EARLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

If I don't send cards really early, cards tend to arrive late when I send greeting cards to friends. My friend, Joanne, is celebrating a birthday in early April so I sent her card and I don't believe she sees my blog so I am taking the chance that she won't see it here first. :)

I saw a card basically just like this on Hero Arts blog page or ideas and thought it was just beautiful. I was pulled in by the color of blue they used. The card base is actually a note card from Hero Arts with a white core inside. I stamped the front of the card using CG139 Cling Dots and VersaMark ink. The design was stamped with K5358 Floral Scallop from H.A.

I colored the design using Copic CIAO markers. It was easy to color the narrow scallops with the tip and stay in the line, but I carried the color outside the line a bit so that when I cut it out there would be no sign of a white edge.

Before attaching it to the front of the card, I made a bow and tied the ends around the stamped design. Tiny pearls from HA were added to most of the flower and then a sprig of leaves that I cut with a Sizzix die.

Hope you like the card as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by!

(P.S. If you would like any of the items from Hero Arts, let me know and I'll be happy to get them for you at my regular discount.)

BUTTERFLY BOOKMARK STAMP

Although I sell on eBay.com and now on WebStore.com, I don't buy a lot from those sites. The other day I stumbled across a used and retired Hero Arts "Butterfly Bookmark" stamp. I loved the design and the price was right. This is the first card I have made with it. I colored it with Copic CIAO markers. I trimmed the white layer and mounted it onto the plain "Lilac" cardstock from Lasting Impressions. The card base is also "Lilac" from Lasting Impressions.

Thanks for stopping by!

SYMPATHY

This is another card from my files. I chose a Lavender card stock for the base and then cut an off white piece of cardstock which was slightly smaller than the 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 front and ran it through the Cuttlebug with a CB folder. Before adhering the off white layer to the front of the card, I ran a piece of Dotted Swiss ribbon around the lower portion of the card and added a clip.

I stamped the image and cut it with a Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circle, mounted it on a slightly larger Lavender Plain Classic Circle and then again on a slightly larger Green Classic Scalloped Circle. This piece was then adhered to the front of the card.

When I finished it I thought the soft colors and stamped flowers would make an appropriate card to send In Sympathy, although I think a sentiment inside for "Get Well" or even a "Birthday" card would work as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

MORE RED AND WHITE

Today I took some time to make a card using a new stamp I got from Hero Arts. First I stamped the background with the Hero Arts Shadow Ink "Soft Brown" on the front of a white card base. The background was a little darker than I thought but turned out alright in the end.

Then I stamped the Dogwood flowers over the background using Tuxedo Black and colored it in with Copic CIAO markers. I finished it off by using Inkssentials "Glossy Accents" on the centers of the flowers to give a little dimension. I'm not sure if the shine shows in the picture.

At this point I felt the card was just too plain even though the card I was copying was all done on the front of a white card. So I cut it down and mounted it on the Real Red cardstock from SU and was much happier with the end result.

If you like what you see, I can get the stamp, inks, Glossy Accents and markers for you. Thanks for stopping by!

GERBER DAISIES

Happy Sunday, everyone! Today's card was made using white cardstock from PaperTrey as the card base. I ran about 2/3 of the front through the Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots folder. I had just recently purchased the red paper from PaperTrey and it went so well with the color I had chosen for the Gerber Daisies. The stamped design is from Flourishes and was colored wtih my Copic CIAO markers. I love Flourishes stamps!

I don't think the card needs much more explanation.

Thanks for stopping by!

CARD FOR MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

Card Cover

Pages 1 and 2

Pages 3 and 4

Pages 5 and 6

My mother-in-law turned 90 in February. Because part of the family was in Florida and part lives in Minnesota we thought it best to postpone any celebration until the weather improved. Tomorrow night we are celebrating. One of our daughters made a wonderful photo album for her on Shutterfly. I think this card will go along nicely with the album.

When a group I belong to had a gathering last June, my friend Georgia showed us a card like this that she had made. Some of the items used in this are stickers from Timless Moments and the others are rub-ons which I purchased at Archivers.

This type of card has a lot of possibilities. I chose to stay with the black and white inside because the stickers were all a black font and black images. Papers used inside to trim pages were from a black and white paper pad from the Paper Studio which was purchased at Hobby Lobby.

I thought it would be nice to have some color on the cover so I chose the paper from the Basic Grey "Origins" 6 x 6 pad because of the black flower. Rather than put a sentiment on the front, I just added the black rub-on butterfly and black ribbon to tie it shut.

The card actually opens completely accordian style. Hope some of you give one of these a try. I was a little nervous about diving into the project but it really was fun to make it. Now I have stickers to do one for my own mother, my husband and our two daughters. They won't have to wait until they turn 90 though. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

I'M BACK.............

Well, it has been a week since I got home from our quick trip to Florida. It wasn't as warm as we would have liked but still better than weather at the time here in Iowa. We returned home to a nice warm up here even though it isn't going to stay that way.

Over half of the month of March is gone and it's time I get some cards posted again.


Since I still haven't had much time to make anything new, I am pulling something from my files. This card from 2008 was completely copied from one we received from our friends, Joanne and Mark. I loved how different it was and purchased the Stampin' Up set (Doodle This) just so I could make a card like it and I already had the papers.

Papers are from Lasting Impressions. The flourish was stamped and colored with Marvy Markers. The flowers were stamped on a pale pink paper, colored with Marvy Markers and then Glitter Glue was added to the dots. Before popping the flowers on the card with pop-dots, I stamped the "Happy Anniversary" with brown ink, mounted it on a brown cardstock and then affixed it to the card.

Even though vacation is behind me, Income Tax Season looms over me and I have to get figures done for my mother as well as our own, so I will probably still be pulling pictures from my files for a while. I hope you enjoy seeing them and that they may give you some ideas.

Thank you for stopping by.

MARCH CALENDAR

I wanted to at least share this little calendar on March 1 even though I'm away from home. My friend, Lynette, was so kind to make up the months for me and I want to follow through with decorating all of them. I'm not actually Irish, but my sister is married to an Irishman so I decided I'd go with this theme.

Thanks for looking...............I'll try to post something again soon.