Black and Creme

When I find DP that I really like it's hard for me to put anything over top of it. That is why I like making cards like this.

Just reusing the same paper over and over reinforces the beauty of the paper. Of course it doesn't always work but I think on this card it does. I was really stumped about what to put in the center when I remembered these flowers that have been sitting in a drawer forever.

I just put two of them together with a glue dot and added a flat back pearl to the center. The black ribbon was a last minute thought and the little pearls finish it nicely don't you think?

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Birthday Bird

This is another of the cards I made using stickers for K&Company. These bird stickers are really very pretty and when I saw them on sale at JoAnn's they just hopped into my basket and who am I to turn them down???

Anyway I had these card bases made up already so I just added the green, which is the reverse side of the card base DP and added the sticker. The space was the perfect spot for adding the sentiment.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Turkey Wall Hanging

I had this last base for a wall hanging sitting on my desk and it was grumbling about being left out. So I decided to make a Thanksgiving wall hanging with it. I also decided to enter in the Stamp Simply challenge #155, which is to incorporate fall leaves in your card or project.

I used the Gobble, Gobble set from Papertrey for this one. I used the die to cut out some kraft and DP turkeys. I used the two sets of kraft feathers as a backdrop for my sentiment. The sentiment is part of the set and I stamped it Memento Rich Cocoa and cut it out with an oval Nestabilities. The pomegranate layer makes a nice layer for the focal images and the copper foil leaf border fits nicely across the top. The ribbon I used for the hanger is a freebie I received with an order from Ellen Hutson.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Lacey Bird

It was my intention to work on anniversary cards yesterday and so while I was waiting for Eddie to finish up his late night duties patrolling the back yard I sorted through DP and scraps. The idea was to arrange papers that could be used together for cards. It worked out pretty well except for one thing I did not make even one anniversary card. Instead I started pulling out embellishments and came across these stickers from K&Company. I had picked them up several months ago on sale at JoAnn's and stuck them in the drawer.

Well they ended up being made into cards using the papers set aside for anniversary cards. The mat paper used for the bird is the reverse of the card base DP (card base is kraft) that I cut out with my square scalloped Nestabilities. I had the lace laying on the table and put down the wider one and didn't like it so I added the narrow brown ribbon, still didn't like it and added the narrow lace and finally was satisfied. I just added the little beehive sticker on the left end for a little something extra.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Gobble, Gobble

My first Card Ministry meeting of the fall is coming up soon and I needed to get going on the cards needed. Since I had just received my order from Papertrey, Thanksgiving was the way to go. I had ordered the Gobble, Gobble set along with the co-ordinating die and what a fun set this is.

Doing a production line set of cards is so easy with these sets.

I decided to use kraft as my card base and for the turkeys. I used the die to cut out the bird and feathers then used the stamps and Memento Tear Drop pads to color them. Talk about easy, wow.

I had this DCWV Thanksgiving paper in my stash so I just needed another DP and some ribbon to finish them off with. After I had them all assembled I decided to add the border stamp, on the left side set I curved the stamp on my block and stamped around the turkey, on the right side set I just stamped below the focal image.

It took me longer to photograph the cards than it did to make them.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

Jingle All The Way

Well the JustRite Inspiration challenge #33 has really got me going. I decided to make a few more holiday wall hangings using the sketch and this is the next one I came up with.

I used JustRite's A Merry Little Christmas Set for this wall hanging. The DP is some I bought at the end of the season last year and I no longer have the info on who it's from (I wish I did since I'd buy more).

I had some metallic paper that has been sitting in my stash for over a year, but the ribbon and bells are new from Michael's.

Sewing is not one of my fortes but it had to be done for this hanger since my original idea of threading the ribbon through the bells wouldn't work. So out came my dusty sewing box and needle and fibers attached the bells. After attaching them to the left side I thought can it have too many jingle bells???? No so I used them for my embellishment on the left side.

My medallions down the center were a hoot to do. The red metallic paper that I stamped and embossed the snowflakes on was a sheet 8" by 5.5" and these two circles are all that was left after hours of trying to emboss these images. Shiney paper is slippery. The center jingle bell was a lot easier to do, I first inked up the jingle bells and then added the border and inked that up separately. I colored it up with Copics and Jelly Roll pens. I added some glaze and stickles to the bow. I used plain circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities to cut the images and mats out . A little bit of Score Tape and I was all done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping done.

Christmas Decorating

When I was browsing the various web sites the other day I stopped off at JustRite Inspirations and looked at the Friday challenge #33 and it is a sketch. Well by now we all know how much I LOVE (read dislike intensely) sketch challenges, but this one really got to me. I especially loved the wall hanging inspiration sample.

I went right over and started pulling out papers and stamps and ribbons and embellishments and started to play. I ended up with three bases and then had to decide how to finish them.

This one is the first. In keeping with my quest to use existing supplies I started with some Gina K Pure Luxury 120lb white card stock. I wanted something strong enough to handle usage but light enough to swing when a door moved. I then added some kraft card stock that I had run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder and then promptly covered most of it up with the striped DP (something from my stack of DP that I've had for over a year).

I knew that I wanted to use the Christmas Treasures and Borders set (just not the borders), so I stamped the images with Memento Rich Cocoa on Beckett Expression Aster card stock. I colored with Copics, keeping the colors somewhat muted. Then I cut them out with a circle Nestie, ran my Krylon gold leafing pen around the edge and mounted them onto some of the Banana Leaf paper I have left that was cut out with an octagon Nestie. Since I couldn't find card stock to co-ordinate with the base for my vertical element I made my own. I took some of the same card stock and trimmed it to 3/4" by 5 1/2 " then since it was double sided I took the reverse side and trimmed a piece 1/4" by 5 1/2" to lay over top. Then I took a ruler and measured that in half and took a blue gel pen and just ran a squiggle line down the center.

To finish it off I doubled the ribbon in half and made the handle and then added the brad to the left side where the ribbon goes through. This brad was from a kit that I bought at a local store that was closing a couple of years ago. I punched a circle of the same DP and added it to the center.

From this description it sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't, it was fun to do and now I just have to decide do I keep it or do I give it away. Hmmmm.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. Now I'll go finish the other wall hangers I started, need one for the new great-nephew coming next month.

An Enchanted Patchwork

When I had finished making the last three cards I had a lot of scraps left over and I just hated to waste them. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do with them but I new that the first thing was to use scoring and patchwork together. Being mathematically challenged I first struggled with the layout. Scoring is made simple with a score board and in this case I used the Martha Stewart board since it has 1/8 inch scores all across the board. Then I had to keep trimming the scraps to get the design I wanted. All of these scraps are from Memory Box's Enchanted. So, so beautiful. Well I finally got all the papers down and then I had to figure out how to finish it. I pulled out my stash of flowers and rhinestones and after juggling them all around this is the final product.

What do you think? Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Creations Challenge

This is the last of the challenge cards I made using Sweet Stamp's Bird on a Flowering Branch. This Crafty Creations challenge was difficult for me, it is another 3, 2, 1 challenge. Three papers, two ribbons or trims and one charm. Papers no problem, ribbon or trim no problem, one charm--ack. I have no charm. Well I can be charming but there are no charms in my stash. I ended up making one out of a metal flower and a brad and some fibers I picked up in the sale bin. The DP is all Basic Grey Kioshi and I think it is so colorful and fun. Instead of ribbon I used two strips of paper and dangled my home made charm from it.

I cut my image and mat out with Nestabilities Labels 10.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Challenge Card Two

Once I get going I guess I get a little compulsive. Since challenge cards were on my mind I decided to keep going with it. Using the the Bird on a Flowering Branch from Sweet Stamps again I made this one for the Fab 'n' Funky challenge.

Fab 'n' Funky needs 3 papers, 2 embellishments and one image. Then I put it together using the sketch from Diva Coffeebreak Designs sketch. (I always have trouble with sketches, somehow my mind has trouble wrapping around the design). I need to do sketch challenges more.

I colored the image with Copics and sponged Memento Summer Sky around the edge. The DP is all Memory Box Frond (I'm really loving these papers)

It's a little hard to see but in addition to the rhinestones I added flat back pearls to the flowers.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Another challenge card tomorrow.

A Challenge Card

This is another of the cards I made using Sweet Stamp's Bird on a Flowering Branch. I picked this up at the Novi Show and as soon as I saw it I had to have it. I think this image is so lovely (I was going to say sweet but I thought better of that). I colored it with Copics and cut it out and embossed it with Nestabilities Label 4. I sponged some Memento Summer Sky ( I ran out of compressed air for my air brush system) around the edge.

The DP is from Memory Box Enchanted. I think it is too pretty to cover it up so I decided to keep this one simple.

I found out that it would fit the ABC challenge which is B is for Blue, 80% of the card must be blue and I think this one qualifies. Then I realized that since I had added some butterflies, using my Martha Stewart punch and adding a little stickles, it would also work for the Flutterby Wednseday challenge.

All in all I like how it turned out, what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Hey Sandy

Had time to play yesterday and today. Yesterday I pulled out this stamp Bird on a Flowering Branch from Sweet Stamps and had some fun. I stamped it out four times and colored each one slightly differently, all with Copics of course. Then I went through my stash of papers and pulled out four different sets of co-ordinating papers. By this time it's late so I went to bed leaving everything out on the table. (This meant we went out to breakfast this morning, sneaky me--lol.)

Today after I got through running some errands I made cards. This is the first one I made and as I was putting it together I kept thinking that my friend Sandy would like this one since it has several layers and embellishments. The DP is all from Memory Box Enchanted and the flat back pearls are from my stash. There's even a little bit of ribbon on here, can you see it?

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

An Anniversary Swing

My friend Sandy has a wonderful swing card on her blog and it prompted me to make one also. I need and anniversary card for Steve and Michelle so I thought this would be the card to make.

Well I made it and I probably won't ever make another one. You can see Sandy's card here and she also has the link to the SplitcoastStampers tutorial on how to make them just click on Swing Card. They make it look so easy and I'm so crafting challenged when it comes to things like this that I struggle. This first photo is of the front almost closed, the second shows the opposite side of the focal image with the card full open and the last photo shows the card in mid swing.

All of the DP is from Memory Box Frond, the stamps are all Papertrey Wishing You and Background Basics Text Style. I used Memento Tear Drops for the stamping. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Christmas Tag

Well I wanted to play today and this is what I accomplished. This is also a cautionary tale of when not to try stamping. Don't try making anything when you are hungry or tired. This is the fourth attempt at making this tag.

Now to the real info. I very much wanted to join the Caardvarks challenge since the sponsor is JustRite Stampers and the challenge is to make a Christmas tag or mini card. Well since I have to get into the Christmas mood, even though it's hot and muggy, this was perfect for me.

I also had a new set to play with (yes, another Novi show buy, don't nag me). The set is A Merry Little Christmas set and it has 10 borders and centers. I used it with my 2" round stamper and in the outer slot I used letters from the Times New Roman Font Lowercase set for my to and from. This is such a neat set up. I usually just use cheap tags for my gifts but that is going to change this year. Anyway, I stamped it on Beckett Radiance with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. I added white fun flock to the ball at the top of the Santa hat (using existing supplies so I keep up with my quest to winnow down my stash of STUFF). I colored a white snowflake brad and pop dotted the image onto the Gina K Navy card stock that I had cut out with a Nestabilities 13, then edged it using a Krylon silver leafing pen. I just love the navy and silver combo. I found this red and white polka dotted ribbon in my stash and threaded it through the top and bottom.

A Brown Banana

No this is not about rotten bananas, this is some more of the Banana Leaf paper in brown I picked up at the Novi show. This one is called Rugged and I just love the texture of this paper.

I used the same image from The Artful Stamper as on my previous card but the coloring gives it a very different feeling. I think I could use this one as a sympathy card, just stamp it in that space on the 'frame'. I really have to play with this stamp some more. The sample that was up at the show had the image inside the frame done separately and the frame popped up. It was really effective.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Lockhart Lighthouse

There is just something about lighthouses that make the prettiest stamps. This is a Lockhart stamp that I picked up at the Novi show (did I say that I spent way too much $$$$ there).

I colored with Copics and used Deckled rectangle Nesties for the image and the mat. The sentiment is from Memory Box (another buy at Novi) and stamped with Papertrey Fresh Snow. I tore the edges and brushed it with a Memento tear drop pad and added the two brads.

Everything but the stamps is part of my existing supplies so I'm still following my quest.

I do think I'll be shipping a box of stuff to my cousins daughter to use in her art classes. Makes me feel less guilty about buying new stuff.

I did measure my stack of DP and it's only 2.25"'s high instead of the 4''s I thought it was. But I haven't measured the various paper pads so that's another whole issue. Lord help me.

Well I hope you like this card and thanks for stopping by.

Soaring Circles

This is another of the cards I made with my stash of circles. I used Papertrey's Button Basics for this one. The Hot Air Balloons are such a fun image. I also used Papertrey's Cloud Die to reinforce the soaring idea.

The DP is some I've had for a year or more (I have a stack of various decorative paper on my desk that is 4 or 5 inches high).

I just stamped the different size balloon baskets on the DP and added circles. Then I stamped the sentiment and popped a small circle on it and it was done.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Trio of Chairs

Do you know what serendipity is? It just happened to me. I picked up two of these three chairs at the Novi stamp show, the Adirondack and the Beach chairs and the sentiment. They are Lockhart stamps and I just love their chair stamps (I just ordered a wicker chair stamp) and their flower and fruit couture stamps and the flower cupcakes and etc., etc.

Anyway these were on my desk and I pulled out the Vintage Garden chair also. I thought the three chairs together would make a cute card with no particular person in mind. I colored them up with Copics and sponged on some Memento Sky around the edges, then after rounding the edges I cut out mats and rounded them also. After stamping the sentiment onto a piece of scrap card stock I added a brad from my stash and put all the items onto the card. When I started to blog about this card I noticed that the DP from the Daisy Paper Co. is called Classroom Stripe and that led to the serendipity part of this blog.

I missed my sisters anniversary and when I called her I just told her that one day she'd get a card for no reason. This is the card. She just retired as a school teacher so now she can just 'sit back and relax' while everyone else is headed back to the classroom.

Hope she likes it and that you do also. Thanks for stopping by.

Blue Banana

Well of course this isn't a card of bananas but the DP is Banana Leaf Capri from Creative Imaginations. I found this at the stamp show in Novi a week ago. Isn't it gorgeous?

The stamp is from The Artful Stamper, also found at the same show. This company has some really terrific stamps and I'll be visiting their web site for more.

I colored with Copics and mounted it onto some dark navy card stock. I think this makes a nice masculine card.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Gina K Cupcake

Well I'm back on track to use existing supplies. I pulled out my Gina K Sweetest Blessings set to make this card. I had this card base sitting on my desk, the DP is from DCWV Nana's Kitchen.

When I looked at I thought okay Sweetest Blessings has the perfect cupcake and sentiment to use on this one.

I colored with Copics and then cut it and the mat with Nestabilities Octagons. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and cut out with Nestabilites Labels Ten. I had some cute soft brown flat back pearls to add to each side.

I ran a soft blue Copic around the edge of the focal image and added red stickles to the cherry on top.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. Gina K has this set posted on her blog with a freebie offer check it out here.

A Tree of Circles

Several weeks (or is it months) ago I had all my circle punches and DP scraps out and just started punching circles of all sizes out. I know that I have posted cards using them before but I still had a baggie full of them. In my pursuit of using up what I have I pulled them out and got busy.

I had some card bases sitting on my desk and so I pulled them out also and started combining the two.

This is one of the five cards I made with the circles. I wanted to make a tree with the circles but didn't have a stamp so I made my own tree. We've probably all done this in kindergarten just draw two line and colored them in, easy peasy. Then I started layering on the circles. I had this strip of paper that I had used the Martha Stewart fringe scissors on and it wasn't quite long enough so I cut it in half and layered circles over the split. Kind of like leaves falling from the tree. There are so many colors on the DP that it really didn't matter what color the circles were, I just had to make sure they looked okay together. I'll be posting the other cards I made over the next week or so, but I am so done with circles for now. It is a great way to use up scraps though.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Sympathy for Bob

I know that I have blogged about making sympathy cards a lot, but this one is another sad one. A friend of ours passed away suddenly and he was way to young at only 64. He was an avid golfer and lover of old cars. We had just seen him a couple of weeks ago at a party and he talked about how much he was enjoying his golf this summer. So this one is for him.

This wonderful golf scene is from Northwoods Rubber Stamp and I stamped it with Tim Holtz Distressed Inks Brushed Corduroy and Frayed Burlap. The sentiment is from Rubber Soul. I mounted it to some kraft paper and then onto the DP from Basic Grey Kioshi. The card base is a shiny kraft.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sympathy in Vellum

This is another card using the vellum I was given at the stamp show this past weekend.

I thought it would be elegant to use the PaperTrey With Sympathy set on this paper and I think it turned out really well.

I stamped the image and sentiment from this set with PaperTrey's Fresh Snow. I love that ink it shows up so well on dark card stock.

I layered it onto white and then onto a black card base. A very simple card to make. When I had it all done I noticed a little smear of the ink near the sentiment so I added a little flower with a black pearl to hide it. Embellishments to the rescue.

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.

A Flower Sympathy

Last week when I was finishing up cards I needed for my projects I started to use some of this DP from Basic Grey's Kioshi paper pad. (This is one of the prettiest paper pads I've ever seen.) I ended up not using the paper (it was the right side of this sheet which was only stripes). I set this left over aside and it landed on top of the yellow Bazzil Basic Swiss Dots that I ended up using as the card base.

So it was sitting there and it just looked like it needed to be assembled into a card.

I grabbed it and the card base and started looking at what else I could use for this card. I had already decided that I needed to make some more sympathy cards and I wanted to keep it somewhat toned down, but I also don't think sympathy cards have to be somber. I used a scrap of Kiwi Metallic cover from ANW Crestwood for my first layer and then a piece of chocolate brown for the next layer. I dug around in my stash and found this variegated green ribbon and then stamped the sentiment from PaperTrey's Through the Trees in Memento Rich Cocoa on another scrap of green from the Kioshi pad.

I like how it turned out what do you think?

A Distressed Birthday

This is the second card I made using the swipe technique. I used the same colors as the card from yesterday but with a little more pressure.

This time I decided to make a masculine birthday card, again using the sentiment from Through the Trees but images from Masculine Motifs. I still like the technique and I may have to get different colors in the Distress Ink line.

I used all the same processes as yesterdays card but came up with a different feel all together.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. Home from Buffalo later today so see you tomorrow.

A Distressed Sympathy Card

Last Monday Gina K made and interesting card on Stamp TV. Her card was a Christmas card and it is an elegant easy to make card. The technique is using Ranger Distress Ink Pads and swiping them across the card base darker over lighter. My swiping was less than smooth but I still like the effect. Gina's card was a Christmas card (Christmas in July-Project 3), but since I only have brown shades in the Distress Ink pads I decided to go with a different theme.

For this card I used Antique Linen and Tea Dye. I used a Stamp Positioner to place my sentiment, from PaperTrey's Through the Trees, where I wanted it. Then I swiped my colors. I used the trees from PaperTrey's Masculine Motifs. So there you have it a simple card to make but an elegant one. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. I'm actually in Buffalo, N.Y. for my nieces baby shower so I'm scheduling a few posts ahead of time.

Little Sweet Pea

This is the card I made to go with the gift my sisters and I are giving my niece at the baby shower this weekend. When I first heard that Steve and Michelle were expecting I immediately went to PaperTrey and got this set, Baby Button Bits. It is the most adorable set. The only problem is that when you add buttons it does make the card bulky so mailing is a problem. But that isn't going to stop me from using it. There are a couple of other sets that I may have to invest in though.

Now to this card, I stamped the image with Memento Bamboo and added some PaperTrey buttons. I didn't want to use fiber or thread on the buttons since I wanted a 'pretty' look so I added pearls. The card base is the same DP Bazzil Basic Swiss Dots that I used to make the shower invitations. The plaid is from Basic Grey Kioshi. I wanted to keep in theme with the shower colors (the colors of the baby's room) so I added a green ribbon and stamped the sentiment on green paper with Memento Bamboo. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Tea for Two Birthday

The greatest thing about PaperTrey's Tea for Two and Tea for Two Additions is the ability to use up scraps. It hardly takes any paper to make a pot and cup and they make the cutest cards.

In my quest to use up existing supplies I find this a great advantage.

The dies make it so easy to create these images. Simply cut out your shape then stamp on it. Since the stamps are clear it's easy to position them. It's hard to see but the tea bag says enjoy. I enjoyed making this card, hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

An Exercise in Creation

The other day I was fooling around with this set. It is such a cool set but I have trouble thinking of ways to use it. It really should belong to my cousin Mary who loves all things tea.

However I just started cutting out the shapes using the PaperTrey dies to match the Tea for Two. Whoever thought of the dies to match the PaperTrey sets is brilliant. They are so easy to use.

Anyway I was going through my scraps and papers and came up with this combo. I used PaperTrey for the base and the yellow is a scrap from my leftovers drawer. The DP is a scrap from DCWV Nana's Kitchen, lots of sparkle on this piece. I had some of the label dies cut out in white and the sentiment fit nicely in there. I used some narrow pink ribbon from my stash and I wound it around several times and tied a knot. I was having trouble thinking of how I was going to attach the label until I thought of using the ribbon to hold it on (of course there are glue dots on the back). So it was done and I like how it turned out. What do you think. Thanks for stopping by.

Bovine Beauty

I wanted to join in on Karen's Doodles Challenge this week. It's White on White and I like that idea. When I went to pick an image to use I just had to pick this one, Bovine Beauty. The only place you can use color is on the image itself.

When I first saw this image on Karen's site all I could think of was Mae West's ' Come up and see me sometime' quote (not sure that's an accurate quote but you get my drift). I just couldn't think of something for the inside except 'Miss you', but I didn't want to do that this time around. I batted around several ideas and came up with this one. Inside it says " Why milk twice a day, what else?'

I think it could be a cute birthday card.

I used Michael's wedding flowers with pearls, some ribbon and CuttleBug embossed pieces.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Sympathy Cards

I'm faced with my annual project of making sets of cards for Christmas gifts. I started years ago giving a set of six cards as a gift to family and friends. Over the year my family and friends list has grown to about 20. Now what is happening is that some have told me that they love the cards but they especially love the sympathy cards and then they gently tell me which ones they like the best. Hint, hint. My sisters are a little more direct and just place their orders ahead of time.

This of course saves me a lot of work designing cards, but the cards they all want the most are sympathy cards. What does that say about us??? Well I love making cards but it does get a bit depressing to make sad cards all the time. I have one friend who asks for very simple cards like this one with just the sail boat from PaperTrey's Masculine Motifs with the sentiment from Communique Sentiments.

Then there are those who like something a little bit more. Like this one. I have to say that I like both of them but this one is a little more fun to make. I used the cross and sentiment from PapeTrey's Everyday Blessings. This is a gorgeous set that I haven't used very much but I can see it coming really handy now.

Hope you like my cards and thanks for stopping by.

Vintage Chair Tent Topper

When I was making these cards I did find myself amused by the name of this style of card. I expect to see a more rustic card with the tent name but I guess I understand the evolution of the name.

When I went looking for images to use I found this Lockhart chair. I love this image, I have white chairs like this in my front yard under the tree. It's been so hot this summer that we haven't had much chance to use them but I like the friendliness of having them out there.

This is one of the images stamped on vellum and colored on the back side. I cut it out with Nesties and when I went to put the card together I somehow made a smudge on the upper left corner. Flower to the rescue. Isn't it lucky that we can always find and embellishment to hide our goofs???

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Tent Topper # 2

This is another of the tent topper cards I made. For this one I used a Lockhart image that I had colored up on vellum. I cut it and the mats out with Nestabilities and again all the papers and embellishments are things I had in my stash.

I'm really digging this style of card, it's great for using up the scraps of paper and ribbons. Speaking of ribbons, why is it that with all that I have I almost never have the color I want. Yes I know I can always color a white ribbon with my Copics, but there's just something about a color matching ribbon. Okay on with this card. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A Card to Myself

When I was wandering through blogs today I stopped off at Nichole Heady's Papertrey Ink Blog. They are having a blog hop tonight with a challenge included. You can check it out here.

The challenge is to make a card using office supplies you have in your desk. Well I was really stumped on this one, yes as everyone does I have all those bits and pieces but I sure wasn't seeing a card out of it. Then it hit me, I'd been making cards for the last few days and I could use some organization and reminders. So I decided to make a card to myself, with ideas and reminders. While making cards today I had made several sets of tea pots and cups from the Tea for Two and Tea for Two Additions (love these sets) for use on cards so that was my start. First I took a sheet of my yellow legal pad and cut it down for my main DP, then I took an orange Post-It note and cut it down with a note of items to use. I attached my tea pot and cups to a scrap of orange card stock and used a cute paper clip to hold it on. Then I took a flower with a rhinestone and ribbon a layered that over another paper scrap. Finally I listed some Copics to use an attached it with another paper clip. The best thing about this card is I can hand it to myself and save a stamp (I can even save the envelope too, lol). Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

The Wisemen

This is the fourth and last image from this Christmas Treasures set from Just-Rite. When I first saw this set I knew exactly how I was going to do these cards. I pulled out all the embossing powders I have after making my card bases and chose colors to co-ordinate. I knew that silver would look best on the dark blue of the bottom left card and that the top one done in kraft needed the Tim Holtz Distressed Powder. That left the bottom right and when I looked at some of my older embossing powders I found this dark blue and it was perfect. On these cards there are no embellishments. I love the sentiment of this card, I so wish that there could be Peace on earth, but I guess as long as there are differences between cultures we'll always have conflict. Enough of that.

I love this set and I hope you like the cards I've made. Thanks for stopping by.

Tent Topper Card

The other day on Stamp TV Gina K made a tent topper card. I've always been intrigued by these cards but was intimidated by the mechanics of making these cards. I've seen the instructions and didn't have enough confidence to make one. However after watching the video I realized that it's all about proportions and layout.

So I got busy and started looking through my stuff and made three of them.

I'm really proud of these cards since the only new thing used on these cards is the technique.

I first went through the images that were already colored and found three that would work. The image I used for this card is from a stamp I've had forever. It is stamped on vellum and then trimmed around the edges, I layered it onto a scrap of pale blue DP that has lighter blue dots that I had cut out with a Nestie. Then I cut out the green mat with a larger Nestie. The base is 4.25" by 4.25" that I layered with blue, then the stripe at 4 by 4, then the lighter blue at 3 7/8 by 3 7/8. I took a strip of tan DP and layered the sentiment stamped onto the blue DP on top. Well then I started to assemble the card and realized that my focal point is too small. Bummer. So I sat and thought about what to do, the next size Nestie is too wide for the card base so I turned a quarter turn so it would finish the card at 5.5" and thought, 'hmm, that's different, lets go with it'. Sometimes it pays to talk to yourself ( just don't do it in public).

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, hope you like it. I'll post the other two over the next few days. Thanks for stopping by.

A Christmas Bird

This is the third image from the JustRite Christmas Treasures set. I think this one is my favorite of the four, although maybe the Silent Night is or even the next one coming up. Oh all right I love them all and can see me making many more of these (my sister has put in her order for two dozen of these, hmmm, better get busy).

When I stamped these out (along with some of the others) I learned that you have to be very careful when mounting these onto the stamper.

After I had these all stamped out I realized that the borders were all off center. Made me dizzy to look at them. I was so discouraged thinking I would have to restamp them all when the light bulb went off and I pulled out my Nestabilities and cut out each of the centers. Now when I attached them to the scalloped matting I could center them properly. Worked great. I colored with Copics and on two of them I used Fun Flock on the roof and on one I used Stickles. On the lower left card I used some tiny red rhinestones on the holly berries on the bird house, unfortunately I didn't have enough to do all of the cards, boo hoo. Yikes, I just noticed that on two of these I still didn't get the borders right, that's what I get for working when tired. So now I'm off to fix them. See you tomorrow (I hope).

Hope you like them anyway and thanks for stopping by.

Sneaking a Peek

This card was a personal challenge for me. My friend Sandy does wonderful cards merging digi's together and they are always so terrific. Well Sandy finally posted a tutorial on how to do this using Photoshop Elements 6. I have Photoshop Elements 2 but I was able to use her tutorial and merge three of the Bugaboo Peekers for this card.(Bugaboo offers a freebie every Friday so you can try them out). You can find Sandy's tutorial here.

Following instructions I merged the three Peekers and printed them out (one warning-do a test run when coloring to see if your printer ink will run when you color, mine has to dry a bit before coloring or I just use my heat gun to hurry it along). I colored the image using so many different Copics that I can't list them all or we'd be here til the day after tomorrow. I had designed the card to use Nestabilities to cut out my image and air brush around the edge but my ham handed coloring got me out side the lines and when I tried to correct it it just got worse, so using another of Sandy's tips I cut it out free hand and then mounted it onto the orange dotted paper that I used a corner punch on.

In honor of Sandy I then went on to add another layer, then I added the sentiment that is computer generated and corner punched that and it's mat. I added the flower and found an orange flat sided pearl and called it done. Do yourself a favor and go look at Sandy's blog for some great inspiration.

Silent Night Holy Night

This is the second image in the Christmas Treasures set from JustRite, there are four all together, which makes it perfect to do three of each for a set of a dozen cards.

For this image I chose to stamp the top one in black, the bottom left is embossed with the Tim Holtz Distressed Embossing and the bottom right is stamped in brown. Each is colored with Copics slightly differently and two of them have gold rhinestones on the star. On these three I again went for a non-traditional look with the colors but I think they are successful in that I used paper and embellishments I already had on hand.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

More Christmas tomorrow.

Christmas Treasures

This is an example of failure and success. Failure is the inability to NOT buy terrific stamp sets when I have vowed to cut back on purchases, success is using existing supplies when using new stamps to make cards.

I bought JustRite's Christmas Treasures set because I just had to have it, when making the cards I pulled out embossing powders I forgot I even had and Christmas paper from last year that I haven't used up. This set uses the 3 1/4" stamper and is enough to be the only thing I need for the front of my card. I stamped it out 3 times using Versamark and then embossed with gold for the top card, black for the middle and the bottom one I used Tim Holtz Distress Powder. I wanted to make a set of Christmas cards as a prize for my nieces baby shower later this month. I also wanted to make some somewhat non-traditional cards. Since the stamp set has four images it gave many chances to use existing supplies (salves my conscience a bit) and have fun designing cards. There is just a little bit of bling on each of these cards, the image was cut out with a circle Nestabilities and then I trimmed it closer. The mats were also cut with Nesties. No coloring on these cards but more on the next three sets.

Hope you like them and thanks for stopping by.

A Little Bird Told Me.....

I saw this card in the July/August issue of Paper Crafts magazine and just was wowed by the simplicity of it. Do you remember that old party game we played as kids? The one where there is a line of kids and the first one whispers something in the ear of the next person and then they repeat it to the next and to the next and at the end you see how different it is from the first. This image makes me think of that game. Or the Bye Bye Birdie show where all the kids are talking on the phone setting up dates and or gossiping about everyone else. Oh what memories this card invokes. Okay picture me shaking my head and saying get back to business.

I grabbed my coupon for Michael's and went out bought this Martha Stewart punch right away. I computer generated the sentiment onto my card base then went to my scrap drawer and pulled out three pieces and punched away. A little Quickie glue pen to the back of each bird and I was done.

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.

A Thank You Cabin

I've had a very busy two weeks. First I went to Fla. for my nephews high school graduation. Had a great time even though it rained for almost the entire time we were there. It stopped raining for the 4 to 5 hours of the party. The trip home was all those horror stories you here about air travel. That is a story for another time.

The second part of these last 10 days was very sad. My brother-in-law (Bruce's younger brother) died very suddenly. A total shock for all of us. Brian and Jane (his wife) were up north at their cabin when Brian suffered a massive heart attack. Stunning everyone. Brian was a wonderful person, kind and generous with his time and sharing his knowledge. (He was stage manager at the Wharton Center for the performing arts on MSU's campus). So many people came to pay their respects and share stories of Brian's helpfulness. Jane had so many thank you notes to write for all the flowers and charity donations and just the help given to her at this sad time, she asked me to write a few notes to the people that Bruce knew best. Rather than use the notes that were supplied by the funeral home I chose to make my own in honor of Brian. Jane had chosen a cabin theme for her notes so I pulled out a Northwood Rubber Stamps, a favorite of mine, this cabin scene. I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa and decided to leave it plain, no coloring. I used sketch 99 from Clean & Simple, it really suited the mood of my card.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Happy 4th of July

Okay, this is really the last of the July 4th cards.
On this one I used the sail boat image from JustRite's By the Sea Borders and Centers.
I colored with Copics and cut it and the mat out with oval Nestabilities. Mounted onto DCWV Prints DP that I wrapped with Gina K ribbon. That is all mounted onto a Gina K Pure Luxury Rocket Red card base.
All of the 4th of July cards were so fun to make and I really enjoyed the red, white and blue color combo.
Hope you are having a great holiday, I know I am (well I predict that I am since I'm writing this post in advance).
I'm in Tampa as you read this celebrating my nephew's graduation, my sister's retirement and my other sisters birthday and a mini family reunion. I know that it's hot and there are storms but we can party any way.
See you when I get back.

Sympathy On the Dock

When I was looking for images to use with this poem I kept turning to the water. I don't know why, maybe because it is so elemental and of course we are mostly water anyway. This is one of my favorite nature stamps, it is from Great Impressions and is beautiful when colored. In this case I kept it in black and white and it works very well, at least I think so. I used Bazzil Basic Swiss Dots for my DP and then just placed the vellum overlay with the poem on top of the image.

Quite and easy card to make.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

A July 4th Sail

This is another of my July 4th cards that I made for our Card Ministry group. There were 2 cards made using sail boats from different stamp sets. This one is from the PaperTrey Ink Masculine Motifs set. I used Memento Tear Drop pads to color the stamp directly then air brushed around the edge for sky and water. I used some of the DCWV Prints mat stack for my DP and Gina K Pure Luxury for the base and the mat. The ribbon is also Gina K.

My last July 4th card will be posted on, you guessed it, July 4th.

I'm off to Tampa for the weekend so I'll be setting up some short posts for some of the days I'm gone.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday.

Thanks for stopping by.