PENNY BLACK Promise of Spring Sticker

When I started making cards for a nursing home and independent living center I did a couple of holidays by myself.  Then another friend started helping and now a second friend is helping.  We haven't done any holiday cards since Easter, but we decided that we have so much fun when we get together that we would just do some fun things with cards. It has been a real gift to me to have two friends who come and enjoy the same craft as me.

One of the friends has just started making cards herself and is a natural!  Her excitement has been contagious for the other two of us.  Last week I wanted to show them that some great cards can be made using stickers.  I have a lot of Penny Black stickers and happened to have three sheets with this design on it.  But then it was, "What are we going to do with it?"  Pinterest, here I come.  I found a card very much like this one.  That one had two more elements on it but we simplified ours.  

I already had the Cuttlebug embossing folder, a Penny Black die with the branch of birds (It's a bird's life) and the Memory Box die (Fresh Foliage).  Now three more sheets of stickers have been used and I love this card.  There were additional stickers on the sheet and some of those cards will be showing up soon.

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ANNIVERSARY CARD

I made this card for my friend, Kris and her husband who celebrated their anniversary a couple weeks ago.  This is new Creative Expressions border die - Vela.  I love using glitter paper under these dies. The sentiment is from one of the Papertrey $5.00 sets.  The dragonfly is from the Penny Black "flutters" die set.

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FRANTIC STAMPER - Ornate Edger Die

Recently I saw this die and I thought it would make a beautiful border - and it certainly does.  I very quickly cut three of them and have started these three cards.  On Card #1 and #2 I will likely add tags with a sentiment on them.  Card #3 may just require a sentiment inside.

#1

#2

#3

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MOTHER'S 95TH BIRTHDAY

Yesterday we celebrated my mother's 95th birthday.  At her age she wanted a quiet celebration and elected not to include the grandchildren and great grandchildren although they would have loved to have been there.  The picture below shows left to right:  my brother's wife, me, my brother-in-law, my husband, my brother, Mother and my sister.  We don't get together like this very often so it was a special day!

3 CARDS USING Penny Black - Effulgent - Color #3

Card #1

On the first two cards, I used Stampin' Up! Pacific Point and Chocolate Chip.

Card #2

Card #3

Since the colors are lighter on this third stamp-off, I used Close to Cocoa for the card base instead of Chocolate Chip.

2 CARDS USING Penny Black - Effulgent - Color #2

Card #1

The colors I used for the first card are Stampin' Up! Pink Passion and Chocolate Chip.

Card #2

This is the second stamp off without re-inking the design.  (Pink Passion and Close to Cocoa).  I also had some gems that were just the right color.

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2 CARDS USING Penny Black - Effulgent - Color #1

I colored the image with Stampin' Up! markers, misted with water and stamped.  The card stock is also from Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa.  

The stamp was not inked a second time.  I simply misted the stamp again and stamped it off again.  The colors turn out a little lighter but are just as pretty.  For this card I added some SU Candy Dots.  Some times you can even get a third image without re-inking the stamp.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA

Now that we have grandchildren who are teenagers, it gets a little harder to know what type of a card to make for them.  When it was time to make a card for Emma, I happened to be going through a container of butterfly stamps.  I thought this might make a simple but fun card for her.

After I had given it to her, I was disappointed that I hadn't planned better because this was her 16th birthday last Saturday.  I guess Grandma isn't perfect after all.  :)  She did tell me she liked this card though.  She is a very responsible young lady and has had a school permit to drive to school.  But Saturday she had a pretty special day because she was able to even get her driver's license on her birthday.  We're so proud of her!  She has been accepted into an Internship at a hospital so the first two hours of her school day will be spent doing a new type of learning.   

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IMPRESSION OBSESSION

On July 11th I posted this card using a die from Obsession Impressions.  Later I saw another way to use the die using just a portion of it and made the card shown below.

I rarely make square cards but liked the one I saw done in black and white so this is the one I made.  I am not exactly fond of the scallop but I didn't have a die with a more delicate scallop.

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50TH ANNIVERSARY

The card is a tri-fold.  I embossed the middle section first with the Swiss Dots folder and added a piece vellum behind the window and taped it down.  The next step was to stamp the 50th Anniversary sentiment with Encore Gold Metallic ink Recently I made a quick stop at Michael's and saw Recollection packages of these dimensional flowers.  They simply said "wedding" or "anniversary" to me so I had to buy them. 

The card was sent to a couple who celebrated their 50th last weekend.  Thanks for coming by today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLISSA!

Our oldest granddaughter is having a very special birthday today!  On her 19th birthday, she is moving into her dorm at the University of Iowa.  I thought it would be fun to make a card fitting the occasion.  I found only one store that had "Iowa" items other than fabrics.  They even had a couple of stamps.  As you can see I stamped "Herky" on the envelope and on the flap of the envelope I stamped "Proud to be a Hawkeye".  I rarely remember to line the envelope but I did  for her with the dotted paper.

Attending college at a large campus is going to be quite a change for her and we are wishing her every success as she pursues her goals.

Thank you for coming by today!

BIRTHDAY CARD

Our oldest granddaughter, Allissa, will celebrate her 19th birthday tomorrow.  My mother likes to send birthday cards to her great grandchildren so this is the card I made for her using another fun Penny Black stamp.  I love the little critters on the PB stamps!

Thank you for coming by today!

2 PENNY BLACK - Cling Stamp "Dreamy"

I love this stamp and how it looks like it is blowing in a gentle breeze.  The first thing I did was to cut the white card stock pieces to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  Then I cut a circle out of the area where I wanted the stamped image to show through.

The white layer was placed on top of the card base and I stamped the border design over the entire piece.  Then the white layer was trimmed down to 3 3/4" x 5".  

The stem of the flower is a lot longer so I had to mask of a portion of the card base so that the black stem would show out from under the white layer. (Clear as mud?)

I felt the pink card was pretty plain, so I added the strip of striped black ribbon around the white layer on this one.  

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STAMPIN' UP! - Lovely as a Tree

When my husband worked for our town, he became friends with the guys who did the same work in the neighboring towns.  The mother of one of those friends passed away recently and this is the card I made for the family.  

I can't take credit for the layout or design - I saw one on Pinterest very similar.  Since it was going to be given to a "guy", I didn't want to have it flowery and thought this was very appropriate for someone who works outside.

Thank you for coming by today!  Hope you had a great weekend!

PENNY BLACK - Cling Stamp "Softly"

These two cards don't take a lot of explanation.  I stamped the image with two different positions on the white layers and colored them with Copic markers.  

I matted both with black and then added the tiny black gems.  Thank you for coming by today!  I hope you'll come back again on Monday.

TWO MORE CARD PARTS

One of my friends had this stamp when we met in Des Moines last year.  I had stamped off two of the images but they were in my card parts all this time.  It was time to use them since I already had the two mats for each cut.

The images were stamped using VersaMark ink and then carefully adding the different colors of embossing powders.

After I assembled the stamped images and mats onto a white card base, I chose an ink that would go with the colors of the buildings and stamped "happy birthday".  Since "guy" cards are hard for me, I think the one done in browns will work for one of those "guys".

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TARYN!

(Front)

We enjoy watching Taryn and one of her sisters each year in their dance recital.  When I saw the dies that Poppy Stamps released with several designs, I knew I could make good use of them.  The wings are separate so you can use them or choose not to.  I thought Taryn might still enjoy a dancing fairy.

The "fairy" was added to a glitter paper oval cut from a Poppy Stamp die.  The Poppy Stamp Woodland Oval was attached over that oval and onto a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of embossed white card stock which was on my table.  All was added to the white card base.

(Inside)

I have two other dies with the two different poses so I used them inside the card but without the wings.

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PENNY BLACK - Heat Embossed Dreamy

One of the pieces I had in my card parts was this background which had been done with alcohol ink on Yupo paper.  I trimmed it down to 4" x 5 1/4".  

I stamped the image with VersaMark ink.  Since the Yupo paper is smooth, I wanted to make sure that the image didn't "slide" as I was stamping it so I used my MISTI to hold everything in place.  I then heat embossed with Egyptian Gold powder.  

There was a scrap of vellum on my table so I heat embossed the sentiment and added it over the stamped image.  

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PENNY BLACK Birthday Card

Tomorrow one of our granddaughters is celebrating her birthday.  I made this card for my mother to send her.

Since I have a tub full of Penny Black fun stamps, I thought this would make a fun card for Mother to send her.  I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink so that I could color it with Copic markers.  These little hedgehogs are so cute!

Come back tomorrow and see the card I have made for our granddaughter.  Have a great day!

2 PENNY BLACK CARDS - Butterfly Trio

This first card is very simple.  I had a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of this dotted paper and just added a die cut of the butterflies.  Then I added the little sentiment.

I also had a piece of the blue glitter paper on my table. I placed it behind the two embossed white pieces that had been cut with a curved die.

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THE PAPER PLAYERS - PP356

The Paper Players: PP356

The stamp I chose for this card is from Great Impressions.  I've had it for quite a long time but haven't made good use of it. I had some of this Lasting Impressions card stock that I purchased in Des Moines.  

My post yesterday used this gingham patterned paper as well.  I haven't taken part in a challenge in a long time so decided to use another piece of this paper which is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and covers the front of a white card base.

The lavender color is quite light so I decided to stamp the design right onto the patterned paper and color with Copic makers.  I cut the stamped and colored piece using a Spellbinders die and mounted it onto a larger white mat.  

Thank you for stopping by today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHERYL!

I don't usually post on Saturday, but today is the birthday of a friend I met when I was in 6th or 7th grade.  We met at Bible Camp and hit it off.  She was from a town about 40 miles from where I grew up but we managed to get together in the summers either at her house or mine and spend about a week together.  I was even in her wedding a few years later.

As it happens with many friends, we lost touch for a long time but have now reconnected through Facebook.  When we found each other on Facebook I would post a picture of a birthday card for her but now I am able to send her one in the mail.

The gingham patterned paper is from Lasting Impressions.  I found the stamp and the paper in Des Moines and modeled my card after a sample they had posted.

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3 VARIATIONS - SAME DESIGN

The main die used on all three of these cards is an exclusive Die-namics die from My Favorite Things.  This is the horizontal cover but is also available in a vertical format.  I like the "stitching" that it makes around the cuts.  The flower die cut is a Sue Wilson Creative Expressions die - Daisy Cluster.

No sentiment was added to the outside of this one.

For this card I reversed the die so that the smaller area was on top and added the flowers to the middle of the card.

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FINISHING A PROJECT

When I was fingering through my tub of card parts, I found this one layer card that had been started months ago.  The flower had been stamped using a Stampin' Up! set - Stippled Blossoms.  I must have laid the card aside and eventually put it in the card parts.  I decided if I added a sentiment to the outside I could consider the project finished.....simple as it is.

Inside the sentiment reads, "Hope your day blossoms into something special".

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STAMPIN' UP! - Love & Sympathy

Unfortunately we have had several deaths recently in our community.  Because we are a small town we know or are familiar with a lot of people and reach out to families at those times.

This is one of the cards I made recently to express our sympathy.

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FOR THE BRIDE AND GROOM

Last Saturday we attended a wedding reception and this is the card I made for the couple.  It is a 5 x 7 tri-fold card with the window already cut from the middle section.  I bought a package of 10 (which included the envelopes) when I was in Des Moines.  

The first thing I did was to emboss the middle panel with a 5 x 7 Cuttlebug folder.  A piece of light green vellum was placed behind the window.  The flowers were cut and embossed with an Anna Griffin "Flower Vine" from Cuttlebug.  I used a Spellbinders Labels 10 die to cut the sentiment which had already been embossed with Egyptian Gold powder.

To finish the card, I added tiny pearls to the center of each of the flowers.

Thank you for coming by today!

(NOTE:  I forgot to schedule something yesterday but those cards will show up here eventually.)