Buttoned Up Love

Okay-I lied. There is some stamping on here but not unless you know about VersaMark ink. I used the clear kind to ink up the chipboard flower after I had colored it with Making Memories Acrylic paint. I then added a sparkly embossing powder-which all that heat started to warp the chipboard.

I used the same embossed paper I used on the last post to make the front of this card. The base card is ordinary cheap black card stock-no texture at all. I cut a few pieces of ribbon and inserted them under the right side before I tacked the paper down. I found this large antique button in a jar with a bazillion other sad buttons. I wasn't sure what to do beyond that until I was digging thru some embellishments and found this odd paper clip thingie. Then I wondered-how do I attach it? I just tapped the edge of the button with Acrylic Accents-you can barely see its sheen. I let it set overnight-and voila! Instant flower.

This one is a bit bulky, so if you try it, make sure you use a padded envelope to mail along with extra postage. Gotta keep the PO in business so they can smush our mail more and more.

I Heart You

Well-let's try this again. At least the photos are loading tonight. I was recently at a clearance sale where everything in the back of the store was either 25 or 50 cents. I found these Bazzill initial boards for 25 cents each and bought as many as I could find. I didn't care what the letter was because initials and monograms are very in right now and I will use them all.

So this card is pretty easy to figure out. I used Bazzill Bling for my base card. I then found a scrap in my bin to back the letter I. That heart is a sparkle rub on in the dollar store of Micheal's-I got lots of them too! And the stickers to spell YOU-also in the scrap bin. Topped them off with Prima's and a dot of Stickles in each and done. NO stamping tonight-just a fun fast sparkly card.

This card is heavy tho-so it would need extra postage but it is A2 size. I will post another one shortly using the same backing paper and no stamping either. Just not in the mood for ink tonight.

Prismacolor Markers-Enable While I Can!!

A lot of people have been raving about the Prismacolor Markers especially Amy . So I had that 50% off coupon today for Joann's and nothing else in the store that I wanted that was not already on sale. These little guys are expensive! 90 dollars for 24 markers is a lot especially when you haven't used them before and don't know if you like them either. But I thought at 45, maybe they would be okay. But I am down on the floor poking around as they are announcing the store is closing for the evening and I see a red sticker on one and pulled it out. The sticker said it was marked down to 24 and I also had another 5 dollar off 30 purchase. Woo Hoo!! So for 20 bucks-I got a complete set of Prismacolor Markers and a case and a desk stand! There were several left and maybe you can get the same deal too.


I also got a bunch more of new designs of the Studio G acrylic stamps for 1.00 plus a bunch of ink pads at 1.00 too. And there are new wood mounted ones in stock-the girl just took them out of the cases.

So I am going back tomorrow to figure out what to do with my 50% off coupon but wanted to let you all know there is a big red ticket clearance in the fine art department to go check out. I know card stock packs are also 50% off and they were just unpacking the new summer card stock and print paper packs from Die Cuts with a View. One can never have too much paper-and a pad is enough to share which is what I do all the time.

OOOHHHHH-before I forget-Die Cuts with a View at Micheal's has scalloped edged paper packs in 12 x 12 and smaller sizes and zig zag packs too. So you can use your Joann's coupons on that if you don't use them at Joann's. And a shimmer pack of papers in 12 x 12 from Canson too. I am going back for that as I have 2 coupons this week.

Go Wings-don't listen to Allison and all that stuff about 'Her" house. Bring it all back to the Joe, guys!

Friends Are Like Flowers

Another trip to the scrap box. I love using Prima flowers and luckily I had some that matched the background flowers on the patterned paper. I used some Sizzix die cuts to make the friends word but after I glued them on thought it looked more like fiends.

Oh well-fiends...friends...sometimes they are the same thing right?

I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks on this card. I have all the colors and am amazed at how two different colors can go so well together. I used Shabby Shutters and Scattered Straw.

This card is larger than the normal A2 size I love so much because I had to make sure I could get the whole word on it. I normally shy away from larger cards or square ones because of the added postage or not having an envelope to fit. I topped this off with Stickles. I think I might try this a little different next time by lining the word to have a shadow effect and then placing a crystal in the flowers instead. Another thought would be the plaid green paper being ribbon or fabric. I love my scrap stash!!

Welcome Little One!

A lot of people have had babies or are expecting soon and I like having some cards on hand that can go for either boys or girls. This is one I came up with but I made a mistake making it, so it's not quite what I wanted. On the top piece where the eyelets are and the ribbon runs between them-that was supposed to have 5 eyelets but I glued down the piece before I used the Crop-i-dile and then could not peel it off to redo it without tearing it. So I came up with this.

Originally, there were going to be 5 across the top and 5 directly below it. And then I would have tied the different ribbons between the sets up and down into bows. Maybe this is better after all. I also added one pink and one blue itty bitty diaper pin so again, it would be good for either sex.

All papers were from the scrap bins and the flowers were some cheapie ones from Micheal's I took apart. I have a huge jar of buttons to chose from and almost threaded a bit of ribbon thru this one but left it naked. I think it would have been a bit too much with it added. I like how the plaid paper reminds me of the edge of a baby blanket. Takes me back-to the woobie!

Chalkboard Love

This card is kinda a mistake. I wasn't sure what I wanted but I know I wanted the white stamped word LOVE to be more vibrant. I guess I didn't ink up the stamp well enough or it was too dry for the embossing powder to stick to. But after I finished it, I liked it because it looked like a chalk board. The pink piece running along the bottom had the words love over and over and I used Stickles on it to make it stand out. I then placed the Prima flowers along what I thought would be the ledge of the chalk board.

The over sized eyelets are those that came with the Crop-i-dile. Now if you don't have one of these, you are really missing out because you don't make a sound using one! I craft at 2 or 3 AM and I am not allowed to make noise as hubby is up at 4 for work. I only went thru the top layer and then threaded thru my two tones pink ribbon and tied it in what I think is a decent bow. All of this was layered on a simple piece of pink card stock. If I had wanted a bit more shimmer, I would have used that new Bling from Bazzill but this worked nicely. I just love how pink and black go so well together. I need to fix the tip on my Stickles bottle tho because it's bent and too much is coming out when I squeeze.

This card would be nice for any time you want to say something nice to someone. It was fast and easy and all made with scraps from my paper bins.

Lucky Me! I Finished My Taxes!

I am the biggest procrastinator. I always get a refund but I put it off and stew over them. Every year they get more complicated. For the first time ever, I had a capital gain. I usually sell stocks I sour on at a loss or the companies go bankrupt or some other stupid thing. In October 2006, Micheal's went private and I had 100 shares. I had only paid for 25, but the stock had split twice in two years. So I had a small profit. I miss getting the dividends tho. Anyways, there were three different forms to fill out for making a little bit of money and Uncle Sam took more than his fair share. I almost didn't get a refund, except I was a bit more generous this year with donations and I didn't pay attention to the fact hubby made a lot less this past year as he got no raise or bonus-oops! I was going to use the refund to buy a new garage door and some new trees/bushes for the yard, but alas, there might be enough for one or the other.

So I decided to make a card from some scraps. I wanted to make one with an evil gesture toward the IRS but didn't have the right stickers or stamps. I did not stamp on this card. I used rub ons and some cards from a mini deck I found at the Target Dollar Spot. I edged all the pieces in black dye ink. I think the rub ons were called Aladdin so its kinda reminding me of a casino marquee-even tho I have never been to a casino. I can't go because the MAN took all my money-so I will wallow in my stamps and cards.

Happy Friday the 13Th everyone! May all your days be lucky!

Tri Fold Screw Up-amended with photo

I really liked this card a lot until I noticed that the ribbon was not straight. So I tried to remove it. The tape runner said it was a temporary type. But when I did, the ribbon pulled somehow and then the lines in it were no longer straight. It was the only piece I had like it, and I went to Joann's to try and find another similar piece to no avail. I am still looking months later. So I decided to post it anyways. Just to remind myself to not believe what the tape says sometimes.

What should have been a quickie card is driving me nuts. But I did get to use some of those cheapo silk flowers from Micheal's again. This card used the same stamp as the last post and I was able to use a corner adornment-the ladybug-for a bit of fun.

I had a question from Dana on how this was folded. When this card is folded shut to mail, the left side top is even with the bottom side . On the right side the ribbon would have been showing to the right of the fold when closed. The area that contains the message stamp is cut into the base and folded half way. I used an exacto and a straight ruler. If you were to take that front and fold it flat out, you would see there was a 3 sided square cut out and I layered on it two different colors. I played around a lot with scraps to get the right dimensions for this and you could change the top part to accommodate wider or thinner ribbon or paper too. I might try this later with Ric RAC or flowers down the side.

It was just some generic card stock-I buy so much by color and texture but I never remember where I bought it unless its in a package with a price tag! I am addicted to paper-period.

I added another photo to maybe show the folded card better. I wish I had now taken one from the left side of the card. If I ever come across it later, I will add an amended photo.

Sending Happy Thoughts

I just threw this one together using scraps and some silk flowers I took apart. I edged the panels in black dye ink because it was the only color I had available at the time. I don't like to go up and down the stairs if my knee is acting up. Took me maybe 5 minutes to do this-fast and simple.

Now all you have to do is change the flowers, colors and wording and you can make dozens of these in no time flat and if you have younger stampers who want to make something, this design would work great!

Enabler Alert!!

For all of you who love those 1.00 clear stamps from Michael's a few months ago in the tan package-they have new ones in and at least 9 more designs. They are in pink packages this time. Lots of flowers, sayings, hearts, baby, love and some others. If I get time, I will post a photo later. There are also more acrylic blocks too. So everyone Central time zone and west-get out your wallets! ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!

Hugs and Kisses

This was made from scraps. For any of you come-back visitors, you will notice that I used the same mesh-like ribbon on this card that I used on my snowman card a few weeks back. I have about 2 yards, so have to make some other cards to use it up.

Basically, I just folded a dark bluish purple piece of card stock for the base and added a small piece of polka dotted print paper which I used Distress Inks on the edges in Denim. I wish it were a bit more purple but it blends in pretty well. Then I attached the meshy ribbon on the back of the dotted paper with scotch tape and layered it on the base.

So the Primas have kept me busy!!! Can we say addiction, kiddies? I think I am close to having some of each color and style. And then I also go to Joann's or Micheal's and buy silk flowers and tear them up too! I tried to vary the sizes and colors for this and then added a bit of Stickles inside the majority of them. I found these little jewelry tags at Office Depot for 99 cents a bunch. Just a one word stamp culled from a My Sentiments Exactly alphabet set and a bit of glitter on them too and stuck them under a larger flower by the strings. I had thought of attaching them with thin ribbon but the string fit more with the meshy ribbon.

Blooming Daisies

Here is another variation on my contest entry card. It's not as bold but used basically the same colors except for the green ribbon. I just thougth I would post this one so others could see my dilemma. I made so many of these just changing one thing on each, to try and see which looked best layered as they were. I will post more variations as I can. I am just curious to know who won tho. It's an hour's drive for me to go look. Maybe next week, as gas is 2.85 locally and not sure if making one trip just to be curious is right. I try to only go down there once a month. Why did my daughter have to move anyways??

Local Stamp Kit Contest

I don't like to show off my cards. I usually show them to my daughter or my niece and sometimes my SIL, but for the most part, I just make them, save them or give them away with no fanfare. One of my two favorite stamp stores was recently sold and I am gonna miss Jane a lot. But Laurie is still there and she is incredibly talented.

So someone came up with the idea at the store to make up kits with card stock, ribbon, vellum , a plain white tag and one stamp. You then bought a kit and made something out of it to enter into the contest. I decided to bite-just because I was bored and thought this was a way to get creative and also to see what others will do, too.

The kit drove me nuts. For one, you HAD to use the dark pink piece of card stock for the base of your card. I made up some cards-about 20 I think-to get the prototype I wanted and none of my favorites used pink as the base. It always looked better with the dark green. I went to the local scrap store and tried to duplicate the exact colors so I would have enough to play with-and then somehow the original pieces got scattered in my pile and I didn't remember if there was white in the kit other than the tag. I still don't know.

Here is my final submission above-we were allowed to use any inks we wanted, pop dots and Stickles. We also could use one word stamp, which I thought meant a ONE word stamp, but really meant one worded stamp! I did think it was unique to turn the tag and vellum envelope upside down instead of using as a pocket. I also stamped on the vellum ever so lightly and edged it with ink, too. I did the same to the tag for depth. I cut out a bunch of the daisy stamped images and layered them with pop dots. The scalloped edge-did that with a corner rounder. I have them in three different sizes, and this was the medium one. While I liked this card, the next photo is actually my favorite, so I have to find someplace to submit it. I stamped the yellow piece with the flower image and then took the pink piece and sliced it for the ribbon to weave thru and then tied the ends into bows. The stamped flower is on top of several layers of squares. This was an easy card to make and so versatile too.

This is another variation on the same theme-but the green background card seems to look best to me. I have tons of others similar but haven't uploaded them yet. One actually used the new Bling paper from Bazzill and another used the card stock from the Spring Pack of Die Cuts with a View.

Here is the link to the store website where there is a photo of all 14 submissions, and mine is number 5 across the top and the one I know will win is number 8 in the middle. This lady exacto'd all the leaves on her card. When I first looked at it, I thought it was that neat . ribbon from May Arts that I used a while back on a flower card

I know there was 20 kits sold and that was the maximum amount of entries that were possible. But only 14 entered. From what I gather, a few were a bit intimidated and didn't want to enter theirs. I used to feel like that ,too. But the only way to learn new stuff is to try and we all know there will be some better, some worse and some in the middle. Mine is a middle -just like my birth order. And I think that I am the most creative of all my siblings, too. I am looking forward to the next contest and hope more submit theirs too.

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An added comment to this posting-the winning card is up at the store site listed above and it wasn't the one I thought would win! I am flabbergasted and really would like to see how many votes were cast. I guess those with the most daisies win in this case. It's a pretty card but it was not even in my top 5. Even mine wasn't in my top 5!