SK September: Homemade with Love

When I started creating this card with Penny Black's Homemade stamp set, I had something completely different in mind. I stamped and colored the image to match a patterned paper that featured strawberries and vines. But as I was trying to put the image against the paper, I kept feeling like it was getting lost in the whimsical strawberry chaos.

So, I took a step back and thought about what I should do to make this card stand out. I cut the image into a rectangle and matted it with a piece of dark brown cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in the same dark brown shade, then die-cut it into a rectangle.

I played around with some other paper, die-cuts and shapes, but in the end... I just liked the simplicity and the contrast of the image and the sentiment by themselves. So, I adhered them to a white card base with foam tape and left it as a CAS creation.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

September Stash Kit

This is my Stash Kit for the month of September. Since September is the beginning of fall, I decided to go with fall-themed goodies that weren't centered around Halloween or Thanksgiving. For the first kit, I gave myself a lot of choices - probably more than I really needed. But my goal is to make at least 1-2 cards with each stamp set.

I chose 3 rubber stamps:

The Greeting Farm - Anya's Day Out (part of Super Secret Stamp Club #9)

The Greeting Farm - OA - Journey (Oliver and Amelia line)

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - Let the Good Times Roll!

And 3 photopolymer stamp sets:

Mama Elephant - Chance of Rain

Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods

Penny Black - Homemade

I chose one paper pad to focus on:

My Favorite Things - Fun & Frolic 6x6

And a few embellishments:

Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods Flair

Wplus9 - Autumn Splendor Blue enamel dots

I have also added a small baggie with random ephemera (some die-cut shapes, wood veneer and a couple of stray enamel dots), and enough card bases to make 12 cards.

Throughout September, you'll be seeing the cards I've made with my stash kit. I hope you'll enjoy them!

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Birthday Ballet & More Unicorns

 My Favorite Things - BB Birthday Bears, Penny Black - Sweet and Cute, My Favorite Things - Chevron Cover Up

It's Friday, and Fridays make me feel happy. Maybe it's because it's generally my quiet workday, or maybe it's the promise of a potentially relaxing weekend, but I quite like Fridays.

And on this Friday, I'm sharing another birthday card. It features a sweet ballerina mouse from Penny Black and a large cover-up die from My Favorite Things. I have a few of these cover up dies - basic shapes like polka dots, stripes and chevrons. But for some reason, I used to find them difficult to use.

While they do cover up quite a bit of patterned paper, the problem was that I used the wrong kind of pattern. Anything too complicated of too large would look really fragmented and out of place. But using the miniature patterns from Doodlebug papers is just perfect! The cover up actually breaks up the pattern enough so it's not too overbearing.

Just look at it in action again:

Sweet Stamp Shop - Unicorn, The Alleyway Stamps - Lighter than Air (retired).

I feel like I stumbled upon the winning formula, there, and I'm going to go through my Doodlebug supplies again to see if I can match them with one of the cover-ups.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

15m Birthday

Today I'm doing a quick card share of a birthday card featuring Penny Black's Sweet And Cute stamp set and a sentiment from Avery Elle's Handwritten Notes. This particular card was a quick less-than-15-minutes creation I made when I caught a free moment during a busy work week.

Hopefully work will be less busy soon!
~Elle~

Chatty Sunday: Impulse buys and pacing

Today, I'm combining a chatty Sunday post with a card - mainly because my chat has to do with one of the stamps I used on the card. The card itself is nothing really special. It's very simple and it doesn't feel completely finished, but I really wanted to share it because it's a great way to illustrate my ramble-y chat.

The drinking mice on the card are from Penny Black's Homemade stamp set, which features several absolutely adorable images of mice and making/eating home-made goodies. I first saw this stamp set a couple of years ago, when I got into card-making. I immediately fell in-love with it, but it happened to be out of stock in the store I was shopping at, so I never got it.

Over the next few shopping tricks, it never ended up making it into an order. Sometimes I'd put it in the cart, but then take it out because I needed another stamp more. Other times, I'd just write myself a wish-list reminder that I should get it when I had a budget to spare. Whatever the reason, I didn't get the stamp set right away, and then forgot about it in a flurry of brand new releases.

Recently, I came across the Homemade stamp again and -  to my surprise - found it just as interesting and as inspiring as it was two years ago. I was amazed that a stamp with an image I'd seen at least a hundred times was still something I wanted in my stamp collection. So, I bought it! And I'm incredibly pleased with my purchase. I've already thought of/planned out several cards featuring the stamp set, and I'm really looking forward to making them happen.

Inspired by this, I immediately ran to browse other Penny Black stamps and see if there was another set or two I just had to have. Of course, I found about a hundred and even went to fill my cart to the brim with awesome stamps. But I didn't complete my purchase.

You see, a little while ago I'd narrowed down one of the biggest behaviors that make me overspend and go way beyond my budget -- impulse buys. If there's a new release or a new sale going on, I find myself mighty tempted to go overboard. And then one purchase leads to the next, as I discover that I missed getting something or something that was out of stock is now available. It's a bit of a vicious circle - one that's just terrible for my budget.

So, I took a step back and decided to apply my new buying tips:
- I wait a few weeks between placing things in my cart and actually buying them.
This seems like a small step, but it's a HUGE help. Those few weeks give me a chance to really think about what I'm buying and decide if it's worth investing in. There have already been several stamps that I felt like I absolutely HAD to have at release, but then I changed my mind a couple of weeks later. Likewise, there were a few stamp sets that didn't seem like a big deal, but I continued to feel inspired by enough to buy.
- I don't shop sales.
I appreciate a good deal just as much as any crafter does, but every sale ends up with me filling up my cart with piles and piles of supplies. Sometimes I luck out and get awesome deals on things I adore. But most of the time, I end up with just way too many supplies that get looked over or forgotten. Paying full price (or close to full price) gives me less supplies, but it makes me value them more - not to mention stops me from getting overwhelmed by new goodies.
If there's a sale or discount code when I'm placing my order, I make use of it. Otherwise, I don't worry about it.
- I make only one order per month.
I find it easier to stay on budget if I limit myself to making just one order. Having to get everything in one trip really makes me re-examine just how much I need the things I'm adding to the cart. Some months, I find myself getting new stamps, dies and embellishments. Other months, I'm stocking up on staples like adhesive, cardstock and ink. I'm able to balance things better and find myself making much better use of my supplies.

So! My next Penny Black haul will have to wait a little. But, I'm sure I'll discover many must-have sets to fall in-love with while I wait. In the meantime, I'll be making good use of Homemade and creating several projects I've got bouncing around my creative brain.

Happy Sunday to you all, and thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Penny Black - Merry Christmas

Work was very busy for me this past week, which left me no time to get crafty, or even post much otherwise. But now that it's the weekend, I'm hoping to change that and get a good start on my holiday cards.

One of the things I'd like to do this year is make a couple of sets of cards for a few friends and family. Of course, making sets is only efficient if I don't end up spending an hour or five per card. So, I had to come up with something that was both simple and easy to do.

I pulled out another Penny Black acrylic stamp set from my stash - Christmas Outdoors. This set features several really cute images that seemed quick and easy to color. Since there were no sentiments in the set, I decided to pair it with Hero Arts' Snowman Christmas set.

I cut the base out of kraft cardstock, scoring and folding it into a top-folding A2 base (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). While I had my trimmer out, I also cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4 by 5 1/4, and a piece of white cardstock to measure 3 3/4 by 5".

I stamped the image from Christmas Outdoors with black ink, then colored it in with my Copics. I kept the coloring very simple, choosing only 2 shades per color. I liked the simplicity of using just the two colors, as I think it goes really well with the cartoon-y design of the stamp. After the coloring was done, I added a few small highlights with my white gel pen.

I stamped the sentiment in Onyx Black ink. And that's all there was to it! It's simple, easy to replicate and can be made slightly different with different coloring and by switching out the red cardstock with another color.

Supplies:
Penny Black Christmas Outdoors acrylic stamp set
Hero Arts Snowman Christmas stamp set
Neenah Desert Storm environmental cardstock in #110lbs
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Lipstick Red
Stampin' Up Whisper White cardstock
My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink in Black Licorice
Tsukineko Versafine in Onyx Black
Copics (E00, E11, R20, E35, E37, R05, R46, B02, B05, BG10, BG32, R81, R85, BV25, YR15, E35, E37)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen

Baby Bunny

This card uses a lovely old set by Penny Black called Touch of Whimsy. I bought this stamp set ages ago because I simply fell in love with the images. They have a beautiful whimsical design, and a combination of storybooks and ancient Chinese scroll art. I don't think I've ever seen a stamp set quite like it.

I was not pleased with my purchase originally. I didn't realize this, but Penny Black clear stamps are acrylic and I've been used to working with photo-polymer stamps. So, to switch to an acrylic stamp was a challenge and I hated my early results. But although Penny Black clear stamps are acrylic, they're still of a very good quality. I just had to change my stamping approach a bit to make them work perfectly. So, I decided to use one of the bunny stamps and have fun with the card.

I started by die-cutting a scalloped rectangle from My Favorite Things' Blueprints 1 dies, using a gray cardstock. I also cut a front panel out of white cardstock, using the larger rectangle from Blueprints 1. I then grabbed my trimmer and cut a strip of striped brown patterned paper.

I stamped the bunny in the corner of the panel, using Ranger Archival ink in Coffee. I then used my Prismacolor pencils to color in the bunny, going with greens and reds for some great contrast - and because they're gender-neutral colors.

I stamped a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Sweet Little Sentiments at the bottom left of the panel, then adhered the white panel to the gray scallop. I adhered the patterned paper at the center of a card base, and added the front panel with foam squares.

The card needed a little shine, so I added a few sequins I got as a lovely gift with one of my Winnie & Walter orders. They're clear sequins, but they shimmer and shine a rainbow of hues when the light catches them. It's really quite lovely.

Supplies:
Penny Black A Touch of Whimsy stamp
Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamp
Ranger Archival ink in Coffee
Neenah Solar White cardstock in #110lbs (base) and #80lbs (front panel)
Gray cardstock
Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper Lullaby
My Favorite Things Blueprints 1 dies
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
Prismacolor Pencils
Winnie & Walter sequins