Cheery Thirds Cards

Both cards are made using the thirds theory.
1/3 and 2/3 division between colors or papers
is very pleasing to the eye.

The textured portion does not extend to
the entire piece of card stock.
On what remained of the flat part,
I used two different punch designs.
A narrow strip of the scrapbook
paper was attached to the unembossed
area between the embossing and punching.

Peek-a-boo Card

This card begins with a piece of scrapbook
paper attached to the lower 1/3 of the card base.
A coordinating plain card stock
is embossed in an embossing folder.
A portion is then punched in an
EK Success Martha Stewart border punch.

Note that one of the diamonds on the embossing
has been cut out and a piece
of the scrapbook paper is glued underneath.

Now glue the card stock to the card base.
You now have an "Any Occasion" card.
The greeting that you stamp or write
on the inside determines what kind of
card it is.

Glorious Cowgirls

Here are some more of those glorious cowgirls.
The detailed instructions for the hinge part can
be found in yesterdays post.
YeeeeeeHaawww!!!!!
Cowgirl Up!

There Is A Season

There is a season for everything and it is in
God's good time, not ours.

The textured background for this card was
done with a piece of white text weight paper
that was folded and put through a corrugator.
After it was attached to the card base,
the edges were sponged.

The phrase is computer generated, cut out
with a Spellbinders oval.
The K & Company scrapbook paper under the
scripture was also cut with a Spellbinders Label die.
The edges of both have been sponged.

After attaching the scripture layers to the card front,
silk leaves and "jewels" were added.

Cowgirls

This was a complicated card so I will number the instructions to help you and me keep it straight
First step is the cowgirl image and the riders.
1. Stamp cowgirl image with Range Archival Black ink.
2. Color image with colored pencils.
3. Using a stump, gently rub baby oil over colored parts.
This will create a much smoother look to your coloring.
4. Center Spellbinders Square Nestabilities over the cowgirls image.
Tape it in place with a low tack painters tape. You may have to "desticky" the tape by sticking
it to your arm several times.
5. Cut and emboss, leaving the image in the die, carefully remove the tape and lightly sponge from the edges in
with a medium brown ink. When you remove the paper from the die you will have a white "frame".
6. Now cut out a brown card stock square from Spellbinders Lacy Squares.
7. Mount the cowgirls image on the brown lacy square.
8. Stamp the retreating riders image (from Sutter Enterprises) and cut out with a Spellbinders oval.
9. Color with colored pencils and finish off with a baby oiled stump.
10. Sponge edges of oval with dark brown ink.
11. Attach oval behind the lacy square cowgirl piece.

The card base or parchment card stock and making the hinges.
1. Cut a piece of leather look scrapbook paper (Karen Foster) 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches.
2. Sponged all four edges with dark brown ink.
3. Attach to far left side of card. (by the fold)
4. Lay ruler over leather, using a stylus, gently impress a line on the paper.
5. Fold back on the impressed line.
6. On the inside of the card glue the portion of the card that is under the leather to the back of the inside of the
card. When opened the card should fold open on the impressed line.
7. Sponge around remaining three sides of card front with dark brown ink.

Hinges
1. I used a leather look gift wrap, since it is fairly light weight I attached the gift wrap to card stock.
2. Cut the hinges out using Sizzix die or any hinge die cut that you have on hand.
3. Fold hinges in half, this will make it easier to attach to and open card.
4. Place brads in all four holes of each hinge. You will have to cut off one of the little "arms" of the brads
as they will stick out past the edge of the hinge.
5. Glue hinges to card, matching the fold in the hinge to the fold on your card base.

Finishing
1. Attach cowgirl layers to card front.
2. Stamp horse shoes towards bottom of card.

Cowboys

Don't throw away that cardboard box!
It can become a rustic background.
I use a "floss pick" meant for dental use
to separate the top layer of flat paper from
the corrugated part.
Place the point of the pick in the valley
of the corrugation, hold it parallel, slightly tilt
towards where the paper is still attached
and slide the floss pick down the valley.
Keep repeating until the top
layer of flat paper is removed.

The mini corrugated paper on this card
was part the packing on a fragile Christmas gift.
It has been cut out with a Spellbinders Label,
as has the Wildlife Enterprises hat and gloves
image. Both have had the edges sponged
with dark brown ink to add depth.

The western medallions at the top and bottom
have been created using three different punches.

The oval rider silhouette image from Sutter Enterprises,
has been stamped in dark brown,
cut out with a Spellbinders oval
and the edges sponged.

The entire card base was sponged with
brown ink to give a mottled look.
Corners were stamped with B & J Art Stamp's
barb wire in dark brown ink.

Autumn

I had some dry embossed pieces left over from
another card design and just hated to throw them away.
So three of them were cut the same width
and the corners on one end rounded.

The card base is covered with paper from the
same stack as the printed paper that is under
the computer generated phrase.
The corners on the card base have been rounded
and then the edges sponged with
dark brown ink.

The phrase is cut out with a Spellbinders Label
and it and the layer under it have been sponged.

The silk leaves are from Michael's store brand.
The colors are so lovely, I just had to buy them.
Three pearls were attached to the joining
point of the two leaves.

Thanks For Sharing - 4 versions

Sometimes you come across a design sketch that triggers all kinds of ideas.

I stamped off the phrase, cut it out with one of Spellbinders many wonderful Label dies and began to play.

Various DCWV stacks were used, some of them I had never envisioned turning out like this. It is a wonderful experience to take the paper from the the stack that you like the least and attempt to create something with it.

While I like plaid, I have a hard time making cards with it.

Who would have thought that cutting the points off a diamond die cut would be striking?


Sometimes the very simplest usage is the most elegant. The leaf is hair Highlighting Foil that has been glued to card stock with Ultimate Crafters glue, then cut and embossed with a Spellbinders leaf die. This foil should be available at any beauty supply.

Howdy Y'all

Another use of those fantastic five step boot stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps.

The boots have been stamped in shades of brown using Ranger's Distressed Inks. Cut the image out in a rectangle, layer onto brown card stock and trim the brown to a narrow border. Now layer onto a wood look paper. This is a digital down load and I have no idea where I got it. If you know of a place that has a wood look digital down load please leave me a comment.

Now the wood layer goes onto a medium brown card stock, cut with a decorative scissors, then layer onto the dark brown card stock again. Attach to the top portion of a card base.

Stamp B & J's Art Stamps barbwire image under the boots. Final step - stamp the words at the bottom. I arrange both words on my acrylic at the same time to get them perfectly lined up and spaced.

More Paper Quilting

All three cards use the paper quilting technique. It is what is done with the paper quilting after completion that is fun.

Embossing folders where used to add texture to all examples. The two green cards were lightly sponged with medium brown ink after wards to make the embossing stand out a little more.

On the pink card, the corners were rounded. The other two cards were cut out with Spellbinders Labels. They are all layered with coordinating card stock.

Stamp credits: on the pink card unknown, Stampendous and Our Daily Bread are the other two.

Ephesians 2:8

Such an easy card to make!
Begin with K and Company scrapbook
paper. Attach a piece about 2 or more inches
wide to the bottom of a card base.

Use one of Our Daily Bread Designs
scripture stamps.
It has been cut out with Spellbinders
nesting rectangle die, while
the piece is still in the metal die,
use a gel pen draw around the inside of the die.
Mount the phrase on the same
paper as that used on the card base
and trim to desired border width.

The dark brown card stock was cut
with a Spellbinder's Lotus Borderabilities,
then run through an embossing folder.

The leaf has been cut and embossed
using a Spellbinders leaf die.
This was done using Highlighting Foil
that had been glued to card stock.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

A plain white card base is the start of this design.
I used acrylic flourish stamps by Basic Grey,
inked with a light brown.
The entire card front was stamped with the flourishes.
I wanted a very soft subtle background.
This is barely noticeable.

The scripture is a computer generated image.
It has been cut out with a Spellbinders Label die.
Next cut another Label in scrapbook paper.
On coordinating card stock,
I drew around the outer edge of that same Label
and cut it out. This resulted in a slightly larger label,
but not as large as the label that is one size larger.
I wanted a narrow border around the label
and this gave me exactly what I wanted.

The edges of the scripture label and the
scrapbook label have been sponged with
dark brown ink.

With a matching piece of scrapbook paper,
create a strip that will cover from the top
to the bottom of the card.
The width should be what looks best to you.

With a border punch and the coordinating
card stock, punch two border the
length of the scrapbook strip.
Attach the borders to either
side of the strip.

Now put your card together as shown in the pictures.

Some More Paper Quilting

Above is a very simple basic design.
The quilt squares have had the edges sponged
to add depth. After assembly it was
texturized in an embossing folder, then
sponged lightly to make the embossing stand out.
The rest is simply layering and die cuts.

In the above card, the phrase has been
computer generated and cut out with
a Spellbinders Label. The leaves are
die cut or punched.

Stamp a small phrase (Stampendous)
on a coordinating piece of card stock.
I used the Spellbinders Leaf die to
cut a leaf from my quilted piece.
A matching leaf was cut and embossed from
Highlighting Foil (get at a beauty supply)
that had been attach to card stock.

The quilted portion was raised with
a 3-D foam and placed over
the stamped phrase.

I Cor 1:4

Often the simplest cards are the most dramatic.
The card front has been covered with a visually
low impact scrapbook paper.
The maroon and tan square is scrapbook paper
that is from the same stack as that that is
covering the card base.
I used a delicate filigree-vining
background stamp and embossed with
a dark red embossing powder.
It has been layered on a red/brown
piece of card stock.

The phrase is from
Our Daily Bread Designs,
which has light tan fine lined
flourishes stamped as a background.
This has been layered over a dark brown card stock.

The Sizzix die cut in the lower right hand
corner is made from dark brown card stock.

HINT - for coordinating papers, use scrapbook
paper stacks with matching plain card stock stacks.
While these are a little expensive, they go a long way
when making cards.

Code of the West

The phrase is computer generated.
After that I had a blast trying different backgrounds.
The card above uses scrapbook paper
as the background.

The wood background is one that I printed up on my computer.
It really does fit well with the western theme.
B & J Art Stamp's barbwire image is
stamped in dark brown.
Sutter Enterprise's cowboy on a horse image
has been stamped with one of the
lighter brown Distressed Inks from Ranger.

A narrow border of faux snakeskin is
a great accent. Made by using the Fiskars
snakeskin embossing plate with tan or cream
card stock. Next steps depend on the desired
color of your snakeskin. I usually use a very
light brown ink, sponging heavily to get in the creases.
The dust the raised portion with a darker ink.
The final step is to apply a glossy top coat.
I happened to have a water based glossy varnish.

This leather look background is a scrapbook
paper from Karen Foster.

Four Cowgirls

Oh was this a fun card to design!
The four cowgirls stamp is an unknown image.
AND I have two version of this stamp, this is the larger one.
I just hate it when companies don't put their
name on the wood and I really wish they would find
a way to print it somewhere on the unmounted
rubber or acrylic as well.

Begin by covering a card base with leather look
scrapbook paper, in this case from Karen Foster.
The edges have been sponged with dark brown ink,
Archival Coffee by Ranger, and Archival Black by Ranger.

The cowgirls were stamped with VersaMark,
embossed with fine line black powder
and colored with chalks.
I sprayed a fixative over the chalks.
It was hand cut with quilting ruler and
straight edge click blade into a rectangle.
The edges were barely sponged with
the dark brown ink.
Two pieces of dark brown card stock
were cut with a decorative scissors.
Draw a line on the back side of the paper
to use as a guide if you want the edge to
be relatively straight.
Attach these to the top and bottom of the cowgirl image.

Using the same decorative scissors, cut a piece
or medium brown card stock.
Stamp a horseshoe (PSX) at the bottom
in dark brown ink and
using that same brown ink
sponge the edges of the piece.
Place the cowgirl layer about where you want it.
Now using a pencil, lightly mark where your
brads are to be positioned.
Punch those three holes and place brads in
those holes. I usually take the head of
my hammer and gently flatten the back side of the
brads to get them to lay flat.

Stamp the barbwire, from B & J Art Stamps,
on white card stock, trim edges so the piece is about as wide as
shown in the sample card. Again, sponge
the edges with dark brown ink.

Attach all pieces as shown, beginning with
the barbwire, then the medium brown over that,
and finally the cowgirls.

Now stamp those grazing steers in dark brown
at the lower right hand corner.
Sutter Enterprises made that lovely
little stamp. If you are in need of
western and cowboy type stamps,
Sutters is a fantastic resource.