Song Birds

 I was organizing some stamps and found this pretty "Bird Cage" LaBlance stamp.  I love this stamp, so decided to design a card for you with it today.    It was stamped on glossy card stock and colored with Cut-n-Dry Pen Nibs, and Distress Inks.  The edges were sponged with three colors of Distress Inks.  After the piece was finished, I spritzed it with water to give it some texture. When you do this, be sure you use a spritzer with a fine mist, and hold the bottle back, and spray the water in the air, then pull the card up into the mist; by doing it this way you will not get big droplets of water.  The water left little water marks in the sponged on ink.  It takes about a minute before you can actually see the little dots on the card.  

The design was placed on a piece of yellow card stock that was embossed on the bottom, with a border embossing folder by Darice.  Over the embossing, I added a flower created with the Cheery Lynn "Sweet Williams" die.  The flower was die cut using brown card stock, then the edges of the petals sponged with black.  The leaves were pulled from my stash and shaped with the Susan's Garden Tool Kit, then sponged with the same ink used in the stamped image. I backed the card with a piece of dark brown card stock.   I took the picture with the finished card laying on a piece of "music" design paper.

We have had some pretty cold weather up here in the Northwest; it was 28 degrees out this morning.    I am hoping this isn't a sign of an early winter!!!!    

Thanks for visiting my blog.

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LaBlanche Winter Stroll

 It has been a while since I have worked with the LaBlanche stamps and thought you would love this beautiful stamp called "Winter Stroll".  One of my favorite things to do in the winter is go for a nice leisurely  walk when there are large beautiful snowflakes coming down.

This is a 5.5" x 6" card.  I started by using the Anna Griffin "Acanthus" embossing folder to emboss the background.  This folder has a lot of nice swirls that looks great behind all the other elements added to this card.  The pretty corners are the smaller corners from the JustRite "Filigree Corners" die set.  This is one of the sets designed by Becca Feeken.  After die cutting and embossing the corners, I attached them to a piece of black card stock and cut around the outside edges so they would show up on the white background.  

The LaBlanche "Winter Stroll" was stamped using VersaFine black ink and clear embossed.  I placed the Marianne Design "Petra's Ornaments" frame over the stamped image and die cut, then embossed it.  I used scissors to cut around the inter embossed area.  Next I die the Petra's Ornaments frame using white card stock, and embossed it.  The LaBlance stamped image was attached in the center.  I used a black marker to go around the edges to help frame the stamped image.

I wanted to give the card a little dimension so I die cut the Marianne Design LR0136 and COL 1330 evergreen trees to place around the stamped image.  In order to "ground" the trees, I cut out two snow bank pieces and attached them to the bottom of the card.  The trees were tucked into the snow and attached with dimensional tape.  Since the trees are white on white, I added Distress Stickles" Clear Rock Candy" glitter to them and the edges of the snow banks, to help them show up.  To give the stamped image a snowy effect, I also added glitter to it.  To finish off the card, I added a black silk bow.

Hope you enjoy this card.

You can purchase these products from Joan's Gardens:

LaBlanche "Winter Stroll" LB1393

Anna Griffin "Acanthus" embossing folder

Marianne Design "Petra's Ornaments" (LR0279)

Marianne Design, large tree, LR0136

Marianne Design, small tree, COL 1330

JustRite, Filigree Corners, AG-03950

VersaFine Black Ink Pad

Ranger Super Fine clear embossing powder

Ranger Distress Stickles, Clear Rock Candy, Glitter

Black Silk ribbon

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Joan's Weekly Challenge

We have a very different type challenge for you this week at Joan's Gardens.  We are asking you to create some type of shaker box on your card; you can make your own shaker box using acetate or use a pre-made one like I have.  Please go over to Joan's Gardens to read all the details about this week's challenge.

I used a new Spellbinders M-Bossabilities embossing folder for my background.  There are two designs on each of these M-Bossabilities folders.  If you run these through the Big Shot and probably the Cuttlebug, you will probably need to not put down a bottom B plate.  I used the white plate, the embossing folder with the card stock inside, then the C plate on the top.  The Shaker Box is used is by Impression Obsession and are called "Shake It" Shaker Card Pouches.  There are 10 to a package.  I really like these pouches because they are not very high.  I didn't measure it but they are probably only 1/8 inch high which makes it easy to put in an envelope and mail.  I used a Spellbinder Classic Oval Nestability that is the same size as the plastic pouch to die cut an opening in the embossed background.  To create the green scalloped edging on the front I used the same Oval Nestability and a scalloped Nestability one size larger.  First cut out the scallop oval then place the other oval over it and die cut it again.  

I love this new Old World LaBlanche "Smiling Santa" stamp.  He was stamped with Ranger Archival Ink and colored using Nibs and Distress Inks.  It was attached to the Shaker Card Pouch by using the "Perma Tec Glue Glider".  It was real easy just to roll the Glue Glider around the edges of the pouch. EDIT:  It helps to read the back of the package  ---There is tape around the edge of the pouch that you just need to peel off.  I added some small snowflakes that were saved from a border punch, along with some small white seed beads, to the inside of the pouch then held it up and placed the Santa over it to get it centered.  The Marianne Design Sleigh was die cut, then I used the Ranger "Perfect Medium" Brush to go over the embossed area (before taking it out of the die; then I took it out and added gold embossing power and heated it.  By doing it this way you get perfect embossed lines.   The deer is the Memory Box "Leaping Deer".  Before adding the sleigh and deer, I cut two pieces of white card stock to create the snow banks on the bottom of the card.  The sentiment is from the new Cheery Lynn "Merry Christmas Set; there are two sizes of sentiments in this set.  A few of the same snowflakes in the pouch were attached over the embossed background.

I hope you will join us this week in our challenge.  

All the products I used can be purchased from Joan's Gardens:

Spellbinders M-Bossabilites (EL-014)

Impression Obsession "Shake It" Shaker Card Pouches

LaBlanche "Smiling Santa" Silicone Stamp

Ranger Nibs

Ranger Distress Inks

Ranger Black Archival Ink

Ranger Perfect Medium Brush

Ranger Gold Embossing Powder

Perma Tec Glue Glider

Marianne Design "Sleigh" (LR0 178)

Memory Box "Leaping Deer" ( 98390)

Cheery Lynn "Merry Christmas Set" (B186)

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Chickadee

I received some new LaBlanche Stamps and used two of them on this card. Have you seen the new LaBlanche Stamps Joan added to her blog? The "Chickadee" was stamped on watercolor paper and colored using "Distress Markers". I love using these new markers -- they take very little ink and are so easy to spread the color to get the watercolor effect, by using the Ranger "Water Brushes".   The "Nest with Eggs" was also colored the same way and cut out. I don't know what color Chickadee eggs are - probably not blue - but I colored them blue so they would show up in the nest.   These pieces were attached with dimensional Dots.  I wasn't sure if I should put the nest in a tree but decided to have it "hidden" in the tall grass".  I used two different grass borders; one from Cheery Lynn and the other from Poppy Stamps.  The taller grass is from Poppy Stamps and I decided to use some of the small flowers that you get when you die cut the Memory Box "Flower Mound" which is a "topper" for a Memory Box tree.  They are just the perfect size for tiny little flowers.  To add leaves I used the tiny leaves from the Memory Box "Leaf Canopy" with is another tree topper.  To add glue to these small flowers and leaves, I added a large spot of glue to my Teflon Craft Mat.  I lifted these pieces with tweezers and dipped then in the glue, then placed them where I wanted them on the tall grass.

I used the smallest medallion from the JustRite "Spring Rose Medallions" stamp set.   It was stamped with VersaFine black ink and clear embossed then cut out with the matching JustRite dies.  The sentiment, which reads "Grow with Love" is also from the same stamp set.   The Medallion was colored with Distress Ink Markers and attached with dimensional dots. Two Cheery Lynn corners were added and a small K&Company butterfly, to complete the card.

LaBlanche "Chickadee" (LB1276)

LaBlanche "Nest with Eggs" (LB1271)

JustRite "Spring Rose Medallions" (CL-03685)

JustRite "Spellbinders Nested Oval Medallion" dies

Cheery Lynn "Lace Corner Deco J" (B175)

Poppy Stamps "Grassland Border" (825)

Cheery Lynn "Grass Border" (B126)

Memory Box "Leaf Canopy" (98142)

Memory Box "Flower Mound" (98144)

Ranger "Distress Markers"

Ranger "Water Brushes" (Set of 2 - one small and one wide to use for backgrounds)

Bird's Nest

Did you check out the "Wild Wednesday Sale" over at Joan's Gardens?   Joan is making room for a lot of new products that she will be posting soon, and today has a very large selection of LaBlanche stamps at a huge savings.  Be sure to go over and check this sale out.  

Yesterday I used one of the LaBlanche stamps and created a card with very little embellishment, but today I wanted to show you how you can add other things to give these beautiful stamped images dimension. The LaBlanche stamp I used today is the "Bird's Nest" (1228).    Every time I start coloring these LaBlanche images I am amazed at how easy they are to color.  As I have told you before, I stamp them on the LaBlanche Specialty Stamping Paper and use the "Cut-n-Dry" Pen Nibs and Distress Ink pads to color.  You just roll the nib lightly over the ink pad to pick up ink on the point and lightly color over the image.  This Specialty Stamping Paper is a glossy finish and the Distress Ink colors blend together so easily, so you achieve exactly the color you want. After I had the images colored, I used the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and sponged on "Faded Jeans" Distress Ink to color the background.  When using the blending tool it is real easy to get a nice even coverage, right up to the colored images.  

The design paper I used is from Basic Grey "Sweet Threads" paper pad.  The doily behind the stamped image is the Cheery Lynn "Large Sunflower Doily" (DL181).  This is one of the new Cheery Lynn dies and is one of my favorites.  I wanted to put the bird's nest in a tree, so decided to use the Memory Box "Woodland Branch" (98187) for the tree branches.  This is such a beautiful branch and it falls right out of the die.  Three branches were die cut.  Since we are all waiting for Spring to arrive, I thought it would be pretty to create cherry blossoms on the tree branches.  I was so tempted to add green foliage but when the cherry blossoms come out I don't believe the leaves have come out yet. 

 To create the cherry blossoms I used the following Punch a Bunch punches:  Medium Cherry Blossom (Sakuras); Splatt; Small Sparkle; and small Sun.   Two cherry blossom and one splatt were used for the flower.  These were conditioned and shaped using the tools from the "Flower Tool Kit".  For the stamen I punched one small Sparkle, and two small Suns.  A black marker was used to color the tips of the Sparkle and a dark pink marker used to color the tips of the two Suns.  Using scissors I cut between each of the tips of these three pieces so they would "frill" out after being conditioned and shaped.  The two cherry blossoms were glued together then the splat was glued on top.  The small Sparkle was on the bottom of the two Suns for the stamens.  After they were all put together, they were arranged over the Branch.  Spellbinder "Lace Doily Accents" corners were added to the corners and a large black Dew Drop added to complete the card.  

All the products I used to design this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.  Be sure to go over and check out the fantastic sale she posted today for the LaBlanche stamps.  Supplies are limited  so be sure you check it out soon. She has a great variety and I know you will love working with these beautiful, very detailed images.

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Pretty LaBlanche Stamp

Well the holidays are over, my company returned home, and I have all my Christmas decorations put away and even stored away all my Christmas stamps and dies.  It is time to start thinking about Valentine's Day and Spring.  As you know, I love to work with the LaBlanche stamps because they are so easy to color, and they really create a gorgeous image when completed because  they have so much detail in them.    Today I designed a card using the LaBlanche "Two Sparrows" (1235) stamp.  The image was stamped on the LaBlanche Specialty card stock with Ranger Archival Ink.    It was colored using my Distress Ink Pads and Nibs.  When using the Distress Inks you can blend the colors together so easily to get just the coloring/shading you want.  After the image was colored, I used the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and sponged  blue in the background.  For the black background, I using the Marianne Designs (DS0912) embossing folder.  The stamped image was placed over the upper portion of embossed design so only the lower portion of it is showing.  My background is a piece of textured card stock.  To frame the image, I die cut four of the Cheery Lynn "Lace Light Deco Borders" (B133) and placed one down each side of the embossed panel and pieced the others on top and below the stamped imaged.   A black silk bow and a few large black Dew Drops were added to complete this card.

Joan's Gardens has a large selection of these beautiful LaBlanche stamps.  As you know, all the products I use can be purchased from Joan. 

 Be sure to check out the Wild Wednesday Sale Joan will be posting the next few Wednesdays.  This will be a great time to stock up on products you have been wanting at a greatly reduced price.

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Santa With Fur Hat

 

Joan's Gardens now has a new supply of this pretty LaBlanche "Santa with Fur Hat" (LB1087) stamp so I wanted to create a card with it today.  I did add some color to  Santa but it does not show up in this photo.  I used Tim Holtz Distress inks and "nibs" to color.  After completing the Santa, I used the Blending Tool and added "Tea Dye" Distress Ink around the image then used "Vintage Photo" to go around the edges.  I was trying to create a vintage looking card.  For the background I embossed a 5.5" square with the Sizzix "Holly Swirls" (657139) embossing folder and used the "Vintage Photo" Distress Ink over the entire embossed area.  This was attached to the card.  A Cheery Lynn "Lace Light Deco Border" (B133) was die cut and also sponged with the same Distress Ink .  The stamped image was attached over the embossed background then the border added along the edge.  For the embellishment on the top I die cut two Marianne Design flowers (LR0128) out of dark wine card stock and sponged over them with the Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "Whimsical Christmas" stamp set.  It was cut out with a  Spellbinders circle die and sponged with both the "Tea Dye" and "Vintage Photo" Distress Inks prior to taking them out of the die.  The flower was layered and glued to the card then the sentiment was attached with foam pop dots.  I didn't think this card needed any other embellishing. 

As you know you can purchase all the products I use from Joan's Gardens.  If you have been waiting for the new LaBlanche Christmas stamps, be sure to contact Joan so you can get started on your Christmas cards.

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LaBlanche Santa with Music

 

Have you seen all the beautiful LaBlanche Christmas stamps now in stock at Joan's Gardens?  I really love how easy they are to color with Distress Inks and Nibs.  For my background I used a piece of design paper paper from the Graphic 45 "Christmas Emporium" paper pad.  When I was going through looking for the right background, this paper really jumped out at me and I love it behind this scene.  Along the bottom I created a border using another piece of design paper from this same paper pad and die cut the new Spellbinders "Classic Triple Scallop" border.  There are 3 dies in this set but I only used two.  A strip of gold card stock was placed across the top of this border.  The LaBlanche Santa was stamped on the LaBlanche Specialty Paper then colored.  The edges were torn around the design, then using the Tim Holtz Blending Tool, Tea Dye Distress Ink was blended over the whole design except Santa's hair.  It was placed at an angle on the front of the card.  Gold cording was wrapped around the top and a bow made with the cord and attached with a glue dot.  I had some Flower Vintage Trinkets,  I had gotten from Joan's Gardens, that were placed on the front of the card.   I keep saying I can't do "Vintage" but I sure have fun trying.

I have been very busy designing a lot of new cards for the upcoming Heartfelt Creations Christmas release, which comes out Wednesday.  There are 14 new stamps sets that Joan will add to her blog and I have tried to create a variety of cards to give you lots of inspiration.  Also this week the new Paper and Pixels magazine comes out and it will have two new tutorials I created - one for a Fall card, and one featuring the new Heartfelt Creations Christmas stamps. 

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LaBlanche Meadow Flower

 

I have another pretty LaBlanche stamp from Joan's Gardens to show you.  This one is called "Meadow Flower"  (LB1237).  The image was stamped on LaBlanche Specialty Paper and colored with Distress Inks and Nibs.  I love how easy it is to color these images; it takes just a little color (ink) to make them beautiful.   The entire piece was sponged using the Blending Tool and blue Distress Ink.  It was matted on black card stock.  The black corners are from one of the new Spellbinder die sets called "Lace Doily Accents".  Along the left side of the stamped piece I added the Cheery Lynn "Tropical Flourish" (B127).  The flowers were created by die cutting the flowers from the Cheery Lynn "Darling Daisies" die (A196). I wanted these flowers to resemble the flowers in the stamped image so used a pair of Deckle Edge Scissors to snip off the ends of each petal.  Two flowers were stacked together.  Tiny beads were added to the center of each one.  One of the Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" (DL112) was added above the flowers.  To complete the card, a small black bow made with the Bow Easy was added under the die cut flowers.

As you know, you can purchase your LaBlanche stamps and Cheery Lynn Dies from Joan's Gardens.

So far we only have three entries in the Joan's Gardens Challenge.  I hope you are working on your entry.  Remember you will be eligible to win a prize PLUS if you are the winner will be entered into the drawing at the end of the year for a $100 gift certificate from Joan's Gardens.  I'm looking forward to seeing your pretty card.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. 

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LaBlanche Bird and a Tip

Yesterday I spent time reorganizing my craft studio.  I still have some more work to do but as soon as I have it all completed, I will take pictures and share them with you.

I promised to show you some new products you can now get from Joan's Gardens.  She has a great assortment of the new LaBlanche stamps that are so fabulous to design with.  Today I created a card using the "Singing Bird" (LB1232).  I used Ranger black "Archival Ink" to stamp the image.  As I told you in an earlier post, my favorite way to color these images is using "Pen Nibs" and Distress Inks.  You just touch the end of the nib onto the Distress Ink pad and it picks up enough color for coloring.  The tips are very tiny so it is easy to color small areas such as the stems on these flowers.  If you need to color a larger area, you use the side  - just roll the nib across the ink pad to pick up the ink. Below is a picture of the Distress Ink pad and a picture of the package of 10 Nibs.  My tip is that I store the Nib I  use, for each color, right inside the ink pad.  You can see it on the right side in the picture below.  This way I am not having to look for the nib that matches the color of ink.  The lid still fits perfectly even with the nib inside.

 

When you use the Distress Inks on the "LaBlanche Specialty Stamping Paper" it is very easy to blend your colors.  I have blended two or three colors on the bird, flowers and leaves.  That is what gives it a pretty shading.  After the image was colored, I cut it out with a Spellbinders Rectangle Nestie, embossing the edges.  This piece was then distressed using the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and Tea Dye Distress Ink.

Joan's Gardens has just received a shipment of all the new Spellbinders dies.  I have used three of them on this card.  First I die cut a Spellbinders "Labels Ten" to go behind the stamped image.  At the bottom of the design, I used one of the new Spellbinder "Ironworks Motifs".  At the top of the stamped design I used one of the "Twisted Metal Tags and Accents" dies.  It was die cut using glossy paper.  There are little embossed dots around this label, but while the card stock was still in the die, I first sponged it with "Tea Dye" Distress Ink then used a piercing tool, from the Flower Tool Kit, to pierce holes through the die.  So easy to do when you leave the die cut in the die.  I then had a white border, so lightly sponged the edges.  This die cut was cut in half and tucked down behind the stamped image.  

The name of this stamp is "Singing Bird" so I wanted a musical background.  The design paper used is from the BoBunny "of et ccetera Collection" paper pad.  The border behind the image and the four corners are from the new Spellbinders "Lace Doily Accents".  I wanted to add some pearls to the design.  I didn't have the right color pearls to go on on the black pieces so I used my "YR14" Copic marker to color them.  Two black pearls were added to the top of the rectangle piece.  A black silk bow was added to complete the card.

As you know, you can purchase all the products I use, from Joan's Gardens.  She has all the new LaBlanche stamps and new Spellbinder dies in stock.

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Blossom Tree with Butterfly plus mini tutorial

I have had a very busy day.  I started off making three batches of marionberry jam.  Have you ever heard of marionberries.  I never did until I lived down in Vancouver, Washington where there are many, many types of delicious berries.  My granddaughter returned last night from Vancouver with a flat of these berries for us, so with lots of help from my DH, we made 15 jars of jam this morning.  

This afternoon I had fun creating this card using this beautiful LaBlanche "Blossom Tree with Butterfly (LB1021).  The image was stamped on a piece of LaBlanche Specialty Stamping Paper.  It was stamped using Ranger's black "Archival" ink.  Not only does this ink leave a very clearly stamped image, but it is really "black" -- not a faded out black.  This is the ink LaBlanche recommends to use with these very finely detailed images. To color the image I used Distress Inks and "Cut-n-Dry Pen Nibs".  These items are shown below.

 These are the inks used to color the image.

 I have talked about using these Nibs before but wanted to post a picture so you can see the package.  You get 10 of them in a package.  Can you see the very fine point on the two outside the package.  The way I colored was to ink the tip of the Nib by just rolling it on the pad.  The point is so small it is very easy to color very narrow spaces such as the branches.  If you want to color a larger area, you ink the side of the Nib so you can color a wider area.  This Specialty paper is suburb for blending colors.  After the image was colored, I tore the edge of the paper so I could sponge more distress ink (Scattered Straw).  Notice how the color is darker on the torn edges.  This was such a fun way to finish this image.

 The background for this card is a punched border using the Martha Stewart Doulbe Arches punches.  This is a 5.5" square card, so I started with a 6" square to punch.  It was sponged with Distress Ink.  The card base is ivory but looks white in the photo. 

I thought I would give you a mini tutorial on how I made the bow for this card.  I used some seam binding you can get from Joan's Gardens.   To color it I placed it on my Teflon Craft pad and used the Distress Stain to run down the length of it.  Once it had color on most of it, I spritzed it with water and rolled it around until it was completely dyed.  In the picture I had not run the stain all the way down yet.  

 

After I had it completely colored, I placed it in a couple of sheets of paper towel and scrunched it up to "crinkle" it and also to get the excess moisture out. 

 

I used the heat gun then to get it completely dry.  Be sure to place it on the craft sheet when you use the heat gun.  You want to keep it all "scrunched" up while drying it. 

 

To create the bow, I first cut off a small piece to tie around the bow then wrapped the remainder around my hand using it all.  Tie the short piece around the middle.  I wanted to fray the ends of the seam binding so I used the scissors to fray the ends.  I placed a Webster's Pages button in the middle.

All the products I have used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

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LaBlanche Foxglove

 

LaBlanche Foxglove stamp

Before I tell about my card today I first want to thank all of you who visited my blog yesterday and commented on that Heartfelt Creations pink and white card.  I was very happy to receive an email from SCS this morning telling me it has made the "Favorites" list.  That was exciting!   Many of you have emailed me and asked for the template for that card.  After a lot of research, I found it on SCS and it is called a "Center Step" card.  Here is the link for the tutorial.

Today I created a card with another LaBlanche stamp called "Foxglove" LB1063.  You can order this stamp from Joan's Gardens.  Have you seen all the new LaBlanche stamps that Joan just posted on her blog?  They are gorgeous.  Later Joan will be posting the new LaBlanche Christmas line and I can hardly wait!   They are fabulous -- sorry I have to make you wait to see them.  

When I saw this beautiful LaBlanche foxglove stamp on Joan's blog, I immediately thought it would be pretty with "Flower Soft" on the flowers, so that is what I have done today.  The image was stamped into an embossed frame created with the Marianne Design DS0908 embossing folder. The paper used is the LaBlanche Specialty Stamping Paper. The embossed piece was attached to a dark purple piece that was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to the right side of a 5.5" square card.  The image was colored with Copic markers then a mixture of lavender and violet Flower Soft was added.  A pretty piece of trim was added to the left side of the card.

As you know, all products I use can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

It is a beautiful day here in Washington so I am going to go out and enjoy the sun this afternoon.  Hope you are having a great weekend.

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Potted Bush

 

Today I have a quick and easy card for you.  I recently received this beautiful Marianne Designs embossed frame from Joan's Gardens (order #LR0116).  It fits very nice into the Cuttlebug "Tiffany" embossing folder.  

The LaBlanche "Potted Bush"  was stamped using Memento Black Ink onto the LaBlanche "Specialty Stamping Paper" and colored with Copic markers.  There are little tiny flowers that look like fuchsia, on this bush,  so these were colored purple.  After it was colored, the Marianne LR0116  rectangle lacy die was centered over the design and die cut.  Along the side of the "Tiffany" embossed design, I placed one row of the Cheery Lynn Lattice (FRM115).  Three Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" (one of each in the set) were die cut and placed over the lattice.  A bow and a few pearls were added to complete this card.

All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Spring Posy Shadowbox

Spellbinder dies

Today I created a shadow box using a new LaBlanche stamp that will be released next month.  The name of this stamp is "Spring Posy".  The image was colored with Copic markers.  A second image was stamped and the posies along the bottom of the image were colored and cut out.  These were attached to the back of the top of the shadow box to give the image dimension. 

The top of the shadow box was covered with a piece of yellow stripped design paper from a new "Dots and Strips" paper pack from Joan's Gardens.  You will love the two paper packs shown above because they are full of dots and striped papers.   The largest Spellbinders, "Fleur De Lis Rectangles" die was cut and placed around the opening in the shadow box.  This die does not cut an opening in the center but I just used a craft knife and cut along the edge of the die before removing the piece from the die.  Yellow posies were created using the large daisy punch shown in the photo above.  They were punched out using white card stock and sponged with yellow ink.   For each flower, two daisies were shaped with the tools in the Flower Tool Kit and glued together.  A mixture of black and brown Flower Soft was added to the center of the punched flowers as well as the flowers in the stamped design.   Green Cheery Lynn Ferns were added under the punched flowers.  These leaves come two to a package, each facing a different direction.  A pretty yellow silk bow was added to complete this shadow box.

You can preorder this cute LaBlanche stamp, and purchase all other supplies used on this card, from Joan's Gardens.  

Blossoming Rose

I'm back!   Well I think I am . . .    I have had either a horrible cold or allergies and my head could not think creatively so I have missed a few days posting.  Today I created a card with the beautiful LaBlanche "Blossoming Rose" stamp that will be released next month. The image was stamped, colored with Copic markers and cut out so I could make each flower dimensional.  I did not stamp a second image and cut out additional flowers, but just cut between the flowers being careful not to detach the arrangement.  I used tools from the Flower Tool Kit to give each flower some dimension.  Yellow Stickles was added to the center of each flower.

I'm not sure, but I don't think I have used this pretty "French Pastry" Doily Die  by Cherry Lynn Designs.  Joan's Gardens has a large variety of these beautiful doily dies in stock.  The stamped LaBlanche Roses were attached over the doily with dimensional tape under each of the flowers.   A double punched border, created with the Martha Stewart "Deco Shells" border punch, was placed on the bottom of the card.

For the embellishment on this card I decided to create a "Blossoming Rose".  It was created with two of the largest petals from the "Super Giant Begonia Petals" punch.  There are two rows of each size in this flower.  The "Medium Sparkle" punch was used to create the stamens.  There are three stacked together.  Each leg of the sparkle was cut down the center to give it more "frill"  Once all the stamens were glued together, I used a liquid glue to add a dab of glue to most of the stamens then dipped it in yellow "Flower Soft".  It gives the stamen that "fuzzy" look you see in  many roses like this and matches the center of the LaBlanche flowers. The two leaves are from the Heartfelt Creations "Distressed Leaves" stamp set and cut out with matching dies.  A pretty double bow and a few pearls were added to complete the card.  The colors do not show up as they do on the real card. (We are having a cloudy day with rain.  The colors really do look much closer in color than shows in this photo.)

I want to remind you this is the last week for the card and tag challenge at Joan's Gardens.  One lucky person will receive one of the beautiful Marianne embossing folders ($30 value).  Be sure to check out all the details at Joan's Gardens.

As you know, all products used to create this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Big Straw Hat

Mega Elongated Leaves, Medium Sparkle

Large Delicate Snowflake, Small Cosmo

As you know, Joan and I have been working with LaBlanche stamps since the first of the year and we both love the detail in this line of stamps.  You will find a great variety of LaBlanche stamps at Joan's Gardens.  La Blanche Stamps are mounted on very lightweight, hard foam and the stamps themselves are made from high quality silicon, which results in very detailed images.  The stamps are "white" but as I posted on my blog before, if you use Memento Black Ink they clean up perfectly with just water.  Here is a link to a mini tutorial I did about these fabulous stamps.

I had a wonderful surprise about a week ago.  LaBlanche stamps wrote to me and said they loved what I was designing with their stamps and asked me to be a guest designer using a few of the new stamps that will be coming out later in June.  I was excited to be asked, and here is my first card from the upcoming release.

The LaBlanche stamp used on this card is called "Big Straw Hat".  Isn't it a cute image!  It was stamped on white card stock with Memento black ink and colored with Copic markers.  I wanted to frame the image so I used the Cuttlebug "Grace's Frame" embossing folder.  Using a craft knife, the inside of the frame was cut out so I could place the stamped image behind it.

The design paper used on this card is from the "Sweet Fairy" paper pad from Joan.  I thought the perfect embellishment for this card would be a daisy created like the one in the stamped image.  To do this, I used the punches shown above.    The petals were punched with the Mega Elongated Leaves punch using yellow card stock. The smallest petals were used.   They were sponged with a darker yellow on the tips and an yellow/orange ink on the stamen end.  A gray marker was used to create the lines in each petal. The flowers were shaped with the "Flower Tool Kit".  The stamens were created using five "Medium Sparkles" and four "Small Cosmos".  To get the feathered look, each sparkle and cosmos petal were cut right down the center.  The petals were glued to the Large Delicate Snowflake.  The leaves were created with the same Elongated Leaves punch.  They were punched out on green card stock, sponged and shaped.  The largest leaves were used.  To complete the card, a pretty yellow "double" bow and yellow pearls were added.

I want to thank LaBlanche for asking me to design with these new stamps coming out next month.  They are so well detailed that they are very easy to create beautiful cards you will be proud of.  Be sure to contact Joan, at Joan's Gardens, to place your order.  I will be posting some more cards soon with others stamps I received. 

All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

 

Joan's Weekly Challenge #17

LaBlanche stamped used

It is time for another challenge at Joan's Gardens. Here is what you need  for this week's challenge: 


■Colors -Blue/Green
■Use a Lady
■Include a Large Embellishment
■Attach a bow

This week Joan's challenge really is a challenge for me.  I don't feel I create vintage type cards very well.  The lady I used is from LaBlanche.  She is called "Lady Dreaming".   I used the Sizzix "Wreath" embossing folder to frame her.  It was embossed and  cut out with scissors then sponged with green Distress ink.  The lady was stamped, colored with Copic markers then cut out with an Oval Nestability.  It was glued to the inside of the embossed frame.   To pull in the green and blue, I selected a page from the "Sparkling Spring" paper pack.  The embellishment is from a package of Prima Flowers and matches the flowers in the design paper.  It worked out great for my large embellishment.   A piece of vintage lace was attached across the bottom, then a green velvet ribbon attached down the center with ScorTape.   A green bow was added to complete the card. 

You can go over to Joan's Gardens to get all the information about the challenge.  Hope you will join us. 

All products used on  this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.