Our Yahoo group got together for our tenth annual Group Gathering in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday through Thursday. Well, it was the ninth one in Des Moines. Our first one was in Reinbeck, Iowa. We were a pretty small group this year - only five of us. But, as usual, we had a wonderful time!!! Left to right: Vicki, me, Kris, Georgia and Sheri. We spent our time shopping in Ankeny and visiting at our hotel on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and Thursday we spent our time at Outstamping Designs/Heirlooms by Design in Valley Junction. Marj is such a fabulous host!
The last three years, Marj has arranged a special-session card class for us. So fun! Here are the cards we made this year. The images are all stickers from Penny Black. This first card is 5 x 7 inches.
This card is 4.5 x 6.25 inches. There is acetate over the sticker.
This card is normal A2 card size - 4.25 x 5.5 inches.
And this last card is also 5 x 7 inches. Aren't they so lovely!! Again - these are not MY creations. I only put them together:)
I can't wait to get together again next year!
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Our former next-door neighbors' son received his Eagle Scout badge in April. We were not able to attend the ceremony and life has been too hectic for me to even get a card to him until now. This is the simple card that I made.
The embossing was done with a Sizzix brass stencil in a folder. I used gold foil cardstock for embossing it. I matted with black and mounted on foam squares. The bottom layer was also matted with black. The card base and bottom layer are both off-white cardstock.
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We have need of several congratulation cards, so I had to take some time yesterday to get them made. It was nice to have a little time for card making. I've been spending a fair amount of time at my mom and dad's house, sorting through their things. We're still trying to decide what to do with them. I think I'm leaning towards an estate sale, but I'm not sure yet.
At any rate, here are two graduation cards I made. They are basically the same but with different colors. This first one is for a grandson who is "graduating" from pre-school to kindergarten. The colors in the picture are not very true, but ... The cap is actually a blue foil. It is cut with Lifestyle Crafts dies. The stamping was done with a Stampin' Up! stamp. I cut the circles with Spellbinders dies. The background was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I matted with matching blue cardstock. The circles and the hat are mounted on foam squares.
This second card is the same except for the colors. The hat is black with a red tassel. The scalloped circle is red, also. It looks burgundy in the picture, but it truly is red:)
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Here is my June calendar page. The stamp is from Repeat Impressions. I water-colored it using Stampin' Up! inks for most of it, and a brown marker for the chair. I wish I was there right now!
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I made this card for the color swap in our stamping group. (Luckily I made it a long time ago!) This month's colors are yellow and turquoise.
The butterfly is from a set in my current stack of Stampin' Up! sets in my project to use them all. The set is called "Flight of the Butterfly." (The first card with this set was on my blog on May 7.) It's a two-step stamping set. I stamped the yellow, then added the turquoise with the second stamp with the help of my Stamp-a-ma-jig. The sentiment is from the same set. The patterned cardstock is from Die Cuts With a View. I matted both layers with turquoise. I used Spellbinders rectangles for the butterfly layer.
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Lucky for me, I had my cards for May all finished at the very beginning of the month - except one for our grandson, Jonah. He will turn three on the 30th. So, I had to quickly make him a card. The only thing he requested for his birthday theme was "cherries." So, I made him this card with a cherry on his cupcake:)
The dies and the sentiments are all from My Favorite Things. The bluish paper is textured.
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I've been away from my blog for a while. I sure hope I can get back to it sometime relatively soon.
I just wanted to let you know that my dad passed away this afternoon shortly after 2:00 our time. He had been battling cancer for many years and was a true fighter. It finally got the best of him and he left us to join my mom. He was 91 and had a great life and had lots of fun. Thank you for your prayers.
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Another simple card for today - my favorite kind:)
I simply added strips of Washi tape diagonally across a piece of cardstock, and then a birthday sentiment from Papertrey Ink. I matted with black and mounted on a white cardbase.
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I rarely go on Pinterest. Well, that's not quite true. I often go on Pinterest to see which cards of mine have been pinned, and that's all. When someone pins several of them, occasionally I will check out their boards and see what else they have pinned. Well, following that method, I arrived at this card.
I really liked it, and did something that I VERY rarely do - I CASEDd her card. I totally copied the layout and changed the colors, the embossing folder, the flowers and the sentiment. Thanks for the wonderful card, Mary!
The embossing folder I used is from Lifestyle Crafts. I only embossed part of the panel. (I used my Grand Calibur, which is large enough to be able to put the embossing folder in at an angle.) The flowers are from a Gina K set and I colored with Copics. I mounted that panel on foam squares and matted with white. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I added the white ribbon and bow.
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First of two cards using the Stampin' Up! set called "Flight of the Butterfly." (You won't see the second one for a while yet.)
The butterfly was done with two stamps. I first stamped the solid butterfly with a multi-color ink pad. Then I stamped the dotted edge with black ink. The sentiment is from the same set. I added two small gems and matted with light blue. I mounted on foam squares. I stamped the background with a flower stamp from the same set using the mulitcolor ink pad and added gems to the center of each flower.
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This flower is a great (old) stamp from Paper Inspirations. I used it for two different cards.
I colored the flower with markers and for this first one I put it straight up and down. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I used the same brown marker as the flower center. I matted with olive cardstock.
For this second card, I used the same markers as the first card. I stamped the flower at an angle. The sympathy stamp is also from PTI. I matted this panel with brown. Both cards open up from bottom to top.
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I've had this patterned paper for several years, and am using up some more of it. It's from Lasting Impressions. (Thanks, Vicki!)
I used some of the big striped paper for the background. The flowers in the rectangle were a part of another sheet. There were also some "loose" flowers and leaves on the same sheet. So, I cut them out and added them to the already-printed flower by mounting them on foam squares. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set that is in my current stack. It's called "Favorite Greetings." I stamped it in black and added purple in the open areas with a Copic marker.
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A quick card I made for my husband's uncle. Although it kind of looks black and white, it's actually a pretty Soft Suede (brown) and ivory. The embossing was done with a Darice border folder and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.
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This card is very, very similar to one I made a couple weeks ago. I used different patterned paper from the same matstack. And the same paper as the card from a few days ago. For this one, I matted with Riding Hood Red cardstock from Stampin' Up! (An "In" color from several years ago.) The sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and is one of my (many!) favorites. The butterflies were cut with a Memory Box die.
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Today is my husband's last day of work. Yahoo!!! Retirement, here we come! :)
Here is the card I made for him. The stamps are both from a My Favorite Things stamp set. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder. I rounded all of the bottom corners. The image panel is mounted on foam squares.
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A very simple page for May. The stamps are from a set from Papertrey Ink. That's it:) I used my MISTI to make the stamping of fifteen calendars go a lot faster and be more precise.
You can find links to my Excel file for printing calendars, along with cutting instructions, on the blog page found under my blog title.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
This is the same layout as yesterday's card, but it has a completely different feel to it. It's for our former next-door neighbor who I babysat until he was three. I can't believe he's graduating already! The school colors are blue and yellow, in case you couldn't guess:)
I embossed the background with an old Cuttlebug folder. The graduation cap was done with Lifestyle Crafts dies. The two stamps are from a retired Stampin' Up! set called "Congratulations." (It was in my stack of stamps to use, but I only used these two stamps and called it good enough.) I used the "faux embossing" technique on the "Congratulations" but it's not as effective as it is on green. The blue strip is mounted on foam squares.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I love cards with cut-outs - both full and partial. But, like so many other techniques, I forget to do them! So, on today's card I did it. :)
I used some more beautiful patterned paper for the background. This is from The Paper Studio's Mirabelle. I matted with pretty brown cardstock - Soft Suede from Stampin' Up! I placed the two layers together and cut the smaller circle with a Spellbinders die. Then I used the next bigger circle to enlarge the circle in the patterned paper. I mounted that panel on foam squares. The sentiment from Inkadinkado was stamped with matching ink. The butterfly was cut with a Memory Box die. I had the perfect color deep red cardstock that I first cut the butterfly from, but the brown actually looked better. The butterfly is also mounted on a foam square.
Edited to add: The embossing folder I used on Wednesday's card is Cuttlebug Anna Griffin Matelasse.
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This die-cut and stamped sentiment panel was also in with my ivory cardstock, so I decided to use it. It's mounted on foam squares. I cut another panel for my stamping and yet another from the glittery cardstock for the bottom layer. The flowers are from a retired Stampin' Up! set that I've already used. It's called "Delight in Life." I happened to watch a video on Gina K's Stamp TV by Melanie Muenchinger in which she colored her flowers like this. She literally just scribbled on her flowers and they look awesome! So, I gave it a shot, and I like the way they turned out. You can find the video here - if the link works.
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I had this die-cut stitched rectangle piece in with my ivory cardstock. I need to remember to use these stitched dies!! The sentiment is from Impression Obsession. The background (also ivory) was embossed with a Cuttlebug Anna Griffin folder and matted with black. The cardbase is ivory.
Edited to add: This embossing folder is Cuttlebug Anna Griffin Matelasse.
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A "just because" card. I just happened to run across this stamp given to me by a friend and it popped on to a card. I've had the pink piece on my table for a few weeks. I embossed it on textured cardstock with a Darice folder and then sanded it down so the white core showed. I matted it with black. I wanted something different, so I used the turquoise textured for the background. Both pieces are from a "Bright" matstack from Die Cuts With a View. The sentiment was stamped with Versafine black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. It's from Rubbernecker.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I made this card for the color swap challenge in my small stamping group. The colors are blush and green. Since this color ink (from Stampin' Up!) is called "Blush Blossom," I thought it qualified!
The border was stamped with the last stamps of my set called "Beautiful Borders." I scored the lines and matted with green cardstock. The blush background piece was stamped with the sentiment (from the same stamp set) and then embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. I matted that with the same green and added it to a white card base.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I suppose I should wait for Mother's Day to post this card, but it's done now, so I'll share it. I made this card for my mother-in-law. The flowers were stamped and die-cut with a Stampin' Up! set. The leaves were die-cut with a die from the same set. I added enamel dots for the flower centers. Two of the three flowers are mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is from Verve. I colored the little flower and added a yellow pearl for the center. I embossed the background with a Darice folder and matted with matching green.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
The second (and last) card made with the Stampin' Up! set called "Celebrate." The stamps from the set are the package, the ribbon on the package, and the bow on the package. I stamped them on a tag that was laying on my table. (It was cut with a Sizzix die a short time ago.) The sentiment is a little stamp I got from someone. I added the hand-doodling around the edge of the tag, and an eyelet in the hole. I mounted the tag on foam squares. The background was embossed with an old Cuttlebug folder and matted with cardstock to match the tag.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I was actually thinking about skipping some of my Stampin' Up! sets, even though I have vowed to use them all. I still might do that, but for at least another day, I continue to use the ones in my current stack. I have two more after this one, and I'm not sure if you'll see them or not:)
Today's set is called "Celebrate." It consists of several stamps, and I will not use them all. The balloon, string, Celebrate, and confetti stamps are all from this set. I simply stamped and matted.
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A quick and easy birthday card for today. I used a "watercolor" stamp from My Favorite Things for the background. I stamped it with four different colors of distress ink. Then I added the sentiment in black - also from My Favorite Things. I trimmed it down and matted with a coordinating cardstock.
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I'm taking a mini-break (maybe longer) from my Stampin' Up! project to bring you this card.
I used a My Favorite Things stamp for the "watercolored" background. I actually used two colors of distress markers, but you can't tell. After stamping the blue, I added the butterflies from Inkadinkado. I colored with Copics and added a few white dots to the wings. The bottom border was punched with an EK Success punch and the scored lines were done with my Martha Stewart scoring tool. I added some orange bling to both the stamped image and also the punched border. The words of encouragement are a MFT stamp, also.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
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.
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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.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
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.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
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!
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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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
