This One is Different!

No challenge card for today – this one is all mine. :)

Someone in my Yahoo! group mentioned crocheting flowers. Stampin’ Up! has crocheted flowers in the new catalog, and there was a thread about them on SplitCoastStampers. So, I decided to give it a try and crochet my own. Once I had it done, I didn’t know what to do with it! I decided maybe Spirelli would be a good choice. I used a scalloped circle Nestability to cut my piece for the Spirelli and I used variegated crochet thread. Around the flower I stamped a circle of dots (from Papertrey Ink’s Borders and Corners – Circles) with Versamark and embossed it with Emerald Pearl Lustre embossing powder. I attached the flower to the Spirelli with a brad. I cut the Eggplant Envy layer with a Labels One die. I cut the black square and used a corner rounder. Added a bit of ribbon and a sentiment (from Inkadinkado), and it was done!

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

House Mouse Sketch Challenge

Another challenge card – three days in a row! This one is not for SplitCoastStampers, though, but a House Mouse Sketch Challenge, sponsored this week by 2RedBananas. You can find the sketch here.

I don’t own any House Mouse stamps, but I had a couple stamp-offs of one, and one was already even colored. I colored it at our “Group Gathering” last June. Someone had brought some Copic markers, and I used them. Last year there were not a whole lot of Copics, but this year I think there will be a LOT!

So, back to the card. I cut and embossed the main image with a plain circle Nestability. I knew the ribbon would be covering up part of the bottom, so I made sure to cut the image as close to the top as I could. The scalloped layer and the bottom layer are pink shimmery paper. The bottom panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder and the top panel is done with the Distressed Stripes folder. The “make a wish” stamp is from Studio G and it’s stamped with Stampin’ Up!’s Garden Green. The pearls are from the dollar spot at Target.

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

Sketch Challenge "for you"

Another challenge card for today – the Sketch Challenge this time. You can find it here.

As simple as it is and even having the sketch to go by, this card took me a long time! I knew I wanted to use Stampin’ Up!’s Pocket Silhouettes – it was on my table waiting for me. I inked the stamp with Certainly Celery, removed the ink with a blender pen from the flowers and then re-colored the flowers with a Lavender Lace marker. The “for you” is from a Studio G set. I wanted to stamp the sentiment in black so it would show up better, so I added a little bit of black behind the image. I didn’t want the sentiment to be the only black on the card. I used an SU! Double Rectangle punch to thread the ribbon through. The background paper is from Die Cuts With a View – Nana’s Nursery – Boy. I cut the circles with the largest Circle Nestability, then cut the scallops out of the same paper. But I put the scallops at an angle to the circles. I wanted a little something more on the top, so out came my Dotted Swiss folder again! I used it on a separate piece of cardstock so that I could get it all the way to the edges. That’s about it!

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

It's Your Day! - Color Challenge

My card for today is for the Color Challenge on SplitCoastStampers. You can find the information on the challenge here. The colors are Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red and More Mustard.

The flower stamps are from Verve. The sentiment is from Stampin’ Up!’s All Year Cheer. I embossed the background with a Fiskars texture plate. The image panel was cut with Long Rectangle Nestabilities, except the More Mustard layer which was just cut with a paper trimmer. I cut holes for the ribbon so I could tie the ribbon on top of the image to balance the sentiment. I used Pop Dots for the image and also to hold the ribbon in place.

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

Cheerfully Simple Hello

How about a cheerful little card for today?

I had this card all planned out in my head before I made it, and it even turned out pretty much the way I envisioned it! Not too much explanation – two Cuttlebug embossing folders, Scor-Pal, Martha Stewart border punch, sponging, buttons, and an Inkadinkado stamp. I know I’ve seen a couple cards done with these daisies lately along with the Dotted Swiss folder, too, I think. Edited to add: The daisies were done with a folder from a border set called "With Love."

I have so much to do right now and very little time to do it! Shame on me for spending my time on this card, but I really wanted to keep my blog posting streak intact – over thirty consecutive days now!

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

Mother's Day? In February???

Another “card parts” card today.

A couple weeks ago when I was cleaning up my stamping room – again! – I came across this already-made “Happy Mother’s Day” panel. I left it out to force myself to use it. I have a couple boxes of card parts that I fully intend to use, but I thought as a start I would use the ones that were already on my table. This was done with a Dreamweavers stencil and white embossing paste. (They are both available from Vicki. The links to her store are in the right-side column.) The panel was even already mounted on the white cardstock, so this was a pretty quick card! I chose the background paper from the Summer Matstack from Die Cuts With a View. After trimming it to fit the card front, I ended up with a single row of dots. I couldn’t just toss that perfect little piece, so I mounted it on a thin strip of white and used it instead of ribbon. The flowers are Primas. On one of my trips to Michael’s a couple weeks ago, I decided to check the jewelry/beading area – and found some clearance items. What could be better! The flower centers are called “studs.” I have no idea what their purpose really is, but I thought they would work wonderfully in place of brads – no prongs to have to deal with. After I got home, I realized they were different sizes and designs – even better! I used glue dots to stick them to the flowers and also to adhere the flowers to the card.

On a side note, my stamping area is still clean after almost two weeks! That is a record for me, for sure. Usually things don’t get put away until I have absolutely no room to work any more, but I thought I’d try something different for a change.

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

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!