PRETTY IN PINK

Pink is not my favorite color, as you know; but for these beautiful designs I'll make an exception.  The dsp is from the Bella Carta "Spring Market" again.  (See previous post.)

Included in the dsp pad was a page of various tags which fit in quite nicely.  The butterfly was fussy cut from a SU sheet of 12x12 dsp obtained as a freebie for my Sale-a-bration order. 

I ordered ONE PAD of the Bella  Carta dsp on Amazon.  They mistakenly sent ONE PACKAGE of six pads instead.  When I contacted them to report the error, they said to just keep them all!  I had fun giving them away to some of my stamping buddies, keeping one extra for myself.  If I ever figure out how to make that happen again, I'll let you know (lol.) 

BTW, my inspiration for using this pad as a kit was YouTube videos by Tina Smith of Cards and Coffee Time.  Thanks, Tina!



 

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!

PAPER PLAYERS--Monochromatic CAS Cards

The color I chose to use is green, including the butterfly and the green gems at the base of the flowers and the tag.  WOS was added to the butterfly wings and the tag, although they look yellowish in the photo due to the lighting.

For more examples, go to www.thepaperplayers.blogspot.com.

WINTER BIRDS

Using scraps from my stash, I layered them to give this simple black and white image some color.  I also sponged the oval with Broken China Distress Ink.

The sentiment is certainly appropriate for this time of year and is one of my faves!

 

JUST A NOTE MUSICAL CARD

After making the envelope and running a black marker along the flap edge, I started on the card.

I then cut a piece of dsp and glued it to the front.  Next I cut away about a half inch off the right, adding a 1" striped piece to the inside of the card, giving it a piano-ish look.

Next, I die cut a black oval and punched the black cat from a leftover section of SU Halloween dsp.  I gave it some white whiskers and paws, colored the eyes gold and mounted it on the oval.  I slipped a piece of white cs underneath to ground it and finished up with a greeting banner.  It's now ready for writing and mailing!

VALENTINES GALORE!

As you can see by the shadows on these cards, the sun is shining today!  It's cold and windy outside, but just delightful in the stamping tower where I have been working on Valentines.

The first card is on a green card base with a floral panel on top.  To highlight the flowers and sprigs, I mounted everything on a Watermelon Wonder oval.

The square card is harder to see in the sunlight.  The heart is cut from a scrap of white glitter paper, and the pink flower beneath the heart has 3 pearls in the center.  I also added some copper threads under the flower and heart--all washed out in the sun...but I'm not complaining about too much sun!

THREE OF A KIND--Snowflakes

In keeping up with my resolve to use supplies I already have in my stash, I came up with these three cards.  The card base for each came from a box of coordinated cards and envelopes I got at AC Moore a few months ago.  The dsp is from a 6x6" pad I purchased last Fall at Hobby Lobby which has a mix of floral and black & white designs.

The first card features fireworks I stamped with Versamark and clear embossed.  The greeting is a die cut and has a thin strip (barely visible) running along the top of the wood grain dsp.

The second card has a more bold dsp, some white stitching on the fold side and three snowflakes along the line.  I added clear sequins and tiny light blue gems in the center of each.

The third card was the easiest, although they're all simple and easily made.  It features a larger snowflake  die cut from silver cardstock.  I also added a tiny light blue gem in the center.

I have been drawing a lot of inspiration lately from Tina on Cards and Coffee Time (YouTube.)  One day a week she posts cards made with supplies in her stash, and they're always great!

Shiny Metallic Birthday Card

This card and front panel were sitting on my table for ages because I just couldn't find a way to use it that I liked.  When I ran across some large scraps of the same copper paper, I had the best solution (finally!)

After punching out the flowers and gluing them together, I discovered that the large flower fit the stem of one of the large flowers in the dsp design.  The smaller flower fit the greeting strip.  All I needed to finish were two clear gems and the greeting.

As Frenchie would say, "Voila!"

PAPER PLAYERS #420--Sketch

Thanks, Paper Players, for a quickie sketch!

This came together in about

15 minutes total.

Great way to use up some scraps, too!

MORE FANCY FOLD CARDS

This is the first card with my new SU Sprig Punch, and I think I'll be giving it a lot of use.  These double gate cards are fun to make!  You just have to remember to use adhesive only on one side. (Ask me how I know...)

The flower makes use of layered SU punches that are sponged and stacked with glue dots and embellishments on top..

This second card is a creative mistake with the folding.  It was to be another double gate fold card, but I cut off too much on the one side.  Instead of throwing it away or using the paper for scrap, I folded back one side and kept the right side triangular. 

The flower and sprigs are mounted to the left side.  I tucked the right flap between the petals to keep it closed.

I plan to add a greeting when I'm ready to send it.


TIP:  My "rule" for how many scraps to keep, I save only those that are bigger than an index card.  It used to be business card size, but I still had too many to keep.

DOUBLE-PLEATED FOLD CARD--Snowflakes

The more double-pleated cards I make, the easier they get.  I plan to use this for a January birthday.  The greeting will go to the right of the large snowflake.

This design and dsp would make a good masculine card.

THREE OF A KIND--Always Artichoke panel

I had some precut green panels laying on my work table, so I used them for these cards.  The wreath was very simple to make and embellish.


The second card was even easier. I used glitter pens for
the ornament and silver cording for the bow.  The "blessings" die cut was time consuming to cut and glue, so I made only one card with it.  (Not practical for making a lot of cards.)

The large oval ef served the purpose well with the flower on the side and the gold embossed verse in the center.

ALL 101 CARDS DONE--yay!

This was the very first design I came up with for this year, and I really like the way it came out.

Starting with the top panel, I used my MISTI to stamp the words.  Next, I die cut the largest star and mounted it to the card front with dimensionals.  Then I die cut the silver fancy star and glued it to the white cs underneath.  For embellishment, I glued a smaller gold star in the center and later added a small gem (hard to see here.)

Thankfully, the MISTI made stamping the front sooo easy!

75 DOWN & 25 TO GO!

With everything that was going on here this Fall, I got off to a later start than usual with my 100 cards for Christmas.  I'm coming into the final stretch now, though!

This is the only design I came up with this year that uses dsp.  Thanks to Evelyn for loaning me her pine ef and SU Peaceful Wreath stamp set.  I like how this turned out--not only for the look, but also for the ease of using the assembly line technique.

I highly recommend using a stamp positioner like the MISTI or the ones from SU and Tim Holtz.  It really helps things go much faster with less errors, especially when you have a bunch of cards to make at one time.

HALLOWEEN POP-UP CARDS

 Just finished making two Halloween cards, one for each of our children's family.  These pop-ups are quick and easy to make, especially when you can make good use of some SU dsp.  I wrote "Have Fun!" on the inside after finishing them off. 

 Enjoy!

TIN CEILING ANYONE?

This paper and embossing folder remind me of a country kitchen, so the basket of wild flowers fits right in.

...and I loved pulling out my peg stamps again!

DOUBLE PLEATED HARVEST CARD

One of the birthday cards I received last month inspired me to revisit this technique. 

After watching Frenchie on YouTube, I was able to put this together.  (It's not as easy as it looks, for me anyway.)  When it comes to doing the pleats, it gets a little tricky--but it was fun!

BIRTHDAY CARD FOR A 90-YEAR-OLD

This was a fun card to make, in spite of the fact that it took over two hours to die cut, sponge and assemble.  It was well worth the effort, though!

Thankfully, the recipient has a great sense of humor!




TIP:  To make a greeting fit the way you want, stamp it on a piece of cardstock or dsp.  Then cut the paper instead of cutting the stamp.


PS> 10/15:  She loved it!

PAPER PLAYERS #413--Trees and Leaves

This was a fun and easy card to make using the SU Seasonal Wreath embossing folder.  The dynamic texture is what makes this ef so elegant.  Since there are no pine branches in the wreath, it can be used for any season or occasion.

To make this a Fall card, I applied two shades of green chalk for the leaves and copper Nuvo drops for the berries.

Check out more of the challenge entries HERE.


JUST A NOTE:  My last card was one of the ones chosen for recognition at the Papee Players last week.  YAY!

IT'S BEEN A MONTH!

...RIGHT TO THE DAY!

A lot has happened since my last post.  Sometime before the end of August I started feeling extremely tired.  I thought it was just a case of anemia, so I took iron pills; but other symptoms started up.  When I went to the doctor, she took a urine sample.  Since it was Labor Day weekend, it took a week to come back--I had a serious kidney infection.  The first round of antibiotics had to be repeated before it finally started to clear up.  It was actually quite scary, and it took 3 weeks to regain my strength; but I'm fine now.

Meanwhile, my elderly diabetic cat was also quite sick and losing weight.  After running numerous tests, the vet could not find any reason for her deteriorating condition, so we had to put her down.  It was very sad, especially since she was our last pet.

Yesterday was my first day back in the Stamping Tower, and I made 15 Christmas cards to give our pastor for his use.  Love that MISTI!