Happy Birthday, Jonah!

I've seen this style of card around different places, and finally decided to make one. It was surprisingly easy! This is for our grandson, Jonah, who will be eight on the 31st. The papers are all from the same paper pad - an oldie that I got at Michael's many years ago. The sentiment is from a Maya Road set. The little monsters are from the same paper stack. 

Edited to add: Here is a link to the video I watched to make this card. I'm sure there are other places as well.

I think I'm going to be taking a break for a while. I just don't have time to spend in my stamping room, it seems. Always somethings going on. We bought season passes for golf, and I'm golfing just as much as I can! We still haven't played even one game of pickleball, though. :-(

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Five Very Similar Cards

All five of these cards are three and a half inches by six and a quarter inches. They all use papers from the same tiny paper package of four by four papers. (Thanks, Vicki!) I added thin strips of black between the patterns. The sentiments were all die-cut.

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Color Swap - Pink and Green

Here is the card that I made for the Color Swap in my stamping group. The colors were pink and green. I already had the butterfly sitting on my table. I had die-cut it in black and then made a pink layer to back it with. I added a bit of darker pink ink around the outer edges. The black circle was on my table, too. I cut a white one to place on top of that and embossed it with a Darice embossing folder. I lightly rubbed some pink ink over the embossing. I stenciled the background with one of my new stencils. The sentiment is from a Maya Road set.

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Coneflower Birthday

I'm pretty sure these are coneflowers. 😀 I cut the flowers, the flower centers and the leaves with dies. The stems are just straight cuts. I brushed some darker ink on the petals and added white dots on the flower centers. I used a Tim Holtz stencil to make the background. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. This card measures 3.5 x 6.25 inches.

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Pink and Purple Butterfly

This patterned paper oval (paper from The Paper Studio) has been sitting on my table for quite a while, too, and I was happy to use it up. No more parts on my table - at least for a little bit, anyway! I cut a mat for it using a Nestabilities die. I stenciled the background. I stamped the sentiment directly on the background, but managed to mess it up, so I had to stamp on a strip of white and add it over the messed-up stamping. I added color to the die-cut butterfly and popped up the wings with foam squares.

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Simple Hi

Just a simple card to say hello. The flower stamps are from Scrappy Cat. I stamped them on watercolor paper with Versamark and embossed them with black embossing powder. I used Zig Clean Color markers on them. I gave them a thin mat of purple. The sentiment was cut with an Altenew die. I cut it four times out of black and glued them together. Then I used Versamark on it and added two layers of black embossing powder to give it a shiny look. The cardbase is ivory.

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Butterfly Birthday and Anniversary

For these cards, I used up two more card parts that had been on my table - the backgrounds. I had tried a technique that didn't work for me very well. I'm not even sure I remember what I had done, but I think that I used a background stamp with Versamark. On this first one, I simply brushed the color directly over that. You can kind of see the stamping - I used an old Stampin' Up! background called "Just Jeans." The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The butterfly was cut with a new-to-me die. I added a patterned paper backing to it and popped up the wings with foam squares.

If you look closely at this one, you can see that I used a different, old Stampin' Up! background stamp. Then I used a stencil to add the color over that. The sentiment is again from PTI. The butterfly is cut from a light purple foil cardstock and I added vellum behind it and again popped up the wings with foam squares.

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Birthday for a Guy

This is one of my new stencils. I got a package of 25 from Amazon. This one seemed kind of "southwest" to me, so I used what seems to me to be southwest colors. I matted with dark blue. The sentiment is from Maya Road. I thought this would work well for a guy. In fact, I think I'll send it to a friend who winters in New Mexico, if I remember by next December!

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New-to-me Fold

I received a Mother's Day card from a stamping friend, and I loved the layout. I don't think I had seen one like this. (Thanks, Donna!) So, of course I had to make one. I decided to go Christmas. The papers I used are from Gina K. I added a die-cut snowflake (with three layers for dimension) and a sentiment. I see that the belly band is on there crooked, but I'm too lazy to take a new picture!

EDITED TO ADD: Start with a piece of cardstock that is 5 1/2 inches by 11 inches. Score at 1 1/4, 5 1/2 and 9 1/4 inches. If you want to make sure to score it the best way for folding, do the first two on the same side, then score the last one on the back. Make your belly band any size you'd like. I hope that helps!

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Winter Wishes

These stamps are unbranded, purchased through Amazon, I believe and were a Christmas gift. I colored the roses with Copic markers. They just seemed like they should be white. I matted with black and added it slightly askew on a kraft card base.

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Birthday Wishes

Another card using older, rubber stamps from Gina K Designs. I used Zig Clean Color markers to color directly on the rubber, misted with water, and stamped on watercolor paper. Then I used a paint brush to go over the flowers. I added Nuvo drops to the flower centers. I popped the panel up on foam squares. I used a stencil for the background.

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Thanks, and Keep in Touch

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

I stamped these images the same time that I stamped the images for Monday's card. These are the ones that I didn't like for that card. On this first one, I stamped the images (from Gina K) on vellum. I added the patterned paper strips (more ancient Stampin' Up!) above and below, along with thin black strips. Then I stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink). However, I was using my MISTI and I managed to get a black smudge on the top part of the patterned paper. I tried removing it with a sand eraser, but had no luck. So, I added another black strip. Would have been better without it, but this is better than the black smudge!

After stamping on the vellum, I used the same inking to stamp this panel. I added scored lines to it, and then matted with green. This sentiment is from the same Papertrey set.

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Happy Day Poppies

I pulled out the stamp set with these poppies in one day last week. I had used the daisy stamps that came with the set, but I don't think I had used the poppies. The set is from Sheena (Douglass.) I colored with Copic markers. The sentiment (from Gina K) was stamped on vellum that has little bits of shiny speckles in with black ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I wrapped the vellum around the image panel, and then mounted on foam squares. This is a top-folding card.

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Ancient Gina K Flowers

Both of these cards use old Gina K rubber stamps. I colored each of them with markers directly on the rubber stamp. The sentiment on each of them is from Papertrey Ink. The patterned paper on this first one is really old Stampin' Up! I added thin strips of brown cardstock to each side of the image panel.

The patterned paper on this second one is from Gina K. I matted the image panel and also the sentiment panel and added thin strips of black to the edges. Also, I had used white cardstock for the image and sentiment, then decided to use this patterned paper, which has ivory and not white. So, I brushed on just a very light coat of sandy-colored ink.

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Birthday Ferns

Sometimes I just look through my stamps and pick out a set to use. For today's card, I had pulled out an old rubber stamp set from Gina K. I stamped the ferns directly on the image panel. I stamped the vase on a piece of patterned paper and cut it out and popped it up on foam squares. I used a light gray Copic markers for the shadow under the vase. The dark green matting was embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder, and I also added a couple scored lines. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

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Simple Flowers

I used another old, rubber stamp set from Gina K on this card. All of the stamps are from the same set. Well, except for the flower centers, which are from Papertrey Ink. I colored the rubber with markers before stamping. First I stamped the flowers with a lighter color, and then I colored just parts of the stamp and stamped again. I sponged color along the edge of the image panel and mounted on foam squares. The background is patterned paper from Lasting Impressions. I also added three clear-ish enamel dots in various pink/purpled colors.

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CAS Mix Up Stencil Challenge

I made this card for the CAS Mix Up Challenge. The challenge is to use a stencil and rainbow colors. I made the background as per the challenge. The round stamped images are from an old Gina K set. I stamped them with Versamark on vellum and embossed them with gold detail powder. I added very thin gold foil strips to the edges of the vellum. The sentiment was also embossed with gold embossing powder. It's from Papertrey Ink.

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Various Flat Cards

A few years ago, I made these tiny cards. I thought they might work for gift cards, but I just never used them. I finally just put them on flat pieces of cardstock and called them done! I did finish them each up somewhat differently. 

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May Calendar Page

Here is my calendar page for the month of May. The rose is a four-step flower from Sunny Studio. The leaves are three steps. They were all die-cut with coordinating dies. The patterned paper is from an old Recollections matstack. I love this rose - I think it is so very realistic.

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