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.

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

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.

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

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."

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

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.

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

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.

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

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:)

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Fall To Layout #39 - Take Two

I made this card for Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping Fall to Layout challenge #39, Take Two.

When a friend was over a couple weeks ago, I got out my Letterpress. I made the green-inked background using it. This is half of one of the two pieces that I made. I used gold shimmery cardstock for the matting and the strip across the bottom of the letterpressed piece. For the bottom tiny-scalloped edge, I used a decorative scissors! :) Anyone else have any of them left? I embossed the gold strip with a Cuttlebug border folder. The sentiment is embossed with detail gold embossing powder, and is from Papertrey.

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

Joy and Wonder

When I got new dies, I generally used them right away to test them out. Then I eventually use those pieces that I've cut. This is one of the die-cuts that has been sitting on my table for a while. I cut it out of green foil cardstock. Hard to tell in the picture, but the bottom layer is gold shimmery cardstock. I used Versamark ink and detail gold embossing powder for the sentiment, which is from Papertrey.

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

Thank You

The other day when I was looking through some books and folders, I came across a few cards (purchased ones that I had received) that I had wanted to try to recreate in some fashion. Here is a card that I made based on one of those cards.

The card base is ivory. I had a terrible time trying to get the pale stripes to show up on the right, and this was the best I could do. The card opens from the left side. The card front is cut off one inch from the right edge. I added a piece of Washi tape along the edge of the right side of the card front. The pale-striped patterned paper is actually on the inside of the card. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set and is stamped with a bluish gray ink. The sentiment was cut and embossed with a Memory Box stitched rectangle die.

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

Fall to Layout #38, Take Two

This card is for the Clean and Simple Stamping blog's challenge, Fall to Layout #38, Take Two.

The patterned papers are from an old Die Cuts With a View matstack called "Linen Closet." I've had it for many years. (It's hard to tell, but the sentiment piece is patterned, also.) I matted the two layers with coordinating brown cardstock. I added three pearls for the butterfly's body, which was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The card base is ivory.

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

Repeat Impressions Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge

I created this card for the Repeat Impression's challenge. The challenge is to choose three items from a Tic-Tac-Toe board. I chose the line across the middle: patterned paper, Washi tape, and black and white. Sorry I did not use a Repeat Impressions stamp on this card. (I did, however, use all RI stamps on the Halloween cards for the grandkids. :-) )

The sentiment is a die-cut. The bottom patterned paper is from The Paper Studio. I used Washi tape across the top of the patterned paper. Tic-tac-toe! :)

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

Rubbernecker Stamp - Times Three

I used the same Rubbernecker stamp on these three cards, and also the same markers to color it. Not a big difference between the three, but you get them all here, anyway:)

For this first one, I just stamped the image on ivory cardstock after coloring with markers. I matted it with blue cardstock. I embossed the image with a Darice Wire Fence folder. The sentiment was cut with a die three times and layered for dimension.

This was the second stamping of the image after spritzing the colored image with water. I matted with olive cardstock and cut the "hello" out of the same cardstock. It is layered, also. (I ended up not using the first stamping.)

This image was spritzed, also, and stamped on watercolor cardstock. I used the same Darice folder to emboss it. I used a metallic pen to draw the border around the edge. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set. I cut it and the matting with Nestabilities. I colored the scallops with the same metallic pen.

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

Fall-To Layout #37 Take Two

I made this based on Natasha's Fall-To Layout #37 Take Two.

The patterned paper is from another pack of paper that I got from our daughter-in-law's trip to Japan. So pretty. I matted it with pink - with the bottom edge punched with an EK Success punch. Then I matted that with black. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is matted with black and mounted on foam squares. I added a glittery flower with a pale pink brad in the center.

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

Season's Greetings

Another new die, and an older one. The new one is the scenery. The older one is the sentiment. I am quite certain, but not positive, that the sentiment is from Impression Obsession. I cut both die cuts out of silver foil cardstock. (I know - it looks more black than silver, but it truly is silver.) The background was done by rubbing the cardstock with a Stampin' Up! ink pad. I made sure to cover the bottom with ink. Another Christmas card done. I think I will make multiples of this card, but perhaps with a solid color background, rather than the inked-up one.

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

Another Butterfly Birthday

Along with cheap dies, I ordered some really cheap ink. I won't do that again:) (It was, I believe, 85 cents for a multi-color ink pad. I ordered two. You may or may not see the other color, which I used in this same way.)

I rubbed the ink pad directly to the paper, then I sponged a little extra on to make sure to cover. The butterflies were done with a new die, as was the sentiment. I matted with black. Easy peasy:) I mounted the layer on foam squares.

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

Flowery Thank You

Our daughter-in-law just spent a week in Japan for work. Luckily for us, it coincided with part of the time that we needed to be out of our house. We were able to give our son a hand with the boys while their mom was gone. Worked out great for everyone:)

She brought me back some beautiful papers from Japan. I thought I would make her a thank you card using some of my favorite. I simply used it for background, matting it with some Papertrey Ink cardstock I've had for years. I mounted the smaller layer on foam squares. The sentiment was die cut. I cut it three times and layered them. I also added some Diamond Glaze over the top for an extra decorative touch.

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

Die-Cut Foil Flowers

Another new die, so I'm linking up to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #12 again (Never Before Used Schtuff.)

I used the die to cut out of white and three colors of foil. I added the colored pieces to the white. It's kind of hard to see the shine in the picture. I matted with green foil. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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

Time

Another card for Darnell's NBUS challenge #12 (Never Before Used Schtuff.) The new items are dies again - the clock with gears and the stitched circles.

I love this time piece. I thought it would go well with kraft and red. I cut the circles with my new stitched circle dies out of red and white. I didn't know what sentiment I should use, because it just didn't seem quite right for a birthday, which is what I usually make. I remembered that I had a "Time" set from My Favorite Things. That worked. I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with detail white powder.

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

Fall-To Layout 36 - Take Two

I made this card for Natasha's Fall-to Layout #36, Take Two. I'm also entering it into Darnell's NBUS challenge #12 (Never Before Used Schtuff.)  The new items are all dies - the teddy bear, the stitched circle, and the "holey" circles. (I see when I was linking up the blog post that I got the sketch a tad wrong, but I think it will be fine.)

It was so great to be back into my stamping room! A few new dies were delivered while we were staying at our son's house. I finally got a chance to use them. I cut the teddy bear out of kraft. I tried brayering a light brown onto the raised areas, but I got ink in the depressed areas, too. So, I just sponged more ink over the whole thing. I added black "nail heads" to his eyes. (Gosh, that sounds painful! I swear I did it gently.) I had cut the circle out of red with my new stitched circle dies. Then I used the die with holes to die cut inside the stitched circle. I added the teddy bear to the circle and mounted the circle on foam squares. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The patterned paper is very, very old. I matted both layers with black.

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

October Calendar Page

Here is my October calendar page - pretty simple:) The ghost, bat and sentiment are from a Recollections set. The matting paper is also from Recollections. 

Update on what's going on at our house - the short version. We just had our kitchen and entryway hardwood floors refinished. We also added some more wood. We replaced carpet to add a hallway and also put wood in our dining room. The old and new wood were not the same color after staining and they had to sand down the floors again and restain. We were out of our house for nearly two weeks, and this was after camping for three days. Luckily, we were able to spend that time at our son and daughter-in-law's house with them. That was awesome! The plan was to just clean up and re-install the baseboards. Well, that didn't work, since some areas were different. (There were no longer any areas where carpet met wood, etc.) The baseboard was not in great shape anyway. So, we had to buy all new baseboard and quarter-round and stain and finish it. Our installer was awesome and agreed to help install it. He and his sons came on Thursday and got that done. They also helped move our very heavy hutch. It's so great to have that much done!! Our house has been in a state of upheaval for over two months, between having the cabinets refinished, painting my stamping room, painting the kitchen and now the floors. We have one more thing, but that will be a piece of cake. We have to decide which carpet we want and re-carpet our living room and stairs. Then we'll be done for a while. (A long while!) 

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

Happy Birthday, Annie!

I've had this card base sitting around my stamping room for years! It's finally been made into a card. Yippee! It has hopefully reached my stamping friend, Annie, in Canada by now. Happy Birthday, Annie!

I stamped the bottom border with a Stampin' Up! stamp a long time ago, and then cut carefully around it. (So, the front of the card ends at the bottom of the "lace.") The roses and the sentiment were cut with two of my new dies. I cut out them of white cardstock and colored them with Copic markers. I mounted the leaves on foam squares and glued the rest down. I cut a couple extra layers of the sentiment and glued them all together for added dimension.

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

Happy Anniversary, Harriet and Bruce!

Today is my friend Harriet's anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Harriet and Bruce!

This is another of my new dies. The card is 3 1/2 x 6 3/8 inches. The patterned paper is from Recollections. The sentiment is an old PSX stamp. I mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares.

Edited to add: I would love to email you, Shirley, but I have no way of communicating with you. You are welcome to send me an email. My address is in the "View my complete profile" on the top right side of my blog under the "About Me" section. PS - I ordered this die from eBay.

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

Happy Birthday, Vicki!

Today is my friend Vicki's birthday. Happy Birthday, Vicki! Here is the card that I made for her. The butterflies and the sentiment are both dies. I added a couple "pearls" to the flower centers. The background paper is from Recollections.

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

Simple Birthday Card - With a Twist! :)

A couple months ago, a friend showed me a card she had made. It's called a "Pop and Twist" card. I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to make one. Last weekend was the time for me to try:) I knew that the hardest part for me would be trying to figure out how to decorate so many spaces! So, I went totally clean and simple. I only took these two pictures, but if you search for instructions, you will see how it works and can find different ways of making it. It looks like a "regular" card from the front, but when you open it, the middle part twists and pops out. Pretty cool!

I used a couple more of my new dies. I layered the "Happy Birthday" with about four pieces. The sentiment stamps are from a Hampton Arts set.

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

Silver Butterflies

Another card using one of my newer dies. I cut it out of silver "mirror" cardstock. The card base is a tri-fold card with the circle already cut out of it. I purchased them at our Group Gathering a few years ago. I embossed the front with an Anna Griffin embossing folder called "Matelasse." I cut a piece of blue vellum for the window. Before adding it, I embossed it with a Darice embossing folder called "WIre Fence." I cut the sentiment out of the silver cardstock, too, and added another layer under it for more dimension.

I had a visitor leave me a comment about the size of my matting and wondering how I did it. (Not on this card, though.) I cut my matting pieces 1/8 inch bigger than my image pieces. That gives me a 1/16 inch border. Not always, but usually. I use a Tonic guillotine cutter that I've had for many years. I love it! This is what it looks like. I did not get mine at Amazon, and I'm sure it's available many, many other places. It's just the easiest for me to link to quickly.

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

Fall-To Layout #32 Take Two

I used the Fall-To Layout #32 for this card. I really love Natasha's layouts - perfect for CAS cards. After all, her blog is called Clean and Simple Stamping! :) (It's called "Take Two" because she is on her second trip through her layouts.)

I used another portion of this fall-patterned paper. (One quarter left, and I actually used it for another card that I made yesterday. You'll be seeing that one soon, or I might just save it for a month or so.) I think this paper is so pretty, and I don't even know where it came from. The die is one of my newer ones. I cut the ovals using Nestabilities. I mounted the ovals on foam squares.

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

Celebrate

For some reason, the first time I used this die, I didn't cut all the way through on the second rose. So, I cut that one off and just went with this one. I colored it with Copic markers and used foam squares under the leaves. I had cut the white panel using a Memory Box die. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set.

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

Congratulations, Andrew!

Our oldest grandson, Andrew, tried out for the traveling baseball last time we were down in Chicago. And, he made the team! So happy for him.

When I was putting my stamping room back together, I ran across this embossing folder "out of place."  I still hadn't put it away, and thought that maybe I should use it! Hence, the card:) Quite a long time ago, I bought the die and embossing set from Cuttlebug. Together, they cut and emboss the hat, the bat and the ball. I mounted the ball and the brim of the hat on foam squares. I embossed the "congrats" with a small embossing folder, also from Cuttlebug, and I mounted that piece, matted with a dark blue, on foam squares, also. The card is done with ivory cardstock. I used the same dark blue to mat the main panel.

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

September Calendar Page

Goodness - another month has flown by! I'm not quite sure how that happens:)

Here is this month's calendar page. I used thin, speckled, off-white paper and two Gina K stamps. I used Stampin' Up! markers to color the tree and a technique called "thumping."  I first used the lightest color marker and then just "thumped" or "bounced" the darker colors on it before stamping.

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