Hi there,

Today’s sweet butterfly card is just what I needed to cling to what’s left of my summer.  Back to school/work for me in just over a week!

I get all giddy and girly when I play with vintage book paper things, like these butterflies.  I just adore them!  I did the centres with some bright and cheerful brads, and added some shine to their trails with a glittery gel pen.

This card’s from the sketch below – over at Unscripted Sketches.  Simple and pretty.  Thanks, ladies!

Hiya,

Last night I hosted my very first Stampin’ Up! workshop, with friends and family.  Not many were stampers or had ever stamped anything in the past, so it was a fun new experience.  Here are the cards I demo-ed

I heart this owl card.  I didn’t have the right colour of blue paper to go with my little button and owl, but that’s ok for now.  Isn’t he cute?  And everyone loves embossing :D

This was our make and take.  Some people had some pretty creative variations!  I always like using chalk on Versamark ink.  It’s like magic.

This was a fun little box that I came up with.  Glue dots galore.. and look what’s inside………………………………….

Cherry candies of deliciousness.  I gave this little guy away as a door prize.

All in all, a fun evening.  Thanks for joining me, everyone!

To order anything from me, including custom made cards or materials, or to book your own workshop, contact away.  You can check out my Stampin’ Up! Website or email me.

Hiya!

Ummmm.. apologies for no cards in the last forever?  Yes, I do think I’ve fallen off that wagon a bit.  I’m trying to scramble back on; have no fear!

Today’s card is a mostly digital one that I made for the latest sketch challenge over at Everything But the Kitchen Sink.  Like usual, I had just acquired these papers and needed to put them to use!

I just adore the colours, and those birdies – oh my! 

Materials:

Stamps – ‘Hugs’ – Hero Arts
Inks – Memories (Momento) – Artprint Brown, Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink
Paper – All from Digital House Design Studio – April Papers by Jen Allyson
Accessories- Buttons – Basic Gray, hemp string, Border punch – Martha Stewart

And the sketch (I rotated and flipped it a bit.. artistic license?)

Have a fabulous weekend!

Hello again!

Today I had some time to participate in challenge 98 over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  The sketch was a lovely little window frame type of thing.

I had just printed off some digital papers from Design House Digital and had to use them.  So here we are, bright pink all over again.

I hope everyone’s enjoying summer.  I’m looking forward to splashing around in some refreshingly cool water on Sunday, as we tube down the river.  Divine.

Materials:
Cardstock – Melon Mambo (Stampin’ Up!) and digital papers (Design House Digital)
Stamps – Hero Arts and Amuse
Inks – Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories – corner rounder punch

And here’s the lovely sketch:

Enjoy the sun!

Hi there,

It’s been a while since I posted a card.  I’ve been preoccupied with thoughts of school, friends, sewing, and joining Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator.  That’s right, I’m now officially a demonstrator!  I haven’t received my starter kit yet, but I’m so excited to start!

I got my SU website all set up, so you can contact me there, shop online, get ideas, and set up workshops.  There’s so much fun coming my way!

To celebrate, I made this fun pink card using Stampin’ Up! materials.

The card fits into one of my favourite challenges – Sketch 97 over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  Head on over there to see what others have done.

I just love the simplicity, and of course, the vintage book paper.  Don’t read too closely, it’s something about a dog taunting a cat whose head was stuck between window bars. But the cat got away!  Happy ending ;-)

I’m anxiously awaiting my Stampin’ Up! starter kit.  In the meantime, I will play with these discontinued items I just *had* to have before they were gone.  Please let me know if you’d like to set up a workshop with me, and we’ll figure that out :-)

Here’s today’s challenge sketch

Materials:

Stamps: Embrace Life set (paper pieced) – Stampin’ Up!
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Razzleberry Lemonade paper (Stampin’ Up!), and vintage book paper
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen distress ink
Accessories: Hemp thread, button (Basic Gray), dimensionals.

Help! I’ve been sucked into the land of all things digital.  And it’s actually not so bad over here.. OK, it’s amazing.  I could waste happily spend my entire day (and many others) playing with digital papers and designs.  It’s making me so happy!  Bonus?  This card is totally my style.  So often my own style can get lost, but here it is. Clean and simple with colours I love… and glitter.

This is my very favourite digi kit.. watercolour amazingness!Well, it’s actually called Watercolor DigiKit, but I like to think my name’s much more creative.

This card’s for the latest challenge over at Everything But the Kitchen Sink (see sketch below).  I’m just so happy with how it turned out.  Those papers are all kinds of pretty.

I started with a cute little 4”x4” card.  The circle window is just from a Paper Shaper punch.  I added some glitter to the flower and some pearls to the sentiment.  That sentiment’s just a cute font that I got at the most amazing website ever.  They make fonts out of people’s handwriting and let everyone download them for free.  Some people have very cute handwriting, and let’s just say, this one isn’t my own! I could go on. I’m so addicted!

The Sketch:

• Cardstock: Blue grid, green and beige dots printed onto white cardstock
• Accessories: Pearls by AMuse, Prisma Glitter, Paper Shapers circle punch 1 1/2”

Check out others’ projects for this challenge.

Cheers,

Heyya,

Butterflies and flowers.. two things that I’m addicted to I use all the time in my cards.  What can I say? It’s love!

Today’s card is for this week’s sketch challenge (#92) over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  I got to use my new solid butterflies stamp from AMuse.. Yep, still in love.

I used my vintage fairy tale book again for the background.  The flower is a template from lovely Martha.  Oooh, the bluey-turquoise and green paper (not the background 2) are both from a digi kit by Two Peas in a Bucket.  I’m pretty fond of this kit, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of the elements here soon.

Both the butterfly, middle strip, and tag (in blue) are Martha Stewart punches, and I added a wee gemstone to the butterfly.

*sigh*  Butterflies remind me of life’s simple pleasures.  They make me smile.  Maybe it’s a good addiction to have ;-)

Here’s the sketch I used

Cheers,

Heyya!  It’s been a while.  I have a good excuse this time around – I’ve been out of town for 5 days!  I watched my wee little sister play copious amounts of hockey on a Bantam AAA team.  Needless to say, they didn’t win, but she played better than most of her team ;-)

So without further ado, I’ll let you get acquainted with the card I popped out today.  ‘Tis birds!

I just picked up this little bird punch and had to use it on some vintage book paper.  And of course a vintage book tag too.

This is for Sketch 56 over at Unscripted Sketches.  Another fun one to work with, as usual :-)

And here’s the sketch in real life

Cheers for now!

Hey there, and happy Monday! Today’s card is for the Challenge #55 over at Unscripted Sketches.  I decided to go with bold and bright.  It’s been pretty cloudy weather here.. maybe this’ll brighten things up a bit :-)

This is take two of the rosette.. and what do you think about the stamping on vintage book paper?  Does it make an ok background piece? 

The leaves I just cut free-hand, then stamped some leaf stamps over them using VersaMark ink, just for some texture.

Whew.. crafting is all kinds of work!

Heyya and happy Friday!

This has been quite the week.  I taught grade 2 yesterday, which was quite the experience since I’m generally a high school teacher!  Let’s just say that they all went home in a fairly normal ‘happy and healthy’ state, so I did OK, right?

Some fun fun goodies came in the mail today.. drum roll…  Japanese masking tape! I got this fancy and beautiful stuff from cu-te-ta-pe.  I’m so in love with it.. I couldn’t not use it in a card today!

Today’s card is for Sketch 89 over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  OK, so my card sort of went beyond the whole CAS idea.. oops.  But I was experimenting and trying to work quickly.. sometimes things go awry.  And hey, I worked in some of the insanely cute green polka dot masking tape.

Stamps are by AMuse and Basic Grey.  Here’s the original sketch:

Have a good one,

Hi there, and happy Tuesday!

Today I’ve made a card for this week’s Clean and Simple Sketch 88.  Why oh why did I have to start making cards with 3D bits on them?  They don’t fit in envelopes properly.. they don’t mail well.. am I going to have to start buying bubble wrap packages and paying 5 times the cost to send a birthday card?  Sheesh!  But come on, flowers and butterflies and bows that jump off the page are just TOO CUTE!

This card took a total of about 15 minutes, and this is the first time I ever made this little rose flower.  Nina has a fabulous tutorial for these on her blog – Crafting in Croatia.  It’s definitely worth a wander over there!  I tore mine instead of using scalloped scissors, and I’m quite happy with the results. They’re SO EASY to make!

I stamped the leaves (Basic Grey) and ‘best wishes’ (Hero Arts) in some chalk inks, added the bow, rounded the corners with a punch, and edges the paper flower with a bit of purple ink.

Here’s the original sketch:

Hiya!

I recently had a birthday to go to.  A friend turned 30 (no one’s counting!), so I wanted to give her a nice little gift.  I made a pair of green dangly earrings (sorry, no pictures), and then needed a nice gift bag to put them in.

This is my first attempt at this bag, and I think it went pretty well.  There’s always room for improvement, right?  I definitely love the little butterflies!

I got the fabulous purse template over at Creations by AR.  It’s a bit finicky to glue together, but is super cute if you can get it all to stick and stay put!

Heyya,  and happy Wednesday!  See, the work week is more than half over!

Today I had so so much fun playing with some elements from the WPlus9 Funky Flowers digi kit.  When I saw the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World, it made me think of this swirly circle paper, so I had to play and see what I could come up with for this challenge.

Isn’t the little owl cute?!!  He’s all WPlus9’s genius work. I just printed him off in a size that suited me, and did the same with the swirly circles papers.  I added some swirly circles on my craft paper and turquoise paper using a Hero Arts stamp and VersaMark ink.  Edged everything with some Distress Ink, rounded some corners, stuck it all together, and added some lovely buttons.

The best part?  I got to have all this fun with my very close gal pal, Sara.  What an enjoyable evening!

Hey there,

Well, the sunshine lasted most of the day and I got to do a bit of celebrating for my husband’s 29th.  (Happy Birthday!)

I came across another sketch and challenge that I liked over at Just Add Ink.  (It’s Challenge #12).  And although I have no Stampin’ Up! products, I decided to take part anyhow.

I coloured in my swimmy friend there using watercolor pencil crayons, then added some dimension to the bubbles using Diamond Glaze.. That part doesn’t really come across in the photos.  Neither does the bit of glitter on the swirls.  The chocolate pearls are by AMuse and I made use of my Martha border punch.

Here’s the fun sketch I got to work with:

G’night!

Hey there,  it’s taken me a while to make a card.. I’ve been staring at a whoooole bunch of challenges that I would have liked to have participated in this week, but just didn’t get to.  Woah, my French teacher brain is looking at the tenses there and going crazy!

So I chose one challenge that called my name the loudest.  It was from this week’s Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World.

I was happy to be able to use my eyelet flowers that I had made.. When I saw the trigger photo, I immediately thought of these little guys.  Also, I love using white embossing powder because of the way it just pops off the page.  It works perfectly for that bright white egg background look!

Note that the inspiration below was sent in by Alicia Thelin.

Hmm.. I failed a bit with the theme here.. notice the France theme?  Well, the writing there is definitely not French.  Better luck next time.  My profs would have docked me marks for an inconsistency like that on a project!

This is for *gasp* yet another challenge.  This one’s for Challenge #48 over at Unscripted Sketches.  Check it out and play along!

I had fun playing with my old storybook paper here.  I’ve never used a big piece like this, and I must admit that it didn’t want to stick to double sided tape very well.  The paper’s pretty fibrous so it’d rather pull off the tape.

Oh, and my buttons came from Basic Grey!  I finally found a way to get them from an Ebay seller, and then today a local store also just got some in.  Silly coincidence, but convenient for moi.

In case you’re curious, this is the cute sketch I got to use.

I decided to partake in this challenge over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  See their great sketch, and the fun card that Natasha made?  Now that’s a style I love and embrace.

Unfortunately, my card turned into a disaster.  I got a really fun and springy new set today by inque boutique that I wanted to try out.  Don’t get me wrong, they are great images, but I’m pretty positive that my card turned into a disaster.  A tacky purple and black disaster resembling something I may have made a few years back (and possibly recycled even then). 

Maybe I’m being over critical, as sometimes I can grow to like a card.. but as it stands, I’m not too keen to show this card to the world (hence why I’m hiding it after the link below).  It’s just not pretty enough for the front page of my blog!  So if you’re feeling super curious or somewhat sadistic, feel free to take a look.  **note that all this is moot if you’ve clicked directly to this post.  Sorry, but you see the card.  No choosing for you!

Read the rest of this entry »

I managed to finish my last two cards today!  Boy oh boy did that take a while.  I was trying to be imaginative, which wasn’t coming easily today.  And everything seemed so pink.  Well, that was the point, lots and lots of pink.  I do love it with the dark chocolatey brown!

I have a special place in my card-making heart for butterflies.  They’re just so delicate and pretty.

I used a very old PSX stamp for the butterflies.  You know a stamp’s old when the company hasn’t been around for years!  I stamped the little guys in VersaColor Peony, and embossed them in Glitter Galore.  Next, I cut them out and bent the wings a bit.  I used foam tape to stick them to the card for a bit of extra dimension.  Each little guy has a gem in the centre.. I think they were originally nail art gems!

Card #4

I’m a fan of cards that sit upright like this.  This can be achieved by cutting your 8 1/2 x 11” cardstock in half the long way so that you have two pieces that are 4 1/4” x 11”.

I bought the dandelion seeds stamp from Hero Arts a few weeks back because I think it’s simply beautiful. Or beautifully simple :-)  Like in my other 3 cards, I stamped using VersaColor Peony ink, and embossed with Glitter Galore embossing powder.  I don’t know what I’d do without Glitter Galore!

Oooh, and pink strip on the bottom I stamped using an Inkadinkado clear stamp and the same Peony ink.

Other Materials used:

Celebrate It Ribbon from Michaels, Martha craft border punch and tag punch, VersaColor Orchid ink (for edging) and Momento Lilac Posies ink.

One-sheet Wonder roundup

I deem it to be a pretty successful (and fun!) project.

Card #2 of the one-sheet wonder cards done (using the handy dandy template).  Card #1 is here.

This is definitely a lot of pink! Pink background, pink borders, pink paper, pink ink, pink flower, pink ribbon.  Woah.. the word “pink” is starting to sound like gibberish to me.

I used a Martha craft punch for the pretty holey border, and the paper flower is from a local person here.. although I’m thinking she buys them bulk and re-packages them.  I’m fond of this collage-ey bird stamp.  It’s from an Inkadinkado clear set.

Wish? Always.

Who doesn’t love a fun challenge?  In card making, we seek them out.  And I certainly do love it when this challenge comes with some layouts to follow.  So the other day I started my first one-sheet wonder.  I was inspired when I saw this post at Sweet Pea’s Story. The template used is here

You find some patterned paper that you really like, and all you need is a 6”x6” square of it.  You chop that up, following the pattern instructions, then make 4 beautiful cards – using other materials, of course.

I had so much fun with this project.  It took me a long time, but I bet it’d get faster if you did a few different sets.

For this card, I embossed the flower and “Life is fun” in Glitter Galore, on top of VersaColor peony, then I added a little jewel to the flower.

I’ll post up the other 3 soon!

Did anyone notice how sunny it is here today?  Blue sky, no clouds, sun, sun, sun!  We get a lot of rain in general this time of year, so this sunshine is very much appreciated!  Not to mention the fact that we’ve had very little winter.  Some of the Japanese Cherry Trees are already in full blossom. Crazy? yes. Beautiful? Definitely.

So now you know why I’m inspired to use colour and things that remind me of spring and sunshine, like this little butterfly card here.

I used a scalloped paper shaper punch and cut a smaller white square to fit inside.  The butterflies are actually from a kids set that I found somewhere (by PSX back in the day?).  I painted them in with Twinkling H2Os, added some Hero Arts gems and a bit of knotted ribbon.  Happy Spring? Yes please!

Who doesn’t love cupcakes?  They’re my favourite.  In fact, I made them instead of a cake for my wedding.  Yep, 120 cupcakes later and I still might make them again!  I even hand made little gumpaste flowers for each one.  Check it out.

Here’s a sweet and simple cupcake card.  I really like the sentiment in the middle “hey cupcake.” It’s a wee bit cheeky!

The card comes with the circles – by AMuse.  The cupcake stamp and the sentiment are also both by AMuse.  I just stamped everything in black ink and added a touch of sparkle with some red glitter glue on the cherries.

Excited much?  I finally got to use my flower that I made.  I think it turned out pretty cute, and it adds a nice bit of dimension to the card.  Did I mention I like tags? 

The purple background flowers are just stamped in VersaMark Dazzle – Frost.. so they’re a bit sparkly.  Very pretty.  I did the scalloped polka-dot border with a Martha punch.

I was recently reminded about my Etsy store that has been sort of neglected.  OK, to be honest, I’ve only ever put one card up there.  So today I decided to dust it off a bit.  It’s hard to expect things to sell without marketing them, and that’s not something I’m good at.  I just finished posting this card there.

So if you haven’t looked at it, check it out!  And tell others about it.  Tell them about my blog if you think they’d be interested too.. and don’t be afraid to comment.  I like comments :-)

Also, today was a very happy morning in my books.  I visited my favourite stamp store and got some fun things like brads, distress ink, and stick-on pearls.  Next, I looked around Michaels a bit and managed to get out of there with some ribbon and a few stamps that were on sale.  Who doesn’t like sales?  And finally I went to Staples where I found some foam tape (for half the price of Michaels!) and their glue tape roller that I love.  It’s like whiteout tape but is double sided tape that rolls on easily and sticks really well.  Now can it be play time?

News! I survived my first ever ultimate game today and we won by a big margin… not that I helped much.  Anyways, this afternoon, in order to try to minimize my nerves about the upcoming game, I decided to create. This is another first for me.  My first ‘peek-a-boo’ card. 

This is the view from the front and…

Madame fishy is on the inside.

I stamped some seaweed in light green ink, cut out the hole in the front with a paper punch (1”).. then on a 1.5” punched out circle, I stamped the fish and painted in with Twinkling H2Os.  Add some bubbles, some glitter, and a message.

I have now gotten together a little gift for a cousin-in-law who did something nice for me.  Here’s to hoping she likes it!

I definitely have a weak spot for flowers.  I have more flower stamps than any other; ditto with flower punches.

It can’t be that it’s getting close to spring here.. we still haven’t had any snow to speak of.. but really, it doesn’t need to be any special time of year to convince me to make  a flower card.  Who doesn’t like a bit of colourful cheer?

The stamped image is by Penny Black, painted in with Twinkling H2Os. The card (background) is by Amuse and the flowers are punched out in some scrapbook paper scraps that I had lying around.  I then punched little holes in their centres and attached some eyelets.

Happy Spring! I mean, winter!

Ok, that title is cheesy.. but I’m leaving it.  I got this lovely own stamp at a stamping retreat about a year ago, and this is the first time I’ve used him. I’m pretty fond of the brown and green combination, and the mix of simplicity with details like that ribbon-ey twine stuff.. is there a better word for it?

Nothing fancy here.. the tag punch is a Martha product.. the two stamped images are in VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

And the story behind my most recent card-making times? Well, my cousin-in-law had given me a curling iron for Christmas.  Said iron ended up not working, and the store was all out of that model.. sooo she paid the difference to upgrade. So nice. I wanted to do something nice in return, so I’m trying to get together a little set of cards to give to her.. Everyone likes cards, hopefully? Yes?  I don’t know.  Not everyone gives cards, and some people really enjoy scoping out the card aisle to find the one with the most hilariously perfect message.  Oh well, some hand-made ones will hopefully be appreciated.

This stamp’s beauty captured me from the beginning.  The butterflies and overlapping textures… I think they pair perfectly with the fern-like pattern on the background paper.. and the little butterfly in the top right corner is… devine, non?

Materials

White and blue cardstock, and a matching pattern paper of choice
Inkadinkado butterfly set (clear)
VersaMark Ink
Detail White Embossing Powder
Detail Scissors
Embossing tool/Heat gun
Pop dots

How-to

1. Cut out your papers to the right size.  Save a scrap of blue for the cut-out butterfly
2. Stamp the main butterfly image on the patterned paper in VersaMark
3. Sprinkle on the embossing powder and melt with your embossing tool
4. Affix to blue background and then to white card
5. stamp other butterfly image on blue cardstock and emboss in detail white
6. cut out, bend, and attach to card using foam pop dots.

I see glitter, punched out flowers, and a pretty little blend of blue inks.  I used this as a birthday card for one of my aunts.  It could easily be used for many other occasions.. probably not Halloween though ;-)   Much too flowery for that.

Materials

• Cardstock cut to size
• Flower stamp (Hero Arts)
• Best Wishes stamp (Hero Arts)
• Small flower punch
• Patterned paper
• Versacolor ink pads
• Blue glitter glue

How-to

1. Ink the flower stamp blending different colours of Versacolor inks (use the ink cubes) and stamp on white cardstock
2. Stamp sentiment in turquoise ink
3. Punch out 4 flower pieces from the patterned paper
4. Adhere flowers to the card
5. Add a little dallop of glitter glue to the centre of each flower and smoosh a bit.

To my dear friend Laura, Happy bar passing to you! This card I made for my soon-to-be lawyer friend because she’s oh-so special.  My husband took a look at it and wondered what it would look like with a slightly different layout.. Let’s ponder this… what do YOU think?

Woah, card overkill! Well, the rounded corner edge would have to change, but I think the other layouts would work. He thought I should have the patterned paper part on the right hand side so that the card could be used horizontally instead (if used horizontally, it looks far better with the brown at the bottom). Oh husband, you’re so clever.  I still prefer my original though!

Materials

• Brown cardstock
• Beautiful patterned paper
• Martha Stewart edging paper punch (so cool!)
• Paper flowers (red and green)
• 2 yellow brads
• 3 gold jewels
• Corner rounding punch

How-to

1. Cut cardstock and paper to the right sizes. Estimate, mate.
2. Trim the bottom of the patterned paper using the Martha punch, then trim the piece to the right length
3. Attach flowers to paper using brads (I pierced the paper first to make it easier)
4. Stick on your jewels
5. Glue down patterned sheet to cardstock.
6. Use corner punch  on bottom right corner. Purdy.

I was thumbing through some scraps of pretty papers and couldn’t resist.. I’ve also really wanted to use this thistle stamp.  I’ve had it for months and never even stamped it to test it out.  I like how there’s writing on the paper, and writing on the stamp that’s different enough to still work.

Materials

Your favourite beautiful patterned paper (you don’t want white in the paper, or anything too busy.. and darker shades work best)
Brown Cardstock
White cardstock
VersaMark ink
Detail White embossing powder and heat gun
Clear thistle stamp by Magenta

How-to

1. Cut all the papers to the right sizes
2. Stamp the thistle in VersaMark ink
3. Add embossing powder and melt with heat gun
4. Glue it all together

I have to admit that I didn’t come up with the concept for this card on my own.  I had a little help from my friends at the local stamp store.  I hope they don’t mind when I feed off their creative energy.. I did spend a good 6+ years working there!  Anyways, I didn’t steal everything from the original.  I used purple instead of light blue, went for a different image, and opted out of some brads, cuz hey, I’ve got to make it my own somehow.  As for the cute critters, I’ve had that set for quite some time.  I think it was a birthday present.  But is that a porcupine, or a guinea pig?  Beats me!  Thoughts?

I think it’s a pretty cute card for a lot of different occasions.  You can give it to a friend as a “just saying hi” or “thinking of you” type of thing, or birthdays, thank yous, you name it.

Materials

Brown, purple, and white cardstock
Brown ribbon by Amuse
Critters clear stamp set by Hero Arts
Pop dot
Water color pencil crayons
Paintbrush and water (I like to use the brushes with the chamber for water, so I don’t have to have a dangerous spilly cup next to me)
Memories Artprint Brown ink
Diamond glaze

How-to

1. Cut out your cardstocks to the right sizes.. Approximate, it eases some stress of getting it “perfect” since there isn’t a perfect.
2. Stamp the little porcupine pig guy in artprint brown
3. Stamp the butterfly on a scrap of white cardstock in artprint brown
4. Colour in both images with water colour pencil crayons (dry – don’t wet anything yet).  Shade a bit, or blend colours.. don’t worry, they’ll blend a lot more when you add the water.
5. Carefully blend the colours together (light to dark) with a wet paintbrush.  Don’t make the paper too wet or it will warp or start to melt away
6. Cut out butterfly and attach to piece with porcupine guy, using a pop dot
7. stick your other cardstock pieces down on the brown background card
8. Cut a length of ribbon to about 3 or 4 inches and tie a double knot
9. Trim the ribbon until you’re happy with the length (trim on an angle), then attach to card using your favourite adhesive.  I like to use Diamond Glaze for extra sticking power.

I love love love these!  I know they’re not cards, or any kind of paper craft, but I just couldn’t contain my excitement.  I had to show you!  It’s amazing to make them and watch the colours come to life as they swim across the tile – especially when you blend in the metallic bits, then watch it soak into textured layers.. and the stamp at the end.. ooh la la!  I had fun getting my fingers covered in a nice layer of permanent ink.  It was worth it for these results.  They now sit proudly on my coffee table.  I’ll take orders if you need gifts for friends ;-) 

Materials

Rough tumbled marble tiles
Alcohol Inks (2 colours that would go well together)
Alcohol blending solution
Gold painty pen
Makeup sponges
StazOn Ink pad
Stamps of your choice
Mini felt furniture pads (1cm in diametre)
A clear finishing spray

How-to

1. Dust off the tiles so they’re fairly clean
2. Drip about 6 drops of each colour of alcohol ink, plus 6 more of the blending solution onto the flat end of a makeup sponge
3. Daub away at your tile.  Keep on daubing. 
4. Add more inks and blending solution if you need to
5. Do a second or third coat
6. Draw a few little squiggles of gold ink onto the tile
7. Add *only* blending solution to your sponge and daub gently at the gold until you get some nice pools of it across the tile. You don’t want too much gold or your ink won’t show up when you stamp.
8. Allow to dry, then stamp your images carefully in StazOn ink.
9. Allow to dry again, then spray with your craft fixative or finishing spray
10. Attach felt pads to each of the corners, and you have a beautiful hand-made coaster.

These cards make me so happy.  They’re bright and cheerful, making me *almost* want to dance (I’ll get back to you when I’m a better dancer).  I absolutely love how versatile the swirl stamp is.  I can add any little critter I want and watch him soar.

Materials

Cardstock
Twirly stamp
Butterfly or Bumblebee stamps
Twinkling H2Os
Glitter Glue
Versafine Onyx Black Ink

How-to

1. Cut out all your cardstock to the desired sizes (Base card is 4 1/4” x 5 1/2”when folded)
2. Stamp twirly stamp in black ink
3. Stamp critter of your choice in black ink
4. pain in critter with Twinkling H2Os.  Get it niiiice and thick.  You might have to wet it and let it sit for a bit.
5. Add some glitter if you like.  You can’t go wrong by adding it to the bumble bee’s wings.
6. Glue it all together et voilà!

This Card is one of my summer favourites, but I can imagine using it in the middle of winter when I want to feel a bit of summer cheer on a rainy day.  I love the colours and the glitter and how it jumps out at me with cheerful exuberance.  My inspiration was the ribbon.  I started with it and found some colours and things that I thought might work.  And of course I wanted to have a cherry that looked shiny and almost real!

Materials

Stampendous clear sunday stamp
Stampendous clear ‘enjoy’ stamp
Swirly background stamp of your choice
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Versamark Ink
Twinkling H2Os
Ribbon
Prisma Glitter
Diamond Glaze
Corner Punch
Double sided tape
Glue Pen
Double sided foam tape

How-to

1. Cut cardstock to desired size and use corner rounder on all the edges except for the background card
2. Stamp background  middle layer in Versamark ink
3. Stamp sunday in Versafine on white cardstock
4. Stamp ‘enjoy’ in Versafine over background middle layer
5. Attach ribbon over middle background layer using double sided tape
6. Paint Sunday with Twinkling H2Os
7. Use a glue pen when you want the Prisma Glitter, then add glitter
8. Put a dot of Diamond Glaze on the cherry and let dry (30min)
9. Glue everything together – use double sided foam tape for the Sunday + its background layer et voilà!

This is one of my favourite cards.  It’s quick, simple, and elegant.  The other day I made a whole big batch of them and they sure look pretty sitting on my desk.  I’d say one card would take around 10min.   My inspiration came from a friend who mentioned how the swirl looked like a bug’s flying path.  How cute!  A sweet little message can be added to the bottom, or inside.  I always like to add glitter, so I would add some to the swirl with my glitter pen.

Materials

Denami stamps – N24 (swirl) and A76 (ladybug)
Versafine Ink in Onyx Black
Twinkling H2O
Diamond Glaze

How-to

1. Cut cardstocks to a size that looks about right (we don’t do precise measurements in my world)
2. Stamp swirl stamp in black, going over the edge of the cardstock
3. Stamp ladybug in black
4. Paint in ladybug using Twinkling H2Os
5. Add a dallop of Diamond Glaze and allow to dry
6. Assemble the card using double sided tape