Prayer is a Shield - 2

The card base is a light blue parchment card stock.
The edges have been sponged with dark brown ink.

The scrapbook paper is from g.e.d, the
Ella Blue stack.
Dark brown card stock, a Karen Foster Designs
brown vellum and silver Lumiere painted
white card stock complete the list of paper used.

A Spellbinders Borderibilities die cut was
used on the lower half of the horizontal
bottom layer. The upper half
of this concoction is a carefully cut
piece from a striped page of the
scrapbook paper stack.

The computer generated phrase was
cut with a Spellbinder Label die, then
layered over another Label die cut.
Lowest layer is dark brown card stock
that has been trimmed to a narrow border
using Perfect Layers rulers.
The corner were then rounded.

Those lovely leaves are Karen Foster brown vellum.
I regret to inform you that this vellum has been
discontinued. It was some of the very first
that the company came out with.
I used VersaMark ink and brown embossing
powder, then carefully cut them out.

The flowers are made from double layers
of silver Lumiere painted white card stock,
that have been punched with a
Punch Bunch punch.
If you are looking for flower punches
I would highly recommend Punch Bunch.
They have multiple designs in many sizes.

The Path of Life

Very simple and basic designs.
The papers all came from the same unknown stack.
The flowers were created by using a stipple brush
and dark blue Lumiere's paint to cover a
scrap of blue card stock.
After it was totally dry it was
punched with a flower shape punch
from The Punch Bunch.
It was then shaped from the back with a rounded tool
on a mouse pad, turned over, pressed in the center with
the tool and precious jewel added.
OK, just cheap bling-bling, but it looks great.
Each flower has two layers.

The dark brown branches are also from a punch.
They were added whole or in pieces, whatever
it took to make it look right.

The scripture has been created in
Paint Shop Pro X by me.
They have been cut out with
Spellbinders Labels.

Watercolor Flower

The scrapbook papers use on this card are
from g.c.d, the Ella Blue collection. It is an
8 x 8 stack. The soft blues and the browns are
just lovely.
The card base is cover with a paper that had a frame
type border all around the edge.
I used part of the border at
the top of the band that
is in the center of the card.
An EK Success punch was used for
the double scallop border on the
bottom. A dark brown paper
from the stack was selected for
it's contrast.

A Spellbinders Label with
white card stock is stamped with
the water color technique, using
a stamp from Hero Arts.
In this case a dark blue Distress Ink from
Ranger was used for the flower and green inks
for the stem and leaves.
Before stamping a fine mist of water was
applied to achieve the water color look.
You can use ink pads, markers, or water
color crayons for the "pressed flower" look.
A second misting and stamping will
result in a shadowy appearance.

With two shades of Distressed brown inks and
a Cut N Dry sponge gently swirled around
the edges, the stamped label die cut has
and antiqued look.

The final touch is the "Thinking of You"
phrase stamped in Ranger's Archival coffee ink.
The stamp is from Hero Arts.

A "Big" Happy

This was an idea that I saw over a year ago at
a stamp convention at the Morning Star Stamps
booth. Both words are stamps from their line.

The large happy is stamped in the center of a
4.25 x 5.5 piece of card stock. Now you center
a Spellbinders label die over the "happy" and cut.
Select an appropriate embossing folder to add the desired
texture. In this case I have used the Cuttlebug
Happy Birthday folder.

The smaller birthday stamp has been cut with
an oval die cut. I sponged around the edges to
make is stand out a little more from the embossed
"happy" piece. I tried two different version and have
to say that I much prefer the top card.

The black and white polka dot background is
scrapbook paper attached to a white card base.

My husband got a "happy" card for our 40th anniversary.
Morning Star Stamps has a whole line
of tiny word stamps to put with your happy stamp.
I also have a thanks stamp that is the same
size and font and the happy shown here.

Horsing Around

Some bandanna and denim print scrapbook papers make a fantastic card with a strong western flavor when you use some Inkadinkado clear horse stamps.





A few brads that kind of look like nail heads, a Spellbinders label on one, a little sponging and tearing and there you have it.




I believe the rope stamp is by Above the Mark and the horseshoe stamp from Viva Las Vegas.

The above card has scrapbook paper over the white
card base. On the left side of the card is a die cut from
Spellbinders. The Hero Arts phrase was also cut out with
a Spellbinders die. I used some of the leftover cut outs
from the die cut to decorate the phrase. It is fun to use
scraps to a a little finishing touch to a card design.

These three peach card are very similar. There is
a slight difference in the decorative scissors used on the
left side bar and the placement of the punched flowers.
I did use three white brads on the side bar.
My personal favorite is the first in the series.

A Little Variety

As you can see I am still playing with my Cuttlebug "thanks" die cut. The flowers have been cut with a Quickuts die and a punch. Paper were all taken from the same stack.

Now why am I making all these "thanks" cards? I have given 15 cards and envelopes to the pastors wife and 10 cards and envelopes to my daughter, all using this die cut thanks. AND I have a bunch more sitting there waiting to be given or used.










Are you an addicted card maker with a huge stash? Give cards and envelopes as gifts. I have sister-in-laws that have everything they could every want. Buying gifts for them is absolutely impossible. The past few Christmases I have gotten out my card stash and told them to pick the 20 cards that they want for their gift.











Another use for all of those cards that you are making for your "therapy" is as a ministry in your church. I give cards to both the pastor and his wife and frequently send cards to members of the congregation that are ill or experiencing problems.

The Leaves Are Falling

Some the trees here in western Nebraska are still dropping leaves. The slightest breeze has a cascade of leaves to intrigue our half grown kittens.

My stamping buddy and good friend, Bettye, had a stack of 8 1/2 x 11 papers that she did not want. Bettye is constantly giving me stamps or paper that she is no longer using or can't figure out how to use. What a great challenge!!!!

So with a thanks to Bettye, here is what I did with some of the papers. The last card is the only one that actually has stamping on it. The dark torn background has VersaMark stamped leaves with clear embossing powder.

I buy very little scrapbook paper with scrapbooking in mind. I am a stamper and card maker first and that is how I think and see papers and embellishments.

Paper Ribbons

Paper ribbons can be addictive. You will find yourself buying scrapbook papers that coordinate just so you can make these lovely cards.

If you use text weight papers, you will be able to fold them in half and then punch. This will line the designs up across from each other perfectly.

I have found the Fiskars border punches to be rather fragile. They are not meant for anything heavier than a light weight text paper. You can prolong the life of them by placing the heel of your hand on the pivot point and them pressing the lever to punch. Other wise the plastic and the little pin that are the pivot area will break. Sadly most other punches of this type are made pretty much the same way.

I also used various decorative scissors to achieve the look that I wanted. One way to make sure you get an even cut with your scissors is to draw a line on the back of the paper and use that as a guide for your cut.

On the very widest parts I simply punched one long narrow strip and carefully attached them one at a time to the ribbon. That way you can match up the punched designs on either side and not use as much paper which reduces the over weight of the card.

Just for You

A very easy fast card. Yes, really it is. The only part that is stamped is the phrase. Scrapbook paper is glued over the card front. Now I will admit that I am strongly considering trying to use some of my flourish stamps to copy the flourishes on this paper. I do like the look.

The phrase is stamped on coordinating scrapbook paper and embossed with fineline white embossing powder. Note the sponging on the card base and the phrase banner. It adds depth and softens the entire design.

Tri Fold Shutter Cards 2

The papers for these cards came from a DCWV stack. I love stacks for this type of card as the paper coordinates.

The tutorial for this card is on Split Coast Stampers, as great resource for stampers. I was going to tell you to do a search, lucky for all of you that I went into Split Coast and tried their search. It does not work. So here is the link to the Tri-Fold Shutter Card. Here is how I found it, I opened up the home page for Split Coast Stampers and left clicked on "Resources" at the very top and to the right side. This brought up a list of all their tutorials in alphabetical order. They even have a picture of the project to help you find the correct one.

The directions call for you to cut a piece of card stock 5.5 x 11 inches. With scrapbook paper that leaves you with a 1 x 12 inch strip. I drew a line down the center of the BACK of the strip and cut with the ripple decorative scissors. Those strips are the border trim on either side of the cards. From two pieces of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper I got 4 cards and the trim. Nothing was wasted.

Using laser printer acetate:

1. talc the acetate

2. stamp the Butterfly and Flourish (Heartfelt Creations, HC217D) and emboss with fineline

black embossing powder

3. Carefully cut out the image that you have just stamped and embossed on the acetate

4. Now stamp on acetate and emboss the single plain butterfly from the set, using EK Success's

Paper Shaper large butterfly, punch out this butterfly. Clever Heartfelt designer, Emma Lou

Beechy has sized the butterfly to the size of the punch.

5. I carefully applied glue from a glue pad and glittered the back of the butterfly. You could use

markers, or punch another butterfly from some glitzy paper and attach to the back, there are

are all kinds of options, use your imagination!

6. As this is a slick surface, glue does not hold very well. My solution is to rough up the butterfly

and flourish image on the butterfly portion. Both on the front and the back where I will be

attaching this gives it more "tooth" and the glue will hold much better. You can rough these

areas as they will not show on the finished card.

7. Attach punched out butterfly to butterfly and flourish image. After the glue has dried attach

it all to the card.

A few notes here: flowers and smaller butterflies are for the most part punched from glitter papers.

Why use laser printer acetate? The Laser Printer Acetate or transparencies is designed for a laser printer which uses heat to apply the ink. So you can use you heat gun to emboss the embossing powders with out warping the acetate.

What about inkjet printer acetate? These transparencies work fantastic for regular stamping. There is a rough and a smooth side to the acetate. Stamp on the rough side with most inks. As always, try the ink out first by stamping a small image in one corner to see how the ink and the transparency interact. Some inks will run or not dry. You can NOT apply heat to these acetate transparencies as you can the laser transparencies.

Smile

I really really like this card. It turned out very well. The card base front is covered with scrapbook paper and the edges have been sponged with dark brown ink.

The stamp is by Hero Arts. The word smile is an outline that I filled in with a felt tip marker. It has been stamped on a piece of scrapbook paper and layered onto dark brown paper.

The dark brown flourishes are die cuts by Bosskuts. That company has some of my very favorite dies.

More Fun From Charlene's House

This is another card that was designed while in a creative frenzy at my friend Charlene's house. We had gone through some magazines and ideas that I had printed from the internet. Using what she had in her stash (which is considerable, like mine) this is one of the designs that we came up with.

The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and the dies are from Spellbinders.

Hi Karen!

My dear friend Karen and I attended a Lucy McGoo Day Retreat in Lafayette CO last spring. We had so much fun and learned so much. I had one of the attendees take a picture of us. It was so "cute" that I made a card of it for each of us.

The frame look in the photo was done in PSP.
The phrase is computer generated and the papers are from a scrapbook slab.

Do you have some great pictures of you and friends? They make great cards.

Blessings

I do love this paper. It looks so like real material. You can even see the "weave". I have no idea what company manufactured it.

I lost the front cover and never dreamed I would have a blog and want that information, so was not terribly worried about it.

The frame has been cut using a Spellbinders nesting dies. The paper in the frame is from the same stack as the paper on the front of the card base. That is one of the major reason I like to buy stacks of scrapbook paper. All the paper in the stack will coordinate.

The flouish is a Sizzix extended cut die. "Blessings" is a sticker I got from Serendipity Stamps.