Mahalo - Thank You Card

About two years ago my husband and I took a trip to Maui for a friend's wedding. We had never been to Hawaii before and we loved every minute we spent on the island. This card takes me right back to that special time.

This card was inspired by Bunnie800 over on the Quickutz Community Gallery she made a very similar card using a flower punch. To start I cut my flowers out of white cardstock. There are actually two sizes of flowers. They were then inked with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. To create the curl to the petals I used a cuticle stick and/or a small dowel to wrap the petals around. (I used the cuticle stick for the small flowers and the dowel for the larger) Once I did that I sprayed them all with Tattered Angels in Pearl and added the pink gems from Hero Arts. Now you can't really tell in the photos but the background paper has a shimmer to it, it is from Brazzil. For my final step I cut out the sentiment using my Silhouette and a font called QK Marisa.

On the flowers, I had a really hard time getting the pink to look like I wanted and I ended up with a strange technique. I tried using a sponge, which made the ink blotchy. Next, I tried my ink blending tool from Inkssentials but that was giving me way too much color and a clear line in the ink. So, what I ended up doing was pouncing my pinkie on the ink pad and picking up ink and then dabbing that in the very center of the flower, then while the ink was still wet I used my ink blending tool to smooth the color outward towards the tips of the petals. Here is a close-up of the soft color. After that just a light spritz of glitter and we were ready to go.

All in all, this is a very simple card. It took me forever to really work out what I wanted and this time I managed to edit myself and go with less. I am thinking that I may have to make this card with yellow flowers. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Cards for January 14th

Hello - I hope that everyone had nice New Year's Eve. I haven't been able to post much because I have been fighting a wicked sickness/cold/infection. Since I am pregnant, there aren't a ton of medications that I can take. I am still sick but I have to believe I am on the mend. Anyway, I have a few cards for you today to make up for my absence.

I love the Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up, it is pretty new to me so I haven't used it a ton. I saw a really inspiring card over on Splitcoast Stampers using lime green on black and this is what I came up with for my version.

I started with a black card stock base, just a little something I had lying around. I stamped the Medallion using Versamark and embossed with American Craft's Zing! Embossing Powder in Frost. Next I colored in some of the openings in the image with a white Gelly Roll gel pen. I also added a few silver touches using a silver paint pen.


I then added the Nailhead stickers from Mark Richards. They are red and are in essence the same thing as gems. I was digging around in my box of brads and found the center gem brad, it was just perfect. I am not sure where it came from. Next I added the two ribbons the blue ribbon is a fuzzy velour that came from the dollar bin at Target. I bought it last year right before Valentine's Day. On top of that I adhered a piece of red grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up. The two ribbons together were pretty thick and so I used Tombow Aqua Glue and then set a weight on the card while it dried to adhere them to my card. I added the three square brads from Memory Makers for an additional accent. For my last steps I adhered my main element to a piece of Real Red card stock from Stampin' Up and then all of that to a piece of Taken with Teal.




I love Tim Holtz and this card is a direct inspiration from his 2008 Christmas Tags. The paper flowers are an idea that I found on Jennifer McGuire's blog but they originally came from Dawn McVey. There is a great tutorial video here http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2010/01/new-raspberry-suite-sneakie-peek.html. I didn't have a vintage book to use for the flowers so I made my own vintage pages.

I started with a piece of vanilla card stock and I painted the whole piece with Adirondack paint in Pitch Black. I let that dry and then stamped the flourish images from Stampers Anonymous and then the French Script from Stampin' Up. All images were embossed with clear embossing powder and the heated. Once that cooled I dabbed on Adirondack paint in Pool and then scrapped it around with a make-up sponge. I let the paint mostly dry and then rubbed off the extra paint with a slightly damp paper towel. This takes the paint right off of the embossed images. Once everything was dry I added a little Distress Ink in Black Soot around the edges. Here is an image with the background by itself.

This image is a little yellow, I am still getting used to the natural light in my new craft area. I mounted this to a teal piece of card stock and then black card stock.

My next element was the swirl, this is a piece of Grungeboard from Ideology. I painted it with Pewter Crackle Paint by Ranger. I put it on pretty thick and as such it look forever to dry. Once it was completely dry I sponged over the element with Distress Ink in Black Soot. I adhered that to my card.

Now on to the flowers, if you have watched the tutorial video you pretty much know how to make these but I am going to walk you through how I did it without the vintage book pages. To begin I cut out eight flowers using my Silhouette Cutter, instead of card stock I used printer paper. Here is a single plain flower.

Next, I stamped La Lettre from Hero Arts in Black Soot Distress Ink. It was at this point that I have both French and English on my card but it works for me. I took French in High School and sometimes I try to pretend that I can still speak French. So I am really speaking some strange hybrid language I call Franglais.



Next, I aged each layer with Distress Ink. For the lighter flower I used Tea Dye and then Vintage Photo on the edges. For the darker flower I used Vintage Photo and then Frayed Burlap on the edges. There is a big difference in aging printer paper versus card stock , you have to be much more careful or you can easily tear the paper.


The next step is to take four layers and place them on top of each other and add an eyelet.


The final step is to squish up the top three layers.

I then added the large element in the center. It is a brad from Making Memories but I snipped off the fasteners and then just glued it on to the center. The fasteners were too big to fit through the eyelet. I really wanted to use a nice button but I don't have any buttons in my craft stash.

Well I guess that isn't exactly true I did have bright pink and lime green but I didn't think that they would have worked with this card. :-)

To finish my card I added a sheer black ribbon from Stampin' Up and three small adhesive pearls. I really worked on this card and made countless changes to it, I think that it paid off in the end.

I have one more card for you but I think I'll save it for tomorrow. Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

Our Holiday Card

I have been very under the weather this week, since I am pregnant I can't take all the medication that I would normally. I am feeling a bit better today but still not great. So, per usual our holiday cards have gone out a little late. We ended up with two colors because I didn't have enough of the raspberry cardstock.

I started by stamping the deer image in Rich Razzleberry. The deer is from the Basic Grey set Figgy Pudding. My next step was to shadow stamp the image with Going Gray. Of course I forgot to take a photo of that step. It was an overcast day while I was working and I just couldn't get the light bright enough, so sorry about the poor quality.

Next I stamped the background with the Rich Razzelberry. This image is from the same Figgy Pudding set.

I know that it is a little hard to see but this is where I stamped the Going Gray as a shadow.

My next step was to color my crystal elements with Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Currant. This is a great technique.

Here you can see the clear crystals and the Currant colored images. I didn't have any navy colored ink so those stayed clear.

Once I assembled my card I added the clear crystals on the background and the colored crystals on the deer image. While you cannot see it in the photos, I spritzed all the cards with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl.

Here is the Razzleberry card assembled with Silver Cardstock.

Here is the Night of Navy version.

Here they are together. Fairly simply but when you make a lot you have to keep them pretty easy. I forced my husband to help me with assembly process. He loved my ATG 714 which validates my purchase of it. :-)

I finally had a moment to make and post a card!!

I know that I have been slacking off on this blog. In all fairness I have been busy and we got a new puppy and she doesn't give me many free moments.


Here she is "helping" while I made this card. Actually this was the reason that I was able to get anything done today. She has crazy times where you cannot ignore her.


Here is the card for today. I actually dreamt of this card. I love my damask stamps and I think that the shading turned pretty nice.







I was feeling very Fall-ish although it is very cold and Wintery here in Colorado.

I started with a white sheet of cardstock, I use Neenah Classic in Solar White. I cut this sheet to 4x5 1/2 inches.

My next step was to sponge my cardstock with Crushed Curry by Stampin' Up.

I waited for my first layer of ink to dry, it wasn't quiet as dry as I would have liked by I can be a little impatient. I stamped the damask image using Chocolate Chip Craft (Pigment) ink from Stampin' Up and embossed with Chestnut Zing! embossing powder from American Crafts. The stamp is from Technique Tuesday from the Small Damask set.

I then sponged around the edges and over the damask images with Dried Marigold Distress Inks by Ranger.

I then added Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink by Ranger. I went around the edges and over the damask making sure that I left the previous colors.

I came back over the center of the images and lightly over the edges with Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (Dye) by Stampin' Up. I also added Fired Brick Distress Ink by Ranger over the brown. I think that this gave the colors more depth and kept the brown from standing out too much.

I went back over my card with Crushed Curry to blend in all of the colors. I then mounted the background to a quarter sheet of Chocolate Chip cardstock.

To finish off my card I added brown organza ribbon from Creative Impressions. I cut the accent piece using Spellbinders Label 4. I replicated the inking process and added the custom colored brad.

Why the Silhouette Rocks!

I have used my Silhouette Craft Cutter for a few projects that I have posted here but I did something with my machine that I had to share. This machine rules. I can cut any font that I have on my computer and really any shape that I load to it. I love it. Last week The Greeting Farm offered a set of digital stamps inspired by Twilight. They were so cute that I bought them all.




Smooth and even cutting has never been a strength of mine. So I printed out a few of the images and colored them with my Copic markers. They were great until I cut them out. So, I thought that maybe I'd try and load them to my software and see what I could do. So loaded them to the software clicked on Get Outline and choose Select Outer Frame Only and voila - I have now told my machine to cut out the outline. So I can print the image through the software then load that paper to my cutter and voila it cuts out the shape I just printed.




I love layering, I feel that it just gives the imaged more depth and weight. Once I printed the images I went back to my software and selected Offset Shapes. I can choose how much offset (or shadow) I want and just like that I have a layering piece. I was so impressed, I had to share it. :-) Here are the photos of what I am talking about. I am using the Ebony image from The Greeting Farm.

Here she is printed and cut out with the Silhouette.

Here is a close up so you can see how well the machine cut everything out. I know that it isn't perfect but since this was my first time with this process it may be me. Plus my bossy printer keeps asking me to calibrate it. It is still way better than what I could do.

Here is the shadow I cut out.

Here she is with her shadow. I love that you can make it whatever size you want. For this one I went pretty small. This is a great feature for text too.

Here she is with her shadow under her.

I know that this isn't Ebony but I haven't colored her yet. So here is a completed Jeremy. He was colored with Copic Markers. I know that I have said this before but every time I use them I feel like I need more. This time was no different. I have about 20 markers in my online shopping cart, just waiting.

Here is the Ebony that I colored before I found this awesome trick. :-( Now I have to cut her out as neatly as I can, or bribe my Engineer Hubby. Hmmmmm!

Until next time!

A little Halloween Card

Well, I am finally back. I have been so busy with my photography and then travelling to family weddings. It was great to sit down and make this little card.

I started with a quarter sheet of Basic Black cardstock I stamped the flourish image from the Majestic set by American Crafts with Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Since it is hard to see the images I stamped one at a time and then poured on the embossing powder but I didn't heat them until they were all done. Since the powder is white until you heat it you can see where the previous images were. I edged it with the EK Success punch and mounted it to Brushed Silver cardstock.

I then cut out the three label shapes using the Spellbinders Label Four set. I stamped the bat from Inkadinkado with Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black. I then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I added a silver bellyband and black grosgrain ribbon. I threw the in some black brads and voila we're all done. I have a large collection of metallic brad so I just use embossing powder to color them to match my cards.

I pretty simple but fun card. Of course everything in my house is covered in glitter. Have a Happy Halloween!!

Friday - Elegant

I don't normally post two in one day but I just couldn't put the Devil Duck card in the same post with Damask. So, you get two.

I began this card with Pink Passion cardstock from Stampin' Up. I stamped the Damask images with Archival Ink in Black and then embossed with Black Embossing Powder. All of the stamps in this card are from the Damask Designs set from Papertrey Ink. Once I had all of the Damask images stamped and heat set I went over the card with Pixie Pink Ink and then Pink Passion Ink and finally Rose Red Ink using my quarter sponge. With the Pixie Pink and Pink Passion I went around the edges but also over the prints as well. I think that this gives additional depth to the card. With the Rose Red I just stayed on the very edges. My next step was to layer my pink cardstock onto a quarter sheet of Basic Black. I added a bellyband, also in Basic Black, then added the organza ribbons. Both ribbons are from Stampin' Up in Pink Passion and Black. I punched the oval using my Stampin' Up Large Oval punch and edged it with a little pink ink and stamped the sentiment. I added the oval to the card first and then added the pink metallic brads from Memory Makers. I finished off the card with four black eyelets set in the corners, they are from Stampin' Up.

This card was created using Archivers Cardstock in Sand and Burgundy and accented with Brushed Gold cardstock from Stampin' Up. The stamp set is Baroque Motifs from Stampin' Up. I stamped the background swirls with Black Archival ink and then embossed with Stampin' Up Embossing Powder in Burgundy. I then stamped a shadow image using Versamark Dazzle in Champagne. I stamped the main image with Versamark and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder from Zing! I also shadow stamped this image with Versamark Dazzle. The center brad started life as a gold brad but I embossed it with the same Burgundy Embossing Powder as I used earlier in the card.

I really liked the way this card turned out, I hope the recipient thinks so too.

I started with Real Red cardstock from Stampin' Up. I stamped the flourishes, which are from the Kimberly Poloson set called Flourish, in True Black ink from Memento. I then embossed with Black Embossing Powder. I shadow stamped flourishes again using Versamark Dazzle in Champagne. I edged my cardstock with the Corner Chip punch from EK Success. I then edged the cardstock with Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks from Ranger. My next step was to stamp the small flourishes on white cardstock with Memento Ink in True Black and emboss with Black Embossing Powder. I then punched these out using a circle punch from Stampin' Up. I also cut out Basic Black mounts for my circles using the next size up of circle punch. I aged the white circles using Old Paper, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks from Ranger. The Walnut Stain was only applied to the edge of the circles. I added the Black Organza ribbon from Stampin' Up, mounted my circles and then added the Red Gems from Hero Arts.

That is it for today - have a wonderful week!!

Friday - Whimsy

We have family that live in the Greater Seattle area and a few years ago my husband and I made a trip up to visit them. There is the most wonderful store called Archie McPhee. They have the strangest and most kitchy products you could ever want. One of my favorite items is the Devil Duck. (My husband thinks that the Zombie Duck is better but he is way wrong.) It is a rubber duck with edge. I made the below card in homage to said Devil Duck.



While most of my card feature some stamping, this one was made completely with my Silhouette Cutter and one EK Success punch. I started with the basic rubber duck from QuicKutz and I free handed the beak, horns and eyebrow in the RoboMaster program. I then cut out the wave shapes and added the white shadow. The skull and cross bone punch is from EK Success.



Sorry this is blurry, I really should make sure that I have gotten a good photo before I give the card away. The main stamped image is Dahlia from The Greeting Farm. I colored her with Copic markers. Most of the cardstock is random pieces from my stash. On the bright teal circle I stamped with a Fancy Pants image in Versamark. The sentiments were cut out using my QK Revolution. The "U" is from the Blossom alphabet set and "rock" is from the Zoe alphabet. The DP is from Fancy Pants. I cut the circles with my Fiskars Circle Cutter.




I was again using my Silhouette Cutter for this card, in fact all images are from QuicKutz. I first cut out the ladybug using Basic Black and Real Red. I shaded the red using Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks from Ranger. The highlights were added using a Sankura White Gel pen. Next I cut the ovals in Real Red and White cardstock. The sentiment was also cut out using my little favorite machine. I added two black brads for accents. My last step was the grass, once I cut that out I added the color using Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Ink from Ranger. When I add small die cuts to my cards, things like letters, I use Two-Way glue.

I'm back . . . . well at least for now

As I mentioned in my previous post, things have been crazy busy around here. We have one more "normal" horse show to photograph and then the huge Championship competition here in Colorado this month. After that I am planning to spend lots of time crafting!!! Of course, that is after the editing, stressing, completing orders and stressing. Here are a few cards that I have put together over the last few weeks.

So clearly this isn't the greatest photo. :-) I totally forgot to get a good photo of this card before I was about to give this to my dad for his birthday. So this was all I could do. My inspiration for this card is the cover of OneRepublic's album. I first stamped the tree from Inkadinkado's Fall Season Set with Versamark ink and then I embossed with white embossing powder. I then applied the following Distress Inks with 1/4 sponge; Broken China, Dusty Concord and then Black Soot. I edged the main image with a silver paint pen, layer onto Basic Black CS from Stampin' Up and the added the brads.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Damask Designs, stamped on black CS with Versamark ink and embossed in silver powder from Stampin' Up. I then edged with the silver paint pen. I'll admit when first heard about Emboss Buddies I was skeptical. I thought "Just one more thing to buy that won't help." Well, I finally caved and bought one and I loved it, especially on dark papers or when you will be layering color over your embossed image. They certainly have a life span, my first one was leaving white powder all over my cardstock and was not rubbing off but once I replaced it, back to happy times. I highly recommend this tool to anyone that does a lot of embossing.

I have a thing for most things British. The Rampant Lion is certainly one of my favorite images. I have a T-shirt that is green with a Rampant Lion with a crown that inspired this card.

To start I took the following Distress Inks and rubbed them on my craft sheet; Tea Dye, Shabby Shutters and Pealed Paint. I then spritzed with my Mini Mister. I rubbed the cardstock onto the ink puddles about three or four times to get the look I was after. Between rubbings I dried with my heat gun.

The Rampant Lion image is from the Tim Holtz's Collection from Stampers Anonymous and comes from the Regal Flourishes set. The crown is by Hot Off The Press and is from the Flights of Fancy set. I stamped the image with Broken China Distress ink and then dusted with Perfect Pears in Gold. The blue paper was some random cardstock that I had in my craft and while it looks black in the photo the other cardstock is a Gun Metal from Brazzil. The ribbon is black organza ribbon from Creative Impressions. The Fleur-De-Lys is an EK Success punch that I embossed with Sahara Pearls embossing powder from Stampendous. I embossed the punch three times to give it the dimension. There is a small green gem in the center of the Fleur-De-Lys from Hero Arts.

This was another simple card but I think that it has a really elegant look to it. The navy cardstock is Night of Navy from Stampin' Up. The pink DP I used on the background is from the Old World Stack by DCWV. I cut out a circle with my Friskar's Circle Cutter in Night of Navy and a smaller one from white cardstock. I sponged onto my white circle with Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick to mimic the background paper. I then stamped the image from Stampin' Up's Finest Flourishes in Faded Jeans. I also embossed this with clear embossing powder. I added very small dots of Distress Stickles in Faded Jean on the two small dots on either side of the flourish. The Bonjour is from the Stampin' Up set Carte Postal and was also stamped with the Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I edged all of the cardstock with a very small line of silver using a silver paint pen. I just applied the paint to the edges. My final element prior to assembly was setting the eyelets, and I actually used a ruler this time, so they are pretty straight.

That is it for today! Thank you, as always for stopping by.