The Blogger's Swap is Back!

Please join me this Spring as I celebrate all the wonderful stamping bloggers out there! I just hosted a 2nd Splitcoast Bloggers swap. All the cards have shipped out and people are starting to receive them! I wanted to post one of my swap cards for you today. The rest of the cards will be posted through the following months.

Who doesn't love a little blue bird for spring! I am in lust with this Swirly Birdie Stamp designed by Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves. It's an Acrylic Stamp (I know; shock... horrors!); and I was an Acrylic virgin until this card! I tested several different inks before I tackled this project and decided that my Staz-On worked the best with both of these images (the swirl is by Rhonna Farrer too), and not just because I was stamping on Window Sheets and using Bleach... but straight stamping on paper; Staz-On tested best in my personal trials.

I will have to share the ink tests with you all over at Craft Critique in the coming weeks. Meanwhile I would love to know what inks you prefer with your Acrylic Stamps. Feel free to leave your ink comments below. I'd love to know if you have unique ink preferences for specific brands of acrylics... they all seem to feel so different to me.

Let's take a closer look at the birdie on the card. He was stamped in Black Staz-On on Pretty in Pink Cardstock and then bleached out. I just painted him with bleach and used a small brush. No need to worry about the ink, I was able to paint right over it without fading. In fact I liked the look of white bleaching being outside the stamped image as it was more obvious after filling it in with color that it was initially bleached out. Tip: use a "Splashless Bleach" for more control... it feels more like a paint. And speed up the drying with a heat tool, or at least let them sit overnight before painting so the bleach evaporates out of the paper... otherwise your fill in color will fade.

After beaching I simply painted him in with my Aqua Pen and Cool Caribbean Reinker. I love how he turned out!


The rest of the card is your basic window/transparency card; the oval was created with the Coluzzle... which I love. The "window" is a clear transparency (from an office supply store) stamped with staz-on ink with the uber cool Rhonna Farrer Swirls! Gosh I love those swirls! The doodling around the oval frame was done with the amazing Sakura Glaze Pen; which I now sleep with under my pillow I love it so much! I will be chatting more about the glaze pen on Craft Critique THIS week! :)

The sentiment "spread your wings" (thanks Seewah!) is by the ultra funky company Just Johanna which I am receintly obsessed with. Oh, so many stamps so little time! The sentiment is stamped on the inside of the card and peeks through the window. Black brads and black grosgrain ribbon add the finishing touches!

Please be sure to check back later this week for my first "Featured Stamper" post, and a fun giveaway to help celebrate all your favorite bloggers and learn about some new blogs out there! :)

Happy Stamping!

Is This Bunny Cute or What???

I am so into this little bunny from the Spring Mini Set Bunny Hugs. I like him so much cause he's not just an easter bunny, but an all around springy everyday bunny! Everybody say "AW!"

This is another workshop card. The tag was created with the Large Tag punch from SU! and punched with the sentiment from Bunny Hugs. I used the Window Word punch to create the pocket. Mr. Bunny was stamped in Basic Black and then covered with a masking of the bunny. Then I just used my Sponge Dauber to add the Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss background. Lastly I used pastels to tint the bunny's ears and tummy. The background was created with the Petals Jumbo Wheel from the Spring Mini Bundle Special; it's Pretty in Pink ink on Pretty and Pink cardstock. Moss Grosgrain and a Banana colored brad seal the deal!

Spring Mini Bundle!

I had a super workshop last week with a group of regular customers of mine. Here is one of the make n' takes we created. This a great month to place a workshop order with me. Look at my Specials on my Stampin' Up! Website for the scoop!

This card was made to show off the Spring Mini Bundle. By the way if you want to take advantage of this great deal you only have until the end of the month! I am so in love with these papers. I remember feeling this way about the papers from the LAST spring mini too... this is just a great season for me I guess! I love flowers, polka dots, vivid colors and paisley! Spring is just so fun!

This is really a quick card once the paper is cut/prepped. I sandwiched two 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" cardstock pieces together; Pretty in Pink and Cool Caribbean. I made a 3/4" score on the left side of the Cool Caribbean rectangle to ease the card's opening. Now that olive layer of paper... that is actually a rectangle of Petals and Paisleys Designer Paper that has been wheeled on with the Petals Jumbo Wheel in Old Olive! Looks so cool right? The punched rectangle was created with the 1 1/4" Square Punch. With the punch upside down so I could see where I was punching, I just inserted the paper in as far as it could go and punched twice. Using the paper as a guide insures a perfect rectangle!

The key tag punch worked perfect for this sentiment from the set Polka Dots and Paisley, and that element is popped up on dimensionals. I used my Paper Piercer and template to make the line of holes under the sentiment. A 1/2" hole punch was used to make the circles at the top, and punched the tiny flowers last, also in Old Olive. Another layer of the Designer Paper, White Grosgrain and Organdy Ribbon complete the binding on the edge.

Ooh La La! Yummy New Paper!

I am so in love with these new Petals & Paisleys Papers from the Spring Mini! Aren't they delicious! I made this Pocket Card with the also new and in the Spring Mini, Long Notes cards and envelopes. The Long Notes are cool because the open from top to bottom; meaning when open they are almost 14" wide. Closed they measure 6 5/8" X 3 1/4", with a matching Vanilla envelope... so hip! I sealed the sides of this Long Note with Sticky Strip; turning it into a pocket!

Prior to gluing it shut; I used my 1 1/4" square punch to punch the rectangle out from the base of the pocket. I cut the Petals & Paisleys paper in random strips for the top, and lined the envelope with the matching paper. As I already stated; the envelopes that come with these Notes are Vanilla toned; so matching them with the white in these papers was tricky. I used Twill tape to tie in the Vanilla, and then lined the envelope in a pattern that has some white stripes... it seemed to work!

The inner tag was created with the Tag corner punch, and stamped with Old Olive and Cool Caribbean Ink. I used the great set that ALL us demos got for FREE this Holiday season; "Polka Dots and Paisley". I finished the tag with a Large Oval Punch folded over the top and affixed with a Hodgepodge Hardware Hanger strung with Twill Tape. Viola!

"Bunny Love" Diorama Details

Just to give some further clarification/instruction for the card below... I snapped a picture that I thought would help you better understand this card's construction. This is a view of the base of the card; on it's back. Hopefully this picture will help you get a feel of the simple construction of this card.


As I was snapping away I though I'd share this picture, and a tip...

No... this isn't the ugliest card ever made... it's a template! I often use scraps to create basic construction templates for my work. After making this particular template I realized I needed to adjust the placement of the egg on the card, and score the sides differently. It would have been such a shame to waste my precious Celery Cardstock figuring out all those details!

These pieces of card stock were straight from my wastepaper basket. I assemble some parts of my templates with re-positionable adhesive so I can easily take them apart for measuring or tracing. I save all my templates in a box; so I can refer to them later; keeping my precious card creations safe and handy to tote to workshops!

"Bunny Love" Diorama Card

When I was a child the BEST part of Easter morning was receiving a lovely sugared egg in my Easter Basket. I wonder where my mother purchased them... so special... so rare! These little candy treasures weren't to be eaten; but to be saved... for days at least... too tempting to be saved forever! I would always begin to pick at the candy bits first, the flower on the top... then the royal icing trim along the edge of the egg's opening... Within a week the egg would be devoured! These precious sugared eggs were the inspiration for this card. I will admit; I am a bit thrilled with how it turned out!

Firstly; an egg shape, and the opening to the egg, was created using my Coluzzle Oval Cutter on a piece of Whisper White Cardstock. Then I cut two pieces of paper 4 1/4 X 5 1/2" and Scored them both in 1/2 an inch and then 1/4 of an inch. I used the Coluzzle to cut an oval in the celery piece that matched up with the White Egg. Then I embossed the egg; using a Versamark pad direct to paper and Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder... it's very glittery; just like a real sugared egg!

The scalloped pink inner boarder was made with 16 1/2" circles... tacked into the inside of the egg prior to layering it over the celery front. The Whisper White background layer was stamped with the tulips from "Bunny Love" (in the SU! Spring Mini) and they were colored with Stampin' Up's markers. A Celery base of "grass" was doodled in place. Mr. Bunny was stamped and cut out; then mounted in place with Dimensionals to make him pop forward a bit.

Lastly; I folded the front and back into a box with the help if the pre-scored markings; creating the diorama look of this card. The flat part of the fold was used to affix the two pieces with sticky strip... the back of this card sticks out as much as the front, so it is 1/2" thick, but presses flat for mailing!

I finished the card with flower punches in Apricot and Pale plum, the leaves were stamped with the set Bodacious Bouquet in Celery. The little eggs were stamped with the same set, colored with markers, cut out and glued in place. A window word punch made simple work of the card's nameplate style "Easter Wishes" title at the top!