Sunday, May 30, 2010

Graduation Card

My baby brother (he is 19 years my junior) is graduating from high school this Friday. Claire's Free Spirit-boy sets arrived just in time. I love everything about these sets, from the great illustrations to all the fabulous sentiments. Perfect and unique! My color palette is white, orange zest, and Hawaiian shores (PTI). I think the card itself is pretty self explanatory. I am all about keeping it simple these days!

Friday, May 28, 2010

OLW 6 Challenge

Here is a "simple to make and mail" card for Susan's challenge at her blog, Simplicity -- one layer, and overlap the sentiment onto an image.  You can find her challenge here

Card Construction Details

1.  Stamp and emboss sentiment first.  This avoided getting embossing powder on the heart image.  Even though heart image is dye ink, it grabbed the embossing powder first try out.  Now have a nice scrap pile from 1st effort. 
2.  Stamp image over sentiment.  Wait a few seconds to be good and dry. Take tiny piece of baby wipe with tweezers and wipe over the sentiment that has the ink from the heart.  Perfect.
3.  Add stitching around heart by hand.  
4.  Ask husband if card ok as is.  No.
5.  Agree.  Round corners and stitch lines with white gel pen.
6.  Color tiny rhinestones with Copic marker and adhere over "i's" with a bit of Ranger Glaze. 
7.  Consider self stamping genius/simpleton and quit while ahead.

Mood When Done = Happy

Supplies:
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Sewing Box Hugs and Sweeheart
Ink:  Versamark and Memento Rhubarb
Cardstock:  Gina K Kraft
Other:  Ranger white gel pen, corner rounder, rhinestones and Copic marker

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Two-Tone Floral

My card for this week uses stamps from three Waltzingmouse sets :



The trickiest part about this card was taking its picture!!  My camera just would not register the blue correctly but this shot with incandescent light is pretty close to the real thing.  That's Ballet Blue from SU with Spring Moss from PTI ~ and the combination made the blue slightly periwinkle which I absolutely love.

The sentiment "Love You" comes from Seasons of Love, and the lace is from Faux Fun.

The card base is PTI white and all of the stamping is embossed in white.

I'm undecided about adding a little rhinestone, pearl or silver bead to the center of each of the three flowers.  What do you think??

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Pretty Purple Pansies



All stamps and background stamps by Waltzing Mouse. Colored with Copics. All punches are Martha Stewart. Really loving these new stamps so much!

Monday, May 24, 2010

On your Christening Day.......

Hello!
I needed a Christening card so I got out my 'Celtic Heritage' stamp set,  just what I needed for this card & the Celtic Lunettes Digital paper saved me from stamping a background.
I'm in a lazy mood the weather is fab here in N.Ireland. We don't see a lot of good weather so I'm making the most of it, even though I have to sit in the shade with Factor 50 suncream on because the sun burns me & I end up looking like a lobster! Sorry enough waffling..........

Hope you like.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Mahalo!



I was delighted when my beautiful boy stamps showed up last week. They got stuck in the ash cloud and took a wee bit longer then normal. This is such a fantastic set! I used the pretty hibiscus flowers and the curved stripe. I stamped the hibiscus in palette black noir and the stripe in raspberry fizz (pti). I used fresh snow for the sentiment. Then I went to town with my copics and my stickles. I love the way it looks, even better in person then in the photos. I like sparkly things, LOL!

Friday, May 21, 2010

ORANGE!!




Today I have a fun, bright, birthday card that uses a lot of texture and lots of orange!  With a change of color or sentiment, this would make up a nice set of gift cards. 

Card Construction Details:

1. Stamped a bunch of flowers from WM Asian Gardens with different colored Memento inks.  I got a perfect impression first time.
2.  Punched out flowers with a 1" circle punch.
3.  Embossed white cardstock with a Fiskars Textured Plate (Braids). Trimmed to 4 and 1/5" x 3 and 1/4".
4.  After goofing around with various color combos, decided to go all Orange. 
5.  Added orange rhinestones to each circle flower, adhering with Ranger Glossy glaze.  (Haven't had good luck with "self-adhesive" embellishments.)
6.  Stamped sentiment.  Thrilled at how easy it was to stamp right over the textured panel.  Got to love Claire's stamps!
7.  Added circles with dimensionals.
8.  To get an even layout, I line up everything with Stampin Up's grid paper pad. I love that thing!
9.  Mounted white panel on an Orange A2 card.

My next purchases are going to be some textured plates, or embossing folders.  They create such a simple and fast way to add interest to a card and if you look around, you can get some interesting patterns.  I've got a wish list a mile long!


Supplies:
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Asian Gardens and Free Spirit Sentiments
Ink:  Memento Tangelo
Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink White and Orange Zest
Other:  Fiskars Texture Plate Braid, 1" circle punch, Hero Arts rhinestones, dimensionals

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Asian Gardens Birthday

When I saw the first samples with the new Asian Gardens set, my heart went pitter-patter ;) .   Elegant, graceful, versatile images and sentiments ~ who could ask for more?

Here's my first card with these stamps:



I used PTI Kraft, Spring Moss, white and black cardstock, Scor-Tape to add the Martha Stewart glitter, and pale green and black rhinestones for accents.  Birdcage, flower and sentiment are all adhered with SU dimensionals.

And just where did that bird go, on its flight to freedom?


Yes, right inside the card :) .  I thought the weave stamp from Pic-Nic Patterns was a nice compliment to the pattern on the front of the card.  I dotted the bird's eye with a Micron pen. 

Click HERE for more card samples featuring Asian Gardens!

Thanks for visiting.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Happy Birthday


I can hardly believe that I created a (almost) one-layer card! I stamped the fun bubble image three times using Deep Lagoon ink onto cream cardstock. Simple, but such a cool image.

This card is on it's way to my brother, happy birthday Larry!!

Thanks for looking,
Melissa

"Happy Birthday"
Stamps: Free Spirit, (sentiment from PTI)
Ink: Deep Lagoon and Chestnut Roan (Colorbox), Antique Linen(Ranger)
Paper: Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate (PTI)
Other: sponge

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Plaid on Kraft



I am loving using kraft paper on so many things. All stamps are Waltzing Mouse and the felt is from Vintage Vogue. I used the Papertrey Rick Rack die to cut the felt strips.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Blog Waltz......

Morning!
I made my card for this week's post using one of the fab new sets from WM called 'Asian Gardens'. I'm sure you already know, but just in case you haven't heard, today is Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz! Check Claire's blog for all the details.



The fun will begin at 7:00 am Pacific, 8:00 am Mountain, 9:00 am Central, 10:00 am Eastern, 3:00 pm GMT!

Thanks for looking.

Supplies: Card, Papermill UK. Stamps: Asian Gardens. Ink: Memento, Lilac Posies. Ribbon & Bling, My stash.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Many Blessings


Hi, Sorry I am a little late this morning! I was out of town unexpectedly yesterday. Today I have a CAS card for you using the little flower from PicNic Patterns. I stamped the flower in Hawaiian Shores ink (PTI) and the stems in Spring Moss (PTI). I then added a sentiment from Spring Baskets in Black Noir (Palette). I put three little pearls(hero arts) for the flower centers. I rounded the corners and called it done. Have a wonderful Sunday! And don't forget tomorrow is the Waltzingmouse Customer Blog Hop. Birthdays are the theme, so get busy!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Feel Better, Asian Style




Here's a not too fussy card made with Waltzingmouse Stamps Asian Garden, a gorgeous set!

Card Construction Details:

1. Stamped Cream cardstock with background image.
2. Die cut using nestability die.
3. Stamped bird and sentiment over the background.
4. Edged die cut in gold ink.
5. Colored light blue rhinestone with Krylon gold pen and added with a bit of glue to bird's eye (learned not to trust self adhesive!).
6. Found textured purple scrap and stamped with background in Ranger tea ink and then with outline flower in gold ink.
7. Stamped flower, punched out with circle punch, edged in gold ink and added gold brad.
8. Adhered all as shown to cream card, edged in gold ink.
9.  Showed husband; too tired to fuss over it. 

Mood when done = Happy

Supplies:
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Asian Gardens
Ink:  Encore Gold, Ranger Distress Tea, Memento Grape (purple) and Rose Bud (a very close match to Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Pink)
Cardstock:  PTI Cream, random purple!
Other:  Nestability die, Stampin Up! gold brad, rhinestone, circle punch

Racing to a Birthday!

I have another card today with the Free Spirit sets:


I used the checkerboard from Off Beat Backgrounds to add to the racing look.  The little red star is colored with Spica glitter pen.  

The sentiment and race car are mounted on foam.  


The Free Spirit sets from Waltzingmouse are incredibly versatile ~ I know I'll be using these sets over and over, and not just for the boys!

Thanks for stopping by :) .

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Happy Anniversary



Happy Wednesday!

This quick card was created using my favorite lace border image from Faux Fun, heat embossed with Black Detail Embossing Powder (Filigree) on Raspberry Fizz cardstock (PTI).



On the inside I stamped the Very Vintage Label 4 image and the sentiment from Say it With Style.

Thanks for coming by!
Melissa

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Ewe're New!



I made this baby boy card for a co-worker at the district office who just had a new baby boy.
All stamps are Waltzing Mouse. I used the SU Lattice Embossing Folder for the edges of the white and for 3/4 of the blue (just moved it down on the card to leave a clear spot for sentiments). Ribbon from Papertrey and punch is Martha Stewart.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Phew.......




Good Morning!
This has got to be the quickest card I have EVER created. I left this to the last minute because I was hoping that I would get to play with one of WM new sets for this post, maybe next week.

Thanks for looking.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Let's Have Tea!


I was shocked and delighted when my new Waltzingmouse stamps showed up a mere 7 days after I had purchased them! I got right to work using my new set, Afternoon Tea. Oh its so chock full of goodness!
Card Deets:
I made the base out of smokey shadow cardstock (PTI). I stamped it with a background from the set PicNic Patterns. Next I cut a panel of New Leaf (PTI) and adhered it to the smokey shadow. I stamped the kettle and cups on white. I colored them with my copics (I used B000, B002, B004) Then I added the little flower from PicNic Patterns. I stamped the sentiment on the green and then added some rhinestones and big bow in PTI new leaf, swiss dot. Thanks for coming by!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Plaid Hugs

For my husband, who deserves way more than a card!

Card Construction Details:

1.  Decide on light blue and orange scheme -- works with color wheel and Mike likes orange.
2.  Die cut cream cardstock with Nestability No. 4 die.
3.  Using temporary double sided tape, adhere die cut to pad of grid paper and stamp Waltzingmouse dotted frame from Very Vintage Labels No. 4 in PTI Spring Rain (also known as Light Blue) ink.  Perfect first time as Claire and I both geniuses. 
4.  Stamp heart from Sweethearts set.
5.  Stamp sentiment from same set in Memento Tangelo ink ("orange" in non stamper speak).
6.  Stamp plaid from WM Faux Fun Cream PTI ink and Tangelo ink onto Spring Rain cardstock.
7.  Watch Say Yes to the Dress with my Mom.
8.  Marvel that woman buys $11,000 dress when she could have room full of stamping supplies instead.
9.  Assemble card as shown, adding PTI Tea dye inks along edges and coloring white brads with a Copic marker cause it is easier than hunting through stash of orange embellishments buried under stash of magazines.
10.  Debate whether it matters that the word "and" is not centered over the heart, but is centered on the die cut.  Decide issue will remain one of life's mysteries.
11.  Notice that plaid layer crooked.
12.  Remove plaid layer and hold breath to see whether entire card ruined.
13.  Ah! Dimensionals used not all that strong and layer removes without major damage.
14.  Reattach correctly and press hard on new layer of dimensionals to stick.

Mood When Done -- Huggy

A Young Man's Birthday

I can't believe sometimes that my nephew is turning 14!!  Thank you, Claire, for the perfect stamp set :) .


I first used white embossing powder for the dramatic circles image, then sponged two shades of Distress Ink, wiped off the image, and then added the circle and star stamps for accents.  The last step was distressing the edges all the way around.

The sentiment is accented with SU brads and mounted on foam. 

And here's a closeup:



Thanks for visiting :) !!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The little card that couldn't...

couldn't be made in time for the huge Waltzingmouse Stamps competition last Saturday, that is! I tried to get it finished but those darn kids kept asking for food and other life neccessities!

Instead, I will share it here.



The background was made by stamping the lace border strip with Versamark on Hawaiian Shores and clear embossed. I cut the large circle using my Coluzzle circle cutter (old-school, huh?!), stamped the flowers from Spring Baskets and colored in with Copic markers. I then added the ribbon and buttons and adhered it all to a Vintage Cream base.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa

"Happy Birthday"
Stamps: Say It With Style, Faux Fun and Spring Baskets
Ink: Versamark, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Chestnut Roan (Colorbox), Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Paper: Hawaiian Shores and Vintage Cream (PTI)
Other: Vintage Cream Satin ribbon (PTI), Hawaiian Shores buttons (PTI), Clear Detail embossing Powder, Foam Tape, and Copic markers

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Citrus Colored Flowers



I wanted bright on white for this card. All stamps are Waltzing Mouse. The Rick Rack Die is from PTI and Embossing Folder is Cuttlebug.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Just a note......

Hello!
For today's card I used the very pretty little flower from the 'Say it with Style' stamp-set. I added a little color to the flower so that it matched my background paper & I also colored the dots in on the ribbon, so everything co-ordinates :)

Thanks for looking.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Glorious Spring Flowers!

Hi there! Happy Sunday! I have this great flower made with two of the stamps from Vintage Circles. I stamped the petal stamp repeatedly on white and then colored and cut out each petal. I stamped the circle and punched it out. Then I colored it as well. I stamped the background (Berry sorbet cs from PTI) with the plaid stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds. I cut a piece of white for the middle and stamped it with the sentiment from Spring Baskets. I added two pieces of Hawaiian Shores Rickrack (PTI) And then adhered the flower on top. I am really happy with that flower! Thanks for stopping in.
PS. Claire just released 8 (yes 8!!) new sets, rush over to Waltzingmouse and check them out!