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!