EASTER'S ON ITS WAY...

Thanks to Cyndy's technique class yesterday, I was able to make this Easter slider card.  

The inside stamp features one of my favorite sayings!

RAINY DAY FUN!

It's been raining on and off all day,

but not in the Stamping Tower!  I just

finished making a stack of new cards using

some new Carta Bella dsp 6x6 pads

from Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks to the beautiful floral print featured here,

I think I'm beginning to like pink.  This will be another Easter

card to send out.  The silver twine wrapped itself

around the top and bottom of the banner and blossoms

for a final touch.

The blossoms were done with colored pencils

and a blender pencil.

(This is one of those cards that looks better IRL.)

DISTRESS OXIDE INKS--first try

Yesterday, my order of Distress Oxide inks arrived--finally!  I purchased these over a month ago, but had to wait until they became available for shipping.  Today, I felt well enough to play with them.

First I used the smooshing technique on watercolor paper for the butterflies using the 3 colors shown.  For the front of the card, I inked up a background stamp with Broken China (blue) and spritzed it with water for a vivid effect on the kraft panel.  I then mounted the panel on a Very Vanilla card base.

Since I had one more butterfly left, I used it for an Easter card shown here:

Thanks for all your well wishes.  I'm starting to feel better today, so I guess the antibiotic is working.  Just two days ago I thought the cat was meowing next to me, but it turned out to be me wheezing--ugh!  The wheezing is gone, and I'm beginning to have more energy.  So glad to be back in the Tower, even if only for 2 cards!

Thank you for your comments.  I truly cherish every one of them.

HE IS RISEN!

He is risen, indeed!

Just as I like to keep Christ in Christmas, I also like to keep His resurrection central to Easter when making cards.  We'll be celebrating with a family meal and an Easter egg hunt for the grand kids on Easter Eve, just before our daughter and her family leave for WDW the next morning.  This trip was their Christmas gift to their two boys and has been much anticipated.

The stamp I used is one from SU! that I've had for years.  I like to add a black dot for the eye and some green gel pen on the olive leaves.  With the dsp I used and the die cut blossoms, this card was a quick one to make.

I wish you all a Happy Easter!

SUPER SIMPLE EASTER CARD!

This is one of my favorite Easter cards this year.  All it took was a panel of the beautiful English Garden dsp from SU!

After stamping the verse on the dsp and mounting the panel to the cardfront, I added the embroidery floss on the side.  For embellishment, I kept it simple with crystals in the center of the blue flowers and some tiny black "seeds" in the Hollyhock blossoms.

ALL PURPOSE BOTANICAL BLOOMS

I still need a few more Easter cards, so that's what I'll most likely use this one for.

These Botanicals and matching dies are amazingly versatile!

HAPPY SPRING SLIDER CARD

This card is going to a friend in Florida, but is also the card we'll be making in Mothers Class next week.  The card base is from a kit I purchased at the Allentown Stamp Show from the Paper Cut booth.

For class, since we've already done a card with the tulip stamp, we'll make it an Easter card.  The kit makes it easy to assemble once it's stamped and decorated.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

Another Way to Step It Up

Here's the first Easter Card I made for the Less Is More challenge, until I realized the color was supposed to be aqua; so I made the one in my previous post. Meanwhile, I decided to add some depth to this card. As you can see, initially it was "flat" and decidedly ho-hum.






However, just a few slits with a craft knife changed the look to a 3-D effect that is much improved. Hopefully, you can see the dimension added by cutting along three of the petals and lifting them up without foam tape. I also lifted the top of one of the leaves.



Just this little bit of extra effort makes a big difference!

Stepping It Up

1st photo: Since I wasn't happy with the card I made for the Less Is more challenge in the previous post, here is my attempt at taking it to the top.

2nd photo: I restamped the flowers, colored them, cut them out and popped them up on the card. I offset them a bit to create a "shadow" around the top and left sides. I then added yellow Stickles in the centers and rounded the top corners of the card.

3rd photo: Since I had some dsp that matched the color of the flowers, I used my rick rack die and placed the strip across the bottom of the image to ground it. The bold color also added some life to the card without overdoing it.

This is still a simple card, but I think it's better than before.

LESS IS MORE--Aqua

One-layer cards always are a challenge for me, especially when the card seems so empty when I'm done. Nevertheless, here is my entry for the latest challenge, using the color aqua.

First I sponged aqua ink around a scalloped oval mask as a background. Then I stamped the flower and the greeting over it. The floral image is from Gina K and the greeting is from StampinUp. After coloring the flower and rounding the bottom corners, the card was done...for now. I plan to step it up later, so check back for another post.

Meanwhile, the other entries can be found HERE.

Easter Shaker Card

Here's another shaker card where I stamped on the overlay instead of covering it with dsp. (See previous post.) I guess you could say I'm on a shaker card roll!

Before sealing up the shaker cup, I wiped it off with a dryer sheet to remove the static and used sequins and micro beads to shake. The shaker and overlay are from Impression Obsession, which sure makes it easy.

Three of a Kind--Daffodils

This was a bit of a challenge to come up with three ways to use such a delicate stamp without overpowering it. All three were stamped with India Ink Black and colored with SU markers.

The first one was stamped twice on white so that the two main blossoms could be cut out and popped up with dimensionals over the full image. After mounting on green cs at an angle, I placed it on the sun dsp and stamped "Happy Easter" in the lower right corner. A tiny bit of orange Stickles was added to the rim of the daffodil trumpets.

The second card was first stamped with Versamark on Crumb Cake, then stamped again with black ink on a neutral piece and colored with yellow, orange and green SU markers. I trimmed it down to a narrow rectangle and mounted it with dimensionals toward the left side of the card, leaving room for the oval greeting.

For the last card, the image was stamped on another piece of neutral cardstock and colored with a SU yellow marker, then white lines were added to the petals with a Pen-touch white fine-point marker. (I've just about given up on using white roller ball pens--they dry out too fast.) I used an oval cutting set from Creative Memories to cut the image and underlying dsp, then mounted both on a green card. After adding some sparkle to the blossoms with a gold Spica pen, a gold metallic cord was the final touch.

ONE LAYER WEDNESDAY--Eggs

I hope you can see the glitter from the Stickles on these Easter eggs--they really make the card! (Click for a closer view.)

The colorful strip was made by masking off the top and bottom white space and sponging Easter colors in the area. I then removed the masks and stamped the eggs and the greeting. After applying the Stickles, the card was done.

This was soooo easy! Check out the other OLW entries HERE.

Easter Baskets

Are these adorable, or what! Thanks to Beate for her wonderful tutorial on Fresh and Fun for these little baskets. I made nine today for our Easter table. They will contain some Easter grass and chocolate goodies, but will also serve as namecards at each place.

Visit www.beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com for further deets and instructions.

Mothers Classes--Easter Cards

Since the chocolate bunny stamp would not be available until the afternoon, the morning's Mothers Class made cards using another design. Nicole, an experienced stamper, is our only regular in the morning; so we decided back in Sept. to call it the Advanced Class. Her cards shown here, with room to stamp sayings on the front and inside later, show why!

Upon arrival of the Chocolate Bunny stamp in the afternoon, Linda, Jackie and Melisa got busy stamping right away. First they stamped the bunny on Soft Suede cs with Chestnut Roan ink and embossed them with clear ep. They were then anchored on some Easter grass for effect and embellished with bows, eyes and a bunny tail. The Boho Blossom punch made use of leftover scraps.

Earlier, Jackie made a "white chocolate" bunny at home and brought it in to show us.

Linda, who has more artistic talent of her own (without the use of stamps) made these last two cards at home. The red flowers are from a Gina K. set that we stamped last week, with an added butterfly. The sunflowers are hand drawn and are the focal point of her second card with the fancy checkered bow.

One Last Easter Card

This one was for Evelyn, who has seen all my others. So I put this together just for her!




First, I stamped, heat-embossed, and colored the basket. Then, using my peg stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, I "filled" the basket with leaves, ferns and flowers. Next, I added a tiny dragonfly enhanced with Stickles, and used a gray marker for a shadow and some dots around the image. Finally, a bow was attached with a glue dot.

After punching the notches on the corners, I taped the image on dark green Bazzill cardstock and mounted it to the card with SU dimensionals. All in all, an easy card to do--and fun!

Keenagers Project

One of the reasons I haven't posted lately is because I've been spending hours and hours preparing for a special Easter project for the "Keenagers" (seniors) at my church. Since most of them are in their 70's and 80's, all non-stampers, I had to make up kits with everything pre-stamped, ready to assemble. Be sure to click on the photo to enlarge!

First, they put together a bag topper for Easter treats. They filled the bags with Easter grass, added the candy provided and sealed the zip-loc top. To make the cover, all they had to do was color in the image and tape down the paper strip and the scalloped oval.

Next, we did the purple card with the butterfly. Since the card was already folded and punched with my Fiskar's eyelet border, they basically just had to tape down the white strip, the butterfly and the inside greeting. This was the easiest project of the four.

Then we did the bunny card, which was a little more involved. They especially enjoyed using mini dots and pom poms for the bunny tail!

Last and smallest, but not least, they assembled the cross card. After wrapping the embroidery floss around the image and securing it on the back, they attached that piece with SU dimensionals to the darker cs and mounted it on the card. Earlier, Evelyn and I had made matching envelopes for the smaller size using our Envelopers.

There was lots of excitement in the room, especially with one woman who said in the beginning that she could never make these. I'm so glad we proved to her that she could!

Since this occurred on the same day as the Mothers classes, they were all happy to help. They jumped right in as leaders, and the older folks really enjoyed having younger moms there with them. All in all, the effort that went into making this a success was well worth it.

This whole event just goes to prove that stamping can also serve as a creative ministry! Every time we make a card and send it out to someone, it says "someone cares" enough to take the time to think about that person and express it in a personal way.

One Last Easter Card

I love the looks of this card, but not the way it's behaving. Because I water-colored the image (probably with too wet a brush,) it warped the paper; and now it just won't lie flat no matter what I do. I finally resorted to attaching it with brads so that it doesn't come apart completely. Sometimes you just can't win!

The designer paper is from a 6" pad of Basic Grey Lilykate, which works really well with the image and colors I used. Yellow Stickles are used for the flower centers.

Have a blessed and meaningful Easter. He is risen indeed--HALLELUJAH!

Hero Arts for Easter Cards

I'm just lovin' these beautiful new stamps, especially the Flourish Lily! The petals were water colored to coordinate with background papers, with Stickles for the centers. Enjoy!