I'm a card maker

and apparently a card hoarder. I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year, though I had made quite a few. Oh well, I thought to myself, I will get busy and send out Valentines. Now I have made several valentines, but did I get any mailed? Well, one I can think of. lol

Alas, here it is Valentine's day and I said to myself, "Self! You need a valentine for your dh!" You must understand - he is my biggest cheerleader. He has really been encouraging me lately and helping me a LOT! So, I got up this morning and made him a valentine before he woke up. I also gave him a shirt and tie I had bought on sale weeks ago, but I saved them for today. hee hee hee, aren't I sneaky? When I gave them to him, he said, "You bought me a gift?" We don't usually give each other gifts, so I really took him off guard. A while later I went out shopping and had this 50% off coupon in my purse calling to me to use it. So, I went to Michael's and bought the lace doily border punch. When I got home I showed it to dh and thanked him again and again for getting me something I wanted! And he even used a 50% off coupon, saving $. What a guy! He laughed! Well, that was a good way to get another punch, and give him credit for it. What a good wife I am. lol

Anywho, here is the card I created for him. I found this beautiful flocked paper by 7 gypsies and thought it would make a great valentine. I tried to keep it more masculine. I also used a card by Sharon (notimetostamp) as inspiration.

I stamped the love with black craft and clear embossed, then colored in the letters with my Stardust clear gelly roll pen from Treehouse stamps. Boy I love the look that gives. Sorry you can't see that very well in the photo, but in real life - mmmmmmm, so nice!

I cut and embossed the scalloped heart with my nesties. The black layer behind was cut with the deckle edge scissor. Since the red on this paper is flocked and oh so nice, I punched out three small hearts from the red flocked area and used one where the hat pin went through the heart (covering up a small tear - er, I mean, using a creative opportunity, another for the o in Love and the last one on the inside near my signature. What do you think? Is it masculine enough?

Oh, and Happy Valentine's day to all of you!

Changing it up!

For this card I tried something different and it worked. For the sentiment panel, I used the Labels One die, but changed the shape. I really didn't want a square shape, so for this one I used the shape only on the top and bottom of the panel. Hey, it worked! Then after embossing it, I used my marker to highlight the embossed area to give it a layered look without a layer. What do you think? Did I achieve it?

The image and sentiment is from a newly released set by Treehouse called butterfly kisses.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon!

Crafty Secrets Panel

Oh fun, I tackled two challenges with this card. First is the Crafty Secrets challenge. Now I love their products and I've had some of the cotton scraps for a long time. I actually found them today and used one on this card. I used a little batting behind it and did some quilting around the image, as well as stitching along the outside edge. I love the dimension it added. The other SCS challenge today was Julia's and that was to use fabric. Since these panels are fabric - ta dah! A two-fer!

The mat for the fabric panel is cut with deckle edge scissors. I layered two ribbons behind the panel. The sentiment is stamped onto white cs, and then cut and embossed with the Spellbinder's die and then I cut it out by hand on the inside. I then mounted it onto a Perfect Plum die cut and added a jewel. The bg is cuttlebugged with the textile texture folder and inked to bring out the design.

Oooo, I love lilacs. Now I need to scent it to match! Oh yeah!

Butterfly Kisses

This is a sneak peek of a new set being released by Treehouse Stamps Friday, Feb. 13. There will be a release party on Thursday night beginning at 9PM on the Treehouse site. Just click the link to the right and you will be transported over! lol

I really like this sentiment and that it is in two different fonts. Cute stuff. There are four butterflies in the set. I chose one of the largest for this card. It is stamped and clear embossed and then colored iwth marker. If you would like more details, check out my SCS gallery.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon!

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek of two of the new sets being released at Treehouse stamps this Friday. There will be a release party on Thursday night from 9-11 PM EST. Be sure to drop by Treehouse and check out the fun. You can click on the link to the right to get there in a hurry!

The new sets being released Friday by Treehouse Stamps are Butterfly Kisses and Count Your Blessings.

I inked the butterfly with Pink Pirouette and then sponged over the edges with the Perfect Plum. The scripture is inked with the Perfect Plum marker. I also colored the ribbon with Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, and Perfect Plum markers before heating it. I think this one qualifies as a CAS = Clean and Simple card too. What do you think?

Eeeeeeee! I can't even sleep!

I am still so excited about being in the finals for Spellbinder's design team that I couldn't sleep when I went to bed last night. Luckily the color challenge was up on SCS so I got up and created this card.

The stamp is a new one I got by Inkadinkado. I colored it with markers before stamping onto watercolor paper. I then went over it with a paintbrush to add a bit more color to the image. Then I cut it out with the Spellbinders' Label One and also embossed it. The embossed edge is colored with a paintbrush and the Pretty in Pink ink. I mounted that with dimensionals onto the card base, which is also cut with the Label One die, leaving just the top connectef for the hinge on the card. I also stamped the little rose inside the card for the finishing touch! I mounted that onto the Perfect Plum card base. I am loving my dies from Spellbinders. They are such a great bargain, as you get six sizes of each shape, they cut, emboss and you can stencil with them, and they store in the space of nothin'! If you haven't gotten any yet, you'd better get to it! They are the bomb baby, the bomb!

My darling daughter!

This is my darling daughter Wendy wearing her cute cute apron I made her for Christmas!

Oh my!!!!!

My stomach is in a knot and I can't breathe very well! I made it into the finals for the Spellbinders Design Team! OH oh OHHHHHHHH! I feel like a silly little school girl, I am soooooooooo excited! Okay, I have to take some deep breaths and relax! Ohhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm! lol

Whew!

All right, here are the projects I submitted. Now I wait for them to send me a die and make one more project and submit it. Ooooo, I wonder if I will be able to sleep at all for the next 11 days. I know I will be dreaming layouts and color combos and such! lol

Anticipation! Anticipation!!!!!!

Almost Amethyst

I really like this color of Almost Amethyst. That's why you get to see two cards made with it. I made the multi butterfly card first, and a scrap was left on my table, so I used it for the friend card.

For the large butterfly card: I used Nestabilities Flying Beauties, I die cut three butterflies from the border piece and layered it onto the white. The swiss dot border was made with the Cuttlebug Just My Type border embossing folders. The main butterfly is also cut and embossed with the Nestabilities and mounted only at the body to give it more dimension. I added the sentiment using versamark and white ep.

For the friend card: I used the Cuttlebug Stylized Flower embossing folder, cutting out a border. It worked quite well for this challenge. The sentiment is stamped with Almost Amethyst and I added a small ribbon and a butterfly which was cut with Spellbinders Flying Beauties. I added a little bit of embossing to the butterfly with my stylus. Clean and Simple, don't you think?

Oh what a fun challenge on SCS today!

Pile on the embellishments! I am usually a hoarder, but I got over it today! I really layered on some embellishments on these two cards.

On the butterfly card, I used the wrought iron punch on the white strips behind the flower and butterfly, and the cuttlebug frills folders to create the dimension on the card. Then I layered the ribbon, the flower from the pretties kit which I stamped - OH there is stamping! lol I added a ribbon knot to the center of the flower. The butterfly was created in layers by brayering the textile texture embossing folder before running the white cs through it, then cutting out the butterfly with the Nestabilities Flying beauties. I layered on the silver dome thingies, and that is it. It actually is a pretty simple card. I hope you like it!

On the black and pink card, I layered lots and lots of embellishments on this one! Let's see, my embellishment layer is: brad, paper circle cuttlebug embossed, prima, ghost flower, cuttlebug die cut and ribbon. Now if that isn't layers, I don't know what is!

The sentiment (from Treehouse Stamps) is stamped onto ww cs and cut and embossed with my Nestabilities Labels Two. I added layers by punching 1/4" dots of black cs and putting the pink brads through them in each corner.

The season of love!

Valentine's day is getting close and I am in the mood to make Valentines. This one was made for the sketch challenge on SCS today. It's a great sketch, don't you think?

For my main panel, I stamped love with real red and put the flowers from noteworthy into the V vase, coloring the stamp with markers before stamping it. It is mounted onto a scalloped square made with my Nestabilities rectangle. Did you know you can create a square with them? Coolio, eh?

I used some of the SU paper packs for the red papers. The white layer is embossed with the cuttlebug diamonds in the rough folder. I also embossed the largest panel with swiss dots and sanded it. I love the red gingham ribbon with it. Now, does it look more like a Christmas card since I chose always artichoke? Hey, it's the color of the stem for the flower. What do you think?

I'm too excited to sleep!

I decided to apply for the Spellbinder's design team, so I've been busy creating my projects and taking pictures. It was so hard to decide which projects to submit! I finally hit the send button on my application. Now I have to wait and see. I am not posting any of my projects until after I hear that I have been chosen! How's that for positive thinking?

Well, this is one of the cards that I thought of submitting, but in the end another one ended up going in. I hope I made the right decision! lol

For this one, I stamped French script on the main card which is Pretty In Pink. The heart lock is cut out with the Timeless Heritage die, using the die as a stencil, I sponged on chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossed. I sponged the edges with the chocolate chip ink and clear embossing powder. I tied a knot of the satin ribbon through opening.

The brown panel is embossed with the key. The key was cut out and reverse embossed onto the pink card stock using chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossing powder. It is mounted onto a panel cut out with the deckle edge rectangle. (This is a brand new die which my friend that is on the current design team let me use. The pink panel it is mounted on is embossed with the textile texture cuttlebug folder and then stamped with the French Script and I sponged on more color to highlight the embossing. The corner is punched with the wrought iron corner punch. I added chocolate chip satin ribbon with a metal slider.

What do you think?

Thank you Kelly Jean!

I got a blog award from my friend Kelly Jean. Go check out her wonderful blog. She is inspiring and creates such wonderful projects. And she is cute as a button too!Kelly Jean's blog
And thank you for recognizing my blog! I so appreciate it!

Here are links to seven of the blogs I like to check out!
Wendy's
Sharon's
Paula's
Leslie's
Amber's
Ann's
Kelly's

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Ooooo, the weather is so bad - well, not here, but across the midwest and east! Brrrrr! I'm so sorry for all those people without electricity! I hope they have gas heat or at least fireplaces.

Ashley Bowen (Treehouse stamps) has no electricity and isn't able to fill orders. So if you are waiting for an order, it will be delayed a bit, but she will get them out as soon as possible!

I hope you are all staying warm!

Bella Rose Dreams

Julia challenged us to add to designer paper and create a card. For this one, I used this piece of the beautiful Bella Rose paper and stamped the French Flair bg stamp with versamark and embossed with silver ep. I layered the ribbons, a silver mesh and a pink velvet. The sentiment is stamped with versamark and silver embossed before being cut and embossed with the Label 2 nestability from Spellbinders. I just got it and had to use it. It is layered onto a glittery silver cs. I added a fun corner using silver cord and a rhinestone brad from the pretties kit. I think it is a simple card but oh so nice. What do you think?

Dreaming of roses!

I looked at the sketch challenge on SCS just before going to bed and then dreamed up this creation. I really like monochromatic cards and to use it in layers just took it over the top for me.

I stamped the image on the large panel with chocolate chip craft and clear embossed, overstamping with French Script and classic ink. The edges are sponged. I made the long thin panel, using the same method. The rose bud is stamped and embossed on vellum and punched out with the scallop circle. The sentiment is embossed and sponged, and the hardware is distressed with chocolate chip craft ink.

Happy Valentine's day cupcake!

I'm back from my daughter's and so I had time to stamp this morning. I used the colors from the SCS color challenge, bravo burgundy, regal rose and kiwi kiss for this card. The stamp was colored with markers, omitting the holly on the cupcake. I watercolored the image with my watercolor wonder crayons and added stickles. Ya gotta have sparkle! The hearts are punched out and I used the bravo burgundy marker on the edges to give them definition before adding more stickles to them and layering them with dimensionals. The image is embossed and cut out with the nesties rectangle, and I also used it as a stencil, sponging on the regal rose color, which leaves the white border. I love how that looks. The regal rose is cut with the scalloped rectangle. The Bravo Burgundy layer was embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder. So, what do you think?

The image is by Treehouse Stamps - Christmas Cupcake. Click on over to their site to see other fun new stuff! Lots and lots of fun new stuff!

Hmmmmm, how do you use kraft, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy? I don't usually care for blue flowers, so I tried to find a different image to use and came up with this bird. I stamped it with versamark onto the kraft cs which was cut with the top notch die, and then clear embossed it before coloring with watercolor pencils. I stamped the Itty Bitty backgrounds splatter with the Baha Breeze and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy. I stamped the sentiment onto the Baja Breeze cs with Not Quite Navy ink and cut the ovals with nesties, of course. I added the rhinestone brad and loops of silver cord before popping it up with dimensionals. The main card is embossed with the cuttlebug stylized flowers folder. How do you like these colors together? Thanks for stopping by!

Card 'o' the month!

Kristine asked me to make a card for each month as a gift for her mother. I hope she likes what I came up with. Today I figured out a fun way to package them. I really like it. I hope you do too!

These show the packaging, January and February.

Here are March, April, May, June and July!

Here are August, September, October, November and December.

BLOG CANDY

Hey, do you want to win some blog candy? I do!

Sally has a great prize she is giving away, so go check it out on her blog: http://sallyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-candy.html

Check this one out by Rach: http://papercraftsbyrach.blogspot.com/

Michelle has some: http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentine-blog-candy.html

Doris has some too! You have to hurry! http://stampingtower.blogspot.com/


Good luck!

Touch my heart

Today's challenge on SCS is to use hearts and red. I think I've accomplished that with this card and I love how it looks. I used heat embossing on the vellum layer and I love how it has a slightly transparent look to it. I inked up the stamps used on the vellum with versamark, then real red ink before stamping, and then embossed with clear ep. The layer underneath that is white card stock. Again, I inked up the stamp with versamark ink and then inked it with markers using real read for the roses and always artichoke for the greenery and heat embossed with clear ep. To distress it a bit, I stamped the splatters from Itty Bitty backgrounds in red and then went over the edges and further into the center with tea dye distress ink and then again just on the edges with real red ink. I attached the vellum layer with my atg glue gun under the ribbon and also attached it with the red heart brads in the lower corners.

I think I met the challenge to use hearts and red. What do you think?

Isn't it fun when you think of a new way to use a stamp? I did that today and it actually turned out pretty well!

I first stamped the flowers onto the white card base with versamark and Tangerine Tango and clear embossed. I stamped the stems from Both Way Blossoms onto the flowers, using my stamp-a-ma-jig, of course. I stamped the flowers again onto barely banana and tangerine tango cs and clear embossed. I punched out the stars from the stamped flowers and cut out the centers and layered on before adding a gold brad to the centers. I used itty bitty backgrounds around the main panel and onto the sentiment. The sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes and punched using nesties and then I colored the edges with sponging and blender pen with ink from the pad.

Star flowers! Yeah, that's it.

Another fun sketch

I made this card for the sketch challenge on SCS today. I was so inspired by Rox's sample. It is a beauty for sure. Well, I couldn't do anything but flowers and butterflies on my card today.

. . . and purple! I used a piece of Anna Griffin dp for the main panel. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch done in very vanilla and Elegant Eggplant, embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dot folder and glued together with the wings up a bit. I used some iridescent ice ep for the bodies of the butterflies and the center of the flower on the Love you panel - I colored it with my blender pen and markers. The very vanilla layer is embossed with the cuttlebug textile texture folder and the Lovely Lilac layers are reverse embossed with elegant eggplant ink in the cuttlebug birds and swirls folder, and then I brayered on a bit of elegant eggplant ink on the lower portion for even more dimension. I hope you like it!

Tacky glitter!

I hope my card doesn't fit the title too well. lol

I made this card for today's tacky glitter technique challenge and the Sweet N Sassy sketch challenge. I used two colors and texture of glitter. The brown is Martha Stewart's brownstone glitter and the bigger chunky glitter is Treehouse Stamps new Black Onyx chunky glitter. Boy do I love that stuff. You must try it. I also used it on the black butterfly.

The main panel is Heritage Postcard by Kathy Griffiths and Provo Craft. All the panels are embossed with the textile texture embossing folder.

The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink and clear embossed before being sponged with Creamy Caramel and Tye Dye distress ink.

I applied glue dots and the brownstone glitter behind the black brads. I hope you can see it.

So, what do you think?

I've been busy today!

I created another card using the colors for the Sweet N Sassy color challenge, pink, white, gray, black and red.

This is a new Valentine set by Treehouse Stamps called Owlentine. I stamped them with basic gray ink and colored with Watercolor crayons and markers before cutting out and mounting on the shimmery moon and grey background (glitter cardstock) from DCWV. The shapes were cut out and embossed with nesties. I created the little ribbon cluster using a crystal brad from the SU! pretties kit.

I hope you like it!

More roses

So yesterday's card used the paper tole technique, and I used it again on these roses.

I stamped the image with basic grey ink onto the pretty in pink paper, cut and embossed the oval with nesties. I then stamped the roses again with real red ink and versamark and clear embossed before cutting out and adding to the image. I popped up the bigger rose and the smaller bud has one petal cut out and popped higher. I used glue and dazzling diamonds on the image. I stamped the sentiment from Treehouse (I've been wanting to use this since I got it. I love what it says)stamps onto the corner of the main panel and heat embossed before embossing the whole panel with the textile texture folder in my cuttlebug. In case you are having trouble reading it, it says: Life life passionately, Laugh until your belly hurts, Love unconditionally. I then sponged the edges and highlighted the embossed pattern with basic grey ink. I added some ribbons and I heated the pink taffeta to get a bit more dimension.

The bottom photo is to show you how some areas are popped up. I hope you can tell.

A few of my favorite things!

Judy challenged us to use some of our favorite things to create today. Well, that's exactly what I did. I love the Roses in Winter stamp set, my cuttlebug (especially the textile texture folder) and ribbon (especially heated organdy ribbon). For this creation I stamped my image several times onto very vanilla card stock and then overstamped it with the Fine Lace bg stamp. I then ran that layer through the cuttlebug with the textile texture folder and sponged around the edges. For the main flower, I stamped the image several times and cut it out, layering and molding each layer. I also used one of my favorite punches in the Martha Stewart line for some of the greenery. I used the mellow moss card stock and then sponged that with the always artichoke ink for a bit more dimension. The vanilla organdy ribbon was colored with my elegant eggplant marker and after tying into the bow, I heated it to make it curl (a favorite technique). It is very vintage looking, don't you think? That is another of my favorite things.

Thanks for looking! I appreciate you stopping by and leaving comments. I love to read them.

Hugs,
Karen

Happy New Year!

So, the challenge today is to use silver on a card. Well, I got these new butterfly dies and wanted to use them, and of course, I thought of this grass being embossed with silver. Oh yeah, that works. I used a bit of silver on all the butterflies too. The small ones are Martha Stewart punches and the large one is a Spellbinders die. I'm just learning how to use them, but having a great time.

I stamped the image with Pacific Point ink and then again, just barely off with the versamark and silver embossed so it has a bit of a shadow. I like how that turned out.

So, this is my theme for the year - Live With Passion! What is your theme going to be for this year?