Simplicity At It’s Best

With Mother’s Day just around the corner I wanted to make my Daughter a card.  My Mom passed 3 years ago and my husband’s Mom passed last year…..BUT our Daughter has two wonderful children. 

With that said … Allyson I know you’ll be looking, so here’s your Mother’s Day card preview, you just have to wait a bit before receiving it.  *smile*  Might be something in it…..hmmmmm

I tried to keep this card really simple and elegant.  I think I accomplished both.  I first stamped the flower then colored with Prismacolor Water colors, actually I stamped it and colored it twice and cut a small part of the second flower out and popped it up with dimensionals on the main flower that I was using on the card.  I wanted the flower to have a deeper wet look than what I was getting with just coloring it.  That told me it was time to drag out the Crystal Effects.  It’s really hard to pick up some of this detailed work with a camera.  Especially when I’m not a professional camera person!  lol  After applying the Crystal Effects I wanted a little bling in there somewhere but keeping is simple.  I decided adding dazzling diamonds to the Crystal Effects was the way to go. 

Here is a closer look ~

           

I can see the dazzling diamonds and the piece that I popped up, but not so sure about the Crystal Effects.  But it’s there and really looks good in person.

To top things off, with the flower being a little on the glitzy side I knew satin ribbon would be the only choice and added a couple crystal flatbacks to the right of the flower.  It still needed a little something!

The ‘for you’ from the All Holidays set did the trick.  It had a little script flair, simple and small.  I liked it.  I stamped the sentiment in black and that seemed to tie everything in and matched the flatbacks.

Here’s the inside Allyson ~

                       

I hope Allyson likes her card, I did! lol 

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White and Pretty in Pink
• Stamps – Well Scripted, All Holidays and Bloomin’ Beautiful
• Misc. – Prismacolors, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, ribbon and flatbacks from my stash

 

As always thank you for taking the time to look today and hope your day is an awesome one!!!
You too Allyson!

A Senior Moment

As I was clearing off my craft table this morning it dawned on me that I made a mistake on information in yesterday post! *smile*  Usually I do my best thinking in the middle of the night but this one got past me until this morning. 

On yesterdays card the frame stamp that I used was not from the Baby Blossom Set.  The mini flowers that I used were!  The frame stamp was from the Four Frames Set and not the Baby Blossom Set.  Everything else stays the same I just failed to mention the correct set that the frame stamp came from…..chalk it up to a senior moment!  lol   There will be more along the way I’m sure.  It was kinda like in the right Church but sitting on the wrong pew!

Todays Card with no mistakes….that I’m aware of  *smile* will be entered in to the Pals Paper Arts Elements of Style Challenge this week.  They challenge you to use a button or two on a C&S card ~

 

This card was made around the ribbon.  I came across this ribbon and decided I wanted to use it.  It is so springy and summer like.  There is not a color in this ribbon that would not go with either one of SU! card stock colors.  Am I crazy???  Have you ever made a card with the ribbon as your focal point! 

For the flower, I put to work the Scallop Circle punch, Boho Blossom Punch, Flower Blossom die and SU! designer button making it all with colors from the ribbon.  I inked the edges of the scallop with Marina Mist ink and ran a thin piece of Marina Mist card stock thru the button holes.  The butterfly flies in the direction of the stamp from Flight of the Butterfly.   I wanted the flow line to the butterfly a little longer than the stamp allowed, so I just added a couple gems to the left of the stamp for a little added length.  I placed matching gems to the left of the bow as well.

And the inside ~

           

I just carried the Butterfly theme to the inside in some of the ribbon colors.  Here is a better look at the card stock I used to tie on the button.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card Stock – Textured Marina Mist, W. White, D. Delight and C. Celery (retired)
• Punches – Scalloped Circle, Boho Blossom, Flower Blossom Die, Scalloped Edge Border Punch and Beautiful Wings die
• Misc. – Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set, Gems and Ribbon from my stash

 

A THANK YOU

I want to be sure to thank Carla of Carla’s Scraps for the Print Friendly feature now on my blog.  I am so glad to have her on my side!!  I have listed a few features about Print Friendly and how you can get yours.

At the bottom of each post, you will find this “Print Friendly” icon

Some things to know about Print Friendly:

Print Friendly cleans and formats web pages for perfect print experience. It also removes Ads, Navigation and web page junk, so you save paper and ink when you print. It's free and easy to use. Perfect to use at home, the office, or whenever you need to print a web page.

Some Features

• Print Preview: Optimizes and displays content for print.
• Edit Before Printing: Remove images, text, and print only what you want.
• Print or Save as PDF: Print now, or save for later as a PDF.

For additional information please visit their site HERE.

Hopefully I’ve got it all correct today!!! *smile*  If not I’ll let you know tomorrow where I managed to strike again!  TAKE CARE and a million thanks for todays visit!!!! 

 

A Birthday Card

Here’s a Birthday Card made with the Baby Blossoms Set from the Occasions Mini Catalogue ~ its items available thru April 30th.

 

         

 

The picture doesn’t give the extra little sparkle with the use of flatback crystals by Swarovski a lot of justice.  I placed these on those three small Night of Navy circles in the upper right hand corner, I thought they would bring out the silver edging of the ribbon.  In real life they sure do sparkle!!

In the pictures below, the small flower in the oval are two stamps that also come with this 18 piece stamp set.  I popped up the Red flowers with dimensionals.  Punched a Whisper White oval and mounted that ontop in the center of the framed stamp.  Another GREAT thing about these Framed Stamps are that they punch perfectly with the Decorative Label Punch……..in the Occasions Mini ~ available thru April 30th.

                   

                 

My sentiment stamp was just a clear stamp that I found on clearance at our local craft store.  I considered it a real find…..I liked the font.  But any one of SU! stamps would work just as well!

Can’t forget the inside ~

                  

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, Night of Navy and Ruby Red (retired – any red would work)
• Stamp and Ink – Baby Blossoms Stamp Set, Night of Navy and Ruby Red Ink and Night of Navy Ribbon
• Misc. – Scalloped Edge Border Punch, Sm Oval Punch and CB Folder

Hope you enjoyed today’s card, I really liked how the focal point turned out….you may be seeing more of it paired with spring colors and maybe a little lace! *smile*

Take Care and many THANK YOU’s for stopping by for a glance at the happenings here at the ‘loft’!

 

A Big Hello…

to all and I trust your weekend with family and friends were enjoyable and that the Easter Bunny found all the little ones.  Did anyone have the old fashion Jelly Beans in their basket?  Last week I went on a Jelly Bean hunt and found NONE!  Their were plenty of spiced ones, speckled ones, mini ones, pastel ones……but not one plain ole jelly bean could I find.  There was one BIG kid here who was disappointed!  He loves his jelly beans!  Better luck next year Larry!

Today’s card is also about a big hello ~ take a look…

            

I used the Medallion stamp with Pacific Point Ink on Whisper White then paired that up with Regal Rose card stock.  The ovals  on top of the Medallion are punched with the Blossoms Petal Punch.  I scored down the middle of each petal for a little more dimension and accented with silver brads and a Designer Filigree.  Instead of using the center brad on the filigree, I attached it with white satin ribbon giving the card a little more texture.  Each letter of the hello is popped up with dimesionals.  It doesn’t really show up well but all the stamped components were clear embossed using the heat gun.

And the inside ~

         

I brought a few of the ovals (petals) from the Blossom Petal Punch to the inside topped with a silver brad.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock ~ W. White and Regal Rose
• Punches ~ Blossom Petal and Circles
• Misc. ~ P. Point Ink, Silver brads and Filigree, Dimensionals, Clear EP and Medallion Stamp

A quick card and post today, I’m still struggling with getting my stamping done along with the outside/inside work…..still looking for my happy medium.  Golly this is the last week of April, can you believe it!  May right around the corner!  Time waits for no one!! 

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY EVERYBODY!!

Paper Players Challenge #43

Today I entered this card in ‘THE PAPER PLAYERS’ sketch challenge.  This clean and simple challenge was from one the of their Design Team Members…Jaydee.

This is her sketch~

                          

This is my card~

        

A closer look at the focal point~

        

Side view of the front and a peek inside~

                    

I do want to share that I used wired ribbon on this card.  It was easy to do and came out on the first try! 

One thing for sure with C&S cards there’s not a long list of supplies needed.  Nor not a lot to say about the card.  BUT I do have to say they are not as easy as you might think.

Supplies needed ~

• Card stock – SU! V. Vanilla, A. Artichoke, Soft Suede, O. Olive and W. White
• Punches – McGill and the small SU! oval
• Stamps – MS Clear Stamps
• Misc. - Soft Suede Ink, Pretty in Pink Ink, Ribbon, brads from my stash and CB folder

Just a quick post today……getting geared up for the Holiday weekend.  I sincerely hope that a GREAT Holiday is enjoy by all.  I’ll see you all on Monday!!!

                    

A Different Cup Of Tea

So, in what type of containers do your flowers grow?  Once, on my travels, I saw someone had put a wooden bed frame in their yard and planted flowers.  FOR REAL!!!! They called it their Flower Bed or Bed of Flowers!

I’ve never gone quite that far but I can see me planting some flowers in a cup ~

 

Looking at this card now, I think if I do another one I would use Night of Navy for the card base instead of the textured white card stock.  Or..leave the textured white card stock and just make the the next layer a little smaller so that more textured card stock shows.  Just one of those things you decide after its all said and done and one thing for sure you know your not going to tear this one apart.  The cup is an a’ la CARTE – tiny tea cup – I keep wanting to call that section of the IBC ‘appetizer’. *smile* And the spoon is from a Friskars stamp set that I got on clearance at our local craft store.  The small flowers are McGill punches and of course the Two Step Bird punch for the petals and stems.

Peeking inside ~

                    

This angle shows a little better where I used dimensionals and popped up some of the card front pieces.  i.e. cup and a couple flowers.  Sometimes I forget to mention that I do that.  Actually, on almost every card that I make something is popped up somewhere.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – Textured W. White, Night of Navy, Patterns Pack III and bits of scraps for the flowers
• Punches – Scallop border, Two Step Bird, Beautiful Wings and McGill
• Misc. – CB folder, Spellbinders, W. White Ribbon and half pearls from my stash

Tomorrow’s card is one that I‘m entering in THE PAPER PLAYERS challenge this week – clean and simple.  So won’t you come back and see?????

Until then……..love what you do and do what you love….stamp!

 

A Sneak Peek An Award 4 Furry Friends

Oh my goodness…a lot to post today so I’ll get right to it   *smile*

A little preview of tomorrow’s card.  I just couldn’t seem to get it finished in time.  Along with Spring comes longer days, more work and less time for stamping, I’m trying to find that happy medium ~

                       

 

    A BOG AWARD………..for me

                             

First let me say THANK YOU to the very talented lady who so kindly bestowed this award upon me…..Ann Schach!  I sincerely appreciate the consideration and will wear my badge proudly.

As a recipient of this award, I think I need to list 7 facts about myself and then pass this award on to others who inspire me.

The facts are:

• I like working in the yard in the Spring.  July and August is another story ~ TOO HOT!
• I love stamping but am way too slow at it! *smile*
• I stand up to stamp as much as I do sitting down.
• I enjoy a morning coffee while reading my emails.
• I get REALLY excited when I see the UPS guy with orders from SU!
• I am thankful for all the great people I have met thru my blog.
• In the winter I hibernate in my stamping loft and LOVE IT!

And last but not least ~ the good people that I elect to pass this great award on to are the following:

Pam Giudici at Wacky Whippet Stamper.  Pam is on the Pals Paper Arts Design Team.  Her clean and fresh style will keep you coming back for more!

Carla Bazhenow at Carla’s Scraps.  Carla has the best flowers in town.  Check her out, you’ll be glad you did.

Vicki at Heartwarmers from Vicki.  Vicki is so nice and makes some of the most amazing cards!

I hope you take a minute and visit these talented ladies so that you can appreciate their work as much as I do!

 

Our Favorite Four Furry Friends

I enjoy reading and getting to meet other bloggers with family members of the furry kind! *smile*  I don’t want to bore you all BUT…….I do want to introduce you to the OTHER side of my family……

First there’s TANK – Tank lives with us (Larry & I) and is spoiled rotten!  And I am not exaggerating when I say this dog would NOT hurt a fly!  He’s scared of the vacuum!  We sometimes wonder if he was ever mistreated in his younger days.

            

Second there’s Bode – Bode is our Grand-dog….lives with us part-time.
He and Tank are the very BEST of buddies!  Bode loves life.  He is just like a little boy…..that’s his toy

           

Third there’s Sampson – our other Grand-dog who lives in NC  Sampson has a face only a mother could love, a very loving boy and is 6 months old!  This boy is a real sweetie pie for sure!

                  

                  

                       

See…what did I tell ya!  *smile*

Again last but not least our only Grand-dog daughter…Roxy…AKA Foxy Roxy!  She was rescued in the neighborhood starving and scared to death…almost.  But has adapted to her family very well, can you tell?

                   

Okay that’s it!  Thank you for taking the time to meet my family members, they mean the world to us!!!!

We’ll be on track tomorrow!  Come back! Check in! And see what’s happening here at the loft. 

WETHER IT’S DAYTIME/NIGHTTIME FOR YOU…I HOPE IT’S AWESOME!

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

So they say!  Hello everybody, hope your weekend was good and that the storms during Saturday evening stayed clear from you, some were not so fortunate on the East coast.  Many had devastating damage ~ my heart goes out to all.

I like umbrellas – I have no idea why….just do.  They always seem to catch my eye.  I was noticing at STAMP SOMETHING – A weekly challenge blog – challenging you to make an ‘April Shower Something’.  Can you guess what I made?

You’re right ~

          

It took nine punches!  Can you find them all?  Just when you think there is no more uses for that Blossom Petals Punch…..THINK AGAIN!

Here’s the list of punches used ~

Blossom Petals – Umbrella
Modern Label – Outside umbrella
Window Word – Inside umbrella
Boho blossom -  Feet
Corner – Tail
Two Step Bird – Wing and flowers
Various Circles – Eyes, mouth, body and bow
Scallop Circles – Rain
Heart to Heart – Bow

One good thing about this card…..I got to use all scraps!  I can’t begin to list the various card stocks.  I just raided my scrap bin.  Even the blue background was in the scrap bin.  I loved it!

To make the rain drops ~ I used vellum paper and  the scallop circle punch. I cut, at each scallop into the middle, making a tear drop shaped piece…hence rain drops.

Looking inside ~

                      

You’ll notice a little darker blue off to the left side of the card.  That’s just a shadow from the card front, no matter which way I turned it, the shadow was still there.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

Misc.  - Versa Mark (used to distress edges of the umbrella), Pumpkin Pie Ink (used to distress edges of Miss Chickie), Paper Daisies, brads, ribbon from my stash and vellum paper

Hope your day/evening is being good to you and as always THANKS for stopping by…….I love company! *smile*

 

A Melted Ribbon Flower For PPA Challenge

The inspiration this week over to the Pals Paper Arts is “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”.  Now that’s the magic word for me….flowers!  

Here is the inspiration photo.

                             

I was doing a little blog surfin’ the other day and came across this video tutorial (dated 4/7/11) for making this flower by the way of melting just the edge of your ribbon.  Then I found out about the Challenge at the PPA ~ FLOWERS ~ You know what came next…. *smile*

                 

The only thing that I did different than Ann was to add petals of ribbon
a lighter shade of pink here and there.  Looking again, you can tell there are two shades of pink.  I think I made my flower just a little tighter than hers as well.  I happened to have on hand a couple silk florist leaves that went perfect with the flower instead of making them from card stock.  The stamens were premade that I found at a local craft store.

TIP:  Something I find a must have is ‘ribbon glue’  that was the only way that adding the lighter shade of pink petals, individually, would work.  I added the glue on the bottom of each petal and squeezed them into place with my tweezers...it worked perfectly. 

A closer look at the flower ~

                         

And the inside ~

                          

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, Pretty in Pink and C.Celery
• Punches – Curley Label and CB die
• Misc. – Ribbon, Half Pearls, Doily, Leaves, stamens are from my stash and Vintage Labels Stamp Set

Have fun trying it!  Let me know how yours turns out, I would love hearing from you.  Okay that’s it, email me with questions, thanks for visiting today and may everyone have a GREAT WEEKEND coming up!

I’ll see you on Monday and hope you find the time to stamp between now and then.

 

Card with Matching Tote

I had been asked to make a card that came with a little something extra.  I laughed……money usually comes to my mind for a card with a little something extra! *smile*  But that wasn’t the case, they wanted a paper craft of some type.  I had to do a little surfing the internet to find their “something extra”…..this is what I came up with…….do you think they will like it?

       

I understand I can’t give out the directions for this great little tote because I had to purchase it.  But if interested HERE is the link where you can purchase it.  If you study it long enough I bet you can figure it out *smile*

A closer look at the tote….

                    

I added my own little touch by tacking on the inside pockets…a closer look here…..

         

All my totes have some type of a pocket inside, don’t yours?  This was so simple to do, the dotted line in the middle is the divider between two small pockets.

I used my scalloped oval and small oval punches for the decorative piece tied to the outside of the tote.

Here’s a closer look at the card…

                    

I also wanted to point out the layering of the Beautiful Wings Butterfly set…

                    

Oooops almost forgot, there’s an inside…

                    

When I took these pictures the weather was very stormy, dreary and rainy.  They are calling for the same for the next day or two.  So the clarity of these pictures are not quite up to snuff.  If I did not take them today it would be next week before I could get them on the blog.  I decided as they may not be 100%, I could live with them.  Hope you can to.

Supplies needed ~ all are SU! unless otherwise noted

• Card stock – W. White, P. Plum, C. Coral (retired),D. Delight and C. Green
• Punches – Beautiful Wings Die, S. Oval, Sm. Oval, Circle, Boho Blossom, Spellbinders and MS punch
• Stamps – Memory Box and Oval All

Just a note of appreciation to all my stamping friends for taking the time to visit me and to let you know “I’m looking forward to our next visit”! 

Have an awesome day!