Wild Saffron Sympathy

I love this image- it's perfect for many occasions, and for this particular card I've used it for a sympathy card.

The stamped is called Solidago Sprig and comes from a company called Rubber Stampede. I bought it ages ago when I first started making cards so I've had it a llllloooong time!

I stamped the image with Dark Chocolate Papertrey Ink ink and a greeny/turquoise from Versacolor on Vintage Cream paper and sponged the edges with Dark Chocolate. It's matted on Dark Chocolate cardstock, with patterned paper from K & Company (Wild Saffron line) and more Vintage Cream cardstock as the card base. Ribbon is sheer brown ribbon from my stash and the brads are white Making Memories brads that coloured brown with my Copic markers. (I love when I can do that!) The tag punch is a Martha Stewart punch from Michael's and I used a hole punch to put my metal jump ring through it, and to attach it to the ribbon. The 'With Sympathy' sentiment comes from Mixed Messages stamp set by Papertrey Ink.

A little chalk and sparkle...

I borrowed this Artful Stamper image from my mom thinking it would work nicely in a one layer card...and I think it did! I stamped the flower with pink and sage green inks from Versacolor, then used similar colours of chalk to highlight the image, giving it a softer look. I used just a touch of Diamond Stickles on one of the petals on each flower. I didn't want it to be too sparkly, as it is a sympathy card after all. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and was stamped on Vintage Cream cardstock, which is also the card base. I matted it on Sweet Blush and glued it down and that was it! Easy peasy!

Christmas cardinals

Christmas, Christmas time is here...do I sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks? :) This is my first Christmas card of the season and let me tell you, I cringed the entire time making it. I really love winter and snow and all that fun stuff that goes along with the holiday season, but really, I think I could handle another month or two of hot, summery weather!

I love this Inkadinkado cardinal image...so pretty! I bought it here at Scrappin' Great Deals. I attempted to use a rock n' roll technique on this image, and I think it sort of worked. :) I simply pressed the image into red ink, then rolled the edges over again to get a darker look. I added Candy Cane Stickles to the berries on the holly in the image. Patterned paper is Basic Grey Figgy Pudding (you must buy this paper, it's just too gorgeous), baubles are from Stamping Bella, ribbon is from the Paper Pickle, and that's about all the details you'll need! :)

Cardmakers inspiration

I've been making sympathy cards all week. Thankfully, not for the reason you might think, but for a Christmas Bazaar my mom and I are going to sell our cards in come November 29th. Might as well get a start on stocking up our supply of every kind of card! So this week, unless of course it becomes too depressing, I'm going to make all sympathy cards. :) This card was inspired by a card made by Julia Stainton that I saw in Cardmaker's magazine.

This one uses stamps from Nature's Silhouettes by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. I used a variety of brown inks (one being Mushroom Adirondack ink) for the background stamps, with one in a pale blue to draw out the blue cardstock it's matted on. The sentiment is from Out on a Limb sentiments by Papertrey Ink. I used my Cropadile to hole punch a hole in one side of the card to tie the ribbon through, and added a flatback pearl over top of the tied part. The mushroom coloured cardstock I ran through a Cuttlebug folder, and glued it to Vintage Cream cardstock from PTI.

Autumn approaching...

Oooooo this is an old card from last year! So old that I can't even find it anymore in my craft corner, so I'm not sure who makes it! I do know that I bought it at the London Scrapbook Expo last fall... I felt inspired to post a 'fall' card since last night it was quite cool and it is definitely getting darker earlier!! Where did summer go?!

I stamped the image in Brilliance Graphite Black ink and coloured it in with my Tombow Markers...pre-Copic days in my house. :) As you can see, it's a terrible colouring job!

The mosaic tiles are kind of neat to work with; I picked up last fall at another scrapbook show, but I really haven't used them at all since this card- I'm going to have to look around and see how I can get creative with them!

The background patterned paper is Basic Grey which I distressed with a brown ink, and the cardstock is all Bazzil. Brads are Making Memories...I think I did pretty good job remembering all that considering it was a year ago I made it!

Happy New Baby!

Happy new baby! Another friend had a baby girl (now making it only 7 pregnant women I know... including myself!) so I made this card up for her and her husband.
Looking at it, I can see I used almost exclusively Papertrey Ink products. I guess that happens when you buy every single product they release on the 15th of every month...I'm still waiting for my August goodies to arrive but when they do...look out! :)
The baby onesie is stamped twice; once on the white cardstock, and once on the patterned paper which I cut out and popped up using dimensionals. The faux stitching I did by using my paper piercer to make the holes and then a black marker for the stitches.

As for MY baby news, I got to hear the heartbeat today which was very exciting. The doctor could hear it last time, but for some reason didn't use the instrument that allows the excited mom to hear!! So this time I finally got to hear it...next comes the ultrasound in a few days!

Supplies: Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set (PTI); White stamper's select cardstock, Plum Pudding cardstock, Lavender Moon cardstock, Summer Sunrise cardstock (all PTI); Lavender Moon polka dot ribbon (PTI); Copic markers; Lavender Moon ink (PTI), Graphite Black ink; black marker; paper piercer.

SC186

This card I made up for SC186 on SCS.

Stamping Bella images are so darn quirky and cute...I love this little seal and the saying that goes with him (or her)...sometimes it just fits 'life' doesn't it?!

I used my Copic markers to colour in the image, and added Diamond Stickles as an accent to some parts of the image. Papers are Basic Grey Sultry. I finally found my stapler hiding behind some other cardmaking "stuff" and decided to put it to use with some Making Memories coloured staples.

Supplies: Stamping Bella stamps; Copic markers; Diamond Stickles; MM jumbo eyelet, staples; misc. ribbon; Nestabilities scalloped rectangle die; misc. bling; corner rounder; Pinecone Versacolor ink.

A butterfly wedding!

This card is a wedding card for a friend's upcoming wedding in September. The picture didn't really seem to turn out all that great, being a white card, taken on a white background and my photo editing skills seems less than perfect today :)

I used a Magenta background stamp bought from the Paper Pickle and stamped it in Sweet Blush ink, and heat embossed it with a sparkle EP. Then I did it AGAIN and cut out the butterflies and popped them up with liquid adhesive (which was quite smelly and gave me a headache...oops, better open a window next time!). It's matted on Sweet Blush paper and the next layer is white cardstock run through my Swiss Dots embossing folder. Finally, the card base is white cardstock.

Supplies used: White stamper's select cardstock, Sweet Blush cardstock, Sweet Blush ink all by Papertrey Ink; Magenta stamp; sparkle EP; dimensionals; Swiss Dots embossing folder by Cuttlebug; liquid adhesive.

Finally, this is my little guy Jake- he's almost 2 and this picture cracks me up! He thinks he is sooo funny (hence the picture of him laughing at himself!) and really, he is pretty funny most days!

Blogging Friends Forever

Thanks for the award Crafty Sally!! Gotta love those blogging friends! I give this award to all of you who read my blog daily/weekly/or just once in awhile! :)

Happy Haunting!

Isn't this little witch the cutest!? This is another image sent to me by Maria.
This Tilda is called "JUL06 Tilda med kvast" ummm well, I'm not sure what that means!? Anyway, the direct link to it is here. She doesn't look all that scary for a witch does she? :)
I coloured her in with my Copics and used some Stickles on her wings, and flocking on her hat. I actually mixed a few colours of flock (brown, orange and yellow) to get a shade I was happy with, as straight brown was going to end up being too dark for what I wanted. I left her broom kind of hanging over the edges and 'roughed' up the bristles a bit. The kraft paper I ran through my Cuttlebug folder, then sponged brown ink around the edges.
In exciting news, I love that my Aunt Debbie found me in blogland somehow even though I keep this blogging habit of mine quiet! Hi Aunt Debbie if you're reading this! :)

Supplies: Tilda stamp; Copics; Stickles (diamond and orange peel); Doodlebug flock; Summer Sunrise cardstock, Dark Chocolate cardstock, Father Knows Best patterned paper, all from Papertrey Ink; Kraft cardstock; Making Memories brads; Cuttlebug embossing folder (Diamonds in the Rough).

Countdown to August 15th!!

This sympathy card didn't take long at to make, and so I think I'll whip up a few more in various colours.

The base layer is Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink, layered with Dark Chocolate cardstock, and Chocolate Remix patterned paper (the 6x6 pack). The main sentiment is from Papertrey's Out on a Limb sentiments stamp set and was stamped with Dark Chocolate ink. I then sprinkled some sparkly embossing powder on while the ink was still wet, and heat set. I cut out and embossed the edges of the sentiment using my rectangle Nestabilities, and matted it on Dark Chocolate cardstock.
The final touch was the satin Dark Chocolate ribbon added along the bottom.

You can find all the Dark Chcolate products here- a quick link to the July 2008 releases. The Vintage Cream can be found here, and the stamp set can be found here.
Don't forget to keep checking out Nichole Heady's blog which is counting down the days until the August 15th release!!

A white wedding

This card is for Sharon Johnson's No Time to Stamp challenge ssnotime46

The challenge was to use "white on white" and so here is my creation!

I used the script words from Close to My Heart (not sure what the exact name of the set is) and stamped it in black on white cardstock, then used my SU! Ticket Punch on the corners. Then I used a glue pen on all the edges, and sprinkled clear glitter on. The next layer is similarly done, and uses white glitter paper from Doodlebug Designs. The NEXT layer was run through the Textile Textures Cuttlebug folder. All white cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select. The layers are all popped up with dimensionals. I think I'll give this one to my boss who is getting married today 08-08-08!!

Welcome home, friend!

I made this for my friend Elaine who spent almost 4 weeks in Vancouver and is home today! Can't wait to see her and hear all about her trip!

This is an image I've had for awhile tucked away. I like to "borrow" my mom's stamps when she isn't looking and stamp a bunch for myself :) In fact, I just did that the other day with a bunch of her new Bellas...stayed tuned for cards made using those. :) Ahhhh she doesn't mind...I have come home occasionally to find a stamp or two missing that she has snuck in and 'borrowed' herself. It goes both ways. :)

I coloured in the Adirondack Chair stamp by Lockhart with my Copic markers and inked the edges with Indigo ink by Versacolor. It's matted on two colours of cardstock and popped up off the navy Bazzil cardstock with dimensionals. I ran the navy cardstock through my Swiss Dots embossing folder and matted it with an olive coloured cardstock (not sure of who makes it). The kraft cardstock is from Papertrey Ink, as is the sentiment, from their Boards & Beams stamp set. I used a button from my stash, and some pretty sheer red polka-dotted ribbon that I bought at the fabulous Paper Pickle. I like this card, and I hope Elaine likes it too!

Discovering a friend...

Oooo I love it when a card comes together and you really, really like the result! :) This one is a combo of 2 challenges- SC187 and WT177 both from Splitcoaststampers. I've been feeling 'up to the challenge' lately, now that I'm in my second trimester and FINALLY am less tired and nauseous!!

I used Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream as my background cardstock, and layered SEI Dill Blossom papers over it as the sketch directed . The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms, and the ink I used to stamp it is Dark Chocolate (PTI). Brads are Making Memories, and the flowers are Prima.
I just love the sentiment I've used here...isn't it just wonderful to discover a new friend? I can think of a few occasions in my life where I've encountered someone out of the blue only to have them still be a meaningful part of life today.

Home Sweet Home!

Home sweet home is right...we were on vacation for a few days at a cottage a few hours north of us and I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed...except for all the LAUNDRY I have to do now!! Ack!

I made this card for my friend Erin who recently bought her first home in Ottawa. Congrats Erin! I used patterned papers from the SEI Dill Blossom collection and the coordinating solids (LOVE those papers!) and paired it with Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream- a nice break from the usual white cardstock I use.
I stamped the house in Pinecone Versacolor ink, and then masked it to stamp the tree. Both images are coloured in with my Copic markers.
Ribbon is misc. from my stash as are the buttons, and the faux stitching I did using a paper piercer and brown marker. The sentiment comes from the Boards and Beams set by Papertrey Ink, as do the images.