More Paint Samples

I love the color of this patterned paper, and it matched so nicely with some of our paint samples. I have four more backgrounds ready to finish into cards, but this is what I have for now. This first one features a die-cut paint sample and a Gina K stamp.

The butterfly is another paint sample die-cut. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.

These last two are nearly identical - just different flower dies and slightly different color paint samples. The sentiment is from Gina K. I also added a few sequins.

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Wyatt

Since I messed up yesterday and scheduled two posts, I will skip a card today and just share something fun and wonderful. Our youngest grandson, Wyatt, was featured on the NBC Nightly News on Monday evening. You can watch the story here. What an amazing kid he is - so smart and caring and funny and independent and thoughtful. And he is lucky to be so included. I think they did an awesome job with this story.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Dragonfly BIrthday

Another paint sample used on this card. I stamped the flower on it (using an old wood-mounted rubber stamp) and added a touch of color with Copic markers. I also added an enamel dot to the center and matted with a scrap of black. The flower panel is mounted on foam squares before being added to the black. The patterned paper is from a very ancient matstack from Sizzix. The sentiment and die are from Gina K.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Marker on Rubber Stamps

Both of these cards use an old wood-mounted rubber stamp. I used markers to color the image, then spritzed it with water and stamped to the cardstock. This first one uses another old rubber stamp for the sentiment. The sentiment on the second one is from Gina K. The patterned papers are very old from my huge stash of 12 x 12 papers.

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Smile

And finally, the technique that got me looking through my wood-mounted stamps. I have many other stamped flowers using this technique that I have yet to make into cards. I colored the stamp with markers, misted it and then stamped. For this card, I covered it with vellum and stamped and embossed the sentiment - another wood-mounted rubber stamp. This is a gate-fold card.

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Cheery Daisies

Another wood-mounted rubber stamp for this card. Daisies - my fave. Super simple coloring and a sentiment - from Gina K. Some cute dotted yellow patterned paper and some thin black strips completed the card.

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Unicorn Wishes

I got a beautiful Mother's Day card from a friend, reminding me of a long-forgotten technique - markers on rubber stamps, spritz with water and stamp. So pretty!! So, I did some digging through some of my thousands of wood-mounted stamps and picked out some flowers for that technique. But, I also came across other stamps that begged to be used. One was this unicorn stamp from Stampin' Up! I was looking for some whimsical, fantastical or other appropriate patterned paper and came up with these. The sentiment stamps are from Gina K. I cut out the unicorns and mats with Nestabilities.

The unicorns on this paper are silver metallic.

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Paint Sample Un-Wasted

We have several paint samples left from our bathroom remodel, and I don't want to throw them away. So, here is part of one. I used a wood-mounted rubber stamp from ages ago to stamp the flowers and then I colored with two Copic markers. The sentiment is from Gina K. I added silver nail heads to the flower centers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Butterflies and Dragonflies

Happy Mother's Day!

The butterflies and dragonflies on these cards are from Gina K. I was experimenting just a little bit with watercolor. For this first one, I wet the butterfly (which had been heat-embossed) and then dropped the paint on it. It's popped up. I used an old Stampin' Up! stamp for the background for the butterfly. The sentiment is also from Gina K. In fact, all of the stamps in this post are Gina K.

This one is also watercolored, with a few white dots added.

The panels on each side of this gate-fold card were done using my gel pad. Haven't used that for a long time. (Almost never!) I watercolored the flower.

And the last card for today. I had used my gel pad to make the cardstock I used to stamp and die-cut these pieces. The background panel was done when I was cleaning off the brayer. Then I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder and added a little extra color. I also added a little Diamond Glaze to the dragonfly and the flower center.

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Stamped Background Thank You

I recently pulled out this "thank you" stamp from Heidi Swapp that I've had for ages. I used a stamped border panel that I've also had for ages. Then I used my newest purchase from Gina K to stamp the background using soft colors.

EDITED TO ADD: The stamping was done with multiple stamps from a stamp set from Gina K with various colors.

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Watercolor - Then Stencil

I watched a video that Mindy Eggen did using watercolor over an embossed image. I thought it was pretty cool, and this is my versions. Her video can be seen here.  Mine is not so impressive, but it was fun and I do like the way it turned out.  The embossing folder, stencils, sentiment with die  are all from Gina K. The sentiment is embossed with gold powder and popped up.

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Blooming Branches - Part Two

The embossing folder from Gina K that I'm using is called Blooming Branches. Here are a couple more cards I've made using it.

For this first one, I brayered a very light lavender ink onto the embossing folder before embossing. Then I embossed and used the coordinating stencils to color the image. I left the flowers white, with just the little bit of coloration from the ink on the folder. I matted the panel. I realize I forgot to add a sentiment, but I can do that later.

FOr this one, I was experimenting with just using the stencils. After I finished adding the colors, I decided I'd like it better if I embossed it, so I did. I added some black spatters, which dried looking gray, so I used gray to mat the panel and added the stamped and die-cut sentiment.

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Debossed and Wood-Grained Birthday

The first two of five new cards done with a Gina K 3D embossing folder. This is from the kit from last month. I love this folder. It also comes with dies, which I did not use. For these two cards, I first lightly dragged a light-color ink pad across the panels, then embossed them. After embossing, I dragged a couple darker ink pads over the debossed side - slightly looking like wood graining. Then I matted them and popped up a Gina K sentiment.

I used light browns for this card, ending with a light turquoise-y color.

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Birthday Wishes

Something a little different from me today. I stamped and heat-embossed (with a sparkly powder) this image in the middle of the blue-ish panel and cut it out. Then I ran the rest of the panel through a 3-D embossing folder and added it to the card front. (The stamps are all from Gina K, as is the folder.) I popped the image up. The sentiments were stamped separately and cut out, also.

I also have five more cards made with my newest embossing folder/stencil set from Gina K. I hope to get them posted soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sympathy

I finally had a little time and made these simple cards with my newest Gina K kit. For this first one, I used an oval stencil and ink-blended the background. Then I stamped the silhouette stamp on it. I used a stitched border die to cut out the panel and matted it with black. The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped and die cut and popped up.

For this one, I thought "why not just cut out the oval from some patterned paper." So, same card but with the die-cut oval. I stamped the image on the panel first, then added the oval and stamped again.

Hopefully, I'll get to have more time for creating, but it's not looking great. I had a great time with friends, though, on our getaway. I'm still catching up!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

May Calendar Page

Happy May Day! Does anyone else remember making May baskets, filling them with candy, delivering them to the door, ringing the doorbell and then running away so you didn't get a kiss? :-)

Here is my calendar page for the month. The stamps are from Gina K and I colored with Copics.

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Sending Love and Joy

This card was made with Gina K's incentive stamp set - free with a $75 order. I die-cut the panel and matted it and popped it up. Added it to some matted, patterned paper and used some black nail head stickers.

I'll be away for a few days with some of my lady friends, but I'll be back and will hopefully have some more time to create.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Completed Card Bases - Installment #3

And the last of my pre-made card bases. Sentiment from Papertrey Ink. Image stamp from Gina K.

Just added a layered die-cut to this one. Could use a little something more. Maybe a black butterfly in the upper right.

Same Papertrey sentiment and three nail-head stickers.

Gina K sentiment. The panels are popped up. I also added the three tiny nail head stickers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Completed Card Bases - Installment #2

Four more card bases made into completed cards. The sentiments on this card are from Gina K. The "wishes" is gold-embossed to match the die-cut butterflies.

Simply added a gold die cut, layered "thank you."

Bottom panel embossed with a Darice folder and lightly inked. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is gold-embossed.

More gold die-cut butterflies and gold embossing on the sentiment from Gina K. There is a die to cut out the two-stamp sentiment.

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Card Bases Completed - #1

Okay - you asked for them. Here they are - the first installment. The card bases that I had made are all completed cards now. I had received a defective stamp from Gina K and was sent a replacement immediately after notifying them. So, of course the first thing I had to do was try it out. Stamped perfectly, of course. But, then I had to use it. I remembered seeing this die-cut in my parts so I thought I would trim down the sentiment and add it. It's popped up.

 

The sentiment on this card is also from Gina K, as is the little flower at the bottom. I added an enamel dot to the center of it.

The sentiment on this last card is from Papertrey Ink. I added three matching enamel dots.

Four more completed cards coming tomorrow.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Beautiful Sketches

I made these cards with one of my new sets from Gina K. This sentiment and the image stamps are from the set, called Beautiful Sketches. I stamped them on watercolor paper and painted them. I die-cut them out and matted them and popped them up. The patterned paper is all from an ancient matstack from Die Cuts With a View.

On this one, I tried to paint it "sloppily." I'm not thrilled with how the flower turned out, but the leaves are okay, I think.

I had originally painted the flower pink, but later made it purple. The pink was just too bright. The sentiment is from a different Gina K set.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Card Bases

I couldn't help myself. I took three more 6 x 6 inch sheets and made these bases. I had tried to follow a short on Instagram to find out the dimensions, and I think that I finally figured it out on my third attempt! I then drew my diagram and used my trial pieces to make these eleven card bases. You may or may not see them completed. Mostly I think I will add sentiments, but who knows how they will turn out.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Purple Birthday

Another piece from my card parts. Hopefully I'll use some new stuff soon! The "happy" (from Stampendous) had been stamped and colored with Copic markers and patterned with a white gel pen and sat in my parts for several years. I had already cut out around it. I found some matching purple and cut a mat for it. I embossed the white layering panel with a folder from The Paper Studio and matted it with the same purple. The "BIRTHDAY" is from one of Gina's new sets. The "happy" is popped up.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Balloons

Finally, another card. And when I had a chance to spend some time in my stamping room, did I use some of my new items? Nope! I went through more of my cards parts and started organizing them. I think at some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to just throw some of them out. I'm down to small things. I actually emptied my book and put them in little storage containers.

Anyway, here is my card. I had, at some point, added thin strips to cardstock and die-cut this sentiment out of it. Now I cut two more of the same sentiment from really thick cardstock and glued them all together. Then I added it to layers of coordinating cardstock. I punched out the balloons and popped them up and drew the strings before adding the sentiment panel. It really needed something else, so I brought out my Itty Bitty Background stamp set from Stampin' Up! and used it to fill in a little bit around the balloons. That helped. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Four Cards - Plus a Bonus

I just happened to see a post where someone took a 6 x 6 inch piece of patterned paper and made four cards from it. I don't know why I was attracted to that, but these cards are the result. Not exactly like she did, but ... here they are. I don't think there is really any explanation available.

Embossing was done with a Spellbinders M-bossibilities folder. Sentiment by Gina K. I added thin strips of the gold foil cardstock.

Sentiment by Gina K.

Sentiment by Gina K.

And the bonus card. The embossed panel is the other half of one of the above cards. The sentiment was a left-over from my trial with one of the other cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!