Two Hearts

Another trip to the scrap box. The previous rub-on sheet has some other cool sayings, so I wanted to use them up before they were ruined. As it was, the one word I used here "love" part of it stuck to the paper funny and didn't take. The phrase on the vellum worked perfect tho and was a good complement to the xoxo stickers.

The paper is from a line called Eco-Africa which is run by native African women and is recycled from plants that are native to Africa. If you look close, you can see what looks like part of a banana skin embedded in the creamy paper. The metal heart is also from the same company. Isn't it great that something so simple as paper can inspire two cultures? The women who made this were able to better their lives from the money they made and I am able to create something very pretty.

Oh yeah, I also used my Cropidile for the eyelets. I will never go back to a hammer again if I can help it. Way cool tool-get one!

EEK!

Amazing what a small square of silly paper can become! This was part of a 12 x 12 piece of Rusty Pickle paper-I said it was one of my favorites. I cut out the silly/scary face and mounted it on a small square of black card stock with dimensional pop dots. I then roughed up the edges with sand paper and added a bit of grape distress ink around it. I also inked the edges of the card itself, then tore a small swatch of paper free hand and inked that too.

I glued the eek face on crooked and found a sheet of stickers (Rusty Pickle again) and added them a bit skewed. That odd bracket thing? I have no clue but it looks great where it is! All told, less than 5 minutes for this silly card. Courtney really liked it, so either I give her some of the paper or make her one like it! Eek! She may want both!

Dotty Love

I used to go to a stamp store locally every Friday that had Make and Takes for a buck! I tried to go every Friday either before or after the gym. There always seemed to be road construction or bad weather but I did usually make it at least half the Fridays in the month-and its a 20 mile trek one way to Davison. The store moved recently to Burton and the Make and Take policy changed so I don't go but once a month anymore. I miss going but the policy is now make and takes on Saturdays only and it's now 5.00 and you have to pre-register. I'd rather spend that much for a new stamp!

This card started out as one of those make and takes-just the dots -which was a "Dennis" created stamp for the store. The more I looked at it, the more I knew I had to add something, even as cute as it was. I found some rub ons that I has stashed away and there was a perfect phrase. But it needed some bit of more vibrant color. As it happened, last week I had bought a small jar of paper flowers from Bazzill in pinks, blues, yellows and greens. The blue one was perfect and as much as I usually hate acrylic stickers, this one was just right instead of a large brad for the middle of the flower. I think this would be great as a birthday card-or any time you want to say someone is special to you.

Tricks? Witch Would You Want?

Both of these cards are from the same set of Close To My Heart stamps as used in a prior post. Same papers, same inks, same watercolors. I just experimented a bit with composition and when put to a vote-there was no favorite. Each card got the same amount of cutes. I am totally flabbergasted-I had a woman last week ask me if I sold my cards! I am still stunned. I guess this means I should make more than one of each design but I haven't any idea of what to charge. Will have to mull it over a while.

Oh So Scary!! October Silliness!

I love Halloween! There are so many cute stamps, scary word stamps and some so strange I just don't get at all. Add in the wonderful papers, stickers and other embellishments and I would be crafting them all year! So I decided to make some cute cards that were scary because they are so cute! All the stamps I used for this card are from Close To My Heart. Of the ones I made in one evening, this was my favorite partly because of the torn piece of fabric I tied around the top.

I water colored the images with these fantastic new wood less color pencils from Eastern Europe (altho I got two yellows-very strange) and they were so cheap-only 14.00 for a set of 24 with a a two drawer case to tote them around. I blended with a CTMH blender pen-everyone would have one or 5 of these. The background paper is from Rusty Pickle and I bought one sheet of every Halloween paper they made so I will be making more fun stuff soon! Rusty Pickle is amazing with their designs. And the top of the whole thing is brushed lightly with Tim Holtz Distressing Inks-I have every color and each is more amazing than the one before.

So have a spooky fun time checking out my creations-and I get all the peanut butter kisses!

Fall on the Farm in Michigan

I designed this card with memories of my summers on my grandparents farm in Maple Grove Michigan. This stamp is from a set called Times and Seasons from Stampin' Up and I have wanted it for a long time, finally getting a winning bid on Ebay a few weeks ago. When I first started working on it, I thought it was too plain and almost put it aside because of the frustration I was feeling. Coupled with the fact my flash drive died today, and I was not in a good mood. Going thru a bag of scraps and odd items, I found a small piece of ribbon that seemed to bring out the orange of the pumpkins but still something was missing. I wanted some straw but who has straw brooms anymore? So rummaging in my silk flowers, I found some wheat (which prompty fell apart) and under it, was a small bunch of glittery baby's breath-so I tucked it into the bow and it seems to have given it the little extra I was looking for. I am not 100% happy with this card, but it does make me wish I was up in the barn chasing the wild cats many years ago. I have another card with the same stamp I will publish next month with an entirely different feel to it-but still another day on the farm for me.

Beads of Success

This is an almost perfect 5 minute card! I love these bead thingies. I think you can stick them on any card, page or tag and for less than a few pennies, get a finished piece of wonder. This particular card, which I was about a year late mailing (I am so pathetic sometimes) would be elegant enough for a wedding, simple enough for a Sympathy, good for a mom's day celebration and terrific as a birthday card. All you would have to do is change the lower right corner to reflect what the observance is. Plus it only took about 5 minutes including the congrats stamped on the inside and the insertion of the gift card. WOO HOO!

I HATE Tying Bows and Knots!

I was so pissed off making this card! I had been given a small piece of handmade metallic paper that reminded me of leather. I knew it would look good on a guy's card. All the colors and pieces came together so well until I had to find a way to do that stupid piece of ribbon! I tried knotting it and using a glue dot. Wouldn't stick. I tried just laying it flat-looked flat. Finally I punched two itty bitty holes-which weren't even on the side-and then threading the ribbon thru it. The holes were too small for the ribbon. I was about to give up and I just said screw it and it laid pretty much flat. Some say there is a method to bows-upside down. I usually just make a mess and its a good thing this ribbon was on clearance!

Weighing In On Baby Boys

Odd stamp-no name on it. Actually looks like Christmas foilage, doesn't it? I tried stamping it on a scrap of cardstock but the layering wasn't working for me. So I decided to stamp it under the vellum overlay-and it worked! I also edged the card itself with the matching blue ink.

Whenever I get metal embellishemnts, I take them out of the bags or off the cardstock holding them -just anal about the extra packaging I can usually recycle and it makes more room for items in the storage bins. This onesie metal piece was the first that caught my eye and I placed it under a word on the vellum that spelled out adorable but it needed to pop so I found an acrylic package of words in the dollar bin at Joann's-perfect color and just the right amount of eye catchiness.

I then stamped a greeting inside. Fast , quick and cute!

Woobie Woobie

Another month , another baby! I had received the white puffy embossed paper in a grab bag of papers and cardstocks at a stamp show in Novi, Michigan. It said "baby blanket" to me-or was it woobie? It was the centerpiece of how I was going to compose this card-again no stamping but I did paint the edges with acrylic paint to give it a softer look.

I am not a big fan of acrylic stickers-unless they are alphabets-but this baby was too cute to pass up. The package of pins I used in my previous post was still laying out so I took two colors to bring the baby's hair and the stars to the fore front. The fibers just added the perfect woobieness to finish it off.

Baby Boy Dreams

I made this card for friends who were adopting a bundle of baby boy from Guatamala. I had already given them a gift and remembered I hadn't given them a card. I knew I wanted to use the phrase "Dreams Do Come True" and I had this odd hat pin embellishment. I stamped the phrase on vellum and burned the edges to make it look aged-then tore off the word Dreams and substituted the hat pin. I now wish I had moved the pin in closer or even cut off the pick part.

Those baby safety pins were a quick add-on. I wonder if this generation even knows what diaper pins are!! I still use a cloth diaper to clean off my stamps. Its a strange color for sure! The card is cuter than it photgraphed tho-took me about 10 minutes-a quicky but helped I knew what I wanted to do upfront.

Bunny Love

This is the first card I made several years ago. Correction-this is the first card I had the courage to give anyone.

Oddly, I didn't stamp on this card. I just grabbed a few things and threw it together, so I could mail the baby gift and card together.

I wasn't really enthused with the way the edges of the cardstock distressed. I think it was because I tried to use the edge of my scissors to distress instead of a sanding block. I am really happy with the compositon and the colors tho-that die cut was the only one left in the discount bin and for boy or girl, would have worked out fine. The acrylic heart was just a last minute addition and I am glad I added it.