Monochromatic and Penny Black

 Here is another card I made when I was trying to see how many different ways I could use the Penny Black overall stamp Butterfly Garden.

The paper I embossed the design on came this way.  This particular pad had many different colors like this in it so I would be grabbing that pad again for some creative fun.

The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set.

Everyone enjoy your Tuesday.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  As I was looking for something - who knows what now I found three pieces of Bo Bunny paper from the same collection.  One of the papers was a beautiful floral.  One of the other sheets was a beautiful paper for matting and one paper was great for stamping sentiments on.  I made six cards from this group of paper and they are all ready to go - the ones not on a white or cream card base are lined with coordinating paper also.

I made four of this particular design.  The location of the sentiment varies according to the placement of the flowers.

I made two of this design.

And then from the leftover pieces of all the three sheets of paper, I made this card.

I think I did OK.  So remember to show some love for your well aged supplies, they are still beautiful.  I now only have 999,996 sheets left to use.

Pretty in Purple

Here is another card using the Penny Black stamp Flower Garden.

On this card, the background was one I had made for a postcard.  It is done with acrylic paints and stencils.  Next time, I would choose a less busy background to stamp my image on but if you are a lover of purple, this will float your card boat.

Thanks for stopping by.

More Butterfly Garden Cards

Today I am sharing another card I made this week using Butterfly Garden from Penny Black.

This card was made on book pages  that had a layer of gesso applied to it.  It was then colored with gelatos and paint.  The sentiment is also from Penny Black.  This is a very simple card but I like how it turned out.

Keep coming back I have several more  to share with you.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day week end.

I am sharing the cards I have made with the Penny Black stamp Butterfly Garden.  I am trying to stretch my creating and think outside the box - sometimes we buy supplies, we use it the traditional way and then never use it again - or once again use it in the traditional way.  

On this card I stamped with Memento Ink and cut out part of the image with a circle die.  The part I cut out I colored with Copic Markers.  I matted the original image and very carefully inserted the colored circle back into the open area.  The sentiment was stamped with Versafine Ink and clear embossed.  

Here is a close up of the colored circle.

I really like how it turned out.  I have also kept it flat so it will be easy to mail.  I will send it to my Aunt.  She is in the nursing home and like to get mail.

Have a good day and a wonderful week end.

You're In My Thoughts

I challenged myself this week to try to use a new Penny Black stamp I had purchased in different ways.  The stamp is called Butterfly Dance.  Keep coming back to see more versions of cards using this stamp.

I stamped the image on a heavier vellum from Bazzill and embossed it in gold.  I am sure my somewhat bad photography skills do not pick up the shine of the embossing.  I added a layer of green card stock behind the vellum and also stamped my sentiment on a circle out of the same green card stock.  I wanted to use a black and white stripe at the top of the card (I don't know why - but I had it in my head to do that).  Once I had done this I realized I needed a defining point of interest between the card and the black/white stripe.  I gold embossed a strip of paper so it matched the gold embossing on the card.  Two butterflies were embossed and die cut and layered together.  One is glued to the card front and the other one is pinched so it seems to be flying.

Here is a close up of the sentiment, butterflies, the gold strip, some of the gold embossing and the black and white strip.

I am entering this in the following challenges.

House of Cards - use clear paper (I used vellum.)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, rainy day here so I don't have to feel guilty about being inside.

Merry Christmas Santa

As I was looking for a particular style of paper, I ran across some snowman images (you can see them on my Monday post) of course, I needed papers, so I went searching for Christmas papers in kraft tones and found paper but also found a sheet of stamped Santas (black on kraft paper).  I now have four more Christmas cards made.  Three of the cards are basically the same but one Santa was not stamped real well all over so I just die cut the face out and made it into a card.

I made three of this card.

I made one of this card.

I am going to enter this in the challenge at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge which is to use layers.  Believe me, I tried to use as much paper as I could on these four cards.  I have even completed the insides of the card.  Maybe I should line the envelopes also.  (insert grin)

Currently I have been working on a Penny Black large stamp and trying to use it in multiple ways.  I did this last week with a large over all die cut.

Oldie Moldie Monday Christmas Card

It is Monday - time to show some love to your old supplies.

I found two of  the image used on this card while I was looking for something else.  I decided they needed to be made into Christmas cards this year - they have aged well enough.  The paper was in my large Christmas paper supply.

The current challenge at Jingle Bells is Anything But Blue.  No blue was used on this card.  I know there were more of these images that were colored - maybe I need to look in that stuff some more.  This was a pretty easy card to make and I really like it plus it is pretty flat - so easy to mail.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Framed Die Cut

This card is a CASE of one Julia Stanton made which I saw on Instagram.  Here is the link to her blog post about her card.

In ways my CASE was a fail but the card was a success to me.  I have been playing with an large die cut from Sizzix.  I loved how Julia show cased a die with a circle.  I used two circle dies to make my solid border and then just cut a focal point out of the large die.  Her coloring was very beautiful - mine did not turn out like that.  If you look very closely at the background, you will see that I used the die to emboss my background paper using the rubber mat.

This card will go to a friend who is battling cancer.

I am going to enter another card in the Happy Little Stampers monthly challenge for Die Cuts which is Anything Goes (of course, every card I made this week could have been entered since I have been playing with this particular die and trying to get my money's worth out of it)

Enjoy your Saturday - heading out to a flower place which is also having a flea market.  This could be very dangerous.

Allover Die Cut Card

This is the first card I made with my new Hero Arts all over die cut.  It is so beautiful.  I have been trying to use it in different ways.  I did not realize that I had not posted the first card.

I used some bright patterned paper that I had to put behind the white die cut.  The green flowers were fussy cut from another piece of paper.  The Penny Black sentiment was stamped and embossed in white.  Several pearls were scattered across the card.

The card has already been mailed.  I hope they like it.

Birthday Card With Die Cuts

I have bought a new large all over die cut and I am trying to see what kind of mileage I can get out of this die cut.  I want to find more ways to use it.  Here is another use for the large die cut from Hero Arts.

Here is a close up of the Penny Black sentiment which was heat embossed on vellum.

I just used a cross section of the die cut for this card.  I had this beautiful flower in my supplies - it has aged very well over the years and I went looking for card stock that matched the flower.  I thought the die cut looked too dressy on the plain card stock so I embossed the card stock and added some beautiful swirls to it.  Subtle but beautiful.  This was the last little bit of this ribbon that I had left and it worked perfectly (of course, I have one more flower and am going to make a second card and now I am having to be creative with the ribbon accent).  The sentiment was stamped on vellum and then I used a circle die cut to cut it out.  It is adhered under the die cut to the card stock so you do not see the adhesive.

I am entering this card into several challenges.

Happy Little Stampers - Die Cuts - Anything Goes

House of Cards May Challenge - Clear Papers   I used vellum.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  It was lots of fun to make and I actually have a birthday card done ahead of time for some one.  Wowsers.

Have a great evening.

Inlaid Die Cutting

I bought myself a new large die cut from Hero Arts and I have been playing with it and findout out different ways to use it.

I decided to cut circles out of the cut die.

I have used two different shades of teal card stock on this card.  The white circle is inlaid in the card front and is backed with a lighter shade of teal than the card base.  I had some pearls that somewhat matched the colors of card stock.  The sentiment is from Penny Black embossed with a Hero Arts embossing powder.

I am entering this card into several challenges.

Happy Little Stampers - May CAS Challenge - Inlaid Die Cut

Addicted to Stamps - Clean and Simple

Come back tomorrow to see how I used the die on another card.

I struggle on CAS cards and I cannot promise that I will not go splatter white paint on this card.

Unconventional Graduation Card

Many of my neighbor grandchildren are graduating this year - two from high school and two from 8th grade.  After I made this card, I thought it would be fun graduation card for Ben who is graduating from high school.  I think everyone is happy to graduate from high school and move onto the next adventure in their life.

This is what I started with.  I had made this background piece awhile ago.  I had used paint and glimmer mist inside an embossing folder and got this unique background.  The crazy bird was already colored and I stamped the sentiment on a piece of gessoed book pages.

Here is a close up of the bird after he was on the card.  I did fussy cut him out and adhered him to the card front with gel medium.  I added blue glitter to parts of the bird to give him some extra shine.  Of course, he needed some googly eyes to complete his look.  I think I do need to go back and make his lips a little more orange.  I decided I wanted to staple the sentiment onto the card front and after that I decided to add a few more staples else where on the card front.

I am entering this card in several challenges.

Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Media Challenge - where the challenge is Shine.  I used silver embossing paste on the card.  The background has a little glimmer to it and I added glitter to the bird.

Try It On Tuesday - where the challenge is spots, dots and splashes.  I have splashes of black paint and dots and spots of blue and green embossing paste.

Tuesday Throwdown - where the challenge is embossing.  I did use an embossing folder to make the background.  The sentiment and crazy bird were heat embossed with black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.  I also added elements of embossing paste in three different colors:  blue, green and silver.

I love to do mixed media cards.  There is something very liberating about it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  I found this image already colored and wanted to make another card for the Collins Home for the kids.  I love when your cards can be used for encouragement and jobs well done.

The paper is from and older 6 x 6 pad.  Ok - now the song Happy is going through my head.

Have a wonderful day.

Bright Floral Hello

I bought a new stamp awhile ago and it just reappeared on my craft table (it was playing hide and seek) and I decided to play with it.  I made four different cards with it,  Stay tuned through the week to see the other cards.  The stamp is unknown at the moment because the packaging is hiding.  Yee gads I do wish someone would clean up my work tables.

The flower was colored with Dylusions paints watered down with water.  I used Wink of Stella (clear) over the top of the petals so they have a little sparkle.  The hello is a die from a die/stamp set by Hero Arts.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers monthly die challenge.
The circles are dies and the hello is a die.  I layered three layers of Hello so it stands out on the page.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is embossing:
The background is dry embossed and the flower stamp was stamped with black Versafine Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is flowers.

Thanks for stopping by - I am trying to do some picking up and putting away and still deciding what I want to do with my Sunday.

Holiday Card

I am getting back into the swing of card making and doing some challenges.  I like to do the different Happy Little Stampers challenges when I have a chance.  I like that I have a month to get them done.  The May challenge at Happy Little Stampers for Christmas is gift.

One of the designers used a Penny Black stamp that I also had and I went looking for it.  It is a sweet little snowman.  I have another Penny Black snowman who is very similar but he does not have a gift and I have no idea where he is hiding.

I decided to do a non traditional color for my Christmas card.  I really like how the card turned out.  It is so sweet and I know exactly who will receive it.

The card is slightly under six inches.  The paper is a Teresa Collins 6 x 6 pad.  The image is colored with Copics.  The snowflakes were in my supplies.  The ribbon was hand dyed using a distress paint and ink to achieve the perfect color.  The banner was fussy cut.  I have finished the inside also so all it will need is an address at the beginning of December.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my sweet little holiday card.

Happy Holidays

When you are a card maker, it is never to early to start working on your Christmas cards.  I try to look at the different challenges and find something that trips my trigger.  This week Addicted to Stamps' challenge is Holiday.    

This is nice because every day could be some sort of holiday - I went with Christmas.

This paper all comes from a 12 x 12 pad so I need to get busy and make cards from it.  I did kit 5 more cards so I can assemble them when I visit my daughter while dog sitting.  It gives me something to do and also a feeling of accomplishment plus I have some more Christmas cards completed.

The stamp is embossed with brown embossing powder.  I believe the stamp is from Hero Arts.  It has long lost its packaging.  The tree was cut with my Silhouette and then I used a background stamp to put the plaid design on it.  A little twine and a red ball complete the card.  Everything was chalked with a brown chalk.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Tamela

I wanted to make a special birthday card for a former co worker.  Tamela is very talented.  She sews beautiful costumes for herself and others for Ren Fairs.  She makes jewelry and the list goes on and on for her many talents for such a young soul.

Since she loves to sew I wanted to use this dress form stamp.  I had a new die cut for flowers so used that with old pattern pieces.

Here are some close ups of different parts of the card.  You can see the leftover gold trim from a class I took with Frank Garcia.  The gold filigree was also left over from the class and the paper too.    There is a bunch of thread from canvas that I tore.  A small piece of burlap is up in the corner.  I have many pieces of lace in my collection and I used a small piece on this card.  All the edges were distressed.

I think sewing patterns make such great flowers especially on a sewing themed project.

I even decided to make a special envelope since I had to hand deliver the card.  I cut a brown paper bag into the correct size and sewed up the sides (I almost made it too small. I dug into my supply of paper doilies and added a piece of leftover Prima paper.  Both the card and envelope were sprayed with a gold Tattered Angels spray.

The card was delivered last night and she loved it.

I am entering this card into the weekly challenge on the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog where the challenge this week is Flowers.  I have a few hand made flowers on the card.

Thanks for stopping by.  It was fun to get out my vintage stuff and go to town.

Oldie Moldie Monday

I made a couple more masculine (boy) cards for the Collins House kids.  I found the robots already colored and the paper was laying out so it was a perfect combination for my cards.

I know they will bring a smile to a couple little boys faces.  It also makes me smile because I used up a very small amount of paper and images but I did use them.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Stencil It

I believe Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog looked into my craft room and saw that I was playing with stencils this week.

I have been working on purple postcards and created a background I really loved so I made another of the same background for a graduation card.

The card is for an amazing young lady graduating from college with a degree in business and majors in accounting and finance and has already passed the first part of her CPA exam.  She worked for me for 4 years as a student worker and was so great.  I wish her the best in her new adventures.  Of course, she already has a job offer.

The background is done with three shades of acrylic paint.  The original layer is two book pages glued together and painted with gesso and a shade of purple.  After this layer dries, a layer of the original purple is stenciled on through a dot stencil.  The next layer is a Hero Arts stencil I just purchased from Simon Says with a darker shade of purple.  I love how it turned out.  I did spray it with a Tattered Angels glitter mist.  The sentiment is done on vellum with my new purple embossing powder.  I had this ribbon and it was perfect.

The card will need to be mailed in a puffy envelope.  I am going to put some cotton balls in the bow to keep them intact.

Plus purple is the school colors.

Sympathy Cards

I think sympathy cards are the hardest card to make.  I think it would be smart to have some made ahead of time so you don't have to be creative when you are feeling sad for your friends and family who have lost a loved one.

I had bought this beautiful sheet of patterned floral paper with a matching piece of card stock.  When I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches it fit in with my two papers.

I die cut the two layers so they have a more finished look.  I stamped my sentiment on vellum and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment strip will be adjusted on each card front so the best of the floral design shows through.  I have four cards ready to be finished.

I am also making cards for two baskets for charity auctions and I will use two of my cards for these baskets.  It is an easy way to help out charities by doing something we love and something we know we have ample supplies for.  I am not great at doing multiples but I could do three or four of the same card - maybe - maybe not.  We will see.  Cards as easy as this one would be easy to duplicate.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Card

I wanted to make a card for a polka dot challenge and found this wonderful colored paper in a 12 x 12 pad I had bought at Michael's.  I needed a birthday card.  Away we went on a creative journey.

I think this stamp is wonderful and I have no idea where I bought it.  I heat embossed it on a more solid piece of paper from the same pad.  I picked out an area of the paper that brought in all the colors of the dots and stripes.  Here is a close up of the sentiment.

I had the ribbon - once again I have no idea where it came from but it was the perfect finishing touch for the card.  Someone asked how I tied the bow - I said:  lots of loops, scrunch and tie.  I just do it and with a soft ribbon like this it is very forgiving and turns into a beautiful bow.

It is a beautiful day in Wisconsin and I am going to putz, pick up and when it gets a little warmer out go outside and do some work in the flower gardens.  It is nice in retirement to be able to do those things.  Have a wonderful day and I hope you get to do something fun also.

Oldie Moldie Monday

I was in need of more thank you notes to thank special people who impacted my Mom's life in her last years.

This card goes to her doctor.  (My mom went by the name Bea.)

This card went to the administrator at the nursing home.  He was a great help to my sister.

The thank you is a digi image I had left over from Operation Write Home card making days.  All the paper is from Authentique.

Mixed Media Mojo May Challenge

Hard to believe it is already May and time to start a new challenge on Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge for May is Flowers with the twist of stitching (real for faux).

I found a page in a journal where I had been putzing for months.  The first layer was putting gel medium through a stencil and yes it did work.  You do end up with a very faint design on your page.  After that I just kept adding layers of paint and never really knew where I was going.  I was a little crunched on time for creating something for this challenge so decided to start with this page in my book.  I do wish I had taken a picture of it before I added all the layers.

The flower was on the page along with the painted background.  I did add some more of the aqua which is the blue on the left side.  I was working over the orange and pinks so that must be why I ended up with this shade of blue.

I drew on the stem and leaves.  They have about four layers of different greens on their in different paints.  I could not get the coverage or color I wanted.  I added some veins with a ink intense pencil.  The white on the leaves are rub on stitches which I have had for many years.  Of course, they do not work as well as when they are new so we get a random look when they are added to your pictures.

There is some journaling on the page.  I have written along the stem and the leaves.  Bloom where you are planted is the message and then lots of Bloom.  I really feel we have it within our own power to make the best of where ever we are and we just need to plant some roots and start growing and blooming.

I added some embossing paste through stencils and then also scraped some on in different places.  Of course, the last step is the black splatters.  There is no control for me on this step - all I got was the big ones and I am scared but finally I managed some smaller splatters and I liked it better.  I also painted the center of the flower with the same black.

Here are some close ups of different parts of the journal page.

The stitching on my page is all faux.  I tried to use the rub ons and then I also used a white gel pen and added more stitching lines.

I hope you come along and play with us.  Don't you have a mother's day card to make or a graduation card which needs a flower on it and some stitching.