Celebrate...and a Toot!

I have quick post tonight to share a card I made for my sister for her birthday. The inspiration for this card came from a Christmas card I received this year. I loved the idea so much, but I didn't want to wait for next year to make it so instead of a holiday sentiment, I used a birthday sentiment. Here it is:

To create the grove of trees, I inked my stamp up and stamped the image three times so that each image was lighter than the one before it. I did this step two times. To create the snow, I took the "leaf" image and stamped with Versa Mark ink and topped it with white, sparkly embossing powder. I also embossed the sentiment so that it sparkled too.

Now for the toot! My year is ending on a high note. Remember my "Money Doesn't Grow On Trees" card from this post which I created for the Hero Arts Cards That Give Challenge? (See this post: http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2009/12/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees.html. Well, I just found out today that I am the "fresh face" winner! You can see my card and all of the other winners on the Hero Arts blog. Here's a link: http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2009/12/31/cards-that-give-challenge-winners/ . Well maybe money doesn't grow on trees but rubber stamps do! I can't wait to go on my Hero Arts spending spree!

Wishing all of you a happy and healthy 2010!

Supplies:

Card Stock: Stampin' Up! (Whisper White); American Crafts (red).

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Branching Out); Technique Tuesday (Everyday Words by Ali Edwards)

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black0; Versa Mark

Embossing Powder: Stampendous (Sterling Silver); Ranger (Bridal)

Ribbon: Celebrate It

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)

Brace Yourself

I think I may have mentioned that I am not a chronological scrapper. I scrap whatever inspires me at the moment. Sometimes it's new pictures, sometimes it's old pictures, sometimes it's the paper or embellishments that inspire me. Well, when Mark had his braces put on 16 months ago, I knew that I wanted to capture that moment a scrap page.I even bought the brace smile embellishment in preparation for the page. Mark was reluctant to have me take his picture at first and I thought, "There goes my scrapbook page." Thankfully, his curiosity won out and I got my pictures after all. I finally got around to working on the layout at the beginning of the summer and now, in celebration of his braces coming off (two months early!!!), I'm sharing the page. (Don't know what it is about cream backgrounds, but I had trouble photographing it).Here it is:

The journaling, which is a continuation of the title, reads "...for wires, rubber bands and monthly visits to Dr. Widman's office."

Here's a close-up. The background paper is actually a tone-on-tone paper from Basic Grey's Boxer collection

I added the priceless tag to a bar code that I cut using my Cricut and the Graphically Speaking cartridge. Finding the "60 watt smile" embellishment in Michael's when they had all of the K&Company embellishments on clearance this summer was just a bonus!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper, rub-ons, cardboard stickers: Basic Grey (Boxer).

Die-cut: Cricut (Lyrical Letters; Graphically Speaking).

Embellishments: K&Company adhesive chipboard (Wild Saffron); Colorbok Woven labels (Inspiration); Jolee's Dimensional Stickers (Braces); Making Memories brads

Ink: Color Box Chalk (Creamy Brown).

Punch: Stampin' Up! (Photo Corners).