A Rose is a Rose

A Rose by any other name would not smell as sweet. Hello friends, I love roses, any style and any color. I love to grow them in my garden, and share their beauty with family and friends.  When I saw this stamp in the Classy Cards 'n Such Online Store , I knew I had to purchase it for using on tags and cards.

It is being featured today on the Classy Cards 'n Such Blog. If you would like to see the step-by-step instructions, click on the link above and check it out!

I also wanted to draw your attention to all of the New Items in the Classy Cards Online store, and to remind you of the 10% discount you can receive every time you shop there.  By typing the code: MINDY-10 in the coupon box, you can get the discount on each and every purchase.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon.
Mindy

Holiday JOY!

Greetings, my friends.  Mindy here to share with you a holiday card using the negative space left over when using a die cut system. This is a sample of our weekly challenge at the Classy Cards 'n Such Blog. This was a new challenge for me, because I am fairly new at collecting and  using wafer thin dies in my Cuttlebug machine.  I have so many friends here in bloggie-land that use layers upon layers of dies to create the most beautiful dimensional cards I have ever seen.

The challenge this week is #44- Using the Negative of a die cut, I started out by using an A2 size piece of stock, and die cut the Fancy Ornament Die by Impression Obsession from the center. I then moved the die just a little to the right and down about 1" and cut the circle ornament again.

I then took a lighter piece of A2 stock and embossed the Vintage Flowers Embossing folder from Crafts Too!, and placed it behind the cut out of the ornaments. There was too much open area to show the negative space, so I adhered the positive image ornament in the lower opening and added some glitter. I also added a silver bow and some glitter thread to each ornament to look as if it were hanging from the tree.

To add a little more bling to the card, I added some of the Allure Swirl- Silver Rhinestones down the left side, and die cut the word JOY for the sentiment.

There are so many new products available in the Classy Cards 'n Such Online Store, I hope you will stop by, and don't forget to use my 10% off coupon, details above in right column.  Just add MINDY-10 as coupon code in the box on the checkout page, and you get a 10% discount on your complete purchase.

I hope you will all try something new when creating your cards. It is so much fun to try a new technique when being creative! Have fun, and see you again soon.

Count Your Blessings

Hello, friends, Mindy here today with a card for this week's challenge at the Classy Cards 'N Such blog, #42 Buttons and Bows!

I started this card by embossing an A2 size sheet of card stock with the Daisy Flourish embossing folder sending it through my Cuttlebug machine. I then took the Memory Box designer Stencil Garden Stems and added Embossing paste to use as stems for my button and bow flowers.

To give the background some definition, I highlighted the embossing with a white pen, a touch of gold glitter and some Cantaloupe colored Liquid Pearls. It was then set aside to let dry.  I then took some ribbon, and made three small single bow flowers and adhered a single gold colored small Medallion Sparklers button in the centers. The bows were then adhered to the background at the ends of the stems to look like a bouquet of flowers, with a double loop bow tied at the bottom of the bouquet.

I also stamped a saying, Count Your Buttons (. . . and Blessings) on a banner strip and used  Joy! Foam Pads Large to give the banner some dimension and adhered it to the front of the card.

The whole time I was working on this card, the song "Button and Bows" sung by Doris Day was going through my head.  It was a little before my time, but parts of the song were familiar to me, and those parts kept repeating over and over all day.

I hope you will join us at Classy Cards 'N Such, by creating a card or two for our weekly challenge. They are so much fun, and you can possibly win a wonderful item sold in our online store. Be sure to visit our online store, and when you are ready to check out, use the coupon code MINDY-10 (all caps-no spaces) to get your 10% discount off your entire purchase. See you again soon!

Hooray for the Red, White & Blue!

Greetings Friends!  Hope this patriotic card finds you well, and in the mood for a little 4th of July celebrating!

As I mentioned yesterday, I love Americana crafts and patriotic symbols. Every year I try to make a new patriotic wreath for my front door, but this year made this card instead.

I started with an A2 size card base, made from Neenah white card stock.  I then cut an A2 size watercolor paper background and inked up my Darice Stripes Embossing Folder with Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Ink. I then spritzed the ink covered embossing folder with water, and ran my sheet of watercolor paper through the Cuttlebug machine.  I let the watercolor paper set until it air-dried, then ran the ink pad over the top to accentuate the stripes.

The image itself is four layers of paper dies.  The background using the Ankara Lace Doily from Cheery Lynn Designs, the Grapevine Wreath (blue), Tiny Bunnies (white), and Lg. Loopy Bow (navy) from Impression Obsession Dies, all carried in the Classy Cards 'N Such Online store.  For a touch of sparkle, I cut the Sm. Hearts die from Impression Obsession in Red Sparkle Metallic paper. I stamped tiny red stars on each bunny and shaded the edges of the die with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress ink pad. I hand lettered the banner with the words, "hooray for the red, white, and blue".

I am entering this card in the Weekly Challenge #39 at the Classy Cards 'N Such Blog 

and the Red, White & Blue Linky Party at Craftin Desert Diva's.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and Keep On Stampin'!

Our Family Stay-cation . . . Boring!

Greetings All!  Summer is here, and vacations are on the rise.  Here is a card to celebrate "staying at home" instead of "hitting the road" this year!

A friend of mine had to inform her kids today, that there would be no vacation trip this year, and they would have to enjoy staying home this summer!  Of course, the reply was "Boring"!  School has only been out less than a week, and they are already bored silly.

To start, I used a precut A2 size card and attached a piece of patterned paper to it.  I stamped this image, one of Janie's Girls from Hot Off the Press on X-press blending card and colored it in with my Copic markers. I then stamped the plumeria flowers from the Tropicals flower stamp from Stampendous, and trimmed along one edge. These were also colored with Copics. I fussy cut around both the girl stamp and flowers, and then mounted them to the background with foam adhesive tape. Before attaching the girl's image to the floral background, I attached a square of vellum that I embossed in my Stripes Embossing Folder by running through my Cuttlebug machine. It diffused the bright flowers from the background, so the girl's image could more readily be seen.  I then stamped the saying from one of Winnie & Walter's new stamp sets, "The Big, the Bold, and Fun" stamp set.

After I finished this card, and was writing this post, I decided the plumeria needed a tiny pearl in the center of each flower.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I took off a little time last week to work on some "special" projects, and to celebrate my birthday on Wednesday. I am now back on track and will visit again with you soon. 

Happy Stamping!

Cruisin' the Canals

Today's card is a quick way to make a card, that looks time consuming, yet all it takes is a little coloring and you are ready to go. Check it out!

To start, the design is a pictorial embossing folder called "Canals" from Ecstasy Crafts and Nellie Snellen. Choose two sheets of card stock, one for the card base, and one for the image itself. Both sheets of card stock I used are available in the Classy Cards 'N Such Online Store , the base card is from a sheet of Pluto-Onyx Stardream Metallic stock cut in half to form the A2 size card. The image itself,  is embossed on a sheet of Neenah White-Gold Metallic stock and then colored with Copic Alcohol markers. The shading is done with various shades of the Copic markers, and tiny details are done with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen.  Of course, you can color as much or as little as you like to complete the picture.  When done to your liking, adhere the image to the card front using double sided tape.  You could also add a sentiment or phrase, but I chose not to on this specific card. 

I am entering this card in the Classy Cards 'N Such Weekly Challenge #33-Scenic View .  These challenges are so much fun, I try to participate every week, and you can, too! You can check the above link for the requirements of the challenge, and then get busy and make an awesome card! The weekly challenges give you a little incentive and push to be creative and express yourself with your art. Sometimes we all need a little help in this area, I know I do.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, stay safe, enjoy family, and maybe make a card or two for the challenge!

Mindy

Hang in There!

Welcome to the weekend, my friends. It is feeling so much like spring here in Texas, I am just so enjoying making these beautiful  "springy" cards.  The challenge this week at the Classy Cards 'N Such blog, is all about Flutterbys-butterflies and birds. This butterfly card fits the bill, and showcases some of the wonderful products available at the Classy Cards online store.

I started this card with a sheet of Stardream Rose Quartz metallic paper, cut in half to form two A2 size card bases. I then used one of the Darice Stripe Background embossing folders and my Cuttlebug machine to emboss the front of the A2 card. With the fold of the card on the left side, I highlighted the left and right of the card base with Dark Bark chalk ink from Prima.

I then stamped the Coneflower cling stamp from Impression Obsession on some Neehnah white card stock and colored it in with my copic markers. I then trimmed around the image leaving a very small white border, and used 3-D Zot Dots to adhere it to the front of the card.  I cut one of the Ecstasy Crafts Sm. Faerie Queen Butterflies from some Stardream Fuse Azalea metallic paper and backed it with a sheet of Heavyweight Velllum. When the glue was dry I trimmed around the die-cut with my scissors, and highlighted several of the openings with my Wink of Stella Brush Pens with Clear & Gold glitter.

To finish off the card front, I stamped a sentiment from My Craft Spot's "Feeling Better Soon" clear set on a banner tag, and tied it to the front of the card with Maya Road Twine Cording in the Sweet Candy color.

The following products used, are from the Classy Cards "N Such Online Store:

Stardream Rose Quartz metallic paper TPC-120:403

Stardream Fuse Azalea metallic paper XP-730177976

Heavyweight Vellum paper TPC-189

Darice Stripe Background Embossing Folder DA-1217-64

Coneflowers cling stamp from Impression Obsession IO-H16010

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and will visit with me again soon.

Mindy