Category Archives: cards

Country Christmas Charm

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I know it is bad form to love all over your own cards, but I *love* this card. It is my favorite of the three I made, but not only did mom pick a different one, but my whole family did too! Oh well – difference makes the world go ’round.

I started with a PageMaps sketch and flipped it upside down (Sept 2010). I chose to use lace because it reflected the look on the ornaments well.

Christmas Greetings
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Grateful Greetings;
Colors: Kraft, White, Real Red, Soft Suede;
Other: Old Olive ribbon, Lace, Button, Twine;

Pretty Ornament

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I really love Christmas cards that don’t use the ‘normal’ color scheme. That is how I started with this card. The layout was inspired by a PageMaps sketch, but strayed quite a bit by the end, lol.

I’ll admit I didn’t want to like the latest InColors – especially Pear…it just seems to close to Celery. But dang, it is an awesome color!

I finished off the ornament with a few Pearls.

Merry Christmas
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Christmas Greetings;
Colors: Pear Pizzaz, Blushing Bride, White;
Other: Bride ribbon, Scallop Border punch, Leaf die, Pearl jewels;

Big on Christmas

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Wow, between my kid’s birthday and PTA events, my little blog has been neglected! It doesn’t help that when I have been able to stamp, I’m working on stuff that shouldn’t be published.

See, I’m helping mom put together projects for her 12 Weeks of Christmas newsletter. The newsletter starts the first weekend in October, which, since I have the first couple of weeks, feels like it is just around the corner!

My first week will be a card using Big on Christmas. Since I can’t share my newsletter card with you yet, I thought I’d share these cards that I cased from Splitcoast. For this first card, I CASEd this card. I kept the layout & stamp set, but changed the colors. I really liked how the layout was simple and made for an easily mass-produced card.

For the second card, I CASEd this card. Again, I kept the layout and stamp set, but changed up the colors. For coloring the letters on this one I watercolored and did a faded effect. I think it goes with the fun feel of the colors in the paper. I love the right-flush of the layers on this card. And then to have the ribbon jaunt out adds another fun element.

** Photography Tip **

I am no expert. And try as I might to read my camera manual, the stuff just doesn’t stay in my head. Well, I stumbled upon a little button on my point-and-shoot (Panasonic DMC-something) that makes my final image so much better.

My shooting setup consists of a couple sheets of cheap white cardstock and a couple goose-neck lamps with compact fluorescent light bulbs – not to mention all this glorious Hawaiian natural light 😉 I learned about fixing white balance within Photoshop and it produced what I thought were good results. Sometimes my colors didn’t turn out, but I figured it was user error.

The other day my thumb wandered around the back of my camera looking for a good holding position and happened to push the “Backlight” button. Well, I took a couple photos but then turned it off because they seemed a bit washed out (like the flash was on) – but that was just on the little camera screen. When I took those photos into Photoshop and did the magic, those “backlight” photos had better color! I’m assuming it has to do with all the light bouncing back to the camera from my white background paper, but I’m just glad it works for me!

So check your camera and see if it has a “backlight” shooting feature and turn it on – it may surprise you. The obvious disclaimer of ‘results may vary’ does apply, lol. I’d love to hear if it works for you!

Thanks for stopping by!

One Sketch, Three Cards

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I was selected to be a Guest Designer for the CAS challenge at SCS. And I got the first week (good thing I like working under a tight deadline, lol). This week’s challenge is a sketch based on Denise’s card (cas83).

When I first saw her card, this leaf card came right to mind. I love it when tools make life easy! With the leaf die and impression plate, this card came together quickly. The layout is a little different from the original, but I think you can still see it: the 4-square leaf is pretty obvious, but the twine knot is in the same position as the ghost; and the sentiment under it all.

While I feel the first card qualifies as Clean and Simple, I know others may not. So I made another card. This one is a one-layer card. It was so fun to make (I love bright colors). I’ve had the arrow set since it came out but hadn’t gotten around to using it. Again, the sketch is there, though a little muddier this time. The circle with “10” in it is in place of the ghost, and this time the sentiment is off-set to the left like the original. Even though there aren’t 4 arrows, I still feel they fit the sketch.

For the final card I still kept close to the layout, but it is flipped horizontally – the witch being the ghost and the sentiment hanging off the right-side instead of left.

I don’t think I’ve ever done more than 1 card for a specific challenge before. Great sketch Denise!

Thank You
Stamps: Giga Guidelines (PTI);
Colors: Dark Chocolate, Rustic Cream, Orange Zest (PTI);
Other: Bitty Dot DSP, rustic twine, leaf die, woodgrain impression plate, orange twill (PTI);
Happy Birthday
Stamps: Get to the Point, Birthday Bash Sentiments, Borders & Corners: Circle (PTI);
Colors: Tempting Turquoise, Melon Berry, Green Galore, So Saffron (SU); White, Black (PTI);
Other: circle die (Coluzzle);
card
Stamps: Halloween Dingbats (CTMH), Grateful Greetings (SU);
Colors: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie (SU);
Other: Notations No 2 DSP; chipboard (?); Copics (coloring on witch);

Hug a Tree

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I know, Earth Day is months and months away, but I believe every day should be Earth Day!

The latest One-Layer Wednesday challenge (olw18) is all about trees.

About the only reason I purchased this set when it came out was for this tree image – I love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Earth Day
All supplies PaperTrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Wonderfully Whimsical;
Colors: White;
Other: Copic (YG13); Raspberry Rhinestones (Kaiser);

Turkey Dinner

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I’m a little behind in my challenges. This week’s Clean and Simple challenge at SCS was an inspiration challenge: be inspired by the word “delicious” (cas82). Well, I haven’t had a proper Thanksgiving meal in years (mostly because I am not good at cooking and I don’t want to cook for only 4 people, 2 of whom are picky).

I’m sure it helped that this cute little turkey was sitting on my desk fresh from unpacking my latest PTI order 😉 I love this new set! It is so adorable! I think one of my favorite parts of the set is the “gobble gobble” sentiment.

To make the tail feathers, I started with wet watercolor paper. I dropped a few different colors of reinkers onto the paper and used a wide brush to blend them. I ended up with more uniform color than I wanted, but I still like it. I *was* going to add a bit of sparkly with some glimmer mist but my bottle is clogged and I’m not sure how to fix that.

Gobble Gobble
Stamps: Gobble Gobble, Faux Ribbon (PTI);
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Cream (PTI); Watercolor paper (from Ms);
Ink: various Earth Elements reinkers (SU); Cocoa (Memento);
Other: turkey die (PTI); googlie eyes (Ms);

Tiny Pumpkin

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Hrm. I’m just not too sure of this one. There is just something about it I don’t like. I tried different pattern paper, but this was definitely the better. I’m pretty sure the punched edge should be on the left, not the right (but stuck is stuck). But there is something else. Oh well – not only is stuck stuck, but done is done (I feel I say that a lot, lol).

I love that PTI came out with a Halloween Tiny Treat set, but the frame is a bit too overwhelming for me. Next time I will try it with muted colors and maybe no DSP.

Happy Halloween
Stamps: Tiny Treats Halloween (PTI);
Colors: Orange Zest, Black, White (PTI); Copics;
Other: Creepy Crawly DSP (SU); edge punch (EK Success); Mat Stack 4 die (PTI); twill (PTI);

Gettin’ Gifty

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I know this isn’t a card, but don’t be too shocked. I’m trying to get ahead on my assignments.

This altered tin will be made at Mom’s October 3D camp. This is a DVD-type tin with a few 3×3 cards. It would make a great gift that could be put together relatively quickly.

I went pretty simple with the tin relying on the pattern paper for interest. The cards are so tiny I found it hard to design. Again I kept them very simple.

To make the flower for the tin’s belly band, I punched 2 flowers from the DSP using the Extra Large Flower punch. The bottom one I left as is; the top one I cut into it to make petals and folded them a bit to give some dimension.

Altered Tin with Notecards
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Sincere Saluations;
Colors: Baja Breeze, Vanilla, Always Artichoke;
Other: DVD-tin, Elegant Soiree DSP, Leaf die, Tag die, Build-a-Brad, Extra Large Flower punch;

Ornate Halloween

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I always need a few non-spooky halloween cards. This would be one of those.

I built this card around the sentiment, which I love. PTI recently released a perfect set – Embellishments – and die set to make this card quick and easy.

I hadn’t planned on embossing the top portion, but when I was done it was still just a bit to plain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Trick or Treat
Stamps: Holiday Best (SU); Embellishments (PTI);
Ink & Markers: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive (SU);
Cardstock: Ripe Avocado, Rustic Cream (PTI);
Other: Orange Zest ribbon (PTI); Embellished die (PTI); Oval Nestie die (Spellbinders); Guidelines Impression Plate (PTI);

Young Love

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Wow – I made it to the next level of the CAS DT search (one level farther than last time). The final challenge was “couples”. It could be interpreted pretty loosely (i.e., even two brads would count) – but once she tied the challenge into the search theme (high school), I knew I had to go with young love. And man, I think this is the quickest I’ve ever done a card – from conception to completion it was less than 1 hour!

Thanks for taking a peek!

My Heart Belongs to You
Stamps: Free Spirit (CTMH);
Colors: Pure Poppy, Black, White (PTI);
Other: Silver EP (SU); Scallop die (Spellbinders), circle cutter (Coluzzle);