Old, New Borrowed and Cool Birthday Card

Lately I feel like a scrapbooker who makes card. Next to December, when I made 80 Christmas cards, May and June is the biggest card-making season for me. Between birthdays, anniversaries, confirmations and graduations, I am in a card-making frenzy! Today, I have a card that fits Kelly Goree's Old, New, Borrowed and Cool challenge. This card uses an old Hero Arts butterfly stamp (one of the first I bought and still a favorite) a new background stamp, a borrowed design from a sketch I found on the Hero Arts blog, and some very cool bling. Here it is:

I started with a standard sized card base and four of my favorite patterns from the 6x6 pad of Basic Grey's Out of Print. I created the background pattern on the striated pink paper using a Hero Arts background stamp, VersaMark ink, white embossing powder and my heat tool. I adhered this piece and a coordinating pattern to the front of my card. Next, I stamped the banner and cut it out. I masked half of the sentiment so that I would have a clean spot to place my butterfly. I stamped the butterfly, cut it out and filled in all of the openings on the wings with Diamond Stickles. After adding the butterfly with foam adhesive, I felt the card needed a little something extra so I added some rhinestones to the banner and rounded the corners. Here's a closer look:

Supplies:

Cardstock (Not shown): Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Out of Print);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Flower Dot Pattern; Calico Borders);

Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Versamark;

Misc: Zing embossing powder (white); Diamond Stickles; Recollections rhinestones; EK Success Corner Rounder.

Welcome, Baby!

I made this card a while ago and never posted it so today seems the perfect time to do so. While the real card went to a co-worker's sweet baby girl, I am using it today to send virtual wishes to Jennifer McGuire and her family. Welcome to the world beautiful Lila Grace! Here's my card:

The inspiration for this card came from a Carter's onesie which I purchased as a baby gift. Love that I was able to create a card that matched the gift and so did the new mama!

For my card, I cut down my cardstock to measure 4.25 x 8.5 inches and scored it at 4.25" to make it a square card. There's something I love about square baby cards! Next, I stamped the herringbone pattern with Technique Tuesday's Storm Cloud ink. (I am so disappointed that they no longer make this perfect shade of grey ink!) For the image panel, I cut and embossed the white cardstock using a Spellbinders die. Then I stamped the elephant and sentiment using the only baby stamp set I have -- a baby BOY set! I used a masking technique for the sentiment to make it appear on two lines. I know plenty of people cut their acrylic stamps but the though of doing that makes me break out in hives! LOL! Finally, I stamped the background on a scrap, punched out the heart and adhered it using foam adhesive.

You can hop over to Jana Millen's blog to see the other cards that were made to welcome the world's newest little stamper!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Stampin' Up! (pink);

Stamps: Hero Arts for Basic Grey (Dash Pattern/Oxford): Inkadinkadoo (Baby Boy);

Ink: Technique Tuesday (Storm Cloud); Stampin' Up! (Pink Piourette);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Scalloped Squares Large); EK Success (Corner Rounder); Stampin' UP (Heart punch).

A Christmas Thank You

What a nice surprise I had in the mail a few weeks before Christmas when my cousin sent me the gift that every crafter covets: a Michael's gift card. And the only thing better than getting a Michael's gift card is knowing that it is actually worth twice as much as it says because who,after all, buys anything at Michael's without a 50% off coupon. (Yes, I even turn up my nose on those 40% off coupons and patiently wait for the 50% off coupon that inevitably shows up!) So, with such a wonderful scrappy gift in mind, I knew I had to make a crafty thank you card. Mind you, not one product used on this card came from Michael's but I don't think my cousin will know. Here's my card:

I knew I wanted to play along with Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts Cling Take 'N Make Challenge so I pulled the wrapper off of the Indie Bloom Hero Arts Star Blooms Background Cling Stamp. (I did forget to take a picture of the card with the stamp before mailing it. Oops!) I was also anxious to use the new seasonal distress inks from Tim Holtz so I decided on an embossed resist technique. I inked up my background stamp with Versa Mark and heat embossed with White Zing. Next, I swiped some of the Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough inks on my mat, spritzed with a little water mixed with Liquid Pearls and began painting in the image with my aqua brush.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some twine around the card, stamped the sentiment on the die cut piece and affixed to the card using foam adhesive, and scattered some rhinestone stickers for a little added bling!

Supplies

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Star Blooms) Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 1 Collection);

Ink: Versa Mark; Tim Holtz Distress (Festive Berries; Evergreen Bough);

Misc.: Zing embossing powder (white); Martha Stewart twine; Recollections rhinestone stickers

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees!

Or does it?

I was inspired to create this card to hold or incorporate a gift (in this case, money) for a challenge over at the Hero Arts blog. You can go here (http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2009/12/16/who-said-money-doesnt-grow-on-trees/) to read the original post and to get some great inspiration from Jennifer McGuire.

To create my card, I stamped the card base with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with white embossing powder. After stamping the snowflakes and adding a little sparkle to the center of each with Stickles, I stamped the branch onto the blue diecut. I then folded my $20 bill in thirds and rolled it. I secured one end with a paper clip and the other with a piece of twine. Please note that no $20 bills were harmed in the making of this card. LOL! To finish off the card, I paper pieced the owls and affixed my wise "sweatered" friend on pop dots to add dimension.

These cards were a big hit on Christmas Day!

I have to say that this is the first time I have used Hero Arts acrylic stamps and I am now a huge fan! They inked up just as well as rubber stamps and they didn't require and conditioning. Like Technique Tuesday stamps, they are a high quality stamp made right here in the U.S.A.!

Supplies

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! (Kraft, Brocade Blue, Whisper White)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Designer Woodgrain, Owl Christmas)

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); Stampin' Up! (Whisper White, Handsome Hunter); Technique Tuesday (Lava); VersaMark.

Markers: Stampin' UP! (Chocolate Brown, So Saffron)

Embossing Powder: American Crafts Zing (White)

Misc: Distress Stickles (Rock Candy); Bling (Recollections)

Tools: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labels 1)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a quick post to share with you tonight as I wait for my Apple Crumb Cake to finish baking in the oven. Last weekend, I felt crafty but with my scraproom literally spread out on the dining room table as Sal worked to finish up our office renovation, I just didn't have the space to scrapbook. So, inspired by a challenge over on the Hero Arts blog, I created Thanksgiving place cards out of scraps and trimmings. So glad I did because I haven't had a spare moment since. Here is my place card:

I cut out and embossed the basic shape using my Cuttlebug and the largest shape from Nestabilities' Label 1. (My arm got quite a workout since we will be 12 for Thanksgiving dinner. LOL!) Next, I stamped the wood grain image and used distress ink to fill in the background. On the rust scrap, I used stamped the Dots & Flowers backgroundwith Versamark ink, sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat embossed before punching out the flower shape. I punched out the leaves as well as the scallops on the stripe paper, assembled and added to the main place card with pop dots. I can't wait to see how they look on my table!

Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving.

Supplies: Card stock: Stampin' Up!. Patterned Paper: Memory Makers (Autumn Splendor). Stamps: Hero Arts (Designer Woodgrain; Dots & Flowers). Ink: Stampin' Up!; Tim Holtz Distress Ink. Punches: Stampin' Up! (Scallop); Martha Stewart (leaf); EK Success (flower). Diecut: Spellbinders (Nestabilities Labels 1); Button and twine from stash.

Bliss

Oops! Between my trip to CKC Valley Forge and my vacation to California, I have fallen a little behind in sending out anniversary cards this month. So, here is card I made for a July anniversary. I'm posting it along with my best wishes for those who did not receive their cards in August. Anyway, here's the card:

It was inspired by the beautiful Brenda Walton chipboard piece that I had found on sale at Michael's. To make the butterfly, I first stamped with Versa Mark ink. I sprinkled gold embossing powder on top of the stamped image. Before heat setting it, I brushed a little of the embossing powder off for a distressed look. I colored in the image using distress inks (my new favorites!) I did not use dimensionals for the butterfly since this card had to go through the mail.

Hopefully I'll catch up on my card making in time for those September birthdays and anniversaries but there's no guarantee since I'm off to the Scrapbook Expo in Somerset, NJ this weekend!

Ingredients: Stampin' Up! (Whisper White) and DCWV (Brights) card stock; K & Company
(Brenda Walton) patterned paper and chipboard; Hero Arts (Heart Winged Butterfly) stamp; Versa Mark and Tim Holtz Distress (Shabby Shutters and Broken China) inks; Stamp-n-Stuff embossing powder (Gold Tinsel); Martha Stewart border punch (Doily Lace).

A Quick Post...

...to show a quick card I made this afternoon. I needed a sympathy card, and I needed it quick so I came up with this:

I ran the cardstock through my Cuttlebug, punched out the butterfly and stamped the sentiment. The card took me about five minutes to make, once I settled on the design. Unfortunately, I went through several designs and inked up several stamps that I didn't use. The clean-up took longer than the making the card. UGH!

Anyway, I broke open the Martha Stewart butterfly punch that Sal and the kids got me for my birthday. I think I'm going to be using that punch a lot. Note that I punched the butterfly out twice to make it two-dimensional.

Ingredients: Cardstock: Stampin' Up; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey; Stamp: Hero Arts; Ink: Stampin Up!; Bling: Michael's; Tools: Cuttlebug Leafy Branch Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Punch.

I have a few more layouts that I need to photograph so that I can share them with you later this week. So far, 2009 has been a very scrappy year!