Pretty Pattern Paper

I was looking at a blog the other day and the card was just fabulous and I really liked the paper she used. So I asked her and she was so gracious and immediately emailed me with the name of the paper - Crate Paper- Paper Hearts collection. So I had to use this as soon as I got it in. What a nice pack of papers! (6x6) I do so love Crate paper. I have made cards with this stamp before but it is so lovely - and it seemed to work well with this paper so here it is. I also used the Sizzix/Tim Holtz border die and some SU ribbon, Stickles on the flower centers and clear on the beaks and eyes. The main image is a Spellbinders die. So this is a nice mix of almost every company I love!

New Goodies and last (?!) CAS

Here is my order from Simon Says Stamps - oh my I went all out here! Lots of goodies - that Hero Arts blog hop got me too. So I should be making some things coming up with these stamps and supplies. Today's card is another cutie pie, they just make me happy coloring them. With all the boys in my house some girlie things are just necessary! I like how she is giggling about the bird on her head. Embrace life - that just fits. See how nicely this card stands up? I have ordered more of this paper (I only had a free sample) for these type of cards. It is 120 pound weight. I think I am using 80 pound right now. Its fine for layered cards but not so much for this. Have a nice day!

Puppy and Friends

Isn't this just the cutest image? OK one of the cutest?! It is from Stampavie. There are a lot of great artists under this brand and I love them all. This card is also shaped with the SU die and then I added some twine and two bows because I so need things to be symmetrical in some way LOL! I love the little blue birds, they look so happy. Not much else to say - I used water colors again and yes, this one curled too. I am learning!

Not Cased

Here is a card I created all on my own! I Case a lot of cards due to my horrid lack of creativity and inability to space things right which I will show you in my next post.... but this one came out pretty well :) I sent it to my friend who loves cats and stamps too. The stamp is from Stampavie by Laurence. I colored with water color crayons and used diamond Stickles on the butterflies. The flowers are punched with designer paper and molded a bit with pink rhinestones in the centers. The leaves are an older SU punch. The white layer is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Have a nice day!

Cheerful Card

Here is another more or less simple card. Not tons of layers of different designer papers anyway :) This stamp is also from Stampavie called Cottage Mouse. The look is similar to yesterday's water color crayon card but this time I used Distress Inks with a water color brush. I used fired brick, weathered wood, wild honey, frayed burlap, crushed olive and tattered rose. I love both products, for me it is easier to blend and get shades with water than with the alcohol pens - Copic type. You don't get the bright vivid look though unless you put on a ton of layers, so it is a softer look. It is also very quick which is just my style. Thanks for looking once again! Have a nice day :)

Mouse with Sunflower

 

Here it is! The new Stampavie Stamp by Tina Wenke "Mouse with Sunflower". It is so adorable, last month when they had their blog hop for her birthday several people used this stamp for their card and I fell in love with it. This card is not a case either! I know, surprise :) I try. I used my new Nestabilities die label 10, it is kind of hard to see since it is red pattern paper on a busy pattern background but one of the reasons I got this die is because it looks so nice with pearls or jewels in the three curves on each end.

So I finally figured out how to add a flower to it (see my last post). I went through all of my Prima flowers and other paper and such flowers and nada. So I punched the flower from the same pattern paper and had this idea to put a tag coming from the brad in the middle. Yes, also original idea! I used Stampin Up chalks to color this image. I haven't used my chalks in a long time and I have never used a water color painter with them. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. The pattern designer paper is K & Co. called Classic K Bailey. Thanks for taking a look!

My 2010 Coaster Calendar

This is a project near and dear to me, I love making calendars! I also love this paper and this shade of blue. I don't have the energy to make a different picture for every month so I tried to choose a stamp that would go pretty much all year for this one. Last year I used brads to hold the calendar pages on and they were horrible to tear off each month so this year I used a "library?" clip. I adhered it in such a way that I can get the whole clip off if need be - nothing is going to hold my monthly pages hostage this year!

The stamp is from Stampavie called Ruffles Birdwatching. CUTE! I had to make the image a little smaller to fit my 4 x 4 coaster and it cut off the chickies so I cut them out and put them on pop-dots on the bottom mat of the image. The fence is on pop-dots too which gives it nice dimension. I worked hard on the flowers let me tell you! I must have punched 30 flowers out of kraft, bayou blue, soft sky, baja breeze, the designer paper your see etc. and tried myriads of combinations until I found what I liked the most. That took a long time, actually this took probably 4 hours to make! Decisions slow me down :) Then I wet them and crumpled them to give them a more textured look then straightened them back out and adhered the final flowers in layers. I also put faux pearls in the center of the flowers. The butterflies are punched twice so there is a "shadow" underneath, I think that gives it a nice look. I wanted the calendar page or right side of this to be plain and simple so it wouldn't over power the cute image on the left. I just die cut the bird and sponged the edges, used some branches to give it something to sit on and then put a little flower in the lower corner. Then it happened. I went too far LOL! I just got these adorable heart charms and just had to find a way to fit it on this. I "hung" it from the back over the top so it wouldn't be in the way of the calendar and I am thinking it doesn't go real well but for now I am keeping it :) Thanks for reading my long explanation today!