Close to Nature

I was able to use all four stamps of the "Close to Nature" Stampin' Up! set on two cards and will share them both with you today.

For the first one, I simply stamped three of the images with Close to Cocoa ink on ivory cardstock. I carefully trimmed right along the edges of the squares and mounted them on foam squares. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set and is also stamped with Close to Cocoa. I matted with Close to Cocoa cardstock.

Here is the fourth stamp from the set. I stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics. I added Stickles to the flower, but I don't think you can really see that. Again, foam squares make the image stand out. The sentiment is from PTI.

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

Stamped Backgrounds

These are the last two cards using the "Background Basics" set from Stampin' Up!

On this first one, I stamped the image with black and colored the leaves and flower centers with markers. I matted with black. The sentiment panel was stamped with Papertrey Ink stamps. I cut the circles with Nestabilities and I used foam squares to mount the panel.

For this card, I stamped the holly leaves with black and then colored with red and green markers. I embossed the top part of the card with a Sizzix embossing folder. I added some pretty green ribbon (I think it's from PTI) across the middle. The sentiment is from Denami. I added a red gem for the dot over the "i" in Christmas and (of course!) mounted on foam squares.

I hope you are enjoying seeing my older sets. I'm sure having fun using them! Stay tuned for "Close to Nature" tomorrow.

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

Celebrate!

These two cards both use stamps from the long-retired Stampin' Up! sets called "Celebrations" and "Background Basics." I kind of struggled with the Celebrations set. But, I'm done with it now! :)

I stamped the stars on the background and trimmed it down a little smaller than the card front. I stamped the blue stars and added the candles and sentiment and matted with red. I also added some Stickles to the flames.

For this second card, I used ivory cardstock. I stamped the background with Buckaroo Blue and then added some yellow to the swirls. I stamped the image with Buckaroo Blue also, and colored the stripes and the bow with yellow. I did some scoring on the panel and matted with Buckaroo Blue cardstock. I mounted the image panel on foam squares. I sure am going through those foam squares! LOL.

I like my upcoming cards better than these;)

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

Happy Day

I had a chance to create some more cards yesterday. I have completed using six sets so far:) Only about a hundred ninety to go! LOL!

This set uses two stamps from the set called "Celebrations" - the little background stamp and the balloon. (There are a few more and you will be seeing them in the next few days.) I used Buckaroo Blue ink to stamp both the background and the balloon. I cut a piece of Buckaroo Blue cardstock to frame the balloon. I stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) with Versamark and embossed with white, then I embossed with a Sizzix folder. I mounted that panel on foam squares.

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

Flowery Thank You

Here is the last stamp from the Stampin' Up! Bitty Bouquet set. I colored it with Copics and added the sentiment, which is from Papertrey Ink. The frame was a stamp-off from my friend Annie in Canada. It is stamped and embossed in lavender. I mounted it on foam squares. I also added gems to the flower centers.

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

How Are You?

The third stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Bitty Bouquets. I colored the image with Copics, added the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink), matted with black and mounted on foam squares. The background was stamped with a Darice stamp and distress ink, and also matted with black.

Here is a picture of the stamps I plan on using. If When I finish these, I have other wood-mounted stamps to use, and then my clear ones and unmounted rubber.

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

Christmas Poinsettias

Continuing on my very-recently-begun quest to use all of my Stampin' Up! sets:) I realized that I won't have time to make four or five cards every day (duh! LOL!) so I will post one at a time until I have quite a stack and then I'll start posting multiples.

The poinsettia stamp on today's card is from Bitty Bouquets. I colored the image with Copics. The die cut was one I did last month, and I'm assuming it's from Memory Box, although I'm not sure. I mounted it on foam squares. The sentiment is another long-retired SU! stamp.

Some day soon I'll share a picture of the stamps I have plans to use. Also, so you understand why I'm using so many small images, this is the reason: I have my sets arranged by size and then alphabetically. So, the ones I'll be working on for a while are all the small sets. I think I have about 200 sets altogether, so it will take some time.

And yes, Leslie - you are certainly welcome to play!

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

It Has Begun!

For years I have wanted to start to use all of my Stampin' Up! stamps. I have sets that I have never used. Well, yesterday I started on the project! It will take me a LONG time and the sets are all retired. I will be using other stamps in between, but my plan is to take one stack at a time (about nine or ten sets) and leave them on my table until I have used them all and then get the next stack. I think it will be fun. 

These first cards use two sets. One set is shadow stamps and is called "Alpha Shadows." I used each of the four shapes on these four cards. Three of them also use a set called "Birthday Best." Each of the image panels is mounted on foam squares. I paper-pieced the cupcake and frosting on this first card. The candle has Stickles on the flame.

 I colored the flower and added a gem for the center.

I colored the balloon and matted with green.

This last card uses the last shadow stamp, and also the first of four using "Bitty Bouquets." The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I'll probably include this card when I do the rest of the "Bitty Bouquet" stamps, too. I paper-pieced the vase and colored the flowers with Copics.

I hope you will enjoy my project. I think that I will!

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

hello

Just a simple "hello" card for today. More card parts:)

I embossed this piece soon after receiving my second order of Darice folders, but it had just been sitting on my desk until last night. Before embossing, I brayered sage green ink on it. I trimmed it down to fit the bottom part of the card. I added the ribbon across the top. Then I was trying out different die-cut sentiments and went with "hello." I believe it's from Memory Box. I cut it last month at our Group Gathering, so I'm not sure. I wasn't sure how I was going to get the sentiment to stick to the ribbon, so I used my Xyron.

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

Cityscape Birthday

I had all evening for creating last night, and I just had no mojo! Oh well, that happens. Hopefully I'll feel like creating again soon AND have some time!

I dug though my stack of pieces from our Group Gathering and came up with this card. The cityscape was stamped with Versamark and then embossing powder was added to one section at a time. I think the embossing powder was a distress powder, but I'm really not sure at all. And I'm sorry to say that I don't know who made the stamp. (Edited to add: The stamp is by Art Impressions. Thanks, Sheri!) The sentiment is a die cut from Memory Box, I believe. I matted with black. I think this will make a fine "guy card."

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

What's Up, Doc?

My friend, Sheri, gave me this Bugs Bunny stamp when we were in Iowa last month. I used it to make this card for our grandson, Owen. He likes Bugs Bunny and knows that Bugs says, "Ehhh, what's up, Doc?" I colored the image with Copics and matted with gray. I printed the sentiment on my computer, matted with gray and mounted on foam squares. Thanks, Sheri!

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

Tiny Little Birthday Flowers

Two more simple birthday cards. Gosh, I love simple! :)

A few years ago, my friend Harriet gave me some stickers from Sandylion that I had admired. I finally used them up. (There were some larger ones, but I had already used them.) I stamped the stems (twice). They are from a Papertrey set. I added a tiny flower to each stem. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I mounted the image panel on foam squares.

Another card using the last two flowers. Again, the stems are from Papertrey. I only stamped two of them. I added the flowers and the sentiment. This is a one-layer card. I don't make many of them. 

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

Pink Birthday

A simple - but lovely, I think! - birthday card in pink and white.

This embossing folder by Sizzix is a Christmas folder, but I have fallen in love with it! I embossed it on white and matted with pink. I cut the sentiment tag with a Spellbinders die and mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is stamped on patterned paper with a Papertrey Ink stamp. The butterfly was cut with one of the few Memory Box dies that I own. It is also mounted on a small piece of a foam square.

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

Holiday Wishes

Another Christmas card that just "happened" last week. I had embossed the ornaments with a Darice folder several weeks ago. To finish it, all I did was added red/gold sparkly glue (like Stickles, but it's not!) to the dots and the sentiment - from Hero Arts.

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

Watercolored Poppy Birthday

When my friend Harrietwas here last month, I stamped these poppies. They are from Clearly  Besotted. I used ink and my Aqua Painter to color them. (I pressed the ink pads on to acrylic blocks to use for painting.) I matted with black and added the sentiment - from Hero Arts.

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

Birthday Owls

When I was perusing through my sticker drawers, I found this package of five owl stickers from Sandylion. I've had them for a long time, just like most of my many stickers! But, I used them up on these two cards.

For this first one, I cut the openings with a Papertrey die out of a quarter piece of ivory cardstock. I adhered a piece of patterned paper behind it and added it to the card front. I stuck one owl in each square and then stamped the sentiment in brown. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

After cutting the three square openings for the top card, I was left with three squares! I added the remaining two owls to two of them and stamped a sentiment (from Hero Arts) on the third one. I mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares. The bottom section was embossed with a Darice embossing folder.

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

Birthday Balloons

I've had this balloon punch from Martha Stewart for a long time and have never used it. I brought it on vacation with me and still didn't use it! So, I thought it was about time and this card evolved.

I punched the balloons out of three different patterns from an old Stampin' Up matstack. I tied thread around the ends of them and mounted them on foam squares on a white panel. I stamped the sentiment (from Hero Arts) on two lines, even though it's a one-line stamp. I embossed the background with a Darice folder. I had originally stamped the sentiment with Versamark directly on the colored cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder and then dry embossed, but it was too hard to read. So, I flipped the panel over and it is now de-bossed!

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

Butterfly Birthday Wishes

I loved this delicate butterfly border when I saw a friend use it, and I asked her to bring it to our Group Gathering last month. Thanks, Georgia!

I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug folder on ivory cardstock. I stamped the sentiment with a Hero Arts stamp. I matted with black. I added the butterfly border and a tiny butterfly that I snipped off the border. I used Liquid Pearls for the butterfly centers.

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

Daisy Thank You

I had a great beginning of the week and I made ten cards in about three days. Such fun! Now I have lots to share with you - one at a time:)

Here is the first one - a very simple thank you card. The square white piece was left over from a card I made a couple weeks ago - a window card. I was digging through my sticker drawers and happened across this daisy. I thought they were all gone, but I was delighted to find one more! It is from K & Co. I stuck it to the square and mounted the square on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a very old matstack from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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

Hoppy Birthday

Here are the last two cards I'm going to share with you that I made while we were on vacation. They are almost identical except for the placement of the image panel and also the green background.

Both cards are made using a Papertrey Ink set. I stamped the lily pads on green cardstock and cut them out. For the green piece on the left of this card, I brayered green ink onto textured ivory cardstock. I stamped the frogs on some of the extra, cut them out and mounted them on foam squares and added googly eyes. I matted the image panels with black cardstock.

The green panel on this one was made by brayering (or maybe sponging, I don't remember) green distress ink onto ivory cardstock. I spritzed a background stamp (by Darice) with water and stamped over the brayered piece.

Tomorrow - assuming I get my post done - I'll start with the cards I've made since we've been home.

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

Birthday Wreath

Another card I made while on vacation with "limited supplies." I think I have one more to share with you, and then I'll get started with sharing the ones I've made since we've been home.

I die cut this wreath at our Group Gathering last month. I believe it's from Memory Box. I colored it with markers and placed it on a card front. I had already die cut the card front using someone else's Memory Box die:) The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I punched the butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch, added pearls to the flower centers and butterfly bodies, and then added a strip of green along the bottom to accent the beautiful die-cut edge.

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

Simple Flower Birthday

Continuing with the cards I made on vacation. The flower was stamped with Papertrey Ink stamps and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I punched the butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch. I added pearls for the butterflies' bodies and also for the dot in "Birthday." I love this simple flower:)

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

Butterfly Birthday

Another "vacation card." :)

All of the pieces of this card (except for the green piece) were die cut at our Group Gathering last month.  I glued down the green textured piece and added the doily - which MAY have been cut with a Lifestyle Crafts die. Then I glued the two pieces of the butterfly together and placed it on the doily. The sentiment is a die cut also. I'm not sure, but I THINK the butterfly and the sentiment are Memory Box.

I've been busy making more cards this week at home, so I have plenty to share!

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

Birthday Flowers

Another card I made while on vacation. Very simple. I embossed several pieces to use while I was away. This was one of them. I used off-white for this card. The stamps I used are from a Papertrey set and I used Versamagic cubes to ink them up. I added Star Dust Stickles to the flower centers.

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

Home Tweet Home

I made eight cards while we were on vacation, staying at a cabin. I brought very limited supplies with me - white and ivory cardstock precut into cards bases and also quarter-cut for stamping on, my small ink cubes, my small Papertrey Ink sets and other small sets, scissors, Scor-Buddy, small paper cutter, some pearls and enamel dots, Star Dust Stickles and Liquid Pearls, a couple pieces of black cardstock and colored scraps. Oh, and also some die cuts and "card parts" from very recently. I think that's about it. It was fun to have them with me, as the weather was not so great to begin with! I did pack it all up on Wednesday, so these cards were made in the first three days. 

For this card (which I think will go to my sister who just moved back to Minnesota from Georgia, along with a bottle of wine we purchased at a local winery) I used stamps from a small Technique Tuesday set. I stamped the birdhouse on blue textured cardstock and cut it out. The branch and leaf were stamped with colored inks and I stamped the bird with black and used a marker on it.

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

Vacation

I was going to share a card today, but I thought I'd share some personal photos instead, and start sharing the cards tomorrow:) We got back yesterday after spending a week at a cabin near Nevis, MN. It was great to get away for a week, but it's also always great to be home again. This is the view from our cabin.

Here is the little cabin we stayed in. It's at West Crooked Lake Resort. The other cabins they have are bigger and nicer, but for just the two of us, this worked:) We stayed here seven years ago for a week, too. The weather was varied - some strong winds, some rain, some clouds and some sun. 

 A couple "tourist" pictures - me at the Brauhaus restaurant (we've eaten there three times now, and it's very good.)

And me sitting in Paul Bunyan's hand in Akeley. (We took this for our grandson, who likes Paul Bunyon.)

We went out in the canoe a couple of times, went to Park Rapids a couple of times, rented bikes, walked and just relaxed. Oh, and I brought some limited stamping supplies and managed to make eight cards, which I'll be posting during the next few days.

I'll close with a couple "nature" shots. The top is our state flower - the Ladyslipper. Not sure I'd ever seen one before. And the second is "up close and personal" with a dragonfly on my husband's finger. Hopefully this wasn't too boring!

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

Acetate Birthday

When I was in Iowa last week, I bought some outline stickers. Here is my second card using one of them.

I stuck the sticker on a piece of acetate and colored it with Sharpies. I stamped the sentiment (from Hero Arts) on the card front, under the acetate. I scored three-fourths of an inch from the left side of the card and glued that part shut. I embossed a strip of green and added it to the left side of the card front.

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

Happy Anniversary, Vicki and Gary!

Happy Birthday, America! And Happy Anniversary to my friend Vicki and her husband Gary. 

The images I used for this card are from a Gina K set. I stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copic markers. I added Liquid Pearls for the flower centers and Star Dust Stickles to the butterfly. I mounted the butterfly and the sentiment (from Hero Arts) on foam squares.

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

Glitter Rose

When Harriet was at my house last week, we used brass stencils to make glittered roses. Hadn't done that for a while.

I made my rose into a stair-step card. (You can find some other stair-step cards I have made, along with directions, by following this link.) To make the glittered rose, you attach the stencil to double-sided sticky paper (first rub some special soap on the stencil!) and then carefully sprinkle colored glitter through the brass stencil. Remove the stencil and sprinkle clear glitter on the remaining areas. I matted with red. The patterned paper is from a Recollections matstack. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado set and the dotted circle is from Papertrey. I cut the circles with Nestabilities.

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

Pink!

Here is another card using a stamp-off from Annie. She sent these embossed frames and I chose a pink one.

I added the pieces of an Anna Griffin die cut that were left after making a card at our card class in Valley Junction last week, behind the cut-out rectangle. (I'm pretty sure it's Anna Griffin, but I don't guarantee that.) I found some tulle in my scrap/junk box and added it behind the die-cut pieces. I mounted the entire panel on foam squares. Not sure if I'll add a sentiment or not. It's very unusual for me to NOT have a sentiment!

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

July Calendar Page

Well, this year is officially half over - what a scary thought! Time for my July calendar page.

These fireworks stamps are from Repeat Impressions. I stamped them with various colors and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder for the sparkle. The sentiment is from a dollar Studio G set. My blank calendar files are available for download to anyone who would like to use them. I would appreciate an email letting me know you have used them. Thanks!

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