Botanicals Birthday Cards

I made 2 batches of birthday cards using our new Botanicals products.  Today, I'll share two female versions of my cards.

I used two color stories, with 2 different DSP designs.

As always, all my supplies are listed at the end of each blog post.

Using Wink of Stella for the flower center, keeps it easier to mail.  Since I made these for our church to send out for our birthdays this month, I didn't want them to have to pay extra postage for mailing them.

I absolutely love the new Botanical Builder Framelits Dies.  They are at the top of my list of favorites!

These will surely be a day brightener for the lucky recipients.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration. 

Too Early to Think of A White Christmas?

It may be too early to think about a white Christmas, but it's always the right time for a pretty card.  This is one I designed to send for a winter birthday.  

The prettiest part of the card is that the top layer is completely covered with a beautiful sparkle.  It just does not show up in a photo.  After stamping and dry embossing the top layer of the card (and coloring in the 2 little cardinals), I covered the entire layer with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed it with Iridescent Ice EP.  In real life, it is gorgeous.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I had this stamp set last year and never got around to using it.  Geez!!!  I am super happy that it carried over into the new catalog and promised myself I would use it.  This is one of the cards I made for our church birthdays (for December) and worked at keeping it flat for easy mailing.  I think it will make the birthday people happy to get it in the mail when the time comes.

In my next post, I have a gorgeous Fall card for you and then I'll be starting a little mini series on OSW cards that I know you won't want to miss.  So... be sure to come back:)

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Lighthearted Leaves Card

Today, I have a cheerful ... lighthearted ... Fall card for you.  It's made with our new Lighthearted Leaves stamp set --- a really great stamp set.  I love all the variety of stamps that you get in it.  I wanted to make a card that had some stamped leaves and still lots of texture and dimension.

I added a paper strip that's actually from our Halloween Happy Haunting DSP.  Be sure to always check out both sides of your DSP, because it often has a side that's not necessarily seasonal and can be used a in large variety of ways.

I wanted touches of gold in various places throughout the card design, so I embossed some gold speckles, added a gold Metallic Foil Doily, and then a tiny strip of our Gold Glimmer Paper.

I embossed 2 of the leaves in white EP, sponged them to add color and then cut them out with our Leaflets Framelits.  Yes!  These framelits coordinate with the Lighthearted Leaves AND the Vintage Leaves stamp sets.  I finished off the card with a tiny bow from baker's twine.  I love how it turned out.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

New Version of the Acrylic Block Technique and Sneak Peek at My OSW Cards

I have lots of stamping goodness for you today that I hope will inspire you to create something beautiful this weekend.  First up, I have a NEW version of the Acrylic Block Technique and then I have a sneak peek at my OSW cards, along with a bit on what it's all about.

My card today features a beautiful color story for Fall --- Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and a bit of Soft Suede.  I won't even start in on how much I love making Fall cards or how much I love, love, love our new Vintage Leaves stamps AND coordinating framelits.  Over the moon, truly!!!

So how did I do this acrylic block technique?  It is super simple! 
Ink up the entire acrylic block by tapping it on the ink pad color you want to use.  Hold the block about an arm's length away and lightly spritz it one or two times.  Then... stamp, hold it onto the CS for just a little while and you get a beautiful background image.  It is more intense than when you use this technique with markers, because your ink is applied with a much greater intensity.  By spritzing the block, you give it more interest in how it comes out on your CS.  I did not use watercolor paper for this technique and it worked just fine.  You could use it if you wanted to play with how it changes the image a bit.  It would still be very pretty.

The little speckles are from an Awesomely Artistic stamp.  I seem to be using that stamp set about as often as my beloved Gorgeous Grunge lately.  I make all the cards for my church to send out each month and this one will be for September.  I've actually just finished October and have a few more bows to tie onto the November cards and then I'll go ahead and make the cards for December and finish up for 2015.  I've heard so many touching comments from people in our church about how much the love and appreciate the cards and that just touches my heart.  I find myself putting more and more into them each month because I know how much joy they will bring.  I want them to be my very best.

And now... let's move on to more about my OSW cards and the class where we'll be making them.  The class is my September Saturday Stampers class for September 19.  It will be from 1:00-4:00 and the fee is $20.  It involves more materials and a lot more prep time on my part and I know you'll find it worth it and then some. 
You'll be going home with all 5 of these cards, along with 2 OSW sheets AND lots of helpful templates.  So what is OSW?  It stands for One Sheet Wonder.  It's really all about how can I get the most bang for the buck from 1 sheet of CS (card stock) or DSP (Designer Series Papers).  I'll show you several versions and give you lots of ideas.  Most of the ideas and templates will be for 12 X 12" CS or DSP, but I'll also show you several ways to use an 8 1/2 X 11" piece of CS.

Sound like fun?  As they say in the beautiful state of Minnesota: "You bet!"  Below are the 2 sheets we'll be making at the class.  I have already made and cut the pieces you'll use for your cards during the class, so you'll go home with these 2 pieces uncut and ready for your own set of beautiful cards.  I really am looking forward to this class.  Sign up early to save your spot.  If you don't live in the area, follow along on your own, using my ideas to inspire you.  Be sure to leave me a comment on what you tried.  I love hearing from you.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Acrylic Block Technique Cards, Part 7

I have another tree for you today... this time with our Serene Silhouettes stamp set.  This card features a special fold technique.  It's called a Z-fold card.  

I'm nursing a very bum shoulder today and counting days until I can get it looked at.  It's getting worse and worse, so pardon me if I don't write a lot in today's post.  I think the card speaks for itself.  By changing out the text inside, you could easily use it for a variety of other occasions.

Come back for more Acrylic Block Technique cards.  

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Wild About Flowers, Card 2

As promised, I have another card for you using our Wild About Flowers stamp set.  This one was inspired by my love of 3 little stamped circles.  In the past, I've made a lot of cards that have this design and it was fun to get back to doing one again. 

When I've made this style of card in the past, I've always used punches.  To fit the stamped flowers for this card, I had to use my Circles Collection Framelits, to get the right size circle that I wanted.  I added an extra layer to the front of the card, attached with dimensionals, just to add more interest.

You can barely see it, but I scored several lines, running directly across the card front (under the circles), for added texture.  The text is from my Tin of Cards stamps.  I added some linen thread for the finishing touch.  I even had ends long enough to tie into a cute little bow.  I love how this card turned out.  It's really quite simple, but the added touches really step it up.  Once again, to show how the stamping world sometimes thinks a lot alike (guided by stamp images), I later found that Dawn Olchefske created a very similar card.  Love it!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or look on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Vintage Timeless Elegance Card

Are you ready for another vintage card today.  We enjoyed making this one at my class, too.  It features our beautiful Timeless Elegance DSP.  

I kept this one simple and let the beautiful paper be the star.  The sentiment is heat embossed and the black strip is embossed with our Lovely Lace embossing folder, one of my absolute favorites.  

The color story is a striking Sahara Sand and Black --- very elegant!

I have two more cards to share with you from our class and then you will have seen them all, so be sure to come back for my next posts.  

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Happy Hello Card

I have a pretty 'Happy Hello' card for you today.  It's done with pale blues and some pretty little flower blossoms.  The text is from our Tin of Cards stamp set.

It was inspired by a card I saw on our Stampin' Up! web site.  I hope you look at this site from time to time because it's a good source for inspiration.  

I added little rhinestones to the flower blossoms.

The linen thread is just loosely looped and attached to the back of the circles.

This card will be a nice one to have on hand for those times when you need to grab a quick card.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Tin of Cards

I have found that it is usually best for me to steer away from some of our kits, believe it or not.  I feel like it sometimes shuts down my creativity, rather than challenges it.  Not so with the Tin of Cards kit.  I was interested in it right away and really enjoyed putting it all together.  Maybe I should admit that, with kits, a big part of the problem is that I don't get around to completing them.  I've promised myself to do better in that regard!  I made all the cards, easily in a day, and then did some quick decorating of my tin.  I used some jute ribbon and made a filter paper flower, using the Flower Medallion Punch. The dividers are inside.  I didn't get a photo of those. 

So... would you like to make a bunch of really cute cards... quickly and easily?  Try our Tin of Cards.  I think you'll really like it.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Cherry on Top Cute Little 3 X 3" Cards

I love our new Cherry on Top DSP.  I decided to make some cute little cards with it... 10 in all.  By getting a package of Cherry on Top CS, I worked with these 3 wonderful colors:  Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, and Bermuda Bay. 

I used a couple of greetings from my new Tin of Cards stamp set and lined each envelope to coordinate with the cards.

What a fun project!

I love the cute little Blossom Accents for each of our new In Colors!  They attach easily with Liquid Tombow adhesive.

The cards are now all up on display in my studio.  When the previous catalog retired, I took down each and every sample I had on display.  I'm creating all new displays and it's fun to see the displays grow and start to look fresh and new.  The very last card on the lower right has banners instead of greetings.  I went to stamp the greeting and the puppies bumped me and I dropped the stamp.  Ugh!  I couldn't bear to throw the card away, so I covered the smudge with banners.

By the way, I made nearly 50 different kinds of butterflies yesterday, as I continued to work on various projects.  Come back soon as I continue to share more projects.  I'm having a ball!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.