A Year of Flowers - Cone Flowers

Good morning friends.  Another quick post today to share a card I made for my mom's birthday next week (aren't you impressed I'm over a week early?!!)  This card is pretty much a CASE from the example shown in the Gina K idea book "A Year of Flowers".  I love this book as it showcases 3 different cards for each month and different techniques for each month too.  This month was direct to stamp technique which is something I have always loved doing.  The stamp used for this card starts with the whole daisy, but you use your markers to only color part of the stamp.  Take a look:

The whole daisy stamp would have been a complete circle, but by only coloring 6 of the petals (and the center) with my black SU! marker directly to the stamp, I was able to create a cone flower.  After stamping onto my card stock, I heat set the image for a few seconds with my heat gun.  I did this because I wanted to color the image with my Copics and didn't want the black outlining from the marker to run.  The Copic colors I used were: Y11, Y21, Y17, R29, YG03, & YG63.  

I finished with the sentiment from PTI's new "Birthday Style", a black & white checked ribbon, and a yellow button (SU!).  And don't you love the little ladybug at the bottom crawling toward the flower?  This was a fun and easy card to make and I think my mom will really like it! :0)

Thanks for stopping by today and have a terrific Thursday.  It's going to be sunny and in the 40's in my neck of the woods today...yea!!! :0)
   

Daisy Bug

Good morning friends.  Just a quick post today of a card I made for my daughter's friend who just got her drivers license.  Take a look:

I'd love to tell you who the manufacturer of the stamp is, but I borrowed it from my girlfriend and forgot to write it down while I had it...old age don't ya know!!  Anyway, I stamped it on Whisper White cs and then stamped the image again on a scrap of design paper and cut it out to paper piece over the image.  I used a silver metallic pen to make the bumpers, tail-lights, and mirror pop (a LOT shinier in real life!).  The pink background is embossed with a ProvoCraft  "Congratulations" embossing folder and sponged a bit to make the words stand out a little more.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look, and I hope to be back later this week with a card I made for my mom's birthday.  Have a wonderful and JOY filled Wednesday! :0)

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a great weekend!  Another wedding shower and NO snow, so it was a great weekend for me! :0)  Today I'm sharing another birthday card (all 3 of our daughters birthdays are 6 weeks apart) and also using it for the monthly blog hop over at Papertrey Ink.  The challenge this month was to use sequins, and while you won't see many of them on my card (only 3 to be exact!), they do add a nice little "bling" to the card!  Take a look:

I know, I know.....there's NO stamping on this card!!  It was just one of those cards that came together using dies, and didn't need anything else.  And even though I'm not showing the inside of the card, I did stamp the sentiment, so technically, it is still a hand stamped card!  The "hello" and "birthday" are both PTI dies, and the letters for "girl", were cut using my Cricut.  The flower was die cut using PTI's Beautiful Blooms and the leaves are from PTI's Limitless Layers die (Melissa Phillips did stitching on felt leaves on one of her projects and I loved it!!).  The blue designer paper is BoBunny, and the rest is just scraps from my scrap pile.  The ribbon is SU!'s Melon Mambo and the 3 sequins are from one of the girls school projects from who knows when....  

I'm sure there will be many cards from this challenge that will have LOTS of sequins, and hopefully I'll get inspiration from them!  For now though, I like the way this card turned out with my 3 little sequins! :0)  Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, and I'll be back later this week with another birthday card and a "car" card.

FFC04 - Trigger Challenge

Good Friday morning friends.  The sun is shining today, but there is still snow on the ground (my husband says we're putting up the Christmas tree tonight!), so it is definitely a good day to play the Festive Friday Challenge!  This time round, it is a trigger challenge, and the trigger word is "merry".

Papertrey Ink put out a wonderful little $5 set at Christmas this past year called "Think Big Favorites #20", and I immediately knew I wanted to incorporate one of the sayings that used the word "merry" in it.  So anyway, that was my starting point.  Take a look:

I made the "merry" pop out a bit by making it red with the rest of the saying in black.  "Merry" makes me think bright, fun, festive, so I knew I wanted this card to be bright and full of color.  I happened to glance over at my tub of scrap paper, and the green and white polka dot was peeking out, and that's what got the rest of the card started.  Don't ya just love it when inspiration strikes quickly like that?!!  (trust me...that's not always the case!!)  Anyway, the card came together very easily after that.  I finally used the Spellbinders Pointsettia die (that I've had for over a year and hadn't used - oops!) and some bright red dotted swiss card stock to make the flower, and the green leaves are from some scraps left over from the party favors I've been making for my daughters wedding.  Before I glued anything down, I ran the white layer with my sentiment already stamped, through the Cuttlebug with the large dot embossing folder (Provocraft).  Then it was just a matter of assembling and finishing off with some bakers twine (SU!) at the top and some gold nailheads (Gina K) in the center of the flower.  This card definitely makes me think "merry", so mission accomplished! :0)

Well time to go start getting all the decorations out...oh wait...it's not Christmas...it's SPRING!  I think old man winter is just feeling a little too much jolly and doesn't want to leave!  But I am hearing the birds singing this morning (thank you Lord!), so spring must be coming and I just need to be patient! Have a wonderful weekend friends and thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do! :0)

Make it Monday #108 - Inked Backgrounds

Good morning friends.  Back with a couple cards for PTI's Make it Monday challenge - Inked Backgrounds.  Heather Nichols did a great video showing how just using a simple sponge and a couple colors of ink can make a really neat background.  Take a look at my take on this:

My lighting again wasn't the greatest, but I think you can get the general idea.  My inspiration for this card actually came from a scrapbook page my SU! demonstrator Stephanie showed us this week at our club meeting...I LOVED this color combination! (Thanks Steph!)  I used SU!'s Crumb Cake and Midnight Muse to sponge the background, and then lightly stamped the "French Script" (SU! - retired) in Crumb Cake on top of the sponging.  Then I stamped the flower from SU!'s "Blooming with Kindness" first with Crumb Cake and then just a little over with Midnight Muse.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Embroidered Blooms" stamped in Midnight Muse.  I layered with Midnight Muse card stock and a Whisper White card base, and then added a sheer Night of Navy ribbon (SU! - retired) and piece of hemp cord to finish it off.  I made a 2nd card with only changing the sentiment (also PTI)  and leaving the ribbon off:

   

This was a fun challenge and I hope you enjoyed my take on it.  Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back with another card tomorrow for the Festive Friday Challenge  (I know, I know...I should be spending my time doing wedding stuff instead of making cards, but it's just too much fun!!!). 

Happy Spring!

Good morning friends and happy Spring!  Even though it doesn't look or feel like spring in my "neck of the woods", I've seen my first robin, so I'm still hopeful it's coming! :0)  I also have another reason to celebrate today...it's my baby's 18th birthday today!  Hard to believe and I'm not sure where the time has gone, but she has turned into a beautiful young lady and I'm very proud to say I'm her mom!!  She's also been my number one supporter and cheerleader when it comes to my cards, so I'm hoping she'll cheer about her card today too as I really like how it turned out!  Take a look:

I remember when the chalkboard technique first came out I wasn't too thrilled with it, but it has really grown on me.  My good friend Sue also made a card for me using colored embossing that inspired me to use some color in this card...thanks Sue!  I started with a piece of basic black card stock, and stamped the "18th", the "happy birthday" (PTI), and the flourish (SU!) with versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder.  The flowers I stamped next were from PTI's "Beautiful Blooms" set and I embossed those with SU!'s Melon Mambo embossing powder.  I used a white colored pencil to add the lines around the edges, and then added some pink and white twine (The Twinery) and a few diamond dots to the 3 smaller flowers.  I layered this with Melon Mambo and a Whisper White card base.  The chalkboard technique is not for a "quick" card, but it is worth the time and effort! :0)

That's all for today friends and I'll be back either tomorrow or Friday with another card I made for the Make it Monday challenge over at PTI.  Until then, stay safe and remember to find the JOY in your day...it is there for those who seek it out! :0) 

Hello

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I saw my first robin yesterday, so even though the weather is showing a big snowstorm headed our way later today, I'm going to stick with the robin and hope spring really is on the way! :0)

My card today also looks like spring and is a CASE of PTI's Melissa Bickford's card, which can be found here - http://justdandy.typepad.com/just_dandy/ .   I love Melissa's clean and simple style with bright and fun images, and here's my take on her card:

Doesn't it just make you smile and think spring?!  I started with a Certainly Celery (SU!) card base, and then used the small circle stamp from SU!'s "Simple Shapes" (retired) and stamped halfway up to create the background.  I used PTI's "Flower Fusion #5 & #11" stamps for the flowers (Certainly Celery, Pink Passion, & Cool Caribbean - SU!) and a scrap of pink dotted design paper to cut out the "Hello" (PTI die).  I matted this layer with more of the pink design paper and then added a small dotted swiss pink ribbon (Michael's) and a turquoise blue button (SU!) at the side to finish the card.  I love how it turned out and it just plain makes me smile! :0)

That's all for today friends.  Have a wonderful Monday and keep thinking positive thoughts about spring...it WILL come! :0)