Smile

Every Wednesday I get together and craft with some friends. They sew beautiful quilts and I work on my papercrafting. I found it easier to work on simple card sets during this time because I am free to chat while working. When I am in full creation mode I kind of like to be alone in my head. 

I am in love with pigment inks and how beautiful they look when they are stamped on white paper. I'm also in love with the new Scripty Sayings stamp set from Paper Smooches. The flowers are a combination of a couple of different stamp sets. 

I had fun sprucing up the envelopes to match the card set. 

I also love using generic sayings for gift card sets so they can be used for a variety of occasions. Mmmmm...flowers make me smile ANY time of year.

Happy Stamping!!

Hello Houndstooth

Hello. (No pun intended) I wanted to share a quick card I made a few days ago. This is a card I made for a friends birthday. I actually made an entire set because it was so easy to put together. I find that winter birthdays are plentiful and simple card sets like this one are quick to put together and yet appreciated by everyone. 

The card front is Neenah Desert Storm. I started with Impression Obsession "Houndstooth" background stamp on top using Hero Arts Wet Cement ink for a tone on tone look. I then stamped over the top of that with I.O. "Spatter" in Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink. Yep, it's still a favorite one. :)

I am in love with the big HELLO stamp from Simon Says Stamp, as are so many of you. You could, however, switch out the scripty saying for a printed one and adapt a more masculine feel. I kept it simple so the background could really take the focus. To finish up I added white dash lines around the edge and mounted the front to Papertrey Ink Simply Chartruse cardstock. 

What are you working on? 

Happy Stamping!!

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember® BIG HELLO Craft DIE s203	Impression Obsession Cling Stamp SPATTER CC059	Impression Obsession Cling Stamp HOUNDSTOOTH CC064	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad WET CEMENT Mid-Tone 2012 AF213	*Hero Arts Memories Rubber Stamp DYE Ink Pad UNICORN 2012 White AF217
Neenah Environment 80 LB SMOOTH DESERT STORM Paper Pack 25 Sheets	Neenah Classic Crest 80 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets	Uni-ball Pen Signo Gel Pen WHITE Smooth Broad	EK Success CRAFT TWEEZERS Precision Tip 54-04000	03441 Fiskars PREMIUM CUT LINE Paper Trimmer 12 Inches
Perfect Match Simply Chartreuse Cardstock (12 sheets)

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Love is in the Air

Happy Thursday everyone! 

I can't believe the cold temperatures in many parts of the country. I was watching the Atlanta ice storm yesterday as I have a son living there. Crazy! Stay warm and safe wherever you are.

I'm not sure why, but lately I am drawn to softer looks in my card making. I especially like the use of white on a single color. Maybe I'm hoping for an early spring. Another thing I like is how versatile many of the beautiful Valentine stamp and die sets are. Love is ALWAYS in the air. You can adapt most of these for anniversaries, birthdays, weddings or just a simple, I Love You card. This is one example of using this beautiful Simon Says Stamp heart wreath for a wedding card. 

By using a soft ink color on this bold geometric background stamp it transforms it into something quite elegant. Trying for different looks with the same supplies are probably one of the funnest and most addicting things about this crazy hobby. 

To finish it off, I white heat embossed the greeting on vellum and scattered some pearls and a little clear Wink of Stella on the hearts around the wreath. Have a beautiful day. 

Happy Stamping!!

Simon Says Stamp HEART WREATH Craft DIES S217	Hero Arts DESIGNBLOCK TINY FLAGS Rubber Stamp s5881 2014	My Favorite Things CSA NEW BEGINNINGS Clear Stamps MFT	Hero Arts WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER PW110 Emboss	ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker 025320
Bazzill 40 LB VELLUM 8.5" x 11" White 25 Sheets	Hero Arts MIX NOTECARDS POOL PS639 Blue	Neenah Classic Crest 80 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad MINT JULEP Mid-Tone 2013 AF246	EK Success CRAFT TWEEZERS Precision Tip 54-04000
03441 Fiskars PREMIUM CUT LINE Paper Trimmer 12 Inches

InLinkz.com

Embossing in Layers

I'm popping in today to share a quick card. I've seen this technique from a couple of different blogs and thought it looked really cool. I white heat embossed this "Happy Birthday" greeting on the Kraft card stock and then again on the red and blue. Using several different sizes punches, I cut out circles from the red and blue card stock and overlayed them on top of the Kraft. I really like the effect. I will have to try this one again soon. 

I

Here is a close up of the circles. Hope you had a great weekend. Go Seahawks! :)

Happy Stamping!!

Love...and It's Your Birthday!

Sometimes I just can't think of anything clever to title a post. :)

Today I got a chance to play with some new stamps and dies that arrived in the mail. The first is a birthday card. I don't know about you, but I seem to know a lot of people with winter birthdays. 

To make this card, I white heat embossed the word "birthday" and then stamped the flowers over the top. Antique Linen Distress Ink helped the embossing to stand out.

The second card is a Valentine card. 

I fell in love with this Papertrey Ink "Love" die the first time I saw it and had to have it. I love the beautiful window effect. 

I die cut it from the center of the card, glued it to some pattern paper and then adhered that to the back of the card face. To get it centered right, I temporarily attached the patterned paper with some post-it tape, applied glue to the Love die and then pressed it into the center frame. I then removed the post-it tape and glued the entire panel in place.

The border around the frame is stamped once again using my all time favorite background stamp, "Splatter" from Impression Obsession. I use this stamp all the time. I used Charcoal Grey Shadow Ink and Unicorn White Ink both from Hero Arts. 

Happy Stamping!!

Vellum window set

Happy Thursday everyone!

I thought I would pop on here and share some recent cards I made. I love when you can keep a process the same but change out the stamps and create completely different looks. This makes it easy to crank out multiple cards that would work for a gift set or just to restock your available card supply. 

This first one is my favorite. I am loving the Memento Luxe Inks and these chevrons are done in nautical blue. The paint splotches are Hero Arts Cement Shadow Ink. This color combination would be great for a guy's brithday card.

I did some pattern piecing for the Paper Smooches sailboat. and covered the window in vellum.

Of course, I had to add something to the inside...

This second one is the same format but done in bright spring colors. The Penny Black daisies are another stamp I turn to all of the time. Notice once again the "Splatter" stamp from Impression Obsession over the top of the "Fluff" stamp, also from Impression Obsession.

I love the trick of using stamps in different ways. Check out the large background stamp on the butterfly! 

and the inside...

Here are two more cards using the same technique:

I hope this inspires you to find a card or technique you love and see how many variations you can make.

Happy Stamping!!

Because of You

I haven't practiced my watercoloring in awhile, so I decided to break out my distress markers and go for it. What better than this BIG beautiful flower from The Craft's Meow. Not only is it fun to practicing painting on, but it was fun to escape winter for a little while and imagine that it is warm and beautiful and sunny outside. I couldn't resist going with a blue, my favorite color!

I also got a chance to use Hero Arts new Five Line Background stamp. I can see myself using this awesome stamp quite a bit. I finished it off with Lawn Fawn sequins.

...and a close up...

Happy Stamping!!

Embossed Glitter Thank you Cards

Happy New Year! 

I thought I would pop in quickly and share a gift set I made over the Christmas holidays. This one is all Hero Arts. I love how this background stamp looks when you white emboss it on kraft card stock. I then, used some double sided sticky paper and covered it in micro fine glitter and die cut the Thank You sentiment several times. I colored each thank you in a different color using Copics. To finish up I scattered some pearls on the cards.

Here is a picture of the complete set.

Here are some close up shots of the glittery yumminess (are those even real words?)

Have a great week. I've already gotten a jump start on some Valentine's Day Cards. Watch for those posts soon.

Happy Stamping!!