VC Rocks August Blog Hop

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. So nice to be back, especially today as we're having our final VC Rocks blog hop of the season. For our final hop, we're Rockin' Our Creativity with projects that give  Stampin Up Colours the starring role. I love the One Sheet Wonder Technique, and I decided it would be a great way to creatively use a range of SU colours.

I got 4 cards made. I ended up veering away from the template I found because I did something wrong. Either way, I'm relatively happy how the cards turned out.

Although the set I used, Betsy's Blossoms, retired in June the wonderful thing about the OSW technique is it works with such a wide variety of stamps. I got my colours from the Gingham Garden DSP I used. What surprised me the most is how much I liked the Island Indigo/Midnight Muse combo. I find that the trick is to choose your DSP first, and then look for stamps that go well with it. And when you choose the DSP first, you can use it as the guide to what colour inks to use.

I know there are a a variety of other great projects for you to see, so hop on over to the VC Rocks site to see the list of other participants! You'll find links to the other blogs there. I'll be back with more cards next week; I was at a crop tonight and I got about 6  more made.

Card Details:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo
Ink: Island Indigo, Midnight Muse, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Old Olive
Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Sassy Salutations

Amazing kids and some cards...

I've been really busy lately. And truly, some things have been happening that have really gotten me down. But on Sunday, we had a really neat event at our church greatly lifted my spirits. Last fall, our church had a World Hunger Campaign. It inspired some of our children, and one, in particular, took the initiative to suggest a benefit concert. The idea was to highlight the talents of our kids as a means of raising money to help a small  village called Sarako, in Sierra Leone. 

Some of the children played instruments, some sang. Here's a picture of the young man who came up with the idea, playing his fiddle. 

The goal of the project was to raise $6500 to supply a gravity fed water system for the village. There are 465 people living in Sarako and they have 300 children and youth under age 18. These children often miss school because they have gotten sick from drinking contaminated water. The event actually raised 104% of what they need for the project - $6,739.80. The project is expected to cost $6439.80 

Since it's been a while, I thought I would share a few cards I've made and actually give out lately! Usually I make them and they sit in a box for a while, as I create them faster than I need them.

This first card is one I made at a Scrapbookin' Adventures event. I've posted before about the Use Your Own Product workshops - they're my favourite. These are usually scrap scrapbook pages, but one time we did an entire day of just cards. It was a great way to use paper that, in my case, wasn't really inspiring me anymore. You can see the original card that Jenn made by checking out this link.

I do prefer Jen's card, as the sentiment pops more, and I like the flowers she's used. I had planned to add some Primas to mine & never got time. This card is the only one I 'finished' that day... After this first one I decided to simply do the base work & finish them at home so I could look through more of my stash. I had only brought two stamp sets with me that day. 

This card is one I made on my own, just fooling around with paper & stamps. I got the Stardust set a while ago at a garage sale, and I've been having trouble getting the hang of it. I hate to say it, but I think it may be one I don't end up keeping. That said, my friend really did like it and we used it as a thank you card for a woman at our church who ensured we had childcare every week at our Mom's Morning Out Bible Study group.  

Last, a card I made for a bridal shower. It was a CASE of this card. I regret that I didn't include the ribbon, and that my matting around the image wasn't bigger/bolder. Live and learn!

Card Details: All products Stampin' Up, unless otherwise noted 

Top Card  - All products Stampin' Up

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry

DSP: Cottage Wall

Other: Scallop Border punch

 Middle card

Cardstock: Bazzill

DSP: My Mind's Eye

Stamps: Stardust

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Bottom Card

Cardstock: Rich Razleberry, Pumpkin Pie  

DSP Razzleberry Lemonade 

Stamps: Sweet Celebrations

Punch: Fiskars

VC Rocks 2014 Blog Hop

Welcome to the first blog hop of the season for VC Rocks!

I love this group of stampers. VC stands for Virtual Convention. We are a  yahoo group that runs from April or May through the summer. The group has an active Yahoo group with discussion, RAKs, swaps, blog hops and challenges! The wonderful thing is that the challenges aren't time limited.... you can do them in any order, at any time during the VC Rocks season.

The theme of our first hop is Rock your Creativity with Stampin’ Up! Tools or Embellishments! I`m playing with a few tools today. My first card is a file folder card. It was these cards that made me fall in love with the Envelope Punch board. It is such a versatile tool! Of course, the envelopes you can make with it are wonderful. But it does so much more! There are so many great ideas for file folder cards as well as boxes and other great items that you can make with this great tool.

My first card also featured another Stampin Up tool I love, which is our punches. Although I`m sad to see the Create a Cupcake stamp set retire, I`m so glad the punch is returning!

My next card also shows how versatile SU`s tools are. The opening for the card is made using the new Scallop Tag Topper punch. I had hoped to write up short tutorial for this card, but I didn`t have time. There are multiple examples on Youtube, however. 

The card also requires a good trimmer, and the one from SU is the best one on the market, in my opinion. And I say that as someone who has tried a LOT of different trimmers in my relatively short crafting life! There is no way I could have hand cut away the cardstock on either side of the punched opening. 

My final card also requires the wonderful SU trimmer, as well as featuring some great punches. The fence post was made using the new hardwood background stamp. To make the individual slats of the fence, I cut along the lines of the image using my trimmer. Again, it would have been a mess had a I tried to hand cut the strips of `wood.`The points on the tops of the fence were made using a 1`` square punch. Note the clouds are made using the Cupcake Punch.

As you can see, Stampin Up sells a lot of tools that are very versatile and easy to use!

`

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Happy Birthday

Cardstock: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green

DSP: Birthday Basics

Ink: Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Raspberry Ripple, Soft Suede

Stamps: Create a Cupcake, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Yippee Skippee

Tools: Envelope Punch Board, Cupcake Punch

Happy Anniversary

Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla

DSP: Everyday Enchantment

Ink: Calypso Coral, Pistachio Pudding

Stamps: Petal Parade, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools: Scallop Tag Topper Punch, SU Trimmer

Thinking of You

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Hardwood

Ink: Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight

Tools: SU Trimmer, Cupcake Punch, Flower Punch, Oval Punch

To check out the other participants' blogs, head on over to VC Rocks! Note the hop officially starts at midnight Pacific on Saturday, May 24th.

LNS 191

Sorry I've not blogged in a couple of weeks again. Life has been very busy, though sadly, not with much that's blog worthy. Some of us have been having an interesting 'How early is too early for Halloween decoration?' debate on Facebook. I'll share my thoughts and what spurred the conversation later this week when I finish putting together some Halloween themed items. 

Today I'm posting some cards for a Late Night Stamper's challenge The theme is dots/stripes. I love both, so it was tough to decide which to choose. Ultimately, I couldn't decide so I did both. The first two will be birthday cards. I made these ages ago as cards for two of the girls from my church to celebrate their accomplishments at dance festival in the spring. I liked them enough that I made two more. Ok, it was more the fact that the scraps and the stamp set were easily accessible and I needed a couple birthday cards in a hurry than any great love for the design. They need bling! I didn't have time, though.

The baby cards are older ones I forgot to post, so I am not technically submitting them for the challenge. We made these at card club  in the spring. I love the set we used, though I resisted the temptation to buy it. That, and realized my friend was buying it so I could just use hers. ;)

In the first version, the main part of the buggy is paper pieced. For those who haven't tried paper piecing, it is super easy! You just stamp your image twice, once on the neutral base (in this case, the white) and once on the coloured cardstock or patterned paper of your choice. They cut out the coloured version and adhere it right over top of the other one. What I as worried about was being able to cut it along the lines properly so it fit just right and it worked without any trouble. And I am NOT a great cutter, so if I can do it, anyone can!

Sorry about the glare on the second card; the only difference between the two is that the second one is coloured with markers.

Card Details - All products Stampin' Up!

Birthday cards:

Cardstock: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Tangerine Tango

Patterned paper: Cheerful Treat DSP (top); In colour collection pad

Stamps: Mixed Bunch; Perfectly Penned

Baby cards

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, So Saffron

Stamps: Baby Bundle, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Other: Border punch, ribbon, Big Shot embossing folder

Have a wonderful night! See you later this week with some Halloween projects.

More punch cards

I hope you all enjoyed the blog hop this weekend. I was really impressed by all the projects the others posted.

Had a lovely weekend. Got to visit with a friend from out of town on Saturday. Then yesterday our church had a post-church get-together.  In the summer the various small groups in our church host special events to promote fellowship. Yesterday was the traditional summer soccer game. Lots of fun and so fun to watch the all ages playing together. It was particularly sweet to see the way the teens were encouraging and helping the younger ones.

We've had lots of hot weather these last couple weeks. It's been tough to do anything because it's stifling. The one thing that's been nice about it is that I've had an even greater appreciation for the workshop/ classroom space at the scrapbook store where I shop. Spent almost 12 hours there on Friday (12:30 pm - 11:15 pm). A friend came Tuesday and we got my stash organized. That made it much easier for me to pack/plan for Friday. I completed some half-finished layouts and made 5 cards. I'll post them later this week, along with pics of the reorg.

For now, here are the remaining cards I've made using SU punches. All these were made at various classes so all products are Stampin' Up.

 

This card is another version of one I posted a while ago, here. It features the butterfly punch I don't like it as much as the original. The butterflies are too white. I'll need to add some Dazzling Details or Iridescent Ice to give it more pop.  I do love the embossing.

My Mom's Mother's Day card also featured this ;unch. I was going for vintage and I went a wee bit overboard with the sponging. Oops! Love the pink/green/brown colour combo though. It was also the first time I'd tried the Kissing Technique, which I quite like.

Two versions of the same card, featuring the snowflake punch. I found this punch really tough to use. We also random stamped snowflakes on the acetate/window sheet. I discovered those are tricky to use - they take long time to dry.What I did like about these two cards is the colour combo of Baja Breeze and Island Indigo. I think it will become a go to combo for winter cards.

 

I love this card so much that I wish I had the stock punch now to make it again. It's also more  versatile than  I realized. The hardest part of this card was typing the bells on to the twine! I won't be posting details this time as there are too many cards here where I can't find the notes regarding which sets have been used. If you have a specific card you have questions about, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks for looking ! I'll be back on Thursday with more to  share. 

VC Rocks Blog Hop

Welcome to the VC Rocks Blog hop for June. You should have arrived here from Gwyn's blog. If you didn't, you can go back to the beginning by heading to the  VC Rocks homepage. There are 30 other amazing stampers participating this weekend. Of course, if you wish, you may continue on from here and loop all the way around. I'll have a link to the next stop on the hop at the bottom of this post.

The theme for this month's hop is Any Size Card. Now, you would think it would be easy to chose something to post with such a broad theme. It actually wasn't this time. I have so many cards I've made in my  time away that I had a hard time choosing which ones to post, especially because I know the themes for the July and August hops, which I am planning to participate in.

Given all that, I decided I'd post a couple cards I made recently at an all Occasion class. I love going to stamp with my demo, because she gives us a basic concept and then she totally lets us go. I love the freedom to stray from the original design - even when sometimes it happens as a result of a 'mistake', as in the first card.

 The original sample of this card had a different size and style of pennant. I cut the cardstock wrong and had to adapt it. When I first saw the Bright Blossoms set, it did NOTHING for me. It's totally grown on me now.  I particularly love how it looks random stamped, as we did here with the flags. At this point, I have too many 'must haves' to buy this set, but it's moved of my 'no way' list. I divide stamps from the catalogue into three categories - 'Must have," "It depends," and "Not my style". Usually, the final decision on the middle category gets made at retirement time.

The second card  features some retired product, notably the Baroque Motifs set. It's a perfect example of a set that's been  on my 'maybe' list that I never got around to purchasing. It's not that I don't like it, I just found it kept getting bumped down the priority list. It's one of the ones I regret not buying; I'll be on the lookout for it as people sell their retired merchandise. If I can find it at an affordable price, I'll pick it up - it's great for embossing and playing with punch art, as we did here with the flower punch.

Again, I strayed from the original design - this time I stamped the flourish at a different angle than the original.

Card Details - All products Stampin' Up

Birthday Wishes

Stamps: Bright Blossoms, 

Cardstock: Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Real Red, Pacific Point

Wedding Card

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, 

Cardstock: Whisper White, Silver

Other: Silver embossing powder, pearls, Big Shot die

I hope you enjoyed these cards! Now hop along to Toni's blog to see what she has created for you this month!

Housewarming card...

Last Sunday we had a little surprise party for Pastor Chelsey, our new associate pastor. She's found her own place, so Care and Fellowship decided to throw a housewarming for her. I actually made the card last Thursday - two great friends came over and had a card making morning, as we all needed cards for this event. I find cardmaking so much more fun when a group of us gets together and bounces ideas around.

The way part of the card came about was a happy accident. My first dilemma was that I really didn't have any stamps - or so I thought - that were really 'housewarming' themed. Then I found my All God's Children set in my stash of stamps I brought down and noticed the cute little house stamp. I am not sure I had ever inked it up prior to making this card.  I think I had forgotten about it because I purchased this set for Children's Ministry - birthday cards for the children who attend and Christmas cards for our leaders. I love it when I can find a way to use a stamp differently than I had originally intended.

I first planned this card to be vertical rather than horizontal  and then I decided I liked it better this way. The first brads I tried were too big for the holes, so I was pleased to find smaller ones in my stash.  I am absolutely in love with my SU punches... they punch so easily. I still have trouble lining things up sometimes - you can see one or two spots where the holes are off... but I can live with that. I say it gives it character.

The one change I will make when I CASE this card for a Christmas card (and probaby a few birthday cards, too!) is that I will round the corners on the pink mat, too... maybe even the top green corners, as well.

Overall I am still happy with this card as an example of CAS/quick card making.

Stamps: All God's Children  (SU)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Momento)
Paper: Certainly Celery cardstock (SU), Penny Lane patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye)*
Accessories:  Brads, adhesive, pop dots/3D Foam (Misc.) eyelet border punch, corner rounder (SU)