Paper Maniac Thursday - Back to Basics!

Hello!  This week the Paper Maniac DT and I are going back to basics-- Basic Grey!  I love Basic Grey so this was an easy one.  I chose to use the Manila Basics 6 x 6 paper pad.  I love all the patterns in this collection, they are easy to pair with other papers.  I wanted to see if I could make a card using only neutral papers, and I think it turned out pretty good and I love the pop of blue.   

Here's another view of the card to give you a perspective on the dimension.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

{Your Kindness has Touched my Heart}

Stamps: Thankful Flourishes (Our Craft Lounge)

Card Stock: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Basics Manila (Basic Grey)

Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU), Prussian Blue (Colorbox)

Accessories: Light Blue Ribbon, Labels 9 Nesties (Spellbinders), Oval Nesties (Spellbinders), Foam Dimensionals, Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Clear Rhinestones (Michaels)

 

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A "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Card...

Hey guys!  You all know how much I love taking photos of my cards outside.  I love the natural light and I usually don't have to edit them, besides cropping.  I especially love when our tire swing is in the background.  Go back and look, there are a ton of photos with our tire swing in them.  Anyway, I finally got tired of my cards blowing away/over and me freezing my tail off.   So, until Spring comes, I'll be taking photos inside.  I did this last year as well but have learned a lot since then.  These are the first photos I've taken with my new set-up.  They are still not where I would like them (see how the left side is darker-Ugh!), but they are good enough to share.

Okay, onto my card.  I recently ordered most of my supplies for this year's Christmas cards.  In addition to a new stamp set and card stock, I ordered the Spiral Notebook Page Die.  To make my notebook page look more realistic, I used some Basics Manila paper from Basic Grey that had a notebook design on it.

I will admit that these colors are not traditional Christmas colors.  The patterned paper comes from the Kaiser Craft paper pad 'Tis the Season. The newspaper has some holiday writing and pictures on it and the rust colored rectangle is the sheet music for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" which is why I picked that particular sentiment to go on the notebook page.

This card sorta has an Old World, rustic feel to it.  I think I like it.

 Thanks so much for dropping by today!

{We Wish You a Merry Christmas}

Stamps: Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: 'Tis the Season (Kaiser Craft), Basics Manila (Basic Grey) 

Ink: Dark Brown, Chestnut Roan (Colorbox)

Accessories: Spiral Notebook Page Die (Papertrey Ink), Geneva Brads (Bazzill), Sheer Ribbon (Offray), Foam Dimesionals

 

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OCC Challenge - Fall Color Challenge

Hi there!  Welcome to another Our Creative Corner challenge.  I'm so glad you stopped by today.  This week we have a fall color challenge.  You can see the colors to the left.  You don't have to use those exact colors, anything close will do.  

I will be totally honest and tell you that I was really short on time making this.  I really can't believe it only took me about 20 minutes to make, and that's really all the time I had.  When I started pulling out the colors I came across the negative Top Note Die space from this card I made last week. So, I used that patterned layer for my vanilla and brown colors.  The card base is Ripe Avocado, the embossed center is Terracotta Tile, and the sentiment layer is More Mustard.

The bird I stamped looked a little awkward floating is space, so I grounded it by extending the lines on the sentiment to create a branch for it to perch on.  I just used a pencil and ruler.

I hope you have time to play along with us this week.  You won't want to miss the other creations from the Design Team at Our Creative Corner.

Have a great day!

{Enjoy the Journey}

Stamps: Enjoy (American Crafts)

Card Stock: Terracotta Tile, Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink), More Mustard (SU)

Patterned Paper:  Basics Manila (Basic Grey)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (SU)

Accessories: Top Note Sizzix Die (SU), Stampin' Sponge (SU), Foam Dimensionals, Clear Rhinestone (Michaels), Birds & Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Circle Punch (SU)

  

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An Inspired "Happy Birthday" Card...

Hello there!  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  As part of my morning ritual, I wake up a half hour before the kids need to get up for school (except for these last few days, don't get me started...), I drink my coffee and read through email and then browse my favorite blogs using my Google Reader.  Well, this morning I came across this lovely card from Silke Ledlow.  My first thought was, "WOW! What a stunning card!" and then my next thought was "Hey, I have that stuff!".  So as soon as I got back from taking the kids to school I went right down to my studio and grabbed my Top Note Die and my Oval Nesties.  And here you have my card for today!

I also used a cool new flower punch I bought last week when I trekked to Archiver's.  I love making my own flower embellies and this punch is perfect for that.  All of the patterned papers on this card are from the Basics Manila collection from Basic Grey.  That is such a versatile collection to have in your arsenal.  For my flowers, I sponged the petals with pink (and not just the edges but all over) and then I sponged the leaves as well.  Speaking of the leaves, those are from the SU Bird's & Blooms Sizzix Die set.    

It's hard to see in the photo, but the layer that the sentiment is stamped on is actually patterned paper as well. It has a bit of a distressed look with very faint text.  In case you didn't notice, the leaves and the sentiment are the same color.  I thought that was a great way to add green to another part of the card and the pink was way too, well pink!

Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments, Text Style (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Patterned Paper: Basics Manila (Basic Grey)

Ink: Orchid Pastel, Lime Pastel, Chestnut Roan (Colorbox)

Accessories: Oval Nesties (Spellbinders), Top Note Sizzix Die (SU), Jumbo Brad (Making Memories), Flower Punch (Paper Shapers), Stampin' Sponge (SU), Birds & Blooms Sizzix Die (SU), Foam Dimensionals, Pink Rhinestones (Michaels)

 

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OCC Challenge - Color Challenge

Hello!  I hope you all are enjoying your weekend.  I'm here with a color challenge from Our Creative Corner. You can see the color combo on the left.  I don't have any of those exact colors, so I tried to match them as closely as possible with what I had on hand.  I did pretty good with the browns, but the blue I used was more of a navy. 

The oval has a woodgrain pattern on it.  I think this card has on overall masculine feel to it, which is good since I'm giving it to one of my guy friends with his house warming gift.  I don't think he'll mind the ribbon and bling, at least I hope not.  

Check out all the fabulous creations over at Our Creative Corner using this fantastic color combo.  I hope you have time to play along with us.

Have a great day!

{Congratulations on your new home}

Stamps: Boards & Beams (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink), Chocolate Chip (SU)

Patterned Paper: Apple Cider (Imaginisce), Manila Basics (Basic Grey)

Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU), Creamy Brown, Chestnut Roan (Colorbox)

Accessories: Top Note Sizzix Die (SU), Edge Distresser, Foam Dimensionals, Oval Nesties (Spellbinders), Navy Sheer Ribbon (Offray), Rhinestones (Michaels)

 

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An "I love you so much, Sweetheart" card...

Hello!  I was so grateful I already had a project planned to share with you yesterday.  My allergies have been awful and the medicine I've been taking has been making me so drowsy and making my brain all fuzzy.  The last thing I wanted to do yesterday was sit down and make a card.  That is a feeling I'm not used to.  So, I held off on taking my allergy medicine until after I made a card (and had my grocery list finished) and it worked out so much better today.  

So, about my card.  The awesome layout comes from this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  I wanted to keep this card masculine since I'm giving it to my husband for dealing with my crankiness and mood swings all weekend.  I had to keep apologizing for being so moody.  I'm blaming it all on the allergies.  

The tag I used comes from Creative Cuts & More.  It was a minty green, so I sponged it with a little brown ink so it would go better with the color scheme of my card.  I'm sure you've noticed how much I've been using this burlap string.  Gosh, I just love it and now I'm completely out of it.  Why did I only order 3 yards of it?  I should have ordered a whole spool.

I hope you are all enjoying your day!  Thanks for visiting today!!!

{I love you so much, Sweetheart}

Stamps: Signature Greetings, Daily Designs Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Creamy Caramel (SU)

Patterned Paper: Basics Manila (Basic Grey), Apple Cider (Imaginisce)

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories: Tag, Burlap String, Edge Distresser (Heidi Swapp), Stampin' Sponge (SU)

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Clear & Simple Stamps - September 2010 Release

Hello!  Today I'm sharing the Clear & Simple Stamps' September SOTM.  This month's set is called Topiaries.  I've always loved topiaries and now I can stamp them on my cards.  You can even mix and match the trees and pots.  So fun!  I especially love the sentiments in this set.  I am a font fanatic and I love sentiments that mix fun fonts with plain type.  

Here's what the September SOTM set "Topiaries" looks like:

Use discount code CSS0910 for $1 off!!!

And here is just one of the cards I've made using this set:

I stamped the fruitful topiary and pot onto Kraft Like a Rockstar card stock using Perfect Little Black Dress ink.  That ink is perfect to use with watercolor pencils since the ink will not bleed or smear.  Then I colored the image with watercolor pencils and went over the image with an aqua-painter.  See that yummy brown with the distressed edges?  That's the new color this month.  It's called Espresso Your Style and it is such a rich color.  I punched two holes on my image panel and threaded my ribbon behind the panel and around the card.  I think this really draws your eye to the focal point.

The new color, Espresso Your Style is available today in card stock, ribbon, ink, re-inkers, and buttons as well as the Copic Trio Bundle (see below).

Thanks so much for sharing in the excitement today!!!  I know you'll love this month's SOTM set.  I'm looking forward to sharing more cards with you using this set.

{Fruitful Topiary}

Stamps: Topiaries (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Espresso Your Style

Patterned Paper: Basics Manila (Basic Grey)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Espresso Your Style

Accessories: Sheer Ribbon (Offray), Hole Punch, Watercolor Pencils (SU), Aqua Painter, Edge Distresser (Heidi Swapp), Foam Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponge (SU)

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Paper Maniac Thursday - Back to School

It's Paper Maniac Thursday and this week's theme is Back to School.  Since my kiddos went back to school a week and a half ago I decided to make a Thank You card fit for a teacher.  I know there will be many occasions throughout the year where a Thank You card will be needed.

My card is a 4.25" square.  I chose to use some apple patterned paper from the "Apple Cider" Paper Pad by imaginisce.  The green swirly paper is also from that pad.  I also used some paper from the Basic Grey "Basics Manila" paper pad.  There are a few pages that look like notebook paper.  I used one of those pieces for the sentiment and then I cut out the brown notebook page from a different sheet.

I hope you enjoyed my card for today!  Have a great day!!!

{Thank You}

Stamps: Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Card Stock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Apple Cider (imaginsce), Basics Manila (Basic Grey)

Ink: Really Rust, Close to Cocoa (SU)

Accessories: Labels 9 Nesties (Spellbinders), Paper Clip, Ribbon (Offray), Foam Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponge

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