Sympathy

My friend Renee came over the other day to show me some cards she had made using DCWV La Creme matstock paper. Her cards were just beautiful (yes Renee I'll get over real soon and get your blog up so you can share your gorgeous cards too).

I ran right out to Hobby Lobby and bought the same pad of paper. All I did on this card was stamp the sentiment (Papertrey Ink's Sympathy set) with Versamark and emboss it with Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder.

Talk about an easy card to make!

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Pink and Black

I'm not really much of a pink person. I like pink mind you, I just don't think of it as a favorite color.

Having said that I do like this color combo. I was walking through a store the other day and saw some mugs done in black with pink designs on it and really liked the look.

When I got home and started looking through the mess that is my craft desk I found these black polka dotted flowers. Aha I thought, find pink paper and I'm all set. Well it needed a little something more so I found this black ribbon and it finished off the card nicely.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by

Just Rite

I have been fascinated with the Just Rite stamping system for a long time. I finally broke down and ordered the Thinking of You oval borders and centers. I've only made this one card so far, but I think I'm going to use this set a lot.

I stamped the image with Memento Rich Cocoa, then cut it our with my oval Nestabilities. I used the scalloped Nestabilities to cut out the mat (it's a fuzzy DP that really doesn't show up in the photo.) I had picked up this lace by Paper Studio (Spare Parts) and decided to add this for a little more texture. The larger mat I ran through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, then rounded off the edges.

I have to make many ( and I mean MANY) sympathy cards for my Christmas gifts and I think this set is really going to make the process a lot easier.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Fall Color

Sorry that I haven't posted anything in a few days, but life got a little busy. It is now 11:30PM and I'm getting ready to take my sore body to bed. I have eleven bags of leaves at the curb for pick up tomorrow. I really do love trees and I love the fall colors but really someone needs to develope a tree that doesn't find it neccessary to drop it's leave in my yard.
We live on a corner so that means we get leaves from all sides. We have two huge Maple trees in our yard and two others curb side. Trees are great for the ecology, cleaning the air and providing oxygen but if I keel over from exhaustion who will rake the leaves.
Oh well that's my rant for the day.

Embossed Punkins

We had a baked goods sale at church last weekend and our Card Ministry had a table set up to sell some of the extra cards we had. One of the ladies made a beautiful card that was just a pumpkin embossed with black detail powder. It was very simple and elegant card. So I decided to try and copy it.
This is what I came up with. This Great Impressions stamp worked well for this technique. I stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Martha Stewart detail black. I then got out my Prismas and colored in a little, it really wasn't needed but I like to color. As my friend Sandy says, still back in kindergarten playing with the crayons. Okay when is nap time??? I digress. I used MS Dove detail powder for the sentiment. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Distressed B'day

I started playing with embossing powders yesterday and had a lot of messy fun. Well it was messy until I remembered the anti-static pad I got at Michael's/Joann's or Hobby Lobby. I first saw it on Gina K and grabbed it when I saw it in the store. It really works.
Well to get back to business. I picked up this terrific Hero Arts stamp at Michael's the other day and thought it would be great focal point on B'day cards. I decided to pair it with the candle Cuttlebug embossing folder (see the theme here???)
I stamped the image with the Versamark water mark pad (after I had pulled out all the embossing powders I have) and then just started sprinkling different colors on it.
I wasn't sure if I would end up with some thing pretty or just a muddy looking card. I'm happy to say it really came out pretty. I'm not sure if it shows in the photo but the different colors didn't blend too much. In real life you can see a bit of a rainbow effect. I decided to make this card a bit shabby, so I distressed the edges. Maybe this should be for an "older" person, who's "distressed" about a B'day. LOL. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

It's a Winner

I'm so thrilled. I won Mo Manning's design challenge #3. It was so fun making these book marks and it's such a treat to have them win. My prize was to select one of Mo's many images. I chose the Nativity. I'll have a lot of fun with that one.

I may have to use the Nativity in Challenge # 4.

The Shepherds

When I think of Christmas certain images come to mind. This stamp from Northwood's Rubber Stamps really illustrates that image.
I've had this stamp for a couple of years and it is a favorite. I used it for a lot of my Christmas cards last year and had fun coloring them. I don't have any photos of last years, it would be interesting to compare to see any improvements in my techniques. (I'm hoping I've gotten better). I used Copics of course and just stamped directly onto the front of the card base. I stamped out several cards and this is the only one I got straight. LOL Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Madonna and Child

This stamp by Kathy Davis for Inkadinkado is to me one of the most elegant and moving images there is for Christmas. This simple line drawing of the Blessed Mother and the Baby Jesus really symbolizes the essence of the Holiday season. All I did was color the faces with Copics and then just ran a pale blue Copic along the lines.

I used and Nestabilities rectangle to frame the image.

The sentiment is part of the stamp so this is one easy card to make. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Anything But a Card

This is what I came up with for Mo's Digital Challenge 3. Believe me this was a hard one. Unlike the other challengers my mind doesn't often wander down the paths to other ways to use stamps. Well at least not digital stamps.
Anyway I while I was relaxing the other night reading my book I became irritated that my book mark had become really ratty looking.
The light bulb went off (no not the one in the lamp) and thought okay I'll make my own.
I chose these two images because I hadn't used them yet and really wanted to play with them.
I colored with Copics and on the door added a tiny red rhinestone. I think I'm going to run them through the Xyron laminate to keep them fresh. What do you think and thanks for stopping by.

Peace

I've had this Inkadinkado Dove stamp for several years now and still find it to be a terrific stamp for this season. Right now with all the troubles in the world it would be nice to have some Peace break out in some of the trouble spots.
Anyway, I stamped this right on to the front of my card base (Beckett) and just used a soft gray Copic to outline it. The sentiment is from Stampendous. The leaves are colored with Copics also and I think it adds just the right punch of color.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Thinking of You

I was cruising through various blogs the other day and on the cleanandsimplestamping blog there was a card similar to this. I really love that site. You can always find a layout or card design to use. I used one of my Paper Studio dotted flowers for this one and I had a scrap of the maroon dotted paper that goes well with the old time DP. The ribbon is some that has been in my stash forever. A simple Thinking of You stamp edged in a matching ink and I'm done. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

O Holy Night

This image from Inkadinkado makes such a wonderful Christmas card.
The simplicity of it really makes the point of the reason for the season.
I just stamped it on the front of a card base (Beckett Expression Radiance) and colored with Copics.
I felt it needed a little more so I used my Mega Curved rectangles to emboss a frame around it.
Just a simple little card that says a whole lot.
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Fun Day

I had such a fun day yesterday. I went to my cousins house to play card making with several very fun ladies. Hi, Mary (cousin), Susan, Trudy and Carole.
I brought along my Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and all my Christmas stamps. What a whirl of crafting we had. Carole was a champion paper cutter, keeping us all supplied with paper for the various projects.
Trudy has two, yes I said two, daughters getting married over the next 6 to 8 months. She is doing all the invitations for the showers and the thank you notes. What a task, and that's not all she and my cousin are also doing the party favors and the food etc. etc. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Lucky Susan is just getting started with crafting cards. Sue got the job of stamping out various images that Mary and her daughter Kristi wanted. Sue did a terrific job getting that task done.
I had the easy part, just showing how to use the Cuttlebug for embossing and then how to use it for the Nestabilities.
Mary, (who ran the sweat shop) went from project to project keeping us all on task, on top of getting the food organized. Each of the ladies brought something scrumptious to nibble on (except me) and Mary made the most delicious shrimp and mandarin orange salad. She also tried out a desert planned for the bridal shower and we all voted an emphatic yes.
So needless to say I made no cards yesterday. When I got home (it's a 90 minute drive each way) I was too pooped to bring everything in. The only thing I did bring in was a beautiful mum plant and a gift bag (with wine, tea and cookies) that the gang gifted me with for bring some of my toys for them to play with. Thank you ladies.
Well, I did bring all the stuff in this morning and it's now sitting on my dining table waiting to be sorted and put away. I think I'll do a little organizing while I'm at it. I need to take Eddie for a walk and then I need to get the rest of my flowers cleared out and pull the rest of the junk out to be put away and then I need to ........ Well you get the idea. Hope you have a fun day. Thanks for stopping by.

Little Trees

I know I said no more trees but I can't help myself. The Fir Tree Nestabilities set has this little one and I had so much fun cutting them out from the scraps left over from the bigger trees. Well I just had to play with them. This is the card I came up with. The front row of trees is popped up with dimensionals for a little depth. The base was run through the Cuttlebug using the Sizzix snowflake embossing folder. The sentiment is Stampendous and cut out with a Nestabilities tag. I sponged a little Memento Cottage Ivy on it and added a couple of red rhinestones. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Thinking of You

I just love Thinking of You cards. To me these are the most versatile type of card. It can be birthday, sympathy, get well, anniversary and the list goes on. When I put together these dotted flower from The Paper Studio my mind just ran with ideas for cards, and of course when I found this scrap of DP it really fell together. The base was edged using the Scor-Pal. Just to give it a little more of a finished look. The sentiment is from a set I've had for awhile and long ago lost the name info. It's a clear set and I really like the script. Very elegant. For some reason these polks dots make me think of "50's ladies, gloves and luncheons. Sometimes I wonder about my mind. Well anyway I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Spotted Flowers

When I was browsing through Hobby Lobby (or was it Michael"s or Joann's) I found these Spare Parts flowers The Paper Studio on sale ( for a buck, wh00wee!) and grabbed up the brown and white, black and white, red and white and white and black. What fun I've been having. Just love the polka dots. They've been sitting on the desk nagging at me to make them useful. (Hate nags don't you?) So I got them out and started throwing some cards together. I thought this one with the stripes and dots worked pretty well for a B'day card. Using the Bow Easy I added a little ribbon, fancy corner punched the layers and voila I'm done. (Sorry for the fancy language, sometimes I get a little above myself. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Wreath Angel

This Angel from Stampendous is one of my favorite Christmas stamps. I've found the variety of angel stamps is quite interesting. The range is from odd to too totally cute.
So when I sat down to start working on Christmas cards she's one of the first I picked out. I'm making cards for a fund raiser coming up at our church and wanted to make some cards that people would be willing to pay their hard earned money for. I wanted to keep them relatively simple (unadorned) but attractive enough that they would want to send them to someone special. I colored with Copics of course then used Nestabilities to "frame" them. -- A plate, B plate, 3 layers of card stock, tan mat same size as image, paper with image, Nestabilitie with cut side up, B plate, shim-if needed. -- This allows the Nestabilitie to make an impression without cutting the paper. Well hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Lace Tree

This is another classic (I believe) from Cuttlebug. An elegantly simple card to make with the addition (or not) of a few rhinestones and your done. Again I used the A2 size in Cryogen white. This card stock takes the embossing so well. If you have to make a lot of cards this is the way to go. Just stamp your sentiment on the inside and you are done.
Just think of all the different ways you could decorate this tree. Flower soft, rhinestones, brads etc. Go try it and have fun

Kai Enjoys Fall

I wanted to join in the fun at Mo' s Challenge Blog so I chose this image. Doesn't Kai look like he's having the best time. I really enjoyed coloring him up with fall colors since these are my favorite colors anyway. Too bad we're not having the best fall this year. I miss those crisp fall days. I remember my Dad raking leaves and us jumping in the piles. Back in those long ago days we burned the leaves at the end of the driveway. Remember those smells??? Hope you all enjoy these days and the memories it brings. Such a fun challenge. Thanks Design Challenge Team.
Oops I just found out that Kai is really a girl.