Embossed Punkins

We had a baked goods sale at church last weekend and our Card Ministry had a table set up to sell some of the extra cards we had. One of the ladies made a beautiful card that was just a pumpkin embossed with black detail powder. It was very simple and elegant card. So I decided to try and copy it.
This is what I came up with. This Great Impressions stamp worked well for this technique. I stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Martha Stewart detail black. I then got out my Prismas and colored in a little, it really wasn't needed but I like to color. As my friend Sandy says, still back in kindergarten playing with the crayons. Okay when is nap time??? I digress. I used MS Dove detail powder for the sentiment. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Distressed B'day

I started playing with embossing powders yesterday and had a lot of messy fun. Well it was messy until I remembered the anti-static pad I got at Michael's/Joann's or Hobby Lobby. I first saw it on Gina K and grabbed it when I saw it in the store. It really works.
Well to get back to business. I picked up this terrific Hero Arts stamp at Michael's the other day and thought it would be great focal point on B'day cards. I decided to pair it with the candle Cuttlebug embossing folder (see the theme here???)
I stamped the image with the Versamark water mark pad (after I had pulled out all the embossing powders I have) and then just started sprinkling different colors on it.
I wasn't sure if I would end up with some thing pretty or just a muddy looking card. I'm happy to say it really came out pretty. I'm not sure if it shows in the photo but the different colors didn't blend too much. In real life you can see a bit of a rainbow effect. I decided to make this card a bit shabby, so I distressed the edges. Maybe this should be for an "older" person, who's "distressed" about a B'day. LOL. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

It's a Winner

I'm so thrilled. I won Mo Manning's design challenge #3. It was so fun making these book marks and it's such a treat to have them win. My prize was to select one of Mo's many images. I chose the Nativity. I'll have a lot of fun with that one.

I may have to use the Nativity in Challenge # 4.

The Shepherds

When I think of Christmas certain images come to mind. This stamp from Northwood's Rubber Stamps really illustrates that image.
I've had this stamp for a couple of years and it is a favorite. I used it for a lot of my Christmas cards last year and had fun coloring them. I don't have any photos of last years, it would be interesting to compare to see any improvements in my techniques. (I'm hoping I've gotten better). I used Copics of course and just stamped directly onto the front of the card base. I stamped out several cards and this is the only one I got straight. LOL Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Madonna and Child

This stamp by Kathy Davis for Inkadinkado is to me one of the most elegant and moving images there is for Christmas. This simple line drawing of the Blessed Mother and the Baby Jesus really symbolizes the essence of the Holiday season. All I did was color the faces with Copics and then just ran a pale blue Copic along the lines.

I used and Nestabilities rectangle to frame the image.

The sentiment is part of the stamp so this is one easy card to make. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Anything But a Card

This is what I came up with for Mo's Digital Challenge 3. Believe me this was a hard one. Unlike the other challengers my mind doesn't often wander down the paths to other ways to use stamps. Well at least not digital stamps.
Anyway I while I was relaxing the other night reading my book I became irritated that my book mark had become really ratty looking.
The light bulb went off (no not the one in the lamp) and thought okay I'll make my own.
I chose these two images because I hadn't used them yet and really wanted to play with them.
I colored with Copics and on the door added a tiny red rhinestone. I think I'm going to run them through the Xyron laminate to keep them fresh. What do you think and thanks for stopping by.

Peace

I've had this Inkadinkado Dove stamp for several years now and still find it to be a terrific stamp for this season. Right now with all the troubles in the world it would be nice to have some Peace break out in some of the trouble spots.
Anyway, I stamped this right on to the front of my card base (Beckett) and just used a soft gray Copic to outline it. The sentiment is from Stampendous. The leaves are colored with Copics also and I think it adds just the right punch of color.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Thinking of You

I was cruising through various blogs the other day and on the cleanandsimplestamping blog there was a card similar to this. I really love that site. You can always find a layout or card design to use. I used one of my Paper Studio dotted flowers for this one and I had a scrap of the maroon dotted paper that goes well with the old time DP. The ribbon is some that has been in my stash forever. A simple Thinking of You stamp edged in a matching ink and I'm done. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

O Holy Night

This image from Inkadinkado makes such a wonderful Christmas card.
The simplicity of it really makes the point of the reason for the season.
I just stamped it on the front of a card base (Beckett Expression Radiance) and colored with Copics.
I felt it needed a little more so I used my Mega Curved rectangles to emboss a frame around it.
Just a simple little card that says a whole lot.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Fun Day

I had such a fun day yesterday. I went to my cousins house to play card making with several very fun ladies. Hi, Mary (cousin), Susan, Trudy and Carole.
I brought along my Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and all my Christmas stamps. What a whirl of crafting we had. Carole was a champion paper cutter, keeping us all supplied with paper for the various projects.
Trudy has two, yes I said two, daughters getting married over the next 6 to 8 months. She is doing all the invitations for the showers and the thank you notes. What a task, and that's not all she and my cousin are also doing the party favors and the food etc. etc. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Lucky Susan is just getting started with crafting cards. Sue got the job of stamping out various images that Mary and her daughter Kristi wanted. Sue did a terrific job getting that task done.
I had the easy part, just showing how to use the Cuttlebug for embossing and then how to use it for the Nestabilities.
Mary, (who ran the sweat shop) went from project to project keeping us all on task, on top of getting the food organized. Each of the ladies brought something scrumptious to nibble on (except me) and Mary made the most delicious shrimp and mandarin orange salad. She also tried out a desert planned for the bridal shower and we all voted an emphatic yes.
So needless to say I made no cards yesterday. When I got home (it's a 90 minute drive each way) I was too pooped to bring everything in. The only thing I did bring in was a beautiful mum plant and a gift bag (with wine, tea and cookies) that the gang gifted me with for bring some of my toys for them to play with. Thank you ladies.
Well, I did bring all the stuff in this morning and it's now sitting on my dining table waiting to be sorted and put away. I think I'll do a little organizing while I'm at it. I need to take Eddie for a walk and then I need to get the rest of my flowers cleared out and pull the rest of the junk out to be put away and then I need to ........ Well you get the idea. Hope you have a fun day. Thanks for stopping by.

Little Trees

I know I said no more trees but I can't help myself. The Fir Tree Nestabilities set has this little one and I had so much fun cutting them out from the scraps left over from the bigger trees. Well I just had to play with them. This is the card I came up with. The front row of trees is popped up with dimensionals for a little depth. The base was run through the Cuttlebug using the Sizzix snowflake embossing folder. The sentiment is Stampendous and cut out with a Nestabilities tag. I sponged a little Memento Cottage Ivy on it and added a couple of red rhinestones. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Thinking of You

I just love Thinking of You cards. To me these are the most versatile type of card. It can be birthday, sympathy, get well, anniversary and the list goes on. When I put together these dotted flower from The Paper Studio my mind just ran with ideas for cards, and of course when I found this scrap of DP it really fell together. The base was edged using the Scor-Pal. Just to give it a little more of a finished look. The sentiment is from a set I've had for awhile and long ago lost the name info. It's a clear set and I really like the script. Very elegant. For some reason these polks dots make me think of "50's ladies, gloves and luncheons. Sometimes I wonder about my mind. Well anyway I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Spotted Flowers

When I was browsing through Hobby Lobby (or was it Michael"s or Joann's) I found these Spare Parts flowers The Paper Studio on sale ( for a buck, wh00wee!) and grabbed up the brown and white, black and white, red and white and white and black. What fun I've been having. Just love the polka dots. They've been sitting on the desk nagging at me to make them useful. (Hate nags don't you?) So I got them out and started throwing some cards together. I thought this one with the stripes and dots worked pretty well for a B'day card. Using the Bow Easy I added a little ribbon, fancy corner punched the layers and voila I'm done. (Sorry for the fancy language, sometimes I get a little above myself. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Wreath Angel

This Angel from Stampendous is one of my favorite Christmas stamps. I've found the variety of angel stamps is quite interesting. The range is from odd to too totally cute.
So when I sat down to start working on Christmas cards she's one of the first I picked out. I'm making cards for a fund raiser coming up at our church and wanted to make some cards that people would be willing to pay their hard earned money for. I wanted to keep them relatively simple (unadorned) but attractive enough that they would want to send them to someone special. I colored with Copics of course then used Nestabilities to "frame" them. -- A plate, B plate, 3 layers of card stock, tan mat same size as image, paper with image, Nestabilitie with cut side up, B plate, shim-if needed. -- This allows the Nestabilitie to make an impression without cutting the paper. Well hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Lace Tree

This is another classic (I believe) from Cuttlebug. An elegantly simple card to make with the addition (or not) of a few rhinestones and your done. Again I used the A2 size in Cryogen white. This card stock takes the embossing so well. If you have to make a lot of cards this is the way to go. Just stamp your sentiment on the inside and you are done.
Just think of all the different ways you could decorate this tree. Flower soft, rhinestones, brads etc. Go try it and have fun

Kai Enjoys Fall

I wanted to join in the fun at Mo' s Challenge Blog so I chose this image. Doesn't Kai look like he's having the best time. I really enjoyed coloring him up with fall colors since these are my favorite colors anyway. Too bad we're not having the best fall this year. I miss those crisp fall days. I remember my Dad raking leaves and us jumping in the piles. Back in those long ago days we burned the leaves at the end of the driveway. Remember those smells??? Hope you all enjoy these days and the memories it brings. Such a fun challenge. Thanks Design Challenge Team.
Oops I just found out that Kai is really a girl.

Snow Village

I really believe that this embossing folder from Cuttlebug is a classic. I just love this image. It is so easy to make an elegant card with this folder. I used Cryogen white in an A2 size and just ran it through the Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from a new set that my friend Renee gave me for my B'day (isn't she a great friend). It's the Fiskars Christmas Clear set. I could have added some of the Polar White Flower Soft, but I wanted to keep this one unadorned. Maybe I'll do another and let you compare. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

All Right I Lied

I was laying in bed the other night and thinking about Christmas cards and wondered if I could make a card with the largest Tree Nestie. This is what I came up with. I used Cryogen white card stock and made an A2 size card. I put the largest Tree Nestie so the tip was just off the paper. It cut really well after I finally figured out the sandwich. (A plate, pa;er, Nestie, red rubber gasket and C plate). Remember all Cuttlebugs are different so what worked for me may not work for you, never force it. Any way it cut the card stock but the connection at the top is very small so I don't plan to handle it too much. I ran them through using Divine Swirls and Snowflake folders then added stickles. I place rhinestones at the top to hid the flat edge. All in all a couple of cute cards. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

Halloween

I don't normally do Halloween cards, but my friend Renee gave a set of Fiskars Clear stamps for my B'day. I'm not sure why, but Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays. Must be all that candy. lol Any way I decide to make some cards do donate to a fund raiser at my church. I pulled out black and gray card stock to use.Then I found some fun scraps of decorative background stuff to use. The green is a mesh type of stuff ( I really don't know what to call it) and the orange is more tissue type stuff. I stamped in Memento Black and colored with Copics. I sponged Memento London Fog on three of the cards for a spookier effect.

Final Christmas Tree

I have more cards using the Tree Nestabilities but I'll spare you any more on this blog. (Well unless I run out of cards to post) This was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I added a red rhinestone at the tree topper and used Basic Grey Wassail DP. This one took at the most 5 minutes.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Devine Swirl Tree

This is actually the first "Tree" card I made. It took me the longest to make because I actually had to THINK. (Sometimes the hardest part of card making.)
I ran this tree thru the Cuttlebug using the Divine Swirls folder and topped it with a red rhinestone.
I found this card base in my stash and mounted the tree to it, but felt it lacked something. I got out my green Memento Dew Drop pads (Cottage Ivy. Bamboo Leaves and Pear Tart) and sponged the edges. I like the shadowed effect it gives.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Many Trees

After I made the Tree card yesterday I was left with this negative space and I though it would make a cute card also. I used the two smaller Tree Nestabilities to cut out additional trees using different colored card stock. They are just a bit hard to see, but I used light and dark green rhinestones as tree toppers. I ended up really liking the composition of this card. It is simple but interesting. At least I think so, how about you??? Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Embossed Christmas Tree

I got this idea from Sue Nelson. The tree is cut with Nestabilities, using the middle size. I embossed both the DP and the tree using the Sizzix snowflake folder. I added the gold rhinestone as a tree topper. This is such a simple card to make that it almost seems like cheating.
The green DP is PaperTrey and I used Cryogen White for the tree. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

The "Perple" Nuns

I decided to enter Mo's Digital Challenge after visiting my friend Sandy's blog. The challenge is to use one of Mo's images and use the color "Perple" since that is Bella and Bronte's favorite color. Well my favorite image is the dancing Nuns. Of course I've never seen any Nuns habit in purple but I guess somewhere there might be an order using this color. I think I used every purple Copic I had and then traced the edge with a gold leaf pen after I cut it out with a square Nestabilities. I mounted it on purple card stock cut with a scalloped square Nestabilities. I used a grass stamp from Art Impressions with Memento Cottage Ivy. The sentiment is Impression Obsession words and cut with Nestabilities tag, a little white ribbon and rhinestones and I'm done. Oh, the DP is from paper Adventures. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Upright Z fold

When I was cruising through blogs today I saw this recipe for a Z fold card and thought it would be fun to try. The challenge form Scor-Pal was to make a upright card as opposed to the normal horizontal card. I used DP from Basic Grey Wassail. The card stock green and red were scraps and the white is Cryogen white. Between the white and red is Kraft card stock for a little difference. I stamped the Christmas tree from Hero Arts and used snow flakes from Impression Obsession. The little red circle at the top is taped and has a snowflake brad to help hold the card together. It looks like a complicated card but it's really easy, especially using the Scor-Pal. This was a fun card to make and I hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by.

Pumpkin Bonanza

I created this card for Copic Creations challenge Coloring Pumpkins. This stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps was perfect for this challenge. (the only stamp I had with a good variety of pumpkins). I colored the pumpkins with Y21,YR24,YR15 and YR04, I just had so much fun working with this image. The leaves all started with YG03, then I added G24 and G40. After that I realized I wanted more of a fall look so I started layering in YR15, Y17, !R24 and YR04. The cart is E11, E31 and E35. A little smooch and white pen for hi-lites and I was almost finished. I accented the edges of the image with YG11 (bottom) and B00 (top). Then I sponged Memento Tangelo and Potters clay around the edge (keeping it in the Mega Curved Rectangle). I just mounted it on card stock from PaperTrey. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Wreath

I picked up this beautiful stamp from Inkadinkado at Hobby Lobby a week or so ago. I just thought it was so pretty. It makes a simple but elegant card don't you think??? I colored with Copics of course and added a gold rhinestone to dot the I for a little bling. The Rocket Red is from Gina K and it is a great card stock. Really good weight and texture.
I've been missing in action for a couple of days since Bruce and I went to Cadillac to visit friends. We had a nice time in spite of the weather. It's not winter yet but I'm already tired of it. Well there's no snow but the gray clouds and cold, windy and wet days are no fun. I hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by.