On My Mind

I've set myself a challenge to use up some of my patterned paper, particularly the bits and pieces of retired Stampin' Up packs that my demo gave me last year.  You saw my Beau Chateau card yesterday.  This time I am using Urban Garden.  I have just two sheets, both different, and one side I don't particularly like, so I've been working with three different patterns and making a variety of cards.  Here's the first one.

I paired this pretty green pattern with Kiwi Kiss cardstock on a white card base.  I stamped the Take Care tree branch (by Stampin' Up) on white cardstock and hand cut it out.  I actually used markers on the rubber stamp rather than an inkpad to get the green leaves.  I stamped the nest in Close to Cocoa ink and lightly sponged the finished cut image to tone down the white.  Then I added Baja Breeze speckled eggs.

My sentiment is from You've Got Mail by My Favorite Things and was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink to match the branch.  It's cut with the Vertical Greetings die and layered at the bottom with Kiwi Kiss cardstock.  I love the soft spring look of my finished card.

Now if it would just stop raining so I can take pics of the other cards!  :)

Stamps:  Take Care (Stampin' Up); You've Got Mail (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up)
Paper:  White (Papertrey Ink); Kiwi Kiss, Urban Garden dsp (Stampin' Up)
Misc:  Vertical Greetings die (My Favorite Things); scissors

Many Thanks

I had one solitary sheet from an old dsp pack by Stampin' Up called Beau Chateau that I was determined to use up.  I needed a set of thank you cards to give a friend who's been dealing with breast cancer and I thought this soft pink pattern was just right for the job.

I love the combo of kraft and pink!  I glued the patterned paper directly onto a Kraft card base.  I cut a heart from Sweet Blush cardstock using one of the Limitless Layers: Heart Stitches dies by Papertrey Ink.  It frames my sentiment quite nicely and doesn't cover up too much of the paper.

I cut strips of Kraft cardstock with the Building Blocks dies and stamped my sentiment in three parts.  I used two sentiments from Embellishments, selectively stamping one of them to divide it up.  Then I glued the strips at slight angles over the heart to add interest.

Love it!  I was able to make six cards from the sheet of patterned paper.  Now I just need envelopes.  How on earth can I be out of envelopes??

Stamps:  Embellishments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  Kraft, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink); Beau Chateau dsp (Stampin' Up)
Misc:  Limitless Layers: Heart Stitches die, Building Blocks die (Papertrey Ink)

Thanks Friend

I've been creating some new cards in my studio and remembered that I forgot to post this one I made over a month ago.  Better late than never!  :)

I used this year's anniversary set from Papertrey Ink, along with a sentiment from Bitty Bouquet.  It's a simple design.  I stamped the various pieces directly on the white panel, except for the flowerpot, which was cut out.  Quick and easy!

Stamps:  Petite Pots, Bitty Bouquet (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); Hello Honey, Gumball Green, Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up); Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: White (Papertrey Ink); Gumball Green (Stampin' Up)
 

I Miss You

I made this card a couple weeks ago and finally got around to photographing it so I could post it here on my blog.  I adore the adorable animals holding signs in the Three Amigos stamp set by Mama Elephant.

I have two children away at college and wanted to make a "missing you" card to have on hand.  I stamped the cat image on white cardstock, colored it with Copic markers, and then cut it out with scissors.  I do have the matching dies, but I wanted to closely cut it so that I could stamp the whiskers/hair on the background paper and then match it up.

I used dies from three different companies to cut out my hillside, clouds, and sun.  I added everything to my card base after gluing down a striped patterned paper for my background.  Simple and cute!

Stamps:  Three Amigos (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  dsp (Stampin' Up); White, Summer Sun (Papertrey Ink)
Misc:  Copic markers; Stitched Cartoon Cloud dies (My Creative Time); Sunshine die (My Favorite Things); Stitched Hillside Borders die (Lawn Fawn)

Hello There

I'm popping in to post a card for the Pretty Pink Posh watercolor blog hop.  It's one of the hot trends in card making and is such an easy way to add luscious color.  I pulled out one of my Distress reinkers for the watercolor technique.

After cutting a tag with watercolor paper and the Stitched Duo 1 die from Pretty Pink Posh, I embossed my sentiment using clear powder and then painted over it with a damp brush and Peacock Feathers reinker.  I love how the color makes the sentiment stand out.

I stamped a lot of different flowers and leaves from the Fresh Cut Florals set by Wplus9 Design Studio, choosing a variety of ink colors.  Having the matching dies made this process much quicker!  I also put small centers on the pink flowers with a pearl pen.  I then arranged my flowers into bouquets on the tag and adhered the whole thing onto a kraft card base.

The result is quite elegant!  It felt great to get back into the studio and create again.  Most of my time has been spent on organizational projects.  Necessary, but not nearly as much fun!   :)

Stamps:  Fresh Cut Florals (Wplus9); Hello There (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  VersaMark; Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Winter Wisteria, Plum Pudding, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Kraft, White (Papertrey Ink); watercolor paper
Misc:  Fresh Cut Florals dies (Wplus9); Stitched Duo 1 die (Pretty Pink Posh); Peacock Feathers reinker (Distress Ink); cream Pearl Pen (Viva)

Iconic Bouquet

Time for the monthly Papertrey Ink blog hop!  This time the challenge was to use navy and shades of pink.  I loved the swiss-dotted vase and luscious floral bouquet in the inspiration picture, and used those elements to create my card.

I used an older PTI set called Iconic Images and stamped the pitcher in Enchanted Evening, hand-cutting around the image.  I stamped the flowers separately in Hibiscus Burst and Simply Chartreuse inks.  After cutting out the flowers, I glued them behind the pitcher.

The swiss-dot pattern comes from one of my favorite Cuttlebug embossing folders called, appropriately, Swiss Dots.  lol  I adhered that panel to an Enchanted Evening card base.  I stamped my sentiment on a strip of Hibiscus Burst cardstock and added the pitcher, raising it up slightly with a bit of cardstock.  Sweet and simple!

Stamps:  Iconic Images (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); Enchanted Evening, Hibiscus Burst, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White, Hibiscus Burst, Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Misc:  0, C1, C3 (Copic); Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Super Duper

Wow, it's been awhile.  My son got home from a two-year church mission at the end of February, and I haven't been in my studio until this week.  I was soaking up every minute with him and his college sister who was home on break.  Now they're both gone back to school and my house feels very empty.  I miss them terribly.  Cooking for just four people feels a bit strange.

The current Retro Sketches challenge caught my eye and it gave me an excuse to pull out my Speech Trio dies from Mama Elephant.  Once I found the fun star patterned paper in my stash, I knew it was perfect to use with this Elzybells stamp set.

The stars are actually silver foil.  I didn't realize the sun had given them a golden cast until I was editing the picture!  Still works either way.  I've had this paper stack for years, so it's probably not available anymore.  I cut the speech bubble from white cardstock, placed it at the top, and adhered the whole piece to a black card base.

I was sad when Elzybells went out of business.  They had such cute images!  My superhero and stars are from the Hero clear stamp set.  I wanted a larger sentiment to fill the bubble, so I used one from the Tiny Heroes stamp set by Mama Elephant.  I filled in the small stars with Silver Stickles for extra sparkle.

I colored the superhero with a variety of Copic markers and am very pleased with how he turned out.  Maybe I'm not as rusty at making cards as I thought.  :)  I put a cardstock shim layer underneath the superhero to raise him up just slightly from the background.  I wanted to keep the card fairly flat for mailing, so no foam tape this time.

The card turned out super duper in every single way!  (couldn't resist, lol)

Stamps:  Hero (Elzybells); Tiny Heroes (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  White, True Black (Papertrey Ink); Rockstar stack (DCWV)

Copic:  0, E00, E30, E42, E55, E57, E59, B91, B95, B97, B99, R01, R20, R24, R29, R59, R89

Misc:  Speech Trio die (Mama Elephant); Silver Stickles