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Distracted by Abstract Impressions

Posted on October 22, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Back in June I promised to show you some samples of cards made with the Abstract Impressions stamp set. Or as I like to call it, Distracted Impressions. Just because I am. Distracted. All the time.

Abstract Impressions in Red and Yellow

I have a tutorial for this one, and the link to it is below the card.

I used two of the new ink colors here for the red flowers, Poppy Parade and Lovely Lipstick
to which I added Real Red for the three-step stamping.
Dude, if you don’t have a Stamparatus you really need to get one!
I used Granny Apple Green for the leaves. I love how bright these new colors are; there’s no dark overcast to them.
That’s one of the new embossing colors in Lovely Lipstick that I used for the “thank you.”
I stamped the floral images on a separate white panel on purpose – that way I could trim the piece to give it that “off the edge” look that is pleasing to the eye. Plus I could make a mistake and not ruin the whole card. Been there, done that. Lots.
Click here for the tutorial. (It’s a PDF file)

Until next time, stay crafty my friends!

Quick Easy Birthday Cards for Kids

Posted on May 30, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Do you struggle with quick easy birthday cards for kids? Are you a last minute card-sender or present-giver? Raise your hand! Mine are both raised, natch!

One of the many reasons to love Designer Series Paper and coordinating accessories, including stamps, is that it makes the creation of beautiful,fun, hand-made cards super easy. Here is one I made recently, using the Birthday Memories Suite (OMG, I adore that paper):

Super cute, right? Well, it’s also super easy!

The card base is Whisper White A2
Add a background color of Real Red paper, 4″ x 5¼”
Cover that with a piece of the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper, 3⅞” 5⅛”
Die cut the largest circle from the Stitched Shapes framelits in Whisper White
Die cut the fox and the banner from the Designer Series Paper, and then fussy cut the bunny.
Stamp the sentiments in Real Red on the circle and the banner using the Birthday Delivery stamp set

That’s it! You’re done! I mean, how easy was that? Now that you know how to do it, you can whip up your own card in a flash.

Until next time, my friend. Now go do something creative! Especially quick and easy cards for kids!

Amy

Click here for some other fun ideas for kids!

Birthday Fun with a Sweet Soirée

Posted on May 19, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

What’s a birthday without cake? A family meeting? And what’s a birthday without presents? Not full of surprises, that’s what!

Enter the Sweet Soirée Suite

I’m so happy that one of my favorite sets from the 2018 Occasions catalog has made it into the newest Annual Catalog that goes live on June 1. The only bummer is that the gorgeous Designer Series Paper that compliments the stamps will be retiring on May 31.

Here’s my project using a few of the goodies from this sweet suite:

This is a truly quick and easy card to make, and if you leave off some of the layers it becomes even easier!

I used a Berry Burst card base of 4¼″ x 5½″
I cut a piece of the Designer Series Paper to 4″ x 5″ which I then cut in to three more or less equal pieces (about 1¾″ x 4″) and adhered to the card front
I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock to 3″ x 4¼” and stamped the cake image and the sentiment in Berry Burst.
The Whisper White piece was mounted onto a piece of Bermuda Bay card stock just a teeny bit larger.
I finished my card off by mounting the sentiment onto the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals, adding a couple of the pre-cut flower bouquets from the embellishment kit, and blinging it all up with a few Pearls Basic Jewels. Done!

Now I’d say that was pretty quick! Now that you know how to do it, go get creative!

Here are my supplies

Become a Stampasaurus with Stamparatus

Posted on May 17, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Have your heard about the Stamparatus? It’s the newest stamping platform on the block and, in signature Stampin’ Up! style, it leaves the others behind in the dust!
Plus, you know I love my dinos (ahem) and what Jurassic Crafter worth their salt wouldn’t want to become a Stampasaurus? 😉

Here is a card I made using the Stamparatus:

I used the Watercolor Wings set, which has 4 steps to it
Cardstock used: Basic Black and Lemon Lime Twist
The Butterfly was cut with the Bold Butterfly framelits

Here’s the inside of the card:

Using the Bold Butterfly framelits I die cut eight butterflies
One is on the card front, the other six are stamped and glued together at the wings, the blank one I used for the card message
(This was my Mother’s Day card for my daugher)

Here’s a little gif (choosy mothers chose gif) that shows the process:

Until next time, Crafters! Now go do something creative today!

Party Pandas

Posted on January 10, 2018September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

So I had this idea in my head to use the Party Pandas stamp set for a Valentine’s Day card using the Marbled background stamp. Now that I’ve finished it I’ve decided to call it the Psychedelic Party Pandas card, because with the marbled background it looks a little “out there” to me. And I say that with love. 😉

And if I didn’t think Hubby would care, I might be tempted to make some Lemon-Lime Twist sunglasses to put on this little guy and throw some of the new Tutti-Frutti adhesive backed sequins all over the card base. But I reined in my crazy (dang) and here’s the final product:

I happen to love the color pink, but I didn’t want to overwhelm the rest of the card so I stamped off once to keep the color a bit lighter. Now, everybody say “Awww”, ’cause those Party Pandas are da bomb!

Don’t forget to leave us a comment. We really like that. 🙂

Silver Anniversary Card

Posted on December 13, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Okay, Stampin’ Up!, you had me at cake, let’s be real. The fact that this stamp set is so incredibly beautiful is just the icing on the…well, you know. Cake. Here’s my silver Silver Anniversary card:

Delicious, right? I LOVE the intricate floral design on the cake itself, and you really need to get the add-on kit that coordinates oh, so sweetly with this set. The delicate vellum accents are from the Sweet Soirée Embellishments Kit. I embossed the cake and the sentiment with Silver embossing powder and decided to just go with a monochrome look to the whole project. You will fall in love with this set once you see it for yourself, I promise.

Here’s another look, this time lying flat:

Note: I used the numbers from a retired set, but the embellishment kit does indeed have two sheets of number sets included. I just liked the look of these better because they’re all silver.

Now go toddle on off. I know it’s close to Christmas and you have tons to do. And don’t forget to do something creative today!

Holiday Tags

Posted on November 26, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

I LOVE holiday tags. I am a tagaholic, for sure. I mean, you saved all those teeny little pieces of card stock and Designer Series Paper for a reason, am I right? (Just go with it)!

Right after Halloween and after I’ve made my Thanksgiving cards I like to jump right in to making tags. Yes, I do make Christmas cards, but I need a little break between card-making holidays and tags fit the bill. Here are a handful of the tags I’ve created so far:

You’ll notice that I’ve used the Year of Cheer paper a few times – that’s because I had a lot of pieces left from making a carousel book.

Here’s a shaker tag I made with two of the leftover pieces:

Who doesn’t love a shaker tag? And here’s one of my favorites I made using the Star of Light stamp set and matching Starlight Thinlits with gold embossing. It’s like a little sandwich!

Scraps of Crumb Cake? Check. Here I used the Card Front Builder Thinlits and some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper for added shine:

Seasonal Bells

Posted on November 13, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

This week was the semi-annual gathering of Stampin’ Up! demos, which took place in Salt Lake City. One of the perks of being a demo is getting the chance to preview all the new products each time a catalog is released, and this week the Occasions catalog for Spring 2018 was highlighted. I know from having attended these events a couple of times that the fun, laughter, and friendship is non-stop. We do indeed now how to party!

Green with Envy

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to Salt Lake City, so one of my fellow demos organized a “green with envy” card swap for those of us who stayed home. I should be getting my swaps back any day now, but I thought I would share with you the one that I put together for this swap.

Seasonal Bells

This lovely set made its debut last year in the Holiday catalog and was held over into the Annual Catalog. Here’s the set:

As you can see, it’s suitable for the holidays and for weddings. There is a matching punch, and the banner can be cut perfectly with the matching die from the Bunches of Banners framelits.

Here’s the card I came up with:

When I receive my swaps in the mail I will be sure to post them so you can see what everyone else came up with while feeling “green with envy!”

My next newsletter will include the tutorial for this card. Sign up now if you want in on it.
Now get out there and do something creative!

Holiday Carousel Book

Posted on November 8, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

W.C. Fields is credited with saying

«Never work with animals or children»

Today I am going to make my own quote:

«Never work with Glimmer Paper and Accordian Folds»

You know I love our Glimmer Paper more than my luggage, cause it’s tough and can take a beating, but for my project today I struggled with all the accordion folds needed for my Carousel Book. In addition, I was covered in Glimmer by the time I was done.

I went to Split Coast Stampers to find a 3-D project to share with you, and as soon as I saw this “Carousel Storyteller Book” by Bibiana I knew it was what I wanted to attempt. I’m pleased with how it turned out, and I think it’s going to look stunning sitting on my mantel at Christmas and through the holidays.

Carousel Book Insights

This is not for beginners. I’d say it took me between 12-15 hours worth of work.
I was determined to make the Carousel Book using only current Stampin’ Up! products, but caved on one of the panels where I stamped using our retired White Stazon ink. (Love that stuff). I also used ¾” Sookwang Tape for the cover.
I used Window Sheets to line the inside panels because I wanted to be able to “suspend” images as if by magic!
I’m thinking of attaching some Chibbi lights to the inside so I can illuminate it when I display it.

Construction Insights

Cut and fold all pieces before you get started. Assembly line production is a huge time saver.
You will need 2 packs of Designer Series Specialty Paper if you want to use the same card stock for the whole project.
You will need 2 packs of Glimmer Paper and 2 packs of Metallic Paper, all in Gold and Silver.
You will need to both watch Bibiana’s video AND read the step by step instructions because the video has no speaking and the step by step instructions aren’t complete.
I did not use a hot glue gun, as the instructions indicate, to attach the book to the cover, but the Sookwang tape I reference above.
No need to buy chipboard – I just used the cardboard that comes in the packs of Designer Series Paper.

Thanks for visiting! Come back soon!

Wicked Folds Folded Star

Posted on October 11, 2017September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Growing old is not for sissies, am I right? I only mention this because I have spent the last several weeks in physical therapy for various aches and pains. And I mention it here because my therapist is expecting her first baby in November and I wanted to make her an extra-special card to celebrate.

She’s having a girl. And I know she likes pink.

And here is what it looks like when you open it up:

Now just so we don’t all get our knickers in a twist (talk about wicked folds!) and in full disclosure I used a couple of retired stamp sets for this project. But obviously you could use any stamp and any paper to do it. I just am still in love with these retired sets!

Card stock: Powder Pink
Designer Series Paper: Fresh Florals and Whole Lot of Lovely
Fold Design: many thanks to “Beccy’s Place – the Blog” for a reference library full of lots and lots of fancy folds
Closing the card: the left flap folds down first, then the right, and then the bottom flap comes up and tucks under the left flap

Tips and Tricks:

This is not an easy fold to make, mostly because you need a 12 x 12 piece of card stock to make an equilateral triangle and it’s almost impossible to use a paper trimmer to make smooth edges, which means you need to do some hand cutting or use a craft knife. In addition, getting the Designer Series Paper cut just right to fit the various triangle-shaped and parallelogram-shaped pieces was definitely a case of measure twice, cut many, many times! LOL
I think if I had had the time (and my husband’s engineering help) it would have been easier to do with more precise measurements in the instructions. (There were no measurements for the pieces of DSP, for example).

Now get out there and do something creative today! And if you like folded projects, click here!