Thank Yous

I have the need for a bunch of thank you cards.  My hubby and dear friends threw me a surprise birthday party this weekend and  I have lots of thank yous to send out.  I've seen quite a few window cards lately and thought this might be a good opportunity to try it.

I started with white card stock, cut in half at 5 1/2 inches, scored and folded at 4 1/4 inches.  I found a framelit that fit the stamp I wanted to use and cut out the front.  I used a stamp positioner to get the stamp just right through the window.  The front still looked a little plain so I added some flourishes.

I added some Wink of Stella glitter pen to the heart in the middle of the image for some bling.  I really like that pen!  I wish it photographed better. It really is cool in real life.

Thanks for looking!

Products:

card stock:          Georgia Pacific

Ink:                        Gumball Green--Stampin' Up!

stamps:                From My Heart, Flowering Flourishes--Stampin' Up!

Tools:                   Deco Framelits--Stampin' Up!

New Baby, New Year

The challenge ate Addicted to CAS went along perfectly with a card I needed this week.  One of my children's teacher's wife is getting ready to have a baby, and the challenge is NEW.

I have wanted for a long time to try my hand at a negative space card.  My daughter wanted a card that was a baby card, not a cute card with a baby sentiment.  I pulled out my Cricut machine and played around with size and spacing and ended up with this.

I cut an elephant at about 2 inches in a 4 x 5 1/2 inch piece of white card stock.  I think next time I'll leave the card stock in one piece and trim it down later.  It may make placement a little easier.  I added the pattern paper to the card front and placed the panel with the cut out on dimensionals.  The card base is white and I left the inside blank so my daughter could write a note to her teacher.  The sentiment was added in brown ink, just a simple congrats!

Thanks for looking.

Products:          

Card Stock:           White--Georgia Pacific, pattern paper--This and That Epic Day--Stampin'                                Up!

Ink:                        Chocolate Chip--Stampin' Up!

Tools:                    Cricut Machine, Sugar and Spice Cartridge

Challenges:

Color Blocking, Boy Style

One of my 4 year old's best friends turned 11 this month.  He is the big brother my son doesn't have with 5 big sisters and he was very involved in this card.  He told me colors that were to be used and even picked the sentiment, out of the few I showed him anyway.

We (yes we) chose red, yellow blue and green, but I muted the colors so that they weren't to primary, that seemed too young for an 11 year old.  I pulled out the stamp blocks that I have and put one block in each ink pad and then stamped them right onto the card stock.

We stamped the sentiment in black ink right in the middle of the largest color block.

For the inside, I repeated the same pattern as the front, stamping off two or three times before stamping on the card stock.  The we added the inside sentiment, the second favorite of the 4 year old.

We added the color blocked panels to a red card base and my son happily delivered it on his buddy's birthday.

Thanks for looking!

Challenges:

CAS-ual Friday  

Products:

Card stock:          Real Red, Whisper White--Stampin' Up!

ink:                      Real Red, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive--Stampin; Up!

stamps:               Happiest Birthday Wishes, Word Play--Stampin' Up!

tools:                   stamp blocks, adhesive, 

My New Found Love

I have been fascinated by you tube videos using embossing paste.Like this one or this one.

I finally jumped in and ordered some Dreamweaver embossing paste and the Falling Hearts stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  I'm i love!  I wish I had thought to take photos of the steps, but I was more worried about doing it right and forgot. 

I taped some white card stock onto craft mat and taped the stencil over the card stock.  I put gobs of embossing paste on the stencil and spread it around kind of mashing it in,  then I scraped the excess off.  There was a lot of excess.  lol.

 I will be using it again soon, so I'll take photos!

I made two cards from my embossed paper using the challenge from Pals Paper Arts as a starting point.

I had this image in mind of a bucket catching the hearts, so first I tried to line the stencil up and ink over the dried embossing paste.  I used a few different colors of pink and just let it e what it was going to be.  I cut a bucked from brown card stock and ran it through my cuttle bug with a woodgrain embossing folder and sponged it.  I typed the sentiment and printed and punched it and layered it.  

Then I assembled the card. The card bases are side fold, A2 style cards in pink card stock.  I added ribbon to the embossed layer and adhered it to the card base  I added the bucket on dimensionals and the sentiment on top of that. 

Thanks for looking!

Challenges:

Pals Paper Arts

Products:

card stock:            Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Whisper White--Stampin' Up!

ink:                        Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette--Stampin' Up!           

Tools:                   Embossing Paste--Dreamweavers, Falling Hearts stencil-- Simon Says                                      Stamp, pallet knife, tape runner and dimensionals

embellishments:    Twine 

Getting It All In

Warning!!! Photo heavy post! Warning!

For this card, there were 4 things I wanted to use.  That is a lot when they are specific things not just general, at least for me. 

 I wanted a banner. Check.

I wanted to add the sentiment sticking out from behind on this punch. Check.

I wanted to use the World Map background stamp from Stampin' Up! Check.

And I wanted this image from the Celebrate stamp set from Stampin' Up!

The finished card looks like this.

I started with a Crumb Cake card base cut to be a top fold.  I chose the designer  series paper(DSP) next, Well Worn from Stampin' Up! The card stock colors came from the DSP.  The first layer is Nearly Navy (retired) from Stampin' Up! and I used the same color ink to stamp the background stamp for a tone on tone look.The image was stamped in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla and backed with Early Espresso card stock. I didn't really measure. I just stamped and cut and layered and trimmed.  I punched the sentiment piece in Cajun Craze with the Modern Label punch and stamped Happy Birthday in Early Espresso and adhered it to the back of the image panel.  I punched the banner with the Banner Builder punch (retired) from Stampin' Up! in Cajun Craze and the DSP.  The banner is stuck down with dimensionals and the little bows are just some bead cord I had laying on my desk.  Probably from the baby getting into things again, :)

The inside is a simple Very Vanilla panel with a banner stamped in Crumb Cake ink, stamped off so it can be written over and an added sentiment stamped in Nearly Navy ink.

Thanks for looking.

Products:

card stock:         Crumb Cake, Nearly Navy, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso--Stampin' Up!

paper:                Well Worn DSP--Stampin' Up!

ink:                     Nearly Navy, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake-Stampin' Up!

Stamps:              World Map, Celebrate, Banner Builder--Stampin' Up!

tools:                  Banner Builder Punch, tape runner, dimensionals

Take your spin

One of the things I have found I use often lately in My Digital Studio it the ability to color a "stamped" image different colors, as if you had used markers.  

A couple years ago, at the end of a catalog year for Stampin' Up! I bought the digital version of the Take a Spin stamp set and the spinner hands that coordinated with it. 

  

And until now I had never used it.  I found quite a few things last year as I was unpacking my craft room, after we moved, that I hadn't used yet.   I think it's time to do something about that!

This is the card  I made using this digital stamp set and accessories.

I started with the card base.  A regular piece of 8.5 x 11 inch card stock, cut in half on the short side, folded and scored at 4.25 inches for a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card; the standard A2 size card.  I ran the front of the card base through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder for some dimension and texture.

I chose four colors and digital colored the image and printed it with my home computer on white card stock.  I cut it down and mounted it on another piece of card stock.  I hand colored some of the more open images, like the cake and gift and hat, to help it looked finished.

I added the spinner hands and then blinged it up.   I put gold stickles on the star, diamond stickles on the cake frosting, glossy accents on the gift and birthday hat.  I hope you can see all that in the photo.  

The inside is another stamp set I hadn't used yet.  I colored it in the same colors as the front and mounted it inside the card.  

Thanks for looking!

Products:

card stock:          Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade (retired),                                      Wisteria Wonder, and Pool Party--Stampin' Up!

Ink:                     Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Luck Limeade(retired), Wisteria Wonder and                               Pool Party--Stampin Up!

Tools:                Cuttlebug--Provo Craft

                          Divine Swirls embossing folder-- Provo Craft

Embellishments: Spinner Hands--Stampin' Up!

                          Stickles--Ranger  

Birthday Blues, Just the Color, Not the Sadness

As the boys in my family get older, it gets harder to make cards for their birthdays that don't seem like little boy cards. I found a sketch that made a really great card for my nephew who is turning 12.

The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches, and looks like this:

This is my take on the sketch.

I started with a vanilla card base and added some patterned paper from Stampin' Up! to the middle, just lower than center.  I found this really cool bakers twine at Target this past Christmas time that is vanilla and gold, so I wrapped a piece of that around to break up the color.

The image is a word art image that I love for masculine cards.  It's pretty without being girly.  I stamped it in blue on vanilla and matted it on blue card stock, thus the need to break up the color with the bakers twine.

To tie into the gold of the pattern paper, I added some gold embossed stars to the card front.

For the inside, I added more of the same paper and bakers twine, and stamped a simple birthday sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

Products:

Card stock:          Very Vanilla, Night of Navy--Stampin' Up!

Ink:                         Night of Navy--Stampin' Up!, Versa Mark

Stamps:                Engraved Greetings (retired), Look Who's Turning (retired) and Pennant                                       Parade (retired)--Stampin' Up!

Tools:                    Gold Embossing Powder--Stampin' Up!

Embelishments:   Bakers twine--Target $1 bin

One of My Favorites, That I'm Just Now Using

When I saw this stamp and embossing folder in the Stampin' Up! catalog last summer, it was on my have to have list.  And 6 months later I used it. 

 I love the Wildflower Meadow background stamp and embossing folder.  I started with by cutting the card stock in half length wise for a top fold card.  Then came the fun part. 

 I laid the background stamp face up and inked it with grey ink.  I wiped off the flowers and stems and colored them pink and green.  It took some time to get the pink right because it is the darkest color.  Then, very carefully, I laid a piece of white card stock down and stamped it.  

I did this stamping very carefully.  I didn't want to smear the image or drop the paper or any of the other hundred things that were going through my mind.  But It worked.  After I was finished with my "I didn't mess it up dance", I embossed it with the coordinating embossing folder.  Then I trimmed it to fit the front of the card base. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the embossing.

For the inside, I inked up the stamp in the same grey ink, stamped it off and then stamped the inside panel.  I added a sentiment and decided to stop fussing with it before I messed it up :)

Thanks for looking!

Challenges: SUO Challenge #87

Supplies:

Card stock:      Primrose Petals, Whisper White--Stampin' Up!

Ink:                    Smokey Slate, Primrose Petals, Pear Pizzazz--Stampin' Up!

Stamps:           Wildflower Meadow, Express Yourself--Stampin' Up!

Tools:               Wildflower Meadow Embossing Folder, Many Marvelous Markers

Better Late Than Never

Well today snuck up and ran away without me really noticing. And now it's late and I haven't posted today.  Lucky for me, I have a huge family and usually have a card or two ready to blog.

For my nephew's birthday he had a Monster's Ink birthday so a monster birthday card was in order.  I started with a blue card base, of course, and stamped some monsters in same tone ink for background. 

 I made my own chevron paper with a background stamp and ink.  Then I stamped and colored the monster.  I cut him out with a framelit.  This framelit did not come in a set, so I traced the outside edge and cut it out to mat it behind the monster image.

I added that to the chevron paper and mounted that on a yellow piece of paper.  

Add the yellow layer to the blue base and add a banner, and it's all good.  Oh, don't forget the googly eyes! I love them. they add so much!

For the inside I added a white panel and a simple sentiment, some monsters along the bottom, and it was ready for the mail.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

card stock:         Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White--Stampin' Up!

Ink:                    Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Lucky Limeade--Stampin' Up!

Tools:                 Apothecary Accents Framelits--Stampin' Up!

                         Googly eyes--anywhere

Stamps:             Greetings Earthling, Positively Chevron--Stampin' Up!

New Year and Some Changes

As is tradition with the ringing in of a new year, I have made some decisions that will require changes to my crafting habits.  My blog will continue, and eventually reflect those changes, but I until then, my posts will be a bit more random.

I needed a birthday card for my nephew.  He's not a tween or teen yet, but he's also not a baby.  I looked through my stash and photos and found one I made this last year for a girl that could easily be made masculine.

I started with a blue card base and added a white layer that has been embossed with the Happy Birthday embossing folder.  I added some squares of pattern paper that I punched and cut at 1 1/4, 1 and 3/4 inches.  To group them together and make them easier to handle, I added a strip of printer paper to the back.  Then I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon over the front of the gift boxes, and added a smaller piece on top folded in a V shape.  I didn't want a bow for a boy card :)  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white card stock and punched it out and added some bakers twine to "tie" it on.  I actually stuck it on with a glue dot. 

I used liquid glue to adhere the white panel to the card base and tape runner to stick the gift boxes to the embossed panel. 

For the inside, I stamped a simple sentiment and didn't fussy it up to much.  

Thanks for looking!

Products:

Card stock:               Midnight Muse, Whisper White, DSP--Stampin' Up! 

Ribbon:                    Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso bakers twine--Stampin' Up!

Ink:                           Midnight Muse--Stampin' Up!

Embossing Folder:   Happy Birthday--Provo Craft

Punches:                  1 1/4, 1, inch square, jewelry tag--Stampin' Up!

Stamps:                    Happiest Birthday Wishes, Tiny Tags--Stampin' Up! 

adhesives:                Tombo Mono liquid glue, glue dots, ATG tape gun

Triple Time Stamping

Happy New Year's!  I hope you had a great time celebrating last night, I know I did,  Good friends, good food and lots of noise!

Last month, my sister and her husband celebrated their 15th anniversary.  That's a huge milestone in my view.  They have lived a few places, and recently moved again.  I thought the Map background stamp was perfect for them and  I wanted to try it with the triple time stamping technique.  

I made the card base a side folding card that measures 4 1/4 x 5 12 inches in Pool Party card stock by Stampin' Up! The first layer of Very vanilla is 4 x 5 1/2 inches. All of the others layers are once inch smaller than the last.

I stamped the Map stamp in Pool Party ink on the three Very Vanilla pieces that were stacked on top of each other.  Then, I adheared the Very vanilla pieces to the Pool Party pieces.  I wrapped the top layer in early Espresso bakers twine and glued it down too.  

The wood people are from Studio Calico and are attached with some Glossy Accents.  I attached the banner with glue dots and added a little heart, that I made shiny with glossy accents.

Thanks for looking!