Lovely Violets...

This card is using the violets set from Flourishes. Of all the flower stamps by Flourishes, this set is one of my favorites. I stamped the image on white cardstock with Memento ink first, then cut it out with a circle Spellbinders die so that the image is mostly on the left side of the circle. After cutting it out, but before I popped the circle out of the die, I applied Ranger Wild Honey Distress ink around the edges of the circle - the die protects the edge so you get that nice white contrast when you remove the cardstock from the die. The violets are colored with Copics and the Happy B-Day stamp is from another Flourishes set - Mix-n-Mugs. I used an EK Success border punch to create the 2 purple layers that cover the left edge of the circle. The ribbon is from May Arts - another of my favorites!

Thanks for checking out the blog today!
Jeannette

More Fun with Butterflies...

Sorry I have been so bad about posting. It was a very busy week at work - followed by my niece coming out from Colorado with the new baby! I guess that makes me a "great aunt," but I like the term my sister came up with better - grauntie! We had a lovely weekend here - sunny and not hot, so everyone had a wonderful time.

Back to stamping... This card is back to one of my favorite things - butterflies. I used a die from My Favorite Things to create these double butterflies. I cut them from Bazzill cardstock and again from vellum. Attached them only at the center, then added a couple pearls to their bodies. The stamp image is a Penny Black image that I stamped and embossed with white embossing powder on white cardstock, then spritzed with a couple colors of Luminarte Radiant Rain spritzers. After it slightly dried, I wiped off the excess with a paper towel to get the white flowers to pop out. The ribbon is from May Arts - of course!

I hope you had a glorious weekend!

Jeannette

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there - especially all the ladies who are celebrating their very first Mother's Day as a mom!

This is the card I made for my Mom. I used a Penny Black stamp called Butterfly Suite and added a little "Happy Mother's Day" image from Great Impressions in the lower right corner. I stamped the image a 2nd time and cut out the 2 butterflies and popped them over the other ones - attaching them with Ranger's Glossy Accents - which is pretty much my "go to" adhesive for stuff like this. I also went around the ivory cardstock very lightly with Ranger's brushed Corduroy Distress Ink - so lightly that I did not even add any ink to a foam dauber I used yesterday for something else! I wanted it subtle. The card is a Bazzill Bling cardstock and I tied a bow from ivory ribbon, then added a second bow out of gold twine and attached that to the ivory ribbon with a micro glue dot.

Have a great day!
Jeannette

Delight in the Unexpected...

Sorry I have been so bad about posting. I always have great plans - just don't always seem to execute them as well as expected.

This card features Marcie - one of the characters from LaLa Land Crafts - which is one of the newer companies that we recently picked up for the store. In this image, she is sitting, which always poses a challenge for designing a card, so I had her "sit" on a piece of ribbon. She is colored with Copic markers and cut out. I used an EK Success border punch on 2 different pieces of cardstock - one is an embossed cardstock from Bazzill and the other is a print cardstock from Kaiser. After punching out the borders, I butted the 2 ends together on a lighter purple Bazzill layer, put that on a green layer and wrapped the ribbon piece around where the 2 pieces came together. Then I mounted all that onto a darker purple card and attached Marcie with foam tape so she is sitting on the ribbon. The words are from Hero Arts - I stamped them on green cardstock (same color as the green layer below), then punched them out with a circle punch and added a purple scallop circle cut from a Spellbinders die. That is also attached with foam tape.

Thanks for coming by today!

Jeannette

JustRite Daffodils

This is another image from the JustRite Breath of Spring stamp set. I LOVE daffodils - they are a happy flower and one of the things that we look forward to seeing every spring!

For this card, I started with the daffodil pitcher image and one of the borders that comes with the set. That was cut out with a Spellbinders classic oval die. The image is colored with Copic markers. I like to do the cutting first, just in case something moves when going through the machine, I have not spent a bunch of time coloring yet! That piece is layered to a blue cut out from the Spellbinders Labels Ten die set. The "background paper" underneath that is actually a very light striped designer paper that I stamped over with a Penny Black stamp in Ranger "Stormy Sky" Distress ink. It was just enough color. After that, I punched a border design out of navy cardstock and layered that to the stamped piece. I wrapped some May Arts ribbon around the layers and attached a bow with a glue dot. Layer that all up to a card with some KaiserCraft paper, add a few pearls and you're done!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jeannette

Riley Celebrates St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patty's Day, Riley is toasting with a glass of Guinness! Or at least I think that is what he has! Who knows, maybe it is a Black and Tan. Remember, this is coming from a non-beer drinker!

I started with a green Bazzill base card and scatter stamped some shamrocks in Tsukineko Green Tea pigment ink. Then I stamped and colored Riley. I tried stamping in brown ink, but that did not work out at all! Went black to my favorite ink - Onyx Black Versafine. Colored him with watercolor pencils and a Dove blender pen. Next I stamped the wording from Stampendous in Green Tea ink on a piece of lighter green and added the ribbon (one of my favorite patterns from May Arts!). Layered the who thing and up and, voila! A pretty quick card!

Hopefully you're seeing more green in your life. The snow here is slowly melting. I am probably down to a foot on my lawn! Come on Spring!

Jeannette

Wouldn't we all like a day at the beach...

You know, if you're in the snowy northeast, we are ready for some beach weather! Of course, it was a balmy 50 degrees this morning, so that felt pretty nice.

This stamp is a Leigh Hannon image from Impression Obsession. I just loved the fun cupcake design and the saying was perfect! Of course, WHY can't it always be a day at the beach? :) The image was stamped with black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. Then carefully cut out. To make the background, I took 3 colors of Bazzill cardstock and cut a strip 4-3/8" wide. I made several different sizes and "puzzled" them together to get the striped background. The easiest thing to do is run about 4 strips of adhesive (I use 1/2" wide Scotch ATG tape) then start at the top and work my way down. When you get to the last strip, you cut it the width you need to keep your margins straight. The brown underneath is 4-1/2" square. After all the pieces were attached, I stamped the words with Black Versafine ink. I added a brown Bazzill button with some ivory string from May Arts tied through it.

Thanks for making me part of your day today!
Jeannette

JustRite Breath of Spring...

Well, if Mother Nature won't give us Spring weather, we'll just have to create Spring in our cards! This image is from the "Breath of Spring" set from JustRite Stampers. Colored with Copic markers and layered to a fun stripe DP from Memory Box and then some blue Swiss Dots from Bazzill. The ribbon is fun colored edge ribbon from May Arts. I added some tiny adhesive pearls to the centers of flowers facing forward. I stamped the image with Memento ink and then cut it out with a classic ovals Spellbinders die - then layered to a slightly larger oval cut from a blue Bazzill cardstock. This is a great all-purpose card - the kind you can keep in your drawer and use for almost any occasion!

Thanks for checking the blog today!
Jeannette

Great snuggling weather...

Looks like Old Man Winter just does not want to loosen his grip on most of the United States! Good grief! And I had great hopes that the groundhog was going to be correct and we were going to have an early Spring!

So, in honor of cold, crappy weather, a snuggling card! This is a cute mouse image from Penny Black with 2 of the little ice snuggling under a daisy! The yellow piece underneath the mice image is created by embossing the yellow cardstock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, then carefully applying Ranger Spiced Marmalade distress ink to the top with a brayer. You have to be gentle to keep the ink only on the raised portions. Because distress ink is designed to react with water, I spritzed the cardstock with water, which made the ink run a bit, blotted the excess off with a paper towel, then completely dried the piece with a heat gun. You can really accentuate the embossed design this way! After that, add some ribbon and layers and you have a cute card!

Thanks for coming by and the sun will come out - TOMORROW!

Jeannette

Think Spring with Tulips!

If you live in the northeast, you are probably really tired of snow and cold. I know I am! In my former life, when I was a skier, I welcomed snow. Now it just becomes something that has to be cleaned up! So, to get into the Spring spirit, I am going to show a springy card!

This is a Hero Arts tulip stamp - colored with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. I used a Sissix 3-dot embossing folder on the front of the card and some ribbon, pearls and DP for embellishment. A little pink in the middle of winter is a good thing!

Thanks for popping in today!

Jeannette

MFT Winter Gifting!

Given our current weather pattern in NH, I figured this was a good time to show this card. This is another cute image from the Pure Innocence collection from My Favorite Things. I colored her with Copics and cut her out. I used an edger punch on the designer paper and a solid piece of Bazzill cardstock. I used a May Arts double-face satin ribbon on the top of layered piece for embellishment. The wording stamp is from Hero Arts.

Enjoy your day!

Jeannette

Flourishes Snowman

This is a card we're going to be making in our first "Christmas Club" class at Stamped Designs. After years of trying to stuff Christmas card classes in a 2-3 month window, we're going to have a class every month - which allows me to use a lot of different images and products all year long. I LOVE this snowman from Flourishes! On this card, I colored the snowman with Copics and added some BoBunny paper and a piece of Bazzill embossed with a Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder from Sissix. The ribbon from May Arts is not one that I would necessarily consider Christmasy, but it works well with these colors. We haven't had a lot of snow up here in New England so far this winter, but there are still 3 more months to go!

Thanks for checking out the blog today!
Jeannette

Fashionable Holiday...

This is one of the new designers from Penny Black - reportedly someone who has drawn for Dior in the past. I can say that this is not your typical holiday card style, but there are some fun images and they are quick and easy to color. I colored her with Staedtler watercolor pencils and a blender pen. The tree was stamped a second time and attached over the top with a glue dot to give it just a little dimension. The May Arts gold cording tied around the left edge adds just a little bling to the card.

As always, thanks for checking out the blog.

Jeannette

Hedgies in Flight!

This is the last card we're going to be making in our "Spook-Tacular Halloween" class at the store. It's hard to pick a favorite, as all of the images have been so cute this year. Once again, colored with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. The "moon" is made by cutting a large circle with a Spellbinders die and then sponging a little orange around the edges. The words are also from Penny Black - with a ribbon covering a line that is part of the words. I stamped a spiderweb in silver on the black cardstock in both upper corners. The hardest part of this card is cutting out the hedgehogs! It really makes the card!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jeannette

Shades of Beige...

On this card I used shades of beige and several layers of Spellbinders dies. The cut-out flower is a Flourishes stamp from their Poppy stamp set, attached with foam tape. I colored it with several beige Copic markers. The happy birthday sentiment is from Serendipity rubber stamps. The designer paper is also beige shades, layered to black cardstock - the bottom edge is cut with an EK Success edger punch. The dotted organdy ribbon is from May Arts - I used a brown around the card and tied a piece of black into the knot to add some dimension. The last touches is a little distressing with Ranger Distress ink in Brushed Corduroy and some black pearls from Queen and Company.

Have a great stamping day!

Jeannette

Cherry Blossoms

The Cherry Blossoms set is another great selection of stamps from Flourishes. This card is made from one of the smaller images in the set - stamped multiple times along the left edge of the cardstock. I colored these with Prismacolor pencils. The pink bow is ribbon from May Arts and I overtied a second bow with a metallic twine also from May Arts. I LOVE the metallic twine. It comes in gold, silver and a white iridescent. The right edge of the natural cardstock is punched with an EK Success border punch and layered to a light green Bazzill cardstock, then to a mauve basecard with a metallic paper from Penny Black.

I hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend! The weather here in the northeast is gorgeous!

Jeannette