Another Girly Birthday Card

I needed a card for a coworker and found myself returning to the butterfly.  I used my Heartfelt Creations Botantical Wings stamp and die.  I stamped the butterfly on white cardstock with black Archival Ink.  I used Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade Distress Markers to color the butterfly and then a bit of Wink of Stella brush to make it glitter  The glitter isn't really captured in these pictures.


The branch was stamped with brown Archival In and die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Leafy Branch stamp and die.  I used a Q-tip to color the center of the branch with brown ink as well.  The flowers were die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Posy dies and a little October Tango prills used in the center of each.

  

On the inside- a lot of white space and a simple black Archival Ink sentiment.  So much fun. I think I could always work with butterflies in my projects.  How about you?

Chalkboard Hymns- I'm telling you this was fun!

I picked up a couple of Our Daily Bread Designs Chalkboard Hymns stamps at the rubber stamp convention last fall.  I know- the same convention I worked last weekend!  Well, I think the return of the convention worked in my favor because I finally watched the video they have which discusses how to use these stamps and I decided to play around.

Once I got going, I just couldn't stop.  The added pieces are mostly cut using my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Lace die, Heartfelt Creations Posy stamp and die with a few of my Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies die cuts to add to the cards.  Strap in, it is going to be a picture heavy ride for a couple of minutes.  I ended up making about 18 of these beauties from various patterned papers in the stash- so old I can't even tell you when or where I got them.

Prickly Pear mini-butterflies.  I just love them!

So, I made so many of these cards trying to get the chalkboard technique down that I had to put some together in a card set to give as a gift.  I'm still working the design out, but will post that later when I got the project done and pictures made.

A Cute Little Card

This card is ultimately a paper piecing job and just sort of fell together.  I was eying some of the leftover pieces from my MME The Sweetest Thing Tangerine paper pad.  It is chock full of little fussy cut pieces.  I used this Pinterest pin as inspiration to coordinate all the pieces.  The shaped background was cut using my Labels 17 die and trimmed off the top to create a straight edge like the inspiration.  I used my paper trimmer to cut the other patterned paper pieces and sewed them to the background frame.  The flower was cut using my Posy dies, shaped and finished with a pearl accent.  The flags and the sentiment embellishment were fussy cut out of a piece from the paper pad.   Just a piece of whimsy to send one day to brighten someone's day.

Merry Christmas!

Again, behind posting.  Trying to squeeze in.  Yikes!  Merry Christmas two days late!

This is my Christmas card this year.  When I saw the Heartfelt Creations Shepherd Scene stamps three years ago at the scrapbook convention I fell in love.  I resisted the purchase- times were financially tough then and I couldn't afford the purchase and attending the scrapbook convention too.  In 2012, I could resist no longer mainly because I got a free stamp set for taking a Heartfelt Creations class.  Still, the 2012 Christmas card design was already in development and this stamp set didn't make the cut. 

2013 seemed just the right year to make this card the highlight.  I wanted to play with watercoloring- not my forte.  Here's the details:

• The Shepherd Scene is stamped with black Archival Ink.  The shading is done with a Faded Jeans Distress Marker.  A water pen was then loaded with a little Faded Jeans Distress Ink and washed over the entire image.  This is what created the "cloud" like effect over the image.  It might be hard to see in the picture.
• The star was enhanced with a glue pen and some microfine silver glitter. 
• The image was cut out using Brandy's Nestabilities Labels 4.  It was a perfect fit for the card.
• The frame image was cut out using Brandy's Nestabilities Romantic Rectangles using a blue cardstock.  Truthfully, this cut and that color of paper simply made my Christmas cards this year.  It also sold me on getting a Grand Calibur which I achieved much later in the year after I borrowed all these supplies from Brandy.
• The poinsettia was stamped with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and cut using my Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies.  The poinsettia leaves were cut using a Magnolia Doohickies die.  The size is just perfect for the Spellbinders/Heartfelt Creations Layered Poinsettia dies.
• The branched leaf was cut using my Spellbinders Foliage die.  The posies were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Posy Patch die.  The centers of the posies were created using a white Pearl Pen. 

• The inside was embellished with a sentiment stamp I found at Hobby Lobby, stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

All in all, I am most proud of this year's Christmas card.  I think I say that each year, but this year I really mean it.  It will take some thinking as to what I'm going to accomplish next year.  The layers/height of this card was probably borderline appropriate for the post office.  It was a pleasure making all 50 of these cards.  I can't hardly wait to start on next years!

Happiest Birthday Card

I often bemoan the fact that I have to work full time.  It seriously cuts into my crafty time!  However, a couple times a year someone special at work has a birthday and I get to focus on a project for a co-worker that really makes the days better and my work lighter.  This card is one of them.  It's for my co-worker, Wendy.  Wendy is a gift to me so much of the card was created to show her how grateful I am for her.  The inspiration was this Pinterest pin. The papers come from a clearance Stampin' Up paper collection.  They worked so well giving me the perfect color palette.  I knew that I wanted to do something more detailed and requiring more effort than a simple sentiment on a square piece of paper.  I used my Apothecary Art stamp set from Stampin' Up with brown Archival Ink.  The image was colored with my Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Peacock Feathers Distress inks using a water brush.  The entire tag was fussy cut and distressed with some Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  You'll also notice some Heartfelt Creations Posies stamped with brown Archival Ink with a pearl center, pieces of a Our Daily Bread Fancy Foliage leafy swirl along with a couple of pearl accents and a piece of organza ribbon from the stash.  All cardstock pieces are edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The inside begged for a treatment and a piece of the patterned paper.  This beautiful piece was cut from a 12 x 12 piece.  I added the small, shaped posy to create some dimension and stamped the sentiment in brown Archival Ink.  The cardstock edges were worn using my distress tool and the patterned paper was rolled by hand.  Both were edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  All of my co-workers signed in the open space and I can say that this card turned out the way I anticipated.  Wendy deserved it.

Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Thanks for all the kind encouragement regarding our band trip last week.  We had a wonderfully joyful (and exhausting!) time.  It's a trip I wouldn't have missed for the world, though it did consume an entire week with the preparing before we left, the leaving and the coming home.  Throw in a Thanksgiving holiday, my grandma's trip to the hospital (things are relatively o.k. now!), and a kid's birthday and I feel as though I've been through a whirlwind.  Life- it's crazy.  Hope your holiday was merry and you are eagerly looking forward to the Christmas holiday like I am.

I'm linking this up over at Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #108: Anything Goes and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Blog Anything Goes.  Come join the fun.

Andie

Fluttering By with a Birthday Wish

I had the occasion to make a card for a co-worker's birthday this week.  Kathy enjoys butterflies and bling and you can see the influence on card design because of it.

I reached into the stash and found a piece of City Park by American Crafts.  This paper was a part of the gift box I won from Paper Crafts Connection way back in April of 2011.  I've used various pieces over the years, but this stripe was left behind.  I gathered the scraps from various pieces together with some matching cardstock and the card was born.  The butterfly was stamped with black Archival ink.  I used a glue pen to apply the different colors of glitter and fussy cut the image out. 

The flowers were cut with my Heartfelt Creations Posy dies, shaped with my stylus and a tiny pearl accent added to the center.  The bling was from the stash and the sentiment was created by stamping with a Market Street Stamp sentiment and cutting out the flag. 


The inside was dressed up with a matching piece of patterned paper from the City Park collection.  This pattern was actually the inspiration for the card.  The sentiment plaque was made using my Stampin' Up Essentials Paper Piercing tools.

Happy Birthday, Kathy!


I've linked this up to Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #106: Anything Goes and The Paper Girls Challenge Blog's Challenge #43: Cut It Out.  Come join the fun!

A Happy Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for my mom.  Her favorite color is blue and one of her favorite patterns is plaid.  I turned to my 6 x 6 paper pad of Simple Stories Summer Fresh patterned paper.  Since my Online Card Class, Pattern Play I've really tried to play with patterned paper more. 

I used my Cricut to cut that medallion out.  I didn't write down what I used and so I've utterly lost sight of which cart the cut came from.

The flowers were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Posy dies.  Ultimately, I decided to use a few light blue posies I'd stamped with some Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  That's a bit of green FlowerSoft in the center of those tiny posies.  The sentiment comes from my Tilted Banners stamps and dies set. 

When I'd put together all my patterned elements, I realized that the medallion needed an anchor so I cut a strip of burgundy patterned paper from a scrap and placed it right down the middle of the card.  It really helped and so I ended up with a card that I liked. 

On the inside, I wanted something a little decorative.  I settled on this piece of patterned paper.  The sentiment stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink comes from my Stampin' Up Apothecary Art stamp set.  A tiny swirl from one of my sets and a little posy and I think the inside is finished in a lovely manner.  She enjoyed her birthday card and the gift (it was tea- she drinks lots of hot tea even in our 120 degree summers!).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I've linked this up over at Word Art Wednesday: Challenge #105- Anything Goes .  Come join the fun.

A Hand Car Layout

Just popping in today to share some more photos of the Hawaii mini-book I'm making.  These two pages are from my son Timothy's favorite day on the island.  We went to visit the Hawaiian Railway Society.  We'd bought our tickets for the steam engine railroad ride and while waiting took these photos near the trains on display. 

The papers for both layouts came from the Maggie Holmes Signature Collection.  The tag on this first page was stamped with my Stampin' Up Apothecary Art stamp and then colored with my Distress Markers.  I think I used Shabby Shutters and Broken Glass for the most part with a little Peeled Paint thrown in for shading.  I then cut the label apart creating the two pieces for the album. 

The blue posies were stamped with Faded Jeans Distress using my Heartfelt Creations Posy stamps and cut with the matching dies.  The center is a bit of Flower Soft- mixing a dark blue and a dark green for the final effect. After a little 3D magic, they were strategically placed on the image.

As an added surprise, an engineer asked the kids if they'd like to take a hand car ride.  Enthusiastically, they both said yes and rode off without Mom and Dad- not a common occurrence with my two introverted, shy children. 

More Maggie Holmes on this page with a chipboard accent from the same set.  Everything is edged with some Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress ink. 

Just Saying Thanks

Just playing around with my MME Ooh La La For Her 6 x 6 paper pad.  I don't regularly create cards that open from the bottom like this one, but the design really works.  I recently picked up a Sizzlets die set Decorative Swirls.  The green cardstock swirls were cut from one of the dies in the set.  The flowers were stamp and cut from my Heartfelt Creations Posy stamps and dies set using coordinating paper from the paper pad.












The sentiment was stamped and cut using my Tilted Banners set.  I spritzed some Glimmer Glam over the patterned paper and I think it really ties in the polka dots from the bottom later of paper.  I layered paper from the paper pad on the inside to add a decorative touch.  This was a quick card and it's already been sent off to my grandma.  She's always being thoughtful and I can't ever say thank you enough.  She's of the old school who corresponds regularly with folks through the mail (though the older she gets the fewer folks are around to correspond with).  I know she looks forward to receiving mail so I never miss an opportunity to make sure she's getting some mail.

I'm linking this up over at Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #91: Anything Goes and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.  Come join the fun!

A Little Hi

Just stopping in to say a little "Hi".  I thought I would put one of the paper pads I purchased at the scrapbook convention to good use.  I mean, the convention was back in April which is fully three months or a quarter of a year ago!  It's time to use it, not file it away in the Scrapbox.

The paper pad is MME's Ooh La La For Her.  Such soft lovely colors and tiny, intricate designs.  I once again reached for my Heartfelt Creations Posy stamps and dies and the Spellbinders Floral Flourish.  The larger leaves were cut from  Cricut's Picturesque cartridge [Leaves].  

The patterned grid was cut using Cricut's Craft Room.  I haven't spent a lot of time in this online software.  As such, I've not found it to be particularly intuitive.  However, it works well enough that I can totally make my way around and create simple cuts.  This particular cut is a Teresa Collin's Basic- Imperial.  I went looking and couldn't find this cut on the Cricut.com website.  It might have been an exclusive that is no longer available.  Guess I'm glad I scooped this cut up.

All stamping and edging is done with my trusty Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  A few little pearls in the corner bring your eye to the tiny Hi.  I stamped the sentiment on one of the shapes pulled out of the patterned grid after cutting and adhered it with a teeny, tiny piece of foam tape to create some depth and bring it forward a bit. 

The inside was just too plain so I pulled a trick from my bloggy friend, Karon, and stamped a posy in the corner, layered up on patterned paper.  I added a little glitter glue to the center which just bled the ink... a little messy finish, but I'm going to claim a design to add sparkle to the inside...

This card was sent off to encourage a young lady battling a serious health complication.  I hope it brightened her day!

I've entered this card in Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: Celebrate! and Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #90: Anything Goes!  Come on over and join the fun.

20 Years of Wedded Bliss

Today is a momentous occasion in the Miller household.  Dan and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary today.  Yes, 20 long years ago I started the day at my mom's house. I'd given up on my apartment lease 3 weeks earlier and didn't want to pay for part of a month and move during the end of college and last minute wedding planning rush.  I wasn't particularly nervous, just anxious for things to go swell. 

Twenty years have a way of going by extremely fast.  In my head, I'm not nearly old enough to have been married for 20 years (I would add that I'm much thinner, younger looking and can run considerably faster in my head as well!).  When first married I got into a verbal tif with a coworker who asserted the fact that married life doesn't have to change you.  Her position was that having lived with her boyfriend for many years, she felt it wouldn't change anything to be married.  I'd give a ton of bricks to find out what she thinks all these years later...

I can say one thing that hasn't changed- my love for my dear husband.  The sentiment on this card says it all- he is the one on this Earth that my soul loves and has loved now for more than 20 years.  Even if there are days where I'd like to back up and take a running start at him (which is doomed to failure because I am only faster in my head!)...

Happy Anniversary, husband!  I love you!

The card was made with my Heartfelt Creations Posy stamp and die set.  The squares of white cardstock and each flower were colored using a Fantastik and my Peacock Feathers and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks.  The sentiment is the same used for the bridal shower card last month that I printed out using Word.

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary

Today is my mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary.  What an astounding accomplishment?!  I thought I might celebrate this ruby anniversary with a card.  Knowing that this anniversary is very special, I've been trying to design a card all week and had many near misses, nothing seemed to work with my vision.  This morning I thought I would try it with some scraps of red cardstock.  This simple result worked for me.


The flowers are made using my Heartfelt Creations Posy stamps and dies.  It's hard to tell in these photos, but I stamped the flowers with Versamark ink creating a watermark look and then cut them using the dies.  After shaping the flowers, I individually applied glitter to the edges of the flowers and then glued them together in layers.  This allowed me to be able to place glitter only on the edges of the flower.  The flourish comes from the Spellbinders Floral Flourishes.  The trick here was selecting the right green so that this didn't look like a Christmas card!  The sentiment was printed on the white cardstock using my printer.  Once again, I used text boxes to selectively place each word to create the sentiment.

The inside sentiment was also printed using my printer.  Everything came together and I now have just the right card to give.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Andie

I've entered this card into the Simon Says Stamp: Flower Power challenge.  Come join the fun!

Darling, Sweet and Delightful

This little 6 x 6 paper pad from MME has really caught my fancy.  I'm almost out of paper, but there's just something sweet and alluring about the patterns from The Sweetest Thing- Tangerine set.  The flowers cut with my Heartfelt Creations Posy dies are simply sublime.  The flowers were created by shaping them with my Heartfelt Creations mat and stylus and layered together.  That center portion is the very smallest flower that was shaped and then petals pressed into the center on each other.  Darlin'!


The ribbon is a length of cotton, ruffled ribbon that was originally a cream color.  I simply spritzed the ribbon with my Glimmer Mist in a pink color.  There is a fair bit of variation in the color, but that adds to the vintage feel of this card.  Finally, I cut the banners on the outside from a piece of pattered paper, curling the edges up to add dimension.  The cardstock base was embossed using my Scor-Pal.  It really makes this card look fun. 

On the inside I stamped using my Tilted Banners Sayings to stamp on a die cut piece of coordinating paper.  This is a card I'm pleased with how it turned out and the sentiment is broad enough for a lot of different uses.  I'm going to have to move on to a new paper pack soon...

I've entered this card into the Simon Says Stamp: Flower Power challenge.

Andie