Updated Snowman

Sometimes you have to alter a card after you publish it.  Here is the link to the original version - sparkleglitter-snowman.  I even pointed out that it needed the greeting.  Funnily enough when I made this I thought it was going to go to my MIL but I changed my mined.  I like this card a lot more now with how the salutation/greeting helps to ground it by echoing the color of the sky and there is something wintery and ethereal about the script of the words as well.

Ingredients
Card size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2";
Cardstock - Recollections 65lb white, blue, kraft;
Stamps - High Hopes stamps: Gimme A Hug! Snowman, Snow Background; Kitchen Sink Stamps: Whole Family; 
Ink - Gina K Color Companions: Black Onyx, White; Distress Inks: Broken China; Memento: Danube Blue;
Color - Copics
Accessories - Stickles: Diamond; Recollections: Red, Black; Martha Stewart glitter: snow

No Peeking...

Oh my! I made this card for Christmas with my nephew and his fiancee in mind.  I thought it had just the right bit of fun innuendo and fun for them for Christmas.

I colored the Three Pane Santa with Copics a while ago and dug it out of my stash to create this card.  Initially I was going to leave it as is but the image got lost on my large card so I decided to cut the Santa's out and stack them down the card. This card was a definite make it work moment.  I took paper out of a Recollections pad I got last Christmas that played on the whimsy of the Santas and the colors but added a bit more color as well.  The ribbon is from my stash and I think the whole color combo reminds me of Christmas treats and sweets.

 I placed the Santas so I could get the spacing for the wording.  The wording is stamped in white ink and I love the unexpected contrast with the black.  Honestly, I toyed with the idea of putting something in the bottom right corner but felt that it would be too much and I like how the empty space seems to ground the card.

Entered in High Hopes Stamps Blog - Sentiment on the front challenge 

Ingredients:
Card size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Cardstock - Recollections - 110 lb white, 65 lb black, red; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb; Recollections - Fa La La La paperpad;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps - Three Pane Santa, No Peeking, Poking or Shaking;
Ink - Memento Tuxedo black;  Gina K Designs Color Companions White;
Color - Copics;
Accessories - American Craft ribbon; Dimensionals.

Sparkle/Glitter Snowman!

Another High Hopes challenge to make a card with a High Hopes stamp including sparkle/glitter.

I stamped and colored the snowman with Copics.  I then fussy cut him out and added glitter on his berries and coal.  I stamped the background with white and accented the snow with Stickles.  The snow drifts were cut from cardstock and inked with Distress Ink and I added the Martha Stewart Snow glitter to the edges.


I decided to get a head start on my Christmas cards.  I haven't decided who is getting this one yet so I have left the greeting off for now.  I think it might also need a drift or a shadow under the snowman...

Ingredients
Card size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2";
Cardstock - Recollections 65lb white, blue, kraft;
Stamps - High Hopes stamps: Gimme A Hug! Snowman, Snow Background;
Ink - Gina K Color Companions: Black Onyx, White; Distress Inks: Broken China;
Color - Copics
Accessories - Stickles: Diamond; Recollections: Red, Black; Martha Stewart glitter: snow

Never Frogget!

I think we can agree I just went dotty over the High Hopes blog challenge this week - Polka Dot Mania .

I stamped the Frog Prince stamp and Mushroom Two stamp with Gina K Designs Black Onyx and colored in with Derwent Inktense pencils.  The mushroom is in my eldest's school colors orange and brown.  I then fussy cut the frog, cutting off his crown, and covered in versamark and UTEE and heat embossed him.  Doing this gave him a mottled appearance that I wanted.

Using my Polka Dots folder I dry embossed the base.  And I diecut the mushroom with circles to make them big polka dots.

To be honest I put the card together and then struggled as to where to put the sentiment.  Then I decided to do a half dot under the image and to look out the little $1 Studio G alphabet stamps I picked up at Michaels.  Couldn't believe that I had a circle one in the lot so of course that is the one I HAD to use!  A bit of dotty ribbon added just enough to help anchor the image.

Ingredients
Card size - 4 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections: 110lb (295 gsm) white, 65lb green, kraft;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Frog Prince, Mushroom Two; Studio G: alphabet;
Ink - Gina K Designs Color Companion Black Onyx;
Color - Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils;
Accessories - American Crafts ribbon; UTEE; Dimensionals; Circle diecut.

Oops there goes another rubber tree plant!

I created this card for the High Hopes blog challenge this week - Buggin' Out using their iconic (IMHO) High Hopes Ant.  Isn't he just the cutest.  I played with mixing patterns and I think it worked.  I can't decide whether to send it to my mother as a pick me up or MIL as a moving card!

Ingredients
Card size - 4 1/4 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Recollections 110 lbs/ 298 gsm white, 65lb purple, pink, and paperstack.
Stamps - High Hopes Ant
Ink - Archival Ink
Color - Koi watercolors
Accessories - computer printed sentiment; dimensional tape.

A Knight Light

So I bought these glass blocks over a year ago, and I decided now was the time to do something with them. I have a special place in my heart for this young lady because I know how much it means to her mom that she is going to University.

I found a font I liked on my computer and printed her name on tissue paper and adhered it to the block with modge podge.  That is the "graining" you see through the paper from the brush strokes.  I cut/tore the edges of the tissue paper.  I let that dry for a bit and printed out her University's shield from a pdf I found online.  In an attempt to get get a different texture behind the tissue paper I stippled the modge podge onto the block and ended up with a hot mess.  I washed off the block and modge podge, dried the block and started again.  This time I went with what I knew and decided that the graining added an artistic flair.

After that cured overnight, I sealed the block with matte sealer on both sides.  The sealer basically frosted the glass that wasn't already covered by tissue paper.  I then put a ribbon around the block (that black & white polka dot one) and made a bow topper.

It was my first time making a bow let alone a bow with multiple ribbons.  There are a few layers I would have done slightly differently but in the end I like how it turned out.  I went with black and white because they are neutral and go with anything.

I placed the bow on top of the block and decided I wanted "more" or to be honest a more personal touch.  So I dug out my knight in shining armor stamp and colored it in School colors, then I had find a place to adhere it... nothing looked right so I made a topper to attach to the bow.  Of course, then I had to decorate the back of the topper.

That is when I went through my graduation stamp sets and found this wonderful phrase.  A bit of Versamark and white embossing powder later with some white gel pen highlights and I had my topper complete.

I found the flower and rhinestone when I bought the ribbon and thought it would add a girly flair to the block.  Can't be too girly now can we?

My biggest regret with this...I didn't use a hot glue gun to attach the bow.  TBH I wasn't supposed to see, but I saw my gift in two pieces. HEARTBREAK! I guess it could have been worse and been a shattered block on the floor.  Anyway I had used large 3D glue dots for the bow.  Learnt my lesson on that one. *Sigh* These things happen.

The night light was placed by using a hot knife to cut an access in the plastic bung. I then used a 3D glue dot to keep it upright and a couple of foam dimensionals to keep the bung in the block (seemed loose on this one for whatever reason).  I didn't want to make it too permanent for when the bulb needs replacing eventually.

The upside to this experience is that I have had a sly request for another from my eldest. I will have to get my thinking cap on!

Ingredients
Surface - Krafty Blok Large
Paper/Cardstock -Printed Tissue Paper, Neenah Classic Crest, The Paper Company
Adhesive - Modge Podge, 3D Zots, Foam Dimensionals
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Hero Arts Graduation
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, VersamarkColor - Copics
Miscellaneous - Ribbon, Flower, White Gel Pen, Matte Sealer, Night light.

Tree of Love - Wedding inspiration

So as with earlier this year we recieved an invite and I used it for my inspiration.  Truthfully the bride had shown me pictures of her wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses several months ago and I had been mulling over the details on making just the right card for this girlie girl bride.  Any time I spoke with her or her family it was about the pink dressed with black buttons all the way down the back.  I kept trying to make something like that work and just didn't like anything I could think out.  Then the invite arrived: a sillouetted couple with branches (and trees on the envelope and back) and hearts... hmmm....

So I went with the color scheme, and a tree full of hearts, lots of hearts.  I thought the polka dots embossing alluded to the black buttons down the back of the dresses.  Psst. Look closely at the tree trunk.  I "carved" the couple's initials in the trunk!

Truthfully I completed this card without the black heart... and it needed a bit more pop.  Yikes I had already used the largest of my dies to make the aperture.  So I used the negative and attempted to trace around it at 1/4 inch and then hand cut it to make the frame for the aperture. 

This is the inside of the card.  The pink polka dot paper from the paper pack didn't quite match so I went with the black and more hearts which we used to sign the card.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Recollections (pinks)

Paper - The Paper Studio

Stamps - High Hopes (image), Kitchen Sink Stamps (greeting), I Brake for Stamps (Inside)

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Spellbinders heart dies; Polka dot Embossing folder;  Heart punch unknown.

There's something fishy about this...

So I had to make a quick card for a teenage girl who invited my kids to a pool party.  She loves tigers (used my only tiger for her last year) and Team Jacob but not Twilight (and I have no idea how to even approach that with the stamps I have!) so I decided to go with the water theme.  I like the card but don't think it particularly screams teenage girl and maybe that is a good thing because she isn't the most girlie girl - in fact I think she would have been offended by a pink card though if you look at this card you can see I did manage to get some glitter on the fish!

This card represents a lot to me.  I think after I decided the theme it was just about the quickest card I have ever made! From first inking to final glitter application all over the cod, I think it took me just under two hours which was the time frame I had to complete it.  I am so excited about that.  I think technically it is pretty good, though with a bit more time I might have added some friends for the cod to swim with on its birthday though I kinda like the watery open space.  Maybe next time I use these stamps I will add a present dangling from a fishing line and maybe a party hat for the cod... I always seem to come up with these ideas after the fact! LOL.

AND it is another airbrush card!  Lots of water and sand airbrushing. I'm loving my cheap Harbor Freight compressor - the most time consuming part is making the masks and I just keep them with the stamps so I have them for the next time!

Ingredients

Card size 8.5 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock Neenah, Recollections (blue)

Stamps High Hopes

Ink Memento

Color Copics - TBH the colors were three out of each 10 group and I don't know if the specifics are so important because it's personal choice to match what you want to match.

Accessories  Spellbinders Nestabilities, Glitter Glue (plain old kiddy glitter glue).

My 9 year old cousin loved it! But I have the feeling I missed the mark with regard to a teenage girl... oh well I will probably have next year to get it right! LOL!

Perfectly Pink Girlie birthday

I do so many masculine, boyish cards that sometimes it's really good to let myself go and really go for it with the girlie ones!  There is lots on this card but supplies-wise its fairly straight-forward 3 cardstock choices, two inks, 4 stamp sets, markers, nestabilities, circle cutter and a bit of bling... hmm maybe there is more to it than I thought!  I guess it just goes to prove when you are in the zone with a card it flows.

To be honest I colored this image last year.  I always have trouble at the beginning of the year switching from Christmas and winter blahs to getting cards done and as my Brother in Law and dear, youngest cousin have birthdays 4 weeks after Christmas I just can't afford to lose my mojo like that.  It's the first time I have tried to do that and I have to say I really enjoyed the process.  I picked this image for my cousin because she has this little black cat that honestly follows her around like a dog and pines for her when she is at school by sitting by her bedroom door and crying for her loudly. 

 I chose the pinks from what I had left over from a Recollections paper pack that I bought a couple of years ago and decided I wanted to stamp tone on tone and just see how that turned out.  The base is Neenah and I stamped "9 Today" repeatedly to create a background.  I then used the same ink to continue with the greetings on the pale pink cardstock.  The large circle was cut before stamping and the small circles after.  I wanted the greetings to stand out a bit more so one I highlighted with white dots and the other with white faux stitching.  After cutting and matting the image with nestabilities I felt the whole card needed a bit of bling so I adhered three rhinestones in each corner of the mat.

Recipe

Card size -  8.5in x 5.5in

Card Stock - Neenah, Recollections

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black, Rose bud

Color-  Copics, American Craft white gel pen

Accessories - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter, Rhinestones

Ye Old Buzzard -that's my BIL

So my brother-in-law turned 50 and what was I to do but rub it in his face.  It wasn't until I was nearly finished with this card that my husband decided to suggest a Hawaii Five-O theme.  Really? You wait until I am nearly finished with a unique card that isn't useful for anyone else we know this year?!  Anyway I stuck with my original plan and will have to try to remember to use the Hawaiian theme in the future!  So here's my attempt at elder humor -

It's a combined stamps project.  What can I say if I like a stamp I use it.  And I really like how these combined.  The image is from High Hopes Stamps and the Large numbers are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I love both stamp companies - High Hopes for their whimsy and Kitchen Sink Stamps for their beauty.  I wanted the graphic punch of a cartoon with this card, do you remember the days when we used to get excited about the color in the newspaper and how they used to print the comics in color on Sunday?  I guess I'm showing my age because its a fond memory of mine and that was the sort of feel I was going for with this.  Did I get it right?  The multi-colored line of "50" is the envelope.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Stampendous (the small 50 on the balloon)

Ink - Memento tuxedo black, Big Juicy Pad (kaleidoscope effect), Versamark

Color - Copics

Accessories - White embossing powder

2010 - Penguin sleigh party

The last of my last year's Christmas cards well not quite - would you believe I have a whole group of "winter cards sat here that haven't been mounted to send to some special people in my life? Yeah, I didn't think I was stretching your imagination too much with that one!  Maybe its something to do with publishing photos of my work 2-3 months after I have sent it out!  Still I love to share even if its only with a few people.

So here it is and a bit blurry too!  Bet you would believe that I take most of my pictures just as I'm stuffing that envelope to get my cards out the door too... hmmmm I think I might be giving away all my closely guarded secrets!

Anyway I like how this ended up and hope you do to.

Recipe

Card size -  8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock -  Neenah, Bazzill, Recollections

Stamps -  High Hopes (I think)

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug dots embossing folder.

2010 Ski bear Snow Wishes

I decided early on that I wanted this card to use non-traditional christmas colors. 

I think it works even though I didn't have quite the right color cardstock and ribbon to match the blues in the coloring.  Sometimes I think we can get too hung up on things matching.  When Helena Bonham Carter was questioned by Jay Leno recently about her oddly paired shoes at the Golden Globes she said perfection is overrated and she is happy being herself. 

I think she had a point.  I know many card makers that can drive themselves to distraction trying to perfectly match items rather than enjoying the "flaw" or even glorying in it - so here's a shout out for non-matching blues - don't let them get ya down!

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Stamps -  High Hopes

Ink -  Memento

Color-  Copics

Accessories - Ribbon from Michaels, Spellbinders snowflake background die.

PS - the color matching police haven't found me yet!

2010 Merry Kiss Moose!

Maybe I should have published this warm little kiss earlier this winter!  Definitely a cute idea for a winter warmer.  I sent this little card kiss to my BIL and SIL.  I tried a few patterns and embossing folders for the background and I was happier with the less is more approach, almost like that old saying about taking off one piece of jewelry before you walk out the door, however as I normally only wear earrings I think I would look a bit odd with only one earring so maybe I will just stick with I planned this card to be clean and simple!  It will be a secret just between us right?

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - ribbon from Michaels. Corner rounder.

Christmas elf wishes 2010

I honestly don't know if this worked.  I tried to make this look like a package but I think it probably just looks a bit top heavy.  I played and played with placement I just couldn't get it any better than this.

 

So basically its my same normal construction model.  I got this stamp as an extra when I ordered directly from High Hopes - I think they only deal with shops now so I don't know about availability.  I colored this stamp with copics and mat and layered to pop it a bit and added the green ribbon as an accent.  I'm thinking that is probably where I went wrong and got the proportions of the ribbon layout too far into the corner.  Still if we don't try these things how do we ever learn.

Recipe

Card size  8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock  Neenah, Archiver's open stock red

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - ribbon from Michaels

The bluebird of happy birthday

Wow I guess I really have been away from my blog for a while what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and life in general.  Well hopefully this card will help you cheer up and inspire you to think warm thoughts!

This card was for my Sister in Law.  She loves gardening and although her birthday is at the end of October I thought it would make a change for her to get a card suited to her interests rather than the autumnal season.

What isn't obvious about this card was immediately after stamping "Sister in Law" I lost the stamps.  They are clear and I couldn't find them on my work table anywhere.  I looked and looked and nearly emailed the manufacturer about whether they make replacements after I had exhausted any idea of where they could have fallen when they just turned up right where I had previously looked.  I'm putting it down to pre Christmas stress!

I like the juxtaposition of the formal font for the greeting with the whimsical stamps.  Do you think it works?

I stamped the front panel wanting to keep all the stamping on one layer and make an impact with the white space.  The bird and birdhouse on the inside I did stamp and cut out and apply as I didn't want bleed through to the back of the card.  I also put some scrap cardstock inside an envelope and stamped and colored the envelope with that inside to prevent bleed through to the back of the envelope and to give my Sister in Law a glimpse of what her card was going to be about.

I really like this card - almost too much to send!

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source (black)

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes Stamps

Ink - Memento tuxedo black and blue danube (?)

Color - Copics

Totally Tiger

I made this card for a tiger lover.  I bet you never would have guessed!  I attempted to use flocking on the background... I know its kinda faded but I like it.  I think it looks more realistic that way.

Recipe
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Bazzill
Stamps - High Hopes, Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink - Memento, Versamark
Color - Copic, American Craft
Accessories - Nestabilities,  Fun Flock

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

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