HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Best wishes for all good things in 2015!

WINTER BIRTHDAY

This card was made with last year's Greenhouse Society stamp for January, one of my favorite winter stamps.  It's so simple--all I did was stamp it on white with Versafine Smokey Gray ink, color the berries with an orange marker, and sponge the edges.  After mounting it on the card, I added some Stickles Diamond for the snow on the branches.

The greeting is from a new Verve Stamps set that has 9 additional sayings to finish the wish.  This one has "a very happy birthday" on the inside.

I'M BACK!

I hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as I did!   It was great having the whole family here to exchange gifts and sit around the extended table for a ham dinner--13 of us, including my 96-year-old Dad and our 4 grandchildren.  Everything got done in plenty of time:  the shopping, cleaning, gift wrapping, decorating, cooking and mailing out of the 100+ cards I made!

Now that my stamping break is over, here's the card I made today for the first birthday of the year on January 2.  The dsp and glitter star were on my table (so why not use them) along with Cornflower Blue Archival Ink which matches the dsp perfectly.  To keep the silver twine in place, I first made a tiny notch at the top and bottom of the card front, something I plan to continue from now on.

Have you seen the Sale-a-bration catalog from SU! yet?  It's fabulous!  I'm looking forward to spending the gift certificate I got for Christmas at my upcoming SU! party!

OUT SHOPPING...

INCHIES!

 I've enjoyed using this color scheme, especially for a snowy image.  I white-embossed it on navy cs, then cut it to size.  The squares used here are 2" each, mounted on a navy panel        2 1/4" x 4 1/2", then a larger gray rectangle and a creamy textured base.  The white and navy embroidery floss finishes the look while keeping it simple.

The stamp is a large Penny Black scenery stamp (Heaven on Earth) which I've used many times before, but not for an inchie card.  (Click on the photo for a closer look.)

THREE OF A KIND--Winter Fenceline

This stamp set from Serendipity Stamps has been a pleasure to use, either for winter cards as shown here, or Autumn cards.  I can imagine it in summer mode with green sponging over the branches and green grass below.



This first card was stamped on Night of Navy with a blend of white ep and glitter that I mixed myself.  After die cutting it, I glued it to a white panel and added strips of leftover Night of Navy on the top and bottom.  The greeting is from a SU set.

The second and third cards were stamped with Versafine  warm gray and sponged with Distress inks for the sky.  All I had to do next was hand write "peace" and fill in the fence with two shades of brown markers.  A little bit of Stickles Ice on the hill line and bottom of the fence posts finished it off.

For this last one, I die cut a gray tree, then added some brown marker "bark" and glued it to the side of the card.  This time I stamped "peace" and sponged the oval before mounting it to the card with a dimensional.

To give it some depth, I mounted the fenceline scene to the back of the opening with dimensionals.

These three are extras that I added to the Christmas cards I plan to mail next week--over 100 of them!

THIRD THURSDAY TECHNIQUE CLASS

I've been attending a technique class at Cyndy's house, my SU demonstrator, (for several years now) on the third Thursday of the month.  This card was a way to use the Festival of Trees set and coordinating punch featuring 3 different trees on one card.  Nothing tricky this time, just a nice quick card in a mod color combo.  I've been seeing a lot of these colors online this year, and they're a refreshing change from the traditional red and green.

TIP:  To make a tree smaller (as shown here in the glimmer paper) using the tree punch, simply punch the tree out, reinsert it partway and punch again.  Thanks for showing us that, Cyndy!

I'm continually amazed at how versatile this set has been.  I've used it exclusively for the past 11 weeks at Mothers Class without repeating a design.  Plus, I've made a few more at home.

I was NOT dreaming of a white...

...THANKSGIVING!  (Without power, especially.)


Let the melting begin...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Time to celebrate our blessings and give thanks for having so many of them.  Stay safe in stormy weather and don't eat too much!

MOTHERS CLASS CARDS

 Last week in class, Jackie brought materials to make these cute mitten cards with the fold at the top.  It was fun being a student for a change!

For my card, after adding the dsp, thumb tip and cuff to the plain white card provided, I ran the top piece through the cuttlebug with a snowflake ef.  The bow was a die that I ran through the cb and attached with a glue dot.  The snowflake and gem gave it that final touch.  Every card was different, thanks to all the choices we had in dsp; and all were adorable.



For the second card, I brought one that was quick and easy for the class to do after finishing their mitten cards.  First, we laid the stamp upright on the table, inked it with Versafine Smokey Gray, and pressed the white cs on it. 

After trimming down the image (I purposely cut the white cs larger than needed to make it easier) we used colored pencils on the evergreen tree and the deer. We mounted the image on the green cs, and dimensionals were used to pop it up on the kraft cardfront.  Once the snowflake and gem were added, the cards were done in less than 15 minutes!

We decided afterward to cancel today's class since it would be the day before Thanksgiving.  Now that it's snowing (5 inches already!) it seems we made the right decision.  Next week's class will be our last for 2014, a stamp-a-stack of  5 Christmas cards.

TWO OUT OF THREE

NOTE:  Although it doesn't look it here, both these cards were done with the same colored pencils and match their red backgrounds perfectly.

I originally started out to make three cards with this new image from the Greenhouse Society (Technique Tuesday.)  However, one of the images came out blank in the middle and would have been unusable had I not layered it with the other.

The red petals were done with three shades of red.  The leaves were done with three shades of green and a brownish red.  Several months ago, I  took a class on colored pencils during which I learned to add the red (or maroon) to leaves and stems for shading.  I never would have thought that would work, but I really like how it makes the leaves more realistic.

The second card is the layered one, popped up with dimensionals.  The gold twine was wrapped around the panel three times and taped down on the back.  The bow was added with a glue dot on the front, a "sneaky" way to make it much easier.

Using colored pencils is a relaxing form of coloring images.  It's also very transportable, either when going on vacation or just out to the deck on warm, sunny days.  I love to stamp images on white cs and take them with my colored pencil tin to a quiet spot!

CHRISTMAS STAMP-A-STACK

 
This is the card I designed for our last Mothers Class the first week in December.  It's easy to assemble and should make a nice finale for our Fall sessions.

The top-fold card base is Always Artichoke, the die cut window is white cs, and the tree is stamped on light green cs and punched out.  The bottom corners are rounded.


To make the tree sparkle, I brushed it with a light coating of TomBow mono glue and sprinkled it with Sugar Coating glitter.  You can see how much it glistens in the sunlight in the photo below.  The star is punched from silver glitter paper and attached with a glue dot.  The tree is mounted with SU dimensionals, and three rhinestones were added for balance. 

 The inside greeting will be stamped on printer paper with Versafine Olympia Green ink.  After rounding the bottom corners, it will be attached with snail.

This year's class has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to reconvening in February.  Hopefully, the worst of winter will be drawing to a close by then!

TISSUE BOX CHRISTMAS TREE

(See previous post first.)


One last scrap becomes a tree!  This one was decorated with red gems and a glittering gold star.  A little gold twine and some shiny sequins give this card a bright finish.

What will the next tissue box bring???

TISSUE BOX CHRISTMAS CARD

If you shop at Weis Markets, you might recognize the floral design from their tissue boxes.  After pulling up the last tissue in the box, I thought it would be a waste to throw it away (the box, that is!); so I used the side panel for the die cut on this card.

After stamping the poinsettia twice and cutting down one of them to pop up on the top, I painted the flower with Twinkling H2O's.  Then I layered the red one over the green with SU dimensionals, added yellow Stickles in the center and attached it to the card with dimennsionals.

Recycling at its best!

ORNAMENTAL PINE BACKGROUND

I've made a lot of cards featuring the Ornamental Pine set, but this time I wanted to try using it for a background.  The chickadee from Our Daily Bread Designs came with a coordinating die, which makes it easy use in a variety of ways.

First I stamped the pine bough a few times along the side of the panel, then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the stitched rectangle die.  After stamping the bird and coloring it with colored pencils, I used the matching die.  I cut away some unwanted branches before mounting it to the panel with dimensionals.  I added the greeting and used TomBow glue to attach both panels to the gray card.

Very easy to do!

PINECONE WREATH

When I saw this design (in more than one place) I knew I had to give it a try!

Using Colorbox Chestnut Roan ink, I stamped the pine cone at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock.  Then I went around again in between the first four after stamping off on a piece of scrap paper.  For more of a color variation, I switched inks to an Adirondack Rainbow pad, Woodlands.  Keeping to the left side of the pad (the browns) I continued around the wreath, stamping twice without re-inking each time.

I'm amazed at how easy this was the first time around!  I finished by adding the jute bow and greeting.  Finally, I used Diamond Stickles on the pine cones to give it some sparkle.

For the Klass-y wreath which inspired me most, click HERE.
Thanks, Bonnie!

JUST A REMINDER!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

TEXTURED WISHES

Ever finish a card and feel like it needs "something" for a final touch?  That's what happened here.

After stamping the pine branches and fussy cutting the two pinecones, I added the bow and greeting; but there was too much dead space at the bottom.  At first, I added the thin strip of dsp which had the same color red as the bow.  It still needed "something" however, but what???

Then I spied a piece of embossed cs that someone sent me ages ago (Bonnie, I think) and added it to the bottom.  As Frenchie would say (on YouTube) "voila!"  It was done!

TIP:  Sometimes, all a card needs is a little texture to give it interest without distracting from the simplicity of the card.

SIMPLE SATURDAY #37

ONE OF A KIND

This card was a lot of work, but worth the effort.  I started with the background trees dsp which covers the entire card front.  Next, I stamped the pine branches from SU Ornamental Pine on a piece of vellum and set it aside to dry.

The greeting was done using a vertical stamp with an ornament at the bottom which I cut off.  (Sorry, I don't remember the company.)  I cut it down to a banner and used it horizontally.  After stamping two pine cones and fussy cutting them, I assembled the card.

First, I glued the vellum panel down and added a strip of dsp across the top of it.  Then I added the pine cones, jute and greeting as shown.  Finally, I added the SU brad on the bottom corner.

This card took about an hour from start to finish, hence the "one of a kind" label.  The time spent includes the design idea and all the changes I made along the way.  A second one would probably take about 15 minutes, but I'm not up for that with all the cards I still need to make.  So far, I have 75 out of 100 done!

CHRISTMAS GREENS

Funny, but I almost scrapped this one.  When I started, the white panel was larger--too large for the effect I was going for.  When I cut it down, there was too much white space even after I mounted it on the dark green cs.

To fix it, I sponged heavily along the card edges and lightly on the panel edges.  Surprisingly, it worked!

Before attaching the panel to the card, I added the gold twine and gold-embossed pine cone.  Then I used SU dimensionals to add it to the card front and another dimensional behind the pine cone.

Whew!

ANOTHER FESTIVAL OF TREES CARD

First I stamped the trees with Versafine Smokey Gray, three times without re-inking.  Next I stamped the greeting in Memento Paris Dusk and added the various sizes of snowflakes with the same blue ink.  Once the stamping was done, I tore a narrow strip of white cs and added it to the bottom of the white panel and sponged the edges on the top and two sides.  Then I glued it to the dark blue panel and mounted it on the gray card front.

The Mothers Class will be making this one on Wed.

THREE OF A KIND--Holiday Knit

Another 3-of-a-kind card within the week!  This one was inspired by a Tim Holtz stencil.

The stencil reminds me of a Scandinavian sweater, which gives the cards a warm, cozy feel.  The easiest to work with was the round one done with Versamark and white embossing powder.  The top right was done with white pigment ink and clear embossed to keep it from smearing.  The bottom right was done with Versamark and clear embossing powder.

I think the first one is my favorite!

THREE OF A KIND--Festival of Trees

The SU Festival of Trees set is so versatile with many possibilities!

This first one features stars at the bottom of the tree--imagine that!  (Just my warped sense of humor at play here.)  After punching out the tree and running it through the Cuttlebug for the stitched rectangle, we mounted the panel with dimensionals over the dsp so that it showed through and also formed a border.



The second card is a shaker design I came up with for my own
Christmas card stash.  The tag is sandwiched with thin strips  of
foam tape to form the shaker and mounted over the large dots dsp.

Finally, the three trees were stamped on green cardstock and punched out over the snowy background along a piece of torn white cs.  Glitter was added for the snow.

These were all fun --and simple-- to make!


Do you know the story of  The Three Trees?  To make it short, one tree wanted to grow up and be a treasure chest.  Another wanted to be a big ship, and the last wanted to grow tall and point to the sky.  When it was time for them to be harvested, the first one became the manger for the baby Jesus.  The second one was a fishing boat that held the fishermen and their Master who calmed the sea.  Finally, the last was formed into a cross upon which the Final Sacrifice was made to take away our sins.  What a beautiful Christmas story!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

This is one of those cards that looks better in real life!

However, I do like how it came out.  The twine bow is on the stem of a popped up pine cone from the Ornamental Pine set.  The greeting is from a Simon Says Stamp die cut set of "Christmas Blessings."

The plaid dsp is a deeper red than it appears here, giving it a richer look.

FESTIVAL OF TREES

This was an easy card for Mothers Class featuring another way to use this SU set and matching punch!

After stamping the tree, punching it out and adding rhinestones, we mounted it with dimensionals over a narrow strip of red foil paper.  Then we attached the first half of the greeting on the front, and the second half inside with a gold star holding it down.

Simple but elegant...

Z-FOLD HALLOWEEN CARD

The second card we made last week was this one for Halloween.  It couldn't have been easier!

First we folded back the front to form the Z.  Next, we used the Candy Corn die cut from Simon Says Stamp by attaching it to a white panel with rounded corners, coloring in the candy corn with markers and adding tiny black gems in the spaces.  After attaching the Halloween dsp to the front and inside panels, being careful to put adhesive on the left side only, we stamped the greeting on the inside over stars stamped in lilac.  For the final touch, we added the black twine bow.  It was a fun class!

MY COMPUTER IS BACK!

...AND SO AM I!


Even though I haven't been able to post photos, I have been busy stamping.  I now have 40 Christmas cards done (60 more to go..)  YAY!

This Z-fold card was for Mothers Class last week.  Although easy enough to do, it was time consuming because of all the steps and fussy cutting of the packages.  The dsp is from a 12 x 12 pad from Hobby Lobby that I had left over from last year.  The same Festival of Trees stamp set and punch has been (and will continue to be) used.  They had fun sanding the Swiss Dots embossing.  We added Stickles on all the red ornaments for extra shine.

It's been fun coming up with so many different ideas from the same stamp set.  Stay tuned for more...

STILL NO COMPUTER

Hope you all had a fun World Cardmaking Day! I made some neat cards and had a relaxing rainy day in the Tower. Since my computer is ten years old, I may have to get a new one...we'll see... Waiting for the repairman to get back to us, probably tomorrow.

GREETINGS FROM MY IPAD

My computer has died after having frozen up for weeks.  I hope to get blogging again soon!

FROM THE TOWER

Just a note to let you know there will be some cards up soon.  Not only have I had computer problems, but my dad had to be moved to Assisted Living. (very long story...)  My sister and I have to vacate his apartment by the end of the month, so I've been driving the 100 miles each way to help my sister with all the arrangements.  Dad is adjusting to his new home and seems much happier there, although I don't think he realizes yet that he won't be going back to his apartment or his car.  It's been physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting; but we're almost done with the sorting and removal of things in his apartment--not to mention the mountains of paperwork!

The Lord has graciously gone before us every step of the way, and I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition.  He's also kept me safe on the highways as I travel back and forth.  AND my back problem cleared up! (miraculously)

Meanwhile, my daughter is having us over to celebrate my birthday on Sunday.  It's one of those milestone birthdays, so I'm looking forward to being with family, especially the 4 grand kids.

"See" you after Mothers Class tomorrow!

BELATED BIRTHDAY CARDS

Inside reads, "but I did."  Now that we're back from OBX and I'm reasonably caught up around here, I had to make 5 belated birthday cards.  This stamp set from Technique Tuesday worked perfectly for all of them.

Since I stamped the elephant on grey paper for this card, I wanted a brighter background.  To make the elephant a bit more feminine, I added eyelashes with a black pen and a bow on "her" tail.  The straw was done with thinly cut pieces of cardstock.

Two of the other cards had the elephant stamped on dsp and mounted on neutral cardstock.

HEADING FOR THE SUN, SURF AND SAND!

We leave tomorrow for the Outer Banks--YAY!!

"See" you when we get back...

BEFORE AND AFTER

The carpet in my stamping tower was here when we moved in 25 years ago, so I guess it was time for an update from the burnt orange and brown sculptured rug.








 Jenny seemed content to luxuriate on the old carpeting, however. 

The new smooth beige carpeting looks so much neater and makes the room look bigger.  A happy change!

WHAT A CRAZY WEEK!

Just getting back to my "tower" after a week of one thing after another.  Without going into details, my week included removing the small furniture from two guest rooms and the stamping tower in time for new carpeting to be installed on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, I pulled my back out on Monday afternoon and am still not back to normal.  With all the supplies in a stamping room, it took a lot of time and effort to empty the room and closet.  Thankfully, Joan was able to come and help.  I managed to take before and after pictures which I will post later on today.  The whole process enabled me to purge all three rooms again.  The new carpet makes the rooms look so much bigger and neater--worth waiting 25 years for!

After the carpet installers left, Joyce and Jan came to help me put everything back in the rooms where they belong.  Later, I took a break in the sun on the back deck and got stung by a hornet...very nasty!  It itched for three days after.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent restoring each room, all of which are finally done.  Yesterday, Joan and I went to Wegman's to grocery shop--a 45-minute ride, but well worth it.  My heated seats helped sooth my back during the ride, an added benefit.

Today I have a list of things to do and errands to run before leaving tomorrow for Long Island again.  My sister will be on vacation, so I need to be there for my 96-year old dad.  Although he lives in his own apartment a mile away from her house (amazing!) someone still needs to be available in case of a problem.  I will take him to the adult day care center for Monday and Tuesday, then return home on Wednesday.  I hope to relax on my sister's sunny deck; but I will definitely miss being able to stamp!

I sure hope next week is more relaxing...

THANK YOU NOTE

The nice thing about making your own cards is that when you need something special, you just get out your supplies and go for it. 

This is a thank-you note for a friend, made and mailed in one afternoon.  The tags were Very Vanilla cs, so the card wasn't as washed out as it looks here.

SQUIRRELY PASTOR CARD

I recently put together a SU catalog party and earned this adorable Hostess Set.  This tree can be used for Spring, Summer or Fall, depending on the color used for the leaves.

To get the two different colors, I first stamped the tree with Colorbox Chestnut Roan.  Then I used a green marker over the leaves.  I wasn't sure that would work; but as you can see here, it turned out just fine.

The squirrel is stamped in Versafine Smoky Gray.  I colored the acorn with a light green marker, keeping the whole image simple.  The scripture verse is from Verve Stamps, Scripture Medley 2.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT CHALLENGE

After doing very few challenges, this is the second one in ten days!  Could it be that reorganizing my "tower" so that I have more space on my table really helps my creativity???

Although I'm not too happy with cardinals lately (more on that at the end of this post) I got out my peg stamps for this ornament.  Adding the cardinal and music note was just the right finishing touch, as well as the green sponging around the circle.

The greeting was stamped on a white strip cut to size, but it looked too "heavy" for this card.  So I cut around the words to soften it.    The top of the ornament was made from a scrap of silver paper.  I cut a longer piece and put one end into the middle of the scalloped oval punch, punched it, then trimmed it down to fit the ornament.  Then I added a silver sequin and bow and mounted the finished ornament to the dsp with SU dimensionals.

The link for the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Challenge is HERE.

My Crazy Cardinal story:  Every morning at sunrise, one lone cardinal starts chirping (loudly!) and banging our windows.  This began in May and has been going nonstop every day until sundown.  Now  he seems to be eating berries--ask me how I know!  The only thing that stops him is to let one cat out on the back deck and the other in the front, except on rainy days when he stays put in a tree somewhere.  Unfortunately, our cats don't like to stay put on the decks all day...

SUNNY MEDALLION

This was the first card I made for the Papertrey Ink challenge last week.  Then I realized it wouldn't count because I didn't use a stamp from their company--duh...  So I made another one using their fern stamp which is posted below.

The leaf stamp for this card is from the SU set, "French Foliage" which is one of my all time faves.  I really liked this challenge because it made me use some brighter colors than usual.  Since it was stamped on white, I chose a navy blue panel to create the border over a white cs base.

I hope you like it as much as I liked making it!

SIMPLE SATURDAY #36

MAKE IT MONDAY--MEDALLIONS

Using one of the ferns from the Papertrey Ink set, "Meadow Greens", I made this Rainbow Medallion card for the challenge.  By the way, this set also has coordinating dies which I also love to use.

For a look at all the other submissions, click HERE.

PEG STAMP BOUQUETS

Someone who loves purple will be receiving this birthday card in a day or two.

The vase was re-discovered during my last cleanup, and it works best with my collection of peg stamps.  It came in a packet of several designs with a foam dot attached to each one.  Just another reason to re-organize my stash every now and then!  After stamping the flowers and leaves, I attached the vase and added the jute bow.  A little gray shading and a tiny flower gem, (purple, of course) and the card was done.

Later, I made two more pastor cards with another vase for one and a basket stamp for the other.

(Click on cards to enlarge.)


Love those peg stamps!

NEW TECHNIQUE

This card was a real challenge!  I tried a technique using the Herring Bone embossing folder, chalks, and dye inks for a background effect.  It was featured on the Papertrey Ink blog as "Combining Chalk and Stamps" with a video HERE.  I discovered that it works best with dye ink.  The top piece looks a bit plain, so I may have to add some sort of a border later.

The stamp set I used is Petal Power from Penny Black.

FOLLOW-UP TO JUNE 30TH POST

When my blotter and stamping table finally reached this much of a mess...

You can hardly see the blotter under the Cuttlebug.  Where was I to stamp or even imagine a card with all this "stuff" in the way??  It was definitely time...

(again!)




Two days later, the left side of my table looked like this...

...and the right side looked like this!



I now have room to spread things out (and FIND them!)  My creative juices are flowing once more, perhaps even better than ever.  I've done 25 new cards since this photo was taken on June 28th:  18 for our pastor, 3 Christmas cards and 4 birthday cards.  It's amazing how having a clean, inviting work space makes such a difference!

FROM THE SCRAP DRAWER #40

First, I stamped the verse on a narrow scrap of dsp.  Then I reached into the white/off-white drawer and pulled a scrap piece of heavy, pearlized card stock for the die cut. (Leaf Column Outline from Simon Says Stamp)

When I ran the leaf die cut through the Xyron label maker, there was a lot of glue left on it, especially in the loops.  After trying unsuccessfully to get it off, I just attached it to the green panel and sprinkled on some pale daffodil glitter over it.  Problem solved!

This will make another simple Pastor Card.

I JUST HAD TO SPLURGE...

...honest, I HAD to!

After all, Christmas is coming; and ampersands have been on my wish list for a long time!  The stamp set and matching dies are from Papertrey Ink.  They will get a lot of use--now & forever *wink*...

Once again, I raided my scrap box.  The dots dsp is from Stampin' Up and is the perfect backdrop for the sequins, making a festive card.  The more subdued pine tree dsp provides for a softer side-fold card.

Enjoy!