Another OLC

I made this one-layer card the same day as the one I posted yesterday. I think it was for a clean & simple challenge over at SCS, but I don't remember which one (again, that was a month ago).


Simple Butterflies (all SU! unless otherwise noted): A Little Bit of Happiness stamp set (retired); White cardstock (PTI); Basic Black classic stampin' pad; Rose Red and Sahara Sand stampin' write markers; aquapainter; stamp-a-ma-jig; ruler

Hello, again...again.

Yeah, I'm not going to mention the fact that it's been exactly a month since I posted, and I have no good excuse but laziness.

On to the good stuff!!

This card was actually made the day after my last post...a month ago...but who's counting?? Some sets I love from the get go and some don't "speak to me" until long after they retire. This set, A Little Bit of Happiness, was a hostess set a couple catalogs ago. I unmounted and cut apart the images to make them simpler to use alone or in other configurations. I've discovered I especially like them alone.


I applied crystal effects to the dragonfly to help him stand out from the card base.

Dragonfly Friend (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted): A Little Bit of Happiness stamp set (retired); White cardstock (PTI); Basic Black Classic ink; Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green and Sahara Sand stampin' write markers; crystal effects

I'm baaaack...

Sorry for the week of silence. I have no "real" excuse other than...life. If you found yourself checking daily (yeah, right) and finding nothing, I suggest you subscribe to my feed. It's simple. Do you see the link on the right that says "subscription"? Just click it, pick your service (if you don't have one, don't worry, it's free) and subscribe. That way you'll receive an email letting you know when and what I've posted without having to check here daily.

That being said, I am determined to post more often. I've joined a wonderful group of SU! Demonstrators on SCS, and we're all going to keep each other motivated to post more frequently. You can see their blogs, as well as a couple more of my favorites, in the column to the right.

So, in my absence I HAVE been inking. I received the new Snow Swirled stamp set in trade (thanks, Denise!!) and couldn't wait to ink it up. I created a couple of simple Christmas/winter cards, just to see what I could do with it. There are more scraps and experiments that haven't made it to card form, just yet. But I hope you'll enjoy these.
Next month our monthly stamp-a-stack will be all about Christmas. We'll be making elegant, classy and fun cards that are fairly simple to reproduce in a larger quantity. The Snow Swirled set is perfect for this (and it's 15% off all this month!!). In fact, (you should be sitting down for this shocker) this is my first ever snowflake set...GASP!!! How did I ever live so long without such a versatile set??? I have so many ideas for this set, I hope you won't be sick of it my the time I'm done. haha


The first card is really basic. I wanted to see what I could do with just one color of cardstock, 0ne color of ink and one stamp set. The sponging on the main image, as well as dimensionals, not only add a soft touch, help it break free of the background and hold its own. This card could be stepped-up by adding a dyed-to-match ribbon along the left side or dazzling diamonds glitter to the main image...or both!!












The second card is rather similar to the first. I used a bolder color and matted the main image in a matching cardstock, rather than sponging, to give a more structured look. Also, there are 2 stamp sets used on this card. This could also be stepped-up with ribbon
and glitter. Oooo...or a rhinestone brad in the center of the main image!












This third card is actually the first I made. I've been dying to make this card ever since I started admiring snowflake stamp sets. This is also fairly simple to reproduce, with a few more supplies than the previous cards. This uses 3 ink pads, white embossing powder and a heat tool. I started with the lightest snowflakes, added the darkest and filled in with the white embossing. The trick to keeping it from getting too crowded and overlapped is to stamp much less of each color than you think you need. That way there is ample room for the other colors.






This final item is a test for a local craft fair I'll be participating in next month. I want to offer a wide range of items, rather than just cards, and thought Christmas ornaments would be a good place to start. I pulled a tile from my stash and made this. I first treated the entire tile with the embossing buddy...those tiles are clinging little buggers! I inked my image in versamark and pacific point, stamped the image, added heat and stick powder, heated just until clear, poured on my dazzling diamonds and reheated to set. I attached the hodgepodge hardware clip (retired) to the back with crystal effects. I'm thinking of tying a ribbon around the clip and adding a piece of cardstock to the back to cover the tile back and allow for personalization.

I hope my snow swirled items were worth the wait. Let me know what you think (comments keep me going...haha)

Thanks for stopping by!

Card#1: snow swirled stamp set, very vanilla cardstock, baja breeze ink, stampin' sponge, dimensionals
Card#2: snow swirled and holidays & wishes stamp sets, very vanilla and pacific point cardstock, pacific point ink, dimensionals
Card#3: snow swirled stamp set, baja breeze cardstock, baja breeze, not quite navy and versamark ink, white embossing powder, 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon
Ornament: snow swirled stamp set, ceramic tile, versamark and pacific point ink, heat and stick powder, dazzling diamonds glitter, heat tool, retired pewter HPH, crystal effects

Stamp-Happy!!

Friday afternoon I went a little stamp-happy. There are days when I have to stamp, because I have a workshop or class coming up. Then there are days like Friday. I was in such a groove. I got to stamp just for the joy of stamping! It was great!!

So, I'd like to share a couple of the cards I made on Friday...enjoy!

The first card is a congratulations card for my aunt who retired recently. I used the stamp-a-majig quite a bit on this card. I also used my not-quite-navy marker and crystal effects to fill the trough in the flower ribbon slide with color.








The second is a one-layer card for my pastor, who had major surgery on Wednesday. I used the stamp-a-majig for every stamp on this card (If I'm going to center everything then I'm going to do it right). The main stamp was actually borrowed from his wife. I was really excited to use my markers on this stamp.

The sentiment at the bottom is originally on four lines. I drew light pencil lines to center and line up the words and used the stamp-a-majig to stamp one line at a time. The ribbon was originally 1/4" white grosgrain and I colored it ruby red with my marker and tied it on the card along with a piece of linen thread.







I made this one for my pastor's wife. I stamped the flower image in whisper white craft ink then used heat and stick powder to adhere dazzling diamonds glitter. I also stamped the flower on the soft sky card base. I punched the circle in the soft sky piece with my 1 3/8" circle punch and popped the piece up on dimensionals, after tying the white grosgrain using the technique in my previous post.












I really struggled with this card. I went round and round with the colors. I knew I wanted a semi-monochromatic card, but couldn't decide what went best with the groovy guava and satin chocolate ribbon both. All images were stamped in chocolate chip craft ink and embossed in clear. The guava circle is popped up on dimensionals. I used the crop-a-dile to add the jumbo eyelets, through which I laced and tied the chocolate ribbon.










I hope you enjoyed the results of my stamp-happy Friday. Stay tuned for a sneak peek of one of the projects we'll be doing at the brayer class Saturday.

Contrary to popular opinion...

...I have not fallen off the face of the earth. My husband (Lee) had surgery on Thursday and it's been pretty chaotic around here...well, not so much "chaotic" as "abnormal." When I fall of my schedule...watch out!

So, here I am to try and make up some lost time. I'm going to post two cards, both of which I made because of Thursday.

The first is the card I made for Lee when he was in the hospital. All day, during his surgery, I had a wonderful peace from the LORD that He would take care of Lee, and I wanted to convey that in my card.




I opted for a one layer card, which I don't often do. I love other people's one layer cards, but mine always seem to come out looking so sad. However, this time I actually ended up with exactly what I wanted. The base is Very Vanilla. I then stamped the leaf image from Lovely as a Tree and the "Blessed" from Fancy Flexible Phrases (retired) in Basic Brown and used my aquapainter to color the image using Really Rust, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip. Because I don't have the ink pads or reinkers for these colors, I scribbled ink from my markers onto a stamp box and picked up the color with the aquapainter.

At this point it looked rather too plain so I used a piece of scrap card stock as a straight edge and drew the box around the image using my Basic Brown Stampin' Write Journaler. I colored 1/4 inch white grosgrain ribbon with my Really Rust marker and tied it and some linen thread around the card. I added a stamp inside, "Each day of life is a precious gift of God. -Charles H. Spurgeon" from Refuge and Strength.

The second card I wanted to share is the one I made for my friend Naomi-Bell, who sat with me all morning at the hospital and kept me from falling asleep (we had to be at the hospital at 6am and I'm anything but a morning person).



I CASE'd this from Kristina Werner's blog (www.kwernerdesign.com/blog) you can check out the video of the original card here.

The base is Certainly Celery. I stamped the flower on Whisper White using Basic Black ink and colored the image using my Stampin' Write Markers. I punched out the flower using my Scalloped Circle Punch so it would be large enough that you wouldn't be able to see the edge through the opening. I attached the Regal Rose card stock to the Rose Red card stock using a temporary adhesive so I could punch my 1 3/8 inch circle out of both at once. I then detached them and centered the opening of the Regal Rose in my Scalloped Circle punch to create the layered effect. Stamped the "Thank You" and, after permanently adhering the two rose pieces, I tied on my ribbon using a trick I learned at Regionals in September...I'll have to share it as a tutorial sometime. I attached the entire rose section using dimensionals, as I hope you can see from this photo below. I took it without my flash so you can see the shadows, but it definitely changes the colors.

Blessed Card - Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Fancy Flexible Phrases; Card stock: Very Vanilla; Ink: Basic Brown; Accessories: 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon, linen thread; Tools: Stampin' Write Markers (Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip)

Thank You Card - Stamps: Time Well Spent, Much Appreciated; Card stock: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: Stampin' Write Markers (Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Summer Sun), black gingham ribbon; Tools: scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, crop-a-dile, dimensionals