Flower Power Simply Sent Card Elements

Cindy's Stamping Garden Online Class was this week.  What a fun time!  She had projects everyday, challenges and chats.  It went by far too quickly.  I was away for 3 days so unfortunately did not get to make as many things as I would have liked.

Cindy had a beautiful set of cards using the Cottage Wall Designer Series paper for one of the days.  I did not have the same paper or stamps so I created a version based on hers using the Flower Power Simply Sent kit.

For this card I applied a row of sticky strip at the bottom of the card and adhered the micro beads from the Green Bead Duo to it.  I glued the larger (though still really tiny) beads to the card using Tombo adhesive.  (Tweezers were a big help here!)

This one had a double row of ribbon with circles tucked underneath to form a scalloped border.

Simple layering on the stems stamped with the Flower Fancy set in Old Olive and colored with Certainly Celery marker made this card easy to do.

For this one, the bow is tied and then stuck on with a mini glue dot.  (Makes a much neater bow.)

One of the daily challenges was to create a card with squares.  I angled the one inch square punch on the striped paper to get interesting diagonal stripes.   This card is really BRIGHT in person!

I really enjoy using the Simply Sent Card kits. There are a couple of Quick Accent kits in the new catalogue which look very inviting.  There are so many pretty things in the new catalogue it will be hard to pick what to try first!

My Digital Studio Filmstrip Card Tutorial

Aaron had a wonderful teacher this past year for his New Media class.  His teacher is a huge movie fan, so I designed a filmstrip card using My Digital Studio and included a gift card to the movie theater as a thank you gift.

In this class, Aaron worked on 3D graphic animation.  The car in the film strip is one that he designed as part of his year end project.  It is a little dark in this picture but when I printed this on photo paper it turned out very nice.

This project is a little time consuming as it takes a while to resize all the punches but once you have your card done (and saved!) it is a simple matter to change the text and/or pictures to make multiple cards from this template.

Edited:  I wrote this tutorial before the spiral punch became available.  If you have the punch you can skip steps 6 and 7.  It goes MUCH faster with the new punch!!

Here is the step by step to create a filmstrip card:

1. Open a New Project - Greeting Card - 5 X 7 Landscape - Create Your Own - Name your project - Blank Page.

2. From the Background Papers choose Designer Series Paper - Villa - Real Red Villa.

3.  Add a 1.25 Square Punch.  Resize to 2-1/4" X 5".  Paper fill with Whisper White.

4. Add a second Square Punch and resize to slightly smaller than the white rectangle.  Paper fill with Basic Black.

5. Add a square punch and resize to a very small square. Add another square punch and resize to a very small rectangle.  Paper fill both with Whisper White.

6.  Use arrow keys to position at the edge of the black rectangle.

7.  Group these two elements together and copy and paste to make row along bottom.

8. Do the same for the other edge.

9.  Add a square punch and resize to make frame for picture.  Paper fill with Whisper White.

10.  Add a photo box to the center.

11.  Copy and paste two more sets.

12.  Add another square punch.  Resize to a long slim retangle.  Paper fill with Real Red.  Add a drop shadow.  Add text.

13.  Add photos to photo boxes.

Happy Father's Day DAD!!

My first thought when I saw the Cog Chipboard set was tractor tires.   I used one of the large chipboard "pages" as the base and made a stand up Father's Day greeting for my dad.   The tractor was inspired by one Jackie Topa made.  You can see her original card here.   I adapted it to a larger size to keep the chipboard tires in proportion.

This has two techniques that work well on chipboard:  the tires are covered with black embossing powder and the sun is coated with "make your own color" craft ink.

Here is the step by step to make this project:

1.  Trace around the chipboard base on Whisper White.  Sponge around a scallop circle and scallop oval with Bashful Blue ink to make clouds.
2. Emboss a piece of Certainly Celery with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  Trace around base and cut a freeform hill shape.
3. Coat chipboard "tires" with Versamark and heat emboss with Black Embossing powder.
4. Mix a few drops of Summer Sun re-inker with White Craft re-inker.  Coat chipboard "sun" piece.  Let dry.
5. Snip the top from a Basic Gray word window piece to make the smokestack.
6. Cut a small piece off the corner of a 2" X 2-3/4" piece of Real Red cardstock for the tractor chassis.
7. Punch two ovals in Basic Black with the Small Oval Punch to form tractor seat.
8. Punch two Basic Gray circles with the 1" Circle Punch and the 1-1/4" Circle Punch.  Layer behind tires.
9. Stamp Happy Father's Day in Basic Black from Whisper White and punch with Word Window punch.
10.  Cut 2-1/2" X 4" piece of lightweight cardboard.  Score 3/4" from one end.
11.  Bend slightly on score.  Adhere 3/4" portion to back of project.

This fits nicely in a 6 X 6 envelope or the padded SU! envelopes.

Stamping Addicts Retiring Sets Mega Hop

Welcome to the Stamping Addicts Retiring Sets Blog Hop!  This is my first time participating in a hop and I have had a wonderful time preparing for it.  You may have arrived here from Twila Davis's blog where she featured one of my favorite stamp sets Refuge and Strength.   If not, you can still visit all the blogs as they are linked in circle.  So many fun things to see!

As you can tell from the title of my blog, I have a soft spot for kitties.  I grew up on a farm with lots of kittens to love.  We currently have four cats each with VERY different personalities and traits.  So of course, I had to choose the stamp set A KIND WORD with it's adorable little girls and kitties to feature for the blog hop.

One of my favorite things to make are coordinated sets using a single stamp set.   But for this hop I challenged myself to make three very different styles with a variety of techniques to show the versatility of the set.  I also incorporated a number of fun retiring products.

My first project is a card using the wood sheets cut with the Big Shot as the focal point.  After cutting the scalloped circle with the Scallop Circle #2 Big Shot die,  I stamped the kittens in the hat with Jet Black Staz-On ink.  I used the Watercolor Pencils to color the image and then ever so lightly blended the colors with a damp fine tipped brush.

Paper: Kraft, Crushed Curry (retiring), Pacific Point (returning), Patterns Pack III Hostess (retiring)

Accessories:  Wood Sheets, Scallop Circle #2 Big Shot die, Spring Flowers Sizzlet (retiring), Swirls Scribbles Sizzlet, Textured Impression Embossing Folder, Water color Pencils, Crushed Curry Polka Dot Ribbon (retiring).

I used the retiring Spring Flowers Sizzlet to cut flowers from the Patterns Pack III hostess DSP and added Crushed Curry centers and swirls.  This is all mounted on a piece of Pacific Point embossed with the Textured impressions folder on a Kraft card base.  The Crushed Curry Polka-Dot ribbon ties all the bright and cheery elements together.

The next card features a vellum center piece colored with a variety of markers.   I backed the vellum with a second Top Note cut from Whisper White and edged with a line of Pumpkin Pie marker.  The brads through the center of Felt Flower Fusion flowers hold the vellum in place.  I just love the county flavor of the rickrack from the Orchard Ribbons Originals pack and the card base is the beautiful retiring Lovely Lilac.  Hard to photograph to show off the vellum but this is very bright and cheerful in person.

Paper: Vellum cardstock, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac (retiring)
Accessories: SU Markers, Flower Fusion (retiring), vintage  brads, Orchard Ribbons originals (retiring)

My last card is a side-step card.  The images were stamped on watercolor paper with versamark ink and heat embossed in black then colored with re-inkers. The flowers and leaves are cut using the Birds and Blooms Sizzlets.  A tiny button from the Playground collection sets off the sentiment.

  Paper: Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, More Mustard, Old Olive, Watercolor paper
Accessories: Versamark ink, Black embossing powder, re-inker, Birds and Blooms Sizzlets, Playground buttons (retiring)


I cut around the bottom of the little girl's skirt and feet to make her fly over the flower garden.  This card reminds me of swinging in our back yard near our garden as a little girl.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Next on the blog hop path is Adriana who is featuring the cute set Owl Together Now.  Have a great time.

A Gift Album and ANOTHER Use for My Digital Studio (with mini tutorial)

Last weekend Tom and I met friends at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI.  Kristen brought me the cutest tri-fold shutter album!

The ribbon wraps around and goes under the medallion to close it.

Very pretty on the inside.

It is really long so I had to stand on a chair to get a pic of the whole thing.  There are two tri- fold shutter panels so it has as lot of motion when opened.

I wanted to add pictures of our day together right away so I ran to Meijer and had pictures printed (regular 4 X 6 size).  When I got home though I realized I had a problem as the pictures were too big to fit in the small spaces.  I was trying to think of a solution when I had a "lightbulb moment".   It occurred to me that I could use My Digital Studio to make the pictures the PERFECT size for each space.

Here is how to do it:
1.  Open a New Project - Photo Album - 8.5 X 11 Portrait - Create Your Own - Name your project - Blank page.
2. Measure the area where you want your photo to go and determine the size you want your photo to be.  (I wanted to be able to see the cardstock background so I made my main photos 1/2 inch smaller than the cardstock layer.)
3.  Add a photo box and use the rulers at the edges to make your photo box the correct size.
4.  Continue measuring and adding boxes until you have one for each area of your album. ( I copy and pasted 3 of one size and 2 of the other to get the sizes exactly the same.)

5.  Click and drag photos to the boxes and they will be perfectly sized for your album!
6.  Add mats and stamps if desired and print on photo paper.

I was so happy with how easy this was to do and there was the added bonus of being able to add mats and stamps in coordinating colors!!

There were some one-of-kind cars in the museum that were just incredible.

They have a great old fashioned Shell station.

Kristen and I had a great time talking about stamping (and some about cars, too!)

Many car owners brought their masterpieces to show off.

What a fun way to spend a summer day!

On Point Scallop Square Cards and Gift Box Plus New UStamp Announcement

This is a glimpse of my second project I designed for the Big Shot UStamp session going on right now.  It is a set of four cards and 6 X 6 envelopes that fit inside a box with a matching pen.

The cards are made from various Big Shot dies.  Lots of layers and cool natural colors.

You can join at anytime!

Not only that but the next session of UStamp- Early Summer Edition 2010 has been announced.  And I am happy to say I am returning as a Guest Designer.  Right now you can enter a random drawing to win a FREE PASS to this session by clicking on the banner below and posting a comment on Dawn's blog between now and May 31st.   13 winners will be drawing through a random drawing.  Winners will be announced June 1.

I will have more information on another free pass giveaway at a latter date so be sure to keep checking here for updates!

My Digital Studio - Multiple Pages with one layout

I LOVE taking pictures.  There are boxes and boxes of pictures from my pre-digital days.  There are files upon files on my hard drive (and safely backed up on an off-site external drive) now that everything is digital.  But I have almost none in photo albums or scrapbooks.  Kind of overwhelming.

But I am finding that with My Digital Studio I am getting more pages done so I can have scrapbooks to give my children.

It was sort of a revelation to me that I can make multiple pages using the exact same layout for each of my kids by just changing the pictures.  I am sure this is nothing new to a seasoned digital scrapbooker but it was for me.  I spent some time creating the first page and then the next FIVE pages where done in a matter of minutes!

I started with this sketch:

And made my first page:  (The background papers are from the geometric lines DSP pack - great for outdoorsy type layouts).

Then I inserted a duplicate page, deleted the pictures and in a matter of minutes I changed the pictures from one child to the next:

With just a few journaling changes I had 3 pages done each with unique pictures and details:

Next I inserted a duplicate page but as a mirror image.  I again deleted the pictures, added new ones and rearranged a few things and a page to complement the first was done.

I added  new pictures:

and changed a few words:

Three sets of double pages from one layout!   Maybe there is hope to get some albums done yet.