Racing to Thank You

In my earlier post today I mentioned that I needed to make a couple of  masculine Thank
You cards.  I made this one for someone who's into racing stock cars using the current
sketch from the Seize the Sketch challenge.

I used another free digital stamp form birdscards.com for the race car and colored it
with smooch inks. The printed paper and Thank You banner came from the Classic
Cardmaker's Creative Pack from Hot Off the Press. The red card stock was embossed with
a Darice chevron embossing folder.  I tried turning a flaw into a design element by
popping a piece of the embossed paper near the bottom with foam tape.  When I ran it
through the Big Shot the paper actually cut there. Now I'm thinking I should of just left it
open with the black card stock showing through?!? What do you think?Oh well, we're
always second guessing ourselves aren't we?  Anyway, thanks for taking a look!

Balloon Thanks

My husband asked me to make him a couple of thank you cards for 2 male staff members

 he has at work moving on to other assignments. I don't make too many cards that are

masculine in nature so when I saw the photo inspiration challenge over at

Just Us Girls this week I thought I would use it for one of the cards.

I took the more literal approach to the photo using the balloon and some of the colors

in it as my inspiration. I found this free balloon scene digital stamp over at birdscards.com.
The cloud paper was also free there.  I printed the scene several times and paper pieced
after coloring with smooch inks and spectrum noir markers.  Then just added the banners

and stamped sentiment. Thanks for taking a look!

Christmas Angel

Well, it kind of feels like Christmas around here today because  it's cold and it's

snowing.  So, in my ongoing quest to meet my Christmas card goal for this year

I've managed to get a new one made.  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown has a

Stash Challenge. This is a good way to use up what you already have laying

around and they want you to use paper flowers. I happen to have lots of paper

roses in lots of different colors. I stocked up a while back when Michaels had

embellishments on sale for 1/2 off and it's been a while since I've used them.

Here's how I used my paper flowers.

The Christmas Angel image is another free digital stamp from bearywishes.com.

I've only been playing with digital stamps for a couple of weeks and I have to say I'm

enjoying using them quite a bit. I started out coloring her with spectrum noir pens

and ended up going over the coloring with smooch ink just to give a little shimmer.

The rectangle she's on was cut with a Spellbinders die and I had the Noel sticker

in my stash from a couple of years ago.  I dry embossed the white background panel

a freehanded the banner.  Thanks for taking a look!

House of Cards Add a Button

It's time for another challenge at House of Cards!  This time we are to create a card in
the CAS or Classic & Elegant style and add at least one button.

I have to admit that I do not typically put buttons on my cards but there are so many

choices these days that they are a nice embellishment to use.  I had a hard time

deciding what colors to use on this card.  Then I remembered I had these pretty blue

papers that I bought on clearance at Target, of all places, years ago.  I've got to

start using more of what I already have instead of going and buying new all the time!

Anyway, I pulled out the ole Cricut to cut the layered flower, it's been a while since

I used that too, and put one of my favorite Martha Stewart border punches to use.

I used the Stampendous Orchid Greetings stamp set for the sentiment and finished up 

with the 3 blue pearls.  I hope you'll jump over to House of Cards to see what the

rest of the design team did and then link up your own button creation.  Thanks

for taking a look!

Mother's Day Card

One last post for the day.  I managed to get a Mother's Day Card made.  I used

inspiration from 2 challenges.  I used the color combination from Color Throwdown

and the sketch from cardabilities. 

So, this is what I ended up with. I stamped the leaves with a set by taylored expressions

called Friendship Blooms. The label my sentiment is on is also taylored expressions. The

flowers are from a Hero Arts stamp and die set by Sizzix. I computer generated the

sentiment and added pearls to the flower centers. I think this card will be great for one

of my co-workers who loves the color orange.  Thanks for taking a look!

Christmas Star

There's a theme challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown this week.  The card you make should showcase stars.  So here's what I came up with.

The hardest part for me was decided what colors to use.  I started digging through scraps I

had and settled on this, sort of, blue green scheme. I used an old Sizzix originals die for

the star and dry embossed it with a cuttlebug folder.  I thought the star could use some
color so I swiped an ink pad on it.  I stamped the greeting and cut into a banner.  Then I
decided something else was needed so I started adding bling. At first I just added the blue
gems but then remembered I had these crystal swirls and cut them apart and added them
where I thought they looked best.  I think it helps "showcase" the star, right? So there you
have it. Another Christmas card done and about 58 more to go! Thanks for taking a look!

Spring is Near

I hope spring is near.  However, this is March and in Colorado March typically is the

snowiest ( is that a word?) month of the year! We've seen some snow here in the Denver

metro area this month but not too much as of yet.  When I saw this weeks challenge

over at Just Us Girls it had me longing for spring. It's a color challenge and I thought

of daffodils when I saw the combination.

This is one of those cards that I actually started yesterday but got a little frustrated and
decided to let it sit overnight before coming back to it.  So, I'm fairly pleased with the
final result, at least, more so than yesterday.  The image was a free digital stamp from
birdscards.com. I printed it twice, colored it with gels pens and smooch ink, cut it out
and popped with some foam tape. The label I attached it to is a Lifestyle Crafts die and
the butterfly was punched with a Fiskars punch. The border punch I used is also from
Fiskars. The embossed panel was done with a Sizzix embossing folder.  I finished with
some pearls which is not unusual for me. I love pearls! Thanks for taking a look!