New Hat for Spooky Kitty!

HAPPY MAIL RECEIVED!  

THIS CARD IS NAMED A

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF THE

WEEK ENDING - OCTOBER 28, 2017!!

I need to make some Halloween cards, but I also wanted to enter some challenges on Splitcoasters this week.  I found several challenges to inspire me and give me ideas, and ended up with four challenges to enter.  I found my actual idea through this week's Inspiration Challenge, and a Halloween pumpkin pillow (see below).   Knowing what I needed to meet the requirements for the other three challenges made it easy to fit each one as I created my card. 

The Inspiration Challenge brought to mind a card I made several years ago, and I so loved that Poppystamp Kitty Cat Face die that I knew just what I wanted to do.  I decided to take my original card and re-design it, adding to it and dress it up a bit more.  My first card was done super quick because I needed to have it ready in just a few hours to send it along with the Halloween Witch Deco Wreath my daughter and I made for the younger daughter/ sister.  I was motivated to try my hand at a little more intricate version of the same card with new colors and added embellishments.

I came upon a Cottage Cutz Witch Hat die that I bought last year and didn't get a chance to use it.  I thought it would make a darling hat for my little kitty's head.  This time I decided to use lime green glitter paper for the cat's eyes and the moon, star, and brim of my witch hat.  I added two layers of glitter paper to my card base before adding the card front, and then added a few sequins to dress it up even more.  I am much more pleased with this second version, though the first was still cute!  What's not to like about the cute cat's face!

Finished the instead design and verse and now it ready to be sent off to my Mom in California.  I think she will enjoy her sparkly Halloween card.  Take a peek below:

Recipe:  Darice cardstock: Midnight Black.  The Paper Company cardstock: Victoriana 5-pack (tan).  Recollections Glitter Pad: Haunted (orange/ lime).  SU: Seasonal framelit dies (spooky - Holiday 2015).  Poppystamps die: Kitty Cat Face.  Cottage Cutz dies: Witch Hat.  Pretty Pink Posh: sequins. Size 5" x 6-1/4".

A Special Card for Mom's Birthday!

As is true every year. . .I always want to make an extra special card just for Mom for her birthday.  It needs to be something pretty and feminine that she will love.  My gosh, it is difficult to believe, but Mom will be 91 this year!  I just returned from a long and wonderful visit during May and the first half of June, and I am happy to say that she is just as spry as she has always been.  She always was able to walk my legs off on any mall shopping trip.  

For her card, my creative juice have been fermenting for quite some time while I was busy making other cards.  I had definitely decided that somehow I was going to use flowers on her card by using my new Stampin' Up Botanical Builder framelits that I had purchased in the early spring and somehow had never gotten around to using them!  Shame on me!  Take a look at my finished card that I finally decided upon, as well as the finished inside to coordinate with my outside creative design.

Ingredients:  Bazzill Platinum Frost Vellum.  DCWV: Watercolors Stack.  Darice Glitter Silk: Opulent Opal (glitter paper).  SU products:  Pretty in Pink cardstock, Gold Foil, Pretty in Pink Ink, Botanical Builder framelits.  Digital image by 2 Cute Ink: Pretty Ostrich.  Copic Marker coloring.  MFT dies: Zigzag Stitched Ovals.  Spellbinder dies: Big Scallop Ovals SM (largest).  EK punch: Arrows.  Wink of Stella: Gold.  Technique: Cloud Sponging.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

The Story + Tidbits

Not only did I know I wanted to add flowers made with my Botanical Gardens thinlits, I also wanted to use a flamingo, which seems to be all the rage right now.  I found this darling flamingo paper in a DCWV stack called Watercolors.  It was shade in the ombre style in a light pink-violet shading into almost white at the bottom.  It was really just was I was looking for except I was looking for more of a real pink shade without the violet tinge.  My solution was to choose the perfect pink for my cardbase, which turned out to be Pretty in Pink (a retired Stampin' Up color).  I then sponged the flamingo paper with the Pretty in Pink stamp pad ink until I got the depth of color I desired.

In my mind's eye I had light pink vellum mixed with Pretty in Pink shaded petals and gold foil for the leaves and flower centers to match the gold foil flamingos.  I had some really pretty frosted platinum white vellum that looked pearlescent.  I sponged the back and the front of the flower petals with the Pretty in Pink stamp ink, which doesn't really show up in the picture.  Next, I chose Pirouette Pink cardstock for the base of the flowers and shaded them with the Pretty in Pink ink as well so it had different shadings of light and darker rather than a flat color by just using the color of the cardstock.  It made for a prettier more realistic flower, though I don't think the picture does it justice.

I colored my 2 Cute Ink digi image with Copic Markers to match my cardstock and patterned paper colors, choosing a darker shade for the head flower and body flowers on the little flamingo.  I also used Wink of Stella: Gold on the digi images flower centers.  Except for the larger head flower, I'm not sure this gold glittery effects shows up elsewhere.  Next came the background behind my flamingo digi.  I didn't think just a brushed light blue with my Copic markers would really look that good and I thought it needed clouds.  So, I used the cardstock template idea made with a scalloped die to get the look you see on the card picture.  I had seen several YouTube videos showing this technique, but never tried it myself.  I think it turned out okay, but feel I still need a bit more practice to feel totally comfortable.

A Day to Honor Fathers!

Our four children and spouses will arrive at our home on Father's Day bringing the goodies to make a magnificent barbecue dinner to celebrate my husband and myself.  You see...as I was traveling on Mother's Day to spend time with my 90-year old mother on her day, my day was planned to be celebrated with my husband on Father's Day.  We are willing to share our days with one another!

I wanted to make a special Father's Day card for my husband to not only celebrate him, but to thank him for allowing me a long vacation away to visit my family in California. ( I have to say, I was a busy gal, and enjoyed every minute of it!)  I have had the Stampin' Up Traveler stamp set for some time, and I have been itching to use it, but have never taken the opportunity.  I won a second copy of this very stamp set at a stamping event, which I brought down to share with my mother.  This was perfect. . .I'd use her set while visiting.

The stamp I wanted to use is the vintage locomotive, and I had in mind to emboss it to fit my black, white, and red card theme.  I used the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set to form my background in Real Red and Smokey Slate. . . modifying it just a bit.  By using my MISTI stamping tool, I was able to wipe off half the red ink with a baby wipe and yet still be able to repeat-stamp to get a rich impression.  I was also able to re-position for the gray to enlarge that area.  I have to say, I just love my MISTI stamping tool.   Take a look at my finished train card below...it really is black, white and red in RIL...don't know why the picture picked up pink and charcoal)!  I think my husband will be very pleased with his Father's Day card.

I finished off my husband's Fathr's Day card by crafting an inside to coordinate ith the outside creation, and I fashioned a little verse fitting this special occasion.

Recipe:  Recollections cardstock: Black, Pewter.  Patterns: DCWV Bella Armoire Stack.  Stampin' Up products:  Red Glimmer Paper; Stamps--Traveler, Perpetual Birthday Calendar; Inks--Real Red, Smoky Slate; Embossing Powder--Black; Dies--Finishing Touches Edgelits-Pinked (retired).  Cottage Cutz dies: Expressions--Happy, Father's Day.  Recollections: Red Pearls.  EK punch: Scallop Corners-Medium (inside).

Valentine for a Son!

About two years ago, I went to a Card Buffet cardmaking event hosted by my Stampin' Up Upline, Liz Thayer, where we could make as many cards as we found time for in a four-hour period.  There were usually at least ten different card designs from which to choose.  I made one card that I really liked, which was a thank you card, but right off the bat, I thought it was a Valentine card until I read the sentiment found in a Stampin' Up stamp set named Chalk Talk.  

To this day, I have always wanted to make this card as a Valentine card, and this 2016 Valentine's holiday is the time.  In thinking it over, the thought came to mind that if sentiment read, A Son Holds Your {Heart} Forever, using an actual heart instead of the word, it would be perfect!  Of course, I did not have a stamp that said this, so I created it on the computer and printed it onto the Crumb Cake cardstock.  I was really pleased with the result.  My words were longer than those on the original Chalk Talk sentiment; therefore, I could not die-cut my tag using the Chalk Talk Framelit dies.  I decided to use the Ornate Tag punch, and cut it narrower to more closely replica the look I was trying to achieve.

On my card, I decided to add Chocolate Chip cardstock as the card base and make the original Cherry Cobbler base a middle mat layer instead.  My sentiment tag received the same three layers as well.  In addition, I added some Early Espresso Gorgeous Grunge lines as well as the Cherry Cobbler used on the original design, and I used a different washi tape, coloring the light one with a tan Copic Marker to blend better with the Crumb Cake card front.  I also added more hearts to the left side of the card to more replicate a shower of hearts.  I really think my son will like his Valentine card.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up Products:  Cardstocks--Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Red Glimmer.  Stamps--Gorgeous Grunge.  Ink--Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler.  Punches--Ornate Tag, Small Heart (retired), Heart to Heart--smallest (retired).  Ribbon--5/8" Natural Chevron (cut in half), Linen Thread.   Stash--Washi tape.  EK punch: Ribbon Slot.  Spellbinders die:  Nested Heart (smallest).  Size--4-3/4" x 5-3/4".

Valentine Key to Love!

I just finished another Valentine card that I want to show you.  On a whim, I decided to try to make as many cards with different styles as I could using the checked heart brown, white, and red paper until I ran out.  I have to say, so far this is my favorite card using this paper.

I thought my checked heart paper would lend itself well to the layout idea of a card I made at a Liz Thayer cardmaking event about a month ago, which was also similar to Sweet & Sassy Layout #09 that I had saved to my Pinterest Layout Ideas board a few weeks ago.  Both are shown below:

             

I used a Darice embossing folder on the Early Espresso layer, plus I enlarged my left-hand rectangle larger than both layout design samples.  I added little key charm to the rectangle layer tied with sparkly red yarn to match the sparkly sheer ribbon.  Since I like sparkly, I decided I should use red glitter paper for my popped flowers to coordinate well with the sparkly ribbon.  

Though Liz's design popped both the patterned rectangle piece off the card front and the square heart-stamped piece off the rectangle (thus, the square was double popped on the right-hand side), I decided to only pop my layers once.  I adhered the left side of my heart-stamped square directly onto the patterned rectangle layer and only popped it on the right to match the rectangles elevation from the card front.  

Recipe:  Paper:  SU Cardstock--Very Vanilla, Real Red, Early Espresso, Red Glimmer; Pattern--TCP Studio--The Reasons I Love You/ Little Lovin'.  SU Stamps--Bloomin' Love.  SU Ink--Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler.  SU Dies:  Bloomin' Heart (flowers).  Darice Embossing Folder--Heart-Coeur.  SU Pearls.  Stash--5/8" Sheer Sparkly Ribbon; Brass key; Sparkly Red Fine Yarn.  Distressed.  Size--4-5/8" x 5-3/4". 

My Husband Celebrates His Birthday!

My husband celebrates his birthday today, and I wanted to make a special card that if you knew my husband, and then saw the card, you'd know right away that card was meant for him.   I was excited to see a stamp set in the 2016 Sale-A-Bration flyer this year named, Sky is the Limit.  I couldn't wait to add it to my stamping stockpile, and, of course, I knew just who would get the first card made with it for his birthday!

My husband received his private pilot's license when he was in his twenties and even owned a small plane with his father for several years until job promotions and transfers no longer made it possible for us to keep it.  But, he still loves to pilot his own craft, and he would probably love to buy another plane now that he is retired.

As it turns out the new Stampin' Up 2016 Occasions mini catalog has several products that fit into my aeronautical card theme.  There is a Sunburst die that looks very interesting, and I have had the chance to use it twice at two cardmaking events that I have attended.  I would like to add it to my collection, but I have not done so.  It would have been the perfect die for the card I had in mind for John, but I decided not to let that stand in my way.  Over the last several years, I have made several sunburst ray cards that were handmade, and I thought why not, it should work just as well, if not better than die.

I wanted my ray papers to have a sky theme to go along with the biplane stamp I planned to use, so I used the night sky constellation and the world map papers that are in the Going Places paper stack.  I needed at least two more patterns or types of paper, but I did not see anything else that jumped out at me, so I decided to make my own paper by stamping a Compass Rose onto black cardstock with White Craft Ink.  For my fourth paper, I decided to use an antique gold glitter paper.

As my card evolved, my sun got changed into a sentiment sun by under-layering the sentiment with gold glitter paper, plus layered over some vellum clouds as well.  I heat embossed my biplane in black, fussy-cut it out, and double popped it up to overlap the sentiment sun edge just a bit.  I added a trio of  black and metallic gold gems on the lower right corner to finish off my card front.  I'm pretty pleased with my homemade sunburst ray card, and I think it will please my hubbie as well!

Below shows the inside coordinating design and little birthday verse with a "flying" theme that I made for my husband's card.

Recipe:  SU products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Naturals Ivory (retired), White Vellum, Going Places dsp stack (2016 Occasions); Ink--Craft White; Stamps--Sky is the Limit (2016 SAB), Going Global  (2016 Occ.); Punches--2" Scallop, 1-3/4" Circle; Embossing Powder--Black.  Other: Darice Glitter Silk-Kings Crown; Recollections Black Pearls; Studio 112 Gold Metallic Gems. 

Christmas Greetings of Peace - Christmas X10 - Card #8!

In the post, I will be presenting card #8 from the Christmas X10 cardmaking event, which is a card made by one of our hostesses, Dara Peterson.  I love Christmas cards made with blacks, navys, grays, and silvers, and this one meets all of the qualifications to love it!  The only change I made from the original design was to add a silver mat layer between the navy cardbase and the gray card front base.

Just a note: in stamping your black silhouette scene, when your stamp is photopolymer, as this stamp set is, do NOT use StazOn black ink, which is a petroleum based product, and it is not compatible with polymer.  It is best to use Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  

The night sky is achieved by sponging lightly in a vertical downward stroke from the top of your scene's sky down to the tree line, lighting the pressure on your stroke as you move toward the horizon.  It also helps to place a piece of scrap paper under your white scene cardstock and starting your stroke on that scrap paper and then lightly moving onto your scene's cardstock.  This helps to alleviate sponging stroke marks.  Repeat your strokes until you achieve the depth of coloring you desire.

I love the end result of this card, and I think my addition of the silver glimmer layer absolutely adds to this cards already beautiful look.  And now, it is time for the reveal. . .see below.

Recipe:  Stampin" Up products:  Cardstock--Night of Navy, Smokey Slate, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer.  Stamps: To You & Yours (scene); Holly Jolly Greetings (on earth).  Ink:  Memento Black, Night of Navy (sponged).  Dies:  Hearth & Home Thinlits (window).  Christmas Greetings Thinklits (peacy).  (Thanks Dara Peterson for this wonderful card design.)

Christmas Bauble...Merry & Bright!

Do you remember when Stampin' Up came out with their very own alcohol markers in 2014?  Unfortuantely, they did not stay around, because Stampin' Up is very particular about their products, and these pens just didn't end up meeting their high standards.  Too bad, because alcohol markers and wonderful to use and I believe make coloring images, stamped or digital, so easy!  Well, my upline, Liz Thayer, hosted a mini class to introduce Blendabilities and let us doodle with coloring by providing us with some stamped images, and some sample cards where these images had been colored and incorporated into her card design, one of which was made by the Christmas Bauble stamp in the 2014 Holiday mini catalog.

As it turns out, I have been coloring with Copic Marker alcohol-based markers for about five years, which allowed me to see the difference between Copics and the new Blendabilities.  I found it more difficult to control my coloring with the Blendabilities, because their ink flow was just a bit too fast for my taste, which made me nervous!  Long story short, I love Liz's Christmas Bauble design, but I thought I would finish it at home where I could use my own Copic markers to tweak the coloring of the bauble just a bit more.  I had already colored my bauble with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities set of three markers, but used Copics to incorporate a bit more shading without bleeding into the white background.  I also finished the leaves with Copics and I added some yellow-gold trim coloring as shown.

Looking over the card design provided, I felt it need a bit more of my added yellow-gold color to make it pop.  I found a Martha Steward gemstone in the exact yellow-gold shade, which was just too perfect rather than using just a rhinestone.  Next, I added another layer of Old Olive at the bottom, forming a new cardbase, which accomplished two things:  it added more color dimension to my card and also increased its size just a bit.  I thought these additions helped keep the rather large bauble from overwhelming other features of the the card's original design.  Thank you Liz for such a beautiful card idea to work with.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Gold Glimmer.  Stamps--Good Greetings.  1/8" Gold Metallic ribbon.  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black.  Copics Markers (+ Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities - discontinued).  Martha Stewart: Bright Large Gemstones.

Hugs & Kisses for the Bride!

My youngest daughter, Jackie, is getting married, and the hostesses for her bridal shower party are my oldest daughter, Michele, and my son's wife, Ginger.  They have been very busy for the past month and a half planning the menu for the invitation design, the luncheon, the games and entertainment for the guests, and prizes to be won.  

Ginger came up with a vision of theme for the shower invitations, which she thought would be fun to craft ourselves.  This, or course, is where I entered into the planning as well!   From her ideas of having a gatefold card to use Jackie's wedding colors of black and red, she thought it would be elegant to add a black and white damask patterned paper and add ma wedding dress to the front of the card.  I thought a doily-fold wedding dress would be just right and the "sisters" agreed after they saw my completed dress.  I tweaked Ginger's other ideas here and there and came up with a suggested card design.  It took a lot of collaborating between the three of us before we settled its a final design.  We were all excited to see a sample card putting all our ideas together.

I shopped for supplies, meanwhile deciding to use a larger doily than most of the design instructions that I found on Pinterest, because it was to represented a long wedding gown.  When the sample card was completed and several changes made, we were excited to get together to make up our little beauties to send out to our guests.  I prepared and cut multiple card parts and we were ready for the next step to convene one Saturday morning over a month ago and "whip" out multiple replicas of our sample invitation card.  Michele has made a few cards with me in the past, so she had a good idea that this would not be a one- or two-hour job as Ginger thought.  Much to Ginger's surprise, Michele was very right. . .we needed about five hours to get them all done!

Michele and Ginger planned the luncheon menu and shopped together for ingredients, plus game prizes.  The main course was able to be assembled ahead and frozen until ready to bake.  They got together on another Saturday to complete these task and brainstorm the decorating ideas and games to be played. 

Michele and I have been working on the house and party decorations.  I was happy to lend my papercrafting and computer graphic skills, plus oodles of papercrafting tools to make her ideas become a reality.  It has been an exciting and fun time brainstorming ideas to come up with our finished products!  Once decisions were made on basic ideas, I went to work using my computer skills complete everything from signs for the Mimosa Bar, game instructions to game parts using papercrafting tools.  Once the parts and pieces were designed and printed, Michele and I worked together on at least four different occasions to assemble all the parts.

Last night, after coming home from another night of shower crafting and decorating, it dawned on me that the shower was the next day, and I had not had time to sit down and create a card to go with Jackie's shower gift.  Oh my!  I could see another late night looming!  

I got busy and whipped up this simple card below, which borrows the wedding colors and the bridal shower theme.  For a "short-timer" card.  This is what I call a card that is made with very little time. . .a just get it done card. . .create the design quickly, do it fast. . .no procrastinating allowed.  For the very little time that I had in the wee hours of the morning, I was pretty please with my results.  Also, when the card was finished, I realized it could make a good Valentine's Day card as well.  Jackie always loves almost every card I've ever made, so I'm pretty sure she will like this one too.

Below is a peak at the inside, using the outside theme to create the inside design.  I used my computer to whip up it's little verse.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up cardstock:  Whisper White, Basic Blake, Red Glimmer paper.  Recollections: Black Glitter.  Recollections: Hollywood  & Vine (damask).  MFT Die-namics: Layered Hearts; Photo Corners.  Cottage Cutz die: Hugs & Kisses.  Stash: Offray ribbon. Computer-made verse.  (Size: 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" square).

Christmas Deer Foil Heat Transfer!

Again, I'm posting another foil heat transfer card that I finished after my demonstration tool card class held at Running Scissors in Kent, WA almost two weeks ago.  I really love this heat transfer technique, but there are other ways to achieve almost this very look, which I thought I'd throw out there.  I have a deer-head die, by Savvy dies, almost identical to the deer-head tag that was in our heat transfer pouch of tags that we received at the beginning of the class.  I think that if you die-cut this deer-head die with a gold foil cardstock and adhered it to a piece of white stock and then trimmed the white cardstock to whatever shape you desire, you would end up with almost the exact look!

The deer-head tag on my card was achieved by heat transferring gold transfer foil onto my specially designed tag, which was manufactured to accept foil heat transfers.  I finished my card at home, because I wanted to add several other features that required materials that were not offered in our card kits.  These were:  a red cardbased upon which I layered white glitter cardstock.  I also wanted to back my gold dot vellum with a piece of white cardstock and then frame it with a red foil layer.  I layered my deer tag with red foil cardstock as well, and to the cake sprinkles and gold sequins provided in my kit, I added red sequins to tie all my card colors together with the shaker envelope goodies.  I really love these trendy deers that I see popping up all over Pinterest!  Here is my little deer-head Christmas card for your viewing:

Recipe:  SU cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White.  Core'dinations Silk Glitter: Opulent Opal.  DCWV Foil Cardstock Stack (red).  Studio Calico Seven Paper Amelia Gold Dot Vellum.  Heidi Swapp Minc Tags (deer head) (made with Minc Heat Machine + Minc Reactive Foil: Red.  American Crafts: Remarks Holiday Dimensional sentiments.  American Crafts Christmas Sequins & Buttons.  Pink Posh: red mini sequins.  Cake Sprinkles (snow).  WRMK Photo Fuse sleeve (made with WRMK Photo Fuse Tool).  (Size: 4-3/8" x 5-7/8").

Another Christmas Class Card!

For my second card from the Running Scissors card class presented by Darcy Christensen, Regional Manager for American Crafts, I used a Nordic patterned tag and decided to do my foil transfer in red using the American Crafts Minc heat machine.  I had an idea in mind to use this patterned tag with an overlay of a glittery white reindeer, using a punch I had recently purchased, so I decided to wait until I got home to finish the card.

I also wanted to use a red card base and a second layer of the white glittery paper to coordinated with my little reindeer.  I added white cake sprinkles for snow and some mini red sequins from home to complete my shaker.  Once again, I used the WRMK Photo Fuse to size seal my shaker bag to the exact size I wanted.  Of the sentiment tags package we were given, I chose the red with white Merry Christmas.  I am super pleased with my results using these clever tools.

Recipe:  SU cardstock: Real Red.  Core'dinations Silk Glitter: Opulent Opal.  Jen Hadfield Gold Dot Foil.  Heidi Swapp Minc Tags (Nordic pattern), Minc Reactive Foil: Red.  Paper Studio punch: Reindeer XXL.  American Crafts: Remarks Holiday Dimensional sentiments.  Pink Posh: red mini sequins.  WRMK Photo Fuse sleeve.  WRMK Photo Fuse Tool.  Cake Sprinkles (snow).  (Size: 4-3/8" x 5-5/8").

A Spooky Kitty for Halloween!

My daughter, Michele, and I decided we wanted to make the youngest daughter and sister, Jackie, a Deco Mesh Halloween wreath for the door of her new residence.  We like the ones we made for ourselves so much that we wanted to share our craftiness.  Below is a peek at Jackie's Happy Halloween witchy wreath.  She so loves to decorate for Halloween, and I'm just positive that this may become her very favorite decoration of all.  I know she will LOVE it.

Next, I decided the crafty Halloween wreath could only be accompanied by a crafty homemade card made by Mom (that would be me)!  I decided to spend the afternoon designing my first Halloween card of the season by using some of my new cardmaking dies that I have recently purchased.  One of my favorite purchases is a Poppystamp die, which is a scary kitty face, appropriately called Kitty Cat Face.  To go along with the kitty, I thought my new Spooky word die from Stampin' Up's Seasonal framelits would be perfect.  A little black cardstock, some glitter paper, some dies, some punches, and voila, it is done.  I do just love that Kitty Cat Face die!

Now, I needed a little verse that matched the front card design, and one that certainly speaks of lurking cats on Halloween!  With a bit of research and a dollop of imagination, I came up with this little verse for my card inside.

Recipe:  Darice cardstock: Midnight Black.  The Paper Company cardstock: Victoriana 5-pack (tan).  Recollections Glitter Pad: Haunted (orange).  SU Gold Glimmer.  SU: Seasonal framelit dies (spooky - Holiday 2015).  Poppystamps die: Kitty Cat Face.  EK punch: ZigZag.  Recollections rhintestones.  Computer verse (font: Homemade Apple).  Size 5" x 6".

An Avid Seahawks 12th Woman Has A Birthday!

One of my good friends and cardmaking buddy is having a birthday today, and she is an avid Seahawks fan. . .a true dyed in the wool 12th Man!  I decided she certainly deserved one of my handmade Deco Mesh Seahawks wreaths for her door, so my daughter and I scheduled a fun-filled craft night and put our 5th Seahawks wreath together for Charlene's birthday!  See my October 4th post for my son's birthday, which shows a picture of our wonderful wreath, if I do not say so myself!

As with my son's birthday, also a 12th Man fan, I thought Charlene should have a Seahawks birthday card, but with a little more of a feminine twist to it than for my son.  I found a cute little daisy-like flowered paper in Seahawks colors in a digital paper collection called Paisley Park by Happy Heart Creations.  Out of all possibilities, I thought this would be perfect as Charlene has quite the green thumb as well!  

Once again, I got to use my new WRMK Photo Fuse Tool to make my shaker card sealed envelope to hold my shaker football confetti!  Don't you just love the Seattle skyline with the Space Needle in the shaker box background?  Here is a peek at the Seahawk's creation for my friend's birthday!

Recipe:  SU Whisper White cardstock. BoBunny Double Dot: Kiwi.  The Paper Studio: Tiny Polka-Navy Tonal.  Happy Heart Creations: Paisley Park collection (digital paper).  Core'dinations Glitter: Ball Gown.  Spellbinders: Classic Scallop Squares; Classic Squares LG.  Impress die: Seatltle Skyline.  WRMK:  Deco Corner Chomper; Photo Fuse Tool/ Waterfall 4x4 sleeve.  Party City: Football Confetti.  Pink Posh sequins.  Offray: 3/8" Navy satin-sheer.  Computer-made sentiment / verse:  Shelley Font.  Inside:  Stash: Button Dots (Copic colored).

A Bridal Shower for My Daughter

My youngest daughter, Jackie, is getting married in January.  Sister, Michele, and sister-in-law, Ginger, are planning a shower in November.  One of Ginger's tasks was to decide on the invitations.  She thought it might be just the thing to make homemade invitations.  As the cardmaker in the family, I was invited to participate.

Jackie's wedding colors are black and red, and the "daughters" decided they would follow her colors for the shower theme; thus, the invitations would be black and red as well.  Ginger did quite a bit of research on the web looking at different invitation ideas, but as she has not joined Pinterest, she had no idea what she was missing!  She found lots ready-made card ideas that she thought looked nice, and her search helped her decide that she wanted to incorporate  black and white damask paper and perhaps some red glitter paper.  She sent me several pictures of ready-made invitations that she found of both inside and outside designs.  Her favorite had a bouffant wedding dress on the front and she liked a ribbon band under the invite information on the inside.  She had the idea of the card front meeting in the middle with the bride dress opening on one side in order to see the inside invite.  What she described was a gate-fold card, and it would be easy enough to incorporate that idea.  At this point she turned it over to me to come up with some design ideas.

Over the past few years, I had seen several dress cards using a folded doily, and I thought that might be a good idea, so I went searching on line for some cards incorporating that idea to refresh my memory and also to find a tutorial on how to fold the doily for my wedding dress idea.  The tutorial that I settled on is by Angie Gittles: Paper, Paws, Etc. (dated 5/6/12).  I did some modifications to Angie's instructions, because she uses a 4-inch doily for her dress.  I decided that since my dress was a long wedding dress, that a 6.5-inch doily might be better, and I must say it turned out to be perfect.  I also modified my bodice attachment by not leaving the skirt point down, but using it as part of the anchor for the bodice attachment.  I also trimmed my bodice straight on the bottom and placed it on the front of the skirt over the point because I planned to use a red ribbon sash, which would bury any cut edges.  I also drew a template of the finished dress onto white cardstock and fussy-cut it out to be adhered  over the back side of my dress to hide any raw paper edges and the ribbon sash attachment that would show when it was placed on the gate fold, as part of the back side of the dress shows when the card is opened (how much depends on the angle or amount that overlaps on the opening side).

Though I had a few pieces of black and white damask paper, I did not have enough to make 14 invitations...so shopping I did go!  I was truly surprised at how few pieces of black and white damask there were to choose from, but I did finally find a pattern at Michael's that I thought would be okay.  At first I thought the pattern might be too large, but actually, when the card was finished, I decided it was more than okay!

Ginger, Michele, and I spent the following Saturday making our shower card invitations, and we were totally pleased with the outcome.  We all loved the bit of red glitter paper used and also the cute little sentiment, He popped the question!, which was answered on the inside with,  And she said yes! 

This is the finished inside invitation to coordinate with the outside design.  We were very pleased with the outcome!  (Note: for privacy, I have overlaid a substitute inside without the address or email account.)

Recipe:  SU cardstock:  Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, Red Glimmer.  Recollections: Hollywood & Vine Swing Time.  Recollections 6.5-inch White Doilies.  Offray 1/4" red satin ribbon.  SU punches: Full Heart (retired), Artisan Label (retired). EK punch: Scalloped Scallops Border.

Butterflies Celebrate Ginger's Birthday!

My lovely daughter-in-law celebrates her birthday just shortly after my Mom.  At our Girls' Getaway in May, our hostess, Liz Thayer, shared a lovely card, which I thought would make the perfect card for Ginger's birthday.  I decided to re-created this card, but on my version, I chose to branch out a bit and add a few more layers.  I liked the idea of a bit more color and bling to compliment the glittery little butterfly with its deeper shade of coral and to bring more attention to the rhinestones embedded in the embossed design.

To accomplish this idea, I added a layer of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper, which did indeed bring out the sparkly rhinestones on the embossed lacy flowers, as well as those forming the bitty butterfly body.  I also added a fourth layer of a light coral for the cardbase, which is slightly darker than Stampin's Up's Crisp Cantaloupe used on the embossed card face.  This added color, though lighter than the bitty butterfly's wing, compliments the darker coloring.  With these additions and Liz's original card design, I was happy with my new card for Ginger's birthday!

The finishing touches for Ginger's card was to make a birthday verse for the inside and to create a complimentary design to coordinate with the card front.  It is now ready to show off.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks - Basic Black, Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer; Stamps/ Framelits: - Butterfly Basics/ Butterflies; Embossing Folder - Lovely Lace; Punches - Open Scallop Border (retired), Bitty Butterfly; Ink - Crisp Cantaloupe, Tangelo Twist; Dazzling Details Glitter Glue; Rhinestones.  The Paper Company cardstock: Light Coral.  Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black.  (The original card design was created by our Getaway hostess, Liz Thayer. . . thanks Liz for sharing it with us).

New Job Congratulations!

My sister just got a job promotion, and I really wanted to make her a congratulatory card.  A feather in your cap kept running around in my brain and pushing me to get busy and create!  That little idea just naturally ran to my using Stampin' Up's Four Feathers framelits that came out in their 2014 Holiday catalog.  It seemed odd to me that it came out in that edition, but I'm guessing they had it in mind to use the feathers with fall-type cards.  I was really disappointed that they did not bring these stamps and coordinating framelits back in the new 2015-2016 annual catalog.  The reason, my guess, is that they didn't go over well in the initial offering in the Holiday catalog, as Stampin' Up customers are busy thinking Fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and somehow, feathers didn't seem to fit those themes; therefore, there probably weren't enough sales to justify keeping them for the annual catalog.

I recently purchased a piece of chevron patterned paper from Michael's Crafts that looked like it was watercolored and was very pretty.  Though Michael's open-stock Recollections papers are general very thin, which I do not like, I loved the design and colors so much, I decide to go ahead and use it anyway.  I planned to spruce it up with some layers of regular cardstock and glitter cardstock to give the card more body.  I think I'm pleased with the outcome and hope my sister will like her little surprise congratulatory card.

Here is a peek at the complimentary inside design and my verse that I created to fit my sister's job promotion occasion.

Recipe:  Papers: Stampin' Up cardstocks - Whisper White, Night of Navy, Soft Sky (inside); Core'dinations Glitter Silk - Regal Royal, Bermuda Bling, Jade, Majestic Magenta; Core-dinations Vellum - Baby Blue;  Recollections - Watercolor Chevron.   Hampton Art Ki stamps: Celebrate Life.  MemoryBox dies: Stitched Country Borders.  Stampin' Up Framelits: Four Feathers.  EK Scallop Photo Corner punch (inside).  Queen Co. Goosebumps (Copic colored).  Stampin' Up Embossing Powder: White.  Stash: 5/8" Iridescent Sheer ribbon.  Glitter Butterfly.  Computer-made verse (Font: odstemplik/ 21).  Size: 5-1/8" x 6".

2015 Sister-in-Law Birthdays #1 - Brother's Wife

Every year, if you've read my blog, you know I have eight sister-in-laws whose birthdays fall between May and October.  So, as usual, be prepared to be deluged by sister-in-law birthday cards and blog posts.  My first sister-in-law birthday is my brother's wife, Diane.

Still in the what I call my fast mode to finish my must-do cards before my wonderful Get-Away Event and still have time leftover for snail mail, I needed to complete Diane's birthday card right away.  When I get into the fast mode, I find my "from scratch creative" flies out the window, and I want to resort to at least a starting point of  something I've made before. 

I remembered a card I made that was designed by Liz Thayer for her Stampin' Up Sale-A-Bration event, which featured stamps available for that sale event, such as the penny-farthing bicycle featured in this card.  I completed her bicycle card at that event, but added a few tweaks of my own after coming home.  I don't have a sample of the original design, and at this late date, but I do remember some my additions or modifications, which was to increased the finished card size by adding two new layers in black and silver glimmer and group these with a larger cherry cobbler layer, making a three-layer frame under the  smaller black and vanilla layers.  I also centered my penny-farthing layer instead of off-centering it and lightly sponged Basic Gray and Cherry Cobbler Red onto the vanilla layers and the newsprint.  So, my card is at least a CASE of Liz's original design. . .thank you Liz!  I just love this little old-fashioned bicycle stamp, and I think Diane will like its vintage flavor as well.

And now for the inside design made to coordinate with the outside, and the little birthday verse jut for Diane.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla; Pattern--First Edition dsp;  stamp--Feeling Sentimental (2013 SAB); ink--Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler (sponging); ribbon--1/8" Black Taffeta; Glimmer brads-Silver.  Core'dinations Silver Glitter paper.  Computer-made verse.  Size: 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".

Celebrating My Mother!

Mother's Day is coming, and I must get a card made and sent before I leave on my Girls' Retreat Cardmaking Event, which is four glorious and fun-filled days away, ending on Mother's Day!  But once again, the kicker is so much to do, so little time, but what else is new.  I'm just full of idioms this morning, and I'm remembering an English teacher from my past who advised us that idioms and cliches should be avoided at all costs as they are a sign of a lazy writer.  Somehow, sometimes they just fit perfectly, and today it pleases me to use them (so there)!

With a little anxiety because of the short timeline, I sat down a few days ago and thought about Mom and what she loves on cards.  She loves pastel colors, especially aqua and peach and especially with butterflies, so there was my anxiety reliever and my first injection of mojo.  I remembered a card made several years ago using the Flower Garden embossing folder and Pool Party cardstock, which was designed by Liz Thayer.  I decided to do a take off on that card, but I would use a little vellum with my aqua card and make it two tone,  and the rest just began to flow from there.  Something light and airy with a little sparkle would be nice, bring on the vellum, aqua shades and silvery glitter paper.  I decided my butterflies should have a embossed vellum layer as well.  Here is the card that evolved, and I think it suits Mom to a tee!

A little decorating on the inside to coordinate with the outside design, and a little Mother's Day verse just for my special mom, and now, I can say it's all done and ready to send off in the mail.  Enjoy your special day, Mom!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Very Vanilla, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party; Misc. paper--White Vellum, Silver Glimmer paper; Flower Garden Embossing folder; Punches--Elegant Butterfly, Bitty Butterfly, Modern Label, Word Window; Stamp--And Many More; Ink--Smoky Slate; Rhinestones.  WRMK Corner Chomper: Deco.  Stash: Sheer Aqua ribbon. (Size: 5" x 6-1/4").

Swallowtail Sympathy Card

One of my husband's cousins that he grew up with past away this last week after a prolonged illness.  It is of some comfort that his cousin is now at peace and in a place more restful than his last months here.  I needed to set my mind to a sympathy card design.  Sometimes, I find it difficult to do sympathy card, but I've found that if I focus on a card that will be elegant, but restful and peaceful, the mojo flows.

I made a sympathy card for a long-time friend several months ago when her mother passed, and I really like the color palette for her card.  I decided to use it again:  black,  Crumb Cake, vanilla, and gold metallic, but change it up with a little pastel yellow instead of cream.  I had used the Stampin' Up Swallowtail stamp before, but never on a sympathy card, but I thought with this color palette it would be really pretty.

My previous sympathy card used a patterned paper in blacks and tans that I spritzed with my homemade Inca Gold Metallic spritzer.  I decided to use this idea on the Crumb Cake cardstock onto which I planned to stamp my Swallowtail butterfly.  I spritzed the cardstock and dried it, and I was ready to stamp.  I off-centered the butterfly to the right side of the card and stamped with Memento Ink, because I planned to color in parts of the wings with Copic markers.  

I designed a little multi-layer fishtail sentiment tag.  The sentiment is computer-made and punched out with the SU Word Window punch.  I trimmed off one curved end and fishtailed it to match the black and yellow layers below.  The other curve end (under the ribbon) is finished off with one of the onyx rhinestones...it looks really cute, if cute is the right word for a sympathy card. 

Now that the front design was complete, I set my efforts to creating a coordinating inside design and finding just the right sympathy verse.  I came upon this quote from Isiah 40:11 that I thought was perfect.  Using the computer, I decided to print my verse onto a piece of gold metallic spritzed Crumb Cake cardstock made just as I did for the front before I stamped the Swallowtail.  I placed the pre-prepared, dried cardstock in the printer and printed the verse.  I was very pleased with the results.

Recipe:  SU papers:  Basic Black, Crumb Cake. SU stamp: Swallowtail. SU Antique Brad. SU punch: Word Window (sentiment/ one end fishtailed).  Darice Core’dinations Glitter paper: String of Pearls.  Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black.  SU: Vintage Brad.  Ribbon Stash: 5/8” Gold metallic; 1/4” Gold Metallic edged black satin. Y08 Copic marker. Black rhinestones. Computer-made sentiment. Homemade Fishtail tag.  Homemade: Inca Gold Metallic Spritz (FolkArt Metallic Inca Gold Acrylic paint). Becca’s Bowmaker.  Inside: EK Victorian Photo Corner punch.

Totally Loving Christmas!

I attended a Stampin' Up card extravaganza given by my upline, Liz Thayer, in October.  We made ten different Christmas cards, and the designs were all wonderful.  Some of them, I absolutely loved and re-created several of them for family and friends.  I did take some liberties with the design by adding more background layering to increase the size as I like cards larger than the standard A2 size (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")  that are usually presented at most Stampin' Up events.  Following are the cards that I cased from this event and enlarged with additional background layers, though the remainder of the card remains true to the original designs by Liz Thayer.

On Card #1, I added the bottom Night of Navy cardbase and the next layer of solid Silver foil.  Not only did this increase the size the the card, but I really like the additional framing it provided as a background to the original card.

On Card #2,  the original done at the TLC event used a color scheme of Blushing Bride pink.  I already published my pink version on my blog on December 6, 2014.  In the blog report, I mentioned that I added the two layers of the Smokey Slate cardbase and the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper layer.  The original was done on a white cardbase with no glimmer.  I also made my aqua panel a bit wider and added the Scallop Oval layer under the sentiment.

On Card #3, I added the bottom Cherry Cobbler cardbase and the Diagonal Stripe DSP.  I also decided to center my Baker's twines over my Santa tag instead of typing it to the left of the tag.   I thought the stamp set was darling when I saw it in the Holiday catalog, and after seeing it made up, it did not disappoint!

Card #4 is like the navy Card #1; I simply added two more layers under what was the Very Vanilla cardbase.  My re-creation then had a Blackberry Bliss cardbase topped with a Gold Foil layer and then was finally topped with the card as it originally looked.  I like the added layers as I think it Makes the gold foil JOY and little metallic gold ribbon bow stand out more.  Though this picture doesn't show it well, the Blackberry Bliss top layer is embossed with the Filigree Frame embossing folder from the 2014 Holiday catalog.

To this Card #5, I just added the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper between the Cherry Cobbler cardbase and the Crumb Cake layer.  I did have to cut a new and larger carbase to accommodate the added layer, but the rest of the card is true to Liz's original design.

To Card #6, I added two layers in between the white cardbase and the Soft Sky top pinecone layer:  Lost Lagoon and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer cardstocks.  I also decided to move the vertical Lost Lagoon and 1/8" Silver ribbons and layer them horizontally across the card and under the sentiment banner.  I also decided to use a larger double bow on the left of the sentiment rather than the much smaller single bows on the original card.  In addition, I shortened my sentiment banner to show off the ribbon added underneath and give the double bow a place to sit.

On Card #7, I added patterned paper between the cardbase and the black layer.  I also enlarged the black layer to better accommodate the enlarged Very Vanilla stamped layer.  This allowed most of the entire tree limb of the bird stamp to show rather than quite a bit of the tip to be cut off.  I moved the burlap ribbon a tad to the right and shortened and centered my sentiment fishtail banner.  I like the balance I achieved by doing these small touches.  Once again, the original design had Argyle embossing on the black layer, but it doesn't display well in the picture.  I colored my bird with Blendabilities and some Copics rather than the Stampin' Up markers.

Card #8 was another of my favorite designs presented at the TLC Extravaganza.  Again, I added two layers between the bottom Whisper White cardbase and the very top Real Red layer on which the dotted dsp and the tag rests.  I needed to enlarge my white cardbase because of the increased size to the card with the added layers of Real Red and the Diagonal Striped DSP.  Other than adding those two in-between layers, the card remains true to Liz's original design.

Thanks Liz for the wonderful Totally Lovin' Christmas Extravaganza and the wonderful card designs.  In re-creating my own cards, I totally cased your cards, but added a bit of my own touches.

Recipes:
Card #1 -   Stampin' Up papers:  Cardstocks--Night of Navy, Whisper White;  Vellum--Fancy Foil Vellum-Silver.  DCWV Foil Stack: Silver.  Stampin' Up stamps:  Lovely As A Tree (Annual), Making Spirits Brights (sentiment-2014 Holiday), Holiday Home (stars-2014 Holiday).  Stampin' Up Ink: White Craft, Night of Navy.  Stampin' Up Punch: Modern Labels.  Stampin' Up Ribbon: 5/8” White Satin.  Other: Mini silver brads, Mini Rhinestones.  Size:  5-1/4” x 6-1/4”.