thoughts and prayer sympathy

We had a friend of ours who had a close family member die recently. I had to make them a card letting them know that I was thinking of them. One of my favorite sets to use for this type of card is the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set. I just stamped it on glossy cardstock with Staz On ink. I then used a post it note as a mask and then inked up my card using a dauber. I used various scallop punches to make the clouds at the top. It's also hard to see in this picture but I also added little blades of grass with a marker. The saying is punched out with the large oval and matted with the scallop oval. It is raised up on dimensionals.

I hope you enjoyed the card today. I thought it was somewhat clean and simple, but also very nice for the occasion.

toddler birthday card

We got invited to a friend of ours child's 2nd birthday party. She likes stamping and scrapping too, so of course, I had to make him a card to celebrate the occasion.

I saw how to make this giraffe on our Stampin' Connection site that demonstrators have access to. I first saw this giraffe on a card made by Maureen Albert. Her card was different, but I just thought it was the cutest thing. I like punch art in general, but I thought this one was especially fun because our gift included lots of animals, including zoo animals.
This little card is basically lots of punches. I used mainly current ones but I did use at least one retired one. I used the five petal flower for the ears. The owl punch for the eyes, nose and top of the little things on his head. I used the slot punch (retired) for the little things on his head too. You could cut little strips instead. I used 1 3/8" circle and scallop circle punches. The large and small oval and the 1/2" and 3/4" circles. I inked the edges in the respective colors and the head is actually popped up with dimensionals. I stamped the saying from Teeny Tiny wishes and added some 1/8" espresso ribbon. Except for trying to figure out the right sizes to put where it was really an easy and fun card to make I think.
So I hope you enjoy my share today.
Have a great day.
Lisa

second fathers day card.

I made this somewhat cute and fun card for my husband from the kids. They kind of remind me of raccoons or at least the ones that use to visit my grandmother's house. The ones that visited her were always wanting food or attention, which my kids always seem to want one or the other at our house. Her raccoons constantly made a chattering noise because there were so many and my kids always seem to talk or make noise. They are quietest when they sleep. :)
They are good and creative kids for the most part, but they are definitely busy. I just couldn't resist making this card like this because of that.

I do only have one raccoon stamp and yes its nose faces left, which would be the one on the right side. So how did I get the other one? Well you can't tell in this picture, but I cheated. I stamped the raccoon on a piece of transparency and cut him out and flipped him over. I tried to put the glue under the darker parts of him, but you can still see a little near the bottom. So that's how I cheated. I did watercolor the bear with my blender pen and ink pads. The star is stamped on daffodil paper and then cut out.
So I hope you like my idea. It too could be used for other events - camping, birthday etc. Hopefully it inspires you to come up with some other creative options when things don't work exactly like you want them too. Have a great day.

the open sea fathers day card

I like this set and I'm sad it didn't make it into the regular catalog. It is only available through the end of August. It's a good manly set. It's also great for some travel pics and even boat or beach scenes.
I used it for one of my 2 father's days cards. Even though I made a Father's day card, it could also make a cool birthday card or thinking of you, miss you etc. The saying could be interchanged.
For this card I aged the log sheet with my soft suede ink and my spiral punch, which I'm really sad to see this punch retire. Stampin' Up! is the only company that I have personally seen that type of punch in and it was one of my first favorite punches for the style. It was different and I liked that.
I stamped the boat on Whisper white and then colored it in using my blender pen and my ink pads. I also added some cherry seam binding which I love and am glad they are continuing. I got the saying from Teeny Tiny wishes. It's hard to see in this picture, but the Baja is also Versa Marked with both the anchor and the other directional symbol in the set.
Overall a nice and manly type of card, which I have to say is hard for me. I do prefer flowers and butterflies. I hope you enjoy this card idea today. Have a great day.

masculine guitar birthday card

This is a card that was made for a someone that likes to play games like
Guitar hero. I thought this stamp and card idea was great for the person it was made for. It's hard to see the detail of this card, but it is shiny and sparkles some. The lighting wasn't very good the night that I took the picture. Sorry I don't have a better picture. The guitarist is actually cut out and popped up with dimensionals. I used the edges of the dimensionals to pop up the smaller areas. I hate to waste stuff, so I use even the smallest of scraps when I can.
It is stamped twice. That way I didn't have to cut out the cords and small details, just the main character. It also gave it more of a 3d type of effect which was cool. The star is also popped up as well as the saying. I used the seam binding ribbon and the Word Window and Modern label punches. The background is just the brayer bounced around with various colors.
It's somewhat a basic card, but it fit the need and they enjoyed the card.
The inside has stars popped up on it too as well as another saying. Sorry I forgot to photograph the inside. I hope it gives you an idea for a masculine card next time you need one. Hope you have a great day today.

wedding shower card

We know several people getting married in the next couple of months. Most all of our friends went from getting married to having children, so there weren't too many weddings for a while, but several baby showers.

One of our friends had a shower recently and this is the card I made her. It was at a busy time, so I wanted a simple but elegant card.
I used the Elegant lines embossing folder and embossed some whisper white paper. I then took a dauber and my frost white shimmer paint and daubed all the raised areas which created a shimmer effect on the raised area (if you look really close you can see it). I then tied some organza ribbon around it creating a tone on tone look. I wanted a little pop, so I punched a scallop oval out of Basic black. I then stamped Congratulations with my black and then punched it out with the large oval punch. I raised the saying up with Dimensionals for added pop.

On the inside I added a saying and Congratulations in the same basic black. The cool thing with the clear mount is that I put both of these on my block at once, lined them up and stamped. Pretty cool. I decided I needed a little something else so I took the large flower from the wedding sweet set and stamped it subtly in the lower left corner. If you look really close you can see it. Sorry it was the best picture I could get at the time. It is there though. I think it's fun to add little touches to the inside or the envelopes to make the cards even more special.

Hope you enjoy my share today. Blessings. Lisa

mothers day card and new mini set

Hi everyone,
Sorry its been so long. Life just gets somewhat crazy at times. I haven't had as much time to create lately, but have created items for my classes and when I need items. Just need to pick out time to document them and download them all. We have had a busy few weeks being active in several things. We've had church activities, after school activities, field hockey, etc. Seems like some days we meet ourselves coming and going. I'm sure some of you can relate. I'm hoping summer brings somewhat a reprieve although, it's starting to look somewhat busy already. So I've made a few cards outside of my class time cards and this is one of them. This was my Mother's Day card for my mother. This new set is in the new mini that's out. It's called Fabulous Florets and I just love this set. I've already used it in several colors even. This one uses Rose Red and Pretty in Pink (I hope you can see the stamped flowers). I added some Pear seam binding that is being rolled over and can still be purchased. I did cut out layers of the flower. I basically stamped it 3 times, cut out each one making it smaller each time. I added dimensionals between the layers to give it a pop. Made it look really pretty and 3 dimensional. It was overall an easy card, but thought it made for a pretty Mother's day card. Even though that holiday is over, I think it would still be pretty for birthday, showers, thinking of you, etc type of cards. You wouldn't even have to add the layers, I just did that to mine just because I wanted too.
I've also been working on a digital album idea too that I hope to have done soon. There is a sale going on in May for printing those. So I've been spending extra time doing that too. I'll have to remember to post some pages when I'm done with it. It's all about a trip we took in April to South Carolina with Boyscouts. So anyways, I hope you enjoy my card today and I hope you continue to create. Blessings. Lisa

Eastern blossoms birthday

I just love this new tree branch stamp from the new mini. It comes from the Eastern Blossoms stamp set. I colored this one and made a little birthday card using it. It was a fairly easy card and filled my need to color, which I get from time to time as you guys know.
I used Pretty in pink and rose to color in the flowers and pear and olive for the leaves. I stamped the saying and punched it out too and the ribbon is our new Rose Red seam binding. I love having different colors of ribbons that match.
I hope you enjoy my little share today.
I know I've been a slacker a lot lately and I apologize. We have so much going on right now and I don't see it getting better soon. I'll try and post as often as I can. I'm still creating when I can and have various class items to post. I just have to get time to post them. :)
Hope you have a great day today.

more valentine club projects

This was our third mini card we did. It was on a real red base with a black mat. The whisper white we stamped the xoxo stamp with pretty in pink ink and inked the edges. Then we punched the black scallop and red circle. On another white piece of paper we used the stamp set called I heart hearts and stamped 2 hearts and then cut around them and popped them up with dimensionals. It gave the little card some added dimension. I made some more of these cards and I need to take some pictures. they are really fun to make.

This is the last item we made. It is a gatefold card that opens in the middle. It doesn't quite look like that though as the black mat goes past the middle, so it overlaps it. The left side is secured closed behind the heart mounted on the right side with a dimensional. It all slides underneath and fits just snugly. I thought it a fun way to open the card and a cool twist on that type of card. The little heart and circle in the middle of the Love word are punched pieces and the little heart is raised up on dimensionals. The little hearts at the bottom are also hearts from the heart punch from the itty bitty punch pack. To top it all off I added a little jewel to the red heart. I love how that set matches some punches. I love it when things match and are easy to use to create that little wow.
So I hope they give you some ideas for some more valentine cards. Hope you have a really great day today.

birthday cakes card

This is a card I made using the hostess set Birthday Bakery.
It was a fun card to make. I had to decide what colors to color the various cakes. It's kind of fun deciding do I want a chocolate cake with strawberry icing or vanilla, etc. :) It can make you hungry for sure and it definitely wasn't a "day for just a sliver". :)
I used the cherry cobbler seam binding as the ribbon. I think Cherry is probably my favorite new color and I used it for a lot of items around the holidays.
Also SU doesn't have a light gray marker anymore, so I used Sahara Sand to color the platters. So I hope you enjoy my creation. Hostess sets aren't hard to get and with Sale-a-bration around the corner, it's a great time to plan a workshop or become a demonstrator. Let me know if you are interested.
Hope you have a great day.

Thank you card - Christmas

This was a card I gave out to most of my club members. It uses the embossing folder and some white craft ink. It's really pretty in person and the snowflakes really show up. This picture isn't the best though. I used the new Cherry Cobbler seam binding which works similar to regular ribbon. The saying is stamped and punched out and added on with dimensionals. I like the Baja with the Cherry cobbler. They look good together.

I really appreciate all the support my club members give. They come every month excited to create new things and it makes it fun sharing items with them. So I gave them a small little gift and one of two different cards.
The top one or this other one, which is the same snowflake embossing folder, just with a different color scheme. This one I inked it up using some bashful blue. I then punched a couple snowflakes and added on the same thanks with dimensionals. I then added a couple of jewels and some navy satin ribbon to round it all out. I liked them and I had fun making them. I hope they enjoy them too.

Christmas card - mds

This was the front of our Christmas card that we got a few samples made. I wasn't exactly sure how they would turn out, so I only got a few to begin with. They turned out really cool though. You can print on both sides, which was one thing I thought turned out really neat and we had not gotten before. It had thicker paper and the print quality was really good. We got some others made to to compare to and there was quite a bit of difference, both with the picture quality and paper thickness.
This was one of the new size cards. There are several options on the MDS program and you can chose which direction you'd like and I chose this one. Since I wasn't sure how the printing on the back would come out I had a little more blank space then I needed to have, but it's okay. I know now and hope to make some fun ones for future use.

I chose some of our more fun pictures for the back. It was so hard to get pictures of our kids this year. I think we took about 20 just to get the 3 on the front. They kept making faces or laughing or poking on each other. If you have a sibling, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
So anyways, I wanted to share my card with you guys.
I hope you have a great day and an awesome Merry Christmas.

Just believe club project

This was one of our last month's club projects. We used the Just Believe stamp set. We decided to create a sunset look using daubers this time. This picture really doesn't do this card justice. It really doesn't show the gradual shading or the glitter that is in various spots showing some shine.
Basically we stamped the flowers with black stazon on Whisper White paper. We then took Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful blue, Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy to apply shading to the card. We also used markers and colored in the saying (Pumpkin and Navy) and then punched with the 1 3/4" circle. The Pumpkin circle was cut using the Big Shot and the circle die.
The ribbon is our fun new 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Daffodil Delight. It was a pretty quick card even with all the shading. I hope you enjoy the card today and I hope this reminds you to take time to enjoy some of God's beautiful gifts he gives us.
Blessings.

workshop project - elements of style

This is a card that I made for a friend of mine's workshop. It folded into a 6x3 card that will fit into one of our open ended envelopes.

They got the choice of making one of these cards or a small 6x6 scrapbook page, which I will show below.

For this version of the card I inked up the large flower with stazon and stamped it over the large and small butterfly. I then took the ink pads and a blender pen and we colored the small butterfly using Rich Razzleberry, certainly Celery and Old Olive. We then inked all edges with Suede ink and a dauber. We stamped the saying using Razzleberry and punched it out using the large oval and then punched a scallop oval out of suede. We layered all of this over rich satin Razzleberry ribbon to finish it all off. Pretty quick and easy. It showcased our punches, markers (which I used for the saying), daubers, Big Shot, blender pens, ribbon and dimensionals (for the saying). I thought it was a nice, but elegant card to make. Not to mention that some of them learned a new technique (coloring with blender pens).

I got the original idea of making this from a fellow demo named Dawn Olchefske. I changed some colors and added some items, but got the original idea from her.

So I hope you enjoy my share today.
Have a great day.

door prize notes

Hi all,
I wanted to share a little note card I made. Actually I made up several of these and packaged them up for a door prize at my last workshop. I think they make adorable little cards. With this color combination, I think they also make a great little teacher gift too. I may have to make up a set of these for some of the kids teachers. Good teachers really put in a lot of time and energy and I think they deserve little thank yous along the way. I'm hoping I'll get some extra time soon to make some as my children have some really nice teachers.
I took these cards and added an envelope (also stamped with the apple) and put it into a cello bag and made a bag topper to match. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture with it all packaged up. I was in a hurry and did manage to make an extra card, but had to hurry to get the packaging done. But I basically used the same colors and theme for the bag topper.
It's hard to tell in this picture, but the circles in the background are stamped with daffodil. The rest of the colors are Real Red, Old Olive and Basic Black. The set is a level 2 hostess set called Apple Blossoms. Something to earn with a qualifying workshop. If you are interested in hosting a workshop let me know and we can set one up.
So I hope you enjoy my little note today. Have a really great day today. Don't forget to take some time to say thanks to someone or send them an encouraging note. It only takes seconds, but can mean a lot.

tropical note happy birthday

Sorry I'm such a slacker. There has just been a lot going on. I took some pictures of some projects I've done lately so hopefully I can post more often in the next few days. Our kids started school back this past week and one is now in middle school. She is on a school sports team and she has kept us hopping with car pool duty for all the practices and such, Especially since she goes to a school 25 minutes away from our house.
So between that, work, church, and a special training that Stampin' Up! is providing for us I haven't had much free time lately. So probably until the season is over and the training from Stampin' Up! is over I won't get to post as often. Hopefully you will still visit from time to time to see what is here and it will help inspire you to create, which is the best part of it all. :)
For this project - I created a small Tropical Party 3 x 3 notecard for a make and take. I thought it ended up being a fun little birthday note to add to a gift or a package. I can even imagine a gift bag stamped with the same set. Maybe I need to stamp one of those soon.
I really like this set for summer pictures. When you stamp it with some fresh fun summer colors you can get some pretty designs.
This set is only available through the end of the month though, so if you'd like to get it now is the time to get it.
The saying is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and can really be switched out for several different sayings even as they are all about that size give or take a little.
I like these little cards. They are good for gifts or a thank you even. Just something small to say hey I'm thinking of you. We sell envelopes to go with them too, so you can stamp them to match as well. I have another one I did recently too which I packaged up into a set. I'll have to show you that little card next.
So I hope you enjoy my small share today.
Hope you have a great day.

butterfly builder roller birthday card

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a good day today.

This was another card that we did for our last club night. We used the new builder wheels with the jumbo roller. I left out the middle wheel so we could use the new satin Razzleberry ribbon in the center. It's so pretty and adds a nice shine to the card and the space looks really good with that width of ribbon. I rolled the wheels with Old Olive ink. I used the Punched Posies hostess set for the butterflies. If you don't have this one, then Butterfly Prints in the main catalog is really close. For these butterflies. We used Rich Razzleberry and Concord Crush to ink the butterflies using the Rock and Roll technique. The middle one is popped up with dimensionals to give some dimension to the card. :) I just thought this was a fun and pretty easy card for a birthday. You basically just roll it, tie on ribbon, stamp and punch 3 butterflies and your done.
Like I've said lately, I really like easy as the schedule has been a little crazy and will be even more so when school starts.
So I hope you enjoy today's share.
Thanks for looking and have a great day.

owl 3x3 for you card

I always like giving my club members a little something extra when they come to club. Just a small way to say thank you for coming and learning together with me and helping support my business each month.
This was a little card I made for them last time they came. It uses our new owl punch. I also used our bird punch (for the leaves) and I also used the Big Shot to texture his little belly area using the textured embossing folder to do that.
I also used the saying from Teeny Tiny wishes which is a great versatile set with lots of different sayings. It's one of my favorites since there are so many to chose from.
This punch is kind of fun to work with. I've also seen several other things made out of it that I'll have to try soon. I mean if you look at the base of it what can you make out? hhmmm? I see a flower, an animal head (without the feet) and possibly some other items too. I'll have to play around with it some more, so I can share some of the different items it makes. If you see something in it you'll have to share what you come up with too. That's one of the fun parts - being creative and sharing together. With our new Stampin' Connections website that demos can access there are thousands of ideas out there. I love being able to access that and getting to see and get all the new stuff first. It becomes almost like Christmas...too fun.
So anyways, I hope you enjoy my little note card. I also hope you have a great day tomorrow and are able to stay cool. Blessings.

elegant lines birthday

Seems like lately with so much going on, I'm really liking easy. To me this card is soooo simple and yet very classy. I just ran the Marina Mist paper through my Big Shot with the Elegant Lines embossing folder.
I just love the embossing folders. They give such deep rich embossing and look so pretty.
I then stamped the birthday sentiment from the Perfect Punches set in Marina mist. Punched it out with my wide oval punch. It's so much fun when sets coordinate with punches. I can't resist those types of set. :)
I then tied on some vanilla satin ribbon and tied in a little bit of 1/8" marina mist taffeta ribbon for the knot. I then added some of our new self adhesive pearls to the little circles that were embossed and that just gave it the last right touch I thought. I didn't come up with the pearl idea, but have seen it on several cards lately along with jewel brads, crystals and various items like that. I don't know who originated the idea, but I like it. For this card though I thought the pearls especially matched the paper and silky look of the satin ribbon perfectly.
So I hope you enjoy the share for the day.
Keep creating and have a great day.

Because I care in black, white and Marina

I'm surprised how much I like this set. It's not one that when I first saw it that I thought I'd like that much. I was at first drawn more to the set that matched the punches and the paper and some other ones. I ended up receiving this set for free from Stampin' Up!. It wasn't long and I was using it and for some reason I have used this one set a lot lately. It has definitely grown on me and it fills my need to color and I think it looks great on these little note cards.
I do think it's pretty versatile and it includes sayings too, which is great in my opinion.
I know I like to color which also helps. So for you guys who don't like to color, here is a card with no coloring on it made with the same set. I stamped one image with my staz-on pad and then punched it out with my square punch. I then punched out another square in Marina Mist to mat it on. I then stamped the saying and punched it out with the large oval and then backed it with a scallop oval punched mat in black. It of course is raised up on dimensionals too.

It sits on top of the new marina mist 1/8" taffeta ribbon. It is very pretty. I'm including a close up picture so you can see it in better detail. Some of the new colors have some very pretty ribbons and this new thin ribbon is no exception.
I bet this new ribbon will be great for the holidays too. It is just small enough. I can see ornaments tied with it and craft projects, and little gifts, etc. I know I'll have to get more of this real soon.
So I hope you have a great day and enjoy my share. Blessings.