Pine trees

The stamped image is an unknown stamp.
I stamped it with VersaMark.
By careful application of two different embossing powders
it is possible to emboss both the green pine needles
and the brown trunk.

The trees image was cut out with the Spellbinders
Mega Oval die. The edges were distressed
with a Tim Holtz thread cutter.
I sponged brown in a short distance and
then "burned" the distressed edge with black ink.

The tree image is mounted on a brown cards stock
Spellbinders Label die cut.
The card stock was left in the die after cutting
and the edges sponged with dark brown ink.
This leaves a definite narrow border when
the paper is removed from the die.
You are going to have to clean you die.

The card base is a parchment beige paper.
All the edges have been sponged with dark brown ink.

The pine embellishment is done with
Cheery Lynn Designs pine branch die.
Pine cones are from an old Emaginations punch.
After punching them out in dark brown cark stock
they were closely crumpled and not totally smoothed
out when uncrumbling. This gives the pine cone
looking texture.

Since I live in an area of western Nebraska called
the Wildcat Hills and see Ponderosa covered
hills everyday, these cards are NOT Christmas.

3rd and 4th Christmas Designs for 2011

Here are two versions of basically the same card design.
The metallic fold is a brushed gold Christmas gift wrap paper. This is the time of year to purchase all kinds of metallic papers to use all year round. They are an inexpensive resource, especially for layering. One roll of gift wrap goes a long long way when only used on cards.

You will note in this first card that the gift wrap kind of sank into the snow flake texture.

The letters are cut with Cuttlebug's Hippie Chick alphabet. Spellbinder's long rectangle nesting dies were used to cut the rectangles under the letters on both cards.


EK Success made the tree punch. Note the shadowing of gold behind the trees.

The card base is from a Sizzix random snowflake embossing folder.

I like the second card the best. Which one do you like?

I Am The Way

Begin with a white A2 (5.50 x 4.25 inch) card base.
The next layer is a pale lavender card stock that has
been punched with one of EK Successes Martha Stewart
punch around the page punches.
The textured layer is made using an embossing folder,
the corner has been rounded to match the punched border.

The scripture was created in PSP X, cut into a rectangle and
the corners rounded. It has been mounted on the same pale
lavender card stock that was used for the punched border.
A Spellbinders Label was the die cut used.

Now medium purple shaped flowers and
a dark sage green flourish are
added as embellishments.
Half pearls were glued as the center of
the flowers.

Double Gate-fold

The basics for this card came from
Technique Junkies CD.
Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts.
Thanks to Ginni S. who got for
me as a Christmas gift. It is a great CD
with lots of innovative ideas.

The paper is from DCWV Citrus Stack.
The punch is an EK Success from the
Martha Stewart line.
The scripture was created by me in
Paint Shop Pro X program.

Basic instructions-
5 1/2 x 12 inch piece of paper
score at 2, 4, 8, and 10 inches
the rest you should be able to figure out from
the pictures.

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.

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.

Paper Quilted Borders

Quilting is an old old art form, practiced by generations
of artistic women. It is not only an art form,
it has a practical side in that the quilts provide
warmth when used as originally intended,
on a bed as a bed spread.
It only stands to reason that paper crafters
would find a way to mimic the cloth version.

To ensure uniformity in the squares a punch was used.
The edges of the squares have been sponged
with dark brown ink. This adds depth and
makes each square stand out a bit more.
The squares were then glued to a
coordinating piece of card stock.
I would recommend a strip of low tack
masking tape or straight piece of paper
to be a gluing guide for the squares.
No matter how hard I tried, without this guide
my strip of squares had a slight curve.
(This made me crazy, OCD kicking in)

The first two cards have a card base that is covered
with texturized dark brown card stock.
The white border on the first card is a punch,
while the border on the second card is
a Spellbinders Borderabilities die cut.
The last card has been stamped and embossed
with fine line gold embossing powder, the stamp
is from Wordsworth.

Faith Makes Things Possible

This design began with my playing around with an
EK Success punch. I drew two orange metallic lines close
to the punched area and then searched for a way to use
it on a card. The scrapbook paper with the white leaves
seemed to be a perfect match.
The stamped phrase is one of my favorites
and is made by
River City Rubber Works.
The image has been stamped with VersaMark and
embossed with fine line black embossing powder.

Lotus and Flowers

Since things have been a little busy around here lately
I decided to share three cards at once.
They are all the same basic idea -
teabag folded flowers on a Spellbinders lotus die cut.

The above card is the only one that has
a stamped phrase. Stamp by Stampabilities.
I do like the rounded corners. It really softens a design.

This card has a punched border at the
top and bottom. The casual flowers on
the scrapbook paper that covers the card base
match the informal type flowers
of the EK Success Martha Stewart punch.

Stamp Camp background

When attending stamp convention in August at Loveland CO I visited the booth of Stamp Camp. I could spend hours at this vendors display, drooling over her fantastic product.

This image was stamped in dark brown dye ink and then lightly colored with colored pencils. The edges where heavily sponged with that dark brown ink to soften the borders. It was then layered on cream and then brown card stock.

The scalloped border of dark brown card stock is a border punch from EK Success Martha Stewart line. I have found the best selection of these punches at Michael's. (another product I just drool over, those are some great innovative punches) The punch around the page punches are great. (especially when you have a 40% off coupon, LOL)

Watercolor flowers

Using a stamp to create a soft water color appearance is far easier than it appears. There are several ways to achieve this "look". I will try to explain all the methods that I have used and in the next few days show you the results.

First you need a stamp. I love the Hero Arts line of florals. These are rather bold stamps and work well for this technique.

1. Mist your stamp lightly.

2. Color directly on the stamp with water soluble

oil pastels. I found the Portfolio Series at

Staples to be inexpensive and they work well.

3. Mist the stamp again.

4. Stamp on paper of choice. Now if the image is too dark mist and stamp again, without

recoloring.

5. You can mist and stamp to create a shadow image as well.

Play with the technique on scrap paper until you find the amount of color applied and the water misting that works best for you.

I used two colors on the flower and one green on the stem.

The words are computer generated, punched out and edged with a gold leaf Krylon pen.

The flower image was cut into an oval using a Coluzzle template and it to was edged with the Krylon pen.

Framed Flowers

Another card that was created while at Charlene's. We had so much fun. The paper, glue and stamps just flew around her studio. We both tend to be more daring and innovative when we stamp together.

I used a punch for the oval flowers. Spellbinder's Nestibilities for the two layer frame and another punch for the three brown bars with a hand punch was used for the blue dots on the bars.

Note the sponging with dark brown ink around the card base, the flowers and the blue layer of the frame.

The flower stamp is by Inkadinkadoo. I think the phrase is by Hero Arts. Not sure as these are Charlene's stamps.

Dark brown ink was used to stamp all images.

Rubbadubbadoo Stamps Are Fantastic

This is one of my very favorite scriptures. Now if you add to that a stamp that has an easy to stamp AND read font, well, I am sold, totally. I am impressed that even the tiny scripture reference is so easy to read.

The phrase was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with fineline black embossing powder. It was then cut out and layered using three different Spellbinders Circle Nestibilites.

The background paper was made using some Basic Grey clear flourish stamp. Ink used was VersaMark and followed by a clean embossing powder. This technique gives a perfect color match for a subtle background.

A Martha Stewart border punch used on the opening edge of the card added the final touch.

Match the inside to the outside

A lovely finishing touch for a card is to have the inside

match the outside, as in this card.

It is also a way to use a scrap.

And we paper addicts hate to waste even the smallest

scrap of paper.

When you use a border punch there is often a strip of

paper left over. It is perfectly straight and just cries out

to be used somewhere, so I glue them along

the inside of my card.

Since the strip came from a part that is on the front

of the card, using it on the inside "pulls" the

entire design together very nicely.

The above card was created using Basic Grey clear stamps.

For once I stamped right on the front of the card base,

using VersaMark ink and ivory embossing powder.

The ivory on white is very elegant and subtle.

The blue punched border was stamped with the

same image using clear embossing powder.

The phrase was computer generated, attached

to the same blue cardstock as the punched border and

trimmed to a narrow border on the top and bottom.

A Fiskars Ripple decorative edge scissors was

used to cut the white and the blue cardstock.

It takes a little practice, but this matching of

the cut on both layers can be that final little

touch that finishes off a card perfectly.