One More Die-Cut Snowman

Nothing new from me except this one card, and it's not really different:) I was actually making my January 2019 calendar pages, and had a snowman left over, so I colored him for Christmas and threw him on this card. The snowman stamp and die are from a Recollections set that I got last week. I mounted the snowman on foam squares. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. The card base on this one is white.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my Christian friends. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and get to spend it with family and good friends. To everyone else, I wish you wonderful times with family and good friends, too.

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Purple Birthday

It was fun to have a friend come over on Thursday and spend some time in my stamping room. I made this card while she was here. The die cut lattice piece was on my desk from a couple weeks ago. I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. The flower is from an Inkadinkado set. I colored it with markers and used the "thumping" technique. Edited to add: Here is a simple video I did showing the thumping technique.) The sentiment is from The Paper Company. I mounted the panel on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a Recollections matstack.

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Gold Christmas - STAMPlorations CAS Challenge

I made these cards yesterday when a friend came over to play, so I thought I would link them up the STAMPlorations December CAS Card Challenge - Gold. All of the stamps are from a Stampendous stamp set. The stamping was done with Versamark and detail gold embossing powder. I matted with shimmery gold cardstock. The panel on this first one is mounted on foam squares. I actually made six of the second one, so ... seven more cards done for 2018! :)

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Fall to Layout #47 Take Two

I had some more stamping time yesterday afternoon, so I used Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping Fall to Layout #47 Take Two for this card. I thought my new Recollections stamp and die set would work well. The card base and layer are ivory, for contrast to the white shelf. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set. After stamping, I embossed the piece with a Sizzix embossing folder. The matting was punched on the bottom with a Martha Stewart border punch. The image is mounted on foam squares.

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Christmas (2018) Cards

I actually have three new cards to share with you. Life has been rather busy, but it will be pretty calm for the next few days. (Even time to have a scrapbooking friend come over and play on Thursday!)

Yesterday, we stopped at Michael's to pick up some beads for our granddaughter for Christmas. And - lucky for us, and her! - they were 70% off that day only. Great timing. I took a look around the stamping area and was amazed at how little they now carry:( I did find this Recollections Christmas stamp and die set, though, and it was 60% off. I of course had to try it out right away. I think it's pretty cute, and the dies actually cut right up to the edge of the stamped image. Cool. All of the stamps and dies used for these three cards came in the set. (And it was $5.99. Not bad.) The card bases are all ivory, to allow the white to show up better. And all images are mounted on foam squares.

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Happy Birthday, Owen!

Our second oldest grandson, Owen, turned seven on the 13th. This is the card that I made for him. He's been reading Harry Potter books and loves them. This is Hogwarts, where Harry Potter goes to training. Not much to it other than finding a picture on-line and adding a little bit of dimension to it. There is a picture of Harry on the inside with a little verse that Jim wrote:)

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Sparkly Anniversary Wishes

I had this matted piece of sparkly paper in my "card parts" box. I stamped and matted the sentiment - from Papertrey Ink. Then I stamped the flower image from Inkadinkado directly on the sparkly paper and colored it with Copic markers. Didn't turn out all that great, but it's all I've got for today:)

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Life

I asked for this Papertrey Ink stamp set many years ago for Christmas, and I'm pretty sure it has never seen ink - until a few days ago, when I made these cards. I will probably never have a use for them, but at least I've used the stamp set! :) For both of them, I used only stamps from the set, except the speckles, which were done with a long-retired Stampin' Up! stamp. The matting on both of these were pieces that I already had left-over from other projects. I decided to use the scraps instead of fully matting the images. Both images are mounted on foam squares. Also on this first one, I stamped the flower lightly, so it wasn't fully inked on the stamped image, and then I filled in with a marker.

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Happy Retirement, Gloria!

I just found out that an on-line friend of mine retired on November first. Happy Retirement, Gloria! Of course I had to make her a card:)

The die cut piece was in my card parts box from our group gathering in June. I don't know who makes it. I cut it out of blue foil cardstock. The patterned paper is from a Paper Studio matstack. The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions. I stamped it on ivory cardstock and cut it out to fit under the oval in the die cut.

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I Used Sequins! :)

A friend mailed me some sequins a few years ago. They came on a string. I removed three of them and they have been sitting on the base of my lamp ever since. They even survived the move out of my stamping room and back in! They are finally on a card! I have tried other times and I just don't have the knack of placing them or making them look good. I think they work all right on this card, though. The die is one of my "unbranded" ones. I cut an oval out of ivory to place underneath it. The sentiment is from Stampendous. I have about a million sequins that my mom had leftover from her projects, so I should figure out something to do with them.

I often get asked questions in comments left on my blog. I try to answer them, but most of the time I have no way of doing it directly and have to add the reply to another blog post. I would love it if you could either email me your questions so I could reply to you directly, or make sure that your email address shows up when you leave a comment. So many people are "no-reply" commenters. Thanks for reading this far on my blog! :)

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Leafy Birthday

I really need to use these Memory Box dies more often to try and make them pay for themselves! The design in the corner is the one I'm talking about. The paper is some really, really old patterned paper from Sixxiz. The sentiment is one of my cheap dies. I cut it out twice and glued them together for added dimension.

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Dragonfly Anniversary

I was searching a little bit through my card parts and thought I'd use this dragonfly. I have about four or five more in different colors that I still need to use. I'm pretty sure the die is from Penny Black. This one was cut from kraft cardstock. I had already covered the cardfront with this patterned paper, too. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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Papertrey Sympathy

A couple sympathy cards for today. I received this Papertrey set several years ago as a gift, and I haven't used it nearly enough. All the stamps on both cards are from this set. Oh, except for the center on the largest flower on this first card:)

For this second card, I used my MISTI for the flowers. After stamping them with the lighter blue, I added a little bit of darker blue and stamped over the lighter.

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December Calendar Page

My last calendar page for 2017. I used an embossing folder by Sizzix. The sentiment was embossed with detail gold embossing powder and is from Technique Tuesday. I matted with shimmery gold paper.

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Snowflake Birthday

This is the card I made for our daughter-in-law, who has a December birthday. The die-cut snowflake border had been on my table for several weeks. I had made a few Christmas cards using this die and layout, and thought it would work for her birthday card, too. The snowflakes are actually a turquoise/teal metallic. The sentiment isn't a terrific match, but it does match better "in real life." I embossed the panel with a Darice embossing folder. The cardstock is all ivory.

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Warm Wishes and Snowflakes

Yes, I was done with this year's Christmas cards:) But, I still had a few pieces on my table that I wanted to clean up - either use or toss. I tossed most of them and put a few die-cut pieces into a clear sleeve and added them to my "card parts." But I did use these two pieces. The red scalloped piece and the snowflake piece were stripes on a patterned piece of paper that I had cut apart. I liked the way they looked together. I just made sure to put the blue piece right on the edge of the scallop. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I inked it up with Versamark and then red ink and then used clear embossing powder on it. I mounted the panel on foam squares before adding to the card front.

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Special Day

Another new-but-unused die for today's card. Not sure if I like this one very well, but here it is! I used a "mottled" light blue and ivory cardstock. I added a "nail head" to the center of each of the flowers. I used Washi tape, too. The sentiment is from Stampabilities. I matted with black.

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Die-Cut Snowflake Border

The last of my Christmas cards for this year. I again used a die. For the top card, I used shiny metallic cardstock to cut the snowflakes. For the second one, I used shimmery silver paper. For both, the sentiment from Lawn Fawn was embossed with detail silver embossing powder. The patterned paper is from a matstack that I got at Micheal's a few years ago.

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Kraft and Red Christmas

I used kraft cardstock for this die. I embossed the sentiment from Lawn Fawn with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. One of the fun things about clear stamps is that they are "bendable." The patterned paper is from Recollections.

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Merry Little Christmas

Another of my final Christmas cards. I used shimmery gold paper for the die cut. The sentiment from Lawn Fawn was embossed with detail gold embossing powder. The image panel is mounted on foam squares.

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Happy Birthday, Harriet!

Happy Birthday to my friend, Harriet! I'm hoping that this card has arrived already.

I made a card like this a few years ago and recently came across a picture of it. I liked it and decided to make another:) (I was also short of time and needed to get this card out in the mail!) The main image is by Inkadinkado. I stamped it and then cut it into three pieces and matted them on a single piece. They are colored with Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter pens. I have hardly used them at all:( The sentiment is from Bo Bunny.


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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of my American friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving, wherever that may be and with whoever you may be with!

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Warm Wishes Christmas

The pine branch for this card was die cut. The sentiment is embossed in gold and is from Lawn Fawn. I matted the panel with green to match the pine branch. 

This second card is the same, except I used a portion of an embossing folder. For this piece, I brayered white ink on the folder before embossing on red cardstock.

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Embossed Pinecone Christmas

Well, yesterday I made the last of my Christmas cards for the year. Yippee! I made five kinds with multiples of them. I will be sharing them over the next few days. They are all simple (of course!) but I really like the way they all turned out. (I had 18 left to make. I had made 57 throughout the year.)

For this one, I used a previously-unused Darice embossing folder. There was more to it (something in the upper right-hand corner) but I only embossed the pine cone in the lower left. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is embossed in gold. I matted with a dark green cardstock.

EDITED TO ADD: Julie - my embossing powder is very old, too. Probably from about 2002 or 2003. It is Detail Gold embossing powder. It is likely finer than regular gold embossing powder, which would work better on larger areas.

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Video Tutorial

Here is a very unprofessional video showing how I made this card. Please excuse the blurriness, and everything else that is not quite right:) I think you can at least get the idea, even if it's not the best.

Edited to add: I believe this folder from Darice is called "Hanging Ornaments."

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Blue Embossed Christmas

Sorry for all of the very simple cards lately. I happened across some "new" (unused, but purchased last December after I was done making Christmas cards for the year) folders and I wanted to use some of them. This one is by Darice. I brayered Versamark on the folder before embossing, and then sprinkled the embossed piece with Kaleidoscope embossing powder and heat embossed it. I matted with the same color cardstock. That's it. The sentiment will go in the inside.

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Two More Simply-Embossed Christmas Cards

 Two more simple Christmas cards using the same Darice folder that I used on yesterday's card. I think I have 51 Christmas cards done now. Probably about 25 - 30 more to go. I finally made a little progress on my next-year's calendars, too. I have six months done and six to go. Usually by this time, they are finished. :(

At any rate, to make these cards, I cut the rectangle of white cardstock and then just embossed a small portion of the folder. I matted with red. The sentiments on both of them are from Lawn Fawn.

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Simply Embossed Christmas

Not much to this card, but it's all I've got for today. I used an as-yet unused Darice folder (I think I got it last December) to make it. I simply embossed a piece of textured, white-core cardstock with the folder, and then sanded it down a bit and added it to a card front. Tomorrow's cards use portions of it - and are a sneak peek into next December's calendar page:)

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Blue Christmas

One more Christmas card done. This patterned paper was another strip from the sheet from a couple days ago. I matted with a darker coordinating blue and placed it on the right side of the card. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set.

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Happy Birthday, Lucy!

This card is for a friend who I've known for fifty-three years! Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Lucy!

The butterflies were cut from a new die several weeks ago. I thought it was time to use them. The bottom of the panel has a strip of Washi tape on it. The panel is mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is from a new-to-me stamp set from Bo Bunny.

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Ornaments on a Branch

This pine branch was my latest die purchase. I cut it out of green. (Two branches came with it. I'll use the smaller ones later.) I embossed the background with a retired Sizzix embossing folder and matted with matching green cardstock. I used an old QuicKutz die to cut the ornaments out of patterned paper. I then cut them out of cardstock to glue the paper onto for added strength. I also cut the ornament hangers out of silver and added them to the tops of the ornaments. I mounted the ornaments on foam squares. I used pieces of silver cord to "hang" the ornaments from the branches. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Several people asked me about the die I used on Thursday's card. I got it here.

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Ornament Christmas

This is another of the dies that I got a couple months ago. I used it to cut out of green mirror cardstock. It's been on my table since I got it. I had recently come across a piece of patterned paper that was made up of several rows of unmatching patterns. I had cut them apart into separate pieces. This piece matched the green of the die-cut very well. I was trying to figure out how I could use them together. I realized there was quite a length of straight lines in the die cut and I matched it up with the edge of the patterned piece. Worked for me:) I used a pencil to draw along the edge of the die-cut, then I trimmed that part out so there was no patterned paper under the die-cut. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set. One more Christmas card done!

I got this die at Ali Express. You can find it here.

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Fall to Layout #41 - Take Two

Another card for Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping Fall to Layout. This one is #41 - Take Two. You can find the challenge here.

I used a stitched circle die to cut the circles, then I added stickers over the holes. I matted with black and added the black-dotted white ribbon across the bottom. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set.

We got back from vacation yesterday after being gone for about two and a half weeks. It's nice to be home, but we had a great time and I even could have been gone longer! We drove down to Orlando, spent a week in a resort with our daughter and son and their families, and then took our time getting home. We got to visit with my sister and my brother on the way down. We visited the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL on the way down, also. On our way home, we made stops in Savannah, GA and Tybee Island. Visited the Naval Museum in Charleston, SC. Went to the Biltmore Estate. Visited Mammoth Cave. It was great.

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November Calendar Page

Here is my November calendar page. The sentiment was done on my Camel Silhouette. The patterned paper is from a Recollections matstack.

I can't believe it's November already! I am doing terribly on my 2018 calendars:( I'm going to really have to buckle down and get them done.

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Halloween Cards for the Grandkids

Here are the cards that I made for our grandkids.  They all use stamps from Repeat Impressions, and the papers are all from a stack from Recollections. The matting is all black, and the image panels are all mounted on foam squares.

I made two of this first card, for the two older grandsons.

I made two of this card (with two different pumpkin faces) for the two younger grandsons. I added a bit of Wink of Stella to the pumpkin's face.

And this is the card I made for our granddaughter. Again, there is sparkle on the pumpkin's face - the eyes, nose and mouth.

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Happy Anniversary, Eric and Brooke!

Today is our son and daughter-in-law's eleventh wedding anniversary, and this is the card that I made for them.

This is a side stair-step card. (If you want to see other stair-step cards that I have made, along with instructions, you can follow this link.) The matting was done with glittery paper from Die Cuts With a View - kind of greenish, bluish, silvery. The flower design on the left was done from silver foil cardstock. I embossed the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) with silver detail embossing powder. The wedding couple was also embossed with silver. The stamp is from an Inkadinkado set. It is matted with silver in addition to the glitter paper.

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