Christmas cards!

Yes, it's that time of year again. I've been slowly working on Christmas cards for several months now, but I've kicked it up a notch, so to speak, to get some done for samples for this weekend's Diva Day. Both of these cards started out simple and in true form to myself, they turned into complex masterpieces. LOL I really love the angel one though. :)

This card is done using the beautiful Holy Triptych and French Script background. The angel is embossed in gold. Behind her is a piece of vanilla card stock that is embossed around the edges with iridescent ice embossing powder. Then the French Script background is versamarked onto a piece of white card stock. The whole thing is monochromatic with only gold and glitter accents. I love the elegance of the whole look. To finish it off I used a double piece of vanilla taffeta ribbon attached to the card with a rhinestone brad.




The second card uses the Holy Family set from the current mini catalog. Basically it's an emboss resist card. I stamped the image and embossed it in black on white card stock. Then I stamped the snowflakes and embossed them in white. I used sponges in not quite navy, night of navy and black to do the background. On the main image I used markers and colored them in. Then I wiped off the embossed parts so the inks wouldn't smudge where I don't want them (hate it when that happens). Would you believe this card was made entirely out of my scrap bucket? Didn't have to cut a thing! That was part of the challenge to myself in this card--USE THOSE SCRAPS! My bins are overflowing.

Halloween Spinners

Well, this year has brought about a change in me. In the past, I have not even acknowledged the existence of Halloween and completely avoided anything even remotely related. A bit harsh? Yes. So I have given it thought and mulled it over, especially since I now have a 3 year old who is old enough to show interest in it. My conclusion has become that the observance of Halloween in and of itself is not bad. It's the manner in which the observance is done. So if I stay away from the wicked, violent and evil things and veer more toward cute cats, ghosts, pumpkins and harvest symbols, then I see no wrong. I'm keeping it fun and still not conforming to the ways of the world either. That being said, I came up with some adorable spinner cards today. All of them very simple, which, if you know me, is often not even in my vocabulary. So here they are:

The ghost spinners are from a sizzix die. I added the smiley mouths with a black marker. The top note die made up the background for the spinner. Word window punch made the spinner track. These cards did use a lot of dimensionals to get everything to spin the right way. :D I tried stamping in a tree, but it got lost in the background, and all you can see of it are the tips on the moon. By the way, the moon is made using a 1 3/8 inch circle punch and a 1 3/4 inch circle punch. The background on this card is made using a rubber band background technique. The other cards do not have a background or trees on them. the boo is handwritten in on the front.

The pirate spinner was my creation. I created the pirate out of the designer label punch and an 1 1/4 inch circle punch and a partial boho blossom for the scarf. I used the three heart punch for the eye and the crossbones. The bones and the eyepatch were made using the word window punch.

A Halloween birthday?

This card was a personal challenge I issued myself. No stampin' up stamps. I LOVE those stamps and I have a lot of others I love as well, but never use. So I decided to step out of my comfort zone and use some of those others I have just hanging around. This card comes from Unity's September kit of the month. The big flower in the background is stamped with crushed curry on crushed curry paper. I overstamped that with Unity's background well-worn music. The doll is paper pieced and watercolored. The pumpkins were stamped with dusty durango on only orange and then cut out and sponged and watercolored. Highlights were added with a gel pen. I like this one even if it is completely different from my usual style. LOL

Teapot Birthday greetings

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday, dear Dear ______. Happy Birthday to you. This is for a family member who's birthday is sometime this month. I decided to do a little paper piecing with this adorable teapot stamp from one of Unity's Kits of the Month. I had some retired SU Designer paper and it was perfect for these little teapots. The background stamps are the beautiful french script and medallion. the medallion is stamped in artichoke and the script is stamped in chocolate chip. The punched edge is a Martha Stewart border punch and I used a scrap of the DSP from the teapots to put underneath the punched edge to make it stand out.

Happy Birthday!

Well, this card is still at home on my dining room table waiting to be mailed. Love you Mom! My Mom's birthday was last month (the end of the month, so not TOO bad, huh?) and this is the card I made for her. The main image is stamped and then covered with mulberry paper that is mod podged on it. It's a beautiful effect and turns out to have the effect of a piece of art work. I got this idea from another stamp company's blog (I believe it was Flourishes blog), and I fell in love immediately. I'll get this card mailed eventually. Too pretty to just sit there waiting for the mail. :D

Adorable backpack

this was a very fun little project I found at Splitcoast stampers tutorials page. A word of advice, though, it's a bit tricky so read and FOLLOW ALL instructions before you get started. I tried to cut some corners and work ahead and ended up starting over. Well, this was a back to school gift for my preschooler's teacher. It was filled with little mini candy bars. My child was so proud of it he had to give it to the teacher himself. I used velcro closures on this, but the instructions say to use magnetic buttons and I would definitely recommend those. The velcro works, but it's a bit cumbersome on something so small.

Some photos I like

Well, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to take pictures. I take pictures of evvvverythinnnnggg...much to the sometimes annoyance of my family. I once took a picture of an elevator sign just because I thought it was cool. While I'm not exceptionally great at photography, I do come up with some on occasion that I like to share.

Christmas cards

Here are a couple of Christmas cards that I recently put together using current and retired SU sets and some Unity as well.

This first one uses a set that I love called Peaceful Wishes. It's the first time I've used it, though I've had it for about a year. LOL. Anyway, I paper pieced the pinecones on to the main image. The ribbon is retired Stampin up riding hood red taffeta ribbon that I have stashed away. I honestly believe it's one of my very favorite ribbons. There really isn't much I can say about this card, it's pretty self-explanatory.



This next card uses the Winter Post set. I absolutely love this set! It's very versatile and it has a very vintage look to everything in the set. The background is trees from Unity. They made a beautiful background to this image. I love how peaceful and intimate it feels! I believe the sentiment is from a current SU set as well that is in the new mini catalog. The name of the set eludes me at the moment, though.

Birthday Chic!

Okay, so it took me a little while to get around to posting the cards, but here's one of them. A friend recently had a birthday and this is the card I came up with. The stamps are all Unity stamps from the Birthday Chic set. I used paper piecing on this card and I love the way this card turned out. The background on the card base is a stamp out of Unity's kit of the month for September. The layering of the gifts was a little bit tricky, and took some figuring out, but I got it and love the effect. All the paper is Stampin Up! paper and cardstock.

Save Now

I'm baaacckk!!! It's been a while. So sorry to keep you all waiting. Life has been happening here and we're coming back to a normal routine now I think. Well, at least a new normal routine anyway. LOL. So much happening here. It's been a "when it rains it pours" kind of month. All is well, and we are on the back edge of the storm now. So I'm still looking up to the Maker for all His providence and guidance.

So I have managed to squeeze in some projects and things along the way and the next few posts are about those. So stay tuned...

Combining the arts!

Here's a different way of using rubber stamps to continue another nearly lost art. When I was a little girl, my grandmother taught me how to do embroidery. I love doing this, but never find the time anymore. Well, the county fair is coming up next week and one of the categories our club can submit entries is for an embellished garment. So, here was my chance to combine two of my favorite art forms--stamping and embroidery. For the images I used two different stamp sets--stitched exotics and wedding sweet. The color inspiration came from the current in colors melon mambo, crushed curry, and bermuda bay.



I went to wal-mart and bought a cheap $6 t-shirt and then using stazon I stamped the images on the t-shirt. Then using a single thread of embroidery floss, I embroidered this image around the collar on the front of the shirt. Then I added beads as an accent on each of the points and on the stamped dots. I love the way this turned out, but I have no idea what the judges will say. We shall see!

Here comes the bride...

This was a wedding card for a friend who just got married today. True to myself I finished the card 30 minutes before leaving for the wedding. :D It turned out pretty cool, though. In my humble opinion. Her wedding colors were royal blue and white. So I used brilliant blue and silver metallic cardstock. The background image is the brocade background and is bleached in (no ink--pretty cool, huh?) Then I over stamped in brilliat blue the En Francais background. The sentiment is from a sale-a-bration set and is embossed with silver. The ribbon is also embossed (do you think I like embossing? LOL) with iridescent ice embossing powder to give it a glittery effect and then some silver metallic embroidery floss is tied into the ribbon for accent.

Still thinking of you...

Here's another thinking of you card. It was just pointed out to me that I do a lot of these cards. Maybe I should dig out another sentiment. LOL. However, that would require actually digging in my stamp cabinet--Not a pleasant experience. I'll see what I can manage though. Anyway, this is another one for this week's VSN mini and the challenge was to use dragon fruit as a point of inspiration. Yes, dragon fruit is a real fruit. Look it up! It's colors are pink, green and black and white. The inside is white with little black seeds so it looks polka-dotted. So, here's my interpretation using only the colors in the fruit. The card actually has very little stamping on it. I used Martha Stewart punches for the border of the "filmstrip" and for the butterflies. The paper is all Stampin Up and the ribbon is a Martha Stewart ribbon from Valentine's day.

Actually, I did two different cards for this challenge since I wasn't sure about one of them. This is the one I wasn't sure about. I like the card, but it just seems to lack some interest of some kind. What do you think?

Thinking of you...salt technique resist

This was a fun one! It's another challenge card. The challenge was to use the salt technique for the background. I never seem to get really dramatic results with the salt, but this one was at least visible. I took the SU kind thoughts stencil and versamarked it onto a piece of glossy cardstock. Then I heat embossed it with white ink for a resist when doing the salt technique. Then I applied the colors and the salt. This is what I came up with. It pretty well stands on its own. So I only added ribbon and a layered butterfly for accents. The sentiment at the bottom is stamped in stazon timber brown. The colors I used are the new in colors melon mambo and crushed curry. Such vibrant colors!

VSN Mini time/Father's Day/Birthdays o' plenty

Yikes!! It's been a while since I've been on here. Sorry about that. I've been trying to get some very mundane house things accomplished and have had very little time for stamping. Tonight that all changes...I'm officially on a mini strike until after tomorrow. LOL. We'll see how long that lasts, though, with a three year old in the house. Anyway....tonight is a virtual stamp night mini over at Splitcoast. You all know how much I love to do those challenges and here we are again. This is a pretty lengthy post so scroll down to see them all as I update each one.

First up is a pull treat card. If you want to make one of these super easy favor things, the tutorial can be found HERE. It's supposed to have a candy bar inside, but I don't keep those in my house. The temptation would be too great to indulge so I don't even go there. LOL. For this, I used the new in-color Melon Mambo. OMG!!! I L-O-V-E this color. I wheeled the background on the base of the card first. Then I scored and assembled the pocket to hold the treat. Then I made the belly band out of pink pirouette.
The edges are punched with a Martha Stewart lace edge punch, and the stamped sentiment is a retired one from SU. Then I cut a piece of pink pirouette card stock to make a bookmark for the inside. On that I used a Unity Kit of the Month stamp for the image and then did poppin pastels for a very soft look. The sentiment is stamped in melon mambo ink. All the corners are rounded for durability. then I took a 1/2 inch circle punch to make a hole for the ribbon.

Now, for a non-mini related card. This one is a birthday card for a family member. It was super easy, super quick and so chic. I used SU's window sheets that were in the spring mini, cut them apart and layered two of them for this card. On the dotted layer I used staz-on black ink to stamp the sentiment. then on the top layer I used a rub-on butterfly from that same mini catalog. All this was layered on top of melon mambo cardstock. The photo corners were added last and they are pink pirouette and melon mambo.

Next up is a challenge card. It was to make a spiral pop-up on the inside of the card. This was so incredibly easy!!! The only tricky part is to make sure your adhesive doesn't overhand any of the spiral or else it will make your card stick shut. The tutorial came from this blog. This is a father's day card for my husband from our three year old. So the artwork is the three year old's handywork on a stamp I got from Hobby Lobby. It seemed appropriate for this particular challenge and card. I like the way it turned out, and I think the three year old will too once he sees it. LOL




And here's another birthday card. Yes, there are a few. We have a big family thing this Sunday to do Father's day and birthdays and there are a bunch of cards to make. LOL. This one was fun, and I used a set I've never used before because it intimidated met. Now I love it! This card uses the Wanted set from SU and It's Your Birthday sentiments. It was quite a bit of work, but I love the results. The fold for this card is called a trifold shutter and the tutorial can be found HERE. The front panel was assembled and then attached to the card front. I first cut the scrapbook paper and sponged the edges with chocolate chip ink. Then I made the creamy caramel panel using the various patterned stamps in the wanted set. They were stamped with creamy caramel, chocolate chip and versamark. With the versamarked stamps, I applied the poppin' pastels technique in greens and browns. Then the edges were all sponged with chocolate chip inks. On top of that is a piece of light yellow cardstock. I stamped the horse with versamark and chocolate chip inks three times without reinking in between. Then the horses were embossed with clear embossing powder. After that, the edges were distressed and sponged with chocolate chip ink, and I used Always Artichoke with a little emboss resist to get the foreground in place. Then I sponged chocolate chip again around the green edges.

For the banner on the top, I took a scrap of creamy caramel paper and wadded it up and then smoothed it out. Over that I sponged a little chocolate chip ink to get a leathery look. This was then stamped with the sentiment and attached to the card with brads. That completed the front of the card, and then the inside was decorated fairly simply but still continuing the paper and stamps from the front.




On to the next card. This one is a birthday card using a wish RAK challenge sketch that can be found HERE. It's a pretty simple sketch, really and I love the way this one turned out. I used two different background stamps on top of each other for the tags--leafy glade and canvas. Then the eagle was stamped in the new Soft Suede color from SU. Love this color! It's so soft and rich at the same time. Very crisp too. I used some of that same soft suede paper, kiwi kiss and so saffron and the bird is stamped on very vanilla. I used my nesties to get the circle layers, and the oval punch kind of helps break it up a bit.

For the final card, I used a stamp from Tractor Time and had my three year old color it. This is a Father's Day card, and it turned out pretty cute. I used the sketch challenge from mojo monday's blog, and it worked out pretty well for this card. The colors are garden green (I think), black and the new curry color. The DSP is a retired one I had on hand. I used large eyelets and antique copper hodgepodge for the hardware. I love the idea of having the kiddo color the image and I assemble the card. It really feels like the whole family contributed to the card. LOL

I Spy...

Well, I had a visitor this evening in my home. I like visitors. Really, I do, but some just are not welcome in my home! Most of the two-legged variety and a lot of four legged ones as well are welcome, but I draw the line at some things. Look closely at the photo. What do you see?


Cute little guy isn't he? Well, not in my house he's not! Imagine my surprise when I come walking by and see two eyes peering out of the dirt at me. I know, I know. I'm such a girl, but hey that's what the guys are for right? to get rid of the vermin!