Inspiration from "Stamp It! Cards" Magazine

I am a sucker for magazines - especially craft and home decorating ones. I love taking the little post-it flags and marking the pages that inspire me, intending that I will look back at those pages and create a project using the page as inspiration. The only trouble is that I seem to never get around to the project part.

However, I finally did get around to working on a couple of ideas from Stamp It! Cards 2010. It is interesting that one of the cards I made is a complete CASE, changing only the stamps and punches so I could use ones that I own. The second card, while inspired by the one in the magazine, turned out to have a completely different feel.

The first card is CASE-d from a card by Julie Cameron on page 34 of the magazine. I loved the elegance of her card so much that I duplicated it as closely as I could with the tools I had at hand. I love the pops of red against the neutral background. Julie's cards was a smaller size while mine is standard A2 size. I used a blender pen to add red ink to the stamp for the focal point image.

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Vintage Vogue (SU)

Paper - Sahara Sand, Basic Black, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU)

Ink - Sahara Sand and Real Red (SU)

Other - Curly Label Punch, Red metal dot

My next card was inspired by a card by Maile Belles on page 17 of the magazine. I loved how she used a line image, stamped and embossed in white, set against colorful squares. Her card was square - I used a rectangular card. She used softer colors while I went with bright colors against the black strip. Since I decided to use a rectangular card, it threw off my measurements for the squares. So changed the arrangement slightly, then balanced out the 3 squares with 3 pearls and the sentiment on the right side. All in all - I was pleased with the result.

Supplies:

Stamps - Circle Circus, Trendy Trees (sentiment)

Paper - Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White cardstock (SU)

Ink - Versamark, StazOn Black

Other - White embossing powder, half pearls, Word Window punch

One Layer Cards

Life has been getting in the way of posting lately. I went to a stamping retreat back in February. We had the best time in a lovely setting. But I have yet to post any of the cards I made that weekend. So over the next few days, I will be sharing several cards.

After seeing many inspirational cards on SCS with this technique, I had been wanting to use a sponged background with a simple image. I came up with these 2 cards. I made a reusable mask out of cardstock and 2-way glue so that I would have the mask for future cards.

Susan Raihala's post today on her wonderful blog, Simplicity (http://simplicitybylateblossom.blogspot.com/) inspired me to finally get around to taking photos of these cards and getting them posted.

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Upsy Daisy (SU)

Paper - Kraft card base (SU)

Ink - Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Bird on a Branch (SU)

Paper - Kraft card base (SU)

Ink - Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Vintage Vogue Fun

After my son, Erick, opened his Valentine's Day card, he asked me if I had any more of "these cute cards." I took that as a compliment. To see Erick's card, take a look at the previous post. He wanted a card for his girlfriend, so I made this card for him to give her. It was fun to "girl" things up for once!

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Vintage Vogue, I {Heart} Hearts

Paper - Sahara Sand, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Sweet Pea DSP

Ink - Sahara Sand, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Garden Green

Other - Scallop Trim border punch, ribbon, button, and pearl brad

This next card was made for a SCS swap that I am participating in. The theme of the swap is the SU Occasions mini. I hope the receipients will be pleased to receive this card. This is one of the first swaps I have participated in so I am not sure whether this card will meet expectations.

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Vintage Vogue, En Francais

Paper - Kraft, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla

Ink - Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry

Other - Scallop Trim border punch, half pearl

Valentine's Day

I made a couple of cards today for my guys.

This one is for my hubby, Rick. I used the FTL 78 sketch for this week.

Supplies:

Stamps - Well Scripted, I {Heart} Hearts

Ink - Rose Red

Paper - Kraft, Sweet Pea DSP, Rose Red, Whisper White

Other - Scallop Trim Punch, corner rounder

This one is for my elder son, Erick. His brother, Drew, will receive a card I posted previously.

Supplies:

Stamps - Well Scripted, I {Heart} Hearts

Ink - Rose Red

Paper - Whisper White, Kraft

Mojo Monday 124

My in-laws were in town this weekend to visit and my mother-in-law took me shopping for my birthday gift. We had a good time roaming around Archivers. I am now the new owner of a Scor-Pal, thanks to Mom. So of course, I needed a special thank you card to send to her. Combine that need with the Mojo Monday sketch of the week and I think I ended up with a pretty card to put in the mail to her tomorrow.

Here is Mom's card:  

Supplies:

Stamps - Lace Flower (Penny Black), Whimsical Words (SU)

Ink - Not Quite Navy

Paper - Kraft, Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Bella Bleu DSP

Other - Spellbinders dies, circle punches, ribbon from my stash

SCS Inspiration Challenge - Design Spirit Studio

I created this card a while back for the SCS Inspiration Challenge. Our inspiration for the week was the Design Spirit Studio on Etsy. This shop has beautiful items. Since I have a "thing" for dragonflies, I was especially drawn to this clock:

My resulting card is shown below:

Supplies:

Paper - Cottage Wall DSP, Rich Razzleberry, vellum

Other - Dragonfly Sizzix die, Cuttlebug embossing folder

FTL 76

I love the sketch at  Clean & Simple Stamping this week.

I made a couple of different versions. One for Valentines Day and a Thank You version.

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Whimsical Words, With All My Heart

Ink - Rose Red

Paper - Sahara Sand and Whisper White cardstock, Sweet Pea DSP

Other - Ribbon from my stash, Pearl gemstone

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Well Scripted, I {Heart} Hearts

Ink - Rose Red

Paper - Kraft and Whisper White cardstock, Sweet Pea DSP

Other - Satin Ribbon

Mojo Monday 123

The folks at Mojo Monday added a twist to this week's layout - a choice of round or square. Examples like this help me understand how to take any layout and make it my own.

Here is this week's sketch:

For this card, I used a stamp set from the Occasions Mini as well as a Sale-a-bration set. I bought these in the new clear mount option which I like a lot - much easier to store.

Supplies:

Stamp sets: Whimsical Words, I {Heart} Hearts

Ink: Rose red, Taken with Teal

Paper: Sweet Pea DSP, Rose Red, Taken with Teal, Sahara Sand cardstock

Other: border punch, Buttons, Ribbon, Pearl Cotton thread