Reach for the Stars card variations

I have been a fan of Star Trek and many outer space fantasy for a long time so when I saw this set I thought it would be cool to make sure cards with it and the designer paper - is really out of this world! 

I took a basic black basecard and put a piece of DSP on it that I embossed the sentiment in white. then circle diecut one of the planets - (there is sheet with the entire page of planets for you to diecut out!) took a piece of bakers twince and wrapped it around and taped in to the back of the DSP before adhering it and put the astronaut popped up on ti - I did not want him floating in space without some attachment to the ship that is off to the side right?

I saw a card with the circular moving rocket and I had to try it. Basic Black basecard with the circles diecut in the center- Heat embossed the sentiment on the DSP in white. 

I popped up the center circle with dimensionals and the next ring flat onto the basecard- I didn't want a black-hole !  and the rest of the DSP popped up- but make sure you stay away from the ring so the penny spinner has room to move around.  I used one of the planets on the DSP that was going off the page and I did the same on this card - no point in wasting a whole planet image, right?

Stampin' Up has a background stamp- It's in the stars- and I tried it as a background using a variety of embossing powders, white was too stark, silver too sparkly but the gold was subtle enough to not compete with the ship.  The label is from Something Fancy dieset

I love this sentiment. so even if you don't have the DSP you can still make a cool card...

enjoy.

 

flip flap card

You know you see something somewhere and it was such a great idea and then you can't find the source when you try to look for it? that was with this card- I apologize profusely to whoever came up with this idea. I wrote down the dimensions so I could try it out then for the life of me cannot find the source- it was on youtube one night was up watching - 

I have made similar version of it before from instructions on Splitcoast Stampers but this was more modern looking - mechanism instruction here: Flip Flap Card Tutorial - Splitcoaststampers    

My smart sister thought it should have said you are so - "twisted" or "Knotty" since I put a pretzel image in the front - I just liked the pretzel image but she is right - I should have put the soda bottle image or ice cream to say Super Cool. 

you can put the gift card on the panel if you wish or you can put another messge instead. 

 

Pick of the Patch and Abundant Beauty Stencil for Embossing

How fun is this card? When I saw the new holiday catalog this was on the first order. Love the little crow.

Base card is Calypso Coral with a layer of Old Olive and basic black embossed with the Abundant beauty stencil. I stamped the sentiment after since I changed my mind about stamping it on the side of the white panel but it still worked fine thankfully.

stamp the 3 pumpkins with calypso coral on a scrap piece of white cardstock and the leaves in Old Olive- punch out the leaf, stem and the 2 pumpkins using the Pick of the patch punch. fussy cut the last small pumkin- I stamped the crow on it before i cut it out so it was just one piece.  stamp the vines and cut it out and you are read to put it together.

I had actually stamped the pumpkins on the white cardstock so I could figure out where I wanted to place the punched out pieces but I made this one without doing any punching at all. - I used masking to stamp the stem and the leaves and vines where I wanted it. so more of a one layer card- sorta.  this is how I visualized the card when I was first coming up with the idea.

This is a total case from Dena Rekow- she was doing unconventional colors and I loved her card- I did tweak it with a strip of DSP on the left but it is really straight from her. 

Calypso coral, Fresh Freesia, Petal Pink and pumpkin Pie- who would have imagined a purple pumpkin!

This is what the embossed cardstock look like.  I used the embossing rubber in my diecutting machine with the stencil to make the embossed cardstock.  I did use a little white  pigment pad to rub my fingers over the raised area in the black leaves embossed to make it pop a little- shown below.  The current stampin' Cut and Emboss machine does not come with the rubber embossing mat but you can buy it on line- spellbinders have a 2 pack for way under $10 

This was the houndstooth pattern but someone suggested it looks like bats and I have to agree!

There are multiple stencils: houndstooth, autumn leaves, snowflakes as well as the multiple layering stencils for the flowers so the stencil set is definitely a bargain.
 

Abundant Beauty Stencil

This is the first flower stencil Stampin Up has done and it is really gorgeous. It would be super fun if it had matching dies with it but it wasn't too hard to cut out - although with all the matching dies now scissor challenged person like me have gotten a bit lazy. I did cheat and stenciled the right side middle flower so didn't have to cut that one out! The sentiment is from Season of Chic set - all the sentiments in that set is so useful- I've used it so many times.

This was my practice stenciling using the stencil as is.

It was so easy using the blender brush from the center out to create that gradation. Just Lovely.

The center of the flower was with Copper Clay and the outline in Early Expresso.  It was super easy.

I put in some silver metal strip adhesives (normally used for nail art- they were super cheap and adds such a sparkle I love using it although it is a bit of a pain to apply as it is really flimsy and hard to keep straight. 

 

Stampin Up In-Color Treat Bags giftcard Cards.

I know I have had some people rag on Stampin' Up for a variety of things- things they want on back order forever - not always up to trends right away and there are now a lot of companies on line and otherwise that are offering a lot of innovative ideas that are astounding for sure and they wonder why I stay with them. I have been with Stampin' up now over 25 years and I still love their stuff and they come out with things that make me laugh and their stamp quality is top notch and no one makes embossing folders like they do and I love some of the embossing diecutting bundles.  Now this sweet little project is just an example of why I love these guys. I saw some people making these treat bags into gift card holders and I thought I would try my hand at it. 

I folded the top of the treatbag to cover the seam. I then cut a piece of same color cardstock  4 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches and a piece of white cardstock 4 x 3 1/4 for the inside panel and put it in the back pocket.  It left the front pocket for the gift card I am putting in there.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside (from Biggest Wish set here) using the same color ink. 

Instead of taping or gluing the sides I wrapped the matching In -Color Jute to wrap around the gift bag twice to keep the fold, 

Used a piece of in-color DSP Assortment to accent the bag and the Nested Essentials die for the shape and Celebrate from the Wanted to say set with matching outline in same color to create the gift card card. Fits perfect in an A2 card.  I took the Petal Park builder punch to make the flower and leaves- punched it out on white and then in Boho blue/ Granny apple green and used the aqua brush to put in some accent marks on the inside to add a little something. Put them a little askew to have the color peek a little and a simple project - good enough to give away for a gift card and message. 

See how everything matches? the incolor cardstock, inks, markers, DSP and Jute. Gotta love it. These colors when I first saw them were like Eew they look so washed out but they are really growing on me- I guess they know us better than ourselves...

 

another vegetable basket thank you

My lovely friend gave us another basket of lemon cucumbers, and pepers with tomatoes so I had to send him another thank you.

The background was embossed with Stampin Up Exposed brick EF to add some texture.

a layer of Real red and then whisper white cardstock. 

Used the crumbcake cardstock to diecut the crate from Lawn Fawn Harvest Crate and used some dies from the Lawn Fawn Stitched Gourds dieset, the Concord &9th Garden Grown die set for the tomatoes and the jalapeno and my new favorite die from Spellbinders Seasonal Decor for the Green pepper on the side - the proportions were just perfect! If I had not glued down the big tomatoes on the inside the crate I would have used the tomatoes from this set which is just perfect for this crate. 

The sentiment is from an old PTI set called Round and Round. Love that font and size.

 I am keeping this on my craft table in my "try to play with it" basket to see how I will use all the dies in there throughout the year especially the present die but I did get it because I just wanted a little smaller tomatoes for cards I need to make in the future- I hope he will continue to share his bounty- my garden was taken over by the local squirrels who got really fat on my veggies so now I only grow things they would not like - green onions, lemongrass, nopales- you get the idea. but his tomatoes were so sweet and delicious maybe I will try again next year.

Thanks with C9 Garden Grown

I know a lovely man who has a ranch who brings me his homoegrown tomatoes and veggies which my family just eats up.  I wanted to send him a thank you card and the Garden Gorwn set from Concord & 9th just fit the bill.   I used the stencil pack to create the background- although it was weird that I ahd to change the colors within the stencil - it would have made more sense if all the green was done with one stencil and all the reds were done with another stencil but it still worked.

 I wanted a thank you not a love you card so I left out the top part of the sentiment which I thought was adorable and put in the banner sentiment to fit my need. 

the ribbon is from stampin up as is all the inks and cardstock.

the extra piece of cherry tomato diecuts were used on the inside of the card. So cute!
 

Earthen textures back fold card and variations

 

I was not sure how I felt about this set but loved the DSP with the pottery glaze feel.  There is a british show pottery throw down or something like that that I binge watched the whole thing because I was so captivated by it.  take a side ways A2 card 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 folded in half - then cut the front panel by 1 inch and then fold the back panel corresponding exactly the same amount  1 inch- you can do more or less depending on what you want but the measurement for the section you cut and the amount you score in the back should be identical. Cut DSP to fit the panels .  Diecut 2 circles and stamp and diecut the vase and the leaves element. the tall vase is diecut then cut in half to use in the front and on the inside.

make sure you only glue down the circle to the ride side of the panel that gets folded back as shown below.  Such an easy card with a big impact.

I like to make easy one layer card with each set I use to show people versatility of any stampset. I diecut some circles and rectangles to use as a stencil. use blender brush to color in the circle or rectangle with whatever color you want. stamp the stamp or diecut the branch and stamp the sentiment and you are done. 

a card in less than a minute I measured.

Berry harvest

 

Berry Harvest is such a pretty stamp but as a back ground it can be daunting if you are coloring it all in- the key is to keep it loose and don't be too obsessed with coloring in too carefully - loose watercolor look is beautiful and easy.

I took a A2size piece of white cardstock, stamped it with the entire stamp and colored it in using watercolor technique.

then I cut a strip 2inches long and matted on a black cardstock to create the strip on the left. I then cut a tag from Tailor made tags to create a white base and cut out a black piece slightly larger to create the mat.  I cut the remaining berry images loosely - since the background is white any mistakes do not show- I mounted these pieces with dimensionals to make it pop. 

stamp the sentiment from Season of Chic - one of my favorite sentiment sets

a piece of black and white gingham ribbon tied and stuck on with a glue dot just finishes the card.

Little Monkey swing card and variations

This was the card we made for our July Stampin' with Lynda- the monkey is fussy cut because only the standing monkey ahs the punch that goes with it but it is pretty easy. the key is leaving the area between the tail curl and the leg you see on the right intact and punch out a 1/2 inch circle in that space.

Use the blending brush to make the sky with clouds. put a small dimensional  where you wan the monkey to swing- put the circle punched monkey over the dimensional so the 1/2 inch circle is over the dimensional so the monkey moves freely, then put the branch you cut out over the dimensional to hide the element and the monkey will swing left and right.

bottom is fern folder embossed. 

this is how I expect the monkey to swing left and right.

you can put a penny or dime behind the monkeys head if you need some weight to swing  better.

this is the simple one layer card version.  Stamp the monkey and then make a mask of its tail so it does not get stamped and then stamp the branch multiple times as shown. 

color in the sky with blender brush with some blue of your choice. stamp the sentiment and an easy peasy one layer card.

I would suggest you always use Thick white cardstock for the basecard to add some heft.  It's worth the price for the nicer feel.