For the Love of Patterned Paper!!!

This last week I have had social activities almost every day!!! Yahooo!!! But then reality hit that was in desperate need of getting some cards ready for the stores I sell to.

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That is when patterned paper can save the day! I stuck with basic layouts, added an embellishment and some ribbon and get cards made quickly!!!

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Can I say enough about these little baubles?!?!? I LOVE them!

Play time!!!

I totally forgot I made this card over the weekend! I got to go out Friday night with a stamping friend, we shopped, we ate good food and we shopped some more!!!

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One of the goodies I picked up was a couple of bottles of Robin's Nest glass ball thingies. These are so great! Anyway, I needed some blank cards and wanted to use this new stamp too! I embossed the flower and layered it all up!

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Nice a easy, but something a little different for me!

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Happy stamping all!

Masculin cards - eek!

It is always so difficult for me not to use flowers on a card! But sometimes I just have to!

Hopefully you will think I succeeded in de-feminizing a card! :)

The coloring is just water color pencils and a blender pen. Sentiment is pieced together using an Amuse stamp and little acrylic alpha set. Background is a retired SU! stamp as well as the bucket & apples, sorry I don't know what they are called off the top of my head! Little apple is a brad from the dollar store.

I also put a little glaze on the apples to make them shine! Hmm, hmm good! Wax on apples!!! hehehe

Anniversary Love!

Next month is my 15th wedding anniversary and I'm working on a nice card for my DH. These are a couple I just did for an order and I'm thinking I might just have to create something similar for him.

These Basic Grey 6 X 6 packs are the best for cards! The patterns are sized down so even if you cut only a portion you can still get a great piece of the full page.

And who doesn't want flowers on their anniversary?!?!?

Happy carding! (not much stamping around here today!)

Looks like Christmas on my Card Table!

I've been getting many requests for Christmas cards already! What fun cards to make! This is one of the cards I've prepared for an order.

I used some SU! design paper from last year, I still love it so I saved some. The snowman & flourish is from a new set I picked up from Micheal's. Snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch.

Sending some Christmas spirit your way!

Fall - My Favorite Season!

Yes, I used a My Favorite Things stamp set to create a card for my favorite season! (hehehe) I'm feeling a little silly today, too many things going on means I have to keep laughing so I don't start crying!!!

I have no idea what paper this is, sorry, it's been hanging around for a LONG time. I really think it is great and finally cut it up!

I love the fall and I'm so ready for some cooler whether to enjoy my hot tub more!

Ranger Alcohol Inks

I got the chance, a couple of months ago, to play with some Ranger Inks for the first time. I came home with a couple backgrounds done but never finished them off!

I really wanted to focus on the background and not cover it up. I used CHF large Daisy Patch with Stazon Ink. Finished it with some corner punches and really cool ribbon and I was happy!

Hope you all enjoy your day!

This was FUN!!!

One of my favorite ways to get creative is to sit with the same stamps and come up with a bunch of different layouts and color combo's to use them! Here I was going for cutsey, vintage and contemporary! I used Cornish Heritage's Daisy stamp with Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes. Below each card is a brief description of each technique I used! Enjoy!

Here I used white glittery paper, sponged on Old Paper Ranger ink to give it more of a champange color. Then on the image I used thick embossing powder, 2 layers, and created a cracked glass effect. With the glaze and the glittery paper it is so sparkly IRL! Then added a simple rick rack ribbon to finish it!

Here I used some watercolor pencils and a blender pen to color. Layered it with one of my favorite color combo's and added some liquid glaze to give the jar a "water filled" look.

Again, I used a watercolor pencil and craft ink to color. Layered it a wee bit differently to create some blank space and all you need is a simple sentiment to finish it off!

Blessings!

Quick & Easy!

It sure doesn't get much easier than this!!! All three of these papers are from the same DCWV Glitter pack. I really did want to make sure the paper was the focus so all I needed to do was add some ribbon, flowers and a small sentiment and I was done!

Yes, I really have found my happy place again and making the most of it while I have some time!

Hope you have found a way to enjoy your day!

Oooops! (Beate's Gate Card)

Of course, the last part that I colored (his face) I worked at getting a light flesh color too long and the paper started pilling which smudged some of the outline. So, I tried to use a find brown marker, but it wasn't so fine.

I just didn't have the time to re-do the whole thing so, his face is just gonna look a little funny!

Thanks for the sketch Beate! Great layout for something different!

The Joy of Using Friends Stamps!

Well, it seems my ability to continue posting has dwindled a wee bit lately! Between painting our home and dealing with some lingering issues from last years knee injury I've not been crafting much!

On a personal note, I went to see my surgeon this morning and ended up in the hospital to have some emergency ultrasounds. After 30 minutes of bruising my leg from my hip, down my inner thigh to my ankle, they were able to conclude that I did not have any blood clots!!! Well, as great as that is, I still don't know why my leg and foot are swelling like a watermelon, with my foot turning purple by the evening. Sooo, back to the doctors tomorrow and hopefully we will figure something else out!

Anyway, I made this card while a friend was over. Pollen dust, and a couple of Paper Tray sets and my mind was spinning with what I could come up with quickly while I had access to them! Thanks Sherrie!

Joy

I've been playing with stamping on pp more these days. Have enjoyed the simplicity of it yet sometimes you do have to think through what stamps work with the paper a bit.

This is another Basic Grey 6x6 pack cut to make a 3x6 card. Used a couple SU! stamps, a little coloring, glaze and ribbon. Both stamps are embossed so they pop out and shine a bit IRL.

Hope you enjoy it!

Stamping on PP!

This is another sheet from my 6 x 6 Scarlet's Letter (Basic Grey) pad. I stamped the flourish, sentiment, red flower & butterfly.

I used am exacto knife to cut around the butterfly wings to give a wee bit of dimention, then glazed them to hold the curl.

A little jewel and dragonfly brad to balance the space.

Also, it is an odd size, 3 x 6. This way I could use the pp to its fullest!

Sending you happiness today!

Birds, birds, birds!

I gave into tempation and bought something Martha. I really wasn't much of a fan, by first glance, as the prices scarred me off a bit, but the more I look, I'm finding a few little nuggets. I wanted one bird, but thanks to strategic packaging I was forced to buy and 2-pack!

I used a soft pink and cool caribbean. Stamped the background stamp "weathered" on the pink, cuttlebugged the cc with the textile and sponged close to cocoa ink over top. I didn't feel like coloring the bird so I just glazed it!

Hope you find some JOY in your day today!

Where is your inspiration from today?

Ya, you know you don't get out enough when you are inspired by the Kleenex box on your shelf!?!?!?! Found a ribbon with the color and flower shape the same as the box, matched up some paper, stamps and always add a flourish (right Sherrie?) and there you go: a kleenex box in the shape of a card!

Edited to add: Great idea Sherrie! I didn't think of adding the kleenex box, or should I say Puff's box! hehehe

It's pretty simple and flat but nice to have something different once in a while!

Hmmm, I promise to find "cooler" inspiration to share next time!

(SU! & Rhonna Ferrar stamps, versa mark & white craft ink, Marvy punch, misc brads, jewels & ribbon)

Feeling like I'm back in kindergarten...

I've fought this one long and hard! COLORING!!! It is sooo time consuming that I really needed a GOOD reason to get started. Well, then comes the bellas and yes, I'm in love hook, line and sinker!

Last night I played with watercolor pencils and odorless solvent. After about 3 hours this is what I got done!

Whew!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Patterned paper, primas & flowers!

This is another sheet from that stack-o-paper I bought a little while ago on 70% off. Thought the swirl in the paper was a good match with the swirl in the flower stamp but how to bring them together?

After searching madly for a ribbon with orange and green (I just plain felt like using orange, go figure!), watercoloring the image and choosing some primas, I am happy with the simplicity of the card.

It seems I'm finding odd colors appealing these days! I wonder what color will end up on my walls next! lol!!!

Cuttlebug MANIA!!!

I bought a Cuttlebug from a friend a while ago but realized pretty quickly that the real investment is buying all the cuts and folders that I'd like!!!

Fortunatly for me, she has been out of town this last week and has let me borrow her boxful of cuts and folders!!! I have been coming up with all kinds of ideas to use paper I hadn't been using and making them into something new!

This one is positively my fav!!! The textile folder. Here I used it over the stamped background Filigree. It is stamped with white craft ink on blush paper. I need a couple wedding cards, wanted to show off the paper and put together this simple layout. The velvet ribbon gives it just another touch of richness. The stamp is from Micheal's 1.50 bin and I glazed over the church.

Enjoy!

{Patterned Paper}

*** Note to self: when uploading images, end with the one you want to see first!!!

Ya, it took me a little longer than the usual to upload these photos because I had to delete them and do it a second time. But, I think it was worth it! I really wanted to make sure you could see my paper cutting on the petals. I layered matching red paper behind the cuts to sort of give the feel of another layer on the petals.

I started with one the papers I bought the other day and just couldn't stay away any longer! This is one of those really big patterns on a 12 x 12 which takes the longest to figure out how to best use the whole sheet. But let's face it! I only really wanted to use the 3 flowers and cut exactly where I wanted to.

Yes, it pains me to feel like I've waisted such amazing paper, but trust me, I'm sure I will find something to use the scraps ons!!!

(Basic Grey pp, misc red cardstock, jewels from a decorative cd sticker/cover thingy, Micheals $1.50 stamp, precision scissors & glaze)

{Flowers & Flourishes}

More often, than I want to admit, my cards end completely different then I had seen it in my head when I started. This is one of these times! I started with a patterened ribbon that I decided doesn't really match at all. So, I changed the ribbon, changed the primas and now that I look at it, totally forgot to bring in the green mat into the flowers somewhere! Hahaha!

Looks like I might have to adjust it again!!!

(Bazzill & SU! cardstock, Rhonna Ferrar Elegant Flourishes, SU! Big Blossom, versamark, white craft ink, primas & flower brads - hmmm, maybe I will see if I have green ones!!!)