In My Heart

I was playing around a few weeks ago with Distress Ink and a small Cuttlebug embossing folder which resulted in the panel that is on this card. I used Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade, and tossed the panel in my pile. This morning I had out my Finetec gold watercolor paint and wanting to use up the rest on my brush, I picked this panel and added some spatters and a little outline by dragging my brush along the outside edges.  I really like how the gold brought the panel to another level.  It made me want to use it, so I decided to make a card for my sister Andrea.  She's had a tough year, breaking her hips three times.  She is finally home now, but she lives several states away so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like.  I try to send her a card every few days to let her know she is always in my heart.

I mounted the panel on black card stock and chose Orange Zest CS from PTI for the card base.  I found a scrap cut from a previous watercolor background and added it lengthwise across the card.  It still needed something so I found a sliver of white CS and embossed it several times with one of my oldest and favorite embossing powders, Judikins Egyptian Gold.  I wanted a sentiment that would follow the line, and this one from Summer Hills stamp set by PTI worked perfectly.

Have a creative day!

Paula

Baby Booties

My sister and I made these favors for a baby shower that my niece is giving on Sunday. We used the pillow box die from SU. The shoes are from an old SU set, Buggies and Booties.

My niece also waned to give thank you cards to the mom-to-be, so we made up the cards with the same design.

We used Baja Breeze and Celery. I like this combo paired with the chocolate ribbon.



Stamps: Booties and Buggies SU, Sentiment from Amuse
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Confetti, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery
Extras: Cuttlebug embossing folder, SU scallop punch, Chocolate wide grosgrain ribbon, Pillow box die, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

My First Try with Copics and other new stuff

I used my Copic markers to color this image for a card for my niece's birthday. She is 40 today. Happy birthday Joelle!

I have had some Copics for a while, but I haven't really sat down to play with them. So I tried them on this image. I want to try them on something larger next time.

I also used my new Doily Lace edge punch from Martha Stewart. I think it's lovely. I used it on the front egde of the card, so the pink from the back side shows through.

Another new for me product that I used on this card is Glimmer Midt. I used Pearl on all of the white cardstock. I'm not sure you can see it, even in a close up, but it is very pretty. It gives the paper a beautiful shimmer.

I had fun playing with my new toys! In my next post, I will tell you about the fun day I had stamp shopping with a friend. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend!

Stamps: SU! Oh so Lovely, PTI Mixed Messages
Ink: Stazon Black, PTI Berry Sorbet
Paper: SU! Regal Rose, Rose Red
Extras: Cuttlebug die tag, Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch, Copic markers, SU! Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon, silver cord, Pearl Glimmer Mist, Spica At You clear glitter pen, dimensionals

Happy Birthday to Karen

A quick post to show you a birthday card for my neighbor Karen. Today was her birthday, and she is a special lady. She and her husband have sort of adopted our boys. They have watched them grow up since they were born. They have no children, so they enjoy ours. Last summer her husband George took my 4 boys to a fly-in fishing lodge in Canada for a week. They all had a great time. It is a great blessing to have such wonderful neighbors!

This card uses a chip board flower as the focal point and I used Beate's weekend sketch 46 for my layout. I will edit later with a link and more description.

I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the blue Creating Keepsakes paper. This paper is white on the back, so I used a sanding block on the dots which whitens them. I like that look. It will also work with white core paper. It will not work with SU paper because SU paper is solid color throughout the paper. But you could achieve the same look with a white ink pad softly brushed over the dots.

I covered a chipboard flower with the same paper as I used for the embossed background paper. I stamped it with SU's Fresh Fillers in Soft Sky. It has a Target $ Spot rhinestone and some of my favorite flavor of Stickles, Star Dust.

Hope you had a great weekend! It was a perfect spring day here today!
Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: SU For a Friend and Fresh Fillers
Ink:Soft Sky, Stazon Black
Paper: Making Memories DP, Certainly Celery, WW
Extras:SU chip board floer, lt.pink grosgrain ribbon, SU flower slide, Target $ spot rhinestone, scallop edge scissors, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, sanding block, Star Dust Stickles by Ranger, SU horizontal slot punch, Lemon Spica glitter pen, dimensionals.

Edited on 5/6/08 to add more information and link.

Papertrey Blog Hop

Papertrey is holding a Blog Hop on Friday, April 25, and I decided to participate. Our challenge was to use their Father Knows Best DP. I didn't own any, but Nichole, one of the owners, let us download a sample sheet. We could use it in any way we wanted, but we had to use squares no larger than about 1 1/2" square. So I decided to punch those cute little Three For You flowers.

This is a simple card, but I like it how it turned out. I used Papertrey Aqua Mist and Spring Moss. I had trouble with the green coming out too dark. It's actually much lighter and prettier. The aqua is more pale too in real life. You can see the colors more accurately here. The flowers are a yellow color which you might be able to see if you click on the photo to enlarge it. I retook the photo this afternoon outside, but it's gloomy here with a storm approaching.

The medallion is a Cuttlebug die. The ribbon is a lovely soft and flexible twill from Papertrey.

This card is for my son's girlfriend, who is graduating on Saturday from The University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Bioengineering. I hope she doesn't read my blog, because I haven't sent it yet! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Mixed Messages (Papertrey)
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Papertrey Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Father Knows Best DP
Extras:Three For You punch, Cuttlebug die and Swiss Dot embossing folder, silver brads, Aqua Mist twill, Amuse Creative Candy micro dots.

Vintage Christening

Yesterday was the baptism of my niece's son, Benjamin. The babies in our family use a gown that my paternal grandmother made in 1902 for my uncle's birth. My father, my brother and sisters, most of my nieces, nephews, their children, my children, and I were baptized in it. So this image from Buggies and Booties from SU! is perfect.

Several years ago at convention, SU! demonstrated making a baptism record using this set. This is my version of it. I made a pink version for my niece when her daughter was born 3 years ago, so I made her one for Benjamin too.

This is actually quite easy. The gowns are stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with markers. I used Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, and Apricot Appeal. I distressed the edges, mounted them on torn Barely Banana panels and tied off-white narrow organdy ribbon around the bottom of each panel.

I die cut 3 tags from watercolor paper and stamped them with date, time and place on each tag, using markers to color in the words I wanted. Then I wrote in the date, time, and church with a grey marker, and tied them onto the ribbons with a length of crochet cotton.

I really wanted to be able to have an embossed background because I wanted the vintage look that embossing would lend. The Cuttlebug folders are only about 4" by 5 1/2", and the Cuttlebug is only about 6" wide, so I wasn't able to emboss the entire sheet. I thought about cutting and piecing the background, but I really didn't want any seams. So, I got out my rolling pin and placed my folder on my large sheet and rolled away. It was pretty hard work, and I had to do it 6 times, moving the folder to a new section each time. The embossing didn't come out nearly as crisp as when it's done in the Cuttlebug, but I was pleased with how it turned out; sort of a "distressed" embossing.

The frame is from Walmart, $9.99. In the corner, I used a Hodgepodge Hardware frame to enclose the baby's name. I attached the frame with some dimensionals and attached some pale blue grosgrain around the corner.

I wanted to create a space, like a shadow box, between the framing glass and the art work, so I attached the glass to the inside front of the frame with my ATC gun adhesive. I tossed all of those filler pieces that come with the frame to help keep your picture against the glass. Mounting the artwork onto the back panel of the frame left a nice space so that the 3 dimensional parts of the project stay that way.

Of course, the baby needed a Christening card, so I used the same gown image for the card. I die cut a tag and stamped the word Blessings from the SU set God's Blessings. The rest of the details for the card are the same as for the baptismal record.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend. We had a picture perfect spring day here in northern Illinois. Spring is finally here! Woohoo! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: SU Buggies and Booties, God's Blessings
Ink: Stazon Black, Going Grey, SU Markers for watercoloring
Paper:Watercolor, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana
Extras: Hodgepogde Hardware, Ivory narrow organdy ribbon, Oval punch, Cuttlebug tag die cut and embossing folder, pale blue narrow grosgrain ribbon

Textured Elegance

This card was my entry for a VSN challenge on SCS last weekend. The challenge was called Wedding Elegance, and the challenge was to capture the elegance of a wedding. The card did not have to be a wedding card, just be elegant.

I chose to make a card for my husband. He is a wonderful husband, a great dad, and a good provider. Besides, I love him too! ;) I wanted to let him know that.

Using white cardstock, I embossed each end only part way with my Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug folder. In the center, I stamped the sentiment in black.

I tied a length of SU's white taffeta ribbon around the panel and mounted it on black cardstock. I used white cardstock for the base, and completed the card with a Swarovski crystal at the end of the sentiment.

This card was very quick and quite easy to make, but I think it makes a big impact.

I hope you get some stamping in this weekend. I am working, and most of my boys are camping this weekend, including my husband, so maybe I will have some time to stamp. Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Wonderful Words by SU
Ink: Basic Black
Paper:Papertrey Staper's Select white, SU Basic Black
Extras: Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers folder, SU taffeta ribbon, Swarovski crystal

Hoping For Spring

This is another card I made for the Virtual Stamp Night on SCS. For this challenge we had to use a "sketch" type stamp. So I chose this cute little spring tree from SU's A Tree for all Seasons.

I used markers straight and I also watercolored parts of the image. You can't really see it in the photo, but I used a Spica clear glitter marker on the blossoms. The celery panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and the tiny tag is a Cuttlebug die. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Mixed Messages.

The last touches were some ribbon and little pink crystals that I got on clearance at Target.

I like how this turned out and I am sending it to a friend who had surgery recently, but I neglected to send her a get well card. Well, it's a little late now; she's feeling much better. So I began the inside of the card with "Just because I'm a dope, and I never sent you a get well card." ;)

We've had a few spring like days since I made this card. The birds sure know it's spring with all the glorious singing they've been doing in the morning. I hope there are some signs of spring where you are today! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: A Tree for All Seasons, Mixed Messages (PaperTrey)

Paper: Confetti White, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou, Porcelain Prints DSP

Ink: Stazon Black, Blue Bayou

Accessories: Markers, Grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug tag and embossing folder, Spica glitter pen, Stick-on rhinestones on clearance at Target( I think they were by Marcella), SU Scallop and 1 3/8" punch.

Sympathy

My hubby and I each needed some sympathy cards, and they were for both men and women, so I came up with this design. I think that it is suitable for either a man or a woman, although the ribbon does make it a bit feminine.

I stamped the sentiment on a Very Vanilla panel and adhered that to a panel of Bordering Blue. The large Mellow Moss panel is stamped with SU's Floral background stamp and then I ran it through my Cuttlebug. After setting the Mellow Moss eyelets, I wrapped some Ivory narrow organdy ribbon to finish the card. I was happy with how they turned out, but sad that we needed to send them. I like my sympathy cards to be rather simple. Somehow they seem more comforting that way. Thanks for visiting.

Stamps: Brighter Tomorrow, Floral background
Ink: Mellow Moss, Basic Black
Paper: Mellow Moss, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla
Extras: Cuttlebug, Eyelets, Organdy ribbon

A Beginning

I made this card for a coworker whose birthday is on Saturday. I followed Beate's Weekend Sketch Cahallenge 31 http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/01/18/weekend-sketch-challenge-31/
Sorry, I haven't figured out how to post a link with just a neat little word yet!

It is my first time participating in her sketch challenge. I had to make a larger card to allow for more room for good wishes, since several people will be signing it. The card is 5"x 7". I used the large flower from SU's Embrace Life for my focal point and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. I stamped the flower in Stazon black and water colored it with my WWC. I sponged around the flower with More Mustard ink, but I thought it was a tad too dark. So I took a wet paper towel and removed some of the ink to lighten it a bit. I doubled matted it with Rose Red and Regal Rose. The final touch is a pink rhinestone from K and Co. in the center. The River Rock flowers are punched with the Three for You punch and are embellished with Orchid Dew Drops. They are attached to a Regal Rose panel that I embossed with my Cuttlebug. The patterned paper is from an Old World Mat Stack by DCWV. The paper was only 6" wide and my card is 7", so I cut it and separated it underneath the Rose panel. The sentiment was punched with the SU Key Tag punch and matted with Rose Red. I used the horizontal slot punch on the sides of the tag to make a slider for the ribbon. I was pleased with how this came out. I don't have much experience with using DP.
I hope Bharti enjoys her card, and I hope you do too. Thanks for looking! I am working tomorrow, and the weekend too, but I am hoping to post some projects we did in my after school class that I am teaching at my sister's school. Happy Birthday Bharti!