Simple Embossing

These cards were sooooo easy to make but look so elegant and beautiful. The embossing might be a little difficult to see because it is on white paper and the flash seems to wash it out. But believe me, IRL it looks great. I embossed one with my swirl embossing folder and my CB. Then just added the sentiment from SU and some maroon ribbon from Jo-Ann's. I even embossed the flap of the envelope too. I embossed the other one by hand using a metal embossing plate and a stylus. In case you can't see it, it has 3 lacy hearts in row at the bottom. Then I just added the green ribbon I got from Wal-Mart. I am so happy with how these turned out.

Dimentional Flowers

Now I really like how this card turned out! I like how some cards can be interactive by having on them something you can touch or move. And this card has several of those things. I used a decorative corner punch from SU to hold the Very Vanilla paper. I threaded gold floss through the SU buttons and adhered them onto the flowers that I got from Michael's (a whole bag for $2.00!) and then adhered them to the paper. I just drew stems with my SU Mellow Moss marker and added "stitching" with a gold metallic pen. Lastly, I punched out 2 rectangle punches to add ribbon from Wal-Mart and then it was done. I think it makes a lovely card for just about any occasion.

Thinking of You #2

This is another card I made with my Knitabella stamp. I was again trying out my Nestabilities dies and found that she just about fits in the largest circle die. I can't wait to get my scallop circle dies so I don't have to cut around the circle with my scallop scissors--that can be a little tricky sometimes. I colored her in with my SU markers and also used them to add some decoration around the circle. I thought this paper I got from Scrapbook Corner matched very well (again I'm sorry I don't know the name of it). Some ribbon from Wal-Mart finishes it off perfectly.

Heart Candy Anyone?

This second card makes me hungry for a little snack. :) I've had these Valentine candy stamps from SU for a long time now and I think they're just so cute. They remind me of when I was little and I would see how many different sayings I could find. The striped paper is from SU and had the perfect colors to match my hearts. I thought pink polka dots would match the whimsy of the hearts, and when I found this polka dot ribbon in my drawer I said "Yes!". (I love when things are matchy-matchy!) The sentiment in the oval is from SU and I thought mimicked the whimsy of the sayings on the hearts. I used my scallop scissors and more ribbon on the oval to tie it all together. Pretty cute!

Heart Flower

OK, I broke down and got out my heart stamps today. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em I guess. ;) With this first card I knew I wanted to use this heart with some swirls. And when I saw this swirl stamp I thought it could be a stem and the heart could be the flower. And that's just what it turned out looking like. I love it when a plan comes together! I embossed the red paper with my CB to match the swirl stamp. Then I added the brads, ribbon, and glitter for interest. And then added the sentiment to match tie in with then black paper and doodling. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

How Ewe Doin'?

Isn't this little lamb and the sentiment so cute?! It is from SU's Farm Fever. Even though that set is retiring I had to get it because I think the animals are so adorable. Anyway, I started out making this card when I was trying out my new Nestabilities circle dies. I cut out the lamb and then the larger black circle. I thought the black circle was a little too big and needed something to fill in the space so I added the dots with my white marker pen. Then when I found this SU paper with the white dots I thought it was a perfect match. I filled in the lambs "wool" with some Snow Writer from Deco Art. I think I'll make another one using white Fun Flock to see how that looks. I used SU's slit punch to hold the sentiment and added a little ribbon in the corner and viola!

Floral Thank You

This is a thank you card I made for my son's Godmother who gave him birthday and Christmas gifts. She really likes flowers (what girl doesn't) so I think she will like it. I purchased the floral paper at Scrapbook Corner (sorry-I don't know who makes it) which I like because of the glitter on the flowers. I embossed the green paper with my CB (naturally). The stamp is from SU which I outlined with some black doodling to add interest. I placed glitter in the center of the flower to match the paper. The ribbon is from Wal-Mart. The layout is one from SCS's sketch challenges. I have printed those out and keep them handy for inspiration when I'm out of ideas (cuts out some of the thinking which is useful at 11:00 at night). Enjoy!

Pretty in Pink

Here is another card I made today with something new I got from Michael's. I had another coupon to use at Michael's today and I used it on some die cuts for my cuttlebug. I love my cuttlebug but have just used it solely for embossing thus far. But a set of these floral dies caught my eye and I thought I could use them for many different things. On this card I layered them to make a 3-D flower and put a rinestone brad from SU in the center. The paisley paper is from Scrapbook Corner. The lace ribbon is from Wal-Mart I think. I needed to put a sentiment in the corner but I didn't want it to be too overpowering and compete with the flower. I found this one but was then at a loss as to how to attach it because I didn't want to just stick it on there. Then I remembered the flower brads I got from SU years ago. I think it goes perfectly.

Valentine's Day is Next

I was at Michael's today and the isles were crowded with boxes because they were taking down all of the Christmas stuff and setting up the Valentine's Day stuff. Boy, they don't waste any time! My 5 year old daughter even commented on it. So in response to that I thought I would join in the rush and make a V-day looking card. I couldn't quite get myself to break out my heart stamps so I just focused on the red. I chose the H initial for my daughter. Her name is Holly. She was thrilled that I was actually making something for her this time and not a "stranger".

The paper is of course from SU. I embossed the red paper using my cuttlebug. The frame stamp is from Michael's. I got it during my trip there today using my 50% off coupon--I don't usually like buying my stamps there because I think they are too expensive, but I can justify it by using my coupon. :) The initial stamp is from Paper Trey. Love Paper Trey!!! I used my corner punch from SU to accent the frame. The flower is also something I picked up from Michael's today. I got a whole bag of red, pink, and ivory ones for only $2.00! Love a bargain. Enjoy!

Thinking of You

I made this card with my mother in mind because she loves to knit, among her many talents, and because she is far away from me now. Which leaves me lots of time to think of her. I made it using my new Knitabella stamp. Isn't she cute?! I used my SU markers to color in the image to match the scraps of paper I put together as the background. (The Stickle glitter I used to glam up her eyes unfortunately photographed a little crazy, but looks just fine IRL.) It is very easy but I think it makes for an interesting card. I hope you like it, I think my mother will. Mary

Merry Christmas!

Well, Merry Christmas everyone! Long time no post, I know, but I have been so busy preparing for Christmas and going to family functions that I didn't have time to make any more cards let alone post anything. I hope you all had a very good Christmas and that Santa brought you everything you wanted. My family and I had a wonderful day, to be sure. But part of me is glad the preparing and running around is over, I was getting a little worn out. Hence the topic of this card..."Utterly Exhausted". The picture and quote are from SU's Farm Fever set (which I'm glad I got because it is going to be discontinued). The floral paper is from Achiever's, but the rest is from SU. I sewed borders with my sewing machine -it's "sew" easy ;). And the hardware is from SU's Hodgepodge Hardware. I hope you like it and aren't too exhausted from your Christmas celebrations. Mary

Mini Memory Books

My kids love looking at pictures of themselves when they were little. They also like us to tell them stories about when they were born, how we used to rock them, and feed them with bottles, etc. This always leads to my son requesting to hear the story of one of his big "blow-outs" where he pooped so far up his back it almost reached his neck. (Boys! Why does everything lead to poop or gas?!) Anyway, I made these mini memory books for them to keep. I found these chipboard squares with the initials on them at Archivers. I traced around them onto the thick paper I got when I ordered some large decorative paper from SU (don't throw away anything!). I did this many times to make the pages of the books. Then I covered those pages with different patterned cardstock for one side of the page and then placed a picture on the other side. I used SU's oval punch to create a place to stamp a word that I thought went along with the picture. I punched holes through all of the pages and covers at the top and bottom and wound wire through the holes several times to hold it all together. Then I embellished with ribbons, buttons, and pearls. My kids just love looking at these and they hold up very well.

Night-time Christmas

This is a card that is similar to my "Blue Christmas" card that I made several weeks ago. This one has a very contemporary feel because of the silver and black. I stamped the image onto the black cardstock using Versamark and embossed it with silver powder. I used SU's corner punch to make room for the silver brads. Then I used the same embossing process with the snowflakes. A strip of silver ribbon from Michael's adds more sparkle. And because you can't have too much bling, I added glitter for the snow under the trees. This image makes me think of quiet moonlit walks in winter.

Christmas Candle

Here is another candle I made with the same wax paper process as in a previous post. This time it was even easier because instead of stamping and coloring the image I just used a paper napkin I bought at Wal-Mart. I just cut around the image. Then since napkins come 2-ply, I just peeled off the ply with the image and proceeded with the wax paper process. I tied a ribbon around the bottom and then I was done. I am going to include this with my teacher and bus driver gifts. Easy, pretty, and inexpensive, what more could you want?!

Recipe Card

To me, part of the meaning of Christmas is cookies! I had this past week off from work and I spent an entire day making all different kinds of Christmas cookies. It has become a tradition for me and it really gets me in the spirit. Some of these cookies I give away with gifts. One of the gifts I made were a bunch of these recipe cards for a friend of mine. (I'm sorry the photo is a little dark but when I used my flash it washed the card out.) I packaged them with some cookies as well as the recipe written on one of the recipe cards. It took a while to make all of the cards and I felt kind of like a production line worker, but the result is great and I know she will really like them. I just used a piece of vanilla cardstock as the base. Then stamped it with a stamp set I found on sale at Scrapbook Corner. I aged the edges by sponging them with SU's Sahara Sand ink. Great, usable gift for very little money.

Dinosaur Birthday

I know it's Christmas time and therefore time for Christmas cards, however, my son's birthday is this week and I try my best not to let Christmas festivities interfere with that. So I stopped making Christmas cards for a bit to make my son this birthday card. I know what it's like to have a birthday near Christmas and I always felt a little jipped because I had to go the whole rest of the year without presents. So I try to make my son's birthday extra special. On a funny side note, we have been telling our kids (as most parents do this time of year) that they need to be good or Santa won't bring them anything for Christmas. My son has apparently been giving this a lot of thought because he came to me the other day and said "Mommy, I've been thinking. Maybe if I get everything I want for my birthday then I won't have worry about being good and not getting presents from Santa." Very clever of him I thought. But I told him that's not how he should be looking at it. Nice try though! :)

Anyway, to the card. My son loves dinosaurs! When I say love I mean totally and completely 100% infatuated with them. My son has savant-like abilities when it comes to dinosaurs. He started memorizing their names at the age of 3. And I don't mean easy ones like T-rex or triceratops. I mean like Euplocephalus and Brachiosaurus. By now he must know at least 50 different ones and all the facts concerning them like what they ate, what time period they lived in, etc. He started reading in Kindergarten like most kids but once he learned a few words it just took off for him and by the end of Kindergarten was tested for reading at a 2nd-3rd grade level. And all he wanted to read were text book-like books about dinosaurs so that's were he learned it all from. He of course says that he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. So anyway, it was easy for me to decide what to put on his birthday card...a dinosaur of course! The cardstock and markers are from, where else, SU. The stamp set is from MFT. I used my cuttlebug to emboss the squares (If only I had the embossing folder that looked like alligator skin!--That would have been perfect! Something for me to think about for his birthday card for next year.) The Happy Birthday sentiment fit perfectly in my SU word window punch. I think my son will like it a lot.

This and That

Hello again. Are you ready for Christmas yet? I am just about there. I literally have only 1 more gift to buy and I have a feeling it will be my nemesis. It is for my husband's niece. We have been asking and asking her parents what she wants and now finally, the minute I came home from shopping all day and finishing everything else there was a message saying that she wants a particular cash register and that's all she wants (great!). I immediately go to the computer to look it up and see what it is and where I can get it the cheapest only to find out that it is out of stock at the stores on-line, which probably means it will be hard to find at the actual stores too (double great!). So now the hunt is on. :)
So on to the cards. These are a couple cards I designed for the Christmas card workshop I did last month. The first one is simple but classic. The paper and ink is from SU of course (I think they have the best quality paper and their ink matches perfectly). I stamped the background holly design with a stamp from SU's Background Basics set with green ink and used my SU marker to color in the berries. I cut the ovals with Creative Memories paper cutters. I used a gold metallic marker to put stitching around the center oval (I love putting stitching on a card- it adds just a little something extra).
The second card was a little more involved. Again...SU paper, ink, and markers! :) I used SU's slit punch to hold the white with presents piece. I used SU's envelope template to mark and cut the small green envelope. As you can see the tag comes out, so it's like a card-in a card! Fun!
Lastly, here a some photos of my kids performing in their school Christmas programs. My son might have a future as a rock band drummer (fine with me as long as he stays out of the drugs and gives me a little of the money :)! ) And my daughter is fulfilling her desire to be the next Hanna Montana (again, fine with me as long as she gives me a little of the money :)! )
Good luck with your shopping!

Easy Candle Project

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since my last post but I've been busy making a bunch of gifts and haven't had time to post. One of the gifts I made was this candle. This is a project that may be familiar to a lot of you but I had never done it before. My wonderful SU upline, co-worker, and friend Julie Campbell did this project at a party a long time ago and explained the steps to me the other day so I thought I would give it a try. It was sooooo easy I was amazed! And it looks so professional and cost pennies!

In case you are unfamiliar with the steps I'll go over them. First you stamp a piece of regular white tissue paper with an image. With this candle I colored the image in with chalk (the picture is a little washed out from the flash but IRL the colors show up much better) or you can stamp your image with colored ink. Cut it out but you don't have to be perfect and cut close to the image or anything. Lay it on your candle and then lay a large piece of wax paper over the image and pull it tight around the back of the candle making sure it is flat and tight. Using an embossing gun, heat up the image until you can see the wax on the paper melt. Stop heating and let it cool for maybe 5 seconds. Release the wax paper and carefully peel it off. The image is now embedded into the candle under a layer of wax from the paper. Any excess wax or paper on the top or bottom edges can be carefully trimmed off with a craft knife. Then just decorate with ribbons, crystal brads, etc. Since I already had all of the other supplies on hand, this project only cost me $2.80 for the candle at Wal-Mart. Give it a try, it's great!

Blue Christmas

I think this is my favorite Christmas card yet. Of course because it is blue, but also because it looks so peaceful. And the ultra fine and sparkly glitter on the "ground" to me looks like fresh untouched snow. I used thick glue to adhere this glitter so it gives it a dimensional affect that is rounded and soft looking, just like real snow. The saying on the inside says "Wishing you a gentle season of happiness and peace", which I think goes perfectly with how the picture on the front makes me feel. I hope you like it as much as I do. Mary

Christmas Wishes

I am so enjoying this Christmas season, are you? I have nearly all of my shopping done, all of our decorations are up, I have my car radio tuned to a station that is playing only Christmas music, it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow, and next week I'm going to spend an entire day watching the Carol Duvall Holiday Workshop while I make Christmas cookies. I know it sounds corny but I just love that stuff. Anyway, here is a card I made last night. Blue is my favorite color so this card makes me happy. All of the cardstock and stamps are from SU. I embossed the white paper with my cuttlebug (I just love that thing!). I used the SU word window punch for the saying and cut around it with scalloped scissors. The ribbon is from Michael's. Leave a comment and let me know how you get into the Christmas spirit. Mary

Christmas Blessings

Hi again. Here is another Christmas card I made last weekend. The flower is from SU's "Doodle This" stamp set. Because I did it in maroon I think it looks like a poinsettia. I placed the maroon flower over a mauve flower to give it some added interest. I embossed it with gold powder to give it an elegant look. All of the paper is from SU and the ribbon is from Wal-Mart. I hope you like it. Mary

A Whole Lotta Christmas Wishes!

Well, I finished the cards for my friend so now I can concentrate on Christmas cards. Yeah! This is one of the many cards I made this weekend. I am now officially in the Christmas spirit! :) This card looks a little busy to me but I do like how all of the colors match. The layout is from an old sketch challenge from SCS. All of the cardstock and ink is from SU. The stamps are from one of SU's new Christmas sets. I hope you like it. I have all my other ones ready to post but you will have to wait until tomorrow! ;) Mary