Happy Anniversary!

Our anniversary is May 26th. My husband has been putting up with me for 20 years, so I wanted the perfect card, and this was the one!

This card was inspired by a design from a card maker in the U.K. Check her out! Debby Yates design caught my eye because I was looking for something simple yet colorful for my husband.  He surprised me with a trip to Napa!! Wine country, here I come. I'll check in when I get back. I hope to take pictures and find some inspiration while in California, as well as sample the wine!

Until next time!

Am I the only one?, part II

I got this great glitter paper. In my humble opinion, bling and glitter are used as a accent, not really in large pieces, so I save my scraps to cut stars & hearts. Ummm, there are only so many scraps I will EVER use, but I keep on saving them. And cutting tiny stars & hearts out of them. How many tiny hearts & stars will I use in my lifetime??! This started out as a graduation card, but turned into a more child-like, happy card. And I needed some stars for it...

I need lots and lots of tiny stars...

So I got my glitter paper scrap and cut the heck out of it.

I don't think you can get ANY more stars out of it... and I can now wallpaper my master bedroom with tiny stars...

Extreme close up:

Am I the only one who does this??! I sure hope not... :-)

Until next time!

You can find inspiration anywhere!

My friend Ashley got a new purse, and I am in love with it!

 I was inspired by the orange, blue, gray, and shinny silver. I made these cards in honor of her purse. 

Yup, I did!

Extreme close up of silver embossing:

This card design was inspired by a card made by Christina at My Paper Secret. She has really retired from card making, but check out her awesome blog for inspiration!!

 

Look for color inspiration all around you, even a purse!

Until next time!

Am I the only one?

Am I the only one who can't let go of paper? REALLY... I subscribe to a monthly card kit from simonsaysstamp.com. I love it! It's like Christmas in a box, mailed to me every month. Who doesn't love that? ANYWAY, this month when I received my kit and looked through it, I fell in love with the paper. I don't want to use it, ever. I want to keep it, and look at it, always... 

I want to paper my walls with it! I want to look at it everyday. It it so lush and classic! Kinda like Audrey Hepburn, but paper. :-) I really want to make a card with my new kit, but I just can't do it! Light bulb goes off. I know, I'll just buy more paper from simonsaysstamp. Okay, maybe I'll by two... I'll need a back-up, right?! Alright, I'll buy three. One to use, one as a back-up and one as a back-up back-up. THEY ARE SOLD OUT!!! So, when they are back in stock, should I buy ten, just in case?? 

Am I the only one? 

Until next time!

Follow up

A couple of weeks ago, I entered a card to a color challenge at Colour Q color challenge. I wanted to post a follow-up blog showing other variations of the card. As long as I had all the stuff out, I might as well make some cards!! :-) 

This card was inspired by a card I found on the Altenew blog. It's by the very talented Jocelyn Olsen at Red Balloon Cards. You should check out her work. Love it!! I just love mini staples!!

And another color option:

Extreme close up:

Until next time!

Supplies:

Paper- Pebbles; Seen & Noted, Club Scrap, My Mind's Eye: Happy Day, and paper from my stash

Stamps- Sohcahtoa; Altenew, Label Love: Altenew

Ink- VersaMark, StazOn: Jet Black

Dies- Butterfly Drift; Simon Says Stamp, Rectangles; Sizzix

Card stock- Desert Storm; Neenah

Embellishments- Sequins; Pastel Spring Mix by Verve, Black by Pretty Pink Posh and Hero Arts white embossing powder

Other- Embossing folder; Large Dots; Stampin' Up!, Mini attacher: Ranger, White Paper doily

Finished Size- A-2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Clearly Besoted haul

Life... sometimes it just gets in the way. I have been wanting to post this for 5 days, and I haven't made a card for over a week! EEK!! Anyway- I was inspired by the very talented Debby Hughes at Lime Doodle Design. She made a card using a die from Clearly Besotted... WHAT?! Where has Clearly Besotted been all my life??! I ordered, a lot... and here it is. Just in time to make my good friend a birthday card. Check it out:

All those new border stamps to use with my new Misti!! Cute, CUTE stamps and dies:

 

I want the world to stop so I can get into my studio and play!!

Stinking cute! Look for cute cards coming your way.

 

Until next time!

Vintage Christmas Card

It seemed easy enough. Vintage Christmas card from Merry Monday Christmas Challenge:

Vintage??! I LOVE vintage!! Piece of cake. I got this.

Three days into this challenge, I was ready to give up. I was assembling my card, and it just happened...

Extreme close up:

The music paper had another side, which I was going to use. I turned it over to run my tape down the sides, and realized the music was the better side!! DUH! I had been fighting for three days, and then - peace. ;-) 

I love it when a plan comes together! My design was inspired by Retrosketches #160. It looked like this:

Until next time!

Supplies:

Paper-Echo Park; Home for the Holidays, Kraft paper, Vellum

Ink-VersaMark

Stamps-Snowflakes A-Plenty; Inkadinkado, Border stamp from Handwritten Winter Wishes; Simon Says Stamp card kit Jan. 2015  and Christmas Tree; Hero Arts

Card stock- 110# Neenah Solar white

Other-Ranger super fine gold embossing powder

Finished size: A2 (4  1/4" x 5 1/2")

Happy Birthday, Brian!

How do you put into words, on a card, how much someone means to you? After 20+ years, how do you express all of those feelings? I don't know. But I do know that I did spend about 4 hours making this card for my husband! It's my first successful shaker card, and I hope he loves it. His birthday is Sunday, but I wanted to make sure I had PLENTY of time to figure out what I wanted to do. I did some looking on my fav blogs and was inspired by Art From The Heart's Emily Leiphart.
 Here is my take:

Happy Birthday, Brian! Love you, mean it.

Until next time!

Supplies:

Paper- Recollections and DCWV

Stamps- Happy Birthday; Simon Says Stamp

Ink- VersaMark

Dies- Birthday Balloons; Simon Says Stamp, Emmitt Alphabet Set; My Favorite Things

Card stock- Marshmallow; Bazzil

Embellishments- Sequins & beads; Pretty Pink Posh and from my stash, Beetle Black; Doodle Twine

Other- White embossing powder; Hero Arts
Finished size; 5"x 7"

A color challenge!

I just love color challenges! I guess it's the one part of design I struggle with the most. I can look at art, pictures, or other blogs and find plenty of inspiration, then I hit a brick wall on color palettes. So today I found another Colour Q color challenge. And in the midnight hour, I FINALLY finished and posted it. The chipboard frame is kraft color, not as dark brown as in the picture. I really need some new lighting for my camera...

and close up:

I really like the metallic flakes in the paper I used for one of the butterflies. This card was inspired by a card I found on the Altenew blog. It's by the very talented Jocelyn Olsen at Red Balloon Cards. Check it out! 

Anyway, this was our color palette and I hope you enjoy the card.

Until next time!

Supplies:

Paper- Pebbles; Seen & Noted, Club Scrap, and paper from my stash

Stamps- Sohcahtoa; Altenew

Ink- VersaMark

Dies- Butterfly Drift; Simon Says Stamp, Rectangles; Sizzix

Card stock- Desert Storm; Neenah

Embellishments- Sequins; Pastel Spring Mix by Verve and Hero Arts white embossing powder

Other- Embossing folder; Large Dots; Stampin' Up!

Finished Size- A-2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Hello!

Today I just wanted to make a card out of my favorite 6x6 paper pack. I was inspired by a design I found at Freshly Made Sketches # 179. Even though the challenge was over, I liked the simple design of this card. I really like it, and I hope you do too! 

I am really into die cutting right now. Probably because the Online Card Class I took renewed my love of die cuts! I can't tell you just how much I learned from this class! http://onlinecardclasses.com Worth every penny!!

Until next time!

Supplies:

Paper- Pebbles; Front Porch

Stamps- Sohcatoa; Altenew

Inks- VersaMark

Dies- Hello Words; Paper Smooches, Blueprints; My Favorite Things

Card stock- 110# Neenah Solar White

Embellishments- Pastel Sequin Mix; Verve Stamps, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Fun Foam

Finished Size: A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Just Because...

WOW! This was the hardest challenge I have seen. The colors for the challenge "seemed" easy enough... nope. I was stuck. I found a layout I wanted to use, and started... it took all day, but this is what I came up with. I'm happy with it, and I hope you like it!

The colors are from ColourQ:

The sketch is from CAS(E) This Sketch:

Supplies:
Paper- Recollections, Simon Says Stamp, and Club Scrap
Die- Stitched Mats- Rectangles by Lil' Inker Designs and Bold Blooms by Ellen Hutson
Inks- VersaMark
Sentiment- Everyday Sayings by Hero Arts
Card Stock- 110# Neenah Solar White
Other- White embossing powder by Hero Arts, Scotch foam tape, and Fun foam
Finished size- A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Until next time!

Freezer Paper Technique

On the final day of our Onlinecardclasses.com class, Kristina Werner shared a technique using butcher paper as a mask. You can cut it, heat set it with an iron to your card and then paint or stamp over it. I had some freezer paper in my pantry, so I thought I'd give it a try. I peeled the paper off and LOOK!! It was SO cool!

 I die cut the "fabulous" word and glued it into the white space that had the mask. I added a "you're" stamp 

                                                       and then stamped the inside too.

                                       I can't wait to watercolor again using this technique!!!

Supplies:

Paper- Tim Holtz distress watercolor paper and some black paper from my stash

Die Cut- Say It: Fabulous by Technique Tuesday
Paint: Koi water colors by Sakura

Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black 

Stamps- Take Note by Verve Stamps and I Love You More by My Favorite Things

Card Stock: 110 # Neenah Solar White

Other- Reynolds Freezer Paper

Finished Size: A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") 

Until next time!

Christmas in March?

This week I took Onlinecardclasses.com class called Stretch Your Dies. WOW! What a great class. I need to get busy making cards with all of the cool techniques I learned. I found a Christmas card challenge online so I wanted to make a Christmas card using my "happy" die. This technique was inlay die cuts and I really like the way it turned out.

The sentiment is stamped in Delicata Golden Glitz, but it's so hard to see it in the photo.

Happy Christmas in March!! Sometimes just listening to Christmas music and making a Christmas card make me feel a whole lot better.

Supplies:
Paper: Authentique 6x6- Believe, DCWV 8x8- Old World Stamp, and Green card stock from Club Scrap
Ink: Delicata Golden Glitz
Sentiment: Clearly Besotted- Modern Christmas
Card stock: 110# Neenah Solar White
Embellishments: Sequins- Simon Says Stamp and Pretty Pink Posh
Finished Size: 4-bar (3 1/2" x 5")

Until next time.

Color Challenge

It's a color challenge!!

 

 

 

This is a color challenge from Colour Q. I love the crisp colors!! The embossing is actually in silver, but it's midnight central standard time, and my lighting is bad...

 

 

The challenge looked like this:

www.ColourQ.blogspot.com

 

 

Until next time!

 

Supplies:

Paper: Neenah Desert Storm, Dark Grey from Club Scrap, and black & green from my stash.

Stamps: Love You So from Ellen Hutson

Dies: Circles from Sizzix and Stitched Mats- Rectangles from Lil' Inker Designs

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and VersaMark

Other: Liquid pearls Onyx from Ranger and Silver embossing powder from Hero Arts.

I'm So Proud of YOU!!

I made this card for my son, Todd.



It was inspired by a contest I found online. Here's a link to the sketch:

Retrosketch #156


And here is a pic of the sketch:


It was a inspiration to use the sketch! I knew I wanted a masculine theme for my card, and I wanted it to be clean. My son took a really tough test today, and PASSED!! I wanted to make a card to let him know how proud I was. When I was done, I thought I'd enter the contest and check out all of the other takes on this sketch. There is a ton of talented ladies out there and some really great looking cards. I'm the newbie!!

I wanted to stamp the sentiment on a black paper circle using my new MISTI stamp press. It is AWESOME!! Anyway, I was able to curve my stamp, and stamp it in VersaMark embossing ink. I added Hero Arts white embossing powder (my fav) and hit it with my heating tool. I cut out the "you" in white fun foam and hit it with my heating tool to shrink it a bit.

I took an Online Card Class this week, and learned that you can die cut sentiments using fun foam and then heat with a heating tool to shrink them. Very cool! You can also color them using copic markers or even a sharpie. The class was fun and informative! I learned a new trick or two. Head over to onlinecardclasses.com and check it out! I took the Stretch Your Dies class.

The Supplies:
Paper- Recollections Prints, Neenah Solar White 110 pound, and Vellum
Ink- VersaMark embossing Ink
Sentiment- Stampin' Up!  Crazy About You
Die cut- Stampin' Up! Hello You
Embellishments- Ranger Enamel Accents in black, and white DMC thread
Other- Fun foam, foam tape, Hero Arts white embossing powder, and MISTI

I need to give a special shout out to my SIL. He helped me (over the phone!) to set up this blog page so I could enter my card in the Retrosketches challenge. He ALWAYS helps me with my camera and tech issues. Thanks Skippy!!

Until next time!