Wild Rose

Yes, I'm still making floral cards! This card used not one, but two scallop edge punches ... a technique I learned from Becca's Blog. How cool is that? The brown scallop edge is Martha Stewart's Lace Doily and the white scallop edge is a Fiskers. Wouldn't that be pretty across an entire scrapbook page? Lots of layers makes this card pop, along with the pink and brown color combination. The stamped background is Wild Rose by Rubber Stampede (Michaels) and the sentiment is from Hero Arts Clear Design - Frames and Messages.
After coloring with these Copic markers, I trimmed the rose background to allow for the double scallop bottom, and added pearls on a SU corner punch. If you look closely, you can notice the SU classy brass embossed flower on the pink circle punch that holds the sentiment. Happy stamping!

Garden Poems

Tonight I played with a new Penny Black stamp, Garden Poems. I'm crazy for daisies - so this was a natural fit for me! And for the first time ever I played with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Textile, after recently discovering that it is compatible with my Sizzix machine (thanks Linda and Joyce for sending me down this new path of obsession)! The card base is made with SU Close to Cocoa, and the Cuttlebug design is embossed onto SU Certainly Celery (my all time favorite cardstock color). I have a recurring dream --- to have a Certainly Celery dining room someday! So Saffron runs a close 2nd. I sure hope you speak my speak, or this blog will give you a headache! I felt that the daisy design lends itself well to a slight all-over highlight with Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink, applied with a stipple brush.

This picture shows the matching daisy on the inside of the card and on the envelope. I simply off-stamped a portion of the daisy and colored with Copics to match the front card design. It adds so much to the overall card when the receiver thinks you went the extra mile to match everything perfectly --- and you did!


These are the Copic markers used. As always, remember to outline your image with warm gray to give it a nice shadow. The sentiment is from CHF, Silhouette Blooms II. This was just too fun! Thanks for visiting and have a spendiferous day!

Standard Stationery Portfolio

An old friend ... the standard stationery portfolio! I can't count how many times I've used this concept for gift-giving and class designs. I love sharing this "oh-so-easy" WOW project. Once you have the basic pattern for the folded card holder, the sky's the limit for designing a matching card set. The portfolio holds four standard cards and matching envelopes.

It's a bit hard to see, but the close-up picture shows glitter pen accents on the flower, tipped with a pale pink Copic Marker on the flower petals. I also used a SU corner punch to border the entire card with silver thread. The pattern for the Standard Stationery Portfolio is shown below. Go forth --- make many many many! Enjoy!

Standard Stationery Portfolio
1. Stamp background design on one side of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.
2. Score at 5 1/2 (folds in half)
3. Score inside flap at 6" and fold all score lines.
4. Cut slim "V" into flap at center fold and secure outside edges
5. Set jumbo eyelets with cropadile (or just punch holes) and thread ribbon
6. Add stamped title piece on front cover with pop dots

4-Card Portfolio

As promised, here is a picture of the 4-card portfolio that included yesterday's sympathy card. I love to make several cards of the same color scheme because they compliment each other and make nice gift sets. This group was a creative test using silhouette stamps and CHF backgrounders - a splendiferous combination! The silhouette stamps are CHF Silhouette I and SU Fresh Cuts {Stampin' Up is advertising that they will soon have 24-hour online shopping coming to a computer near you - woo hoo!}

Silhoutte Sympathy

Tonight I wanted to share a sympathy card I made for my dear friend Debbie, whose only sister lost her life to cancer yesterday at the early age of 63. I love the sweet simplicity of Kim Hughes' set entitled Silhouette Blooms I made by Cornish Heritage Farms. The silhouette images are stunning when stamped with versamark and heat embossed with black powder. As you know, I love using CHF backgrounder stamps and this card showcases one of my very favorites, Pretty Pattern. I used the SU ticket corner punch before mounting on black cardstock, and the sheer organdy ribbon and pearl accents add to the elegant, simplicity of the message. This card is actually part of a 4-card portfolio, and I will share the other cards individually in the days to come.

Love

My first creative post! This was so fun -- the kind of fun that makes you feel like you are wearing an "arteest" smock and when you are finished you say "Voila"!

I stamped the tree on good, heavy quality watercolor paper, and colored with Copic Markers, making sure to shadow the entire image with my favorite Copic Marker - W1 warm gray. I then overstamped the entire image with Le London background stamp. Unfortunately, I do not know the exact color of the pale yellow cardstock, but I also overstamped it separately before mounting. The base background was stamped in SU white craft ink. I am BIG on background stamps!

I created a scallop edge embellishment using my SU corner rounder, although their new scallop edge punch is definitely on my shopping list! Add a few crystals, tie on a sheer ribbon, add sentiment with small jump ring -- and stand back and say "Voila"!

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Credits:

Stamps: Windy Tree (Hero Arts); Le London Script (Stampabilities); Love ($1 bin/Michaels); Sanded Background (Stampin' Up)

Copics: G21, V15, W1

Cardstock: SU Elegant Eggplant; Wasabi Green; Watercolor Paper

Inks: SU Black; SU White Craft Ink; Antique Linen & Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)

Punches: SU corner rounder

A Beginning

The blog bug bit me and I could not resist. My "other" blog was simply not the venue for creativity, lest we have a blog crash between ramblings about my family life and my creative genes. So here I am ... Creativity is good!