Little Gifts, Big Gifts.

Today is the day we make it official with the new place. I still can't believe it! It really is a HUGE blessing and a gift to us. It just all worked out amazingly.

So I thought it appropriate that my post for today is a little gift box! This box was not difficult at all. It is actually a variation of a little Easter basket we made for one of my classes a few months back.

Here are the instructions on how to make it!

Cut a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock in half vertically (4¼ x 11)

mark and score at the following measurements:

2 5/8 (sides)

1 ½ (Bottom)

You should have one small portion at one end for an overlap later.

If you are going to stamp on your cardstock, now is the time to do that.

Use the Scallop border Punch along the top edge. Cut along the vertical score lines from the bottom up to the horizontal score line to create flaps. Cut off only the small flap at the one end.

Fold along the score lines until you get a box shape, use sticky strip along the overlap portion and adhere to inside of box. Fold up bottom flaps and secure on last flap with sticky strip.

At this point, I cut the DSP for the panels, and adhered them.

I then stamped the frame and leaves from Great Friend and cut them out. For the frame mat, I used the Matchbox Die and Pretty in Pink cardstock. I then put on the Very Vanilla ribbon, punched holes in the scallops with my tiny hole punch, and added shredding.

Butterfly bonanza!

For this card, I used the Flight of the Butterfly and Pocket Silhouettes stamps.
The colors are Perfect Plum cardbase, Old Olive accent, Old Olive, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum inks.
I started with a strip of white and used different colored butterflies stamped in a random pattern. Then I stamped the Pocket Silhouettes in Perfect Plum along the bottom of the cardbase. On a scrap piece, I stamped the two butterflies that I cut out, then stamped the sentiment and cut that out, cutting extra at each edge so I could fold it and give it dimension.

Moving right along

Todays card was inspired by this ADORABLE one from superstar Kristina Werner. (top)

I didn't have a link for it, so I included a picture of it so you can get an idea of how you can take inspiration from a card you see and interpret it for your own card.

I used the Dream A Little hostess set for this one, and the Polka Dot background stamp. I think the Polka Dot stamp should be in everyone's stamp stash! I know I use it all the time!

Sorry for not posting the last few days, we are in the process of moving into a new place, and although I have been making a lot of cards lately, I have been making them at the last minute, and haven't had a chance to take pictures, cause I give them out right away!

I am SUPER excited about the move! Right now, I use our very small dining area for my stamp space, and I share the area with my husbands desk and its kind of cramped in here. In our new place, I will have an ENTIRE BONUS ROOM all for my very own!!!!! I am just THRILLED! I will be taking pictures of my 'before' and 'after' once I get all settled in! I know I love to see everyone else's stamp spaces!

So please bear with me and my sporadic posts, I should be up and posting consistently again in a few weeks! in the meantime, keep checking back! I'll still post when I can!

A special card for a special occasion!

My husband has a co-worker who got married a few weeks back, and he had a special request for a card to give his wife to be on their wedding day. I was so honored he would ask!
I was unfortunately limited on time, and I wanted to give him several to chose from, but was only able to complete 2. This card is one of them. I can't show you the other, cause its the one he chose. :)

For this card, I used Going Gray, stamped with Polka Dot and embossed with pearlized embossing powder (something I have had in my stash for YEARS!) I then took a piece cut with the top note die, and used Versamark and an old background stamp, (but you can use the Bella Toile and get almost the exact same look) and embossed it with the pearlized embossing powder as well. On a scrap piece, I stamped the heart from Always in versamark and embossed it in silver. I wrapped taffeta ribbon around the frame, and put sticky pearls on either side to finish it off!

Two is better than one

Baja Breeze is such a pretty color, isn't it? I stamped the butterflies in Baja Breeze, cut them out, stamped the leaves on white in Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip, added some wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, used the big shot die for the sentiment mat, stamped the frame, stamped the words using the stampamajig, and cut out the word frame.

Single Stem

Are there any real flowers this color? hmmmmm......
Well, this one uses Elegant Greetings and Bloomin' Beautiful stamp sets, and Parisian Breeze DSP (beautiful paper!)
I did one very similar to this a while back, same basic layout, tall flower on the left, sentiment on the bottom right, but they are two very different looking cards!

Keep an eye out!

I'm sure I have said it a thousand times before, but you really never know what you will see that will inspire you!
I was watching a show about home staging in one of my very very late night TV watching sessions, and when they were showing the finished product, I saw a beautiful beadspread that made me have to pause the tv, run over to my scrapdesk, and make this card!

I think it turned out really nice!
I used Basic Gray and Sahara Sand cardstock and ink. Stamps:
Live Your Dream, Embrace Life, Best Blossoms, and Congrats

The birds are A-Singin'!

Have you had enough of guy cards yet? I figured I would move on....
Someone stole spring this year! I don't know what happened, but we only had about a weeks worth of spring this year! it's almost like it went straight from winter to summer! And I have a confession....summer is my absolute least favorite season! I don't take well to heat. I wither.
But I had made this card back when I was anticipating the lovely springtime (that never came!) lol!
But seriously, this set is just the cutest! This is really such a simple card, perfect for beginners.
I used the Cheep Talk set and the Top Notes Die.

MMmmmm, chocolate cupcakes!

Ok, I don't know what it is, but I love, love, LOVE this card! I do have to say that I was inspired by a card in the current catalog, but this one is just different enough.

I used the Crazy for Cupcakes, Snow Burst, and Birthday Wish sets It's interesting how you can use stamps if you think outside the box. The little bursts on the background come from a snowflake stamp set. I wish it were my idea, but i got that idea from my inspiration card. I stamped the cupcake on a scrap piece of the patterned paper and cut it out, then stamped it again on Chocolate chip and cut that out and put it on dimensionals. I colored the sprinkles in with a white gel pen and used a circle cutter for the image mat.

Starry Fathers Day

This card is SUPER easy! I used the Darling Dots hostess set and Thoughts of Father stamp sets for this. I used the two largest square punches for the images, which makes it even easier!

I think I might do this or a card similar for my next class!

a few old cars....

Wow! I know this is a lot of pictures for one blog, but these cards are so similar, I thought it better to post them all together. It also shows how you can make similar cards that are still very unique in their own right. If you want to get a better look at each, just click on the picture.

These cards use the Thoughts of Father set colored with both Stampin Up Pastels (chalks) and ink, both applied with blender pens.

Happy accidents

This card actually started out as an accident. I have many different ways that I begin the creative process when making cards. Sometimes ideas for complete cards come to me, sometimes I need to look for inspiration. Sometimes I am just wanting to use up my scraps and just start putting stuff together until it becomes something. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
With this particular card, I was doing my scrap techniques, and actually had my cardbase turned upside down, thinking I was putting the DSP on the bottom half of the card....oops!
I lamented over this error, thinking I just ruined the card and that there wasn't much I could do with it because it would be terribly off-balance. Fast forward a couple weeks later.
I was rummaging through my half-made card pile, and came across this one. I also have an "image without a card" pile and somehow brought this tree and this card together. The tree block was the perfect size! I searched through more of my miscellaneous scraps to find the ribbon and sentiment.....and now I love the way it all turned out! Yay! I like it so much, I want to make another just like it, but since it was made from scraps, it looks like it will be a one of a kind!

Now, That's better!

This one turned out better than the last one, thank goodness! I stamped the trees from the Lovely as a Tree set, then sponged several different colors over the trees with a sponge douber to give the impression of leaves. This is a great technique, because you can use different colors for different seasons! Use more earthy colors for fall, and stamp the image on a dark background and use craft white for winter!
The sentiment comes from All Holidays.

Tip: Again on this card I have used clean, simple lines. no frill. The look of the words in the sentiment matches the feel of the rest of the card.....straight and structured.....giving this card a very masculine look.

Not Sure...

For this card, I was playing with colors and patterns. Some times I make cards that am kind of on the fence as to whether or not I like them. This is one of those cards. I thought I would post it anyway. I know I always like to see other peoples creations, even the ones they weren't sure about either!

I used an old set for the leaves and the All Holidays set for the image block.

So here it is, in all its gaudy glory! LOL!

mower for his birthday!

And yet another stamp from the 'And Many Mower' set! Have I mentioned how versatile this set is?

Tip: some rules of thumb I like to use when making masculine cards, are to use geometrics, clean, simple lines like in this card(notice the layout, and even the patterned paper), obviously more masculine colors (think about what color clothes men would wear, and avoid anything they would never wear..... like pink!) and lastly, have some kind of accessory that fits the theme of the card, for example, notice I have used brads that look like metal to kind of mimic the feel of a metal lawnmower.