Merry & Bright

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Today's card is oh, so sparkly in real life.  The background was created using a technique that Jennifer McGuire showed several months ago in a video.  She called it "faux textured metal paper".  It involves two colors of distress ink and perfect pearl powder, then an embossing folder.  If you're interested, watch her video.  In fact, watch ALL her videos.  She is amazing!  I layered this on some shimmery silver paper and die cut "Merry & Bright" from glitter paper - for a lot of shimmer and shine.

My tip today - We should all try to be be a bit more like Jennifer McGuire and "share kindness", not just at Christmas, but all year.

Merry Christmas, and thanks for visiting.

Supplies used include:
Paper (Silver Shimmer and Silver Glitzy Glitter paper by DCWV)
Dies (Simon Says Stamp Merry & Bright Die)
Ink (Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks)
Other ( Cuttlebug Forest Embossing Folder, Perfect Pearl Powder in Pearl, Distress Ink Mini
 Blending Tool)
 

baaah humbug!

Today's card was made (with lots of love) for a friend who has always said Baaah Humbug!

The sheep, santa's hat and xmas list were stamped, colored, and fussy cut and mounted onto the background with foam for dimension.  The background was created with a couple dies, a bit of coloring and LOTS of wink of stella for sparkle.

My tip today - Clear Wink of Stella can be used sparingly to give very subtle shimmer, or you can add several coats  (like I did today) to give lots of sparkle.  It can be used on white or colored cardstock or on top of colored images.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies used include:
Paper (Canson Watercolor Paper)
Ink (Hero Arts Black Dye Ink)
Stamps (Lawn Fawn Baaah Humbug)
Dies (Lawn Fawn Forest Border Die, Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles)
Coloring (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers)
Other (Zig Wink of Stella)

An Ice Christmas

Have an ice Christmas!  Today I'm sharing a card using the Hero Arts Polar Bear stamp from their winter release.

For this card I stamped the Polar Bear onto watercolor paper, and colored the scarf in Christmas colors. After fussy cutting him I propped him up with foam tape onto a die cut oval on which I stamped a bit of ice (clear Wink of Stella was added to the ice for shimmer).  This was then mounted onto an ice blue card front using craft foam for dimension.  The sentiment was heat embossed in silver to continue the "icy" theme.

My tip today - When fussy cutting right up to the stamped edge of the image, run a black marker along the edges.  This covers up any imperfections in your cutting and gives it a clean look.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies used include:
Paper (Canson Watercolor Paper)
Stamps (Hero Arts Wooden Polar Bear, Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic, Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty
   Sayings)
Ink (Hero Arts Black Dye Ink, Versamark)
Dies (Simon Says Stamp Stitched Ovals)
Coloring (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, Black Distress Marker)
Other (Hero Arts Silver Embossing Powder, Craft Foam, Clear Wink of Stella)

A Vintage Christmas

Today I'm sharing a vintage inspired Christmas card.

I diecut two pieces of cream colored cardstock, stamped and embossed the santa on one  and applied a bit of distress ink to all the edges. I also applied distress ink to the edges of a piece of patterned paper to continue the "vintage" feel.  Add a touch of lace and we're done.

My tip today - Continue the "style"of your card throughout your design.  If you're going for vintage, go vintage all the way.  Inking the edges of your cardstock and using an embellishment such as lace really works to continue the vintage look.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies used include:
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, Brown Pigment Ink
Dies: Avery Elle Finished Frames Dies
Other: Maya Road Vintage Lace Tape in Shamrock Green, Hero Arts Clear Embossing Powder

Wishing (you a happy birthday) - In Pink

Today I want to share a winter birthday card made for a friend.

Today's card is again a simple one.  I stamped and embossed the image (using a very old wood stamp, but oh, so cute!) on watercolor paper, colored, and added a diecut sentiment.  Really cute in white and black, and a pop of pink.

My tip today - sometimes all you need is just one color.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies used include:
Paper (Canson Watercolor Paper)
Ink (Versafine Onxy Black)
Coloring (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers)
Dies (Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles, Simon Says Stamp Wishing)
Other (Hero Arts Clear Embossing Powder, Wink of Stella)

Happy Birthday, Gold Foiled

Today I'm sharing a simple birthday card, with no stamping at all.  Instead I'm using gold foil.

I simply printed the sentiment using a laser printer, and added gold foil using my laminator.  The heat of the laminator causes the gold foil to bond to the toner used by the laser printer.  In real life the gold is SO shiny, it doesn't show in the photo.  I then diecut and layered on a piece of very colorful patterned paper.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Supplies used include:
Thermoweb Gold Deco Foil
Dies (Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today we give thanks - for the food on our tables, for our family and friends, for the homes we live in, and for our health.  We all have so much to be thankful for.

 

Today's card uses the same stamp set as I did a few days ago, just a bit more elegant approach.

I hope you have a great day, and thanks for visiting.

Supplies used include:

Stamps (Penny Black Clear Stamps Foliage Fancy) 

Ink (Versamark)

Coloring (Distress Markers)

Paper (Studio Calico Vellum, Canson Watercolor Paper)

Other (Wow Metallic Gold Rich Pale Embossing Powder, DMC Gold Thread)

 

 

Give Thanks, two ways

Today I'm sharing two cards each using the same stamp set, yet achieving different looks.

 

I've used the same layout and techniques, but by varying the color scheme, inks and patterned paper each card has a very different look.  The first card has a very warm look, while the second card is cooler with a more bold sentiment.

Thank you for visiting!

Supplies used include:

Stamps (Penny Black Clear Stamps Foliage Fancy)

Ink  (Hero Arts Black Dye Ink, Distress Inks)

Various Pattterned Papers

Other (Twine)

Fall Pug

Here's one more Pug Card for you - a "Happy Fall Pug"!

 

To create my card I simply stamped the pug and leaf images on watercolor paper, colored and fussy cut, then mounted on some fall patterned paper.  That's it.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies used include:
Stamps (Paper Smooches Woofers & Tweeters, Avery Elle Fabulous Florals)
Ink (Hero Arts Black Dye Ink)
Coloring (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers)
Patterned Paper (Imaginisce)
Other (Zig Wink of Stella, Ranger Glossy Accents)

Happy Pug

Today I'm sharing a card made for Pug Rescue of Florida's Pugsgiving fundraiser.  They have so many pugs looking for good forever homes, and I was able to help them raise a bit of money.

Supplies used include:
Stamps (Paper Smooches Woofers & Tweeters, Lawn Fawn Chit Chat, Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals)
Dies (Lawn Fawn Grassy Borders, Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles)
Ink (Hero Arts Black Dye Ink)
Coloring (Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers)
Other (Zig Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents)

Pugsgiving

This weekend was Pug Rescue of Florida's "Pugsgiving", their biggest fundraiser and adoption event of the year. This amazing group rescues many hundreds of pugs each year in Florida, provides their medical care, and finds forever homes for them.  I have adopted two beautiful pugs from them.  They truly are an amazing group of people, all volunteers.

As part of their fundraiser I donated many, many cards and tags that I made.  Saturday we sold about 100 cards and nearly all of the 100 tags, with 100% of the money raised going to Pug Rescue.  There are still many more cards available to purchase.

If you purchased one of my cards (and found your way to my blog), I'd love if you'd leave me a comment or email me (info in my profile above) and let me know if you'd like to see more of my cards or tags at Pugsgiving again next year.

Here's a few pictures of my cards on display.
Thanks for visiting!

        

Yappy Birthday

Today I'm sharing a card made for my nephew's birthday.  Even though he's very much an adult, he still doesn't tire of my "goofy" cards.  So, "Yappy Birthday!"

To create today's card I die cut a tag from watercolor paper, stamped and colored and added a few touches of Wink of Stella and glossy accents.  Using twine I then tied this together with another tag die cut from patterned paper, layered this on yet more patterned paper and mounted on a brown card front.  That's it, really easy.

Thanks for visiting!

supplies: Canson watercolor paper, Hero Arts black dye ink, Tim Holtz distress markers, Zig Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen, Ranger glossy accents, American Crafts twine, Clearly Besotted rounded tag die, Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die, Paper Smooches Woofers & Tweeters stamps, Stampendous Dog Sayings stamps, Avery Elle Storybook stamps

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  One of my favorite holidays for card making.

Today's card uses the ink smooshing technique that Laura Bassen of Doublestick Heaven does so well.  I'm still experimenting with this technique - it gives you different results each time you try. So just have some fun and give this a try.

Thanks for visiting!

supplies: Canson watercolor paper, Hero Arts black dye ink, Tim Holtz distress inks, American Crafts twine, Simon Says Stamp stictched rectangle die, Impression Obsession bird dies, Wow embossing glitter, Lawn Fawn sweater weather stamps, and an unknown halloween sentiment stamp

My First Post - My Deepest Gratitude

Hi there! Today I'm sharing my first blog post.  I'm a little nervous, but very excited.  Today's card is for my family.  I'm so very grateful for all their support and love.  I am especially grateful to Paul and Sarah for all their help in starting my blog.

To create today's card I stamped and heat embossed onto watercolor paper, then colored with markers.  This was layered onto vellum, mounted onto a piece of die cut paper wrapped with silver thread, and finally layered onto a white card.

Thanks for visiting my new blog!

supplies: Canson watercolor paper, Versamark ink, Hero Arts silver embossing powder, Zig clean color real brush markers, vellum, paper from Lawn Fawn, DMC silver metallic thread, and Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangles die.