Wednesday, July 31, 2013

THINKING OF YOU


I don't think this card needs an explanation, but if you have questions, just let me know.  The vine design is from an Inkadinkadoo clear stamp set.
 
Thank you for checking out today's post!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

NEW PENNY BLACK AND HERO ARTS ITEMS

I have just added a link on the right side of my page to a separate blog post for the new 2013 Hero Arts Christmas catalog.  You can see all of the newest items there.  If you would like more information about any of the items, just let me know.

I don't receive an actual catalog from Penny Black many times but they give me a download of the new items. Here is a link to the newest Penny Black items:  2013 Christmas Catalog 

Both companies have some really neat new items so take a few minutes and take a look. 

SECOND HERO ARTS "Lotus Leaves"


As promised today's card is from the same set as yesterday's card but a different design.  This one was stamped with Baja Breeze and Wild Wasabi for the stem.  For a long time I have wanted the SU Spritzer and ordered it several months ago but never got brave enough to give it a try.  This seemed like a good card to try it on since there was so much white space.  I really like it as a background.
 
Thank you for stopping by today!

Monday, July 29, 2013

HERO ARTS - Lotus Leaves 4 x 6 Stamp Set


Two of my favorite SU ink colors are Baja Breeze and Marina Mist.  Today's card was made using Marina Mist.  The stamp set is a current set from Hero Arts "Lotus Leaves"  (4 x 6 CL542) which I can order for you.  Sentiment is from Paper Inspirations.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the Marina Mist border.
 
Tomorrow my card will be made with the same stamp set but using the Baja Breeze ink.   Thank you for stopping by!

Friday, July 26, 2013

KALEIDACOLOR INK


I have several Kaleidacolor Ink pads but have not used any of them in probably years.  When our group gathered in Des Moines this past June,  one of the ladies stamped this design using the Autumn Leaves Kaleidacolor pads.  What a fun way to use those inks.  Several of us stamped off images from her stamp. 
 
I hope I can explain how we did this.  We held the ink pad vertically and as we stamped, we rotated only the top of the ink pad in kind of a semi-circle direction.  So the green ink on this image stayed pretty much in the same spot all the time.  (Is that clear?) 
 
When I got home, I added the little butterfly with an orange ink that matched the image.  The Archiver's employees had given each of us a great bag with some goodies inside. (They love that we come as a group every year and spend.)  The orange ribbon was one of the goodies inside my bag and worked so well with this image.  I then added this layer to the Chocolate Chip SU card base.
 
Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you come back again on Monday!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

RED POPPIES


Our Yahoo Group has two voluntary swaps each month.  I try to participate as often as I can.  The "Color Swap" this month was to make a red an white card.  I did add just the touch of green for the stems and a black sentiment so hope the recipient doesn't mind.    The stamp is from SU.  When you purchase the stamp, it is actually one large stamp but there is a space where I was able to cut it into two pieces.  Now I can use the two pieces separately or together as one design.
 
I colored the Poppies with Copic markers.  I had a white butterfly in my card parts so I colored it as well with the marker to match the Poppy blooms.  The sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink because I feel it leaves a crisper image............but Memento Tuxedo Black was used to stamp the flowers so they could be colored with Copic markers.
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

ONE MORE PENNY BLACK

 
Image:  2610K

One of our son-in-laws has a birthday in August.  My MIL asked me to go ahead and make all the cards for her to send in August and since he grew up on a farm I thought he might enjoy this one.  I colored the image with Copic markers and then trimmed down the piece of card stock.  I found scraps of black and red card stock in my parts and made use of them.  The red piece was embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.
 
Thank you for checking in today!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

MORE PENNY BLACK CRITTERS

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Our youngest granddaughter has a birthday in a couple of weeks and I made the card below with this stamp for one of the Great Grandmothers to send her.   I love these little hedgehogs.  The image was colored with Copic markers.  The sentiment is also from Penny Black.
 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Your comments are always appreciated!
 

Monday, July 22, 2013

PENNY BLACK CRITTER


This is one of the many Penny Black stamps that I have and I can't believe I haven't used it sooner.  He is such a cute little critter and just looks like he is going merrily on his way to deliver these flowers.
 
I colored the image with Copic markers and was able to pretty much duplicate the colors that were on the wood mounted stamp.

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Penny Black has a lot of great stamps with this cute little mouse, hedgehogs, cats and dogs.  If you are interested, go look at the wonderful selection of these cute guys as well as the many other flowers and sentiments on the Penny Black site:  http://www.pennyblackinc.com/  Let me know if you see anything you would like me to order for you.
 
Thank you for stopping by!
 

Friday, July 19, 2013

SUMMER FLOWERS


I don't know what kind of weather you have been having, but it has been REALLY HOT here for several days now.  The flowers which I have in pots outside have really been stressed by this heat and are not looking so great right now.
 
So if your flowers are looking like mine, here is a pretty jar of flowers to brighten your day.  As you can see by the date on this photo, the card was made back in April.  We made this card at the last SU workshop I attended.  The colors feel very cooling to me and with the tempature due to get above 90 degrees again today I'll take anything that helps make me feel more cool. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

MORE SPRING SPRIGS


I had stamped off several of this design so I put another card together right away.  The flowers on this one were colored with Copic markers.  I cut out the design and the Pretty In Pink layers using the Spellbinders Labels 4.  They were added to the card base which had been embossed with the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls folder.  I felt it needed just a little something more so I added a butterfly with the three tiny pearls.

Thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

SYMPATHY


The stamps I used for this card are the vertical sentiment from Paper Inspirations and Stampendous "Spring Sprigs".   Since it is a one layer card, I used my SU markers to color the design.
 
Although I really like the colors I used on the flowers, I am wondering if adding the Stickles was a good idea.  What do you think?  Is it too sparkly for a sympathy card?

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

RUBBERNECKER "3 FLOWERS"


This stamp is called "3 Flowers".  This was actually my second try at coloring it and one of the only ones that I kept.  The idea was to make it look like it was watercolored but I had a lot of trouble getting the colors to blend like I wanted.  I did like this one. 
 
I cut and embossed it with the Spellbinders Classic Oval die and mounted it onto the Blushing Bride card stock which had been cut witht he Classic Scalloped Oval.  The butterfly was made using one of the SU punches.  I think the tiny pearls on the butterfly carry through with the dotted swiss embossed design.
 
I'd love it if you would leave a comment.......I appreciate each and every one!  Thanks for stopping by!

(NOTE:  I just realized I should have said that after adding the colors to the stamp with markers, I spritzed it with water to get the colors to blend.)

Monday, July 15, 2013

BEAUTIFUL NON-STAMPED FLOWER


I have several sheets of dp that have this pretty flower on it.  I cut one out with a Spellbinders Classic oval.  Next I cut out a second flower bloom by hand and the center of a third flower.  I popped the bloom with a foam dots and then the center of the third flower with another foam dot. 
 
There are also tiny bees with added sparkle on the dp so I cut one out and added it.  The design layer was added to a light yellow piece of card stock which had been cut with the Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Oval.
 
This was then adhered to the front of the white card base which had been embossed with the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl folder.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Friday, July 12, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOYCE!


In two days my friend, Joyce, will be celebrating her birthday.  This is the card I made for her using a punch I borrowed from my friend, Georgia.  The "pink" shade used for the background of the punched design, the ribbon and ink are all SU Blushing Bride.........such a delicate shade to go with the beautiful punched edge.  The card was sent plenty early so I know she has received it already. 
 
Thank you for stopping by!

GET WELL


Yesterday I showed you a card using this same design.  Actually I had stamped this one first and colored it with Copic markers so I could do a little shading on the flowers............forgetting that the colors would bleed through the card stock even though it was a nice heavy paper.
 
Today I took that piece, trimmed it down to 4" x 5 1/4", added the scored lines and the dainty sentiment above the scoring.  The piece was then mounted onto the white card base using foam dots.
 
We have a family friend who fell and broke her leg between her hip and knee.  She is now in a rehab center and was told she could not put weight on that leg for quite some time so this is the card I am sending her.
 
Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see you again here on Monday......I've decided to take weekends off.   :)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

CLEAN AND SIMPLE


My mother lives in an independent living center and most every Sunday and Monday she plays bingo with some of the other residents.  The prizes many times are pieces of hard candy or mini candy bars.  Many of the residents do not get out very often to have an opportunity to buy cards that they would like to send.  Since I have such a large amount of cards made up and no longer have an outlet for most of them, I have decided to donate cards to the center so the residents can have a choice of the candies or a greeting card. 
 
My goal is to donate clean and simple cards that will be easy for the residents to mail.  I had stamped this design and colored it with markers a few days ago but had not finished the card.  Today I simply added the embossed border using a Darice embossing folder and then adding a scored line above and below the embossing. 
 
I would like to have used Copic markers but I wanted a one layer card.  The markers I used do not bleed through the card stock.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

IN FLIGHT


When I attended one of the last SU workshops, the SU demonstrator stamped and heat embossed some of the new Swallowtail butterflies using black EP.  She then cut them in half and used 2 of the same halves so we could make the butterfly as shown above.
 
I used SU markers to color in the areas.  It was several weeks later before I got around to making this card.  I cut a piece of the light yellow card stock slightly smaller than the front of the Cajun Craze card base and embossed it with the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder.  When I was in Des Moines with my friends we shared our Memory Box dies and I finished off the front with this "HAPPY birthday" sentiment.

Thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

BABY BOY

 
I have seen various cards made with this "starburst" type of design and thought it would be so fun to make one using papers from various paper pads that I have.  I had just purchased an Echo Park Paper Co. pad in Des Moines and decided to use designs from it.  (Bundle of Joy Boy 6 x 6 paper pad)
 
You can see the final inspiration for my card here.  To get the triangular shaped pieces, Bonnie told me to "cut pieces 4" x 1 1/2" and then cut them in a paper trimmer , opposite corner to opposite corner."
 
The cute little elephant was stamped and then cut with a coordinating Hero Arts stamp and die.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Monday, July 8, 2013

NATURE'S LEAVES


When I made this card, I thought of my mother.  She has always been so appreciative of all things in nature.  I stamped a fern design randomly around on the front of the ivory card stock using SU Pear Pizzazz ink.  Then I took a second design and stamped it and cut it with a die, but before removing it sponged a bit of the ink around on the area around the leaves.  A second layer was cut with the Pear Pizzazz card stock. 

Before adding the stamped design with foam dots, I cut the delicate border design with a Memory Box die.
 
Thanks for stopping by! 

Friday, July 5, 2013

RUBBERNECKER POPPIES


This card was made using a stamp set from one of my friends in Des Moines.  I LOVE this set and have now ordered it so I'll have it to use whenever I want.  I love the 3-step watercolor design!  I can see it made with all different kinds of colors for the blooms.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.............


...........WHO ARE THESE TWO????  Oh, that's right it is my husband and me.  Oh, to be so young again.  On July 4, 1968, I married my high school sweetheart.......and we are still together.
 
I'll have a card for you again tomorrow. 

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

RUBBERNECKER "Flowers in the Breeze"



These cards were made with a Rubbernecker 3-step stamp set...."Flowers in the Breeze".  I love the watercolor look.  The top card had a little "goof" from me trying to color in an area with a contrasting color.  It looked terrible so I covered it with the cute little LittleB butterfly sticker.  The second card had a small black smudge so once again I used one of the very pretty little butterflies to cover it.
 
Thanks to a friend who brought this set to Des Moines, I was able to make two cards that I really like.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

CUTE LITTLE BIRD


 
These cards were made with supplies which I purchased at the Archivers store in West Des Moines.  The double sided dp is from Pebbles and the cute little bird stickers are from a Doodlebug Design Inc package.  I actually purchased the stickers at a later time but the color was perfect for the paper.
 
The plain strip of aqua is not from Archivers.  My friend, Terri, had a paper pad with a variety of papers and she was very kind to give me a sheet of the aqua.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Monday, July 1, 2013

CASING JOYCE


Recently my sister gave me a box full of various craft items for stamping and stenciling.  Among the supplies were several plain white cards that had a nice framed edge.  When I joined with the of ladies in Des Moines last week, I gave each one of them one of the cards. 
 
I made this card which is nearly identical to one that Joyce made at Archivers.  I loved what she did with hers and had wanted to purchase those same butterflies.  I have some of those note cards left yet so I know I'll be using them with other designs.
 
Thanks for stopping by!

This is the  video  I used to make this card using more retired dsp. After I finished, I was a little dissatisfied with the white background...