Telling Santa

Good morning friends.  I have a card today that brings back memories of taking our girls to see Santa when they were younger.  I don't know about your pictures of these times, but most of ours are pictures of the girls looking either scared to death or crying!  They couldn't wait to go see him each year, but once we got there....  Too funny when I think about it now! :0) 

This card has quite a few layers, but it actually went together quite quickly!  I started with a card base of SU's Real Red card stock and then layered it with Very Vanilla which had been stamped with a SU background stamp called "Script" stamped in Real Red ink.  I used another SU background stamp called "Victorian Lace" that I stamped with the Real Red ink on Real Red card stock, and then tore to fit the left corner of the card (gives it a more vintage feeling).  I then stamped the image ("Telling Santa" by Paper Inspirations stamp company) with black Stazon ink on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock.  I layered the image with another piece of Real Red cs, and then layered again with a piece of SU's Garden Green cs.  After attaching this layer to the card base, I added a piece of green grossgrain ribbon (Michael's) and 3 black brads on the left side. 

Well, that's all for today friends.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back with you again next week with some more Christmas inspiration!  And remember to slow down enough to find the joy in each day...especially durring this upcoming holiday season! :0)

Another Birthday???

Good morning friends.  Yes, another birthday in my family, and today it's my cousin Sue, who also is one of my very best friends!  She stopped counting birthdays a while ago (so did I!!), but it's a good reason to get a hand stamped card in the mail and not another bill!  Take a look:

I had bought SU's "Perfectly Preserved" stamp set awhile ago, and have been thinking about what I could put in the jar besides the fruit and vegetables that come with the set...something different and "outside the box".  It didn't take me long to come up with the idea of fall leaves, as leaves are one of my favorite things (you'd know if you saw the inside of my house...I definitely have a leaf motif going on!!).  I stamped the jar in SU's Soft Seude ink and then stamped the leaves in SU's Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and More Mustard.  The leaf stamp in the More Mustard is the same one I used yesterday from the grab jar, and the leaves in Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive are from SU's "Fall Whimsy" stamp set.  I stamped the jar and leaves on kraft cs and then the lid to the jar is a die cut using the back side of the red/cream checked designer paper (Rain Check by Pebbles Inc.).  I tied a piece of bakers twine (The Twinery) around the lid and then used pop dots to mount it on the jar.  I layered with a piece of SU's Cherry Cobbler, and then layered again with the red/cream checked dp onto a kraft cs card base.  I embellished with a piece of red grossgrain ribbon (Michael's), a tiny tag from PTI's "Tiny Tags" die and stamp set, and then finished off with a large die cut leaf in SU's Cherry Cobbler from Provo Craft.  I also distressed the edges of the leaf, tag, and card stock edges with SU's Soft Seude ink and added a couple red half backed pearls to finish it up.

Well that's it for today, and tomorrow maybe we'll get back into the Christmas mode....I have oodles and oodles to share with you! :0)  Have a great Thursday friends, and a wonderful birthday Sue!!

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Good morning friends.  I'm back with another "fall" feeling card today.  It was inspired by a card from a post last week on Dawn Griffiths site (Dawn's Stampin Thoughts). So yes, this is a CASE'd card, but with my spin on it.  Take a look:

Dawn used a few more colors in her card, where I kept mine a little more muted.  This was such a fun technique to do and SO easy! (Thanks Dawn!!)  You use 3 layers (well, technically 6) of a light colored card stock (I used SU's Very Vanilla) and put a small dab of adhesive on the backs of the top 2 layers to hold all 3 layers in position while you stamp on it.  I used an older leaf stamp from Inkadinkado and randomly stamped with SU's Raspberry Ripple.  I then inked up the same leaf stamp with SU's Melon Mambo and stamped off so I would have a more muted shade before I stamped onto the card stock.  Once you finish stamping, you simply pull the 3 layers apart and then re-layer them with a darker shade (SU's Raspberry Ripple) card stock, making sure to line up the leaves before you put the card together. (Hope that makes sense, but if not, go to Dawn's site where she has a fabulous video on how to do this!)  I finished my card by adding a ribbon (Michael's) and the "happy, happy, joy, joy" sentiment from PTI's "Blooming Button Bits" stamp set.  I also used a small leaf on the oval with SU's Melon Mambo stamped off again and also a small diamond dot for some bling! :0)  (The small leaf is a SU stamp that I received when I first started stamping and my demonstrator then used to pass around this big jar filled with small stamps for anyone who had placed an order to pick from...I have quite a collection of these "small" stamps, so you can see that my addiction started quite a long time ago!!)

I'll be back with another birthday card tomorrow (November is a BIG birthday month in my family!), so until then "Rejoice! This is the day the Lord has made!"   

Birthday Wishes

Good morning friends! Sorry about missing yesterday...life just gets in the way sometimes! I had always told myself that if I ever started a blog, I would not be an "everyday" post-er, but rather 2 or 3 days a week. BUT, when I first started over a month ago, I was SO excited about finally doing something I had dreamed about for so long, that I couldn't help but post everyday! :0)   I think the reality of "life" has sunk in though, so you may not see a new post everyday... but, if I have lots of things to share, who knows?! :0)

Anyway, getting on to todays cards (yes, 2 cards today!). Yesterday was my niece Jen's birthday, and today is my friend Stephanie's birthday, (Happy Birthday ladies!!) so here are their birthday cards:

 

Both cards are basically the same, I just used a different ribbon treatment on each one.  I used almost all Stampin Up product (for you, Steph!) for both these cards.  The card base is Whisper White, then a layer of Old Olive, and then a layer of First Edition Speciality paper (LOVE this stuff!).  I then stamped the stem and leaves (Field Flowers stamp set) in Old Olive ink right onto the First Edition paper.  For the flowers, I stamped them on scraps of Whisper White cs with Marigold Morning (retired) for the first card and Summer Sun (retired) for the 2nd card.  I cut them out and attached with pop dots and then stamped the "Birthday Wishes" in Old Olive (from the Watercolor Trio stamp set) and punched out with the oval punch and layered in Old Olive with the scalloped oval punch.  The brown grossgrain ribbon, jute, and maple leaf brad are all from Michael's.  Simple, but very "fall" feeling cards.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon!    

A Challenge!

A Saturday post...woo hoooooo!!  Actually I'm trying to be brave in my old age and do a "Make it Monday" challenge from Paper Trey Ink for the first time, and it needs to be posted no later than this Monday at 7:00AM.  So anyways, here's my take on the Make it Monday #89 "Creating Windows for Floating Images" challenge:

If you look at the example on Nichole's site (Capture the Moment), her image definitely "floats" a lot more than my pinecones, but I didn't want to cover up the "Winter Wishes" (PTI - Winter Hills set) sentiment.  I used the Pillow Box die from PTI with kraft cs and then cut out an oval using Spellbinders oval set.  I then stamped the pine boughs from PTI's "Peaceful Pinecones" set with SU's Always Artichoke ink.  On some scrap pieces of kraft cs, I stamped the pinecones with Brilliance Cosmic Copper pigment ink (kind of hard to see in the photo, but this ink shimmers a little and makes the pinecones "pop" a bit more) and then used a pop dot to adhere them to the pillow box.  Before I assembled the box, I stamped the "Winter Wishes" on the inside in SU's Early Expresso ink and then attached a small piece of acetate to the backside of the oval to create the window. I added a small piece of grossgrain ribbon and the box is done.

Wellllllllll...not quite done!  About a week ago, one of PTI's designers, Dawn McVey (My Favorite Things) showed how to make a "Gift Tags Gift Set", and I fell in love with the idea!  So I made a few gift tags using the same stamps as the Pillow Box to make my own gift set.  Have a look:

Now who wouldn't love to receive a little gift like this?  Perfect for friends, hostesses, school or Sunday school teachers....really anyone on your list! :0)  I don't have any of the tag dies, so I simply cut my tags at 2" x 3" and they fit perfectly into the Pillow Box die.  I stamped them the same as the box (stamped the pinecone right onto the tag rather than cutting out first and attaching like I did with the outside of the Pillow Box) and just added a piece of bakers twine (The Twinery) to each corner.  Quick and easy and a very nice gift.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend! (I'm actually seeing a few snowflakes right now in "my neck of the woods" ...yikes! I guess winter is coming!!)

Heart 2 Heart

Good morning friends.  Today I'd like to share a simple Fall card that is similar to some of the kraft card stock cards I showed you the beginning of October:

I had made a bunch of these cards more geared to "guys", but had to do a "girlie" one too cause I just love flowers!  This card was made using Paper Trey Ink's (PTI) "Heart-2-Heart #7" stamp set, and I had to get this set because 1- it was cheap ($5), 2- I LOVED the leaves, and 3- it is so easy to use and just plain cute! :0)  I started this card with kraft card stock and embossed it with the "Blessings" embossing folder (Provo Craft).  I lightly sponged over all the words with SU's Soft Seude ink to give a little more definition to the words.  For the actual stamped area, I used SU's Soft Seude ink (can you tell I LOVE this color?!!!) for the stem and leaves, and then SU's Really Rust and Summer Sun (both retired colors) for the flowers.  The center (heart shape) of the flower on the left was stamped with Really Rust that had been stamped off once to create a lighter shade than the other flower.  I added a small rusty red colored dot to the center of the flower on the right to add a little bling.  I tore the bottom edge of the card stock on an angle and then layered it with a piece of SU's Soft Seude, which I also tore at an angle at the bottom.  After tieing a piece of grossgrain ribbon (Michael's) near the bottom of this part, I attached it to the base card.  Simple and easy!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend...I'm thinking I need to get some turkey decorations put out or it will be time to put up the Christmas tree before I know it!  Seriously, someone in my town already has their tree up and lit in their front window!  I can't wait to put mine up too, but in October?  Really?  Oh well, each to their own!  Thanks again for stopping by and I'll be back next Monday. :0)

Goin' Huntin"

Good morning friends and happy November!  It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away and Christmas a month after that!  Are you a "planner" and have everything under control, or do you wait till the last minute to get holiday things done?  I have always been a planner, with most things bought, and some things even wrapped by now (old habit to keep Caitlin from peeking!!).  Last night though, it hit me I haven't done much of anything but make cards...oh well, at least I've been happy! (a true stamper would totally understand this! :0)

Anyway, on to today's card.  I totally wish I could take credit for this card, as I just love it and can't even bear to send it to someone, but the credit goes to my SU demonstrator Stephanie.  It really is one of the most beautiful fall and "male" cards I have ever made:

It's been over a year (maybe 2??) since we made this, so I'm guessing at the colors here, but I think the base of the card is SU's Really Rust, then a Very Vanilla layer, and then Early Expresso before the actual stamped image.  The set we used is SU's "Autumn Days" (which hadn't even been on my "wish list" to buy, but totally had to buy that night after making this card...thanks Steph!!).  We placed a circle near the upper right hand corner and then started spongeing from light to dark (I think...a year's a LONG time ago!).  I'm guessing again here, but I think we used SU's So Saffron, More Mustard, & either Really Rust (which is retired) or Cajun Craze. The pheasant and sentiment were stamped with Early expresso and the wheat with either Soft Seude, or Early Expresso stamped off once before stamping on the actual card.  The berries were done with Cherry Cobbler.  A little hole punching in the 2 corners and a Antique Brad, and the card was done.  Isn't it Beautiful?!!!  I just LOVE the colors!

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back with a few more fall looking cards before we start in on more Christmas again.