Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Frohe Ostern

This is an Easter card for my friend Natalie in Düsseldorf. I had to handwrite the greeting as I do not have one "auf Deutsch".

The basket, marshmallow bunnies, bow on basket and eggs were an impression obsession die called Easter Basket Cling Set [photopolymer stamp set] with SU! Card stock. The chocolate bunny is from impress rubber stamps in Seattle. It was stamped and then cut out with scissors. The sides of the card were embossed with a SU! Dots folder.

For the front of the card I used framelits from SU! Winter catalog and an image from a retired SU! Set. Then I made a band and bow from SU! Ribbon in Primrose Petal color to keep card closed as the inside basket is on dimensionals.






Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Geburtstagskarte für Natalies Schwester

This card uses SU! Birthday Bakery (images), Aus dem Garten der Freundschaft (inside greeting) and Fähnchen (front of card greeting) stamp sets.
The paper used was SU! Shimmer paper, Whisper White, and Primrose petals.
The bottom of the card was run through a texturizing embossing folder.
The top awning was created with the word window punch from SU!
All ink used was SU! in a variety of colors. The only exception is the black ink areas were StazOn Jet Black ink.

I have viewed this card produced in a similar fashion from other SU! demonstrators using different colors, layouts, and embossing. I added an additional brown strip at the top of the awning as the awning required reinforcement. A second strip of brown (Early Espresso SU!) was added under the cakes to resemble a window frame.




Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Getting ready for St. Patty's Day

This is a card I created for my cousin for St. Patty's Day.  I realize that we are just a few days away from Valentines Day but I have little time to do cards and Valentines Day snuck up on me.  So I figured I'd go ahead and create my St. Patty's card.  The title is Martinis on Me by My Favorite Things. The stamp set is from their A la Modes line.  The cardstock is from Stampin Up! and is Gumball Green with Gumball Green ink to stamp the Irish Blessing background stamp.  The greeting is also in Gumball Green.  Both the background stamp and greeting are SU! stamps.  The punches for the greeting are also SU!  The light colored stock is Very Vanilla (SU!) and was cut out with a framelit from the Fall 2012 holiday catalog.  Inside the card (not shown) is also Very Vanilla with a Happy St. Patricks greeting in Gumball Green.  

The main image as colored with a Copic skin colored marker, Tim Holtz distressed ink hair in beige for hair color, and Gumball Green for the dress and shoes.  The water look was created by using a water painter and Pool Party ink.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Welcome

Welcome to my card making blog.  This blog is a casual forum where I share cards I have created.

Who am I?  I am a full-time employee, a part-time graduate student in Integrated Marketing and Communications, and a volunteer.  As my schedule is quite busy, I have only a small amount of time each month to create and post cards.

My friend Natalie introduced me to card making as a hobby.  It is a nice creative outlet even when you have limited free time.  I have learned that you can buy a few basic stamp(s) or sets, a few punches or metal die cuts to make a variety of cards.  It doesn't have to break your budget.

I will be posting a few Christmas cards that were created in 2012.  Afterwards, Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter.

Please feel free to provide comments if you feel so called.  I hope you enjoy them.

Cheers!

This card was created for my friend Natalie in Germany.  It uses Stampin Up! (SU!) card stock.  
The white layer was embossed with an embossing folder from Stampin Up!.  

It may be difficult to see but there is room at the bottom of the white cardstock for the greeting (it was intentionally outside of the embossing folder.   

The wreath was created by running 2 sizes of Stampabilities scalloped circles through the Big Shot. Prior to cutting with the Big Shot the paper (for the wreath) was embossed with a SU! embossing folder (polka dots).  

The pears and apples were from punched out and attached with glue dots. 

The Christmas greeting was embossed with a heat tool and red glitter embossing powder.

This card uses SU! ribbon, rhinestones, card stock and ink. The polar bear stamp was created by Wild Rose Studio UK.

This image is the inside of a card.  It uses SU! ink for greeting and ribbon.  The cat was colored with a Tim Holtz distressed marker.  The cat stamp was is called Santa's Helper and is made by Inkadinkadoo.

This card was made for my friend Laura.  The reindeer and sleigh were die cuts.  Both the reindeer and sleigh were from the same die cut by Savvy and purchased from Impression Obsession.
  

All inks were Stampin Up! colors.   The sky was created by using three colors applied light to dark with a brayer.  The bottom of the cardstock remained white and is topped with a fine snow glitter.

The moon was made by punching a circle in a post-it note attaching the circle to the cardstock prior to applying the sky colors.  After the post-it was removed, I used SU! Summer Starfruit colored marker to shade in the moon.