World of Dreams

Materials Needed:

World of Dreams stamp set (#134186 SU)

Versa Mark ink pad

Coastal Cabana ink pad

Clear Embossing powder

Heat Tool

Crisp Cantaloupe card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Coastal Cabana card stock 3 3/4 x 5"

Scallop Dots border punch

Corner Rounder punch

1. Punch the border on two sides of the Crisp Cantaloupe card stock. Lay aside.

2. Stamp the image from the World of Dreams stamp set on to top left of the Coastal Cabana card stock using  Versa Mark ink. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over the stamped image and shake off any excess. Use a heat tool to melt the embossing powder. 

3. Stamp your greeting on the bottom right of the Coastal Cabana card stock with Coastal Cabana ink.

4. Round the top two corners on the Coastal Cabana card stock.

5. Adhere the punched Crisp Cantaloupe piece on top of the Lost Lagoon card stock lining up the bottom right hand corners.

6. Adhere the stamped Coastal Cabana card stock on top of the Crisp Cantaloupe lining up the bottom right hand corners. 

Have fun punching and embossing!

Butterfly Birthday

Materials needed:

Papillon Potpourri stamp set (123759 SU)

Bitty Butterfly punch

Elegant Butterfly punch

Word Window punch

Daffodil Delight card stock 4 1/4x 5 1/2"

Slate Gray card stock 3 x 4 1/2"

Lost Lagoon card stock 2 3/4 x 4"

Corner Rounder

White card stock

Sizzix embossing folder

Raspberry Ripple ink

Floral Ribbon

Stampin' Dimensionals

I think you can figure this card out easily with the dimensions that I've listed and looking at the picture. If you have any questions, just ask.

It's Your Day

Shouldn't a birthday always be a special time for the birthday person? I think so. I like to make my birthday special. In fact, mine was this past Monday & hubby & I went to Red Lobster for dinner. My dear friend, Marian, thinks that we should all have a birthday month! She celebrates her birthday for the whole month of September!

Materials needed:

Wild About Flowers stamp set (138728)

Wild Wasabi card stock 4 1/4 x  5 1/2"

Slate Gray card stock 3 x 4 5/8"

Lost Lagoon card stock 2 3/4 x 4 1/4"

Sizzix embossing folder (sorry, I can't find the name of this one)

Corner Rounder punch

Modern Label punch SU

1/2" Grosgrain Striped Old Olive ribbon (113883, retired)

Wild Wasabi ink

Primrose Petals ink

It's Your Day stamp SU from a Pumpkin Patch kit

Sponge dauber

Stampin' Dimensionals

1.Run the Lost Lagoon card stock in the embossing folder through your Big Shot machine. Use the corner rounder punch to round all four corners of the blue and the gray card stock.

2. Adhere the Lost Lagoon to the top of the gray card stock Adhere this card stock on to the left side of the Wild Wasabi card stock.

3. Adhere the ribbon to the right side of the Wild Wasabi card stock wrapping around to the back.

4. Use the stamps from the Wild About Flowers stamp set to stamp the image on white card stock. This stamp  is really cool because the flowers are a separate stamp and make it easy to get the flowers a different color. And these flowers fit perfectly on the stems!

5. Cut the image out. Place dimensionals on the back of the image and adhere to the embossed Lost Lagoon card stock. 

6. Stamp the greeting on white card stock with Wild Wasabi ink. Use the Modern Label punch to punch out the greeting. Use the sponge dauber to dab Wild Wasabi ink around the edge of the punched greeting.  

7. Place one dimensional on the end of the greeting, under the word day. Place a small amount of adhesive on the other end. Adhere the greeting across the right side of the card.

8. Adhere the card front to a white card back and add greetings or a special message to the inside.

Pretty Butterflies

Here is a card I made for a birthday but it could be used for many occasions.

Materials needed:

Happy Patterns decorative masks SU(138313)

Pretty Print textured impressions embossing folder (#13275)

White card stock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" scored and folded at 4 1/4"

Lost Lagoon card stock 2 3/4 x 4 1/4"

Corner rounder punch

Papillon Potpourri stamp set (123759)

Bitty Butterfly punch (129406)

Elegant Butterfly punch (127526)

5/8" Whisper White Organza ribbon

Mambo Melon ink

Lost Lagoon ink

Blue Washi tape

Sponge dauber

Stampin' Dimensionals

1. Place the Lost Lagoon card stock in the embossing folder and run it through your Big Shot machine. Lay aside.

2. Center the decorative mask on top of the folded white card stock. Use the sponge dauber to pick up Melon Mambo ink from the ink pad. Holding the mask steady, dab the ink on the openings on the mask to place the color on the white card stock. Cover the card stock.

3. Adhere the Lost Lagoon embossed piece to the center of the folded white card stock.

4. Choose 3 butterflies in 2 sizes from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set, Stamp them with Lost Lagoon ink on white card stock.

5. Use the 2 butterfly punches to punch out the butterflies.

6. Wrap the white ribbon completely around the front and inside of the white card stock. Tie in a bow on the front to be on the right side of the card. Use a small amount of adhesive to secure in place.

7. Place dimensionals on the back of the large butterfly and one of the small butterflies. Place the large butterfly just over part of the ribbon on the left hand side. Place one of the small butterflies near the top of the Lost Lagoon card stock and the other below the ribbon. 

Stamp or write a greeting on the inside and send this lovely card to a friend.

Chevron Birthday

Here is the card that I made for the men in my life with April birthdays. Aside from a bit of embossing with my Big Shot, there is nothing fancy about this card. Lately, I've been too busy volunteering to have time to do anything fancy! But I do love my volunteering for Operation Christmas Child!

Materials needed:

Wild Wasabi card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Patterned paper from my scrap box 2 1/2 x 5 1/2"

Old Olive ink

Serene Silhouettes stamp set

Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set

Certainly Celery grosgrain 5/8" ribbon (from SU! but retired)

Word Window punch

Chevron embossing folder

Stampin' Dimensionals

This is  a super easy card but if you want me to put step by step directions, let me know and I'll be happy to do that.

Felt Flowers and Butterflies

It's April already and I'm running behind, as usual. lol I spent my afternoon a few days ago getting my April birthday cards made. I had made a few last week for the first few days of the month but didn't get them scanned for you. So now, that I've got my cards for the rest of the month done, I'll share them with you.

Today, I'm sharing the one that I did for the ladies I know with April birthdays. It's spring time now and we've had some beautiful days here in Central Texas. We've had some cool ones too but nothing too bad. I wanted to do springy so here is the card.

Materials needed:
Pool Party card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Shades of Spring patterned paper 2 1/2 x 3"
Butterfly stamp (this is one I've had from years. I'm pretty sure it's from SU! but I don't know which set)
Felt
Secret Garden Framelits dies
Jewels Basic Pearls
White satin ribbon 5/8"
Strawberry Slush ink
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set
Word Window punch
Pretty Birds embossing folder by Jennifer Ellory
Stampin' Dimensionals
Glue dots

It's pretty easy to just look at the card and see how it's made. The only thing you might not be sure of it the felt flower. I took of piece of felt and cut it with one of the Secret Garden flower dies. The original dies will cut up to 4 pieces of felt with no problem but the Framlits dies will only cut 2 at a time and sometimes only one does good.  After you cut out the felt flower, place a glue dot in the center of the flower. Pinch the felt around the glue dot and it will look a bit more like petals. Then you can put the felt on the flower with glue dots. The rest of the card is pretty much like it looks. Easy peasy! Have fun.

Butterfly Garden

Materials needed:
Butterfly Garden embossing folder and stamp set by Jenny Ellory
Old Olive card stock
Calypso Coral card stock
Strawberry Slush ink
White satin ribbon

Love and Sympathy

 

Materials needed:

Love & Sympathy stamp set (#122797)

Very Vanilla card stock 8 1/2 x 5 1/2"

Slate gray card stock 2 x 3 3/4" plus

Textured Impressions Stripes (#123128)

Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

5/8" Whisper White Organza ribbon (#114319)

Wild Wasabi ink

Big Shot machine

 

This is a fairly simple card to make. I always am in a quandry as to what colors to use for sympathy. I really like using the Very Vanilla card stock but then the accent colors are what I wonder about. The Love & sympathy stamp set from Stampin' Up! is a great one to use for this type of card. Not only does it have a simple, nice flower, it also has great greetings for the outside and the inside of the card.

 

I think the embossed stripes give it a nice look also. I put the embossing folder on the front half of the card and just ran it through my machine. It worked very well. IMO, the ribbon just gave it that added touch.

 



Red, White & Blue All Stars

In the USA, a red, white & blue card can be used for many occassions. This is a little late for the 4th of July but there are many more holidays that it would be approiate for. Or just use it for an everyday card.

Materials needed:
Be the Star stamp set (#135734)
Stars Framelits Dies (#133723)
Brilliant Blue card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Real Red card stock 3 3/4 x 4 3/4"
White card stock
Pacific Point ink pad
Modern Label punch
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Big Shot machine
Red mini brads
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

One thing that I have noticed with my embossing folders is that the Cuttlebug folders don't quite fill up the A2 size cards. This one is cut a bit smaller so you can't tell but they often leave a bit of room on the sides. The Stampin' Up embossing folders do a better job of filling up the space.

A Card from Scraps

Every thing for this card came from my scrap box. Some of the items are quite old. Most of them are from Stampin' Up but I might have to look through several catalogs to find the pattern names. I think that from time to time we all need to make something that just uses scraps. We all have more than we will probably ever use, at least, I know that I do!

Materials needed:
Red card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Striped patterned paper 4 x 5 1/4"
Other pieces of patterned paper that coordinate well.
Card stock stickers
Vellum
Gold embossing powder
Greeting stamp
Heat tool
Versa Mark ink pad

1. Cut various piece of patterned paper into these sizes: 3 x 3 1/2" for the back (right on top of the stripes), 3/4 x 3 3 3/4", 2 x 4" with a fish tail cut out on one end. 1 x 3" with a fish tail cut out on one end.
2. Stamp a greeting image on to a piece of vellum paper with Versa Mark ink. Sprinkle with gold embossing powder and heat until the powder has melted.  See Note.***
**** I've found that greeting stamps with small letters do not work well with this. They have a tendency to blend together when they melt and make it hard to read the words.

The greeting on the right says "Happy Birthday Wishes." It is very hard to tell what the words are other than the larger birthday word. The green one is using SU Wild Wasabi embossing powder.****

3. Place the cut out pieces of patterned paper, except the one that  is 1 x 3", on the striped paper as shown in the picture.
4. Cut out the greeting on vellum with a larger area left at the bottom. Carefully place adhesive on the bottom section of the greeting and place it on top of the other papers. Adhere the last "fishtail"  piece of patterned paper on top of the vellum paper covering up where the adhesive shows.
5. The flower, leaves and friend label are card stock stickers. Place the flower on the left side overlapping the edge. Trim the excess off of the edge. Place the stem and leaves as shown in the picture.
6. Adhere the card on to a card base.
I've left this tutorial a little vague because I know if you are using scraps, you may not have the same scraps that I have. All of the papers that I used are retired by now. Make good use of your left overs. You can make some beautiful cards that your friends will love.

Embossed Birdcage

I used the Pretty Birds embossing and stamp set by Jennifer Ellory that was the gift in this month's issue of Quick Cards magazine.

Materials needed:
Pretty Birds embossing folder and stamp
Coastal Cabana card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
White card stock
Coastal Cabana ink
Coastal Cabana marker
Candy Dots-Regals (#130932)
Felt flowers
White brads
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Use the Pretty Birds embossing folder and your Big Shot machine to emboss the swirl image on the Coastal Cabana card stock.
2. Use a piece of white card stock about 2 x 3 1/2" to emboss the bird cage. Place the white card stock in the embossing folder positioned at the bird cage and run it through your machine. Cut the image out around the edge of the embossed cage.
3. Adhere the white bird cage on top of the bird cage on the Coastal Cabana card stock. Use the brush end of the marker to color the bird on top of the cage.
4. Punch 3 holes for the flowers on the Coastal Cabana card stock. Place the felt flowers on and put a white brad through each flower. Bend the brads at the back.
5. Choose the colors of Candy Dots that you like and place on the bird cage.
6. Stamp a "best wishes" image on to white card stock. Cut out around it. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back and adhere it to the left side of the card.
7. Adhere this to a card base.

Special Blues & Greens Embossed

This card uses the embossing technique that I used early in April. Instead of the pinks I went with blues and greens for this one. Check out here to see how to do this.

Materials needed:
Elements of Style stamp set (#120045)
Trust God stamp set (#126702)
Bermuda Bay card stock 3 x 3 3/4" and 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
White card stock 4 x 5 1/4," 2 3/4 x 3," and 2 x 2 1/2"
Crushed Curry ink
Gumball Green ink
Bermuda Bay ink
Versa Mark ink
Crystal Clear embossing powder
Heat tool
Sycamore Street 1/4" ribbon, Island Indigo (#130812)
Very Vintage buttons (#129327)
Corner Rounder punch
Sponge Dauber (#102892)
Glue Dots

1. Emboss the larger 2 white card stock pieces according to the directions found here.On this card I used the Crushed Curry, Gumball Green and Bermuda Bay inks in that order. Stamp the flurish image on to the colored card stock with Versa Mark ink. Follow the directions on the card link listed here.
2. Round all the corners. Adhere the embossed card stock pieces to the Bermuda Bay card stock pieces.
3. Wrap the Island Indigo ribbon around the card front and tie a bow. Use glue dots to hold in place.
4. Stamp the saying that you want on the smallest piece of white card stock in Bermuda Bay ink. Use sponge daubers to sponge the edges around the saying with Bermuda Bay ink.  Adhere this piece to the center of the 2 3/4 x 3" embossed piece.
5. Add a button to the bottom right side of the saying piece.
6. Adhere the card front on to a card base and add a note or greeting on the inside.

Another Sympathy

Here is another sympathy card. Actually, all you have to do is change the greeting for it to be most any type of card that you want. I took this one from Dawn Griffith. She had one very much like this a few weeks ago. I actually didn't change it a whole lot.

Materials needed:
Secret Garden stamp set (#129144)
Secret Garden Framelits dies (#129372)
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set (#115370)
Bitty Banners framelits dies (#129267)
Basic Black card stock  4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Crisp Cantaloupe card stock 4 x 5 1/4"
White card stock
Greenhouse Gala patterned paper  2 x 5 1/4"
Paper Studio embossing folder
Crisp Cantaloupe ink
Stampin' Pastels (105542)
Cotton swabs or Q Tips
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Place the Crisp Cantaloupe card stock in the embossing folder and run it through your Big Shot machine. Adhere this on to the Basic Black card stock.
2. Adhere the strip of patterned paper about 1/2" from the top of the card.
3. Stamp 3 flower images from Secret Garden stamp set on white card stock.
4. Color the flowers with your pastel chalks (SU! has not carried chalks for a couple of years now.) Use a cotton swab or your fingers to apply the color. I used 2 shades of pink for the flowers. Blend your pastels to give your flowers the shading that you want.
5. Place the framelit die over the flower and run it through your Big Shot. Do this for each flower image. Adhere 2 of the flowers directly on the patterned paper. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back of a third flower. Adhere it overlapping the other flowers some.
6. Stamp your greeting on Crisp Cantaloup card stock with Crisp Cantaloup ink. Place the banner die over this and run it through your Big Shot. Rub the edges of the banner across the ink pad to apply a bit of color. Add dimensionals to the back and place it on the top right side of the patterned paper.

I am leaving for North Carolina this morning for an area coordinators conference with Operation Christmas Child. I will be gone until Sunday but I have things set up to get cards on here for Friday & next Monday so be sure you come back to look. While I'm in NC, I will get a tour of the Billy Graham Library, the Samaritan's Purse International headquarters and Operation Christmas Child headquarters in Boone. I know that I will have many opportunities to learn so much about OCC and being an area coordinator. I have such a passion for this charity. We have the chance to be foreign missionaries without ever leaving home. No passport needed! The shoeboxes that we pack go to children in over 130 countries and take the story and the message of Jesus Christ to each of those children. I will post some pictures of my trip when I get back on a day that I don't usually post cards so that, if you are interested, you can see some of what I get to experience.

Acrylic Batik Cards

Ok, so I was talking to a friend a few days ago and she told me that she is entirely into digital scrapping and card making now. She has given all of her hands on products away. We decided that since I am really a tactile person, I'm one who likes to get my hands dirty. Well, today's cards will really get your hands dirty or at least, they did mine! I've got 2 different cards today with the same technique and the same card map so I'm going to show you both of them.
I saw this technique on Split Coast Stampers. This is my take on it. I've got lots of pictures so I'll try to show you step by step.

Materials needed:
I'm listing all materials for both cards.
Secret Garden stamp set (#129144)
Secret Garden Framelits dies (#12937)
White card stock for each card 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Acrylic paint (I use Liquitex but any brand is fine. Craft paints work also)
    Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue
    Cadmium Red Deep hue
    Cerulean Blue (for friend to friend card)
    Burnt Sienna (for happy card)
Wild Wasabi card stock 2 1/4 x 4 or 2 x 4"
Primrose Petals ink (for friend card)
Gumball Green ink (for friend card)
Crushed Curry ink (for happy card)
Versa Mark ink
Pistachio Pudding ink (for happy card)
Brads Subtles (#119738)
Clear Embossing Powder
Word Window punch (for friend card)
Large Oval punch (for happy card)
 A piece of plastic like a credit card or an old drivers license 
Paper towels or wet wipes(optional)

1. Choose a background stamp or cover the white card stock with designs, like I did with the Secret Garden stamps. Stamp the entire white card stock with the images and Versa Mark ink.

2. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over the entire design. Shake off the excess and heat set it.

This one is the background I used for the happy card.
Now, I want to show you what happened when I left out the 2nd step. This shows that you need to check your directions often. lol

Actually, I think I might use this for another card but it doesn't show the stamped images. Don't forget step 2! 

This is more what it is supposed to look like, with the images showing through the paint.

3. Choose 3 colors of paint and drip, dot or splash it on to the stamped card stock.

4. Use your plastic card to move the paint around. Move it in different directions to get the paint covering the entire card. You don't want to leave any white showing.

This was the part that was so messy. You want to be sure to have paper or something to protect your table. You will be wiping paint off the card onto whatever it is sitting on.
Wipe the paint with the plastic until the embossed images show.
Give it about 10 minutes to dry.
5. On white card stock, stamp your leaf and flower images from the Secret Garden stamp set. Cut them out with the Secret Garden Framelits dies and your Big Shot machine. (or with a pair of scissors) Adhere them on to the Wild Wasabi card stock. Adhere the Wild Wasabi on to the dried painted batik background that you made.
6. Stamp your greeting on white card stock. The friend greeting was stamped with Primrose Petals ink. Punch the greeting out with the Word Window punch. Rub the edges directly to the Primrose petals ink pad to ink the edges. Adhere it to the bottom right of the card and add brads.
For the "happy" greeting, I didn't have one exactly like I wanted. I chose a "happy birthday" stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. I used a piece of scrap paper to cover up the "birthday" when I stamped it with Crushed Curry ink.

This way only the "birthday" had ink on it. I stamped it 3 times for the "happy, happy, happy" saying. Yes, I am a fan of Duck Dynasty!
I cut this greeting out with the Large Oval punch. Then I rubbed the edges on the Crushed Curry ink, just as I did the friend one. I place this one at the top right and added brads.
Because I used so many warm colors on this card, I decided to use some cool green brads here.
7. Adhere the completed card front to a card base and then add your message to the inside.
Always be sure to sign you creation somewhere on your card. I have a stamp that I found years ago that says "handmade just for you" that I stamp on the back of all my cards. I then add my initials and the year. (jj/14)

Antiqued Thanks

This card was very easy to make. I was surprised at the antique look that it came out with but I like it.

Materials needed:
Crushed Curry card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Whisper White card stock
Holiday Frame Embossing Folder (#127820)
Truly Grateful stamp set (#131733)
Large Oval punch (#119855)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)
Night of Navy ink
Brayer (#102395)

1. Ink up your brayer with the Night of Navy ink and apply to the inside of the embossing folder. For step by step directions for this technique, click here. Run it through your Big Shot machine.
2. Stamp your greeting from Truly Grateful stamp set on white card stock. Punch out with the large oval punch.
3. Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back of the greeting. Place in the center of the embossed image.
4. Add the card front to a card base and you are finished.
See! I told you this was an easy one!

Grateful Glitter

Here's another fun glitter fall card!

Materials needed:
Tangerine Tango cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" plus extra
Whisper White cardstock 2 3/4 x 4 1/4" plus extra
Truly Grateful stamp set (#131733)
Chevron Embossing Folder (#127749)
Brayer (#102395)
Sponge Dauber (#102892)
Tangerine Tango ink
More Mustard ink
Brights Brads Collection (#119740)
Extra Large Oval Punch (#119859)
Large Oval Punch (#119855)
Epic Day This and That Washi tape (#131269)
VersaMark ink pad (#102283)
Heat and Stick powder (#100625)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023)
Heat Tool (#129053)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

1. Rub the Tangerine Tango 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card stock with VersaMark ink. Rub this over half of the card with a nice solid layer. Sprinkle heat and stick powder over it. Use an extra sheet of paper to catch the excess powder. Tap off excess onto the paper and pour it back into the container. Use the heat tool to heat the heat & stick powder until it is shiny. Sprinkle glitter over the powder. Tap off extra and put excess into glitter container. Use the heat tool to set the glitter. Lay this piece aside.
2. Ink the Chevron Embossing Folder with Tangerine Tango ink to do the Color and Emboss technique. Emboss the 2 3/4 x 4 1/4" piece of white card stock with the embossing folder and your Big Shot machine. Adhere this piece to the left hand side of the glittered tangerine tango card stock placing it about 3/4" from the left edge. Place a strip of orange Washi Tape down the side of the embossed piece and the side of the Tangerine Tango piece.
3. Stamp the wheat staff on white card stock with More Mustard ink. Punch it out with the Decorative Label punch or a similar punch. Use the sponge dauber and More Mustard ink to ink the edges of the label. Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back of this piece. Place it in the center of the Chevron embossed piece. 
4. Use the Extra large oval punch to punch out an oval from the extra Tangerine Tango card stock. Stamp your greeting on white card stock and punch it out with the Large Oval punch. Adhere the greeting on to the Tangerine Tango oval.
5. Attach the greeting ovals to the right side of the card with brads.
This gives you another bright & glitterly card to send to friends.

Doily and Daisy

Yes, I'm using what was still on my work table for today's card.

Materials Needed:
Tangerine Tango cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Old Olive cardstock
Patterned paper 1 x 4 1/4"
Whisper White cardstock scrap
Secret Garden stamp set (#129144)
Really Good Greeting stamp set (#130333)
Doilies (#129399)
Simply Scored Scoring Tool (#122334)
Simply Scored Borders Plate (#126192)
1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch (#119854)
Old Olive ink
Tangerine Tango ink

1. Line your Borders Plate onto your Simply Scored Scoring Tool /board. Line your cardstock up with the embossing border that you want for your card. Place the plastic overlay (that comes with the border plate) over the cardstock. Use your scoring tool to emboss the border that you wish onto your cardstock. Turn the cardstock over to see the embossed border.
2. Adhere your patterned paper (I used some a retired scrap that I had) vertically on the right side about 1/2" from the edge.
3. Crumple the center of the doily somewhat to make pleates in the doily. Adhere this to the center of the card, overlapping the patterned paper.
3. Stamp a flower from the Secret Garden stamp set onto Old Olive cardstock with Old Olive ink. Stamp the same flower on the left hand side of the card within your embossed border. Punch out the flower on Old Olive cardstock with the Scallop circle punch. Adhere this to the center of the doily.
4. Stamp your greeting in Tangerine Tango ink on white cardstock. Cut it out around the outside of the greeting. Adhere it to the bottom left side of the card.
5. Adhere your card front onto your card base and add a note or greeting to the inside of the card.
Have fun stamping today! 

Homemade Textured Paste on card

I love texture and I love when I learn a new technique! Recently I learned how to make my own texture paste. I've used spackle and gesso on my cards and layouts before but that stuff can be kind of expensive, especially the texture pastes that you can buy. Well, making your own is super easy! All you need is baking soda (Yes, from your kitchen), Elmer's (or any brand) school glue, a bowl and a stir stick or knife.

1. Mix about 1/4 cup of baking soda with about 2 tbl school glue. You might want to do less but these would be your proportions. Mix them until it looks like a thick icing. You might need to add a drop or two of water to get the consistency that you want.

2. If you want colored paste instead of white, you can add a drop or two of your SU! reinker. For the leaves on this card, I used a few drops of Old Olive reinker.

3. You can use a plastic or metal stencil (like you see in the top picture) to form the shapes you want. About 12-13 years ago, the brass metal stencils were real popular to use for your embossing before all the embossing folders came out. If you have some of these hiding in your closet or craft room, dig them out for this project. The daisy stencil I used here was from the SU! catalog in 2000. Wow! now that's a while ago! lol
4. Place the stencil flat on your cardstock. You may want to use a bit of repositional tape to hold the stencil in place. Use a popcicle stick, a knife or a paint palette knife (see top picture) to spread the paste onto the top  of the stencil on the cardstock. Scrape off the excess above the stencil and remove the stencil. Allow the paste 15-20 minutes to dry and you have your texture on your card.
5. I used Pacific Point cardstock here and to complete the card, I added a button from the Brights Collection(#119747) of designer buttons from SU!
This dries fairly quickly and will not work well after it has dried. For leftovers, you can place it in a zipper type baggie but it doesn't keep well. It's best if you make just the amount you think you will need for your project.
Finish out your card with a card base and you are ready to amaze your friends!

Color and Emboss

After I learned this technique recently, I couldn't wait to try it out and share it with you! It's so easy that it's almost like a "why didn't I think of that" moment.

Materials needed:
Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (#129378)
Big Shot machine
Raining Flowers stamp set (#122767)
Every Little Bit stamp set (#120558)
Hung Up Cute Clips (#129389)
Crushed Curry In Color ink pad
Bermuda Bay In Color ink pad
Coastal Cabana In Color ink pad
Brown Sugar In Color ink pad
Taken with Teal marker
Stampin Dimensionals (#104430)
Whisper White cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
scraps of Very Vanilla cardstock
3/16" Corner rounder punch (#119871)
1" Circle punch (#119868)
1 3/8" Circle punch (#119860)
Brayer (#102395)


1. Stamp your images and cut them out first. Any time you are using a 2 step stamp set, be sure you stamp the lighter color first. Then stamp the darker color over the lighter one. 
    a. Cut the hyacinth flower image to be 3 3/4 x 1 3/4"    
    b. Punch all 4 corner of this with the corner rounder.
    c. Stamp your other flowers. Punch the smaller one with the 1" circle punch. Punch the larger one with
the 1 3/8" circle punch. Stamp a bee from the Every Little Bit stamp set in Brown Sugar In Color. Cut loosly around the bee. Lay these pieces aside.
2. Use a piece of 1 1/4 x 2 1/5" Very Vanilla cardstock to hand write your title. I don't have a Bermuda Bay marker so I used my Taken with Teal marker. I think it still looks good. Round each of the corners. Slip the clip on the corner of the tag.

3.  Place a Stampin Dimensional inside the clip on the back. This will hold the clip in place and give dimension to your greeting. Place 2-3 additional dimensionals on the back of the tag.

4. Make your embossed background using your Honeycomb embossing folder and your Big Shot machine.
  Run your brayer over the Crushed Curry ink until it is covered with ink.

5. You will want to run the brayer with color on to the larger side of the embossing folder. This is the side that has the Stampin Up logo on it. Run the brayer across the inside of the embossing folder.

6. Place your white cardstock inside the folder and run it through your Big Shot machine on Tab 1. After you take the folder and the paper out, it will look like this.

Run the folder under cool water to wash the ink off the embossing folder.
7. Now it's time to assemble your card. Adhere the long flower on the left hand side of the honeycomb background. Put a dimensional under the bee and place her near the top of this flower.
8. Adhere the larger circle flower onto the card. Place a dimensional under the 1" circle flower and slightly overlap it onto the other circle flower.
9. With the dimensions on the back of your greeting and clip, adhere this to the top right side of the card.
10. Adhere all of the card front onto your card base.
Send this to a friend to cheer them up or just to say hi. Have fun stamping and card making!

Mother's Day Card

With May upon us, Mother's Day will be here before you know it. If you haven't yet, it's time to start thinking about how to treat your mom extra special. My mom is in heaven now. I hope that I did enough for her while she was still here!

I always think flowers when I think Moms so I used 5th Avenue Floral(#113734) for this card.This is one of my favorite sets. If you don't have it, I strongly recomment that you buy it now, either from me or your own SU! demonstrator. It is on the list to be retired June 1, 2012. You need to get it while you still can.

1. I embossed my Marina Mist cardstock with the Stripes (#123128) embossing folder & my Big Shot(#113439).

2. Adhere a 1" wide ribbon on the cardstock & wrap the ends around to the back.

3.The layers are Daffodil Delight from the Beyond the Garden(#122342) patterned paper cut to 2 3/4 x 4 1/2" with the corners rounded. The next layer is Whisper White Cardstock cut to 2 1/4 x 3 3/4." I ran it through my Big Shot with an embossing folder that I've had for a few years. I used the direct to paper method and rubbed Marina Mist classic ink on top of the embossing.

4. I stamped the rose from 5th Avenue Floral with Daffodil Delight and cut it out. I popped it up by putting several SU! Dimensionals(#104430) on the back. Love those dimensionals!

5. The greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (#115370) stamped with Marina Mist ink. I punched it out with my Word Window (#119857) punch and mounted it on a piece of Marina Mist cardstock punched with the Modern Label(#119849) punch. I attached it with 2 dark blue brads.

Hope you enjoy making your own Mom's day extra special.