Happy Halloween!

Here is my last Halloween Project for most likely this year it uses the stamp set From the Crypt.

It looks 500 times better in person. The black cardstock is wrapped with tulle and it really sparkles. I tried a bazillion times trying to get a better picture but the card was just not cooperative, almost as bad as my children! In the picture on the side I did a close up of the bat because I add glitter to him so he stands out a bit more.
Hope that you all will have a Happy Halloween ... Stay safe and warm!! Happy Stamping!

And Another Skull

I was playing with From the Crypt some more. It's getting to be another favorite set of mine.

I love this card! The little bit of red really pops out on this card. If you look to the pic at the right you will see that it's all sparkly. I spritz it with my Shimmer Paint. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about I have a little tutorial I put together to show you how, so check back on Tuesday! In the meantime Happy Stamping!!

Halloween Treat

I haven't played with the Sweet Centers stamp set yet. I love the idea if it though and as soon as I can get my hands on the treat cups I will definitely play with it more. But for now this is what I did with it:

The in colors work very well for Halloween! They are really easy to make to!! Just a quick stamp and punch out the circle and you are done!! My kinda easy! Happy Stamping!

Spiders and Skulls

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love decorating and the creativity this time of year yields. From the Crypt is one of my favorite sets that SU! offered this year! Check out this card I made for my Secret Sister (hopefully she doesn't see it).

I did the spiders and black distress using the craft pad which added just a little extra to the distressing, of course you can't see that in the picture very well. I embossed the skull part with versamark and white embossing powder. The silky type ribbon was the perfect embellishment. I know my SS loved it! Happy Stamping!!

My Digital Studio

I finally caved and bought the My Digital Studio and I love the program. I don't think I will really ever use it as a scrapbook program but will definitely use it for hybrid cards and flyer needs!! I made this flyer for my stamp camp using this program.

You will be seeing this flyer in the mail this week (for my customers in my area)!! Hope you all can make it! Happy Stamping!

Happy Birthday!

Today my oldest son turns 14. Every year he gets older I wonder more and more where has the time gone. He is definitely not my little boy anymore ... he looks so grown up already. Matter of fact he is now officially taller than I am standing at 5'10".

It's hard to make cards for a teenage boy but here is his Birthday Card I made him:


He loves to skateboard so I figured Extreme Skateboard would be the perfect image. With boy cards you can't use glitter or other fun things but I did add a bit of ribbon AND I misted Platinum shimmer paint onto both the Night of Navy and Brocade Blue cardstock pieces. I also ran the Bordering Blue piece through my big shot using the #4 texturz plate, it's the one is the random lines. Happy Stamping!

Couple of Pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch is versatile set. I have seen it used for all kinds of things, even to make flowers. But in the case I used it for it's intended purpose.

I just stamped 2 different pumpkins and cut one out so I could pop it up on the card. The orange strip of cardstock I ran through the big shot using my perfect detail texturz plate to give it a bit more zing. I also added the rich razzleberry strip just to add a little more color to the card. Happy Stamping!

Baby Tag

As usual I am running behind .... in everything. Showing my projects, even making them. This is a gift tag I made for a friend of mine that I made back in July. Her baby is 3 months old now and I'm just now showing this.

I *loved* this gift tag!!! I had all of about 15 minutes to make this before I had to leave to make it to her shower. See I am always running behind. But at least in those 15 minutes my creative juices were pumping! I watercolored the little cute little bear from the stamp set Cute and Cuddly using my colored pencils and mineral oil. (I promise to have a tutorial done to show you how .... sometime.) I have to tell you I only got this set because of that cute little bear.

I was surprised in how well this color combo works, I would have not normally put soft suede and blush blossom together. Happy Stamping!

Postin' It Up

I'm am altering freak ... I love to take things and make something else. This was originally a magnetic picture frame and I changed it to this:

I miss Kiwi Kiss and loved it for this project. The center of the flower is done using microbeads and a large pop up glue dot. This is perfect for a quick and easy gift idea. Happy Stamping!

Birthday Flap

I found this card the other day and realized I hadn't shared it yet. I think I made it for a birthday swap I did several months back.

What's unique about this card is how it opens up.

As you can see the orange flaps folds over the top and the cupcake piece is what holds it closed. It's fun to try different openings and adds just a little bit of spunk to the card. Happy Stamping!

Getting Better...

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you already know that I struggle making 3x3's. I'm really not sure what the problem is. Is it the size? I dunno BUT I feel like I am finally getting better at the them.

It definitely doesn't make me cringe so that's a good thing! Happy Stamping!

A Few Flowers

I would say I'm not too fond of flowers. Every every when we get the catalog I almost always comment that there are too many flower sets. But I ALWAYS seem to get a set or two of them, I just can't help myself. I do tend to stay away from them since I live in a household of males, including the two dogs and our cat. I'm involved with several secret sister groups which is a perfect reason to use my flower sets and of course the occasionally gift need. In this case I used Bud Basics (retired) to make this little thank you gift:

The color scheme came from the lid of the nuts, it matched perfectly with Rich Razzleberry. Happy Stamping!

Pink Elephant

I was playing with my stamp set Animal stories and I usually use this stamp set for baby cards and such, but I wanted something different. So I came up with this little number.

How perfect is it to use the unique definition with it?! Lots of times you will see things that are similar to each other just based on the stamp set you use so I challenge you to try something different. Happy Stamping!

Keep It Simple

Lot's of times I like to make and gives that are simple. Just because they are simple doesn't mean that they can't be just as nice. Take this card ....

There isn't anything real difficult or time consuming but still is a nice card to give or get. I used my Stipple Butterfly set and watercolor the body with colored pencils and my aquapainter. Basically just matted it twice, once was with a piece of cardstock I used a embossing plate with. Lastly I added a bit of our silver cording. This card was done in ten minutes or less!! Happy Stamping!

Give me S'More!

It's been getting colder and colder around here and I just don't like it!! So I'm still going to share some of my summery card .... hope you all don't mind! This was my all time favorite card using Under the Stars.

Actually it's the ONLY card I've made using this set but it's one of my favorites! I need to break it out more often don'tcha think? What's fun about this card is that it can be used for several reasons summer picnic, camp out, for kids and it's masculine!

I watercolored the bear and s'more using my aquapainters. I used iridescent ice for the marshmallow to make it pop. The grrreat saying was stamped with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder for both the sentiment and the background, which I only ran down one side. I used Old Olive and Sarah Sand for cardstock to add a touch of color with a bit of hemp for an embllishment. Happy Stamping!!

Dual Border - Technique Tuesday

As promised I said I would share how I made the dual colored circle border. You all are gonna love how easy this is!!

First off you will need your slit punch. (This punch has so many more uses than what you would think.) Measure out your cardstock to be as long as you want it for the main center than add 3/4" to the side that you want the circles to be.





Slide and punch the slot punch all the way down the side of the cardstock. You can leave as much room between the punches as you like, be careful not to punch to closely. It'll look like the picture to the left.





Once you have the entire piece punched you will then fold under the right side.







Slide your coordinating cardstock underneath the front but above the piece you folded under.


Easy peasy, right!? Let me know if you like this tutorial! Happy Stamping!!

Annual Xmas Card Swap

Judi was having her annual Christmas card swap and I decided to join even though I had little time with the job change/move. The quality you get back in this swap is usually wonderful .... and this year was no exception!! Since we have gotten the swaps back I thought I would share the card I made:

Too cute, huh?!?! The card stands slightly smaller running about 4x3. I made them using the current in colors and the Delightful Decorations stamp set and of course the ornament punch!! I wanted something different from the border and had seen a card with this edging somewhere so I played with my slot punch until I figured it out. I was surprised in how easy it was and I will have a tutorial ready for this Technique Tuesday showing how.

I hope the gals I swapped with enjoy my card as much as I did theirs!! Happy Stamping!!

Simply Summer

Last week I shared with you a card I made using this same stamp set, but a different focal image. This time I used the boat image take a look.

It came out better than I had intended!! Love it when that happens! To color the image I used my water colored pencils and mineral oil ... the only way to watercolor with the pencils. (I had someone ask how that works so I will work up a Technique Tuesday in the following weeks to share the how to so stay tuned for that.)

I wanted this card to open a bit differently so as you can see in the close up the yellow part is that card flap.Happy Stamping!!