Flowers and Butterflies

Many thanks to my dear stamping
pen pal Celia for sending me a card
that was almost exactly like this one.
I was immediately inspired to scamper off
to my studio and make a card "just" like hers.
Hers was blue, her flowers were a little
different and so was the butterflies. I didn't have any
paper that would look good in the blues category,
so opted for pink.

Clear Stickles were spread on the flower petals
and the center of the butterflies. The butterflies
were punched from a pearlescent type paper,
actually an old envelope.

The embossing folder used to create the texture
on the white and the pink is a 5 x 7 from Cuttlebug.
Sure wish they would make a bunch more of those.
They are so very nice for card fronts.
This one was cut down to achieve
the desired layering.

The Lacy Square, pink Square and
pink Fancy tag are from Spellbinders.
(those people are going to bankrupt me
with all their tempting goodies, they just
never quit!)

The flower is from Punch Bunch.
Two flowers have been hand embossed to
make the petals curve, lightly covered with
Stickles and after the Stickles had dried
they were glued together.
A half pearl was attached to the center
of the flower.

Hand Embossing - lay the punched out
flower on a mouse pad or in the palm
of your hand. I use a rounded tool that is
about the size of a small pencil eraser.
Rub gently on each petal to make them curve,
then rotate the rounded tool in the center
of the flower. It should almost roll up around
the tool. Now turn it over and press in the center.

The butterflies - Stickles down the center to make the
body of the butterfly glittery.
I cut some very very small pieces of double-sided
three-D material and attached to each wing
to make them stay raised off the card.

The leafy looking flourish in the center of the pink
texture is from Bosskuts.
I use a toothpick to carefully apply
dots of glue to the places on the back side
of the flourish. Usually I use small dots of glue on
each little leaf and along the stem
to make sure that it is well adhered.

Another Round of Thanks

Die cuts and scrapbook papers
are all that have been used to create
all of these cards.

Papers are by DCWV and K and Company.

Dies are from Quickuts and Cuttlebug.
The thanks came with the Cuttlebug "Olivia"
alphabet.

A Get Well Card

Don't know anyone that is sick, but it is nice to have a Get Well card on hand just in case.

The phrase is stamped on scrapbook paper, the flourishes were stamped at the top and bott0m and the edges of the Spellbinders die cut were inked with dark brown ink. This little gem was then layered over another die cut and flourishes by Quickutz added.

The embossed paper at the top of the card is from Cuttlebugs A2 folder line. A light sponging of medium brown ink was applied to highlight the embossing. The paper on the bottom of the card is again scrapbook paper from DCWV.

Sympathy Card

This is a fairly basic and easy card. The mottled looking background is Polished Stone Technique.
I stamped the "With Sympathy" with VersaMark and embossed with fineline black embossing powder. The stamp is made by Stamps Happen, Inc. I love the font that they used, very elegant yet easy to read. I have no idea who is now making these stamps or even if anyone is.

The image was stamped in the center of the polished stone then carefully cut out as a rectangle. It was then mounted on black cardstock and using the layering rulers a border was cut. Next cut down your original polished stone piece. On this card I made it 3.75 x 5 inches, layered onto black cardstock and cut a narrow border with a layering ruler. Attach the layer phrase to the center of the larger piece, now attach this all to your card base.

The classic flourishes are die cuts by Cuttlebug. On the upper left I folded the die cut over the spine of the card and glued it to the back of the card. On the lower right the die cut is folded over the edge of the card opening and glued to the inside of the card.

Old Wringer Washer Photo Card

I just have to look at this old wringer washer and be grateful for when I was born. I have vague memories of this process for cleaning clothes. If that memory is right, washing took all day.

Vintage look scrapbook paper covers the front of the card. The edges are sponged with a dark brown ink. The right edge of the card front is embossed with a cuttlebug border folder. I then put scrap paper over the rest of the card and along the edge of the card. The goal was to make a depressed area that contains the embossing. Now ink up a brayer with dark brown ink and with a light gentle touch brayer over the embossing. You will just kiss the raised portion with the brayer. That little bit of ink makes the embossing pop.

Outside My Box

This is a card that was published in the Card Sketch Challenge of Stampers Quest online magazine in March. My normal card size is A2 or 4.25x5.5 inches. Also known as a quarter fold as it is the size of a quarter of a sheet of standard 8.5x11 inche cardstock. This card sketch was long and narrow.

The front of the card is stamped with a paisley Tim Holtz image from Stampers Anonymous. I used VersaMark ink and fineline gold embossing powder. The edges were then sponged with a medium brown dye ink.

The light turquoise bars have been embossed with a Cuttlebug A2 paisley folder. How did I get that paisly white? I sanded it. The paper is what is called "white core". This means that when you look the edge of the paper carefully you will see three distinct layers of color. In this case there was turquoise, white and then turquoise. After embossing the raised portion is literally sanded with sand paper and this removes the turquoise layer, letting the white show through.

The bars and the phrase are layered onto a medium brown cardstock and trimmed to a narrow border.

The final touch was the slightly darker turquoise ribbon with a ribbon tassel attached.