Don't Feel So Hot!

I set out to use up some orange this time but as so often happens in life what you intended to do and what you actually did are two different things. Instead I made a light green card, which I needed to work on as well. I wasn't sure I would like it when I first started making it but the colors and pattern grew on me. I wish the penguin were a little bigger though.

I almost always end up mixing an matching stamps from different companies but the stamps for this one are entirely Stampin' Up!. As always...click the card for directions if you want more detail. Enjoy!

Paging Dr Britt

I keep my 8 1/2" x 11" paper in hanging file folders in a filing cabinet. I'm getting desperately short on the male colors and need to open up some new packs but first I decided to use up some of the other colors to make more room. Dr Britt to the rescue! For this card I set out to use up some of the purple cardstock. The stamped image is a new one for me I brought from Stamping Fools at the end of July. Unfortunately they had the images but not the words available so the Stampin' Up! Happy Healing Stamp Set came to the rescue again. The patterned paper reminded me of a pattern you might expect to see on some scrubs and nicely tied everything together.
One thing this card shows very well is just how good some of the newest white pens on the market are now. It used to be impossible to a white image to stand out that well! Check out the directions by clicking on the card if you want more.

Quick and Simple Male Card

Here's a quick and simple male card you can make from scraps of male friendly colors or papers for any occasion. It's also a great card if you have limited supplies on hand. The only real requirement for it is that you have a medium sized sentiment to put in the middle.

First you build the background of the card using two different color scraps on diagonal corners. After that you just need a decent sized sentiment to stamp in the middle. It's a little more complicated than that of course because you need to pick coordinating colors with the same brightness and saturation for this to look well designed. Most of the better paper companies design coordinating lines of plain and patterned papers with the same saturation and brightness, as long as you stick to a single line and don't try to mix and match paper from different companies this shouldn't be too hard. The ones I used were DCWV open stock the local craft store used to sell.

You can obviously turn this into a female card very easily by using more traditional female colors. If you want the exact sizes or stamp I used, click on the card for the instruction sheet on the website.

Cookie Says Happy Birthday

Here's a card I made to post to the {Stamps} of Life Gallery for this month's contest. It uses two of this month's stamp releases. The background on the paper is stamped and Cookie (the dog) is colored using Copic markers, trying to add as much of a realistic hair effect as I could manage. If you want more, just click on it.

Two New A7 Floral Oval Cards

These are simple and elegant male and female versions of a card I made using one of the new stamps I got this summer at a rubber stamping convention. The oval is fairly tall so I decided to put it on an A7 sized card. A7 is the fancy way of saying 5x7 or 7x5 in this case. I buy these cards prefolded with envelopes from a local craft store. They end up being about 30 cents per card or 15 cents after coupon so its not a bad deal for most of a sheet of Bazzill paper when I have made the trip up there but they don't have anything new I want to buy.

There is a lot of penwork in the image so the leaves are tough to color and get any detail but I colored it with Copic markers and then had to fussy cut out all the layers. I used a little tracing wheel though (see instructions) so it wasn't so bad. I also found out that even though I thought I didn't need any more ribbon I didn't have any black ribbon wide enough for the card so I had to go buy some. This turned out to be a very good idea because there was nice black ribbon with a green and pink floral pattern on it waiting for me at the store for the pink one. In order to make it wide enough though I mounted the ribbon on a wider white ribbon. The final double stacked ribbon pulled in all the colors from the image. For the blue card, they didn't have a plain black ribbon that wide but they had one with a white diagonal pattern which added another detail to the card.

Here are the cards, click on them to see more detail or get additional directions:

More Mice!

Millie's back!



This time the patterned paper worked out. Considering I brought it about a week ago it just for this card, that was a good thing. I was even able to cheat and cut one 12x12 sheet into 6 card fronts and then make up the difference with a clever border at the bottom.

What didn't work out is I was trying to use up some pink cardstock. I have been on a male card making spree and the pinks and purples from the multipacks are starting to pile up, so this was supposed to be a pink card not a red one.

I tried some other coloring techniques, but quickly realized Copic markers were the only way I was going to get a bright image and be able to match the colors in the paper so she's wearing Copic markers again.

As always with my posts, if you want more details about the card itself click on the image for the supplies, directions and the bigger pictures.

Mouse Invasion!

Millie the mouse has invaded the craft room! There are mouse images everywhere. Here's how I took care of the first one:




The scallops are cut using a scallop blade in a rotary trimmer. This is the fastest and easiest way you'll ever find to put a border on paper. If better cuts in thicker paper don't appeal to you, this might be a good reason to upgrade to a rotary trimmer if you are still using a pull type blade.

I couldn't find any coordinating paper that matched the markers. I thought I had some but it didn't work for me after I finished the image. So what was I to do? Make my own of course using stamps. It didn't translate well to the smaller blog image but if you look at the larger image on the website (by clicking on the image) you can see I stamped an XO image with a bandaid type pattern in versamark on the paper. Versamark is very useful for doing this because its clear and the paper simply becomes a darker shade of itself once it dries.

Win a free greeting card!

Here's a quick and easy contest:

First visit my website sharedcards.com. Find your favorite card and then post a comment here about what you like. The comment must include the title of the card from the top of the web page. You have until Fri August 13 at 11:59pm EDT to comment.

Second, become a public follower of this blog. You must be a public follower so I have a reliable way of associating the name on your comment with an email address. Please make sure your comment and follower entry use the same name, even its a made up name, otherwise anyone can claim to be the winner. Followers are listed on the right hand side if you scroll down to the bottom.

On the 15th, I will use random.org to pick two or more numbers. The numbers will be the comments that win.

If your comment gets picked and you are a follower, you win the chance to win the card you commented on, if I have more of it. If not, we'll work out a second choice. If you get picked but aren't a follower, I will go to the next number from random.org until I find a winner.

The winners will be announced on the blog before the end of the month. It might be announced as part of another post, so actually follow along.

Once announced, you will have 5 days to comment on the post. You don't actually win the card until you comment on the post that announces you as a winner.

Not all of the cards I have made will mail well without additional postage and packaging, especially if you want a usable envelope with the card. In order to maximize the number of people I can pick this time, you must have a USPS Domestic address to participate, or be willing to make up the postage difference for that card.

Finally, if you share this contest with others on your blog or Facebook page, send me an email at the address on the bottom of any of the http://www.sharedcards.com/ website pages with Contest Linky in the subject and the url of the page and I'll give you 5 extra entries in the contest if I can verify your link.

Who wants to win stuff? Become a fan or follower now for extra chances!

It looks like contests are going to be shaping up for later in August. I've got a few prizes I purchased, some cards ready and should have a $50 gift certificate to give away to a large online shopping site that wants to sponsor a contest soon.

The first giveaway is going to be for a membership drive. Everyone who is already a fan or follower at the time I formally announce it will get bonus entries, possibly one bonus for being a fan and one for being a a follower.

So NOW is the time to click on the follow button on the right and become a follower and to click on the Facebook button on the bottom and become a fan.

If you are reading this from a feed, you will need to actually visit the blog to do this.