It was my Birthday last week and while I love getting cards (like the beautiful one from my friend Sandy!) I love making them and sending them out even more. I sent out some thank you cards to friends and family but I had to make a special simple card for my grandmother. She’s in her 90’s and lives in Pennsylvania. I’ll always remember all of the flowers that she used to plant in her garden every spring. There was every kind imaginable. She doesn’t get to do that anymore so I thought she might like some on her card. I used the Polka Dots Embossing Folder from CuttleBug for the background. The stamp is from the Stampin’ Up! retired Terrific Tags set along with the Tag Punch. I used EK Tools Flower and Retro Flower Two Piece Punch set to punch out the flowers and the GingerBread Man Builder Punch to punch out the centers for the flowers. A little bit of jute string finishes off the tag.
Celebration Maple Leaf
The cooler temperatures are making me think of warm clothes, hot chocolate and falling leaves which makes me think of the EK Tools Maple Leaf Layering Punch. It creates a very nice dimensional effect with minimal effort. I used my “new” retired host(ess) Stampin’ Up! set Afterthoughts for the greeting. I got it from Etsy from this really nice lady that included all kinds of presents with it. I love it when you buy something on-line and you think I’d be friends with that person because they were so great! I also used the Tim Holtz Tree Trunk Embossing Folder by Sizzix for a nice additional texture. They would make great invitations to a Thanksgiving celebration or a fall apple picking outing!
CR84FN Color Challenge
I’m a big fan of Sunday mornings. I try to make sure that I have nothing to do so I can craft for a bit, read the paper with my coffee and play with my dog Winston. I have been looking at the CR84FN blog for a while and I decided to enter this week. The challenge colors remind me of Good ‘n Plenty candies! As soon as I saw the challenge I knew what I wanted to do. The background is the Tim Holtz by Sizzix Brick Wall Embossing Folder. I love it because I think it looks quite realistic! I used one of my Phrase Stamps from studio g, I really like the script and typewriter font together. The Flower Punched are from EK Tools and I finished them off with some silver mirrored circle that I have had for years. The 3D dots give it some depth and the abstract flower pot is a nice finishing touch. Thanks for looking!
Techno Stamper Sketch Challenge 191
It’s been really cold the past few days so it’s making think about saying goodbye to summer and getting ready for the holidays. I’m not really a big fan of the winter, especially not the snow. The holidays however are one of my favorite times of the year. This weeks Techo Stamper layout is quite nice. I’m starting to make a few more holiday cards and I really love my little GingerBread Man Punch from EK Tools. He’s such a happy little guy. I used the CuttleBug Snowflake Embossing Folder and I stamped the “ribbon” with an Inkadinkado snowflake stamp. The Scalloped Circle Punch from EK Tools was the perfect size for the right side background. I finished it off with the 1 inch Scalloped Circle Punch and Snowflake punch from EK Tools. I can almost smell the gingerbread when I look at him!
Pals Paper Arts 111
The challenge for this weeks Pals Paper Arts was a really nice layout. I felt inspired by the sea shell stamp that I have from Inkadinkado. It’s also a kind of farewell to summer seeing as it’s been a little chilly these past few days. The blue and beige conjure up the sea and sand. I used the Martha Stewart Crafts Deco Shell Edge Punch from EK Tools for the divider and the Sand Dollar Punch across the top. The Embossing Folder from CuttleBug has a wave like look and the thank you stamp is from studio g. I also used the Postage Stamp Edger from EK Tools. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy. 🙂
Vintage Miss You
I made this card for a friend of mine and I wanted to give her time to get it before I posted it to my blog. I think she reads it so I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. The neutral colors and the vintage post card stamp give it an older feel. I found the post card stamp at AC Moore for $2.00, I love that if you look closely you can actually read the words. The background was embossed using the CuttleBug Textile Texture Embossing Folder. The stamp is from studio g, one of the many phrase stamps that I got from Michael’s. The punches are EK Tools Fleur De Lis and 1 inch Circle Punch. I hope that she liked the card as much as I enjoyed making it. 🙂
Scalloped Circle Layering Punch
I’m enjoying what appears to be the last warm days we will have for a little while. I love it when the weather is like this, not too hot and cool at night. I was browsing through EK Tools website the other day and saw that they have all of these new punches. I got the Scalloped Circle Layering Punch from Michael’s because they have 50% off all of their punches this week. I love the idea behind the punch, you select from three different levels of punching to get three different layers. This punch also gives you another ring with the third level. I like the abstract flower look when the pieces are put together. I also like the color combination of orange, beige, cream and black. It’s kind of a nice transition from summer to fall card… still bright but with a little dark too. 🙂
Pals Paper Arts 110
This weeks Pals Paper Arts Challenge is a Halloween card. This is my second one, I did a Halloween theme for one a few weeks ago. I decided on a more subtle orange black and kraft paper color scheme. I used the Wavy Circle and Zig Zag Chain Edger Punches from EK Tools and Martha Stewart Embossed Pumpkin Double and Bats Punches. The stamps are from Inkadinkado and studio g. Happy Haunting!
1st Birthday
My crafty friend Melissa had a birthday party for her beautiful daughter Addison yesterday. It was originally supposed to be held on August 28th but hurricane Irene had other plans. It was a very nice backyard party with a Strawberry Shortcake theme, Addison has lots of nice red hair! Melissa did a great job with the decorations, most of which she made herself. I love working with a theme so I found a little image of Ms. Shortcake and got to it. I used the CuttleBug Preserves Embossing Folder, some EK Tools punches, Stamp from TPC Studios and a Thicker for the 1. I also made a little gift card holder that coordinates with the card using the same tools. I hope that she enjoyed the card as much as I enjoyed being part of her daughter’s special day!
Baby Naming
My friends Neal and Stephanie were kind enough to invite me to the baby naming for their son Max. Another friend of mine Kim was also invited but couldn’t make it. She asked me if I would make a card for her too, of course I said yes. The first one is the one I gave them. I’m hooked on the dark blue and cream colors together. I used the CuttleBug Dots Embossing Folder and the tag punch and a tag stamp from the retired Stamin’ Up! set Punch Box – Terrific Tags. The celebrate stamp is from TPC Studios.
For the second card I used the CuttleBug Circles Embossing Folder and the Buttons Embossing Folder. The realistic large buttons on the card were made using the Martha Stewart Button Double Punch. The stamp is one of the great phrase stamps from studio g. The card is cute as a button just like Max!