Textured Flowers 2

This is pretty much the same design as
yesterdays post.
A phrase has been added and there are
some flourishes.

The tiny red gingham and
the red flowers are fun.
To read how the textured leaves were made
please read yesterdays post.

Textured Flowers 1

A fun design inspired by a wish for spring!!
The background papers on the card bases
are from a stack that I bought a long time ago
and I have lost the cover, so I have no idea
who made the paper.

Sizzix made the die for the flowers.
After cutting them out I embossed them
with Cuttlebug's Dotted Swiss folder.
I happened to have a blue glitter card stock
that matched the blues in the scrapbook paper,
so punched out a nice glitzy center for the flowers.
The flowers are 3-D, using a double-sided
self-adhesive foam.

Note that on two of the cards there is a textured
portion on the left. This was done in
another Cuttlebug folder.

Now for those gorgeous leaves.
I used a light weight medium avocado
card stock. Cut 1 inch in strips, folded those in half and
ran them through my corrugator at an angle.
I used one of Punch Bunches leaf punches.
You will be using only half your punch.
Make sure the fold is in the CENTER of the
punch, now punch and unfold your lovely leaf.

Yellow, yellow, yellow

This yellow Cuttlebug textured card base is
so bright and cheerful.
What we need for the dreary
winter day.

Each of the phrases has been computer
generated by me in Paint Shop Pro X,
then copied to Word 2003 and printed out
in 3 columns with 9 to 12 per page.
I really like the smaller version as
more of the A2 card is visible.

While I love looking at the card created by
the design teams of all of these companies,
I have come to realize that most of them
work in a 5.5 x 8.5 format. (aka - half fold)
I suspect that most everyday stampers
and card makers are working in
the A2 or 4.25 x 5.5 format.

Many of the lovely stamps are also
created with the half fold format in mind.
My answer was to do a little practicing on my
PSP program and design my own.

I am working on making these phrases downloadable to
you through
google documnets. So far I have failed.
I will keep tinkering with it and discover the secret.

Hubby's Valentine

Here is the card that I made for my husband for
Valentine's Day.
While this is a Valentine the basic idea
would work for any "man card".

The textured layer, which is dark brown, was
done with a Cuttlebug folder. It looks like the decking
from a cattle pot. OK, let me explain, my husband
trucked cattle all over the western United
States for about 10 years. This looks
like the texture of the aluminum on the
floors of the cattle hauling trailers. It
was to help keep the cattle from slipping.
This type of texture is also used on some
of the aluminum steps put on pickups
and ramps for loading things
in the back of pickups.
Why am I blathering on about this?
Because this texture is a very manly
guy type look.

The ric rac is a Sizzix extended cut die.
The hearts are a McGill punch.
The stamp is an unknown from when
I first stamping 19 years ago.

Ruff Day

This is such a versatile card. It can be used for
get well, someone that is having a tough time or humorously.
The stamps are from two different Inkadinkado clear stamp sets.
The scrapbook paper is from DCWV La Creme stack.
The card base is a card stock color called craft.

The doggie inchie is on some 3-D foam.

My stamps, inks, embossing powders, scrapbook paper
and card stocks are from multiple companies.
I do no limit my creativity to one small company.

Five Designs To Use With Scallops

These are fairly simple cards to make. I cut
out a bunch of scallops from coordinating paper
and start playing.

The dies in the above card are from Spellbinders.

This card uses Spellbinders dies, some from Quickuts
and a Sizzix embossing folder.

Blast From The Past

I was leafing through my card stash and came across this old Valentine. I made it at least 5 years ago, but I still like it.

The card base has been covered with scrapbook paper.

The large heart is one that I made a template for. I took a piece of plain white card stock, folded it in half, drew the open heart, and cut it out. It took several attempts to get just the right look. Things do look different when unfolded.

Now take the paper that you want for the large open heart, fold it in half and draw around the template you just made. Cut it out and you are ready for the next step. By folding in half and cutting you get a perfectly symmetrical heart.

The phrase was computer generated. I had downloaded a font that had open spaces in the letters. A pink gel pen was used to fill in those open spaces. The are lots of free fonts on the internet. I did a google search for "free fonts" and came up with a multitude.

After cutting out the phrase with a straight edge, the edges were sponged in pink, the it was attached to another piece of white card stock and that layer was trimmed with a scallop decorative scissors. Again, sponge the edges with pink.

From the scrap that was cut from the inside of the heart I punched out three more hearts to finish off the design. Happy Valentines Day to all.

A Dog Gone Birthday Card

My daughter needed some birthday cards. So I started playing with my Inkadinkado doggie stamps and some unknown stamps. The printed papers are from DCWV La Creme stack and La Creme card stock stack.

On the right is the inside of the card with the ever so cute birthday phrase that is on the inside of the card.








A very basic and simple design. All images were stamped with Rangers Archival Jet Black ink.

Stilll Playing With Those Scallops

I love the color combination's of this K & Company Floral Dream stack.

The edges of the scallops and even the holes on the center die cut have been sponged with Ranger Archival coffee ink. This gives much more depth and definition to each scallop.

The largest scallops have been cut using a Sizzix extended cut die.

The two smaller sized scallops have been cut using Quickuts extended dies.

The center piece with the "ribbon" woven through the holes is from a Spellbinders die. All dies were cut with my trusty and dependable Wizard, by Spellbinders. Which they are no longer selling as they have come out with a new bigger machine. I am very sad about this. My stout little Wizard is so portable and remarkably tough. I have worn all the paint off the throat because I use it so much. There are only a very few dies from any company that my trusty Wizard will not cut cleanly. Sometimes I really hate change.

Valentines Galore

More Valentines and scallops. Here is a little bit different take on the designing with scallops thing.

I took a piece of 4.25 x 5.5 card stock, which is also known as A2 size or quarter sheet, and dry embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. Pleas note that if you try this with a regular sized Cuttlebug embossing folder it will be smaller than the size of an A2 card base. Grrrrr.... why did they make them that size? It would have taken no effort whatsoever to make them A2 size. The result of that mistake is that I search high and low for the Sizzix as I love the size of the finished product. OK, rant over.

I attached the embossed paper to my card front.

Now layer those scallops. Depending on the papers used and the desired finished look, you can sponge the edges or not.



I printed the Happy Valentines Day on a coordinating sheet from the K and Company Floral Dreams stack. The 12 x 12 sheet of paper was cut down to 8.5 x 11 and run through my printer.


For some of the greetings the phrase was attached to cream paper, cut with a scallop edge decorative scissors and sponged.


The pictures are a little dark. It was the only way I could get the lovely dry embossing to show up.


Scallop die cuts are by Sizzix (largest scallop) and Quickuts.

A Valentine

More Valentines and more scallops. The scallops with the circles is a Spellbinders die. The largest scallop die is from Sizzix and the two smaller scallops are Quickuts.

The phrase is computer generated. I cut the scrapbook paper to 8.5 x 11 and printed on it. I do like the results.

The papers are K and Company Floral Dreams stack. Such lovely colors.

Note that all the edges have been sponged with dark brown ink.

Heart Trio Valentine

These hearts with the ivory embossing powder on white card stock are just addictive.

Note the layering here. The card base is craft paper card stock, then cream and then the DCWV stripe from the La Creme stack. I use my Perfect Layers rulers to get consistently even border and layering edge cuts.

The three sizes of hearts were cut from the Spellbinders Nestibilities heart and scalloped heart dies.

I stamped the phrase first, then positioned the die over it, taped it down, cut and embossed. Again this is a Spellbinders die, the Fancy Labels One. I have no idea of where I got this stamp. I have had it for at least 15 years. I do know that I bought it unmounted and cut a wood mount for it myself.

I do wish Spellbinder would come out with some stamp phrases that would fit in their series of Fancy Label dies. It is a big pain to find one that fits. I have resorted to computer generated phrases which works well, except when you want to heat emboss with embossing powder.

A Valentine

Oh my, scallops and more scallops.
The papers for this card are from K and Company Floral Dreams stack. Such yummy paper. It's no wonder I am a paper-holic.

The large scallop was cut with a Sizzix extended cut die, while the smaller one was a Quickuts die. The hearts were cut with Spellbinders Nestibilities Hearts.

The phrase was computer generated.

The card front was covered with paper from the stack, then all the scallops and straight edged piece under the bottom scallop were attached.

The heart is white cardstock with ivory embossing powder. Then it was antiqued with Ranger's Archival coffee ink. All edges on the rest of the card have been sponged with the same ink.

Another Valentine

The paper used here is from DCWV Rustic stack. The large scallop was cut with a Sizzix extended cut die. The smaller scallop was a Quickuts die. I carefully punched each heart in the smaller scallop. Another punch was used for the slightly larger hearts on either side of the stamped phrase.

Note that all the edges have been sponged. This really adds to the "rustic" look.

The main technique used in this card was layering. Having all the paper from one stack is a sure way to make sure that all your colors coordinate.

Cold

It was -29 when I got up this morning. Now at 9:30 am it has gotten much warmer, like 8.

I took this picture Monday when it was foggy and snowing. It just looks cold.

I am so grateful that we didn't get the huge amounts of snow and wind that are blasting those further east of us.

For those who don't know, I live in western Nebraska, also known as the Panhandle.

Black and Cream Valentinees

The initial inspiration was the ivory embossing powder on white card stock. The hearts were cut with Spellbinders Nestabililties hearts. Thge scalloped hearts are cream card stock, while the inner heart is white card stock.

Paper is DCWV's La Creme stack and the gold paper is gift wrap.

The tags are from Spellbinders first fancy tags set.

The stamp is unknown.