Christmas Stamps

Mom gave me this awesome SU stamp for Christmas. I picked it out myself. Ahahaha. It's called Linen and will make great backgrounds. The other stamp is from my son. It's wood and stamps a nice batik pattern - takes a bit of effort and the stamping pad underneath but it will be worth it. He bought it at 10,000 Villages. Yay for him (and the person it benefits!).

More Xmas Cards

Here is a pretty card from Michelle. I love the soft color of the cardstock.

More Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards

Some handmade cards received from friends. The bottom image is the stained glass windows in my friend's church.

Christmas Cards

This year's cards. I made fifteen each of the jolly penguin (Leonardo from Third Coast) and the Currier and Ives type print (a retired SU set). The other two are special - one is for a mingle and the other is for the friend who gave me some of her stamping supplies because she was never into it in a big way and now totally out of it. I used the bug to emboss the shimmery green paper, layers are gold vellum and mirror shine gold paper. All other cs and ink is SU. The penguin is embossed too, and I used a touch of dazzling diamonds at his feet and on his hat.

Iris

This is a PSX stamp I bought on ebay a couple years ago and didn't use because I never seemed to be able to get the coloring right. While I'm not an expert with the coloring, I have improved a bit. I sat my gardening book in front of me and copied shamelessly! I used watercolor pencils and a brush.

My niece's birthday is coming soon and this is what I made to send her. It doesn't show well but the pink card stock is stamped with a plaid background stamp. Pink on pink, but it looks pretty good IRL. The cat is embossed on glossy CS.

And here is a simple anniversary card I made for my husband. Today is our 32nd anniversary. WOW!!!

SU card stock, printed vellum and a Fiskars punch were used to make this card. StaZon ink in Timber Brown and VersaMark gold ink.

A challenge on a card site. Make a card with an Asian theme. The elephant stamp, and the chop, are from Onyx Expressions, beautuful, black unmounted rubber.

Spotlight

A lovely card from Cindy!

Rolodex Swap

Here they are! Some of us did a Rolodex swap on ink-stains and mine arrived today. Awesome, yes? Yes!

Acetate Card

Yes, I am among the living. The weekly challenge on ink-stains was to make a card using acetate. I'll tell you right up front I don't like the acetate cards. The other inkstainers who submitted cards did beautiful, imaginative work - acetate cards just don't make sense to me. I wasn't going to participate but I found a sheet of acetate and thought I would give it a try. So here it is. The wolf was stamped on the inside of the card and the front stamped with SU's "Weathered" background stamp. I've used these two stamps in conmbination before, but always on paper. I used Stazon timber Brown and it took a while to dry. THe tag was made with "the bug" and the leaf added with a pop dot (actually, cheap foam tape from the dollar store).

This is a birthday card for my sister-in-law, who won't appreciate what went into the making of it. LOL. Oh well, I had fun with it. I love this House Mouse stamp (ebay - cheap). I used SU paper and inks.

Bleach challenge

Here is the card I made for the weekly challenge on ink-stains. We were to make a card using bleach. I love this old PSX stamp of bare branches. Somebody referred to it as a grapevine wreath but there are berries on it that don't look like grapes. Whatever. I like it. I stamped it with bleach, then overstamped with Stazon Timber Brown. The cardstock is all SU.

RAK

Jessica, another ink-stains friends, sent me this sweet piggy RAK. The ribbon is so shimmery!

Two Birds With One Stone

Wow! It's been a while! New grandbabies and grown sons returning home have kept me busy I guess. Anyhoo, the challenge at ink-stains this week was to make a card with a window in it and the challenge at Daring Cardmakers was to make a purple Christmas card with paper tearing and a hole. It really is as purple as purple can get (SU purples) but looks rather blue in the picture.

Birthday card for grandson

My stamping muse seems to have scarpered. Fortunately, my grandson is a fan of Thomas and a recent pattern of the month at http://www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com/ was a train. Perfect! My holographic tape was used in the garden so I had to use plain silver paper for the eye. It won't matter to a five year old. LOL.

Weekend in Cape Breton

Yikes! This guy/gal was just across the road from us when I took the picture. Yes, I was INSIDE the car!

RAK

This beautiful RAK from Heather arrived in the mail today. The stamped image is embossed in copper EP. The inside note tells me how many points are in the word "dream". LOL. Heather and I are playing Scrabble on Facebook (and she's beating the pants off me!).

Birth Announcements

As requested by my daughter. First she said she wouldn't need many because people were probably tired of hearing about her having babies. Silly girl. So I thought she meant a dozen would suffice. Wrong! Twenty-five or thirty, yellow. I had fun with 'the bug' for some of the backgrounds but making the same card over and over drives me crazy so I used different designs. I will probably not be using Barely Banana CS for a while! LOL.

ink-stains weekly challenge

The ink-stains challenge this week was "Funky Folds"; we were challenged to make a card with unconventional folds. Here is my attempt, the idea from an exchange I was in a few years ago. Everything appears a bit off in the top photo but it's just the angle.

DCM Retro Mini

A mini from DCM

"We've another Retro challenge for this week's Little Extra.

This time we'd like you to find your inspiration in the 1960s. "

Well! I was all over this like a fat kid on a Twinkie! The late sixties was a groovin' time for me. Uh oh! I may have given away my age ... sort of ... LOL. Music is such an important part of me I used tunes from 1968 for the background (and I know all the words to the songs!). The rest of it? Well, you had to be there or know your history. And that ribbon is from the sixties, thanks to my mother who never throws ANYTHING away!

The weekly challenge on ink-stains is to make a card using a sketch. So here it is. The bowl of apples was an ebay purchase and the Happy stamp arrived today from StampingZoo. Apples in bowls make me happy. LOL.

The gardener. She is standing at the edge of the woods, just under my clothesline and OH SO CLOSE to the garden. *sigh*

More Stuff

The first card uses a design from the masterboard class Kim taught. I'm sending the card to my dear old auntie for her birthday. The second one is going overeas and the zebra is undecided as to his destination.

RAK from Lori

This arrived in the mail today! The weather has been SO dreary (forecast? rain and showers from now until Tuesday!) and it really cheered me.

DCM

The dare this week: TEXT: definition... the main body of matter in a book or manuscript. the actual wording of anything written or printed, short passage of scripture, etc
We'd like you to somehow incorporate text into your cards this week - not just one word.. but a portion of TEXT...

Kind of plain, but so am I. LOL. The butterfly was done with alcohol ink on regular (not glossy) paper, then covered with a gloss medium (Glossy Accents). I stuck it in the freezer overnight then 'crackled' it. The stamping was done on two kinds of patterned paper and for some reason I felt the need to emboss with my Cuttlebug.

I'm back to my card 'routine' and most evenings I am in my happy place creating. The top card is an anniversary card for friends married the same year DH and I were (1975). The butterfly was made in Kim's masterboard class and the background is stamped patterned paper.

The dog (picked that stamp out of a bin at the dollar store!) is a fun birthday card for a friend - the fireworks are embossed with sparkle glitter but it doesn't show up very well.

I'm in a rut with my laugh stamp. LOL. I seem to do that a lot, using a particular stamp on a series of cards. I sent an order to Stamping Zoo, and one to Hambo Stamps so I'll have more word stamps to work with in the future.

Happy Card/Kiss Technique

This is a card I made for a friend who just received a good report from his doctor (after much worrying - silly man had himself dead and buried!). I made several cards with this stamp and technique. I had never done the 'kiss' technique but I think I like it. That stamp is BIG BLOSSOM from SU, stamped first with Tempting Turquoise, then 'kissed' with PRETTY PAISLEY in Night of Navy. I have no idea where the little laugh stamp came from. I am looking for similar stamps with just a word or two; much as I like the laugh, I think other words would be appropriate, too. Smile, be happy, hurray, good for you ...

RAKs mailed

The top RAK has a surprise in the envelope! Can't say where the middle one is going (hehehe). The bottom card is a graduation card for a friend's son. It's hard to believe he has graduated from high school and is headed to university in the fall! My kids used to baby sit him!