More Leaves and Woodgrain

When I was making cards to go with the Papertrey Woodgrain stamped cards I chose to use three of the stamped leaves on one card.

For this card the base is Papertrey's Fine Linen withe a dark brown stamped with the Woodgrain in white, then I took a scrap of the Fine Linen and stamped it with Memento Desert Sand and cut it out with a Nestie.

I just scattered the leaves across it and was done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

One for Sandy

I met my friend Sandy for lunch the other day at the I-Hop. Two reasons for the location, first hello--- I-Hop - 'nough said. Second because it's right by Hobby Lobby. Lunch was great and we had fun visiting and catching up on life as we know it. Sandy had ordered a couple of the Cheery Lynn Design Doily Dies for me and that is the excuse we made for meeting for lunch.

Then we hit Hobby Lobby. Man can we do some damage at that store. I had my 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket and I was on the hunt for something to use it on. As we wandered the aisles we came down the embellishment area and Sandy showed me some Prima Flowers, (so beautiful), so of course they went into the basket. After plundering the DP aisle ( I need more DP like I need a hole in my head, but I bought some anyway) we finished up, hit one more store for health aids for pets and I headed for home.

Of course I couldn't let my new dies just sit there I had to try them out. I grabbed a piece of Papertrey Linen card stock and cut out this French Pastry Doily. Isn't it lovely? Then I had to make a card. I found this Velvety brown Butterfly DP on my desk. I've had it for several months and no longer remember where I got it (I think it was from a store that is now closed) and then I thought that one of the Prima Flowers would look good on the doily. So I put them all together and I think it turned out really well. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

Now I have to go prepare for the next winter storm to hit the area, these last few days of warm weather has been such a tease.

The Maple Leaf

I'm not sure if I love the Maple Leaf because I have two maple trees in my front yard or because my Mom was from Canada. Whatever the reason I have always loved leaves in all their beauty, from the first buds in spring (although I have to say the whirligigs from the maple tree drive me daft in the spring) to the gorgeous fall color.

In any case when I was trying to come up with a card design to work with Papertrey's Background Basics: Woodgrain I thought of the other Papertrey set Falling Leaves. The set has four different leaves and I chose to high light the maple leaf on this card. I cut out the mat with and Octagon Nestabilities and lightly stamped the Woodgrain on it, after which I mounted the Maple Leaf. I think this could be a great guy card.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Woodgrain and Masculine Motifs

The mind is a wondrous thing sometimes. Just not in the middle of the night and I'm trying to get to sleep. Such was the case the other night when I lay in bed and started thinking about wood grain. I have the Papertrey Woodgrain set and started to think about ways to use it. the set has three stamps with different wood grains to them.

I used this one, stamping it over and over to cover the kraft card stock, which I then mounted onto a dark brown card base.

Then I pulled out the Papertrey Masculine Motifs set and stamped the trees onto Kraft, cut it out with an oval Nestabilities. I needed to mat it with dark brown but the next size was larger than I wanted so I trimmed the edge of the kraft and cut another oval out with the same Nestabilities ( a trick I learned from my friend Sandy, it's easier to trim if you emboss the image, then you can just trim around the edge ). I added the brads for a little punch and smudged some Tim Holtz Distressed Ink Tea Dye around the edge.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Life Plus Larger Than Life

I wanted to share another of the cards I made with the Papertrey sets Life and Larger Than Life.

For this one I started with the DP from Basic Grey's Indian Summer paper pad. I liked the diagonal slant of the design.

I decided when I started stamping the image to slant the other way. I stamped directly onto the card stock first. Then I used the co-ordinating die to cut out the matching shape and stamped in a darker color to help it stand out more. I stamped the hello onto a piece of scrap and just ran my Copic along the edge. Keeping it simple you know.
As I have said before I'm loving this set.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A CASE'd Card

My friend Sandy called me to tell me about a challenge I could enter this card in, then she told me that there is a website Feline Playful that lists all the challenges out there and then also the winners. I found out I could enter this card in three challenges. They are Sweet Stamps, Craft Your Passion and the Stamping Scrapper Challenge.
Wish me luck.
Every once in awhile when I'm cruising web sites I'll come across a card that is so beautiful I just have to try and copy it. I can't always achieve the same beauty but I try to com close.
This card is a case in point. I saw this card and just had to try and recreate it.
Luckily I had some of the Papertrey Sweet Blush card stock and I also had the Mat Stack 3 die and the Mat Stack 3 Collection.
I had to change some things just because I didn't have the correct ribbon and my stamping didn't come out the same. I stamped the large Year of Flowers Carnation in the corner and the smaller one above and to the side with Versamark then used my Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder. I love the softness to this card. I edged the flowers with my CopicR20 and colorless blender. I had to use three different shades of pink Copics for the small carnation image R20, R22 and RV21 and I think it came out okay. It's going to be hard to send this card to anyone but I do have a special birthday coming up and I think this card is meant for that person.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Valentine's Day

I don't normally do Valentines' cards, but my cousin Mary sent me the cutest Valentine so I had to reciprocate.

I wanted to make one for her and also one for each of the people I send cards to each month for my church group.

I knew I wanted to use this red card stock from Gina K for the base and the heart and the white for a background.

I haven't done many embossed cards lately so I pulled out my Cuttlebug and Sizzix folders and got to work. Then I popped the heart up and I was done.

I think I ended up with a simple but elegant card.

What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

A Card for Kristi

When I made this card I didn't have anyone in particular to send it to. Then I received a gift from my cousins daughter. She has illustrated a children's book about the Eucharist called 'Our Treasure' (if you are interested you can find it here).

Kristi is a very talented artist so I couldn't send her just any old card.

I used my new sets Life and Larger Than Life from Papertrey (and the die also) for this card.

The DP is Basic Grey Ambrosia, such a delicious paper pack.

Anyway I thought the color combo and graphics would appeal to her.

Hope she likes it and you also. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Steve

I decided to enter this card in the Papertrey contest today. The challenge is to do something big and the Big and Bold stamp is Big.

My nephew Steve's birthday is today and this is the card I made for him. Steve is also my Godson so I always want to do something special for him. I chose to use several of the new stamp sets I received from Papertrey Ink. I used Big & Bold Wishes, Big Birthday Wishes, Inside & Out Birthday and last bu not least Simple Sentiments. I used a variety of Memento inks to try for some fun elements.

If I know Steve he'll be happy to get the card, but even happier to celebrate his day.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Life and Larger Than Life

My last Papertrey order included two sets Life and Larger Than Life and the co-ordinating Dies.

They have been sitting on my desk waiting for play time and yesterday was it. I made a total of 9 cards and this was one of them. The DP is from Memory Box Jubilee.

I just colored the stamp with Memento Tear Drop pads (so easy with this stamp) and mounted the matted image to the card base. A really, really card to make.

I have more cards to show and will post them in the next day or so. These sets with the dies are going to be a go to system for me.

Hope you like it and thanks fro stopping by.

Merry Christmas, Happy Valentine's Day,Happy Anniversary

This combo card is for a friend and his wife (Hi Dick & Jeanne). Dick commented to my husband that he didn't recall getting a Christmas card from us and wondered why since I make so many cards. Bruce laughed and told him that I was so busy making cards to give as gifts I never had time to make our Christmas cards. That is so true. Well to make up for it I decided to make a belated Christmas card for them, then I realized that their anniversary is on Valentine's Day and hep presto the idea for a combo card.

I've had this red DP on my desk for almost a year and never knew quite what to do with it. I didn't want to cover up too much of it since it's so pretty, there's flocking and glitter and such a gorgeous color. Mmmmm.

I thought of doing a step card and then settled on this format. The first design is of course Christmas. I used the Nestabilities Ornaments to cut our my shapes using Gina K's Not Quite Navy, then embossed the design from the Gina K Heirloom Ornament set in Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder.

Then I did the Valentine's Day element using Nestabilities Hearts for my shapes. I ran the red through my Cuttlebug with a Sizzix folder. I mounted it to a scalloped heart and added the sentiment in my own writing.

For the anniversary part I used Gina K's Fanciful Tags set for the main focal point and then cut it out with a Nestabilities Fancy Tag.

I think I may be onto something here, combining all elements of a friends life in one card. You don't think so? Well I guess I don't either, more fun to make a card for each occasion, though I would like to be a fly on the wall when they open this one. I can just hear them laugh.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

The Garden Gate

This is another of the water color cards I made last week. I really had fun that day playing with water and colors. The one really sweet thing about this card is that little bird, he (or she) looks so happy. I found the colors I used for this card both in the painting and the card stocks chosen just made me happy. All stamps are from Art Impressions and I just received a new order from them so I'm going to have to play again soon. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Double Embossing

The other day Gina K did a video on Stamp TV for double embossing that I thought was so neat I had to try it. I didn't make my card as layered as hers but I really like the look.

I used one of the images from the Gina K set Buds & Vases illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. First I embossed the images with Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder then I went back and on the main image and using a Versamark pen I embossed the flowers with Crystal embossing powder. For the smaller blooms I just colored with my Versamark pen and let it dry naturally. What a fun technique and you can find the video here.

Papertrey's 4th Anniversary

Over at Papertrey Ink they are celebrating their 4th Anniversary in a big way with contests. Today's contest is to use a free down loadable tag on a project. Each of the nine designers created a unique tag and you can download them all here, but go to the Papertrey site and see what inspiration is available. I chose to use Alli Miles' tag for this card. I had the card base already so I went looking for DP to match. I found it in a Memory Box Jubilee set.

I had already used a Papertrey Impression plate 'Book Print' on the blue card stock. I trimmed off a piece of the Jubilee DP for the bottom then trimmed of a narrow strip of another sheet to cover the edge.

Then the fun began, I had received in my last Papertrey order the Limitless 2 1/2" Circle Dies. I chose some co-ordinating card stock and cut out some mats that I mounted my image to after coloring (with Copics). I had not planned to enter this contest but it's Super Bowl Sunday and my work is done (food prepared and out to feed the hungry masses), so I decided I deserved some play time.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Flower on Linen Vellum

Among the new toys I received this week was some linen vellum from Papertrey. It is a very interesting look and I decided to try it out with this flower from Hampton Arts. I thought it might give it something of a cross stitch look. It almost does, but not quite. I like how it turned out though. I colored (with Copics of course) on the front of the vellum rather than on the back as I usually do. I cut it and the mat with Nestabilities and placed some ribbon between the layers. One nice thing about this vellum it doesn't show adhesive.

I mounted it to the card base and was done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas for Grandaughters

These are the cards I made for the Granddaughters, both are teens and into fashion. We always send gift cards but I can't just let that be all so I always get some kind of a small gift.

My neighbor Renee was showing me some earrings she made this fall and I thought, oh perfect, just what I need for the girls.

Then I figured out that the perfect card would be to use the tree die from Papertrey and their white felt and use the earrings for ornaments.

I cut piece of card stock bigger than the tree and used a Nestabilities to cut out the center and pop dotted it to give the earrings some protection.

I'll be sending everything in a box but I just thought it would need a little extra room.

All the DP is from Memory Box's Mistletoe paper pack. Inside I again used the Papertrey Library card pocket for the gift cards.

I'm really liking how these turned out, what do you think. Thanks for stopping by.

Edited to add: Papertrey is having an anniversary contest (click here), it is to post your favorite Papertrey project. Well I have 91 items with Papertrey tags so it was fun to go through them and choose. This is the one I like the best. The felt is from Papertrey and I used the Tree die to cut it out. I thought it was a fun way to send the earrings I had bought for Paige and Tara (they liked them too).

The Pretty Little Room

I finally had some time to play and oh did I have fun. I had some extra cash in the budget this past month and ordered stuff from both Papertrey and Gina K.
After I unloaded everything and got organized I started to play.

Unfortunately on this card I used nothing of my new toys. I'm making some cards for a friend and I thought the On My Couch set would make a fun card. I used the chair die to cut out the shape then stamped it with Memento Bamboo. I had this striped scrap and some green so I put them together and added the chair. It looked very lonely so I stamped the table, lamp and picture to create a nice little vignette. I mounted it onto the card base and stamped the sentiment. Now for the bad part, I was picking the card up and smudged some black ink onto the top edge. So I took a scrap of green card stock and used a Martha Stewart edge punch to create a valance and covered up my mistake.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Flower Carts

These are two more of the water color cards I made using stamps from Art Impressions. I use Marvy Markers to color with and the help you get from the Art Impressions company is terrific. They have a video and books that give you instructions and illustrations that are impressive and then of course there is You Tube for more help.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Bookmark to Cards, An Idea

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but I say it's also the mother of creation. These two cards are the result of needing to make some cards and not having the creative juices flowing to come up with an idea. Quite some time back I made a book mark using these two images. Well it was cute and all that, but not very practical. I mounted these onto a large paper clip (you can see it here), but it really didn't work. So it has been languishing in my card box ever since. One night while trying to go to sleep an idea popped into my head and these cards are the result. I just used my Nestabilities to cut out two more mats, mounted them onto card bases and was done. So easy peasy I just can't stand it.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

The Doors

Shortly after Christmas a friend asked if I could make her some cards. Judy makes the most wonderful lotions so we bartered cards for lotions. Judy and her husband have the most beautiful garden and she picked out cards from this blog that she liked the most and of course they were cards with flowers on them for the most part. Some were also water color cards, I haven't played with water colors in a long time so I got them out and had such fun. These cards use a set from Art Impressions that celebrate different times and events using the same door as the base. I had gotten this set and never really used it so out the came and oh what fun I had. Two very different looks but the same door. It got me so excited I went up on their site and ordered more stamps. Lovin' it.

We are digging out from the snow so I might just get to play again today and do more water coloring. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Card of Kellen

The other day Bruce and I were shopping at Sam's Club and I made the mistake of wandering by the children's clothing. Whooee big mistake, I fell in love with all the pretty little girl stuff and I wanted to buy something but I didn't think my nephew Steve would like his son dressed in dresses. So I took a look at the boys outfits and found so many cute things that I had a hard time choosing. Well I bought two outfits and sent them to him with this card.

The image is a digital freebie from Digital Delights that I had printed out months ago and colored with Copics and it has been sitting there waiting to be used.

So off it went with the outfits and Michelle and Steve said Kellen is going to be a regular fashionista if all of his Aunts keep up with this wardrobe additions.

I thought this image was such a fun one and I enjoyed putting this card together. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.