Sympathy in Four Parts

These are some of the many sympathy cards I made the other day. I decided to show them in groups of four. This way I won't bore myself and you with the same type of cards. Let alone make ourselves sad with thinking about all of the family and friends we've lost.

I try to somehow make the cards attractive enough to lift the spirits.

These cards show different techniques and styles. I just can't do the same card over and over. Different DP's, different sentiments, different layouts.

The upper left and lower right cards use DCWV DP form La Creme matstack. These papers were a real help for these cards. The lower left card has the sentiment in the third row from the top. Looks like it was just printed there. Really neat.

The other two cards are just embossed in white with the sentiment added. Very simple.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Sympathy for a Dad

I've been making sympathy cards for the last few days. OK, I really only worked one day. But I made 22 cards that day.

I think this is my favorite. It's a card that I'm sending to a neighbor. Well a neighbor of my sister's , but since my sister lives in the house that I grew up in (and my Dad grew up in), I consider my neighbor also. Gina lost her Dad last month. My sisters and I lost both our Mom and Dad within a year of each other, oh golly I just realised it's about 20 years now, I have a lot of sympathy for her.

I used the Victorian Cuttlebug for the white layer. The card base is a soft green Beckett. The sentiment is from Custer's Last Stamp. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

JustRite Thinking of You

I made this card with the JustRite Stamper I got just a little while ago. This whole system is so neat.

I stamped this image and colored it with Copics. Using Nestabilities I cut it out and them cut a scalloped oval (Nestabilities) for the mat. I had this DP that coordinated and I was done.

Oh, the sentiment is a clear stamp that I can't figure out where it came from. Duh!!!

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Nathan

This card was made for a grandson's birthday.

He'll be 17 today and according to his Mom is trying to corner the market in vehicles.

They live in Iowa so I did a search for an Iowa Hawkeye symbol and found this one. I thought it made a perfect auto decal. The truck is really colored gray but for whatever reason came out blue here. Computers baffle me.

I colored with Copics and this truck is from the Print Works Collection. I'm sure Nathan will like the card but he's sure to enjoy the enclosed check even more.

Hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Dick

A friend of ours is an avid Michigan fan, a difficult thing to be in Spartan country but oh well.

His birthday is today so I made this card for him. We found a calendar for him that is all U of M and has their fight song on it. He'll love it.

All I did was trace the M on vellum then taped it to the yellow (maize) card stock and then cut it out. I took some alphabet stamps and spelled out his name added the Happy Birthday and I'm done.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Short Note

Among the people I give an assortment of cards to are young men. Guys are so hard to design for!!! Luckily I have this set by Amy Rysavy that I got from All That Scraps. It's a really cute set (Amy's Boutique) that comes with various articles of clothing and there is a coordinating sentiments set (Boutique Sentiments). I like to keep these cards very plain. Don't think guys go for very much frou frou do you?

I stamped the images on DP then just high lighted certain areas. The hardest thing was cuttin them out. I just layered them on DP cut out with Nestabilities Labels 4. I left the sentiment in the Nestie and sponged on some color. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Embossed Birthday

Sometimes cards just make themselves. I know you don't believe me but really, I'll just lay everything out and they just jump together. At least it seems like that is the way it happens. These two Cuttlebug folders really lend themselves to easy card making. I embossed the top part then the bottom. (you just roll the card only as far as you want to emboss and then reverse). I wanted a little pop of color so I grabbed the Copics and colored just the flames.

I had picked up a combo package of card stock from Marco Papers at the last convention I went to (it was opening day weekend for dear hunting and the convention was up at Birch Run and let me tell you it was a busy area, who says there's a recession??). The pack had 5 different colors of paper and this pale blue was one of them. I found this sheer blue ribbon in my stash and I think it added just a nice touch.

What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

Santa Embossed

I wanted to enter the IO White Challenge this week (I did but with other cards), so I made this card. After it was all done and I was writing up the info for the card I realised a huge mistake.

This Santa and sentiment are from Inkadinkado!!! LOL

I like the card anyway. The base was run though the Cuttlebug with the Ivy Ribbon folder. I used Gina K Rocket Red card stock for my image and sentiment.

I did copy an idea from my friend Sandy's blog, leaving the images in the Nestabilities I ran a white opaque pen around the edge.

A simple, but pretty card to send a friend.

An Oopsy Fixed

I thought I was going to do this really cool card. Ha ! I have this Magenta stamp that actually has three flowers on it, each in its own panel. It's a good stamp for one card or three.

Anyway, I had each panel colored (Copics of course) and cut out, then I went through the scrap drawer and found DP's to mat with. I chose this yellow card stock from Papertrey Ink for my card base. Hmm, I thought I'll get out one of my many edge punches and make a decorative border. At this point I have my image mounted so I'm trying to be careful. My bad!! I totally goofed it up. I trimmed off the mistake and thought about putting some DP on the inside but didn't really like that idea. Then the light bulb went off and I remembered this vertical sentiment set I have from River City Rubber Works. Saved my bacon on this card it did!!!

So the card was saved and we all lived happily ever after.

Well, now I have to finish making the rest of the cards I need for Christmas gifts and the birthdays this month (only 75 more to go. Learn from my mistakes. Thanks for stopping by.

White Challenge House

I woke up this morning (at 6:30 ugh!) thinking about Impression Obsession's White Challenge. Does that sound crazy or what. I had submitted a card already but this idea was floating in my head. I got up and found this stamp House and my kraft paper (well actually I tried using some Cryogen white first but the contrast wasn't enough for the white to show up). I used white detail embossing powder and just love the look. It's simple, classic and very elegant.

I used Cryogen white for the base, Neenah Classic white for the Cuttlebug Snowflake layer and of course kraft paper for my image.

I wanted a bow in the corner but ended up just crossing over on the corners.

Maybe I was inspired by the first snow fall of the year yesterday. It's all gone today but I don't expect the ground to stay clear for long.

The White Challenge

I finally got up the courage to enter Impression Obsession's White Challenge. I pulled out a favorite stamp Alesa Baker's Hydrangea Ribbon to use. I love this stamp since the image is so versatile. I've used this image for wedding, anniversary, sympathy and in this case birthday cards.

Since the challenge is white I used very little color on the image. I used a pale blue card base with a Cuttlebug embossed backdrop for the image. I rounded the corners and added a few flat backed pearls for dimension.

Check out the challenge and see all the beautiful cards other artists have submitted. I say artists because I think the beauty of the cards show such creativity that they are artistic.

What do you think??? Thanks for stopping by.

A Krafty Christmas

I've really gotten into the whole kraft paper design idea. When I found this sheet of DP (The Christmas Stack Holiday Collection) I just knew the card to make. This is one of the Christmas cards I made the other day when I was suppose to be making other kinds of cards. But, hey when inspiration strikes ya gotta go with the flow, right???

I used the middle of the Nestabilities Trees, then ran it through the Cuttlebug using a Snowflake embossing folder. The red rhinestone really finishes it off nicely.

The card is very simple but expresses the sentiment well. Thanks for stopping by.

Cuttlebug Leaves

I made this card using the Cuttlebug Maple Leaf embossing combo set. You first cut out the leaf then run it through in the embossing folder. There are several of these sets and it is really a neat format.

I used several different colors of paper and mounted them on a card base of craft paper.

I wanted a very simple card with a somewhat masculine feel to it. It is so hard to come up with manly cards.

Hope you like it and thanks for stoppong by.

P.S. I might do another card like this but distress the leaves to give idea of fallen trampled leaves. What do you think???

Football Birthday

This card was made out of desperation. I've had this image (Inkadinkado) laying on my desk forever. I finally needed to use it or throw it away. Being the frugal person that I am (LOL) I used it. The card base had also been sitting around on my desk FOREVER so I had to find away to merge them. The textured paper was mounted slightly off so the top edge of the card base showed, so I found a scrap of a coordinated green paper and tore it, ran some Memento Rich Cocoa along the edge and slapped it on. I smudged some of that Rich Cocoa along the edge of the image thinking it would look like the football had kicked up some dirt. Anyway the idea is that a young boy is playing with a birthday gift maybe???

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Embossed Trees

I started making cards the other day, intending to work on birthday, sympathy and thinking of you. Somehow they turned into Christmas cards. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

I started with this card base run through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I then used the tree Nestabilities to cut out some trees in different shades of green and ran them through the Cuttlebug using Holly Ribbons folder. The two smaller trees are popped up with dimensionals.

The sentiment is a Fiskars Christmas set, I rounded the corners and ran Moss green Copic on the edge and added the rhinestones to finish.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Shining Christmas

I'm headed out to brave the Black Friday crowds but before I dive into the melee of a mall parking lot I thought I'd post up a card for today.

This card is done with the Cuttlebug Lace Tree folder on a shiny red metallic paper. I didn't realize just how shiny until I noticed my reflection in this photo LOL.

It really looks better in person, no reflection to detract from the image.

A simple card but very beautiful. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. Today will be a quiet one for us. My sister Ann is coming to dinner and we'll be trying (trying being the operative word) to have a healthier dinner. Turkey is the main course of course LOL. I'll be brining the bird as I've done for the past few years. If you want a moist flavorful turkey this is the way to go. If you go up on Food Network TV every chef/cook has their own brine recipe and you'll find one to suit your taste. I use Alton Brown's (Good Eats) recipe. Simple and tasty.

Well to get back to the reason for this blog. This card was done using the Cuttlebug folder for Fall and the sentiment is from a clear set Thankful For You from Inkadinkado. I lightly sanded the color core paper and colored the sentiment in just a bit.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to family in Virginia, Colorado and Iowa.

Golfing Christmas

I had to come up with a special card for our golfing friends, so this is it.

Embossing came to the rescue again. This Northwoods Rubber Stamps image works really well with embossing powder. I'm sure many a golfer is dreading the change of season and the end of golf for this year. (Bruce played just 2 days ago and doesn't think there will be any more for the year).

The sentiment is Inkadinkado.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas in Black

I know black is an unusual color for a Christmas card but I had to try it. This is the Cuttlebug folder Snow Village and I thought it could make a stunningly different card. What do you think???

The sentiment is done with embossing powders.

Multi-Colored Balloon

This is the other way I did this balloon that I wrote about yesterday. In this one I stamped the balloon onto two different DP's. I then cut out each segment and interspersed them with each other. (Does that make sense?)

This is really labor intensive and I don't think I'll be doing this again. (I like the easy way best LOL).

Anyway, I glued each section down (and that was a real pistol of a job) then highlighted the balloon and colored the basket. Again I sponged on Memento Summer Sky, rounded the corners and slapped this baby together.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.