HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANCY!

I'm busy packing and getting snacks ready to take on our road trip, but I decided I could post this card because my friend, Nancy, has received it now. I can't really describe the way this is done but I saw a video on YouTube or somewhere and HAD TO MAKE IT! I even had the same stamped design to use that the video showed. I love the way the background comes out.

The stamp and papers are from Stampin' Up.

I'm not sure what will be showing up on the blog for the next week or two but I may have some surprises for you.

TWO MORE PENNY BLACK STICKER SHEETS

Because most of the customers who follow any of my blog pages follow this one, I am posting these two sticker sheets today as well. They are also $2.00 a sheet plus minimal shipping. I will also be posting these on the Penny Black blog page so they will be easier to find in the future.

Bouncing with Joy! - Item #10-162

A Bunch of Love: Item #10-165

CARD FROM PENNY BLACK STICKERS

Penny Black, Inc. makes such beautiful stickers! My mother and mother-in-law tend to ask me for a card at the last minute and sometimes I, too, decide I want one on short notice. These stickers make it SO easy.

I run the front of a card through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. Then I mount the sticker on a piece of that same color of card stock and trim to the size of the sticker. I put it on a layer of paper first because if I put it on the embossed background the design of the embossing makes indentations on the sticker and you will want a nice smooth surface on the sticker.

In a matter of minutes you have a card you can be very proud of to send to someone. If you are interested in any of the stickers, please let me know (vboddicker@aol.com). This particular set contains 10 individual stickers. They are $2.00 a sheet plus minor postage.

I'm going to be away for a few days starting Sunday so I'm not sure if I'll be sharing any cards during that time. Maybe I'll share some pictures of my trip instead. Thanks for stopping by!

SUPER SIMPLE

This card is another one from my files. I had some designer paper with a very large flower pattern on it, so I simply cut a strip of it and adhered it to a coordinating plain card stock. The gold foil sticker was adhered to the left hand side and a strip of gold foil tape covered the seam.

Thanks for stopping by..........hope to have you visit again soon!

SYMPATHY CARD

This is the picture of a card from my files. It looks like I might have used a punch for one scalloped oval and a Nestabilities for another oval -- the scallopes don't seem to match up very well.

The card base was a lavender card stock and I mounted a layer of off white card stock that had been run through the Cuttlebug using the D'vine Swirls embossing folder. Before adhering it to the front of the card I ran a piece of ribbon around the layer so it could be wrapped around the back side of the off white layer. I like the color combination of the lavender and green.

Thanks for stopping by............please stop back again soon.

SIMPLE CARD FOR A WEDDING

Using a Cuttlebug embossing folder can help to make a quick card that still looks really special. I love this folder and embossed the front of the card. Then I just added an embossed heart from one of the small folders. The heart layer and the scalloped pink layers were both cut with the Spellbinders Classic Squares. Add a simple sentiment inside and you're ready to go.

Thank you for stopping by...........come back again soon.

CASE OF A FRIEND'S CARD

This is a card I made quite a while ago but I'd like to do more - maybe it will bring Spring around here sooner. My friend, Lynette, made a card like this in yellow/white/green. It ws so pretty I had to give it a try. I had a paper pad from Making Memories called "Emma". This was a pad I "had to have" since we have a granddaughter by that name and I loved the colors and papers.

There was one sheet that had the tiny white flowers printed on it so I took one of my flower punches and punched out several giving the flowers the lavender edge.

Thank you for stopping by............come back again soon!

(P.S. Thank you to those of you who have been visiting my other blog pages linked on here.)

CASE OF A FRIEND'S CARD

EMBOSSED FLOWERS

NEW SPELLBINDERS ARE HERE

Just an announcement again today since I'm busy working with a new shipment of Spellbinders dies. By the time you get this notice, you will be able to see the new items on my Spellbinders blog page. Scroll down this blog page and you will find a link to "Heartwarmers: New Merchandise for Sale" in "My Store".

Hope to get back to making cards soon.

HERO ARTS ANNOUNCEMENT

Rather than post a card today since I am running short of cards to post, I am give all of you a "heads up" that I am going to post pictures of new Hero Arts stamps that are out. Go to the link on the right hand side of this page and click on the "Hero Arts" link in the area called "My Store". You will find pictures there.

Thank you!

EMBOSSED SUNFLOWER

Here are two more cards I made back when I was doing more embossing. I love these cards and I can say that because it wasn't my idea..........I cased a card made by my friend, Joyce. All of the papers are from Lasting Impressions (which I can get for you). The top card folds on the narrow side so I used it as a top fold. The flower and leaves were embossed, cut out and then scuffed to give more detail to the image. Using the same embossed flower I was able to make two cards with a different look.

Thanks for coming by............your comments are always appreciated!

CARD FOR KIDS

Today's card is totally different from any I've posted so far. It was actually made a couple of years ago but I found the picture in my photo files. In the last couple of years I have neglected my stencils because stamping seems to go more quickly. Cards made with pieces that have been dry embossed have a completely different look than stamped cards. I need to do some again.

This card was made by dry embossing the palm tree, sun and elephant using Lasting Impressions papers with L I stencils and also using the L I Software which coordinates with stencils to make the fence with flowers.

I dry embossed the three items first and cut them out. The sun was mounted on a light blue card stock using pop dots. The palm tree was adhered to the card next. Using the L I Software I printed out a fence with flowers along it attached that over the bottom edge of the card.

When I embossed the elephant, I embossed an extra "trunk" so that I could pop it to give it some dimension. I think a small child would enjoy this card for a birthday or maybe even a get well card.

Thank you for stopping by...........please stop by again soon.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Some of you may have subscribed to my blog page when I first started offering "FeedBlitz" as a way to subscribe to the updates on this page. That was a free trial and when I discovered I would have to start paying for their service, I removed that from my page. You have been able to continue receiving the updates until now. I think that will probably change.

If you wish to continue subscribing to my blog page, please sign up under the current service I have on my pages..........FeedBurner. If you already are receiving notices from a "FeedBurner" then you needn't do anything. Names are very similar but they are different services. If you do not sign up under FeedBurner, you will no longer receive the emails when I post a new item.

Thank you for your loyalty and your continued comments!

"I" is for Ice Skaters

I have really been looking forward to watching the Winter Olympics so it seems like a good time to post this card of two little ice skaters with the Olympics in Vancouver, B. C. just getting underway. The card was made for a friend of mine when we had an alphabet swap for the letter "I" in our group. I don't remember where I got the image but it was not a rubber stamp.........it is a digital image that I resized.

The teddies were colored with my Copic markers. I added some White Liquid Applique under the skates to give it a snowy look and also on the "fur" of their hats. The layers were mounted on a card base which had been run through the Cuttlebug using one of the snowflake embossing folders.

Thanks for stopping by...........please come back again soon.

PENNY BLACK STAMP

The day is about over for me and with the two granddaughters here I almost forgot to even try to get a card posted.

I guess I'm reverting to another quickie card, but I think this one has a different look to it. The beautiful flower is a stamp from Penny Black which I adhered to a piece of off white card stock which which was slightly wider and long enough that I could add the punched edge with a Martha Stewart design. The card base is SU Pumpkin Pie which was run through the Cuttlebug using a Cuttlebug folder I bought from an Australian web site. I had to have it because of the butterflies on it.

Thank you for coming by.............hope to have you stop again soon!

PENNY BLACK STICKER

PENNY BLACK STICKER

VALENTINE FOR A FRIEND

My friend, Joanne, gave me some of these stamp offs. I colored it with my Copic CIAO markers and then cut the image using my Classic Scalloped Rectangle set. The next two layers were also cut with my Nesties. The entire piece was then mounted with pop dots onto SU Real Red card stock which had been run through the Cuttlebug using one of the folders from the Romance Bundle.

I have two young granddaughters staying here until Friday evening. They are school age so I hope to still be able to post something while they are here.

I hope all of you are staying warm and safe. The weather in much of the country has been pretty mean this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

HERO ARTS ENGRAVED FLOWER

Today's design is another of the new Cling Stamps (CG141) from Hero Arts. This stamp is totally different than anything I had so I wanted to give it a try. I stamped one in black, one in SU Perfect Plum and this several like this one in SU Chocolate Chip. I tried coloring a couple of the other ones using chalks and was not real pleased with the results so I decided to just leave it stamped with no additional shading.

The flower was cut out and mounted on a layer of off white card stock which had been run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. I then cut a layer of SU Chocolate Chip card stock and rounded the corners of both the off white and brown papers. The very front of the card was run through the CB using the D'vine Swirls embossing folder.

I like the results after all. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!

USING OLD SUPPLIES

Today my goal was to make a card and to use a card in the Hero Arts catalog as my inspiration. In the process I was also able to use supplies that I have had here for way too long.

There is a new Hero Arts Silhouette Fern (K5314) which I thought about ordering a while back but then I realized I already have one very similar to it from Hero Arts.......just a little smaller. So using my old, ink-stained stamp, I added the design randomly to the card front. I didn't reink the stamp each time so that some would be slightly lighter.

Then I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and mounted that piece on the SU Wild Wasabi card stock. The flower is made up of two layers of "Art Flowers" which just happened to be the right color and a matching brad to fasten the two together. I adhered the flower to the card using pop dots.

Old supplies used: Brad from Lasting Impressions, Flowers from Hero Arts, Retired stamp from Hero Arts

Thanks for stopping by................and please come back again soon.

IN HONOR OF OUR GRANDSON

Today our grandson, Tucker, turned 4 years old and we just returned from his birthday party. OK............today's card isn't going to win any prizes but I did this for a 4 year old. LOL Even though I make cards all the time, I have a confession to make.........I normally still buy cards for our grandchildren, daughters and mothers. If the print is small enough maybe you can't read my confession. :)

His party was everything Spiderman so I bought some puffy stickers at Michael's and then I remembered that the Spiderweb embossing folder could be used for more than just Halloween. I adhered some of the stickers to the front of the card after it had been run through the Cuttlebug and I was done.

As with most children that age, the cards were ignored and he tore into the packages. Then when the packages were all opened they asked him to open the cards. He took each out of their envelopes, gave them a quick glance and they were all thrown on to the floor!!!

Well, maybe if his mother saves all his birthday cards as I did with the ones our daughters received, maybe someday when he gets bigger he'll enjoy the card better then..........then again maybe he won't.

Thanks for stopping by.............watch for something a little better tomorrow.

QUICKIE CARDS - DAY 10

OK, so this about enough of these to give you ideas of how the same papers can give a different look to a card. The designer paper on these two cards was from a 6 x 6 sheet in the paper pad. By cutting between the designs, I was able to get 4 cards out of the one sheet by combing them with complimentary designs from the same pad. This card was made with papers from the Basic Grey "Wisteria" 6 x 6 paper pad which were added to the front of the card base and then trimmed with the lacy punched piece made with a Martha Stewart punch. (See note below)

And finally this card was made using Snickerdoodle cardstock from Lasting Impressions. I ran part of the card front through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot folder which I love so much. I cut a band of the flowered paper and adhered it to the top of the card.

There was a small strip of the paper used on the bottom of the first card and when possible I use these narrow pieces. My Scor-Pal was used to make a couple of scored lines slightly wider than the narrow piece of paper I had left. I cut a label using the Spellbinders "Fancy Labels" and stamped the sentiment on it. I ran the strip through the scrolled edges of the label and adhered it to the card.

(NOTE: I love the look that the Martha Stewart punches give to projects. However, I have had two items that I had to return to the store. One was a pop-up embossed flower "punch". It would only emboss on typing paper.........not what I wanted to use on cards. I then tried the lace embossed heart...........again it did not emboss on card stock so it was returned.)

Now when I post again, I'll try to get on to something different. Thanks for stopping by.

QUICKIE CARD #9

The papers for this card are once again from the Basic Grey "Wisteria" 6 x 6 paper pad. This pad had such wonderful papers in it that it made it very easy to come up with great combinations.

The layer under the white punched edge is a dark purple which coordinates with the dark shades in the flowers. The Martha Stewart punch seemed to really dress up this card even more.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow as I will be posting the final two Quickie cards. Thanks for stopping by today. :)

QUICKIE CARD #8

This card is made up of three strips of paper from the Basic Grey "Wisteria" 6 x 6 paper pad and a piece of off white card stock which was cut using the Labels One dies from Spellbinders. I stamped a flower on it using gold metallic ink.

Two or three more cards to go and then we'll see what I start making. :)

Thanks for coming by...............come back again soon!

QUICKIE CARD #8

This card is strictly three strips of paper from the Basic Grey "Wisteria" 6 x 6 paper pad and a stamped flower on an off white cardstock which has been cut with the Labels One die from Spellbinders. The flower was stamped with a gold metalic ink which blended nicely with the colros in the papers.

Two more cards to

QUICKIE CARD #7

Once again, I don't believe this card needs much of an explanation. The card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I then cut two contrasting papers from a "Black and White" paper pad from the Paper Studio and adhered them to the front of the card.

Butterflies are made with a Martha Stewart punch and the layers with the sentiment are made with Spellbinders Labels 4.

I have three or four more quickie cards I may post and then I'll be moving on to something else. I have appreciated the email comments I have received as well as the comments left on my blog page. It's always nice to know that someone is looking at the page. :)

Thanks for coming by. Hope you are having a great day!

QUICKIE CARD #6

Back to some samples of Quickie cards. Finding the right papers can make all the difference. I have found that papers from Kaiser Crafts, 7 Gypsies and Basic Grey are enabling me to put together these quickie cards. The 6 x 6 and/or the 8 x 8 paper pads give you the ability to mix and match the various patterns. For this card, I used the striped paper from a Basic Grey 6 x 6 pad called "Wisteria".

The embossing on this card is done with a Cuttlebug folder I bought from Australia..........yes, when I saw it I "had to have it" and could only find it at the time from a web site in Australia. The folder is called "Flower Fantasy". The web site is: http://www.fatcatscardcorner.com.au They have other exclusive folders.

Thank you for stopping by and letting me know how you like the cards. Come back again soon!

FEBRUARY 2010

It's FEBRUARY!!! Time for a new calendar and with the hearts the focus of this calendar, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I should have highlighted February 7 since our grandson will be 4 YEARS OLD already.

The hearts I used for this calendar are from a Martha Stewart Punch. I love it!

Thanks for coming by and leaving your comments!