SCS Clean and Simple Punch Challenge

A very simple card today. I’ve made a few cards lately that I can’t post yet, and I’m running out of those that I CAN post! (Edited to add: Bonnie - I can't post them because I am going to be sending them to people who read my blog, and they would probably know that they are for them!)

This was another card I made for the Clean and Simple challenge on SCS to use punches. The punch I used is a Fiskars border punch. I used Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select white cardstock for both the border and the card base. After I punched the border, I trimmed it down and scored two lines in it with my Scor-Pal. This was going to be a strictly white-on-white card, but then I added the very thin strip of color above the border. Then I thought it needed a sentiment in color. So then the Cuttlebug-embossed flower needed color, too. I used a couple Fantastix and Stampin’ Up! ink pads to color it in So Saffron and Certainly Celery.

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

SCS Color Challenge Birthday and an Award

Another SplitCoastStampers challenge card today – this one for the Color Challenge which is to use Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. I’m just going to pretty much copy and paste what I wrote when I uploaded the card to SCS, because it was kind of long and I don’t want to have to write it all again!

All of the stamps except the sentiment are from a set by Hampton Art. It was kind of tricky to color the stamps in multiple colors without Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze markers, but I did my best! I used three main stamps. The bottom two pink flowers and the leaves below them are one stamp. I inked up the leaves only as best as I could using the Kiwi Kiss ink pad. Then I used a Pretty in Pink marker for the flowers. I used a blender pen to remove the marker from the flower center and then colored it with a So Saffron marker. Then I masked the two flowers and added the stamping behind it. For this stamp, I inked up the whole thing with Kiwi Kiss, then used the blender pen to remove the ink from the flowers, and then stamped the image. I did this twice. Then I inked up just the flowers with the Baja Breeze pad and removed the ink from the stems. The smallest pink flowers are a separate stamp. The pink border stamp is also included in this set. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations and is stamped with Kiwi Kiss. The bottom corners are cut and embossed with a Fiskars embossing corner punch. The main panel is mounted on Baja Breeze and then onto the card. It needed something else, so I added glitter to all of the flowers. Hope you can see most of it - it's really quite pretty “In Real Life!”

I received another Blog Award, too! Thanks so much, Barb, for honoring me with a “Top Ten Faves” award. I really appreciate the recognition. Barb’s blog is called “Made for Keeps.”

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

CAS Challenge #7 - Punches

Today’s card was made for another Clean and Simple challenge on SplitCoastStampers – this challenge was to use punches. Now that I’m looking at it – maybe it’s not even considered “Clean and Simple!” Oh well – close enough!

The punch is a Tonic punch used in their Border System. I used Stampin’ Up!’s Apricot Appeal cardstock, punched, trimmed it down and added scored lines with my Scor-Pal. I mounted some black behind the punches, but left the top and bottom with no black. The background paper is from Sizzix. I used an EK Success border punch for the wavy and dotted line at the bottom. The sentiment is from SU!’s set called All Year Cheer I. The flowers are Primas that I received from someone. I added black brads to the flower center and in the lower left. (I love when the paper has a pattern which makes spacing the brads evenly so simple!) The punched-out butterflies were the perfect embellishment for the bottom border.

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

White on White

I found this card on SplitCoastStampers yesterday, and I knew I had to case it – it was lovely! So here is my "Karen-inspired" card.

What can I say? It’s Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select white cardstock. I used a Fiskars border punch on another piece of cardstock and then trimmed it down and added a couple scored lines. I glued it down on the left side. The sentiment is embossed with a small Cuttlebug folder. The flowers are from the wedding section at Michael’s, with pearls added to the centers. Voila! Sounds really simple, but it actually did take me a fair amount of time to finish it. To recreate it would be VERY quick, though!

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

Butterflies Hello

Just a quick card for today. A friend asked if I had any Papertrey Ink Kraft cardstock that I could send her so she could see a sample of it. I figured I could just as well make it into a card to send. So, this is it.

The butterflies are stamped using the Stampin’ Up! set Flight of the Butterfly. I used Riding Hood Red and Close to Cocoa for the larger butterflies, and Creamy Caramel for the smaller ones. The border is punched with an EK Success border punch. The Riding Hood Red on the bottom is actually on the inside of the card. The “HELLO” is from Inkadinkado.

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

Another SCS Challenge Card

This card is for yesterday’s SplitCoastStampers’ Ways To Use It challenge – to use colors from the Soft Subtles family and a spring flower.

This card actually gave me some problems – probably because I should have been getting ready for company instead of doing the challenge! I did a card in my head while I was walking on the treadmill, but this isn’t it! The flowers I chose didn’t work, so I had to figure out something different. Then the layout didn’t work at all, because this flower was bigger. And so it went! But after lots of moving these elements around, I finally settled on their placement. I tied the ribbon where I wanted it and mounted the white on the green. Then I adhered it to the base of the card – upside down! So now, instead of the ribbon being towards the top with the knot on the right side, it was bottom left. I would have preferred it the way I planned it, but this is an acceptable second choice!

The tulip stamp is from Stampin’ Up!’s Garden Whimsy set – colored with a Lavender Lace and a Mellow Moss marker. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado, stamped with Mellow Moss. I sponged Mellow Moss around the edge of the tulip layer. The ovals are all cut with Nestabilities. I added dots with two different white gel pens – different tip sizes. The mats are Mellow Moss and Lavender Lace. I don’t remember where I got the ribbon – probably Michael's.

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

Three "Stickered" Cards

Three cards to share with you today. The “Ways To Use It” challenge on SplitCoastStampers yesterday was to use stickers. (WT210) I actually have quite a few stickers and I don’t use them very often. Kind of seems like “cheating.” :) So this was like “permission” to use them!

The first one uses a Mary Engelbreit sticker. I mounted it on Rose Red cardstock, then a scalloped white mat. The white mat qualifies this card for Sharon Johnson’s (No Time To Stamp?) challenge, found here. Then I embossed a frame in the Pink Pirouette card base. All mats and frames are done using Rectangle Nestabilities. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Mixed Messages set and is stamped with Rose Red ink. It seemed to fit perfectly with the sticker sentiment.
The second card uses Cuttlebug folders and stickers from K&Co, and a computer-generated sentiment. I had to hand embossed the dots on the bottom, because I didn’t think of adding them until I had already added the stickers! I used a stylus with the CB folder.
The third card also uses stickers from K&Co. I drew the stems and leaves and added the sentiment from Stampin’ Up!’s All Occasions set.

OK. Now just a couple quick miscellaneous things. Yesterday was an awesome “blog day.” I think I had about 500 views and I went over 20,000 hits. I am blown away by this, and I thank you all VERY much!

And one more thing – something personal to one visitor. I see I have a fairly frequent visitor from Fergus Falls. That is my home town! I was born there and lived there until after I finished ninth grade. So, a special hello to you, whoever you are! (I even had a visitor from Dalton one day. Both of my parents are from there, originally.)

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

Happy Birthday, Kris!

A birthday card for a friend in my Yahoo! group. Happy Birthday again, Kris!

I used a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up! set called Garden Collage. I stamped it with Tim Holtz Distress ink – Tea Dye. I colored the image with chalks. I stamped the butterfly again and colored it, then rubbed it with Versamark and embossed it with Deep Impressions embossing powder, then Versamark again, then Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder, then another layer of Deep Impressions. Then I cut it out and mounted on a piece of Pop Dot and bent up the wings. I distressed the edges with an SU! paper distressing tool and rubbed some Tea Dye ink on them. The matting, also with distressed edges, is SU! Baja Breeze. The border is die cut with a Cuttlebug die, and I used a Scor-Pal for the lines on either side of it.

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

Christmas - In March!!

How about a Christmas card for today? Yep, amazingly I have some Christmas cards done. I decided this year to make several of one design, and then make some different ones later. I made 50 of this one, and will be making another 30 starting maybe in about September.

I used PaperTrey Stamper’s Select White as the card base. I figured if it’s only going to be one layer, it should be a good one! I did them assembly-line fashion. I began by scoring 25 sheets, cutting them, and then, using a Rectangle Nestability, I embossed the frame on them all. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for the placement of the tree, since that really needed to be in the center of the frame. I just “eye-balled” the placement of the sentiment and snowflake. The stamps are all from a Stampin’ Up! set called Snow Swirled. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold detail embossing powder, doing about 13 – 14 at a time before I used the heat gun to finish the embossing. When the fronts were all done, I stamped on the insides, and then on the back. When they were all finished with the stamping, I folded them. They now await the end of November!

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

Thinking of You - Times Two

My two cards for today’s post are for friends recovering – one from surgery and one from a virus. The cards can’t help heal, but hopefully they brought a minute of two of cheer!

The first one is done with So Saffron, black and white. The ovals are all done with Oval Nestabilities. The patterned paper is from Stampin’ Up! The stamp is by Inkadinkado. I colored the little butterflies with a So Saffron maker. The flowers are from Michael’s – from the wedding section. They come white, but color VERY nicely with markers. I used the So Saffron to color one of the flowers, and added tiny pearls for the centers.
The second one is done in Certainly Celery and white. The triangle piece is left over from a card I did a few days ago, using SU!’s Stippled Stencils stamp set. Again, the patterned paper is SU!, the sentiment is Inkadinkado, the ribbon is Certainly Celery, and the flowers are from Michael’s with one of them colored with a Certainly Celery marker.

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

Three Roses

Three rose cards for you today using a stamp from Paper Inspirations. For all three, I used Stampin’ Up! markers (Rose Red and Always Artichoke) to color the image, then I misted it before stamping.

The first one was done using a sketch from 2 red bananas blog challenge and also for the SplitCoastStampers color challenge – Rose Red, Always Artichoke and Basic Black. I stamped the image on Whisper White and cut it with an Oval Nestability. I sponged black around the edge and also sponged a little on the image to take away some of its stark whiteness since there was no other white on the card. The scalloped mat is Always Artichoke and the background paper is also from Stampin’ Up! The sentiment and mat are punched with a Word Window punch from SU! The image for the second one was stamped on watercolor paper and the sentiment is from Studio G. Patterned paper for the second and third is from Stampin’ Up! The ribbon on the third card is SU!’s Mellow Moss, and I used a SU! ticket corner punch on the image panel and added white brads.

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

Thankful for You

Just a simple Thank You card today.

The stamp is from Stampin’ Up! set Thoroughly Thankful. I stamped it with Versafine Black Onyx and colored it with SU! markers in Sage Shadow and Barely Banana. I also highlighted the sentiment to draw more attention to it. I used a glue pen and Art Institute glitter on the daisy petals. I punched the stamped image and its mat with Marvy punches. The scalloped mat is Sage Shadow. I embossed the frame with a square Nestability and used a black glaze pen for the dots.

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

Two Simple Birthday Cards

Two cards today. I made one, liked it, had another flower the same but a different color, and I made another one.

While digging through my “card parts” box on Wednesday, I found a piece of embossed Swiss Dots. I figured I may as well use it. I also had been looking through my stickers and found a layered flower. So, I matted the Swiss Dots on Stampin’ Up!’s Pink Pirouette, stuck the flower on, threaded the ribbon though a slider from SU! and added it, and stamped the sentiment with Certainly Celery with my temporarily favorite birthday stamp from All Occasions. I also added some Crystal Stickles to the ribbon slider. The second card uses Bliss Blue cardstock and Mellow Moss ink.

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

A "Green" Challenge

I made this card for another SplitCoastStampers challenge – the Ways to Use It one, this time. The challenge was to use “green” – either just the color green, or to use recycled or re-used items. I did both.

The patterned GREEN paper is from packaging from a Papertrey Ink set. The gold is a chocolate wrapper which I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The black are scraps I bought at a paper store, and the butterfly has been in my “card parts” box for a long time (gold embossing on a pearlescent vellum). I put it all together and added the sentiment – freshly stamped!

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

CAS Challenge #5 - Embrace Happiness

Today’s card was done for the Clean and Simple Challenge for the week which was posted on Monday – to used greens and blues.

The stamp I used is from the same Anna Griffin set as the tulip I used a few days ago. I colored the basket of the topiary with a Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue marker. The grasses, trunk and leaves are colored with Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke and Certainly Celery markers. Not sure I did it exactly right, but I think I did some 'thumping' on the leaves. I had colored them with Certainly Celery, then 'bounced' my Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke markers on them. I used my Scor-Pal for the background. The image panel is matted with Brocade Blue and mounted on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set called “Mixed Message.” I stamped it with, and mounted it on, Always Artichoke.

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

Wonderful Woodcuts and Paper Piecing

Another two-card day, since I have two cards done with the same set. I like paper piecing. I was looking through all of my Stampin’ Up! sets to try to find something I could paper-piece. I’m finding I don’t have very many stamps that lend themselves to this technique, but I found this one that worked all right – it’s called Wonderful Woodcuts.

For the sailboat card, I stamped on Whisper White, Creamy Caramel and white shimmery paper with Versafine Onyx Black and embossed them all with clear embossing powder. I cut out the words and the boat from the caramel and the sail from the shimmery white. The boat and the sail are mounted on Pop Dots. The water is colored with my only Copic marker. The rest is colored with SU! markers. The background is embossed with a Fiskars texture plate. I made this card for a Limited Supplies Challenge on SplitCoastStampers – to make a card in 30 minutes or less. I was a little rushed at the end. I used a Fiskars texture plate for the embossed background, but if I would have taken a few more minutes, I would have misted the card base before embossing to get deeper and clearer embossing.
The second card is even simpler. I stamped on a patterned blue paper and a slightly-patterned yellow paper. I cut the word and the sun from the yellow. The sun is mounted on Pop Dots. All of the patterned paper is from a Sizzix paper pad. I mounted the layers on black – I like to do that sometimes when I’ve used black ink.

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

Stippled Stencils

I’ve been trying to use some of my older Stampin’ Up! sets lately, and have pulled a few off the shelf to make sure I do.

The set I used for today’s card is called Stippled Stencils. I'm not sure if I've ever used it before or not, but I still do like it! I colored the stamps with Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Almost Amethyst. I punched the images and the mats out with Marvy punches. I found the lace in my crafting supplies when I was looking for my crochet hooks last week (to crochet some flowers) and threaded it with Certainly Celery ribbon. The image with the grapes is mounted on Pop Dots. The sentiment is from All Occasions, stamped in Certainly Celery. I colored the pearls with my Certainly Celery marker. That’s it!

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

Anna Griffin Tulip

My card for today features a stamp by Anna Griffin. I’ve had it for ages, and I’m not sure if I had ever used it or not until this card - which I promised a few days ago that I would upload.

I colored the stamp with Stampin’ Up!’s Old Olive, Cameo Coral and Creamy Caramel markers. I used a blender pen on the images after they were stamped to fill in the images a little bit. I cut and embossed them using an Oval Nestability, then left the die in place and lightly went over them with blue chalk, leaving a white border on them. The scalloped frame is Cameo Coral, the green strips are Old Olive, and the sentiment is by Stampendous. I used my Scor-Pal and I added some pearls. True confessions time: the thin Old Olive strip at the bottom was added to cover up an 'oopsie.' I got a line from the edge of the sentiment stamp - but I think the strip looks like it was part of the design all along!

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

Inkadinkado Birds - Again!

My card for today is one using the Inkadinkado stamp that I’ve used a few times recently. I still had this one last image I had stamped earlier that was on my table.

I colored this one with Stampin’ Up! markers in the Bold Brights family. Then I used a background stamp from SU!’s set Itty Bitty Backgrounds to make the speckles. I mounted it on Real Red, added the black gingham ribbon, then mounted it on black. I wanted to do a little different scoring, so this was what I came up with. I used a border stamp to add the lines. The sentiment is from Stampendous.

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

"Tag Time" Birthday

How about a super-simple card for today?

For this card, I used a stamp from a Stampin’ Up! set called Tag Time. I stamped the stamp on white cardstock, and then stamped the balloons on three different colors of cardstock – last year’s In Colors – Buckaroo Blue, Blue Bayou and Wild Wasabi. I colored the balloons with a white gel pen, a silver gel pen, and a blue sparkly pen, then cut them out carefully. I mounted them on Pop Dots and attached them to the base image. I matted the image on a piece of Buckaroo Blue cardstock. I used a Square Nestability to emboss the frame on the card front. The cardstock I used for the card is from PaperTrey Ink. It’s so nice and thick and embosses so crisply. It’s great, especially for Clean and Simple cards.

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