A {Thank you for your kindness} Card...

 Hello & Happy Friday!!!  I'm happy to report that I survived the first "week" of school.  I'm starting to feel better about the whole thing and getting used to the idea of the kids being gone all day.  I actually miss them, which is something I don't get to feel very much in the summer when I'm with them 24/7.

This is a fun little card I threw together today, right after I ran on the treadmill (nice how I slipped that in there! I haven't been on the treadmill in months, but it feels so good to have that first workout out of the way).  Anyway, where was I? Oh, I made this card and I sewed again.  My little trick is working great and I can hopefully record a little video of that over the weekend.  

This card has lots of dimension and is a little bottom-heavy.  But I like how it turned out.  A happy little card.  

I thought I would share a couple pics of my kiddos on their first day of school.

I can't believe I have a 1st grader and a 3rd grader.  Time flies!

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!!!

{Thank You}

Stamps: Iconic Images (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft, Vintage Cream (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Flower Punch (Paper Shapers), Circle Punch (SU), Button, Floss, Sewing Machine & Thread, Glue Dots

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Clear & Simple Stamps: August 2011 Release

Can you believe it's August all ready?  School will be starting in  just a few weeks for my kiddos.  Since it's the first of the month, you know what that means, a brand new set from Clear & Simple Stamps!!!  This set is called House Notes II (it coordinates with House Notes) and is my current obsession.  I am addicted to paper piecing that couch.  

This is the first card I made with House Notes II.  I chose patterned paper for the couch that actually looks like a design you would find on a couch.  I think that's my favorite part.  Before I paper pieced the couch, I stamped the image on kraft and outlined it with a gray copic marker.  It's hard to see but it really makes the image pop off the page.  With the sentiment "your couch awaits," I think this would be a great retirement card.

For the text strip on the side, I took one of the sentiment stamps and stamped it repeatedly moving it around a bit.  

Make sure you check out the Clear & Simple Stamps Blog to see all the Design Team creations.  They never disappoint.

Thanks so much for dropping by!  Have a fantastic day!!!

{Your Couch Awaits}

Stamps: House Notes II (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Perfect Little Black Dress, Kraft Like A RockStar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, Stamping Sponge, 

Copic Markers: W3 (Warm Gray) 

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A {Get Well Soon} Card...

Hey there!  I thought I would give this week's CPS Sketch a try although you know how much I despise diagonal lines.  Making the diagonal  panel in the background was pretty easy since I used a double sided piece of patterned paper.  I simply cut a 4" x 4" square, cut it in half diagonally and then flip one of the halves over.  I matted it on a piece of 4.25" square piece of card stock.

I created the flower by punching three scalloped circles out of patterned paper, stacking them on top of each other and then using scissors to cut a straight line toward the center to create petals.   I puffed up the flower a little to give it some dimension.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.  I'm packing up all my scrapping supplies to take to the Papertrey Ink Stamp-A-Faire.  I can't wait to spend the day with my sister-in-law, friend, Nichole Heady, and some of the PTI Design Team.  It's going to be a fun day.  I know I'll have loads to share with you next week.

Have a great day!

{Get Well Soon}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Simply Blue-tiful, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: Stamping Sponge, Foam Dimensionals, Edge Distresser, Buttons, Glue Dots, Scalloped Circle Punch (SU)

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A Lovey {Anniversary Card}...

 

Hello!  As I mentioned yesterday, today is my 9th Wedding Anniversary.  This card was made this morning especially for my husband.  The sentiment says "A hundred hearts would be too few to carry all my love for you" -Author Unknown.  The hardest part about making this card was finding the perfect sentiment.  I think my husband has received so many cards with the "I Love You So Much" sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings that I didn't want to use that one again.


Do you ever see a card someone else has made and can't get it out of your head until you make one like it?  Well, this morning as I was drinking my coffee and perusing my blogs (my usual morning routine) I came across this card from Laurie.  It was just perfect in every way.  Sometimes when I CASE a card I will look at the original card while I'm making my version.  But this time I didn't and I think that helped me make a card that wasn't too similar to Laurie's.  

I added some brads and floss instead of ribbon and pearls and I love using cork on masculine cards.  The cork layer covers the front of the card, even under the strips.  I didn't want the strips to be uneven.  

Well, I'm off to the store to buy some ingredients for dessert tonight.  I'm making a Strawberry Bundt Cake that uses real strawberries.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Have a great day everyone!

{Happy Anniversary}

Stamps: Love Note (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Your Style Blue Me Away, Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Accessories: Top Note Die (SU), Designer Mix Brads (CSS), Brown Floss (DMC), Cork, Foam Dimensionals

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A {Congrats} Card Re-Do...

Hello again!  I have another card re-do for you.  I'm telling you, these cards are fun and quick to do.  Once I decided on a card to re-do, the hard part was over.  Well, actually the hardest part was searching for the original blog post where I posted the card I'm re-doing.  I guess I didn't believe in labeling my posts back then.   Click here to see the original post in it's entirety with supply list.

Original Card from 2008

Updated Version 2011

And here's my updated version.  It was made using much better quality card stock and some updated patterned paper.  I decided to round the corners and add a little silver bling, but still keeping the card pretty masculine looking.  Also, the edges are sponged just a little bit.  It drives me nuts to see white edges.  I hope you can tell my skill level with the camera is much improved.  I'm not sure if I even knew how to edit photos back then.

Have a great day!

{Congrats, You Did It!}

Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Brown Leather Satchel (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Espresso Your Style, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Navy Sheer Ribbon (Offray), Silver Pearls (Micheals)

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An Earthy {Hello} Card...

Happy Friday!  I made another card today without using any challenges or CASEing anyone's card.  I picked these papers simply because they were sitting out on my desk from yesterday.  Actually a lot of the items I used for this card just happened to be laying on my messy desk.


I was used a dry embossing technique on my card.  The background that looks like tree bark was achieved by rubbing my distressed stripes embossing folder with brown ink before putting the kraft card stock in and running in through my cuttlebug.

This card has an earthy feel to it, maybe that has something to do with the dreary weather we've been having lately.  We've gotten a lot of severe weather and rain lately, as you can see from the super green grass in the background of my photos.

Here's a different view of my card so you can see the layered dimension.  I use 1/8" dimensional tape so I can  have many layers without making the card cumbersome or awkward.

Have a great weekend!!!

{Hello}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Trendsetter Blue (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: Oval Nesties (Spellbinders), Distressed Stripes Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Heart Punches (Paper Shapers), Rhinestone Brad, Foam Dimensionals, Sheer Brown Ribbon (Offray), Stamping Sponge

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A {Happy Father's Day} Card...

Hello!  It's never too early to make Father's Day cards.  It'll be here before you know it.  I've been doing a lot of design work lately and it was really nice to make a card just because.  


I make quilted cards a lot but what's different about this one is that once all the squares were in place, I embossed it with an embossing folder.  The embossing shows up a lot better on some of the papers than others.  

I found this button in my stash.  I love that it has a woodgrain look, perfect for a masculine card.  

I appreciate your visit today.  See you tomorrow!

{Happy Father's Day}

Stamps: A Guy Thing (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away, Creamsicle Cardigan (CSS)

Accessories: Circle Punch, Button, Sheer Navy Ribbon (Offray), Birds & Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Edge Distresser, Glue Dots, Foam Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge

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A Masculine {Happy Birthday} Card...

I will be totally honest with you guys.  I loved making this card, and then when it was finished, it just looks BORING.  Nothing exciting going on here.  I still thought I would share it in case someone thinks it's no boring and wants to make one just like it.  You never know!

I used black enamel accents where all the lines intersected.  It did look really cool at first, but then they flattened out.  I'm not sure if maybe I sat something on top of it before it was completely dry or what.  

I made this card with my Dad in mind.  That's why I used the screw brad.  Even though I'm not thrilled with this card, I still think my Dad would like it.  


Thanks so much for spending a little bit of your day with me.  Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: A Guy Thing (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Your Such a Gray-cious Host (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Black Enamel Accents (Ranger), Screw Brads (Michaels)

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Papertrey Ink: April 2011 Blog Hop

Hey guys!  Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  Ours was great.  I was even able to sneak a nap yesterday.   Anyway, let's get down to business, shall we?  Today is the 25th and that means it's time for a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop.  This month's challenge was to create a masculine card.  Normally that is a pretty tough challenge for me, but I had the perfect patterned paper to it wasn't hard at all.

My card is pretty simple.  I wanted to include more pti products, I had pulled out my text style set and created a strip of text to apply to the bottom, but in the end I liked the card without it better.  I love the brads that look like screws.  Without those this card is pretty neutral looking, but I think the screws add a manly touch.

Thanks so much for hopping by!

{Get Well Soon}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Accessories: Screw Brads (Michaels), Stamping Sponge, 

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A {Sending You Smiles} Card...

Good morning!  Can you believe I managed to make a card and get it posted before noon?  Well, after sleeping in and taking it easy yesterday, I woke up bright and earlier today.  The kids have been so good playing by themselves (actually I can hear them arguing right now, but they are leaving me out of it).

Anyway, I made this card using today's sketch challenge from SCS.  I've been using my glue gun quite a bit lately and finally made one of these flowers for a card.  It's just some twill tape twisted and glued into place.  It's so easy.  

Another thing I've been loving is coloring clear rhinestones with copic markers.  Really, I don't think I'll need to buy colored rhinestones again as long as I have a copic marker that can do the trick.  These rhinestones were colored using a yellow/orange copic marker.  So easy and they dry so quickly.  


Thanks so much for stopping by today!!!

{Sending You Smiles}

Stamps: Icon Extras (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Accessories: Natural Twill Tape (SU), Glue Gun, Stamping Sponge, Foam Dimensionals, Edge Distresser, Clear Gems, Yellow Copic Marker

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A {Happy Birthday Jacob} Card...

Hello!  I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to recover from this whirlwind weekend.  I think I could crawl into my bed and sleep until tomorrow.  So, as some of you know I attended CKC in Louisville on Friday.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see much outside of the Clear & Simple Stamps classroom, but I still had a great time and learned a lot about copic markers.  Nicki and Reenee were so nice and I learned a lot about the company.  Would you believe I didn't take any pictures?  I could kick myself.  We were just so busy it just didn't occur to me.  Hopefully the CKC in Cincinnati will be a little less crazy.

So, once I returned from CKC I was itching to use my Silhouette.  I made this card for my dear friend's son who just turned one.  The number one, the letters spelling Jacob and the rectangle around it were all cut from the Silhouette.

I really love the argyle paper for a little boys card.  This card uses four different pieces of patterned paper, all from the Hattie collection from My Mind's Eye.  There's a lot of dimension to this little card that you can see in the above photo.


Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday Jacob}

Stamps: Icons Extra (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, Circle Punch, Stamping Sponge, Digitally Cut Images (Silhouette)

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A {With Sympathy} Card...

Hello!  I peeked at today's sketch challenge at SCS right before I went down to my studio.  If you know me, I rarely use diagonal anything on my cards.  Elements can be a little off-kilter, but not diagonal.  However, this sketch was so simple and basic looking that I just had to give it a try.

Well, I think there's probably a pretty good reason I don't like diagonals.  I can't make a card I like with them.  I love the papers and elements of this card. In fact, I can think of three different layouts that would make this card so much better.  But, everything is glued down already, oh well.  It's still okay looking, just not great.

One thing I absolutely do love is that doily!  It was digitally cut using my Silhouette machine.  I've been seeing doilies everywhere lately and thought I would jump on the band wagon.  I love seeing the Silhouette in action. I actually tried to make a video for you all to see, but my phone completely shut down right in the middle. I guess that was not meant to be.  Soon though!  


A little tip, I cut out a bunch of doilies using white paper.  Now I can just sponge them any color I want when I'm ready to use them.  That's what I did with the doily on my card today.  It used white card stock and I sponged it with blue ink.


Thanks so much for stopping by today! 

{With Sympathy}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments (Papertrey Ink) 

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS), Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Hattie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Prussian Blue (Colorbox), Trendsetter Blue (CSS)

Accessories: Doily Digitatally Cut Image (Silhouette), Pearls (KaiserCraft), Edge Distresser

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