Thanks (so much)

Since I pulled out the Silhouette last week to cut letters, while I had it out I also cut a few more things which I will share with you this week, starting with today’s card. This is a thank you card I made for a friend.  The big black kitty was inspired by my own big black cat.  (Did you know that cats that are completely black with no white at all will have golden yellow eyes? So if you see a green eyed black cat, that kitty has a splash of white somewhere.)

I popped up the cat and backed his eyes and nose with some scrap cardstock.  I added a little Stickles to the nose to coordinate with the glittery brad I used on the sentiment flag. The sentiment was stamped with one of those clear stamps from the dollar bin at Michael’s – and actually it’s part of a larger stamp that I cut up to get what I wanted!

Specific products used on this card:

Mini Glitter Brads Bo Bunny Double Dot Silhouette Cameo SU! Basic Black Corner Rounder – Small Stickles Diamond

InLinkz.com

My go-to favorites for all cardmaking:

Tags: basic black, bo bunny, brads, corner rounder, silhouette, stickles, Studio G, versafine

The Best Dad Ever

Happy Monday, all!

Lately I’ve been suffering from a lack of creative spark.  But since I want to keep crafting even though my mojo is temporarily gone, I’ve been working on scraps cards.  I dig in the scraps bin, and make something simple and cute.  Not every card has to be a work of art, you know? It’s still relaxing to make the easy scrappy ones.

Since OWH is going to need Father’s Day cards next, I whipped up about a half dozen of these for my next box.

About these cards:  The sentiment from Studio G was stamped on scrap ivory and white cardstocks with Stampin’ Up! Basi c Black ink and punched with a 2.5″ circle punch.  The patterned papers are all random scraps.  I cut the pennants by hand and adhered them behind the circle, then popped it up to look like a badge. 

Tags: basic black, circle punch, Studio G

In Sympathy

One of the girls I regularly crop with lost her father last week.  I made this card for her and all of our group wrote little notes of sympathy inside, along with a stamped sentiment.

I’ve recently fallen in love with Twinkling H2Os and wanted to try them out on black cardstock. I was really pleased with the effect.

About this card:  The flowers from Technique Tuesday Greenhouse Society February 2013 stamp set are heat embossed with black embossing powder on Stampin’ Up! Basic Black cardstock.   I colored the images with Twinkling H2Os and sprayed it lightly with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Ice to add even more shimmer.  The image is die cut using the SU! Labels Framelit die on my Big Shot.  The red seam binding is from Reasonable Ribbon.  The patterned paper and the grey textured cardstock are from We R Memory Keepers Black Widow design series. 

Tags: basic black, big shot, framelits, heat embossing, heidi swapp, reasonable ribbon, ribbon, sizzix, technique tuesday, twinkling h2os, we r memory keepers

OWH VCMP Round Up

Happy Friday all! Today I’m going to share the last of my OWH VCMP cards.  I didn’t quite get to all ten of the challenges presented, but I might go back and finish the rest up sometime.

Today I have two cards to show you, first for the caffeine challenge presented by Jen, I used this image from my scraps bin that I had stamped and colored ages ago. I think I was intending to turn it into a bookmark and for whatever reason never did.  Made a cute card though!

About this card: The coffee cup images are from Stampin’ Up! Slice of Life, stamped in SU! Basic Black ink and colored with Derwent Watercolor pencils.  The sentiment is from SU! Morning Cup.  The twine is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  The papers are all from my scraps bin. 

For my second card I went with the challenge presented by Sharon to make an all white card. Y’all, this was so hard for me! If you spend two seconds poking around my blog it is obvious that I like saturated colors in my cards!  However, I had this awesome die cut that I had received in a swap long ago that has just been waiting for a good opportunity to shine…

I’m still not sure I love this but it is the best I could come up with.  I know in the picture it looks like white and cream but really it is two shades of white cardstock and in person the difference is much less obvious.   I’m not sure this card is OWH safe – that bow is pretty lumpy – I might have to rejigger it before adding it to my box.

About this card:  The sentiment was printed on my PC and hand cut into a pennant shape.  The ribbon is white satin from Stampin’ Up! The die cut was received in a swap.  I cut a white cardstock scrap into the Top Note shape on my Big Shot and accented with Viva Pearl Pen in Pearl.  The base card is dry embossed with the Framed Tulips embossing folder. 

Tags: baker's twine, basic black, big shot, derwent, framed tulips, morning cup, pearl pen, reasonable ribbon, ribbon, slice of life, top note, viva decor, watercolor pencils

Just a Note

Happy Wednesday, all! I have another card to share with you today that was inspired by the Operation Write Home Virtual Cardmaking Party this past weekend.  This challenge was presented by Kaylee, who asked us to bring some glitz and glam without using glitter.  Glitter is not allowed on cards for OWH because it can flake off onto uniforms and presents a safety hazard for our troops.

Since I’m still focusing on using up my scraps, I poked around in the bin until I found a scrap of some mirror finish silver cardstock.  I dry embossed it – I think this ups the glitz factor, all those angeled edges make it even more reflective.  I paired it with a stamped sentiment that I received in a swap, which I colored and accented with more silver – drops of Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Chrome.  I added a bit of scrap ribbon and I had a pretty glitzy glitter-free card:

It’s so reflective it was hard to photograph – I kept ending up with pictures of myself!

Tags: basic black, copics, darice, dry embossing, ribbon, viva decor

Happy Birthday

Every year for my mom’s birthday I try to make her card super special, and a lot of times that means doing something I’ve never done before.  This year was no exception.  I saw two different cards on Pinterest inspired by pianos, and I combined ideas from both of them into one card for my music-loving mom…

The vellum acts as part of the card front but I designed it so that it looks a bit like a choral folder with a piece of sheet music sticking out.  Here it is from another angle so you can see the “keys” which were made with the SU! Word Window punch.

About this card:  The black and white cardstocks are Stampin’ Up! Basic Black and Whisper White.  The vellum is from my stash.  I stamped the sheet music background stamp from Judi-kins in black Stazon ink on the vellum.  I stamped the sentiment from the SU! Everyday Elegance set in Versamark and heat embossed it in detail white embossing powder from Ranger.  The pink ribbon is SU! satin ribbon.  The keys were made with the SU! Word Window punch.  I drew the curve of the piano by hand and cut it out. 

Tags: basic black, everyday elegance, heat embossing, judi-kins, ranger, ribbon, stazon, vellum, versamark, whisper white, word window punch

Holiday Card Workshop, Bonus Day 1, Card 3

Still hanging in there with me and these workshop cards? I hope so! I think I might have to go back to two posts a day to get caught up on posting all the stuff I’ve been making, lol!

This lesson was to make an oversized card, and they suggested to just attach it to a gift without an envelope.  I decided I wanted an envelope so I cheated a little and dug through my box of random nonstandard envelopes and found the largest one, then sized my card to fit it.  So this card is about 5″ x 7″ – and it was so weird to make a card that big! I didn’t know what to do with all that space! The workshop card was a scene so I followed suit, and made a scene that is a variation on my “official” Christmas card from a couple of years ago.  (You can see it here.)

About this card: I sponged white cardstock with Distress Inks in Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire.  I stamped trees from Stampin’ Up! Lovely as a Tree in Versafine Onyx Black  on either side.  I stamped snowflakes from SU! Christmas Punch and from Hero Arts Winter Wishes in SU! Whisper White ink across the sky.  I stamped SU! Dasher in Versamark and heat embossed him with detail embossing powder in copper.   I stamped and embossed his legs only on the edge of some torn white cardstock to create a snow drift and adhered it onto the first layer.  I added more torn cardstock for additional snow and stamped the sentiment from Winter Wishes in SU! Real Red.  I matted with SU! Basic Black and the white cardstock and base are all Hammermill.

Tags: basic black, christmas punch, dasher, distress ink, hammermill, heat embossing, hero arts, lovely as a tree, real red, sponging, versafine, versamark, whisper white

Holiday Card Workshop Day 4, Card 2

Hi all! If you missed it I posted several cards over the weekend as I tried (and failed, heh) to get caught up in the Holiday Card Workshop I’m taking from OnlineCardClasses.com.  If you missed them you might want to click through and check them all out, I’ve been busybusybusy!

This lesson featured the marvelous Sandy Allnock, President of Operation Write Home, teaching a little Copics lesson.  I have some Copics, but not tons of experience, and Sandy’s lesson was full of great tips on how to get a lot of impact without a lot of effort.  I found the tips on how to color ‘white on white’ especially useful.  I tried it out with my Snoopy and it worked really nicely!

I just adored the vintage Santa Claus stamp used in Sandy’s sample card – it was the first stamp I’ve seen in this workshop that had me clicking through to purchase it – and it was already sold out, so I guess I’m not the only one that really loved it! That’s okay, that’s what eBay is for  I used this sweet Stampabilities Peanuts stamp instead and I’m pretty pleased with the results!

About this card:  Stampabilities Peanuts Season’s Greetings was stamped in Memento Ink Tuxedo Black on Hammermill cardstock and colored with Copic markers.  I used a ticket corner punch on each corner, and again on the mat which is Stampin’ Up! Basic Black.  The card base is SU! Summer Sun. 

Tags: basic black, copics, hammermill, memento ink, stampabilities, summer sun, ticket corner punch

Pinspiring!

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, Monday flew by so quickly it was gone before I could look up  But I do have a Pinspiring! project to show you, a card inspired by a picture posted to my Pinspiring! board on Pinterest.

Today’s photo is this lovely shot of a relaxing courtyard from the blog Miss Rumphius’ Rules by landscape designer Susan Cohan, although the photo has a credit to Josh Massey.

I love the burst of blue in contrast with the black iron accents and the greenery.  I also liked the lines of the bench, the windowboxes, and the shutters, so I tried to incorporate all of that into my card:

About this card:  The sentiment from Stampin’ Up! Something to Celebrate is stamped in SU! Cool Caribbean ink on Hammermill white cardstock and matted with SU! Basic Black cardstock.  The flowers and pearls are random from my stash.  I used the Sizzix Little Leaves die and my Big Shot with some green textured cardstock from my scraps bin to create the leafy branches.  The back panels are SU! Cool Caribbean cardstock that has been dry embossed with the Sizzix Stripes embossing folder to mimic the lines in the bench and shutters.  The mat is more SU! Basic Black. 

Tags: basic black, big shot, cool caribbean, dry embossing, hammermill, little leaves, pearls, prima flowers, sizzix, something to celebrate, stripes folder

Just a Note…

Hi all! Today’s sketch over at OWH (#139) is featuring SRM stickers, so I made a little sample card for it in pretty fall colors…

About this card:  Sentiment is a sticker from SRM, on a piece of pale yellow scrap cardstock, punched with a 2.5″ circle punch from Marvy/Uchida and mounted on dimensional adhesives.   I die cut some leafy paper from my scraps bin with the Top Note die on my Big Shot.  The orange patterned paper on the bottom is from a Stampin’ Up! Patterns Pack and is stamped with a leaf from We R Memory Keepers clear stamp set Botanicals in SU! Pumpkin Pie ink.  The burgundy ribbon is random from my stash.  The black cardstock mat is SU! Basic Black that has been dry embossed in my Big Shot with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Tags: basic black, big shot, circle punch, cuttlebug folder, dry embossing, marvy/uchida, patterns pack, pumpkin pie, ribbon, srm, stickers, top note, we r memory keepers