I Know it's the Wrong Season But...

I wanted to share this card, even though the time for Christmas cards has passed. Of course I could say that I'm just getting a jumpstart on next Christmas, but I'm not sure how many of you would believe me. This is a card that I did with my stamp club before the holidays. I used Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 90 for this card. I think that one of the things that I liked best about it is that I used non-traditional Christmas colors. The other thing that I like about this card is how the tree branches were made. The branches are not actually a stamp of tree branches, they were made using the large evergreen tree from the Lovely as a Tree set. I simply stamped the top of the tree onto the cardstock with the rest of the tree off the cardstock and voilà, tree branches! This was a fun card to make and the pearls added a nice touch to the ornament. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Tags til Christmas, Short & Sweet, Lovely as a Tree
Ink: Night of Navy & Garden Green
Paper: Almost Amethyst (retired), Whisper White, Garden Green & Night of Navy Cardstock, Almost Amethyst Prints DSP (retired)
Accessories & Tools: Scallop Edge Border & Word Window Large Punches, Silver Cord (retired), Basic Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals

Filled with Love Valentine

Here's another Valentine's Day card that I made. This one was based on Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 95. Like the last two cards, I used the Patterns Designer Series Paper. For this card, I used a paper pack that contained only Pretty in Pink and Real Red. It was something that was available through Valentine's Day only, but the same colors can be found in the regular stacks. I just LOVE these paper stacks! If you don't own them yet, you need to fix that. Unlike the retired Patterns DSP Packs, the new ones have only 4 patterns rather than 12. Also, they are available in 40 sheet pads with 10 colors in each (5 in the In Color stack) instead of 12 sheet packages with only one color. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't like the old version, it's just that most of the time, I found myself using either the dots or the stripes, so I have lots of leftovers in the other patterns. With the new paper stacks, there are 4 sheets of each color; 2 of the sheets have the stripes on one side and 2 of them have the dots on one side. Do you think Stampin' Up! was reading my mind? Haha! Probably not, but it works for me. You can't see it in the photo, but I used the Paper-Piercing Tool to pierce a pattern in the lower right corner, but it really didn't show up well with the patterned paper and it's covered by my watermark. Oh well. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Filled with Love

Ink: Real Red

Paper: Real Red & Whisper White Cardstock, Love Patterns Paper Pack, Real Red & Green Galore (retired) Markers, Paper-Piercing Tool, Silver Brads, Real Red 1/2" Sending Love Epoxy Brads (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals

SSSC105

This card is for Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 105, and I can't believe that I actually finished it on time! Although I've used a lot of these sketches recently, it's been months since I used one that was current. I don't know about the rest of the stamping world, but more often than not, it takes me hours to design something. Once I have a design I can make cards quickly, but when I'm designing I have to tweak this and change that. Before I know it, the day is almost over and it's time to make dinner for my family. Can anyone relate? Well, I'm off to see what else I can make today. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip & Crumb Cake
Paper: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla Cardstock, Brights Patterns DSP Stack
Accessories & Tools: Circle Scissor Plus, Brights Brads, Build a Cupcake Punch, Scallop Circle #2 Sizzix Bigz Die, Paper-Piercing Tool, Stampin' Dimensionals

Extended Word Window Punch

I mentioned yesterday that I would try to post a photo of how I extended the cardstock that I punched with my Word Window Punch; here it is. I also double-checked the measurement and it is not quite 3/8", it is between 5/16" and 3/8". For those of you who are challenged when it comes to measurements, most rulers are divided into 16ths, so 5 lines would be 5/16". Just place your cardstock between the 5th and 6th lines and you'll have the correct size. I find that there are quite a few people for whom reading a ruler is confusing. Having spent 13 years as a professional picture framer I'm not one of them, so I'm happy to clear up any confusion for those for whom it might be. Thanks for visiting!

Mojo Valentine

This Valentine's Day card is based on Mojo Monday Sketch 174. I tweaked it a little by making my card a square because I needed the extra width to fit everything on it. To make the greeting, I cut a piece of cardstock the same size as the Word Window Punch (3/8 of an inch I believe) and then slid it into the Word Window Punch with one end of it sticking up out of the punch to punch one end of it. Does that make sense? Perhaps I'll try to post a photo later showing you what I mean. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Filled with Love, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Real Red

Paper: Whisper White & Pretty in Pink Cardstock, Love Patterns DSP Pack

Accessories & Tools: Circle Scissor Plus, Full Heart XL, Word Window Large & Heart to Heart XL Punches, Paper-Piercing Tool, Stamping Sponges, 5/8" Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Subtles Brads, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Stampin' Dimensionals

Chocolate Anyone?

This card was made by my daughter one day during Christmas vacation. She told me that she was bored (a cry I've heard too many times to count), so I suggested she do some stamping with me. She had seen this set when my order arrived, so she knew it was the one that she wanted to use for her card. She was pretty proud of herself when she finished and I promised her that I would put it on my blog. I think she did a great job with it. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Eat Chocolate

Ink: Soft Suede

Paper: Regal Rose, Very Vanilla & Soft Suede Cardstock, Brights & Subtles Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack

Accessories & Tools: Decorative Label XL Punch, Paper Snips, Pretty in Pink & Regal Rose Markers, 1/4" Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

I'm baaaack!

Wow! It probably seems as though I've been gone forever. To be honest, it kind of feels that way to me. I had to take some time off last summer and once I did, I had a difficult time getting things moving again. The good news is that I found my stamping mojo and I've been hard at work making lots of new projects which I'll be sharing over the next few weeks.

Here is the first of many projects that I have to share...

I needed a little help to get myself going again, so I used lots of card sketch challenges to create my cards. This card was based on Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 83. I realize that it's a little late for Valentine's Day cards, but I'll be sharing a few that I made anyway, and if they inspire you, you can always use them for next year. I'm looking forward to sharing more projects with you soon. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, Filled with Love, Well Scripted (retired)

Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo

Paper: Whisper White & Melon Mambo Cardstock, Brights & Neutrals Patterns DSP Stack

Accessories & Tools: 3/8" White Taffeta Ribbon, Circle Scissor Plus, Heart Small, Scallop Edge Border & Full Heart XL Punches