Let’s start with a fun flower pot card.  Here are the dimensions of the pieces of cardstock you will need to create this card:

• 9 x 3 1/2 – flower pot
• 3 x 4 5/8 – tag
• 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 – tag mat
• scrap pieces for flowers & leaves

To begin, score your largest piece of cardstock (flower pot) at 2 and 5 1/2 inches.

Fold your score lines to create one valley and peak.  See below.

Now, measure in 1/4 of an inch on the bottom fold.  Use these marks to trim your card base to create a tapered pot base.

I then edge punched my pot edge and inked all of the edges of the card to create more dimension.  I also added some foam adhesive under the pot’s decorative edge to hold it up and create a shadow.

I then added some decorative dots using my Funky Circles stamp set using Versamark ink for a subtle effect.

Then using a scrap piece of green cardstock, I stamped a variety of fun leaves from the Floating Leaves stamp set in various green inks.

I hand cut them out and added some soft air brushed Copic colouring to them for some depth.

I then stamped a variety of floral stamps onto some pretty patterned paper.  For these blooms, I used the Garden Sketches and Kind Flower stamp sets.  I also cut them out.  I added my center flower images using our Preferred Partner, Helmar’s 3D Scrap Dots to pop up the centers.

I then cut the tag and tag mat and adhered the two pieces together.  I tied a bright ribbon around the top of my flower pot to hold the 2 halves of my card together.  I used some glue dots to hold the ribbon secure.

With the tag tucked inside the pot, adhere all of the greenery to the top of your tag.  Don’t worry about the adhesive showing under your leaves.  The flowers will cover it up.

Add all of your flowers and add gems or pearls to add some shine to your card.   I also added some of our Preferred Partner’s crystal glitter from PK Glitz to one of my flowers.

Here’s my finished card!  You can add some stamped images or a sentiment to the front but I decided to leave mine plain.

Since we’re all about interactive cards today… let’s make one more!!!

Let’s make a fun easel card.  Here’s how I made mine!

For this card, you will need only two pieces of cardstock;

• 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 – card base
• 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 – card front

Let’s get started!  Take your largest piece of cardstock and score it at 4 1/4 and 6 3/8.  The Scor-Pal has a groove for both fold lines!

Fold your card to create one valley and one peak.  See the image below.

Now take your square piece of cardstock for your card front and adhere as shown below.

Create a fun 2 inch piece to go on the inside of your card.  I used the beautiful floral block from the Itty Bittys set and stamped in on a whole bunch of one inch squares in soft Spring hues.  I added a funny butterfly from the Colorful Companions set with some polka dots stamped on his wings from the Itty Bittys stamp set again.  I made sure that my lacy cardstock edge was pulled up a bit as to catch the bottom of my card front.

I created my card front to look like a continuation of my inside piece.  I also added some glitter paint to the exterior to give my card some shine!  Sorry it’s so hard to photograph that aspect.  The sentiment on this card is from the Oval Office set.

And now you have two more interactive cards to add to your creative knowledge.  I hope you give them both a try for your next card project!

Have a great Thursday!

~ Allison Cope ~

So in honour of all the lovely additions to our mSB family, I thought I would fun to focus on BIRTHDAYS today!

Let’s start with some fun and simple birthday cards; cards for all ages and genders!

I started off with a very simple, masculine card.  Clean lines, darker colours, simple patterns like polka dots and some fun stamps can make a great masculine card!

Happy Birthday

I used one of the cute little circles from the Funky Circles stamps sets and created a quick line of fun stamped circles on my off white paper.  I added a heat embossed “Happy Birthday” greeting from Happy Word Jumble stamp set on some dark brown cardstock and popped it off this simple card background.  A very easy birthday card for that special man in your life!

Programmed

I absolutely love all the little robot creatures from the Programmed Robots stamp set and knew that I had to make a fun birthday card for that special little guy reaching that next year of life.  I bent the greeting from the set around a circle of fun patterned paper and heat embossed the greeting and the little robot using some gorgeous embossing powders by one of our sponsor’s, PK Glitz.  I love how this fun birthday card turned out!

Wish Come True

For my last card, I wanted to create a “girly” kind of card for my stash so I searched through my patterned papers for one that jumped out and I found this fun polka dot paper.  It started me off with a fun colour scheme for this card.  I stamped the subtle green branch from the Floating Leaves stamp set for the window first.  Then I layered on a pretty pink butterfly from the Colourful Companions set and also a fun greeting from my Oval Office stamp set.   I also used some Versamark ink and stamped a frilly edge along the label shape at the bottom using one of the circles from my Funky Circles stamp set.

——————–

Now that I had created a few cards, I also wanted to showcase a birthday themed layout so I created this frilly page showcasing lots of fun mSB stamp sets. That’s me and my son just hours after he was born.

Special Delivery

Here are all the fabulous stamps I used on this layout: tag (Road Trip), title (Mention It!), butterflies (Colourful Companions),  flowers (Garden Sketches), branch and leaf (Floating Leaves).

Here are a few close ups of my stamping and design…

I used only one colour of ink for all my stamping on this page.  To create a lighter ink colour, I first stamped my image off on a scrap piece of paper, then I stamped the image on my page.  It’s as simple as that!

And another close up of one of my butterflies with a touch of glitter.

So the next time you are looking for some birthday inspiration, just take a gander at your myStampBOX stamp sets!  You never know where you will draw inspiration from!

Have a great weekend!

~ Allison Cope ~

Today I want to show you an easy way to use glitter.  Yup… you know.  All those little tiny bottles of wonderful and super clingy glitters we all hide in our scrappy stash!

So grab your stamps and glitter and come play along with me today!

I started off by stamping a few flower images from the Garden Sketches stamp set with black Memento ink.

I masked off the flower images and stamped a few fern images from the Floating Leaves stamp set.

Then I coloured my flower images with my Copic markers, using the same colours (or close) to the colours of glitter you choose to use.

Once all the images were coloured, I used my Quickie Glue pen and started to colour each flower in individually.   Once my glue was applied, I sprinkled on my glitter and tapped off the excess.

Here is the image completely coloured and all the glitters applied.

I finished off my glittered squared with some soft inking around the edges, some Copic airbrushing for some speckles, some piercing using my piercing tool and adding some pretty green adhesive pearls to the center.  I then took my square and applied some hairspray to it.  This was to ensure the glitter stays in place and it didn’t effect the ink either!

I added some purple frames and then used the same fern stamp again with Versamark ink on the green card base and placed the purple frames on the card base.  I also added a quick sentiment using the Oval Office stamp set.

I hope that you too grab your stamps and glitter and create a fun card today!

Thanks for joining me today!

~ Allison Cope ~

I never really thought much of the colour orange and cringed whenever an orange piece of paper/cardstock/embellishment made its way into my craft area. But somehow I have grown to love this colour and when you team it with pink, you can get such exciting projects together.

So, this week I challenge you to not only use the colours ORANGE and PINK together on a layout but also to include CIRCLES in different sizes.

Here is what I came up with – can you guess how many different stamps I have used on this layout?

Stamp Sets used (if you click on the images you get directly to the set in the store and can add it to your cart)

That’s where alphabet stamps come in! They’re fabulous! You can make them look so many different ways just by altering the way you stamp, the colour you use or how you display the title.

In my first example (isn’t my niece adorable?), I cut out a small rectangle of white cardstock and stamped “ATTITUDE” in pink at varying angles to represent her tendency to show her own unique personality. I then added the smaller alpha stickers for the first part of my title.

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, American Crafts Paper, Making Memories Letter Stickers, my Stamp BOX Wishing You Sunshine, my Stamp BOX Colorful Companions, my Stamp BOX Splash Me A Lot, my Stamp BOX Seal It!

In my next layout “Starting Over”, I created a special page about my father having a new baby later in life and starting the process of parenting all over. A very different look is created when you overlap your stamped letters and then hand cut them out.

Supplies: My Mind’s Eye Paper, Making Memories Paper, Bazzill Cardstock, Copic Markers, my Stamp BOX Seal It!, my Stamp BOX Floating Leaves, my Stamp BOX Rough Copy

Did you know that my Stamp BOX has 23 alphabet, number and punctuation sets? They are all unique in their own way. Be sure to check them out!

Thanks for popping by today!
Happy Stamping!

I’m allways inspired by the colors of fall. The warm yellow, orange, red and brown, combined with the crisp blue sky and the first ice on the puddles, the freezing cold nights and the clear sunny days allways seems to spark my creative mind.

So today I decided to share one of my favourite fall-color combinations with you.

I have used these yummy colors along with some of the cutest cloud stamps I have ever seen for my LO and my card.  The”Wishing you Sunshine” stamp set make my heart smile

Thanks to this stamp-set I had totally fun making this LO.  :)

First I stamped on my background craft-cardstock using glimmermist. I sprayed glimmermist directly on to the stamp and pressed it gently to the paper.  The clouds get a cool watercolor-look.

I stamped some of the clouds on to white cardstock using the same glimmer-mist technique. Cut out the clouds from the white cardstock.

Some of the clouds are just stamped on the background with black inkpad.  I added the cut out clouds to to the background-paper to add dimension.

When all this was done I added my photo and embellishments. Used a leftover cloud as a “leaf” along with my flowers.  so simple and so fun!

Same technique is used on the card above. Stamped with glimmer mist and some of the clouds just with black ink pad. All of the clouds are cut out and some was outlined with black pen. They are added with double sided tape or 3D foam tape to make them pop.

Now I challenge YOU to use my favourite fall colors to spark your creativity and create a card, LO or projects. Please link up your creations in the comment-section of this blogpost. I would LOVE to see what you all create with this color-combo.

Happy creating!

~gudrun~

Fall card using “floating leaves” and “happy word juble“

Well, it’s the first official day of Fall, and while I will miss summer, and the easy schedules with the kids, the garden, the trips to the beach and all that BBQ’ing, I have to admit that I truly LOVE fall.

The crisp slightly cooler air, the fresh smell of the wind whipping through the gorgeous fall leaves, and of course, all the celebrations! I love thanksgiving (almost more than  Christmas), and Halloween too.

I decided that since I love thanksgiving so much, why not really celebrate it right? Including sending out some invitations made with the totally gorgeous myStampBox set a Tree for all Seasons? I then took it one step further, and made a little pillow box which I will fill with truffles and use as placetags for each person at dinner.

I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.. Just have 13 more to do now!!

Happy Fall everyone!

Card Recipe:

myStampBox Stamps: A Tree for all Seasons & Floating Leaves

Core’dinations Cardstock cut 7 x 11 3/4

Prism Simply Smooth White Cardstock

Memento Rich Cocoa Ink

Copic Markers:  Assorted Colours

We R Memory Keepers Patterned Paper  cut 2  1/2 x 7″  & buttons

Cut the cardstock and score at:  2 1/2 and 7 1/4 from the left hand side of the paper.  Fold.

Cut 2 pieces of the Simply Smooth cardstock to 2 3/4″.  Cut a mat of cordinating cardstock to 3×3″

Stamp tree trunk using memento ink onto one of the white cardstock pieces.

Stamp the leaves overtop of the trunk, and colour in using copic markers.

Mat the completed Tree image.   Attach the  piece of  patterned paper.  Adhere the matted stamped image so that is centered when the card is closed.    Adhere the second piece of white cardstock behind the attached image on the right hand side of the card.. so that it is hidden when the card is closed.  See photo.

Stamp sentiment.   Attach buttons using glue dots.

Pillow Box Place Cards:

Sizzix Pillow Box Die Cut

myStampBox Floating Leaves Stamps

Copic Markers

Foam Dots

To assemble pillow box, use Sizzix die cut in and cut out.  If you don’t have the die,  you can download the template here from the Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine website which I made for a previous project in last winters issue.

Make a band using matching coodinating patterned paper.  Wrap around the pillow box and attach with adhesive.

Write or print each persons name onto a small piece of cardstock.  Set aside.

Stamp desired leaves from Floating Leaves set onto Prism Simply Smooth Cardstock.   Colour as desired with Copic Markers and cut out.  Adhere using pop dots to give extra dimension and depth.  Attach names and you’re done.

Anyhow, I kind of love the fall. I love it when school starts, and we all get into the swing of things. I love the cool, crisp air and the beautiful colors. Fall allways makes me feel inspired. Inspired to create and to make stuff. And rainy weather gives me plenty of time to dig into my scrapstash and play.

Today I’ll share two projects with you. I have used the wonderful “floating leaves” stamp set and the ” tree for all seasons”.

On my LO I stamped different leaves on my background paper with brown distress ink, I sprayed the background paper lightly with Glimmer Mist, added photo, tags, embellishments and title.

I stamped leaves on a white cardstock and colored all the leaves on the cardstock using my favourite shimmering H2O watercolors. I cut the leaves out of the cardstock and added them to my LO with 3Dfoam for extra dimension.

I did allmost the same on my card.

Sprayed the cardstock/background paper with Glimmer Mist (to make a background for the tree) Then I stamped the tree. I added the rest of the leaves from my LO-project. Some are added with glue and some with 3D foam.

Thank you for looking.

happy fall!!

~gudrun~

I dug out my most recent stamps from my Stamp BOX - A tree for all Seasons, Floating Leaves, and Funky Flowers and I created scenes using these stamps, leaving room on the pages for plenty of journaling.  I made large, full pages for the teachers and staff to write on, and smaller (4/page) sections for some of the students who have had this teacher for many years.  Everyone loved it, and I got to play a little putting together trees, flowers and leaves into scenes.  It was so much more interesting than blank journaling pages and WAY less expensive than buying a Guest book or something.   Thanks for looking!

The front cover

The 4/page section for student comments

Some of them even coloured the images in, exactly as I thought they might

One of the staff pages with stamps from Funky Flowers

Thanks for looking,

Cathy

Here are 2 quickies that I whipped up.. using no ink colors! Versamark and embossing powder doesn’t really count as colors, right?

The stamp set I chose to use (and looove) is Floating Leaves.

And from that card, I made this using the same colors. I left the card sentiment-less so I can use it for any occasion later on.

Stamping using Bleach instead of ink turns the paper you stamp onto, a lighter shade instead of the color of ink. Different cardstocks react differently to bleach so you may want to experiment to find the paper that works best for you…some turn bright white, some turn a pale yellow, and some cardstocks that have a colored core, let that color shine through.

I used brown Prism cardstock for this example and the bleach turned the cardstock an orange color.

How to:
Cut and fold several paper towels to fit inside a saucer. Pour a little bleach onto the paper towel to make your “ink pad.” Use your stamp as usual, on an acrylic block and stamp onto cardstock. Give the bleach a little time to work into the cardstock – the colors don’t always change immediately.

Here’s my stamped image, and my card:

Thanks,

Cathy

For the simple, no fuss card maker — here is a simple and clean design. The leaf is from the stamp set Floating Leaves. You can stitch your cards with a pen. It doesn’t really matter if the lines aren’t perfect, heck, I can’t stitch straight myself! But, the faux stitching really adds pop to the card!

Here I stamped the leaf, also from the Floating Leaves set, onto a tear out of a book and colored it in with prismacolor pencils and baby oil.

Yes, baby oil! I did try to search for gamsol or odorless mineral spirits at my LSS, but I gave up and tried baby oil instead since I have heard that it achieves the same results. I’ve been hooked ever since! When you color with your pencils, start light. Color in circular strokes over your entire image with the lightest color first. Then, choose a darker color and only color in the outer edges and in towards the center but not all the way. Finally, choose a darker accent color and just color the outlines. Now comes the fun part, take your blender and dip it into your baby oil, in small circular motions, blend all the colors together. The baby oil will smooth out any hard edges and make the colors flow right into each other! My lightest color here was yellow. I did a reverse and colored the middle with red and the outer with a dark olive color… then blend, blend, blend. It looks like any old Autumn leaf in New York!

I stitched a frame around the leaf and went over it verrrry lightly with a green pencil to make it more visible.

Last but not least is this fun collage with the leaf from All Year Round. I wanted to try a different, but hot color combo – grey, yellow, and blue! Funny, this started off as the traditional 9 squares lined up perfectly lay out, but Audrey kept sneaking her tiny little fingers into my workspace and messing things up. I got annoyed and just jumbled it up together and it looked even more interesting that way! (Thanks Audrey!) I did some random stitching and I think it came out great — and very different!

Hope you enjoyed these leafy creations!

Kryssi

my Stamp BOX Many, Many Thanks and Abundant Blossoms

my Stamp BOX Floating Leaves and Small Greetings

my Stamp BOX Funky Flowers

Happy Stamping!
Cherie