Happy Anniversary

Well finally got my anniversary card done for DH. Its our 8th anniversary tomrrow! Where does the time go?
I think the card turned out fairly good not spectacular but good. I am happy I managed to incorporate our blue and seashell wedding themes into the card. The wording does stand out better in real life. Pretty straight forward card.
Thanks for stopping by!
Card Recipe:
Stamps: Just Rite Stampers Baroque Frames & Hero Arts Antique Engravings
Paper: Bazzill, Stardream and My Minds Eye
Ink: Brillance Sky Blue and Versafine Smokey Grey
Other: Spellbinder labels 14, Corner Chomper, ribbon

Blue Birthday

Well its been quite  week for me busy in the store and my car's ABS system has bitten the du$t! Didn't help my already lacking mojo however a friend was kind enough to bring some of her magazines to borrow to give that old mojo a jump start. I still have at least 1 more man birthday card to make in the next few weeks but here is one more. I'm very happy with how this card turned out.
I cut a circle card out using my Spellbinder scalloped circles then cut out a smooth circle and embossing it with one of the NEW Couture Creations embossing folders called Royalty. Love it! I took a Hero Arts clear branch stamp and applied 3 blue Tombow markers directly to the stamp and sprayed with water then stamped the image onto a scrap of cream linen cardstock. I cut out the image and then assembled the card as shown. As you can see I am using more of the Lime Squeeze designer paper, this time the blue wood grain pattern - love that as well!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Card Recipe:
Stamps Hero Arts, Just Rite ribbed Happy Birthday
Tombow markers: 391, 373, 476
Paper: Bazzill and My Minds Eye
Ink: Archival Jet Black
Other: Couture Creations Royalty embossing folder, Robin's Nest dew drops, Spellbinder scalloped and smooth circles

Happy Birthday DH & Dad

Well it is my Dad and DH's birthdays today. I had good intentions to get all these "man" cards done with lots of time to spare but with on thing or another I ended up finished DH's card today (Dad's yesterday).  Ah well they are done and that is all that matters.
This card was done on glossy cardstock. I began by pulling out my trusty brayer and brayering the entire piece with Adirondack lights Peach Bellini dye ink then I added a circle mask cut out with my Spellbinder circles and stuck it in the sky. I brayered Adirondack Aqua over the entire cardstock but because I had my circle stuck (temporarily) in the sky that area stayed peach. I kept the circle stuck to the card for the next few layers of ink:
Adirondack Brights Sailboat blue
Adirondack earthtone Denim
Adirondack Earthtone Red Pepper (on the ground area)
Once the inking was done  I stamped Hero Arts Grass and embossed it with Crafty Capers Evergreen Embossing powder. I finished off the card using the Flourishes Tag Lines Happy Birthday. Thanks for stopping by!

Man Birthday card

I've been playing with my Stampscapes stamps quite a bit recently because I have a class tomorrow using them so I had to get some class samples whipped up . Here is a card front that did not make the cut for the class however I was showing my Dad some of my samples yesterday and he really liked this particular one so guess who will be getting it for his birthday next week?? ;) Good thinking me!! Now I just have a 1 more man birthday card, an anniversary card and a 65 birthday card to make in the next week or so.
The coloring for this scene was done with Colorbox Stylus wands and lots of inks.
I began by stamping the Rocky Peaks stamp with Ginger Adirondack ink then stamped Curvilinear Path with Tuxedo Black Memento ink I then added the trees and fence before adding my colors into the scene. I finished the scene by stamping the Buck and greenery at the bottom. Oh and because I got a smudgy big in my sky I added the Oak Branch stamp as well.
Thanks for stopping by everyone and have a great long weekend!
Card Recipe:
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack (dye) Raspberry, Sunset Orange, Pesto, Willow, Shell Pink, Ginger, Peach Bellini and Clover
Stamps (all Stampscapes): Rocky Peaks, Curvilinear Path, Buck, Tree Cluster, Fence, Foliage, Sedge Filler, Oak Branch & Maple Pair

A restful retreat

I was supposed to be working on my personal cards this week but I am unexpectedly teaching a Stampscapes class next weekend (still space) so I have to figure out what we will be doing!! I have been madly been emailing back and forth with Kevin (the Stampscapes King and also the owner!) to fine tune my stamp order so we have the right stamps coming in! Just some of the glamour of being a store owner! lol
This card did not make the class "cut" but would work as a "man" card so it made the blog instead. I used a different type of paper (Stardream) and the scene turned out kind of misty when I didn't even add mist!!
I began the scene by stamping the cabin and pines and rocks with Coffee ink on the Stardream text weight paper. I used my Stylus wand and added a bunch of inks (see below) to add some extra drama I added some Red Pepper streaks across the sky. The Stardream paper is great for that as it seems more slippery than the Glossy Cardstock (go figure!). When I was happy with my colors. I stamped the Oak Branch and Bullrushes around the edges of the card in black ink. I then added some stars in the sky and highlights with my Ranger white gel pen.
Hope this provides you with inspiration!

Card Recipe:
Stamps by Stampscapes: Lakeside cabin, Rocks and Pines, Bullrushes, Oak Branch (lrg)
Inks: (all by Ranger) Adirondack dye Citrus, Lettuce, Peach Bellini, Sunset Orange, Terra Cotta, Red Pepper. Ranger Archival Jet Black and Coffee
Cardstock: Stardream and Coredinations

"Man" card month!

I have a bunch of "man" birthdays coming up in the next month not to mention Fathers Day coming up so I have been working on cards for men something which I find difficult to do.
This card is a "T slide" card. You pull the tab on the right hand side of the card and it reveals a secret message (see bottom photo). This was the first card of this type I have ever made and I must admit I did not find the instructions very easy to follow. I did finally manage to get a working card though.
I won't go into details about how this is made but I will say all the pattern paper is by BoBunny from the Timepiece collection. The clock stamp is by Hero Arts and called "Big Clock". I cut the hand by hand and added a brad so the birthday boy could change the time. I computer generated the sentiment inside. Thanks for stopping by!

I have been trying to participate in the Penny Black blog contests for the past few months now with only a few entries so far however I did manage to get this card in under the wire for last week's challenge.

The challenge was to "lift" a card from one of the Penny Black designers. I chose to lift a card by Jill Foster.
I began this card by stamping and embossing this flower stamp by Penny Black with gold embossing powder on dark grey cardstock. I colored all the flowers first with a white pencil crayon then with colored pencil crayons so the colors would really pop.
I cut out the black with a Big scallop classic rectangle by Spellbinder then matted it on a piece of white, blue and black. I debated quite a while on how to finish the card nothing seemed quite right. As I was about to give up my friend Leslie showed up and was raving about a great new technique by Becca of Amazing Paper Grace. That lead to an unexpected "play date". The Becca technique makes a medallion using a lacy border punch but we figured we could tweak the technique and make a similar medallion with the Spellbinder borderabilities and it worked!! This medallion was actually done with the border in the new Spellbinder set called Parisian Accents. Love how it turned out!! I finished the medallion with a Kaiser pearl.
I used the new My Mind's Eye I was raving about the other day (Hip Hurray) for the card and the bottom border piece (the Parisian border I used for the medallion).
Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone and I don't just mean to those of you who have human kids! Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are Moms to furry/feathery/bristley/scaley kids too!
Anyway, onto the card!
I taught a class the other day using a sheet of Stampendous Frosted Damask Roses. We used 3 of the 4 images and thought I should finish up the sheet to be thrifty. I was not entirely sure I liked the finished product but after a couple of customers politely told me not to be an idiot and put it on the blog I've relented.
The stickers are originally a white/frosty color so I thought I would begin by changing the color with my Terra Cotta and Red Pepper Alcohol inks. I then matted the sticker on a copper piece of cardstock and cut it out. I cut out my Sizzix Large Leafy Vine with green cardstock. I decided on a gate fold card and matted everything as shown. I used a Stampendous Perfectly Clear alphabet to stamp the word Mom on the front of the card and used some Kaisercraft pearls to finish things off.
Thanks for stopping by and what a surprise I have tomorrow's card all ready to go just have to post it so stop by tomorrow as well! :)

Peacocks oh my!

I'm on a peacock kick at the moment. I just keep coming up with yet another idea to do with this stamp!
This card was done with the magic reveal embossing technique (see previous embossing posts for the technique). I began by stamping the Hero Arts Dictionary Greetings stamp all over a piece of white cardstock with Ranger's (dye) Esspresso ink. Let it dry then stamped the peacock over top of the writing with Versamark ink and clear  embossing powder. I had planned to color the peacock with my Tombow markers but when I had cooked the embossing powder I found I could not see the open areas well enough for any coloring (my eye is STILL bad) so I took my finger daubers and rubbed Brillance Sky Blue, Adirondack Denim and Adirondack Stonewash ink over the entire piece that popped up the imaged quickly!
I did end up adding some extra color to some areas with my Tombow markers. I cut the piece of cardstock down to a more managable size and added some more Espresso ink to the edges of the cardstock. I attached my peacock piece to a main card. The cardstock was left over from my heat embossing demo back in Feb?? the stripes are Be Creative tape and Crafty Capers Teddy Bear embossing powder. I added a Just Rite sentiment stamped in Espresso ink and matted onto a Just Rite Spellbinder die. I added a gold brad distressed just a bit with Espresso Alcohol ink to finish off the card.
Thanks for stopping by!