Cards From The April 27 Class

April 27 was the last card class for me. After more than two years I have had to make a very difficult decision. It is hard to explain but as Don's Parkinson's Disease progresses, I need to eliminate stress. Several of the ladies had asked about using peg stamps. I have several sets from Rubber Stamp Tapestry and a number of the stick stamps from Stamps By Judith. It had been a long time since I had these stamps out. It was fun having all these stamps out.

The last card was a very simple, elegant sympathy card. I find that these cards are hard to make but it seems like I am needing more and more. The lilies are from the "Loving Memories" set from Our Daily Bread Designs stamped in Smoky Slate ink from Stampin' Up.

Into The Forest

"Into the Forest" is today's CAS challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. This challenge was the motivation that I needed to try to make the card that has been playing around in my imagination for several weeks.

After breakfast one morning at Cracker Barrel, I saw this wooden plaque that really caught my attention. Right away I could tell that it was going to be the perfect inspiration for a special Christmas card. I did not get a good picture because, at the time, there were lots of things in front of it.

The card was perfect for today's challenge. 

The card basically used dies. The trees are from Impression Obsession. The deer is from Memory Box (I think). The larger stars were made using a punch, and the tiny stars were cut from a new Stampin' Up die in the set called "Card Front Builder Thinlet Dies".I was hoping that the small tree and the tiny stars would add depth to the picture. For the background I used Night of Navy card stock. For the die cuts I used a beautiful glitter card stock from Core'dinations. The greeting is from the Our Daily Bread Designs set called "Luke 2:11" which was heat embossed with silver embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Cards Continued

The last few days, I have been enjoying going through my Christmas stamps and dies. I am finding some lovely stamps and dies that have never been used or used very little. These two cards were made with some Our Daily Bread Designs dies that I got a couple of years ago. I had cut it out before but never finished a card.

The die set, from Our Daily Bread Designs, is called "Delightful Decorations" released in 2015. The cardstock used in this first card is Stampin' Up's Cherry Cobbler. The top layer of the ornament is a gold foil cardstock that I found at JoAnn's. The sentiment comes from Our Daily Bread Designs set called "Christmas Mimi". I added two score lines above and below the sentiment to give a little more interest to the white background.

A special tip--When I have scraps of green cardstock left over, I try to cut as many leaves and branches as I can get out of that piece. I store them in a clear stamp box until needed. I love using different shades of greenery in a single project. I think it gives a natural feel to the card and adds more interest to the design.

This second card uses the second top layer die of the same set. The accent layer of cardstock on this card is Stampin' Up's Rich Razzleberry. The branch of greenery came from my little box. I also found the embossed piece of white card stock laying on my work space. Just had to trim one side. This is a 4 1/4-inch square card. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's set called "Petite Pairs".

Giving a "Gift Card"

So often when I am giving a "gift card", I struggle with what type of card to make or use. While searching for some inspiration online one day, I came across a card that really stood out to me. The more I studied the picture, the more I fell in love with the card. I even found a blog post with a great picture tutorial on how to make the card.

Here is the link -- Easiest Gift Card Holder Ever

I went down to my craft room and started working on the card (from memory). This is the card I created. The card is a Z-fold except the piece on the right side is folded to the inside of the card and glued at the top and bottom to form a pocket which will hold a gift card.

When I went back to my computer, I discovered that my memory had gotten all mixed up. It should have been a landscape card and I had made mine the opposite way. So it was back to the drawing board.

For the second card I chose blue and yellow -- the University of Michigan colors. All of the sentiment stamps I used were from the Our Daily Bread Designs set called "As You Graduate". The cap and diploma stamp was from another stamp set that I purchased somewhere else. Use school colors and you will have a great graduation card. Use pretty papers and stamps and you have a lovely birthday card.

A New Stamp Set

Earlier this month I received a new stamp set "Beautiful Day" from Altenew. I started playing with this set a few days ago. I finally got my birthday card finished using this set along with numerous other sets from my collection.

After practicing on several flowers this is the final card.

Because the flowers are so large, I made my card 5 1/2 x 5 1/2-inches. I found a 12 x 12-inch sheet of paper that was the perfect color to go with my Pool Party card. I used the masking technique on the two pink flowers when adding the leaves. The center flower was stamped on a separate piece of card stock and cut out.

This flower has several parts and each was stamped using a different color ink. The outlines were stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black. The pink flowers were stamped using SU Blushing Bride and Primrose Petals ink.The center flower was stamped using SU Soft Sky and Pool Party inks. The leaves were stamped with Memento New Sprout and Bamboo Leaves colors.

The verse was from Our Daily Bread Designs set called "Happy Birthday". This was the first set I purchased from ODBD.  The inside verse was from Unity Stamps set "Butterflies and Sunbeams".

I love creating flowers so I expect that this will be one of my favorite sets. I hope to acquire some more sets in the near future.

Have a wonderful day.


Added to "Favorites for the week ending January 22, 2017"

SC565--First Christmas Card

WOW! It seems like such a long time since I made a card for the Sketch Challenge at SCS. Today I was determined to get a card made. I told myself that the leaves would still be waiting for me in the afternoon.

This was a very simple layout so I decided to let the paper do the talking. The center, dotted piece was from a new 6x6-inch Graphic 45 pad that I got last week. The other piece came from a large pad of Christmas paper that I have had for many, many years. The pad is called "The Christmas ULTIMATE Stack". Not sure if all the paper will ever be used. The "Merry Christmas" greeting is from the "Christmas Mini" set by Our Daily Bread Designs. It was stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with gold powder, which was the very first embossing powder I ever bought. I used a die for the leaves and the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch for the flowers.

SC559

This afternoon, I was able to get a card made for today's SCS sketch challenge.

The card turned out to be a very simple "clean and simple" card. I masked the circle and sponged the upper part of the card stock with Memento Summer Sky ink. The butterflies were stamped in Memento Paris Dusk ink. The butterflies were from two SU sets -- "Papillon Potpourri" and "Butterfly Basics". The scripture verse is from Our Daily Bread Designs set called "Faith".

CAS316 Challenge

"No Patterned Paper"! That is the theme of the CAS challenge today at Splitcoast Stampers. I thought it was going to be easy. But--- Everywhere I looked, I saw bits and pieces of all kinds of patterned paper. It was so hard not to pick one up. Here is my card; it's very simple. Guess that is what clean and simple is all about.

The stamps are from Our Daily Bread Designs. The flower is the Dahlia single stamp and the sentiment is from Mini Tags 3 (one of my go to stamp sets). I used SU Primrose Petal ink and card stock along with my white.

 

 

CAS307 -- Just Words

Today's  challenge was to "use just words". My "Happy Birthday" comes from a retired Stampin' UP set called "A Greeting For All Reasons". It is a great set that I go to often.

 

 I made this card for a friend who lost her mother last week. I used Spellbinder dies and a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs.

 

 

 

SC507 -- Let The Paper Speak

Today's sketch at SCS was interesting -- and a little different.

I chose to let the paper speak. I purchased several different sheets of 12 x 12-inch paper a couple of weeks ago at my local scrapbooking store. As I was thinking about this sketch and looking at some of the different papers in my collection, this is what I came up with. The orange was a piece of scrap paper that was laying by the paper cutter. Layers 3 and 4 were from the same piece of designer paper and layer 2 was from another piece in the same collection. I just love how the papers go together.

SC505 -- Christmas Snowflake

I wanted to try making a Christmas card using today's sketch. It took me some extra time!

I changed the square format into the A2 size -- 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. The "Merry Christmas" stamp was from Hero Arts. After stamping and embossing the greeting, I made a mask using the SU extra large oval punch, covered the greeting and then stamped the background using Our Daily Bread Designs "Snowflake Background" stamp with Memento Gray Flannel ink. I used a snowflake embossing folder for layer # 2. The snowflakes were punched from Stampin' Up's sliver Glimmer Paper using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

SC504 -- Wild Wednesday

This sketch was a challenge for me.

I spent the afternoon with a friend "playing". We worked with several techniques and shared some of our cutting dies. We each have different ones so it was fun to cut some images with the other's dies. I did three color wash backgrounds using distress inks -- tumbled glass, dusty concord and spiced marmalade. (I love these names.) Later in the afternoon I thought about using a couple of the sheets for today's challenge. The colors worked well with SU soft sky card stock and of course I had to use black as my accent. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs set "Mini Tags 1". This is a great set to have.

SC499 -- May You Be Blessed

I have finished my card for today's sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. It was a simple sketch and challenging. I had so many ideas running around in my head that it was hard to focus in on just one.

Here's the sketch--

and this is my card

I used Marina Mist for the base card. On white card stock I stamped the verse which was from the stamp set called "Happy Birthday" from Our Daily Bread Designs. The floral image was from Stampin' Up's set called "Thoughts and Prayers". I colored the stamp with markers -- SU's Marina Mist and Old Olive. Before putting the card together, I stamped the card base with a stamp from Impression Obsession and clear embossed it. For the final touch, I added three little punched flowers with tiny accent pearls in the center of each one.

Never Be Afraid -- CAS260

I thought about today’s CAS challenge most of the day. The technique challenge was to create a border using at least two or more images and/or sentiment stamps. This is my card that I came up with. I found this a very interesting challenge.

I drew the lines free hand. For the leaves I used a stamp from Rubber Stamp Tapestry and SU Old Olive ink. The small flowers were also a stamp from Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamped in SU Summer Starfruit. The larger flower and the dots were peg stamps from Stamps by Judith. For the flower I used SU Calypso Coral, and the dots were stamped in SU Pool Party. The verse was an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp from the set – As You Graduate.

I used the same border on the inside of the card. I am going to have to try this again.

 

 

 

World Card Making Day

I am posting this card, made with Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, for World Card Making Day. This is one of my favorite scripture verses and the stamp is from their "Happy Birthday" stamp set. I think that this was one of the first ODBD stamp sets that I purchased. I always love using it.

 

Here are two more cards made with ODBD Stamps. We stampers are blessed to have a company like Our Daily Bread Designs.

 

 

CAS 234

The CAS challenge at Splitcoast Stampers today was to use paint or watercolors instead of ink. Ink could only be used for the sentiment. Where to start? Well, there were several techniques that I have always wanted to try but just never did them. I guess today is the time to start.

FIRST—I got out some watercolor paper and taped it down to a craft mat. Got out my husband's watercolor paints that he purchased some time ago. (That’s another story.) Wet the paper with water in a small spray bottle and worked at applying color to my paper. It created a color wash background that I love.

Second—I found a sentiment that I wanted to use. It was from Our Daily Bread Designs “Faith” set. I used black VersaFine ink to stamp the message.  For the leaves, I used a stamp from “Rubbernecker” colored with a green and blue watercolor crayons. (Never tried that before.)

Third—I finished the focal image by layering it on black card stock and using SU Pool Party CS for the card base. Finally, I added three black pearls to finish the card.

This was truly a challenge that encouraged me to try techniques that I had never done before.

 

SC423

I look forward to Wednesdays and the sketch challenges at Split Coast Stampers Today was no exception. First thing I did the morning was get my computer on so I could see what the sketch was for today. I had some free time this morning so I was able to work on my card.

Paper: SU Wild Wasabi for the card base, SU Everyday Enchantment DP, and a couple of other colors of card stock from my collection
Ink:  Memento Potter's Clay and SU Soft Suede for sponging the edges of the different layers
Stamps: SU Fresh Vintage and ODBD's Mini Tags 3
Accessories: Punches and Nestabilities (my favorite things to use)

 

SC422

Today is Friday. I have finally gotten my card finished and am ready to post the results for this week's sketch challenge at SCS. It was not a hard sketch to follow but all the details just did not want to come together.

 

The designer paper is from a 6x6-inch pad that I got at Michael's by MME called "Breeze". I love using these papers. I used SU So Saffrom card stock for the base and a piece of gray card stock that I found in my paper stash for the accent layers. The "Happy Birthday" greeting is from Our Daily Bread Designs "Mini Tag's 3" set. The flower is from SU's "Kind and Caring Thoughts" set. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink. For the flower, I stamped off once to get a lighter colored image.

Hope you have a great day!

SC420

This is my card for today’s sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do, but it didn’t turn out quite like I thought. Maybe I will try again. I used the SU Upsy Daisy stamp set, and Night of Navy and white card stock. All are favorites of mine. The greeting is from the Our Daily Bread Designs stamp set "Happy Birthday".

 

 

A Word of Encouragement

I needed a card to send to a friend. Here is the card that I made. I love the verses from Our Daily Bread Designs. I get a new set whenever I have a chance.

 

The flower was made from a set of dies from La La Land Stamps. The leaves were cut from another die I got some months ago at a stamp show. With a little sponging, some shaping and stickles, the flower came to life. The Pretty-in-Pink card stock from SU was stamped using a background stamp from Impression Obsession and SU Rose Red ink. Love using these large background stamps.