A Blog Award and Two New Cards

First off – a blog award! Thank so much to Barbara for bestowing upon me the “Your Blog is Fabulous” award! You can find Barb’s blog, Made for Keeps, here.

Next, I’m going to share two new cards I’ve made. Both of them are ultra-simple, of course!



The first one uses Papertrey stamps, Pink Pirouette paper, dotted ribbon, twinkling embossing powder, and a Cuttlebug ribbon slider die.

The second one uses Sizzix paper, a Stampin’ Up! stamp (the heart is from Doodle That), Inkadinkado stamp (the sentiment), an SU! marker and round Nestabilities. I also sponged a little light pink inside of the Nestability, leaving a lighter ring around the outside.

I’m off to do a little more stamping.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

'Irresistible' Daisies

I haven’t accomplished much lately, stamping-wise. I’ve spent time sitting in my stamping area staring at my things. I’ve made a couple very simple cards, but don’t even want to post them here! So, I’m going back in my “archives” to post one from the past.

This is one of my favorite cards, really. I used the Embossing Resist Technique on it. I stamped the daisies with Versamark, used clear embossing powder on them, and then brayered the top of the card with Soft Sky and the bottom with Sage Shadow. I drew the stems and stamped the leaves. Both the flowers and the leaves are from Papertrey Ink’s Beautiful Blooms set. The grass is from Stampin' Up!'s retired set Pasture Birthday, and the sentiment is from Studio G. The flower centers are die cut with a CB die.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Limited Supplies Challenge

This card is for this week's Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers - to use red and hearts. It also uses this week's Sketch Challenge.

The images are by Asela Hopkins. She gave them out last February. I colored them with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. The background paper is by Sizzix. The matting is Riding Hood Red. The white background is embossed with a Cuttlebug Hearts folder.

Thanks so much for looking! I hope you come back and visit again soon!

Verve Challenge Birthday

This card is for the last sketch challenge for Verve’s new release contest. It can be found here. I also did their color challenge and the other two sketch challenges. I might possibly put them on my blog some day, but they are in my SCS gallery, if you are interested in seeing them.

I started with the ribbon and worked from there. The cardstocks I used are Stampin’ Up!’s Pixie Pink and Pink Pirouette. The image is one that someone had sent to me a while ago - Suzy's Zoo. I used an Aquapainter and SU! ink pads to color it. (Doesn't show very well, but there ARE two colors of pink in her clothing.) I also used a very light gray marker for the highlighting around the edges of the image, and I sponged some Pink Pirouette around the edges of the image panel. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I had stamped the Pink Pirouette and then embossed it with the Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder, but I didn’t like the stamping, so I just turned it over and used the “de-bossed” side. I stamped the sentiment over the debossing, so it looks “hole-y.” I like the effect.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon.

Thanks!

Another Thank You card for today.

Not too much explanation is needed for this card, for sure! This one also uses the Tonic border flower punch. Today I used it in the system to make the border. I added two sizes of pearls to the flower centers. The background paper is from Sizzix. The darker blue is from a scrap pack, and the light blue is Baja Breeze. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. That’s it!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Today’s card is for our new neighbors. The inside says “to the neighborhood!”

I embossed the fence and flowers with a brass stencil and my BIGkick. I colored the flowers and the leaves with Stampin’ Up! chalks in Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum and Pretty in Pink, then mounted the panel on Mellow Moss and Perfect Plum. The border is punched with a Martha Stewart punch, and the lines are done with a Scor-Pal. The letters are stamped with an alphabet set by Image Tree called Antique Alphabet.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon

"Fall-To" Layout

The card I’m “featuring” today was done using a “Fall-To Layout” from Natasha Trupp’s blog, Clean & Simple Stamping. You can find the layout here.

My friend Anne sent me three new punches for the Tonic Border punch system that she gave me last year. (Thanks, Anne!) I used the flower punch to punch the center of the circle. The circles are cut with Circle Nestabilities. I added mini-pearls to the flower centers. The papers are from Stampin’ Up! – a Level One hostess gift. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Featured Stamper Birthday

I had some stamping time yesterday and have a couple more cards to post for tomorrow and Wednesday – hurrah!

My card for today was done for the Featured Stamper challenge on SplitCoastStampers. This week’s Featured Stamper is Julie Ebersole - also known as "JulieHRR." The card I chose to case is this one.

I don’t think there is much I need to say about it – it’s pretty easy to tell what I did! The stamps are from my Costco Inkadinkado stamps. I stamped the bird with Stampin’ Up!’s Vintage Violet. I used a square Nestability to emboss the frame for the bird, then kept it in place to sponge the Mellow Moss inside the frame edges. The ribbon is Mellow Moss and the sentiment is stamped with Vintage Violet. To place the ribbon, I cut a slit on each side of the framed image and threaded the ribbon through.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A "Pearl-y" Birthday Card

We had a couple errands to run the other day, and also stopped in to Michael’s. I had a couple of 50% off coupons plus a gift certificate. What a great combination! As I was leaving, I just happened to walk through an aisle that had some Martha Stewart Christmas things for 60% off – what a deal! I got a package of 15 yards of ribbon (three yards each of five designs) for $1.99! And a snowflake border punch for $5.99!!

I used the snowflake border punch for this card, as well as my Scor-Pal. I layered it on Buckaroo Blue and stamped the happy Birthday (from one of my new Costco Inkadinkado sets) with Buckaroo Blue, also. I added a small pearl in the center of each snowflake. The top part of the card is a very thin, “pearlized” shimmery paper which I embossed with my Cuttlebug Snowflake folder. Another Clean and Simple card that I’m very pleased with.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

I actually remembered (for this month, anyway) the tradition that I was going to start – uploading my calendar page for the month on the First.

The little boy making the snow angel and the snowballs in the corner are from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called “Snow Angels.” I colored the boy with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. The blue mat is a shimmery paper, and I added Stickles to the snow.

If anyone is interested in my Excel file for the calendars, feel free to email me and I’d be happy to share.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Welcome Little One

Happy New Year’s Eve to Everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful evening.

My card today is for SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge #209. You can find the challenge here. There isn’t much to it, but it was nice to finally do a challenge again, even if it was the middle of the night because I couldn’t sleep. :) The stamps are from Studio G sets I got at Michael’s. The patterned paper is from Die Cuts With a View – Nana’s Nursery Boy and the plain cardstock is Stampin’ Up!’s Baja Breeze. I cut the onesie out of scrap paper and mounted it on Pop Dots. I had sponged Baja Breeze on it, then colored the clothes pins and sailboat with markers. I used a Martha Stewart border punch, Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder and my Scor-Pal. The Dew Drops are adhered with glue dots. (I noticed after I took the picture that you can see the glue dots, so I fixed that.)

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Lucky Me!

Since I don't have a card to post yet for today, I thought I would share my birthday cards! My birthday was Sunday, and I was the lucky and appreciative recipient of all of these cards. Eleven - count them, ELEVEN - of them were hand-made for me! (And that doesn't even count the ones that were "hand-made" on the computer.)

Thanks to all of my friends and family who sent me cards and called me up to wish me a happy birthday. I had a wonderful day.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. I hope to have a card to share with you tomorrow. Have a great day!

Great News About My Dad

I think I'm finally going to get a chance to do some stamping soon, but I wanted to share some great news. My dad got the results back from his surgery, and he has no cancer in his lymph nodes! Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes. I know they helped him through this. We are so relieved to get this wonderful news. My brother is also recuperating nicely from his rotator cuff surgery. Thanks for your prayers for that, too.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah. We sure did. Lots of family time - it was great. It was nice having a baby around for a few days, too. My immediate family is all done traveling now, and everyone made it to and from their destinations safely.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope to be sharing some cards with you soon!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my Christian readers. Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish readers. And I wish happiness to everyone else, too!

The shopping is done. The presents are wrapped. The cards all mailed out. The groceries are purchased. (Actually, that stuff was all done a few days ago.) We had our fist “celebration” last night with our next-door neighbors. What’s left now is cooking. Tonight we will go to my sister’s house to gather with my extended family. Tomorrow will be the celebration with my immediate family – our daughter and family will arrive today from Chicago, and our son and daughter-in-law will return from Bismarck tomorrow. Then Saturday we will travel to visit with my husband’s extended family. Lots of fun times.

I am sharing a picture of our this-year’s tree. Looks like every other year! The ornaments are all hand-made or gifts. For 18 years, I made a different type of ornament and dated one of them. I made three to 10 ornaments each year. The nineteenth year, I couldn’t come up with anything new. My daughter didn’t want the tradition to die, and made them that year. That was the last year, though – 1999. There are crocheted, cross-stitched, tatted, hardangar, bargello, needlepoint, beaded, smocked, macramé, glass – probably more, but that’s what I can come up with for now!

Anyway, enough rambling. Happy Holidays to ALL!!!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Calla Lily Edgeabilities

I had a little stamping time a few days ago, but no blogging time. I will take that time today.

I found the Calla Lilies Edgeabilities on clearance for $4.00 and I could not pass it up! I used Papertrey Stamper’s Select white cardstock and the Calla Lilies for this card. The two lilies in the center are separate from the rest and I mounted them on Pop Dots. I did the coloring with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I embossed a small piece of white with a Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder to place behind the opening. “birthday wishes” is stamped with stamps from Papertrey’s Paper Tray sentiment set. I added a double layer of ribbon at the bottom.

An update on my dad – the surgery itself went really well. He is feeling good. He will get the results hopefully on Wednesday, and we’re praying they will come back “No cancer!” Thanks for your prayers.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Circular Birthday Wishes

This is another card that just “evolved.” I was reminded by this card (the second one) from Natasha that I had the set Good Things Grow and had hardly ever used it. (So what else is new!) So, I got it out and stamped the dandelion stamp with Palette ink Jardin Moss. Then I stamped the “birthday wishes” with Versafine Onyx Black ink – from Papertrey Ink’s Mixed Messages set. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. I thought I remembered seeing a die cut green circle, and I was able to find it in my “card parts” pile. I cut off a section so I could put it on the left edge. I put the square in the middle of the full circle. It needed more – I added the white “faux stitching.” Then I added the flower border towards the bottom with scoring on either side of it. Too lopsided. Aha – I took the part of the circle that I had cut off, trimmed a bit off of that, and added it to the right side, along with the white dashed lines. I’m fairly satisfied with its simplicity.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Bees

How about a couple “bee” cards for today? I received the bees and the yellow scalloped circles from a friend. (Thanks, Annie!) I colored one with watercolor pencils and an aqua painter, and I colored the other one with Stampin’ Up! markers. I also used Stickles on the wings of both of them. I don’t know who makes the bee stamp, but the Happy Birthday is from Stampabilities.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Cardinal Birthday

I got to do some more stamping recently. I’m sure there are more important things for me to be doing – like maybe finishing up the Christmas shopping and cleaning the house for company – but that will keep! I haven’t stamped anything that will teach anyone anything new, just fun, easy cards.

I will upload one today. That will leave me some for later, if I get a chance to blog again. This could be about a five-minute card to reproduce. The cardinal is cut with a Spellbinders die. The die includes this cardinal and a chickadee. I always like the dies when I see them, but I can never figure out what to do with them, exactly. I usually end up liking them best in just white. If I were to color it, I think I would use Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol and just add subtle color. The red is embossed with a Paisley Cuttlebug folder. The stamp is from Paper Inspirations, and is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and embossed with detail black embossing powder. (I was looking for a link to the die, and I guess it's retired, and I also found out the other bird is not a chickadee, it's a finch. Looks like a chickadee to me!)

Tomorrow my dad is scheduled for his surgery. Please pray for a surgery with no permanent effects from the surgery, and more importantly, that they find no cancer in his lymph nodes. I truly appreciate all of your prayers.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Four "Quick" Cards

I had a fun afternoon yesterday! I’m sure I had more important things to do, but I decided I would make my mother-in-law a few “quick” cards and give them to her for Christmas. Well, those “quick” cards took all afternoon! Oh well.

I’ll share the pictures, but there isn’t really all that much to say about them. I used Stampin’ Up! markers to color the images. I used some ribbon, my Scor-Pal, my Dotted Swiss folder, some glitter, some Nestabilities and some stamps. That’s about it. If anyone would like information about a particular stamp or anything else, please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Lovely Tree

My brother is having rotator cuff surgery on Thursday, so I wanted to send a card to let him know I was thinking of him - especially since he lives so far away and there is nothing I can do to help.

This is the card I made for him yesterday. I started with a piece of glossy paper. (You can’t see in the photo, but it really is glossy.) I stamped the tall pine tree from Stampin’ Up!’s Lovely as a Tree with Versamark on the glossy paper, then embossed it with Detail White embossing powder. Then I sponged it with Baja Breeze ink. I matted it with black and Baja Breeze – using an SU! Ticket Corner punch and a black glaze pen for the “faux brads.” The Thinking of You is also from Stampin’ Up! – from Sincere Salutations. I thought the thin strip of black and Baja Breeze added just the “little bit more” I was looking for.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!