Be Mine Valentine

Hello Stampers and Card Makers! I have another Valentine's Day card for you that is really cute and exciting!
I had the basic parts of this card cut out and partially put together when I came across a little booklet I got Free in one of my shipments of supplies before Christmas.
The background paper and heart, ribbon band and layered flower are from the Blush 6 X 6 paper pad from My Minds Eye. Around the ribbon band and the cut out heart I outlined them with the Thin Border Dazzles from Hot Off the Press in the silver color. I adhered the band and layered flower to the bottom of the card, and used small foam squares between the layers of the flower to make it dimensional. I couldn't decide where I wanted to put the heart, so I kept turning it and moving it around to see where it looked the best. I added three strips of hot pink polka dot ribbon to the right corner of the card, and a strip of washi tape with multi colored hearts to the bottom of the card. The only place left for the heart was in the top left corner, but it looked so plain there, That is when I found the little white booklet with green stripped border that had an arrow on the cover. I adhered the heart to the book cover and then adhered the book to the front of the card. That was the exact look I wanted, but to my surprise, when I opened the little booklet. . . look what happened!

The little booklet was a heart, folded to look like a mini-book!  What a surprise! I wrote the word LOVE inside with a white marker, but you could write any secret message inside for your friend or loved one.
I hope you liked today's card, and will make one for someone special in your life. Have a great day, and I will see you again tomorrow.

Party Hearty . . . It's Your Birthday!

Greetings fellow stampers and paper artists!  The card for today is titled "Party Hearty" it's your birthday, and is a paper pieced card that is similar to one I saw on a Paper Wishes blog post. I am a huge Paper Wishes Fan, and love their projects and supplies. This card is made using one of their Design Template tools kit #2.

Background paper #1 purple with lt. blue polka dots is cut from "A Beautiful Life" 6 X 6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye with the Vintage Label Stencil.  Layer #2 floral print is also from "A Beautiful Life and the Vintage Sign stencil. Layer #3 is a chipboard tag covered in a yellow print from "Sunshine" 6 X 6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye, and has the sentiment "Party Hearty" stamped in Versacolor black ink from the Birthday Greetings clear stamp set from Hot Off the Press. Each end of the tag was punched with a small hole punch, and a crinkled purple ribbon was looped through the holes around the edge of the design stack of printed papers.

The stacked flower was made by punching several layers from the scraps of paper I used, and then arranged with foam tape between the layers to give the flower depth. A single bow was tied with the same ribbon used in the tag and placed behind the flower.  Finally, to add some bling to the card, I added pink Stickles to the outside edge of the tag, and small coordinating stones and pearls in among the stamped letters of the sentiment.

If you have any questions on how this card was done, or any questions or comments, please feel free to leave me a message. I would love to hear from you. See you again soon.

Winter Wonderland Card

Happy Wintertime fellow stampers!
Today was another one of those dreary days here in So. Texas where I live. The only good things about this dreary weather is that we really do need the rain that we get, plus it gives me lots to time to work on cards.

Today's card is another winter themed card with papers from the Graphic 45 line," A Place in Time." The colors for the January embellishments and papers are in shades of teal, so I used some strips of the teal printed pages attached to the card base as my background. I punched a 3 1/2" circle from white card stock and used a new metal stencil I got with  club kit I belong to. Paper Wishes/Hot off the Press has a monthly club kit that features metal stencils. Each month you get a kit with 2 metal stencils and a newsletter with lots of ideas for using the stencils, on cards, tags, scrapbook pages and the like.  They also discuss how to use different techniques and products with the stencils to help you with your projects.  When I used to work at Stamp Antonio Arts, here in San Antonio, we sold a lot of the metal stencils. I just never learned how to use them, and never seemed to have the time to take any of the classes offered.

With this stencil of the ice skates, I first traced around the inside of the stencil with a Pigma Micron .005 fine tip permanent marker. I then removed the stencil, and went over the laces and shoestrings with a heavier tip .08 fine tip permanent black marker.I also traced around the boot and heel with the larger tipped marker. The next step was to color the boot, and I used my Copic markers in Aqua shades to color them. Finally, I colored the bow with streamers and the metal blades of the skates with Ice Blue Stickles. The instructions suggested Silver Stickles, but I thought the light blue would bring the card together, especially since I was using so much of the teal blue. To complete the card I cut a tag and stamped "Winter Wonderland" on it, and shaded the edges with Ocean Water Distressed Ink and tied some Caribbean blue twine around the whole card vertically and knotted it.

This time of the year when so many people are feeling depressed and blue, I like to suggest trying something new like stamping or card making to help lift your spirits. Just trying one thing new each day will help you boost your self esteem and help you feel like you really have accomplished something. So get out there and try a new technique, or even use new colors in your stamping that you have never used before. Then share it with a friend, and make someone else HAPPY!  See you soon.

Got Bee's in Your Bonnet?

Hi stampers and paper artists!
I hope you are having a good day today. The card I want to share with you today, is using a beautiful stamp and die set from Hero Arts, and it is the head of a Victorian Woman with a beautiful feathered bonnet. The stamp came in a set with the cling mounted stamp and a die to match. I stamped the image on heavy white watercolor paper, and used my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils to color it in. When the watercolor pencil and paper were dry, I placed the matching die over the image and ran it through my die cutting machine to cut it out. You can see the small white border around the stamped image if you look closely.
I then stamped two small bee's from the Lawn Fawn "Be Mine" clear stamp set and colored them with the Inktense pencils, too.  The sentiment, "Got Bees in your bonnet?" is from a set of sentiments from Cardz TV's clear set, "Going Buggy?" I also stamped "hello honey" inside the card. It was from the same "buggy"set.  I then put the card together by adhering a sheet of paper from the Almanac Collection by Prima Papers on the card front, and then glue dots on the woman's image and banner. The cute little bee's I attached with tiny dots of foam tape to really make them pop off the page.

This is an old saying that I haven't heard in years, but means, is something bothering you? I think it made a really pretty card, and when I find the right person to send it to, I sure hope they like it. Even if it is just for the little bee's!  Thanks for stopping by.

Winter Wishes Collage Card

Brrrrrrrrr! Is Jack Frost nipping at your nose? Hello fellow stampers and collage artists. Today's card that I want to share with you is a Winter Wishes Collage card made from the 8" X 8 " "A Place in Time" paper pad from Graphic 45.

The January collage item page has snowflakes and snowmen in shades of teal. So I pulled out a teal card base to construct my card. I first got all my collage pieces together that I wanted to use, and arranged then on the front of my card to check the size. I then stamped the Snowflake #2 stamp from Penny Black in Versamark Clear Embossing Ink in several places on the front of the card, sprinkled them with white opaque embossing powder, and then heat set them. I then attached the collage elements to the card front with double stick adhesive and foam dots for the postage stamps.
I then stamped the phrases, "Brrrrrr!" and "Jack Frost" on the front of the card, and "Baby, it's COLD outside!" on the inside of the card. All of the phrases came from the "Snow Day" clear stamp set from Cardz TV with Mary. They have some of the cutest phrase stamp sets ever, I just went crazy when I saw them.  Of course, I wanted all the phrase stamps when I saw them, but had to limit my purchase to just a few.  Why not check them out HERE when you get a chance.

Have a great day, pour yourself some tea, and make some greeting cards. You will be glad you did! See you soon.

Bee Mine

Greetings friends,
I have another Valentine/Friendship card for you today.  The idea is from a video I saw on YouTube where the artist made the sleeve/pocket and then used it for a gift card holder or greeting card holder.

I didn't take down the measurements from the video, so I played around with my card stock until it came out right. I finally realized that it used an 81/2" X 11" piece of card stock cut in half lengthwise. (41/4" X 11") The pieces were then scored at 5 1/2" or in half cross-wise. The outer sleeve took one whole sheet of card stock. One piece made the left section, and the other half made the right section. After each section was scored, you cut the angle on the top flap only, and then overlapped the two to make the pocket.

For the card I inserted inside, I cut a piece of stock 4" X 5" and then used it to mat a piece of stiff watercolor paper. That helped to give the insert a little stability. To decorate the out side sleeve and the insert, I dug through some more of my stamping scraps and trimmings. This file consists of images I have stamped out and colored with various pencils, markers, and pens to try them out.  These roses were colored with Copic markers and stamped in tuxedo black Memento Ink. I used pop dots to pop out three roses on the sleeve, and glue dots to adhere three more to the insert.  I stamped "Bee Mine" and the bee, from the Bee Mine clear set from Lawn Fawn, and then tied a red sheer ribbon around the whole insert before placing it in the sleeve.

This made a very interesting card, something out of the ordinary. Those are the type of cards I really like! I really liked the weather today, too here in So. Texas. For the past week or so it has been cold, and cloudy, and dreary.  But today the sun was out when I awoke, and stayed out all day!  I even got outside to soak up some of the Vitamin D that was pouring from the sky! I hope you enjoyed your day, and could do a little stamping of your own. Until tomorrow, take care!

Your Friendship Warms My Heart!

Hello fellow stampers!  How is the New Year treating you? Today I  am sharing a Valentine or Friendship Card with you. The background is the Blooming Heart stamp from Hero Arts, stamped with tuxedo black Memento Ink on white card stock. The flowers were colored in with various red and pink Copic Markers. The little girl is from the Warm Wishes clear stamp set from My Favorite Things, and so is the saying, "your friendship warms my heart!"

The girl in her coat and hat was stamped in tuxedo black Memento Ink also, and colored with my Copic Markers. After coloring, I cut her from the white card stock and used foam dots to pop her up from the surface, and added a 1" strip of patterned paper to the top. I then tied a strip of ribbon around the image and knotted a strip at the top for a bow. A single heart flower with stem and leaves was stamped beside the girl, and the whole unit was adhered to the front of the card base.

Valentines Day is one of my favorite "card making" holidays of the year. I hope to have quite a few samples available to show you this year in time for Valentines Day, February 14, 2013. Have a safe and warm weekend, and I will join you again on Monday.