Color Around

I started this set coloring the in stamp with markers in grey tones because I intended mounting them on colorful cards.  It is an interesting look I think.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Stampin Up
Stamps - Stampin Up, Hero Arts
Ribbon - Stampin Up, Ellen Hutson
Markers - Spectrum Noir

Just a note...set

Sometimes I like working with the same image several times, but changing up the colors. For me this is how note card sets are born.

Thank you for stopping by.

Supplies:
Papers - Stampin Up
Punches - Stampin Up
Markers - Spectrum Noir, Ink
Memento - Tuxedo Black

Feel Better

A friend of mine is recovering from surgery and I wanted to send her a cheery card.

The stamps are from Stampin Up, the stems were hand drawn,  the ink is Hero Arts, and the twine was a gift.  I often struggle with placement of moveable items on my card fronts.  I finally after 15 minutes of pushing these flowers around got the arrangement I was happy with.

Now the big question...could I duplicate it...take a photo maybe?  Nope.  I placed a piece of card stock on top of it and flipped the card with the blooms on it upside down.  I removed the cardstock carefully so none of my punched blossoms moved. Then I used several long strips of sticky tape across the backs, placed carefully so they maintained their arrangement. Next I peeled the backer off and Voila, I was able to set it down on my card front in the same arrangement.

I added the twine bow with glossy accents, and decorated the inside of the card with flowers and a feel better sentiment.  The flower centers also have a touch of glitz from a wink of stella pen.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

More from a pretty paper pack

This American Crafts paper pack is full of lots of fun Christmas papers, and some that are neutral as well.  I was sending off a package from the hubs and I and figured I needed a card inside the package to house the gift card sent along with the other items.  I needed to get it out to the mail quickly, so a fast card was needed.

Patterned paper, a die cut and a bit of ribbon.

Papers  American Crafts
Die Simon Says Stamp
Ribbon unknown bit

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Holiday Card

Hubs asked me to make holiday greeting cards for some of his clients. He needed 25 cards and wanted them to be simple.  I used my favorite technique, heat embossing.

Hard to see it here, the silver embossing really is shiny and beautiful against the white.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Neenah Aspen White 110#
Stamps - Hero Arts, Stampin Up
Ink - Versamark
Embossing Powder - Hero Arts

Quick Cards

Hubs and I needed some quick cards to put in the mail for the niece and nephews.  Each card has a little pocket or envelope for a monetary gift.

I had gotten a 12x12 Christmas paper pad, I found this sheet to be fun.  I used my envelope punch board for the little envelopes inside the cards.

Papers - American Crafts
String - DMC
Ink - Versafine. Hero Arts
Stamps - Simon Says Stamp, Stampin Up, Hero Arts

Thanks for stopping by!

silver and blue

I went to some old Hero Art stamp sets to make this card.  I used a Stampin Up blue cardstock, then heat embossed snowflakes from two sets, in silver and white.  I stamped the larger ones first added the silver powder  but did not heat them. 

Then I added the smaller and poured the white over.  Some of the white embossing powder landed and stuck to the silver powdered flakes. Once melted I like the look on the mixed flakes.  

I heat embossed the snowman in silver as well, and the greeting in white.  A length of white velvet ribbon and its finished.  

The card is soft, fun and playful.  Have a wonderful holiday season, thanks for stopping by.

 Edited to add - Submitting to Die Cut Diva's Holiday's and Celebrations.

Waiting a long time...

My wonderful MIL gave me a Christmas stamp last year.  I had already made my holiday cards for the year; but, I wanted to be sure to use it this year.  

I had to figure out a design that made making 50 of them not too difficult or time consuming. I like the metallic look this year and decided on gold embossing. I had purchased gold cardstock for my Thanksgiving cards, but did not end up using it.  Luckily I had just enough for my holiday cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Neenah Aspen White, Recollections
Ink - Versamakr
Embossing Powder - Hero Arts
Embossing Folder - Provo Craft
Stamps - Inkadinkado, Stampin Up (interior)
Dies - Lifestyle Crafts

Edited to add - Thanks Arlene, for the tip.  Adding this to Die Cut Diva's Holidays & Celebrations, thanks Arlene.

Merry Christmas

I picked up a poinsettia die by Sizzix, and decided to play.  I anticipate using this one quite a few times while making holiday cards this year. I did tear the larges of leaves and made a tighter base for the remaining layers to rest on. I thought this paper was a perfect foil for the large bloom.

Hubs, who is not fond of black on cards, claimed this on to be in his top ten favorites of all time.  I have to agree that it is quite eye-catching.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Neenah Aspen White 110#
Paper - American Crafts, Stampin Up
Embellishment - Stampin Up
Embossing folder - Sizzix
Die - Sizzix 

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you Greta, I believe I will enter this into the Through the Purple Haze Challenge; the topic is Here comes Christmas Day. One more entry for this one Die Cut Diva's Holidays & Celebrations. Thank you Arlene.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick card, die cuts for all the front.  I covered them all with glue and dumped on glitter.  A bit of white string, and that's it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Glitter- EK Success
Dies- Memory Box, Simon Says Stamp

Negative Die Cut

I am still loving this cute little snow man from Hero Arts.

I had embossed him for another card and used the die to cut him out.  I saved the negative and created this card.  Stamping the snowman on light blue card, then using an embossing folder on the negative die cut paper to create some snow.  I cut the panel to fit the card, added a sentiment block and added just a bit of wink of stella to the "snow".  Thanks for stopping by.

Tis the Season

I just love that little DeNami Designs lantern.  So cute.  

Ink-Memento
Image- De Nami Designs
Sentiment- Hero Arts
Embossing Folder- Provo Craft

Happy Holidays

Just a quick post.  I am trying to make a few extra cards for my Dad to send out for Christmas.  I left a few for him in California, but he might run out so send off a few more this week. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  I need to finish my shopping...well maybe get more than just the barest start that I have.  Yikes, the days are going to fly by.

Image - Denami Designs
Ink- Memento
Markers - Copic
Dies - Spellbinders
Sentiment - Hero Arts
Washi - Target

Trying a Tag

Thought this paper was so much fun, I decided to try a tag card.

Papers - American Craafts, Stampin Up
Stamp -  Hero Arts
Embossing Powder - Hero Arts
Ribbon - Offray
String - Dmc 

Another Mojo Monday

Decided to play along with the current Mojo Monday #322 sketch.   I am using papers from American Crafts,(I am so in love with this patterned paper!) Coredinations, Ribbon from American Crafts, Tim Holtz die, Hero Arts stamp and embossing powder and an unknown yellow sparkly dot. Thanks for stopping by.

Monogram Set

I made a set of note cards for a friend having a birthday.  She is one of the last great note writers.  Her thank you notes are always so heartfelt and well written.  She is a master of a lost art in my opinion. To have such a way with words would be a gift! 

I first laid out the monogram on my computer in a word processing program.  I got 4 images on a piece of 8.5 by 11 inch paper. I printed the sheet out. Then stamped a large zinnia in Golden Glitz Ink over the top of the printed cardstock piece. I cut them to size, matted them and placed them on red card bases. 

It might have been better to try stamping first, then printing over the dry stamp.  Next time I'll try it that way!

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Stamp - Stampendous
Cardstock - Stampin UP
Ink - Delicata (Tsukineko)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Swing Birthday

Another friend has her birthday this month too. I used another vinyl sticker on this one and did some distress marker coloring.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Die - Stampin Up Thinlet (swing card)
Stamps- Stamps of Life
Ink- versamark
Embossing Powder - Hero Arts Silver
Papers- Stampin Up

Happy Birthday My Friend

A long time friend and former co-worker has a birthday today...a significant one. The big 5-oh my. It is a day to celebrate! Have a wonderful birthday my friend!

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Vinyl Sticker-Elizabeth Crafts
Glitter- Glitter Ritz
Markers- Spectrum Noir
Ribbon- American Crafts
Paper-Various scraps, Neenah Aspen White
Stamp- Hero Arts

Boy and Girl Holiday Cards

It is almost over, and I have so enjoyed this class. I really appreciated having 1 day between lessons. I did not feel so rushed with my homework. 

I made two very similar cards. I changed colors, cut out shapes, and sentiment fonts to lean a bit more to the feminine or the masculine. The long die cut on the boy's card had all the hearts removed and replaced with star shapes.  The girl's card I removed 1 start shape and replaced it with a heart.  

What do you think? Is one more boyish than girly?

Thanks for stopping by!

Dies by Memory Box, Sizzix, Spellbinders
Hero Arts Embossing Powders
Versamark Ink
Stampin Up and Hero Arts Sentiments

Blues and Greens

 


On day 4 of Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop, I so fell in LOVE with Shari Carroll's color palette. I had many of the Hero Arts blues and greens used by her to make fabulous cards.  My cards are very basic, I was just loving the colors.  I made three cards and there is something I love about each one, the colors! Definitely the colors.

I am at this homework again past midnight, so the pics are not the best.

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 112

I have been enjoying a new to me challenge blog.  A sketch is provided each Wednesday.  This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is below:

I took out my as yet un-inked Mosiac Madness Stampin Up set and went to work.  I used Hero Arts midtone shadow inks in Tide Pook and Red Royal, and stamped the SU sentiment in Onyx Black Versamark ink. I added some gems to the stamped and punched out pieces, and mounted them on the card front with foam adhesives. The lower corners were rounded with my corner chomper.

 Thanks for stopping by.

  

Day 3, Clean and simple

Another homework assignment for the Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop. Today's lesson was clean and simple cards...so hard for me. I feel like my versions of them look like something is missing.  This one I am happy with, maybe because the white space...isn't white!  I am still working on Thanksgiving themed cards.

Super quick and easy, sentiment and image stamped in versa mark and heat embossed in gold. Stamps are from Hero Arts and Lawn Fawn. Papers are DCWV.

Thanks for stopping by.

OCC-HCW-2013

I am so enjoying the Online Card Class - Holiday Card Workshop -2013.  I especially love the new format, one day on and one day off.  I don't feel so rushed with my homework.

Our second day, Jennifer McGuire made a layered inlaid die card.  She took several dies, determined how she wanted them layered, cut them out and replaced them in the cardstock.

I don't really have any single word dies that work well for a sentiment for this type of card, so I did a bit of a hybrid. I am still not ready to switch to Christmas, so another fall card for me. The card size is 3.5" square.

I used 3 Spellbinder leaf dies, some wonderful Simon Says Stamp woodgrain paper (which was SO much fun to ink up with distress inks!) and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment set. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh Ship!

When I first saw this stamp set over at Simon Says Stamp, I knew it would have to be mine. It had me giggling with delight.  I have had it for a bit of time, and while it is so fun and cute.  It is kinda boy/male-ish and I usually am pretty good getting birthday cards out in time.  So it has been languishing in my stamp bin.

I did recently have one birthday sneak up on me though, and I wasn't able to make/mail the card until my friend's birthday.  So, finally I get to use the set.  But, alas my friend is a wonderful LADY.  In deference to her gender, and my sense of humor...I used gold on white to make it somewhat girly!
 

Thanks for stopping by!

OCC HOLIDAY CARD CAMP 2013 Day One

I love watching the process of card making. So it is no surprise that I am taking another class at Online Card Classes.  Today's class was focusing on the card interiors.  Several videos showcasing different ideas were presented.  

Today's were all Christmas themed, but I am not quite ready for making Christmas cards.  I decided to make a Thanksgiving card.  My card has a "z" type fold with a banner that appears to stretch across the entire card.

There is still time to sign up for the class!
Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Stampin Up Card Stock
Recollections Card Stock
Lawn Fawn Stamps (LF325, LF560)
Hero Arts Embossing Powder-White
Versa Fine - Vintage Sepia
Versa Mark
Memento-Tuxedo Black
Copic Markers (YR23, Y17, YR04, R24, YG03)

Two Cards, Two Challenges

   I have been back in Maryland almost a month now, and I finally feel settled in with my card making and crafting. I've got a good start on the family Thanksgiving cards (a later post) and our Christmas card is rolling around in my brain, almost ready for a dry run.  


   Today I took some time to just play with a couple of challenges.  I will present them in order of expiration of challenge posting time.  


   First up is Mojo Monday, I used some Jellybean papers, an impressions obsession stamp, a MS shape punch, distress ink in fired brick, distress marker in same, versa fine black onyx ink and some snug hug seam binding died with distress ink. I loved the sketch so I had to play.

   Next up is Freshly Made Sketches. This was an interesting sketch.  I have trouble with clean and simple, I keep trying though.  I think white space scares me...lol.  
   
   I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set, Copic Markers, We are Memory Makers ribbon punch tool, versa fine ink, american crafts ribbon. 


                                  

 Thanks for stopping by!

Winners and a pretty fall picture

We are about to have some snow and rain and these gorgeous leaves will be on the ground by week's end.

 

Thanks to those of you who were able to stop by and leave a comment on my 200th post.   I have put your names into Random.org and the recipients are:

 

Commenter #2 was Joy,  Commenter #6 was Chark. Ladies, please send me an email (blog title at gmail.com) with your mailing addresses and I will get your packages out to you this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

200th Post and some Blog Candy

It is fitting that my 200th post shows my latest Hero Arts Scramble card.  I joined the Hero Arts group in March of 2012, participating in my first scramble.  The ladies of the group were all so very kind and encouraging that I eventually began writing this blog.  I have "met" more card/craft bloggers through this endeavor and it really has been wonderful to interact with so many talented, creative and genuinely nice women.

Here is my card for the scramble, our parameters were snowflake, blue (and neutrals) and make it a tag card(shape).

I am not quite ready for Winter/Holiday crafting yet, so I choose a cheeky sentiment. I used stormy sky distress ink on a white tag which had been dry embossed with a sizzix folder. I colored the tops of some of the embossed bumps with a white gel pen.  My Hero Arts snowflakes were embossed with white Hero Arts embossing powder on black cardstock to make them stand out. I also heat embossed the sentiment and die cut letters.

As a celebration of my 1 year of blogging (September) and my 200th post I have some blog candy. Please leave a comment let me know what you like most about blogging...or just surfing blogs.  I will pick 2 people from the comments submitted through 11:59PM EST Friday 11-8-13, for the blog candy. (I will ship internationally.) I will post winners on Saturday 11-9-13.

I extend my heartfelt thanks to those of you that stop by to visit and to those that take time to leave me such encouraging comments.

Thankful

A rather odd aspect on this photograph.  This card was very hard to photograph, this was the best I could come up with.  The stamp is from Heartfelt Creations. I colored it with Copic's then die cut it with a Spellbinder's die. It was inked with distress ink.  I admit to putting that sentiment on a separate piece of paper because I did not want to ruin the original card trying to stamp a rubber stamp in the exact right space on the card...had I been in Maryland with my stamp positioner...I probably would have stamped it on the card face.

Feel....Well

Feel Better and Get well, I have two cards going out in the mail to cheer on my Dad who has a cold, and my best scrapping bud who injured herself while on vacation. I went for a fallish feeling on both cards.  

You know those MAN cards are so darned tough to make, but I am sure my Dad will appreciate the fall leaves.

I am sure my friend will love the sunflowers.  

My Dad's card is up first. While in California I stopped by Stamp Fever and ordered a few Lawn Fawn stamps, I had hoped to pick them up, but the store was out of stock. Linda kindly offered to mail them to me in Maryland, and they arrived last week.  I took them out for a spin!

Supplies for this card are: Stamps-Paper Smooches, Lawn Fawn (x2); Ink-Versafine, Memento; Markers-Copic Y17,yr04. yr23.yg63, g 24, yg03, yr24, yr07, r24, Memento-Rich Cocoa; Papers-Neenah, Recollections; Unknown twine bit

 

My second card is also made from Lawn Fawn stamps, with matching dies. I die cut the flowers after coloring them.  The pot and leaves are stamped on the panel. Since this is going in the mail, I put strips of yellow cardstock framing the image panel in stead of matting it. I have one sunflower popped on a thin 1/16 inch foam square. This should easily mail without extra postage or padding. Supplies used are Stamps- Lawn Fawn; Ink-Versafine, Memento; Markers-Copic Y17, y08, y13, yr23, yr27, e33, e57, Zig- Wink of Stella Clear; Papers-Neenah, Recollections; Embossing folder Sizzix.

Thanks for stopping by!