A Lovely {Love} Card...

Hey friends!  I was browsing Evite the other day looking for an invitation for my daughter (and her cousin's) birthday party.  One invitation stuck out to me and I immediately jotted down the layout.  I have no idea what the colors were or the theme, but I loved the layout.   


I made this card is 4" x 4" so the strips would be easy to cut, 4 one inch strips.  All the strips are sponged with pink ink.  

The sentiment says "A lifetime isn't long enough to love you" -James Kavanaugh.  Such a sweet card for someone you love!


Have a great day!

{Love}

Stamps: Love Notes, Alpha Blocks II (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, I'm a Princess Pink, Paint the Town Pink (CSS)

Ink: Pain the Town Pink (CSS)

Accessories: Stamping Sponge, Corner Rounder Punch, White Grosgrain Ribbon (Offray), Button, Glue Dots

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Clear & Simple Stamps: Group Project

Welcome to another group challenge from Clear & Simple Stamps!  In the spirit of this month's newest stamp set Beauty Secrets II, our group challenge was to do a card make-over.  In this post you'll see how the stamped images look before and after they are "dressed up".  


Here's the before and after of my images.

You can see that I stamped the images using Perfect Little Dress ink on A Blanc Check card stock.  Pretty boring, huh?

I then stamped the same images again, but this time on patterned paper.  

I did a little coloring with a fine-tip black sharpie just to add a little detail.

I used a copic marker to outline the images so that they would pop off the page a bit.

The I adhered the patterned paper images to the images on the white card stock.  I drew in some wavy lines coming out of the hair dryer, just thought that would fun.

I finished the card off with a sentiment on Kraft Like a Rockstar card stock and some brads along the side.

I hope you enjoyed today's group project.  You won't want to miss the other delightful creations from the design team.  Check out the Clear & Simple Stamps Blog so you don't miss a project.

{Have a Lovely Day}

Stamps: Beauty Secrets II (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Green With Envy (CSS)

Accessories: Black Fine Tip Marker (Sharpie), Corner Rounder Punch, Stamping Sponge, Black Brads (Making Memories), Foam Dimensionals

Copic Markers: W1

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Clear & Simple Stamps: App Sneak Peek...

Hello there!  Just wanted to pop on here to quickly let you know that I have a card featured today on the Clear & Simple Stamps App for the iPhone.  This card is one of my favorites that I made for this release.  For more info about the App and how to get it, click here.

I have a card idea bouncing around in my head, but not sure if I'll be able to do anything about it until tomorrow.  You know how that goes...


Have a great day!

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A {You Float My Boat} Card...

Hi & Happy Friday!!!  We have a busy night and weekend ahead of us, but it's all fun stuff and I can't wait to get started.  I made this card for the Embellish Magazine Challenge which was to use the colors in my card as well as to use a nautical theme.

I feel like this card is a bit technique-y.  I don't have any tag dies, so I made my own by using a Labels 9 Spellbinder's die and sliding the kraft card stock just under a portion of the die.  I stamped the chevron stripes first on the light blue card stock and then on the kraft, then lined them up before the tag was adhered.  I stamped the boat on white card stock, colored it with copics.  I used an x-acto knife to cut a small portion of the chevron stripes on the tag so I could slide the boat under the "waves".  The boat also was also outlined using a W3 copic marker so it would pop off the page a bit more.

I love the baker's twine on the tag.  I wrapped the twine through the hole about four times, tied a bow and then cut the loops.

Hope you have a fun weekend!  I know we will!!!

{You Float My Boat}

Stamps: Across the Miles, Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps), Chevron Stripes (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dare to Be a Diva Red, Trendsetter Blue, Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Your Style Blue Me Away, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Labels 9 Nestie (Spellbinders), Baker's Twine (Jillibean Soup), Brads (CSS), Hole Punch, Stamping Sponge, Foam Dimensionals

Copic Markers: 0, W3,  B93, B95, B99 

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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 {Happy Birthday to You} Card & A Blog Award...

Hey guys!  I hope I'm not the only one dragging today.  We had a really busy weekend.  We went to my son's baseball game Friday night, went to the Red's game Saturday, went camping in the middle of nowhere Sunday and Monday, came home and went to a 4th of July party.  Needless to say, my card for today is ultra simple because that was all the energy I could muster.  


Last week I hauled all of my boxes of cards upstairs and separated them into categories.  This way I know if I'm deficient in a certain area.  It seems that I use birthday cards the most and I need to stock up.  So, today I have a birthday card to share.  All you need to make this card is some card stock and a corner rounder punch.

I popped my panels up on foam dimensionals for a little added interest.  I stared at this card for a long time thinking it needed something, but I couldn't figure out what to do.  I wanted this card to be masculine and every idea I had used rhinestones or ribbon.  In the end I decided to keep it plain, it's more graphic that way.


Over the weekend Kelly from Finding Time to Stamp gave me an Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.  Thank you Kelly!  That really made my weekend!!!

These are the rules about this award:

1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies 

Here are 7 random facts about me:
1. I just learned how to crochet and just completed my first project, can't wait to start my next one.  I'll share it with you here soon.
2. I despise the word AIN'T.
3. Today I finished a 28 day Plant Based Diet Challenge.  The diet has a lot of similarities to to a vegan diet.  Speaking of diet, it's more of a lifestyle change and not a diet diet.  I've tried so many new foods and recipes.  I have NO cravings (which is totally bizarre because I'm always craving something sweet or salty), my energy doesn't dip in the afternoon, I'm rarely hungry, and I've lost five pounds.  
4. My running has been sporadic.  Since the kids have been out of school it's hard to find time and when I finally get time to myself, the last thing I want to do is run. 
5. My husband and I are celebrating our 9 year anniversary tomorrow.
6. One of my card making goals is to have a card on the cover of a magazine.
7. I hate camping.  

Here are the bloggers I'm passing this award on to:
1. Who is Tracy? 
2. My Paper Secret
3. Basement Stamper
4. Damask Love
5. DoubleStick Heaven
6. Show & Tell
7. Simplicity
8. Stamps & Taxes


Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday to You}

Stamps: A Guy Thing (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Glamazon Green, Green with Envy, Simply Blue-tiful, Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Foam Dimensionals

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Clear & Simple Stamps: July 2011 Release

Hello!  It's stamp release day at Clear & Simple Stamps.  This month's set is called Beauty Secrets II and it is for the girly girls in our lives.  This is such a fun set!  As you'll see by my samples this month, there's so many things you can do with these beauty items.  You can color them in with markers, pencils, pastels or you can paper piece them, which is always fun.  Here's a look at Beauty Secrets II:

Do you ever make a card and love it so much you don't want to give it away?  Well that's how I feel about this card.  I don't know exactly what it is, but this card is sooo me, and I'm not really a pretty in pink girly girl, I just love how it turned out.  

I started with a base of Paint the Town Pink, layered it with a panel of cork.  I stamped the "beauty words" background stamp using Paint the Town Pink ink on a piece of I'm a Princess Pink card stock that was cut using a labels 9 die.  The edges are also sponged.

I cut a strip of On the Catwalk Cream and stamped the horizontal brush using Perfect Little Black Dress ink.  I masked the brush and then stamped the smaller brush in a diagonal direction.  I colored the brushes using copic markers, outlining them with a shadow.  The sentiment is also stamped using Perfect Little Black Dress ink.  I slid the ends of the strip into a circle punch to round each of the edges.

I wrapped some pink embroidery floss around the top of the labels 9 panel and then added some pink rhinestones at the bottom of the card.  

What do you think of this month's stamp set?  I'm loving it so far and can't wait for you to see the other cards I've made.  Be sure to check out the rest of the design team creations at the Clear & Simple Stamps Blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

{Just Gorgeous}

Stamps: Beauty Secrets II (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Paint the Town Pink, I'm a Princess Pink, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Ink: Paint the Town Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Cork, Labels 9 Nestabilities Die (Spellbinders), Stamping Sponge, Pink Rhinestones, Circle Punch, Foam Dimensionals, Pink Floss

Copic Markers:  100 Black, R85, W1, W5, 0 Colorless Blender

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A Simple {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hey guys!  Just a simple card for you today.  Sometimes those are the best kind.  This card would be really easy to duplicate but it took me quite a while to put it together.   I was having one of those mojo-less days where nothing seemed to look right.  It all started to finally come together when I added a pop of yellow.  I even did the "triangle" thing where it's more pleasing to the eye to have your pop of color make a triangle (rhinestones, button, butterfly).  Hopefully you think this is pleasing to your eyes.

The butterfly has an antennae, but you can only see one in the photo but that's just because of the angle.  Believe me, this is an anatomically correct butterfly, lol :)

Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Communique Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: SS White (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Accessories: Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Red Floss (DMC), Button, Scallop Edge Punch (SU), Yellow Rhinestones, Stamping Sponge

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A {Celebrate Your Day} Card...

Hi all! I thought I would make a card for PTI's Make It Monday Challenge.  I think this'll be one of my new weekly challenges.   This week the challenge was to make a card using a two-step masking technique.  First you mask the center rectangle to create the outside frame, then you mask the outside frame to stamp in the center.  Nichole shows some shortcuts in her video that I wouldn't have thought to do.  It's always worthwhile to watch the video even if you are familiar with the technique.  I learn something new every week.

Like the card I made last week, I used a background text stamp to make the frame.  I masked off the frame and stamped the flower, then masked the flower to stamp the leaves.  There's a lot of masking going on!!!

The flower and leaves were colored with ink and an aqua-painter.  I did it quickly and it does look like watercolor.  I applied a red rhinestone to the center of the flower and then outlined it with some smaller clear rhinestones.  


I'm starting to love these one layer cards.  It's really getting me out of my comfort zone in a good way.  


Have a great day!

{Celebrate Your Day}

Stamps: Signature Greetings, Text Style, Friends 'Til the End (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: SS White (PTI)

Ink: Green With Envy, Dare to Be a Diva Red, Brown Leather Satchel, Dish All the Dirt Brown (CSS)

Accessories: Red Rhinestone (Kaiser Craft), Clear Rhinestones (Michaels), Aqua-Painter, Stamping Sponge

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A Baby {Congrats} Card...

Hi-ya friends!  I'm so happy it's Friday, I'm sure you are too.  I have a quick and easy baby card for you today. I think this one looks a little more boy-ish than girl-ish, but you can be the judge.


I was wanting to play with my copics today and was looking through my stamps to see what I had that could be colored in.  Well, I don't think I've ever used this little lion stamp so that was perfect.  I used three shades of yellow to color him in.  

This card is pretty self explanatory so no need for any long-winded explanation from me.  As always, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments.  I love comments!

Have a great weekend!

{Congrats}

Stamps: Precious Baby Boy (Hero Arts), A Guy Thing (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Creamsicle Cardigan, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: Orange Floss, Corner Rounder Punch, Foam Dimensionals, Copic Trio of Markers (Y32, Y35, Y38)

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A {So Sweet of You} Card...

Hello!  Well, I wasn't planning on making another card for PTI's Make-It-Monday Challenge, but I just couldn't get the idea of this card out of my head.  Like the card I posted on Monday, this card uses reverse masking.  I used the largest Labels 9 Spellbinder die to create a template (or stencil) with printer paper.  Once the I had the template in place, I stamped the text background in red and then sponged red around edges, lighter toward the center.

I picked up some new rhinestones at Micheal's the other day.  These are iridescent, which is a little hard to see in the photo. I love that they'll go with any card.  So fun!

Have a great day!

{So Sweet of You}

Stamps: Signature Greetings, Text Style (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft, Pure Poppy (PTI)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS), Vintage Cream (PTI)

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michaels), Labels 9 Nesties (Spellbinders), Baker's Twine

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A {Love Birds} Card...

Hi there!  I simply cannot get enough of the Tweet Notes stamp set.  It's just too cute and perfect for any occasion.  This card is pretty clean and simple, but I did do some paper piecing.  I used some paper from the Gertie collection from My Mind's Eye, so I know all my papers would coordinate.  The birds and the leaves are paper pieced. I stamped the branch on right first and then turned my branch around and stamped it again on the left side.    

The birds are popped up on foam dimensionals for added interest.  The sentiment is an outline and it was colored in with an aqua painter and some Paint the Town Pink ink.

Thank you so much for dropping by today.  Hope your day is great!

{Love Birds}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Paint the Town Pink, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Green With Envy (CSS)

Accessories: Top Note Die (SU), Aqua Painter, Foam Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge

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A {Thank You} Card...

Hi!  We've had storms this morning and my kids totally subdued.  I've been taking advantage of that have been getting things done around the house.  So, this card is for this week's PTI Make-It-Monday Challenge.  I have found that even if I'm familiar with the technique, I still learn something new from watching the video.  In this one Erin showed how to make your edges of the reverse mask more defined by inking the edges.  


My card actually used two masking techniques.  First I cut out a rectangle of printer paper, placed it in the center and stamped text over it.  When I removed the mask I was left with a blank rectangle in the center of my card.  I used reverse masking for the red heart.  I punched a heart from some printer paper, used the reverse punch (paper with heart punched out of it) and stamped the flower image in the heart.  I then sponged some red ink lightly all over the heart.  Then I removed the printer paper.  

This card was so close to be one layer!  I couldn't help it to add that blue heart.  I decided to add a frame to clearly define the rectangle.  I used a plain old black ballpoint pen and ruler.  


Have a great day!

{Thank You}

Stamps: Friends 'Til The End, Text Style, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: SS White (PTI), Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Ink: Simply Blue-tiful, Perfect Little Black Dress, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Accessories: Heart Punches (Paper Shapers), Ruler, Black Pen, Foam Dimensionals, Red Rhinestone (Kaiser Craft)

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A Butterfly {Birthday Wishes} Card...

Hello & TGIF!  I am totally pumped because I just bought tickets for Papertrey Ink's Stamp-A-Faire!  Is anyone else going?  It's in Cincinnati which is about 20 minutes away for me.  I'm so thankful I was able to buy them as soon as they went on sale since they sold out in about a half an hour.  So far it's me, my crafty sister-in-law Carrie and our equally crafty friend Katie.  


I thought I would take another stab at Papertrey's Make It Monday challenge to use the rock-n-roll technique.  Here's the card I made a few days ago.   This time I used the rock-n-roll technique on the spotted butterfly.   The center is pink and the edges are purple.  You can click on the photo see view it larger.  

I also tried a technique Lisa Johnson showed in the video for trimming around the butterflies.  That is pretty neat and I will definitely be trying that again.  


This stamp set, Butterfly Kisses was my very first PTI purchase.  It felt nice to use it again.  

Have a great day!

{Birthday Wishes}

Stamps: Butterfly Kisses (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Simply Blue-tiful, Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Paint the Town Pink, VIP Purple, Dish All the Dirt Brown (CSS)

Accessories: Edge Distresser, Foam Dimensionals, Spiral Notebook Die (PTI), Baker's Twine, Lavender Rhinestones (Kaiser Craft)

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A {Welcome, Baby} Card...

Hey all!  Just a really quick post from me today.  We are headed out the door to the Kentucky Horse Park.  It's our first time and I'm hoping it's going to be a lot of fun.  


I made this card yesterday.  I've been making a lot of baby boy cards lately since our family is expecting four baby boys to be born in the next few months.  Anyway, I thought it would be nice to make a baby girl card for a change.  I'll just keep it in my stash until needed.  

Thanks so much for the visit today!  Have a great day!

{Welcome, Baby}

Stamps: Whale Wishes (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: I'm a Princess Pink (CSS), Vintage Cream, Lemon Tart (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Paint the Town Pink, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: Whale Wishes Die (PTI), Oval Nestabilities Die (Spellbinders), Stamping Sponge, Pink Floss (DMC), Foam Dimensionals

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