CARDS THAT CARE

oops!  I forgot that I wanted to post about this wonderful cause before leaving!!

Vera Yates will be hosting a blog hop on November 4th to get this drive started. Check out the details on her blog - I definitely will be participating and hope to get several cards made to send to her.

Thanks for checking back!

BLOG HIATUS

This will be my lsat post for awhile.  Tomorrow I will be flying off to Colorado to visit my son and his family in Parker CO, which is just a tad southeast of Denver.  It is beautiful there. 

Even though my posts will be hit and miss; I will still be visiting your blogs and commenting when I can.  I hope to be able to participate in a few challenges along the way, as I am taking some stamping supplies along.

I'm looking forward to seeing three of my grands and catching up with what goes on in their world!!  They are growing up so quickly.  (Sigh)

So long for now.

edit:  Will be returning home to Ohio on December 31st!

OCTOBER CCC

Here is my card for this month's card challenge on Lily Pad Cards. 

I went with the friendship theme again just because I like receiving those kind the best.
These patterned papers, including the punched border which has a teeny dot in it, are from the Basic Grey Out of Print 6 x 6 pad.  I love this pad!  The butterfly is from the Hero Arts Butterflies and Print cling set. Sentiment is from Hero Arts, also.  

The card pretty much speaks for itself, so no need to go into detail.

Thanks for visiting on this rainy evening! 

SIMON SAYS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

This week's challenge for Simon Says is to make a Halloween or Goth card. 

I don't send Halloween cards often, but I recently ordered the So Scary cling set from Hero Arts when it was the stamp of the week.  For this card, I cut a piece of white cardstock and made a mask for the moon with a punched circle.  Then I colored the whole piece with distress inks (wild honey, spiced marmalade, rusty hinge and walnut stain).  I used the Tim Holtz distressing tool to rough up the edges and went back over them with walnut stain.  Flicked some water (maybe too much!) over the whole piece.  All images were stamped with Versafine black ink and then I added glitter to the tree and the bats.  I used a Magenta stamp to "ground" the tree.  Black pearls are from Hero Arts, also.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day!

clean and simple

I have been missing in action again!  Since I am flying to Denver on the 19th of this month, I have been very busy getting all my yard work done and preparing my home for the winter months ahead!  There are many other things on my checklist to get done that do not involve cardmaking!

However, I wanted to try to enter a few challenges this week, since I don't know how many I will do while in Denver.  I will try to post as I can, but it may be very sporadic, to say the least!

The challenge at Less is More this week is a one layer card using a heart image.

I generally do not do one layer cards.  For this one, I cut my own heart stencil from copy paper and inked it with barn door distress ink using the ink applicator tool with foam pad.  The sentiment is a very old one from Annette Allan Watkins.  The tiny heart is from Magenta and was inked with fired brick distress ink.  I felt the whole design needed to be grounded in some way, so I added two scored lines at the bottom.

Thanks for visiting!

PENNY BLACK

Penny Black stamps will be featured in a video every day this week over at Vicky's blog, Clips-n-Cuts.  Vicky is such a great stamper and you have probably enjoyed watching her instructional videos each Sunday.  There are some awesome prizes being offered up also!

Hop on over to Vicky's to check this out!

FOR A FRIEND

Here is another card I sent out to a friend who had surgery awhile back:

All stamps are from Hero Arts.  I white embossed the flowers and colored the whole background with distress inks.  The border punch is from Martha Stewart and the seam binding is vintage - picked up several partial packs in various colors at a sale! 

Have a wonderful day!

fall card exchange

Anita Rex is hostessing a fall card exchange on the Hero Arts Flickr group.  Here is the card I am sending out:

The flower is Hero Arts Classic Bloom. I colored it with distress inks and added some Stickles to the center.  (cinnamon - love this color of glitter!!)  The sentiment is from A Muse.  The border punch is Martha Stewart and the patterned paper is from BoBunny. 

Sorry for the poor scan of this card!  I won't post this on Flickr until I know my recipient got it.  Hope she likes it.

Happy Wednesday to you!

just because

I made this card for a friend this week - just to let her know I was thinking of her.

All of the stamps are by Hero Arts.  The patterned paper is from A Muse.  Spellbinders Nestabilities die.

This will be entered in the Simon Says challenge for this week. 

Thanks for visiting!

SQUARE SKETCH

There's still time to enter the square sketch challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Deadline is September 19th.  Here is my take on the sketch:

The Hero Arts ruffled flower was white embossed and then color was added with distress inks in wild honey, spiced marmalade and fired brick using the Ranger inking tool.  Hero Arts French Post was overstamped  with fired brick distress ink with some water spots added.  This 4" square was layered to a 4.25" square that was created with fired brick ink and both were layered to a 4.5" gold base card.  Walnut stain ink was used to darken all edges of the squares.  The Hero Arts sentiment was adhered with dimensional foam dots.  I added some Hero Arts pearls and cut a notch in the end. 

Recently I won a giveaway on Paper Crafts Connection and the Card Ideas Magazine was one of my prizes.  It is full of wonderful cards made from sketches and will be a big help to me when designing cards in the future.  Thanks, Paper Crafts Connection!!

Thanks for visiting!

sing a song

This is my second (gasp) post for today.  The challenge on Simon Says this week is to make a card with a song or film in mind:

I've always loved the song "Butterfly Kisses", and just happen to have a sentiment for it!  Plus about 20 butterfly stamps from which to choose!!! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

CFC 20

Here is my card for this week's challenge:

Flower is from Hero Arts; sentiment from Papertrey Ink.  I used Ranger black enamel accent for the center of the flower.  A linen-like pp for the card itself.  Overall measurement is 3 x 4 inches. 

Have a great day!

SEPTEMBER CCC

The weeks are going by way too quickly  for me - I almost forgot to get a card made for the Lily Pad's monthly card chain challenge. 

I went with the friendship theme again - just using some pretty fall colors of distress inks to do a resist background over the Hero Arts positive and negative flowers.  These remind me of all the beautiful chrysanthemums you see during the autumn months.

The distress ink colors I used were bundled sage, fired brick and rusty hinge, with walnut stain to darken the edges a bit.  The sentiment is also Hero Arts and I added some pretty orange gems for some bling.

Hope your day is a blessed one!

pretty in pink

Another card using one of my new LaBlanche stamps, which I made for my daughter's birthday.  She loves pink :)

For this card, I used Prismacolor pencils to color the entire image and background.  A Spellbinders Nestablilities Labels four die for the shape and the pp is Basic Grey sweet threads.  Some Stickles glitter here and there.  I decided to round off the corners of the pp, but not the corners of the card itself.  A happy birthday greeting is on the inside of this card. 

I am entering this in the Simon Says challenge also.

Have a great day!

edited:  oops, too late to enter the challenge - it closed at midnight!  :*(

ANYTHING GOES

For the whole month of September, simon says is celebrating rubber stamping with their second annual "Stamptember" celebration.  And, they are kicking off the whole thing with a fabulous blog hop.  One amazing basket of goodies is up for grabs, along with three $25 vouchers to their store.  Hurry on over, this blog hop ends on the 5th! 

And, the theme for this week's challenge is "anything goes"!  Well, I know a lot of gals who make some fantastic boxes, wall hangings, tins, etc.  But, a card is my preference. 

Since the colors are very autumn-like, I am also posting this on the Hero Arts Flikr group for the current challenge of autumn. 

The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and the background was done with Ranger distress inks.  Ribbon and black gems added.  The Hero Arts magical background was white embossed and then colored with distress inks also.

Have a great day!

TULIPS

This should be a card for spring; but just acquired another LaBlanche stamp and had to try it out.

The image was colored with distress inks, as well as the background. For some reason, the tulips look pink-ish here, but I used fired brick distress ink, so they really look more red in real life!   I added a flourish (Stampington & Co.) here and there and the word stamp is from Impression Obsession. 

Haven't had time to participate in any challenges this week; time gets away from me!  I do love seeing what all of you talented gals out there create for the various challenge blogs, so keep up the inspiration!!

Thanks for visiting. 

CFC16

Just making it in under the wire for this challenge:

The challenge is to use dry embossing, heat embossing or both.  I decided to use both:

I dry embossed the taupe card with a Sizzix folder.  The Hero Arts hydrangea was stamped with Versafine sepia ink and clear embossed, cut out and attached to the card with dimensional dots.  The sentiment is from PTI and the small frame is from Martha Stewart. 

Thanks for visiting - have a great day!

page maps sketch challenge

My friend, Lin, has been making some fabulous cards for this challenge!  The prize for the challenge is so fantastic that I had to give it a try, too.

This is all done with DCWV citrus mat stack patterned paper and one Hero Arts sentiment.  A pearl from Hero Arts embellishes the center of the die cut flower.  I copied the sketch almost to a T!!!

There is one more challenge I would like to enter; hope I have time tomorrow to get a card done.  From there on out, my week will be much to busy to do any cardmaking :(

Blessings to all!

FOOD AND DRINK CHALLENGE

Here is my card for Simon Says this week:

Pretty much self-explanatory - paper pieced and colored with colored pencils, cut with Spellbinders and layered to a doily and Basic Grey Hello Luscious paper.  The cupcake is from Impression Obsession and the sentiment is from A Muse.  A bit of Stickles glitter glue was added here to the frosting and bow and around the scallops of the die.

Sunny, warm and beautiful here in Ohio today!  Perfect weather for late summer.  Thanks for stopping by!

Lucy's rainbow week

Lucy is having a challenge on her blog this week to make a card using a rainbow of colors.  I know my colors aren't the exact colors of a rainbow, but I like them against the pink checked background:

The sentiment is an old one from Hero Arts.  Hearts are one of my favorite shapes; this is a punch I have had for years.

Hop over to Lucy's blog and check out the details of her challenge. 

la blanche again

Here is another card that I made with this beautiful bird collage from LaBlanche:

Again, I just colored it all with Ranger Distress inks and layered it to a white embossed magical background (Hero Arts) and adhered it to the front of a card.  The stamps are so detailed that I don't feel the need to do much, or any, embellishing.  BTW, the specks on the eggs are my own addition :)

A much different look could be achieved just using colored pencils or Copics or any number of coloring methods. 

Have a great week!

seriously in love

Yes, I have fallen in love - with LaBlanche silicone stamps!!!!!!!!  After seeing Jill Foster's videos this past week, I just knew I wanted some of these beautiful stamps.  Lo and behold, my LSS is carrying them and I was able to purchase three of them today.  Now, believe me, I wanted every stamp she had in stock.  But, I am not independently wealthy.  So, until "my ship comes in", I will have to buy them little by little. 

Here is a card I made when I came home:

A lot of different distress inks went into the coloring of this image on plain white cardstock.  I added just a hint of sparkle on her buttons and flower on her hat and then went around the edge, too, with Stickles platinum glitter glue.  The seam binding was white and I colored it with broken china distress inks.  The piece was then layered to a Bazill tan card base. 

Can't wait to play with this one some more and the other two, also! 

Thanks for visiting.  Have a wonderful weekend!

ALL WHITE WITH COLORED IMAGE

This week's challenge on Simon Says Stamp is to make an all white card with just a colored image.  Here is my card:

The image and the sentiment are from My Favorite Things.  The border punch is from Martha Stewart and the lacy edging is from JoAnn's.  I added some glossy accents to the heart and some Stickles glitter to her shoes and hair clip.

Looking through my last few posts, I see that I have used butterflies on many of my cards lately.  Gotta' get out of that rut and use some other images for awhile. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Your comments are so appreciated.

playing with paint

My grandaughter's birthday is this week.  I decided to use Shari's technique from last week to make her birthday card. 

Love the antique engravings set!  The sentiment is an older HA stamp - the font is so pretty, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting.  Have a good week!

AUGUST CCC

For this month's card chain challenge (CCC) on The Lily Pad blog, we could used chocolate brown, lipstick red and aqua for the colors.  And, since I liked the sketch they provided, I decided to use it along with the friendship theme.  This is the first time I have used the sketch, colors and theme for my card:

The patterned paper I used for the background is from the HeroArts/Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad.  I trimmed it to layer on a cream card base and then added a strip of chocolate brown cardstock which was dry embossed with a polka dot folder.  The Hero Arts friend definition was stamped in brown on cream and the Prima flowers were fastened with a tiny aqua brad. 

There's still time to participate; just upload a card by the 17th.  Check out Lily Pad Cards for the deets!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Dawn McVey cased!

Recently I purchased a publication called "Create:Stamping Let's Ink It Up!" which has a beautiful card created by Dawn McVey (one of my favorite designers) on the cover.  It is also inside on page 12.  I loved this card so much that I just had to case it.  The first one I made I used white cardstock as the base.  Then, I did another using a tan 
cardstock from a pack I purchased at Walmart:

The punch I used is from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Otherwise, this card is pretty much exactly like Dawn's. 

This little book was a bit pricey, but holds a treasure trove of cards and other projects.  I used my 40% off coupon, so didn't feel so bad about buying it. 

Thanks for visiting!

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST

Hello!  It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since I have posted anything on my blog!  Let's just say that my life has been super busy and I haven't done any cardmaking for way too long.

The challenge on Simon Says Stamp this week is Christmas in August.  Here is my card:

I created the background by stamping a Studio 490 stamp (Wendy Vecchi) in pine needles distress ink on a white square of cardstock.  Used tumbled glass and broken china distress inks to color the cardstock.  Overstamped a snowflake (Hero Arts) with broken china and then added Stickles glitter on the vine berries.  The Joy stamp from Paper Bag Studios was stamped on white cardstock with broken china ink.  Cut it out and added glitter to the letters and let dry.

I attached a strip of white lace from Hero Arts to the background; then added the sentiment with pop dots and a snowflake brad at the corner.  The whole thing was layered to a 5 x 5 inch white base card.  

Hopefully, I will have more time to get back to stamping now.  Summer will be gone before we know it!  I hope everyone is having a great August!

Thanks for visiting. 

SIMON SAYS STAMP

The challenge for this week on Simon Says Stamp is "anything goes"!  I decided to do another card using the Summer Card Camp color combo and use it for both of those challenges and also for the Hero Arts Summer challenge for this month.  Here is my card:

The background was made by white embossing the Hero Arts magical background on white cardstock and then coloring it with tea dye distress ink and a little barn door around the edges.   The Hero Arts simple frame was stamped on white cardstock with Memento cocoa brown ink, as were the three butterflies from the Hero Arts antique engravings set. 

I smooshed the tea dy inkpad on my craft sheet and colored the butterflies with an aquabrush dipped into the ink.  After masking them, I used an old HA script stamp to overstamp the images.  Lipstick pink and barn door distress inks were used to distress the edges.  Diamond stickles here and there and a Prima flower with red gem added for embellishments. 

Thanks for stopping by!

SUMMER CARD CAMP WEEK 3

Here is the color combo graphic for this week of Summer Card Camp:

And here is my card, using Hero Arts stamps:

I like this color combo a lot better than the first two weeks.  Taupe, brown, chocolate, red and white - my layered strip is taupe, chocolate and red and I worked some brown in by stamping the flower on the taupe strip with brown ink.  It doesn't show up very good, but it is actually there :)  I have used Brilliance ink pads for all the stamping on this card. 

This flower is one of my favorite stamps - there is a negative and a positive and it is fun to use them together or separately, giving lots of different looks. 

TFL!

JULY CCC

Here is my card for the July card chain challenge on Lily Pad Cards.

Used the butterfly from HA Antique Engravings, which is one of the new stamps I just got on Thursday.  It has been on my wish list for awhile :)  The sentiment is Hero Arts also.   The patterned papers are from DCWV and the two punches are from Martha Stewart.  I love that you can make a "doily" with it!   

The card chain is great fun - you send a card to someone and another someone sends one to you.  I love seeing what other stampers create and getting a card in the mail to keep is even better.  Check it out if you've never participated!

TFL.

CFC9

Just getting a card in under the wire for CAS-ual Fridays!

Masculine cards are not my forte; but I like the way this turned out. 

Cutting out parts of the Hero Arts cling sentiment to insert the candles was a bit tricky.  The coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils and the die is from Spellbinders. Edges were inked with tea dye distress ink.  Layered to a dry embossed background.

Thanks for visiting. 

ANOTHER NEW STAMP

I've been admiring all the beautiful cards the gals on the Hero Arts Flikr group have made with this stamp and finally purchased it at a local stamp store.

It was stamped on a pale blue cardstock from the DCWV linen mat stack with Versafine sepia ink.  Colored in with Prismacolor pencils.  Added pearls and a tiny bit of glitter.  Tied a bow around a piece of flowered cardstock from the same pad; added the stamped piece and then mounted all on a white card base. 

TFL and have a great day!

edit:  entering this in the HA summer challenge!

SIMON SAYS STAMP CHALLENGE

Lemon and lavender is the challenge this week on Simon Says Stamp.  I have been wanting to participate in their challenges, but the deadlines always got away from me.  Here is my card:

The stamps are from Hero Arts, dies from Spellbinders, polka dot paper from Amuse.  Colored the flower with Memento markers and added some glitter. 

Have a great evening!

WEEK TWO COLOR COMBO

Here is the color combo for Week 2 of the online summer card class by Jennifer and Kristina.

I am still struggling with using five colors!  It took me a long time to come up with an idea and then it took me three hours to make this card.  I am not very happy with it; but will post it anyway!

The size of this card is 8.5 x 4.25 inches.  All of the papers are from a DCWV mat stack (Citrus).  The Hero Arts Ruffled Flower was black embossed and then cut out - I cut off the outer ruffle to make the flowers smaller.  I clear embossed the Hero Arts Life of the Party dotted background on the green paper.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Find Joy set.  Lace if from JoAnn's; punched border from Martha Stewart. 
Edges of the white base card were inked with Ranger Distress ink (crushed olive).  Some green gems were added to the flower centers.

Thanks to the great gals on the Hero Arts Flikr group for explaining how to add your name to your cards!!  I will have to play with it a bit more to find a font I like better :)

We have had a gorgeous day here in Ohio - sunny, warm and just perfect!  Hope your day has been a good one. . . 

P.S.  I am also entering this in the Hero Arts monthly challenge - this looks pretty summery to me.

TFL.

More new stamps

Got some new stamps recently and have been trying out a few.  
 

The posie stamp is from Stampendous and was colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The label stamp is from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is from PTI.  Background is overstamped with a stamp from Hero Arts. 

The pp is from Pocket Full of Posies and the twine is from Hero Arts.  Black gems from Simon Says. 

Am still waiting on another order and have more new stamps that I haven't "played" with, too!  Need more time to spend on cardmaking. . .

Thanks for visiting. 

A BIRTHDAY CARD

Made this card for a birthday that is coming up soon:

The balloons (Stampendous) are colored with pencils, with some glitter added.  Hero Arts dictionary greeting is stamped lightly with Memento pear ink for an allover background.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts, too.  The patterned paper is from the Pocket Full of Posies stack and the border punch is from Martha Stewart.  Grosgrain ribbon is from Pat Catan's (a local hobby store).  I added some dots around the edge for some definition. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

HERO ARTS GIVEAWAY AT LILY PAD CARDS

LILY PAD CARDS is having a fabulous giveaway on their blog.  If you love Hero Arts and want to enter, just visit the blog and become a follower.  Full details are listed there, so what are you waiting for??  Hop on over and join in for the chance to win some great stamps! 

CAS-ual Friday

Finally got a card made for this week's CAS-ual Friday.  I hope it isn't too busy to be a CAS card - if it is, could one of the D.T.'s let me know?? 

The patterned paper is from Amuse; the sentiment and flowers are from Hero Arts.  I purchased the lace and pearls at JoAnn's.   Scalloped border die is from My Favorite Things.

Have a good evening, everyone!

A CARD FOR A FRIEND

Needed a card to send to a friend who has been through a tough time. 

Sentiment is from Hero Arts, border punch from Martha Stewart and patterned paper is from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies.  I really like this new border punch; and I like this pad of paper a lot, too!

TFL.

SUMMER CARD CAMP

It is not easy for me to use more than three colors (along with a neutral) when making a card.  So, the color palette for this first week of "camp"was challenging, for sure!  (click on link on my sidebar for info re: these online classes.)

I found a length of purple paper in my scraps and the orange and pink patterned paper is from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies stack pad.  I just purchased the large scalloped die from My Favorite Things and I can say right now that it will be one of my favorite border dies!! 

The Hero Arts classic bloom was embossed in white and colored with tumbled glass and chipped sapphire distress inks.  An orange button with pearl in the center of the flower helps to pull the colors together, I think.  The white embossed sentiment is from PTI. 

Can't wait to see what else the gals have in store for us!

TFL.

 

A THANK YOU CARD

A friend of mine is always ready to help out anyone who asks.  I needed to let her know how much I appreciate her, so here is a simple card I made for her:

The sentiment is from PTI, the patterned paper is from DCWV Street Lace, the butterfly and border punches are from Martha Stewart.  I added Stickles diamond glitter to the butterfly and the border, doesn't show up so much here.

I have been trying to get caught up with things around here in order to have time to participate in the online Summer Card classes that Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner are offering for the next four weeks.  This "camp" begins tomorrow and I am excited to learn new tips and techniques.  There are many guest designers, too.  Even if I can't keep up, there will be PDF's to follow.  What fun - summer camp for cardmakers!!

TFL.

MAKE IT AND MAIL IT #3

Lisa Spangler currently has her third Make It and Mail It challenge on her blog.  There is another milestone birthday in my family this week, so here is the card I am mailing out today:

Fairly simple; but that's the way I usually roll with masculine cards.  The patterned paper is from the DCWV linen closet mat stack.  Sentiment is Hero Arts.  I stamped the Magenta star very lightly with tumbled glass distress ink.  I have had the numbers for years and do not know the source for them.  Spellbinders Nestabilities labels nine dies.  Tea dye distress ink around the edge.

TFL!