Archive for the ‘LNStampers Challenges’ Category:
Name That Quilt Block!
Aloha, all!
This is another busy – but fun! – week around my craft room. For the next two days, in fact, I may be around the craft room, but I won't be in it much. Tomorrow I'm meeting some friends for lunch and then we're going to join another much older friend at her place to play some bridge. The bridge game will be different for all of us because we're used to playing duplicate bridge. This will be just plain old party bridge and I'm sure there will be lots of chatting to go along with it!
Thursday is my monthly book club meeting, and that's where today's greeting card comes in. We take turns selecting books to read and discuss, and this week the book could be any of those in the Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini. As I'm definitely not a quilter, this was a bit of stretch for me. But I did pick the first book in the series and I can certainly see why those who quilt would enjoy reading about the ladies in the series. Not that I didn't enjoy the book – but perhaps a book about scrapbookers might be more up my line?
On top of that, the Late Night Stampers has a challenge this week to make a card using "embedded embossing." Wouldn't you know it but my favorite theme for embedded embossing is quilt squares!
The quilt blocks are fun first and foremost because I don't have to sew them! Yes, I have to cut them out. But the basic shape for this and most of the other blocks that I do for my paper crafting are made up of squares. And now that Stampin' Up! has a 1" square punch, this is a piece of cake. After reading the Elm Creek Quilt book, though, I'm very much attuned to the need for points to be, well, pointed. I may be a bit lacking there even in the paper quilt block piecing.
To make this quilt block, I first cut a 4" square piece of Very Vanilla Card Stock. If it were fabric, I'd have to cut out all of the individual blocks and sew them together. But this being paper, I just glued the triangles onto the Very Vanilla! To help place them reasonably accurately, I scored the square piece at 1", 2" and 3" both horizontally and vertically. Then I punched two 1" squares each of Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade card stock, and cut each square by hand on the diagonal. Then I adhered them in place on the Very Vanilla square and ran the entire square through my Sizzix Big Shot using the new Argyle Embossing Folder. That's the embedded embossing technique: taking all the layers and embossing them at once.
The final steps were matting the quilt block with first a 4-1/4" square of Calypso Coral and then a 4-1/2" square of Lucky Limeade, mounting the whole square on a 5" x 10" square piece of Very Vanilla folded to make a 5" square greeting card. Before I took that final step, though, I added the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes, punched with one of the new Bitty Banners Framelits. I attached it to the quilt block with a Wisteria Wonder Designer Printed Brad.
Fun and finished!
Now here's where you come in. I haven't a clue what this quilt block is called. And I have learned from reading the Elm Creek Quilts story that all quilt blocks have names – some even more than one! I would love to know what this block is called, and I will send this very card out to one of you who can tell me the name of the block. I'm going to be busy for the next few days, so I'm not going to close the comments for this until some time next week. So if you know the name of the quilt block and would like to have this card, just leave me a note in the comments section of this blog post!
Now off to get some rest before the rest of my busy week!
Subscribe to the comments for this postNaturally Musical!
Aloha, all!
When I first opened my pack of the brand new Natural Composition Specialty Designer Series Paper, I wondered what the heck I was going to do with the sheet with the musical notes. After all, the theme of the paper seemed to be "nature," yet musical notes placed on a staff remind me of something a bit more formal than the great outdoors.
Then I wanted to make a Get Well Card for a friend who also happens to be a musician. There was that sheet of paper sitting out there waiting to inspire me to do something with it! And inspire it did. It would make a perfect card for Marcia!
As you might be able to guess, this is one of my, "What if I did this?" cards! You might also have guessed that I had a lot of fun with it. And you'd have guessed correctly on both accounts!
The most fun was using one of the new Finishing Touches Edgelits, one of which has a lovely little line of lace at the edge. I certainly wanted to show that off by having a bright color behind the edge, and so I went to my stash of Stampin' Up! Brights Colors. Real Red stood out as just what I wanted to have for this card.
Now what to do with the rest of the card? Aha! There was a challenge going on in the Late Night Stampers online group that called for us to use our paper piercing tools. And so I got out the brand new Essentials Paper Piercing Pack and all the tools that go with it. One of the nice features of the Paper Piercing Mats is that you can place them over the picture of a Stampin' Up! stamp in the catalog to see if a stamped image will fit inside one of the piercing shapes. Sure enough, the "Get Well" message in the stamp set, Sassy Salutations fit inside the oval that fit inside the shape that matches the Decorative Label Punch. My design was complete! Tie it all up with a ribbon – in this case, some Real Red 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon – and I was done!
As you look at the photo of the card, you'll see a bit of a reflection in the musical notes in the upper right corner. All of the printing on this paper (which has a design on one side only) is shiny! It really does make a lovely addition to a greeting card. I'm already full of ideas of how to use this particular sheet in other projects!
As always, I had a lot of fun working with all these new products and I love how they're really helping my creativity break loose a bit! I hope you'll take the time to try out some new Stampin' Up! products and see how much fun you'll have with them, too. As always, you can order online at my Stampin' Up! store any time, any day. Or just call or e-mail me, and I'll help you put an order together!
Speaking of Birds…
…..how about "Killing two birds with one stone!"?
Aloha, all!
No, no, definteily no! I do NOT kill birds. But I do think about that old phrase a lot when I can get credit for two projects with just one greeting card – as I did with today's card! And besides that, I had a chance to finally get out of my system a design I've wanted to do since I first saw the stamp set, Papillon Potpourri!
The project I've wanted to do is to line up a bunch of butterflies in different colors that seem to blend into one another. OK – that's not what happened here. But it's a start! I used Island Indigo Classic Ink to stamp all but the last little butterfly, which I stamped in Real Red. The Designer Series Paper that's the background layer is from the set, Twitterpated. I keep forgetting that Island Indigo is one of the colors in that set – I'm so used to focusing on the Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red, along with the now-retired Blushing Bride. Yes, that's the pink in this set; for now I use Pink Pirouette to take its place. But there I go off-track again! I'm not even using the subtle colors in this card!
To get the butterflies all lined up, I measured the distance that I wanted each butterfly to be from the other both vertically and horizontally and then made a teensy pencil dot right between where I wanted the little antennae to be. Then I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to place each little critter. Some of them wiggled around while I was trying to stamp them. But all in all, I'm happy with the way the card turned out!
Oh, and the "two birds" thing? I made this for a challenge last week on one of my online Stampin' Up! groups, Late Night Stampers. This group is NOT just for Stampin' Up! demonstrators, but for everyone who likes to use Stampin' Up! in this projects. If that resembles you, you might want to check them out! There's no approval process – you can just join! I also made it for a challenge on another group – VC Rocks – which is open to everyone, but takes new members only during the month of May each year.
Oh, my! Can you believe that June is almost over?! Just a couple of more days and July will be here and we'll all be asking, "Where has the summer gone?" Well, it won't be gone come July. But some of us will wonder just the same. So I'm having fun while Summer's here and I have a bit of extra daylight in which to play in my craft room. I hope you're taking advantage of your extra daylight time, too (well, unless you're one of my Aussie or Kiwi friends)!
CASEing Pinterest!
Aloha, all!
Have you at all paid attention to the fab new online collection of photos of just about everything called, "Pinterest"? I certainly have, BUT I have to tell you I simply do not have the time to be an active participant in the group. So you won't find much of me on there. My time is filled so much with my current online groups, my own paper crafting and classes, and volunteer work not involving stamping (oops – as I write this I'm late for a meeting. Eeek!! BRB!).
And speaking of my online groups, one group for which I've been a Design Team member for quite awhile is the Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers. This week the Design Team challenge was to find a card on Pinterest to CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone is my version of the acronym). So I made a quick pass over a few pages of cards (you can do that even if you don't join Pinterest) and picked the one that struck my fancy the most. Of course it had to be the card of someone who is very active and popular on Split Coast Stampers. This is another group on which I don't spend nearly enough time, and I'd never run across Jen del Muro because she's not a part of the Stampin' Up! community there. But she is a fab designer for sure. What I had to do was copy her card but use only Stampin' Up! products.
And that was quite easy, thank you very much (the original from which I copied this is at the end of the blog post). Since I'm starting to focus on retiring products, as well as on the end of the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, I chose the 2010-2012 "In Colors" for my triangles, and the Stamp Set, Loving Thoughts (from the mini catalog) for this card. So the triangles are Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Concord Crush, and Poppy Parade. I punched the triangles with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch – which makes triangles SO very easy!
I stamped the "Happiness" sentiment using Concord Crush classic ink on Whisper White card stock and hand cut the notch on the left side. For the background colors, I used Crumb Cake (formerly "Kraft") and Basic Black Card Stock. Had I been thinking a bit more clearly, I would have used Concord Crush for the dark background color. But it was already glued down, and this wasn't a big enough deal to start tearing things apart! I punched the right corners of the card stock, as well as the basic card, with the Corner Rounder Punch. As the In Colors didn't have buttons to go with them, I used a Pumpkin Pie Button from the Brights Collection of Buttons. I finished the card off with a piece of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine (also from the Occasions Mini!).
Oh, and the most fun products on this card – and also from the Occasions Mini – are the Adorning Accents Edgelit Die and Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. I know most all of us in Stampin' Up! land are really hoping that these products will continue forward into the 2012-2013 Idea Book & Catalog. Crossing my fingers!
Here's the card on which this CASE is based. It really is a great design that Jen del Muro made, and I wish I'd thought of it myself!!
Spring Colors!
Aloha, all!
As many of you know, last Sunday Stampin' Up announced over 200 stamp sets that will retire when the current Idea Book and Catalog expires at the end of next month! The good news is that the stamp set that I'm using on today's card will NOT retire! Hooray for that, as this is one of my favorite sets to color with markers and blender pens! But the paper that I'm using today WILL retire, so I enjoyed using it and its colors to make a card with a Spring feeling to it!
Oh, and there's the little issue of a challenge! Yes, this card is one I made for a Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group's color challenge. For this one, we were to use Pink, Green, and Yellow. Now, no one defined what "Pink" meant, so I took some liberties with the use of a pale version of Tangerine Tango, which is not actually a pink – more of a coral. But if I showed this to any of the men in my life and asked them what color it was, I can guarantee that a majority would say, "Pink"! My "out" for this is that the Melon Mambo in the center of the flowers really is a "pink."
The yellow – Daffodil Delight – and the green – Wild Wasabi – are definitely what the colors are supposed to be!
The stamp set for today is called Fabulous Florets, and it really is a fabulous stamp set to use! For this card, I stamped the flower on the left, and then "masked" it before stamping the second flower. To make the mask, I stamped the flower image on the top of a Post-It note and then very carefully cut it out before attaching it to the top of the first flower. Then I stamped the second flower. Then I said to myself, "Self, you'll certainly be masking this flower again, so why not put the mask away in the stamp set's box." I did that – and laid it right on top of another such mask that I'd made who knows how long ago! I have got to use my stamp sets more often!
The paper that I used for the yellow layer as well as the floral layer is Beyond the Garden. Yes, it has the same images as the stamp set, and you might wonder why Stampin' Up! would retire it and not the stamp set. One thing that's happened in the past is that we get the same design in a new set of papers but with different colors. Wouldn't that be great. Oh, I can hardly wait to see that new catalog!!!
Oh, and the ribbon – I'm always tying cards up with a bow! It's Daffodil Delight 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, and I've had it since last summer's Stampin' Up! Convention. You'd think after I spent two years bemoaning the fact that Stampin' Up! didn't have enough yellow ribbon that I'd be on my third or fourth spool of this ribbon. But no; it's still spool number 1.
This uses a simple sketch, but I think it's really effective with the multiple mats of the Wild Wasabi! So I thought I'd share it with you and hope you can use it for something that YOU make!
.jpg)
Monochrome for a Sketch Challenge
Aloha, all!
Today I did some work with a sketch challenge from the online group, Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers. Lots of history with that group's name, but suffice it to say that the group is made up of stampers who love Stampin' Up! products. It's not just for demonstrators, either. So, if you'd love to get some ideas – and share your own! – about using Stampin' Up! products, it's a pretty fun group to which to belong!
.jpg)
I should show you the sketch first, so you'll know from where I started. And this is where I stopped, too! I am so not into blue and orange these days, so I had to get out some color quickly to erase this from my mind!
The color I chose was Melon Mambo. And the reason was that I had my Melon Mambo ribbon out because I had considered using it with my last project (cute dragon!). So I grabbed my Melon Mambo ink and started stamping teacups.
And boy did I get carried away with the Melon Mambo! As you can see, it's everywhere in this card. It started with the teacups from the stamp set, Tea Shoppe (in the current mini catalog, Occasions Mini), proceeded into the rectangular background and just kept going! And, yes, I finally did get to that ribbon – the Melon Mambo 1/2 Inch Scallop Dots Ribbon. In between I punched some vertical scallops with the Scallop Edge Border Punch and also used that punch to form the ends of the little strip on which I stamped today's sentiment (also from the Tea Shoppe stamp set). The Designer Series Paper that I used for this project came from the Hostess Designer Series Paper Set, Cheerful Treat. And I think that this card is, indeed, cheerful!
For the most part, I really like to use more than one color in a project. But I think that I might like doing some more projects with just one color. Hmmm.
But definitely NOT blue or orange!
As always, I had fun with this project, and I hope you're having fun with whatever you're doing today! And check out the Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group! It's free – and fun!
A Week for Green Cards!
Aloha, all!
I can't believe that St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner! And this year I'm going to make LOTS of St. Patty's Day cards because I completely missed Valentine's Day with being sick. Not happening with the Green!
For my first card of this "season," I CASEd (Copy And Share Everything) a card by fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Phyllis Strickland. Her card was a Valentine's card, and I could just see the shamrock in the shape of the hearts that she made for her central motif.
The whole layout of the card caught my eye, with the heart layer seeming at first to be off center. Actually, it's centered between the folded edge of the card and the embossed scallops made with the new Stampin' Up! Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders from Sizzix. The scallop isn't just a plain scallop, either; there's some texture throughout the line of scallops – hard to see on this dark color, but it really looks wonderful up close!
The lighter green in this card is Pear Pizzazz, and the Designer Series Paper that I used for the hearts is from the Twitterpated Papers, featured in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog. With the way the paper is displayed in the catalog, all I saw at first were all the pinks and blues. But there are two papers that are made completely with the Pear Pizzazz color. On Tuesday, for another challenge, I'll be showing off the other Pear Pizzazz sheet. Nice to spot that before St. Patrick's Day got past me!
To make the hearts that form the shamrock shape, I cut the Designer Series Paper with the smallest of the Heart Framelits (also in the Occasions Mini Catalog). I cut two of the hearts for each overall heart shape, and adhered them to the background squares with the folded edges up against each other. At first I didn't want the darker blue and red patterned paper to show; but then I realized that it really did a nice job of providing a shadow for the shamrock! So I didn't glue the hearts shut as I was going to do (good choice, Robin!). The darker green in the card is Garden Green, and I love how it provides an accent for the Pear Pizzazz color!
The greeting is from the stamp set, Teeny Tiny Wishes, punched with the Modern Label Punch, and accented with Garden Green Brads. And here I go again tying a card together with a ribbon – this time with a ribbon I haven't been using much, the Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon.
Now off to finish up that card for Tuesday. It will be for the SUO Challenge (that's Stampin' Up! Only). I'm having so much fun having a crafting weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if I get half a dozen cards done today! I hope you have as much fun this weekend as I plan to have.
Hello, Baby! Or is that “Aloha, Baby!
Aloha, all!
I may have mentioned that I'm going to become a Great Aunt to two babies this spring. Next month one nephew will be welcoming a baby boy, and in June – for the first time in decades! – my side of the family, courtesy of another nephew and his wife, will be welcoming a baby girl! My niece, Margie, who is a 30-something, has been the only girl baby in our family since the day she was born. She indicates that she is more than ready to give up that honor.
So I'd better start shifting into "pink" mode for some of my cards and projects! I have plenty of blue stuff in storage, and now I need to get cracking to welcome a baby girl. She may not want pink down the road a bit. But for now, this Great Aunt will be making pink!
The paper with those darling little birds is from the Designer Series Paper set, Nursery Nest. I cut it with the Circle Scissors Plus, and mounted it on a card made with the Scallop Circle Bigz Die. But before I did, I attached a piece of the Blushing Bride 3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon behind it. This ribbon does so well going around corners! I love it for a lot of its characteristics, but I think this is my favorite.
To set off the greeting (from Teeny Tiny Wishes), I included a Scallop Circle punched with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, which I then embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. And after I adhered everything together, I added some of the Twitterpated Designer Buttons. Both the Pleated Ribbon and the Twitterpated Designer Buttons are from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, which will be around until the end of April. I'm thinking that these not only look like baby colors, they look like Easter colors! So I'm sure you'll be seeing them here again!
Whoever it is for whom you're creating something this week, I hope you have as much fun – and wear as big a smile – doing it as I had making this card!
Warmest of Wishes
Aloha, all!
The title of this post is also the name of the Hostess Set in the Holiday Mini Catalog. It features five stamps related to fall and winter and their holidays, four of which go perfectly with five of Stampin' Up!'s punches. For today's card I used the one related to fall because there is a challenge at the online group called Stampin' Up! Late Night Stampers.
.jpg)
This is a "gatefold" card and I've used a technique for it that I've not used for awhile – making my own shapes for embossing with the Sizzix Big Shot. I've been making lots of cards this week using fall colors, and this seems to be my favorite combination of the moment: Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie and Peach Parfait. I colored in the wreath with those colors and punched some leaves for the corners with the Bird Builder Punch using four of the colors of card stock.
Punching the wreath takes a bit of practice, but I've written up some instructions for making that 1" Circle Punch centered in the wreath. The instructions also include instructions for embossing card stock with punched shapes, not just with the texturz plates and embossing folders provided by Sizzix! No, the instructions are not here. But they are yours FREE if you subscribe to my newsletter. There will be a new newsletter for my subscribers on October 3rd, featuring a great new offer by Stampin' Up! as well as an offer from me personally for those of you who place an order with me while I'm off on vacation – now through October 15th! So don't miss out. Getting my newsletter and the FREE tutorial doesn't cost a penny (well, if it did it wouldn't be free, would it!)
And let me tell you a bit about the Late Night Stampers Group. This is a group that's FOR EVERYONE who uses Stampin' Up! products – NOT just for demonstrators. We have a Design Team and some group leaders who do a fantastic job making everyone welcome and providing hints for all kinds of Stampin' Up! products. No matter whose customer you are, you're welcome there and no one's going to try to get you to buy Stampin' Up! products from them. If you haven't tried them out, please do! It would be fun having you there!
No sketch today either – it's in that FREE TUTORIAL that you'll get with my newsletter on October 1st! I hope you have fun with it when you get it!
A Thought on 9/11
Aloha, all!
I finally have a week where there’s more time for stamping than not. And what a week it is as everywhere around us there are reminders that this is the 10th Anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11/2001.
I think we all remember where we were that day; I was in Washington, DC, taking care of some business for my mother, and I was supposed to come back home to New Mexico on the 12th. When I finally did get home, many days later, the emotion of where I had been and when was overwhelming. It was one of those moments when I was reminded that life is so very fragile, and that we should do our best to live it to its fullest.
This sentiment from the stamp set, Inspired by Nature is the closest Stampin' Up! stamp that I could find to remind myself of that day. And it's pretty darned close to perfect.
.jpg)
