Monday, December 14, 2009

Flower Garden

Well, yes.  I made this card for Verve's Friday with a Twist and, at the same time, needed to make a few birthday cards so here we go.  I love, love, love making Christmas cards but mine are sitting downstairs all ready for mailing so I was ready to do something else. 



I used my retired SU! set "Flower Garden" and chose the hydrangea since it seemed to fit the design the best. I cut the circles with Spellbinders circle nesties and then used my Cuttlebug embossing folder on the soft sky circle. After coloring with Copics it was just a matter of putting it all together. The sentiment for Birthday wishes is inside. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.





Recipe:
Paper... SU!'s retired soft sky and baja blue. 
Stamp... SU!'s retired FLOWER GARDEN
Ink... Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Accessories... generic (?) ribbon, SU!'s doily edge punch, Spellbinders Nestabilities (circles and scallop circles), Cuttlebug embossing folder

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

PB The Wonder

I just had to share this little cutie with you today.  I had intended to make all my Christmas cards the same this year... easier and quicker... but I had too many new stamp sets and I wanted to play with each and every one of them (and I think I did).  This one is from Penny Black's "The Wonder" and it definitely gets my vote for the cutest set for Christmas 2009.  It has hedgehogs, and mice, and kitties.... oh my!

Supplies
Penny Black's "The Wonder" clear acrylic stamp set
Basic Grey's "Eskimo Kisses" 6 x 6 paper pack
Martha Stewart's snowflake punch
SU! oval punch and scallop oval punch
Spellbinder's circular scallop and standard Nestabilities
Silver Stickles by Ranger

Monday, December 7, 2009

Starstruck




 I did take a break from my Christmas card making over the weekend to make this 5 1/2" square card for Amber's Friday challenge.  I'm not sure I like it.   Does this ever happen to you... after you've taken the picture of your card you see a million changes that should have been done to it?   This one is no exception. I don't really think it is working for me... it's prettier "in real life"... I know, I know, everybody says that ;).
Since I just received my new Spellbinders Labels 9 nesties, I had to try them out.  Verve's "Starstruck" fit perfectly.  I used Basic Grey's Porcelain choosing two different patterns, very vanilla and old olive cardstock (SU!) and followed the sketch.  It looked too plain so I grabbed a Sizzix flourish die for along the sides.  Then I decided it still lacked some pizzazz so I grabbed the corner punch and liquid pearls.  I very rarely make a card without ribbon so I think that is what's lacking.  

Have a great Monday... I'm going to miss "Dancing with the Stars"... haven't heard when it's coming back for next season.  See you tomorrow.   




Rainy Monday



It never rains in Sunny Southern California


except when it does :-)

Rain, Rain Yippee!
 It's rainy and blustery outside ... we don't get to see that very often (smiling).  It's cozy in here and I'm enjoying it a lot! 

I didn't post over the weekend since I was 'assembly-lining' lots of Christmas cards.  I'll post some of the variations as the week goes along.

I'll post this entry and then bring up the card I made for the Friday challenge...

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Wonder Bundled Kitty

Hi everyone!

I hope you're having a nice Friday.  It's a gorgeous day here in southern California and we have the promise of some rain next week which we desperately need.  All's good.

This is a card I made yesterday for Amber Hight's "Friday with a Twist" challenge and I'm loving this kitty.  Amber designed a great sketch for us...


There were no special "twists" for this challenge so I chose to keep working on my Christmas cards.  I'm just so comfortable in the 'cute' category and this set "The Wonder" is really cute.  This kitty is all cozy in her little sweater... I colored her with my Copic markers and then chose the designer paper Wintergreen which is by SU! but is now retired.  I think I should pick the paper first and then color but this one worked out.  The button actually matches in real life but looks a little yellow-y in the picture. 

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by...!



RECIPE.... 

STAMPS:  The Wonder by Penny Black
PAPER:  Stampin' Up Certainly Celery, Wintergreen designer series (retired)
EMBELLISHMENTS:  Martha Stewart snowflake punch,  White chiffon decorated ribbon and red cording from Michael's, Silver Stickles, Button "from my drawer",  Spellbinders standard circle and scallop circle Nestibilities, Copic markers (love these).
               

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Gourd-a-licious Christmas

I used to love painting on gourds.  I'm ashamed to admit I have closets full of them (still) and keep saying I'm going to paint them 'someday'... can anyone tell me when 'someday' is???  My husband asks (occasionally)if I want to give them away...well, I can't bear to part with them so he'll just have to cope {smiling}.  Years ago when I was selling my hand painted goodies on eBay, I was asked to do several custom pieces.  The cats on one gourd were painted to match her requests... the others' were 'generic'.  My addiction these days is for card making... but these were fun to 'dust off' and look at again.  Maybe, just maybe, this year when my cards are done, etc etc, I'll paint some for last minute gifts.  They are very easy to work with.  Clean the gourd at the sink with a scrubber sponge and after the gourd has dried I would paint it white (as a base coat)so my colors would be vibrant.  Then sketch your design and paint away... gourds have a lot of "tooth" so they're a breeze to paint on.  Have fun painting, let them dry thoroughly overnight,  apply two coats of a waterbased acrylic sealer and you have a cute decoration that will last forever.  Here are a few to look at...












Santa's Coke Bottle


I received an invitation to go to a blog hop party over at Create it Green next Saturday December 5th.    (http://createitgreen.blogspot.com/)  I will just be a spectator but thought I'd put these pictures on my blog anyway.  Years ago my principal area of interest was tolepainting (thus the name tolecookie which is me on SCS) and I was "green" before it was in fashion LOL.   Here is a glass Coke bottle that is painted with acrylics... he doesn't serve any function except to make me smile... very worthwhile though, now that I think about it.


Monday, November 23, 2009

Elegant Birthday for MOJO Monday

This card is for MOJO Monday. After I looked at the sketch I was sure I was going to do a 'sweet shoppe' type card with the top being an awning. However, I couldn't find paper that I liked and ended up really wanting to use this grey/pink combo and it screamed for a flourish stamp... so, no cupcakes today :-)... sob! I chose Basic Grey's Porcelain collection, enhanced it with SU!'s basic grey stripe with pink and grey cardstock. The image is from Friends 24-7 and I sponged the background to dull down the white. It's going into an order for a friend who wants several birthday cards...hope she likes it. Thanks for looking in.



  • Stamps: SU! Friends 24-7
  • Paper: Basic Grey Porcelain, SU basic grey ds, pretty in pink cs
  • Ink: basic black, pretty in pink
  • Accessories: Michael's ribbon, SU scallop border punch, SU silver cord

 

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Uplifting Birthday

Have you ever noticed the camera always finds and amplifies all the mistakes, but rarely gets the colors right?  Hee hee.  Well, this card really is a chocolate background, vanilla (with balloon), and purple!  I'm so glad I had the Basic Grey Wisteria paper pack... it tied it all together. 

I'll have to admit it... when I first saw Amber's twist for this week I winced! This week's was a color challenge... purple, chocolate, and vanilla! Well, I now take it all back... I like it a lot. I used my Basic Grey Wisteria paper pack and made a birthday card for a friend. I used my Nesties Label 1 with a hot air balloon from one of my favorite sets (Up, Up & Away) by Verve, stamped the balloon twice - cutting out the designer paper.  I also used the dauber to sponge around the die while it was still on the cutout.  There is a blue shade in the designer paper which I picked up using a grey-blue.



Stamps: Up, Up & Away



Paper: SU! chocolate chip, elegant eggplant, very vanilla, Basic Grey Wisteria ds


Ink: Memento tuxedo black, bordering blue


Accessories: Martha Stewart arched trellis border punch, Nestabilities label 1, dauber, generic vanilla gros grain ribbon


 

Cottage Chic

I made this card for Verve's Friday's sketch with a twist ... to make a card that is "shabby chic". When I think shabby chic, I think of cottages and country gardens, picket fences and faded white tables. I tried to take it from there with soft greens, pinks, and Basic Grey's Porcelain ds which has little birdcages all over it. My secret 'tool' for this card was my fingernail ... now I need a manicure ;D.

 

  • Stamps: Verve Fluttering By
  • Paper: river rock, old olive, pink - all SU! Basic Grey Porcelain ds
  • Ink: old olive, regal rose for sponging bird
  • Accessories: Circular nesties, pink ribbon, little flower from Pretties kit (SU!), Sizzix die Birds 'n Blooms

 

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Inspirational Star

This card was made for Verve's Project Parade to do a card with encouraging words or inspiration. I chose the phrase from Starstruck and the image of a bursting star. In real life, the card is actually a more mossy green than the picture portrays... and I don't want to admit how long I fretted over the paper selection... but I like it a lot (now). Hope you like it too and thanks for looking in!


  • Stamps: Starstruck by Verve
  • Paper: SU! river rock, always artichoke, whisper white, Basic Grey Wisteria
  • Ink: SU! always artichoke, Antique linen & Tea dye distress inks by Ranger 
  • Accessories: always artichoke ribbon, Circle Nesties, Rectangle Nesties, Fiskars edge punch, bling stone

 

Trim a Tree

This card was made for World Cardmaking Day. I had intended to make an individual card for each of the 12 challenges... but...! I could tell I was running out of gas so I combined two. The Magnolia-licious challenge was to do an ornament and the Sugar Nellie challenge was to follow their sketch! Yep... I followed Sugar Nellie's sketch and used an ornament. It's quite sparkly in real life.


Recipe...

  • Stamps: Verve Ornamental Blessings
  • Paper: SU! sage shadow, wintergreen ds, always artichoke
  • Ink: always artichoke
  • Accessories: silver twine (SU!), Oval nestabilities, sizzix snowflake die, SU! ornament punch, white gel pen, silver stickles
Have a super day and thanks for stopping by.........

 

Swiss Butterfly Birthday

I made this card for a friend's birthday using my swiss dots embossing folder and Verve's Fluttering By butterfly set... say that 10 times! I also used the Martha Stewart Punch for the border on the lower portion. I like the clean look of the bayou blue with the crisp white. 


Recipe....
STAMPS... Fluttering By ... VERVE
INK... SU! bayou blue, PTI white
 ACCESSORIES... MS border punch, Oval classic & scallop nesties, Swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder, little flower from SU pretties kit, ribbon (source unknown)

Thanks for stopping by... come back soon

Dreamy Birthday

I made this card  for Mojo Monday week 112 and also for a friend's birthday. Once I decided to use the combination of Wisteria patterns by Basic Grey, I thought this image from Dreams du Jour (SU!) would fit it nicely.  I've had the stamp set for a long time and it doesn't see enough love! Whenever I use a new sketch, I'm always a little leery of how I will succeed in "developing" the sketch into a card, but I'm pretty happy the way this one turned out.


Harvest Blessings Thanksgiving

I love this stamp set.  It is by Verve and is called Harvest Blessings ... in case you didn't already figure that out ;-).  Anyway, I love it.  I love the paper too... it is Autumn Vine by SU! but it's retired... and I'm running low :-{.  Pretty straightforward card except for the masking which is really easy.  Just cut out a leaf (in this case) and use it to block ... stamp the first leaf (this will be the one most forward in the composition)... place your cut out leaf over it and stamp another leaf at an angle from the first... repeat as desired.  I actually should have positioned mine differently (as it turns out) so the stem didn't show... but it's ok.  I will probably do that on the next one.


Gobble Gobble

Hope you're having a good day and will enjoy looking at my blog.  Here's a card I made for our daughter and her family... they live in Indiana and we live in California... drat!  We miss being together for the holidays but I make sure to send them lots of cards and love.  This little turkey is by Sweet 'n Sassy stamps and it's really fun to color him in.  The only other thing worth mentioning here is the ribbon on the right side of the card.  I got this at Michael's and intended to use it as flowers but since the card needed something more it got added here... and, I think it kind of resembles the turkey feathers.  I have to limit my embellishments on the 'mailable' cards.  Here 'tis...........

Thanksgiving Treasures

Today I've decided to update this poor, neglected blog...!  I'll be posting several Thanksgiving cards and some Christmas too.  I've been posting them on Split Coast Stampers (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=106544) but have been running out of time... sigh... and this blog has suffered.  The first card I want to show you is this cute little pickup truck ...

Here is the recipe.....
The little pickup was done with 'Loads of Love' and the pumpkins are the 'LOL Accessories' set... both by SU!   The stamp that I used for the wheat is a single stamp I got at Michael's called 'Soldago Sprig' by Rubber Stampede... it's not intended to be wheat but I thought it worked.  The sentiment "Thankful" is a stamp Julee (Vervegirl) generously included in my first shipment...love it!!!  I used my Copic markers to color the truck and the pumpkins... I truly enjoy working with them... so happy I finally took the plunge into that 'coloring' world!

Monday, October 5, 2009

World Cardmaking Day 2009

Hi everyone!  Today I'm going to actually TRY to start this blog.  It's been around a while but I've been ignoring it... sometimes it's just too much to learn another thing.  Some of you know what I mean :D.  This past weekend I learned of WORLD CARDMAKING DAY and that there were all kinds of fun challenges and give-aways on Split Coast Stampers so I went searching.  I found 12 challenges and ended up only being able to finish 7... but that was pretty good for me as I'm not the World's fastest stamper!  I'll share them with you today with a description of what the challenge was. 

Since I've been entering these challenges I feel I have really grown as a stamper!  I feel more "capable" of doing what I set out to do.  Does that make any sense???  Okay, let's get started.

The first card I posted was the Verve Challenge.  It was a very creative idea by Michelle... pick a nation's flag and go with those colors... any design... just use the colors.  I picked Guatemala because I wanted to do a card for my granddaughter using light blues and soft greens.  The actual card is a retired SU! color called soft sky and I paired it with wintergreen designer series (also a retired SU! pattern) and old olive card stock.  I ran the small paned through my Cuttlebug using the swiss dots embossing folder.  The image is "Fluffles"... the adorable cat from Stampendous!  I have several Fluffles and just ordered another for Christmas (shhh...!).  I just lightly watercolored the image with SU!'s watercolor wonder crayons, added a sentiment from "Lots of Thoughts", eyelets and a bit of simple avocado colored ribbon and it was done.  

My next submission was for Unity Stamp Company and it was to do a card with a quote.  I decided on this quote in the Miracles Blossom set by Verve... "Where hope grows, miracles blossom".  I ended up with a more Spring than Fall card... that's ok, I'll use it.  I used old olive cardstock for the base of the card, regal rose as the accent around the oval nestability, and the background pink is a regal rose designer series.  These papers are all SU!. 

The inks were a combination... SU! earth elements stampin' spots for the image and Memento Tuxedo Black for the sentiment.  Kind of a sideline here... I've found my SU! black is not 'black' enough for my taste so I went to StazOn black and like it much better.  However, I just found out that StazOn cleaner is not good for photopolymer stamps (it's ok on rubber) so I've started using the Memento Tuxedo Black (probably TMI).  Just thought you'd like to know about the cleaner! 

So anyway, I used my oval nesties to cut out the scalloped edge and the oval and then stamped it with my little flower pot and plant.  I love see-through stamps... for obvious reasons :D... I especially love my VERVE photopolymer clear stamps!  I colored in the image using SU!'s watercolor wonder crayons (earth elements), did a little piercing along the left side, added a ribbon and I was almost done!  I just bought a little button die by Sizzix.  Since I sell (and they go in the mail) I have to be careful about 'bulky' so my customers are able to just put regular postage on their cards when they mail them out... which can be a challenge since I love all the embellishments.  This button die works great for me.  The effect is there but the button isn't.  

As I learn and stretch my capabilities more and more, I am envious of some of the coloring methods out there in SplitCoast land.  I want to try Copics but they are pretty expensive (especially when you have lots of markers)... well, we'll see how good Santa is ;).

The next challenge I entered was by Flourishes Stamp Co. and it was to follow their sketch.  No problem there because the sketch had a wonderfully crooked panel!  Whoo hoo... I have problems with crooked when I want it straight so this was in my comfort zone!  

The base of the card is Really Rust, the designer series is Haiku and the accent color is more mustard - all Stampin' Up!  The adorable little image is Verve's Hello Pumpkin which I love!  The little bear is actually brown although he looks kind of grey in the picture.  I stamped him twice and cut out his body and cap and pieced them on.  The button is from the Sizzix button die, finished it off with a twine bow, and pierced around the rectangle and used my white gel pen to make faux stitching.  The ovals were all cut with my rectangle nesties... they are so handy to have!

This card "Harvest Blessings" was made for the Gina K. challenge and it made me hungry!!!  Use chocolate, vanilla and pumpkin... yum.  The base of the card is chocolate chip, the designer series is Haiku and the panel under the circle is pumpkin.  Using very vanilla cs and my circle nesties I tried a trick I learned on Julee Tillman's blog... http://poeticartistry.blogspot.com/.  When you have run your nestability die through your machine, leave the die on the paper and sponge your color... it gives you a border of base color.  So fun!!!  That's what I did here and I really like that technique! Next I stamped on my wreath from Verve's Harvest Blessings set... I was so super lucky last month when I won the entire September release from Verve!!!  You'd have thought I'd won a multi-million $$$ lottery :D. I then colored it with my markers using the given colors... and before I forget, I also used the VersaMark clear to stamp on some extra boughs to the orange cardstock.  The base of the orange panel is punched using a Martha Steward trellis edge punch.

  

This card did double duty for me.  One of the challenges was to do an ornament card sponsored by Magnolia-licous Stamps and the other was to follow a sketch by Sugar Nellie Stamps. I decided to use my Wintergreen designer paper again since there were so many layers in the Sugar Nellie layout.  I used my oval nesties for both the base of the ornament and the sentiment and sponged the edges... not sure that was the right thing to do as I think it looks dirty now... but oh well, it is what it is, or so they say.  I used my new ornament punch from Stampin' Up and then 'decorated' it with my gel pen and silver stickles by Ranger.  My friend had die cut a lot of snowflakes for me last year so I added that to the lower right.  This card took a while but I do like it.

My final post for today is actually my fave!  It was a two-few too!  I incorporated the challenge by My Favorite Things to use BLING, pink, black and white!  NP.  The other was by Crafty Secrets and it was to make something "pop" on the card... the stars are on dimensionals and really do pop up.  
                        

I used another of my very favorite sets by Verve (can you tell I'm overjoyed with their stamps???).... LOVE THEM!!!!   Anyway, this card looks complicated but is really straight forward.  I used black bitty boxes by Papertrey Ink, pink ds in regal rose, and a white base (Papertrey again... their cardstock is 120# vs SU!'s at 80# so I think it makes a sturdier card base... just my opinion!).  Back to the card... I used my SU! doily (?) edge punch for the panel layers, stamped my wonderful You Rock onto white cs and accented the flourish with a glue pen and dimensional glitter (from Michael's).  I added a blingy crystal to the small star at the end of the flourish but it really doesn't show up in the picture... drat.  The stars were stamped with Memento tuxedo black, cut out, and then I traced around them on black cs so I could get some bordering.  I used the glue pen to scribble on the stars and then dipped them into the glitter.  They are popped up on very big sponge dimensionals... which may have to be swapped out when I mail the card.

I think I'll post this now and come back later with more 'creations' I have in my files that I never posted here.

I just had to "Pop" in an announce this... I just found out this afternoon that this card won a prize with Crafty Secrets... so delighted!!!  Thank you, Crafty Secrets!
                                                          

Monday, September 21, 2009

Birthday Loads of Love

This is a card I made for our grandson. The stamp sets I used were all Stampin' Up. I used Loads of Love and LOL Accessories for the truck and the 'contents' and Favorite Teddy for the balloons and Party Hearty for the sentiment. The images were stamped onto Canson watercolor paper and colored using bold bright Stampin' writes. I used real red and summer sun card stock. I sure hope he likes it... hope you do too!