Feeling Sentimental

Good morning friends.  I mentioned yesterday that I've been in a "kraft" card stock phase again, and that, the Sale-A-Bration stamp set called "Feeling Sentimental (SU!), and the fact that my male card stash had been depleted, is how today's cards came about.  Take a look:

I won't go through a step by step on each of these cards as I think they're all pretty self explanatory.  The designer paper on the first two cards is First Edition Specialty paper from SU!.  The first card also uses PTI's Herringbone impression plate, and the last card uses SU!'s Chevron Stripe embossing folder (and yes, I know the last card is not kraft cs, but I had to make one a little different!!).  If you have any other questions with these cards, just shoot me an email.

These were all quick and easy cards and I had a lot of fun making them.  I also stamped 8 more of the images and matted them, and then left them in the stamp case so that when I run out again, I am halfway started for some new cards.  The last image in this set is an old fashioned ferris wheel, and I'll show you a card I made with that image tomorrow as it's a little different than today's cards, and it's also for PTI's Make it Monday challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful Thursday!

Tucker

Good morning friends.  My brother and his wife lost their dear friend Tucker this past weekend, and while many may consider this ridiculous because Tucker was a dog, those of us who are animal lovers know the pain they are going through.  I myself have never experienced this loss as our dogs are younger (Brinkley is 8 and Daisy is 2), but they are considered members of our family and I know I will grieve when their time comes!  So anyway, you're probably asking "what does this have to do with stamping?"  Well, let me show you:

Because Tucker was a member of my brother's family, I thought they deserved a sympathy card.  The paw print and dog stamp were both just $1 stamps, but together I thought they made a cute card!  I started with a kraft card base and randomly stamped the paw prints with SU!'s Soft Seude ink.  The dog was also stamped on a small piece of kraft cs with Soft Seude ink, and then layered with a piece of Soft Seude cs.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Heart 2 Heart #10", also stamped in Soft Seude ink, and then I finished with adding a gross grain ribbon from Michael's.  Quick and easy, but a good way to let my brother and Shari  know that we feel their pain.

I've been in a kraft card stock phase again, so stay tuned for tomorrow and I'll show you what I've been up to! :0)  Have a wonderful Wednesday and thanks for stopping by...I love it when you do!!

Embrace Life

Good morning friends.  Is anyone else out there as tired of winter as I am?!  The forecast in my "neck of the woods" is showing snow the next 3 days and then another system moving in for next week...enough is enough already!!  Well I guess we have to make our own sunshine inside and what better way than making bright cards?!  The ones I'd like to share today are very CAS, but I like how they turned out.  Take a look:

I'm still lovin working with the watercolor technique, and this flower from SU!'s "Embrace Life" set lends itself perfectly.  After stamping the image with Tuxedo's Momento Black ink, I used my Aqua Painter with SU!'s Melon Mambo ink to color in the flower.  One of the things I love about watercoloring is that you don't neccesarily need to "stay in the lines".  After the image dried, I used a white gel pen to color the ends of the flowers stamens, and then stamped the sentiment.  I layered with a piece of Melon Mambo and then adhered to a white card base.  I made a few of these cards with different colors and sentiments...here's another one I liked:

I used SU!'s Pumpkin Pie ink for this one and really like how it turned out too!  You could use any color your heart desires and quickly make a stash of cards to have on hand for just about any occasion.  Another idea would be to completely leave the sentiment off the cards until you need them, and then it's just a quick fix to add what you need at the time you need it.

Well that's it for today friends.  I hope you have a terrific Tuesday and I'm back to working on wedding things.  It sure seems like a lot of work, but I know it's going to be an absolutely beautiful day when it gets here!  I have had a few sleepless nights recently though, worrying about everything that still needs to be done, but my devotion for today hit the nail right on the head..."Relax and enjoy the journey in My Presence, trusting Me to open up the way before you as you go".  Just being told AGAIN that I'm NOT in control!  Good thing He understands my humaness! :0)  Have a JOY filled day friends! :0)

FFC02

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Today I'm sharing a card I made for Festive Friday Challenge 02.  The challenge was to make a rustic, country looking card and here is the inspiration photo:

I love this photo....kind of makes me wish Christmas were next week and this is what my table would look like!  Actually I do have Christmas plates that would look great with this type of setting, so I'm going to have to keep this in mind for next December! :0)  But anyway, here is the card I came up with:

I started with a 5 x 5 flecked cream colored card base (my local stamp store) and then layered with SU!'s Soft Seude and an embossed layer (SU!'s Striped embossing folder) that I sponged with Soft Seude ink.  The look I was going for was an old barn door, and I'm not sure I achieved that particular look, but I do like the way it turned out as a background for the wreath!  The wreath is from PTI's "Wreath for all Seasons" stamp set and I absolutely LOVE this set!  I used a small stamp from a retired SU! set (Mini Watercolor Garden) to stamp the leaves on the wreath, using SU!'s Old Olive and Alway's Artichoke.  The berries are stamped in SU!'s Real Red with a "Judith" stick stamp. I layered the wreath on another layer of Soft Seude and then added a sheer red ribbon (Michael's) before adding the wreath layer to the embossed layer.  I finished by adding a tiny star tag (PTI's Tiny Tags die and stamp set) and attached with a small piece of hemp cord.  Here's an extra photo close up of the wreath so you can see the leaves better:

It's a pretty CAS card, but I think I achieved the "rustic, country" look.  Like my last Festive Friday entry, this card would be any easy one to produce a lot of, although with the size it would be extra to mail it...oh well, hand delivery works great too! :0)

That's all for today friends.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday and thanks so much for stopping by!  

Welcome Elikem!

Good morning friends.  Today is my 100th post....wooooohooooo!!!  A small milestone to most probably, but a big one to me in this relatively still new venture! :0)  Thanks to all who have been following me and all the positive comments...they really do help to keep me going! :0)

This weekend my family will be celebrating with my niece and her husband, who are adopting an absolutely adorable 6 yr. old from Ghanna.  Had to make a few things of course, so here's one of the cards:

I wish the lighting had been better, but you can get the general idea.  This is a 4 x 4 card, and I used the new SU! Honeycomb embossing folder for the background (SU!'s Bashful Blue cs).  The animals are PTI's "Sweet Baby" stamp set and dies, the colors are SU!'s Pumpkin Pie, Marigold Morning (retired), and Night of Navy.  The sentiment is computer generated.  I hope my color choices keep the card from looking too baby-ish...definitely going to have to invest in some more stamps that are more suitable for a young boy! :0)

My next project was a photo book I made for the new parents to add photos of Elikem.  Could not find the chip board books I have used in the past by "7 Gypsies", but I did find a smaller chip board book that I made work.  Take a look:

 
I used the photo from the invitation for the cover of the book...is he not just the cutest?!!  It will be a few months (or maybe shorter??) before he arrives, but the shower this weekend will make sure everything is ready to welcome Elikem to his new home!  All the inside pages have different design paper that will hopefully show off all the beautiful pictures of this sweet little guy and make a great memory book for Elikem (and his parents!).

That's all for today friends.  Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back next week with some more inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by...I love it when you do! :0)

Hello Friend

Good morning friends.  Back with a Lily of the Valley card I made awhile ago but never had a chance to post.  Most LOTV images are very detail oriented, and the reason I liked this particular one was because of it's simplicity....sometimes it's nice just to be able to do a quick card!  Take a look:

I love the faces of the LOTV images and this one is no exception...they are so sweet and impish looking!  I stamped her on Whisper White cs and then colored her with Copics (E00, E02, R81, RV11, Y11, Y21, Y17, E99, & G14).  I used my Spellbinders dies to cut the circle and the lacy scalloped circle (SU!'s Pretty in Pink card stock).  The card base is a 5 x 5 Whisper White, and the design paper was from my scrap pile which unfortunately did not have the manufacturer name on the pieces I had left.  I added a sheer white ribbon (Michael's) and a tag from PTI's Tiny Tags.

That's all for today friends.  Have a wonderful Tuesday, and stay safe if you're in my neck of the woods...VERY icy roads today!  Thanks for stopping by! 

Life

Good morning friends.  Last week at PTI, one of the days featured watercoloring, and some of the cards were absolutely stunning.  Had a little bit of time to play yesterday, so tried my hand at it and this is what I came up with:

I used PTI's "Life" stamp set for this card.  I used 3 of SU!'s green inks (Old Olive, Always Artichoke, & Certainly Celery) and after inking up the stamps, I used my Aqua Painter to dilute the color a little before stamping on the card stock.  You can see better in this close up photo how using the Aqua Painter gives the watercolor effect:

I really like the soft look adding more water to the ink gives and was really pleased with the way this card turned out.  I added a little Elegant Eggplant (SU!) ink to add a pop of color, and then simply matted the layer with a piece of Old Olive cs and then layered that onto a card base of Whisper White.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Heart to Heart #10".

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! :0)