Monday, October 31, 2011

Stickers and Frames

Oh my, I certainly do love these K & Company stickers.
The colors of card stock are a very light cream
and a deep royal purple.
With the purples in the stickers, it is a
perfect combination.
The embossing folder used were
Sizzix's holly and Cuttlebug's distressed stripes.
The frames have been cut with a Spellbinder's
Label and Oval nesting dies.
The frames are raised over the face of the card
using two layers of the flat part of paper egg cartons.
I cut them up into pieces that will fit under the frames.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Precious Little Girl

The little girl image is stamped with Ranger Archival coffee
ink on glossy paper. The image is from one of several sheets
of stamps that I order years ago from a company called
Second Star on the Right.
I don't know if you can even find them anymore.
The first layer on the white card base is mauve.
Over that is an embossed texture.
The frame is created with a Spellbinders Label
and Nesting Ovals and is raised over the image with
the flat part of paper egg cartons.
The flourish greenery is a die from Bosscuts.
The remaining greenery and flowers are
from Punch Bunch. The flowers have been
shaped using a large stylus.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Pearl Accent Frame

Begin with a lovely paper by Karen Foster Designs.
This is one of their very first papers and is now sadly discontinued.
The paper covers the entire card front.
The edges have been sponged with Ranger Archival coffee
dye based ink.

The frame is a Spellbinder's oval inside a Label.
The cream colored pearls are attached to both sides
of the cream frame.
The frame is raised over the flower sticker
by attaching a double layer of egg carton pieces
on the under side.
I cut them up in fairly small pieces and space
all around the frame.
The 3-D of the frame and the sticker is
so very pleasing to the eye.

A K & Company sticker is attached to a pale
green embossed card stock.
I used a Tim Holtz wood embossing folder.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ovals and Diamonds

The basic color scheme is cream and purple.
Two embossing folders were used in this design.
The cream paper that is embossed is a
Sizzix Christmas folder. It is supposed to be holly.
Yes, that's right, holly, and I could never find it.
But it does have great flourishes and berries.
At least I guess they are berries. Who knows?
The purple card stock under the K and Company
sticker is also embossed.

The frame is a Spellbinders Lacy Oval with
a nesting Diamond on the inside.
It has been raised off the card face
using two layers of paper egg carton glued together
and cut into sizes that fit the back side of the frame.
The three butterflies on the frame were
punched with an EK Success Martha Stewart
punch. The gold metallic is a candy wrapper
attached to card stock.

Can you tell I am into "recycling"?
Actually it is not recycling, it is being frugal.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Season of Singing

A wonderful scripture that is perfect for anything flower.
In this case I have used some of Punch Bunch's punches
and shaped them.

The scripture was done in Paint Shop Pro and after
printing was die cut with one of Spellbinder's Label dies.
The frame around the scripture is another Label that
has the inside cut out with an oval nesting die.

The cream textured layer and the purple under
the scripture were done with embossing folders.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Doggone Cards

Well, here are a couple of dog themed birthday
cards and an encouragement card.
The dog images on all are from Inkadinkado.
There are some dog themed brads from
Creative Impressions.
The papers are from a DCWV stack.
Lots of layering and narrow borders.
The ink used was Ranger Archival black.
I don't remember where the stamps came from.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Arch Frames

After creating the base layers using purple card stock
and an embossing folder the arched frame was
placed in the center.
Purple was used as the contrasting
base layer under the arched frame.
It has been textured with an embossing folder as well.
Two sizes of the Sizzix nesting arch dies
were used to create the frame.
The K & Company sticker was
placed in the center of the frame.
Highlighting foil attached to card stock
was used for the butterflies
which were punched using and EK Success punch.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Caring Butterflies

Where to begin? First of all I am running out of titles for
designs that are not repeats. I may just switch to numbers, LOL.

This card has a plain white base. The bottom two layers
are a soft peach with a tapestry texture in white.
The texture was created using an embossing folder.
These ovals were place on the card with the larger
being raised off the card using paper egg carton as the "pop dot".
A flourish from Bosscut was used in the center of the
larger oval.

The ovals were die cut using Spellbinders beaded oval dies.
Another Spellbinders die, Nesting Ovals was used to cut
the soft peach inside the beaded ovals. It was textured with
Cuttlebug"s dotted swiss embossing folder.

A Fancy Tag die from Spellbinders was used to
cut the layer underneath the computer generated phrase.
The phrase and the peach scalloped layer under it were
cut with more Spellbinders dies, this time the Nesting Ovals.
I love using ovals in my designs, they are so pleasing to the eye.

The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn Designs butterfly cut from
highlighting foil (found at most beauty supply stores) attached
to card stock or text weight papers. A light weight card stock
will cut much better than a heavy one and
enable you to slightly fold the wings up, giving an
appearance of a real butterfly that has just landed.

The flowers are punched with Punch Bunch punches.
The paper is card stock painted with Lumiere's.
They are then shaped and "diamonds" placed
in the centers.

The smaller butterflies are from an EK Success
Martha Stewart punch. They are also from
highlighting foil.


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Very simple

A very very simple card. Yet it is so elegant.
The punching was done on text weight
medium gray paper.

How to make the mosaic "bar":
1. In the slot of the punch where the paper is placed,
make sure the paper is squarely against the back of the slot.
This ensure that one edge of the mosaics will be even.
2. Now to get the punched images evenly spaced from each other.
This may take a few tries so start with scrap paper.
3. I punch the first mosaic, now slide the paper through the punch
and estimate how far apart the punches will be.
Be sure to keep the paper squarely against the back of the punch.
4. Note where the edge of the punch is on the first punch.
5. Keep punching and experimenting until you have the desired
space between your punches.

I have a quilt ruler that has lots of measuring lines on it.
I used this ruler to cut an even border around the mosaic "bar".
One important trick is to be sure that you are in the same
sitting or standing position for each cut.
I also have put the no-slip plastic on the back of the ruler
to help prevent slipping when cutting.
I will also advise that you are less likely to have
the ruler slip under the pressure of cutting if you
have a light touch. I often make two cuts
to get a clean even cut with card stock.
One quilt ruler even has a Sharpie line drawn on it
that shows a frequently used measurement.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Magnolia

Using a dimensional K and Company sticker
and some card stock, a card can be created.
Pale green card stock is the base layer, with
a cream paper as the textured layer that has been
made using a Sizzix embossing folder.

The same pale green card stock is under the magnolia
sticker. It has also been textured using an embossing folder.

Two Spellbinder's dies were used together to
make the frame. In this case a Label and a
Nesting Circle. After cutting, the frame was embossed
on that soft rubber mat. Very attractive.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Soft Sage

Another K & Company sticker used as the center piece.
The embossed frame is a Spellbinder's Label
with an oval on the inside.
A Sizzix folder was used for the textured
base layer.

The soft sage green card stock was used
to create a narrow border under the
base textured layer.
It was also used under the
flower sticker. I cut an oval one size
larger than was used for the oval cut out
in the frame.

These cards are so dainty and elegant.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Using Stickers

I do not use a lot of stickers, BUT one of the
Wild Women of the West Stampers, namely one
Phyllis Jordan, made a card that was similar to this one.
I was totally sold. It was a gorgeous card and I had to
make some for myself.

The frame for the K & Company sticker was
made using a Spellbinder's Label and a Spellbinder's
circle dies. If you carefully place the circle inside
the label and tape them down with a low tack tape
the result is as seen above.
I try to leave everything together
for the embossing phase. Usually the tape
holds it fairly well.

The frame is 3-D with a double layer of
cut up egg carton attached to the back side..
The stickers are two and three layers as well.

The blue card stock that is under the embossing folder layer and
under the sticker is a deep royal blue.
This particular card stock was purchased
at the "evil" Xpedex in Denver.
I go into that store promising myself I will NOT
buy a thing and come out with several reams
of paper. Do you have a paper problem like mine?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Butterflies, Ovals and Texture

Two different textures are used on this card.
The white layer is an elaborate brocade type embossing folder
The peach ovals inside the white beaded ovals
are done with Cuttlebug's Dotted Swiss.

The metallic butterfly is from highlighting foil
from a beauty supply that has been attached to card stock.
It was made using a punch from EK Success Martha Stewart
line of punches.

The phrase was computer generated using
Paint Shop Pro X, cut out with a
Spellbinders Mega Oval and mounted on
a peach scalloped mega oval.
It was then placed in one of
Spellbinders Fancy Tags.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Birthday Cards

The rust and cream color scheme is stunning.
Note the differences in the cards and decide which
you like.
The top card has a metallic Cheery Lynn Designs
butterfly cut from highlighting foil from the beauty supply.
The bottom butterfly is cut from rust card stock.
Both have a peach "lining" second layer underneath.
The peach has been sponged with Ranger
Rusty Hinge Distressed Ink.
This color of ink was also used to
sponge the edges, inside and outside, of
the Spellbinders Label and Oval frames.
The happy birthday is computer generated
in Paint Shop Pro X. It was cut out with
a Spellbinders Label and the edges also
sponged with Rangers Distressed Ink Rusty Hinge.

The frame and the phrase are made 3-d with layers
of cut up paper egg carton. Two layers under the frame
and one layer under the phrase.
Note that there is rust under one phrase and
peach under the other.

The rust flowers are the same, but the leaves
are different. One is silk leaves
and the other is punched card stock leaves
with the flowers and butterfly.


Monday, October 10, 2011

Generic Birthday Card


This card is for a guy or a gal. It is fairly simple.
The card base is covered with scrapbook paper
that has been embossed in a Sizzix Christmas embossing
folder. (!!!!yes, Christmas) It is plaid.
After embossing a brayer and dark brown ink
was used to darken the just the very top of the embossing.

I computer generated the Happy Birthday in PSP X and
sized it to 1.25 inches in Word. This is the size that fits
nicely in the Spellbinders Fancy Tag die.
I used the free font Precious to create the phrase.

A Spellbinder's Mega Oval die was used to
cut the plain green oval. The edges of the oval
were sponged in the same dark brown ink that was
used on the folder embossing.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

A Season

It has been a while since I made this card.
The punched leaves are from various paper
sources. Highlighting foil from the beauty supply,
glitter stack from DCWV and gift wrap.
The patterned papers are unknown.
The scripture is computer generated
and created in Paint Shop Pro X.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Sympathy Cards

All three cards have the same basic design.
The middle one was made first.
It is the only one that has the stamped
image embossed with fine line black embossing powder.


The leafy branchy type trim
is an EK Success Martha Stewart punch.
I don't know the maker of the stylized tree,
but the trees on the top and bottom
are from a company called Bear Rubber.
I don't know if they are even in business anymore.
The images and phrases have been die cut with
Spellbinders circle and oval dies.