New Year 2011!

I wanted to start the New Year with a bang ... so the first card is a simple "champagne" theme using a sticker from Punch Studio/the Gifted Line for the bottle, some Mrs' Grossman's fireworks and Stampendous text.

The second card is made using a left over Christmas tag glittered in silver, Making Memories silver glittered numbers and Mrs. Grossman's champagne glasses with bubbles and fire works.

Here's to a happy and healthy 2011 and in my case luckier than 2010!

Christmas 2010 - part 3

My favorite medium is "stickers' and after "Mrs. Grossman's" my favorite manufacturer is "K & Company". That is what I used for the first two cards. The first is made to look like an ornament and is decorated with poinsettias and holly.

The second is a beautiful angel overlaid on music themed paper and accented with a tag, rub-on text and more holly sprigs.

The third card is a combination of stickers (the tag with text and the 3D poinsettia) and a gift tag overlaid on patterned paper.

These are all simple to make but are quite effective and festive. Happy holidays to all!

Christmas 2010 - part 2

Stamping gives you lots of options and this year I opted to make several cards using stamps. The first stamp is by "Inkadinkadoo" and was colored with a combination of color pencils and metallic markers. Of course I did add gold flourish stickers and faux gems (both from "Stampendous") to finish the overall look as well as a test sticker from "Mrs. Grossman's".

The second card was made using a stamp from "Stampcamp" colored with pencils and then mounted on a piece of E.K. Success decorative paper highlighted with faux gems from "Stampendous".

The third card was made using a pre-embossed gold framed card from "Martha Stewart" on which I gold embossed a line frame and an image from "Hampton Arts" and highlighted with a glitter sticker text from "K & Company".

Christmas 2010 - part 1

I've been making Christmas cards for classes, magazine publication and personal use since July! So I decided to post them by media (although you know I rarely use just one medium per card).

The first two are made using the "Cricut" die-cut system using a combination of the "Joys of the Season" and "Noel" cartridges. I used a patterned background paper from K&Company for each card and then created scenes by cutting the various images from various solid colored paper and then layering them. The snow glode base is raised using thin adhesive dots and the candle holder is a mirror gold paper from The Paper company. The text in the snow globe is a rub-on from K&Company and the text with the candle is a Mrs. Grossman sticker. I also added a small Mrs. Grossman holly sprig sticker to the candle stick holder

MoJo Monday (my first)

I kept seeing the MoJo Monday cards on other blogs and didn't know what they were, well now I know and decided to join the fun. here's my first MoJo Monday card. The background is a little fuzzy because the wreath and texted tag are raised above the card and scanning doesn't really do to well on focus.

Scrap & Stamp Arts All Star issue - January 2011

No cards to day, just some bragging. Today I received my advanced copy of the January 2011 "Scrap & Stamp Arts" entitled "The Best of the Best - Industry All Stars". It was no surprise that I was included in the issue as the magazine contacted me back in July to inform me of the honor and also to ask me to submit an article and cards specifically created for the issue. What surprised me was that when I looked through the magazine out of the fifteen people selected I was one of the few that is not a stamp company owner, creator or designer of stamps or associated as a designer for a specific manufacturer or company. I had assumed (yes I know what happens when you assume) that the people selected would all have been home based card making enthusiasts such as myself, not professionals. To be included with these professionals takes the honor of having been selected as an "all star" designer of 2010 one step higher.

Early Thanksgiving.

November already and that means that in the craft stores it's all about Christmas. Whatever happened to Thanksgiving, not that there has ever been much for Thanksgiving on the shelves anyway? We have many reasons to be thankful, no matter what our situations are and I am most thankful for the serenity I find in my life. Last year I found some images that I thought reflected this serenity and that I could use to that end.

The first one is made using 3D stickers (not quite as nice when scanned) from K&Company of various fall colored leaves. I used a metallic copper for the background to coordinate with the metallic copper filigree on each of the stickers and added some oranges gems(Stampendous Dot Sparklers) to add to the fall feel.

The second one is made from a beautiful fall image sticker (Pebbles) mounted on color paper coordinating with colors within the image. The 3D cart and gourds (Jolee's Boutique/E.K. Success) were added to add to the feeling of the bounty and beauty fall provides us with.

I chose not to add text to either card in order to avoid influencing the feel the images provide on their own.

Blog only Cards!

As I said each month I will create a card specifically for this blog and rather than wait till January 2011 I figured why not start now! I also decided to make these cards strictly masculine themed cards. So here goes.

The first card I created was to celebrate my new found unemployed position, something I'm certain many people can relate to at this time. I started with one of my favorite stamps (Make an Impression); which I stamped in black (Ink It-up!) on aged wood grain paper (Karen Foster) and went from there. The card background paper is striped flocked paper (SEI Moravia Sanov #8-3702) which reminded me somewhat of tree bark and I though would go well with the landscape scene. Everything being somewhat rugged I added a self-adhesive suede ribbon (Markings/C.R. Gibson) to soften the feel just a bit. Then I added black mini brads in the corner of the stamped image and adhere the stamped panel with raised adhesive dots to the card. The text is a rub-on (Michael's) which says it all (at least for me).

Promoting myself!

The editor of "Videojug", an on-line "how-to" type of site, is planning to expand with a blog version of the on-line site. Apparently she looked at my blog, liked what she saw and as a result has invited me to become a contributor to her new blog. This was very exciting for me, as I really didn't think anyone other than acquaintances looked at my blog. Obviously I was wrong! As a result I've decided to start promoting myself more by expanding the scope of the blog's contents. To begin with starting January 2011, every couple of months I will post copies of the articles I wrote for "Scrap & Stamp Arts". Each month I will also create a card specifically for this blog and post the card as well as detail the process on this blog. Finally I plan on trying to find a way to tie my classes in with this blog. Hopefully this will help in promoting what I do and open even more doors!

Halloween Part 2

Here are some more stamped Halloween cards ... as always I try to do something different!

Halloween: the start of the Holiday Season

For me October is the start of the holiday season, with Halloween being the second best holiday of all (Christmas being the first). For this reason I always love making cards for Halloween. After getting some different frame stamps during the summer I decided to concentrate on cards using these stamps and these are the results.

After stamping the frame I used the masking technique to allow me to stamp the other images inside the frames. Simple but effective.

Masculine Birthday Cards

My father's birthday is this month and so I decided to post some masculine birthday cards I have made over the years. Nothing special just a mini gallery of good wishes.

Cricut Class Samples

I have been giving classes at both of our local A. C. Moore stores on how to use the "Cricut Expression" machine; which is an electronic diecut system. It seems that many people have purchased a "Cricut" machine but aren't sure on how to use it and honestly the instructions that come with the system are not the best and many purchasers are looking for more. I was in the same boat, till I decided to teach myself by playing around with the machine and the cartridges I had. The result was that after a couple of false starts I am now confident enough and knowledgable (?) enough to actually try and help others. Tomorrow I have scheduled my last class for the summer and was asked to create a couple of cards to illustrate the various options available on the cartridges. I decided to use a Christmas theme and using the "Joys of the Season" cartridge I created the following two examples.

The fist card I actually used the "card" option of the cartridge. I wanted to create a simple classy card that could be, if needed, made multiple times in a very small amount of time and with little effort. I started by cutting the card from white paper and backing it with gold paper. As always, for me that was just not enough. So I started by adding a gold frame with a marker to emphasize the central design. Then using "Stampendous" stickers I added the gold text and the gold stars. Similar text and stars are available on the cartridge and could actually have been done using the "Cricut" and gold paper.

For the second card I chose the same design but opted for the multi colored layered look. I started with the "background" option of the design and cut it out of gold paper. Then I cut the image from green paper. Finally I selected the "layer" option which I cut out from red paper. The result when assembled is a three dimensional holiday wreath in festive colors. Again I couldn't leave well enough alone and added a "Hallmark" sticker text. Again the text could have been done using the "Cricut".

A gallery of manly cards.

Finally a month with no set holidays for which I need to create cards. So instead I created cards with manly type backgrounds or themes. With either a specific occasion text, a more general text or even no text at all, these manly cards are pefect for any and all occasions. I decided not to spend time on material listings but wanted to say that the backgrounds are all stamped and embossed, then accentented with stickers or rub-ons.

July 4th - a different look!

This year I wanted to stay away from the standard flag type cards so I decided on using iconic american images for my cards. For the first two I used the statue of Liberty as my image. The first is a card stock sticker from Pebbles Inc. overlaid on a strip star patterned paper from K& Company and edged with blue sliver lines from Mrs. Grossman's.

The second card uses a 3D sticker from Jolee's Boutique/E. K. Success of the statue of Liberty again overlaid on a pice of star patterned paper from K & Company with another card stock sticker from Pebbles Inc. as a secondary background panel with the pledge of allegiange on it.

The final card uses two card stock stickers from Pebbles, Inc as the background: a close up of a pair of jeansd and a detail of a jean pocket with patriotic buttons (okay the flag worked it's way in this one).

Hope that these simple but yet effective cards motivate you to think outside the box and create something unique for the 4th!

Father's Day

The time honored tradion to celebrate father's everywhere with beer, half-clad women and fishing trophies is non existant in our house. Instead we look for something a little more special, different and unique to better reflect the qualities of the person we are honoring! This year I made two cards that I feel express those qualities.

The first is a simple card made using a single punch (McGill), some faux green gem stickers (Stampendous Dot Sparklers) and a rub-on K & Company. The card is understated yet in a quiet way, says a whole lot.

The second card is made with stickers (Mrs. Grossman's) that reflect a year round theme; which reflects the year round job a father truly has: a man for all seasons!

Mother's Day

Okay so this month it has to be all about mom's, no man cards allowed. I decided to use Mrs. Grossman's stickers (retired and new) to create my various mother's day cards. So no decription just cards!

Easter can be manly!

I was recently gently told by a friend that although I keep on talking about "cards for men" of late very few of my cards reflected the masculine theme. So I thought it was time to get back to making some masculine themed cards ... at least for my blog.

For my first man type card I decided to go back to using stamps and earthier colors. I also used the multi ink and double stamping techniques to achieve the overall masculine feel. The background mosaic is from Starving Artistamp and was inked with yellow in the center and edged with chocolate. I inked the Celtic cross with the chocolate ink and stamped it on the inked mosaic stamp. I then stamped the double loaded stamp on white paper. I trimmed the stamped image and mounted it on chocolate color paper. The ribbon is from Offray and mimics a basket weave pattern; which thought went well with the Celtic cross. The text is from Serendipity Stamps and was done in chocolate ink. So here's a man's style Easter card.

Mrs. Grossman's first selection.

This is the first card of mine that the Mrs. Grossman Company selected to post on their Facebook page. I figured one more post wouldn't hurt. The background is a laser cut sticker mounted on white paper, trimmed and then mounted on silver paper. The flowers are multi layered using various thicknesses of raised adhesive dots. This scan isn't perfect because of the 3D element and it's hard to get a good image when the card isn't flat on the scanner; however the photograph used on the Mrs. Grossman facebook page looks much better. So here's to the first one of hopefully many more!

Saint Patrick's Day

I can't believe that a year has gone by and I'm still doing this. It's great, at least for me. So the cycle starts all over again and we are back with March and Saint Patrick's Day. Made some simple cards and all of these are actually done with Mrs. Grossman stickers. So no long explanations, just cards.

Another article published.

The april issue of "Scrap & Stamp Arts" magazine includes another one of my articles, this one on jewelled cards. I got the idea for jewelled cards when I saw some examples in a card store and decided I could do better for less. The article includes three cards but I made several more so as to have a selection available when it came time to send in the article to the magazine. Here are two more examples not in the magazine.

This first one was inspired by the pendant. I used a legal size card to mimic the shape of the pendant and then matched the color scheme to the pendant as well. The birdhouse is a stamp from "Inkadinkado" done with ice blue ink from "Color Box" on blue distressed wood paper from "Sandylion". I then mounted the stamped panel on silver distressed paper from "Momenta". The dark blue velvet ribbon is edged with silver trim and is from "Offray". Once the card was assembled I added silver sticker flourishes and text from "Stampendous". To finish of the look I added turquoise blue faux gems from "Stampendous".

The second one was very easy. I used a pre-made brown scalloped card insert, which I adhered to a pre-made white card. I edged the brown scalloped panel with gold lines from "Stampendous". I added the distressed gold leaf pendant to the center of the panel and added gold flourishes and text from "Stampendous". To finish the card I added faux diamond gems also from "Stampendous".

These cards can be turned into gifts as well. To make these cards I removed the hanging hoop from the pendants, but if they are left on the pendant can be removed and worn. Simply include a matching chain in the card with an explanation. Also for people who would want to keep the original look of the card, include a color photocopy cut out of the pendant. The photocopy can be glued to the card when the actual pendant is removed.

Season of Love

OK, this time it's really an all girly card! I couldn't help it but sometimes my baby has to get into the act. So Happy Valentine's Day to all from the prettiest little girl in my world!

Mrs. Grossman called !

After years of making cards for personal use it looks like it may finally start paying off and my work has caugth the attention of some of the manufacturers whose products I use. In the last few years I have had cards published in various magazines (including one in the UK); which has made my cards more available to the general public and to anyone else who reads these magazines. I have also been posting cards on a website called "Cuppas and Cards"; which allows me to share my cards with people who also post their cards there. Then I started "teaching" classes at two of our local craft stores. Then I started this blog; which eventually got me to start a Face Book page. The latter was a revelation and I found lots of sites I became a "fan" of. One of these was the Mrs. Grossman Sticker Company and as a result they contacted me and it looks like I may have some of my cards (using their products) be used on the Mrs. Grossman website. I feel so honored.

I have always been a fan of the Mrs. Grossman products and I always look at how I can incorporate at least one of their products in my cards. Here are a couple of examples ... no explanations, just cards.

Celebrating a New Stress Free Year!

Happy New Year to all. This year, more than ever, I want to keep things simple and stress free besides my usual resolutions. Actually I am making resolutions that I know I will keep so as not to stress out when I fail to keep! These are as follow:

I will continue to enjoy an occasional beer!

I will continue to enjoy an occasional piece of chocolate!

I will continue to be politically incorrect once or twice a week!

I know I can keep these without stressing out. So to start things off I made a couple of New Year's cards that are simple and easy.

The first one is a pre-made frame black card from "Die Cut with a View". Before I closed and sealed the frame portion of the card I inserted two fire work stickers from "Mrs. Grossman". I frames the opening with "Mrs. Grossman Design Lines" in silver. I then added a clock sticker from "Sandylion" and the text from "Mrs. Grossman".

The second card is also easy to make. I started with a white legal size card from "K & Company" that I embellished with a piece of "Momenta Distress Silver" paper edged in black. The champagne bucket is a gift tag from "Caspari" that I cut up. The text is a sticker from "Stampendous" and the clock is from "Jolee's Boutique/E.K. Success".