The Latest Cards

Once again I joined a swap, so I found myself needing to make 14 thank you cards.  I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do, so I looked for inspiration on the Splitcoaststampers galleries and then among the various cards I've pinned and repinned on Pinterest.  Here are the two cards I came up with:

 This first card was inspired by one I saw on the Splitcoaststampers galleries.  I ended up pinning it to my boards on Pinterest, so you can see the original card where I got the inspiration from here.  I didn't have any patterned paper that suited me, so I decided to use stamps and coordinating cardstock colors.  I pulled out my Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp to do the background along the bottom strip and the background in each of the squares along the top.  The CTMH For Every Occasion set is where the "Thanks" comes from that you see at the bottom.  I used my cuttlebug and an embossing folder (sorry, can't remember which one) to emboss the top background piece, and I used my Nestabilities Lacey Squares dies to cut the scalloped squares.  I also used the Nestabilities to cut the two label shapes that hold the word "Thanks" at the bottom.   The ribbon is Certainly Celery from Stampin' Up, and the coordinating cardstock is called Pear Crush- I purchased it at Archiver's.  Honestly, I can't remember if it's by Bazzill or American Crafts.  The butterflies were punched from a MS butterfly punch, and I added a dot of Perfect Pearls to the center of each one after I adhered them to their squares.  I apologize if the card looks washed out- I really need to work on the lighting in my craft room!  All in all, though, I was pleased with the way the first card design turned out- even if it did take me longer than I thought it would to make 8 of these (I made one to keep for myself)!

The second card was inspired by one I repinned on Pinterest.  The original card can be seen here.  I used the Fiskars stamp set called Latte Love for both the coffee cup and the sentiment.  The base of this card is made from kraft cardstock.  I used a dark brown card stock as the background (from Archiver's), and then Basic Grey patterned paper for the other two pieces.  Brown Baker's Twine is wrapped around the card, and the coffee cup is adhered with Stampin' Up dimensionals to give it a little more... dimension.  I colored in the coffee cup with my copic markers, but I didn't note which colors I used (sorry!).  I really like the way this card turned out, too!  Isn't it great when you can get inspiration from other cards you see?

Well, that's it for now.  Hopefully I will be able to make some more cards and scrapbook pages soon!  Thanks for stopping by!  Feel free to leave a comment- I love hearing from visitors!

Have a great day!

A Few Valentine's Day Cards

Since Valentine's Day is next week, I've been working on making a few cards.  In years past I haven't given cards out, but I'm giving a handful out this year.  Here are the ones I've made:

 For this card I used The Greeting Farm's Stella.  I colored her with copic markers and then used my Lacey Squares Nestabilities to cut her out.  Once I had her cut out, I sponged distress ink around the edges to help the image pop out a little.  I used Spun Sugar, which seems to coordinate perfectly with the papers!  The patterened paper is from My Mind's Eye, and the coordinating cardstock is from Bazzil.  I added three heart gems to the bottom of the card- after I colored them with a copic marker (R89) to get them the color I wanted.  Here are the colors I used to color Stella:
skin:  E21, E00, E000 & R20 for the cheeks
hair:  E53, E55, E57
clothes & shoes:  R81, R83, R85
envelope: a little N0 to shade it in

 This little card is one I came up with for my kids.  It's a 4x4 square card.  I used my cuttlebug to emboss the red square, stamped "love" on a small strip and placed it near the bottom, and used punches to get the scalloped circle and heart in the upper corner.  I adhered the heart with a pop dot and then outlined it with stickles to give it a little shine.  Nothing much, but I'm sure my kids will like them!

This last card is one I just made today.  Surprisingly, I didn't use a sketch to make it- I just went with what felt right as I was going along!  The paper and the image are the same as in the first card (I had colored a few of the images the same so I could make multiple cards) shown above.  The ribbon on the card is from Stampin' Up!- it's Rose Romance 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.  I once again colored the gems so they would match the colors in the patterned paper.  For this card I used the Lacey Ovals from Nestabilities to cut out the image of Stella, and I adhered it to the card using pop dots for just a little dimension.  I used Gathered Twigs distress ink along the edges of the card and the top patterned paper to help them stand out, too.  It seemed to give it just the right amount of "pop."

Well, that's the latest.  I hope everyone who gets these Valentine's Day cards enjoys them!!