More than your average Plaid

by Sue W.

Welcome!

As if life can't be difficult enough, I decided to challenge myself this week by creating a card for one of those "hard to make a card for people" which would be a teenage boy. The good news is that I now have a card just waiting for an occasion!

One of the fun aspects of this card is using our original plaid stamp for something other than a plaid. I call this the "starburst" background (you'll see why!)

These are the stamps I used in this project

I started my background by stamping the plaid stamp in one corner of my card using turquoise dye ink.

The only tricky part of doing this background is deciding how often to stamp the first ink color and making sure you leave enough room for the second. But I always do the 4 corners in the first ink color.

With a "normal" average size card I also stamp the center of the long side. Ultimately I'm shooting for the white triangles you can see along the edge.

I stamp my second ink color (ultramarine dye ink) covering the triangles. By this point the center is getting real ugly which is no problem because I'm going to cover it with my next layer.

This is the finished background after I cover all the white triangles. Now you can see why I've named it "starburst" background.

Once my background is finished, I dry brushed some spring green ink along the edges, then I layered it on neon lime green paper that I cut 1/2 inch short at the bottom and attached it to a bright blue card.

The skateboard "dude" was stamped on white cardstock using cyan pigment ink, then I immediately stamped the "jumpin" saying on top using ultramarine dye ink. I then embossed the entire image using clear embossing powder.

After dry brushing a little spring green ink around the edges, I layered it with a 2" square of lime green and attached it to the center of my background. Voila!

Thanks for stopping by - Have a great week!

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2 Cards in One!

Posted by Jennifer

I've been working (what feels like) day & night creating cards with the new stamps from DRS Designs, and to prove to you how busy I've been lately, I'm sharing two cards in one day! Rarely do I ever do this, but today is the exception!

This latest batch of new releases from DRS Designs are my favorite, and I'm having tons of fun with them! I found time to complete both of this week's sketch challenges from CPS and SCS.

First up, is this weeks Card Position Systems Sketch. I love the bright and cheery colors on this Birthday card. Plus, it was rather quick and easy to make!


I colored this image with marker, and then I cut the sentiment away from the image to follow the sketch. (FYI: on the actual stamp, the image is centered just below the image.) I used my Prima flowers again! Glad I've been able to put them to use lately. I haven't used them in so long they've begun to pile up!

Stamps: DRS Designs- Birthday Candle Burst
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company
Accessories: Bic Markers, Cuttlebug and Happy Birthday Embossing folder, Brads by Recollections and All My Memories, Prima Flowers, EK Success Corner Rounder
Finished Card Size: 4 3/8" x 5 5/8"

Here's the other card I made using the Splitcoast Stamper's Sketch challenge, SC217. Perfect for St. Patty's Day in every way!

This card uses one of DRS Designs Stick N Stamp Sets. These are sets of four images and they have many themes available. You can see them all here.

The background was created by stamping the Four Leaf Clover image and the clover from the Stick N Stamp set repeatedly with Versamark ink. The sentiment was heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder and I applied Gold Stickles to the coins in the pot of gold and on the hat's buckle.

Stamps: DRS Designs- Four Leaf Clover, Irish Stick N Stamp, Happy St. Pat's Day Sentiment
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, SU! Handsome Hunter ink, Versamark Ink, Rubber Stampede Embossing Ink
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company, Gold Paper by The Paper Studio
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Brads by Joann's Scrap Essentials, Gold Stickles, Cuttlebug and Charm Dies, Creative Beginnings Gold Embossing Powder
Finished Card Size: 5" x 5 5/8"

Hope you've enjoyed both of these cards today! Thanks for visiting!

Wishing you all a fun filled weekend!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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More Fun with Folds -- Gate Fold

Can you believe it's almost March?? And with a new month, comes a new holiday to celebrate. DRS Designs has a great selection of St. Patrick's Day images and sentiments, including brand new releases like the ones featured in today's Gate Fold Technique post.

Gate Folds (see the Splitcoast Stampers tutorial for step-by-step instructions) are trifold cards which open in the center rather than on the side edge. To dress up the technique and to help keep the cards closed, a belly band is a fun touch:

Stamps: Giga Shamrock Blessings Oval , Four Leaf Clover , Lines O'Plenty Background. Ink: Wild Wasabi, Versamark. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, GP110 white. Accessories: Gold EP, Oval Nestabilities.

Slide off the belly band to reveal the Petals of a Shamrock Greeting :

Gate Fold cards can also be rotated so the opening runs horizontally:

Stamps: Four Leaf Clover , Petals of a Shamrock Greeting , Lines O'Plenty Background . Ink: Ink: Wild Wasabi, Versamark. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, GP110 white. Accessories: Gold EP, Rectangle Nestabilities, Double-stitched Wild Wasabi grograin ribbon.

Open this card to reveal a Happy St. Pat's Day Greeting and plenty of space for your own personalized greeting:

Give the Gate Fold techique a try and be sure to put your own spin on this easy technique. Link your cards back here so we can admire them, too!

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Birthdays DRS style, part 2!

Posted by: Heather

Today I have a couple more birthday cards to share with you. This first one uses one of the newly released background stamps. I thought this backgroud would work perfect for a simple masculine card.

The second card I have to share uses my favorite birthday sentiment stamp from DRS!
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Heather

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A Tiny Little Birthday Bag...THAT GROWS!!!

by: Dawn Knight

I made this cute little treat bag with a really cool die cut shape (2 really, front and back) a little paper bag and a bunch of fun DRS stamps! This bag looks small... but when you look at the photos... IT GROWS! So you can put in a tiny treat or a giant treat in there! Here is how I did it!

I cut 2 of the die cut shapes. I just happen to have this die cut... but you could use any shape as long as it covers your bag. Then, I stamped the flower background and added glitter dots in the center of the flowers with a glitter pen. Next I stamped the scallop edge and punched it out with my McGill scallop punch. I added some more glitter dots to tie this and the background together. Next, the sentiment...I am starting to identify with this one!(LOL) Then for a little fluff,

I did the ribbon slide and added the chiffon ribbon.

I colored the balloons with copic markers.

To make the handles, I used an oval punch and punched through the front and the back to make the handles. You could add a ribbon on there to tie it closed if you wanted to.At this angel you can see that I used pop dots the life the scallop oval with the sentiment up a little bit... I like the way that looks... and then finally the picture at the bottom shows just how BIG you can open this up! I hope that you like this idea and will give it a try. This would be good for a gift card holder... or diamond earrings! thanks for stopping by...

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Challenge #15 - Tag it!!

That's right...it's Monday and that means a new challenge here on the DRS Designs blog...today's challenge was to use a tag in your creation. We all have tons of tags...and/or tag dies. You can never have enough tag shapes, right? Well, we thought we would put our designers to the test and see just how creative they could be with the DRS images and tags!!!

We would love to see your creations as well. If you have DRS images, please use them...if not, you're still welcome to play and inspire us. The challenges run for two weeks but you can play along with any at any time. If you play, please post a link in the comments section of that challenge with a direct link so we can take a look at your creation. Also, if you upload to a public gallery, please use the keyword DRSC15.

Check out the inspiration provided by our design team...

Cathy Indelicato/Crafty Thoughts...

Heather Lee-Reppen / The Best in Life

Jessica G's/Jess' Obsession:


Vicki's Candle Tag creation/ Stamped Smiles:

Sue W. - DRS Designs

Dawn's Tag Card/Dawns Rubber Room

Jennifer's/Ink N Scrap Habits

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Framed & Ballooned Frog Boy with some NEWS!

Posted by Vicki/Stamped Smiles

Check out this darling Cutie Pie Kid - Frog Boy!! I fell in love with this sweet little image when I discovered him in my fun pile of rubbah from DRS Designs!! He does have some wonderful news to share with you that he is so very happy about!! But first, I'll show you what I did with this silly kid!! : )

Here is my framed picture that I created a while back and I wanted to share with you today! This was a really hard picture to capture because of the glare from the glass along with it being an 8 x 10 in size! I colored Frog Boy in with Copic Markers along with his small frog next to him and if you notice also at the very bottom on the left side of the frame, there is another small frog that I colored, cut out, covered with crystal lacquer and attached to the outside of the picture. (The frogs next to Frog Boy all have the crystal lacquer on them as well!) You may also noticed that I stamped this small frog all over the background green panel. In black, I added the CUTE Frogs in Your Underpants sentiment! I purchased a black frame and layered my card stock panels for matting behind the main green panel. The green baubles separate the main focal image from the sentiment.

Check out this birthday card I created with Frog Boy!! As you can see, not only did I use this sweet kid image and the small frog buddy to go with him, but I've also paired this card with some of the newer images just released from DRS! With the bright fun birthday colors of blue and red, I added the Artichoke green color to go with the frogs! : ) For the background, I stamped (my favorite) Vicki's Versatile Background in white ink. I also used the fun Jumpin' at the Chance...
and the Hoppy Birthday sentiments together. The Birthday was colored in blue and I used some green glitter for the "Hoppy" part. And if you look at Frog Boy, he's not holding one of his frogs...I cut it out and placed the Silhouette Balloon in his hand instead.

Now...the wonderful news that Frog Boy wants to tell you is that he will be joined with SIX NEW FRIENDS coming out in a few weeks!! How cool is THAT?!! I have seen these CUTIE PIE KIDS and I promise you that they are ADORABLE!!! So please stay tuned and be on the lookout for Frog Boy's friends coming your way!! Watch this blog to see when they will be available and see what all of the design team members create with them!!

**Don't forget to come back again tomorrow for another REALLY AWESOME DRS challenge!**

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! : )

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Easy Backgrounds

by Sue W.

Welcome to another Saturday post! One of the big excitements at DRS this week is a new area rug just inside our back door (is that sad or what!!?!!). I took one look at it and knew I had to use it as my inspiration for this weeks card. I was amazed to see that it had a very similiar pattern to one of our new background stamps. I got right to work and in the end I used these 4 stamps:

Now let me mention right off that DRS background stamps are designed smaller for a reason. And that reason is that they are easier to use, and you're not limited to any size. We originally had large background stamps and it wasn't long until I realized how much I disliked using them. By the time I carefully inked the entire image (and double checked it 3 times), pressed it on my paper ( then stood up to apply enough pressure, going over and over the whole stamp so I wouldn't miss any areas) and then lifted my stamp to see light spots anyway. That's when I started making the stamps smaller and easier to stamp. and making sure that they line up properly when you stamp them side by side.

I started my background like I normally do when using one of our easy background stamps, which is in the lower right corner (please keep in mind that I stamp lift handed, and you might want to try the lower left corner!) making sure I stamp off the paper slightly.

After I stamp the paper that first time I make sure I re-ink the entire stamp and then I line it up to the left of my original stamping

after re-inking the whole stamp once again I stamp it again to the left of the images already on my card. Usually I'm done by the time I've stamped it 3 times, but if the "row" isn't finished I continue till it is.

Now I start my second row making sure I start off the paper on the right and I line it up just above my first row

I finish off the second row just like I did the first, again stamping side by side and re-inking between each stamping.

This weeks card was so easy - I stamped both my tan and sage paper with a vintage green dye ink and then trimmed them to the sizes I needed. After I stamped my sentiment using brown dye ink I added the silhouette branch stamp using the vintage green ink again only this time I stamped it off once on scrap paper. After layering it on some brown paper I attached it all together.

I even had plenty of time to jazz up the inside with my branch stamp!

Thanks for stopping by! If you ever have any suggestions for future projects please let us know!!

Sue W.

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Take Ten

Posted by Jennifer

Minutes that is!

Are you familiar with Take Ten magazine? All of the cards featured in this magazine can be created in 10 minutes or less! How's that for speedy crafting?!?!?!

Well, speedy crafting isn't my style. Creating just one card takes me quite a while because I'm a perfectionist. (This trait was given to me by mother & her family--there are several of us women that share this quality!) Luckily, this trait is neither good nor bad, but it makes crafting a little slow for me, however I do enjoy it!

I decided to set the timer & attempt to make a card in 10 minutes, just like those seen in the Take Ten magazine.

Well, I did it! Another challenge completed, and yes, this was definitely a huge challenge for me. I had to work very quickly!

Stamps: DRS Designs- Overflowing Birthday Greeting
Ink: SU! Rose Red
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts
Accessories: Nesties, Cuttlebug and Textile Texture Embossing Folder, Prima Flowers, brads by American Crafts
Finished Card Size: 4" x 4.25"

Knowing that the time limit was only 10 minutes, I knew a sentiment was in order for this card--No time for coloring! This sentiment is a new one for me that I just received from DRS Designs, but it's not one of their current releases. (You can see all of the new releases here.) When I saw this in my package the other day I immediately knew that I wanted to use it for this challenge. I love the wording and the font! It's a beautiful stamp, don't you agree?

Luckily, both circles were already cut out with Nesties for me. I pulled them from my scraps and built the rest of the card around them. (I hope this isn't cheating!) I used the Textile Texture Embossing folder for a little texture and then decorated the card front with some Prima flowers. I have tons of them and definitely don't use them enough. I needed a quick and easy embellishment and what could be quicker & easier then Primas?!

Have you ever made a card in 10 minutes? Please share the link on this post. I want to see your version too!

Thanks for visiting today! Have a wonderful weekend!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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More Fun with Folds -- the Z-Fold

Special fold techniques take a great card and make it even more fun! This week I decided to use the DRS new birthday releases to create this Z-Fold card. This folding technique has the added advantage of more space for these fun images.

This is how the card appears folded flat, as when it is first removed from the envelope:

Stamps by DRS Designs: Birthday Ribbon Slide , Silhouette Balloon, May Your Birthday , Birthday Stick N Stamp. Cardstock: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point. Ink: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, Basic Black, versamark. Accessories: Stardust EP, rectangle Nestabilities, circle punch, iridescent ribbon, slot punch.

When the card is opened, you can read the 'Happy Birthday' which has been masked off from the larger All About You sentiment:

I created my own DP using the mini Stick N Stamp Birthday and iridescent embossing powder for extra sparkle; there's still plenty of room for a personalized message on the opposite side.

This card can stand alone -- great for display purposes!

To make your own Z-Fold card, simply cut your cardstock to 4 1/4" x 11", score along the 11" side at 2 1/4" and 5 1/2", then fold in an accordian pattern. If you are more of a visual learner (that would be me!) check out the Scor-Pal tutorial here.

Have fun folding and be sure to link your Z-Fold cards back to here so that we can admire them!

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Birthdays DRS style!

Posted by: Heather

Happy Wednesday! Hope everyone has had a great week so far. Today I thought I would share a couple cards that I made with some of the newly released birthday stamps from DRS Designs. To see all of the newly released designs click HERE.

This first card uses the new "Girly Swirly Cake" stamp.

This card uses my favorite new release "Birthday Candle Burst" . I just love these fun candles. The candles and sentiment together are one stamp but you could easily use either individually.

This card uses the new "All About You Birthday" sentiment as well as the new "Silhouette Branch Background".
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Heather

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