A boy and his catapult/slingshot - for UK Mothering Sunday

Yes, there is definitely a story behind this card. Firstly, this card is for my MIL for Mothering Sunday, March 14th. She is the mother of boys and my husband is her youngest so by the time he came along they had already done it with the eldest. He still has ongoing stories about not having pets, toys, etc because his brother had them. One such item he never had was a catapult until his older brother became an apprentice welder and made him one. The catapult was then worked on by both them and they found a bit of tubing and proper density elastic to make it work. Of course, no self respecting boy would leave his catapult lying around without ensuring it could work. There in lies the story of my husband deciding the best thing to aim at was the neighbour's telly aerial. He had had a few goes and missed, that was until his father came out to see what he was up to. He told his father right away he was aiming at the neighbour's aerial and took another shot. Well as luck would have it he hit and in the same breath his father confiscated his catapult never to be seen again until they were clearing out the garage a couple of years later.

I saw these easel cards on SCS - I didn't really read the directions - I just had a go at my craft table. I like the way it turned out. Again this is another card that I'm trying to use up some of my paper stash - this is from a Basic Grey pad.

Ingredients -

Card Size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Stamps - High Hopes, Kitchen Sink Stamps

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Ink - Memento - Rhubarb, Tuxedo, Rich Cocoa; Ranger - Distress Inks

Paper - Basic Grey Archive

Color - Copics - B000, B93, B95, B97, G21, G28, E02, E04, E08, E31, E33, E35, R35, R37, R46, R59

Accessories - Prima flowers, Making Memories Brads, dimensional tape

Purple Pansy Petal Power!

I love this card - it turned out so much better than my brain imagined it - I just went with the creative flow and it all worked out this time!

I bought this Clear Dollar Stamp sets specifically to use for my MIL's birthday. She is a gardener at heart. She actually worked with disabled gardeners until her retirement and then continued to run a monthly club for them to attend.

If you haven't seen these flower of the month and flower sets at Clear Dollar Stamps then check them out - they have so much punch and variety within them.

I started this card out by using my Pansy set and coloring it with my copics - well actually that's not quite what happened. I started out this card with the intent on using my twinkling H2O's to create a luminous card that I knew my MIL would love. I painstakingly colored my main image and all the while not truly liking how it was turning out... Yikes! This really wasn't speaking to me. So knowing I was up against it and really needed to get this done I changed course and went back to my trusted copics and stamped and colored again - oh, yes! that really is much better. So the flower was colored and a nice sky halo of blue added to help it "pop".

Oh dear, now what. I looked at my Flower of the month set... I want to use the script... hmmm do I mask the image and use it? That doesn't seem quite right for what I am wanting. So I decided to create a background with the set using the script. On thinking it out I thought the script alone would be "too" masculine so I added the flowers, playing about with the placement using the stamps and the projected image in my head (no image available - just clutter in there!) and decided to stamp the image in a row of three and working out that if I turned the stamp 180 that it would fit together in the middle of the page rather nicely. Then I added another row of script stamping. I used the London Fog grey because I just wanted a softened reference to the original image. I colored in the pansies on my background just using the lightest of the colors I had used with my original image. I looked at my background and thought it needed something. There is just something about "script" that always screams antique to me - so I dug out my Distressed Ink inkpads and found Faded Linen and a sponge and just sponged over the entire background.

Afterwards I was playing with a layout idea and thought I would need a sentiment - I decided to use Brilliance Victorian purple and clear embossing on my sentiment to match the mounts of the image and the card. I wanted it to have a different sheen to it to stand out slightly from the background itself. Then I used the Swiss dots embossing folder for the entire background - that took three passes - I was thinking about using another folder but I wasn't certain I could get the pattern to match. I set my background aside to work some more on my main image.

I had stamped and colored my main imaged on a 4.25 in x 5.5 in sheet of cardstock. I wanted to use one of my Nestability sets - so after going through them all! I decided on one and used the next size for the mount...hmmm... I decided to embossing the image layer... now what? It doesn't really pop like I want - so out came the Distress Inks and sponge again and I used the die as a mask. On the mount layer it just seemed to need something to tie it together a bit more so I used the inside of the die as a guide to put down some faux stitching.

I decided to make the effort to match up the inside of the card too -

I decided I wanted to repeat the usage of my stamps again to mirror the front of the card. I first stamped the main image pansy in the center of the back of the card and the the sentiment in purple then I used the FotM pansies for the bottom corner and the script stamp across the bottom. It just felt like it still needed something so I softly colored in the pansies to match the front! It was then I decided to stop.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Bazzill, Neenah

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps Pansy and Pansy Flower of the Month; Kitchen Sink Stamps Whole Family

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, London Fog, Grape Jelly; Brilliance Victorian purple; Distress Inks Antique Linen

Copics - BV00, BV02, BV04, BV08, Gooo, Goo, G14, G17, Y11, Y15, Y17

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots

Nestabilities

Owl thank you!

I love this cuttlebug folder - its not new but its such a great way to get a sentiment on a card without it taking over the image. I just embossed the front and then adhered it to the card base and edged the front in a purple ink that matched the mount for the owl image.

The image is from Clear Dollar Stamps colored in with copics. I love their images and have made a vow to use them more (which probably isn't too difficult as they may make up the majority of my stamping collection these days!)

I'm trying to get caught up as I have the disease of procrastination. These are for my children to send thank you's to my DH's aunties who send them gifts at Christmas. Now the hard part - getting them to write them!

Ingredients
Card Size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Grape Jelly

Clear Dollar Stamps - What a Hoot

Copics - E31,E33, E35, E37, B000, YR04

Cuttlebug Folder - Thanks

Nestabilities

A 2010 card! but only on the scanner

Sorry I don't have fancy photography for this one - I had camera issues and had to get it sent on its overseas journey - so on the scanner it went.

I covered the entire front in S.E.I. designer paper Alpine Forest (the white around the card is the scanner lid). The image is from Clear Dollar Stamps. I used it for my BIL because it reminded me of the birds that advertise Guiness which is just perfect for my BIL. I chose the cardstock to reflect that history and earthiness of the thick stout. After deciding on a layout I thought I should emboss a greeting but I wanted it unobstrusive, so I decided to use my Kitchen Sink set and Zig white embossing powder so that the "Brother" was there but not glaringly so.

I think the card is a little quirky with the mix of earthiness and cute birds but I think I like it because of that; I could have bought a card that was either or but this combination is truly unique because it is handmade. What do you think? Did I take it too far? Not far enough?

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock/Paper - Neenah, S.E.I.
Ink - Memento, Versamark
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps "Hanging Out" , Kitchen Sink Stamps "Whole Family"
Copics - 0, B000, B00, C3, C5, C7, E50, E51, E08, E49, R35, R37, YR02, YR04, YR07,

Hello friend!

Oh dear...

I think I said I had already posted ALL my 2009 cards... well you can understand that I meant my 2009 Christmas cards right?LOL

This is a card I made for a dear friend whose birthday is at Christmas time and I like to send her birthday cards that don't look like Christmas cards with "Happy Birthday" on them.

I really like how simple this was and how it turned out.

Loads of rectangles to compliment one another and a great patterned cardstock from DCWV. I cut apart a Stampendous phrase to keep it short and relevant, and guess what! no stamp police came and hunted me down for doing that! LOL.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Stampendous (greeting)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Canteloupe
Copics - B000, B00, B93, B95, B97, E00, E02, E11, E31,E33,E35, G000, G00, G02, G05, G07, G14, G21, G28, R20, Y11, Y15, Y17, YR02, YR04, YR07

2009 Christmas nephew

Drum roll please! this is the last card from 2009! So what do you think? I sent it to our nephew. I managed to continue to use up some of my designer paper stash too!

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock/Paper - Neenah, Archiver's open stock, Provocraft Rob & Bob stack
Stamp - High Hopes
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics - 0, E00, E02, R20, R22, R27, R29, C1, C3, W1, Booo, American Craft white gel pen
Embellishments - Liquid Applique, Nestabilities

2009 Christmas neice

I made this Christmas card for my neice she isn't that young (16) but I thought she would like the funky whimsy of the combinations. I think this is my favorite because I really like these stamps despite all the issues people have had with High Hopes. Its part of my trying to use what I have already series!

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock/Paper - Neenah, Archiver's open stock, Provocraft Rob & Bob stack
Stamp - High Hopes
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics - 0, E00, E02, R20, R22, R27, R29, C1, C3, C5, C7, W1, W3, G14, G17, B000, B00
Spica red and gold
Embellishments - Liquid Applique

Christmas 2009 - BIL & SIL

As these are now last year's Christmas cards I am trying to KISS (keep it simple stupid) them. If you want to know more let me know, but it's all pretty self explanatory.
This card was for my BIL and SIL. I think it may be my favorite of the two individual cards I sent. I used my large cuttlebug holly embossing folder and then just colored over the raised holly with my copics and red spica pen. I colored the ribbon to match with the same pens and the "drops" are clear floral pebbles from Michael's that I color the back to match.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV

Embossing folder - Provocraft

Color - Copics G17

Ink - Memento Lady Bug Red

White grosgrain

Christmas 2009 for the MIL

Should I start with what I would change about this card? LOL - well I would have had the tree stand on a colored background so the snow (chunky glitter) would pop.

This is pretty much all Martha Stewart punches glued on to look like a full spruce. I got my inspiration on Splitcoast Stampers - I don't know who was first but there were many cards. The ornaments are all jewelled brads and the sentiment is one of my favorites from Kitchen Sink Stamps embossed with white embossing powder.

So how would you have made this card better? I like the red,white and green traditional color scheme but did I take it too far.

Maybe I should have just put the tree directly on the red... hmmm....

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Archiver's open stock, Michael's Recollections
Punch - Martha Stewart
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Versamark with Zig embossing powder

Christmas 2009

We are over a month into the new year and I haven't posted up 2009 Christmas cards - I decided to just give myself a break and get them done rather than trying to be the Superwoman of crafting. So here they are.

What do you think. I made an effort to use up some Rob&Bob paper stack - and to be honest I think I got 96 cards out of one sheet of each design!!! I really have to try harder to use it before I hate it. I did resist picking up another designer paper pad a couple of weeks ago when I popped into Michael's after getting my car serviced. I loved the paper but I just don't have the room at the moment. I also made use of a lot of left over gingerbread colored cardstock from Michael's that I had left over for cardstock I bought for last year's Christmas cards.

The gingerbread man is from High Hopes love the stamps but didn't like the wait and am disappointed that others are still having issues. They now sell through wholesellers so that is probably the best way - I don't know if I would have the guts to pre-order with them though.

I used this card as inspiration - Toni Storie . I hope everyone thinks I did it justice.

Of note, I will buy SCAL or similar for my cutter as cutting 100 Gingerbread men is a pain in the hand (now just what did you think I was going to say????)

So here's the details of a card that looks really simple but had a lot of steps to make it look just right -

Ingredients
Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in (yes that is a change for me!!!)
Cardstock/Paper - Neenah, Archiver's open stock, Provocraft Rob & Bob, Michael's
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Color - Copics - E11 or E21, R29, R22; Sakura or American Craft white gel pen. Black fine point Sharpie

Flying High Snoopy.

I make no apologies - I LOVE SNOOPY. I bought this stamp ages ago and kept forgetting to use it. I guess I deserve the cone of shame for that (yes, an "Up" reference - great movie if you haven't seen it). I took all the color cues from the stamp mount.

And do look close so you can avoid my mistake - my red hadn't bled into the circles until I thought I would put some grey shading in there after I had colored the red. Lesson learnt I won't put red down on my card until last again when using copics!

Don't know if you can actually tell but Snoopy is the lightest of greys with a liberal use of the blender pen.

To make Snoopy pop even more I matched the embossed greeting to the horizon of blue around the plane. I think it works, I hope you do too.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Michael's
Stamps - Stampabilities
Ink - Memento tuxedo black
Color - Copics - 0, W1, W3, W5, W7, E35, E37, R46, R59, B000
Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder