Two Very Simple Cards

Hi everyone! :) Here's two cards that anyone could make. All you need is a couple stamps and some odds and ends. 

The butterflies [on both cards) were punched out from Martha Stewart's 3-in-1 butterflies punch. They were leftovers from a layout I did a week ago. The twine was something I wanted to use on a card that didn't use, so why throw it away when I could use it on something, right? And the button, I just have a ton of them. The stamp is from Hero Arts, called Wild Bouquet. I just used some Stickles to put some shimmer on the card.

For this card I used the Hero Arts Wild Flowers stamp. The sentiment is from an older TPC Studio set I've had for a while. I used some gems on this one. 

These two cards are flat, and are ideal for mailing to people. :) I got the idea from StampTV. Clean and simple doesn't have to be bland and monotonous. If you add color here and there, your cards will take on a happier mood, making it less boring. :)

Happy weekend all! 

July 4th

Hey friends, I hope everybody's having a nice 4th of July! :) Here on my end, we are not only celebrating Independence Day we are also celebrating my Mom-In-Law's birthday. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but she has always celebrated it on the 4th. I made her the card [above] with a Hero Arts stamp, Adirondack Embossing powders, and Distress Inks and my handmade polymer resin flowers.

We didn't have the usual barbecue but we had fried chicken and a spread of great stuff. Like I do every year, I made a birthday cake for her. With the help of my Nestabilities dies, American Crafts Thickers, Copic Markers and my butterfly stamp from Inkadinkado, this cake was another hit. My MIL loves white cake, and yellow buttercream. She is pretty easy to please! 

    [click on photos to enlarge]

It has been a fun day so far... The whole family is here and having a great time. Hope all of you have a happy holiday!!!

Things Have Just Gotten Even Better

Hey friends! I am still on a home reno coma... and I don't believe I will get out of this state until the new floors are installed in my living room. We are thinking about stepping it up and ripping the carpet out of the dining room too, so we will see. 

This has been such a great week. John has finally gotten out of the rut that he was in career-wise and found a new home for his overflowing energy and passion for music and the arts. The current job just isn't doing it for him anymore, and the fact that a lot of small schools have been going through very rough financial times was a great motivation. He felt like he had to move on and get an even better program... And he did! He got two out of the three places he sent an app to, which makes me ever so proud of him. He had to turn one offer down. This is a good problem to have in times where jobs are becoming so scarce. : ) So I have been having a very excited, hyper hubby all week. He is very very excited. And when he is happy, I am happy. 

I have been endlessly painting all week... and figuring out which of the stuff I want to keep and which ones go. Seems like since we have been doing our updates, the look of each room changes and some of the stuff that used to be there don't work like it used to. As I was realizing this, I was also trying to look for a way to think of ways to make up for the stuff I am possibly going to be eliminating in the room. However, I am loving the minimized look!!! So we may stick with that for a while. 

At around 3 PM today, I decided to take a break after I ran out of paint. Sat and watched TV for a while, and got to work in my craft room. Here are the finished products:

I love tone on tone cards. They are simple but very pleasing to the eyes! And of course I love this green cardstock from Paper Trey Ink. I forget the name of it... But I think this is my favorite among the greens that Paper Trey Ink have. I used a Basic Grey stamp set to stamp the background. I didn't have the matching ink, so I used Versamark Ink.

The patterned paper I used on this card didn't match the kraft cardstock I used [from Paper Trey Ink also]. But there is nothing impossible when you have distress inks on hand! I simply distressed the edges of the patterned paper and the cardstock too, and voila! They match! :)

Everyone have a wonderful rest of the week!!! 

Yay Mom!!!

I thought it was crazy that soon as I finished making Mother's Day cards, my Mom leaves me three really sweet wall posts on facebook!!! This is exciting because my Mom doesn't ever get on the internet. She is a great pastry chef and baker but she is not tech savvy at all. So the only times I would see her online is when my sister is around to show her what to do. That's why this girl here is sooo elated! She was posting messages on my facebook wall using an iPad and on her own. I can tell she was posting the messages by herself because she wrote three wall posts instead of writing them all in one message and the message was written like she was texting on her cellphone! :) Not too shabby. Yay MOM!

Here's the two cards I made. I have a lot of patterned paper, but none of them jumped out at me so I decided to make my own. I used a Basic Grey stamp set for the background with Ranger Distress Inks and Color Box chalk inks.

Supplies:

Paper Trey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock

Basic Grey Stamps (for pattern on background)

Ranger Distress Inks

Color Box chalk inks

Technique Tuesday Simply You stamp set (sentiment)

Cosmo Cricket Chipboard Letters

Pearls

Liquid Pearls

Staz On Jet Black Ink

I still have no idea what to get my Mom and my Mom-in-law for Mother's Day. Maybe John has ideas... Wish me luck! :)

Waterfall Thank You Card

Hi all! :) Hope everyone has a great weekend. This week has gone by so fast, but I got a lot done and I didn't realize this until this morning when I looked at my weekly organizer. I am actually almost caught up. Now, I just need to get to the 'spring cleaning' that I have been telling myself to do early this year. 

This week has been a crafty kind of week. I have finished an 8x8 mini that a very good friend of John and myself requested for me to make to give to her daughter. I made yoyo flowers and a whole other ton of embellishments. A couple of cards from stamp sets that have been hidden away and forgotten for lack of storage. And I made a card today out of a set I purchased from svgcuts a while back! :)

Other than the book, I also had a few personal digi pages done this week. I will post them later on in the weekend. But today, I will be sharing with you a card I put together this morning. If you don't already know I am a geek and a software and font junkie. So for almost a year now, I have been making my own SVGs with Inkscape and I have been frequenting SVGcuts.com for stuff I don't want to waste my time making. I have known about waterfall cards forever but I've never made one. So this morning, through the help of SVGcuts.com I finally made one!

So you pull the bottom tab and all the layers unravel. Cool huh? :)

Here's the bottom tab pulled out. I stamped the sentiment on the tab too.

I love 3-Dimensional cards... Although I don't recommend them for mailing 

because they are bulky.

Note: The set actually has all the card elements in it, including the card base.

But I decided to use my own A2 card base. I used K&Company's Life Journey Collection

and the mat is from a kit I got from Quick Quotes a long time  ago, Brown Sugar Collection. 

Have a fun weekend everyone!

Halloween Card - The Cuttlebug Spot

Hi all! Here's my post for the Cuttlebug Spot. I have been battling sinus headaches on and off all week... Today is the very first day that I have actually felt like my old self. :) 

This is an A2 card. I used kraft cardstock for the card base. I used the skeleton scroll embossing folder and embossed a 5.25 in by 4 in vintage cream cardstock from Paper Trey Ink. I used distress inks to create this halloween-ish effect for the background. I cut the tree from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. The moon is from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge out of a bright yellow cardstock, I used the same distress inks to give it some color. 

It's your turn! Play along with us at The Cuttlebug Spot. See you there!

My First Project for the Cuttlebugspot -- Fight Like A Girl

I have had the hardest time trying to figure out what to make for my first project for Cuttlebugspot... One, because my very young Aunt beat her battle with breast cancer about a year ago. Second, I have had so many things go through my mind when I saw this week's theme it was difficult to condense all of them into one A2 card. As a matter of fact, I have made 5 cards using every technique I know. Until I found the image that I used on my card. Today's winner at the CuttlebugSpot will win a gift card from Custom Crops!

I know that we were only supposed to to make one project for the challenge but I didn't want to waste the second image I accidentally printed out. The sentiment and the image are digitally printed.

Both cards are standard size (5.5 in by 4.25 in). Both kraft and dark chocolate cardstocks (I used for card base) are from Paper Trey Ink. I used Bird Call Cuttlebug Folder to emboss the green paper I used to mat the image on the first card. I embossed it sideways so only the grass blades would show, to give it some dimension. Then I used some dimensional adhesive to mount the image on to the card. 

I used Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug Folder and embossed the whole front of the second card with it. I used some pink Core'dinations cardstock to frame the window and used my We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper to round the corners on both cards. I also used my white gel pen to make faux stitching lines. 

Check out the Design Team's blogs!!! Click on their names on the right hand side (just right below the Cuttlebugspot Design Team Button).

Happy Crafting Everyone!