Thank You card

Just a fun little card I whipped up today... :)



and the inside sentiment...



I hope to find a "Thanks a Melon!" stamp... I'll check eBay! :)

Supplies:
Paper - Stampin' Up! - Glorious Green, Cameo Coral, Whisper White
Ribbon - My stash (Pebbles in My Pocket, I think!)
Image - HouseMouse Stamps, colored with OMS and Prisma watercolor pencils
Punch - EK Success (I think?) "Swiss Cheese", corner rounder

Thanks for looking! :)

Thank You Card - Nestability Stenciling

Well, I finally got around to using my Nestabilities as stencils and what fun! :) It really gives a neat look. I'm pleased with how this card turned out...



A close-up of the stenciling (I used the scalloped ovals) :)



Kind of blurry, but a close-up of my attempt at cutting out a stamped image...blech! :P



Supplies:
Paper - Stampin' Up! - Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery
Ink - Stampin' Up! - Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery
Stamp Set - Stampin' Up! - Garden Greetings
Tools - Stampin' Up! - Scalloped Edge Punch, Ticket Corner Punch
Other - Sponge applicator, Scor-Pal, Fiskars Trimmer

Thanks for looking! :)

Friend to Friend greeting card

Just a card I whipped up using a Dustin Pike image (click his name to check out his blog) and some Stampin' Up! paper. :)

Thanks for looking!









Supplies:
Paper - Stampin' Up! - Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip
Ink - (edging and sentiment) - Stampin' Up! - Taken with Teal
Colors - Prisma Watercolor Pencils
Stamp - Michaels Store - $1.00 basket. ;)
Ribbon - From my stash
Punches - Martha Stewart (both the scalloped dots and the ribbon holes)
Other - Odorless Mineral Spirits, dimensional foam adhesive

Envelope Card - Pink Ladybugs

I was browsing my YouTube subscriptions and came across this video:



The person who teaches these great cards is Angie Kennedy and you can find her website here:

http://www.mychicnscratch.com/

Anyway, I was inspired to create my own version of the envelope card...showing you here:


And here's a video of it in action. :)



Supplies:
Paper: Stampin' Up! - Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Stampin' Up! - Regal Rose
Stamp Set: Stampin' Up! - Darling Dots
Tools: Paper trimmer, dimension foam, ATG gun

Thanks for looking! :)

Sympathy Joy Fold Card

The owner of my local teacher's supply store currently lost his wife to a battle of cancer... so I decided to make him a card to let him know he's in my prayers.

I don't know if I will ever grow tired of making these cards...they're so unique and EASY to make. :)

Front:


Partially open:


Paper used: Stampin' Up! - Rich Razzleberry (cardstock and Designer Series Pattern Paper), Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink used: Stampin' Up! - Old Olive
Tools used: Nestabilities (scalloped ovals), Scrapbook Essentials - Mini square brads and photo corners, Scor-Pal, Paper trimmer, ATG gun.

Thanks for looking! :)

How I organize my Stampin' Up! paper and stamps

I finally got to making a video on how I organize my Stampin' Up! paper and various stamp sets... I hope you enjoy it! :)

Thank You - Black, Red, White

Hi all,

I've been meaning to do a black, red, and white card for quite some time... as I find those three colors to be quite striking. :)

I'm pretty happy with the results. It's hard to see, but I did ink the edges of the white card facing with some black ink.

I used the Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder for the facing, and the Nestabilities for the scalloped, and regular, oval shapes. The ribbon I purchased in a city in Utah... LOL! I can't remember it... something with "Pebbles" in the name? Perhaps "Pebbles in my Pocket" is the name of the store?

The red cardstock is "Real Red" from Stampin' Up! and the white paper is "Whisper White" from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking!

"Friends" Greeting Card

I was inspired to try something "outside the box" and created this "shadowbox" card. :)


Overall, I was pleased with the results... although one of the flower petals had that black central smudge. :( But I wasn't about to start over. I guess nobody's perfect, eh?!

Here's a side view so you can see the "dimensional" effect. :)



Materials used:
Paper:
Lavender Lace (Item #101614), Whisper White (Item #100730)
Ink:
Always Artichoke (Item #105219), Archival black (not Stampin' Up!)
Die (to cut out shape):
Top Note (Sizzix) (Item #113463)
Stamp set:
Pick a Petal (Item #115042), Garden Greetings (Retired)
Dimensionals (Item #104430)

All the items (except for the black ink and the retired "Garden Greetings") can be purchased from my Stampin' Up! site (upper right corner of the blog).

New look for my blog!

In honor of summer, I thought I'd become a

SON OF A BEACH!

So here you go... if you listen carefully, you can hear the waves breaking upon a distant shore.

Or perhaps that's just your computer's hard drive.

Crafting Boot Camp #1 - Ink Pad Care

I've decided to start a series of tips, strategies, and ideas for those rookies out there new to crafting. I know that I wish I had many of these tips when I first started out, so I am hoping that these tips will be useful to those people who are just diving into crafting.

Without further ado, I present Crafting Boot Camp (CBC)!! :)


For CBC's first tip, I want to talk about ink pads and how to best keep them stored.


It was after a few weeks of stamping and creating when I learned that ink pads are best stored UPSIDE-DOWN. The reason for this is that we should think of the ink pad as a dense sponge containing the ink. Gravity is NOT our friend in this case and will draw the ink to the BOTTOM of the pad's container/holder if we store them normally (right-side-up). So for optimum use of the ink, store your pads facing down.







Now, with regards to Stampin' Up!'s ink pads, they are already constructed so that if you look at the top, the ink pad is UPSIDE-DOWN on the inside. Basically, the ink pad is adhered to the TOP of the pad's case. So, we want to keep Stampin' Up! ink pads with their "tops" pointing upwards.







Something else to keep in mind when you've used your ink pad: After you've stamped your stamp on the ink pad and placed the image on your paper, close the ink pad promptly. Air is one of the ink pad's worst enemies.


That being said, heat is also an ink pad's nemesis and your ink pads should be stored somewhere that won't get much hotter than room temperature. This means that if you purchase some new ink pads, try not to leave them out in your car on a day where temperatures are reaching 100 degrees! :)


I hope you've gotten something useful from this article and if you'd like to add something, please place it in a comment below so that others can learn about ink pad care. :)


Thanks for reading!