Joyful Bows

Hi, sorry its been a bit. The holidays are upon us :) I created these two cards back in November not long after receiving my copy of PaperCrafts special issue Holiday Cards & More. It is full of really great ideas, but there was one in particular that caught my eye so I created the first card to look just like it. And then I created the second version because I was so happy with how it turned out :) For both cards I used the Merry Wishes set by Verve. I love the font they chose for "Joy." I decided to use both silver and rhinestone brads to embellish the snowflakes on the first card, but the berries on the second card were bright enough on their own that I didn't even need to add anything. The wide ribbon that was used for the bows is some older pomegranite ribbon by Stampin' Up!
Merry Christmas everyone!

Vintage Birthday Girl

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I enjoyed some extra craft time and put together some vintage cards that I had kind of started a while back. This birthday card is the one I am most proud of because I went out of my creative box and used an asymmetrical design which I learned how to create from the Paper Crafts special issue Card Design Handbook. The current Tuesday Trigger on the Moxie Fab World blog, Frame by Frame, was also a source of inspiration with its vintage look and light color scheme. I was so happy when the challenge continued again this week and I could play along cause I hadn't finished my card in time for the usual deadline!!

And now for the details of the card, I used Confetti White cardstock from Stampin' Up! as the card base and then strips of patterned paper from the Butterfly Garden collection by Pink Paislee. In the top corner, I used a piece of washi tape by Tim Holtz. The birthday sentiment is from Verve's Big Wish set and the little crown is from SU's Elementary Elegance set, but the little butterfly is a sticker from my odds and ends.
Thanks for stopping :)

Warm Gingerbread

Just got to play around with my new Scentsational Season stamp set and framelits from SU recently and put this fun card together. I also used some of the new peppermint scented embossing powder on my Gingerbread man :) Some people think its a bit over the top, but I think its quite fun! The sentiment is from a set by Verve called Merry Wishes. My colors are kraft, chocolate chip, old olive and real red. I'm looking forward to creating more cards with this set; there are some really cute ideas on SCS. Hurray for the four day Thanksgiving weekend!! I know I'll be holed up in craft room for much of the time; how about you? :)
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Blue Skies with In Colors

So, I know these colors are not fall or winter, but I wanted to mix things up a bit before Thanksgiving. For both of these cards I used Verve's stamp set called Blue Skies along with SU's new In Colors and some Basic Grey patterned paper called Lemonade. The patterened paper is so fun and I've enjoyed creating with it so I was ecstatic when I discovered that some SU's new In Colors go perfectly with it. I also used one of the label die cuts by Nestablilities to create my frames. For the first card I used the die cut like normal and then for the second card I used the negative piece. Have a bright day today and thanks for stopping by!

Fall Woodgrain

While the last few leaves are clinging to the trees, I wanted to share this fairly simple, classic fall card with you. The main card base is embossed with SU's new Woodgrain folder which I am loving, and the sentiment is from a long retired SU set that I die cut with a Nestablilities label die and then sponged the edges. I found the three leaves in my little drawer of scraps and pieces so I pulled them out, grouped them together and attached them with a yellow brad. They added such a nice bit of interest and color to the simple design.

Winter Covered Bridge

This stamp set is just so pretty! This winter scene is fun to color in; this time I stamped the image in black StazOn ink and then used a blender pen and ink. I also used glitter glue on the trees and the edges of the snow for a pretty, glistening look, and mounted it using dimensionals to make sure it stood out. My base cardstock is Cherry Cobbler (which is my favorite red that SU has produced) and my accent strip is Bashful Blue that I stamped using the small snowflakes stamp from the Serene Snowflakes set in matching blue ink. My sentiment is embossed white and comes from Verve's Winter Mittens set.

Thanks for stopping!

Autumn Covered Bridge

A good friend of mine recently found the long retired Changing Seasons set by SU, that I've been looking for for quite a while now. I was jumping up and down with excitement when she gave it to me!! :o) Its a set of four stamps each of a different covered bridge during each of the four seasons; they are so pretty. For this card, I chose the Autumn season, of course, and tried coloring it in with watercolor crayons but didn't use any water or blending just to make sure that the lines didn't run or smudge since I used Early Espresso classic ink. I'm pretty happy with the look/ how the crayons look, and it didn't take all that long either. I decided to create a cardstock frame using Not Quite Navy to make the picture pop and then mounted it on to my More Mustard card base. The quote my Martin Luther is stamped in Not Quite Navy to match and is from the Le Jardin Botanique set by SU.
Stay tuned for a card using the winter covered bridge scene next :)

Country Quilt

Happy Saturday :) I tried my hand at a patchwork quilt style card using a long retired set from Stampin' Up! called Little Somethings. Because the stamps are a cute country style, I went with a classic country color scheme from SU's old Rich Regal color family: Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy, and Bordering Blue. The images were colored in using pastels in matching colors with the addition of So Saffron and Always Artichoke. Then I finished off the card with an embossed birthday sentiment from SU's Elementary Elegance set, one of this year's sale-a-bration sets.
Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal Birthday

Today's card is a hybrid creation using the digi version of A Cardinal Christmas from Stampin' Up!. I printed it out onto vanilla cardstock, die cut it using the Top Note die and them colored it in using watercolor crayons. Because this element was so large, all I needed to finish it off was some real red ribbon wrapped around the kraft card base. The birthday wishes is a traditional stamp from Verve's Big Wish set.

Guy's Layered Birthday

Masculine cards are not as common as girly cards so I wanted to share this birthday card with you. I love this patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket that I bought a couple years ago; the patterns a colors are great. I cut a few different size rectangles and layered them at different heights using dimensionals. The yellow mesh strip is actually drywall mesh tape that i snuck from my Dad's garage to provide a unique and interesting element. My white card base seemed a bit too stark so I used a bit of blue shimmer spray to add interest and tie it in with the patterned paper. Last but not least, I added a screw head brad to highlight the sentiment and make sure it didn't get lost in the busy patterns.

Heart-filled Gumball

PaperCrafts Magazine puts out some fabulous special issues. A recent one, which I think will prove to be one of my all time favorites, is Card Design Handbook. As someone who has never taken art classes, I am so excited to have a guide like this!! Anyway Cath has challanged the followers of her Moxie Fab World blog, of which I am a HUGE fan, to try out some of the concepts taught. The card I made today is for the Gallon/Quart/Pint challange. I went with a clean and graphic style for this one, and used the cute little heart-filled gumball machine from a long retured Stampin' Up set.
Hopefully I be able to find some time to enter some of the other challanges too. There are five in all, and the deadline is Monday the 24th so I should be able to challange myself with at least one more this weekend :)

Happy Fall!!

Enjoy the Ride

Can I just say how much a love this car image by Papertrey Ink?! It's part of their set called Enjoy the Ride. I've had my eye on this set for about a year now and finally purchased it a few weeks ago *happy dance.* I love how there are so many little license plate messages in the set. The little flowers on the car are not part of the set; they are just doodled by me to make it a hippie car :) My colors are so saffron, melon mambo, and then the card base is an old SU In Color that I'm not sure of.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the ride!!

Summer Fun

  

With the hot summer we've had, I was inspired to make these two cards that have a keep cool, celebrate summer theme. For the first card I used Sprinkler Girl from the Pure Innocence collection by My Favorite Things along with their grass die cut. Both the bathing suit and the large strip of design paper are from Basic Grey's Konnichiwa collection.

For this second card, I pulled out my coordinating Island Oasis design paper and Tropical Party stamp set by SU. I absolutely adore this coconut drink stamp; it's so fun!! I stamped it in chocolate chip ink, colored in the straw and umbrella with watercolor pencils, and then layered it on a piece of So Saffron. The Happiness sentiment is from the Warm Words set; and that is exactly what comes to mind when thinking of a tropical drink and summer fun.
So enjoy the rest of your summer!!

Dance

I have two cards to share today. The first one was created using paper from Basic Grey's Plumeria line which I just can't get enough of!! Because I wanted to keep the patterned paper as the main focus, I kept the rest clean and simple. My card base is smaller than normal at 4 1/4" tall by 5" wide and the color is River Rock. The Friendship symbol is from the old SU set called Symbols of Silicitude which I punched out using the Curly Label punch and adhered using dimensionals to make it stand out a bit.

I created this card using my new Blue Skies set by Verve which I just love. The whimsical butterflies are so beautiful. I colored them in using markers in Pool Party and Island Indigo; I'm still experimenting/getting used to shading with the markers. The idea and layout for this card came from a gorgeous card made by Jen del Muro of Verve; check it out.
Thanks for stopping by!

Kites in the Sky

Here's another card I created with the Up, Up, and Away set by Papertrey Ink. I love the fun pattern stamps in this set, so I used all three in different colors to dress up my kites. My colors are Mambo Melon, Rich Razzleberry, and Tempting Turquoise on Bashful Blue cardstock. For the clouds, I chose Versamark ink so that they would look softer and further away. I love how quickly this card went together and the fact that it is a one layer card without looking to simple. Definitely going to get a lot of use out of this stamp set! :o)

Summer sky

Happy July! For this summery birthday card, I used the hot air balloons from the Up, Up, and Away set by PaperTrey Ink and then colored them in using markers.  I die cut the clouds out of tissue paper to give them a more transparent, realistic look. My sky and hills are patterned paper by DCWS and the sentiment is by PaperTrey Ink as well.
Have a happy 4th!!

Konnichiwa

Konnichiwa everyone. The design paper featured in this card is part of the new konnichiwa collection by Basic Grey. I love all things Japanese and this collection is no exception. The sentiment is from a long time retired set by Stampin' Up!
Happy Summer

Flower from Humphrey

I am so in love with Humphrey - this cute little elephant!! I was SSOOO happy when I found this stamp set at this year's CK Manchester convention 'cause they are rather hard to come by. I colored him in with pastels and a blender pen, mounted him on a strip of pumpkin pie and green design paper by DCWS, and added a corduroy brad to highlight my sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by!

Sew Special

Here's a trendy little card I made using Stampin' Ups! Sew Suite stamp set and DCWS design paper. I love the little tomatoe pin cushion image in this set; its so cute and iconic to me. I created my sentiment on the computer using CK's Quick Stitch font, printed it out onto cardstock, and then ran it through my Big Shot with a Spellbinders label die. The little scrap of blue ric rac was the perfect addition to tie the design together.

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Love You Much

Even though I didn't make this card for Mother's Day, I thought it was a fitting one to share. I used a sketch from the Viva La Verve challange - March 12 Week 1 and the Love You Much stamp set from Stampin' Up! My paper is from the Lemonade collection by Basic Grey (one of my favorites). I used so saffron, regal rose, rose red, and always artichoke markers to color the stamp. To fill in the v and create a vase, I colored it with a bit of blue and then covered it with Crystal Effects.
Hope you had a nice Mother's Day weekend!

Celebrate Lavendar

For this springy card, I chose Lavender Lace as my background color and dry embossed it with a texture plate from Stampin' Up! Then I stamped the " Celebrate" onto white cardstock after applying multiple ink colors. Lastly I die cut a butterfly out of vellum and attached it with a glimmer brad.

Tea-riffic!

Hope your having a tea-riffic day! :) I am a big fan of tea as well as tea/ coffee stamp sets. The last time I bought a hot drink, I saved the sleeve and used a piece of it here to mount my images to. The cup on this card comes from a set by Fiskars, and the sentiment and background images are by Verve. My colors are Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Old Olive, and Pumpkin Pie. My baker's twine is from the Twinery.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Subtle Flower

Happy Easter weekend all! This card isn't specifically for Easter, but its nice and springy. I used some retired colors from SU's soft subtles color family along with a current one - Blush blossom, pretty plum, mellow moss, and perfect plum. I really like the look of these "flowers,"all it takes is rounding the opposite corners of squares. For some added texture, I put them in my polka dot embossing folder and ran them through the Big Shot. Then I added a large brad to the center to finish it off. My "Happy" sentiment is by Verve from Merry Wishes.

Flower Love

Nothing says Spring to me more than pastel colors and blooming flowers. The colors I chose for this card are bashful blue, barely banana, and lovely lavender which are all from SU's old soft subtles. My sentiment is from Wonderful Words and my flower is from an old hostess set.

Happy Spring! :)

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Motorcycle Birthday

With such warm weather these days, I've seen a lot of people out on their bikes riding the roads. For this card I used the digi version of SU's Motorcycle stamp and colored it in with

not quite navy and pumpkin pie

watercolor crayon and a silver metalic pen. Then I used a diamond plate embossing folder with silver metalic paper to create my accent strip. My sentiment is from a birthday set by Fiskares.

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Bath Time

Loving this super cute set from the Pure Innocence line at My Favorite Things! Isn't she adorable!! My colors are rose red, regal rose, pool party, and so saffron. I used markers to color her in and then I used Stamin' Up!s new glitter glue to fill in the bubbles. Love how it turned out!!!

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Winter Wishes

Even though it hasn't looked like winter most of the time this year, I've still been playing around with my winter stamps. This is a brand new set (for me) from Verve that I just love!! The mittens are just too cute! I colored them in with markers - wisteria, rose, garden green, and eggplant. I added the hearts free hand to dress them up. My card base is eggplant and then I used a strip of retired design paper to coordinate with the mittens. I embossed my sentiment with white powder so that it would show up better on the design paper. Lastly, I used my paper piercer to create a border around part of my focal point.
Warm winter wishes everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day!
The card I am sharing today is a digital card that I created using Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software. I love how easy it is to create a digital card and convert it to a picture. For this one I simply used the heart punch multiple times and just resized it a little and filled it with different papers. My colors are very vanilla, mambo melon, pretty in pink, and basic gray. The patterns are from the design series collection. I was even able to use silver glitter paper for some added pizzaz :o) My sentiment is from SU's Heard from the Heart set.
Have a happy day!

Adirondack Bear

Here's a card from my Adirondack style collection. This one will have to be hand delivered because of the stick, but its a great man style card. I love collecting pieces of birch bark that have fallen off the trees as I walk through the woods. Using my craft and rubber scissors, I trimmed this piece to use as my background. In order to attach it to the card, a strong adhesive is needed so I used sticky strip. For the stick, I used glue dots (crystal effects also works well as long as you have a decent amount of the stick actually touching the cardstock). For my focal point, I stamped the bear sil0hette from SU's retired Pines set onto Confetti White cardstock using Basic Black craft ink and then ran my fingernail around the edge to distress it. And there you have it :o)

Thanks for stopping by!

My Cup of Tea

When I was trying to decide which design to use for my sister's birthday card, I decided to try something I had never done before (and wouldn't do for just anyone :0). I used them both!! What you see is not the fronts of 2 different cards, but, instead, the front and back of the same card. Different, I know, but we liked it! For the first side, I took the cardboard sleeve off of a disposable cup from our favorite coffee shop (Brewbakers in Keene :o) and cut a section of it to use for my background. I loved how it was embossed already and added to the theme of the card. The stamps are from the Morning Cup stamp set by SU and the Better With You set by Verve, and I colored them in with markers using So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Bravo Burgundy, and Elegant Eggplant. For the second side, my colors are Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Old Olive, Rose Red, and Early Espresso, and my stamps are from the Fiskars set, Latte Love. I used a circle punch to cut out the images and a cute border punch also by Fiskars with some packing paper to create a cute bottom border for my focal point. Lastly, I added some texture and visual interest by using some small corduroy brads.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and is enjoying the new year so far! This is the Christmas card that I sent out this year. I really love this new Christmas set by Stampin' Up!. The font used for the Joy is so pretty! And the words to Joy to the World make up the star shape. I decided to go for a less tradition color combo of So Saffron, Baja Breeze, and Not Quite Navy. My Nestabilities die got quite a workout but I loved the shape for my focal point.
I'm definitely enjoying how the pace of life has slowed down a bit and that I'm getting time to stamp again. How about you? :o)