See-Through Wetlands

Inspiration: Kathleen Wingerson

Hi there!  Today's card uses a piece of acetate for a see-through effect, which was difficult to photograph.   To learn how to do this technique (and to get a better idea of what the card looks like), watch Kathleen's You Tube video HERE.

The colors used for this card were: Pool Party, Old Olive, Sahara Sand, and Soft Suede.

Everything is explained in the video so there is no need to go into details here.

Hope you have a great day.  Thanks again for coming by!

Wetlands

Hi there!  This is a scheduled post while I'm stamping and chillaxing at the girls getaway retreat!  I know I'm having fun!  lol
This card was CASE'd from one that was made at Sally Nusbaum's Demo Shoebox Swap back in June.  I believe it was Kathy Morales' swap card, but not totally sure about that.  LOVE this stamp set so this card was a no brainer to be in our Card Buffet line-up!  We're always looking for masculine cards, right?

All Stampin' Up! supplies used unless otherwise noted. 

Stamps: Wetlands, Teeny Tiny Wishes 

Paper: Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Vanilla 

Ink: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Soft Suede 

Tools:  Oval Framelits, Woodgrain embossing folder 

Other:  Natural Trim ribbon, blender pen, sponges, post-it notes (for masking), clear block

Inspiration: Kathy Morales (?)

That's it for today.  Thank you so much for peeking in today!

 

Summer Silhouettes

Hi there!  Seems like it's been forever since my last post but it's been less than a week.  So much has been happening in my friends' lives and my own.  The craziness needs to stop!  All I can do is keep everyone in my prayers and be available to help where needed.  Trying to keep a positive attitude and look for the goodin each situation.  So with that in mind, I'll go to the card for today.  The Summer Silhouettes set is one of my favorites.  It's a versatile set - at least in my humble opinion.  This card was one of many that I cranked out one day while playing in my studio.  Funny how some days the creative juices just flow!  The oval was cut out of a piece of scrap cardstock to use as a mask.  Summer Starfruit ink was sponged onto the oval  area of the focal piece, then the images were stamped in Early Espresso ink.  The sentiment is from Loving Thoughts - another great set.

All Stampin' Up! supplies used unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Loving Thoughts
Paper: Early Espresso, White
Ink: Early Espresso, Summer Starfruit
Other: sponges, non-SU oval die (this was made before SU! came out with their oval dies)

That's it for today.  Thank you for stopping by!

Indigo Delicate Doilies

Inspiration = Pinterest

Hi there and happy Monday!  I'm gonna jump right in with today's card - lots to do to prepare for the holidays.  Begin by masking off a rectangle area on a 3-3/4" x 5" panel of White with Post-it notes and lightly sponge on Pool Part ink.  Stamp images from Delicate Doilies with Island Indigo ink - the lighter one was stamped off, then remove mask.  Stamp another doily image on a piece of scrap White, cut out, and adhere to focal piece with Dimensionals.  The sentiment is from A Word for You set.  The focal piece gets matted to a 4" x 5-1/4" Island Indigo panel, then adhered to the card front.  Easy Peasy!  Just think of all the color combinations you could do!

Remember the Clearance Rack Blitz going on right now.  A lot of good deals out there!  Call or email me if you want to place an order (contact info on side bar and above in header). 

That's it for now.  Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Serene Memories

Hi there - happy voting day!  It sure will be nice not hearing all the political mud slinging after today.  I'm just saying!
Above is a card CASE'd from Connie Stewart.  The only thing I changed was the sentiment. How perfect the birds in the tree image from Serene Silhouettes captures that wintery look!  Brrrr 

Stampin' Up! supplies used unless otherwise noted 

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Loving Thoughts 

Paper: Glossy White, Night of Navy, White 

Ink: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Black 

Tools:  Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, 1” circle punch 

Other:  Post It Notes, sponges, acrylic blocks 
Inspiration: Connie Stewart  www.simplysimplestamping.com

That's it for now.  Be sure to vote today and thanks for coming by!
 

French Foliage

Hi there!  A quick post to show this card for another friend's birthday.  I cut out a rectangle from the center of a 3-3/4" x 5" scrap piece of card stock to use as a mask.  The mask was placed over a Very Vanilla panel the same size.  I then lightly sponged Cajun Craze ink inside the cut out rectangle area.  The mask was removed to stamp the Early Espresso leaves (French Foliage set).  A few Cajun Craze splatters were made with the image that comes in the set.  I also used an Early Espresso marker in the Color Spritzer tool for some added distressing.  The focal piece was mounted on Cajun Craze, wrapped it with some hemp (retired product), then mounted on an Early Espresso card base.

That's it for now.  Thank you for visiting today!

Fabulous!

Hi there!  Here is one of the projects I worked on yesterday.  This is a complete CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of LeeAnn Greff's card here (Aug 22, 2011 post) that LeeAnn CASE'd from June Dunn.  I switched the Island Indigo card base for a Pool Party card base and changed the sentiment.  Otherwise, it's the same. 
The oval area was masked so the flower could be stamped with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Pool Party ink was sponged on, then some Island Indigo around the flower.  A flower punch and a pearl was added. A sentiment from the A Word for You set completes the card.

I'm off and running.  Thanks for visiting today!  You're always welcome here.

Masuline Lovely as a Tree

Good morning!  Stopping in real quick to post a masculine card today.  Seems like we never have enough of those, huh? 

The middle section of the Whisper White panel was masked off and sponged with Calypso Coral on the bottom portion.  I then moved up a bit to blend in some Perfect Plum and then some Pool Party.  Once the colors were blended, the mask was removed.  I used the image from Lovely as a Tree to stamp in the tree line using black ink.  The sentiment is from On Your Birthday.  My focal piece was adhered to a Perfect Plum card base.  Hopefully, the plum isn't too feminine of a color for a masculine card.  I was envisioning a sunset.

Must run now to get ready for our granddaughter's overnight visit.  Yeah, no daycare tomorrow so we can spend more time together!

Last of the Stamp Camp Cards

Hi there!  Here is the last card, which is basically the same card that was shown in my Oct 10th post.  I changed my mind on the Autumn Days card at the last minute.  Since I'm female, I can do that!  lol

Stamps: Autumn Days, On Your Birthday

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White

Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, markers = Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Cajun Craze, Black (to dot his eye), Bravo Burgundy

Tools: Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder

Other: sponges, dimensionals, eclipse tape or Post-Its for masking (non-SU!)

Inspiration: Becky at http://www.scrappinandstampiningj.com/

The above card wasn't as time consuming as the one originally planned.  Plus I like the colors better, too.  Wanna see what the girls didn't make?  This card required some fussy-cutting and there was already enough of that on the other cards.

Inspiration for this card came from Debbie Henderson  www.debbiesdesignsblog.blogspot.com

Gonna sign off now.  I'm sure we're in full party mode by now at the retreat.  Oops, I mean "work mode"! lol  Working hard on yakking, shoveling in the food, and possibly a margarita or two!  There may even be some cards made.

Tuesday is Our Pieces of Heart Demo Dinner.  This month's challenge is a Thanksgiving card.  It will be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back Monday

Rock On!

Hi there!  Hope you had a great weekend. 
A couple of nephews have birthdays this month and my stock of cards for teenage boys is depleted. These backgrounds were made one night while playing around with techniques.  The finishing touches were added during the girls getaway.  I think the boys will like them.

 
The background technique used is the direct to paper technique - pull corner of stamp pad from center of paper out towards you. 
The star image was created from a mask.  I punched out a star from a Post it Note (make sure to get the sticky part) and placed it in the center.  Be careful pulling ink so mask doesn't accidentally shift.   Remove the mask, stamp image in black.  Additional  stars were placed in the corner - it was the only size I had with me.  I wanted different sizes but no one had star punches with them.  Go figure!  All that stuff we haul and no star punches!

Brilliant Blue ink (retired) is used on this card.  I lightly brayered on additional ink color after doing the direct to paper technique.  Stamp the image with black.  The retired set "Starring You" was used around the perimeter of the card base.

 Have a great day and thanks for taking time to stop by today!

Flower Cards

Happy Friday everyone.  It's been such a gray day.  We even had snow flurries this morning.  A great day to stamp (and to have a steaming cup of tea or coffee within arms reach)!  Today was the day to ink up my Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set (finally!) and try the watercolor technique inspired by Rochell Gould at www.istampicreateihavefun.blogspot.com/2010/11/dark-roses-scic28.html 
Her card is gorgeous!  This was a time consuming project and since I was just playing, I left my card plain.  This will NOT be a technique to use at my upcoming Stamp Camp.

I pretty much followed Rochelle's directions/colors to watercolor the roses except I substituted So Saffron for the Daffodil Delight.  Regal Rose was used on the pink flower in addition to Blushing Bride & So Saffron. The watercolor focal piece was matted onto Early Espresso then onto a More Mustard card base.  Still deciding if I should add a sentiment to the top left area.  I'm thinking maybe punch out an oval shape and pop it up with dimensionals.

The following group of cards wasn't as labor intensive.  I used Fast & Fabulous (a Level-2 Hostess set) and Pocket Silhouettes (such a versatile set) for the group.  The inspiration came from Donna Centamore's blog http://butternutsagedesigns.blogspot.com/.  What a wonderful gift set and I love the clean and simple look. 

SU! supplies used unless otherwise noted
Stamp: Fast & Fabulous, sentiment from Kind & Caring Thoughts (retired Hostess set)
Paper: White, non-SU! navy blue that was in my scraps  Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy  Other: Nestability oval to make masking template, Elegant Lines embossing folder

Stamp: Pocket Silhouettes, sentiment from Kind & Caring Thoughts (retired Hostess set)
Paper: White, Night of Navy  Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy

Stamp: Pocket Silhouettes, sentiment from Because I Care (Level-1 Hostess set)
Paper: White, Early Espresso  Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Suede

Although I really like how this group of cards turned out, they won't make the cut for Stamp Camp either.  Lining up the embossing folder would be a bit tedious for some of my customers.  Oh well, it was fun but back to the drawing board - or blurfing (blog surfing) - to find more inspiration to CAS (copy and share).

Oh! I had such a brilliant idea IMHO (in my humble opinion).  Someone wrote on their blog that they used a storage cube as a photo box.  I don't have any plain cubes - let alone an empty one!  Then I had a light bulb moment.  I purchased a canvas storage cube (on sale of course) that was still in the package.  Opened that puppy up and voila - a light box!  Doesn't help with my photography skills but hey...Rome wasn't built in a day. LOL

OK friends, it is time to go to bed.  It's past midnight.  Been staying up waaay too late this week.