30 Minute Valentine

Yesterday I posted a card made like this one but in a winter theme.  Today's card was done using Design Studio, George and Fabulous Finds cartridges.  The white mat is embossed with tiny little hearts and then I punched some red hearts and added those to the white mat.  I thought it still looked too plain so I added some red and white pen stitching.

This is the first one I made using the hearts and I wasn't completely satisfied with it.

Thinking I didn't like the way the white heart looked in the center, I omitted it.  Looked too plain.

To soften the edges of the red center heart I added some white pen work and liked it better.

This is my favorite of these..  The white pen work breaks up the solid red and gives a lacy look to the edges.

Now I need to go through my stamps and find an appropriate sentiment like "Be Mine" that I can emboss with white embossing powder in the center of the heart and it will be just what I want.

 The white sentiment is just what it needed.

 Adding the embossed words on a banner across the white heart was a good touch too!

30 Minute Winter Card

I like the way these turned out.  The embossed mat is pop dotted off the blue card base.  I used Design Studio to cut the mat and the circular opening and Paper Trimmings to cut the snowflake.

These will be left blank inside since they're going to Operation Write Home.

By adding a couple of punched leaves and a bow it would be a perfect Christmas card.  It's definitely one you could make multiples of in a short period of time.

Facebook doesn't like me any more!

Yesterday I had issues trying to do posts on Facebook.  I couldn't leave a comment on any post or update my status, but, I could make posts on my friend's home pages.  Go figure!

I tried rebooting my computer, waited a few hours and still couldn't post so I decided to log out and log back in, thinking that might reset something.

Well, evidently, it did.  Now I can't get back onto Facebook at all! 

I'm hoping that my repeatedly trying to reset my password, log back in, reset my password, etc. hasn't totally screwed up my account and I'll be able to get back on after letting 24 hours go by.

So, my Facebook friends, I'm not ignoring you........Facebook doesn't like me any more and won't let me on to play!  LOL! 

If the password resets after 24 hours, I'll be back on again,  posting and aggravating you all!

Saturday's Card

The solid cardstock is Coredinations; the patterned paper is from the Prima Ledger stack; the leaf was cut from Freshly Picked and embossed; the bird is a Stampin' Up stamp and punch combination.  I used Memento Rhubarb Stalk and Rich Cocoa inks for the stamping.

 A super easy card for Saturday!

Let It Snow Card

I saw this card on Jane's Doodles blog and thought it would be a good winter themed card for Operation Write Home.

Make The Cut software was used to set up and cut the blue card front.  The font I chose to use is Bazooka".  I like the way having the white paper behind the cut out letters looks.

The snowman image is a piece of free clip art found online and colored with Promarkers.   I added some snowflakes with a white gel pen.

30 Minute Cards

 A Tim Holtz die was used to cut the scalloped trim.

Dance in the Rain Card

I used grey Memento Ink to stamp the butterflies on the background, printed the sentiment and added the vintage image.

The mat cardstock is from a Coordinations family pack.  These are no longer available, which I hate, since they contained three graduated shades of one color cardstock per pack.

I experimented using different stamps and ink colors in the background and settled on this combination.

Cherry on Top Card

The cherries are from the Preserves cartridge.  The sentiment is a stamp I've had for a long time and I colored the cherries with BIC markers.  The background paper is from the cardstock Shirley and I found at Tuesday Morning during their big paper sale.

Blue Bird Card

The sentiment square was done using Excel; the bird is a Stampin' Up punch.  The background paper is silver metallic and black, the trim strip is white with silver metallic lines.

Pink Cowboy Boot Card

Just playing around with Make The Cut software and a free SVG file.  Every time I use the MTC software to do lettering I'm so glad it has such a simple shadow feature for your letters!

Oak Leaf Card

This card was inspired by one done on a Stampin' Up demos blog.  

Using Design Studio and the George cartridge, I placed a 5 1/4 x 4 inch rectangle on my mat and then resized the oak leaf from B is for Boy to fit and cut it from white cardstock.  I used pop dots to lift it off the green card base and I added some green pen stitching for dimension.

Then I cut the oak leaf again from some embossed  green cardstock and adhered it across the bottom.
The sentiment is a Tim Holtz stamp that I placed onto a shape from Elegant Edges. I inked the edges of the shape and pop dotted it also.

Coffee Cup Card

Inspired by a card seen on the Hero Art stamps website, I used Savory and Suburbia to cut the coffee cups and Excel to generate the sentiment.  The steam above the cups was done with an EK Success punch.

Converting a Photo to a Watermark

The things I see on Pinterest!  Today someone pinned a method to take a photograph and turn it into a watermark using Microsoft Word.

I use Word a lot and never knew this formatting option was available.

(1)  Insert a photograph into a Word document.
(2)  Select Format
(3)  From the pull down menu, choose photograph
(4)  Under Image Control, use the pull down menu and change it to watermark

It took this image I found online..... 

......to this watermark on a card front.


   

Emboss Resisit Leaves Card

Today I experimented doing a resist inking technique over embossed images.  I stamped the images with Versamark ink, added embossing powder in various colors and then heat embossed them.  The background paper was done with Stampin' Up's En Francais background stamp.

What I learned is, given the type of cardstock I use, Tim Holtz distress inks soaked into the surface too quickly, while Memento Ink performed more as I wanted.

My first trial was clear embossing powder with Tim Holtz fired brick red ink.

The pigment in the Tim Holtz ink didn't wipe completely off the embossed images, leaving them sort of tinged with color.

The second combination was white embossing powder and the fired brick Tim Holtz ink.  The ink didn't stain the embossed image but since the embossing powder is opaque, the background paper isn't visible.












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The third experiment has black embossing powder and the same red ink.  I think this one looks better than the white.

My favorite combination is clear embossing powder and Memento Ink.  The ink didn't soak into the background paper so much, leaving more of a shadowy look which is more of what I was trying to achieve.

This is an easy technique to use.  Just pick a stamp that is relatively solid; an outline stamp won't work well unless it's a really thick outline.  There won't be enough surface area covered with the Versamark ink for the embossing powder to adhere.

Cards That Make Me Go "Hmmm..."

Sometimes I get an idea for a card in my head and it just doesn't translate well onto paper.
 This is one of those cards that makes me go "Hmmm...". 
I don't totally hate it, but it didn't turn out the way I thought it would.

My aim was to do a card that could be used for a tween or teenager.

So Sweet Card

I used George for the brown hearts and Artiste for the pink hearts and the rectangle. 
The sentiment stamp is one I've had for some time.

The rectangle is pop dotted for dimension.
This card is based on one seen in a back issue of Cards Magazine.

3 Birds Card

I studied the image of the bird with the umbrella on the 3 Birds cartridge for over 30 minutes and never did figure out all the pieces included on page 30 of the handbook!

Somehow, they must think you need a base the exact same size as the components as well as a shadow.  Just seemed like a wast of paper to me so I eliminated the base and just used the shadow.

Falling Leaves Card

Inspired by a card seen in Cards Magazine, I used Bloom to cut the branch from some newsprint cardstock and then shadowed it with a dark brown. 

The leaves were made with a Martha Stewart punch; the sentiment was done in Hallmark card making software. 

I added some pen stitching around the outer edge of the smallest mat for dimension.

Candy bucket

This is for my niece's birthday.  I used Make The Cut for the lettering.  Wow!  It's super simple to get perfect shadows added to your cuts with it!

Her favorite color is purple so I cut the letters out of shiny purple cardstock and then shadowed it with a lighter shade of purple.

The silver mylar curly ribbon doesn't show up well in the photo.

Embossed Leaves Card

This is my version of a card designed by Dawn Griffith and featured on her blog. 

I used Sophie cartridge to cut the leafy stem; two different Cuttlebug folders for embossing and added some ink around the edges and across the embossed background.