Blissful Dreams Box

This is a top note box that I made for the Blissful Papercrafting Kit from Serendipity. The link has a video with detailed instructions, and I love Angie's many video tutorials. I used the Labels 8 nesties on PTI vintage cream cardstock, chocolate and the Bird Flourish paper.
The main image is Flourishes Waterlily, watercolored with an aquapen, with Memento bamboo leaves, pear tart, and Palette's ocean tides.

This next card is 5x7, with a mat of shimmery cream paper. It is just the right touch.

The patterned paper is the flipside of the Key Stripe. I used the MFT Herbal Peppermint stamp, and paper pieced the flower pot. It is colored with Koh-i-noor pencils. Also used the circle nesties, and Dotted Wave punch. I love the way the ribbon feels, it is super smooth.

My First Scrapbooking Page

This is another blog hop for Kim's Blissful papercrafting kit. You should have come here thru Serendipity's blog and Michelle's.

This is my first scrapbooking page. I used the BellaBella "French Flea Market" Simply Plaid sheet from the kit. I punched circles from the TPC Studio Ancestral Key Stripe and placed them half under the matted picture so it looks like a big scalloped edge. I used the flipside of the Key Stripe for the mat around the pic, there is a faint print as the pattern.
I stamped the seashells from the TweetyJill's stamps sets: By the Sea, and Retro Oceanside. It is stamped in Memento rich cocoa, desert sand, and sponged with Palette ocean tides. Then I distressed the edges with a bone folder and attached it to the Vanilla soaked tag. I put a strip of ribbon thru the hole, and wrapped the pre-tied string around the ribbon.

You can see in this pic that the cream paper has a sheen. I used my aquapen to color the sky and water of this ship image, which is also from the By the Sea set. Also seen here, is dew drops and leaf ribbon that is included in the kit.

Blissful Kit

Here are some more creations with Serendipity's latest papercrafting kit.

This card is a 5" square card made from PTI's ocean tides cardstock. The background paper is TPC Studio's Ancestral Key Stripe, and the flip side is the brown mat around the main image that has a nice script. The cream mat is a shiny paper. I used TweetyJill's stamp set called Song Birds that has a mix of birds and butterflies. I love the set because it is an unmounted rubber set with a cushion, that stamps so nicely with a clear block. I love seeing exactly where my stamps are stamping!
And this is the inside of the card. I always love a stripe at the top.

I got the idea for this cute little card set from Debbie Olson, I just love her set found here. It uses the Nestabilities Labels 8, with a 1/4" clear box cut in half between the TPC Studio's Ancestral Bird Flourish paper. I also used the Labels 8 on PTI ocean and speckled cream cardstocks to make the cards, and then folded in half. i used the next smaller nestie for the patterned paper, with its flipside on the fronts of the cards, and then stamped "thanks" script from A Muse.

i used the second smallest nestie to make the fastener, and then used a magnetic closure to keep it closed.

With the next few photos, I thought i would share one thing I learned in a photography class about composition technique; and how i chose which part of the paper that I wanted to use for the outside cover of my box. It is the "active space" rule. ( that i also learned could be broken.) Anyway, this is the space in front of a moving object. Like below, the space behind is called "dead space". Your eye naturally moves to where the object is going. Below, this bird is going nowhere.

The next 2 birds are actually going somewhere.

Working with the way your viewer will instinctively view your image helps create balance, drama, and anticipation.

So i went with the upper bird, for the cover. I hope this helps you with your composition.

Remember, you can get all these products at Kim's shop, Serendipity, in Henderson, KY.

Blissful Papercrafting Kit Blog Hop

it is time for another blog hop! Kim has the new "Blissful" papercrafting kit, now available, at Serendipity. you should have come to my post thru Michelle's.

the new kit includes:

• 2 each Papertrey Ink cardstock: Ocean Tides, Rustic Cream, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream
• Shimmer Cream
• 12x12 TPC Studio: Bird Flourish: Teal Brocade, Key Stripe, Bird Brocade
• 12x12 My Mind's Eye: French Flea Market, Fulfilled, Simply Plaid
• 2 Vanilla Latte Scented Tags
• 3 small Shipping Tags
• Custom Dew Drop Mix in Maya Road Journey Tin
• 3 yds satin ribbon
• 1 yd May Arts brown leaves
• 3 Bazzill chipboard scrolls

so, this is my first creation with the kit. i loved it so much, as you can see, i made a portion of it my new blog banner. i used the PTI ocean tides cardstock, along with the Bella Bella French Flea Market paper. The brown mat is the opposite side of the TPC Ancestral Teal Brocade, and you can see it has a subtle script. i also did some faux sewing: i pierced the paper and then used a white pencil.

the main images are from a Flourishes stamp set called Waterlilies. and i stamped it on the speckled cream paper using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

Stationery Box

hope you are ready for a big post, and a lot of pics. i think this is my biggest project ever. this is my last project for Kim's papercrafting kit of the Andrea Victoria paper.

i found this wonderful, easy to follow tutorial on how to make this stationery box on splitcoaststampers.com. and here is a link to some other great ideas.

my lid is just a little different from the tutorial, i used PTI smoky cardstock, and then layered the patterned paper on it. i then cut out one of the flowers and pasted it to one of the die cuts from the AVictoria accessory sheet and adhered it to the underside of the lid. in order to do this, i had to think ahead and make sure my patterned paper had the flower centered on the lid. (really, i think it happened by accident, a really happy accident!)

once you remove the lid, the front of the box unfolds to reveal all the goodies inside. i used a JustRite font set to do my labeling, and the SU window punch.

these cards are 3x3, and the tags are from the accessory sheet.

again, the damask image is from the accessory sheet, and the "thanks" is A Muse.

i love the line of gems. these were easier to adhere than i thought they would be.

this patterned paper is from the cover sheet of the kit, you know, the sheet in front of all the paper that lets you know what is in the package.

and last but not least, i think this is my fav card in the set. it is just patterned paper, with an amber gem, and black pearls added, and then an A Muse stamped sentiment. easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Serendipity's 2nd Blog Hop

we are doing another blog hop for the last month of available papercrafting kits using My Mind's Eye: Andrea Victoria paper. you should have come to my post from Kim's blog, and Michelle's.
so, here is one of my card organizers. the info for making them is on splitcoaststampers.com.

i like the My Mind's Eye paper because it is more of a cardstock weight and holds up really well for the pockets. i also love that it is double sided paper.

i love the dewdrops as the center of these flowers. they are from the vanilla mix bottle of dewdrops.
i had a private class recently at Serendipity, and this is what we made. you can book a private class of your own, the only requirements are that you have at least 6 of your friends or relatives join you. you can contact kim for more details.

this has 7 pages, 6 pockets for the calendars, and one extra for miscellaneous cards, like this one for "thank you's".

we used the JustRite alpha stamp sets to stamp "My Cards" on the cover, and the extra labels on the last 2 pages.
i also used the cropadile to punch thru all these pocketed sheets.

Kim carries all the supplies needed to make this project. (JustRite alpha sets & handles, dewdrops, paper, ribbon, and rings for the binding, along with the cropadile.)

More Kit Creations

starting this month, Kim has papercrafting kits that are available for purchase at Serendipity. and on friday's we will be taking turns uploading projects made with supplies using the kit. next week is another blog hop. ;)

i think this is my favorite card. i have seen this layout in a magazine and on a couple different blogs, and just had to try it myself. i used a 1 1/2" square punch to get all of the patchwork pieces the same size.

these stamps are from MFT called Hot Stuff. i paper pieced her dress and also the wallpaper in the background. the cup is the white of the paper showing thru, and i used my one and only copic marker on her skin.

i also had to stamp something on the inside, the cups are also in the Hot Stuff stamp set. and i used the damask strip from the accessory sheet in the paper kit for the top.

i also made a Picture book, with thin chipboard in between sheets of the designer paper, and a magnetic closure.
i used Nestabilities Tag Trio for this A Muse sentiment. if you look closely, you can see that i stamped it twice, once in Memento London Fog and then again in Black. i like that it looks shadowed. if i tried again, i would probably never get it stamped this closely. i also sponged it before i took the nestie off the paper.

i thought this pic went nicely with this paper, since they are all gray tones.

this is laura jo and eric dancing at their wedding.

Supply list:

Stamps: MFT Hot Stuff, A Muse Kissing Couple 2-1054C, "truly, madly, deeply" 3-8187C

Inks: Memento Black Tuxedo, London Fog, skin color copic marker

Paper: Andrea Victoria, PTI white, smoky, black

Accessories: Basic Grey magnetic snaps, rectangle nesties, tag trio nesties, black shimmer ribbon, sponge, aquapen, 1 1/2 square punch, 1 3/4 square punch, popups

Serendipity's First Blog Hop

This is Serendipity's first blog hop. So if you want to start at the beginning, here is Kim's post. And you should have come to mine thru Michelle's post on her blog.

This is a new papercrafting kit that Kim is offering at Serendipity. It is the first of a bimonthly kit that she will be offering. It has 9 sheets of double sided paper, and an Accessories Die Cut sheet called Andrea Victoria from My Mind's Eye. Also included:

• 4 sheets of Bazzill 12 x 12 swiss dot cardstock in: salt, pepper, honey and rope swing.
• PTI 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in stone, kraft, and smokey shadow.
• 5 yds of ribbon,
• cream buttons,
• Kaisercraft black pearls,
• a Prima bonnet blossom,
• Prima brown baubles,
• and vintage German glass glitter in silver.

This is my first creation (using only items found in the kit): a gift box using the Flower Burst paper folded into the box, Petals on the outside, and Stripes on the inside.

The center image on the lid is the cracked glass technique. After stamping the image, I used 3 layers of Utee clear embossing powder, then put it in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, then "crack" it as soon as it comes out of the freezer. I like the amber rhinestone as the bloom center.

As a mat on the inside image, I used PTI smokey shadow. I love this color. Also matted in Golden beads, and it's flipside. I also used a glaze pen on these bloom's centers.

Notice along the front edge of the bottom, is a strip of rhinestones.

You can either leave the lid all the way open, or glue it up to the back of the box, as seen below. Dave liked it better glued up.

Thanks Kim, this was so much fun. One of us will be posting a new project using this kit every Friday. My next project is on Aug 28th, and our next Blog Hop is the first Friday in September.

Supply list: A Muse stamps: Eucalyptus 2-4140C, Dandelion 2-4146E
Ink: Memento: London Fog, Tuxedo Black
Paper: My Mind's Eye: Andrea Victoria, PTI: white, smokey shadow
Accessories: Koh-i-noor pencils with blending medium, black chipboard, glaze pen, Utee embossing powder, Versamark, rhinestones