Just For Being You

I have not had time to do any stamping. My son and his family came back down from Canada and have spent the last two days with us before going back to California. Also, today is my oldest granddaughter's birthday. She turned 16!!! You know what that means. She is old enough to drive. She purchased her own car several weeks ago and has been so anxious to go get her "official" drivers license so she can drive by herself. We just had her party but it is too late to make a card so I am posting one I made for Melanie that has not been posted yet.

This card is made with "Arranged With Love". The design was embossed with detail gold embossing powder. The butterfly from Gina's "Eclectic Summer" is also gold embossed. I used Peerless Watercolors to color. A piece of SU designer paper is on the left side of card. Some gold stickers were added since the images were gold embossed. The butterfly is cut out and put on dimensional tape. The card size is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches.

Vintage Friend

Yesterday I made a card with lots of sponging, which I don't normally do. Today, I did something totally different. I was asked to make some vintage cards so thought I would give it a try. I will need you to let me know if it falls in that category because I have never made this type of card.

I started with some stamps from "Crafty Secrets" Clear Art Stamps. The little girl stamp is from a set called "Garden Girls". The birds are also from Crafty Secrets, but there is not a name on the package. It mostly has birds in the set. You can purchase these stamps from Joan Fricker at "Joan's Gardens". I embossed the designs using detail black embossing powder and colored with Copic markers. Some chalk was used for the sky and grass. After coloring the design, I cut it out with the Labels Four Nestabilities and cut a Pixie Pink lower frame. Each layer is on dimensionals. The flower is from Prima's Daisy Doodles jar. There are 3 layers with an antique button attached in the center with a glue dot. Another antique button was added to the right lower corner.

The background paper is a piece of SU Certainly Celery Designer paper. The card stock is Pixie Pink. I used a Martha Stewart border punch along the bottom edge of the green piece. I found a scrap piece of lacey ribbon to add across the center. I ended up adding lots of flat backed pearls to complete the card.

I was a little worried about making this type of card, but think I like it now that it is finished. Does it look vintage?

You're Quite a Catch!

I had to challenge myself today to use a stamp I didn't think I could use and make a card I really liked. I always admire Theresa Momber from StampTV when she does sponging on a card. The new StampTV kit will be coming out on Friday and I had this one stamp left from the last kit I needed to use, so here is my card.

I first stamped the "lovers" with Memento black ink on Glossy card stock. This stamp is from Gina's Showtime Stamp Kit "Eclectic Summer". I then used a stamp from Theresa Mombers "Happy Camper" set for the mountain background. I used a couple of miscellaneous stamps to complete the scene.

I used a circle punch to create a circle in a piece of Post-It note paper so I could sponge in the moon. I then placed the cut out circle over the moon so I could sponge around it. I used Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy ink to sponge in the water, sky and part of the mountain. I then sponged on some Lovely Lilac on the sky and the mountain. To finish up the sponging around the edges and on the water's edge, I used Night of Navy. I was using large sponge daubers that I purchased from Gina K Designs.

The verse is from Eclectic Summer Sayings. It was cut out with a Nestabilities tag, embossed then sponged with Not Quite Navy. Black grosgrain ribbon was put through the ends of the tag and two black pearls attached.

The picture is mounted on Basic Black card stock. The background is Not Quite Navy. The bottom of it was embossed with the Cuttlebug mesh embossing folder.

I think I need a lot more practice to do this type of card. I feel good though knowing I have used every stamp in the last StampTV kit. I am so anxious to purchase the new kit which comes out Friday. Hope you have seen all the previews Gina and her design teams have been posting on their blogs this week.

I Miss You

We are back from our trip to Canada. It was so much fun to spend time with family and get and out and do lots of fun things. I have been through a few of my emails and notice I received three blog awards while I was gone. I will acknowledge and forward these on this afternoon. How sweet of everyone that sent one to me.

I checked out the challenges on StampTV this morning and saw that Jen Marie, another one of the June Spotlight Guest Designers, has posted a color challenge. The colors are pink and green. This is one of my favorite color combinations so decided to participate.

I used Nina Brackett's cute set called "Bug Me Anytime". This set is available from Gina K Designs. There are four flower choices in this set. I thought this one matches some designer paper I have from SU called "Raspberry Tart". I colored the flowers with SU Melon Mambo and Kiwi Kiss for the leaves and stems.

I stamped the stems (and flowers) on white card stock and some grass from Asela's set called "The Journey". I then cut the design out with Petite Oval Nestabilities and ran it through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. The scalloped oval is Kiwi Kiss card stock. I did stamp the flowers on the white oval but they were partially cut off when I used the nestabilities. I stamped three more flowers, colored them with Cameo Coral and Mellon Mambo inks, cut them out and used pop dots to give them dimension. The leaves were stamped and also cut out and put on pop dots. I used one of the SU hardware pieces for the "I Miss You" greeting.

Isn't this a cute flower from the "Bug Me Anytime" set! This set also has lots of cute bugs.

Hope you like my pink and green creation.

WHAT'S A LITTLE DESSERT BETWEEN FRIENDS

There is another challenge on StampTV that I really wanted to try. This challenge is hosted by my friend Brenda. She is another very talented stamper who was selected to be on Gina's Center Stage Spotlight Designer Team this month. Her challenge is to make a card/project about food.

I used Rupa Shevde's "100% Sweet" stamp set that is available from Gina K Designs. I stamped the design on white card stock then colored with Copics. I wanted the glass to look frosted so used a plaid maker stencil and a VersaMark Marker to create diagonal lines on the glass. I then used Iridescent Ice embossing powder to create the frosted look. On the hot fudge topping, I used 3D Crystal Lacquer that I purchased from GinaK Designs. I cut the design out. The designer paper on this card is from SU. The top portion of the background is white card stock that was embossed with a Quickutz Diamonds and Dots embossing folder.

The frames were cut out with Petite Nestabilities. Each layer is on dimensionals. The card stock is Bordering Blue and white. The border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch. A piece of brown polka dot ribbon from Michaels was added to complete the card.

Be sure to check out this challenge on StampTV. You have until next Friday to submit your entry.

A Dainty Birthday Card

Today I needed a birthday card and wanted it to be "dainty". I decided to use a Penny Black stamp called "Aspire". I received this stamp from Joan Fricker at Joan's Gardens. It has very dainty looking flowers on it and thought it might look good with Flower Soft added to give it some dimension. I used a Lavender Lace, Pretty In Pink and Certainly Celery marker to color directly on the rubber. I gave it a light mist of water then stamped it on white card stock. Classic Rectangle Nestabilities was used to cut the scalloped frame. I embossed it using the Nestabilities Tan embossing pad. I then used a large sponge dauber and Bashful Blue ink to sponge around the edges before taking it out of the die so it would leave the white frame. This makes it look double matted. I used a piercing tool to punch holes around in each scallop. After completing all this, I added the soft lavender and pink Flower Soft to the flowers. I love the dimension this gives to the card. Don't you think the purple flowers look like the flowers on a Butterfly Bush? I do, so I decided to punch 3 small butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch and add them to the design.

The background is Pale Plum card stock. I used the Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder on the top portion of the card stock then used my Scor-Pal to to emboss three lines across the bottom. Gina K did a tutorial this week on StampTV on how to do this. On the bottom I used a Nestabilities tag. I embossed it and sponged on Perfect Plum ink with a sponge dauber before removing it from the die. The bottom of the pink flowers was punched with a small flower punch and I added a Heidi Swapp pink flower jewel to the center. The green leaves below the flowers are from a Fiskars border punch.

To complete the card I added some Kaiser Lavender Pearls. These were also purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Baja Breeze Vellum Butterfly

I have been spending a lot of time with my family and have a couple of days home. (This means I can get in a little stamping!) I will be heading up to Canada Saturday with my daughter and her family so we can spend time with my son and his family at their vacation home. All the kids love to spend time together biking, hiking, fishing, etc. My daughter, daughter-in-law and I will definitely go picking huckleberries. We have been told the bushes are full of them. We WILL be watching out for the bears. We always see lots of them up there.

Today's card was made for the StampTV Sketch Challenge hosted by my friend Sue Walsh (Tillymint). She is one of Guest Spotlight Designers this month on StampTV. You can see the details about the sketch challenge here. Her sample card is so beautiful I had to work on this challenge.

This card measures 7 1/2 x 4 inches. I used some SU Baja Breeze designer paper for the background. The Butterfly is from Gina K's "Take Flight" stamp set. It was embossed with Detail White Embossing Powder on Vellum Card Stock. I used the Baja Breeze reinker and and my Niji water pen to color it on the back side.

The flowers were cut out using a Cuttlebug die. The color is Baja Breeze. To cut the circle, I placed two circle Nestabilities on the card stock to cut out the ring then embossed it before removing from the die. The ribbon is from SU and the Creamy Carmel fern leaves were cut out with a Martha Stewart punch. Some light turquoise rhinestones were added to the flower centers, the butterfly, and on the card.

I really enjoyed making this card. I hope you will go over to StampTV and join in on this challenge. You will have a chance to win a stamp set of your choice from Gina K Designs.

Final Guest Designer Posting for "ARRANGED WITH LOVE"

Wow, this month has gone by really fast. This is my last posting as Melanie Muenchinger's Guest Designer for her stamp set "Arranged With Love". It has been so much fun to work with her. As you all know, I love creating cards with flowers and Arranged with Love and A Year of Flowers has endless possibilities. It has been a great honor to design for Melanie using two of my favorite stamp sets. THANK YOU Melanie for giving me this opportunity.

Can you tell that today's card is layered under Acetate? This card is 5 1/2 inches square. I first cut a piece of acetate 5 1/2 inches by 11 inches and folded it in half. You need to use a bone folder to get a good crease.

The floral image was embossed with Detail White Embossing Powder. I purchased it from Gina K Designs. I used VersaMark ink to stamp on Vellum card stock. I love working with Detail embossing powder because it gives you such clear lines. The butterfly was also embossed the same way then cut out.

To color the image, I used markers to color on the back of the design. For the roses, I used Pretty in Pink then highlighted with Positively Pink then went back with the Pretty In Pink marker to blend the colors. When you are working on vellum, it takes a little while for the ink to dry so it gives you plenty of time to do this. I used Lavender Lace and Lovely Lilac for the purple flowers and Barely Banana and Summer Sun on the lillies, which are hard to see because they are below the butterfly. The butterfly is from Gina K's "Take Flight" stamp set. I used Certainly Celery and a little Old Olive for the leaves. On the butterfly I used a retired color, Mauve Mist. For the background I used Barely Banana leaving the tag white. It is a little hard to see the verse in the photo, but it shows up ok on the card.

The card inside the acetate is White card stock. The backside of the card is attached to the acetate with a couple of pieces of ScoreTape. Since the design was stamped on Vellum card stock, I ran a piece of white card stock through my Xyron machine to get an even coating of adhesive. I then laid the back of the vellum down on the adhesive starting in the middle and rubbing out to the edges. This gave the design more stability. The other reason I did this was because I wanted the design mounted on white rather than the pink from the designer paper. This piece was then attached to a piece of pink designer paper from the BitterSweet Basic Grey Paper Pad. On the top of the acetate, I used a SU rub-on for the vine on the left side. Pearls were added on top of the acetate on the rub-on and over the corners of the stamped design and on one corner of the tag. The butterfly adds dimension on top of the acetate. It is mounted with dimensional tape.

I really like the softness of this card. The acetate seems to give it some additional elegance.

Melanie is featuring a card on her blog today that I had so much fun making. It is a pop-up card. Several of the roses actually pop up when you open the card. I used all three coordinating sets for that card: Arranged With Love, A Year of Flowers, and Say It With Flowers.

I hope you have enjoyed all the different ideas we have featured using this set. I would love for you to come back to my blog and let me know which idea you liked the most. Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post. I will be anxious to read your replies.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Basket of Apples

I did not have time to stamp today but thought I would post another one of the cards I made for an order.

My son and his family are arriving in the morning and will be here until Aug 1st.We are very excited to see our other three grandchildren. They seem to grow up so fast! I am sure I will be missing some days of posting on my blog during this time. I will be Melanie's Guest Designer until the end of the month and do have my cards ready for those posts on Thursday. Be sure to check back for some more ideas using her new stamp set "Arranged With Love".

The above card is made with a retired SU stamp called "Feathered Hope". It is a very quick and simple card. This reminds me of all the fruit up at Green Bluff, which is a farming area not far from where I live. This area is full of apple, cherry, apricot, and pear trees. In fact they grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It is such a fun place to go for lots of summer and fall fun. We picked lots of strawberries up there a couple of weeks ago. In the fall there are thousands of pumpkins. I am sure you probably have an area similar to this close to you.

This basket of apples was colored with colored pencils and OMS. The designer paper is also retired from SU. The cardstock is Real Red. The bottom is embossed with the Cuttlebug embossing folder called Argyle. The frames were cut out with Nestabilities and a Martha Stewart Punch was used for the border.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are having a fun summer.

TUTORIAL ON CUTTLEBUG BORDER EMBOSSING

Have you ever wanted to create a one layer card that is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder but keep the middle "un-embossed" (is that a word?) so you could stamp a design? I am going to show you how I accomplish embossing around a frame with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The completed card is above. The butterfly is part of Gina K's "Take Flight". It was colored with Copic Markers. The card stock used is SU Perfect Plum and the corners are cut with a Cuttlebug corner die.

To make this card, I used my "Big Shot" machine rather than the Cuttlebug, because it is a little wider but I used the Cuttlebug plates.

To create the frame, I used a rectangle Nestability. Here is the sandwich I used to accomplish the Nestability embossed frame. From the bottom up: Cuttlebug "A" Plate; "B" Plate; Tan Nestabilities embossing Mat; card stock with die cutting edge down; cardboard shim; "B" Plate. I'm sorry, I didn't remember to take a picture of the "sandwich".



I wanted to use the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I lined up the folder around the frame as shown. Notice I lined up the end of the embossing folder (the edge of the row of Swiss Dots - not the very end of the folder) even with the edge of the embossed frame. By doing this, I am able to go completely around the frame without overlapping any of the embossed dots.




In the picture below, you can see what portion of the frame was embossed with the Cuttlebug embossing folder.




Continue going around the frame embossing the same way.



If you look closely, you will see that a few of the embossed dots were "smashed" so to fix this, I used a dry embossing tool called a "Stylus" to gently push out the "smashed" dots. I lay the cardstock on a rubber mat to do this. Be sure not to push very hard or you will create a hole -- which you don't want.





Below you will see the frame completely embossed all the way around and my image stamped in the middle of the frame.







There are probably other ways of creating a frame like this, so you could use different shaped Nesties, but this is the way I currently do it with either square or rectangle Nesties. Hope this is helpful. Do you have a different way to create a frame like this? I would love for you to leave a comment below.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Red Daisy

I love this daisy and had to make another card using it. This is a Penny Black stamp called Blush. It is a single, wood mounted stamp from Joan's Gardens.

This time I decided to make a red flower. I think it turned out so pretty in this color. I used my Real Red marker to color on the image then used Basic Black for the center. The leaves/stem were colored with Old Olive. After coloring directly on the image, I misted it with a fine spray of water and stamped on glossy card stock. I like to use glossy card stock when doing this technique because the color comes out very bright.

The frames were cut using Long Rectangle Nestabilities. The verse was cut using Petite Oval Nesties. The background card stock is Real Red. The embossed background was made using the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder.

This is a quick and simple card but love it.

In answer to some of your questions: I have had several people email me and ask what type of adhesive I like to use. I found that glue stick seems to fall apart and so started using Mono Adhesive tape. I found something I highly recommend. It is called the "Glue Glider". This is a tape gun that holds 40 feet of adhesive. It is small enough that it is very easy to use but holds a lot of tape. Also, it is super simple to put in a new cartridge when you need to. I have never had a problem with a card falling apart using this tape. The refills are so reasonable. I never use anything but my Glue Glider for all my cards. I purchased mine from Joan Fricker. You can get more information here Joan's Gardens

Garden Delight

This card is made with a stamp set called "Garden Delight" from Inkadinkado. The lower background paper is from the June Bug Paper Pad by Basic Grey. I purchased both these products from Joan Garden's.
Inkadinkado also has a really nice Clear Stamp Storage Box that is perfect for storing all your Inkadinkado clear stamps. You might want to check that out too, on Joan' blog, if you are looking for a way to organize your clear stamps.

This butterfly turned out very pretty. I used the Kaleidacolor "Autumn Leaves" rainbow dye inkpad to color the the butterfly. It was stamped on Barely Banana card stock then cut out. Then I used my
VersaMark pad to cover the whole thing with ink and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It is very glittery.

The flower is from the same set of stamps. I used two shades of each color of markers to color right on the design. I have a small bottle that has a very fine mist and spritzed the design to "mix" the colors. It was then stamped on glossy card stock. Petite Oval Nestabilities were used for the frames. The bottom frame is cut from SU Crushed Curry card stock.

The top portion of the background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. As I said the bottom portion is designer paper from Basic Grey's June Bug paper pad. The hardware and verse are from SU. A piece of twine that matches the Crushed Curry card stock was added to finish off the card. I ran it through a small Xyron machine in order to get it to stick.

ARRANGED WITH LOVE GUEST POST FOR MELANIE

This week's Arranged with Love card is completed in soft pinks and yellow. I'm sure most of you know this beautiful stamp was designed by Melanie Muenchinger. It coordinates perfectly with "A Year of Flowers". The image was inked with VersaFine then clear embossed. I used Peerless Transparent Watercolors and a Niji Water Brush, using several shades of pinks for the flowers. With these watercolors you can achieve a nice soft effect or layer the color for intense color. The background colors are barely banana and rose red. I used a Fiskars punch around the edges of the pink card stock. A small pink bow was added in the corner and three flat-back beads were added as well as a dragonfly that was stamped on acetate. Can you see the dragonfly? It doesn't show up very well in the photo.

There are so many things you can do with this beautiful stamp. I hope you have ordered yours from Gina K Designs.

Melanie is also featuring two cards on her Blog today that I designed. These are cards that open up to reveal a Gift Card. One of the cards is about a fourth the size of a regular card. Be sure to check it out here to see how I made a much smaller version.

I hope you will come back here and let me know which one you like the best.

ARRANGED WITH LOVE ON DESIGNER PAPER

Melanie Muenchinger is hosting a challenge over on StampTV. The challenge is to stamp a design over Designer Paper then color the image. I have never done this before so decided to give it a try. I was impressed with the results.

I stamped Arranged With Love over a piece of designer paper from Basic Grey's "Sugared" Paper Pad. I used Copic markers to color the image. I used a Martha Stewart Punch for the black border and then added another piece of the same designer paper on the right side of the card. My card is 5.5" square. Some square pink rhinestones and a few purple butterflies were added to complete the card.

Have you ever tried this technique? It was a lot of fun. Be sure to check out Melanie's Potluck Friday challenge on StampTV. If you submit a card you made using this technique you will be eligible to win a free set of stamps, worth up to $24.95, from Gina K Designs.

Watercolor Daisy

Hope you had a nice weekend. I did. I have spent the last two days doing things with my daughter. We went to a really fun outdoor arts and craft show. Found lots of things we just couldn't live without. We were up in mountain country and after having lunch, asked where we could pick huckleberries. My daughter loves bears, and I think was hoping to see a live one (not up close but in the distance!!!) We were given directions and had a blast looking for and picking a box full. We love to put them in pancakes/waffles, muffins and of course make huckleberry pies. (By the way, we did not see any bears!)

When I got home today, I had a package with some new stamps. I just couldn't wait to make a card with this Penny Black stamp called "Blush". Isn't it a beautiful flower! This is a wood mounted stamp and you can purchase it from "Joan's Gardens".

To color this design, I used Perfect Plum, and Pale Plum markers. I used the lighter color first all over the flower petals then went back with Perfect Plum (the darker plum). I used Mellow Moss on the stem and So Saffron and More Mustard on the center of the flower. After I had all the rubber colored, I spritzed it with a fine mister to blend the colors and stamped it on Glossy card stock. I used long rectangle nesties to cut the frames. I used a piercing tool to punch holes in the scallops. Before taking the design out of the Nestie, I sponged on some yellows and greens, to pick up some of the colors in the background paper, to frame it.

The Salutation is from SU (Oval All) and cut out with petite oval Nesties. The flourish below this is a Cuttlebug die. I have had many questions about whether this is a new die. I purchased it when I first purchased my Cuttlebug (when they first came out). I purchased my Cuttlebug at Michael's. The border and the butterfly were cut out with Martha Stewart punches. I love to add pearls to my cards and did it again. I purchase my pearls from Joan's Gardens. There are 50 on a card for $1.95. She carries a large selection of colors.

The background paper is from the "Lemonade" Paper Pad by Basic Grey. Joan's Gardens also carries a nice selection of Basic Grey Pads. These pads have so many beautiful papers. I used the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder on the white background. All the elements were attached in layers with dimensionals.

Penny Black cards

Isn't it funny how busy we can get in the summer. After a long winter it is hard to stay in the house. We took off on a little trip this morning to a beautiful area of our state to sight see. We saw lots of beautiful lakes and stopped at a little restaurant in a little tiny town that had the best food. My husband and I never order dessert, but the homemade pie looked so delicious we decided to share a piece. Oh my gosh! Never have we had such good pie. It was a "Four Berry" pie . . . strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry. The crust just melted in your mouth. The name of the restaurant was Granny's Kitchen. It was a very cute little restaurant and the ladies were so sweet. Shortly after we got home, some friends came to town, and asked us to go out to dinner. We were not hungry but went anyway just to visit. I'm telling you all this because I did not have time to work on a card for my blog today. I have been working on a card order though for someone who wants 28 cards all done in Red and White. I decided to just upload a couple of those for you today.










Both these cards are made with Penny Black clear stamps. I'm sorry, I don't even know the name of the sets. I purchased these stamps prior to starting my blog and didn't think I would need to keep track of the name.

These cards are quick and simple. The first one has a Cuttlebug background and the frames were cut with Nesties. The second card has some retired SU designer paper on the background and again, Nesties were used for the frames.















I plan to be out of town with my daughter tomorrow so may not have a new post.





Hope you are having a fun weekend.

Enjoy Life

Have you tried using Flower Soft yet? It is such a fun product to work with.

I wanted to make a card using Flower Soft and thought this grassy stamp from Penny Black would be fun to work with. The name of this stamp set is "Enjoy Life". Isn't this grass stamp beautiful! I purchased it from Joan's Gardens.

The image was stamped with Amber Clay Colorbox chalk ink, on Vanilla card stock, then cut out with the largest Label 4 Nestabilities. Before taking the die off, I sponged So Saffron and More Mustard inks around the edge blending the colors. I then added some white Flower Soft to the grass heads. Don't you think the grass heads would be really pretty in shades of browns and oranges? I need to get busy and get my order in for some of the beautiful Fall colors. I just noticed Joan sent out an email stating she has some of these colors in stock now. To finish off the main image, I added some brads.

The background is a combination of two pieces of paper from the Basic Grey "Sugared" paper pad. The trim is something I had in my "stash" and thought since it was "fringy" it would go will with the design. The main image was attached with dimensional tape.

I stamped the verse from this same set of stamps then also cut it out with the Labels 4 Nestabilities. Prior to taking it out of the die, I stamped part of the grass over the words and again sponged on some So Saffron ink around the edges. I had to stamp the grass on while it was still in the die in order to keep my border from having ink on it. When you do this, it gives you a nice border that creates an illusion of layering.

I think this would make a nice masculine card, don't you?

Daisy Garden

It was fun reading all your comments on the cards I made for Melanie yesterday. Thank you for all your kind words. It has been so much fun designing cards with her new stamp set "Arranged with Love."

This is another flower card but I made it with Asela's "Flowers For Daisy" set, available from Gina K Designs. Lynn is hosting a challenge on StampTV to make a card using punches. I decided to enter this challenge. I used two punches and some die cuts.

The background paper for this card was selected from the Basic Grey "Bittersweet" paper pad. The color of the mats are Rose Red, White, and Certainly Celery. I stamped the daisies then colored the center with a marker. I then cut them out and cut between the petals then daubed my VersaMark pad all over the top. They were then heat embossed with clear embossing powder and the petals shaped to look like real daisies. The reason I decided to clear emboss the flowers was to make them a little stiffer so I could shape them while they were still warm. They were mounted on the frame with dimensionals. I used two Martha Stewart punches . . . one for the leaves and one for the butterflies. The corners were cut with a Sizzix die and the border across the middle is a Cuttlebug die. The white piece on the left side is white card stock that I scored on my ScorPal. Did you notice I didn't use ribbon or pearls!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.

ARRANGED WITH LOVE "STAND UP" CARD

Wow am I having fun with Melanie's new stamp set "Arranged with Love". There are so many different things you can do with this set. It has been exciting being Melanie's Guest Designer this month. Just when I think I have come up with all the ways I can use this set, something else pops into my head. It makes it so easy to "rearrange" the flowers if you have "A Year of Flowers" and "Say It With Flowers" to go along with this beautiful new stamp. I say this because I did change the arrangement on this card. Below I have made a "Stand up" card and I am showing three views . . . the first view is with the card closed, the second view shows how it looks when standing up, and the third view is spread out so you can see the sides.








I came up with this design after reading about a challenge on SCS by Lynn in St. Louis. When I saw this stand up card, I knew it would look beautiful completed with "Arranged with Love".

The base of this card is Pretty In Pink card stock. To create the card base, you start with a piece of 12" x 5.5" card stock. Measure in on long side and score in 4 inches from each end. Measure down 3" from the top on outside edge and cut up to the fold. Do this on both ends. Then score again, 2 inches from each end. You will have score lines at 2", 4", 8" and 10". When you look at the third picture above, you can see where the score lines are.

I stamped "Arranged with Love" in black then used colored pencils and OMS to color. On the stamp, there were Lillies in the upper left corner but I wanted my card to be all pink and lavender so stamped some tulips from "Flowers for a Year" and layered them over the lillies for a different flower arrangement. I also stamped two extra purple flowers and 3 roses. I used dimensional tape to layer the roses over the existing roses. The two additional purple flowers and leaves were added on the "wings" of the card. The designer paper used on the sides of the card is some retired SU designer paper. Some Martha Stewart butterflies, a small pink ribbon and a few pearls were added to complete the card.

Today, Melanie is featuring another one of my cards. Be sure to visit her blog here to see how I used this stamp to make a Shadow Box card using this set. I believe this shadow box card is my favorite so far. Please come back and leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Melanie's "Arranged With Love" and "A Year of Flowers" are so fun to work with. You can purchase these sets from Gina K Designs here

Pink Daisies and Butterfly

This is another card made with Penny Black stamps. The flower and butterfly are from the "Flower Gallery" stamp set. I purchased my Penny Black stamps from "Joan's Gardens". I used Copic markers to color the designs. The flowers were stamped twice and one was cut out to layer on top to give dimension. Petite Oval Nestabilities were used to cut the frames. The top one was embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and sponged with Pretty In Pink ink around the edge. Dimensional tape was used under each layer.

The background paper is from a DCWV "Fun in the Sun" summer matstack. The salutation is also from the Flower Gallery stamp set. It was white embossed. The butterfly is from a different Penny Black stamp set called "Enjoy Life". A dotted Swiss ribbon was added along the left side.

Penny Black "Pink Flowers"

This card is made with a stamp from Penny Black's clear acrylic stamp set "Flower Gallery". I purchased this set from Joan's Gardens.

These flowers were stamped twice, with black Memento Ink and then colored with Copic Markers. I cut out both images then cut the flowers out on one so I could layer them to give them a dimensional look. I added yellow Stickles Glue to the center of the flowers to add a little sparkle. I used the Long Rectangle Scalloped Nestie for the frame . . . it is is Barely Banana card stock. The verse is from another Penny Black set called "Enjoy Life". The flourish is a stamp from SU. The background paper is from a Basic Grey paper pad called "LilyKate". The pearls were added to help frame the picture and were purchased from Joan's Gardens too. The ribbon is from SU.