it's the little things

Stamping can be such a fun thing to do! And sometimes, not so much. Like when you've been staring at an image and know that it's not quite right, but can't, for the life of you, figure out what is making you uneasy. And so it was with this card. I needed a masculine, thank you card. I had finished stamping and coloring in the goose image from Wetlands. But it just looked flat and boring. Lifeless and bland. I couldn't figure out exactly why is wasn't sitting right with me. 

First, I tried walking away from the project for a bit. Sometimes that works wonders! But not this time. No new ideas were flooding my brain. Next I sat down with Pinterest, hoping for a little shot of creative inspiration. Even Pinterest failed me. Gasp! Unheard of! 

I was ready to ditch the silly goose and start from scratch. So I picked up my stamp binder. Every time I get a new stamp set, I grab my binder filled with copy paper, and I stamp all the images from the set into it. I add the stamp set's title, how many stamps are in the set, and what type of set it is; clear or wood mounted. I was flipping through the pages looking for a different, masculine focal point for the card. 

And they I saw Gorgeous Grunge! My new favorite stamp set! It is SO versatile! There is a simple little stamp that has lightly sketched parallel lines. And I instantly knew what my goose needed! He was just floating on a Whisper White page! He needed to be grounded. So I grabbed my Soft Sky ink pad and stamped a sky all around him in the background. Somehow, that tiny, subtle detail changed everything for me! I fell in love with the goose, slapped him to my card front, and smiled. 

Happy stamping!

just wing it

Sometimes when I sit down to make a card, I can get wrapped up in the creative process. I might have a layout that I really want to try. I may have a stamp set that I've been meaning to work with. Or I might want to try out a new color combination. Lots of people can work like that. I usually end up spending more time frustrated and annoyed when I try to force myself into a preconceived idea of what I want to create. For me things flow best when I just wing it.

Recently, my mother-in-law passed away. I loved her dearly. She always treated me like her daughter. Not a transplant. It has been a testament to her life to see how many people have poured out love and help to my family over the past month. Prayers, and meals, and flowers, and kindness has been lavished on us all. So lately, the only creative constraint that I have put on myself is the making of "thank you" cards. It's been therapeutic thinking of the wonderful people that loved my mother-in-law as I create each card. And the only rule I have for myself when I make the cards is that I use a "thank you" stamp of some sort. Simple. Easy. I've been winging it. 

A little patterned paper, some texture from an embossing folder, a unique use of a woodgrain stamp, and voila!

Happy stamping!

My favorite card... ever

Yesterday I had a blast using punches to make cute little pumpkins. Playing with the embossed pieces made me wonder what else I could do with just a simple circle punch. So I picked out some rich, fall inspired colors. Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake. (Don't you just love the way Stampin' Up names their colors?)

I adhered the embossed, 1" circles in layers and added a bit of gold embossing powder to the sentiment. A bit of organza ribbon was the final elegant touch on this card, which has become my favorite. I want to make a ton if these, all in different color combinations!

Happy stamping!

Impressive gift card holders

In our family, August is one of our big celebration months! That's because my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and mother-in-law all have birthdays. And my in-laws celebrate their anniversary in August. So we find a day for all of us to gather and have one big party for everyone!

The party was yesterday. And true to form, I waited until the last minute to wrap their gifts. Thankfully, their gifts were all gift cards, and I had been working on a new gift card holder card! This was my brother-in-law's card, and he said it was the coolest card he'd ever seen! High praise indeed from a manly man!

To open the card you have to pull the belly band out from under the main image. And then you ate treated to a little surprise. A pop up card!

This one was for my mother-in-law's birthday, and for my in-law's anniversary.

It's a two-for! Because I had waited til the last moment to craft these cards, I was happy to combine two events into one card.

And this one was given to my sister-in-law.

Her husband said that the card was better than the gift itself! I've got to be honest, even though we were celebrating my family members, I felt like the superstar if the party!

Happy stamping!

Note cards and gift holder

I've had some super cute patterned paper for years. I bought it for scrapbooking, but never used it. I thought that it was about time to put it to good use!

I needed a little gift, something with a personal touch, for a dear woman in my life. So I decided to make a set of note cards and envelopes. Because it was a gift, I had to come up with a cute little note card holder too!

The cards are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2", not a typical card size. So I made matching envelopes too! I can't wait to give them away!

Happy stamping!

More circles

I just love how this card turned out! This time I glued down the circle flaps. And I only worked with one sheet of DSP. Same idea as my last post, but gluing down the flaps gives me a totally different look!

I cheated with the patterned paper mat. It's actually two thin strips of paper instead of one big piece. A little trick to stretch your favorite papers!

Happy stamping!

Circle craze

Have you ever had a total failure turn into a happy little accident? I can't tell you how good it feels, when what you thought was an utter waste of time, turns into one of your favorite techniques! I'm on a creative high right now. And I think that I might use every pack of patterned paper that I own to make a version of this card!

I was originally going for a totally different circle look. And some day, I'll go back and give that look another go. But on the journey, I discovered this look and I'm in serious love. 

And it's versatile! From birthday to Christmas cards, the circles just look celebratory!

And even though they look a little fussy, a circle punch (I used a 1 1/4" punch) makes the work easy. 

A bit of sponging helps the circles stand up next to each other. 

I thought about gluing the edges down, but I decided that I love them sticking up!

Happy stamping!

Double inspiration

You might remember this card from the post "The ocean is calling". It's a card I designed for Stamp Camp. And I adore it. 

Stamp Camp was yesterday and the ladies and I had a fabulous time being creative. Some of my girls carefully read the instruction sheet that I print out for each project and produce a perfect copy of my sample. This makes me happy because they enjoy having a cute card to send to a loved one. 

Some of my girls don't bother with the instruction sheet and quickly bust out a card that kinda looks like my sample. This makes me happy because they enjoy winging it and seeing what happens. 

And some of my girls take a look at my sample and decide to turn it on it's side! They change up the layout, switch around the colors, and end up with something totally different from my sample. This makes me do a little dance of joy! They enjoy the creative process and aren't afraid to take a chance and get their hands dirty. 

Today when I was unpacking my Stamp Camp supplies, I discovered that I had an extra card kit. So I decided to get my hands dirty and make something entirely different from the original cards! Here's what I did with the ocean inspired card. 

It's still based in nature and uses a bit of  wood grain, but other than that, this card and the original have nothing in common! This time I used VersaMark ink and embossing powders on the main image. Some tearing and the Woodgrain embossing folder lends a bit of texture. I am in serious love with this version too!

Happy stamping!

Unexpected color combo

This summer has been super busy! Because my kids are so talented, I've been running them to music camp and play rehearsals. Not to mention taxiing them to friend's houses, and to work. So I find myself with these little pockets of time to work on designing cards between dropping them off, and picking them up. Often times, I have to leave in the middle of making a masterpiece. 

While I'm gone, you'll find my desk with a half-made card on it. But before I go, I try to lay out all the elements so that I don't forget where I was intending to go with a project. I'm so scatterbrained that if I don't do this, by the time I return to my desk, I'll have forgotten all my design elements. Getting older stinks!

I've never used Pink Pirouette with Tangerine Tango before. But when I was pulling paper out of my cabinet, I dropped some and these two colors landed next to each other. I loved them together! So I had to put them into a card. 

The bee was cut from vellum and I dry embossed the back of the wings to make them white, and bump them out a bit. I also colored the back of it's body with Crushed Curry (my new favorite yellow). Again, Backyard Basics Framelits made cutting him out a breeze!

Happy stamping!