Crop-A-Doodle-Doo

2009-05-18T16:21:00.002-04:00

I always have some trouble when it comes to making masculine cards, so the other day when I was in the mood to make something but didn't have any specific need for a card I decided to aim for "anytime masculine". Now when I go card diving for a last minute card for a male friend I'll have this one on hand. Most of my problem in this area seems to derive from a lack of "manly" stamps. It's hard to find an image that can be used for multiple guys. Most of the masculine stamps I can find seem to be based around specific hobbies. I'd either end up using the same one for the same person over and over or using something that's not really personalized. Oh well, such is life I guess.

Truly Scrumptious Challenge #5

2009-04-16T09:09:00.004-04:00

This is my card for the challenge at Truly Scrumptious. There was a sketch to follow (I flipped it on its side) and the theme was a card for a child. I used, again, my Celebrate Life papers by KI Memories. The little ballerina is Tutuface from stampingbella. I completely enjoyed this sketch b/c I usually only have 2 or 3 layers on my cards and this made me have to think a little bit more about papers and sizing. I already have another card made following this sketch, which I'll post soon. Don't want to burn myself out...this is the second day in a row that I've posted! ;)

A friends b-day

2009-04-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

This is a card that I made for a (blogging) friend of mine who's birthday is at the end of March. I finally mailed it out last week b/c I realized that she'd probably get it before I'd see her again. I used my Magnolia paper pack and all sorts of little flowers and bling along with a button to create the "collage" around the sentiment. I was surprised at how long it took me to be happy with the layout and items in the collage (just the perfectionist in me making something a lot harder than it should be). I hope you liked it, Amy!

Flowers for you, Mom.

2009-04-08T09:26:00.002-04:00

Here's another quick page I did. This is my oldest daughter on the first warm day we had this year. She had picked some of the little blue weed-flowers that are all over out yard. All of the papers are from the Magnolia paper pack. The flowers, chipboard, and brads are from my stash.

Relax

2009-04-03T14:24:00.002-04:00

This card was made for Truly Scrumptious Challenges. It was a sketch and theme (flower power) combo. Everyone there made some awesome cards and I was completely inspired by all of them!! I used papers from the KI Memories "Celebrate Life" paper pack and my favorite little Penny Black hedgehog who's lounging in some flowers. I didn't have a sentiment that seemed to convey the feeling that I wanted so I printed the work "relax" on the printer and adhered it to a chipboard rectangle. The center oval is also chipboard covered with matching orange paper. The two pink ovals have been embossed with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder.

Pacified...

2009-04-02T09:13:00.002-04:00

I'd like to introduce my "attention-starved" daughter! Here she is clowning it up with two pacifiers in her mouth. And she was still talking away before I took the pic. This girl will do anything to get people around her to look at & interact with her. She's the cutest thing (if I do say so myself), but she's got an attitude on her!
Anyway, the papers are from a 6x6 paper pad that I love and use all the time. The stickers and oval chipboard were all from a trash to treasure a while back.

Happily Ever After

2009-03-31T16:54:00.003-04:00

This card is for a friend of mine who's wedding is in May. I saw the Inkadinkadoo stamp while blog-surfing a couple nights ago and knew I just had to use it for this card. I was going to bide my time until I could get permission to order in on-line, but found today that my local AC Moore carries it. It must be fate. The sentiment came in the clear stamp set. I also used my swiss dots embossing folder (which I also picked up while I was out) for the first time. And the ribbon I picked up while I was shopping just to use with this card; I thought it mimicked the dots well. I got a couple of layouts down too, so I'll have a some posts in the future, even if I don't get the time to create anytime soon.

2009-03-30T10:56:00.003-04:00

This is a card that I made (last minute, of course) for a friends bridal shower. She's not into anything frilly or mushy so I kept it simple and to the point. I'm going to have to recreate the look b/c I like the way it's (almost) monochromatic. I did have to improvise with the "best wishes" b/c this Bella doesn't have any phrase for her sign that I thought would suit the situation.

There's really no good excuse...

2009-03-28T09:13:00.002-04:00

I hadn't realized just how long I've been away! I mean, sure, I knew it'd been a while and I kept saying to myself "I should check out blogger and maybe post" but it just got pushed to the back burner. The one good excuse I have (although it's sad) is that my youngest daughter is 20 months old now and into everything. My crafting area is also the dinning room table, so I can't start anything unless I know for sure that I can finish it in one sitting. Aside from that, laziness is completely to blame; even though there's not a whole lot that I can think of that involve less energy. Hopefully, I'll be back soon. But then you never really know...

2008-12-08T09:56:00.003-05:00

I'll admit this isn't the best pic but the card is beautifully simple IRL. The paper did all the work for me here. The card is 5 x 5 inches. This is a double-sided paper from Martha Stewarts Golden Woodland paper pad. The ribbon is Galena gold metallic. I'm not going to ramble on about the layout b/c I'm pretty sure that it's self explainitory. I made 7 similar cards using the same materials. None of them are exactly the same. Instead of measuring for the bottom layer, I used the rectangles that were left over after cutting out the 5 x 5 squares. My church puts out folders each year so that we can exchange cards more easily. I'm thinking that these will be going to the pastors and thier families.

Christmas is coming

2008-10-31T11:49:00.004-04:00

Hooray for crop! The card is 5 12 inches square. The stripped layer is 1/4" smaller, it came from a trash to tresure pile at a scrap night I went to a couple months ago. The circle is about 3" diameter and is Bazzil Bling, it's matted with black cardstock that I trimmed around with scallop scissors. The white strip is 2"x5 1/2" and is also matted with black cs. The little tree light string is by Jollee's. These stamps my mom gave to my daughter and I to share last year, so I always let her pick the images that I'll use.

Let It Snow-Funky Fairy challenge # 39

2008-10-29T12:09:00.004-04:00

Yay! Two days in a row. So now that I'm able to take pictures again I can get back into challenges and such. This card was based on the sketch challenge over at Funky Fairy. I loved the layout of the sketch and am looking forward to giving it another go to see if I can follow it more closely the next time around. Everything on this card was given to me by my mom last year...nothing was in the proper package so I can't tell you much other than that the 2 snowflake embellishments are by Jolee's. I don't even know any measurements...that kind of lazyness takes practice.

Birthday Invitations

2008-10-27T10:29:00.004-04:00

I made the invitations for my older daughters upcoming fourth b-day party, themed PINK. I wanted them to be different, so they are made in a postcard format. One of my wonderful, lady-like little girls managed to trip over my laptop cord and pull it off the table (RIP). Not even my tech-magician hubby could revive it. So, please forgive my horrible uncropped photo (his desktop doesn't have any photo software-yet).

and 3 months later...

2008-10-23T10:51:00.002-04:00

Well, I realize that I've been gone awhile. (not that I had a whole lot of readers anyway) My camera is done for...and has been for a good 2 months now. It took me that long to realize that maybe I should let those of you who check in here once in a while know. My new camera is ordered and should be here by Monday at the latest! There will be more cards and pages coming, I promise!!!

FF Challenge #28-Stitching

2008-07-24T12:58:00.002-04:00

WOW! It's been at least 2 months since I've had time to sit down and make a card just for the sake of enjoyment. Funky Fairy was the first place I checked for inspiration. Now, I know that stitching will never be my "claim to fame" but I still have fun doing it. I don't use stitching as often as I would like to just b/c I'm no good at it...real or faux!! I do like the way this card turned out and I can't wait for the chance to send it to someone. The dotty paper is from the KI Memories "Celebrate Life" pack. The blue cs is from my stash of cheap-stuff. Cosmobella is one of my first stamps from Stamping Bella...I just ordered 3 on Friday and received them yesterday! I was soooo excited! Definitely look for more cards using them.

Thank You cards for Lyndi's b-day

2008-07-23T12:18:00.003-04:00

These are the thank yous that I made for my youngest daughters b-day in June. I love this paper from the MME Magnolia pack and so I used it on all of my simple cards. I didn't want them to be identical, not that those receiving them would have known, but it was more fun for me to come up with more layouts. Some have bling, some have ribbon and I love the way the all came out. The pink flower gems are off of a headband that started coming apart b/c Rylie wore it too much...waste not, want not! There are about 20 on the band. I'll have to remember to look for more embelishments like that; I'm sure that it's cheaper than buying a bunch of the gems in a craft store.

MIL b-day

2008-07-15T08:16:00.002-04:00

This is a birthday card that I made for my MIL. Her favorite color is purple, so I had to make sure that I incorporated that into the card. All of the papers are from the MME magnolia paper pack. The flower is See-D's and the sentiment came in a pack that my daughters got me for my b-day. I layered the two torn pieces and lined up the stripes for more texture and then colored over some of the stripes a purple Sakura stardust pen. The dots around the edges are doodled with the same purple stardust pen. The flower is also covered with a clear stardust pen.

Birthday

2008-07-12T10:13:00.002-04:00

I made this card for one of the moms in the playgroup that I attend. I started out by trying some new-ish things (for me). I decided that I wasn't going to cover the whole card front, as I usually would and I knew that I wanted to tear the purple paper at an odd angle so that it had an eye-catching affect. Both patterned papers, as well as the green that is matting the flowers, are from the KI Memories "Celebrate Life" paper pack. I even carried it so far as to put some of the PP inside to match. The sentiment is matted using passion fruit velum by Worldwin Extaordinary Papers. Hopefully now that things have seemed to settle down a little bit around my house, I can get back into blogging (and crafting) more often!

A day to celebrate

2008-06-21T13:07:00.001-04:00

This was originally going to be an informal graduation card for a friend of mine. I found out that her favorite color is lavender, though, so I decided to put this one in the stash for another time. The stamps are all See-D's. the big flowers and the dotted brad are KI Memories. I can't recall who makes the pp, but the black cs is just cheap stuff from wal-mart. I hope everyone is enjoying wonderful sunny weather! I've been spending a lot of time outside (i.e. away from the computer). Hopefully, it'll rain soon so that I have a reason to blurf!

2008-05-24T14:17:00.002-04:00

Here's a card that I made to give to a neighbor who held a spring get together last month. I haven't been all that crafty lately; with the nice weather we've been spending a lot of time outside.

This is a standard size white card blank. The dp is from the Full of Life paper pad by My Minds Eye (I think); it's about 2"x4 1/2". The stamp is a borrowed one by SU! It's so cute and saves the extra time & space of stamping the sentiment separately. Ribbon is from my ebay lot. The dotted lines were doodled on with a yellow Sakura stardust pen.

Hopefully, I can get some mojo flowing soon seeing as I have thank you cards to make for my soon-to-be one year old daughters b-day coming up the first weekend in June!

And again

2008-05-15T12:31:00.002-04:00

This is another card that I made just so that I could play with my Tickle stamp. The white base is about 4 1/2x8 1/2 inches. The green is about 3 1/4x4 inches. The orange layer is torn to, I would guess, 2 or 2 1/2 inches. I used my glue pen to trace the orange paper that I matted the image on and then covered it with ultra fine glitter...very messy, I won't be doing that often. The sentiment reads "Have a wonderful day" and is matted on the same orange paper. Then, just to keep everything "matchy" as I love to do...I added the square brads that match the little butterfly! Now, to enjoy the pretty sun (since it's supposed to rain all weekend here!

Tickles, again

2008-05-13T19:26:00.004-04:00

This is a card I made using a couple of my favorite papers from the Magnolia paper pack by KI Memories! And of course, my new favorite image...Tickles (retired SU!). All of the flowers are colored using Sakura stardust pens; the red stripes on the paper are also traced with stardust pen to make them stand out from the rest so that my brads are more "pulled in". I was planing on placing a sentiment on the front of this card, but decided that it was busy enough and I'll either add it later (on the inside) or use this as a blank note card.

Sketch #43-card

2008-05-11T17:38:00.002-04:00

This is the card I came up with for this weeks card on Sketches! {by Tamara}. It's not very close to the sketch but I still got my inspiration from that. I still had all the papers out from my "going dotty" card so that's what I used. (Sometimes lazy-ness is a good thing). The card base is about A2-sized black cs. This dotty paper is a free download that I got off the Funky Fairy Inspiration blog. The teal is from a 'cool blues' paper stack. The yellow ribbon was in my big e-bay purchase. All the stamps are See-D's. They're stamped on cheap white cs and matted on black cs, then colored with colored pencils. Something simple, and easy (quick) to make.

Funky Fairy Challenge #19-Going Dotty

2008-05-09T15:55:00.002-04:00

Here's my card for this weeks Funky Fairy challenge "Going Dotty"! The black and white dotty paper is from one of these FREE downloads that you can find on the Funky Fairy Inspirations blog! I've been waiting and waiting to print some of these papers out but my printer's been out of color ink for a while. This paper is from the Valentine set; it was the only "dotty" pattern I could find that was black and white. I can't wait 'till hubby says that I can buy some of these downloads (does it count as buying paper?). Anyway, the white cs base is 4 1/4"x8 1/2". The dotty paper is 4 1/8x4 1/8 inches. The Tickles baby hedgehog stamp (retired SU!) is one that I've been stalking on E-Bay for months!! I love it and I'm sure that everyone will get tired of seeing it. I just can't get enough of her cute little smile.

Masculine Bday card

2008-05-06T12:19:00.002-04:00

This is a card that I've made for my grandfather-in-law. Originally I was trying to really stretch my abilities and make a masculine card using last weeks FF recipe. As you can see, I didn't quite make it. I just couldn't find a way to incorporate the buttons (at least not the ones that I had on hand) into a masculine look. This is just a regular A2 size card white card base. The red cs is about 4 3/8x4 7/8 inches and heavily distressed on the edges. I attached it a little crooked b/c with all the distressing I thought it should look "thrown together". The torn stripped strip is from a 6x6 paper pad. The sentiment is a combination of SU! (the Happy) and See D's; it's stamped in mahogany ink by Whispers and is matted on a slightly larger piece of the stripped pp which I also distressed. The pewter brads are from Making Memories and the ribbon I got in a large lot that I bought on Ebay so I'm not sure what brand they are. I really love the way this came out. There's nothing too fancy about it and it will be easy for me to reproduce in the future form more men's cards!

Funky Fairy Challenge #18-recipe

2008-05-02T13:05:00.004-04:00

This weeks Funky Fairy Challenge was a recipe:
To use 3 colours ONLY
1 piece of ribbon
3 buttons...hand made OR the real thing
AND to use a paper punch somewhere on your design!
Here's my card! This is the first time that I've followed a "recipe" and I had some trouble with it. I tried a few different papers and a couple of different layouts and then had to walk away to get dinner ready yesterday evening (I was starting to frustrate myself anyway, so this was probably a good thing). After the girls went to bed, I sat back down and finally put this together. The pink patterned papers are from a paper pad that I bought just for all of these random patterns. The green strip is grass green shimmer cs by The Paper Company. The buttons are from my stash. The Sentiment stamp is See-D's; I first wrote over it with a lime stardust pen and then embossed it using my green glaze pen. I do believe that this will go to a good friend of mine that just moved to the Bel Air, MD area...hmmm, she's not really a pink person though so I might have to rethink that.

Layout Sketch #42

2008-04-30T19:54:00.005-04:00

Here is my scrapbook page using this weeks Layout Sketch on Sketches {by Tamara} ideas. I originally planned to make this a single picture page as I'm pretty sure it was meant to be but when I was in AC Moore I fell in love with these lovely rub-ons by Me&My BIG Idea couldn't stand not to use them first thing when I got home. These pics are of the first time that Rylie ever held Lyndi. I couldn't decide on just one (or even two or three), so I printed them out at wallet size and used them all! The pink paper is Pomegranate Shimmer by the Paper Company.

Mother's Day card

2008-04-26T14:08:00.004-04:00

I used this layout that I found while I was blurfing the other day on Elisa's blog. You should take a look at her work it's always amazing. Her version was beautiful, I loved the colors she chose. My card was made using 5 1/2"x11" white cs as the base. The green layer is about 1/8 inch smaller. The striped layer is 2"x3", the flower layer and the stamped image are 2 1/4x3 1/4 inches. The purple circle is somewhere around 1 1/2 "x5 1/2". All of the paper is from the Celebrate Life DP pad by KI Memories. The image is SU! and the sentiment is Inkadinkado. I flipped the layout on its side by accident but I like it this way too, so I didn't worry about it (not that I could have done anything about it since I already had 2 out of the 3 layers glued down anyway). Have a great weekend!

Card sketch #41

2008-04-25T17:33:00.004-04:00

This is my first attempt at a round card. I've been keeping up with the sketches on Sketches {by Tamara} that I absolutely wanted to make sure I used this one too. And not just for some random stash card, I wanted it to be for someone special. Who is more special than my mommy?

The base is cheap white cs. All the patterned paper is from the Magnolia paper pack by My Minds Eye. I love these papers! The sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado. The 'flourishes' are cut from the patterned paper b/c I didn't have anything on hand that looked quite right. I did move the middle (blue) layer to the right slightly...for some reason it just didn't look right to me when it was centered. Maybe my circle wasn't even or something! Who knows?

I do believe we're looking forward to some rain here this weekend. Hopefully the sun will show through at least a little bit so we can take the girls to the park.

Layout sketch #41

2008-04-21T19:01:00.005-04:00

The only think that I look forward to on Monday's is Tamara's new layout sketch. I've never seen one that I don't like! Here's this weeks...I just had to make time for this today, I was too busy all weekend to even think about scraping or stamping.

All of the paper is from the Magnolia DP pack by My Minds Eye. The bucket/shovel & sand castle embellishments were part of a b-day gift that I got last month; they weren't in any kind of package so I have no idea were they're from. The title is stamped using my See-D's with black Whisper ink. I used my black glaze pen to go over each letter so that it would stand out a little more. Everything together is a little busy, but so is Rylie in these pictures!! Thanks for looking...I hope everyone had an excellent weekend.

Sketch #40-card

2008-04-18T13:07:00.005-04:00

Here is the card that I came up with for this weeks sketch over at Sketches {by Tamara}. Yet another card needed for a little girls b-day; this one's turning 3 this weekend, so I tried to avoid brads and other embellishments that could be choking hazards if they fell off (one can never be to safe about such things). Not exactly like the sketch, since there's no sentiment on the front; and there are a few more stripes than I originally intended to add. Both the stars and the giraffe are rub-ons by Royal Langnickle. The base is a piece of lavender cs from a cheap pack and the patterned paper that I cut up is from a 6x6 paper pad of which I can't recall the name. Simple, but wonderful for a young girl, I think. Oh, yeah, I got my window clean too...no procrastinating for me this time!

Sketch #40-Layout

2008-04-18T12:51:00.003-04:00

This is my interpretation of layout #40 from Sketches {by Tamara}. These pictures were taken when Rylie was about 18 months old at a family reunion. I feel so bad b/c when I was looking back through this file on the disk, I realized that I have virtually no pics of any of the family members...just Rylie (what can I say? I'm a typical proud momma). Anyway, the patterned paper is from the KI Memories "Celebrate Life" paper pad. The solid cs is from a big el'cheapo pack I got at AC Moore. I used my slot punch and tied ribbon on as the embellishments and cut out the letters for the title, then colored them with Sakura stardust pens. See all those shadows near the top? My paper isn't bent or anything. I took this picture in front of the front door so I could have some real light...my storm door window is that dirty. I'm gonna go clean that now!

Petting Zoo-Scrapbook layout

2008-04-17T14:39:00.004-04:00

Naptime's almost over, so this will have to be really quick! This page was done with a combination of Embelish-abilities (flowers & brad) and double sided paper that I can't recall the name of. The journaling is done with pieces of a the second piece of patterned paper (using the other side. Thanks for looking. Have a great day!!

Funky Fairy Challenge #16-stars and strips

2008-04-16T11:56:00.003-04:00

Here is my "stars and strips" card for this weeks Funky Fairy Challenge #16. I needed a birthday card for one of Rylie's friends who's turning 4 this weekend and decided to use the opportunity to play along. The card base is a piece of shimery green cs by The Paper Company (I don't know the name of the color b/c I already peeled the sticker off the back, and did I think to keep it?...noooooo). The pink layer is Passion Fruit velum by Worldwin Extraordinary Papers and is glued on top of white cs so the color stayed more true. The star pattern is a background stamp by See-D's and was stamped in white. I colored some of the stars in with my lime stardust pen. The polka dot paper is from a paper pack that I've lost the cover to so I don't even know who that's by. The cupcake platter is a glitter rub-on by Royal Langnickle. The big brads are Queen & Co. It's a very busy card to look at with all of those different patterns going on, but since it's for a little girl I think that's okay! I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

2008-04-14T20:24:00.004-04:00

This page came completely from the love of this picture combined with the love for this paper. It's not my 'usual' style (if I even have one) but I like the way it turned out. Lyndi is about 3 weeks old here and is in a favorite position of hers. The blue paper is from the same kit as the framed paper; as are the sticker embellishments and letter stickers. This kit came in a cardboard folder that has a pocket for each of the 4 seasons. It's called "Whimsical Seasons" by Lori Gardner. I adhered the butterflies on pop-dots so they look like they're flying around the flower.

Funky Fairy weekly challenge #15

2008-04-13T13:00:00.004-04:00

Here's a card I made after reading about the Funky Fairy challenge on their blog. I needed a birthday card for a friend who's turning 21 tomorrow. This was a perfect opportunity to join in (finally). I always spend so much time looking a challenges on blogs, swear that I'm going to play along, and then before I know it the allotted time is up and I forget about it. Every once in awhile I'll play along even if I'm too late, but most of the time I'm so overwhelmed with the wonderful ideas others have had that I don't even bother to link mine...or I mail them out before I take a pic. These papers are from the KI Memories 'celebrate life' paper pad. I love this pad and actually bought it b/c of all the wonderful masculine looking patterns in it. The sentiment is SU! (the '21st' is See-D's) and the brads are from a Making Memories starter pack.

2008-04-11T14:13:00.006-04:00

This page is not my favorite. There's not really anything wrong with it; the colors go well together, the picture is a great one (other than the coloring being a little off). The paper isn't my favorite but that isn't really the problem either. Maybe it's just me. Oh well, such is life. Hopefully it will grow on me.

This second page is a re-make of the original I did about 4 years ago. I've learned so much since then that I decided to redo the few layouts that I had done. I didn't even think to take a pic of the original, but it was 8 1/2x11. The photos had not been matted before, and there was no journaling. At some point my mom had given me a set of decorative scissors and I very much over-used them for a long time...some of the pages even have multiple different scissors used on them. Unfortunately, I only have one set of my wedding pics and don't have the choice to cut them all out again.

blanky (scrapbook LO)

2008-04-10T13:43:00.003-04:00

Finally, a scrapbook page! I've been so into making cards lately that I've been neglecting my books. I'm planning to catch up a little since I'm still not done with any of Rylie's and now I need to get started on Lyndi's so I don't fall behind on hers too! (Not to mention that I have a ton of cards laying around).
Anyway...this layout is from Sketches! {by tamara} sketch #39. This is the first time that I've used a sketch for a scrapbook layout! I'm in love!!! No time spent deciding where to position embellishments and pics. I will definitely be doing this a lot.
Lyndi loves her blankies and this cammo one is her fav! (And these designer papers might just be my new favorites).

Howdy y'all!

2008-04-09T21:34:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post, since it's been a while. I made this card back when my mom asked me for some simple cards to keep on hand. This isn't as simple as she would have liked, but she still thought it was great to have on hand for a masculine any occasion card. All of the stamps are SU! that have been given to me by my MIL. The card stock is just generic from my local AC Moore. The brown brads I think used to be silver but I painted them with brown acrylic paint to match! Hope you're having a great week so far.

Simplicity at it's best-IMO

2008-04-04T14:16:00.004-04:00

This card was and "accidental". It's a 4 1/4x10 inch piece of white cs folded in half (top-fold). I originally only planned to use the polka dot portion as but decided that the leafy branches and feathery curls were too pretty to cover or cut up. the Best wishes sentiment is SU! and stamped with 'celery' whispers ink. The circle is approx. 2 inches in diameter and the black cs used to mat it is about 1/8" larger. Black grosgrain ribbon was all that I felt it needed. I love the simplicity of it...there's not too much going on but it looks pulled together and thought out.

I'm gramatically correct!

2008-03-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct.

It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors.

If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs.

As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human.

And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Saddle

2008-03-29T08:48:00.003-04:00

This is a masculine card I made for my mom to keep on hand for any occasion. There's absolutely no sentiment, inside or out. The blue and striped dp are the same two-sided sheet. Both are sanded and have the edges distressed. I paper-pierced around the edges of the the dp to mimic the stitching on the saddle. Hope you have a great weekend!

ssnotime27-rounded corners

2008-03-22T20:56:00.004-04:00

Over at No Time to Stamp? the Stamp Simply Challenge this weekend is to round corners. That's it, nothing fancy-at least not for me. This card was a "just for the heck of it". I was using the patterned paper for another card and just couldn't stop. I've used all of it. This is also the first time I've tried to add 'stitching' to a card. I guess it's not too bad for a first time, I think it will be easier with my Sakura gel pens (colors...I already have the clear ones) that I just received in the mail! I can't wait to use them. Anyway, back to the card...the base is brown CS and the "birthday wishes" sentiment is SU, stamped with Whispers ink (savoy green). The green circle is white CS that I inked with savoy green. The ink matches the dots better IRL. I know you can't see it here but each flower is outlined with clear stardust pen, as is the sentiment and the stitching...just to add a "light sparkle"; I like that the stardust pens don't add an overwhelming amount of glitter...it's subtle. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

sketch #36

2008-03-21T12:21:00.004-04:00

I made this card using this weeks sketch by Tamara! I'm constantly browsing through the beautiful cards made by her design team to get ideas. I had a duh moment "maybe I should try actually doing these sketches!" DUH!!!! So here's my take on the card layout. I tried to stick as close as I could since I wasn't that confident. I don't know what I was worried about...I'm absolutely going to be doing this every week from now on.
The base is 4"x4". The patterned and pink paper are a double sided sheet that I picked up at some point (can't remember when) and the ribbon is American Crafts country white grosgrain. The flowers and brads are making memories. That right side really isn't as crooked as it looks in the picture...I don't know what happened there.

Embossed thinking of you

2008-03-20T14:24:00.003-04:00

I made this card a while ago and figured I should get around to posting it. The base is el-cheapo brown cs the pink patterned paper is from a mat-stack that DH found while "looking around" AC Moore for "something" and he thought I could probably find a use for it. Duh...it's paper! I don't remember any of the measurements; too lazy to go find out. The cream colored rectangle is embossed with a cuttle bug folder and is painted with glitter paint (which you can't see in the pic). The little "thinking of you" is stamped with beige acrylic paint. Fear not, I've finally bought colored inks so eventually I'll get around to posting the cards using the real stuff! Thanks for looking, I hope you're having a nice day:)

2008-03-18T15:49:00.004-04:00

This card is CASEd from Blinda (Carding with a :) ) . I've been meaning to try it for a while and finally got around to it a couple of days ago. You can see her original card here.
I know the coloring is hard to see, but the card it self is a beautiful turquoise cardstock. I don't remember the measurements anymore. Then a piece of light tan cs that I scalloped to pull the circle shape throughout the card. The butterflies were stamped directly onto the tan cs and then the "window" layer of turquoise was added. I don't even know how to begin explaining it, but Kristina Werner has a tutorial on her blog, kwernerdesignblog. It's relatively easy, just a lot of measuring and checking and checking again! I think it may become a favorite layout. It's just so fun to look at!
Have a great day everyone!!

No-layer cards

2008-03-12T11:56:00.008-04:00

Over the weekend my mom asked if I could make her some "plain" cards to keep on hand. I said, "of course" and didn't think any more about it until I got home and tried to start. Then, I thought to myself, "what does she mean 'plain'?". I guess no-layer cards are about as plain as is possible. I didn't realize how hard it would be not to add embellishments, though. Some have sentiments, although mom preferred that most of them be completely blank so that they can be used for pretty much any occasion (do you know how hard that was mom?) While not much creativity was needed for these, I have to admit that it was a little bit fun to just crank out some cards to keep on hand. And the sheer number of cards that I had laying all around me got my mojo flowing! ha ha, who woulda thunk it?! Here's a small sampling.

And here's a card she asked me to make for my cousin who will be graduating high school (home school) in a month or so.

I got a ton of cards made over the weekend, but I'm only going to post a couple of cards each day b/c I'm sure I won't get too many done through the week!

Thinking of you

2008-03-07T15:51:00.004-05:00

Here's a card I made a couple of days ago. All of the paper (including the flowers) are from a 12 x 12 patterned paper pack by paperbok. The stamp is SU. I mated the sentiment on red CS. Then I traced a scalloped edge of a Fiskers stencil and cut it out to make the red CS corner. Not really a complicated card all-in-all, but one of my favorites! I'm learning that, for the most part (IMO), less is more-even in card-making

Black & White w/ Red

2008-03-06T17:57:00.003-05:00

This card is for a challenge from Enfy s to use black and white with only one accent color. I'm not sure what I think of it.

Patterened Paper I don't like...

2008-03-06T14:05:00.006-05:00

A couple of days ago Niki gave a challenge asking everyone to dig into their stash and find paper that they didn't like and use it on a card. The paper I chose has little squares all over it and a few buttons tossed in randomly. The colors are definitely colors that I wouldn't pick normally. I was given this paper by a family member (who shall remain nameless...just in case) b/c she couldn't find a use for it. Now, don't get me wrong in the pile she gave me there were some lovely designs too, just NOT this one. This is what I came up with. All-in-all, I'm not completely disappointed. It's actually somewhat growing on me! It's very masculine...which I normally have trouble with. I may even keep the scraps on hand to use again.

The card is a piece of 6 x 12 black CS. The "ugly" paper is
5 1/2 x 2 3/4 and the edges are distressed. The red CS square is 3 x 3 and also distressed. The white CS is 2 1/2 x 2 1/2. The star stamp is inked with black ink and then the outer ring is colored with a burnt sienna colored pencil. The hooray is white acrylic paint. The sides looked empty so I added 6 pewter brads for some balance.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

2008-03-05T13:25:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the rotten picture; it's been raining and cloudy all day. It's amazing what a nice card can be made with so few elements! I love this! Very simple and still so cute (at least IMO). This card is another made just to accommodate a ribbon that I like and couldn't resist buying. I know it's hard to see but there are pink dots on the ribbon. The stamp is from a BIG set I bought called See-D's. It's one small stamp placed 4 times with black ink and colored in with colored pencils. The sentiment (from the same set) says "Wishing you a happy day" and is stamped with magenta acrylic paint.

Today was a "try it and see" day

2008-03-04T21:14:00.007-05:00

Today I had the house all to myself. I got a little cleaning done (okay, a LOT) and got some cards made too! I decided that since I had the whole table to spread out on and no one was here to interrupt my "creative process" I would try out a bunch of techniques and styles I've never used before. I'm quite sure that someone, somewhere has done all this before so forgive me for acting like it's all new (it is to me).

I found beautiful piece of 2-sided paper in my bedroom-why there? I have no idea. Anyhoo, I dug around in my ribbon jar and found this one. From there the card almost just fell together in front of me. I cut the front of the card about an inch shorter than the back and scalloped the edge so that the piece of metallic gold CS could be seen. Mated the printed leaf on gold metallic CS and also the sentiment (which by the way is NOT stamped w/ ink b/c I only own black and green ink pads so far; it's stamped using acrylic paint that my DH keeps on hand.) The purple background is stamped with a SU mini-backgrounder using GEMS acrylic paint.

The second card was pretty much an accident. I was sifting through the scraps on my table looking for white CS for an image to go w/ another card and the purple CS had slipped between this scrap. My brain grabbed the idea and ran ahead of me. The purple CS is cut to a slightly larger diameter than the cut-out is and glued inside the card. Then I stamped the cute little flower and colored it in w/ colored pencils. The "swirls" are just for fun and the ribbon happened to match. The 6 brads started out pink and I painted them with acrylic paints (again...materials I don't have on hand yet=every-color-of-the-rainbow-brads) so that they would match. I like this card b/c there's not really any reason behind it...just a lot of creativity and imagination to get where I wanted to be.

Thanks for looking! I got a bunch more done today but I'm gonna save them for days that I don't have time to create and still want to blog. Have a great night!!!

hello...

2008-03-02T21:07:00.003-05:00

I have absolutely fallen in love with these hedgehog stamps!! I borrowed a couple (this one is SU) from a friend of mine b/c I can't decide which ones I want to buy first. I don't plan on having thousands of stamps since I don't want to go into business or anything. I want to make sure that the stamps I own will always be used on a regular basis. This card was just something that I threw together while a friend was hanging out at my house to show her how the cuttlebug worked (as if it's hard to understand, I just wanted to show it off a little). The card is a piece of 9 by 8 1/2 white CS. On top is a 4 1/4 x 8 1/4 piece of bright green CS. The 3 7/8 x 5 1/4 brown CS is embossed using a cuttlebug embossing folder (do you think I can remember the name? Of course not, that would make sense). The hedgehog is stamped on white CS and colored in with colored pencils...nothing fancy, I'm just trying to get used to planing a card out ahead of time. It's mated on bright purple CS. The green/purple checked ribbon was the reason for the color combo; I bought 2 spindles of it with the intentions of using it on birth announcements after my second DD was born but never used it. The "hello..." sentiment is also SU. Originally I was going to hang on to this card just for an extra, but I think I might send it to my g-ma and g-pa, who live in Florida, just to let them know that I've been thinking of them!!

FIL's B-day card

2008-02-26T14:42:00.004-05:00

I finally got enough inspiration to make a B-day card for my father-in-law. I have an extremely hard time making cards that will appeal to men. This is partly b/c it seems so hard to find materials that aren't flower-y and feminine. And partly b/c of the fact that I don't often need a masculine card. But I have to say that I am soooooo happy with the way this turned out!! His birthday isn't until mid-march and may not be able to wait that long to give him the card (I wanted to make sure I got a head start in case I completely screwed up and had to start over).

The card base is light gray Paper Company and I mated the "grandpa" paper with solid green and cut the fish from the middle of another piece of printed paper. Which is also matted on green and raised on pop-dots. YAY, my first stamp (I'm ashamed) is the Happy birthday in the fish. The Jute was my hubby's idea and pewter brads just seemed like the perfect final touch! Isn't it handsome?!

Yay, time for cards!

2008-02-22T21:15:00.005-05:00

I finally got some time to make a couple of cards tonight. Neither of them have a specific purpose, therefore they don't have any kind of sentiment anywhere on them.

The first one is the one I'm a little less fond of. It's large compared to the sizes that I usually stick to; 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone to try new things. All of the paper is from a floral paper pack by paperbok. The ribbon are from a $1 shelf I found at AC Moore. When I figure out what it will be used for then I plan to stamp a sentiment on the same cream-colored paper and adhere it using pop-dots somewhere in the middle of the card.

The second card is my favorite out of these two. The paper is from the same floral paper pack. The big sparkly flower is cut from the very center of a large-print floral page and set on pop-dots. I tried a couple of "outside of the box" (at least for me they are) things on this card. I ran an eraser around the edges of the design paper and distressed the edges of the red strip. Again, I don't want to specify it for anything since I have no known need for a card in the near future.

My little craft girl

2008-02-21T13:17:00.003-05:00

My daughter is 3 and loves to color, sticker, glitter, etc. I usually try to make cards and scrapbook pages when the girls are away or after they're in bed but on Tuesday night the baby was being exceptionally good and I had just brought home some new paper that I was excited to cut up so I made a couple of quick cards. MY cards are still missing 'something' (IMO) so I won't post them until I can figure out what it is. But I will post the card my daughter made for a friend that she found out was sick over the weekend. I know it's a bad picture (DH took it) but the card has already been given away. She picked out brown construction paper, and I already had the flowers cut out and just laying around. I taped them together and she glued the 'yellow' ribbon onto the "bouquet". The flowers are on pop-dots which she placed where she wanted. I tried to talking her into adding some other "stuff" but she liked the way it looked. On the inside, I wrote "Hope you feel better" and helped Rylie write her name.

Been a while...

2008-02-17T13:46:00.006-05:00

I've been away for a while b/c the family's been sick. I do have 2 cards to post though. The first is hubby's v-day card since it's finally safe to post the pic. Most ot the paper I have right now is RAK from my MIL, so I'm not sure where she got it. Come to think of it, even the metal embellishment is from her...she had taken pretty much everything out of the packs and organized it in a big accordian file for me.

This second card is for a friend of ours who just had surgery on her shoulder. I've been thinking about her a lot lately so I dedided to let her know. All of these papers came out of a random "scrap pack" at AC Moore. The flower is held in place by a button-brad. Hopefully my pictures continue to get better with practice. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Valentine's & Cards that I haven't had time to post

2008-02-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to making valentine cards on yesterday. I'm a creature of habit (unfortunately) so when I found a layout that worked really well I stuck with it for most of the cards.

First on the left is for my little brother. I rather proud of this since it's only the second "male" card I've made.

First on the left is for my bothers girlfriend (don't
want to make anyone feel left out)

Second left is for my MIL & FIL. I always seem to think of flowers and soft colors for her (no matter how hard I try not to.)

Second right is for my mom & dad. I know it's not really right for the poor dads to get feminine cards but they're not as worried about the card as the moms (they tend to care more about what's in the candy box).

My DH's card is also done, but every once in a while he looks at my blog so I don't want to risk posting it.

Baby card

2008-02-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

I am soooo enjoying finding new blogs that give me ideas and techniques to use. I can't wait to try some new things.
This is a card that I made for a friend of mine that I just found out is having a baby (obvious, I know). It's one of the first I made. I'm happy with the final product. Although, I think I may have gone a little bling-crazy.

(Sorry about the bad pic. I found some good tips while I was "perusing" last night. I'll work on it and they'll be better from now on.)

Looks like fun

2008-02-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've been looking around at some of the other blogs ever since my husband created his blogspot. There are so many interesting things going on that I just can't help but have my own so that I can be a part of some of them! Besides, lately I've been obsessed with all of the new techniques, inspirations, and products that I've been finding that I think my hubby is getting tired of hearing about it. ;) I tend to be very critical of my own work...little of what I do is ever good enough for me; which makes me mildly self-concious about posting my scrap pages and cards. I just need to get over myself!
Here's a Valentine's Day card that I made to put on my brother-in-laws grave (he died in a car accident last year).