Fast Friday - Two Family Pumpkins

Two Halloween cards for this week's Fast Friday!

Remember Stampin' Up's Really Rust color?  I rescued it & retro-stamped the card on the right!  The tiny little pumpkin from the All in the Family stamp set is stamped across the top of the card with Old Olive classic ink.

The jack-o-lantern face is from a current stamp set called Autumn Harvest.  After stamping the face onto a 1 3/8 inch circle punched Whisper White cs, I layered the circle onto an Olive Olive cs square, and then layered it a third time with dimensionals onto a larger square of Really Rust patterned dsp.  A strip of Really Rust patterned dsp goes across the card too!

The Very Vanilla card on the left combines three super orange Stampin' Up colors:  Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, and the retired 2009 In Color Dusty Durango.  Again, I used the tiny little pumpkin from the All in the Family stamp set and Cajun Craze classic ink.  The Boo is a stamp from the Tiny Tags stamp set.  It is stamped in Cajun Craze onto Crumb Cake cs.  Circle punches are used  for layering Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla cs pieces.

Paper strips of all three colors are adhered across the bottom & a beautiful Tangerine Tango double striped grosgrain ribbon is tied across the top.  I really like the look of the three shades of orange together!

I hope you have a spooky Halloween!

Linda

Think About Color Thursday - Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight or Summer Sun

Today and tomorrow are all I have left to post Halloween cards!  Yikes.  Halloween sure sneaks up on me.

The pumpkin on today's card is created with about two dozen 1/2 inch circles that I punched from Pumpkin Pie card stock!  The stem is Chocolate Chip cs punched with the Modern Label punch & cut in half.  I did distress the stem first with a bone folder.  Once the stem is adhered, I added quite a bit of adhesive in a pumpkin shape & made sure each little circle was applied over the adhesive!

The background paper is from a retired Summer Sun dsp, though new updated color of Daffodil Delight would also be a terrific color for the background.  I die cut Pumpkin pie patterned dsp with the Top Note die and adhered the negative piece over the Summer Sun dsp.  It creates a frame. 

I also adhered a strip of last year's Halloween dsp that has spiders running down.  Creepy!  The word "halloween" on the "halloween frights" stamp is colored with Chocolate Chip marker and stamped onto Pumpkin Pie cs and then punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch.  

Tucked under the "halloween" message is a piece of twill tape folded in half.  The message is adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

That's it for today!

Linda

Whatever Wednesday - Page Corner Bookmark and Matching Envelope

I made this bookmark and pocket envelope for a dear friend's birthday.  I finally gave it to her and it is so cute that I thought I would post it for you!

This is the envelope opened.  A bookmark is inside!

Here is a picture of the bookmark itself - isn't it cute?  It fits over a page corner!

This is a pic of what the bookmark looks like on the reverse side.

Here is a closeup pic of the bookmark on a book!

I hope your birthday was happy, my friend!


Linda

Tuesday Tips - Make a Halloween Candy Spider

At my October Stamp Camp, we created these cute little spiders with candy in the middle!  What a sweet treat to send as classroom treats, or even to give to your favorite trick-or-treaters!

Map It Monday - Halloween Tall Stamp Camp Card

Today's card is one of the October Stamp Camp cards that the ladies made this month.  I wanted to make sure I posted it!  A little owl peeks through the peep hole when the card is closed.  This photo shows the card partially open, so you only see part of the owl.  The map layout for this card is a versatile one - on the left side of the card, you could use a border, a strip of dsp, or even ribbon.  For the peep hole, you could punch any shape, including a circle, square, oval, or even an unusual shape such as the curly label punch.

I used some of last year's Halloween dsp, Pumpkin Pie cs, and Basic Black cs.

The little owl is from the Halloween  Frights stamp set and the interior message is from the Holiday Best stamp set.  I have stamped with Stazon black ink.

Fast Friday - Dots & Grosgrain

The Fast Friday post for this week is really fun to make.

Use any polka dot stamp that you have to add polka dots to the card front.

Tie some matching 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around a scrap of cs (of course, you probably want to use your Color Coach to come up with a terrific color combination!) and adhere it to the card.

Stamp a tiny image onto Whisper White cs, punch it as a shape with one of Stampin' Up's punches, then trim the right side in your paper trimmer so it has a straight edge, and adhere it to your card! 

If  you are not in a big hurry, you also can cut or punch a decorative edge along the front of the card!

Fast enough for you?

Linda :)

Think About Color Thursday - Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla

I chose this week's color combination with the Color Coach!

Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla

What a gorgeous color scheme!  Soft, subtle, yet striking!

One of the line image flowers from the Awash With Flowers stamp set is stamped with Early Espresso classic ink onto a Very Vanilla card.

I finally enjoyed playing with my new Stampin' Pastels!   I applied Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue chalk to each flower center.

Strips of Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery cs enhance the subtle chalking. 

The Three Little Words stamp set "i miss you" stamp is stamped in Early Espresso classic ink onto Bashful Blue cs.  The message is punched with the small oval punch, layered with a large oval punched Certainly Celery cs, then layered with Stampin' Dimensionals onto an Early Espresso curly label punched cs.

Linda

Whatever Wednesday - Last of the Trio

I have one more Halloween card to post today that was created with my first Color Coach combination of Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, and Rose Red.  I have been using my Color Coach every day & have designed projects and cards with such lovely color combinations!  No more guesswork or time wasted figuring out what colors to use on cards!

It's difficult to see on my blurry photo here, but the scallop circle edges have been sponged with Tempting Turquoise.  It lets the Tempting Turquoise Patterns dsp have a soft place to land.

Black eyelets have been added to help balance the black brads and black eyelets.


Happy Wednesday!


Linda

Tuesday Tips - Faux Brads

Sometimes I want the style of brads, yet I don't want to get out the brad box, poke the holes, and separate the little prongs to insert the brads.  Such hard work, right?  lol


Here's an alternative:  punch little tiny circles & adhere them on a card where you would have inserted brads!


Today's card has that Pumpkin Pie/Tempting Turquoise/Rose Red color combination that I promised you last week, and those faux brads!   The punched peek-a-boo hole lets the recipient of this card enjoy the crazy little pumpkin on the card front AND interior!


The Halloween Frights stamp set is seeing quite a bit of stamping time in my studio this week!

Remember to email or telephone me to register for the Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack!  It's only a week away!   See the sidebar on this blog for details today!


Linda

Map It Monday - Crazy Little Pumpkin

This week's card map shows off the color combination I told you about last week.  Remember my awesome new Color Coach that I told you about?  This is the very first trio that I liked as I thumbed through the Color Coach cards - Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, and Rose Red!

Here is one of the Halloween cards that I had fun creating!

A bonus on this card is that you can use scraps of cs and dsp that you have left over!  The scallop trim border punch fancies up the card.   I have adhered Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon and a die cut tag to feature the crazy little pumpkin image from the Halloween Frights stamp set!  The colors are certainly not frightening and a bit unusual for a Halloween color combination!

Linda

Fast Friday - Designer Get Well

My Fast Friday card this week is truly a quick one to make. 

Start out with a standard sized Whisper White card (4.25" x 5.5") and a separate 4" x 5.25" Whisper White cs.  Simply cut three pieces of designer series paper into squares or rectangles and adhere them to the 4" x 5.25" cs.  You can use a square punch to cut the dsp really quickly!  Make sure it is pretty paper!  Punch a strip of coordinating dsp with the scallop edge border punch & adhere it with stampin' dimensionals so it overlaps the designer paper squares.

Stamp a message on coordinating cs and adhere the message with additional stampin' dimensionals.

Lastly, adhere the decorated piece of white cs onto the Whisper White card front with stampin' dimensionals.

I'm sure you have some scraps of dsp hanging around your stamping room - why not give this Fast Friday card idea a try?!

Linda

Think About Color Thursday - Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Really Rust

This week's color combination is:

Certainly Celery

Always Artichoke

Really Rust

The color combo can be updated with Stampin' Up's current color collections by replacing the color Really Rust with Cajun Craze.

The Inspired by Nature stamp set's grass image stamp is stamped onto a Whisper White "top note" diecut with Always Artichoke classic ink, and a sky is sponged with Tempting Turquoise classic ink for the background.

The cat tails are created using the Horizontal Slot Punch into Really Rust cs.  The tiny horizontal slot shapes are glued with Tombo Multi Purpose Adhesive onto some of the blades of grass.

Silhouette Sentiments Hostess Level 1 Stamp set has a sweet little tiny bird stamp, and I thought it would be the perfect little guy to sit on a cat tail!  If you look closely at the bird image, you will notice that I stamped the bird twice, once in Crumb Cake ink, and then a second time in Really Rust ink, overlapping each other.

The message "get well soon" from the stamp set called Thoughts & Prayers is stamped in Always Artichoke onto Whisper White cs.  An Always Artichoke word window is layered under the message, which is trimmed slightly so the Always Artichoke cs show up a little more.

After tying some beautiful Certainly Celery ribbon around the top note die cut, I adhered the top note to a paper pierced layer of Really Rust, then onto the Certainly Celery card.

I'd love to hear from you if you liked this card! 

Linda Halladay

Whatever Wednesday - Molly Name Frame

I absolutely love making these baby gifts - the baby's name adorned with embellishments or stamped images!  The parents are always so excited to see their new baby's name celebrated in such a pretty way!

I have adorned Molly's name (my niece's new baby :)  ) in all Stampin' Up! designer series paper, card stock, stamped images, and embellishments.  Check out the little crocheted fleurettes!  They are in the current catalog & I never even noticed them!  The paper daisies would look cute on a project like this also!  Let me know what you think!

Linda

Tuesday Tips - Color Coach

The tip for this week's Tuesday post -

Get your hands on the Color Coach!!!!!!!

I finally decided to order this new product - I do not know how I have survived without it!  Love, Love, Love!

Did I mention to you that I absolutely love my Color Coach?  lol

Selecting a color combination is not difficult, yet sometimes a decision is hard to come by when the vision of the combination just doesn't come together in my mind's eye.  This tool takes the guess work and imagination out of choosing a color combination for a card, scrapbook layout, or any project!  Gee, I am just thinking that it could even be useful for home decorating!

Flip through this little "book", separating the colors as you thumb through to see what various combinations of colors would look like next to each other or together on a project!  Wow - it sure saves time!  I thumbed through the Color Coach the minute I opened it up & came up with this color combination that I thought was pretty - I will be posting a few cards I made using this color combination soon - stay tuned!

Contact me if you'd like to get your hands on one of these hot little new products!!!

Linda

Map it Monday - Psychodelic Guitar

How about making a "mod" card for a teenager that loves music?  This card will suit the teen just right!   Try it with any two REALLY BRIGHT colors and black.  The card layout map itself would be a nice one on which to substitute Stampin' Up! buttons or pretty designer brads for the layered circles!

I layered the punched circles for a psychedelic effect!   I also spritzed black ink onto the guitar image.

The guitar player is a stamp called Extreme Guitar.  If you attend my November stamp camp, you can learn how to create a card using the split negative technique that I used for this guitar player! 

Linda

Fast Friday - Squares on Saffron

Try a tall, slender floral stamp to make a card similar to today's Fast Friday card.

Taken with Teal or Tempting Turquoise dsp and Cajun Craze cs are simply cut into squares and strips.  A So Saffron dsp background is cut slightly smaller than the card front.

I have adhered one of the dsp squares with Stampin' Dimensionals and trimmed the corners of the card with trimming scissors.

A fancy border or edge punch can dress up one or all of the squares.

A small message that fits in a corner of one of the squares is the perfect size.

Have a great weekend!

Linda

Think About Color Thursday - Crumb Cake and Bermuda Bay PLUS STAMPIN' UP WEBSITE'S CLEARANCE SALE !

Remember Bermuda Bay? I miss this happy color. Add this little Pick-a-Petal puppy & you have a delight!   This is a recent card from a stamp camp I hosted.

The puppy's head is created with Crumb Cake cs and a 1 3/4" circle punch.  The floppy ears are stamped in Crumb Cake classic ink with the polka dot stamp in the Pick a Petal Stamp Set onto Whisper White card stock.

The puppy's face can be either punched with small circle punches or drawn on with markers.  Can you see the white marks on both the eyes and nose that make those features look more realistic?  A White Signo Gel Pen can be used for this.

The Bermuda Bay polka dot grosgrain ribbon is actually available on the Stampin' Up website's CLEARANCE page for only $3.49 right now!   If you are interested in purchasing this or the dozens of other products on deep markdown, email me at lahinks@gmail.com.  I would be happy to place your order right away.  Supplies are limited on the clearance products, so don't delay!

Linda

Whatever Wednesday - Autumn Elements

Since it feels like Autumn outside this week, I made a card that screams "AUTUMN"!  This card is a sort of "stamping stew" - I have stamped with several different Autumn-styled stamps and colors here.

The Basic Gray cs is stamped with Basic Gray ink leaf images.  The "thank you" tab is inked with both Basic Gray and Really Rust ink.  The tab punch makes this little tab easy.

Really Rust Patterns dsp works nicely on this Really Rust card.  Quite often a tablet of Patterns Designer Series Paper is offered as free Hostess merchandise, in addition to the free stamp sets.  It's a good idea to get your hands on some of this paper whenever you can - it comes in handy often when I am looking for a matching dsp for an ink color.

I absolutely love my Stampin' Write markers - I reached for several Autumn colors and went to work just like it was a page in a coloring book!  So fun!

Linda

Tuesday Tips - Bargello

Bargello.  No, it's not a bad word.  It is a cardmaking paper technique.  Stampin' Up tells me that Bargello was originally a form of embroidery that is created through a series of upright stitches laid out in interesting patterns to create motifs, especially in a zigzag design.  Now, Stampin' Up has found a way to turn Bargello into a technique for cardmaking and paper crafts!  I am not surprised - they think of EVERYTHING!

I learned how to do this technique from a recent Stampin' Up! demonstrator magazine.  It's so much fun and is a great thing to do when you have scraps of designer series paper left over, especially striped paper!

Recently, I purchased the Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and the Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper from our current catalog.  The two products have the same exclusive design of elegant, elongated swirls and circles.  Love it!  There is a very pretty striped patterned paper in the Elegant Soiree collection, which is what I am using for the Bargello card here.

Bargello Instructions:
1. Cut DSP into strips of varying widths.

2. Align & adhere paper strips into desired pattern onto Whisper White cs or white sticky paper. 

3.Cut your newly patterned paper into the size you need for your project.  Then, use the bargello piece on a card!  

I have decorated my Basic Gray card with punched hearts and a 1 1/4" punched square.  The teeny tiny hearts are punched from the reverse side of the Elegant Soiree striped paper that was left over when I cut the masterpiece into a rectangle!  You didn't think I would waste even a scrap of this precious paper, did you? lol

The Baja Breeze square is stamped with the letter "u" from the Doodle Alphabet (retired).  I hoped to use the Lovely Letters alphabet stamp set, which I recently purchased, but I haven't even mounted the stamps yet!  I do have some great ideas for that set as well!

Linda

Map It Monday - Riding Hood Cookie

Here's the card map for this week.  Colors are Ruby Red, Brocade Blue, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla.  Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, and Brocade Blue, as you may well know, are retired Stampin' Up colors.  You can subtitute similar colors, such as Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip,  and Marina Mist!

The cookie is made by punching out a 1 3/4" circle from Close to Cocoa Patterns dsp, then punching the scallop circle punch partially into the 1 3/4" punched circle.  Isn't it cute and so clever!?!

The message is stamped from the stamp set called One Smart Cookie!

Linda

Fast Friday - Flowers, Repeat

I so often use designer series paper or card stock scraps & stamp in one color only when I need a quick card.  Today is no different.


The stamping is done in only one classic color inkpad (Taken with Teal, retired).  Like the title of today's post, stamp flowers and repeat several times.  I also added a tiny message from the Vases in Vogue stamp set (retired).  There are numerous stamp sets with tiny word messages that could be substituted: Tiny Tags stamp set,  the Fabulous Phrases stamp set, the Short & Sweet stamp set, or the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set  are some alternatives.

The cs pieces can be left as unadorned rectangular pieces or punched with decorative paper punches and/or paper pierced as I have done here for extra flair.

Dimensionals also are used on the So Saffron cs focal point flower piece.

Happy weekend!

Linda