Sara Jane's Studio

Spring is When Life's Alive in Everything

This quote comes from Christina Rosetti, an English poet who live 1830-1894.  (A little aside:  Christina Rosetti also wrote the Christmas carol:  "In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone...  One of my favorites.)

And life is alive in everything:  one of my dogs has taken to digging in the yard, again... It's a springtime ritual for her which she fortunately gets over as the season matures.  I've always wondered if it's because she can here all of the little critters coming alive in the soil?  Ah well, if only she could talk....

Last, but certainly not least, from the Welcome Spring! card swap are two cards made by Sara F. of Newport, NC.  The first uses a current Stampin' Up! hostess set, "Sweet Dreams".  Sara used a combination of Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue inks.  A white card was stamped with the "Sanded" background stamp using Certainly Celery ink.  She stamped the small flower image in Purely Pomegranate scattered across the front of the card, and then added a strip of Purely Pomegranate cardstock across the center.  A piece of Designer Paper was laid on top of this.  The flower image was stamped in Purely Pomegranate, with Certainly Celery on the stems, and the flowers were highlighted with just the littlest bit of glitter.  The frame was stamped with Bashful Blue, and the whole image was mounted on Certainly Celery cardstock before being attached using Stampin' Dimensionals. 

Sara's second card was one of my favorites, and not the least because she included a package of Zinnia seeds in it!  The card itself and the belly band are made from Pink Passion cardstock.  Then there is a mat in black- pure drama!!  The trick to this card is to cut of piece of white cardstock 3-3/4" X 8-1/2".  Score it at 5" from the top, and fold it up.  Sara then used the small flowers from the "Fabulous Flowers" set to stamp in PInk Passion and YoYo Yellow, on the front of this pocket, as well as in the top corners of the back piece.  The belly band, made by mounting the Pink Passion strip on YoYo Yellow, is used to hold the pocket together. 

The final embellishment was created by stamping the largest flower using White Craft ink and embossing with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I'm guessing that a yellow marker may be how the center of the flower was highlighted.  Sara cut out the flower and mounted it with Stampin' Dimensionals on the belly band.  She finished off the card with a sentiment from the "Curvy Verses" stamp set.

Beautiful, bold and bright!  I love it!  Thanks, Sara!

Keep creating!

   

The uncertain glory of an April day....

O, how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day! -Shakespeare, "Two Gentlemen of Verona"

No I'm not in love- it was more the "uncertain glory of an April day" that caught my attention in this quotation.  Up here in New England, after some glorious, warm spring days last week, we were given a little reminder that it is still only April...  A little cooler, a little rain.  But, still, more welcome than cold, winter white!

ANYWAY, here is yet another card from the Welcome Spring! card swap.  This one was created by Anita G. of Kent, WA.  (She definitely gets the proverbial prize for being the most geographically distant participant in the swap!)  Anita's style is very different from my own, and her card really intrigued me from the minute I opened up her package.

Anita used decorative paper and the "Spring Possibilities" stamps from Close to My Heart.  She mimicked the paper by creating her central butterfly image using a home-made ink pad with multiple colors of ink.  Basically, take a piece of felt and add drops of ink from re-inkers, and use this felt as your ink pad.  (You could get a similar look by applying markers direct to rubber, but Anita's technique is faster if you plan to make multiple cards.)  The yellow ribbon is attached to a green brad that has a loop attached to it (Oriental Trading Co.).  Finally, the "Spring" embellishment is stamped on the Stampin' Up!  tab punch.

Anita made a fun and lively card which does make anything seem possible!  Thanks, Anita!

Keep creating!

Spring Fling

Here are another two cards from the Welcome Spring! card swap, by two different artists.

The first is from Becca H. of Cumberland, RI.  On the top half of a white card, she used a cute floral paper from the retired "Sassy" Designer paper series from Stampin' Up!  A piece of lavendar grosgrain ribbon covers the seam, and the embellishment is made from the retired "Buds and Blossoms" SU stamp set stamped in Orchid Opulence.  The flower is mounted on a pink circle, and then again on a darker pink scallop circle.  "Happy Birthday" is stamped in the same color and mounted on matching pink.  This is a great template, and could be CASE'd to make all manner of different looking cards, by varying the sentiment, the image on the embellishment, and/or the designer paper.

The second card is from Beth H. of Needham, MA.  Beth's card is very simple- and incredibly effective in it's simplicity!  I don't know where Beth found her images, but basically it is a life-like strawberry, stamped on a pale yellow cardstock, and mounted using Stampin' Dimensionals.  On either side of the strawberry, is a little ant!  Cute and clever!!

Thanks again to the two of you for sharing your talents!

Keep creating,

Spring is in the Air

In fact, today, in my area, it almost felt like summer!  Of course it's New England, and if you don't like the weather (or even if you do!), just wait a few  minutes, it will change.  (I think that was a Mark Twain-ism...)

Today's card from the Welcome Spring! card swap was created by Annette H of Newport, NC.  Annette has been a long time scrapper, and more recently turned to including rubber stamps in her work. 

The card base is Mellow Moss, with a layer of pink cardstock- which Annette embossed using a Sizzix embossing plate, called, not surprisingly, "Flowers".  This is something I keep meaning to incorporate into my own work; embossing creates texture and dimension all at once, and there are tons of great images out there now.  All of the corners were clipped with the "Ticket Corner" punch, and Annette tied a piece of Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon around the pink cardstock before she mounted it onto the card.

The image is from the "Sidekick Sayings" stamp set, which is a retired Stampin' Up! Hostess set from the Fall-Winter 2007 catalog.  She stamped it first in Basic Black, and then (I think!) she painstakingly wrote over the black with a Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Marker.  The stem on the flower was colored with the Mellow Moss marker.

Annette created the perfect flower embellishment by layering two flowers from the "Spring Bouquet" punch (which is retired, but you could use "Boho Blossoms" in the same way).  She covered the flowers first with White Craft Ink, and then embossed with Iridescent Ice, to add some glitter.  The center of the flower was created using a yellow snap from Michael's.

Beautiful work, Annette!  Thanks for sharing!

Keep creating!

A Little Madness in the Spring

I imagine you might be wondering how many more titles with "Spring" I can drum up...Honestly- I am too!  In fact I did a little research to come up with this one- it comes from the following quotation:

A Little Madness in the Spring is Wholesome Even for the King. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

I suppose it follows after "Spring Fever" - doesn't it?  We are start to get a little stir crazy after the long winter months and short winter days.  I know Spring makes me feel alive again; I particularly notice colors.  The different colors of blue in the sky over the course of the day; all the different colors of green that are starting to appear; the bright, happy yellows of daffodils, and now the forsythia.  Yes, a little madness in the spring is wholesome!

And so we continue with the Welcome Spring! card swap.  This pretty card was offered by Lauren M, who is a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and whom I met through a mutual friend.  Lauren lives in Framingham, MA.

This card uses the "Priceless" stamp set from Stampin' Up!.  (Note: there is a matching Classy Brass Template with these same images- it really expands the ways you can use these images!  But I digress...)  The card is Certainly Celery, and Lauren used a very soft combination of So Saffron, Elegant Eggplant, and Very Vanilla for her layers.

First, she stamped the flower image using Certainly Celery on the card to create a background.  She prepared another background on the Very Vanilla using the flourish image in Certainly Celery, with the little flower scattered around in So Saffron.  The butterfly image was added twice directly on the Very Vanilla using Elegant Eggplant- which offers a lovely contrast (the upper left and the middle image).  A third butterfly was added by stamping again on Very Vanilla, and then cutting it out to mount it on the corner, so that it appears to be flying right onto the white background. 

Lauren added a piece of cream colored 1/4" organdy ribbon around her central element before mounting on the card front.  She also left the bottom blank so that any sentiment could be added.  But, you know what?  I like it the way it is just as well.  I think it works either way.

Thanks Lauren!  I loved your contribution and I know others will too!

Keep creating!

Spring Fever

The reveal of the cards from the Welcome Spring! card swap continues!  Today, I present two cards made by Donna A. my friend and neighbor in Ashland, MA.

For this first card, Donna used a lovely color combination of Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, and Blue Bayou.  The images from the "Stem Silhouettes" stamp set (Stampin' Up!, retired from the 2007 Holiday Mini Catalog) were used as follows:  Purely Pomegranate ink on Purely Pomegranate cardstock, whcih was then embossed; Purely Pomegranate ink on Confetti Cardstock; and Blue Bayou ink (a second stamping) on the same Confetti Cardstock. 

She used the Word Window punch to make the "Thank You" element, and finished it off with a piece of Double-Stitched Ribbon in Purely Pomegranate.

This second card utilizes a very fun and distinctive closure.  To begin with, the card is not folded in the middle, but rather has an uneven gate fold.  Take a piece of cardstock that is 5-1/2" X 8-1/2", held in Landscape orientation, and score at 2-1/4" from teh left, and again 7" from the left edge.  This will give you two panels, one 2-1/4" wide, and the other 1-1/2" wide, whose edges will meet.

Donna did not use Stampin' Up! cardstock but you could get this same look using Pixie Pink for the card, and then Green Galore and Pretty in Pink for the layering.  She used the retired stamp set, Terrific Tulips, and the two-step stamping technique with Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink to create the tulip images.  Green Galore was used on the stems.

Now comes the fun part:  the Word Window punch was used on the left front to create a slot.  Donna then cut a strip of pink 1-5/8" wide by 3-1/4" long.  She cut a piece of green slightly smaller all around, and wrapped some pink and green 1/8" ribbons around it before layering it on the pink.  She scored this piece 1/4" from the right side, and tucked the short end under the pink and green layers (use Sticky Strip, or Red-Line tape for this to make sure it is secure).  (And make it easy on yourself by attaching the closure to the pink and green layers BEFORE you put them on the card body!)  The free end of the closure can then be tucked into the slot created by the Word Window punch.

       

What a fun, unique card!  Thanks, Donna! 

Keep creating!

Looks Like Spring!

Here is another of the cards made for the "Welcome Spring!" card swap.  It was created by Deidra E of Norwood, MA.

Deidra used a sky blue card as her base, and used Chocolate Chip ink to stamp a solid flower image as background.  This image is from the retired Stampin' Up! stamp set "Looks Like Spring."  To create the faint image, Deidra used the "stamping off" technique:  Ink the rubber as usual, and stamp the first image on a piece of scrap paper.  Then, before re-inking, stamp the image again where you want it on your cardstock; you can sometimes even get a third image from the same inking.  It's a nice way to create a soft background image, and you can echo the main image on your art work, helping to tie everything together.  The edges of the card were run against the side of the Chocolate Chip ink pad to give an irregular, soft brown frame to the card.

Deidra stamped the same flower image on a piece of pale purple cardstock, and over stamped with "Thank You" in black ink.  She mounted this on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock, and attached it to the card.  Deirdra finished with a piece of pink grosgrain, and added two pretty silk flowers layered on top of one another.  The rhinestone brad in the center adds the perfect touch of bling!

Thanks, Deidra!!

Keep creating!

Welcome Spring!

It's finally feeling like Spring up here in New England.  The days are longer, the temperature is nearing 60 during the day, daffodils are in bloom, the sky is (mostly!) blue.  And the Welcome Spring! card swap was a huge success!!

There were 14 participants in two groups who contributed their time and talent to the Welcome Spring! card swap.  They live on both coasts, North and South, and in the Central US.  I was delighted in the interest and then even more impressed with the cards that everyone created.  Over the next few days I am going to share their wonderful creations for your own inspiration.

The first cards are by Lucia G. of Rincon, Georgia, who participated in both groups of the swap. 

This one used the "Embrace Life" stamp set by Stampin' Up!.  I loved Lucia's choice of colors: she used River Rock, Basic Black and Very Vanilla for a very mellow and soft feel.  Lucia incorporated a mono chromatic designer paper using the same shades of green as River Rock, and she stamped one of the line drawing elements using StazOn Jet Black ink.  She stamped the floral images on watercolor paper with StazOn, and then used the Watercolor Crayons to create a beautiful, soft pink flower.  The large flower has a rhinestone center, and is mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals.  She finished the overall look with Black organdy ribbon, adding a little twist of pink grosgrain ribbon.  A wonderful, elegant card suitable for any occasion.

Lucia's second card went in a completely different direction, using bold, bright colors.  The card stock is Ballet Blue, Pixie Pink and Gable Green.  The flowers were created with two step-stamping with the "Heartfelt Thanks" stamp set, using Basic Black for the outline, and Ballet Blue, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Only Orange, Orchid Opulence, and YoYo Yellow inks.  Lucia added colored brads to the center of each flower, and tied a piece of White organdy ribbon around the side, with a small piece of colorful ribbon included in the knot.  Definitely a warm welcome for spring time!

Thank you Lucia, for sharing your creative skills with us! 

Keep creating!