Lovely As A Tree

  I really must pull this Lovely As A Tree seet out more, it makes wonderful cards! This is another CASEd card that has been tweaked to make it my own. The layout is the same but the original has 2 brads on the layer with the stamped tree and used the chocolated chip gingham ribbon (retired), and a circle punched sentiment (retired). I chose to us the EnFrancais background stamp with So Saffron Ink to add some interest to the first layer. I also wanted to add more texture so I used the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder the the all narrow strip and mounted that on a Chocolate Chip layer.
The tree image was stamped in Chocolate Chip  ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and the edges were hit with a little Crumb Cake for that aded feel. I think this would be a good manly card, but would probably use the Square Lattice Embossing Folder in place of the Vintage Wallpaper in that particular case. All in all, this is a simple and easy card to do, simple and elegant, one of my fovorite things. Thanks for stopping by for a look.

Ahhhhh...Baja Breeze

I  do so like this color. This is another CASEd card that was tweaked a bit here and there. I decided to Scallop Punch both edges of my paper strip layers, used White Taffeta Ribbon rather than the Early Espresso 1/8" Taffeta, and stamp my image in that soothing Baja Breeze. The original was stamped in Early Espresso with the flower image was stamped in Pear Pizzaz , trimmed close and matted on another piece of EE CS.Looks like it the flower image and the rectangle image were adhered using dimensionals as it seems to have a lot of depth in the picture. I really liked the original, but wanted to change a few thing to make it mine. Well, they do say that imitation is a form of flattery, right?

Seems that I have about 8 ladies signed up for my class Tuesday night. I have already started to cut paper and organize the card packets. We'll be doing 3 cards and one 6x6 scrapbook page that I will show how to make it a progressive page. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a successful evening.

Thanks for popping in to see my latest endeavors.

Here Birdie, Birdie, Birdie

I better be careful and not read my title out loud or our Border Collie Daisy will think it's time to go out and chase the birds in the backyard. She is such a silly girl and loves to chase birds and squirrels. All my husband has to do is say "Daisy, where are those birds?" and she justs starts "talking" with the funniest barks. I have to tell you a little abut my Daisy girl as she was pretty much a rescue. A guy I used to work with had purchased her for his little boy, but upon a vet visit it was determined she was deaf. The training of a deaf dog was a little more involved that what he wanted for his son so Daisy was returned to her breeder. A couple of days or so later my friend told me that the breeders were going to put her down if they could not find someone to take her. Needless to say I was horrified and was not going to let that happen! Well, we ended up getting a FREE Border Collie puppy, hurray! When we took Daisy for her first vet visit it was determined again that she was deaf. One day my hubby and I were in the back of the house and Daisy was in the front, but we just started calling her name and clapping and what do you know...here comes a clumsy, cute as a button puppy trotting through the house ready to play!!!  I don't know if she had some "developmental delays" regarding her hearing, but I will tell you one thing, our sweet Daisy Mae can hear a pin drop now!

Okay, back to paper crafting; sorry for the side trip. I used More Mustard Ink on the Sanded Background stamp on MM CS. Other papers used were Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy, and Very Vanilla. The images were stamped off in Cajun Craze, More Mustard, and Chocolate Chip--this is terrible, I think it was CC, I can't remember, but I do know that I stamped off on scrap to give it a lighter image. I really like my pheasant, I wanted a colorful bird! I used my Stampin' Write Markers in Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, and More Mustard. Where the MM and NQN blended on the tail feathers there is a hint of green in a couple of places. I finally pulled out the Hemp Twine for a touch of texture.

I thought this would make a nice manly card for birthday or get well or just to say hi. I intentionally have been leaving most of the sentiments off the cards so people can see the verstility in each one. Have a great day and thanks for popping in!

I Love Green

 I love so many shades of green and not sure if I have ever met a shade I didn't like. My mom is a green person too except when it comes to her birthstone. She was born in August so her stone is a Peridot. She thinks it just to pale. I, on the other hand love it! Glad that I do too since my youngest was born in August, in fact he was born on my mom's birthday. We actually planned it that way since we were having a C-section and her birthday fell right in the time frame that the doctor wanted to deliver. How convenient and cool is that?!

Okay, back to cardmaking....When I first saw this Studio Sletches stamp set I thought watercolor and then I stumbled across a design like the one above. Of course I forgot to jot down the name of the original artist so if it's you please give a shout out for the credit. I did make a few changes. Rather than using DSP (because I thought I didn't have the same pattern as the original, but it ended up that I really did have some) I once again made my own using elements from the Charming and Itty Bitty Bits stamp sets stamped on Old Olive CS with OO Ink. I also used another piece of lace while the original used Grosgrain Ribbon. The background is En Francais stamped in Crumb Cake while the main image was colored  with the Stampin' Write Markers in Old Olive and Cajun Craze. As you can tell I got in a paper tearing mood, but I think it lends a rustic air to the overall feeling of the card. Of course all those torn edges got hit with some Crumb Cake ink for a touch of distressing.

Thanks for stopping in for a look!

The Creativity Continues

The Bella Toile Stamp is so elegant and versatile and I hope it stays around for a very long time. This card was stamped in Elegant Eggplant Ink on Whisper White CS. I really liked the way the Best Wishes stamp from the Oval All set compliment the simple elegance of this card. The sentiment was punched with the Large Oval Punch and then mounted on a piece of EE CS punched with the Extra Large Scallop Oval punch. Add a strip of cardstock edged with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, White Taffeta Ribbon, mount this all on a 4.25"x5.5" piece of Elegant Eggplant and call it a day.  

As always, thanks for stopping by to visit!

More Vintage

There is nothing like a little distressing with ink and paper tearing topped off with a little lace and antique brads...ahhhh....

I am probably one of the worst consumers of DSP or any patterned paper...I hate to see it go so I tend to hoard it. I wonder if this qualifies as an obsession? Oh well, I have only purchased Greenhouse Gala and Newsprint DSP so I made an attempt to make my own patterned paper. I used elements from the Artistic Etchings set for the background and back to Puns FromThe Past for the main image. The base paper is Soft Suede stamped in Soft Suede Ink. The image is stamped in Early Espresso Ink on Very Vanilla CS matted on Early Espresso and matted again on Crumb Cake. All edges were distressed with scissors and Crumb Cake Ink for a subtle aging effect. This time I used the Chantilly Lace with one of the Antique Brads. I ran a piece of Linen Thread from the sewing machine needle to the Tiny Tag Punch sentiments and used Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere the tags.

Thanks for stopping by for Day 2 fo my creative blitz!

So Nice To Play Again

It was so nice to just sit back and be creative for a while. I am scheduled to do a papercrafting class at my mother-in-law's home next Wednesday and as I have been extremely slack in participating in any swaps my selection of samples are poor to say the least. I have spent the last couple of evenings creating some cards for my MIL to choose from and the rest will go into my samples stash. I am going to add a card a day until I get through my little creative blast here and hope that Blogspot doesn't blow up....it may not recognize my site with regular posting, ha! ha!.

This is one of the cards my "mom" chose for her class. She and I both love the vintage look as well as a black and white or black and cream color scheme. I have had the Puns From The Past set forever, but this is the first time it has seen any ink. The base is Very Vanilla cardstock edged with Crumb Cake ink layered with a Finial Press embossed basic Black. I really love the the Newsprint DSP, but did not want to completely cover the beautiful embossing so I just cut a small piece, distressed the edges with Crumb Cake ink to resemble aged newspaper. The Basic Gray layer was distressed with a pair of scissors as I do not yet have the new Distressing Kit followed by more Basic Black and then the stamped Grateful For You image on more distressed with CC ink on Very Vanilla CS. I have been wanting to use the new lace trims on everything so it is a good thing I left the Basic Gray layer longer to acommodate the Victoria Lace trim and hung a small tag using the Tag Punch and Linen Thread for the greeting.

It was really fun putting this card together and I hope you enjoy viewing today's creation and stop back for the next several days for new posts. Thanks for looking!!