Birthday Wishes Times Two

I’m kind of on a paper-piercing kick, so here are a couple more cards with piercing. I’ll just upload them in one blog post, since they use the same stamps.

For both cards, I used the flower stamp from Stampin’ Up!’s Tag Time. I used SU! markers to color them, then stamped. The Birthday Wishes sentiment is from another SU! set called Sincere Salutations – one of my very favorite SU! sets. I liked the way it fit into the flowers, and that’s why I decided to do a second card using them. The butterfly is stamped on SU!’s vellum cardstock with Versamark, embossed with white detail embossing powder, and carefully cut out. The wings are bent up, and the butterfly is adhered with a strip cut from Pop Dots “scraps.” (I always use the parts around the Pop Dots, too. Do you? Just curious!) I saw someone pierce the corners this way and I liked it. The bottom layer is embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.
On the second card - which I did first :) - I also added some color to the flowers with chalk. Not much more to it – just Scor-Pal, piercing and matting.

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

Happy Birthday, Nancy!

Today’s card is a birthday card for a friend in my Yahoo! group. It was her birthday on Tuesday. She reads my blog every day, but I know she has already received it so I’m safe to show it here! Happy Birthday again, Nancy!

The background on this card was done using the “Negative Effect” technique. This was a challenge on SplitCoastStampers a while back. Here is a link to that challenge. I brayered Versamark on to my Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder – on the top side of it, the side with the writing on. Then I embossed my cardstock with the folder as normal. After it was embossed, I sprinkled it with Star Dust embossing powder and heat embossed it. Voila – white diamonds with a shimmery silver background. (I did a card about a month ago – this one – using the same technique, but putting the Versamark on the opposite side of the folder. I like that, too, but that’s much harder to keep the Versamark only on the raised areas. I had LOTS of embossing powder to try to brush off from where I didn’t want it.) Anyway, that’s about all there is to this card. The embossed panel is mounted on shimmery pink and silver papers, a ribbon added and then a tag added. The two tag layers are cut with a Sizzlits die, stamped with Versamark and embossed with silver embossing powder, a silver eyelet added and some silver cord to attach it to the ribbon.

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

SCS Color Challenge - Birthday

Another SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge card for today. This one is #208 and you can find the link here. The colors are Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion and Chocolate Chip.

I'd been playing with this stamp a little bit, and it was out on my table, so I thought I’d give it a try. It's by Anna Griffin. (I had been using Old Olive, Cameo Coral and Creamy Caramel, previously. I did finish a card with those colors that I will be posting soon.) I colored the stamp with markers - Old Olive, Pink Passion and Chocolate Chip. After stamping it, I used a blender pen to spread the color a little bit to the white areas. I used Rectangle Nestabilities to cut the image and the mattings. I embossed the bottom layer with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and I sponged Kiwi Kiss on the edges. The 'frame' on the card front was embossed with a Nestability, also. I thought I was going to actually make a card without using my Scor-Pal, but I couldn't do it! It just looked a little too 'top-heavy' without the little trim piece of Kiwi Kiss and scoring on the bottom. The sentiment is from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called All Occasions and I used Chocolate Chip to stamp it.

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

Clean and Simple Challenge #4

Today’s card was made for this week’s Clean and Simple Challenge #4 – to use pierced dots or dots done with a marker.

I’m running a little short of time (almost forgot to upload here today!) so this will be really quick! The piercing is done using a brass template. The lattice is done with a Cuttlebug die, the stamp is by Hero Arts and I stamped it in Stampin’ Up!’s Pacific Point. The card base is Papertrey Ink’s Stamper’s Select and the soft blue is Baja Breeze. The scoring is done with my Scor-Pal. That’s about it!

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

"Beary Best" Birthday

I was looking through my stamps to try to find something I could “paper piece.” I really don’t have that many I can use! I did find this retired Stampin’ Up! set that had a small area I could piece.

The set is called Beary Best. I stamped it on white, then again on a lightly patterned blue paper from a Sizzix pad. I colored the white image with SU! markers in the Earth Elements family. Some things you can’t see in the picture (even though I tried REALLY hard to get a picture of them) are the glitter pen on the water and the bees (I should have only done their wings, but "in real life" you can still see the yellow under the glitter pen), the clear glaze pen on the flowers, and the black glaze pen for her nose and eye. Then I cut her dress out of the blue and adhered it. OK – here’s an example of “improvising!” Or putting the principle “There are no mistakes. Only opportunities for improvement” (or whatever that saying is supposed to be!!) I planned on centering my image on the Labels One Nestability. But somehow – I didn’t! Luckily it was still straight, and I was able to add the Old Olive ribbon. Perfect! Just like that’s how I wanted it all along. :) The dotted paper is from DCWV Nana’s Nursery – Girl and the plain layer cut with the Labels One is Cameo Coral. The Happy Birthday is from another retired SU! set called All Occasions. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement. I love using little strips of patterned paper and my Scor-pal for added interest and color.

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

March Calendar Page

Well, it’s the First of the month already! That means it’s time for another calendar page.

Not much to this one, but what else is new! The hat is a Studio G wooden stamp from a friend. (Thanks, Anne!) I paper pieced it, colored the band black, the shamrock green and the buckle silver. The shamrock/good luck stamp is from a Stampin’ Up! set called Tag Time. Happy March to you all!

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

The Last Beautiful Borders!

I know this card is too simple to even put on my blog, but I have nothing else! I had lots to do yesterday (I didn’t get it all done, either. Not because I there was too much to do, but because my computer chair must have gotten some adhesive on it and I couldn’t get off – I was stuck for hours! LOL!!)

Anyway, my “card parts” pile is getting even smaller – hurrah! This is one last border I stamped with Stampin’ Up!’s Beautiful Borders set. I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with Stampendous’ Emerald PEARLustre embossing powder. It’s so luscious looking! Of course the picture doesn’t show it very well. The background paper is a very shimmery emerald green. You can barely see it, but I scored lines on both sides of the border with my Scor-Pal. The sentiment is from Stampendous and is stamped in Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder. The card base is SU!’s Whisper White.

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

How "Sixties" Is This?

How about a bright, “retro” card for today? This is one probably no one would ever want to case! My neighbor (who will be 14 on March 9) has a bright orange room with sixties things, so I made this card just for her. Does anyone else have this “problem” – I find it MUCH easier to just MAKE a card than to try to make a card specifically FOR someone. Anyway, here it is.

I knew I wanted to use the tie-dye background. I was pretty sure I wanted flowers. I mean, what says “sixties” better than flowers! I tried for a few days to come up with something and was drawing a blank. None of the flowers I was trying were working. Harriet to the rescue – she mentioned that the Cuttlebug flower die looked rather “hippie-ish.” Awesome idea! That was exactly the flower I was looking for! I generally forget about my dies.

I guess that’s about all you need to know about the card – tie-dye background and Cuttlebug die flowers. The tag was made with Stampin’ Up! tag punches and the sentiment is from Studio G.

Edited to add: I should have stated that the tie dyed layer is a piece of background paper that I had. It may be by Fiskars. Thanks for the question, Kim:)

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

Four Cards in Black and White (with a splash of red)

I made a card for the Sketch Challenge on SplitCoastStampers yesterday. I love that sketch! My friend Harriet did one in black and white and I thought it was awesome, so I did mine in black and white, too. I stamped several of the images because I really wasn’t sure how I was going to cut them out, and besides, I thought I might ruin some in the process. But then I had all these “extra” pieces laying around, so I had to make them into cards, too. So – you get four new cards today!

The flowers stamp is from Inkadinkado. The sentiments are from Stampendous, except for the “happy birthday to you!” which is from Studio G. I don’t think there is too much explanation necessary for such simple cards. I of course used my Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder and Scor-Pal, but amazingly, only on a couple cards. The embossed “frames” around a couple of the images are done with Nestabilities. Oh, and the entire image panel on the card with red is popped out with Pop Dots.

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

Water Colored Anniversary

Today’s card uses a technique I don’t use very often – water coloring. The card is for the Color Challenge on SCS – to use Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Kiwi Kiss.

The flower stamps are from an Inkadinkado set that I’ve had for quite a while, really love, and had not used yet. I stamped them with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I wanted to water color them with my Stampin’ Up! ink pads and an Aquabrush. The way it’s “supposed” to be done is to squish your pad, and then the ink will collect in the lid. I’ve never had much success with that method. So, I took the mat for my Stamp-a-ma-jig and rubbed that in my ink pad and used it as my “palette.” It worked great. It’s always nice when something serves a dual purpose! I used the challenge colors to “paint” my flowers. I honestly don’t know if my paper is water color paper or not, but it’s textured like water color paper is. I matted it with Kiwi Kiss. The sentiment is from a Stampendous set, again stamped with Versafine black and embossed. I love adding the Scor-Pal lines around the sentiment – a little touch that adds so much.

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

Scrap Card

Today’s card is made from scraps. I had these three pieces sitting on my table after making this card last week. The patterned piece with the rabbits was even matted.

The first thing I did was mat the white piece, which was already embossed and scored. I tried the semi-circle unmatted, but decided to mat that one, too. I had to use my Coluzzle, since the circle had been cut with my largest circle Nestability. I laid the pieces out in all sorts of configurations, but liked this one best. Too much white, though, so I added the Almost Amethyst layer, then decided that needed to be matted, too. The ribbon and matting is Certainly Celery. To be totally truthful, there was an arrangement I liked better, but when I stamped the sentiment (from Stampendous) I got an unwanted line from the edge of the rubber, so I had to turn my bottom layer around and cover it up. So,this was my second-favorite configuration. :)

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

Another Double Challenge Card

Today’s card is for two challenges again – the Technique Lover’s Challenge #209, and the Clean and Simple Challenge #3. The TLC was to wind rubber bands around a wooden block, stamp with it, emboss it and then sponge over it. The CAS challenge was a sketch.

So, here is my card. I stamped the rubber bands with VersaMagic Chalk ink Aloe Vera, embossed with clear embossing powder, then sponged with Pale Plum and Perfect Plum. The Pale Plum cardstock layer on the bottom is embossed with a Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder and sponged with Perfect Plum. The heart sticker is from Michael's. The sentiment is from Stampin’ Up!’s Thank You Kindly.

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

Happy Day!

We were out of town this weekend and I haven’t gotten a chance to stamp since Friday morning. So, I visited my SplitCoastStampers gallery and chose this card to upload today. I hope you don’t mind it’s an oldie – it’s one of my favorites!

The flowers and sentiment are from a clear Heidi Grace set. I colored them with Stampin' Up! markers. I added interest by scoring the edges of the main image. It's matted on Cameo Coral and popped up with Pop Dots. The flower on the bottom is popped up, too. The decorative lines are done with the Scor-Pal.

I hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Double Challenge Card - Green with Black Ink

Today’s card was made for two challenges. One challenge is SplitCoastStampers “Limited Supplies Challenge” – to use green and to limit your layers and embellishments, with a “bonus” for using green designer paper. The other challenge is from Sharon Johnson’s blog “No Time to Stamp” – to use only black ink.

My background paper is from Stampin’ Up! and the solid green is also from SU! - Always Artichoke. The stamps I used – the black on the main image and the birthday sentiment – are from Inkadinkado. The circles are all cut with Nestabilities. The flower is done with a punch. I sponged a little black around the sentiment circle and the flower. I matted the background paper on black, also. The ribbon is Old Olive from Stampin’ Up!

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

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!