Thanks-a-Daisy

Using up more scraps! This one is for today's demo challenge as SCS. Part of that challenge was NOT to use white or vanilla, which I found remarkably difficult.
What's really neat about these petals is that you can use your Large Oval, Wide Oval, or Round Tab punch to make them! You'll get slightly different petal shapes with each, so choose your favorite.

Ingredients (all SU!):
Paper: Regal Rose, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Urban Garden
Stamp: from Short & Sweet set
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Pink Passion, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Creamy Caramel
Punches: Large Oval, 1" Circle
Other: Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, antique brass brads, sponge daubers, stampin' sponge wedge

Here's how to make the petals:
--Cut a strip of cardstock about an inch wide and score a line lengthwise down the center. Fold away from the score. This will create a little bump on the inside of the fold, which will resemble the center rib in a daisy petal when you're done.
--Put the folded cardstock in your punch with the folded edge inside the punch. If using an oval punch, line up the fold ABOVE the half-way point, and punch!

It's okay if your petals are slightly different sizes--that adds to the organic realism!



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A Tulip (or two) For You

I was chatting online with my youngest sister, Erin, on Saturday about papercrafty-type stuff (she used to be a demo, too), and she mentioned that she never uses black cardstock. And that got me thinking... Hmmm... I don't use black much either. I have a whole pack, but I don't remember when or why I purchased it. So I sat down to stamp, determined to include black in my design. And this is what resulted.

Actually, I was also intent on using the tulip, too. I'd made it last week, and still had yet to do anything with it. I checked a flower-meaning site and found that tulips are general purpose flowers. They don't really mean anything in particular, just make people smile. Hence the generic 'For You' sentiment.

I managed to use a single stamp set (Fresh Cuts) for the whole card. Five stamps come in this set, might as well use them together, right? I used three of the five.

Ingredients (all SU!):
Stamps: Fresh Cuts
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Basic Black, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, Urban Garden
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Orchid Opulence, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black
Punches: Wide Oval, Large Oval, Small Oval, Tag Corner
Other: Top Note die, Chocolate Chip marker, pewter jumbo eyelent and mini brad, sponge daubers, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon

And just because I know you'll appreciate it, here's a mini tutorial on how I made the tulip.

What you'll need:

• Wide Oval punch
• Large Oval punch
• Small Oval punch
• Scrap of flower-colored cardstock
• Scrap of stem/leaf-colored cardstock
• Sponge daubers and ink for shading

1. Punch one of each oval in your desired bloom color. Here I'm using So Saffron.
2. Put the wide oval punched shape back in the punch as shown, and punch out a DQ-type shape that is about 3/4" at the widest point of the curve.
3. Snip the middle out of the small oval punched shape.
4. Grab a sponge dauber and an ink pad and shade the edges of your pieces as shown. Here I've used Apricot Appeal.
5. Glue your large oval shape onto the wide oval shape, centered in the U made in Step 2, and with the bottom edges even. (You can see that I also added darker 'veining' with Really Rust and an aquapainter)
6. Glue the small oval 'ears' to the back, centered in the V's created by the two larger oval shapes.
7. Cut a straight stem and two leaves from your green cardstock (I'm using Kiwi Kiss). My stem is 1/4" by 3" (or thereabouts). For my leaves, I cut a 2"x3" rectangle, folded it in half length-wise, and cut a long curve through both layers first on one side, then the other.
8. Use a sticky note (cut a hint of a curve on the sticky side) to shield half of a leaf so you can ink the other. Repeat with the other leaf, and add shading to the stem.
9. Assemble your tulip.
Tadaaaa.....!


Here's a super-simple alternate tulip. Not as 'WOW' as the tulip above, but still a tulip. I plan to do a dozen of these along the bottom of a two-page scrapbook layout. Basically, you take a Wide Oval shape and punch off the top with your Scallop Edge punch as shown below. Easy!


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Love You Lilies

My son used to love origami, so we would sit for hours making swans and frogs and cups. It's a terribly good use for a small square piece of paper! The flowers on this card are inspired by those paper-folding sessions. It's SO easy, I'm sure someone else has done it before--essentially it's just the start of a balloon fold on a scallop square punched from cardstock. I've put together a photo tutorial for you--find it at the end of this post.

Here are the card details:

Ingredients (all SU!):
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Bella Rose
Stamp: grass from Inspired by Nature
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss
Punches: Scallop Square (flower), Scallop Circle (sponging clouds), Scallop Edge (edge of layered piece), Small Oval (sentiment), 3/4" Circle (collar thingie on the flowers), Ticket Corner
Other: Sponge dauber, Stampin' Sponge wedge, Regal Rose marker (hand-written sentiment), Styled Silver hardware, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.

And check this out! Love this photo.
Since the flowers are 3-dimensional, I decided to try them in a little vase. Instead of folding down just one 'flap' (step 6 below), I folded down both. Poked a hole in the point, stuck a wire through, and finished each flower with some Garden Green cardstock. Last, I finished the vase with some Celery and Pretty in Pink ribbon.

Now... as promised, here is the short photo tutorial.

1. Punch out a scallop square from your desired bloom color. Here I'm using Pink Pirouette. Ink the center with a contrasting color (I used Apricot Appeal). This will be the inside of your flower. Score carefully from one diagonal corner to the other and from second scallop to second scallop, as shown by the blue lines in the photo. (Scoring is not absolutely necessary, but if done carefully, makes for a crisper finished flower.)
2. Turn the scallop square over and score on the back side as shown.
3. Fold in half diagonally on scored line so that the inked side is out (mountain fold).
4. Open and fold in half on one scored line from Step 2, making a rectangle, with inked side in. Open and fold again on the other scored line from Step 2, again with inked side in (valley folds). Open.
5. Holding the scallop square ink-side up, push diagonal folds up and to the center while collapsing the blossom, as shown.
6. Fold down one 'flap' on the remaining score line created in Step 1. This is the front of your flower, and your flower bloom is now done. All it needs is a stem! As a stem transition (i.e. 'collar thingie'), I cut a 3/4" green circle in half, folded a half into quarters and glued the edge closed to make a cup. Then I glued the pointy tip of the flower into the cup.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Semi-Traditional Non-Standard Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day cards are not my favorite thing to make, mostly because I am so totally not a hearts-and-roses kind of person. So how about a semi-non-traditional valentine card? (Click on the picture to see a bigger version!)

As far as hearts go, I have to make an exception for the heart in the Always set. It's just beautiful and will probably 'always' be one of my favorites (*snerk*). Here I stamped it on white cardstock with white craft ink, and embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I used sponge daubers and ink pads to tap color over the embossed image, overlapping the colors a smidge so they blended. Added the red accents with marker and cut it out. The rest is just squares and punches.

Ingredients (all SU!):
Stamps: Always, Happy Heart Day
Cardstock: Certainly Celery card base, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Craft White, Lovely Lilac, C.Celery, T.Turquoise Markers: L.Lilac, T.Turquoise, Real Red, Night of Navy
Punches: Small Tag, Ticket Corner, Scallop Edge
Other: White embossing powder, sponge daubers, Real Red ribbon, hemp twine

Thanks for visiting!

Diamond Daisy

I *heart* my punches! Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em! This card was done for the January 14th Diamond Fold card challenge at SCS. I'd never made a diamond fold card before. I tried it first without scoring, and didn't even finish folding it before I decided I needed to take the time to measure and score. SU cardstock is pretty hefty, so it's tough to get the folds crisp and even otherwise. Here's a pic of the same card held flat (Ignore the thumb at the bottom--It's not part of the card!):
Isn't that a cool little daisy? I'm not sure what it is with me and punch flowers lately, but here's how I made this one: First I punched a Scallop Circle from Cameo Coral, found the center point and poked a hole. Then I used my paper snips to cut cone shapes out, snipping in about 1/2". Here's a quick pic:

After inking the petals with Ruby Red and a sponge dauber, I put just a tiny smidge of glue on the outside round part of each petal and dipped in Dazzling Diamonds (glitter). I used the Boho Blossoms punch to punch the 12-pointed flower from Summer Sun, then daubered Pumpkin Pie into the middle and added glitter to the petals. Used the Trio Flower punch and Rose Red cardstock for the smallest flower, dipped it all in DD. I used the Round Tab punch and Green Galore to get the leaf. The stem is just a strip of GG. Stitching details added with O.Olive marker.

INGREDIENTS (all SU!)
Paper: S.Sun, C.Celery, G.Galore, C.Coral, W.White, Rose Red, scrap of Urban Garden DSP
Ink: Ruby Red, P.Pie, B.Breeze (sponged in center of white piece)
Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Trio Flower punch, Round Tab punch, O.Olive marker, D.Diamonds glitter

Thanks for visiting!

A CASE For You

Yet another card for you! I'm trying to catch up on all the challenges and occasions I missed during the holiday chaos. This one is actually a CASE-the-Sale-A-Bration-Catty challenge (Copy And Share... Enthusiastically? ...with Everyone? ...with Evelyn?), and I chose a card on page 2. The flower consists of three scallop square pieces folded at intervals, sponged with Regal Rose, and stacked inside one another.

INGREDIENTS (all SU!):
Paper: Pink Pirouette base & flower, So Saffron Top Note, Kiwi Kiss green bits, Bella Rose brown piece
Ink: Regal Rose for flower shading and to stamp the sentiment
Stamp: from One of a Kind
Accessories: Old Olive 5/8" ribbon, Top Note die, Scallop Square punch (flower), Five-Petal Flower punch (leaves and sepals), O.Olive marker (leaf and sepal details), sponge dauber, hemp twine

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Pretty Punched Thanks

*big satisfied sigh* This card turned out SO WELL!! (If I may say so...) Go ahead... click on the pic to see a larger version. Isn't it sweet? And I used ONLY scraps to create it! (Honest!) I made it for this month's WICKED color combo challenge in the demo forum at SCS.

This was my first attempt at dyeing ribbon. I started out putting the ribbon on my Baja inkpad and using a sponge dauber to pounce it into the ink, but I got better ink coverage on the top, where I was pouncing, so I moved the ribbon to my work surface (on grid paper), and just added ink that way. The gradation was a happy accident (don't you love those?).

Check out this post for a tutorial on how to make the flower.

INGREDIENTS (all SU!):
Cardstock: Scraps of Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, So Saffron, Not Quite Navy
Stamp (sentiment): Short & Sweet
Ink: C.Coral, B.Breeze, S.Saffron, N.Q.Navy, C.Caramel, Craft White
Markers: C. Coral, C.Cocoa, O.Olive, Gray
Punches: Five-petal Flower, 3/4" circle, Ticket Corner, Large Oval
Other: White gel pen, silver brad, white 1/4" ribbon

Thanks for visiting!

Deepest Sympathy

My heart is hurting for my friend, Landra. Her husband passed away this morning. If you're the praying sort, please visit my personal blog to read about the Peña family and add them to your prayer list.

This is the sympathy card I made for the family. I couldn't find the 'With Sympathy' stamp that came in my Kindred Spirits set, so I just hand-wrote the sentiment. Paper strip is a scrap from Urban Garden. Tutorial on how to make the five-petal-punch chrysanthemum is here on my blog under 'DIY.' (Menu in the right-hand column.)

Thanks for visiting!

Luv my jeans!

There's nothing better than a good pair of jeans that fits just right. And depending on the rest of your outfit, they can be dressed up or down for just about any occasion. (Luv my jeans!) This yummy jeans-inspired card (or set of cards, as the case may be) is no exception.

This was one of my gifts to my sister for Christmas. She likes to hand make cards, but sometimes has trouble with the 'inspiration and design' aspect of cardmaking--AND she's more Tex-ified than I am, and has been known to wear large belt buckles with her matching leather belt and boots. So I put together a few card kits for her, each with one finished card, plus all the pieces pre-stamped and pre-cut to make three additional cards. I included matching envelopes with the horseshoe and star motif stamped on the flap. I have to admit it looks a lot better in person, though.

Ingredients (all SU!):
Stamps: Bronc Buster
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, Brushed Silver
Ink: Versamark, White craft
Other: Markers, white gel pen, silver embossing powder, sponge wedge, 1/4" circle hole punch

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Blogiversary!

Rebel Inker will be one year old tomorrow! I have several things planned for this multi-day 'celebration,' so stay tuned! We'll have projects, a challenge, a tutorial, and perhaps... oh, I don't know, some BLOG CANDY! (Pssst! Check out the new feature in the left-hand column, over there under my Cool Links. Way Cool People Who Follow My Blog. It may or may not have anything to do with blog candy. *wink*.... *wink*)

Well, it would be silly to have a blogiversary party without a card, so here's a birthday or anniversary card, appropriately using a scrap of Maine Blueberry (left over from the October SCIAK):
RECIPE:
Stamps: Boatloads of Love, Short & Sweet
Paper: Kiwi Kiss card base, Not Quite Navy mat, Bashful Blue large oval, Whisper White for boat and sentiment, scrap of Maine Blueberry
Ink: Boat stamped in Basic Gray and watercolored with various colors. Clouds stamped in Bashful Blue and watercolored with Ballet Blue. Sentiment stamped in Not Quite Navy. Bashful Blue oval distressed with Bordering Blue.
Accessories: Aqua Painter, silver brads, Large Oval punch, Small Oval punch, Ticket Corner punch, Night of Navy Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, SU Markers for detail work

More fun to come!

Addicted to Chrysanthemums

I can't stop making these flowers! They turn out SO wonderfully, no matter what you do! I went a little loco with this one--it has seven rows of petals. The card is 5½" square, so you get an idea how big it ended up!

This is my creation for yesterday's SC185 Sketch Challenge at SCS. I'm not ENTIRELY happy with the rest of the card, but I'll keep looking at it and see if I'm inspired.

Ingredients: SU Cardstock in Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Mellow Moss, Old Olive; SU Classic Ink Pads in Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Old Olive; Five-Petal Flower punch; Large Oval punch (leaves); Ticket Corner punch; 1/4" Chocolate Chip ribbon; Pewter brads; Stampin' dimensionals; Stampin' sponges; Sponge daubers; Old Olive marker

Thanks for visiting!

Tangy Turquoise!

This is a card I did yesterday, and I'm just tickled with the way it turned out! It consists of a Tempting Turquoise card base sponged with TT ink to give some tonal variations. Over that is a piece of Cuttlebug-embossed acetate (overhead projector film rescued from the recycle bin at my kids' school). Faux-chipboard orange pieces are adhered to a distressed piece of Pumpkin Pie. Faux-chipboard word window with eyelets adhered at bottom. See tutorial below on making the faux chipboard elements. (For each 'chipboard' element on this card, I used three pieces of kraft CS and one non-kraft piece rather than four kraft pieces).

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Celebrate Everything
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, W. White, Kraft, Summer Sun, acetate
Ink: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Word Window punch, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Cuttlebug & embossing folder, Crop-a-Dile, eyelets.
Techniques: Rock-n-Roll, faux chipboard

Always Subtle

This card was interesting to make. I don't normally put this many steps into a card--especially when I'm making 20+ of them, but this design had to be professional quality. I started with Very Vanilla and trimmed it down to the size I wanted, then stamped the berry branch from the Always set in Versamark. Heat embossed with white embossing powder. That was stunning by itself, the white-on-vanilla look, but I wanted to increase the contrast a bit. So I used a stippling brush to swirl Creamy Caramel ink over the cardstock for a subtle emboss-resist effect. I punched the corners with the ticket corner punch, then matted it to a piece of Creamy Caramel (after punching those corners as well).

Those pieces sat around for about a week while I decided how I wanted to finish them. When I finally narrowed it down, I sat down and stamped out a bunch of hearts from the Always set in Mellow Moss on white. Then I carefully cut them all out, leaving off the dots around the outside edges. Though you can't really see it in this pic, the edges of the center heart are distressed with a sanding block. It's mounted on a dimensional. The others are just glued directly to the vanilla piece. Tied hemp twine around the vanilla/caramel piece. Tied a bit of Mellow Moss around the twine knot, trimmed the ends, then glued the whole thing to a Mellow Moss card base. One of the small sentiments from the Always set can be stamped inside.

So here's a summary:
Stamps: Always
Paper: V. Vanilla, W. White, Mellow Moss, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Versamark, Creamy Caramel, Mellow Moss
Accessories: White embossing powder, stipple brush, heat gun, sanding block, Mellow Moss ribbon, natural hemp twine, dimensional, liquid glue

Another design for my November SAS. I love this card, and will very likely use this design for my personal holiday cards!

Stamps: Season of Joy
Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Real Red
Ink: White Craft, Certainly Celery
Accessories: R.Red, C. Celery markers, 1/4" R.Red ribbon, ticket corner punch
Non SU!: Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and slider die

Cheerful Wishes

This is one of the designs I have planned for my November Stamp-A-Stack. I don't see this stamp set used very much, but I think it's cute.

Stamps: Wishing You Cheer
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories: Irridescent Ice EP, 1" Circle punch, tag corner punch, N.Navy marker, 1/4" Brocade Blue ribbon (retired)
Non-SU!: Cuttlebug swirls embossing folder and snowflake die.

Blush Doodles

Okay, so it took about 20 minutes to get something ready to post. This is a card I did last week. I've been in a stamping slump for a while, so this card, while very simple, still took me several hours to make. Couldn't decide what colors I wanted to use with the Blush Blossom flower. Couldn't decide whether I wanted to add ribbon or not...

All supplies from Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Doodle This
Paper: Blush Blossom, Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Soft Sky
Ink: Versamark, Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, Old Olive
Markers: Blush Blossom & Pretty in Pink on flower, Old Olive
Other: Clear embossing powder, silver brads