Cowgirls Rule

This has to be one of my favorite stamps.
These cowgirls are just so cute.
The images have been colored with
colored pencils and blended with
baby oil on a blending stump.

The phrases are computer generated.
The dies are Spellbinders and Bosscuts.
Faux snake skin has been used on the
2nd and 3rd cards.
Most edges have been sponged with
a dark brown ink.

Black and White Elegance

I really really do love the elegance of
a black and white card.
The papers on these cards are from
an older stack call Formal Affair
by Scrap Works.

Note that each of the papers has been layered
onto plain black. I cut the very narrow
border with my Perfect Layers ruler.
The gross grain ribbon was attached to
the bottom two layers before
it was put on the white card stock base.

The phrases were created by me in
Paint Shop Pro X, then
cut out with Spellbinder's
Nesting Ovals.

These were very simple cards that
are easy to mass produce.

Cowboy Wisdom

There are a number of phrases that come
from the cowboy, cowgirl and western experience.
Life on a ranch leads to a very practical blunt wisdom
that sometimes has to lived to be understood fully.
It's a lot like living the Christian life. You
just can't completely comprehend it until you have lived it.

This phrase is very appropriate for any new venture.
Once you are on that bronc the are only two final
results. You are either eating dirt or you
tough it out until the bronc is no longer bucking.
So when you mount up, you had better
be real sure it's worth the effort, cause
comin' down is not going to be a painless thing.
Is it worth it?

The background on this card is faux snakeskin.
For a basic tutorial go to Stampers Quest and do
a search for faux snakeskin. The edges
of the card have been sponged with black ink.

The bucking bronc image is from Bear Rubber.
It is stamped on ivory card stock and metallic fleck rust
embossing powder makes the image stand out.
Tearing out the image and "burning" the edges
with brown and then black ink adds to the
worn western look.

I cut closely around the PSP X computer generated
phrase and burned the edges on it as well.

The "ribbon" an EK Success punch layered over
light kraft card stock. The edges of the light
layer have been sponged with dark brown ink.

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.

Computer Generated Phrases

I love to make cards with inspirational phrases.
The problem is that I frequently see a phrase that
is not a stamp. Oh dear, used to be a big problem.
Well since I took the time to do a long but very good
tutorial on PSP (Paint Shop Pro) I can now
play with the font, spacing and size of a phrase.
Printing out your own phrases has
the advantage of getting the exact size
that you want.
There are still times when I want to
stamp and emboss a phrase, but
I now have a choice.
For simple greetings, like happy birthday,
get well, thinking of you, etc I use Word.
I usually print off a two column sheet on white or
cream card stock, leaving enough
room between the phrases to use
a Spellbinders label to cut them out if desired.

Big Merry, Little Christmas

Four very similar cards with the same basic design.

Begin with a computer generated "merry".
It took a little experimenting to get just the right size.
I worked in landscape format with two columns
in Word 2003 and got four "merry"s per sheet of card stock.
The "merry" was then cut out with a
Spellbinders Label die,
then embossed in a Cuttlebugembossing folder.

The "Christmas" is also computer generated.
These were cut out with Spellbinders oval Nestibilities.
Some were layered onto the coordinating scalloped ovals
and others had ink sponged around the edges to make
them stand out slightly from the "merry" label.

The gold card is gift wrap that has been attached with
spray glue to card stock. It was then embossed with
a Cuttlebug folder as was the "merry" label.


The blue backgrounds are K & Company scrapbook paper.
This design has endless possibilities.
My husband has an anniversary card the
has a big "happy" and a small
anniversary. The design is done is black and white.
This design is easy to mass produce and
great fun to give.

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.

Fanciful Paper Quilting

Well I spent the past week in Lincoln NE attending workshops for my part time job with Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service, reviewing up coming surveys and reports that I will be doing. I travel around talking to farmers and ranchers about what they have planted and what they intend to plant. It is a very interesting job and I get to work with a great class of people, even if they refuse to answer my questions, they do it so nicely.

This card is very basic. The lacy dark brown border is a Spellbinders die cut. The narrow dark brown over the quilted looking squares is from Sizzix. The phrase is computer generated.

There is lots of sponging around the edges of just about everything. Adds a lot of depth. More later, I am still tired from sitting around all week and doing nothing. I suspect brain workouts are more tiring than physical work outs. I need a LOT of both. LOL

Birthday Card

Three Spellbinder's Labels were used on this card with the small center two being the same die cut but in different sizes.

The papers are from the Linen Closet stack from DCWV. A plain white card with sponged edges becomes a pleasing base when the edges are sponged. The Bosskut flourish in tan matches the sponging on the edges of the card base.

The Happy Birthday is computer generated. There are also brads on the middle die cut.

Not a hard card to make, lots of layers, but basically simple elements stacked up!

A Birthday Card

This card has so many fun elements. Let's start with the card base. It is a tan. I have stamped a background image with VersaMark and embossed with clear embossing paper. This creates an image that is a shade or two darker than the cardstock.

DCWV's Linen Closet stack is the source of all the paper but the card base. The octagons were cut from some of that paper. Then Spellbinder's Labels and Nestabilities did the rest. The Happy Birthday is computer generated.

The border on the right is simply layers of scallops. These were cut with my Create-A-Cut. I suspect this product is no longer available. There are several available on Ebay, but I don't think it is being manufactured anymore.