Bridal Shower Card

I found the original card design for this on Pinterest, then tweaked the colors and embellishments to meet my needs. I LOVE the use of two embossing folders to create the wedding gown! I also created my own extra large, pearl brad using some retired SU items (Build a Brad Kit and Pretties Kit). ENJOY!

Horse Birthday

Silly me! I just figured out I never shared this card, and it is one of my favorites that I have made so far for our daughter! It has many of her favorite things, horses, purple and sparkle. :) This is actually from her 2011 birthday, and her birthday is coming up again soon - maybe that's what made me wonder if I had posted this card in the first place?

The horse is an image from 2010 from Serendipity Stamps (purchased that year through CreativePlayStamps). It is one of my favorite horse stamp images over most I have seen because it is just a lovely line drawing, that also lends itself very well to Copic coloring and shading. For this image, I used C2 for a monotone horse to coordinate with the SU Basic Grey, which is paired up with SU In Color Concord Crush and GinaK Pure Luxury White. the sentiment is also from a GinaK stamp set called "Tag Lines". Finishing touches were created with SU punches Scallop Trim Border and Corner, Modern Label and Word Window punches, plus a SU Basic Grey Glitter Brad and Copic Spica Silver Glitter Pen in the horse's mane and around the sentiment.
ENJOY!

Cup of Blessing Card

I was blessed with the gift of an all-day crop, hosted by the S.C.R.A.P. Guild of Northern Illinois, this past Saturday. I totally enjoyed this time to work on several projects - and this is one of them!

I used my SU Color Coach - In Colors to find this color combo idea, then used similar colors I had on hand. The stamp set is one of my first-ever stamp sets from SU - the long-since retired "Sketch an Event" set. It paired perfectly with the sentiment from the current SU set "Blessings from Heaven." My chosen color palette is current SU Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Baja Breeze and retired SU Crushed Curry (polka dot ribbon). I used Copic markers to color the image. Memento London Fog ink, stamped off created the repeating image along the left side, and Memento Tuxedo Black for the image and sentiment. A little sponging around the focal image with Calypso Coral, the SU Ticket Corner Punch and Dimensionals to pop up the image all provide the finishing touches to my design.
ENJOY!

Decor for the Home

It took forever for me to get the first frame done, then the frame broke. Not the glass, the frame! Sooo, I bought another frame and while I was changing over the glass with the original Decor Element on it - the glass broke - shattered in my hands! Ouch and Grrrrrrrr! The good news? I still had a good frame and glass! so I got a different Stampin' Up! Decor Element - and then added in a few pics of the newest family member to boot! Here's the new frame! I used scrapbooking paper and some pieces of cardstock to crete the background to make the Decor Element POP! Super easy way to make your pictures into a lovely piece of artwork/decor for your home! ENJOY!

The Sounding Joy Easel Card

My first Christmas card design for the coming season! It uses the set "The Sounding Joy", as well as the 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon, now available in the Holiday Mini. This is an easel card, made using the Big Shot and the Scallop Circle Die.

The star word image is stamped in Crumb Cake on Very Vanilla, with the Joy image over-stamped in Cherry Cobbler. The top-most Scallop Circle is embossed with the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder, then spritzed with Gold Smooch. It is finished off with the Quilted Ribbon bow and a Gold Glimmer Brad.

Inside is wording from the "Come to Bethlehem" stamp set, stamped in Cherry Cobbler on Very Vanilla, and punched using the Decorative Label Punch. ENJOY!

Fabulous Fall Florets

This is card 3 of 3 for my October workshop. This design is a CASE from a very talented demonstrator, Mary B. To 'make it my own", I changed up the color combo and the style of ribbon.

The 2011/13 In Color Color Coach gave me this non-traditional Fall color combo: Concord Crush, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango.

Oh Hey - it's the Big Shot AGAIN! hee hee This time with the Lattice Die and the Perfectly Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

Th design is finished off with concord Crush ribbon and an In Color Polka Dot Brad.

ENJOY!

Punched Fall Mums

This is card 2 of 3 for my October workshop. I CASE'D this design from another super talented demonstrator, Mary D. but of course had to 'make it my own' by changing up colors and embellishments.

This design uses a bounty of classic Fall colors: Cherry Cobbler, Peach parfait, Old Olive, More Mustard and Cajun Craze for the 'Mums' which were made using the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch. They are layered on Early Espresso, then the whole piece was run through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder for the "Inlaid Embossing" technique. The design is finished off with Self-Adhesive Rhinestones and some Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon.
ENJOY!

Bright Blessings

This is card 1 of 3 we will be making at my October workshop. It features a Jumbo Wheel called "Bright Blessings" as the focal image, as well as a non-traditional Fall color combo which I found on the 2011/13 In Colors Color Coach.

The focal image is rolled in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla, then I cut apart the image to focus just on the part I wanted. Both of the sentiments shown are part of the Bright Blessings jumbo wheel. It is mounted on More Mustard, and then on Island Indigo and Lucky Limeade. I sponged some Lucky Limeade tone on tone to cool the brightness just a bit. The torn edges on the Island Indigo and the More Mustard add to the Fall theme, as does the Hemp Twine embellishment. The card is finished off with a couple of sprays of Gold Smooch spritz for that Fall 'glow'.

ENJOY!

Fabulous Floating Florets

Here is project 3 of 3 from my Stampin' UP! New Catalog Open House earlier this month. This was the 'detailed' project that took some time to do - but WOW! Look at the results! This design is a "techinque" card that showcases the 'floating re-inkers' technique, along with several NEW products including: New In Colors Island Indigo and Calypso Coral, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Ruffled Ribbon and the stamp sets "Fabulous Florets" and "Petite Pairs."

The Floating Re-Inkers technique uses Shimmer Paper (though you can't tell in the picture, you CAN tell in person!) with a line image that is heat embossed in black. Then, you spritz the embossed card stock with LOTS of water, and use the re-inker to add a few drops of ink to the image. The ink spread in the water all on it's own, and you can also use an Aquapainter to swish it around and achieve more color consistency. I then used the Paper Snips to cut out the Fabulous Florets, and mount them with Dimensionals on the cut out embossed frame (run through the Big Shot of course!).

I used the Island Indigo stamp pad to create the background for the focal image, by dragging it across the same color card stock. The whole thing came together very well, and is simply GORGEOUS! ENJOY!

Vellum Overlay Cards

Here is project 2 of 3 from my Stampin' Up! New Catalog Open House earlier this month. Another SUPER fast and easy design that gives the added BONUS of using up the slightly larger pieces of Designer Series Papers (DSP) most of us have lying around our craft rooms. Just choose a coordinating solid color of card stock for the base and the ribbon.

Here, I used Old Olive with the NEW DSP Paisley Petals. I used Vellum Card Stock to run through the Big Shot in the Elegant Bouquet Embossing folder. Just use your Snail or Mono-Adhesive to adhere the vellum, because the ribbon covers up the adhesive showing through the vellum. (TIP: In my experience, there is NO adhesive that doesn't show through vellum, not even the specialty vellum adhesives that are available.) The sentiment is from a NEW stamp set called "Blessings from Heaven", and is stamped in StazOn black ink as the surface finish of vellum requires a specialty ink like StazOn.

I went through my DSP scrap drawer and pulled a bunch of retired DSP and made up a stack of cards. TIP: Leave the sentiment off, until you know for sure what occasion you will be using the card for. Then you will have a stash of ready and waiting cards whenever the next occasion arises! ENJOY!

Lucky Limeade Friend

This was project 1 of 3 at my Stampin' Up! New Catalog Open House earlier this month. A simple, quick design showcasing all NEW products including: the new In Color of Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip Polka Dot Scallop Ribbon and the stamp set "My Friend".

Where the ribbon knot is tied, I used the Small Oval Punch to notch out the focal image layered card stock.

ENJOY!

Unanswered Prayers Card

This design was also made for a challenge over at StampTV. The challenge was simple - black and white only! I chose to use an SU! printed window sheet overlay for the main image, on the black. For the sentiment, I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write to ink up just the outline of a stamp from the SU! set "Four Frames", then stamped a sentiment from GinaK's "You Are Not Alone". A little SU! 1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon adds the finishing touch. ENJOY!

Monochromatic Birthday

I made this card for a challenge over at GinaK Designs StampTV. The challenge was to use 1 layer, 1 color and 1 embellishment. You could also accent with glitter, etc. I accented with the Spica Glitter Pen in Pink, around the edge of the flower, as well as in the middle of the flower. I used SU! Whisper White and Melon Mambo, as well as the retired Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon. Images come from two stamp sets by Melanie Muenchinger for GinaK Designs.
ENJOY!

Friend to Friend

I love the colors on this card, as they are bright and cheerful and remind me of several of my friends! I used Stampin' Up!'s Pear Pizzazz for the base layer, as well as to highlight the Finial Press embossing folder. Nestabilities scalloped circle made my focal image pop, along with some sponging around the edges with SU! Pumpkin Pie ink. The Elzy Bells image is colored with Copic Markers. The sentiment uses all SU!: Modern Label Punch and the stamp set "Teeny Tiny Wishes", and a flower brad - all popped up on Dimensionals. ENJOY!

Christmas Card & Letter - My Digital Studio

Here is our Christmas card and letter for 2010 - aren't they lovely?! I designed & printed them both at home using Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio software!! Way better than than Walgreens or Shutterfly! ;) I had such fun doing these, and both only took a couple of hours to design. Yes - the process could have gone more quickly - for someone else! It's a good thing I like to take my time, because I would even I didn't like to. (hee hee). (Of course, typing the letter took the bigger portion of that time.)

I was able to use the free editing software called GIMP to put two Christmas cards on a page, so I got two cards per piece of 8 1/2 x 11" photo paper. My printer (HP Photosmart 7200 series) did a pretty good job keeping the colors true- Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler.

If you haven't tried My Digital Studio (MDS) yet - or know you are ready to 'go digital' - contact me to get started or visit my website and check it out online! ENJOY!

Easel Gift Card Revisited

Here is the same Easel Card as this post but in a different set of colors - Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla. I used these for Applebees gift cards for family Christmas gifts yesterday.

I hope you all are having very Merry and Blessed Christmas celebrations! Enjoy these Twelve Days of Christmas!

Ornament and gift Box

I made these ornaments with gift boxes for our Marriage Encounter Presenting Team Community couples. I LOVE making these glittery ornaments as they are relatively easy to make and are a Wow! when finished. The box is also fairly simple to make.

For the ornament - you use StazOn ink to stamp your image on the clear window sheet or acetate. I have made these in the past using the now retired "Holy Triptych" stamp set and colored in the images using Sharpie markers. Then - coat the entire back of the window sheet circle with Crystal Effects and sprinkle copious amounts of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on the entire surface. Tap off the excess, and allow to dry. When dry, punch a 1/16" hole in the top of the window sheet circle and thread through a piece of silver cord (or clear thread or whatever matches your ornament top). Remove the ornament hanger top, use a funnel to add fake snow, glitter, ribbon pieces, etc. to the bottom of the ornament. Roll up the circle, glitter on the inside so it doesn't get scratched when you insert it into the ornament, and insert into the ornament, making sure the cord/thread ends remain outside the ornament. the window sheet circle will automatically unfurl, and the cord/thread allows you to position the circle. Replace the ornament top, sticking the ends of the cord/thread through the top - and tie it off around the ornament hanger loop - this will help keep your stamped image in place. Add bow with Mini Glue Dot if desired.

The Box uses Garden Green, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White - as well as the the "Lovely Letters" stamp set and the Decorative Label and Ornament Punches. ENJOY!

Mr. and Mrs. Best Wishes

This design is newly made just last Friday. Yep - I finally got some stamping time, at home even! :)

The dress and tux appliques were actually favor bags that my aunt saved for me from my cousin's wedding. She thought I could use them on a card if I cut off the tulle pouch on the backs of them. She was right! :)

I wanted this card to be able to be used for anniversary or wedding. so I stamped the "Mr. and Mrs." sentiment from Fundamental Phrases tone on tone on the the now retired Brocade Blue color. And chose "Best wishes" from the Oval All stamp set. A few heart punches and some mini-glue dots to adhere the appliques and VOILA! - easy, fast and cute card. I'm giving this first one to my aunt as a thank you for the idea and the appliques. (She gave me several sets, so I'll be making more of these!) ENJOY!

HouseMouse Cupcake Celebration

This delightful House Mouse image has been sitting on my table, Copic-colored, waiting to be made into a card for several months. I was finally able to complete it - in stages - with the final stage being adding the sentiment and bling (LOVE the new bling SU added to the catty this year - self-adhesive rhinestones and pearls!) I've got a hodgepodge of materials in this design - retired DSP and NEW In Color Concord Crush.

ENJOY!

Just Believe in Bleach - Again

Here's another bleach technique sample. I mentioned in THIS POST how differently the image can turn out with this technique - now you see what I mean! Whereas the other design the bleached image was More Mustard in color - this one is definitely yellow! I contrast the yellow on the Garden Green with Early Espresso and Soft Suede. Then added the Cherry cobbler as an eye-popping splash of color to tone down - just a tad - the brightness of the yellow of the bleached image.

the Top Note die sets off the image, while a piece of retired antique brass Hodgepodge hardware sets off the sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. A couple of Cherry Cobbler Brads completes the 'rule of 3' that draws your eye around the card - again, helping to ever-so-slightly dispell the brightness of the yellow. ENJOY!