Valentine's Day Revisited

In February I made Valentine's Day cards to send out to my Church people.  I pulled out my Nestabilities Heart dies and went to town cutting out all sizes in different colored card stock.  I had fun finding DP for backgrounds and putting the different colors together.  Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

 

I then decided to make a few wedding cards.

A Pitcher of Sunflowers

This is one of the cards I made sometime in the last week.  Life has gotten just a little busy since getting back home that I just grabbed time here and there to whip out some cards and didn't keep track of what I used.  I know that the image is from Papertrey Ink and that I colored with Copics.  The image was cut out with the Papertrey die, stamped and then colored.  I had quite a few ovals cut out with Nestabilities lying around on my desk so I mounted the image on one and ran a gold leaf pen around the edges.  The DP is from a scrap I found in my stash and the banner was embossed with white embossing powder.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Year of Flowers

While I was in Sarasota I ordered Melanie Muenchinger's Year of Flowers book/magazine from Annie's Attic and was fascinated with the designs and cards created with this stamp set from Gina K.  I had the Year of Flowers line art set but not the Pressed Flowers set that is designed to match.  I'm not sure just what this flower is but I really had fun using it.
First off is the card base, Pool from Ellen Hutson and the DP is from Memory Box Minuet.
I stamped the flower first with Memento Blue Sky then used a Memento marker Bahama Blue to highlight around the center after I used the Memento marker in Cantaloupe to color it.
I then used Nestabilities circle to cut it out and a Scalloped circle to cut out the mat in Memory Box Granny Smith (really close match to the tiny leaves in the DP).
Side note: when you order Memory Box paper packs from Ellen Hutson they give a list of the Memory Box card stock colors that match the DP's, very helpful.
I happened to glance at the top of my very cluttered desk and saw this ribbon laying there (not sure where it's from, I think it was a freebie) and noticed that it was a good match for my card, so I ran it down the front and pleated it a bit at the bottom.E
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Silver and Black

When I packed up my card making stuff to bring to Florida I found this black and silver foil DP form Hot Off the Press.  It doesn't look like much in the photo but it is gorgeous in real life.  I had to find a way to use it with out covering it up.  So this is what I did.  First I embossed this image from Papertrey Ink's anniversary set Iconic Images with silver embossing powder on black card stock cut out with Nestabilities Labels 4.  Then cut out a silver mat and another black mat in larger sizes.  I had a narrow strip of the silver card stock (also from Hot Off the Press) that I ran across the card to sort of ground the image.  I placed the layers on the strip and was done.  I really wish I had a better photo imaging system so you could see just how beautiful this DP is but I don't, so you can't.  Some lucky person is going to get it in their favor package at the wedding shower in May.  Or maybe I'll just keep it, hmmm.
Hope you like it 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.

Birthday Flowers

Way back when on a shopping safari at Hobby Lobby with my friend Sandy I found this DP.  It has, of course, been sitting on my desk waiting to be used.  I just love this DP, all the colors and shapes just make me happy to look at it.  I did, however, have to really think about how to make a card with it.  Since I like the paper so much I didn't want to cover it up too much.  While going through my 'stuff' I came across my Peony Nestabilities, they don't exactly match the DP, but their close.  I cut each of them out and then just rubbed some Memento Rhubarb on them and added a sticker for the center. 
Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.  

Woodgrain and Masculine Motifs

The mind is a wondrous thing sometimes. Just not in the middle of the night and I'm trying to get to sleep. Such was the case the other night when I lay in bed and started thinking about wood grain. I have the Papertrey Woodgrain set and started to think about ways to use it. the set has three stamps with different wood grains to them.

I used this one, stamping it over and over to cover the kraft card stock, which I then mounted onto a dark brown card base.

Then I pulled out the Papertrey Masculine Motifs set and stamped the trees onto Kraft, cut it out with an oval Nestabilities. I needed to mat it with dark brown but the next size was larger than I wanted so I trimmed the edge of the kraft and cut another oval out with the same Nestabilities ( a trick I learned from my friend Sandy, it's easier to trim if you emboss the image, then you can just trim around the edge ). I added the brads for a little punch and smudged some Tim Holtz Distressed Ink Tea Dye around the edge.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas, Happy Valentine's Day,Happy Anniversary

This combo card is for a friend and his wife (Hi Dick & Jeanne). Dick commented to my husband that he didn't recall getting a Christmas card from us and wondered why since I make so many cards. Bruce laughed and told him that I was so busy making cards to give as gifts I never had time to make our Christmas cards. That is so true. Well to make up for it I decided to make a belated Christmas card for them, then I realized that their anniversary is on Valentine's Day and hep presto the idea for a combo card.

I've had this red DP on my desk for almost a year and never knew quite what to do with it. I didn't want to cover up too much of it since it's so pretty, there's flocking and glitter and such a gorgeous color. Mmmmm.

I thought of doing a step card and then settled on this format. The first design is of course Christmas. I used the Nestabilities Ornaments to cut our my shapes using Gina K's Not Quite Navy, then embossed the design from the Gina K Heirloom Ornament set in Martha Stewart Dove embossing powder.

Then I did the Valentine's Day element using Nestabilities Hearts for my shapes. I ran the red through my Cuttlebug with a Sizzix folder. I mounted it to a scalloped heart and added the sentiment in my own writing.

For the anniversary part I used Gina K's Fanciful Tags set for the main focal point and then cut it out with a Nestabilities Fancy Tag.

I think I may be onto something here, combining all elements of a friends life in one card. You don't think so? Well I guess I don't either, more fun to make a card for each occasion, though I would like to be a fly on the wall when they open this one. I can just hear them laugh.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Bookmark to Cards, An Idea

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but I say it's also the mother of creation. These two cards are the result of needing to make some cards and not having the creative juices flowing to come up with an idea. Quite some time back I made a book mark using these two images. Well it was cute and all that, but not very practical. I mounted these onto a large paper clip (you can see it here), but it really didn't work. So it has been languishing in my card box ever since. One night while trying to go to sleep an idea popped into my head and these cards are the result. I just used my Nestabilities to cut out two more mats, mounted them onto card bases and was done. So easy peasy I just can't stand it.

Hope you like them and 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.

Christmas for Rod

My step-daughter asked me to pick up a book for here as a gift for her boyfriend while I was at the book store. Well unfortunately it was out of stock at the store but I could order it on line. The only problem was there was no guarantee that it would be here in time for Christmas. Hah. It's ahead of schedule and was delivered Weds.

The idea for this card was I was to print a copy pf the book cover and she would let him know about it and that it would be delivered to his house.

Best laid plans and all that.

For this card I used the Nestabilities Christmas Ornament set and then used the Gina K co-ordinating stamps. I just used gold embossing powders, no coloring at all.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Vintage Picnic Birthdays

While I was thinking about the cards I still have to make for my Christmas packets I remembered these images that I had started several months ago. I was on a kick to have some elements ready to put together if I had to make a card quickly. Well I stamped off several of the picnic basket images from the Papertrey Vintage Picnic set and started to color them. I had about eight or nine of the baskets stamped and colored and I had started coloring the images to go on the baskets. The topper images are separate so you can mix and match them, a really fun way to play with them. So I chose several of the baskets and cut them out with Nestabilities (mats also), then I trimmed out the flower tops that I wanted to use and pieced them onto the baskets. Then I had to find some DP that would work for them and I was done. Made four cards in only 20 minutes.

Hope you like them and 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.

Nestabilities Crosses

I was looking through the Splitcoaststampers gallery for sympathy cards to get some inspiration and came across this card. It really got me inspired. I've had the Nestabilities Cross set for quite some time and I'm not sure I've ever used it. Probably I have but I don't remember.

Any way I'm starting to get together the card assortments that I give at Christmas time to family and friends (6 cards for 20 people). It's a lot of work but I love doing it. The only down side is that many have requested sympathy cards. Well I shouldn't say requested, they strongly hint that the sympathy cards are the most needed.

When I saw Scrapgal2's card it got me going. There are 4 different crosses in the set of different sizes and styles. You can cut all four out of one quarter of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock.

On this card I used the smallest and the largest cross together and added a rhinestone to the center. Before I took the cross out of the Nestie I air brushed it with 3 shades of Copics E55, E35 and E57. The sentiment is Papertrey's Communique Curves. The first white layer was embossed using Cuttlebug's Distressed Stripes folder and the mat was cut with Nestabilities Labels Nine.

I'm trying to do sympathy cards that express the sentiment without being depressing. Adding just a bit of color helps, at least I think so. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

Mission Accomplished

With this card I truly reached Mission Accomplished. I decided awhile back that I needed to use up some of my supplies before I bought anything new. Well that didn't last at all. I have tried to use existing supplies in making cards, but I have failed miserably when it comes to not buying anything new. You'll seem some posts that show new stamps soon.

I started to clean off my craft desk (yes, again) and found this Penny Black image of Ginger all colored up and everything. Right next to it was the flower and the embossed swirl layer. I thought it would all look cool on a black card base, so I gathered everything together and started to assemble but soon realized I needed a black mat for the image. I had already cut out the focal image with a scalloped Nestabilities so I just matted it with a plain piece of black card stock.

So there are four more things off my desk. Yeah!!!!

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

July 4th Lighthouse

This is another of my holiday cards. I just had to use my new JustRite stamps on this project.

I colored with Copics of course and cut it out with the oval Nestabilities as I also did the mat with the scalloped oval. The DP is from DCWV Prints matstack. The card base, scalloped mat and the ribbon are all from Gina K.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Vintage 4th of July

I got busy yesterday and made my 4th of July cards. My Card Ministry group from church tries to keep in touch with members of our church who can't make it in for Mass.

So I started out with this image from PaperTrey's Vintage Picnic set. Love, love, love this set. It has 5 different baskets ( they are really the old metal kind but we still call them baskets) and 8 different toppers along with sentiments and other images.

Anyway I stamped the image and colored with Copics. After cutting it out with the Oval Nestabilities (the mat was cut with Scalloped oval Nestie), I air brushed a little red around the edges. The mat is from Gina K as is the red card base and the ribbon. The DP is DCWV Summer Dreams matstack. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

JustRite Bookmark

This stamp set By the Sea Borders and Centers from JustRite is one I've wanted since I first saw it. I just fell in love with it and have been so anxious to get it. Well it landed in my mail box yesterday and I finally got to play with it today.

JustRite's challenge this week is to make a bookmark. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to read and I have made my own bookmarks in the past, so this was a challenge I could really get into.

I am funny about my bookmarks in that I don't like a plain backside. I want my bookmarks to be pretty anyway I look at it. I have a box of these large plastic covered paper clips so I decided to try to make a bookmark using one of them. I stamped out the two images and colored with Copics. The images and mats are cut out with the oval and scalloped Nestabilities. I then used a lot of strong adhesive to hold the paper clip in between the two red layers, I then got some red thread and sewed the clip in even tighter. I added my images and was done. It actually took me longer to figure out the mechanics than to make the bookmark. I really like how it turned out. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

A Vellum Rose

Unless I get stuck for something to post (not likely) this is the last of the vellum cards I will post. I do have several more made up but I'll spare you.

I used the Stitched Rose from Hero Arts for this card. I wanted a little bit of a longer image to fit into the oval Nestabilities cut out. I used some Papertrey Ink card stock for the frame.

Let me tell you about cutting out this frame. It's a pain. I'm not the most dexterous person and trying to line up two Nesties to cut at the same time is tricky. I finally learned to put down the center oval (the same one used to cut the front of the card base) then line up the scalloped oval around it. Whew, it can be frustrating. Be sure to have a flat B plate, mine was bowed from previous cuttings and the Nesties kept shifting.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.