilege, we are both going to be unhappy.  And if Mama ain’t happy, honey, ain’t nobody happy!

Happy Saturday!

Inspired by Poppin’ Pastels

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True confessions time:  I have never tried the Poppin’ Pastels technique until now.  I know.  What was I thinking?

I thought it would be hard.  I thought it would be messy.  I thought it would look stupid.  I thought wrong!

Inspired by Poppin' Pastels

  • Inspired by Nature and Whimsical Words (SAB) stamp sets
  • Certainly Celery and  Whisper White card stock; retired Designer Series Paper
  • Versamark ink pad;  Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst Classic ink pads
  • Stampin’ Pastels, Curly Label punch,and So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (retired)
  • Stampin’ Sponges, Brayer and Perfect Details Texturz plate

This is so easy and so fun.  Reminds me of those old coloring books way back in the time before dirt when you just dipped your paintbrush into water and painted it onto the page to reveal the colors.  It was MAGIC!  So is this.

Stamp your image in Versamark and be sure you use a clean Versamark pad, not the yukky one you keep just for embossing.  Open up your Stampin’ Pastels and grab one of the little applicators (they’re basically skinny little Q-tips) and start dusting the color where you want it.  You can mix and blend and shade to your heart’s content.  There’s even an eraser if you smudge the pastels onto the paper.  Too cool.

The other little trick I discovered is to use a brayer and a Big Shot Texturz plate to create visual texture on cardstock.  If you look closely at the Certainly Celery card base, you’ll see a design that isn’t embossed, it’s inked.  I just brayered the ink directly onto the Texturz plate, put the cardstock face down, covered it with scratch paper and brayered again.  More subtle than running it through the Big Shot.

Go try something new today!!

I think I found my MOJO!

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It’s been a long time coming.  I’ve tried a number of the Mojo Monday sketches and looked at way more than I’ve tried.  More often than not, I’d look at the sketch and think it was out of my league.  The few times I did attempt the sketch, I felt dissatisfied with the results.

Until today.  Ta da!  Mojo110.

Mojo110_friendship

Mojo110 Mojo Monday Challenge

  • Inspired by Nature and Wings of Friendship stamp sets
  • Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Yoyo Yellow, Brocade Blue and Whisper White cardstock
  • Old Olive and Bashful Blue Classic ink pads;  Bashful Blue Craft ink pad; Champagne Mist Shimmer paint
  • Big Shot and SU Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die
  • Iridescent Ice Embossing powder, Embossing Budy, Powder Pal, Heat tool, pop-up glue dot and Stampin’ Sponges
  • Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon, Rich Razzleberry polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, and Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware flower ribbon slide

Do you like it?  I do!  I wouldn’t say it’s my absolute all time favorite, but I’m happy with it – especially considering how much I’ve agonized in the past, and by contrast, how naturally this card came together.  I was working with the color combination for a bag topper for my ribbon share, and decided that with a few changes it would make a great card.  The changes grew and expanded and the Mojo Sketch suddenly popped into my head.  Maybe the reason I’m so happy with this card is that it flowed from that point.

If you’ve never tried a sketch challenge, there are an abundance of them.  Here’s the MojoMonday site.  You can also find them in a multitude of blogs and stamping community sites.

The photo doesn’t pick it up, but there’s Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint Magic Elixer (1/4 tsp shimmer paint with 3-5 Tbsp of rubbing alcohol in a mist bottle) on the sentiment.  It goes on everything these days – we even used it on my girlfriend’s Halloween costume!

The moral of this story?  You may have to kiss a lot of card stock before you find your Mojo!

Make a card, send a card

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Today is World Card Making Day.   I would hasten to add that I don’t need a designated day to make a card.  It’s something I enjoy doing (I know, News Flash!) and it’s something that I especially enjoy teaching others to do.

If we’re brutally frank about the matter, World Card Making Day is  a marketing idea.  It’s a great idea, but in my opinion, there should be more to making a card than selling cardstock, ink and paper.  Everyone makes cards for different reasons and with different motivations.  Some make cards for their own pleasure, satisfied with participating in the creative process.  Others make a card with a recipient in mind, carefully selecting colors and images that are designed to bring happiness, comfort or inspiration to a special person.  Some people may even choose to make a card simply because it’s more economical, although if you were to inventory my card making supplies you might question that premise.

In the end,  it doesn’t matter why you make a card.  The important thing is that the process satisfies you.  It’s a very forgiving craft, with near-infinite options.  The basic materials are inexpensive enough that if you finish your card and you really don’t like it, you can let go of it.  It’s just paper.

Your hand made card, whether simple or complex, holds the potential to bring you to someone else.  Make a card – and send it.  A card is really just paper and embellishment until it is given away.  Then it becomes a message of love and caring straight from your heart to another.

Inspired_by_Nature_cc238_crop

  • Inspired by Nature and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Sage Shadow, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
  • Sage Shadow, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink and Rose Red Classic Ink pads
  • Sponge daubers, Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, and Stamp-a-ma-jig

Happy World Card Making Day.