Girly Card with Bling

When I needed a card for my step-daughter, Marianne, I went immediatley for pink and bling.  Suits her perfectly.  I pulled out my Cuttlebug and embossing folders for this one.  It's so easy to make great cards with this combo.  I made the card base white, then a layer of Memory Box's 'Taffy' then the embossed layer with some pink rhinestones and the sentiment.  So easy, but she loved it so that was good.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Doing the Happy Dance

This is another of the cards I made using the Sasparilla paper pack form October Afternoon.  There was one 8x8 sheet that had and assortment of cowgirls and cowboys on it, so I split them up and made several cards.  For this one I used a sentiment from Gina K's 'Tag Lines' set.  Inside it says Fantastic news!  I could have used happy birthday or congrats but this one seemed like a good one.  The other DP's were scraps.  The matting for the cowboy was a scrap that I had run through my Cuttlebug with Papertrey Ink's Wood grain Impression plate.  I had let my craft desk get very messy and when I straightened it up I found all kinds of bits and pieces just waiting to jump onto a card.  Mission accomplished.
Hope you like it 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.

Mr. & Mrs.

This is the last card I'll be posting for awhile.  We are off to Florida soon and I am taking a good bit of my card making stuff with me, in fact it's all packed up and ready to go.  Have I packed any clothes-no, have I packed any personal care items-no, but I have my fun stuff packed.  Priorities, priorities.
Enough about that, this card is one that can be a wedding or anniversary card.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Big & Bold Wishes set.  I wanted a subtle card and I think I got it with this design.  I started with a Cryogen White card base A2 size, then a 5 1/4 x 4 layer run thru the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I took a scrap of Martha Stewart self adhesive ribbon and wrapped it around the center.  I stamped the sentiment  with Memento New Sprout and cut it out with a Nestabilities die.  Leaving it in the die I ran it thru the Cuttlebug a gain to emboss the edge and then rubbed some New Sprout around the edge.  I then mounted it with pop dots and was all done.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. 

An Embossed Heart

Lately I've been seeing a lot of very beautiful embossed cards.  I've had a yen for getting out my embossing folders and having some fun but life has gotten in the way.  However I needed to pack card making supplies to take south with me and while I had my Cuttlebug and folders out I got busy and made a few cards.  I'm posting the first one today and I'll post the others over the next few days.
This card is one I've been wanting to make for awhile.
I have always thought that an all white or cream card for a wedding card is just perfect.  I used what I call Hearts and Flowers ( I call it that since I can't remember the name of it and it's packed away so I can't pull it out and check) on the first layer.  I then cut out the hearts with Nestabilities and embossed the top heart with Swiss Dots.  The ribbon and pearl were added and I was all done. 
I also had a chance to use my new Christmas gift of a Photo Cube, way cool for taking photos and when I really get to know how to use it the photos should be even better.
Hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by.

Big Sisters

My sister is Nanny for a family that has grown this past week with a new little girl.  She has two older sisters that are so excited about a new baby.  I thought it would be fun to send them each a card to congratulate them on the new baby. 
Last August at the Novi stamp show I picked up several card sets at The Papercut.  I just love that company, they have the neatest items.
These cards are an example.  The set consists of the card base and and over layer that has a cut out under the circle.  I used a Papertrey 3/4 inch die (Limitless Circles )as a mat for the focal image and the image is from an acrylic set that I've had for years and I no longer know where it came from.  I colored with Copics and added the sentiments on the over layer.  By the way I ran the over layers through my Cuttlebug using Swiss Dots for one and Divine Swirls for the other.  I haven't heard how the girls liked them but I'm sure they are to busy playing with the new baby.

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.

Christening

Today is my Great-Nephews Christening and these are two cards that I made for the event. The silver card is to be from his Aunt Cati, his Godmother and the gold is to be from three of his Great-Aunts (myself and two of my sisters)
I was running out of time so I had to make an executive decision and do a somewhat assembly line set up. I used the Nestabilities Cross set and then used my finger for color them with metallic rub on paste (ooh my fingers hurt when I was done). I then mounted them onto metallic card stock from Cut Card Stock. Then I ran some white card stock through the Cuttlebug with embossing folders and put all the elements together to make two cards. I did however use my JustRite letters to make the sentiment for Cati's card.
Thanks for stopping by.

A Christmas Snowflake

I am so not ready for Christmas, but this card sort of fell together. My cousin Mary called me last week for some help making these snowflakes from the Cuttlebug set. You know the set that you cut out the flake then put it into the embossing folder. Yeah that one. Well I couldn't remember off hand how it worked so I made a couple of them to refresh my memory. The only thing extra I did was run it through in the Swiss Dots folder also. Again I put it aside and when I was sorting out the bits and pieces of my c#*p I put it together with these scraps I had cut out with a Nestabilites die. It seemed to fit perfectly, so I grabbed my glue pen and attached it and decided a little silver glitter pen around the edge would finish it off nicely. Well then I had to come up with some DP for backing and found this paper in my stash from a couple of years ago. I also had this silver cord for a final touch.

I like how it turned out and I hope you like it also. Thanks for stopping by.

Thank You Gina K

While Gina K was incapacitated with a detached retina older videos were run on StampTV. This sparked my imagination and I really wanted to make cards using this technique. It's called Inking a CuttleBug folder and it is such a simple technique but it gives the card such impact.

It can be subtle or vibrant depending on the design and colors used. I needed to make some Thanksgiving cards and thought it would be such an easy fast card to make. Well I suppose it would be if I was less math challenged. I'm not sure why but when I get and idea of how I want a card to look and then have to figure out mats and layers I get totally discombobulated. For this card I new that I wanted to have several layers and I fumbled around looking at card stock to get my colors (this was of course after I had made the CuttleBug layer) and settled for a soft green and brown on Papertrey's Fine Linen as my card base. I used Memento's Tangelo to color the embossing folder. Since I had a few spots that didn't cover well and one pumpkin that got some color I had to get into the 'what do I do now' mode. I put the sentiment from Papertrey's Gobble Gobble set over the missing color then tapped in some Memento Potters Clay on each of the pumpkins. A little ribbon from my stash and I was done. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. I can't believe I went almost 2 weeks without making a card, and my desk is still a mess lol.

A Felt Christmas Tree

When I saw the info about the Papertrey blog hop I was so glad that I had just received my latest Papertrey order. I so wanted to use the Tree die and this was a perfect opportunity. Among the items I ordered was the Chartreuse felt so I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the die and found out that I also needed to trim around the edges (my Cuttlebug must not be as tight as it could be).

I made my card base from a piece of dark green shimmery card stock and the DP is from Me & My Big Ideas Holiday paper pad. I had these little jingle bells in my stash so I hauled out my sewing box (something I very rarely do) and sewed them on, it still looked bare so I found this gold cord and threaded it through the bells and then I added some Martha Stewart Lily White glitter along the edges and sort of drifting down under the bells.

The sentiment is also Papertrey Inside & Out Holiday, I stamped the first two lines for the front and the rest inside. I had fun making this card even though sewing is not my thing I see it on so many cards these days I knew I had to try it. I must admit that I find a lot of inspiration from the different DT members at Papertrey, but I also love the attention to detail I see on so many blogs. My preferred style of card is clean and simple. I like the focal point not to be hidden by too many layers. Then I come across cards that have several layers and they only highlight the focal point, go figure. Well this card was fun to make and I hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by.

JustRite Color Challenge #36

This was a fun challenge to do. It accomplished several things, first it made me go outside my comfort zone and it allowed me to use existing supplies. JustRite always has beautiful inspiration cards, and this time is no different.

The challenge is a color challenge to use Ivory, Red and Black with the addition of making an embellishment. Colors are no problem but making an embellishment to go with the colors is another story. You should have seen me trying to come up with an idea. I really, really wanted to use some of the black waffle shelving stuff we picked up a Lowe's today but I just couldn't get it to cooperate. Instead I took some black and white checked ribbon, put some scor-tape on it then twisted into a flower. I punched a hole in the center and added a brad an popped it onto the red ribbon. The base is Gina K Rocket Red and the ivory layer is Cryogen that I ran through my CuttleBug with the Floral Screen folder.

My focal image is from the Thinking of You Borders and Centers set. I colored with Copics R29 and R39 for the flower and YG03 and YG95 for the leaves. I air brushed the flat back pearls with E50. I used the plain and scalloped ovals to cut out the image and the mats. I used a Spica pen to dot the scallops.

Another thing this challenge helps with is that it's a card for the Christmas packets I put together every year as gifts. Only 30 0r 40 more to go.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Black Vellum Bird Call

This past weekend was the Heirloom Stamp show in Novi, and it was an expensive trip for me. My friend Renee and I went to the show on Sunday. Thinking of course that it wouldn't be as crowded, well it may not have been as crowded as Saturday but there were still a lot of people there. I managed to go over my budget and still leave wanting more.

Again so much for my pledge to use existing before buying new.

This card, however uses nothing new that I bought. A technicality, but still the truth. The only new thing on this card is the black vellum that was a freebie from Stamp On It (a store I go to whenever I'm in Grand Rapids) that I embossed with the CuttleBug Bird Call folder. I lied, the white matting was part of a pack of layering papers that I got at The Papercut booth, but that was one of the two things I intended to buy since I had run out of my layering papers. The white layer has a sheen to it that is really pretty. I took my opaque white pen and added an eye to the bird then highlighted some of the reeds. The ribbon was from my stash and it's done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Paige's Graduation

When I placed my order for some of the new PaperTrey stamps I didn't know just how much I would use the graduation set. I knew I wanted it to make my nephew's card but I also needed for a granddaughter's card. The same day that the stamps arrived we received the graduation announcement for our oldest granddaughter. Works out well.

One of the great things about PaperTrey is that when you click on any of the stamps you get access to the gallery for that set and also there is a tip sheet for each of them. Really helpful information.

Since Paige's school colors are red and silver I used that color combo. I first went to Google Images and downloaded the mascot,and sized it to fit into the center of the focal image stamp. I just printed it in red cut it out with a circle punch and ran my silver leafing pen around the edge. I used a scalloped circle Nestabilities to cut out a mat for the mascot image and mounted it to the stamped image. PaperTrey has come out with a line of dies to coordinate with many of their images. I used the Mat Stack 1 die to cut out the shape then I stamped on top of it. Since the stamps are clear it's easy to line them up.

I then stamped out the class of image and added the year with the individual numbers included in the set.

The DP is from the White Washed Core-dinations line that I ran through the CuttleBug with a Quickutz embossing folder that I then sanded. It sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't. The most time consuming part was lining up the year numbers (shaky hands sometimes makes life a little difficult).

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Birthday Grillin' King

When I made the card for Randy using this image from Mo Manning I also had to use it for birthday cards (I made three). Guy card ideas are so hard to come up with but this image is a natural. I think I'm going to have to get more Big Guys.

I printed it onto Cryogen white and computer generated the sentiment. Doesn't he look like he's in his element?

I colored with Copics and added a couple of small brads.

The matting is Coredinations color core paper. It's hard to see but the blue that shows through after sanding (run through the CuttleBug with the Hounds tooth folder) matches one of the shades of blue on the DP from Lasting Impressions.

This was an easy card to make. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Chocolate Valentine

This is another Valentine's card I made the other day. I used my Heart Nestabilities to cut out the hearts. The white is the core-dinations Whitewashed with a pink core, that I ran through the CuttleBug with the Divine Swirls embossing folder and then sanded, the second is a very dark brown embossed with Swiss Dots and the last is pink just cut out with the scalloped heart Nestie.

The card base DP is from
Basic Grey Bittersweet paper pad that I got from PaperTrey Ink.

I then just stamped the sentiment on a scrap of pink card stock and cut it out with the deckled rectangle Nestie.

It's a little different but I like it, what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

A Quick Birthday

Back when I was making all the cards for my Christmas gift packets I came up with this design.

It probably took me a maximum of 3 minutes to do this card, and 2 of the minutes was deciding what color rhinestones to put on the package. Don't want to be too flashy you know.

I did really like how this turned out. Very plain, but just enough bling to make it a happy card.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Mo's White Challenge

When I went to my friend Sandy's blog I found out about Mo's Digital Challenge currently running and decided to join in.

I decide to use Mo's Door with Wreath. Don't you think this is a very welcoming image? It just symbolizes all that Christmas is about. Someone inside is waiting to invite you in, give you a warm drink and sit down with you to reminisce about past holidays. But I digress.

I used Cuttlebug folder Holly Ribbon for the base, then I took the QuicKutz Phrases folder and cut it up for the sentiment.

I used Copic E40 for the door, E41 and N1 for the shovel. The wreath is YG03 and G24, And E51 was used on the mat. A little B00 took care of the snow.

I originally had a red bow on the wreath then I double checked the requirements and changed to a white (well okay an off white) bow.

I've already sent out my Christmas cards for this year but I guess it's never too early to start on next years. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Forest Sympathy

I finally finished my sympathy cards. I love using this image. The message is also that you aren't alone. The forest lets you remember the friends and family that can help you deal with grief.

Well that's a depressing ramble.

This image is from Penny Black. The base is embossed with Cuttlebug Victorian.

I just took a couple of Memento Tear drop pads, Desert Sand and Rich Cocoa and rubbed them on the stamp. A corner punch and dark brown mat and I was done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.