Regal Purple Damask Thank You Card

A thank you card for a dear friend who surprised me with a gift and whose favorite color is purple. This damask stamp is a favorite of mine and I thought the Anna Griffin phrase was a nice complement, as well as the large decorative paper clip which I picked up at Target recently in an 8-pack for $1! Love a good bargain!!!

Paper: SU Elegant Eggplant cardstock; DeNami Design Lavendar Metallic
Stamp: JudiKins Regal Damask
Embellishments: BMuse Very Fine Detail Amethyst Embossing Powder; Large Paper Clip; Ribbon
Tool: Marvy Uchida Oval Punch

Sympathy Card

This card took me days to complete, partly because I had to soften the clock graphic (a Microsoft downloadable jpg) and lining up the phrase at the bottom, but mainly because these for me are such difficult cards to do. I CASed this Time Heals card by Jennifer Miller as closely as possible, again because they're so hard and this one appealed so much to me, from PaperCrafts Magazine's online projects. Because of the solemn theme, I didn't add any embellishments.

Paper: Deja Views Fresh Print: Blue Raspberry Collage & Blocks; Paisley Border from 8 x 8 Paper & Punch-Out Tablet

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers-8

Greetings to all my "sisters"! I can't wait to visit your blogs and see all your wonderful work!
I'm a resident of Arizona, currently not working outside our home. I particularly enjoy cardmaking and I'm slowly moving towards scrapbooking, but feel I need to learn a lot more about photography to succeed. I've done crafts my entire life and would truly be lost without something to work on. I'm enjoying the challenges of blogging & looking forward to this new adventure with all of you!

My husband is retired and we have two grown children, a son & daughter. He also has two grown children, a daughter & son, and a grown grandson and granddaughter. Yes, he's a bit older than I am, so I always tease him that I'm too young to be a Grandma!!! ;-) I have no sisters in real life, but I think sometimes that makes my friends even more precious!!!

Lovely Flowers

Our DD brought us this gorgeous flower centerpiece she designed for the holidays. It's so exciting to see her creations and how she's growing and evolving in her career!

Retro Peace Christmas Card

My daughter needed a Christmas card for a dear friend and she knew this 70's look would be perfect for the occasion. It always amazes me to see how our minds perceive completely diverse ways to use embellishments! She used the Making Memories large grommets, but didn't mount them into the card, instead leaving the unset "ornaments" hanging at the ends of the fibers. I think this card turned out to be one of the best she's ever designed and her designer's eye has definitely come up with some very unique cards over the years! She always amazes me!!!

Paper: DMD's Adhesive Mats "Carefree Autumn"; Cream Linen
Stamp: Penny Black
Embellishments: Making Memories Color Grommets; WeRMemoryKeepers Large Eyelets; Trimtex Picture Perfect Fibers; Koss Pastels; Ribbon
Tools: WeRMemoryKeepers Crop-A-Dile; Martha Stewart 1" Round Punch

Handmade Christmas Cards

I received two handmade cards from dear friends this week. Ilene's poinsettia card was created with embossed snowflakes on vellum & finished off with the greeting and a poinsettia cut from Wishblade, then matted all around in black -- very lovely!
My Stampin'Up demo, Kimberly, sent the simple & adorable tree card with corrugated red strip on a green card. Simple and yet, simply adorable! Love the way she tied her ribbon! Thanks so much ladies for sharing your creativity!

Happy Birthday, Gwen!!!

Tomorrow is my friend Gwen's birthday, so here's the card I made for her. I felt it still needed something else, but couldn't quite figure out what, so had to just get it mailed! I don't know why, but cards for those I'm closest to are the hardest cards to make, even if the recipient isn't a papercrafter, tho Gwen is a fabulous papercrafter, as well as being THE BIRTHDAY GIRL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GWEN!!!

Paper: Neenah Paper's Classic Columns Solar White Cover; brown scrap & pink metallic scrap

Embellishments: Creative Imaginations Epoxy Flowers; Making Memories Curling Tags

Tools: Making Memories Tag Curler; Crop-a-dile; Stampin'Up's Slit Punch

Another Christmas Treat Box/Basket

Because the holiday is fast approaching, I made this basket a bit simpler by just folding my paper squares in half inside & out, rather than cutting them in half diagonally. I only used a second paper on the inside & it looks fine! I added mixed nuts in the shell, candy canes & various chocolates, wrapped it with cellophane, added a red bow, cute snowman tag & it's ready for delivery!

Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab V
Stamp & Punch: Stampin'Up's Terrific Tags Punch Box

Ink: Ranger's Distress Ink - Peeled Paint; Tsukineko's VersaColor - Cardinal

Glitter: PSX's Sparkles - Diamond

A Beautiful Surprise! (Santa Christmas Card)

What a wonderful surprise we received in our mail today -- this gorgeous handmade card from my friend, Gwen, who encouraged me to start this blog & is truly a crafting genius, in my humble opinion! Isn't it just beautiful in every way?!!! The inside is equally beautiful, with the scallop repeated in a pale pink metallic paper on which she stamped Merry Christmas and added two metallic snowflakes with the same sparkly dots in the center! A masterpiece to behold! Her blog, MyCraftyDaysOff is linked here on my site, so check it out! You won't be disappointed!!!

Figgy Pudding's Christmas Holly Card

After struggling to find my creativity these past few days, I've finally created a card that for me is more than "simple/easy", which I enjoy making. I've always made 40-50 of the same card & this year (partly because of the need to post here), I'd decided to make more cards & less of each, but I struggled to find any that "grabbed me". This card does that for me! Hope you like it too!

Paper: Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding - Toasty; Cream Linen; Red Speckle
Stamps: DeNami Design - both
Embossing Powder: DeNami Design Gold
Stickles: Xmas Red, Lime Green, Gold
Finished Card Size: 5" x 7"

Simple/Easy Christmas Cards & Stickles!!!

Some simple & easy cards for the holiday! All you need besides what comes in the paper stack is a little Stickles for excitement (thanks Ilene & Deva, the Stickles' Queens)!!! For other Stickles' Queens out there, I've discovered that once I get even my old bottles (you don't want to know how old, trust me) to flow easily ALWAYS, insert a "short" straight pin in the neck before you screw the cap back on. I believe I found the pins @ Joanns, but they're like straight sewing pins, except shorter & they have a smaller, flatter head, which allows you to put the cap back on & your Stickles will always be ready to use -- easy & very time-saving!!! Also, my original reason for purchasing them, obviously, was to secure the ends of ribbon & they work great for that too, assuming your eyesight is good enough to find them once you drop them, that is!

Paper: DCWV Christmas Scrapbook in a Stack (includes textured cardstock, tiny brads, alpha stickers & velllum quotes

Stamp: Merry Christmas - DeNami Design

Embelllishment: Stickles by Ranger Industries - Lime Green, Xmas Red, Green

Brrr! Snowflake Card

I thought it would be fun to use my Shrinky Dink for a snowflake to go with this fun glittery paper.

Paper: DCWV 12" x 12" Glitter Christmas Stack; G-Rated Rubber Stamps Textured Glossy White Cardstock

Stamp: Snowflake Rosette from Hero Arts

Embellishments: Shrinky Dinks Shrink Plastic; Epoxy Sticker; Silver cord

Finished Size: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Christmas Treat Box/Basket

The tutorial for this box, another wonderful creation by Beate, is available @: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/treat_box/. I've shown it both empty and with mixed nuts and candy in it, but it needed some candy canes for added pizazz! It's more time-consuming than the ones we made for Halloween & takes a lot of gluing, but it's such a great size for many fillers. One

solution would be to use a double-sided card stock to make it quicker and it would require less paper cutting, piecing and gluing. You could line it with cellophane, then add cookies, candy, caramel corn, or potpourri; or simply add bath products for the ladies or golf balls/tees for the guys -- I think it has infinite possibilities! The ribbon can be tied tightly or loosely to suit your needs on this project, depending on what treats you wish to add inside.

Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab V; solid 12" cardstock

Embellishments: Eyelets: 8; Ribbon: 24" inches

Joy to the World Christmas Tree Card

I made this card after finding these little tree lights and jewels at my local dollar store. The lights are actually a necklace, which I cut apart.

Paper: Stripe - Provo Craft Holiday Slab V; Solids - scraps

Embellishments: Fastenater Decorative Staples - Making Memories; Epoxy Sticker - Dollar Bin @ Michaels

Tools: Fiskars Star Punch; Making Memories Fastenater Stapler

Merry Ribboned Card

This is my interpretation of Janelle Clark's Merry Ribbon card on page 42 in Stacy and Friends: 40 Techniques for Making Cards, a 2006 Paper Crafts Publication. Her card is just so fun and fresh! I rediscovered it while looking for some inspiration for my own cards.

Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab V
Stamps: Evergreen by Rubber Stampede; Whimsey Upper Case letters by Stampendous, Inc.

Ink: Stampin'Up! Certainly Celery, Real Red; Mocha Tombow Marker for tree trunk

Tools: Crop-a-dile (We R Memory Keepers)

Embellishments: red and green ribbons

Flowery CTMH Happy Birthday

Time to get my husband's daughter's birthday card mailed, so I gave him numerous choices from many I'd made recently. He chose this pretty card from CTMH's line which I made at a party at my friend Ilene's. The paper line is Let's Get Together and the flower and border are from their clear acrylic stamp set, Delight in Everything. I believe the Happy Birthday stamp is from a set which contains several birthday greetings and the ink and brad are Cranberry. A bright, sunny card which I hope brings her a smile on her special day!

Snow Day Vellum Card

This is a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card I came up with, again trying to use the pale green, blue & silver/gray ribbon and stickers I bought in the dollar bin @ Michaels! I had some scraps of snowflake vellum left from a Christmas card I'd sent a few years ago. Love that vellum & hope it shows up in my photo (which I'll take in the daylight tomorrow). Anyway, I combined it with pale green speckled cardstock (which doesn't really show at all under the vellum, except for a couple of speckles) and some gray jewel metallic text-weight paper I bought this summer on vacation in St. Paul, MN. I think it works okay, with the snowflake and Snow Day sticker, though it's certainly not your typical Christmas colors!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year Square Card

Another simple Christmas card using the Provo Craft Slab V tree and striped papers. The textured green cardstock is actually some of the long paper I'd purchased from XpedX for the decorative strip and card itself, which matched the green background of the paper better than anything else I had. Those papers are usually about 5-6" wide x 25-30" long and are leftovers after being cut from "parent sheets" for customers special orders. Nice that the "waste" on one customer's project becomes unique card supplies for us crafters! Also included is one of my stickers from Michaels' dollar bin which reads, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year". My friend Gwen will be happy to see that this will work for some of those stickers, as she and I both bought them and matching ribbon, unbeknownst to the other. This card is actually 5 3/4" square, which I mention because if you're making square cards for mailing, you must remember to add 17 cents additional postage. It is not fun to have a card returned after you've spent the time and effort to make it and get it mailed!

Trifold Christmas Candy Card

A colorful trifold Christmas card design based on a gift card I previously received and always wanted to emulate. I've shown it in closed, untucked and open positions to try to illustrate what I've done. The paper dimensions are 4 1/4" x 15 7/8", so it requires special-sized paper, which our XpedX store carries. I used Provo Craft's Holiday Slab V paper again, a phrase stamp by Copper Leaf Creations and a candy stamp of unknown orig

in.

Trim the Tree Christmas Card

Another simple Christmas card, again using Provo Craft's Holiday Slab V paper pad from Michaels. Also used here is an epoxy sticker from Michaels' dollar bin. Again, my thriftiness came into play! I couldn't resist the assortment of epoxy stickers, which could also be grouped or even stacked together, when I was shopping a week ago, but I realized I needed a wider assortment of papers in blues and greens to coordinate. The Slab V was the perfect complement, I think. Sometimes for me the hardest part of papercrafting is choosing the right complement between papers and embellishments!

Naughty or Nice Santa Card

A fun and simple little Christmas card incorporating Provo Craft's Holiday Slab V 12" x 12" paper pad from Michaels. I'd briefly glanced at this pad a week ago, and passed it up. Once I saw the awesome cards my friend Gwen had posted on her blog using these papers, I knew I "had to have it"! Of course, yesterday's 20% off "entire purchase" coupon really cinched the deal for me! I added a ribbon strip and Stamp Francisco stamp from many seasons ago, along with Making Memories Cheeky Board Clip, which I painted a deeper shade of red with Making Memories Red Wagon Scrapbook Colors acrylic paint.

Chipboard Coaster Gift Box

Now that I finally purchased a Crop-a-dile (by We R Memory Keepers), I can easily punch holes in chipboard, so I used coasters I've collected from various restaurants (I'm thrifty?!) and followed the Splitcoaststampers tutorial for making a treat box. Since the main decorator color in my house is "merlot", I chose this paper from DCWV's Glitter Christmas Stack (Joann's) because I could use it year-round. I left it plain (rather than embellishing with Christmas details) for that very reason. It's an easy project, though took a bit longer than I'd anticipated because you have to glue your paper to all 5 coasters (including the bottom one) and punch 5 holes evenly in 2 sides of each of the 4 side coasters. However, the Crop-a-dile punches through the chipboard like "butter" and is wonderful because you set the depth of your punch for uniformity, which is crucial to a project like this -- it must be "precise"!!! My crafting friends know that's very important to me!

Beautiful Magnolia Botanical Card

My daughter made this beautiful Magnolia Botanical card with a PSX stamp by that name I've had for many years. It's for a friend's birthday and I think it's quite stunning! She's always been very proficient with a scissors and stamped the flower several times and cut out the various petals and leaves and has curled and layered them for a very nice effect, I think. I hope her friend likes her card!

Simple Noel Hanger

Trying to get in the Christmas mood and brighten up my entryway, I cut these Noel letters from my Wishblade and covered with various papers, including burgundy and green suede papers on the "N" and "E" and a stripe from my DMD Adhesive Mat from Target and Holly Stripe on Red by Paper Pizazz from Joann's. I simply put jewelry jump rings between the letters to attach them and wire to hang it from. I'm sorry the colors are a bit difficult to see from the photograph -- could it be the photographer?!!!

Merry Little Ski Holiday

You know how sometimes you work and work on something and it just never quite looks right -- that's the case with this card. The paper is from Joann's (DCWV Glitter Christmas Stack) and I thought it was really cute and unique. I thought because there are so many colors in the three coordinating papers, I should keep it fairly simple, but maybe I needed a solid & only two patterned papers. I corrugated the stripe after stamping with the Hero Arts phrase. Any suggestions or ideas are welcomed! I've now added a little stocking cap with pompom, which I think helps the card, but I'm still not crazy about it!

Matchbook CTMH Hunting Card

This card was CASEd (as nearly as possible) from the Close To My Heart (CTMH) catalog featuring their My Acrylix D1213 Hunting set for my husband's son in Oklahoma, an avid hunter. I especially liked the arrows, as he also hunts deer with his bow and arrow. He shares his birthday in December with our son -- they are 16 years apart and fortunately he's always liked that they share their special day! I used CTMH's Desert Sand paper for the card, sponged my white cardstock scraps with Ranger's Peeled Paint ink and stamped in Versafine's Vintage Sepia, adding Darice's Hemp Cord to the arrow embellie & tied through the eyelets on the matchbook base. Hope he enjoys his special card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Cherish Pinwheel Card

Here's my version of the pinwheel card my niece sent me. I used a fall cardstock color, since that happened to be what was on my craft table, but I also think this would be a darling spring card done with pastel cardstock. So cute, so quick and so easy! Simply take a 3-inch square of double-sided designer series paper. I used Chatterbox's Scrapbook Walls for this card. From each corner of your square, cut in 1" with a scissor diagonally toward the opposite corner and then simply fold each point to the center and secure with a complimentary brad. Mine is by Making Memories In Bloom line. I chose "Cherish" for my sentiment from Stampin' Ups Baroque Motifs stamp set, since that's how I feel towards my niece!

Simple Happy Thanksgiving Door Hanger

A very simple Thanksgiving door hanger, which I left that way since I thought the leaves in the paper were so gorgeous that I'd just let them be. The 12" x 12" leafy sheet is by Provo Craft and is from Michaels. The phrase stamp is from many years ago, as are the ribbons and leaf brads. Since we're seemingly unable to get any very cool weather here in Arizona yet this year, this paper made me remember Thanksgivings from long ago in the Midwest and memories of cooler days!

Blessed!

I received this darling pinwheel card in the mail today from my sweet niece, Kristine, who visited us last month. The blessing is mine because I have her in my life; she's simply a delight to know! Though she makes cards, she didn't make this one, but her husband's cousin did. She knew I'd like it and she's right! I'm going to have to make some of these. When I do I'll upload a photo & directions for the pinwheel which is very easy to create.

Another Cream and Black Damask Card

This 5" square card is done on cream cardstock with the damask stamp (JudiKins) in black ink embossed with clear embossing powder. It is accented with a glossy black strip of cardstock and sheer black ribbon threaded through a Making Memories chipboard Halloween button from Target, which seemed more "damask" than Halloweeny to me!

Black & Cream Linen Damask Card

A very simple card done on black & cream linen card stock using JudiKins Regal Damask stamp. It didn't turn out quite like I'd envisioned, probably due to how the Versafine ink looks on the linen textured paper. I might like it better on smooth paper, but I decided I'd just add the double-scalloped edge & keep it simple. I think this stamp could be used for many occasions and have a couple more ideas in mind to try.

Photo Clips/Place Card or Recipe Holders/& More?

I found this darling idea for photo/placecard/recipe holders on Nancy Grant's Blog @ http://inkcicles.blogspot.com/ (plus several similar ones on others' blogs since) and she graciously said I could share this idea with my card group on Sunday. First, I discovered DMD's Adhesive Mats @ Target, which I knew would be perfect for adhearing the paper to these clips. Next, in searching for binder clips in colors other than black, I discovered a package of red, blue, white & yellow "Bind-it Flags" @ Staples. The package said they were "writable with permanent marker", so I just had to try StazOn ink, which works beautifully! I knew that a rub-on would work, which I used on the red one shown here to hold a photo of my BFF and me! Since these were quite small, I simply added a ribbon tie to finish mine. Wouldn't these be great for Thanksgiving or Christmas place cards for seating @ your dinner table, wonderful little stocking stuffers for family photos on a desk -- the possibilities are endless! Next, I'm going to try painting the clips, as I "need' more color choices!!!

Copper Snowflake Card

Deva brought a second card to share which is unique in that the snowflakes were 3-D decor items from Ikea, which she ingeniously cut apart (giving her twice as many!) to craft this stunner! Adding to it's beauty is her snowflake stamp by DeNami Designs and darling snowflake phrase by Hero Arts. Sure glad she brought this, "in case we had time and wanted to do another card". Who could go home without it after they'd seen it -- not me!!!

Santa Snowflake Card

This blue and white z-fold Santa card is a vision to behold! Gwen shared this card inspired by a tutorial on the Stamping Moments blog. The blue, silver and white metallic papers in multiple layers, snowflakes (Martha Stewart punch from Michaels) with "bling" brads and snowflake roller (Stampin'Up) all add to the card's true elegance! It's always so fun to have a new fold to ramp up our card making!
 

Daisy Stripes Card

Our hostess, Caryn, shared this adorable card incorporating pink/brown Daisy Stripe paper by Sandylion from JoAnn's, which I also happen to have in my "paper stash". In addition to the pretty paper, she adorned the front with a flower stamp and flower brad, round pink brads and soft fibers. She ingeniously created the inside with brown and pink panels, additional flower stamps and a creative friendship phrase layout! Another marvelous creation from Caryn, as always!

Two Thanksgiving Cards Shared by Friends

(Sorry, photo corrupted/lost!)

Deva's green Thanksgiving card includes gorgeous silk leaves that I believe she said were from Dollar Tree (they're magnificent), pretty ribbon, brads in fall colors and cute phrase stamp. She added orange & green Stickles to the leaves & acorn for added pizzazz -- truly a beautiful card "in person"! Ilene's card with pumpkins, swirly "vine", phrase and silk leaves all by Close to My Heart (I think) and added punched leaves, bow and Stickles glitz is a vision of fall loveliness also! Now you know why getting together to craft with these ladies is so much fun -- they never cease to amaze me!!!

You Are in My Thoughts

There's no better way to top off a busy week than getting together with my awesome stamping friends to enjoy crafting together! This is the card I shared which uses red (speckled) paper from XpedX , DMD adhesive mat stack from Target, my favorite new stamp convention purchase, Calligraphic Flourish by JudiKins, and phrase from Hero Arts LL159 Personal Message Set. Tomorrow I'll publish my other share and all the beautiful cards my talented friends created.

Silver Snowflake Card

Yesterday was our semi-annual Mesa Stamp Convention, as well as XpedX's Unconventional Sale in Tempe, so it was a busy day. Stampendous featured this snowflake card for its make & take @ XpedX which uses their acrylic holiday phrase in Mediterranean Blue Brilliance ink and Stampendous Class-A'Peel snowflake holographic silver stickers on vellum and silver Brilliance-inked snowflakes underneath on white cardstock. My photo doesn't do this card justice!

Erin's Birthday Card

My daughter, Lindsay, needed a birthday card for her dear friend, Erin, and actually liked this one I'd made previously to share with my stamping group. She put this one together from my left-over kits and then proceeded to jazz up the envelope with some of the cut-outs left over from my Christmas tree Iris fold cards. She's a floral designer and she has her own unique style! I hope Erin likes her card & envelope -- I know Lindsay spent a great deal of time on the envelope!!!

Simple Iris Fold Christmas Tree Card

This photo doesn't do this little card justice, but it's night, so if I'm more successful photographing it in the daylight, I'll swap it out tomorrow. Photography is still not my forte, that's for sure. Again, this was a card from an Iris Fold class that my friend, Ilene, and I took a couple of years back. Yesterday I hand drew the tree and tree base in my Wishblade and cut several out for her. I decided to re-create one with my own papers and stamp the DeNami Designs Holiday Cheer phrase beneath -- quite simple, which is sometimes best!