Featured stamper challenge - Laura Fredrickson

I'm trying to get in the habit of participating in more of the challenges on splitcoaststampers. It's a good way to get out of your comfy box and try new things. I love the featured stamper challenge, because it's a perfect opportunity to check out the gallery of a great stamper and make something that's heavily inspired by her work, with no guilt. This week's featured stamper is Laura Fredrickson. Take a look at her blog - she makes wonderful things! Here is the card of hers that I chose to use as my inspiration today. Let's see - what did I change? My card is a regular A2 (4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches) instead of square. I also changed the colors and the stamps.

My great "aha" moment for today: this flower from the True Friend stamp set from Stampin' Up! perfectly matches the flower in this designer paper! How cool is that?



Details: stamps - True Friend (Stampin' Up!), Faux Ribbon; paper - white, sweet blush, spring moss, pink patterns ; ink - Berry Sorbet ; accessories - SU punches - 1 1/4" circle, 1 3/8" circle, scallop circle, 3/16" corner rounder, dimensionals

Butterfly sympathy

This card began as an attempt at Sketch Challenge number 169 on splitcoaststampers. I was going along great, getting the tall skinny panel to work with the butterflies. But then I decided to use this Basic Grey paper from the Sultry collection, and it was so pretty that I didn't want to cover it up with more layers. So I decided to leave it alone. Looking for a small sentiment that would fit somewhere on the card, I chose the Wonderful Wishes set from Verve Visual. The butterflies said sympathy card to me, so I went with a sympathy sentiment. I think I like it!

Not sure what's up with all of the Rose Red in my cards lately. I just keep being drawn to it.


Details: stamps - Butterfly of Happiness (Stampin' Up!), Wonderful Wishes (Verve Visual); ink - Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!); paper - Rose Red, Old Olive, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!), Sultry (Basic Grey); accessories - spring moss satin ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Featured stamper challenge - Amy Sheffer

Each week, splitcoast has a featured stampers challenge. One stamper is chosen who has a great gallery of work, and your assignment is to choose one of their pieces and CASE (copy) it, changing at least two things and telling what you changed when you post your work. I was thrilled when today's featured stamper was Amy Sheffer. I am a regular stalker of her blog. Just about everything that she posts makes me say, "Wow!" So, here's Amy's card that I chose to case. My main changes were to use a different stamp set for the flower and to change the color scheme. I still like Amy's card better, but this one turned out very well. Thanks, Amy, for the inspiration!


Details: stamps - Jolies Fleurs (Lizzie Anne Designs); paper - Sultry (Basic Grey), Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy, Rose Red, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); ink - Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); accessories - giga circle and scalloped circle punches (Marvy), earth elements brads,
markers (rose red, regal rose, mellow moss), word window punch, burgundy 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

A little bit of bling

I was sitting and gazing affectionately at my newly acquired Inkadinkado stamps - purchased at JoAnn's a week or so ago in a fit of "hey, they're all 40% off - I think I need a bunch more!" I was thinking how much I like the big medallion images in this set - there are three different ones, plus a bunch of sentiments. So I decided that I had to ink it up and make something. I went kind of nuts with the Sakura stardust glitter pen, but it was really hard to catch the sparkle in the photo.


Details: stamps - Round Frames (Inkadinkado); ink - basic black, old olive (Stampin' Up!); paper - Perhaps (Basic Grey), Very Vanilla, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!); accessories - Sakura stardust glitter pen, Marvy giga circle punch and scalloped circle punch, dimensionals, unknown ribbon from my stash

I only pretend to be organized

Does this happen to anyone besides me? I spent most of the afternoon cleaning up my stamping room, and do you know what one of the biggest categories of "stuff" was? Empty containers of various kinds that are supposed to be making me organized! On the positive side, I also found almost $40 in cash buried in various piles of ones and change. I'm trying to get things less messy so that we can do a big switch of the living room and the stamping room. The new stamping room will be quite a bit smaller than the current one, so cleaning up the clutter is essential. Wish me luck!

Custom storage for 6x6 paper!

Okay, how many of you have a teetering stack of the cute little 6x6 inch packs of patterned paper in your craft space? I have solutions for 8 1/2 by 11 and for 12 by 12, but the 6 by 6 was driving me crazy. I checked all of my various boxes and baskets to see if any would be a good size for the 6x6 paper, but to no avail. I searched online and found a few DVD boxes that would work, but the ones that were the best size for me were also expensive. What's a crafty person to do? Make your own, of course!

I still had some foam core board leftover from my ribbon holder project, so I built a box that works just great. The inside dimensions of this box are 6.5 by 6.5 by 10 inches. As you can see, it holds a ton of paper.

I covered my box with Cutie Pie paper from Stampin' Up! I wrapped the paper over the top edge of the box and down about an inch on the inside, and also wrapped it down onto the bottom of the box an inch or so. I decorated the front with a bunch of white flower rub ons. The dividers are made from the lightweight cardboard that Stampin' Up! uses at the back of their designer paper packs. I cut a bunch of the 12x12 ones down to 6x6. The index tabs were made with the round tab punch and just stapled to the top of the dividers. I took all of the 6x6 pads that I have apart and filed the paper in the box. I think having the pads disassembled will make me more likely to actually use the paper.


Want to see how it was made? Here are the pieces of foam core board waiting to be hot-glued together.


Here is the box all glued together. It was really simple to make. If you make one, let me know! I'd love to see it!

I haven't embossed in ages, but this was worth it!

I am usually way too lazy to heat emboss anything, even though I love the results. I received this fantastic butterfly set from Stampscapes last week, and had in my mind to try it with the split negative technique. Well, wouldn't you know it? The VSN Mini Challenge this weekend on splitcoaststampers included that very technique! I couldn't decide which card I like better. Both of the sentiments are so great that I wanted you to see them both. The sentiments are from a set called Artquotes 1 by Invoke Arts.

The sentiment reads, "Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

Details: Stamps - Butterflies Symmetry Sheet 3 (Stampscapes), Artquotes 2 (Invoke Arts); Paper - Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Brushed Silver; Ink - Versamark; Accessories - real red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, pretties kit, detail black and detail white embossing powder


The sentiment reads, "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."

Details: Stamps - Butterflies Symmetry Sheet 3 (Stampscapes), Artquotes 2 (Invoke Arts); Paper - Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Brushed Silver; Ink - Versamark; Accessories - real red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, pretties kit, detail black and detail white embossing powder

Red is a neutral?

This is for my sister Cindy. We joke about our favorite colors. Cindy says that red is a neutral in her house; in my house, purple is. So of course her card needed to have an ample amount of red in it. I've been hoarding this Basic Grey Romani paper for a long time. The flowers are cut out of one of the sheets in the package, and the striped piece is from another sheet.


Details: Stamps - Wonderful Wishes (Verve Visual); Paper - Real Red, Basic Grey Romani; Accessories - Fire brads, Ice brads, brocade blue 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, paper snips

Stamping Night Fun!

I have a monthly open Stamping Night at my house where my friends can come over and make whatever they want. Here are a couple of great cards that Sue made this week. She needed two "guy" birthday cards. Didn't she do a terrific job?

Details: Stamps - It's Your Birthday, Starstruck; Paper - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Spring Flowers (retired); Accessories - large star punch, slit punch, small star punch, twill tape, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder

I love the way the embossing folder echoes the diamonds in the designer paper. Also, look how neatly Sue fit the "happy birthday" right in between the raised diamonds - love it!

Details: Stamps - Everyday Flexible Phrases; Paper - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Spring Flowers (retired); Accessories - vintage brads, Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug embossing folder