More Blank themed cards.

I always try to have cards ready for an emergency and for these cards I leave a blank area for the text. Here are two more.

The first card is a spring themed blank card. The background is an olive green scalloped paper (Gartner) overlaid with a piece of patterned paper (K&Company/E.K. Success) edged with gold lines (Stampendous). The flourishes are rub-ons (K&Company/E.K. Success) as is the glittered 3D flower sticker. The text can be placed in the empty space on the upper left portion of the card.

The second card is definitely more feminine. The background is a embossed paper frame (Anna Griffin) that was edged with gold lines (Stampendous) both inside and out. The center image is a glittered 3D flower sticker (K&Company/E.K. Success). The way the card is designed it actually leaves very little space for a single word text; however is perfect for a longer text which can be split between the upper left and the lower right of the card

Mojo Monday #234

Again I opted for the square image this week for a more masculine themed card, yes even men can miss someone! When I saw the sketch all I saw in my mind were panels of wood; which is what  tried to recreate visually for my card.

The distressed wood grained papers are from an old "ColorBok" pad. The solid colored papers are by "American Crafts". The text is from Mrs. Grossman's and the tree is from K&Company/E.K. Success.

Stretching your Spellbinders

I was playing around with my Spellbinder label dies and found what I thought was a neat way to stretch them - actually all this means is only cutting a partial image! Here's my first sample.

The overall card is very simple; however the making of the "ribbon" is  what takes time and practice. I used one of the Fancy Label dies to create my ribbon. To do this I place the die halfway on the edge of the cutting plate. The paper should be longer and extend beyond the edge of the cutting plate and die. Then starting with the opposite side, put start putting your plates through your Cuttle Bug being careful to roll them through slowly and only until you cut through half of the die. Then you should have what looks like a ribbon with a decorative end. In my case I used gold paper for the ribbon. To finish the card I used the leaf dies from Spellbinders and cut out three sets of small leaves from green paper, which I added at the bottom of the ribbon and embellished with a 3D paper flower from Recollections. The text is from Stampendous.

The partial cutting techniques works with all of the dies and can even be used to create the openings in folded cards. Try it!

Easter "ornament" card.

As I've said many times, I love Christmas ornaments and seeing one of our neighbors hang Easter eggs from one of their trees gave me the idea to make an Easter "ornament" card.

The card itself is a simple 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white card (standard size A2) to which I added three 3D round stickers (Punch Studios) in an irregular pattern. I then connected the top of each sticker to the top of the card with thin gold line stickers (Stampendous). To create the idea of an ornament hanger I added a small piece of left over sticker from the details of corners I used previously just above the round stickers. The last thing I did was add the text (Stampendous).

CuttleBug/Spellbinder Frames.

Having various embossing folders and dies I'm always looking at finding new ways to use them and even combine them. My latest passion is creating frames using CuttleBug embossing folders and then cutting an opening with Spellbinder dies. Here are my latest three samples.

The first card uses the CuttleBug "Rebecca's Frame" embossing folder on a piece of antique gold paper (The Paper Company) on which I then lightly sanded the raised areas. The center cut out was done using two of the Spellbinders "Labels Five" dies. I used a smaller die to extend the pattern on the end of a larger one. The rest is just "K&Company" paper and 3D rhinestoned flowers and an old text sticker from "Making Memories".

The second card uses the CuttleBug "Grace's Frame" embossing folder on a piece of antique gold paper (The Paper Company) . The center cut out was done using  the Spellbinders "Labels Eight" die.  The rest is just "K&Company" paper and 3D glittered flowers and an old text sticker from "Die Cut with a View".

The third cards uses uses the CuttleBug "Grace's Frame" embossing folder on a piece of white paper (The Paper Company) . The center cut out was done using the Spellbinders "Labels Eight" die. I framed both the larger embossed panel and the interior die cut with dark grey paper (The Paper Company). The rest is just "K&Company" paper and 3D glittered flowers and text sticker from "Stampendous" which I colored black with a marker.

Mojo Monday #232/ Moldie Oldie all rolled into one!

This week I decided to combine the Mojo Monday challenge with the Moldie Oldie challenge and threw in the OWH need for father's day cards as well.

The background papers are from "Die Cut with a View" for the upper half and "Creative Imagination" for the bottom half. The wood grained tag is from "WoodStone" by "Cloud-9-Designs". The ribbon is a self adhesive border from "K&Company/E.K. Success", as is the matching flag medallion. The image is from "Pebbles Inc". and is mounted "K&Company/E.K. Success" wood grained patterned paper with "Making Memories"  mini black square brads. the only new item is the computer generated text.

Framed thank you!

I really enjoy the idea of "framing" the main image on my cards. Most of the time I do this by layering background papers slightly smaller than the card but once in a while I use an actual frame. The best looking frames I've found are die cut frames in a pad from "K&Company/E.K. Success". Here's one example of a framed card using a die cut frame.

The card starts as a 4 1/4' x 5 1/2" white card on which I added a die-cut background (Spellbinders) from a patterned piece of paper (Die Cut with a View) edged in brown and black ink (Ink It-up!). To emphasize the idea of the image being framed, I created a black mat to fit inside the frame (K&Company/E.K. Success) I selected and to which I added a piece of pastel flowered paper (Anne Griffin) as a background to the inside of the die cut frame. I then added a flower bouquet (Punch Studios) inside the frame and added the finished frame to the card. To create the illusion that the frame is hanging on a wall I cut apart a bow (Mrs. Grosmman's) and then pieced it together at the top and bottom of the frame to create the look of a hanging ribbon. The final touch was the addition of the text (Mrs. Grossman's).

Saint Patrick's Day

This is not a Holiday that I usually make cards for but when I saw this little guy I just knew he needed a good home!

The card background design (E.K. Success/Inkadinkado) was embossed in green (Ranger Embossing Powder) on a white square 4" x 4"; which was then mounted on bright kelly green paper trimmed 1/4" larger all around and then mounted on a 5" x 5" square white card.  For a little bit of added sparkle I added a green faux gem (Stampendous Dot Sparklers) in the center of each shamrock and flourish. The central image is a 3D sticker (E.K. Success/Jolee's Boutique).of a happy leprechaun. Simple and cute!