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! 

A Nice Day for A Wedding

 The sun is shining bright, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature is suitable and everyone looks their best.

What a Lovely Day for A Wedding!

This is a really special card, and I am so pleased to be sharing it with you today.  I just received the new set of Julie Nutting Doll Stamps from Prima, and this is the newest and largest one yet!  Everyone meet Lorenna!  When I saw this stamp, I immediately thought of a beautiful bride, walking down the aisle. 

 It also happened that Little Scrap Pieces- Fun Friday Challenge was A Nice Day for a White Wedding. So, I knew I had to make this card and submit it for the challenge. I also submitted it to the DL Art Thankful Thursday-June Linky Party Challenge "Anything Goes."

I started out by stamping Lorenna's image out on a piece of plain white card stock, twice. I then stamped her upper body on one of the tags from Prima's Large Tag Pad, also designed by Julie Nutting. Each tag has an antique look to it, with antique text lightly printed on each tag. I used this for her head, shoulders, and arms. Then just a light touch of Copic markers on her skin, and hair, and I was ready to design the dress.  I ran both stamped dresses through my Cuttlebug with the Damask Embossing folder from Sizzix. I then fussy cut one dress into strips, following the folds of the skirt. I popped every other one up on the thickest sticky Zots I could find, and glued the top of the fold down at the waist. I then went over the outlines with my white Posca paint marker. The folds are still slightly visible, giving the gown depth and dimension. To add a little bling, I added a small bouquet of Prima pink roses in her hand, and added a flowing bow to her hair containing three small rosebuds.

The card itself is a half-fold card  made from The Luxury Stack, pearlized and metallic card stock from Die Cuts With a View. The attached squares were cut from a sheet of handmade embossed paper from Creative Papers, and the sentiment was stamped on plain white card stock with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink.

I think it turned out well, and I hope you have enjoyed it also. Don't  forget to click on the link above from Little Scrap Pieces to check out more ideas and cards, celebrating A Nice Day for a White Wedding.

Mindy

USA Memorial Day 2013

Happy Memorial Day 2013!  This is Memorial Day weekend, a good time to honor those who fought for our country, and those that still do so.  It's time to remember the Red, White, & Blue, and celebrate the flag we hold so dear.

Today's card is my take on celebrating the Red, White, and Blue with Stars and Flourishes from the Liberty Clear Stamp from Bo Bunny Stamps. I took a white pearlized card base and tried several ink types to stamp on the pearlized side of the card.  First I stamped the star design with the Love Letters Red Memento dye ink. The stamp slid on the slick surface of the card, and smeared. Next I tried inking the stamp with  Majestic Blue Versacolor pigment ink. I knew the pigment ink would take longer to dry on the slick surface of the card, so I was very careful when stamping not to smear the image.  It worked well, but before I got the heat gun to it to dry the ink, I laid my hand in it and smeared the design anyway!  We all have problems now and again.

Luckily, I had another piece of the pearlized stock from the 12 X 12 sheet, so after trimming it down to A2 card size, I folded it inside out, which put the pearlized side inside the card. I then used my two inks mentioned above, to stamp the star and flourishes on the card.  After the ink dried, I took my die cut Star Stax from My Favorite Things, and matched the star size die that matched the star on my stamp. Next, I ran the front of the card through my Cuttlebug machine with my all over Star embossing folder.  I then cut out the inside of the stamped star with the die, and adhered a printed paper with writing behind each opening.  I took the piece I cut out with the die, and cut the next smaller size star from it and switching the colors, put the red cut-out inside the blue star opening, and the blue cut-out inside the red star opening. This gave a little more dimension to the stamped stars on the card front. Using the flourish stamp that accompanied the star with flourish stamp, I stamped it along the lengthwise sides of the card, and then die cut tiny blue stars with the smallest die in the set, and poped them up with foam tape bits to give still more dimension to the front of the card..

After I got all my stamps, dies, and pop-ups positioned on the front of the card like I wanted them, I covered the inside of the card front with a rectangle of red card stock. From the photo you can barely see the print and pearlized finish on the inside of the card. I'm not sure whether I will be able to find some type of permanent marker to write inside the card with or if I will have to write on the red side with a white pen or marker for my greeting.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some peppermint twine from Lawn Fawn, twice around the fold of the card and knotted it on the outside.
I had two white star die cuts left in my scrap pile, so I wrote the letters "USA" on one, and glued it back-to-back around one end of the twine for a dangle embellishment.  I would have loved to add some bling to the card, but there was so much going on with the front of this card, I dared not add more bling.

I am entering this card in the Little Scrap Pieces-Fun Friday Challenge:" Let's hear it for the Red, White & Blue"

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, stay safe, and cherish this time with your family. If you have a little extra time, create something crafty!  See you soon.

Mindy

It's Time for Bunny Hugs!

It's time for great big Bunny Hugs!
Good day one and all, hope you are having a wonderful day.  The card for today is a very "blingy"(is that a word?) bunny card.

I stamped this huggin' bunny on white card stock with black memento ink. The bunny is from the Inky Antics Clear stamp set called "Bunny #2." There are two very cute bunnies in this stamp set, and I don't know which is #2, so I will just call this one the huggin' bunny.  I'll use the other in another card later this week.

I colored this bunny with my copic markers, because I can blend and shade colors better with my copics than all of the other markers I have. The background behind the bunny is the Dandelion embossing folder from Sizzix. I ran the gray card stock and embossing folder through the Cuttlebug machine, and then punched the small heart border punch from The Punch Bunch on the top left corner. It was so plain up there in that corner, it needed something.  I also attached a small tied bow in that corner as an accent. I used foam tape to pop the bunny out from the card, so the card would look more dimensional.  I also used adhesive stick-on letters to add the phrase, "Bunny Hugs".

I then started accenting the embossed flowers of the design with pink adhesive crystals, dots of pink liquid pearls, and lots of chocolate brown stickles. I didn't accent all of the embossed dots, just most of them! ( I probably did too many, but oh well, some of us just love our bling!) All I can say is that this is one SPARKLY card!

I want to thank you for stopping by for a visit today. I hope you have enjoyed this card, I know I sure enjoyed making it. Give someone you love a "Bunny Hug" this week, and have a happy Easter! See you again soon.

Easter Tulips: Stained Glass Window

Hello Everyone!  I have another Easter/Spring card for you today.  This one is made from hand tracing a metal stencil of the Tulips Stained Glass Window on white card stock. I traced it twice, once for the background, and another time just for the frame around the window. It is hard to see in this photo, but after coloring the tulips, leaves, frames, and background with my copic markers, I trimmed the gray frame off the second stamping and used clear foam tape to pop it up around the image.

I also stamped a dangling banner from the Lawn Fawn's Bannerific stamp set with Memento ink, and then colored it with copic markers. I used the Pixie Antique Alphabet set to stamp the phrase "Happy Easter" and then used foam dots placed inside the frame to pop the banner just a bit higher than the frame. I need to mail this card, and I don't want it to be so dimensional in the envelope that it will cost extra to mail.

To assemble the card, I took a gray sheet of card  stock and trimmed it to 3 3/4" x 5" and ran it through the Cuttlebug machine with the Dotted Swiss embossing folder. I then mounted the colored image to the embossed stock, and trimmed the top left corner to match the design image and added three pink acrylic stones to the right corner for accent. I left the "grout lines" of the image white on this card, because it looked better. I used the image I cut from the framed pieced and colored in the grout lines with black, gray, and a light gold, just to see how it would look, but I didn't like the look at all. I guess the white worked better with the light colors I colored the image with. Maybe if you colored the image with darker colors the darker grout lines would look OK.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting today. I hope you have enjoyed my card, and will try to stamp a few cards for your family and friends. See you soon.

Hello Friend!

Hello Friends,
Today's card is using the 3rd Melange Woman stamp from Paper Wings Productions, and her name is Diana.

The background of this card was made from a piece of eggshell card stock run through a Sizzix embossing folder on my Cuttlebug. After removing it from the folder, I took an older chestnut roan chalk ink pad and ran it lightly over the embossed image.  Be very careful if you use a new chalk ink pad, because they are very juicy when new. I then stamped out Diana on the same eggshell stock and colored her with my Copic markers. Most of the shading is on the stamp itself, so is very easy to make the image look so real. Then using a flourish die from Die-namics and "Hello Friend" from a Sizzix plate, I ran a bronze sheet of stock through the Cuttlebug for the embellishments.  All the pieces were then adhered to a kraft colored card base.

A very easy card with just a little time needed to complete it. Tomorrow I will show and explain the last card in the series of  Melange Women group. Again, if you would like to have a set of these wonderful images or purchase them singly, click here.  See you tomorrow!