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!

THREE OF A KIND--Cactus

This trio started when I came across a 6x6" dsp pad I forgot I had.  I had just received my order of a Hero Arts bundle called "Color Layering Armadillo," and these background papers were just right for the stamp set.

The first card features some copper threads and a copper foil tag, (although it looks red here.)  The hardest part of all three cards was getting the flowers on top of the cacti due to their small sizes.

This second one was the easiest of the three due to the dsp providing the background.  All I had to do was use the dies in the bundle and attach to the light green oval.

The black and white greeting stands out nicely.

Finally, this third card was fun to assemble.  The terra cotta pot turned the cactus into a house plant.  The twine gave it some texture, and the hand-written greeting gave me a card I need for a sick friend.  (I added two sequins on the label after the picture was taken.)

I was a bit unsure of how to use this set when it first arrived, but it worked out well once I incorporated the cactus dsp and the planter.  Now I just have to find a use for the armadillo in the set...

THREE OF A KIND--Tags

These three cards feature a tag  with a loose, swinging tag.  I like the way it gives movement to the card when it is picked up and opened.

This is the card that inspired me to make the ones above.  It was sent by a Silver Stamper, and I thought it was fun making the tag swing back and forth.  Just a little different, I thought.

Interactive cards are fun to make, play with and send!

THREE OF A KIND--Locked Card

These cards are so much fun, I 

couldn't resist making a bunch at once!

The purple and another (not shown) are

Mothers Day cards I will be sending to my

daughter and favorite daughter-in-law with a note

about what wonderful grandchildren they've been raising.

The blue and yellow birthday card will go to a 

friend I've had since junior high.  She actually has

a pair of earrings that match!

(The dsp used on all the cards are from the current StampinUp

catalog that will retire at the end of May.)

 

THREE OF A KIND--Love

All three cards were done using the Love Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink, and the corresponding die.

For the first card, I inked up the stamp in Versafine Warm Gray and stamped off to make the image as light as possible.  Then I colored the flowers with yellow and accented them with a gold WOS brush.  The image is popped up on a yellow oval with pearls for embellishment.

The second card was started with Brusho powder and lots of water on a stitched rectangle.  After allowing the cs to dry overnight, I stamped the image and colored with a marker that best matched the dsp.  Then I coated it with clear WOS, stamped the greeting with dark gray in the space provided and popped it up with dimensionals.

For embellishment, I added a few sequins and assembled the card as shown.  It's still a little warped from all the water I had to use, and I'm hoping it will flatten out more in the mail.

The third card, which I like best because of the unusual color combo, started with choosing some coordinating dsp and gluing it to the card front.  I separated the two dsp designs by adding a sliver of the same blue cs used for the word "love."

Next, I gold embossed the image and die cut it.  After gluing the word to the image, I added some tiny gems and a wooden heart to finish the card front.



All three cards use an appropriate Bible verse from the stamp set for the inside.  These cards will go to three of my close friends.

THREE OF A KIND--Wreaths

My new wreath die arrived the other day, and I finally got a chance to use it this afternoon!  I've seen so many beautiful cards made with this die, including non-holiday ones.  I hope to get a lot of use out of it!

(Please click on the image for a closer view.)


 

THREE OF A KIND--Christmas Cardinal

These three were done with the AlteNew stamp and die sets.  For the first one, I made a gate card with a 3-step stamped bird.  Thankfully, I remembered to attach the green panel with adhesive only on the left side!

The second card was done with the cardinal dies which I used to cut the bird out of some red plaid dsp.

Lastly, I chose another dsp to use with the cardinal die, centering the large white flower on the bird and adding a gem in the center.  The background dsp is gold metallic.


As of today, I'm all done with my 100+ Christmas cards--Yay!

THREE OF A KIND--Leaf Prints

 This past Saturday, Cyndy taught us how to make a card with a real, live leaf instead of ink and stamps.  After choosing a freshly picked leaf, we placed it between two pieces of heavy cardstock, folded a piece of copier paper around it and ran it through the Big Shot.  After mounting it on a piece of green cs and attaching it to our card, we added some embellishment for a final touch.

 

Today, at home, I tried repeating the process.  For the second card, I used two different leaves, (one stamped twice,) wrapped some burlap ribbon around the panel and mounted the image over dsp.  

For the third card, I tried using an oak leaf I found on my front deck that had turned a deep brownish red.  It's very faint here because it was already dried out, but I liked it anyway.  Since the leaf was oak, I mounted it over the acorn dsp.

This was a fun technique and very easy to do--thanks, Cyndy! 


TIP:  Fresh leaves that haven't fallen off the tree or bush work best.  Look for leaves that have an interesting shape or distinct edges.

THREE OF A KIND--Beautiful Branches

THREE OF A KIND--Cats

Are these the cutest faces?  They are from an old Hero Arts set of 4 wood stamps.

The card on the left is also being entered in the CAS challenge for use of corrugated cardboard.

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

THREE OF A KIND--Snowflakes

Since no two snowflakes are alike, these aren't either!

I came up with a much easier way to "quilt" these snowflakes.

First, I die cut each and mounted them on a square of dsp.

Next, I added just the vee pieces so that there would be some contrast.

After mounting them on the card with dimensionals,

I punched out the greeting and used dimensionals to adhere them also.

Then I placed a gem in the center of the snowflake.

Done!

THREE OF A KIND--Part II

All three of these are die cut on glitter paper, and two are mounted on a plain piece of cs so that the word "JOY"  shows up better.  The inside reads, "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad." (Psalm 96:11)

These finish off my Christmas cards for this year--all 100 of them!  How did I do that you might ask?  Unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I've been housebound this week with a nasty cold and a car in the repair shop.  To keep from going stir crazy, I stamped and die cut for pure joy!



Die:  from Frantic Stamper
DSP:  SU!

THREE OF A KIND--Baskets of Wishes

 For today's post, I played with my new SU set which was delivered here yesterday.  The first card I made is for an October birthday.  I stamped the basket in Walnut Stain Distress ink.  The flowers were stamped in light gray and colored with glitter pens.  The jute bow is the only embellishment.

The second card will be for either a late October or early November birthday.  I water-colored the basket and colored the squashes with markers.  I plan to add some sequins later.

Finally, I really went to town on the last one.  I white embossed the basket and filled in the spaces with a white gel pen so that it would look like a ceramic basket.  I used glitter gel pens for the succulents so they'd stand out from the dark green background.  The dsp I chose was a scrap that also had a cutout on the top left corner; but since it was the only piece left, I covered it up with the birthday banner from a Frantic Stamper set.  Enjoy!

THREE OF A KIND--SPLITS

Can you tell I'm lovin' these Splits from PaperTrey Ink??

These three each use a different set and are cut to three different sizes.  It was fun making these!

My favorite is the sympathy card, but it's sad that I needed it this week.

THREE OF A KIND--Christmas

Just got a new die for Christmas, and I LOVE it!

These cards were easier to make than they look.  First I made the top one with peg stamps using Versamark and gold ep on the card base in the shape of the tree..  Then I die  cut the dsp and white cs using the tree die.  I used the "frame" for the top card, and the tree for the card on the right.  After gluing down the frame, I attached the white tree with a glue dot at the top and bottom.

Next, I cut a piece of gold metallic cs to 4 x 5 1/4" and die cut the stitched rectangle from the middle.  I added the gold cs over a wood-grain embossed card front with dimensionals.  Then I added the dsp tree and the smaller white tree center as shown.  The woodgrain embossing adds a lot of texture.

For the card on the left, I attached the gold metallic gold frame to the front with narrow strips of foam mounting tape to keep it from "caving" and glued the dsp in the middle.  Then I carefully glued the white panel onto the gold frame and attached the white tree with glue dots at the top and bottom.

FOR A HERO ARTS VIDEO on how this was done, click HERE!

THREE OF A KIND--Split Card Front

It's butterfly season again (soon!)  Have you seen any yet in your yard?
At least we can enjoy them on cards.

These three started with the one on the top left.  I started with dry embossing on the front, then cut the diagonal.  The trick here is to trim the 1/2" off the  bottom instead of the angle (much easier.)

Next, I stamped the message, cut it into two pieces and mounted them with tape as shown.  The dsp panel was then mounted on the back of the top flap and the smaller piece was mounted on the bottom of the dsp, leaving the 1/2" gap.  Finally, the butterfly was die cut from the same dsp and attached with glue dots.

On the second card, I started out with sponging on a triangle stencil using blue and green dye inks.  The greeting was stamped on a scrap of the dsp underlay with the butterfly attached last.

Finally, the third card was done by mounting the dsp on top of the cardfront, using a scrap of cardstock in a matching color for the butterfly.  The greeting was stamped on a scrap of dsp with a small metallic butterfly.

The dsp for all three cards were from the Lil Inkers pack of Tribal Chic patterns.

THREE OF A KIND--QUILTED LEAVES

Evelyn and I did a bunch of these with my new quilted leaf die, and I love how they turned out!

Enjoy!

(Click to enlarge.)

THREE OF A KIND--HALLOWEEN

Just gotta love those bats!

Spidey, from an old SU! set, makes another appearance.   This time he's mounted on a piece of dsp web, sporting some Wink of Stella.

The third card will go to my youngest grandsons who really are sweet.

All three cards took very little time to make--the dsp does all the work.  The BOO!'s were die cut with my Big Shot, and Spidey was quickly fussy cut.

Happy Halloween everyone!  Don't eat too much candy!

THREE OF A KIND

I recently took advantage of a SU yard sale to pick up a few retired items.  In addition to some paper packets and a few stamp sets, I also found a Paper Pumpkin that had never been opened.  Since it was half price, I thought it would be interesting to try it out.  The one I purchased was from Dec. 2014 labeled "Shaker Cards."

The first thing I noticed was that it was beautifully wrapped in tissue paper inside.  There was also a surprise gift of a paper piercing set which I plan to give to a friend since I already have one.

Next was a packet of pre-cut window sheets and frames for the shakers, the coordinating embellishments, the card bases for 9 cards and the matching envelopes.  They even included narrow strips of dimensional foam adhesive as well as 6 stamps and an ink pad square.  Actually, I was quite impressed with all that it contained.

The step-by-step instructions were easy to follow with photos of each step.  The card on the lower right was the first one I did as I followed the instructions.  I added the butterfly embellishment from my own supplies.  The next card was the top right on which I added a butterfly from a pad of SU printed vellum and a scrap piece of glitter rick-rack.

The card on the left was super easy to do after completing the previous two.  I simply glued the dsp to the front of the card, added the shaker ingredients and mounted the shaker window over it.  The butterfly was punched from the same color glitter paper as the "hello" and mounted with a glue dot.

For more Paper Pumpkin ideas, check them out on YouTube!

THREE OF A KIND--Sorta...

Usually, I do three of the same image.  These three are from the same SU set*, so I figured that was close enough.

The poppy was stamped with black ink and colored with Distress markers:  Fired Brick for the bloom and Frayed Burlap for the bud.  I added the red line on the side with just a ruler and the same marker used on the poppy.  The Bible verse and twine were added before mounting the panel to the card front with SU dimensionals.  The final touch was the Wink of Stella (pen) on the blossom.

The bird was stamped in Smokey Gray and colored with 2 shades of blue markers, one of which I used to highlight the verse.  The border was hand drawn with markers.  The twine was added before mounting the panel to the card front with dimensionals.

The berry branches were stamped with Smokey Gray and colored with markers.  I decided to make them blueberries, enhancing them with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents.  Then I added a double line on the side and a few sequins above the verse.

Aside from being from the same set, these three cards also feature hand-drawn accents, Bible verses suitable for Pastor cards and a CAS* design.  Please click on the photo for a closer look.

*CAS--Clean and Simple
SU set is, appropriately, "Simply Sketched"