Bright, Cheerful Birthday Flowers

Lately, when I am making cards, I find myself reaching for bright, cheerful colors which isn't a bad thing. I must be just going through a phase.  Anyway,  I used punched flowers as the focal point for this birthday card. I added hand cut leaves to each flower and adhered them across the top of the card base. Next I added a decorative strip of trim and wrote the sentiment with a marker. I was inspired to make this card because of a challenge that I saw over at 365 Cards.  The challenge is: CREATE A FRESH FLORAL card with a CLEAN & SIMPLE STYLE.

Supplies:

Cardbase: Paper Studios, Punch: Stampin' Up/Paper Shapers, Leaves: hand cut, Trim: Amy Applique Craft Cord, Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry

I hope you are 

having

a great week! 

Thanks for stopping by!  

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the second card that I created based on the  current challenge at The Sketch File.  Please visit Kathy's blog for more inspiration and to link up your project with us. 

Supplies:

Cardbase: Paper Studios

Patterned Paper: MME

Cardstock: DCWV

Punches: Ek Success, circle, Troll, heart

Embroidery thread: DMC

Embossing: Fiskars Texture Plate

Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

A Green Card

Every once in a while, I take a few moments to look through a container of embellishments that I've made and didn't used for one reason or another. I had sewn the heart and smock like border on this hand cut tag quite a while ago. When I initially created the tag, I wasn't happy with it so I put it aside. However, when  I came across the tag this morning, I decided that I really liked the stitching and wanted to use the tag. So, I added the punched flowers and mounted the tag on the embossed background cardstock.  Now, I'm wondering what other hand made items I've stashed in that container of embellishments. I'm going to have another look and see what else I can create.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Core'dinatons: Happy Colors
Punch: McGill
Tag: Hand cut
Sewing Machine: Jenome
Colored Pencils: Faber Castell
Adhesives: Scotch ATG
Sandpaper

Multi-colored leaves

Tonight I really wanted to try using markers to add a bit of color to a  stamped image. I had seen a  card created by Lisa from I'm in Haven that was so very stunning with it's bright colors that I thought I would give something similar a try.  Lisa's card used hearts with a flourish stamp. I used leaves instead. I stamped the image of the leaves on a separate piece of white cardstock, then colored them with markers. Afterwards I fussy cut around the leaves and stems to give them a bit of dimension. Next I adhered the leaves randomly over the cardbase. I printed my sentiment on the computer and used a score board to add embossed lines before matting the sentiment on a second, slightly larger piece of white cardstock.

Lisa's card from I'm in Haven

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Scrap piece of white
Markers: Bic Mark It, Galaxy Marker
Adhesive: Scotch ATG
Ink: Ranger: Adirondack
Font: MS WORD Lucida Handwriting

Circle Time

This very quick and simple card is based on the current sketch challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch.  First, I did a little embossing with my score board. Then I punched a circle within a circle from four different colored pieces of cardstock. I added polka dots with a gel pen and adhered the circles to the cardbase. 

Supplies:

Cardbase: Paper Studios

Cardstock: bits and pieces from my scrap stash

Gel Pen: Sakura

Punches: EK Success

Score Board: Martha Stewart

Sentiment: Stampin' Up

Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry

Seeing Red

A big shout out to Karen Baker from The Bald Dragonfly who was the inspiration for this card. Karen's cards always have a clean look that I really admire. Recently, Karen has started sharing some crafty tips on her blog. One of her tips for creating a clean look is to sort solid colored pieces of scrap paper by color. Next choose a color and find three shades of that color to use in a color block fashion. After seeing the beautiful card Karen created for the The Crafts Meow, I decided to give her technique a try.  I ended up using more white space between the blocks than I had originally intended, but I think the shades of red work well together.  Thanks for the great tip, Karen! It's a great way to use up the scrap pieces!

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Scrap pieces
Punches: McGill
Pearls: e.line, Prima Marketing
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Three Flowers in Black and White

Are you tired of looking at black and white cards yet? This is my last submission for the black and white color challenge at Addicted to Stamps. Once again I used punches instead of stamps. I punched three flowers from white cardstock that I had printed random words on with MS Word.  I added punched circles and adhered the flowers to black cardstock. I added a white dashed line around the outer edge of the black cardstock and a strip of the text at the base. (The text looks a bit blurry in the photo...sorry. I have a hard time taking photos of black and white cards.)

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Paper Recollections
MS Word
Gel Pen: Sakura
Punches: Ek Success
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed my series of black and white cards. 

I have one more, but I'm not planning on posting it.

Trees with Text

This is yet another card with the black and white color combination.  I wanted to make a masculine card and felt the punched trees would work for this. I printed random words on white cardstock and then punched the three trees across a strip of it. I matted the strip on a piece of black cardstock and again on a piece of white cardstock. Along the edge of the white cardstock, I used a punch that looks like notebook paper. I adhered this to a larger black mat and then to the cardbase.  I'm submitting this for the black and white color challenge at Addicted to Stamps.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Paper Recollections
Punches: Tree: EK Success, Note Book: Stampin' Up
Font: MS WORD
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Black & White Again

The black and white color challenge at Addicted to Stamps has really inspired me. I have to admit that this is only the second of five cards that I've made with this color combination. I just love this color combination. I created this card with flower punches and hand drawn leaves and stems. I punched a total of six flowers and layered them adhering a white circle between each set of flowers. The layers don't show up very well in the photo.  I added twine and a dashed line around the edges and adhered the tag to the cardbase, along with a black strip of cardstock. .

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studio
Twine: The Twinery
Punches: McGill, Ek Success
Stems: Hand drawn
Markes: Bic Mark It
Gel Pen: Sakura
Black cardstock: Paper Recollections
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Black & White Sunflowers

I'm submitting this card for the Black & White Challenge over at Addicted to Stamps. I used a punch to create the flowers and cut the stems with scissors.  I wrapped a piece of rick rack at the base of the black cardstock before adhering it to the white cardbase. It was a very simple card to make and the flowers really pop!

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Recollections
Punch: EK Success
Rick Rack: ?
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Head Over WHEELS for You

There is a fabulous color challenge over at ScrapFIT: aquamarine, taupe and white! I knew I had these colors in my stash and had recently acquired a new bicycle stamp that I really wanted to use. So, I started by stamping the bicycle image onto tan cardstock with aquamarine ink , then distressed the outer edges of the cardstock with taupe/dune ink.  Once the image was dry, I used a black marker and drew over the tires, seat, handle bars and pedals.  I matted the bicycle image onto a piece of white cardstock and layered this onto aqua cardstock.  I cut a piece of patterned taupe paper slightly smaller than the card base. I adhered the bike panel to the patterned paper and added the punched hearts, the twine and the sentiment..."Head Over WHEELS for You!".  I finished by inking around the outer edge of the patterned paper before adhering this to the cardbase.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Aquamarine: DCWV, white/taupe...pieces from my scrap stash
Stamp: Studio G
Patterned paper: Colorbok: Cafe au Lait
Twine: The Twinery
Hearts:  Small: hand held punch...no brand name, Medium: Troll, and Large: Hand-cut Markers: Sakura
Ink: Page  Craft: Dune, Studio G: aqua
Font: MS Word Calibri

Lots of fun just around the corner...

Are you ready for some fun? 

 Jackie Rockwell has put together 

a new card making club. 

It's called Muse. 

The first challenge will be posted

 on January 21...

until then, check out the

 Muse Card Club 

to see what kind of excitement

 you can expect.

A Quick Thank You

Hello! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. It's really cold here and has been all weekend. It's currently -15 (Fahrenheit) and with the wind chill it feels like -29....brrrrrrr! Sure hope you're staying warm!

I put this card together with a few punched flowers that were hanging out on my craft table. I was tidying up and came across them.  Instead of putting them away, I sat down and put them to use.

Supplies:

Cardbase: DCWV

Twine: Twinology

Punches: Stampin' Up

Markers: Bic Mark It

Cardstock: from scrap stash

Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Three in a Row

I made this card just for the fun of it. I wanted to use the new decorative tape that I recently purchased. My goal was to create a masculine card (which I rarely make). I started by attaching the decorative tape diagonally along the face of the card. Then I punched three trees from brown cardstock, adhered them to a small piece of Kraft cardstock and inked around the edges of this. Next I matted this on a piece of cream cardstock. Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits.

Supplies:
Kraft Cardbase: Paper Studios
Tree Punch: EK Success
Ink: Walnut Ink
Decorative Tape: Steampunk Darice
Cardstock: from my scrap stash
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Aluminum Foil Snowflake

I discovered yet another fabulous blog. It's called 52 (Christmas) Cart Throwdown. The current color challenge is purple, metallic silver and white. So I put together this card with the large silver snowflake as a focal point.  I used two shades of purple and a white cardbase.  To create the silver snowflake, I adhered aluminum foil to cardstock and ran this through my die cut machine. It embossed and cut beautifully. I added purple gems to the snowflake and layered the snowflake on a piece of purple vellum. The background is a punched background that I adhered to a white cardbase.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Punch: background: Martha Stewart, Snowflake: Fiskar's Fuse
Gems: Studio G
Vellum and Patterned paper: Unknown (bought it at a garage sale)
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

This is another card I made for the same challenge. I used aluminium foil to create the silver snowflakes and the bottom edge of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Snowflakes: Emagination, EK Success
Penguin: Fiskar's Fuse
Tag: Fiskar's Fuse
Twine: Twineology
Markers: Bic Mark It
Colored Pencils: Crayola
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

Flowers for a Friend

This is a simple card that I put together for a friend. She loves bright colors and flowers. I started by punching the flowers. Next I added punched circles to the centers and then adhered the flowers to white cardstock. Using a marker and a green colored pencil, I drew stems and leaves. I matted the panel with the flowers onto red cardstock and adhered it to the cardbase.  To finish the card, I randomly punched holes in a strip of red cardstock and attached it to the card.
Supplies:
Cardbase: DCWV
Cardstock: DCWV, scrap pieces
Markers: Bic Mark It
Punches: McGill, circle punches
Colored pencil: Crayola
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

I hope you are having a great week! Thanks so much for stopping by.

Look What "Santa" Brought Me

A special "Santa" gave me a delightful new punch for Christmas. It's a Martha Stewart Anywhere Punch. I used it to create the beautiful background on this card. I used two other punches to create layered snowflakes then hung them with gold trim from the top of the card.  I matted the red background and snowflakes on dark green cardstock and finished the card by adding three small bows. I am linking this card up for the current challenge at Jingle Belles. The challenge:  USE NEW CRAFTING GOODIES to create a card.

Supplies:
Cardstock: DCWV, Fox Paper Co.
Punches: Martha Stewart Anywhere, EK Success, Emagination
Gold trim
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

Handmade Castles

Here are a couple of castles my son and I have created over the years. They are completely handmade from cardboard or foam core.  They look complicated but are easy to make. In addition to cardboard and foam core they require just a few tools, including an Xacto knife, straight edge, hot glue/glue gun, and a bit of paint.  Foam core is easy to shape. Scoring it allows it to bend so that you can create shapes like the towers. We even included a working portcullis in the first one! Painting each little stone onto the walls took us a long time, but it was well worth it.

Happy Birthday Flag

I'm still experimenting with the stamps that I recently required. This time I inked the cardbase with mulitple colors and stamped the confetti background across the card. I then added black and white strips.  To create the banner, I stamped happy birthday on white cardstock, colored it with markers and inked the edges with the same ink that  I used on the cardbase. I cut a fish tail at one end and punched two 1/8" holes at the other end. I slipped a piece of a skewer into the holes to create a flag and adhered it to the front of the card.

SUPPLIES:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Stamps: Provo Craft, Clear Impressions
Cardstock (from my scrap stash)
Skewer
Markers: Bic Mark It
Inks: Ranger Adirondack, Pitch Black, Studio G
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Thanks so much for visiting!

Thinking of You

This is the third and final card that I created with for December sketch challenge at The Sketch File. I started by punching flowers, inking around the edges and layering them. I adhered them to the cardbase along with the punched leaves, the red patterned paper and black cardstock. I finished by printing the sentiment on my computer and adhering it to the front of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Recollections
Patterned Paper: DCWV
Flower Punch: Stampin' Up
Leaf Punch: McGill
Ink: Studio G
Adhesive: Sotch ATG