Three New Cards

I worked on some cards this week with a kit that I received from Flourishes. Lots of pretty stamps and papers to work with--very inspirational. I kept it simple with very little embellishments, just because that was the mood that I was in at the time.

Brown Butterfly Card

I lost my camera when I was in Hawaii. I had it one minute and then it was gone the next. I'm totally clueless--no idea what happened to it.

So I have to apologize for the poor photo quality here. I took the photo with my phone which has no flash. You can't see the sheer ribbon very well, but you can see the stamping all right.



I used Splitcoast sketch SC314.

Under the Sea

I used CPS165 from Card Positioning Systems to make this invitation for my daughter's "Under the Sea" birthday party. I made the background using watercolor paper and Shimmerz paints in blue, green and purple. The dolphin stamp is from All Night Media. The wording stamp is from Belinda Landtroop.

National No Housework Day

Did you know that you're not supposed to do housework today? Well, put down that mop and do something else!

I made some Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. Here are the pics:

This stamp always reminds me of a photo that we have of my Dad's Dad--


Here's a card for someone who sews--



I love the old fashioned look of this one--



Here's a trifold. It's hard to see but the daffodil shows through the round window--


This stamp is really great--


I think I will do some sewing now, since I still have the rest of the day off!

Outdoorsy Mother's Day

OK, I admit I was stumped for a while. I was given a request to make a Mother's Day card for a woman who loves to hunt and fish. So, ordinarily when you think of Mother's Day cards, you think of flowers and lace and cute little cartoon critters. But I needed a card that was feminine, yet outdoorsy also.

So I turned to some stamp sets that are from Firecracker Designs--Create a Scene and Little Things--to make this outdoor scene. To soften it up, I colored with chalk pastels and smudged it around a little for a dreamy look. The sentiment is from Lizzie Anne Designs.

I really hope our fishing lady likes it!

Top O' The Morning!

I made this card for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge MMSC44. Priscilla gives the option of keeping the card simple or adding more layers and embellishments. I tend to stay on the simple side.

The stamp is a digi stamp that is from Linda at www.tortagialla.com. I received the stamp from my membership at The Special 50/50 Digital Stamping Group. It's such a cute image for St. Patrick's Day. I colored the image with colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. Then I did some outlining with a gold pen.

Dear Spring--Hurry up and get here!

This stamp from Stamp Oasis is such a soft and pretty vision of Spring. I stamped on shimmer paper and colored with colored pencils to keep the soft look.

I can't wait to see some of my bulbs coming through the soil--but it has to thaw first. Hope it's soon.

Cool Papers

Another Father's Day card, using this week's sketch challenge from Splitcoast Stampers--SC269.

These papers from Basic Grey are so pretty. It's the Marrakech collection--I just love them. The stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Happy Friday to everyone!

Vicky's Sketch

Here's a card that I made using Vicky's Sketch from 365 cards. I love the combination of olive green and light blue--it's one of my favorites. I thought that the silver brads made the card even more masculine. The stamp is from Lizzie Anne Designs.

CPS 155

This card uses the sketch from the Card Positioning Systems CPS155. These Making Memories flowers are so much fun to layer and play with. I thought of them as soon as I saw the circle element of the card sketch. Stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms and Stampin' Up.

I'm Trying, OK?

Well, I admit it. I have been completely ignoring my blog for the last few weeks. It could have been abducted by aliens and I would never have known--that's how neglectful I've been. Truth is, I haven't spent much time at all at my craft table lately. That needs to change, don't you think?

I did manage a quick birthday card on Saturday for our friend Jeff's 50th:



I received this Camaro stamp in a grab bag from Cornish Heritage Farms and was wondering what in the world I was going to do with it. Turned out it was perfect for this birthday card. For the corner I punched a circle out of silver shimmer paper and used mismatched number rub-ons for a vintage look.

I'm hoping to have more pics to show you this coming week. I'm working on a set of Mother's and Father's Day cards--just haven't taken the photos of them yet.

Thanks for looking!

Scripture Card #2

I made another inspirational card with an Our Daily Bread Designs scripture stamp, this time in bright summer colors. The layout is from a Stamping 411 card sketch. To add some pizazz to the silk flower, I put a little bit of pink Stickles on each petal. I just love the Basic Grey designer paper in the background--this one is from the June Bug collection.

Have a good Friday!

Scripture Card #1

I'm working on a set of cards using scripture. Here is my first one, made using the sketch CPS149:


I have lots of nice stamps from Our Daily Bread Designs that I think I will use to make my scripture cards.

And on another note, here is my doggie attempting to hypnotize you with his laser eyes:

Butterfly Smile

A card that's masculine! (It's harder than you would think to come up with a "guy card"!)

The background for the butterfly panel on this card is made by spraying a piece of kraft card stock with Cornflower Walnut Ink and Memories Mist in Pine. I combined stamps from Stampin' Up and Cornish Heritage Farms. I love natural images like butterflies, plants and animals.

BTW--Stampin' Up has given in and has started to sell unmounted stamps! It's about time they figured out that they need to do that.

Have a great Saturday.

Photo Frame and Quilt Block

I made this photo frame by stamping with white pigment ink on the front of the glass panel on this cute little clipboard. The stamps are from A Sparkles © Bright and Happy Holiday from Clear Artistic Stamps.



You can simply slide a photo behind the glass and it will have the blue paper in the background and the snowman in the foreground.

And now, drum roll please.....

I actually finished my block of the month blocks for 2009! And it's still 2009! Amazing, isn't it?


This block is called Ranger's Pride from www.quilterscache.com. This was an easy pattern that creates a secondary pinwheel when all the blocks are pieced together. I need to remember this one for future use.

Have a great Friday! One week to Christmas!

Stamped Pencil Holder

I used the iris stamp from A Dreamer's Moment to decorate this simple pencil cup. I colored the image with pencils and Shimmerz paint, then added a little Diamond Dust for sparkle. Whadja think?

Christmas Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the second

Clear Artistic Stamps Blog Hop!

I hope you are enjoying your little tour of ornaments that the design team has prepared for you!

Here are my ornaments:



They are based upon the Star Box tutorial at Splitcoast. I tweaked it a bit by leaving the ends open and scaling down to have some cute little ornaments.



These are really easy to make, and even the kids could be involved in making some of these.

I used Shimmer card stock in Silver Fox and Diamond Dust from the Midnight Moonlight Collection. Here is a close up where you can see the shimmery silver:


Stamps are from Sparkles © Bright and Happy Holiday and Crimson Christmas.


Leave a comment on this and/or any other designer blog in this hop and you get entered for a chance of winning a grand prize of 9 stamp sets and 10 shimmerz paints. One entry per blog, but for each comment your name will go into the drawing. Here's the fantastic prize:


The winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 9th at the Cottage Studio.

Now hop on over to Wendi's Blog to see what she has prepared for you :)

Thanks for stopping by--and don't forget to leave a comment!

Fun and Messy

The title says it all about the background on this card, inspired by Splitcoast sketch SC256. I brayered ink on card stock, with a wavy texture sheet underneath. Then I added the waves of crackle paint in iced lavender. After all of that dried, I stamped the flower (Starving Artistamps) with black Stazon and white Palette hybrid ink. Then stamped Life (Firecracker Designs) in white.

Have a relaxing Sunday!

Digital and Stamped Images Together

Digital images are all the rage right now--presumably because they are so much cheaper than stamps and you don't need all of those messy stamp pads. Belinda has designed some new digital images, one of which I used on the card below, along with some stamped images.



The floral image is the digital one--I printed it on glossy card stock where I had already applied alcohol ink. Then I heat set the image and colored with dye ink markers.

The other floral images are from the Echos of Summer stamp set, and the Bible verse is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Huge Sale!

Between now and midnight Sunday the 29th--Clear Artistic Stamps has stamp sets and card stock marked waaaaaaay down. If you've had you eye on some stamps or card stock, you'll get a great deal this weekend.

Watercolor Background

I usually don't think of using watercolors on Christmas cards, do you? I made some cards this week for Christmas, challenging myself to incorporate watercolors. Here is one card using Splitcoast sketch SC255:


I made a large piece of watercolor background, cut a bit of it off and then stamped the image with a deep color of ink. Here is the background paper that I did:



Making a pretty background paper like this is really very easy. You will need watercolor paper, a brush, and either water-based paints or dye ink pads.


For my piece I used the dye ink pads. If you haven't watercolored with these before, here's how you do it. Take your closed stamp pad and and press the lid down onto the pad:


When you open the lid, you will see some ink on the lid:


Take your brush and a little water and mix into the ink on the lid:


To make my background, you just take a wet piece of watercolor paper and paint stripes of different colors across, blending where they meet. Let the paper dry thoroughly before stamping on it. You can heat set if you wish. Go ahead and stamp with dye ink if your paper is completely dry.

Here is another card that I made with the blue portion of my background paper:



I made a third card with Blingz paint instead of dye ink. You can see it on the Cottage Studio blog HERE.

Oh, and by the way, there is a great sale over at Clear Artistic Stamps. Stamp sets that are usually $10.95 are on special for $6.49. What a deal!