Saying Hello, with Love!

I thought I was finished making Valentine's Day cards this year, but I was wrong!  Some friends of mine started their own stamp company, Winnie & Walter, LLC.. As of the first of the year, 2014, they kicked off their opening with four beautiful clear stamp sets with coordinating downloadable Cut Files.  One of the sets I fell in love with,  The Big, The Bold, and The Happy was sold out almost immediately.  I patiently waited for it to come back in stock, and then placed my order.  While waiting for the stamp sets to ship, I received the coordinating downloadable Cut Files, and immediately made these lovely cards. 

I printed out the "love" and "hello" files with the black backgrounds in the 3"X5" size, and then trimmed around them to leave a small white border.  I then mounted them on colored card bases and used some dies from Impression Obsession and Hot Off the Press to decorate each one.  For the Love Card, I used the decorative Hearts die from HOTP/ Paper Artsy to cut the filigree heart, added a strip of hearts washi tape across the top, and tied a bow with a white ribbon.

For the Hello Card, I used the IO Grapevine Wreath die, and decorated it with the Memory Box tiny Flock of Birds die. Again I used a strip of polka dot washi tape across the top of the card to tie in the black board look color.

Today, (Friday) I received my stamp sets in the mail, and cannot wait to start stamping with them.  I hope you will go by their web site at www.WinnieWalter.com, and see what they have to offer. Also, check their blog, because they have the most wonderful design team assembled, who have shared sample cards using their beautiful stamp sets. I hope you all have a wonderful Super Bowl weekend, and if you aren't into football that much, maybe you can make some beautiful cards to send for Valentine's Day!

Let's Rodeo, San Antonio!

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo begins February 6, 2014. I have created two cards featuring the Pure Innocence Cowboy and Cowgirl stamps from My Favorite Things.

The cards are both 4 1/2" X 6 1/4" and are made from card panels with front rectangular openings. Both of the images were stamped on Neenah white card stock and then colored in with Copic markers. Then they were fussy cut around each image and mounted inside the rectangular openings with foam tape to give the image more dimension. Accenting each card, the ribbon used on the Cowboy card was a fuzzy velour rick rack, and a dotted grosgrain ribbon knotted on the Cowgirl card. Phrases from each stamp set were used below the images, stamped on coordinating tags.  

I think they made really cute cards, celebrating the Cowboy and Cowgirl in all of us. Enjoy your week!

Live, Laugh, and Love

Birthday Greetings, sent to someone special. I created this card for someone special who had a birthday this past week. I began by folding a sheet of printed scrapbook paper from the Ledger Stack Paper pad from DCWV, Die Cuts With a View. I took one of the 6" X 12" sheets and trimmed it to 6" X 8", and then folded it at 3 1/2", leaving approximately 3/4" for the back of the card which I then added a strip of blue and green swirly washi tape.

Then using the Live, Laugh, Love Clear Stamp Set from Oriental Trading Co.stamped the phrase on the front panel using the Memento Rich Cocoa ink. On a separate sheet of white card stock, I stamped the Pure Innocence "Love is in the Air" girl from My Favorite Things and colored her in with Copic markers. I then fussy cut around the figure and stamped a "Happy Birthday" banner, and cut around it, too.  To attach it between her outstretched arms, I cut a tiny slit in each hand and slipped each end of the banner through the slits.  I then cut a slit in the front of the card and slid the little girl image in the opening.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. The weather was beautiful here in Texas. Friday, the temperature never rose past the high 30's, yet today it was up in the high 60's.  Sunday it is supposed to be up near 72, bright and sunny.  Monday another Polar Blast will come through and drop the temps down into the 20's and 30's again by Tuesday. Roller Coaster weather here in So. Texas, and they wonder why we are always sick!  Take care, and stay warm.

Mindy

Let Your Dreams Take Flight

Happy Saturday Friends!  Today is one of those chilly and cloudy days that make you feel like staying in bed and pulling the covers up over your head! The card stamping process is hard to do when your fingers are cold, and don't want to work correctly. I am dreaming of spring today, with the birds singing and chirping outside my window. I am therefore creating this card, to celebrate springtime and all the lovely birds that come out to SING!

I started with a side-fold A2 size card and stamped the large feathers radiating from the left corner using my London Fog Memento ink pad.  Then using the solid style feather stamp again, inked it up with the London Fog, and then touched the edges with Tumbled Glass Distressed ink before stamping it on a sheet of Neenah white card stock. I also stamped my left facing Funky Bird stamp in Tuxedo black ink, and colored it in with my Copic marker and Souffle pink ink pen.  I then fussy cut the feather and bird out, and mounted them to the card front with foam tape, to give texture and dimension to the card.  The sentiment was stamped in Tuxedo black ink and stars and dots with the London Fog ink.  I then took some Light Blue corrugated paper, and cut two strips for along the length and base of the card. This gives more texture and dimension to the card, along with a pleasing element that draws the eye to the little bird in the left corner of the card.

I used the other sentiment stamp from the set, inside the card, along with a tiny flourish stamp. The inside sentiment states, "Don't let life ruffle your feathers!"  These are the supplies I used for this card:

cardstock:  Smooth white- My Favorite Things and Neenah white for embellishments

stamps:  Feathers Clear Stamp Set from Hot Off the Press, Funky Bird-left from Deadbeat Designs

inks: London Fog and Tuxedo Black from Memento Ink, Tumbled Glass Distressed from Ranger/Tim Holtz

According to the weather maps on TV, the Polar Vortex is covering most of the US with winter-like conditions.  Stay warm and safe this weekend, and enjoy time with your crafting or your families.

See you again soon.

Mindy

Love You!

Greetings, it's Friday! The weekend is here!  Another fun Valentine's Day card filled with hearts, lace, and lacy butterflies. Enjoy!

I began this card with a delightful dimensional background paper. The white areas of the paper are flocked, and very fuzzy. I accented the background paper with a strip of chevron stripe washi tape across the card.  I then got out my Cuttlebug die cut machine and cut out the lace heart die from Paper Artsy- Hot Off the Press from metallic white card stock. Then using the Paper Artsy Butterfly dies, cut out two butterflies and colored them with my pink Wink of Stella Glitter pen. Since the metallic stock has a glossy finish, I brushed on a layer of the glitter, and then dabbed it with a paper towel, giving it a mottled finish.  I used the same technique on the chipboard words from Maya Road. These chipboard letters are porous though, and after the first layer of Wink of Stella marker, I decided to add another layer of color on top of the chipboard. All of the elements were glued down with Ranger Glossy Accents. When adhering the butterflies, I only glued down the bodies of them, that way the wings are loose, and could be curled and crimped to give dimension.  I also added a tiny bow die cut, again colored with the Wink of Stella marker.

I hope you have enjoyed my Valentine's Day cards this year. They will be sent out to my Valentines next week. I love you all, and hope you will send and receive handmade cards this year.

Mindy

Sending You My Love

Happy Hump Day, bloggie friends!  Today, I am "Sending All My Love to You!" (and I am singing at the same time!)  I love that song!  

The card, features another stamp set from My Favorite Things; Pure Innocence "Will You Be Mine?"

I started with an A2 size card, and stamped the Zebra animal print background stamp from Anna Griffin, twice across the top in ColorBox Orchid ink.  I then adhered a half sheet of paper from  Martha Stewart's Valentine paper pad set.  I stamped the girl's image with mailbox on white smooth card stock with Memento black ink, and colored her in with my Copic markers.  The sentiment is also from the same stamp set, and I stamped it on white also, cut around it in a banner shape and highlighted the edges of the banner with the Orchid Colorbox ink. The sentiment banner and image were attached to the card front with foam tape, to give it some depth and dimension.

The remaining sentiment included in this stamp set, "Special Delivery" was stamped inside the card along with the remaining heart stamp. The tiny hearts inside were colored in with the pink Wink of Stella glitter marker.

This is such a cute card, and would be suitable to send to someone far away!  Remember a family member or friend this Valentine's Day, by sending them a handmade Valentine card. You will be so glad you did!  See you again, soon.

Sweet Memories

Today's cards is a rather simple design, using a few supplies, and only takes a few moments to put together. It could be considered clean and simple, because it is basically a one layer card, with a strip of washi tape at the top for a color pop!

To start, I cut an A2 size card from stock with a top-fold opening.  The using a K&Co. Rub-On Magic glitter set, adhered the stick-on stickers on the front of the card. The stickers are made from a double-sided adhesive, you just cut them out of the sheet and rub them on your card, like rub-ons. When you remove the safety sheet, you then sprinkle loose glitter included in the kit, on the adhesive and then tap off the loose remaining glitter. If you apply the glitter, one color at a time, you can keep the excess and put it back in the resealable tubes.  I used both the red and pink glitter on these designs. The pink, was adhered to the large heart, and the scroll border.  The red, to the small heart and the sentiment. I also used my Quickie Glue pen to lay down a little glue in the flower inside the large heart, and then sprinkled some of the red glitter onto the flower.   After dry brushing some of the loose glitter off the card that wasn't glued down, I sprayed the card front with Krylon Workable Fixatif, to lightly seal in the glitter that clings on to the adhesive images.

I don't use loose glitter much, because more of it sticks to me than the card, in most cases. I do like the look of glitter, and usually use markers and glitter mixed with glue (Stickles) to add bling to my cards. When I do use the loose stuff, my "glittering" personality shows for at least a week!  Have fun, and try a new product or technique this week in your card making and crafting!

Mindy

I Love You . . . This Much!

There are so many phrases connected to Valentines Day, and this one happens to be one of my favorites.

"I love you, this much" and then a figure with out-stretched arms is well known throughout the states. When I saw this Pure Innocence stamp set, I thought of that phrase, and knew I had to have it. 

I took the red card base and attached a sheet of printed paper to the front of the card.  I then attached a strip of loop braid across the bottom of the card with red line double stick tape. The little girl was stamped on white card stock with black ink, and then her features colored in with my Copic markers. I paper pieced her dress with a scrap of the reverse side of the background paper. (I love double-sided papers!)  The tag was punched from a Magnolia die, and was then accented and colored with Distressed Inks and Wink of Stella glitter pens. The " I love you stamp" was stamped on the tag and then a piece of red ribbon and "XOXO" die cut was added before popping the entire tag on foam tape and adhering to the front of the card. 

The supplies used for this card were as follows:

card stock:  wild cherry, primitive white, and smooth white from My Favorite Things

background paper:  Valentine mat pad by Martha Stewart Crafts

stamps: Pure Innocence "Love is in the Air" from My Favorite Things, and sentiment from clupScrap, Inc.

dies:  Romantic Tag Doohickeys from Magnolia Stamps, and Love Words from MFT

I hope you enjoy making Valentines cards as much as I do. Sending handmade cards to family and friends is one of my favorite things to do, so enjoy creating and sending cards to those YOU love! See you again soon.

You're the Best, Friend

Happy Friday, Friends! Today I am celebrating "Friends" with this card I have titled, You're the Best, Friend! 

The card base was cut to A2 size with a top fold opening, and then run through the Cuttlebug machine to emboss the distressed design. I then stamped the Girlfriends stamp on white card stock with black ink, and colored it in with my Copic markers. After trimming the image, I bordered it in a bright pink backing, and then using foam tape, popped it up on the front of the card.  I used some flower stickers from Dazzles to decorate the other side of the card, and then tied some pink/white/and red twine around the fold of the card and tied a bow.  To complete the front, I stamped a tiny tag with the saying, "you're the BEST" and attached it among the beautiful flowers.

These are the supplies I used to create this card:

card stock:  smooth white, razzleberry, and insulation pink from My Favorite Things

embossing folder:  Distressed Diamonds folder from Cuttlebug designs

stamps: Janie's Girlfriends, and Little Greetings,  from Hot Off the Press, Inc.

stickers:  Flower Dazzles from Hot Off the Press and

multi-colored twine from Paper Wishes, Inc.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that you can get outdoors to enjoy the sunshine/snow, depending on which part of the world you live in.  Happy Stamping to All!

Mindy 

Loads of Love

I have a Special Delivery of Hugs for you today from Stampendous and House Mouse Stamps. One of my favorite New stamps from Stampendous Stamps is this stamp called "Gifts Galore". I have a special kind of love for the little House Mouse stamps, and usually add one or more to my collection every year. I purchased this one before Christmas, but didn't get around to using it until after the holidays. I thought it would make a wonderful Valentine's Day stamp in beautiful pinks and reds. 

I started off by stamping it on a white card stock base with tuxedo black Memento Ink. I then colored it in with Copic markers, and some Smooch Inks. The Smooch inks are pearlized, and give a soft and shiny look to the boxes and bows.  I also punched out several red card stock hearts with my Fiskars small heart punch, and then highlighted them with my clear Wink of Stella glitter marker.  The sentiment, "Special Delivery" comes from one of the Pure Innocence stamp sets from My Favorite Things.

A very quick and simple card to stamp, color,  and send, if you need a quick card for someone you love. And as I always say, "Keep On Stampin"!  Until we visit again,

Mindy

Hugs and Kisses

Hello, one and all! Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday. My wish for today, is hugs and kisses for all my sweet family and friends. My card today, expresses this sentiment.

This card is filled with so many products I love, that I just had to share it with you.  I started with my favorite card stock for the base card,  My Favorite Things Razzleberry Pink Card Stock. I then used the Hearts Abound embossing folder from Sizzix to give the card a little dimension.  Next, I ran three different die sets through my Cuttlebug to cut the border lace, the three small doilies, and the words "hugs & kisses from smooth white card stock. All of these elements were then attached to the card front using my Martha Stewart ballpoint-tip glue pen, that lets you apply a tiny dot or line of glue to your embellishment. 

I then used a heart punch to punch three heart shapes from red card, and three from white card stock.  I glued the red heart on top of the white one, and offset them just a bit to make the white heart look like a shadow behind the red heart. These were attached to the centers of the doilies with the thick dimensional glue Zots, that make them stick up just a little, above the card surface. To complete the embellishment, I attached self-adhesive red acrylic stones to the lace edging to give it a little bling.

I hope you have enjoyed this card filled with many of my favorite papercrafting products. Following is the list of products used.

card stock:  Smooth White and Razzleberry Pink from My Favorite Things

embossing folder:   Hearts Abound from Sizzix

dies:  Intricate Doilies and Lots of Love Words from Die-namics, My Favorite Things

        Border Carnivale from Cheery Lynn Designs

punch:  small Heart from Fiskars

bling:  tiny acrylic stones from Hero Arts

Special Delivery Balloons

Happy Day for me! I received my order from My Favorite Things today with their new releases for January 2014!  I purchased two new Pure Innocence sets, (with cards to follow soon!) a Die-namics die set with Lots of Love words, and the new DC Heart Balloons set along with the matching Die-namics Heart Balloons dies which I had to make a card with immediately!

The card base is an A2 size card with the bitty hearts background from the PI Love is in the Air stamp set stamped all willy-nilly over the card with Color Box Chalk Ink in Warm Violet.  I then cut the three sizes of balloons from the die set and white card stock, and then stamped the coordinating balloon stamp over the die using Memento Inks, Love Letter, Rose Bud, and Grape Jelly.  I also cut the "love you" from white card stock using the Lots of Love Words die set, and stamped the balloon strings and sentiment "special delivery" in tuxedo black Memento ink. I then arranged the balloons like I wanted them and attached them to the card front with Zot dots and foam tape on the large purple one. I wanted the "love you" to pop up just a little, but not as much as the large balloon, so I used rolled Zot dots under the letters to adhere them to the card.

I spent most of the day reading posts from the CHA trade show in Anaheim, CA from all my favorite blogs. There are so many new products being shown there, I'm kinda glad I am unable to attend. I think I would go crazy, wanting to take every class and check out every booth.  I will just stay here at home, and enjoy hearing from friends who are out there shopping for their stores, and continue making cards that make me happy!  Take care, and have a great day!

With All My Heart

Happy Friday, one and all! My first Valentine of the season, I love you "With All My Heart" which is the name of this Pure Innocence stamp set from My Favorite Things.  The little girl is so cute hugging the giant heart, especially when colored with my Copic markers. 

This card is an A6, a little larger than I am used to making.(4 1/2" X 6 1/2") The white card base with red front background has a pre-cut window in which I have to find a certain size design to fit the window. Luckily, the Pure Innocence Girl fits just fine. I have a few more designs coming up before the Rodeo here in San Antonio.The other card color combinations fit better with the Pure Innocence Cowboy and Cowgirl images I purchased. They will be featured soon, the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo begins February 6.

Anyway, back to the Valentine card.  I stamped the image with Memento black ink on a scrap of white card, then colored it in with Copic markers. I also used the Wink of Stella glitter pen on the heart to really make it sparkle. I fit the image in the pre-cut window, and taped it down with double stick tape. I cut a piece of hearts printed paper and attached to the inside front of the card to hide the layers of stock.  To finish off the card front, I attached a flourish of pearls along with a tiny shaped heart button.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and wonderful weekend. If the weather has warmed where you are, enjoy the outdoors!

Cozy Winter Wishes To You

As the Polar Vortex has travelled across the U.S. many folks have encountered very, very cold temps snow and ice. Here in So.Texas, it has warmed up quite a bit, and the weekend temperatures are expected near 70 degrees. We won't need those winter mittens this weekend, but I still wanted to wish you all, cozy winter wishes!  This will probably be one of the last winter cards I make for the year, but there is still more winter to come, so you never know.

Today's card features the Warm Winter Mittens Small Clear stamp set from Hot Off the Press. The mitten stamp was stamped on Neenah white card stock with black Memento ink, and then colored in with my Tim Holtz Distressed Markers.  The image was then trimmed with a small oval die from the Classic Ovals set from Spellbinders. I then cut a little larger oval from a teal card stock to back the oval.  For the background card base, I embossed it with the Dotted Swiss embossing folder and my Cuttlebug machine, with a technique I saw demonstrated on YouTube. The video showed how you could emboss the top of the card with your folder, and then skip a strip and emboss the bottom of the card. I might also mention that this is a top-fold card, therefore making it easier to get the embossing folder closer to the edge of the card. After the card is embossed through the folder, you remove the card and using your score board, score a line where the top embossing ends and the bottom embossing starts. You get a strip of card that is smooth to decorate, either with washi tape as I did, or with stamping or regular ribbon.

As I mentioned, I used a strip of black dotted washi tape, and then using the sentiment that came in the stamp set "Cozy Winter Wishes" stamped on a small white oval tag and attached with foam tape on the strip. For final decoration I attached a metal JOY banner with double sided tape to the top corner, and tied a strip of teal shaggy twine around the top of the card.

I hope you have all kept warm during the huge freeze, I have several friends who barricaded themselves in their craft spaces for the duration. I can't think of a better way to spend a cold day than stamping and creating, dressed warmly with a nice big cup of hot tea or cocoa. Enjoy! 

Time to Say Hello!

Hello, to all my friends in bloggie land!

The first week of a new year is usually a busy time for me, taking down and cleaning up from the Christmas festivities. But since I really didn't do too much decorating this year, I have a lot of free time to make cards, and play with my new stamps. 

The ladies over at My Favorite Things stamps had a big closeout sale last week, getting ready for their new release this month. I, of course, had to shop and found several sets that really touched my soul. I will be featuring them later this next week, but for now I wanted to play with my little " Warm Wishes" girl from Pure Innocence.  She looks so cute in her hat, boots, and jacket trimmed with fur that I just had to put her in a snowstorm and send her to a friend up north, where the snow is falling like crazy.

I used two dies for the embellishment, a Sizzix Thinlits word die, "Hello Friend" along with the tag die from the Spellbinder's Asian Motifs die set and attached it to a piece of dotted ribbon with a beautiful teal stone brad from Creative Imaginations. The embellishment was then attached to the ribbon accent using foam tape, along with the Warm Wishes girl fussy cut from white card stock and colored with my Copic markers. The tiny snowflake was an accent stamp from the Hot Off the Press Winter Mitten clear stamp set. Using two shades of blue Memento Dye ink, I stamped the snowflake randomly all over the card front. Inside the card, I stamped the corresponding phrase from the Warm Wishes stamp set, which says "Your Friendship Warms My Heart!"

With a big blast of Artic air expected later today, I am all snuggled up in my warm robe and slippers, with a nice cup of hot tea and ready for a wonderful day of Art and card stamping. Stay warm wherever you may be, and have a great day creating wonderful works of ART!  

Diva . . . . Who Me?

Today is the second day of the New Year, and I have decided to feel more "Diva-like" in 2014.  I may not look more diva-like, but will try to FEEL more Diva-like in my everyday endeavours.

I fell in love with this Pure Innocence Dress Up Diva stamp set from My Favorite Things. The Pure Innocence designs are so cute I have started to accumulated a rather large collection.  I love to color them with my Copic markers, where I can shade and highlight the images to my own likes. I used to love to play "dress-up" when I was younger, but it was difficult to do, especially since I was an only child.  My Mother would always help me "create" playtime outfits out of everyday items, and I think that is how my creativity was spurned at an early age.

The card today was created using a white card stock base A2 size card and adhering a scrap of printed paper 1/2" smaller by length and width.  Then using my Spellbinder's Decorative Labels Eight die, cut a rectangle from pearlized white card stock. I then cut another scrap of printed paper that fit inside the solid part of the die.  The little diva image was then stamped on white card, colored with Copics, and cut out with a Spellbinder's Classic Oval die. I then cut another oval just a bit larger in darker card stock to back the image with, so it would stand out on the front of the card. The oval embellishment was then mounted with foam tape on the front of the card.  I also had a scrap of the printed background paper, and adhered it to the inside of the card, just to add a little decoration.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card, and will try to feel more "Diva-like" in your daily adventures.

"Happy Stampin' Everyone!"

Happy, Happy 2014

Happy New Year 2014 to All!

Life is Better with Friends

Wishing everyone happiness and good health in the New Year. Best Wishes to all my bloggie friends, and those of you who leave me comments. I enjoy hearing from you all, and hope more will leave a little "bloggie love" starting in 2014. I also hope we can share many more projects, products and ideas

on my blog in the days to come.

Until we share again,

Love to All,

Mindy