Mango Paper Quilt

Don't you just LOVE the new 8 1/2" X 11" papers?!!!  Key Lime, Squash, Mango, Cranberry, Currant, and Bubblegum.  Thistle, Pool, Bluebird, Blueberry, Vanilla Bean, and Licorice.  I LOVE them all!!!  I don't usually use orange tones on cards I make, so I challenged myself to come up with an idea to use all of the new Mango papers--Distressed Dots, Dots, Moroccan, and Gingham.  In the July/August 2002 issue of The Rubber Stamper (one of the magazines in my hoarded collection), I found a design by Susan Cobb that I used for the front of this card that is just perfect for highlighting the Mango paper collection!

• Papers:  Mango Distressed Dots, Dots, Moroccan, and Gingham
• Cardstock:  Orange, Red Orange
• Adhesives:  Double-sided tape, pop dots
• Stamp:  E1713 Wonderland Butterfly

Make a card 4 7/8" square from the Orange cardstock.

Cut all of the Mango papers.  
    One 4 7/8" square from Dots
    Four 1" squares from Gingham
    Two 1 1/2" squares from Distressed Dots, each cut in half diagonally to make four triangles
    One 2 1/2" square from Gingham
    One 2 1/2" square from Moroccan

Cover the front of the card with the 4 7/8" Dots square.   

Mount the four 1" Gingham squares on Orange cardstock, trim close; then mount on Red Orange cardstock, trim close;  adhere one to each corner of the card front .

Mount the four triangles on Red Orange cardstock and layer onto the card front between the corner squares.  

Using the 2 1/2" Gingham square, rotate it into a diamond and center it over the triangles.

Place the 2 1/2" Moroccan square centered over the diamond.

Add a 2 1/4" square cut from Red Orange cardstock to the center.

Mask the front of the card so that only the Red Orange square is showing.  Stamp E1713 Wonderland Butterfly in Archival Sepia ink.  

Stamp E1713 Wonderland Butterfly two more times on Moroccan paper in Archival Sepia.  Cut these out.

Adhere one butterfly to the Red Orange square, lining up the design.  Use pop dots to place the second butterfly on top of the first.

Cover the inside of the card with Gingham (on the back of the card front) and Moroccan papers. Moroccan is light enough for writing a message and for stamping another image or sentiment. 

There are so many ways to change up this card idea using the four designs of any one of the paper colors and selecting coordinating cardstock colors for layering for very different looks.  A sentiment could be stamped in the center, perhaps B1354 Happiest Birthday with the tiny butterfly on the side added multiple times in the square. Two or three of the smaller C1714 Cocoa Bean Butterfly could flit in 3-D across the card front.  The center square could also be stamped with E1715 Leafy Background before adding a sentiment or layering on another stamped image.  E1426 Reverse Bird Branches or E1427 Reverse Bird Grass could also be trimmed to use as the center square.  Ooh--how about embossing an image for the center square?!!!  I could go on and on!  Just browsing through the latest Memory Box catalog encourages me to think of even more ways to decorate this card front for lots of different occasions!   

Have fun making your own paper quilts!  Post your cards on the Memory Box Facebook page!

Happy stamping!

Lets combine colors!

Hello Everyone,

It has been raining here in San Diego off and on for the last few weeks, so Laura one of our teachers here at The Stamp Addict has been spending a lot of time in her craft room creating some wonderful things.  Today we wanted to share one of her cards with you. 

She used a light pink paper as the card base, and a purple matt cut to 5 1/4" x 4.  On the purple she stamped Leafy Background (E1715) in Adirondack's Pigment Shell Pink Ink.  Next she got out a sheet of Neenah Cream and the Adirondack Pigment Eggplant ink and her Memory Box Eiffel Tower (D1723) Stamp.  She inked the Leafy Background with the shell pink again.  Then inked the Eiffel Tower in the Eggplant then stamped the Eiffel Tower on to the Leafy Background stamp.  She wiped off the Eiffel Tower stamp to stop cross contamination in her ink pads then repeated until she had 4 parts of the Eiffel Tower stamp stamped into the Shell pink on the Leafy Background stamp.   Next she stamped the Leafy Background stamp on the Neenah Cream.  (This technique is commonly known as the "kissing technique" as you kiss two stamps together.)  She then cut out the stamped image leaving a small boarder.  She then cleaned both stamped and repeated the "Kissing Technique" using the opposit colors, (Eggplant on Leafy Background and Shell Pink on Eiffel Tower) and cut that out leaving the same boarder as the first one.  She then attached the Eggplant stamped image, and used foam tape to "pop" up the shell pink stamped image. 

Try the technique with two of your favorite Memory Box stamps and post them on the Memory Box Facebook page so we can see what you come up with!

 

Moroccan Butterflies

 

This is another quick card that I sometimes refer to as a "cheat" because it looks like it takes more time and effort than it really does.  Stamping over pattern paper is the real time saver here.

Choose four colors of Moroccan paper and cut 2in x 2.5in pieces.  I used key lime, squash, bubblegum and thistle. Now, with your favorite black ink, stamp the Cocoa Bean Butterfly (C1714) onto one of each color. After stamping, adhere these to a Licorice note card leaving equal borders around all edges. This is another design time saver - you get the look of matting your butterflies onto black from using the licorice notecard - and, of course, Memory Box cards are white inside making it easy to add your personal greeting.

Stamp your sentiment of choice in black onto a cream oval punched with a blue Marvy oval. Layer onto black paper punched with a pink Marvy scalloped oval and adhere to card center with foam tape. Finish card with a tiny butterfly punched from Blueberry Moroccan paper and three colored pearls that coordinate with the papers you chose. Remember, you can use your Copic markers over clear jewels or white pearls to make them match your work if necessary.

There you have it - a ten minute card that works for a variety of occasions. Make up several at a time while you have your materials out. Change up the paper colors for a totally different look. Another cool idea - change the paper patterns.  Try using the Distressed Dots or the Gingham papers - SO fun!

Playing Hooky!

Some days you just don't feel like going into work. Today was one of them. We just had another bout of snow on the  tail of springlike 70 degree weather.

Soooooo... I called out sick, slept in till 7 and got up and went into my studio.

 This card uses a technique right out of Card Design by Dave. It is among my favorites from this awesome book! I keep coming back to Memory Box's Eiffel tower stamp D1723. It works perfectly for this technique.

You will need water base markers, a spritzer bottle and the Journey Collage stamp G1733.

 Color the rubber with the markers and spritz with water.

Stamp onto hot press (the kind without the bumps) water color paper. this makes all the difference. The inks will blend smoothly.

With a paint brush dipped in water create a window and fill it in. The inks will blend creating a solid shape to stamp on with a glimmer of the text showing through.

 

 Allow to dry or you can use a heat tool to speed up the process. Stamp the Eiffel Tower D1723 with black ink over your window. 

Finish the card by embellishing the Eiffel tower with a white gel pen. Layer this panel onto green stock and then onto paper from the Minuet collection by Memory Box. Lastly add a few green pearls and Voila your card is finished!

Well, I had my I-phone and beeper with me the entire time and no one called me. I guess I am safe!

 

 

 

 

Very Best

The sun is shining here on Cape Cod, MA and it is a beautiful day...FINALLY.  We have been frozen solid for what seems like an eternity.  Hopefully the sun is shining where you are too, just like it is on this whimsical little card I created.

I love the new "cutesy" stamps that came out in the What's in the Box 2011 and I thought these two were the perfect pair to create a simple and fun card.

Here's how to create this card on your own:

1.  Card base is an A2 in Water

2.  Stamp the circle in the top right in Canary Versacolor and then emboss with clear embossing powder.

3.  Cut a piece of Key Lime Dots 5 1/2 x 2 and use the Martha Stewart Loopy Border Punch to create a fun border.  Before adhering this down on your card tie a piece of green and white ribbon around it.

4.  Stamp the Cozy Home (D1726) and the Home Sweet Home (D1725) on white cardstock using Tuxedo Black Memento and color in with copic markers.  Whatever colors you want will work!  Mix it up and have fun.  I stamped the images a few times onto my white cardstock so I could play with the colors and see which combinations I liked best.

5.  Cut out your finished images and adhere them to your card with foam tape.

6.  Stamp the Very Best sentiment (B1359) in black ink and you are done! 

How simple was that!  Wouldn't this be a cute card for somebody that just moved into a new house?

As you may remember, a while back we announced a prize package worth $100 to our 1,000th Facebook Fan.  We are getting VERY close to our goal of 1,000 Fans and we need your help to get there! If you are on Facebook you can go to our Memory Box Fan Page and click on the "Like" button right next to our name.  By becoming a fan you will get updates in your newsfeed from Memory Box. 

Happy Crafting!

Put a Butterfly on It!

Butterflies - like birds - add a special look to just about anything.  Five butterflies - from the Butterfly Ballet - flutter among the leaves from the Leaf Canopy (F1430) on a spring birthday greeting here.  I punched them with a diamond punch and used just the bottom half of each piece.  You could also use a pennant punch for a more elongated pennant.  

Leaf Canopy is stamped over our Pool Moroccan print with my new favorite green...Tree Frog, one of 24 new ColorBox Archival Dye Inkpads.  The Moroccan prints, in twelve beautiful colors, are great for stamping and layering.  They also make great cards.  

Make a set of these cards - and have them ready for any occasion.  A set of six, with matching envelopes, would also be a wonderful gift.

Butterflies are also featured in two classes this weekend.  The first class - Spring Cleaning on Saturday February 26th - is at Bellevue Art and Frame in their new location on NE 20th (phone:  425 453.8959).  We'll be using stamps from Memory Box and Poppystamps, layering them with recycled papers and found objects from my ever-growing stash of supplies.  Everyone will also receive a packet of supplies from my stash, so you can make more of these cards later.  Here are two of the four cards we'll be making - the origami crane is a lot easier than it seems - it's the recycled paper that makes it look intricate.  Everyone will use different papers - but you'll love the results, and recycle at the same time.

Then...on Sunday February 27th, it's Opposites Attract at the Tukwila Impress (phone 206 901.9101).  Design concepts like black+white, mountain+valley folds, embossing+debossing, matte+metallic will be the theme of the class.  Here's a card from that class:

 

Read more...

Jean

Little Red Butterfly

The beautiful colors and papers from the Brioche papers and the What's in the Box collage stamps inspired me to create this card. 

Create a black card base from the Soiree paper. (4 1/4" x 5 1/2)  Cut white cardstock 5 1/4" x 4". Stamp Elemental Damask C1390 using Rangers Distress Inks Broken China in pattern across background.

Stamp Birch Branch Print G1720 using versamark watermark ink. Stamp Create Art G1330 using Versafine Black Onyx ink.  Heat emboss using clear embossing powder. Cut out collage. Sponge with blue dye ink.  Mount on black cardstock.

Punch small butterflies from Distressed Currant paper accent with clear jewels.  Attach butterflies to background. 

This card is part a series of four cards created for my class called the Little Red Butterfly that I will be teaching in March.

Have a wonderful week.

Suzz

Blame it on the weather

So I was watching the morning weather on Friday half paying attention when the weatherman shows the weather map.  I noticed this really cool color combination that woke me up and I knew I had to try to duplicate it on a card.  On the map there was key lime fading to green blending to turquoise with purple at the top.  So I took a piece of watercolor paper and started playing to see if I could duplicate the colors I saw.  I wet the paper and laid it on my nonstick craft sheet.  I used tube watercolors and mixed colors on the craft sheet until I was happy with the results.  After I painted on the colors I dried the paper with a heat gun and then ironed the paper to flatten.  For the background behind the butterfly I brayered Sour Apple ink on Leafy Background and stamp.  Stamp the Butterfly on the background.  Stamp another butterfly on Copic friendly paper with Memento ink and color with Copics.  I thought the butterfly and background were a little flat so I covered them with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I repeated this a couple of times to get a clear shiny finish.  Next I trimmed out the butterfly and the background.  Layer the leafy background on black.  The watercolored background needed a little something so I grabbed fern and "weed" stamps and randomly stamped them with Archival Jet Black ink.  Mount on a card cut from Soiree black paper, pop dot the leafy background on top and finally glue the cut out butterfly to the stamped butterfly. 

Stamps:  E1715 Leafy Background

                C1714 Cocoa Butterfly

                G1719 Fine Fern Print

                C1721 Grass Print

                C1262 Parsley Sprig

                C873 Whispy Branch

Copics:  BG02, BG05, V12, V15

Inks:  Archival Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Color Box Sour Apple

Looks like it's starting to snow again here (after all the piles of snow have pretty much melted), but the bright colors on this card make me think of Spring. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and Happy Stamping!

 

Bird with Buttons

Today's card was inspired by all the giddiness of Valentine's Day, but I think you could send it for any "romantic" reason. I hope you like it! (Despite its appearance, the pink in the sentiment panel matches the rest of the card - this was a weird photo/light glitch.)

This card features one of the latest Memory Box stamps: Birch Branch Print! I am already loving this stamp because you can do so much with it!

Materials:

Memory Box stamps: Heart Bird Keepsake (F1439), Birch Branch Print (G1720), Love and Hearts (B1423); Memory Box Cherry Blossom card; Memory Box Soiree Shimmer card stock (Copper); Memory Box patterned paper (Pixie collection); 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; inks (Ranger Distress Spun Sugar, Memento); PrismaColor pencil (Hot Pink #PC993); Twinkling H20's (Buttercup, Pear Blossom, Apple Blossom); buttons; DNC embroidery floss; Maya Road stickpin; pop-dots; Fisker border punch 

Instructions:

1. Watercolor a 4" x 4" square of watercolor paper using Twinkling H2O's. (See watercolor technique here.) Set aside to dry.
2. Stamp BIRCH BRANCH PRINT (G1720) on Memory Box Cherry Blossom card using Ranger Distress Spun Sugar ink. 
3. Optional: highlight stamped image using PrismaColor pencil (Hot Pink #PC993).
4. Adhere panel of Pixie patterned paper to card.
5. Cut Memory Box Soiree Shimmer card stock (Copper) using  Fisker's border punch and adhere to card.
6. Stamp LOVE (B1423) on pink cardstock panel and adhere to card.
7. Adhere lace to card with glue dot. 
8. Once watercolored square is completely dry, stamp HEART BIRD KEEPSAKE with Memento ink and heat set.
9. Cut out heart and adhere to card using pop-dots. 
10. Thread buttons and slide pin through before adhering buttons to heart with glue dots. 

Thanks for Looking!

 

Make mine a Papillon!

  Wether you call them mariposas, papillons, farfallas or butterflies ---they are beautiful, graceful, charming, and heart-warming creatures.  I've seen a several in my yard lately---a sure sign that Spring is just around the corner.  

   

  I "captured" this Cocoa Bean Butterfly (C1714) in a clear pouch to make a shaker card.  

1)  Stamp the butterfly on a white card stock and paint the wings with a mixture of green and blue inks along with a dash of perfect pearls (for shimmery effect).  

2)  Cut out butterfly and apply mounting tape on the body, bending the wings forward for dimension.

3)  Cut a "collar" from the "Sheet Music" paper to fit snugly around the shaker dome.  

4)  Add pearls and jewels around the butterfly.  Pour a mound of chunky glitter onto the butterfly, then cover with the clear dome, adhering it and the collar to the base card.

5)  Add the beautiful trim and more pearls and jewels (can't have too many of those!)

6)   Stamp the "Happy Spring" (B1225) message and add all the layers onto a chocolate brown notecard....now give it a little shake to situate the glitter and....there you have it!  

Here are the supplies I used to make this card....

  Now it's your turn....Happy Friday!

P.S.  Remember I mentioned at the top of this post that "papillon" means "butterfly" in French?  Here is a photo of my little Papillon "Dixie", a breed named for their characteristic ears shaped like butterfly wings.   Awww, isn't she cute?  She knows it too!