Home For The Holidays

Today's card was created for the latest Addicted To Stamps And More challenge. To create my holiday card I started with a white card base and layered on some Stampin' UP basic black cardstock. I then layered on some patterned papers from the Pinkfresh Studio Christmas Wishes 6x6 paper pad. I then added a small strip of the same black cardstock between the patterned papers for a bit more contrast. I stamped the adorable bear from Stampin' UP's Thankful Forest Friends onto the same black cardstock using Versamagic ink and heat embossed the image using some Recollections snow white embossing powder. I fussy cut the image and layered it onto the card using some Stampin' UP dimensionals and some additional elements from the Pinkfresh Studio Christmas Wishes ephemera pack. I added a few clear 4mm and black 6mm sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish this adorable card. I hope you like it!

So Thankful For You

Today's card was created for the latest Just Us Girls challenge. I was recently gifted the very pretty Unity Stamp Company Struggle and Strength stamp set from my Becky and thought it would make the perfect addition to my card for this challenge. I started with a white card base and then layered on some patterned paper from Target that I found in their seasonal $3 bin. I cut another piece of white Copic friendly cardstock and layered it on top. Using a Paper Smooches straight edge stitched die I added the stitched detail around the outer edges and on the inner edge of the white panel. I then stamped the sentiment and the two pumpkins from Lawn Fawn's So Thankful stamp set and masked them each individually. I then stamped the vase image from the Unity Stamp set so it would appear to be behind the pumpkins. I then colored them in using my Copic markers. I added a bit of Wink of Stella to the flowers and the pumpkins and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins in pumpkin and espresso to finish this card. I hope you like it! 

Grateful Greetings

My second card today was created for the latest The Paper Players challenge and was created all with supplies that I do not own and photographed outside of my home. I just love playing with other people's toys and my friend Becky and I got together today in her beautiful and bright craft room (of which I am so envious of) to practice our Copic coloring skills. While I was there I started rifling through her stash of goodies and stumbled across this beautiful image! I knew as soon as I saw it I had to ink it up and play. I started with some autumn color cardstock from Stampin' UP (I apologize that I don't know the name of it) and layered it onto my card base. I then cut down a piece of patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Out & About 12x12 paper pad and layered it on top. I stamped the gorgeous autumn image from Stampin' UP's Harvest Home stamp set onto some Copic-friendly cardstock and colored the image using my Copic markers. I love pumpkins and had so much fun coloring these! I die cut the images out using a stitched circle die and mounted it directly onto the card. I then stamped the greeting from Stampin' UP's Grateful Greetings stamp set onto another piece of white cardstock, trimmed it down and mounted it onto some more of the same coordinating colored cardstock and mounted it onto the card slightly overlapping the focal die cut. I love how beautifully this card turned out. I left the card with my friend and a list of the Copic colors I used to color the image so she can re-create this card to give out during the upcoming fall months. I hope you like it!

It's Your Special Day

Today's card was created for the latest Unity Show & Tell Facebook sketch challenge. I started by layering some pretty patterned paper from Studio Calico's Take Note 6x6 paper pad onto my card, following the sketch. I then die cut a piece of white Copic-friendly cardstock using a Gina Marie Designs wonky stitch rectangle border die. I stamped the image from Unity Stamp Company's Grace of Letting Go stamp set using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored her in with Copic markers to coordinate with the patterned paper and then popped the panel up off of the card using 3M foam tape. I used a 1/2" circle punch from EK Success to punch the three smokey grey dots that I used as a coordinating element and adhered them directly onto the card using my Zig two-way glue pen. To finish my card I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Crazy Talk stamp set. I hope you like it!

Note: I found out yesterday that I won the challenge with this entry!

Anniversary Joy

Today's card was created for my aunt and uncle's upcoming anniversary at the end of this month. I started with some pretty patterned paper from the Chickaniddy Scrumptious 6x6 paper pad and die cut an oval in the center using an MFT pierced oval die.  I adhered the patterned paper directly onto my white card base and then added some black stitched lines around the outer edge of the patterned paper and the inner edge of the oval panel. I then die cut the word Joy using some black cardstock from Hobby Lobby and  the coordinating die from Papertrey Ink's Phrase Play #8 stamp and die set. I fussy cut around the panel cutting the word "joy" from the frame because I just wanted the word itself. I adhered the die cut sentiment directly onto the card using my Zig 2 way glue pen. I then stamped the word anniversary above the die cut using a Studio Calico-Hero Arts stamp set. I apologize for not knowing the name of this stamp set but I bought it used on a destash and it has no name on it. Using some mini Stampin' UP dies I die cut the flower petals using some more patterned paper from the Chickaniddy paper pad and layered them together. I punched some more of the same black cardstock using an EK Success 1/2" circle punch and adhered them directly on top of the flowers and then adhered those directly onto the card on either side of the oval. Once adhered I added a few clear rhinestones from The Paper Studios and called this card done. I hope you like it!

Happy Birthday Journey

Today's card was created for my precious little granddaughter Journey for her 7th birthday. She loves all things pink and I usually create something girly for her but I decided to do a fun and whimsical little party monster for her card this year. I started with a white card base and layered a floral piece of patterned paper from Crate Paper's Paper Heart Collection 6x6 paper pad. I then die cut a stitched rectangle of Copic friendly cardstock using a Gina Marie Designs die. I stamped the sentiment from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler stamp set using Memento tuxedo black ink. I then stamped the hat from Stampabilities Party Hats stamp. I created a mask for the hat and then stamped the adorable little monster from Paper Smooches Falling For You stamp set and the balloon from The Greeting Farm's Hello Unicorn stamp set. I colored all of the images in using various shades of pink Copic markers. I die cut the banners using a The Cat's Pajama's die and coordinating papers from the same Crate Paper paper pad. I adhered them directly onto the card and added some Clear Wink of Stella glitter pen to the monster and the other elements for some pretty shine and shimmer. I popped the entire focal panel up off of the card using 3M foam tape. Journey loved it as well as her gifts. This year she wanted My Little Pony and mermaid things so I obliged her. She and her mom and dad came to town today and we had a wonderful afternoon playing and eating out...right up until it was time to go. She always gets so sad when she has to leave grandma and it breaks my heart. 

Here she is with mom at Le Bounce. She just loves that place. It's the one place where she can be the little daredevil she truly is and not hurt herself. LOL.

These two are my world! Sorry for how blurry this pic is...I'm not great at taking selfies. 

Cue those big crocodile tears! They get me every time!!!

Hello

Today's card was created for the Send A Smile 4 Kids. I love donating cards to sick children in the hospital. Many of you may not know but my granddaughter Journey spent the first two and a half weeks of her life in the NICU at Cardinal Glennon with cCMV, a viral illness that caused her to lose her hearing at the age of 6 months. At a little over one year of age she underwent a very long and grueling surgery for cochlear implants. She can hear now but still has a major language deficit that we struggle with every day. We still have to travel regularly for updates on her equipment and to meet with audiologists and speech pathologists. So, it goes without saying that my daughter and I are all too familiar with the children's hospitals in St. Louis near where we live. We both got to know families that have suffered, and even lost young loved ones through chronic illness. We know how hard the staff work at these hospitals to comfort and care, not only for the children in their ward, but for their families too. It genuinely makes my day to create something that will put a smile on a child's face, either because one of my cards was selected by a staff member to give to a child or vise versa. If you are a cardmaker reading this blog post and want to donate some cards to this worthy cause you can check out the SAS4K blog site here. Anyway, to create my card I started by layering some patterned paper I found in the $3 bin at Target onto a white card base. I then stamped the adorable acorn from Paper Smooches Falling For You stamp set onto more of the same paper. I fussy cut the image out, edged it with a Memento dual tip marker. I colored some of the image in using my Prismacolor colored pencils and then went all around the outer edges with a sponge dauber and some Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. I stamped the acorn image one more time onto white Copic-friendly cardstock and colored the leaves in using a Copic marker. I then fussy cut the image out, edged it with the same black marker, and then popped it up off of the image using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I added some American Crafts green twine around the stem and tied a small bow. I die cut a pretty edged circle using a Gina Marie Design die, adhered the acorn directly onto it and stamped the greeting from Paper Smooches Word Salad stamp set off to the side. I added some dots along the leaves using an American Crafts metallic marker in copper for some additional interest.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope this card put a smile on your face!

Happy Fall

My second card today was created for both Cards In Envy and The Challenge challenges. I will also be donating this card to the Send A Smile 4 Kids card donation program. Yes Sybrina, I have cards coming your way this week! I started my card by layering some chocolate chip cardstock from Stampin' UP onto my white cardbase. I then layered some pretty, glittery paper Autumn Splendor patterned 12x12 paper from Best Creation onto my card. The photo doesn't do this adorable paper justice. It really sparkles and shines and the best part is it's permanent, which is perfect for donating cards to children in hospitals because it won't flake off and become airborne. Anyway, I did some masking and stamping using the adorable images from My Favorite Things Harvest Mouse stamp set and die cut the image using a pierced edge circle die, also from My Favorite Things. I colored the adorable image using Copic markers and added some pretty clear Wink of Stella to help mimic the glitter of the paper. Using Hero Arts Layering Tree stamp set I stamped the sentiment above the scene using Gina K charcoal brown ink. I cut a small strip of the same chocolate chip cardstock and added it to the card and then adhered the focal die directly on top. I love how sweet this little card turned out! I have to apologize for the poor quality of my photo. I usually use my smart phone but it died on me yesterday and I'm using my tablet. Unfortunately, the photo quality is not quite as good. I will be fixing that this week so bear with me. 

Happy Birthday

My first card today was created for the latest The Paper Players challenge. I knew as soon as I saw the circle challenge that I had to create something funky and graphic. I started with some patterned papers from Studio Calico's There There 6x6 paper pad and layered them onto my white card base. Using the same patterned papers and some olive green cardstock from Hobby Lobby I die cut some circles using nesting dies from Spellbinders. I cut the centers of the circles smaller and slightly off center to create a funky, cool, and very graphic look. I cut slits into the some of the circles and looped them together and adhered them onto my patterned paper panel, trimming off any excess that extended off of the edge of the paper. I then adhered the panel down onto the card and added a thing strip of the same olive green cardstock. I stamped the sentiment from the Stampabilities Card Phrases stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink. I love this cool and masculine look and hope you do too! I have to apologize for the quality of my photo. My phone died yesterday and my tablet doesn't photograph with the same clarity as my phone did. I hope to remedy that this week. 

Thank You For That Thing You Did

Today's card was created for the latest Unity Stamp Company Facebook challenge. I absolutely adore fall but don't have too many stamps from Unity that reflect that season of the year. So, I pulled out the large bloom from the Now & Always stamp set and did some fun paper piecing. I started by layering a brown wood grain piece of patterned paper from Simple Stories Take A Hike 6x6 paper pad onto my white card base. I prepped the paper with my anti-static tool and heat embossed the sentiment from the I Hope You Feel Beautiful stamp set. Once dry I went all around the panel with my white gel pen and added some faux stitching. I them stamped the bloom and its leaves onto more patterned papers from the same paper pad, fussy cut them out, and edged them with my black Memento marker for nice crisp edges. I mounted the bottom layer of the bloom directly onto the card and then popped the remaining two layers up using foam dimensionals from Stampin' UP. A button that I had from my stash completed the card. I do have to apologize for the poor quality of this photo. I usually take better pics than this but my phone is on the fritz and I took this with my tablet. Apparently the photo quality is not as good on that device. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Happy Birthday

Today's card was created for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge. I thought it would be fun to do a portrait card instead of the landscape card that is featured in the sketch. I started with a white card base and layered on some masculine patterned papers from the Basic Grey Carte Postale 6x6 paper pad. I added a small strip of basic black cardstock from Stampin' UP in between the patterned papers to break up the patterns and add some interest. I added some dashed lines around the outside of the card to help define the edges a bit more and then stamped on the greeting from Stampin' UP's Sky Is The Limit stamp set. I stamped the plane and the clouds from the same stamp set onto some white cardstock from and fussy cut them out. I stamped the plane's smoke plume directly onto the card and added some white gel pen to help make it look more like white clouds or smoke. I then popped the plane and the clouds up off the card using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I plan on giving this card to my grandfather for his birthday this month.