Amelia Rose - Artful Passions

Another Double Pocket card!

Here is another Double Pocket card that I designed. I used it as one of my Stampers 10 club projects. Kathy, the hostess for the first club meeting of the month, asked me to design a baby card using the Double Pocket design so this is what I came up with!

I love the color combo of So Saffron and Certainly Celery and thought that it was suitable for both a baby boy or girl card. I threw the Amethyst in also for a little pop of color!
I used the eyelet border punch which is always perfect for a baby theme.
I also used the SAB ribbon in my fav colors!
The tag in the second pocket is perfectly sized to hold a gift card for mommy or baby.
Fun and Fast Notes as well as Curvy Verses were the stamp sets that I used.
The Horizontal Slot punch is a perfect fit for the wide-ish ribbon. Just slide a piece through the opening and then you can easily tie a knot with a contrasting ribbon to secure it!
Coloring was done with the SU! markers.

These Double Pocket cards are so easy once you get the hang of them and they are addicting!! Watch out!!!

Double Pocket card

This is a "Double Pocket" card that I designed using the "Bella Birds" DSP that will be retiring soon. I just can NOT get enough of that paper!!

I wanted to show off the 2 gorgeous patterns of the paper and thought that a double pocket card would do the trick! I also used the SU! exclusive Sizzix embosslets die called "Simple Flower". I couldn't decide which side of the flower I liked better so I just sponged each one opposite the other and glued it down!! I STILL can't decide which one I like better!! The flowers are attached to a pull-out card as you can see in the next picture. I love this card template pattern because it is soooo very versatile and you can fold it many different ways to suit your needs! And of course, the "Oval All" stamp set tag is absolutely perfect - it is just so easy to use! Enjoy!

Good kitty, good kitty, good kitty, baaaaaaad kitty!!!

I KNEW it was going to happen!  It was just tooo tempting a spot for a kitty to take a snooze in!!! All nice and boxy and protected ..........and with a soft velvet bed to lay on!!! What more could a feline ask for????  How could a kitty resist???

It was midday and all was quiet in the house.....too quiet, actually! You know how when your kids were little and you realized that there was an eery silence in the house - it could only spell trouble...with a capital T!!!!

I thought that all of our kitties were happily snoozing in their favorite nappy spots, dreaming of tuna bits and tinkle balls. But I decided to do a nose count anyway, just in case there was trouble....let's see:

Diadora (Deedles for short) Good kitty!!

 Bailey, good kitty!!!! 

Annie, good kitty!!!!

 Burtie - BAAAAAAD kitty!!!!!

Ackkkk, NOT IN MY BRAND NEW photo box!!!! How could he!!!

Well, it took me at least a half an hour to get all of the cat fur off of the velvet backdrop material! GRRRRR!! Of course it couldn't have been Bailey who chose to sleep in there, since she is 9/10s white with just a wee cap of calico and a tail to match! Noooooo!! It had to be SIR Lardybucket who is totally brown and black and resembles a beached whale as he sleeps and sheds a winter's worth of fur!!!

But I love them all and have since forgiven him!! And now I store the box in a BIG closet in my studio where none of the kitties can get near it!! Lesson learned!

Shabby Chic Dress with a Pinafore

 I just loved the dress pattern from PaperCrafts that I used for the pink dress card in an earlier post.  So I had to make another card using it!! I wanted to gussie this one up to the max and had so much fun creating it!! I LOVE the shabby vintage look and felt that the "Teaparty" designer paper (thank goodness it's not being retired!!) would lend itself perfectly to the the look that I was trying to achieve. All it would take would be a bit of sponging and some faux stitching!

I came up with the idea of adding a pinafore because I love so many of patterns in the package of paper and wanted to showcase more than one! That's one thing that I love about SU!'s Designer Series Papers ~ they all coordinate perfectly ~ you just can't make a mistake!! I free-handed the pinafore design purposely widening it as it went to the bottom of the dress to mimic a real pinafore. I also made sure the straps titled inward like a real one would. I punched the lace borders with SU!'s eyelet border and then ran them through the crimper to give them added texture. Even though the bottom of the dress ends in a soft curve I left the lace straight ~ I didn't feel that it needed any fiddling with. Along the way I got the idea that a little heart pocket would look cute and the handkerchief sticking out of it was just a little extra added goodie. I think that the danged bow took me as long to make as the whole card itself...and I am STILL not at all happy with it!!! Grrrr!!

Confession time: The V-shaped sash was added to cover up a mistake - UH OH!!! I had just a straight 1/4" wide sash on it first. After I took pictures of the dress and looked at them on my computer I realized that I had glued the sash on ridiculously crooked!!!! I mean really obviously crooked ~ and I wasn't even enjoying a nice glass of Merlot when I attached it ~ sheesh!!!  And of course, for some reason I had used glue to attach it so there was no hope of removing it without damaging the rest of the card!! So I needed something that was wide enough to span and cover the full tilt of the original sash and this is what I came up with!! As happens so many times when we are forced to come up with a way to cover up an "ooopps", I REALLY like the way it turned out. (Back in the 80's I had a pair of pants that had a waistband that came to a V just like this - boy, did I love those slacks ~ they made me feel like I had a nice, flat tummy and that I was much taller than my dinky 5'3" mini-ness. Haha!!)

Enjoy!!! 

My Top 10 Things to Leave Off of Your Man's Father's Day Card or MT10TTLOOYMFDC for short!

Here are my Top 10 things that should be left off of a Father's Day card list. We women all seem to feel that there can never be too much "stuff" on a card. In our minds it just shows the recipient how much we love them! To men, its a different story.

Here are 10 things that I feel can really turn a man off when you use it on a card for him and why.

10. Glitter - men like shiny things, but only when they have wheels and go REAL fast!

9. Bows - you might be able to get away with a knot, in a manly color, but never a bow. They see absolutely NO reason to use more of something than is necessary to get the job done.

8. Flowers - reminds him too much of yard work that he's been avoiding.

7. Pearls - reminds him of an upcoming event for which he has to buy you something - instant discomfort for him!!

6. Pastel colors - unless it is a light blue sky behind a car, a boat or a golf club image, better not use it.

 5. Buttons - again, buttons remind them of work and how much work it takes to get dressed in the morning. Zippers might be okay though since they are a work saver!! Hmmmm..... new embellishment line here, maybe??!!!

4. LOTS of hearts - punchouts, die cuts, whatever....more than one is a gross overstatement of fact. Sort of like asking him to do somethig more than once is nagging.  

3. Swirly, curly Q's - these are all the rage right now in the stamping, decorating and clothing world. However, that is not your man's world. Simple straight lines are good in his mind, the less, the better.

2. Mushy, overly long sentiments - again, the less, the better. "You, me, love." says it ALL to him. He can't comprehend why you would waste your time coming up with 3 or more whole sentences, when 3 simple words does the job. When you put too much in your card it just sets the bar too high for him and puts pressure on him to top it the next time he has to find a card for you.

And the #1 mistake that women make when adding things to their man's card:

1. Too many colors - any more than...... 2.... is looked upon as "too many colors" by a man. One color actually is just fine in his eyes, although you might get away with a second color.....as long as it is black, brown or navy blue. 

So those are my hints for making a Father's Day card that your man will appreciate!

I hope you enjoyed them!

For the man in your life!

I made this card for the man in my life based on a card that I saw while cruising the Internet.  I'm pretty sure my inspiration card was done by Tosh of "Stamptalk with Tosh". I put my own spin on it and tweaked it a bit and came up with this! My husband likes old pocket watches so I was going for an ornate, old fashioned look that you can't usually use when making something for a man! It was fun to sneak in some "pretty"!

I used it as one of our monthly projects with my "Stampers 10" club and they all loved it!

When designing it I used my Coluzzle to cut out the 3 circles (front, back and smaller circle on front) along with the small oval that is "supposed" to be the winder thingy at the top! I used the large and small SU! oval punches to make the ring at the top. The card is held together by the "stem" which I made using a Word Window punch piece folded in half and attached to the front and back pieces of the card. I used the scallop punch on the wreath image in the "Together Forever" set even though it didn't match up perfectly. I was going for a look and felt that this worked just fine. The stamps that I used are: Frames with a Flourish (soon to be retired), Together Forever, Forever Flowers wheel and Lovely Letters Alphabet. I used More Mustard cardstock and Chocolate Chip ink to stamp and sponge ~ gotta keep it simple for a guy!!

Now if you are wondering where I used the "Frames with a Flourish" stamp here's a peek. I just stamped it around the edges of the big front circle, overlaping it slightly so that it fit the way I wanted it to. So much of it gets covered by the top circle, I didn't think that anyone would notice something like that when they were looking at this card. At least I hope not!!

I did ALOT of sponging (my motto is ~ "A card isn't finished until it has been thoroughly sponged!") to give it that aged, tarnished look. On the inside I used the simple "You're a classic" from my "Classic Pickups" stamp set which retired a year or 2 ago. *sniffsniff* I still use it from time to time ~it IS a true classic in my book!

What I especially liked about this card was that we could personalize it ~ I love personalized things and I think that's one of the great things about stamping cards and gifts and alphabet stamps!! My husband's name is Gary, hense the "G". We all found out each other's hubby's names which was fun!

Hope you don't get dizzy looking at this last picture ~ for some reason it went in sideways - oh well - I am still learning the ins and outs of posting here!!! Have fun and I hope you give it a try!!

You're Unfrogettable!!

My son's girlfriend, of 9 months (wow, has it been THAT long, I hadn't counted before) had done several nice things for our family and I decided to do something nice for her in return. I figured that nothing could be nicer than a hand stamped item! She LOVES frogs so, of course, the stamp set "Unfrogettable" immediately popped into my mind, even though it is retired and no longer available from Stampin' Up!. I got going on the planning and I knew I just had to play with my new Nestabilities that I purchased last month at a local stamp show! When I originally cut them out I intended to use them vertically and mount each letter of Liz's name on it's own one. Sometime in the middle of the night though, I happened to think that if I laid them on their sides they might look like lilypads, so in the morning I gave it a go!! I was happy with the look and just kept building on it. I stamped all of the little critters and then colored them with my new copic markers (also purchased at said stamp show). I then took my "Versamarker" and covered them with the ink and clear embossing powder and heat set them all!! It really made the colors POP!!! After cutting them all out, (which wasn't all that bad to do, since I didn't get anal about it and left a white border around all of them) I played around until I liked the placement of everything and then attached them using oodles of Popdots! Love those SU! Popdots!! I wanted the flowers to look like water lilies, so I used white cardstock and vellum for the petals and added a bit of So Saffron sponging to each one!! I was pleased with the way it all turned out and I can't wait to give it to her!!

Happy Spring!!

This is a little goodie that I designed and made for the birthdays of 2 of my good friends,  Jane and Wendy. I scrapbook with them (and 7 other friends) every Wednesday and we like to celebrate everyone's birthdays  throughout the year!!

I have a bazillion coasters and love all the cute hanging elements that I have seen made with them posted all over Splitcoast. I used the "On Board SoTweet" chipboard from SU! and covered all the pieces with paper from the "Good Morning Sunshine" Designer Series Paper collection. I hand cut the "Happy Spring" banner and of course sponged EVERYTHING!! (My motto is, after all, "it's not done until it's been sponged and glittered"!!) I was trying to figure out what else it needed besides the birdies and the branch and thought that a sun might just give it the "happy" feeling I was looking for. I thought that one of the flowers from the So Tweet assortment was a pretty good standin for a sun especially after it was sponged and glittered! I did add a circle of "Summer Sun" card stock to the center trying to make it more "sun-like" before adding the sponging and glitter.

Hope you like it and "Happy Spring" everyone!!

Just Ducky

Here is another project that I completed recently. It was the favor for a baby shower that I was throwing for one of my club members who is expecting her first baby - a little girl! I'm so excited to be welcoming a new little stamper into the world!!! When I saw the "Wagon Full of Fun" set on the new Occasions Mini I knew this happy little ducky would be perfect for my project!! I stamped it in Stazon on SU! shimmery white cardstock and watercolored it with our inks.  

The favor box pattern is from  a weekly "technique challenge" found here  and it is called a "Round Favor" box.  Easy peasy!!! Actually I had my Stampers 10 club make these in an Easter theme for our March get-together. They all loved it!

Man, these photos are brutal....every little mistake shows up (like the smudge alongside if the beak)!! I'm learning so much here!! I've got to be MUCH more careful next time!

Finally..........decent pictures!!

 After many trials and tribulations I am finally pleased with the pictures I have taken of my projects! It took me quite a while to get to this point though ~ Friday dawned brightly and I was determined to get a handle on my cameras' settings that I needed to produce those top notch, prize-winning pix that I lusted after on all the "in" stamping divas' blogs. I won't mention names. It was eighth grade all over again! My blog was in the dud group! Everything I'd read (and I'd read A LOT) recommended that you just play with the settings and take many, many pictures to figure out what works best for you!! Sounds sooooo much easier than it is in reality!!!

Plus you need "extreme, really kicka$$" lighting!  With the help of my optimistic, weary but ever supportive hubby we had constructed my lightbox (according to directions found on the internet here Homemade lightbox directions) out of foam core last week ~ ha! - that was a sight to see ~ us trying to balance 4 pieces of 20"x30" boards while taping them together with 1" wide white tape into a semi-questionable box shape ~ much cursing ensued ~ I'll spare you the ugly details!! This is what the picture at the site shows -

We did finally get the project completed and I had actually found the recommended clampy lampy things at our local home improvement store and they weren't ridiculously expensive! Oh yay!!! The directions recommended using 4!!!!! lights, but being the cheapo that I am, only purchased 2 figuring that that just HAD to be enough light, good grief, it was 200 whole watts!! Well, apparently 200 watts wasn't enough!! Needless to say, as always, I should have followed the directions...yeah, yeah, yeah, woulda, shoulda, coulda..... blah, blah,blah......and so had to scrounge around at home to find a 3rd one as a stand-in! I'm definately picking up 2 more clampy lampys on my next shopping trip to  the big"L".

 Now, of course, I couldn't just leave it at having a HUGE white box that was lit up (almost) like Times Square at Christmas for my picture taking adventures...oh no!  Somewhere along in my reading travels I'd read that a backdrop of white velvet looks especially elegant when photographing objets d'art - okay, not that my cards are of the objets d'art caliber, but hey, anything that helps make them look as good as possible is well worth it in my book!! Luckily, I remembered that I had a length of white velvet stashed away in my "someday I'm going to use this for the most awesomest, fantastic project the world has ever seen" box......(I'm sure you all have a similar box....or 2...or....). The box was currently stashed in the furthermost back corner of my studio closet underneath an equally important box containing 163 pink and white metal mini mailboxes that I had scarfed up at my local Target $1 spot 2 Valentine's Days ago. (I still have plans for those babies!) I managed to fish out the velvet and it was just as beautiful as I had remembered it, although ALOT more wrinkled!! Okay, upstairs to iron it to see if it is salvageable...and it is!! Yay!  As per the directions, I sewed a rod pocket at the top of the material, first trying with the only bobbin and spool of thread that I could put my hands on quickly, black, of course!! I tried it out on the white and immediately knew that it wasn't going to work - duh! I eventually found a bent up, unusable bobbin that held what looked to be enough WHITE thread to complete the job!! After removing the black thread and transfering the white onto the good bobbin I was back in business and finished my sewing job up quickly! I slid the velvet onto a rod that I had put through the sides of the box at the very top in the back according to the directions. As I fluffed and fussed with the fabric I could tell that it was going to all be worth it. And now for the debut....... .......kinda reminds ya of a beached whale in a dentist's chair, doesn't it?.....and it's taken up residence in our dining room......yeah, Easter dinner was interesting ....I kept expecting it to start looking back at me....creeepy!!

After my first photo session (now doesn't THAT sound professional) I turned out the lights and I caught one of our (way too) many cats checking out the whale to see just how comfy a sleeping place it's mouth might offer.....I made it perfectly clear to her that no matter how soft and cozy looking that velvet may be, I would make sure that sleeping in there would definately be hazardous to her health. I can just imagine posting a picture to a contest only to realize that the background is covered in tabby fur - I just hope the card would be chocolate chip and creamy caramel...maybe no one would notice.....yeah right.

Okay, so here is the first shot from Amie's chic new "House of Blubber" photography studio............TA DAH........so......wadda ya think???? Was it worth all the work we put into it?...and more importantly.......was it worth reading through all of this fal-da-rol just to see one stupid card.....no, don't tell me...I'll just hope the answer is yes!  I promise there will be lots more pics to come, now that Studio HoB is finally operational!

Oh, and by the way, the pattern for this card is in the March/April issue of Paper Crafts Magazine ~ I downloaded the pattern a while back from the PC online site, but I just went in to make a hyperlink (I'm really scaring myself with all of this techy stuff...) and the link isn't working, sorry. It's under "downloads" if you want to check for yourself ~ good luck!

I made another dress card, but it just needs a little tweaking and then it will be ready for it's debut! I can't wait to share it with you all! TTFN!!