Sunflower Bouquet

I totally adore this set. It is such a beautiful image and coloring these flowers and pitcher is an absolute joy. Papertrey Ink has sent this set to the vault so it's expensive to get now but it is such a versatile set that if you want to invest then it is worth it, I'm just glad I got it when it came out.  There is another set that has similar images in a smaller size that is still available so that is another option.

 Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Mehndi Medallion

I was looking at my craft area a few weeks ago and wondered how I had let things get so out of hand. I decided to take the time to straighten out my stamps and dies and find a better way to work with them.  Well it was a good idea in concept but as I worked I couldn't help but make cards while I had different stamp sets out.  I found sets that I had completely forgotten about and it got the creative juices flowing. Mehndi Medallion from Papertrey Ink was one of the sets I found.  When I decided to make cards as I sorted things out I also decided to make two of every design (well not exactly alike, can't do that). I made this card and then the same card in different shades of blue. I liked this one the best so it's the one I'm sharing. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Apple Blossom Time

Gina K Designs has a series of stamp sets called Stately Flowers, this is from #9 of the sets and it's Michigan's state flower so of course I had to use it. There are both a small and a large flower in the set and I got the idea to randomly stamp the small one as a background stamping off once with Memento London Fog but oops I forgot on one so I went to plan b and stamped 3 of the small ones to color and one of the large. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Tipped Bowls

This is the other card I made using the Bowl of Sunshine set from Papertrey Ink. The DP is from Gina K Designs. I love these bowls and I remember seeing similar ones on tables in the past so it brings back happy memories. Hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by.

The Old Covered Bridge

This image is from a Gina K set Country Road and the sentiment is from the same set.  I colored with Copics and kept is very simple to make is a somewhat quiet card. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Pretty Bowls

I've been working making some cards for a friend (that's you Nan) and had fun putting this card and another one together (one for Nan and one for me).  The DP is from Gina K and the bowls are from a Papertrey Ink set.  Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Color Pop

One of the techniques you see around the various card making blogs and in the magazines is a card designed with most of the stamping done in dark or neutral colors and then one item done in a bright color.  I tried that with this card using the Gina K With Love and Prayers mini stamp set from the Stamp TV kit Journey of the Heart.  The sentiment is from another of the mini stamp sets from the same kit, Little Branches.  I stamped the flower and branches using Memento brown and then I stamped a flower using two shades of orange for the petals and brown for the center, I then fussy cut it and adhered it over one of the brown flowers.  I added the sentiment over a thin strip of dark brown card stock.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

How an Embelishment Can Fix an Error

One of the many things I've learned in card making is that when you goof up a card it is often an opportunity to embellish. This card is an example.  I had this card all done and as I stamped the sentiment it was crooked. Darn! So I covered it up with ribbon then deliberately stamped the sentiment crooked.  All of the elements for this card are from Gina K Designs.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

At my last Card Ministry meeting we had a discussion about holding some craft retreats again in the fall.  We discussed several options of topics to play around with and this is one that I came up with.  I thought it would be fun to see what a card would look like when colored with plain old crayons.  So the other day I pulled out a couple of old favorite stamps that are of the line art type and went back to kindergarten and had a whole bunch of fun.  My first task was to set up my card base and find a DP that would work, I found this piece in my scrap drawer and it provided a good color pallette for me to work with.  Then I dumped out my Crayola box of 24 colors and used the red/violet hues along with the yellow/green colors.  It really is so much fun to play with colors and crayons are just as much fun as ever.  After I had the flower colored I took a grey crayon and outlined the petals for a little bit of shading.  I mounted the image onto a piece of burgundy card stock and then stamped the sentiment on a double ended strip of card stock.  I did one more card with crayons and I'll post that one tomorrow.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Double Stamping

Double stamping seems to be a popular technique lately.  Several of the card making videos I've watched lately have used this technique (which of course has been around forever) and it is very effective.  This particular stamp from Inkadinkado works well with double stamping. I used a kraft card base, rounding off the edges and then matted a chocalate brown card stock, also rounded.  To add some interest I layered some of my Simply Jane DP from Papertrey Ink on top of that after I rounded the edge and swiped some Chamomile ink arond the edges.  After I stamped my images I stamped the sentiment over it with Memento Rich Cocoa, matted it with a softer brown and assembled the card.  I love making Thinking of You cards, they can be used for any occasion.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. 

Flowered Vellum

I went with my friend Sandy to a scrap booking show a week or so ago and of course the amount of gorgeous paper there was astounding.  This vellum was one of the many that caught my eye and just had to buy.  I attached it to a card base from Memory Box called Squash, a very pretty yellow.  Since it is the focal point of this card I just added the sentiment (another of the bits and pieces I've had laying around) and attached it with some ribbon from Gina K.  Sometimes when I make these cards I just want to keep them but of course this is going into the favor packets.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Pop Up Cards

Oh is this fun. This is what is inside the cards I posted yesterday.  The geniuses at Papertrey Ink came up with dies to make the inside (and outside) of cards such fun.  They have a series of dies from their Feb. release that you can use for all kinds of fun things.  The Movers and Shakers Poppers die collection had this spring die as one of the three in the set.  I cut the spring out of matching card stock and then used four of the Flower Fusion dies and stamps to add to it.  I can't wait to make some similar cards for kids.
I hope that the ladies I sent these cards to enjoyed them and I hope you enjoy them also.
Thanks for stopping by.
P.S. the Papertrey blog site has videos on how to use these dies if you are curious.  It's a little hard to find but if you want just email me and I'll send you the link.

Sunflower Cards

In my quest to use up existing supplies I made these cards.  All the bases are from Ellen Hutson in various colors and all the DP is Memory Box also from various paper pads.  I used Papertrey Ink's Simple Sunflower Mini stamp set and it's matching die.  I just love how these cards came together.  The bases and DP's were some of the ones I put together and set aside for future use (great how that works out).  I used the dies to cut out the flowers and leaves (there are two sizes of flowers and leaves in this set and I used the smaller of them) then stamped them in colors to coordinate with the DP's.  I placed them on the card bases and needed something else to finish off the fronts.  Again I looked at my cluttered desk and found some Double Ended Banners (Papertrey die)that I had left over from a previous card making frenzy.  So I pulled out my Papertrey Ribbon Tails stamp set and colored them and added sentiments.  I made these cards for my Card Ministry mailings.  the really fun thing is what inside.  I'll show you that tomorrow.
Hope you like these and thanks for stopping by.

Finally

I have been thinking of you,  I have been making cards over the last few months but just haven't posted any.  It's been strange since we got back from Florida.  First I got sick and than just haven't been able to catch up.  But I've decided to post what I've mad in the last few days and and also post some that I made while in Sarasota.  Ah Sarasota, what a wonderful time we had there.  (Shaking my head to get the memories out and get back to work).
First thing I thought of doing was using up some of the supplies I've had for awhile along with some new stuff I got.  While in Sarasota I placed an order from the Feb. release.  Part of that order was the Beautiful Butterflies Stamp set and the dies that go with it. 
My supplies that I had on hand to use were Memory Box card stock and patterned papers.  Looking at all the paper I have one would think I'm just a tad bit obsessive.  Not really I just love the colors and designs.  So I grabbed all I had and started cutting and layering card bases.  After I let them sit for a day or so I pulled out several stamp sets and dies and got to work.  For this one I used Memory Box Pixie DP and for the card base Ellen Hutson Wisteria, the DP is two sided so I used a trimmed off piece to stamp the sentiment and added a few pink rhinestones and was done.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Cards from My Prize

I was lucky enough to be the first Facebook winner in Ellen Hutson's 5th anniversary give away.  The prize was a Hero Arts/Sizzix Floral Stamp & Die Cut set.  What was so impressive to me was how fast I received it.  Of course I had to play with it right away. Forget about cleaning the house, doing the laundry and getting ready for Christmas, I had to play.  For this card I used Echo Park's Happy Days for my DP.  I stamped my image using Memento Cantaloupe and Bamboo Leaves and after cutting it out with the matching die I added some Potters Clay, Tangelo and Canteloupe to the petals with Memento markers and colored the center with Rich Cocoa.  I mounted the flower and the little dragonflies onto a piece of scrap black card stock after adding the scrap of yellow across it (the DP is two sided so I knew it would work-takes a lot of thinking out of the process when using these paper pads).  I stamped the sentiment with Tuxedo Black and cut it out and the card was done.

For this next card I used DP from Jilly Bean Soup's Dutch Mustard paper pad.  I used Cryogen White for my card base and then cut the DP slightly smaller.  That card stock has a subtle sparkle that I just love and hate to cover up completely.  The yellow is Memory Box Sunflower card stock.  This flower I stamped with Cantaloupe and then I swiped some Tangelo around the center and again Bamboo Leaves for the stem and leaves.    The sentiment was stamped with Rich Cocoa.  All of the DP was part of a previous order I received from Ellen Hutson , love her site.   Hope you like my cards and thanks for stopping by.

  

A Teacup of Flowers

I received my latest order from Ellen Hutson the other day and had a chance to play with two of the three stamps that came in that order.
I found this image just so charming and it fits perfectly in the oval cut out on this card that I picked up from the Paper Cut ( I love this company they have the greatest pre-made cards).
So I stamped and colored this image (I know it's suppose to be African Violets but I was feeling orangey, so sue me.)  I taped some white card stock to the inside of the card and stamped through the window.  Coloring with Copics was easy.
I just added the sentiment to the front and was done.
A fast easy card to make and it looks so much more complicated than it is, something a card maker loves.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

One Layer Flowers in Bottles

The other day I posted up a couple of cards I made using this image from Inkadinkado.  While I was looking at the stamp I wondered how it would look just stamped onto the card base and minimally colored.
Well here is what I came up with.  I pulled out some Beckett Expressions card stock in soft blue and pale green, I stamped the image on the front with Memento Rich Cocoa and only colored a few of the flowers with Copics using  RV17.  I traced the edges of the bottles with B000 for the blue card and G20 for the green.
I'm really happy with how they turned out and I hope you like them also.  Thanks for stopping by.

For Ann

A few months ago I made these cards as a thank you to my family for an anniversary gift.  My sister Ann called me a few weeks ago and asked me to make some cards for her.  She so liked the thank you card that she wanted something similar.  She wanted cards that could be for a variety of occasions.  The Thinking of You sentiment works wonderfully well for these cards. 
I used a dozen different colors of Memory Box card stock for the card bases and for the focal point.  Papertrey's Year of Flowers set worked perfectly for this whole set of cards.  I ended up making 24 cards, two of each flower, one vertical and one horizontal.  I stamped each flower and sentiment in Versamark and then used Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder.  After heat embossing I mounted the focal point onto a white mat and then to the card base.
Ann only took some of the cards so the rest will go into the raffle card baskets at our Church fund raiser in a couple of weeks.
These cards are really easy to make just a little messy (I tend to get embossing powder all over) and time consuming, of course when I'm doing cards like these I end up making a lot of them.  If I'm going to make a mess why not make a real mess. lol
Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by. 

An Adventure In Color

Each month I make 5 cards to send to church members who are no longer able to get out as much as they would like.  This is such a fun way to use my passion for card making.
This month I am so enjoying our good weather that color was the inspiration for the cards.  Well that and the fact that I had a bunch of scraps I wanted to use up.
Most of the DP is from the Echo Park Summer Days paper pad that I had gotten in an order from All That Scraps, the butterfly scrap was laying on my desk and worked well for the one card.
I had used the Button dies and the Flower Fusion die to cut out some felt (also from Papertrey) pieces.
So then I started putting them all together and hey presto I had two of the five cards I needed done in no time at all.  So glad my mojo is back. 

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.