Vintage Book Card Case

I made one of these card-carriers full of note cards for my kid's teacher last month, and liked it so much I wanted to make some more, so this is for a special someone who never forgets a birthday or special occasion.  Going to fill it with a little bit of everything; it will fit up to EIGHTEEN cards and envelopes if they are CAS, fewer if they have more embellishments.  I just LOVE how this came out!!!  

Colors:  Night of Navy, Very Vanilla
Framelits:  Apothecary and Timeless Tags
The embossed kraft card stock is Natural’s Composition Specialty Paper (retired).

Click here for a detailed photo tutorial. (better for beginners)

Click here for quickie printable directions & measurements. (for more experienced crafters)

Vintage Vanilla & Blushing Pink Bride All-Occasion Cards

These laser-cut cards were in the Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog a few years back and I finally opened the package!

This first one was embellished with Blushing Bride DSP and pleated ribbon as well as some Venetian Lace Crochet Trim.  I don't think it could get any more feminine if it tried!  I had to cut the card apart and trim it down a bit, then I used the die-cut panel as a card front and popped it up with lots of dimensionals.  I think the shadow of the die cut on the DSP creates lovely depth to this card, don't you?

This set of cards had some with floral die-cut hearts, and others with a lacy die-cut edge.   

I put a DSP behind the border with a pattern of Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip showing through the lace.  Inside there's a pattern of pink glitter on an ivory background.  The pink satin ribbon is held together with Fast Fuse, giving the front a little more interest and covering the seam between the papers on the inside.  One piece of ribbon goes all the way around the front of the card, then a second smaller piece is folded in half and adhered to line up with one edge.

I think you could use these cards for feminine birthdays, weddings or valentines; what would you use them for?

These cards were created for the Feminine Anything Goes Watercooler Challenge.  Check out the other great submissions here.

BS&J Take it or Leave it Stamp Off Challenge

Today we're playing along with my talented friends: Buffy, Susan & Jackie (hence BS&J).  Be sure to click the links and check out their creations!  My daughter and I both managed to incorporate ribbon and doilies, but I stopped her before she added cupcake images to the gorgeous card she had made!!  I reminded her that it's Take it or Leave it, so if there was no food, she was okay!!

I used a Stampin' Up! doily Thinlet on So Saffron CS, and glued a couple dozen scraps of Certainly Celery, Midnight Muse and Real Red behind it.  The center is embellished with a retired In-Color Adornment that I have always thought looked like candies, so that is my "food" element!!  The Chocolate Chip card base is embossed with a contraband folder by Tim Holtz and the little sentiment is from Lovely Little Labels (retired).  Most of my colors have food names, though celery with chocolate and saffron probably looks better than it tastes!

DD's card uses Papillion Potpourri and coordinating punch, doily stamp from Petal Potpourri, and sentiment from Chalk Talk (retired).  We both used the same Certainly Celery twill ribbon (retired).  Sorry for the shadows on her card... I'm going to say it's the screen, not that my windows need cleaning!

 Buffy

 Susan 

 Jackie 

Vintage Nature Walk

I couldn't resist this sketch I found in the Splitcoast Challenge Forum.  I used the Elegant Tag Punch and the Nature Walk, French Foliage & Flower Shop stamp sets.  Embellished with Rich Razzleberry ribbon and a gold-embossed R.R circle with a sentiment from Posy Punch.  Inks used: Stazon Timber Brown, SU! Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Early Expresso & Soft Suede.  Images colored with Stampin' Up! markers.  Happy spring Hello to my friends at Watercooler Wednesday!

Butterfly Thank You

I love this new two-layer buttterfly die I got on Amazon!  This time it turned into a vintage thank you card.

The embossing folder, ribbons, pearl and hardware are all retired Stampin' Up!.  Sentiment from the Postage Collection stamp set.  Embellishment on the right is layered Cuttlebug die cut, Basic Black on top of Very Vanilla.  The green CS is Mellow Moss.

Steampunk Birthday Card

I've been wanting to make a vintage card with Stampin Up!'s Moving Forward set, and I needed a masculine card, so here is what I came up with.  I stamped the blimp once in red and a second time in blue, cut out the red one, used colored pencils on the flags, sponged the edges and mounted the red one popped up.

     Stamp sets:  Open Sea, Moving Forward

     Colors: Cherry Cobbler (Core'dinations), Island Indigo, So Suede (ink)

                More Mustard 

     Tools:  Sizzix Big Shot, Stripes Embossing Folder, Button Embosslit die, 

               sanding block, Word Window punch, Heat Tool

     Other:  Gold Stampin' Emboss powder,  Stampin' Dimensionals 

 A close-up, so you can see some details.  I distressed the edges of most layers with scissors and sanded the raised embossed stripes.  The blue circle is the globe stamp from Open Sea.  The globe and the captain's log are stamped over the red background and the edges of the Very Vanilla card base.    

I dipped the yellow paper buttons into the embossing powder and tapped most of it off before heating, then inked the edges in an attempt to create vintage-looking buttons.

Calm Pink Cupcake

A dear friend of mine had a birthday this weekend.  She loves pink and bling and cupcakes, so while this was not my usual style, thanks to Stampin' Up!, it came together easily.  I used the grids available for the clear blocks to mount the two parts of the sentiment in perfect alignment, the piercing template added just the right amount of definition to the edge of the white panel, and frosting the cupcakes with Dazzling Details makes them totally scrumptious!

Stamp set:  Keep Calm (Hostess)
Cardstock:  Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Melon Mambo
Tools:  Essentials Piercing Pack, Apothecary Labels Framelits, Big Shot, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder
Accessories:  Dazzling Details, Basic Jewels Rhinestones

Monday / Friday Challenges

I combined the sketch from Mojo Monday 259 with the color combination from Fab Friday #2 to come up with this card.  I really love how it came out, maybe I should play along with more challenges!  I stuck to the sketch pretty well, but I goofed and used Summer Starfruit instead of So Saffron for the colors.

Stamps: Hello Doily, Curly Cute

Ink:  Basic Gray  Cardstock:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Summer Starfruit

Embossing Folders:  Flower Garden, Delicate Designs

Tools:  Large Scallop Edgelit, Sizzix Big Shot

Embellishments: Stampin' Up! Antique Brad and Crochet Trim

Techniques:  Sponging, Dry Embossing 

To get the more intense look from the lace embossing folder, I rubbed an inkpad onto the raised side of the folder before I embossed.   Another tip when using a die cutting machine - always cut first, then emboss!