St. Patty's Day Cards

This Irish girl LOVES St. Patty's Day. I always send cards to my grandparents to celebrate.  These are the cards I made this year:

I kept the outsides and the insides simple this year. I was a bit sick when I made them, so I wasn't really big on the idea of taking hours to create them. I kept the insides simple too. Instead of stamping I used stickers from Reminisce Shamrock Collection.

To add a little pizazz to the cards, I decided to add a little shimmer. For the Salante card (similar to saying "Cheers") I ran the background paper through my Big Shot with a honeycomb embossing folder.

 Then I rubbed a little Versamark ink over it and dusted it with copper and green Perfect Pearls.

 For my second card I added shimmer by cutting a background from American Craft Pow! Glitter Paper with my Silhouette.

 I love how easy it is to cut Pow! paper with my Silhouette. Even the intricate details of this background!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great St. Patty's Day!

In Love With Letterpress

 Saturday I bought the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress. I love it. Seriously, love it. I kind of feel like I'm cheating on my stamps, but it's just so darn fun.

If you're not familiar with letterpress, basically it's a technique where you add ink to paper while simultaneously debossing the paper (I tried really hard to take a close up where you can see the debossing in the photo above). Lifestyle Crafts has a letterpress tool and line of inks, plates, papers, etc. that work with your manual die cutting machine (Big Shot, Cuttlebug, Epic). I picked my letterpress up at A Walk Down Memory Lane, and used it with my Big Shot. I really just wanted to get a feel for what the letterpress can do, so I did a lot of playing around. When I was done playing, I took those images and turned them into cards. I would like to note that it's really hard to photograph the debossing...these cards are a notch prettier in person because you can see the impression in the card stock.

I think what I love so much about letterpress is how well it lends itself to simple beauty and elegance. I didn't need to do much to create a card from this letterpress holly and Merry Christmas sentiment. I just added a little bit of patterned paper is from Echo Park's Dots & Stripes Christmas Collection.

The far left card has a leterpress background (green). Then I cut a letterpress ornament out and added it to the card with Pop Dots®. The sentiment was done with letterpress and put on the inside. The center card has letterpress ornaments, ornament hangers (in green) and Merry Christmas sentiment. On the card on the right, the ornaments and merry Christmas are letterpress. I created the ornaments using 2 colors of ink at the same time. The patterned paper is from Echo Park's Dots & Stripes and Echo Park's Season's Greetings.

I think these cards just might be my favorite of the bunch. The letterpress reindeer and Merry Christmas pair beautifully with Echo Park's Season's Greetings paper. Another bonus to letterpress is that it lends itself well to making multiples of an image. It's a fast and fun way to do invitations, multiple thank you's (say for a baby shower or wedding), or lots of Christmas cards.

Letterpress works the best on a cotton based paper (it's thick and squishy and debosses nicely), but as you can see by these cards, you can also use it on regular card stock.

...and just in case you thought I was only doing Christmas cards, here's a pretty thank you. This also shows that I can use stamps and leterpress together. The background words were stamped first. Then, I used my letterpress to add the green accents and the for you sentiment. The patterned paper used for the card base is Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions about letterpress or how it works feel free to ask. I'm by no means an expert, but I have been having lots of fun with it.

Thinking Highly

I can't believe the weekend's gone already! I hope you all had a crafty weekend. I had a fun time teaching a class at my LSS on Saturday. Sunday we went to see Playhouse Disney Live. I took some great photos of my boys that I can't wait to scrap. Today I thought I'd play along with Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger. Here's the picture they posted to get your creative juices flowing:Here's what I came up with:As you can see, I was inspired by the colors of this week's Trigger. I had some leftover 7 Gypsies paper from my November Scraptiv!ty kit that was just perfect. I also had some Core'dinations paper left over from that same kit. I ran it through my Big Shot with a Quickutz embossing folder, and then sanded the design to make it pop. The stamp is from Lizzie Anne Designs. I just picked it up from A Walk Down Memory Lane last week. Any excuse to use a new stamp, right?
If you want to play along with the Trigger too, you have today still to play.

Very SU! Day

I had a very crafty Christmas, how about you? I got to give hand made gifts to my family (who always appreciate the time that goes into hand made items), and I received some great new gadgets to play with too. I haven't had time yet, but stay tuned, within the next week or so I should be able to show you some creations I've made with the I-top I got for Christmas!!!!!! Now, on to some cards.Today's a very Stampin' Up! day. Everything you see is from SU! unless otherwise noted.This card uses the Praying for you stamp set, eyelet border punch, green grosgrain ribbon, and Little Leaves Sizzlits Die. This card uses one of my all time favorite SU! stamp sets, Baroque Motifs. It also uses gold embossing powder, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, and 1/2 pearls (Kaisercraft)
A little sneak preview for the week...I'm working on a fun layout using Making Memories Just Chillin', line, my Silhouette, and some very "boy" pictures. When I finish it up, you all will be the first to see it!

A new post...finally!

I have to say, I hate bumping that beautiful bouquet down from the top post. It was just so fun! Quickutz thought so too. They picked it up for publication on their website! Today's post is a bit of fun as well. I played along with the Hero Arts blog challenge this week. If you haven't played along before, check it out. There are some really talented ladies, and the prizes are great! Little different color combo here, but I think it works nicely. I love using gray as a neutral instead of black or brown. Somehow it changes the whole feel. I should also note that the owl stamp is a single owl on a branch. I colored the owl with a marker, leaving out the leaves, then stamped. I repeated the process 4 times. I only inked the leaves on the 1st and last owl. I'll post the recipe below the picture. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts CL 155 (owl stamp)
Stampin' Up! That's Funny (sentiment)

Paper: Stampin' Up! Going Gray, Ballet Blue, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White

Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Gray Marker and Ballet Blue Marker

Markers: Copic Markers and Blender Pen

Accessories: Sizzix Stampin' Up! backrounds #1 texturz plate
Stampin Up! Apricot buttons

A New Stamp + A New Technique = Lots of Fun

I made this card last week, and hadn't had a chance to post it yet. This was a new technique called recessed window introduced last week over at Splitcoast Stampers. You can find great step-by-step directions here. This was also the perfect opportunity to use a new stamp from Stampin' Up! Chic Boutique. I've been dying to use this lovely dress form since I received my SU! order from the UPS man a few weeks ago. This technique is super easy, and makes a really lovely window to frame your image. I also got the chance to use some of my favorite paper from My Mind's Eye. Hope you enjoy my Boutique Window.



Supplies:
Stamps: Chic Boutique - Stamping’ Up!
Card Stock: Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow, and Watercolor Paper - Stamping’ Up!
Patterned Paper: Laundry Line - My Mind’s Eye
Accessories: So Saffron Button - Stamping Up!
Riding hood Red Taffeta Ribbon - Stamping’ Up!
Corduroy Button - Stamping! Up!
Label Die - Sizzix
Ink: Basic Brown - Stampin’ Up!
Markers: Real Red, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow, and So Saffron - Stampin’ Up!

Creative Block

Have you ever picked up a new craft supply that you just loved and had to have, but when you got it home you couldn't decide how to use it? That's what happened to me with Sparkly Fluff (if you're not familiar with this, it's flock with glitter in it). I saw it before it was released and knew I had to have it. My kind (and business savy) local scrapbook store owner called me when her shipment was in and I ran out to buy it. Not just in 1 color, mind you, but 5 different colors, because I knew my need for this stuff was that great! I got home ready to create with this great stuff and.... nothing. Every time I started to create something that I thought I was going to use the Sparkly Fluff on, it would turn out that it wouldn't work. I left the containers out on my desk so I wouldn't forget to use them as soon as the opportunity arrived.... still nothing. Finally, defeated by the fluff, I gave in and put them away in a drawer. Then, yesterday, I pulled out a new stamp I wanted to use. I was looking at the stamp, trying to decide how I was going to start, and it came to me: this darling little bird would look even better covered in Sparkly Fluff!

At last, I got to use it! It's just as wonderful as I had hoped. It's soft, it's sparkly, it adds texture. In the end I was able to make a card I really like. Hopefully my creative block is over, and I will find many more projects to add this great stuff too again!

Supplies:
Stamp: Wings of Friendship - Stampin’ Up!

Markers: Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Apricot Appeal - Stampin’ Up!

Paper: Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Apricot Appeal - Stampin’ Up!

Accessories: Beads and Pin from Pretties Kit - Stampin’ Up!
Dew Drop - Robins Nest
Apricot Appeal Ribbon - Stampin’ Up!
Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin’ Up!
Circle Scissors Plus - EK Success
Scallop Circle Die - Sizzix

More Opposites

I again have 2 opposite projects. I've gotten in some new stamps and accessories recently, so I've been having a lot of fun just playing around. One is a card made with all stamps. No patterned papers here. The other is made with all patterned papers.
First the all stamped card:

Everything on this card is Stampin' Up! from the paper to the pearls, with only 1 exception: the tulle. The tulle that is layered over the "merci merci merci" came from an old dress. Instead of throwing it away, I stashed it away for use on cards. The stamps are from the set Chic Boutique. I just love this little bird cage. I expect you will probably see me use it again soon. The colors here are Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip. Additional accessories include the corner rounder punch, the scallop edge punch, half pearls, and some SU! markers.

Now here's a card with no stamping at all:


This is not only a card, but a gift too. I attached a small magnet to the little button down in the right had corner (technically called "flair" from American Crafts) and attached it to the card with temporary adhesive. The magnet is actually attached to the inside of the card, then I punched a hole through the top layer of the card. This way the magnet is visible when the card is opened or closed. The paper is all from American Crafts Backyard paper line. "Count Your Blessings" was cut using my Silhouette SD. The butterfly was cut using the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Butterflies Die made by Sizzix. The butterfly's body was made using Candy Dots from Pebbles Inc. Finally, I finished the card off with a bit of hand stitching around the magnet and the sentiment.
Thanks for taking a peak at my opposite creations!

Hard Cards

I personally think that sorrow/sympathy cards can be some of the toughest to make. I never want to go too "over the top," because I don't want the sentiment to be overshadowed by the card. Today, I thought I'd post a sympathy card to help any of you out who struggle a bit like I do with this style of card. The recipe for the card will be posted below the picture. Feel free to help me out by placing a link to your sorrow/sympathy cards in the comments.




Materials:
Stamps - Thoughts and Prayers (SU!)
Patterned Paper - Want S’more and Skipping Stones (Cosmo Cricket’s Mr. Campy line)
Card stock - Sage Shadow, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Ink - Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Markers - Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Old Olive (SU!)
Ribbon - Old Olive (SU!)
Eyelet Border Punch (SU!)
Big Shot (Sizzix)
Dye - Buttons #5 (Sizzix)