You and Me

This card was going to be a Valentine's Day card for my DH since he and I are crazy about our cats. But, today he's embarking on a little adventure, so I left it for him to get after I leave for work with a little note of encouragement. He retired from teaching high school Spanish six years ago and never felt the need to sub, LOL. But, the school board office called him one day last week and asked him to fill in for three weeks for a teacher out on maternity leave. I think he's actually pretty excited about it. I also think he's in for some reality shock--a lot has changed in six years! But he's looking on it as an adventure and he'll probably have fun. I've had this stamp for some time and just got around to coloring it to match a couple of our cats, LOL.

My base card is Very Vanilla with a layer of Basic Black that was treated to a Martha Stewart border punch. The next layer is More Mustard stamped in Basic Black with a Cornish Heritage Farm Leaves #3 Backgrounder stamp on which I also used the same border punch. The focal image is an Inkadinkado stamp done in Basic Black on watercolor paper and colored with Stampin' markers and a blender pen. It's matted with More Mustard and Basic Black and is up on 3M foam squares. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado's Greetings/Salutations set and is stamped on Very Vanilla with Basic Black and punched out with the Word Window punch. It's matted with More Mustard punched with the Large Oval punch and a heart punched with a Marvy punch in Basic Black. The whole thing is up on 3M foam squares, as well. Some black faceted jewels accent the lower left corner and the punched border.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: two cats and Greetings/Salutations (Inkadinkado); Leaves #3 (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Paper: Very Vanilla, watercolor, More Mustard, Basic Black (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!)
Accessories: 3M foam squares, faceted jewels (craft store); large heart punch (Marvy); Word Window and Large Oval punches (SU!); border punch (Martha Stewart)

You warm my heart

Another new to me set from MFT. I just love these stamps! This card is for Papercraft Planet's sketch for January 17. I'll get it uploaded there sometime, LOL. I like this sketch--I'm sure I'll use it again.

My base card is Close To Cocoa with a layer of Bashful Blue then a layer of Frosty Day DSP. By now you've probably figured out that I like lots of layers, LOL. I like this DP a lot. It's a good winter set without being Christmas, and I think this one could qualify as a non-traditional Valetine's Day card. The next element is the same, with different DP. The focal image is from the Baby It's Cold Outside set. I stamped it on watercolor paper with Basic Brown and colored it with Stampin' markers, reinkers, and a blender pen, then popped it up on 3M foam squares. The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped on watercolor paper with Basic Brown and attached to three punched snowflakes with a brad--also attached with a foam square. The upper right corner looked kinda bare, so I added photo corners with some brads, also up on foam squares. This image was fun to play with--looking forward to doing it in different colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Baby It's Cold Outside (MFT)
Paper: Close To Cocoa, Bashful Blue, Frosty Day DSP (SU!)
Ink: Close To Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Bashful Blue, Basic Brown, Going Gray (SU!)
Accessories: 3M foam squares, brads (craft store); snowflake punches Martha Stewart); Photo Corner punch (SU!)

Be Mine

This card is for SCS sketch challenge #210--just in time for #211 to come out tomorrow, LOL!

My base card is Very Vanilla, then a layer of gold metallic, then Real Red. The first element is DP from a DCWV Sweet glitter pack. This is a yummy chocolate embossed and glittered paper and I've hidden most of it, but I think it adds to that element. The two focal elements are stamped with Basic Black on water color paper and layered on gold metallic then Real Red and are colored with Stampin' markers and a blender pen. The candy box is from MFT's Be Mine set and the heart balloons are from Hearts Galore, also from MFT. The sentiment band and inside the candy box were colored with Shimmerz Gold Glimmer, the box with Read Red topped with Shimmerz Angel Wings, and the chocolates with, of course, Chocolate Chip. I added Crystal Effects to the chocolates and the heart balloons, which really made both of them stand out. Both of these elements are popped up on 3M foam squares and gold Dew Drops accent the corners. This is a great sketch--I had fun with this one.

Thanks for dropping in!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Be Mine, Hearts Galore (MFT)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, watercolor (SU!); Sweet glitter pack (DCWV); gold metallic (Office Max)
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand (SU!)
Accessories: Shimmerz Gold Glimmer and Angel Wings (JBE); 3M foam squares (craft store); Crystal Effects (SU!)

Our lives are like quilts

I've been wanting to use these little quilt stamps from Papertrey Ink for some time and just never got around to it. I need a sympathy card and while looking through my stamps for an appropriate one I ran across them--the sentiment is perfect so I thought there was no better time to give them a try. This card is also for the Viva la Verve Challenge 1 and the first day of Verve's Looking For Love challenge.

The first challenge is a sketch challenge with a twist of hardware and I love it. The second one is a color challenge: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, and Blush Blossom. I confess I'd never have put these colors together but I'm really loving how they work! My base card is Kraft, with a layer of Riding Hood Red, then Blush Blossom. The next layer of elements is first a layer of Kraft and then a layer of DP by My Mind's Eye called Baby Girl--Floral/Coral. Now, the little roses in the paper were originally a muted dark dusky rose color, but I added some red with my Red Star Sakura glitter pen and voila! It's red and a good match for Riding Hood Red. This paper had everything else going for it so I wasn't going to let a little thing like the wrong color roses stop me, LOL! The sentiment element is Kraft and Blush Blossom with the sentiment stamped in Riding Hood Red with an accent of antique brass brads for the hardware part, and it's popped up on 3M foam squares. The focal image is four of the little quilt squares stamped on watercolor paper in Basic Black and colored in the challenge colors. For the Kraft "pieces" I colored them first with Creamy Caramel and then went over them with Going Gray. I used my Blush Blossom marker for that color, and for the Riding Hood Red I used my reinker and my blender pen. I matted it with a layer of Riding Hood Red cut/embossed with a square Nestabilities die and mounted it up on 3M foam squares. The only other thing it needed was a line of paper piercing and it was done!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Quilter's Sampler (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: watercolor paper, Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Blush Blossom (SU!), Baby Girl--Floral/Coral DP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Going Gray, Riding Hood Red, Blush Blossom
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Sakura Red Star glitter pen, 3M foam squares, brads (craft store), paper piercer/mat/template

Making Christmas sweeter.

Yep, another post today. Hey! I've got some catchin' up to do, LOL!

I wanted to have a little favor for my open house guests, so this is what I did. On some candy canes, I attached a tag that read: Open House 2008 Thank you for making our Christmas a little sweeter. John and Barbara. I printed these from my computer, using a label template, punched them out with my SU! oval punch, and tied them on with red crochet cotton. I then put them in a basket with a large tag, using my Just Rite Christmas collection and large round Harmony stamper. I'm not totally pleased with how this part came out--I'll have to work on that since I'm planning on this becoming a traditional part of my open house.

Here's the candy cane label:
















And here's the basket label:
















Thanks for looking again! One more post for today and I'll quit. I promise, LOL!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Just Rite Christmas
Paper: White GP card stock
Ink: Real Red (SU!)
Accessories: oval punch (SU!), 1/16" hole punch, red crochet cotton

Come on in, it's time to party!

Instead of having to hear the door bell ring over and over during my open house, I decided to put this hang tag on the door handle to tell people to come on in! I got the base at Michaels and simply glued DP to it, water colored the cardinal from A Cardinal Christmas set, matted it, attached it, and embellished with ribbon. The message was done with my Just Rite Brayton font letters and the small Harmony rectangular block. To get the letters to curve around the hole, I snipped between the letters and gently pulled them apart. Then I glued them on with my Quickie glue pen. I wish I could take credit for this idea for the letters but I can't. I saw it on one of the blogs I watch but I can't remember whose it was. I do know it was for a Halloween card, so if anyone remembers seeing it please let me know. If I find it, I'll edit this post to give credit. I chose the cardinal 'cause the tree on the front porch is done all in cardinals and as I mentioned in my first post today, I have the woodland theme going on out there. Gotta match, you know ;-) This project was easy to do and lots of people commented on it. This cardinal was easy to do--I stamped on water color paper with Basic Black ink and colored him with my Stampin' markers and my blender pen.

Here's the full view:




















Here's a close-up of the cardinal:
















And here's a close-up of the message:
















Thanks for checking out today's offerings!

~Recipe~
Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas (SU!), Brayton font (Just Rite)
Paper: Figgy (Basic Grey), water color, Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Only Orange, Sahara Sand, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black (SU!)
Accessories: blender pen, sponge, emery board, glue stick, sanding block, ribbon (craft store)

Just Chicken Up On You

This card is for Day 3 of Paper Craft Planet's Twelve Days Of Christmas contest, which requires one to use a hen, or a rooster, or an owl. Well, since I used an owl *last* night, I had to use the only chicken stamp I have. MFT Punny Farm to the rescue! This baby is BRIGHT!

My base card is Yoyo Yellow with a layer of Basic Black then Whisper White. Then I added a layer of DP from Basic Grey's Offbeat collection. My focal image is stamped with StazOn Jet Black on Whisper White and colored with my Stampin' markers in Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, and Ruby Red, with a little shadow of Baja Breeze. It's layered on Baja Breeze and then Basic Black. I sewed two yellow buttons on the black and white checked ribbon with DMC embroidery floss (Black #310) and tied it around the card. For the Sentiment, I used only half at a time and curved it to fit the oval. I like how it turned out! Thanks for stopping by!

~Recipe~
Stamps: Punny Farm (MFT)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Yoyo Yellow, Offbeat DP (Basic Grey)
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Ruby Red, and Baja Breeze
Accessories: black and white ribbon, buttons (craft store), Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, DMC floss #310

Colorful Thank You

This card is for the Color Throwdown challenge #20. Wow! I can't believe it's been twenty weeks since this challenge started. It's been lots of fun! This week's colors are: Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, More Mustard, and Elegant Eggplant. Quite a line-up!

My card base is Very Vanilla with a layer of More Mustard, the bottom edge of which I scalloped with a Martha Stewart border punch. I also added a few piercings above the points that are hard to see in the picture. I tied a dark purple ribbon (a dead-ringer for Elegant Eggplant) around that and added three gold-colored brads. The focal image is a stamp from A Little Bit Of Happiness (retired hostess set) that I stamped on water color paper and colored with my SU! markers and a blender pen, using all the colors of the challenge. It was matted with first Elegant Eggplant, then Ruby Red, then Sage Shadow and attached with dimensionals. I think this card will go into the stack I'm saving for a set for a Christmas gift. Think that's a good idea? Thanks for stopping by--and feel free to leave a comment if you're so inclined.

~Recipe~
Stamps: A Little Bit Of Happiness (retired SU! hostess set)
Paper: Water color paper, Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, and Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black, Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, More Mustard, and Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: brads and ribbon (craft store), paper piercer/mat, Martha Stewart border punch