Christ Is Born

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and you're taking some time to relax and recoup. My card for today is the main Christmas card that I sent out this year. One layer cards are always my goal because they are the easiest to reproduce and the large images in this retired set by Stampin' Up! called "Christ is Born", helped quite a bit. Even though I've had this set for awhile now, I still love it, especially the font used for "Christ is Born." To create the card, I used Sahara Sand for the cardstock base, stamped the poinsettias in white ink and added a rhinestone to the centers, then stamped the sentiment in Cranberry Crisp. To finish the card and soften the edges, I used white acrylic paint in a sponge tip dabber by Adirondack Ink.

Colorful Trees

Lovely As A Tree by Stampin' Up currently holds the spot of "my favorite set for fall cards" and this image in particular. I love how this looks with chalks rubbed directly on to the cardstock; they blend together so well. I used the Top Note die to frame the image and then mounted it onto a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock. For the lower half, I added a layer of More Mustard cardstock to bring in some more color and help frame the image. Then I used a piece of Chocolate Chip ribbon and a ribbon slide to separate the two. The sentiment is from PTI's Up,Up, and Away set and is stamped in Chocolate Chip.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the fall :)

Thinking of You Pumpkin

Are you enjoying the fall? I sure am; I went through a corn maze last weekend :) So I was inspired to make this classic fall card. The pumpkin image is from an old SU set called Fall Whimsy and I used watercolor crayons to color it in. I added some texture to the background by stamping SU's Linen background stamp and Close to Coco ink. The edge of the Pumpkin Pie paper strip was cut using MFT's wavy edge die. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Up, Up, and Away set.

Perk Up Soon

Here's another card using SU's newest In Colors; I really like how they look with each other. The images are a wheel stamp by SU that coordinates with their Morning Cup set, it's called Take A Sip. The sentiment is from MFT's Miss You A Latte set (that I used for my last card). I used a Fiskars scalloped edge punch on the piece of Brown Sugar cardstock for some interest as well as a bit of Frosted Lace Stickies that I used on the big flower center of the green mug. This certainly made for a cheerful combination for my get well card :)
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy WCMD - MFT Latte

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! Thanks for stopping by. With the arrival of fall here in New England, I've been enjoying pumpkin spice latte's lately and was inspired to create this card using My Favorite Things' set Miss You A Latte. My color scheme is Stampin' Up!'s newest In Color Collection - Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar, and Coastal Cabana. I mounted my sentiment on a piece of corrugated cardboard for some dimension and just because it makes me smile.
I'm having fun today and celebrating by creating more cards and taking a break to see what others have created. How about you?

Skateboard birthday

I am loving fall! The leaves here in New England are almost at peak. I went apple picking yesterday, and made a pumpkin cheesecake today. :) Next week I will have a fall card to share with you, but for today I chose to share a birthday card for a young man using SU's Extreme Skateboard image and patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket. I used an airbrush with an Old Olive marker to carry the distressed look of the patterned paper through the other elements along with a few strips of Going Grey cardstock. The sentiment is also stamped in Old Olive and is from PTI's Enjoy the Ride set.
Enjoy the fall! :)

Sweet Cupcake

Happy Monday all. Today's card was created for a wonderful, long-time friend of mine. The big, fun cupcake is a sticker from the Sweet Day collection by Echo Park, as is the colorful polka dot design paper. I mounted the sticker on some white cardstock that was run through my Big Shot using an embossing plate. The sentiment is from Enjoy the Ride by PTI and stamped in Ridding Hood Red ink. Lastly, the base of the card is dark, rich Early Espresso :)
Have a sweet day!

Birthday Bunny

Isn't this bunny the sweetest? It's from a long retired SU set called New Little Someone. I haven't stamped with it in quite some time, but a coworker asked me for a card for a 1 year old little girl and in looking over my stamps I was reminded of it. I decided to color the bunny with water color crayons and just blend a little with my finger with the exception of the yellow bow which I colored in with a blender pen. The bottoms of his feet are covered with flocking and the ribbon is covered with Crystal Effects for some fun dimension and texture. My colors are So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, and Crumb Cake. Lastly, the sentiment is from the Enjoy the Ride set by Papertrey Ink.

Happy Japanese Doll

This little Japanese Doll from Hero Arts is just too cute! and there's even two more in the set. I embossed her and then colored her with SU watercolor pencils. I pulled my colors from this piece of design paper from the Plumeria collection by Basic Grey and they are Always Artichoke, Orchid Opulence and some Only Orange and Pumpkin blended together. And last but not least, the sentiment is from Good Fortune by MFT.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Burlap Wedding Quote

I created this card for a friend's recent wedding. I pulled out some design paper from my favorite shabby chic collection, Lilac House by Fancy Pants, to start with and layered it on a piece of River Rock for my base. Then I added a strip of burlap and then the sentiment that I stamped in Razzleberry and die cut. Lastly, I added a touch of elegance with the three pearls that underscore my focal point.

Circle - Hey Friend

Busy, busy summer! Here is a recent creation inspired by summer. I decided to change things up a little and use a circle for my card base; the color is Groovy Guava. The patterned paper and stickers are from a really fun collection by Echo Park called Sweet Day; it's so adorable! I framed it with some white cardstock cut using my big circle cutter. Lastly, the butterfly is die cut from a piece of Baja Breeze and stamped with bits of images from the La Jardin Boutique set using Versamark ink.
Try to stay cool and dry!

I'm editing this post in order to link up to this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge at Moxie Fab World. I couldn't believe it when I saw the picture; many of the colors of the paints are the same as the ones in my card. Plus the circle shape of the paint cans is reflected in the shape of my card, as well as the white ring around each color from the can reflected in the white ring border of my card. I really like this picture and hope to create some more cards based on it soon. The challenge deadline isn't til Sunday so there's plenty of time for you to join in the fun too!

Summer Travel

Celebrating summer travel today with this card. My colors are More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. The patterned paper is from a fall collection by SU a few years ago. I stamped the airplane image from SU's Sentimental Journey on a square of cardstock and then sponged the edges with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to help it blend with the slightly worn/aged look.
Have a great Independence Day weekend and be safe wherever you travel! God bless America!

Argyle Dad

Hope everyone enjoyed Father's Day. I created a few different Dad themed cards last week. This one is a quick design using the Morning Post alphabet set stamped in Vintage Photo Distress Ink and argyle design paper (retired SU). I added a small strip of Sahara Sand and a brad at either end and then rounded the bottom corners.

Nove Scotia Lighthouse

One thing I enjoy doing in the summer time is going to see lighthouses as part of my trip to a beach which is one of the reasons I enjoy the old SU stamp set, Coast to Coast. It has four actual lighthouses from around the country. The one pictured in today's card is in Nova Scotia. I colored it with watercolor crayons and a blender pen and created a frame out of Night of Navy cardstock then layered it on a Sahara Sand base. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations (retired).

Butterfly Washi Tape

 Washi tape is all the rage lately. I'm not really into it, but I did find some pretty styles by Tim Holtz that I couldn't resist. This one has all sorts and sizes of butterflies on it. I layered it onto my card base that I stamped using SU's Linen background. Then I punched three circles, two from Fancy Pants' Lilac House collection and one in vanilla for my message. The Bible verse is from a long retired set stamped in razzleberry and then behind it is the berry branch from La Jourden Boutique stamped in Antique Linen Distress Ink which I also used to sponge around the edge for a more aged look. To finish the card, I rounded the bottom corners and added an antique brad.

Colorful Numbers

I bought several stencils recently and am having fun experimenting with them including this numbers stencil by Clear scraps. For this card I used three different colors of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist: Jack Frost, Cranberry Zing, Yellow Daisy and sprayed different sections of the card. I like how the colors blended some to add even more color and interest. Then all I had to do was wait for the ink to dry and then stamp my birthday sentiment in black and I was done! So fun and easy! I know I will be getting lots of use out of this one :)

Mother's Day Nature

Hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day. I certainly enjoyed spending the day with my Mom and this is the card I created for her this year. I was going through an older file of card ideas and found this one by Mary Fish. I used several different SU sets, mostly retired, for the nature theme images. The N is from the Morning Post alpha set (really loving this one :) The images are stamped in Mellow Moss on Very Vanilla cardstock, then punched out with a 1 1/4" square punch, and laid out onto a Perfect Plum card base. I added a brad to the center of the big flower to give the card a bit of dimension.

Vintage Butterfly

I'm getting more comfortable with creating vintage style cards, but I still keep going back to a more clean and simple design so I found a happy compromise with this card. The idea came from the "I have a dream" card on page 14 of this year's 365 Cards special issue of PaperCrafts. I used SUs butterfly die and some vintage script style cardstock to create the butterfly and then added an SU vintage collection brad to the center. The sentiment is from a Unity Stamp Co. set called Brave Girl Boots and is stamped in Not Quite Navy ink (I'm so disappointed that SU is retiring this color; I use it all the time!) Finally, I drew a border around the card with a Chocolate Chip marker. And there you have it :)

Happy World

Just a quick post today to share this little (3" square) happy card. It's a bit hard to see in this picture but there is a cloud stamped at either end of the heart rainbow (from PaperTrey Ink's Up,Up and Away set). The hearts are punched from SU cardstock in Razzleberry, Melon, Daffodil, Olive, Pool Party, and Island Indigo. The sentiment is by My Favorite Things from the Being Cute Is What I Do set.

Colorful Friend

Today's card is a clean and simple design but its bright and colorful. I used strips of patterned paper from Basic Gray's Konichiwa collection for the background. The "friend" image is from a retired set by SU. I added a little Crystal Effects to the flower to give it some extra polish. Using white for the base helps to make the card bright and the colors really stand out. This is such a fun paper collection, I just can't get enough of it :)

Collage Clothespin

Hi again. Can you believe that I've posted two days in a row? Well, I carved out time this weekend to catch up on some craft projects and cards and decided to play along with some of the challenges going on in the Moxie Fab World. Today I have a 3D project for the Summer Home Decor Challenge. Head over and check out all of the ideas and the other great entries for each of the four seasons. You can even comment to win if you check it out this evening :)

These over-sized clothespins are so fun, aren't they? I use this one as a recipe card holder, but it needed some dressing up so I painted it and then added bits of washi tape, by Tim Holtz, and images that I stamped and cut or punched out. I used Stampin' Up!'s Lovely Little Labels and Collage Curious sets for my images and stamped them in various colors (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, or Tattered Rose Distress Ink and Baja Breeze or Rich Razzleberry ink by SU). To protect everything from the inevitable batter splatters and water drops and such, I covered it all with a couple coats of Mod Podge just to be safe. I love how it turned out; it makes me think of traveling and backyard dinner parties and just being outside in nature which is why I entered it in the Summer category.
Thanks for stopping by :)

Friendly Button Flowers

Isn't this a cute picture? It's this week's Tuesday Trigger photo at Moxie Fab World. I have such fun seeing what cards others come up with based on the photo, but I rarely feel brave enough or get time to play along and create something myself. But this time I managed to squeeze my entry in just in time.

I pulled out some buttons as well as some felt flowers from my SU stash, and then, for the stems, I drew the straight stitched ones with a marker and then stamped the two that have all of the leaves (left and center) with a stitch patterned stamp from Stampin' Up!'s In Stitches wheel. The sentiment is stamped in Marina Mist and is part of the Humphrey stamp set by Crafter's Companion. Fairly simple card but so cute! Loved playing along this week. Thank you Cath :)

Bright Birthday

I decided to go retro with this birthday card and pulled out some oldies but goodies. I started with the bright design paper and pulled my colors from there - pink passion, pixie pink, only orange. The cake and balloon images are from a long retired SU set called Eat Cake. The balloons are stamped using a glue pad and then sprinkled in pink glitter. For the cake stand, I colored over it with a silver marker to give it some sparkle.
Have a fun, bright day!

Peaceful Hydrangea

Spring is finally here! but you would never guess it looking out my window at the newly fallen foot of snow. So I'm looking at all the pretty pictures on line and the springy cards that others are making for inspiration. For my card today, I chose a classic soft, spring color combo of lavender and moss. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, and I colored this one in using various shades of purple and blue chalk. The base cardstock is sponged with the same color ink as paper to give some texture.Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful, peaceful Spring day :)

Happiness Strips

I am happy that the weather is getting warmer, there is more daylight, and bulbs are starting to sprout up! Easter is just around the corner. So I wanted to share this "happiness" card with its springy colors. I used strips of patterned paper, a piece of velvet ribbon, and a strip of white cardstock that I punched with the scallop border punch by SU. The happiness sentiment is from Warm Words by SU as well. My colors are Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, and Pretty in Pink. This is a nice, quick and easy layout; great when you need to create a card in a hurry.

SAB Love

Hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's Day and President's Day weekend. I spent some time at my craft desk creating projects with some older stamps and papers that I pulled out and dusted off :) It's fun to change things up every so often. Some of them were from last year's SU Sale-a-bration collection. Love that you can get all of the special sets in the digital version on one disk now! This Love sentiment/focal point on my card is from the Outlined Expressions set. I also love that you can resize the digi stamps; its so handy. I colored it in using watercolor crayons - bashful blue, certainly celery, so saffron, and then I mixed razzleberry and perfect plum for the L so that it matched the ribbon better (pomegranite). I added some dazzling details glitter glue to the little hearts for some fun sparkle. Then I mounted it to my card base, groovy guava, which is stamped with the little heart from the set Lovely Little Labels in Versamark ink.
Enjoy your weekend! (I'll be holed up again as another snow storm hits New England!)

Perk Up Soon

Here's a card that I recently created using one of the Go-To Sketches in the Jan/Feb issue of Paper Crafts. I really like the unique look of this layout. I pulled out some design paper from an older SU collection because I love the colors and the polka dots; the pink has a softness and warmth that I like for this time of year. The cute mug that I chose as my focal point is from SU's Scentsational Season set and it was cut out using the coordinating framelits. A little rhinestone in the center gives it a touch of bling. And the sentiment stamp used is from MFT's Miss You A Latte set.

Birdy Birthday Trigger

Today I played along with the Tuesday Trigger challenge over at the Moxie Fab World blog. Here's the inspiration photo

Such a cute photo! I love the wood, all the happy colors, the fun images! So to create my version in a card design, I pulled out my wood veneer to use for the background, some fun colorful design paper from Basic Gray's Lemonade collection, and one of the cute birds from Verve's Anniversary Birds stamp set. Because I wanted to make sure that my Happy Birthday sentiment (from SU's Eat Cake set) didn't get lost in all the color, I stamped it on a piece of Rose Red cardstock and then embossed it in white.
Happy Birthday to Cath's mom! :)

Pink Cherish

I've been inspired by all of the valentine/heart themed cards and projects I've seen over the last few weeks. So I made this card using my EK Success heart punch with some of the pink paper from BasicGrey's Lemonade collection (can you tell it's one of my favorites :) and Stampin' Up!'s basic gray card stock for my base. I used a flourish stamp by Inkadinkado with Versamark ink for my background and added a strip of Pink Pirouette across the bottom that I punched with a Fiskars scallop punch and stamped with one of the words from SU's Warm Wishes set. The finishing touch was a bit of bling in the form of a rhinestone brad. I love the movement of this layout; its based on a great sketch by OWH (#94).
Enjoy the weekend!

Flower Bug

I had so much fun making this card for my sister's birthday! :)  The totally cute car stamp is from the Enjoy the Ride set by Papertrey Ink. I stamped it on some design paper from Basic Grey's Lemonade collection to give the car a funky flower paint job. I had to fussy cut it and then cover the headlights and license plate with a solid color paper, but it was so worth it! To finish off the car, I used a marker to color in the bumper and then some crystal effects on the head lights. And who is the driver, you ask? She is an A La Mode called Miss You a Latte by My Favorite Things. I was so excited when I discovered that she was small enough to fit in the car! The sentiment is also from the Enjoy the Ride set and I stamped it in Raspberry Ripple and Tempting Turquoise. The sticker strip is part of the Lemonade collection, and I thought the little bugs were very fitting for my theme :) The top little paper strip is a piece of Raspberry Ripple and my base cardstock is Primrose Petals.
Groovy :o)

Christmas 2012

So the business of the holidays has calmed down for me. Just finished taking the Christmas tree down yesterday. Thought I would share the Christmas card that I made this year. I'm really happy not only with the way it turned out but also with how easy it was to create (love it when that happens)!!!! My sister helped me decide on Basic Grey as the background color then I stamped the sentiment from The Sounding Joy set in Cherry Cobbler and the silhouette scene from the Come to Bethlehem set in Basic Black using the new style of ink pad from SU which I REALLY like. It covers so much better and more evenly for the large surface area stamps than the old style. I definitely plan on buying some more! Anyway, back to the card, I used my white ink pad to brush the edges and then added some sparkle to the star using the Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue.
Enjoy the New Year!