Confetti Cupcake #2

Not very exciting for sure, but here is today's card! It uses the rest of the stamps in the Stampin' Up! set called "Confetti Cupcake." The stamps consist of the cupcake bottom, the frosting, the "confetti" on the frosting, the candle, the flame and the sentiment. The cupcake frosting is embossed with clear powder. The frosting, candle and flame are all mounted on foam squares.  The flame is embossed with sparkly powder. I matted with purple. All of the stamps were stamped on scraps and cut out.

I promise I like tomorrow's card a lot better! :)

For a previous commenter - the Stampin' Up! stamps that I've been using in my quest to use them ALL are almost entirely retired. 

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

Confetti Cupcake #1

The next Stampin' Up! set in my stack. This set is called "Confetti Cupcake." You'll find out why when I post another card made with it:)

I stamped the balloon with Versamark ink and embossed with light blue embossing powder. I cut out both pieces (the main balloon and the small part the string is tied around). Then I used a darker blue marker to color the bow around the balloon and stamped that part on the image panel. I added the embossed pieces, then added the string with another stamp. The sentiment is from the same set. I matted with darker blue cardstock and put it on the right side of the card front.

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Botanical Garden #3

My third card using the Stampin' Up! set called "Botanical Garden." And it's even simpler than Friday's card! :)

While trying to figure out what I wanted to do with this stamp, I thought I would go with a light blue background. For some reason, I thought I had some light blue embossing powder (that I had never used) and I was right. So, I stamped the image with Versamark ink and embossed with the light blue powder. My plan was to color the flowers, but I liked it so much plain, that I just left it. I matted with matching blue cardstock. It's very rare for me to not put a sentiment on my cards, but this one seemed right without one.

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Happy Anniversary, Lucy and David!

This card uses the last stamp (except for the words) from the Stampin' Up! set called "Baroque Motifs." The stamps from the set are the swirls in the background and the medallion.

I stamped the background with Versamark and used a new jar of embossing powder from Michael's called Glitz. It's the same as my old one called Iridescent Sparkle. I did the same with the medallion stamp, then I trimmed around the edges and mounted on foam tape. Since it sort of resembled a flower, I used a swirly die from Spellbinders to cut "leaves" from green textured cardstock. I matted with black and added sheer black ribbon. Actually, I added the ribbon and THEN I matted! :) I cut the tag with an old Sizzlits die from Sizzix. I stamped the sentiment using a stamp from Papertrey Ink. I inked up the whole tag with my Versamark and used the same Glitz embossing powder. Then I inked it again with Versamark a couple times and added some thick embossing powder. I've tried to capture the multi-colored effect of the embossing powder.

This card is for one of my oldest (well, not really the oldest! We've just been friends almost forever!) friends and her husband on their anniversary. Their anniversary was yesterday, but I wanted to give her time to open the card before seeing it here. Happy Anniversary, Lucy!

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

Botanical Garden #2

My second card using the Stampin' Up! set called "Botanical Garden." I again stamped with Versafine black ink and embossed with black embossing powder. I used Memento markers to color the leaves. I matted with black cardstock and mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft.

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

Botanical Garden #1

Here is the first of three cards using the Stampin' Up! set called "Botanical Garden." Sorry the picture is so dark. I have included another picture of it, too, so you can kind of see the shimmer.  The cardbase is off-white and is 4 x 6 inches.

I stamped the image on black with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with black embossing powder. To color the image, I used three colors of PearlEx powder. I matted with a textured green cardstock. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft.

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

Warm Tulip Wishes

I have a cheery "warm wishes" card to share with you today. These tulips have been sitting on my table for a while, waiting to be used. They are pretty much the last of the "loose" card parts. Everything else is sorted and in little sleeves. These were colored and ready to go.

I punched the green cardstock with a Martha Stewart border punch. I stamped the sentiment, from the same Stampin' Up! set as yesterday's card, and scored a few lines with my Scor-Pal. The tulips (stamp and die) are from Lawn Fawn. I glued down the stems and mounted the flowers on foam squares.

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

Faux Embossing

This card uses a stamp set from my current stack of Stampin' Up! stamps to use. The set is called "Beautiful Borders." It consists of two border stamps and four small sentiment stamps. You will see the other border and another sentiment soon, as I have used them on a card to be posted at a later date.

In the pile of card parts I went through recently, there was just a small snippet of card stock on which I had used this technique. I had no intention of using the small piece, but it reminded me to use this fun technique. I'm not sure what its "official" title is, but I'll call it "Faux Embossing" as it truly looks embossed in real life. You need to feel it to realize it really is flat. After doing the stamping, I scored a line above and below the border with my Scor-Pal. I stamped the sentiment underneath.

So, here is how you do this. As I used a wood-mounted stamp, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig. You could use your MISTI, too. You need matching cardstock and ink. I used SU Sage Shadow. I first stamped the image in Sage Shadow. I lined up my Stamp-a-ma-jig exactly over the image and then I shifted it slightly to the right. Then I stamped the image again using white ink. That's it!

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

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Sunday is my dad's 91st birthday and this is the card I made for him. I didn't get a great picture of it, as the gold shimmery paper and the gold embossing don't look like a great match. Trust me - they look much closer in color in real life!

The main image is another stamp from the Stampin' Up! set called "Baroque Motifs." I stamped on black with Versamark ink and embossed with detail gold embossing powder. I cut it with a Nestability die and matted with a scalloped circle cut from shimmery gold paper. The sentiment, also embossed with gold embossing powder, is from My Favorite Things. I matted the black layer with gold, also, and used a kraft card base.

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

Eagle on our Roof!

One of our neighbors called us last night and suggested we check out our roof. This is what we found! Amazing! A beautiful bald eagle perched right on a peak of our roof!! We got to watch him take flight, too.

I'm SO glad the neighbor let us know about it!

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

Tulips

I needed a very simple thinking of you card, so this is it. The tulips are all one stamp from GIna K. The sentiment is also from Gina K. I used distress makers to color the images and sentiment. I matted the tulips with green and mounted on foam squares.

While I still had the tulip stamp out, I happened to notice this pre-die-cut piece of ivory. I thought I could just as well make another card, since I needed a thank you card, too. I used Memento markers for this card. I didn't clean the stamp first, and therefore the tulips are slightly different shades of purple. Pretty cool, I think:) Again, the tulips are mounted on foam squares, and the sentiment is from the same Gina K set. The card base is ivory to match the image panel.

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

Happy Birthday, Jim!

I made this card quickly for my husband, Jim, yesterday. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute, as his birthday is today. :) Just a very simple card, but it will serve the purpose.

Both the pocket watch stamp and the sentiment are from My Favorites Things. The image panel is mounted on foam squares. The stamping was done in such a pretty shade of brown - Soft Suede from Stampin' Up! I sponged a little matching ink around the edges of the image and matted it with Soft Suede cardstock.

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

April Calendar Page

Wow - April is here! Amazing how fast time is zipping by!!

The image on this page is from Stampin' Up! I colored it with Copics. I printed the sentiment on my computer. I added a bit of color around the edge of the sentiment with another Copic marker.

The Excel files I have created to print my calendar pages, along with cutting instructions, can be found by following the links on the page found under my blog title.

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

Sparkly Purple Birthday

 I actually found it hard to make a birthday card for our soon-to-be six-year-old granddaughter! I wasn't sure what she was "in to" these days. So, I went purple and sparkly. How could I go wrong?

I had actually already started this card, because I used a large stamp from my next Stampin' Up! set. The set is called "Baroque Motifs." I used Versamark to stamp the background stamp multiple times (well, one full stamp, and then several partials.) I used my Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. That is the one jar of embossing powder that is almost empty! I didn't realize I had used it so much. Then I didn't know what to do, and I let it sit for a while. I ended up cutting a tag with a fancy tag Spellbinders die. I then stamped the sentiment (from The Paper Studio) and the little flowers/designs and used the same embossing powder. I added a couple layers of cardstock underneath to give it more substance, and then mounted on foam squares. I hope she likes it!

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

Color Swap Birthday

I made this card for the Color Swap with my stamping group. The colors are "purple, white and one other color." My "other color" is green. (Oops, I just realized that I added slight blue and gray shading! I guess I forgot that part when I was coloring.)

I cut the doily using a Darice die. It's new (to me) and I'm disappointed that I didn't check the size before ordering it. It's too big to fit on a standard card. I was also thinking that it had more cut out of it, but most of it is embossed. I still like it well enough, though. So, I cut it, embossed it, and trimmed it down to fit on the card. The image is from an Inkadinkado set and it's colored with Copics. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I embossed it with Detail White embossing powder.

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

Simply Patterned Paper Birthday

A simple, but I think very pretty, birthday card for today's post. It was nice to have a little time in my stamping room yesterday.

Again I say - I could never use up my patterned paper in a million years! (That might be a slight exaggeration, but maybe not, since I would probably buy more along the way. LOL!) At any rate I actually used up another piece. I love this flowered print. I simply cut a piece to nearly cover the card front and matted it with a beautiful brown cardstock. I'm thinking a lot of people don't like brown, but I happen to like it a lot. I used a scrap from cutting that piece for the sentiment panel. I stamped the greeting with a stamp from Impression Obsession, matted it with the same brown, and popped it up on foam squares. Done! Hopefully I'll have another card before too much more time passes.

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

"Cracked" Image Birthday

An "oldie-but-goodie" technique for today's card. I'm not sure what made me think of it, but here it is. I stamped the image (from Inkadinkado) and colored it with markers. Then I inked up the entire panel with Versamark and covered it with Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder and heated it. Then I stamped again with Versamark and covered it with Deep Impressions embossing powder. (Different brands have different names.) I added two or three more coats of the thick embossing powder. It was perfect - just the way I wanted it. But, then when I came back to it a while later, I somehow managed to crack it:( However, there is a technique called "cracked glass," so that is what this turned into. I just added lots more cracks and then sponged with distress ink. I matted with green cardstock and mounted on foam squares. I used the same green cardstock for the bottom layer. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft. I cut it out with a new-to-me Darice die and embossed with an old Cuttlebug embossing folder. The cardbase is ivory.

A closer look at the image panel. You can see the sparkle a little better in this picture.

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

Easter Cards

A year ago when I was in Omaha stamping with friends, I stamped and cut out these images and sentiments. I came across them about a month ago and decided I better get them made into cards soon. Some of the images were colored and some weren't done yet. I'm sharing both of them only because one basket has smiley faces on the eggs and one doesn't:) The inside has more stamped, colored and die-cut images, but I didn't take a picture of them. The images and dies are from Lawn Fawn.

Edited to add: The background was embossed with a Darice "Basket Weave" folder. Thanks to Sheri for the use of her stamps and dies! The sentiment is mounted on foam squares. I guess I was in a hurry when I wrote this post last night!

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All Occasions #4

The last card using the Stampin' Up! set called "All Occasions." (And the last set in that stack. On to another stack!)

Again, colored with Copics. I matted with red and mounted on foam squares. Added the sentiment. Both the image and sentiment are from the set. I added them to a white panel and glued to the card front.

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

All Occasions #2 and #3

Here are cards #2 and 3 using the Stampin' Up! set called "All Occasions." I have two stamps left to use.

This first one uses the flowers and the sentiment "Thanks to you." I embossed a piece of cardstock slightly smaller than the card front using a Cuttlebug folder. I stamped the image using my Stamp-a-ma-jig and colored it with Copics. I added the sentiment under the image and added the panel to the card front.

Same card - different image and sentiment. This sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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