Beautiful Borders - Again!

One more card using Stampin’ Up!’s Beautiful Borders set, and then I’m done with it for a while!

For this card, I started with a piece of cardstock from a Sizzix pad. It’s kind of purply/magenta-ish with a splotchy look. (Doesn’t sound very pretty, does it? LOL!) I stamped the leafy border on it in Versafine Onyx Black and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I mounted it on black, leaving a fairly large border on both sides and no border on the top and bottom. For the sentiment layer, I started with black and did the lacy border with a Martha Stewart punch. I used Stampin’ Up!’s Marvelous Magenta for the next layer, and stamped the sentiment (from Stampendous) with Versafine black ink. I added the black strips that I had left over after trimming down the black layer, and also the three black brads. That’s about it!

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

Faux Embossed Sympathy

I made this card several days ago, but I could never get a good picture of it. We finally had a bit of sunshine, and I’m hoping you can see what I want you to see in this picture.

It’s a very simple card using a technique called “Faux Embossing.” You can find the instructions HERE on SCS. Basically, you stamp your image in white, then use your Stamp-a-ma-Jig to stamp the image again, slightly off from the first stamping, with the same color ink as the paper you are stamping on, to create the “shadow.” (How’s that for a sentence!!) I saw this card and I loved the technique done with that stamp and in Baja Breeze, so I cased it. It’s pretty hard to change something in a card this simple, but I removed the ribbon, added pearls and of course I used my Scor-Pal. I hope you can see the embossed effect – in real life you almost have to touch it to feel if it’s embossed or not!

Most cards that I make, I leave blank inside. For sympathy cards, I usually print my sentiment using the computer before I make the card. I find it hard to write in a sympathy card, and it's nice to pretty much just have to sign it when I need to use it, rather than having to come up with something to say.

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

Double SCS Challenge Card

Another SplitCoastStampers double challenge card today – this one is for the Color Challenge (Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and Perfect Plum) and the Sketch Challenge.

Anytime I’ve got green with pinks and purples - that says “flowers” to me. (Just about everything says “flowers” to me!) I decided to use some background stamps for this card, something I rarely do. The Perfect Plum layer is Just Jeans and the Kiwi Kiss layer is Victorian Lace, both retired Stampin’ Up! stamps. The flowers are from Spring Garden. I was able to make the card without using Cuttlebug folders by using the background stamps instead, but I just couldn't do the card without using my Scor-Pal! The sentiment is by Stampendous.

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

CAS Inspiration Challenge

I’m not totally thrilled with today’s card, but it’s what I’ve got for you today!

There is a new challenge at SplitCoastStampers, and it’s awesome – it’s a Clean and Simple challenge! I believe it will be every Monday. This week it was an “Inspiration Challenge.” We were to choose a pattern of flannel fabric from JoAnn’s and use it as inspiration for a card. Here is the challenge.

The pattern of fabric I chose was this one:

I used a Fiskars texture plate called Hands and Feet. I really like the texture plates – they are larger than the Cuttlebug folders, and there are some awesome patterns. To get a really great impression, though, you have to mist the paper with water first. After my cardstock dried, I cut four squares out it, trying to get just the designs I wanted. I sponged the edges and the embossing with Stampin’ Up! inks in Pretty in Pink, Bliss Blue, Barely Banana and Mint Melody. I mounted them on the same color SU! cardstock and arranged them in a square on the card front. The Congrats sentiment is from Clearly Wordsworth and I used Versafine Onyx Black ink.

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

"Card Parts" Card

Today’s card was made from “card parts.” I know I often talk about card parts, and this is an example of what I can do with them.

The single flower was left over from this card. I just matted it on some Stampin’ Up! Kiwi Kiss cardstock – a little piece I had leftover. The lattice piece is one that I had cut while playing with a new Cuttlebug die I got last fall – and was laying on my table. The thin strip was leftover after trimming down a piece for another card. The “thank you” is from SU!’s Beautiful Borders. I hadn’t put it away yet. (In fact, I made another card with the flower border from it, and I haven’t been able to get a good picture of it yet. Hopefully we’ll get some sunshine soon! I tried my Ott light, but that didn’t work either.)

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

One Stamp Set - Four Cards

Today’s cards all use the same stamp set – Beautiful Borders by Stampin’ Up! The only stamp NOT from this set is the Best Wishes sentiment, which is from Stampendous.

I wanted to show you all four of these cards, but didn’t want to do them as four separate blog entries, since they are so similar – but yet different! The purple cards are done with Stampin’ Up!’s Elegant Eggplant ink and Eggplant Envy cardstock. The wavy edge on the thank you card was done with a Fiskars rotary cutter. The “warm wishes” card is done with Bazzil paper and Versamagic Chalk Ink in Aloe Vera and Star Dust embossing powder. The Best Wishes card is Stampin’ Up!’s Kiwi Kiss cardstock, stamped with Versamark and embossed with Star Dust embossing powder. The sentiment is stamped in Old Olive. There are a few pearls and of course some scoring done with a Scor-Pal.

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

PTI Sketch Challenge

Today’s card I made yesterday for Papertrey Ink’s Sketch Challenge. (It’s closed now, too. Today's challenge is to guess how many buttons - yes, they have their own buttons now! - are in the jar.)

I used a long rectangle Nestability to cut the vertical panel and mat. I stamped the flowers with Papertrey Ink’s stamp set “Beautiful Blooms” using Stampin’ Up!’s Pink Pirouette, Cameo Coral and Old Olive. The stems were hand-drawn with an Old Olive marker. I used a Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder on both panels. The cardstock is from Papertrey – Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet, and the ribbon is also from PTI – Berry Sorbet. I had the card all done except for the sentiment. When I stamped it directly on the card front, I got lines from the edges of the stamp. Drat! That’s why it’s stamped on white. I rubbed a little Cameo Coral on the edges. Looks like that’s the way it’s supposed to be, doesn’t it?

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

PS. I had pre-posted and forgot to add the picture! So, I deleted the post and added it again, so those of you that get this in an email will get the picture, too. :)

PTI Color Challenge

Today’s card I made yesterday for Papertrey Ink’s Color Challenge. (The contest is now closed. However there is another contest today and it is a sketch challenge.) The winner gets a package of EACH of PTI’s 2008 colors! Wouldn’t that be WONDERFUL??? The colors we were to use were Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado and Ocean Tides. I only have three colors from PTI - none of which was in the challenge! - so I used Stampin’ Up! colors – Real Red, Summer Sun, Old Olive and Baja Breeze. All the stamps I used were from Papertrey, though!

I stamped the image from PTI’s Text Boxed set with Baja Breeze, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I colored the flower, stem and leaves with Stampin’ Up! Old Olive and Summer Sun markers, then stamped the center of the flower in Real Red. I mounted it on Real Red and Baja Breeze. I scored double lines beside the ribbon with my Scor-Pal. The sentiment is also from Papertrey Ink – from their first set, called Paper Tray.

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

Double Inkadinkado Birds

Another “two-fer” day today! I had some time to “just stamp” yesterday, so I was looking through all of my Costco Inkadinkado stamps and noticed this wonderful bird stamp. I did different things with it, but I liked it best either just stamped, or very simply colored. (I don’t think I’ve ever just stamped an image in black before and left it that way!) Anyway, here are my two cards.
For the first one, the image is stamped on a textured, shimmery ivory paper. I mounted it on black, and added black eyelets to the corners. The background is by Lasting Impressions, mounted on black. I couldn’t decide if I wanted the black sheer ribbon or the thin ivory ribbon, so I went with both!


For the second card, I stamped the image on a shimmery white paper and colored it with Stampin’ Up! markers from the Bold Brights family. I mounted it first on shimmery black paper, then textured red, and then another smaller piece of black. The sentiment is also from Inkadinkado.

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

Golden Birthday Card

Today’s card is for a very special neighbor. (I did daycare for him and his sister for many years.) He is turning eleven on the eleventh – hence, his “Golden Birthday.” He actually saves all the cards I give him – that is so awesome!

I started with the JustRite Stamper. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with Detail Gold embossing powder, then cut it out with a Marvy circle punch. I cut out the gold scalloped circle with a Marvy punch, also, and added white dots with a Signo gel pen. Hmmm … what next? I brayered with Versamark on a Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug embossing folder, used it to emboss white cardstock, then sprinkled it with the gold embossing powder. It was really hard not to get Versamark where it didn’t belong, so I had to brush off a lot of it from between the diamonds. But, I think it worked all right. (This technique is called “Negative Effect” on SplitCoastStampers and here is a link to a former Technique Lover’s Challenge with instructions.) I did nearly a full page, but it was just too much gold for a birthday card for an eleven-year-old! So, I thought and thought. Then I remembered some really awesome textured paper that I had gotten over a month ago. I’m not actually sure it’s paper – it feels more like VERY thin plastic. I thought red would look great with the gold. So, I cut the diamond piece in half, matted it with gold shimmery paper, then added the red texture to the card base. Of course, the round part needed some red then, too, so I cut a circle out with a Nestability – just the right amount of red, I think. The circle medallion is mounted on Pop Dots.

Sorry there are so many pictures. I wanted you to see the shiny gold, the true color of the red, and the portion stamped with the JustRite Stamper.

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

Two More Sarah Kay Cards

How about two more Sarah Kay cards? I’m still using the stamp-offs I got from Harriet.

I colored one of the images with SU! markers and one with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. They are both very simple cards, because the focus is on the images. Not too much explanation is necessary! I used Nestabilities to cut them both out, and in both cases, I trimmed part of the shape off. For one I used Long Rectangles, and for the other I used Labels One. I usually start with a larger mat than I will need, and trim small strips off until I get the size mat I want. That leaves me with the thin strips. On the purple card, I used a couple of the strips in place of ribbon. Sometimes I will put a really thin strip on top of a piece of ribbon – I like that effect, too. The sentiments on both cards are from Inkadinkado sets.

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

Picket Fence Birthday

I guess I didn’t upload this card yet, so I will do that today. I made it last week.

I saw Martha Stewart’s Picket Fence punch on a couple blogs, so of course I had to have it! I realize the flowers are a bit large for the fence, but it’s just a card, right??? I punched the fence, chose my ribbon, and scored the lines around the ribbon. I stamped the flowers (from Stampin’ Up!’s Sweet Stems) with Versafine Onyx Black. I colored them with SU! markers in Cameo Coral and Old Olive. I colored the bases of the flowers several times to make them darker. I used a Signo Gel pen to highlight the spots in the flowers. The fence layer is mounted on Pop Dots for dimension. I would have liked to have moved the fence border higher on the card, but I managed to smear a little bit of black ink on the bottom so I had to cover it up. Oh well! I also only wanted one “happy birthday” on the card, but I didn’t like the placement of the first one, so I added a couple more. They kind of look like birds flying overhead, so that works for me.

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

"Peek-a-Boo" Card

My card for today is a case of another of Leslie Miller’s cards. You can find the card here.
I have made cards like this in the past, but this card reminded me to do it again!

I started by cutting my mats – the gray and the white. I positioned them right where I wanted them on the card front, then cut the smallest hole with an Oval Nestability – all three layers at once. The base layer didn’t cut quite all the way through, but I could see exactly where it should go, so I ran that layer through again. Then I took the top white layer and used the next size bigger Nestability to cut the whole larger, allowing the gray to show though. I decided to use the Dotted Swiss embossing folder on the white, also. I added some silver ribbon, a Stampin’ Up! ribbon slider, and then I thought a white scalloped border would be nice around the gray, too. I had to sponge it with gray, too, of course! The cat is a stamp from Inkadinkado. I stamped it with SU! Going Gray and cut it out with an Oval Nestability and matted it on a little bit larger oval cut out of the gray paper. The cat is on the inside of the card. I think I will put “Best Wishes” on the outside of the card, and then put “for a purr-fect birthday” on the inside.

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

February Calendar Page

I remembered! (I’m going to try to remember to post my calendar page for the month on the First of each month.)

Here is my calendar page for the month of February. The stamp I used is a trio of hearts by PSX. I stamped it on white for the background, and then again on red and on pink. I cut out the pink and red hearts and adhered them to the white, leaving the lacy edge showing on the white. (Two reasons – I love the lace, and it sure made cutting them out MUCH easier!) The pink is a very thin shimmery paper which I embossed with my Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug embossing folder. I stamped the sentiment with red and also sponged red around the edges.

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

Limited Supplies Challenge - CAS

Yesterday’s Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers was to make a Clean and Simple card. Gosh, every card I make fits that challenge!

This is the card I uploaded for the challenge. I used my Stampin’ Up! Sweet Stems set again, since it was still out on my desk. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils and smoothed them out with Gamsol. I thought adding a little bit of red would be a nice touch. The Happy Birthday is from a Studio G set from Michaels – I trimmed around the box. The ribbon slider is a Cuttlebug die, and I trimmed off the top and bottom for better proportions for the card. The ribbon is from a dollar spool from JoAnn’s. I used my Scor-Pal to score the grid for the background and for a little added interest to the image, too.

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

Shadow Stamp Thank You

I really like shadow stamps, have several of them, and rarely use them! For today’s card, I decided to use one.

The shadow stamp is by Hero Arts. I stamped it in Memories Soft Leaf ink. I stamped the flower – from a new set by Stampin’ Up! called Sweet Stems – with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I colored it with Mellow Moss and More Mustard. I used a Signo Gel pen for the white dots in the center. The border within the shadow stamp is a stamp from Studio G. I put scratch paper on each side of the shadow-stamped area to keep the stamping only on the green. The embossed button border is made with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder. The “Thank You” is also from a new Stampin’ Up! set called Thank You Kindly.

I wasn't going to share this one, but what the heck! It's another card along the same lines. I used the Scor-Pal for the background.

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

Magnolia Meets Labels One

Another Magnolia card. I would like to have shared something different with you, but I have nothing else!

I colored this Magnolia stampoff on Monday, worked on it just a little bit Tuesday and Wednesday and finally finished it up today. Not that it’s that complicated, I just haven’t had much time! It is colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. What IS a little bit different about it, is how I cut it and matted it. I used my new Labels One set of Nestabilities. Do you recognize it? I put her in it diagonally, then trimmed off the other two “points.” I punched the corners of the teal mat, and also the corners of the background paper, with a Fiskars Lace corner punch. The tag is a Sizzix die cut. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. The ribbon is from JoAnn’s.

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

Butterfly Anniversary

Today’s card was made for yesterday’s Color Challenge (#203) on SplitCoastStampers. The colors are Stampin’ Up!’s Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Garden Green.

I went with a layout similar to cards I’ve made before. Hey – it works! The stamp set I used is from Stampin’ Up! It’s called Flight of the Butterfly. I stamped the base of the blue butterflies with Baja Breeze and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the dotted portion and body of the butterfly with Pacific Point. (There are also two more patterns for the butterfly, as well as other sentiments and a little flower.) I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig again to stamp the sentiment right where I wanted it. The smaller butterflies are stamped with Garden Green. I sponged the edges of the panel with Baja Breeze, then mounted it on Garden Green and Pacific Point. The Happy Anniversary stamp is by Hero Arts. I added a double score line above and below the stamped strip.

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

A Bookmark Thank You

Well, we’re back home. We went down to Chicago to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandson for a few days. We took Amtrak and it was marvelous. So was our visit! LOL!!

I needed something to do on the train. I had just finished reading the first book in the Twilight series, but didn’t have the second one yet. We had given it to our fourteen-year-old neighbor girl for Christmas. Shame on me – I asked her if I could borrow it! Turns out she hadn’t even had a chance to read it yet, but she had no time to read over the weekend and let me bring it with me. (I was able to finish it while I was away.) So, I made her a thank you card and a bookmark. I made the bookmark first. I thought it would be an appropriate – but tiny – gift. The card was made with part of my experimental bookmark.

I printed the words on my computer. Then I brayered over them with a Spectrum pad. I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black over that using stamps from Inkadinkado, then sprinkled the whole bookmark with clear embossing powder. The brayering was still wet enough to be embossed, even though it was dye ink. I trimmed the corners of the top, cut the bottom with a mini-scallop scissors, then added an eyelet at the top and some fibers.

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

Another Sarah Kay

How about another Sarah Kay card today? I still have several stampoffs from Harriet to color and use, so I’ve got lots of fun ahead of me!

This one was colored with Stampin’ Up! markers. The image panel and matting are cut and embossed with Rectangle Nestabilities. The background paper is from Sizzix. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I thought it was so pretty and delicate.

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