Scoot on over...

Good morning everyone! This is another busy week for me at work, so just a quick post of a card I finished last evening while winding down. Somehow making a card- coloring, cutting and paper piecing are so much more relaxing to me than zoning in front of the TV. I used to knit to relax at night, but living in Houston has really made that less pleasant than when I was in CT- it's too hot to sit on the couch with a big hunk of yarn on my lap!

When I saw this little scooter in one of the kits I purchased from Unity stamps, I was in love- it's so stinkin' cute! I have been going through the stamps that have never seen ink and trying to plan some cards using different layouts I have collected in my files. This was a super simple card made with a So Saffron 5-3/4" card base, patterned paper from the Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday" collection and the cute little scooter colored with markers. The frame in the center was cut with a Spellbinders nested die on my Sizzix machine, trimming the patterned piece to the embossed line to make the inner frame stand out.The lines on the Cosmo Cricket DP were perfect road lines for a girlie scooter and the button and ribbon finish off the frame.

The inside was finished simply with a layered greeting and some more of the DP from this set. This card will probably go to a friend who moved across the country several years ago that I miss a bunch. This scooter is so darned cute, I am definitely going to have to find other greetings to go with it so I can use it more!

Hope you're having a happy hump day and thanks for stopping by!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Unity KOM
Paper: So Saffron, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday"
Ink: So Saffron, Pretty In Pink, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Marina Mist markers
Accessories: Soft subtles brads, Saffron Grosgrain ribbon, Nestabilities dies, Scallop oval punch, large oval punch, button, hemp twine

Keep in touch...

This is always the time of year in academics that people graduate programs, move on to new jobs, and take the opportunity for a change in life. I have several colleagues who will be leaving our group in the next week or so and I wanted to make a few of them special cards to let them know they will be missed.

I just bought a whole bunch of 6x6 patterned paper packs from a seller on Etsy (like I needed more paper-lol!) and thought the colors and patterns from the Cosmo Cricket "Early Bird" collection would be perfect for this card. I used my sewing machine to straight stitch the background layers together and used a zigzag for the top layer. The Saffron dotted paper comes from my scrap pile and was punched with a large scallop edge punch that also embosses the edge- so cool!

The sweet Pure Innocence image is a digital image from Heather Ellis which I downloaded from her Etsy site- I do love her drawings! I printed the image twice- once on Very Vanilla card stock and once on the same flowered paper as the background. When paper piecing, it's best to color you image with markers, then glue the cut out (her dress in this case) over the top. The main image and the scalloped oval background were cut out with a set of nested dies on a Sizzix Big Shot machine. The greeting was computer generated and cut by hand.

The inside was decorated to coordinated with the outside and uses a greeting generated on the computer and cut out with nested dies. Hopefully my friend will like this card as much as I do!

My husband and kids just texted to let me know their movie s over and it's time for dinner and a margarita-yay! Hope you're having a great weekend~

Beach Day!

Where have my posts been for the past few days, you may ask? My card has the answer- beach day! I have been trying so desperately to finish this card that I started last Monday for the Mojo Monday sketch challenge, but couldn't seem to get the last details right. I have ripped this card apart so many times and still am not completely satisfied with it, but it's done! I finished it just before we left for a 3 day USA swim meet in Corpus Christi, TX, hence the beach theme.

After driving 8 hours round trip and sitting on metal bleachers for 6 hours each day, only to watch my oldest child swim like ****, I was glad that we had a little beach time and some fresh seafood as solace! We went swimming and sunning at the Mustang Island National Seashore Saturday afternoon and I got some good beach pictures to scrapbook (someday...).  I told my kiddos that they couldn't go back to swimming until I got my requisite number of photos, so smile darn it! The water was so warm it was like a bathtub- such a shock after summers on the Jersey shore when 70 degree water is considered "warm"-lol!

 OK, enough digression- onto my beach card. I started with the Mojo Monday sketch, which looked really easy in theory, but was actually hard for me in the end- maybe it was my stamp choice. I found my cute flip flop stamp set and was already in beach mode and was trying to make this patterned paper work with it. I stmaped the flips in Rich Cocoa and colored the straps with Copics, adding lime colored rhinestones for a sparkly accent. I tried a variety of ribbons for the top and settled on ric rac (my go to favorite) for a bit of whimsy. I cut the strips of Tangerine patterned paper by hand and added buttons to give them some interest.

The greeting was the hardest part for me and I finally just went with a beachy greeting so the card could be used as a cheer up card or a beach invitation card. The greeting was layered onto a shape die cut from Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip. In the end, it's still not what I envisioned, but tomorrow is Monday and there will be a new Mojo Monday sketch!

Hope you had a great weekend!

You're Such a Treat...

I've been trying ot build up my stash of birthday cards so that when my kids have a party invitation that we've forgotten about I can just dig in my box of cards (many boxes, who are we kidding?!) and pull one out. No matter how many cards I have stacked up, I never seem to have an appropriate one when I need it-lol! The bigger problem comes when I create one I really love- giving it away to a kid who will bearely look at it, much less appreciate it, seems pointless! My daughter and her friends, however, are getting to the tween stage where they want to play in my craft room and do ooh and aah over a good card, so this is for one of them.

This card uses my favorite 5-3/4" square card base made from Regal Rose- this gives you enough space for larger images and a greeting without making it look all crammed together. I stitched layers of Sweet Slumber DP together on my sewing machine and layered them on the card front. Tip: if you are planning to stitch on your cards, run a small amount of glue in the middle of the sheet away from where you are going to stitch, use a heavy weight thread and increase the stitch length so the stitches show up better on the card.  I think I stitch more on cards than I do on fabric these days!

All of the images and words on this card are from Unity Stamps. The ice cream cone was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics. The image was die cut on my Sizzix machine using a series of nested dies to create the background layers.  The greeting was punched with the Designer Label Punch  and layered onto pieces punched with the 1-3/8" circle and scallop circle punches. Some  pink satin ribbon tied with a button and some pearls in the corners finish up the card front.

The inside is finished with some of the striped patterned paper punched with a small scallop order punch and a cute birthday banner colored with my Copic markers. I love the combo of Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip together- such great colors for a girl birthday!

Now to add some boy cards to the stash- somehow I doubt they will get the same love-lol! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by....

Because I Care...

After floating in my pool with a Blue Moon beer in my hand yesterday, adding to my skin cancer potential, I am having definite difficulty adjusting to Monday and work! The only part that made it short of paradise is that it was 95 degrees and 150% humidity- ahh, summer in Houston and it's only early June!

As promised, I have a card to share today using one of the Hostess stamp sets from the upcoming 20110-11 Idea Book & Catalog called Because I Care. I am a fan of the set "Bloomin' Beautiful" and was sad to see it retire this year. The flower image from the Because I Care set also features a hydrangea, which is one of my all-time favorite flowers in real life- I nurture a few of these plants in pots in my hot Houston garden- pathetic compared to the ones I used to have in my garden in CT!

This card is relatively simple- coordinated sheets of patterned paper from the Bella Bleu set, a Kraft card base and some Brocade Blue ribbon. The image was colored with Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss markers then stamped on Very Vanilla. A second flower was stamped and the flower and larger leaf were cut out and popped up on foam dots over the main image to give it some dimension. It was cut out using a nested die shaped, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink while the die was still in place, leaving a crisp edge uninked.

The border was die cut from Kraft card stock using a nestie border die, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink to enhance the pattern. The tag was stamped with a greeting from the Holidays and Wishes set (retired), cut out and sponged as well.

The inside was finished with a strip of pattened paper, another sponged border pattern and a fancy birthday greeting from Elegant Greetings (retired but a keeper!). I debated stitching some of the layers together, but wasn't sure if that would look better or not and I wasn't really in the mood to ruin a good card-lol!

This beauty will go to my SIL for her birthday next week- yay, I'll actually be on time- if I get it into the mail on time... I was about to get rid of most of the retiring ink pads, etc but may have a change of heart for some colors after making this card. What colors will you miss most? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about your can't live without colors- mine: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac. The rest I was really OK with moving on!

Hope your Monday isn't too painful~






Supplies:
Stamps: Because I Care, Elegant Greetings, Holidays and Wishes
Paper: Bella Bleu DP, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue
Ink: Crumb Cake, Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, nested dies, 1/4" Brocade grosgrain ribbon, sponge, dimensionals

Fourth of July fireworks

Hi Everyone! Just a quick post today to share the last of the cards we made in my class Friday night. This is a simple little July 4th card that can be turned into a party invitation or as inspiration for some placecards at your picnic table.

The border pattern was made with the "Red, White & Blue" wheel and Not Quite Navy jumbo ink cartridge on the Kraft card base. A highlighted section was cut out of a strip rolled with the same wheel and ink on Whisper White paper and adhered over the corresponding section. The fireworks were stamped in Not Quite Navy and Real Red and red rhinestones added for some bling in the centers. A second navy firework was cut out and popped up on dimensionals to make it stand out a bit.

The inside was finished with the greeting and a little fire cracker inked with markers. Simple and cute!

Hope you're enjoying the last bits of your weekend! Stop back tomorrow for a sneak peak at a card made with one of the hostess sets from the new Idea Book & Catalog coming out July 1st!

Hybrid Father's Day card

Happy Saturday Everyone! I'm finally finished cleaning up from last night's stamp class- boy were we a late night group- almost midnight! We had a great time as usual with both new friends and old. As promised, I wanted to post this hybrid card we made last night for Father's Day.

What's hybrid? A hybrid card or scrapbook page uses elements that are produced digitally with others that are "real"- real ribbon, buttons, etc. What's the advantage of hybrid? You can store a whole lot of digi stamps and patterned paper on your computer without taking up any room in your crafting area. If you've ever seen my craft room closet, you know this is a definite bonus for me-lol! The advantage of digi papers is that you can print as much or as little as you like when you need them.

Stampin' Up has a program called My Digital Studio that allows you to quickly and easily make digital cards, scrapbook pages, invitations, etc. You can print entire cards or just elements to use on hybrid cards, like we did in the Father's Day card. If you're a Photoshop user like me, you can simply use all the digi stamps, paper and accessories that come with My Digital Studio in Photoshop. It's easy to make color swatch palettes in Photoshop so you have all the SU colors at your disposal as you create- totally easy and fun!

For this card, I dgitially "stamped" the ties from the Father's Day Stamp Brush set in Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Soft Suede on a white 4x6 background- in the portrait layout, I could fit two per page to save paper when I printed. I made my own greeting for the outside just using a text box in Photoshop- you can also do this with Word if you want a different greeting that what the set comes with. I printed the striped paper from the Travel Journal digital paper set for the bottom half of the card- it exactly matches the real Travel Journal paper pack and I don't end up with pages I'll never use. A little Soft Suede dotted ribbon and a button from the retired stash were the only accesories to keep it simple for a guy card!

The inside is finished simply with the Father's Day greeting, corners punched with the Ticket Corner punch to frame it out nicely. This will be the perfect card for hubby for Father's Day since he's a tie wearing kind of guy!

If you missed the class, or live outside the Houston area, and want a kit email me and I will get one out to you- $15 for the 6 cards + treat box and $2 shipping. I'll be posting the last card in the kit tomorrow- a bright July 4th card!

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend! 

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Father's Day Digital Stamp Brush kit
Paper: Soft Suede, Baja Blue, Travel Journal DP, Whisper White
Digi Ink: Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Baja Blue
Accessories: Soft Suede dotted grosgrain ribbon, dimensional dots, button, hemp twine, ticket corner punch

Simple Journey

Happy Friday everyone! After being sick all last week, I am still trying to catch up, both at home and at work-ugh! I finally finished all the cards for my class tonight late last night- nothing like last minute pressure to get the Mojo going!

I have two cards to post today so you folks coming tonight can get psyched to stamp! The first uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch and one of the stamp sets from the new Summer Mini called Pedaling Past. For a copy of the Summer min, click the link to download the catalog- it's full of great stamps and cool accessories!

I wanted to keep the color palette for this card relatively simple to go with the clean line drawing of the stamp, so went with Kraft, Basic Black, Very Vanilla with just a splash of Old Olive Designer Series paper. The bottom edge was punched with the Scallop Trim border punch and the greeting with the Word Window and Modern Label punches. I added a piece of the 1-1/4" black striped ribbon tied with some hemp twine and a burgundy button for contrast. I like how clean and simple this turned out- it will make a nice graduation, new job or retirement card!

The next card is a sweet card for birthdays, literally! It features the Sweet Scoops set and the "kissing" technique. The kissing technique is a great way to add pattern or texture to a smooth image. It's a very simple technique where you ink your main image stamp then "kiss" or press an uninked patterned stamp up against it. When you stamp your main image, the pattern has been transferred to the stamp surface. For an easy to follow tutorial, follow this link to the Splitcoast website technique section.

The cones were stamped in the new Crumb Cake ink and the ice creams were stamped in Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Pumpkin Pie. Funny for me to have these colors all in the same color family now- it will clearly take me some time getting used to the new color combinations-lol! I ran the Regal Rose paper through my Sizzix machine with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to give it a little texture and added a simple banner style greeting with a ribbon tied button.

The inside is finished simply with a greeting a a soft serve cone- reminds me of my Dairy Queen days! This card has already been swiped by my daughter for her friend's birthday party tomorrow- all the girls now look forward to a "Mrs. Doctor Karpen" card with their gift- nice to know I have a younger groupie fan club!

Hope you have a great weekend! Stop back tomorrow to see the fabulous hybrid (digital+traditional) card I made for Father's day- super fast and fun to make!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Pedaling Past, Sweet Scoops
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Old Olive DP; Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Basic Black; Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1-1/4" black striped grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, button, Scallop Trim border punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch; Soft Subtles button, brown gingham ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

Luau Birthday!

When I saw these cute little Island Oasis cartons in the new Summer Mini catalog I was sad that my daughter's birthday had already come and gone because these would have made such great treat containers for the girls to decorate and fill. They're officially at the age that they get to make their own treat bags/containers and they are always trying to get into my craft room when they come over-aaah!

I decided to go ahead and use them for my class Friday night and pair them with a birthday card- maybe I can actually remember to use them for my daughter's birthday next year...well, probably not-lol!

The boxes were a bit plain so I dug out a retired set called Bodacious Bouquet and a current set called Paradise to make the leaves and flowers. I have saved the Bodacious Bouquet set, BTW, so I can use it for when I scrapbook the pictures from our trip to Hawaii (it's only been 2 years ago, so no rush!).

I wanted to keep the card simple and bright so I used a Whisper White card base and layered it with a strip of the new Island Oasis paper from the Summer mini punched with the scallop edge punch. I cut off 3/4" from the bottom of the card front and adhered the paper so that the scallops would overhang the edge- kind of looks like a cabana to my vacation hungered eyes! The flowers were stamped in Melon Mambo, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie, the leaves in Old Olive- I like the way this bright combination turned out. A little ric rac and some paper piercing detail to the corners and it's done.

Hope you have a great Thursday!

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Paradise, Bodacious Bouquet (retired)
Paper: Island Oasis DP, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Old Olive, Basic Black
Accessories: Island Oasis Party Favor boxes, Scallop edge punch, ric rac, paper piercing kit, dimensionals

Baby...

I have finally started to make the cards for my upcoming class this Friday night and I have been struggling to find some Mojo after being sick. I wanted to use some of the retiring sets/colors one last time, but also want to showcase some of the great new colors. I was inspired by a card in one of the SU demonstrator magazines and modified it to fit my stamp- casing is always a great way to start a card!

This is a super simple card, which is great when you're in a pinch for a baby card-lol! This card starts with a Chocolate Chip card base layered with 3/4" circles in Green Galore, Pixie Pink and Pink Pirouette and two 1/2" strips of Green Galore. The elephant was stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft and embossed with clear EP. He was layered onto a series of coordinating card stock and a piece of Chocolate Chip Designer Series paper.

The inside was finished simply with coordinating circles and a greeting punched out with the Modern Label Punch and mounted on a Pixie Pink die cut shape. After I finished this card, I realized I could easily modify it to make it into a baby boy card as well, so here are the boy versions.

I think I'm partial to the girlie pink and green, but we'll see which one wins on Friday. If you can't make it to my class, leave a comment and vote for the one you like best!

Have a great day~

 




Supplies:
Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Gable Green, Pixi Pink, Pink Pirouette, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Chocolate Chip Designer Series paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic and Craft
Accessories: Chocolate Tafetta ribbon, Crop-a-dile, Modern Label Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Sizzix Machine, nested die

Perfect Pair

After being sick in bed for an entire week, I am finally beginning to feel like I am rejoining the living! I can't even blame my children for this particular viral illness- in fact, I think they now have ear infections because of me (oops!). A sad testament to how bad I felt is that I was home for a whole week and didn't step foot in my craft room- I was really sick!

I started this card last weekend before I crashed and just got back to finishing it yesterday- sometimes walking away from a card is a good thing-lol! I needed a card for some friends who just got engaged and have been waiting for an excuse to use this great stamp from Unity. Now I need to disclose up front that the colors in this card are not pukey like they appear in this photo- no matter what lighting I used, the greens just did not come through right. If you're coming to my class next Friday, you can see for yourself!

I started with a 5-3/4" square Old Olive card base- my favorite size to use with larger images- gives you more real estate to work with! I stitched some patterned paper from my stash (the name of which I absolutely cannot remember) onto a Very Vanilla square, added some red ric rac (love ric rac!) using 1/4" red line tape and layered it onto the card front.

I tried several different ways to get this image stamped the way I wanted and ended up inking the whole stamp with an Old Olive ink pad, using a Q-Tip to wipe off certain areas and coloring them with Real Red and Chocolate Chip markers. A little heavy breathing on the stamp to moisten it and voila- a multi-colored image! I stamped another one, cut out the large pear and popped it on a foam dot to give the image more dimension. The tree was cut out using a large scalloped die and layered onto a larger patterned paper die cut underneath. A few hemp-tied buttons and the greeting and it's done!

The inside was finished to match with some more of that great red ric rac from my stash (I'm on step 3 of my anti-hoarding program...). Now I just have to actually get it in the mail- always the hard part for me-lol!

Now I get to drive my daughter to swim camp (yay- one less child for the week! I mean, I'll miss her very much...). Hope you have a relaxing Sunday~