PTI Trees

Hello everyone!  This card features a couple of stamp sets from PTI;  Through the Trees and Leaf Prints.  I think it made a great masculine card.  I started by making a mask with a circle.  I sponged Baja Breeze ink to create the sky circle.  The tree leaves are a combination of Wild Wasabi and Always Artichoke ink.  The two leaves at the bottom were made using one of the coordinating dies.  Some Baja Breeze ribbon and a couple of brads finish this one off. 
Thanks for stopping by!

Vellum Butterfly

Hello everyone!  Can you believe that spring is nearly here?  I am tired of the colors of winter, so I broke out some soft spring colors.  I love the combination of Blushing Bride, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.  The base of the card is one piece of 4.25" x 5.5" piece of cardstock.  The vanilla piece is actually is what is folded and opens to show the inside of the card.  The decorative label punch was used to create the framed base for the butterfly.  This is a sneak peek of a set that will be available in the new Stampin' Up catalog this summer.  It's called Four Frames and coordinates beautifully with the punch.  I punched out a Soft Suede layer, cut it in half and layered it behind the ends of the vanilla piece. 
To create the butterfly, I ran my Blushing Bride ink pad over a piece of vellum cardstock, then sprinkled clear embossing powder and some glitter on top.  As I heat set it, the embossing powder melted, and set the glitter into it as well.  I then punched out this MS butterfly and glued it to my card.  A couple of pearls and some lace ribbon finish this one off. 
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Ahoy!

Hello everyone!  I needed a card for my brother-in-law that will be retiring from his job in a few days.  He's an avid fisherman and is retired from the Navy some 20 years ago.  I thought this stamp set would be a perfect fit.  It's called Boatloads of Love.  The boat was stamped with black StazOn and colored with peach parfait and baja breeze markers.  To make the waves of water, I took the guide off the ticket corner punch (SU's old style punch) and lined the pattern up end to end to create the points.  I made three layers of "water" with baja breeze and night of navy cardstock, stuck them together and ran them all through the Cuttlebug using the swirls folder.  What's water without a little bit of sparkle.  The camera doesn't show it, but I ran a glitter pen over the swirls of the water.  I hand drew the fish and fishing rod.  The All play and NO work sentiment was computer generated.  It says Happy Retirement on the inside of the card.  I added eyelets for the port hole windows and a hand written "Good Times" name for the boat. 
I really think my brother-in-law will get a kick out of it. 
Thanks for stopping by today!

Overlooked But Not Forgotten

Hello Everyone.  For today's card I reached for my much overlooked mulberry paper.  I wanted a really soft effect for this feminine card.  The mulberry paper was cut the same size as the pink pirouette cardstock behind it.  I then carefully (and I took my time) tore the paper, leaving the whispy, soft edge.  To adhere the mulberry paper, tape was placed only where I knew the main image layer would cover it. The edges were kept free so that it could stand up a bit.  I love how it turned out.  The main image is the Elizabeth stamp.  I used Basic Gray ink and colored in a few of the blooms with Pink Pirouette marker and added a bit deeper color in the center of the blooms with a Pretty in Pink marker.  A few pearls finish this one off.
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I did It!

Hello everyone!  This card has been a long time coming.  I don't know what took me so long to play!   I downloaded the Make the Cut software quite a long time ago and came upon a wonderful blog by Jin.  She is an SVG genius!  She had a great tutorial on how to manipulate an SVG file with Make the Cut and turn an image into a card. 

Did't it turn out darling?  If you're at all curious, check out Jin's tutorial and the Lettering Delights website for the wonderful SVG file called DB Animal Occasion.  To give this peguin my own touch, I used the dotted swiss folder for a little bit of texture on the chest and stamped the happy birthday sentiment from the Stampin Up So Happy For You stamp set.  I had to add a ribbon because it's so darn cute and the card is for my little niece. 
Thanks for stopping by today.

Cherry on Top

Hello everyone.  Can anything be more fun than a birthday cupcake?  I really like these colors together--Certainly Celery, Marina Mist and Rose Red.  The Create a Cupcake stamp set and coordinating punch were used to make the cupcake.  It's the star of the show on this one.  I framed it with a couple of nestie layers to highlight it.  While the white nestie layer was still in the die, I sponged Marina Mist ink on top.  When removed fromt the die, a nice white outline is created.  The camera didn't capture it too well, but the cherry on top is punched out of red glitter paper.  Almost looks good enough to eat, doesn't it? 
Thanks for stopping by today. 

Support for a Rainy Day

Hello Everyone.  Today's card was a lot of fun to make and I just love the clean look of the design.  I used a MFT stamp set called Rain or Shine.  The 3 windows in the card front were done using a die from PTI called Take Three.  I punched 3 white squares using the 1 1/4" punch and stamped the raindrops using Marina Mist ink.  These were glued onto a strip of Marina Mist cardstock and positioned it in the inside of the card.  Each raindrop, the dots on the umbrella and the puddle around the boots were dabbed with a clear glitter pen.  It looks so pretty and sparkly.  Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day for My Honey

Hello Everyone.  Today I thought I'd show you the Valentine's Day card I came up with for my husband. I really love the simple, but elegant look.  Perfect for a man, don't you think?  I used the Have a Seat and Filled With Love stamp sets.
The card base and the main image are made of white cardstock.  The striped designer paper is from the Taste of Textiles collection.  The scrolled cut out is done with a  Spellbinders die and the sentiment is punched out using the small oval punch.  All red layers are Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  The shadow under the bench was done using a Copic Marker.  It gives the bench a solid foundation so that it doesn't look like it's floating. 
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments.

An 80th Celebration

Hello Everyone!  This card was created for a very special lady for her 80th Birthday!  Can you imagine celebrating an 80th birthday.  I hope I make it! 
The card base is white, the next layer and the main card color is baja breeze.  I added a layer of not quite navy and on top of that, 3 strips of woodland walk designer paper.  They're cut just small enough to leave some of the not quite navy paper to show through, creating frames for each strip.  Nesties were used to create the circle and scalloped layers.  Before taking the white circle out of the die, I hooked up a light blue copic marker into the air brush tool and sprayed lightly so that when I removed the paper, a white ridge on the edge remained where the die covered the paper.  I paper pierced the circle using a round plastic canvas sheet used for cross stitch or needle point.  It's got a grid of different sized circles, making it easy to find the right size needed. 
A white piece of cardstock was run through with an embossing folder and placed at the bottom of the card.  I created the numbers using my cricut.  A sheer organdy ribbon and a heart charm complete this one.  The ends of the ribbon were slightly curled by carefully heating it with my heat gun.  It takes just a second and gives it a slightly crinkled look. 
Hope you enjoyed this one.  Thanks for stopping by!

A Mask Isn't Just for Halloween

Hello Everyone.  I made this card using a masking techique.  The "frame" on the main image was created using one of my Nesties.  First I inked up the French Script background stamp in River Rock ink and stamped it onto Very Vanilla cardstock (look closely, it's pretty subtle).  I then took the shape I cut out with the Nestie and placed it over the center of the Vanilla cardstock.  I sponged River Rock ink all around the perimeter of the shape, creating the pretty frame.  I then inked up the plant image from Kind and Caring Thoughts in Always Artichoke and stamped it on top of the sponged frame.  The sentiment is from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set.  I used the word window punch to add a little interest.  A couple of brads and Artichoke seam binding ribbon complete this one. 
Thanks for stopping by.