Beautiful sexy witch!

This is a card from 2006 using a computer free clip art image.  Rarely do you find such a beautiful sexy witch and let's face it: Samantha Stevens proved that witches were and are beautiful sexy creatures.  I mounted the image on orange colored paper and then on black paper.  The corners are Mrs. Grossman's bat stickers.

Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to actually download the image and save it.  All I did was print it out.  Now years later I can't find it ... should you find it, please let me know!

Old Fashioned Feminine Birthday Cards

Next month two elderly women friends will be celebrating their birthdays.  I love making these types of cards and especially using rose images on them.  Unfortunately once again my favorite images are retired ones ... why have all the good ones been retired? 

The first card is sharp and elegant and uses an old fashioned painterly sticker image from "Penny Black".  The image was given a border frame by mounting it on gold paper. The patterned background paper is from "Anna Griffin" and was framed in gold as well.  The gold lace trim is a sticker from the "Mrs. Grossman's Design Line" (also retired).  The gold text is from "Stampendous".

The second card is more ethereal and uses a 3D sticker from "Anna Griffin" over partially glittered purplish die-cut border from "K&Company/E.K. Success".  The patterned background paper is from one of the many "K&Company/E.K. Success" 5" x 7" mat pads and edged in purple ink.  The text is from "Mrs. Grossman's".  To finish the look I added a thin ribbon and bow in silver from "Offray".

Hopefully these cards will have as long as life as the recipients have had.

Using an Enveloppe Seal for a Blank Masculine Fall Card

Sometimes you just need a season appropriate masculine non-holiday related card for someone special ... what do you do when the card stores are just not there for you?  Easy, use one of your envelope seals and make your own card.  This card combines two layers of papers (one created using a hand punch), one sticker and one seal ... what could be simpler than that.

Start by making a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card from ivory paper and to keep the masculine theme going I used a textured paper from "Bazzill Basics".  Cut a 2" wide strip of metallic copper paper, in this case it's from a sheet of bronze tint burnished copper paper by "River wind/Mrs. Grossman's".  Next cut a 1 1/2" wide strip of dark brown paper and punch along both long edges using an "E.K. Success" rope edge punch to create a ribbon like effect.  Adhere the punched paper ribbon to the metallic copper paper.  Add a "Mrs. Grossman's" design line copper sliver line down the middle of the punched ribbon.  Adhere the strips vertically down the card 1/2" from the folded edge.  To complete the card add a "Fossler's" metallic seal to the card and you're done.

I like using seals on my cards because they come in many formats and are usually found in packs at stores that sell stationary at a much smaller cost than regular stickers .  Seals are usually meant to be used on the back of envelopes but I think they work wonders as decorative highlights on cards as well. 

yet another Look!

In preparing an article on 3D stamping I decided to use the same cottage scene (Inkadinkado) once again and created a third look using one stamp.

Start by stamping the image twice on white paper both time mixing green and brown inks.  I used the green ink for all the pine trees and the brown ink for the bare trees in the background, the cottage and the ground cover in the front.  Color both images using coloring pencils (Prisma Color).  Trim one of the stamped images using a deckle edge scissor (Fiskars), mount on a light olive paper, trim using a deckle edge scissor and add to a white card.  Take the second stamped image and cut out the cottage and the large pine tree in the front.  Attach the cut-outs using raised adhesive dots to their appropriate places on the card.   used two thicknesses of raised adhesive dots to create further depth by having the tree further out in the foreground than the cottage.  To finish the 3D look I pulled apart a cotton ball and attached a string of it to simulate the smoke coming out of the chimney.

I didn't add any text to this card just to keep it simple!

One stamp .. two Looks!

A stamped image can change in theme simply by changing the ink color with which it's stamped.  A good example is this snowy scene stamp from Inkadinkado/E.K. Success.

For the first card I stamped the image in a mixture of grey and black ink from ColorBox on a white shimmering paper from Canson.  The stamped image and the silver background panel were die-cut and embossed using the Labels Eight dies from Spellbinders.   The card itself is made from a grayish Bazzill Basics paper.  To add some sparkle (not visible in the scan) in used white glitter on the trees, roof top and ground.  To finish the card a simple black rub-on text from K&Company/E.K. Success.  The result is very elegant and sophisticated look.

For the second card I stamped the image in a mixture of green and brown ink from ColorBox on a white shimmering paper from Canson. I accentuated the ink colors by lightly coloring the image with pencils.  The stamped image was cut out using deckle edged scissors and edged in black ink. The card itself is covered with a wood grain patterned paper from K&Company/E.K. Success and edged in brown ink. To add some sparkle (not visible in the scan) in used white glitter on the trees, roof top and ground. The stamped panel was added to the card using mini square brads (Making Memories) in black. To finish the card a red glittered text from K&Company/E.K. Success. The result is very masculine and somewhat country look.

The snowy scene can actually be turned into a spring, summer or even fall scene just by using more shades of green ink and deepening the coloring process of the image.  For the fall look Soft Flowers flocking could be used as well.

My first commission piece.

This week-end someone called our local craft store to see if they made or knew anyone who made custom cards for special occasions and the store manager recommended me.  The assignment: a wedding card with a specific theme and text chosen by the client.  After a brief e-mail consultation I was commissioned to create a 5" x 7" card in shades of white and ivory using a wedding cake as the theme, with the stipulation that the card be kept simple and elegant .  This is my creation.

The card itself is made from white pearlized paper from Bazzill Basics.  The background panel, cut using the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge, is made from pearlized ivory paper with a silver shadow.  The banner was cut twice from white pearlized paper using the Sizzix Banner die, cut apart and then re-assembled to create a 3D effect.  The banner text was computer generated using the Vivaldi font and matches the insert text.  The cake is a 3D paper paper sticker with trimmings of small pearl and miniature 3D glittered ivory and white flowers with pearl centers from K&Company/E.K. Success.  I did alter the sticker a bit by removing the plate on which the cake sat to create, at least for me, a cleaner image.

More Fall Themed Birthday Cards

I came across some items over the week-end that I knew I could use and all were in the dollar bins!  One was a bag of silk fall leaves at WalMart and the others were ruby, gold and pale green rhinestone leaves at Michael's.  Here are the cards I came up with using these finds!

The first card uses the rhinestone leaves with the addition of some small round rhinestones K&Company/E.K. Success for added bling. The flourishes are rub-ons from K&Company/E.K. Success.  The text is a gold sticker from Stampendous that I colored with a black Sharpie marker.  The panel was cut and embossed using the largest Spellbinder Nestabilities Mega Deckle Rectangle die from a tan colored paper.

The second card uses the silk leaves and an old metal frame from Making Memories that I colored using a copper DecoColor marker.  The frame inset paper is actually the backing from a K&Company/E.K. Success fall sticker pack and has a very small scripted text running across it.  The text is a gold sticker from Stampendous that I colored with a black Sharpie marker.  I added small copper details around the leaves using remainders from various copper sticker sheets.

Dollar store beauties

As we all know we can spend tons of money at the craft store for supplies but what about the good old dollar store? I found these really beautifully detailled 3D glittered flower stickers (some of the flowers even have rhinestone centers) at one of our many local dollar stores! Each sheet of stickers comes with five or six large multi layered flower arrangements and three or four smaller assorted ones. The set I got is more for springtime but still ... for a dollar!

The first card I made used one of the large stickers (the flowers and strawberries in the basket) and then two of the smaller ones (flowering branches). For the background I used the largest and the next to the largest die from the Spellbinder Nestabilities Labels Eighteen set. I die cut the white paper and then edged them in grey.

The second card I made used one of the large stickers (the flowers and cherries in the tea cup) and then two of the smaller ones (the strawberries leaves). For the background I used the CuttleBug Swiss Doe embossing folder on light blue paper and a Martha Stewart/E.K. Success white lace tag.

As I said these are more for springtime so left these cards blank for now.