More Valentine's Day Cards

I had some more fun last night and tonight making valentines. I was looking for quick designs that I could replicate. I CASEd the third card from my friend Tiffany.

Supplies

Patterned Paper: Cloud 9Design

Ribbon: American Crafts

Brads: Making Memories

Stamps: thoughts of you (kollette hall), Boxed happy valentine's day (katie and co), happy valentine's day (Hero Arts), Heart (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Rose Romance (Stampin' Up)

Simple Sentiments

I am trying to get some Valentine stuff put together, so I decided to post these simple cards I made a bit ago. This is a design that is so easy to reproduce, and have a classic look that can be changed depending on the papers used. Here I used some Basic Grey Papers that have been in my collection for awhile. I was able to do te piercing using the piercing mat from Stampin' Up.

Supplies

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Stamps: Here's the Story (Cat's Life Press), Thinking of You (Stampin Up)

Ink: Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up)

Blue Birdy

I almost didn't get this card finished tonight. I know it looks simple, but I just kept coloring that bird and learning how to shade. The blues do really match much better in real life. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with the bird...cut him out, punch him, put him on patterned paper. So finally I decided that simple was better. I hope you agree! Oh and a couple tips, I purchase my white paper in bulk from Staples...250 sheets for $10. The brand is Wausau Paper 110 lb cardstock. It is smooth and thick enough to be the base of a card.

Supplies

Stamps: Bird (Autumn Leaves), Sentiment (Papertrey Ink)

Ribbon: American Crafts

Paper: KI Memories (Thanks Mom!)

Bling: Crystal Stickers

Katie Loves Copics

So I got my birthday present a little early (My birthday is February 22 if anyone is wondering *grin*). This happens a lot. My husband bought me a selection of Copic Markers for my birthday and when they arrived he told me I should go "try them out". I don't have many images that lend themselves to coloring, but I really liked this flower stamp. Copics are so much fun! I had tried them once before and wasn't sold on them, but I think that is because I didn't have the color options. There are a lot of ways to use copics and I am just learning. The think I like the most is that when you color with them they don't leave marker lines on the project. My only problem now is that I want more colors...and more stamps!

Supplies

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Happiness), Flower (unknown, but I remember it was from the $1.99 bin at Archiver's)

Paper: Stampin' Up

Ink: Black Soot Distress Ink

Glitter: Stampin Up

Scalloped Happy Birthday

I made this card a bit ago, but I needed to wait to post it until the recipient received it! I am having so much fun with my Silhouette lately. I guess I finally have time to play with it now that the baby is a little older. I love the fact I can cut scalloped rectangles, squares, circles, and ovals of any size. I am also in love with this American Crafts paper. It perfectly coordinated with Kiwi Kiss. This card is a bit of an unusual size; it's closer to 5 x7.
Supplies
Patterned Paper: American Crafts
Cardstock: Stampin' Up, Archiver's
Stamp: It's Your Birthday Set from Stampin Up
Bling: Crystal Stickers
Ink: Chocolate Chip (Stampin Up)

KWerner Color Challenge #39

I have hovered on Kristina Werner's blog for the last couple of months, oohing and ahhing at her cards and everyone's creations for the color challenges. I decided that this was the week I would participate in the color inspiration challenge....then I saw the color combo. I fretted most of the day over how I was going to make a card that I liked...let alone loved! Once I got in my craft room I put my fears aside and pulled the paper and inks that were the corresponding colors and grabbed some stamps. Here is what I came up with:

Not too bad if I do say so myself. Once I stopped thinking about trying to use all the colors in large amounts and focused on making a fun card everything came together. The key was the ant stamp. Once I figured out I wanted to use the ant, the grass was the next logical thing to make. A gingham ribbon created a "picnic" sort of vibe, and so saffron anchored the design. Hope everyone likes it!

Supplies

Stamps: Ant (Stampin' Up), sentiment Stampendous

Cardstock: So Saffron, Green Galore, Whisper White (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Black Staz On

Ribbon: Textured Trios (Michaels)

Wishing you Well

I am working on a fun project for my son's daycare class, so I thought I would share this card with everyone. I made it awhile ago, but it remains a favorite of mine. I used an Autumn Leaves flower stamp (love the $1.99 bin at Archiver's) and a sentiment from my new favorite stamp brand- Papertrey Ink. The ribbon is from May Arts (I think). I used colored pencils and Gamsol blending on the flowers. The paper is Bazzil. This is a great example of how a simple image and sentiment combined make a great looking card.

Fun with Scraps

A scrap of paper caught my eye the other night as I was looking for some paper for a scrapbook page. It being close to valentine's day, I thought I could make a variety of cards in order to show how easy it is to change the look of a card by changing the size and shape. The possibilities are endless! I can't wait to dive into my Valentine's paper stash. I don't really know where the paper came from, the manufacturers tag was cut off....Hope everyone gets some ideas!

Winter Thank You

It is always a good idea to keep thank you notes around; you never know when you may need them. I am really addicted to making square cards right now. The 4 inch cards are the perfect size for jotting down a quick note. Sometimes with larger cards I feel like I have to fill the card otherwise it looks empty on the inside....but I digress. Another great thing about 4 inch cards is that you can make 9 cards with just one 12 x 12 sheet of paper. That's getting your money's worth! For this card I used the new flocked vellum from Making Memories. It was so fun to play with. The rest of this card came together very fast. This card is a great template for taking a piece of patterned paper that you love and making cute and sendable cards! I was able to hide the adhesive at the bottom of the card under the ribbon...just in case you were wondering.

Supplies

Cardstock: Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper: Making Memories vellum

Stamp: Stampendous

Ribbon: May Arts

Brads: Making Memories

Greetings from the Northwoods

This card came together quite quickly; I guess with all this cold it has me thinking about summers in the Wisconsin Northwoods. I had gotten the stamps last summer at a small stamping store in Sayner, WI. The town is very small (one stop sign), but the stamp store would rival any "big city" store. Whenever I think of vacations, I think of the northwoods.

Supplies
Stamps: Greetings (Stamp A Mania), Tree (Great Impressions)
Ink: Timber Brown Staz On, Old Olive (Stampin Up), Distress Inks (tea dye, brushed corduroy)
Ribbon: Amazing Savings
Hardware : Hodgepodge Hardware (Stampin' Up)

Mommy to Bee

A friend of mine was having a baby, so I made this card for her. It is a very simple design, one that you probably will see me repeat often. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, and when I saw the stamp for the first time all I could think about was the bee and bee hive stamps from Amuse. I am also in love with the Polka Dot Basics set from Papertrey. It is so much fun to fill the paper with polka dots!

Paper: Stampin' Up
Stamps: Amuse (hive and bee), Papertrey Ink (sentiment and polka dots)
Ribbon: Unknown
Ink: Stampin' Up

Oh- and I got my Paper for the paper challenge. Um...hello? Someone tell Susi it is supposed to be a paper CHALLENGE, not a paper almost impossible. It is, safe to say, that I would have never purchased this paper. Now....what to do with it? I have until Febuary 17, so at least I can mull this one over.

Hedgehogs are the new Owls

So I was shopping in Walmart before Christmas and on the endcap of the aisle was a display of acrylic stamps. My first thought was "Does Walmart even have a scrapbook section?" and my second thought was "This is going to cost me money". It wasn't too bad, because they were $2.97 for a set of 6 stamps. There was one set that had these adorable hedgehogs, and I made this cute little card. I stamped the hedghogs with Timber Brown Staz On, colored the image with pencils and blended using the Gamsol blending technique.

Supplies

Stamps: Hedgehogs (Walmart), snowflakes (Papertrey Ink), sentiment unknown source

Paper: Archivers

Ribbon: EK Sucess

January Card Exchange

As promised, here are the cards from my card exchange at work. January's theme was "Birthday", and I think everyone did a fabulous job. I don't know about you, but I always seem to need birthday cards. These cards have given me so many ideas! The second Tuesday of the month is always my favorite day. So in no particluar order:

Susi's Card:

Teresa's Card:

Chris' Card

Joan's Card

Alyson's Card

Sandy's Card

Randee's Card

See Tiffany's card on her blog.

Next Month the theme is a color challenge; lots of room for creativity there.

A Birthday Card for the Exchange

There are 10 of us at work who participate in a monthly card exchange on the second Tuesday of each month. This is the third year we have done the exchange, and I always look forward to seeing what everyone has created. The theme for January's exchange is Birthday Cards. For my card I used my Silhouette to cut the cupcake, enlarging the image slightly for the white frosting layer. I coated the white cardstock with Modge Podge, and then sprinkled on the glitter. The pink base was slightly inked to add a bit of dimension. I was very happy with the final card. Check back later in the week to see what everyone else created!




Patterned paper: Die Cuts with a View

Cardstock: Stampin' Up

Glitter: Really old container from my grandmother (The brand is actually "Glitter")

Ribbon: Offray

Charm: Eyelet Outlet

A Card for Teacher

This past Friday was Jack's teacher's anniversary of being at the daycare. I wanted to make her a card to show her how special she is to our family and was very pleased with how it came out. The most fun was involving Jack in the project. At 10 months, his hand was the perfect size! A word of advice if you are thinking of trying this yourself...this is not the type of project you can make in bulk.




Stamps:Papertrey Ink,
Ribbon: Dots and Dashes,
Paper: Stampin Up (Kraft), Archivers (Watercolor White)

Paper Challenge #1

There is a group of very talented, crafty women that I work with, and we have had a card exchange for the last two years. (More on that later.) Just last month a few of us decided to start something that we have dubbed "The Paper Challenge". Everyone brought in piece of patterned paper that they "needed", but had yet to use. Then we were left to our own devices. I got Randee's paper and here is what I created....
I was quite impressed that I was able to create 4 cards of each of the design. Sixteen cards from one piece of paper! This is something that I have been doing a lot lately; taking a piece of paper and making cards until I have almost no scraps left. The hardest part for me is that I really don't work with paper that has a black background. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next Paper Challenge!

Here's a closer look at the cards:

The "Absolutely Fabulous" card is 2.5" x 3", "Wishing You Well" is 4" x 4", and "Just a Note" and "Friend" are the standard 4.25" x 5.5".

You can see what my friend Tiffany did with the paper I gave her here.