School Days - Try Stampin' on Tuesday or Not #338

The optional theme attached to this week's sketch is "School Days".  Seeing as this is Labour Day weekend (the last official weekend of the summer), with the kids going back to school this week, the theme is most appropriate.

When I think of school, I think of my daughter, who is a Primary School Teacher (grade 3).  I also think of apples.  I can't put my daughter on a card, but I can make an apple.

The sketch is by Kaylin.

Recognize Swirly Bird's coordinating framelit?? I have had more use out of this particular framelit (even though I was most vocal in stating that I did not like it when it first came out)

Both the large and medium "swirls" were die cut using Real Red DSP; the two leaves in Pear Pizzazz and they were adhered to some chalkboard paper (retired).  At the top I white embossed "Just a Note".  This was matted with Whisper White card stock, and added to the card front using dimensionals.

The card base is Crushed Curry, layered with Whisper White and then a retired children's DSP.  Two panels of the reverse side of the DSP were added to the top and bottom.  Some Real Red Baker's twine was wrapped 3 times around the bottom one and tied into a bow on the right side.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Flourish Phrases
Inks:  Versa Mark
Papers:  Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Children's DSP (retired), Chalkboard paper (retired)
Accessories:  White embossing powder, dimensionals, Swirly Scribbles Die, Red Baker's Twine

Swirly Bird - Four cards in 4 minutes

When I first saw the Swirly Bird stamp set my immediate reaction was of dislike.  All I saw were different shapes of pieces that did not seem to fit together to make any sort of coherent card.  Whenever this happens to me I challenge myself - challenge myself to make something with these different elements.  I first went on Pinterest to see what other demonstrators were making , so I began to experiment.

I was happy with the few cards I put together, and then decided to make the first card making class of the season a "Swirly Bird" class.  Talk about challenging yourself!!

After I completed the cards, I had bits and pieces left over, so gathered them together, and in the next 4 minutes I had 4 cards-a Halloween one, 2 Christmas ones, and a masculine birthday.

My intent now is to display these cards to demonstrate to the students how versatile this set with its coordinating framelit/dies is.

Here are the four cards:

I also put together some other images that can be made with this stamp set, but did not make them into cards - a couple of kites, a boat with 2 colour of sails, and a boat in a jar.





Challenge yourself!!  See how many different cards you can make using this stamp set , a stamp set that on first viewing I disliked so much, and ended up doing so much with.

Swirly Bird Thank You - a Swap card

When I first saw the Swirly Bird stamp set I did not like it.  As a matter of fact, I even went on record stating that I would never buy it.  My mother once told me never say "never", because it does not give you room to change your mind. Well, I said "never" but I did change my mind.  Was my mother wrong?

The more I looked at the stamp set, and saw samples of cards on Pinterest that were made using this set, the more I saw possiblities.  It's like "Gorgeous Grunge".  I did not like that set either - at first - and now it's one of my favourite stamp sets.

So, obviously I bought the stamp set, and made this thank you card using Swirly Bird.  As I mentioned, I was inspired by the many cards I saw on Pinterest.

The base card is Flirty Flamingo, layered with Whisper White.  On the left side of the Whisper White cardstock, I stamped the stamp with dots on it (reminds me of Gorgeous Grunge)repeatedly, with a heavier concentration on the upper half.

Then I die cut the Swirly strip, first in Flirty Flamingo, and then in Vellum cardstock.  I used the Fine tip glue pen to adhere these pieces to the card front.

Two other swirly circles in vellum, each a different size.  The larger was adhered somewhat over the other strips, and the smaller one above it.

No card is complete without a butterfly, even if it is technically a "bird" set.  So, I pulled out the small Butterfly framelit and die.  First I die cut the butterfly in Flirty Flamingo: the framelit in Vellum. The two were adhered using glue dots.  To finish this off, I added some pears,  to the butterfly body, and extended the pearls above the butterfly to underneath the sentiment.

The sentiment is from "Another Thank You" and was stamped with Black Memento directly onto the card front.

Supplies Used: 
Stamps:  Swirly Bird, Another Thank You
Inks: Flirty Flamingo, Black Memento
Papers: Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White, Vellum Cardstock
Accessories: Swirly Scribbles Thinlet dies, Butterfly thinlet dies, Pearls, glue dots, fine tipped glue pen.

These are the 4 cards I made:

I am Much More.....

"I am much more when I'm with You"  So true!  This is a sentiment from one of the new stamp sets "Layering Love"
I wanted to keep this card simple, and soft, so I used suble colours on a white background.
This card was made for the card sketch challenge with Canadian Die Cut Exchange.

The basic card is Pool Party that had the background stamped with hearts and Pool Party ink.  If you look carefully you can see the stamping around the edges.

The die cut images were adhered to a shimmery white background.  The images were die cut using vellum cardstock and then coloured on the back with markers. The flowers were coloured with Pool Party markers; the centers with So Saffron; the vine with Wild Wasabi.

The flowers and centers were from the Botanical Builder framelit dies; the green vine line dies from "Swirly Bird"

Rhinestones were placed in the center of each flower and at the bottom of the sentiment, which was die cut using the layering circles framelits.  The edges of this circle was sponged with Pool Party ink to make it stand out a bit more.

Supplies Used:
Stamp: Layering Love
Ink: Black Memento, Markers (Pool Party, So Saffron, Tangelo Twist, Wild Wasabi), Pool Party
Papers: Pool Party, Vellum cardstock, Shimmery White cardstock, Whisper White cardstock
Accessories: Botanical Builders framelits and dies, Swirly Scribbles thinlets and dies, rhinestones