Lace Tea Cup Happy Birthday Card

Here is a challenging new 5x7 happy birthday tea cup card. It combines fabric, die cutting, coloring, ribbon and distress. Click on the image for full directions if it interests you.

Fun Somewhat Random Creation

Here's fun card that doesn't involve a lot of measurement but is a bit of challenge to put together and get all the layers in place. If you have three colors of nicely coordinating scraps, it could even be a good way to use some scraps. Even if you don't have this set, most stampers probably have some kind of similar set they could substitute in for the images. I stamped it in more neutral colors but you could also easily make it a lot more feminine and then slap a big flower in top center. Hmm... maybe I should go do that. As always, the full directions are on the website, just click on the card image if you want to see them.

New Cards - If you didn't see them on the website already!

If you haven't noticed on the website yet, here is a new card design I made with as many masculine choices as possible, then with as many feminine choices as possible and then one that has elements of both.

	This the masculine version. The background stamp is a line pattern and none of the main colors are feminine.
	This the feminine version. Purple is just not a guy color for the most part and swirling heart pattern adds to that feeling.
	This the neutral version. The main colors are neutral or even lean toward being earthy guy colors but the swirling hearts are more feminine.

You can see how just a few simple choices made the card masculine or feminine and totally changed the card from something more formal into something more whimsical. Using tricks like that can help you get a little mileage out a card design you may have spent hours to get right.

The other thing I really like about this card front is that you can use it for almost anything. It could be a thank you, a birthday card, a sympathy card or a missing you card depending on what you put inside the card.

As always, click on any of the images to see the larger versions or the full directions if you want to know what stamp set was used.

Who Wants A Cruise For Their Birthday?

Here's a cool birthday card that proposes just that thought. I made versions of it using both colored pencils blended with mineral spirits on a blending stump and Copic markers. Since most cruises seem to be to warmer destinations, at least where I live, I tried to make a bright warm summer card, inspite of the snow that was on the ground at the time. The Copic marker version is brighter naturally while the colored pencil one looks good but the colors are a little fainter. Here are the two different versions:



Copic Marker Version



Blended Colored Pencil Version
Of course the recipient will not be getting a cruise. Inside it reads "Will you pick up my mail while I'm gone?" The perfect funny card for a cruise lover to give to someone or for you to tease a cruise lover.

As always click on a card image to see the full directions.

Mindscapes Butterfly Birthday Card

Here's a card Mom put together from butterfly leftovers I gave her.


I had stamped out a sheet or two or three of these butterfly images last year when I was planning to make one of these cards:


      
Not really sure which one started it all now but the original image turned out to be too big for what I had in mind so I moved on to a smaller butterfly image from another set and left these abandoned at the bottom of a paper scrap heap that I clean up recently. Good to see them put to good use.

Another Thank You Card

Here's another card using the same technique as the last post. The flower is from the same Stampin' Up! stamp set but the sentiment is from different set. Mom made this card when she tried the technique.


Just like before, not much was really needed to have a nice card because the contrast of the colored and stamped image on the dark cardstock makes the image pop naturally without a lot of extra work.

Directions for the card are up on the website - just click on the card image if you want read the exact steps to the technique or know which stamps sets where used.

Thanks So Much Card

Here's a versatile card design using Stampin' Up! images. The image is created in three steps. Essentially you use colored pencils in between two step stamping the image on a dark paper. The web site directions explain it all step by step if this is confusing, just click the image to view them. I made it as a thank you card but you could use just about any elegant sentiment on the card and it doesn't take that long to make.


I didn't add a lot of additional elements because most of the time images are stamped on a lighter color and then need things to give them weight on the card. Using this technique though, the image pops out immediately as the focal point because of the contrast against the darker paper.

As always, click on the card image for the directions on how to make it if you want to know more.

Don't Feel So Hot Leftovers

Last year I made this Don't Feel So Hot Card:

This was not how the card started out though. I have been buying paper in packs that have 10 sheets each of 20 colors and after going through most of a few packs this particular color was accumulating in the hanging file folders I use to store my 8 1/2 x 11 card stock. My major goal for this card was therefore to try to use up some of this particular green paper.

I had played with different colors for the blanket before I settled on the design above. My original coloring choices didn't quite work for me at time and got set aside. I was cleaning up and gave some of my first attempts at coloring the image and other leftovers to Mom to see if she wanted to do anything with them. She copied the design I had done but came with other papers to mat them. Here is what she produced:

I still prefer my original design - the way the background stamp tones down the paper and provides black in the background to coordinate with the black mat, but maybe my original coloring choices weren't as bad as I thought they were.

The two new variants are up on the website now, along with the original one. As always, just click on any of the image to see the full directions with stamps set, marker colors and paper sizes.

Two More Get Well Cards

About a month ago, I posted this get well card that my Mother had made.


She made two more variants using the same basic design but using a more monochromatic color theme instead of the a Red Hat Society color theme that I just put up on the website. Here they are:

  
One thing that she did that didn't translate too well into web images is to place Crystal Effects on all the heart images. This gives them a clear dimensional shiny appearance in person. You can see the light reflection in the bottom of the some of the hearts from the dimensional layer it added if you look closely at the enlarged image on the website.

The full directions with stamp sets and techniques used are up on the website, as I normally do. Just click any of the images to go to that page on the website.

Red Hat Get Well Card

Here's a card mom made last weekend. If you have followed the blog long enough you might recognize some of the Stampin' Up! stamps from the Bling-Aid card. She had planned her card to be pink to match the hearts, which were supposed to be pink. They were colored with a Stampin' Up! Pink Passion marker. The marker color doesn't look much like the ink pad color though. If you read the directions on the the last card I posted, it actually used the Pink Passion Ink pad and the ink clearly looks pink. In the end I think this turned out to be a good thing. After looking at the flowers overnight though she decided to follow the Red Hat Society color theme which really stands out and I think was an excellent move for this card.


As always click on the card for additional instructions on the stamps sets and other products used and how to make it.

7 New Cards As Part of a Lost Challenge

Here's a bunch of cards I did a few years back for a card swap. I started the section for them as a challenge on the website about a year ago but since doing giveaways never really took off because no one comments they kind of got forgotten about. I wanted to make sure they got pushed out before the current year ended though as part of reorganizing the web site.

These cards are really interesting because the tag is attached using a tagger gun and tagger tail (like some of the price tags are attached to clothes) so it floats and moves freely on the front of the card.

The challenge for these cards was that I had to make 20 of them for the card swap but I didn't have the patterned paper to make anymore of the exact same design. I ended up redesigning the card a number of different times using different patterns and having to color coordinate between ribbon and ink and the pattern to get enough made.

Click on any of the card image to read more about how the card was make or about the challenge.

Simple Paper Strip and Scallop Circle Card

Here's a simple card that combines glitter, ribbon, punches and patterned paper for a quick and elegant card front that's a step above. If you need more on how to make it, just click on it.

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.