This week in cards with my little stamping buddy Rylee.

I've had such a busy week with my card making.  I started out on Sunday, stamping with my buddy, my niece Rylee.  

She's such a joy to have in my craftroom.  We decided that she needed her own space so we spent Saturday finding her a folding table and chair that she could set up every time she comes over.  That way she can spread out all of her stuff and just leave it up for her entire visit so she can get creative any time the mood strikes.  This also fits her so much better.  No more balancing precariously from a stool at my counter high table.  And she can now stand to do her stamping so she can line things up so much easier.  This table and chair tuck away nicely behind the door also.  Perfect fit!

  So...I guess you'd say my craftroom has officially become "our" craft room.  

I also taught her how to use my best friend MISTI.  She was over the moon happy about that!  She made a one layer card that turned out awesome and it was so much easier with the MISTI.

I've been working on so many card projects myself this week that my head is spinning.  It's Christmas card time again so I have made up about a dozen different designs that I'll be posting here sometime soon.  I've also found some time just for some fun cards.  Birthday cards are always a favorite of mine, especially when they involve cake and balloons.  I used MFT's sketch #182 for this cute lil' shaker card along with their awesome Piece of Cake stamp set (notice the cute little candles stamped in the background?).   LOVE!

I came across this awesome Birthday Centerpiece die from My Favorite Things and absolutely love it!!  Clean and simple all the way!

I did a fun resist watercolor technique for this card mixing some of my older Martha Stewart stamp sets along with some Technique Tuesdays word dies and a cute friend stamp from Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Friendship box.

A couple different stamp sets from Technique Tuesday caught my eye this week.  Actually I've been eyeing them for a couple months but finally broke down and ordered them on Monday because they're just so darn cute!  First the Chickadees.  Love, love, love these little whimsical birds!  

Then, look at this adorable little fan!  It has the cutest sentiments with it that make me excited to make more cards.  I'm also loving that wave background stamp from My Favorite Things.

Well, that's my week in cards.  Keep your eyes peeled for some awesome Christmas cards, coming soon.  I'm excited to be trying out some fun, new stamps and dies this year and can't wait to show you!

Have a great weekend!

Christmas in September?

Cardmakers around the world are gearing up for their biggest card giving season.....Christmas!  I usually start dabbling in designs by September.   With around 50 cards to make and send by December, a three month jump on the holiday relieves a lot of pressure which makes it a much more enjoyable experience for me. Sometimes I try to come up with simple designs that I can reproduce and will go through the mail easily.  Other times I just throw caution to the wind start piling stuff on for the fun of it.   If I really like a card I will make up to five in a similar design but most of the time my cards are original.

Today I'd like to share my first two Christmas cards for 2015.  First, a more traditional style card that doesn't have a lot of layers or a lot of bulk.  This is a card that I will definitely revisit when it comes time to really produce the masses.  I think I'd like to change up the colors a bit though and make them each a little different.  

 I started this card by stamping the first layer with the Diagonal Stripes Background stamp from My Favorite Things.   I used WPlus9's  awesome Woodland Wreaths stamp set to layer this wreath on a white background and then used a Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mats Rectangles die to cut it to size.   The sentiment is from LID's Instant Camera: Christmas stamp set.  I raised the white stamped panel with some dimensional tape and then sprinkled the wreath with some diecut sequins using Mama Elephants Confetti dies and some gold foil cardstock.

This card has a few more details with less stamping and more diecuts.  I used LID's Long and Skinny Rectangles to add the stitched border on the red piece.  By the way, isn't that red fabulous?  It's Simon Says Stamp's Lipstick Red.  I love it!  Anyway, I cut the white piece with LID's Anytime Tags die and stamped it using WPlus9's Just Geometric Triangles.  I encircled one of  WPlus9's Stag Trio diecuts with a Tim Holtz's Scribbles and Splats Thinlets die cut out of gold foil cardstock.  Once again I used Mama Elephant's Confetti die for the sequins.  That awesome wide black and white striped paper on the side is from last years Heidi Swapp Believe Collection.

Well, I'm off to make some more Christmas cards.  Thank you for stopping by today.  Have a great day!

September Mix

I started out this month of September with a whole mix of cards.  Take a look!

First I used a new adorable stamp I ordered from Art Impressions.  I really love their stamps because they're so easy to color with my Kuretake Zig markers.  This little owl is the perfect size!  I plan to make a few of these to keep in my stash.  They are easy to personalize by adding the number later.

This little Thank You card I'll call my cheater card.  I picked up a stack of Me & My Big Ideas card fronts at Michael's a few months ago because they just looked like something great to have on hand for a quick thank you card.  They come in a pack of 36 assorted designs and colors. All I added was some dimensional tape, My Favorite Things Hip Clip die cut and some adorable flowers using Casual Friday's Friendly Flowers dies that I received in Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Box.   I thought these card fronts would be a great tool for my niece Rylee when she makes her next batch of thank you cards. 

For this note card I was inspired by a card that Catherine Pooler did using this great faded stencil background technique.  It's a great way to add depth to a one layer card.  I stamped and embossed some sequins in silver to sparkle it up a bit but still keeping it one layer.

This was definitely my week for clean and simple cards.  I did a little chevron stenciling to add pattern to these accents and then added them to a crisp white background.  The layered Paper Smooches rose was sparkled up a bit with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen.  To finish it up, a simple hello sentiment from Technique Tuesday. 

Playing with these little puffy dimensional fish stickers that I've had in my stash forever I went for an under the sea/aquarium look for this shaker card.  I don't usually use stickers  but I had these left over from a project I did a couple years ago.  I'm proud to say none of them went to waste.  Not even the poor little guy who's swimming in the wrong direction.  ;) 

That's my week in cards.  Thanks for stopping by.  See you next week!

Keeping it fun!

With all of the beautiful techniques out there and gorgeous, frilly stamps with flowers and lace, sometimes I can get a little too focused on making girly cards.  But when I look at the whole picture of cardmaking I can see that there is an area where I need to focus on sometimes, just to keep it light and fun.   Back in the "old days", when I use to buy my cards in the store, I always went for the humorous cards.  Cards that would make the recipient chuckle a little.  Make them smile.

These days, I find myself searching through the stores for humor again.  This time, instead of cards I'm searching for stamps.   The snarky sayings and the comical scenes are what I'm lacking in my card supplies and they don't seem to be in abundant supply in the card world either.  Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places?

Well anyway, I thought I'd share a couple light cards with you.  Art Impressions have an awesome line of stamps that have a humorous side.  These little Fainting Chickens caught my eye not only for the cute factor but also because they looked super easy to color with my Kuretake Zig Real Brush markers.

Have an awesome weekend and don't forget to SMILE!

Friendship

This week I'm celebrating friendship with a whole bunch of new coordinating stamps and dies that came in a pretty little box marked Stamp of Approval.  It's a whole box of goodies that Catherine Pooler put together over at Stamp Nation and her website CatherinePooler.com.

Just look at all of this fun!!

I actually received this box over a week ago and just got the opportunity to really dig in and play with it on Sunday.  I whipped up a few different cards and boy do I mean different!  Take a look.

I did a masking technique for this card using a die cut tag image.  I then used Eva's Favorite Flowers to stamp the masked off area.  To accentuate the tag shape I blended a  light blue haze around the edge.

I blended some pretty blue distress inks together on this tag and used Casual Fridays Love Ya die for the sentiment.  Isn't that Curtis background stamp so cool, adding a little touch of bubblegum pink?

I used the Friend stamp set to make the floral background for this card.  Using the stitched diagonal die from Lil' Inker Designs I was able to create a focal point with some of the same flowers in bright blues.

Another use for that awesome tag die set is to make it into a shaker card.

And I saved this sweet little Love Ya  Sistah for last.  I am really loving those flower dies.  There are so many great ways you can layer them.

  I think Catherine did an awesome job putting this box together.  Everything coordinates so beautifully.  The possibilities are endless.

Thanks for stopping by!

This Week in Cards - August 2nd week

With so much of my energy focused on my tropical card set I didn't have much time for extra cards this week.  I did complete a few Clean And Simple ones though that I thought turned out pretty cute.

I really love the simplicity of this card but still showcasing some fun stamping.  I love the way the black "ink spots" pop off the clean background and I really think these colors look great together.  I used stamps and dies from WPlus9 and My Favorite Things.

I made this pretty princess card using a stencil and stamp that I've had for a long time but have never used.  Mainly because they both stumped me.  I fell in love with the sentiment on this stamp and honestly it has been displayed in my craftroom  more as a decor piece than a working stamp.   Once I came up with the idea to cut around the shoe and pop it up off the card as an embellishment the plan came together fast.  I thought it would be the perfect card for a bridal shower or engagement.  And check out that fantastic silver sparkly paper from My Favorite Things!  LOVE IT!

This last card kind of steps away from the styles that I'm most comfortable with.  Lots of patterns, stamping and coloring on this card.  I went with a checked background stamp from My Favorite Things and a cute little cherry stamp from Sizzix.  Then I found this adorable little Art Impressions bunnny stamp last week that I just had to have.  I admit, it's quite a bit smaller than I had anticipated which meant I had to break out my glasses when it came time for coloring with my Kuretake real brush markers.  I can't wait to use that bunny for a few Easter cards in the spring.

And this right here is why I loved that bunny stamp.  Isn't this adorable?!!

Thanks so much for hopping by.......I mean stopping by!  We'll see you next week!

Flip Flop Gift Card Set

Geesh, I can't believe how fast summer is passing. It's already mid August and I'm finding myself behind on some of my summer projects.  I started on this gift card set last month and just finished it up over the weekend.  I wanted to send a little tropical set of cards to my in-laws who just moved to Florida last year.  Now, here in IL this would be a little late in the season to be giving a summery set like this to someone.  But they have that awesome flip flop season almost year around down there so I thought they'd really get some use out of these.  Nothing like rubbing some sunshine into the noses of  your northern friends in the middle of January, right?  LOL!

For this card set the main dies and stamps I used are from Lil' Inker Designs.  I just couldn't resist those darling flip flops and cute little sayings.  The palm tree is from My Favorite Things.

First off, I made this coordinating envelope box for them to store their cards and envelopes in until they get around to using them all.

I started with these two cards a few weeks ago and set the tone for what I wanted the whole set to look like.  For card sets like these,  I like to keep them kind of unified in color and theme but I like each card to have a different design.  I wanted these to be kind of a neutral note card collection so that they could have a little flexibility on when to use them and for what occasions to send them on.  I also wanted to keep them kind of laid back.  They left a lot of friends behind in their travels and sometimes just a little note card is all that's needed to let them know they are thinking of them and that they miss them.

I finished the collection up with these four cards.  One of the things I tried to do was to keep the cards as flat as I could so that mailing wouldn't be an issue.  A little dimension is great but I didn't want to make it difficult or expensive for them to send these handmade cards.  Plus, if the cards have too much bulk they will not slide in and out of the gift box easily and the cards could end up damaged.

I did throw one "thank you" card into the mix but you can see that any of these cards could probably be used as a thank you card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Rylee makes a card for Lily.

My 8 year old niece Rylee really wanted to add another card into the Simon Says Stamp Summer Vacation Challenge so she decided on this very first shaker card she made over the weekend.  We don't have a fuse tool yet so I showed her how to use my food saver sealer to make her little shaker pocket.  She was so excited to make this cute sparkly card for her little cousin Lily's birthday.

And little Lily was so excited to get this card in the mail.  Her mommy said she squeeled when she opened it.

Another big Happy Birthday to Lily!!

A special Happy Birthday card for Lily.

My sweet little niece Lily is celebrating her 5th birthday today.  I've never see a child quite like her, especially when it comes to animals.  This little farm girl is such a natural when it comes to loving and communicating with all of them.  She's been known to cuddle with goats, sheep, dogs, chickens and most of all her kitties.  When Lily steps out her front door she usually has a trail of animals behind her.  She definitely has a unique gift and a beautiful heart.

Since she lives so far away and I couldn't make her a special cake to celebrate, I decided to make her a very special card instead.  Using another one of those adorable stamps by WPlus9 (whom I think must have used Lily as their model) I tried to make a pretty outdoor, summery scene.  This is just Lily to me.  Little blonde ringlets, pretty little dress, boots to play in the mud and a cuddly little kittie in her arms.

I used a diecut border to stencil the clouds and little hill in the background with distress inks.  I used Kuretake waterbrush markers to color the images and stamped a sweet sentiment from a My Favorite Things stamp set.

Then for the inside I used some ghost diecut numbers cascading from the top, representing years past. I wanted the inside to be fun and cheerful like the outside so I used coordinating colors and a cute banner across the top.

Happy Birthday Silly Lily!  You're one of a kind and Aunt Lisa loves you!!  XXXOOO!

Rylee's First Watercolor Creation

One of the things I love about my 8 year old niece Rylee is that she loves cardmaking and scrapbooking as much as I do. She's my little creative kindred spirit.  I absolutely love that she is always wanting to learn new techniques.  On this day it was watercoloring with distress inks.

One of the first things we always do before we hit the craft room is jump on the internet for her to find some inspiration pieces.  She browses through Pinterest and watches some tutorial videos by some of our favorite artists.   This time I was really honored that her inspiration came from a card I made.

We broke out the stamps, inks, brushes and watercolor paper and had our first lesson in watercolors.  This kid is a natural.  Once she got started it was like I wasn't even in the room.   She instantly got in "the zone" and focused on her masterpiece.

When she finished she had a beautifully watercolored card front.  And boy was she proud of herself!

The next steps she took in designing her card kind of surprised me.  She came up with the idea of cutting her painted front into strips and then putting them back together kind of like a puzzle. Such a brave move she made after all of that hard work coloring.

So, out came the strip dies and she used the Cuttlebug to cut it into strips.  After glueing the strips to a pink background she decided that she loved my cards with the black and white stripes and wanted to add that to the edge.  She finished it off with a diecut Thanks and a few sparkly sequins.

I am always so proud of Rylee's creations, I brag her up every chance I can get.  I don't think some people realize how much time, effort and love go into making a card.  She has so much love to give and I can see it in everything she creates.  She has a great eye for color and a wonderful sense of what's aesthetically pleasing.  And above all of that, she is one great kid!!

Thanks for stopping by!

This Week in Cards - Welcome August!

August is roaring in like a lion!  It's heating up outside and the only place I really want to be is inside.   Inside my craft room with the air cranked up and an ice cold wine cooler near by.  I have a big birthday coming up this week so of course I've been celebrating for oh....about a month.  ;)   So This Week in Cards I had lots of new stuff to play with.

First up I used a Lil" Inker Border Builders die to create this cloud stencil.  Awesome fun technique and a great background for this adorable Art Impressions airplane stamp.  Any of my friends know that this "happy mail"  fits my husband and I to a T!

Another Art Impressions stamp that I absolutely love are these giggly friends. So cute!   I find that I can't stamp these images without altering them in some way.  This little blonde received a long pony tail.  For the animal print background I actually used an old wall stencil that I had laying around. I stenciled in black and then sprayed a light spray of black over it to add texture.

Using a watercolored background and some large dies and stamped letters for this playful little birthday card.  I'm always looking for a chance to use those adorable, Unforgettable elephants by WPlus9.

This card was one of a few different challenges I did for Stamp Nation.  This challenge was to make a card depicting your favorite drink.  Mine is Diet Coke.  Can you see it?? 

I CASE'd an awesome card by Catherine Pooler this week and came up with this one.  I loved the striking contrast between the black and white image and the bright colored title strip.  I also added some bright ink splotches to mine.

Another Stamp Nation challenge was to make a glamorous Hollywood style card. What's more glam that sparkly chandeliers?  I was excited to use this chandelier stamp that I haven't used in ages.  See, it pays to hoard every one of those stamps.  You never know when you might need them.  ;) 

And finally, another beauty using my Altenew layered rose stamp set.  This time using a Hero Arts wreath stamp as a foundation of leafy greens.   The sentiment is another oldie I dug out of my Stampin Up' drawer.  And an honorable mention to those fabulous black and white stripes that I'm still so enamored with and can't get enough of. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great week my friends!