The Lone Fisherman

This card shows off some of the other translucent DP from The Paper Comapny called Swirly White that I found in my supplies.  I wanted to use some of my stamps that have been sitting idle for way to long and I needed a masculine card so I combined the three thoughts and came up with this card.  The card base is a very deep purple from Gina K (I think).  The stamps are from two different comapanies, Seagulls from Stampendous, Fisherman and Sunrise/Sunset are from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  Once again I used a leftover oval die cut to make my focal point.  I just lightly colored the birds, the clouds and some of the water and made the sun pop out brightly.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Kristi

This is a card that I made for my cousin Kristi,  She's a beautiful girl and so terrific as an artist that I try very hard to come up with a cool card for her.  Well this one was almost a no brainer for me.  I wanted to do something pretty and feminine for her and to me that means pink.  The Swirly White translucent card stock from The Paper Comapny over the pink card base was my jumping off point.  Then I chose this Gina K butterfly for my focal point.  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and went over it with a black Copic Spica pen, it has a touch of gold shine to it that you can't see without tilting the card.  I colored the butterfly with various pink Copic markers, added a couple of pink gems and was done.  Hope she likes it and that you do also.  Thanks for stopping by.

Bach on Black

While going through my boxes of stamps I came across some old favorites and decided to ink them up.  I've used this stamp from Inkadinkado several times years ago, it was one of my first stamp buys, but I always struggled with the layout for the card.  This card just fell together.  I stamped the image on white with Memento Tuxedo Black and then just layered it on black, white and black then onto a white card base.  The sentiment on white then black and the card was done.  I'm not sure just who this pianist is but for my card I call him Bach.  It works for my post title.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. 

Pretty in Pink

Did you ever have what you thought was a really good idea, start it and then have it fizzle on you???  This card is the result of that process.  While going through my DP's I found this gorgeous translucent DP from the Paper Comapny called Floral Dainty that I had forgotten about ( I also found some others that I'll show in the future) and had to come up with a way to use it.  I went ahead and set up the DP with card stock that showed it off the best, then I had no idea about what to do from there.  Luckily while I was sleeping it came to me.  I remebered the cards I made using DP's as wall paper and thought of this twist on that idea.  I had been going through my boxes of stamps and came across so many that had not been used in a long time and needed some loving.  This flower is one I'm very fond of and it is from Stamps by Judith.  I had some of these ovals left over from other cards I made so I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa, colored it with Copics and edged it with Papertrey Ink's Chamomile.  A brad and some ribbon finished it off.    Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Starting Christmas Early

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to start making my Christmas cards early, so here's the first one.  I pulled out Papertrey Ink set Nativity to start with.  Lucky me I found some die cuts in with the set so this card went together fast.  I used Memento Cantaloupe and Morocco for the sun and the star and Rich Cocoa for the rest, took me all of maybe 5 minutes.  Love this kraft card stock from Ellen Hutson.
Hope you like it and thanks fro stopping by.

A Comfy Robe

When you're not feeling well a comfy robe feels so good while laying on the couch sipping hot tea and trying to rest.  Not too long ago I saw this kraft card stock on Ellen Hutson's web site and thought it looked like a really good thing to try.  Well let me tell you it's gorgeous, so smooth and just the right color.  While trying to fall asleep the other night I got to thinking about it and the left over card parts I had sitting around and came up with this card.  The robe is a Lockhart stamp from ellenhutson.com as is the sentiment (there's a tissue box that goes with it also).  Inside I stamped another sentiment  that says 'get comfy,rest and get better'.  I stamped the robe on the front of the translucent card stock and clored from behind using RV69 Peony, it has kind of a cashmere look.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Tags

When I was done making the wedding rehearsal invitations I had 36 of these cut outs left, so I had to come up with a way to use them.  The obvious way was to use them on the front of cards but there are just so many ways to go with that idea and I wanted something different.  While talking to my sister Ann I mentioned that I was going to get started making Christmas cards (her response was 'great I get first dibs') and that got me thinking about gift tags.  I hauled out my Christmas stamps,all from Papertrey Ink, and whipped these out in no time at all, I just have to find my TO and FROM stamps and I'll be all set.  Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Long Stemmed Flowers

When I had finished making the wedding rehearsal invitations I was left with some card parts so I decided to use some of them up.  My 6 card ministry cards were due so that's what I decided to work on.
The Stampin Up set had the iris and paperwhite flowers in it along with the calla lily and one other (I can't think of what it is at the moment) but I only wanted to use these three flowers.  I used the same format of translucent card stock for the flowers and then Cryogen white for the card base and the overlay.  The overlay was cut with the oval Nestabilitie then embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  The flowers were stamped on the front and colored from the back using Copics.
I'm happy with how they turned out and I hope the ladies I send them to will enjoy them.  Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Rehearsal Dinner Invite

Four years ago I had the pleasure of making the rehearsal dinner invitations for my nephew Steve's wedding, this summer his brother is getting married and I asked my sister if I could do the same thing for Greg.  She was more than happy to let me.  The process of designing the card was easy this time because I wanted to do the same basic idea but with a twist.  The bride (Erin) chose Calla Lilies in eggplant for her flowers and I took that and ran (after getting her ok of course).  Let me tell you it was hard finding a calla lily that I liked, but I finally found a Stampin Up set on ebay that had this calla lily in it (the set is called Long Stemmed and has 4 different flowers so it was a real bargain).  I wanted to use Cryogen white card stock since it is a somewhat creamy white and has a shimmer to it, beautiful.  I knew that I wanted to use clear translucent card stock to stamp my image on so I found some Core'dinations packs on sale and I was all set.

I stamped the image on the front and colored from the back for a softer effect.  The stems are done with YG03 and G99, the flowers Have YG03 then RV95 with RV69 along the edges then blended with RV95. Whew.  To mount them I cut a 4x5 1/4 piece of Cryogen white and cut out the center with Nestabilities Label 4, which I then ran thru my Cuttlebug with a Sizzix embossing folder, I'm not sure what the correct name is but I call it Hearts & Flowers.
For the inside I typed up the details and printed onto more of the clear translucent card stock and mounted it to another piece of Cryogen white that I cut out with a Papertrey Ink die Card Base-ICS #1.  I used score tape to attach it to the back top of the that.   After adding a snapshot of the happy couple I packaged them all up and shipped them off to my sister to be mailed out to the lucky invitees.
I am so looking forward to this wedding.
Hope you like these and thanks for stopping by.

Wedding Shower Favor bag

The cards that I made for the wedding shower favors had to be in a fun packaging.  I remembered one of the Papertrey Ink design team members making similar (ok exactly like)bags.  I used the Front and Center #1 die to make the front and back parts and cut down some small white lunch bags that I picked up at Michael's for the center.  To embellish I used a Nestabilities Heart die and added the bride & grooms initials with a stamped heart (Stamps by Judith) in between.  After punching a small hole in the corner of the heart it was easy to attach it to the bag with a piece of ribbon.  I was really happy the way they turned out and they made a festive addition to the table decorations.  BTW the guests loved the cards but I think they loved the cookies (made by one of the other aunts) that were another part of the party favors more, at least I did.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

House Cards

 One day many months ago I had too much time on my hand and I started to make card bases.  For some unknown reason I made several of these gatefold cards.  Then I just had no inspiration to make anything with them.  That is until one night when I was trying to fall asleep (and having no luck) I remebered an idea I had when going thruough my stash of DP.  Several of the DCVW paper pads had the look of wallpaper.  Thus this card was born.  I actually made 6 of these cards to send out to my card ministry people.  I used two sets, one is from Art Impressions, Doorways.  The main set is a doorway, then there are sets for every two months with different themes.  I used elements from the April/May set and the Feb./March set to decorate the front of the card.
Then going inside I used Papertrey Inks Chair-ished and On My Couch setsfor the furniture and wall art.  I had so much fun making these cards and best of all I used up all the gatefold cards.  One more part of my stash gone.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Lighthouse

I have always loved Art Impression stamps and was thrilled to find this stamp at the Scrapbooking convention last month.  It's funny, since I already have the different elements as individual stamps and have used them in different configurations but this stamp just wowed me.  I wanted to keep my card somewhat subdued so that if someone wanted to they could use it as a sympathy card or a masculine birthday card.  I kept the coloring very monochromatic and the matting and card base carried that on.  I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Another Wedding Card

Making 50 wedding cards was one of the tougher projects for me.  There are just so many ways to be creative and this was one of them.  I had this gorgeous DP that has been in my supplies for a very long time and just had to find a way to use it.  Of course I didn't want to cover it up so I went looking for my bridal flowers and stacked them used a Copic marker to add a little color and anchored them with a heart brad.  I love the way it turned out and I hope you do also.  Thanks for stopping by.