Happy Easter!

I have three Easter cards for you today!  This first one is my attempt at a Clean and Simple card.  The bunny is stamped on an Inchie square and matted with a shimmery aqua paper and the pink patterned paper from Imaginisce.  The bottom section was dry embossed using a Spellbinder's Elegence M-Bossabilities folder.  The sentiment, button and twine are from Papertrey Ink.

 

The Fluffles the Cat Easter basket stamp on this card is from Stampendous and was colored and airbrushed using Copic markers.  The patterned papers are from Imaginisce and the mat layers are Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles and Labels Ten. 

And last, but not least, is a Pure Innocence image from My Favorite Things' Basket of Eggs set.  The patterned papers are also from Imaginisce and the image was colored and airbrushed using Copic markers.  The mat layer was cut using a Spellbinder's Decorative Labels Eight die.  This card was made using this week's sketch from Raise the Bar (Challenge 137).

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Easter!

Stitched Thanks

Today I have a thank you card that I made recently using images from Papertrey Ink's Stitches and Swirls set.  The image was colored and airbrushed using Copic markers. The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages set.

The patterned papers are from Memory Box and the corner punch is Victorian Lace from EK Success.  For the inside I used some scraps from the patterned papers and stamped another of the stitched flower images in grey ink.

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI March Blog Hop

Today I decided to play along in Papertrey Ink's March Blog Hop.  My card also fits with The Paper Dolls' Challenge #46 - Spring Bling.

The challenge was to make a Spring card using yellow and aqua and this photo for our inspiration.  My card base is Aqua Mist, the yellow patterned paper is from October Afternoon Thrift Shop and the aqua patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink's Pretty Pastels collection.  I used the Filigree Border die for my mat layer and the stamps are from Take Three - Spring.  The ribbon is PTI's Harvest Gold satin.

In keeping with his reputation as the Glitter King, my husband suggested that I add the rhinestone for the bunnies' eyes, and I think he was right!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dragonfly Sympathy

I made this card for Prickley Pear's February sketch challenge.  I am trying to build up a stash of cards and find that sympathy cards are the ones I need quickly and don't usually have on hand so I'm starting there.  I used Prickley Pear's Dragonflies stamp and die set and My Mind's Eye's Miss Caroline - Fiddlesticks papers.  The sentiment, card stock and ribbon are all from Papertrey Ink.

I like to use dragonflies on sympathy cards and include the Legend of the Dragonfly on the inside.  Here it is if you're not familiar with it:

The Legend of the Dragonfly

In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs who could not understand why none of their groups ever came back after crawling up the stems of the lilies to the top of the water. They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what happened to him. Soon one of them felt an urgent impulse to seek the surface; he rested himself on the top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation, which made him a dragonfly with beautiful wings. In vain, he tried to keep his promise. Flying back and forth over the pond, he peered down at his friends below. Then he realized that even if they could see him they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number.

The fact that we cannot see our friends or communicate with them after the transformation, which we call death, is no proof that they cease to exist.

Thanks for stopping by!

You're on my mind (JUGS123)

Greetings!  I found some time this weekend to make a few cards and decided to play along with this week's challenge over at Just Us Girls (JUGS123).  The challenge is to use images with button centers - right up my alley! 

The bunch of flowers is from Papertrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits set and it's paired up with some of my favorite Italian paper.  The sentiment is from Blooming Button Bits.  Simple and fun to bring a little cheer to a friend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Quilt Thank You

Greetings!  Remember me??  Forgive me, for I have sinned....it has been over a month since my last blog post!  Sorry for the drought - things have been busy around here and card making and blog posting time have been limited.

Shortly before Christmas we adopted a new kitty and that kept us busy for a few weeks.  My sister-in-law made a fabulous quilt for the cats for Christmas, and you can see from the photo below that it has been well-received by our new little ball of fluff, Caicos!

Of course, a thank you card was in order for this exceptional gift, so I decided to mimic the quilt on the card.  I used several patterned papers, including BoBunny Zoology.  The Thank You sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the sleeping kitty image is from Stampendous.

This is a perfect example of why I love card making so much - being able to customize them for the person and occasion!

Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey November Blog Hop Challenge

I took advantage of my day off today to get started on my Christmas cards and decided to play along in Papertrey Ink's November blog hop.  This month's theme is base your project on this inspiration photo.  I drew a lot of inspiration from the photo - the color scheme, the checks, the greenery and the toile paper.  I made two of each of the cards shown above, which makes it a pretty productive day.

This first card has holiday toile-style paper from The Paper Studio on the bottom half and I embossed the top portion using a Cuttlebug folder and then used a brayer to add Fresh Snow ink to the snowflakes.

The striped layer is decorative masking tape from 7Gypsies, and I added May Arts red twine.  The stamps are from Tiny Treats Christmas set.

The plaid paper on this second card is also from The Paper Studio and the bottom Pure Poppy section was embossed and inked with Fresh Snow using a brayer.  The white stitched ribbon is from Stampin' UP! and I added a red twine bow. 

For the last card, I used another embossed and brayered layer, as well as more paper from The Paper Studio.  The music layer is also masking tape from 7Gypsies.

The stamped plaid background is also from the Tiny Treats Christmas set.  All images were colored using Copic and Spica markers.
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are enjoying a delicious meal and fun times with your family, or with good friends as we will be doing!  This card is for our host and hostess to thank them for all the wonderful things they do for us throughout the year.

I used all Papertrey Ink products for the card and based the layout on this week's sketch from My Time Made Easy (MTMEPPS37).   The papers are from PTI's Autumn Abundance collection and the stamp sets are Fall Elegance (sentiment), Vintage Picnic (focal image), Beyond Basic Borders (the 'tablecloth') and Inside & Out: Thank You (inside sentiment).

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving holiday!

Happy Birthday Party Animal!

Today is my niece's 18th birthday!   I made this card for her because she loves all things zebra. The color scheme matches her new school colors at the University of South Carolina where today is her first day of classes. 

The stamps are from Papertrey Ink, as is the zebra impression plate I used to emboss the largest background panel.  The patterned paper is from BoBunny's Zoology collection.  The layout is based on this month's Sketch for You to Try.  Have a Happy Birthday, Leigh Ann!

Thanks for stopping by!

This and that!

Happy Friday! 

I have been in a rut of only posting cards that I have made for design team commitments, so this morning I have a couple of cards that I made recently for personal reasons! 

This first card was made for my niece's high school graduation.  I wanted to use her school colors so I pulled a couple of sheets with the two shades of blue from Jillibean Soup's Spotted Owl Soup and October Afternoon's Seaside. 

The background journaling note paper is from Making Memories' Noteworthy line and the stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms' U R A Hoot set.

The owl was colored using Copic markers.  The sentiment and 'Graduate' on the cap were both heat embossed.

The second card is a thank you card I made for a recent gift from my mom, who has collected strawberry themed things for as long as I can remember. 

The paper is from Papertrey Ink's Fruitti Tutti pad and the stamps are from the Fruit Fusion - Berry set.  I added some Salmon Viva Decor Pearl Pen dots around the scalloped mat and a little faux stitching around both stamped panels using a pink Spica marker. 

On the sentiment panel I added a strawberry button I had in my stash for just such an occasion!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 26th wedding anniversary and this is the card I whipped up for Tim.  The bunnies, sentiment and scalloped circle border stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Daily Designs and Daily Designs Sentiments).  For the second card in a row, no patterned paper was used in the making of this card!  The background image is Impression Obsession's Ornate Floral Cover-A-Card stamp, which I stamped using SU Riding Hood Red.  AND I found a way to incorporate a little satin ribbon on a guy card by running it through the scalloped circle mat and a heart shaped ribbon slide!

This card qualifies for the current Papertrey Paper Dolls challenge #38, which is to make a wedding or anniversary card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Babies are Heaven Sent

Happy Friday!  Today I have a baby card that a friend asked me to make for a baby girl whose room is green and purple.  Not very traditional colors for a baby, but it's a combination I like!  I used Kaisercraft's Lilac Avenue 6x6 pad for the patterned papers and the border strips.  The focal image is from Flourishes Rock-a-Bye set, the Babies are Heaven Sent sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Baby Blessings sets and the Welcome, Valeria was created using a JustRite Stampers alphabet set - perfect for creating custom sentiments like this.

The image was stamped directly on the patterned paper and colored using Copic markers, as was the twine for my bow.  The blanket was paper pieced.  The layout is from this week's Sweet Sunday sketch #104 and the card also qualifies for this week's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #105, which is to use three patterned papers.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

CPS198 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!  Hope you are enjoying your holiday festivities! 

I needed a few last minute Christmas cards, so I whipped this first one up using PTI's Stocking Prints images and die.  The stocking patterned paper is Creative Imaginations Winter Woodland Stockings paper and the rust and Kraft stripe and polka dot papers are all from Canvas Corp.  The mini clothespins are from Creative Impressions and were colored with a Copic Marker.

The layout for this first card is based on this week's sketch from Card Positioning Systems (CPS198).  The sketch shows three elements, but I couldn't fit three stockings, so I went with two.  They are a little higher than the ones on the sketch, but I wanted to 'hang' them with the ones on the patterned paper....creative license, I guess!

The second card uses another section of the same stocking paper, along with another section that I border punched for a mat.  To stamp the stockings, I used Adirondack's Rust, Terra Cotta and Espresso inks and the sentiments were stamped with Versamark and Espresso and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Holly Birthday Wishes

Greetings! Believe it or not, I'm still in the throes of MAKING Christmas cards....on the 21st of December...can you say LATE?? One of these years I'm going to figure it out...

My friend Holly had a birthday last week and this is the card I sent to her. Unfortunately, it just arrived yesterday!  I've had this Making Memories Holly Leaf Foil paper for a while and was happy to finally cut into it!   As you can see, I took the holly theme and ran with it!  The stamps are all Papertrey Ink (2010 Holiday Tags and Mixed Messages), as is the holly impression plate I used for the background layer.  The twill is from Stampin' UP!

Back to my Christmas card making!  Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Wishes Challenges

Here is another card that I made this weekend for some challenges - the Pals Paper Arts PPA63 Color Challenge (Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Melon Mambo) and Get Sketchy (GS#59) sketch challenge. As soon as I saw the color combo, I thought of this patterned paper I had in my stash. I paired it up with this Lockhart Stamp Company Rose of Sharon image, which I colored with Copic markers and sponged with  So Saffron ink.

The Martha Stewart butterfly border punch is a new purchase that I had to play with and the sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics set. For the butterfly button, I tied it with some DMC floss and left the ends long enough to make antennae. Pretty simple and cheery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #101 - Numbers

It's Belli Challenge Wednesday and this time the challenge is to use numbers somewhere on your project.   My card includes the measuring tape paper from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl line for the challenge.  It was made using the JustRite Stamper's/Stamper's Dream sketch from last Friday.  The main image is from JustRite's Stitched with Love set and the sentiment is from PTI's Studio Style set. 

I paper pieced the heart, flower and leaves, added an itty bitty button to the center of the flower and used Stickles for the heads of the pins (you can click on the image for a larger view).  I used a silver gel pen for the needle and popped the outer ring up using dimensional adhesive tape.  Instead of brads for the sentiment panel, I added a couple of buttons, knotted with embroidery floss.  The buttons on either side of the main image were tied with colored twine.

If you would like to play along with us, please head over to the Belli Challenge blog for all the details and to check out what the rest of the design team has made using numbers!

Enjoy the rest of your week!  Thanks for stopping by!

CTD107 - Gladiolus

Good Monday morning!  Hope you had a nice weekend!  I didn't get nearly enough time in my stamp room, but I did have a chance to play with some new Papertrey Ink stamps that were waiting for me when I got home from being on the road last week.. 

I made this card for this week's Color Throwdown #107, which is to use Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, So Saffron and Pear Pizazz.  I finally pulled out one of my Impressibilities embossing dies and tried my hand at the Letterpress technique, using PTI's Spring Moss ink, for my background layer.  My focal image is from Papertrey Ink's Gladiolus set and was colored using Copic markers.  The sentiment on the tag is from PTI's Mixed Messages set.  My patterned papers are from BasicGrey's Lemonade collection and the scalloped border die is from My Favorite Things. 

I used the leftover strips from my border cut on the front and the main pieces from my die cut on the inside.  The green and ivory gingham ribbon is from Flourishes.


Well, tomorrow is the big day - Tim is scheduled to have his Cubital Tunnel Syndrome surgery in the morning.  We are both a bit anxious about it, but hoping for the best and a speedy recovery.  Wish us luck....
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #97 - Paint

It's time for another Belli Challenge, and this time the challenge is to use paint on your project.  For my card, I cut three flowers out of Grungepaper using PTI's Beautiful Blooms II flower dies.  I painted each flower layer with a Ranger Butterscotch Paint Dabber and then added a layer using a Copper Paint Dabber.  After the paint was dry, I stamped the coordinating flower petals from the Beautiful Blooms II set on the bottom and top layers and embossed them with Renaissance embossing powder from Powder Keg.  I adhered my layered flower using a decorative brad.  The sketch is from Kim Teasdale's Dare to Get Dirty challenge at SCS (DTGD10blondie090277).

The patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl collection and the scalloped edge ledger paper is from Making Memories' Noteworthy journaling pad.  My sentiment was also embossed using the Renaissance embossing powder.  The butterfly was cut out of vellum and stamped using an image from PTI's Butterfly Dreams set.  I adhered three copper colored rhinestones for its body.  The center panel is Coredinations card stock that was embossed using PTI's Tin Types Impression Plate and lightly sanded to reveal the lighter colored core.

Please head on over to the Creative Belli blog for the details on playing along with us, and while you're there, make sure you check out what the rest of the Belli Girls have made using paint!

One last thing - check out The House That Stamps Built - yours truly is in the spotlight today!

Thanks for stopping by!