Laugh

The countdown to Christmas continues! This is card number four in my whimsy collection, titled "laugh". Can I just say again how much fun I had making these cards. I was dreading starting them, but panicked that I hadn't even begun at the same time, you know? Ah, the joys of Christmas!

Stamp - Darkroom Door Christmas Reindeer set

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress peeled paint

Paper/card - Basic Grey, Webster's Pages, Scrap-Ease, Bazzill, Canson

Embellishments - MAMBI sticker, Kaiser rhinestones, Apple Beads jelly tile, beaded wire, ribbon, large gold flower, buttons

Other - sewing needle and embroidery thread, glitter glue, sandpaper, decorative scissors

Femmes

I was cleaning up my flash drive last night and found these photos. I made this collection of moo cards about six months ago using my favourite Acey Deucy stamps. The stamped images are water coloured and embellished with tiny little treasures from my stash of odds and ends. I wish I still had them but I submitted them to Stampers' Sampler in the US. I remember being sooooo happy with how they turned out! And now that I've found these pics, I can always make another set :-)

Stamps - Acey Deucy, Stamptington & Company
Ink - StazOn jet black
Card - Bazzill
Embellishments - Kaiser rhinestones, seed beads, watch parts, brass dragonfly charm
Other - water colour pencils

Joy

Okay, so here's the third design in my set of ten whimsical Christmas cards. I really must hunt down some more of these fab MAMBI stickers. They're brilliant! In the meantime, I hope you're getting a few ideas for your own cards :-)

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress vintage photo
Paper/card - Foofala, SEI, Webster's Pages, Bazzill, Canson
Embellishments - MAMBI sticker, K&Company epoxy alphabet stickers, ribbon, large gold flower, buttons, chipboard corner, rhinestone star
Other - sewing needle and embroidery thread, glitter glue, sandpaper, decorative scissors

Journey

I thought a break from Christmas cards might be nice, so here's a card I made for my grandfather's birthday yesterday. I used a couple of simple techniques to 'age' the card in keeping with the clip art I wanted to use. First, I dry-brushed the edges of the paper with white paint; and second, I lightly sanded the black rub-on corners. Simple little things really, but effective nonetheless. And useful too if you've got a few damaged rub-ons in your collection. Don't we all :-)

Paper/card - Allison Ellis Designs, Canson
Embellishments - Collections vintage postcard, Collections butterfly print, Blue Cardigan clip art, Kasier rub-ons, K&Company sticker, Nostalgiques paperclip, buttons
Other - sandpaper, embroidery thread, white acrylic paint, brush

Christmas Greetings

Here's another folksy Christmas card to get you - hopefully! - into the spirit of the season. This is the second card in my collection of ten. Gosh I love these MAMBI stickers. I can't believe they languished in a drawer for two years, forgotten and unappreciated. Silly old me :-)

Stamp - Darkroom Door Christmas Reindeer set
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress peeled paint
Paper/card - Basic Grey, Daisy D's, Foofala, Bazzill, Canson
Embellishments - MAMBI sticker, ATC Collection pad, ribbon, lace, large gold flower, buttons
Other - sewing needle and embroidery thread, glitter glue, sandpaper, decorative scissors

Pretty Poinsettias

I love making tags. Once you've nailed the design, they're quick and easy to make en masse. As you can see from the photos below, I've stamped my tags with a Christmas text stamp from Darkroom Door. It makes such a great background; and the 'dots' between each word are simply dots of glitter glue applied with a toothpick! The fun bit was stitching the flowers, buttons and ribbon to the tags. Not! Ouch, my poor fingers sewing through all those layers lol. Just a little tip, I hid the mess on the backs of the tags with patterned paper; just be sure to select a light, subtle pattern you can write on :-)

Stamp - Darkroom Door Christmas Reindeer set
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress peeled paint
Card - Canson
Embellishments - Kaiser rhinestones, large gold flowers, buttons, ribbon, lace
Other - sewing needle, embroidery thread, glitter glue

Holiday Ribbon

Since my last post I've been in a Christmas card making frenzy! After much procrastination I finally settled on a whimsy/folk art style of card. Think buttons, distressed layers of pastel-toned papers, ribbons, bows and flowers. I've made ten of these cards so rather than bombarding the blog with Christmas card after Christmas card, I'll ration them out over the next couple of months :-)

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress
Paper/card - Basic Grey, Creative Imaginations, Bazzill, vellum
Embellishments - MAMBI sticker, Melissa Francis clip art, ribbon, large gold flower, buttons, chipboard corner, rhinestone star
Other - sewing needle and embroidery thread, glitter glue, sandpaper, decorative scissors

Merry Little Christmas

Christmas is only 2 months away and I'm trying not to freak out over the fact I haven't started on this years cards. But I do have a few cards left over from last Christmas, and this is one of them. Sorting through my box of "leftovers" has inspired me to get cracking on a new batch of Christmas cards, so stay tuned for some new ideas!

Stamps - Paper Artsy, Making Memories
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress
Paper/card - Carolee's Creations
Embellishments - buttons, brads, ribbon, bell

Best Wishes

Isn't it amazing how quickly birthdays come around when you make your own cards?! It's crazy lol. This particular birthday card is a blend of quirky and cute, I think. I hope! Hehehehe. The recipient liked it and that's the main thing. It makes it all worth while :-)

Stamp - Catslife Press
Paper/card - Wild Asparagus, Fancy Pants, Bazzill
Embellishments - Kaiser rhinestones, silk flower, crystal brad, gold button
Other - Fiskars border punch, Dymo tape

ATCs

My blogging friend Debbi and I recently swapped ATCs and here is the result of our exchange. Debbi sent me a fabulously textured card called "Under Lock and Key". That's a real key and lock on there! And the background is *amazing*. Thank you Debbi! In return I sent a card titled "Time Flies". I've used one of my favourite art doll stamps and some handpainted papers I made a little while ago. If anyone else out there in blog land would like to swap, I'd love to hear from you! Just send me an email.

Stamps - Lost Coast Designs, Amazing Creations, Darkroom Door
Ink - StazOn
Embellishments - Kaiser rhinestones, miniature clock face

Imagination

My next monochromatic card for The Stamping Queen is... yellow! As you can see in the photos, the background is very simple - circles of yellow-toned cardstock arranged in a 5x4 pattern to allow room for the wide ribbon at the top. The stamp is from the Mini Ornates set but I've only used a small part of it. It's actually quite a bit longer, but I only had a small space within the frame to work with. Luckily for me there was a pause after the fourth line!

Stamp - Stampers Anonymous (TSQ)
Ink - StazOn
Card - Dufex gold champagne (TSQ), Bazzill
Embellishments - K&Company metal frame, porcelain flowers, ribbon
Other - Carl circle punch

Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft Vol.15 No.4

I was so excited to receive my contributor's copy of Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft today! The brief for this project was to use song lyrics as a sentiment on a card. Immediately I thought of "You Are My Sunshine" (as did Debbi lol). This song always reminds me of my childhood, watching the movie Beaches with my best friend and crying my eyes out when Barbara Hershey's character dies in the end. Ahhhh, memories!

Live The Life

The design theme at The Stamping Queen this month is... monochromatic! I chose blue for my first piece, with just a touch of white for contrast. I couldn't resist the new Stampers Anonymous unmounted stamps at the store - they are to die for! So all my cards this month will feature stamps from the Mini Ornates plate. Stamping-wise, I've used white and versamark ink to stamp the flowers on the navy blue card. The effect is almost fabric-like and very tactile.

Stamps - Stampers Anonymous (TSQ)

Ink - Versamark, StazOn cotton white, jet black

Card - Bazzill

Embellishments - Darkroom Door photobooth ladies (TSQ), Kaiser rhinestones (TSQ), lace, sandpaper

Oh So Lovely

This is a card I made for my aunt's birthday this week. I lurve the retro feel of this stamp! It's such a charming, fun design and very easy to work with. And the best thing is, now that I'm finished with birthday cards for, like, one whole month (lol), I can get stuck into my new TSQ design team kit. Woot!

Stamps - Buzz and Bloom
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress
Paper - Wild Asparagus
Embellishments - ribbon, copper brads
Other - Fiskars corner punch

Delight

I bought the most delicious scented candles from Target a couple of months ago. Creme brulee. Mmmmmmm. Anyway, when I was dismantling the packaging for recycling, I found a piece of patterned cardstock lining the bottom of the plastic box. Score! I excitedly sorted through my stamps and found the perfect image to complement the design on the card. This is the result. It even smells good too!

Stamp - Stampington & Company
Ink - StazOn
Paper/card - found printed gloss, Bazzill
Embellishments - Kaiser pearls, sticker, double-sided ribbon
Other - LuminArte Twinkling H20s, coloured pencils