L.O.V.E.

There are a lot of things that I L.O.V.E. in this world...I'm a very blessed person to have THAT many things in my life. I created this clean and simple card for the Our Creative Corner challenge and it will be sent with my other Valentine's cards for Cards for St. Jude. Yellow is a hard color to photograph, the cardstock is a very soft baby yellow and the words are white embossed.

Here's the Goods: Pastel Yellow and White Cardstock, Love It and So Many Sayings SU Stamp Set, SU Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink and Apricot Appeal SU Ink, Versamark Ink, SU White Embossing Powder, Thread, Fiskars Corner Rounder Punch

A Homespun Christmas

If I could choose a christmas style, it would be a Homespun Christmas. Lots of handmade items, eclectic mix of past and present, spending time at home with family. The holidays are here! (at OCC and everywhere!) so this was my reason to reason try the [Holly Leaf cards with Button Berries] that I've seen other people make. The sketch is from Stamping411. The patterns I chose for the hand drawn leaves and other elements and the distressing lent this christmas card to also have a homespun vintage feel.
(Today is a snow day in my neighborhood so I'm home with the boys. I think I will try to contain them to one room while I attempt to clean another to get ready for our holiday company.)

Here's the Goods: Black and Cream Cardstock, DSP SU Paper, Buttons, Floss, Tag Punch, SU ChitChat Rubons, SU Corner Rounder Punch, SU Chocoalate Ink and Colorbox Chalk ink in Creamy Brown.

Grow Old With Me...

The Best Is Yet To Be
Gold was the way to go with this card, as I wanted to create a monotone scene. The card started with the concept from two challenges, the first being from Our Creative Corner. We were challenged to create something using a line from the 12 Days of Christmas. Can you tell which I chose? Yep, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS. Then, I knew I wanted to use my crimper again, because I was really drawn to the molds that So Stinking Sweet uses in her soaps, for this weeks Etsy Inspired Challenge. I also wanted to replicate the colors from this series of soaps. This card certainly was a challenge for me because I'm not used to so many elements on a card, and only one "color", but I think it would be really nice to give for a Golden Anniversary or any anniversary for that matter. The sentiment is gold embossed, and the daisies are stamped in versamark ink as well as Champagne Shimmer Paint.
This card was so difficult to photograph, I hope that my viewers are able to see the crimping and shimmer paint! I need to work on my photography skills!
Here's the Goods: Various shades of cream colored cardstock, Paper Crimper, Gold Brads, Gold Embossing Powder, Square Punch, Gold Thread SU, Best Yet and Upsy Daisy SU stamp sets, SU Champagne Shimmer Paint

Happy Joyful Birthday

Masculine cards are quite difficult for me. Perhaps it is because I have more stamps that lend themselves to girly, sweet thoughts, and hardly any that can be called manly. Perhaps it is because most masculine cards utilize colors that are out of my comfort zone. Or perhaps it seems that most guys just don't appreciate a handmade card? I'm not sure of the exact reason, but this card was certainly an internal challenge. I received guidance and a starting point from the Our Creative Corner Color Challenge and the Pals Paper Arts Sketch Challenge. I thought that by adding the rough texture from the hemp twine wrapped around an acetate bracket that it would further reference some of what men are all about...rough, tough and tumble. How do you go about creating masculine cards, I'd like to hear some thought processes because I need to come up with a few more!
Here's the goods: Archer Paper Cardstock, SU Pumpkin Pie Cardstock, The Paper Loft PP, Chipboard Letters from Target, Making Memories Clear Tag Shapes, Small Sayings SU stamps, Chocolate Chip SU ink

Another Baby Thanks

(I should mention that I haven't had a baby recently, but I'm making these cards for a co-worker's daughters shower gift...) This simple card was created for Katy with the Our Creative Corner Challenge (http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/)in mind. Their challenge this week was a color combo of Sage Shadow, Soft Suede (substituted with Kraft here), Blush Blossom and Handsome Hunter. I found this paper in my "stash" that seemed to work nicely and to bring in the dark green, I paper pierced and finished the faux stitching with a Handsome Hunter Marker. The "thanks" stamp is from Heidi Grace.