Stippled Blossoms Thank You Card

Today's card is a thank you card that I'm sure you'll like.   I got my inspiration for this card from  a blog challenge site called "Just Add Ink".  There is a link button on my left side panel so you can go and check out this site anytime.   

Just Add Ink has been around since January 2010 and during that time they have hosted over 200 challenges.  They are an Australian/New Zealand Stampin’ Up! challenge blog run by Australian and New Zealand Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators.   Along with their challenge blog they also have Pinterest and Facebook pages you can follow.  It's worthwhile, because they have sketch and colour challenges that are awesome not to mention all the wonderful samples from the talented design team and fans.

 Just Add Ink #223 Sketch Challenge

This really challenging sketch was created by Tina Gillespie.  She used this sketch to create a birthday card for her daughter.  Check it out on her blog Scissors Paper Card.

Here's My First Attempt at this Card: 

Oooops!  I don't know if you're like me but if you are take heart, sometimes we just don't get it right.  I began this challenge with one card in mind and ended up with a bit different card, I'll call it my "stepped up" card.  That's the one I submitted to the challenge.  

For my first card I wanted to use my new InColour card stocks and inks but when I assembled the card it just didn't do it for me, it was too dark.  Here's the first card and I won't go into a lot of discussion about it's assembly just some basics.

Assembly:
I really liked the full circle in the card sketch but chose to mount it on a square card base.  I didn't want anything too big, so chose to do a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square.  The Whisper White card base for this card measures 4 1/2 x 9" and it's folded at 4 1/2".

For this first attempt I used Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, Perfect Plum and Whisper White card stocks and inks.  I used a sponge dauber to edge the card and stamped the sentiment directly to the Whisper White card stock.  Basic Rhinestones were added to the flower centers. 

I embossed the flower layer with the Decorative Dots EF but the layer of Blackberry Bliss in the background is plain.  Instead of pearls I used Basic Rhinestones for the flower highlights.  

The inside of my card was plain with only the floral image stamped in the corner.

Here's my "Stepped Up" version:

I did some tweaking with the layers adding an additional one to give it more connectivity.  See my note below.

I stamped the roses from Stippled Blossom in Perfect Plum and Blackberry Bliss and added leaves in Pear Pizzazz.  The Thank You sentiment is from the Blooming With Kindness Stamp set. The sentiment was stamped on Whisper White in Blackberry Bliss and then punched out with the 1" circle punch and mounted on a 11/4" circle of Perfect Plum.  This piece was then adhered to the card front with dimensionals. 

 

For the inside I cut a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4" piece of Blackberry Bliss and then layered it with a 4 x 4 piece of Whisper White.  I don't really like verses inside my cards but I do like some kind of adornment so I chose to stamp  just the detailed stamp of the large rose from the Stippled Blossoms set. I probably should have stamped off the ink to give this image a softer look, but I'm glad I decided to go with full ink.  The image came out clear, detailed, bold and, is a striking contrast to the Whisper White card stock.

Layers, Layers, Layers:  
Remember I mentioned there were lots of layers on this card, well I cannot tell a lie.  There are a lots and lots of layers!  Why?  Because I like the way it pulls everything together and adds depth to the design. 

The first layer on this card is cut from Pear Pizzazz and measures 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".  The next layer of Blackberry Bliss measures 4 x 4" and was embossed with the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (EF).  I just can't get enough of those large dots.  

After that, I added a layer of Pear Pizzazz cut out with the Floral Frames Framelits die and then embossed it with the now retired Vine Street embossing folder.  It made the floral image look like veined leaves, which was just the look I was trying to capture.

Finally I added a 3 1/4" circle of Blackberry Bliss topped by a 3" Whisper White circle cut with the Circle Framelits.  The Whisper White circle was cutout, stamped and then cut into puzzle pieces before being mounted on the Blackberry Bliss circle.  Tip:  When mounting the circle pieces I used Tombow Multipurpose Glue so I would have some flexibility in getting the pieces to line up properly along the circle rim and in between.  Once the floral layers were put together, I added dimensionals and adhered it to the Pear Pizzazz flower shape. 

I added the Basic Pearls to the flower centers after the card was assembled.  The Thank You sentiment was the last piece added and was popped up with dimensionals.  I love the script used for this stamp.  So romantic!

Here are the two cards I made together. 

 

Card No. 1

 

Card No. 2

 Supplies Used: 
Stamp Set:  Stippled Blossoms and Blooming With Kindness
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Perfect Plum, Mossey Meadow, Pear Pizzazz
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Blackberry Blizz, Mossy Meadow
and Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (EF), Vine Street EF, Big Shot, Trimmer, Circle Framelits, Flower Framelits, Basic Pearls, Sponge Dauber, 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Tom Bow Multipurpose Adhesive and Dimensionals. 

Hope you enjoyed this card.  Leave me a comment if you did.  Let me know which version is your favourite.  It will make my day.

Happy Stampin!
Penny Tokens 

Nautical Birthday Card

We're still basking in the sunshine here on the West Coast, and while it's been a tad hotter than is comfortable, no one, and I mean no one, is complaining.  It finally feels like summer has arrived. 

Today I want to share a masculine birthday card that began as an"idea forming", while I was making my Nautical Get Well card earlier in the week. 

How does one get an "idea forming"?  Well, to begin with, I was really inspired by the Maritime Designer Series Paper I was working with and wanted to make something else with it. The designs are beautiful.  

About the same time, I saw a card post featuring the Paper Pals Arts Colour Challenge PPA211 and I really liked the bold statement it made.  Although it was too late to participate in the challenge, I never let that hold me back, after all it's the idea that counts.

Finally, an idea started to come together in my mind, around combining the colour challenge, the Maritime DSP and a "wow easel card" design I'd made some time ago.  Once I could visualize how it would all come together I thought this will make a great card.  And guess what?  It did!

So let's begin with the Colour Challenge:

The bold combination of Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White really got my wheels turning.  

Since the piece of Maritime Designer Series paper I was working with was a mixture of Night of Navy and Whisper White, I was already two thirds of the way towards making my card.  All I had to do was add the Daffodil Delight into the mix and that was definitely a no-brainer.

Here's My Card:

If this isn't Nautical, then I don't know what is!  Here's the front view of my card.  It's a little difficult to see the side panels and folds of the easel, but you will in the next picture. 

I think this is such a manly card but imagine making it for a guy who loves the ocean or sailing. Even better!  For me, I love the colour match-up and the simple lines of the card. In this side view you get a better idea of how the side folds work. Here are a few more pictures showing some of the detail. 

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  Again plain and simple.  And what a bonus, there's lots of room to write on.

I used my Stampin' Up! Trimmer to cut and score this card.  The card base is Daffodil Delight and measures 4 1/4 x 11.  The card base can't be folded until all the score lines and cuts have been made.  Once that's done then the card will basically fold in on itself - so be patient.

I know the stamp set Perfect Punches is long retired, but I'll never get enough of this "happy birthday" sentiment.  I enjoy using it because it goes with almost all my masculine card themes.  It's kind of bold and "manly" script and it's got those non-feminine (in my mind) swirls going on.

Don't you love this ship's wheel?  Looks complicated to make right?  Actually its very simple to make.  Using the Word Window punch cut out eight spokes. Switch to a Crop-a-dile or whatever eyelet setting tool(s) you have to add the eyelet to the end of the spoke. Once you've got them all made, you simply arrange the spokes evenly around the circle. I found it easier to get them evenly spaced using the "clock method" and my grid paper first.  The clock method is simply lining up in this order:  12:00 o'clock, 6:00 o'clock then at 9:00 o'clock and 3:00 o"clock.  Then fill in the gaps at 1:00, 5:00, 7:00 and 11:00.  I used glue dots to adhere them to the back of the Night of Navy circle.  Although you can't see it I covered up all the spokes on the back with another circle. 

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  The Open Sea, Perfect Punches (retired)
Ink:  Night of Navy
Card Stock:  Night of Navy, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Designer Paper:  Maritime DSP 
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Large Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Silver Elastic cord, 8 silver medium sized eyelets, Crop-a-dile, Trimmer, Dimensionals, Adhesive.

 I hope you enjoyed my card and will leave me a comment.  

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens

Nautical Get Well

We've been having a heat wave for the last few days and it's brought soaring temperatures and sleepless nights.  So, when you can't sleep you might as well stamp..........right?

I'd been trying to come up with a masculine "Get Well" card and when I checked out this week's sketch on Paper Craft Crew Challenges it grabbed me right away. I love when that happens! 

 Here's the sketch:

You can check out the design team's submissions and other entries by clicking here:  PCCSC #101

Here's my card:

 

As luck would have it, I'd just received an order from Stampin' Up! and was thinking of using some of the new Designer Series Paper (DSP) called Maritime to make a nautical theme card.  One look at the sketch and I knew I would be able to incorporate the DSP and stamps from the Open Sea stamp set into my card.  

The Open Sea Stamp Set is perfect for making masculine cards and teamed up with the new Maritime DSP it's sure to be a big hit. 

For the inside of my card I wanted to make a bold statement so I chose to use the "Get Well" sentiment from a recently retired set called Perfectly Penned*.  I love the script on this stamp and I thought it went perfectly with the Open Sea images.  I stamped it in Real Red ink.  The ship image is stamped in Night of Navy.  The inside layer dimensions are 5 x 3 3/4"

*Some alternative "get well sentiments" from the new 2014-15 catalogue that would work for this card can be found in the following sets:  Fabulous Four on pg 13, Sassy Salutations on pg 67, A Dozen Thoughts on pg 108 and Really Good Greetings on pg 120.

I love the bold written message I used for the front of the card.  The sentiment "Sending Good Thoughts Your Way", is from the Perfect Pennants 10 piece stamp set on page 16 of the catalogue.  When you're looking for sentiments remember that Stampin Up has put together a Greeting Alphabet Stamp Set Index on pages 245 -247 of the catalogue. The Whisper White banner was cut out with the Banner Framelits and the image was popped up with dimensionals on the card face. 

The map image from the Open Sea has been layered with Night of Navy and Real Red card stock that was cut out with the Circles framelits.  The beautiful little arrow comes from the Label Card Thinlets die set.   I used a red Sharpie Marker to colour one of the medium sized Basic Rhinestones and glued it to the tail of the arrow for a bit of bling. 

Supplies Used: 
Stamp Sets:  The Open Sea, Perfectly Penned and Perfect Pennants
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Night of Navy and Real Red
DSP:  Maritime #133696 coordinates with Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, Real Red and Whisper White
Ink:  Real Red and Night of Navy
Accessories:  Circle Framelits, Banner Framelits, Label Card Thinlets, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Basic Rhinestone coloured red with Sharpie Marker, Dimensionals, Paper Trimmer, Big Shot, Adhesive

During the month of July you can buy 3 Designer Series Papers and get a fourth one for free.  That's how I got my Maritime Paper and I'm loving it! 

Here's one last look at my card.  I love how the Maritime DSP gives such a strong nautical image to the face of this card.  The designs are so classic.

Hope you enjoyed this post and will come back and see me again sometime soon.  Please leave a comment if you like this card, it's the only way I know if I'm making something that's appealing to others.  So let me know would you like to receive this card?  I'd appreciate it.

HAPPY STAMPING
PENNY TOKENS

All Occasion Cards in June

Note:  This post is late! June was an extremely busy month with birthdays, retirements and unfortunately more funerals, so I've been busy trying to keep up with my card making, and attending various celebration events.  

The downside to being so busy is that I slacked off on my blogging and card events, and to all my followers, I apologize.   The upside is that while the month flew by I've been exercising my creativeness and enjoying my get-to-gether's with friends and family.  

Here are some of the cards I made in June:

This "Just For You" card was made with the new Work of Art stamp set.  If you need a card in 5 minutes this is the set to use.

I love the inside of this card, it makes me feel happy just looking at it. 

Here you can see the various stamps used to create this card.  All from the one set.  You've got to like that. Inks used were Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Coastal Cabanna. 

Here's another Work of Art stamp set card.  These were my June customer appreciation cards for those wonderful customers who placed a June order on my on-line store.  Love you guys! 

This beautiful sympathy card is stamped with Early Espresso Ink on Very Vanilla card stock and then layered up with a Very Vanilla card stock base and layer of Early Espresso.  I used a transparency mask with a 2 1/2" circle opening to stamp the En Francais (retired background stamp) in the center of the card.  I stamped the tall floral silhouette from Serene Silhouettes and then added a simple "with sympathy sentiment from the Petite Pairs stamp set.  The butterflies are from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. 

For the next two cards I used a double embossed folder technique to layer one embossed image over another.  I plan on teaching this really neat technique at one of my July classes so stay tuned for information on how you can participate.  These unique cards have a real vintage quality about them and I love the colour mix of Coastal Cabana, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake. 

So what do you think, isn't this card simply beautiful?  It's one of those rare cards that could be used for a birthday, thinking of you, sympathy or thank you.  Because it is so versatile, I think I'll make a few of these maybe in different colour combinations (think subtles) and simply leave the inside sentiment blank until I need them for an occasion.  

The card base and the inside insert are in Very Vanilla cardstock.  I stamped the floral image from Serene Silhouettes in Coastal Cabana ink on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and then layered this piece behind the Crumb Cake embossed layer.  The Crumb Cake layer was embossed with the retired Designer Frames embossing folder* and then re-embossed using a mask with the Beautiful Baroque Embossing Folder   Basic Pearls, a small butterfly from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die and a piece of 3/8" Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon (retired) all add to the antique look of this card. 

 Note:  Stampin' Up! has replaced this embossing folder with two new ones called Fun Frames in the 2014-2025 IB&C. 

For the inside of this card I simply stamped the image again in Coastal Cabana and added two of the smallest butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit.   The envelope was also stamped with this image. 

My second card was embossed with the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder and the Designer Frames Embossing Folder.   I chose the birds in a tree image from Serene Silhouettes for this card and again stamped the images in Coastal Cabana ink.

The small flowers on the face of the card were punched from Coastal Cabanna and Basic Black cardstock with the Itty Bitty Punch pack and Boho Blossoms punch.  Basic Pearls were added to the centers of the flowers. 

Hope you liked these cards.  Remember if you like this technique and would like to attend a class to learn how to do double embossing, simply drop me an email or give me a call and I will arrange a time.

The next card I want to share with you combines En Francais with the Work of Art stamp set to create a very unique and fun birthday card.  Once again, this card style could be used for almost any occasion.    The card base is Crumb Cake with layers of Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Whisper White card stocks.  I stamped the En Francais background stamp in Crumb Cake onto the Whisper White layer, and then stamped one of the images from the Work of Art set in a circular motion in Marina Mist ink to achieve the flower shape.  The Daffodil Delight accents are decorative dots 

 

Work of Art' painted swatches, swaths, and shapes make up the bulk of this set that comes in clear or wood mount.  With eleven different stamps in this set you have lots of options for deciding which strokes are right for your project. 2014-2015 Annual Catalog.

Happy Stamping!
Penny 

PPCCS #100 Challenge and Blog Candy

I had big intentions of participating in the Paper Craft Crew's 100th card sketch challenge today, but missed the close off time by a few hours because of the time change.  

Regardless, I loved the sketch so went ahead and finished my card and want to share it with you.  

Here's the sketch:

Here's my card: 

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to do a card using the Decorative Dots Embossing folder as a background for the layers in this sketch and the Stippled Blossom stamp set for my image. 

I think my concept worked really well.  I flipped the layout so the tag and ribbon were on the left hand side of the card and the small flower was on the lower right hand side.  This allowed me more room to work with my stamped image. 

Supplies: 

Ink:  Crumb Cake and Early Espresso Classic Inks

Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake

Stamp Sets:  Stippled Blossoms #126747 and Blooming With Kindness #126422

Accessories:  Big Shot Machine, Trimmer, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Basic Pearls, 3/8" Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon (retired), Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (#133324), Large Delicate Doilies Die Cut (retired), Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (#133520), Corner Rounder, Scissors, Adhesive, Dimensionals.

Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig allowed me to line up the flower images cleanly when using a two-step stamp set like Stippled Blossoms.  Here you can see I was able to accurately layer the rose image from the tag with the image stamped on the Very Vanilla layer.

I added the smallest of the basic pearls to the centers of the two large rose images and a medium sized pearl to the smaller flower image.  Even though the taffeta ribbon is retired I'm still in love with the texture and the way you can tie the small bow so beautifully.  I also love the sentiment "I'm here for you" from the Blooming With Kindness Stamp set. Because this is such a caring sentiment this card could be used for either a friendship or a sympathy card. 

The Blooming With Kindness Stamp set a detailed flower image and five greetings that will carry you through lots of card-giving situations. 

The inside of the card has a Very Vanilla layer that measures 5 x 3 3/4" and is simply stamped with the rose image. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this latest post.  I'd love to hear your comments on my interpretation of the PPC Sketch.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny