Made by *B*

a Happy Heart! I LOVE this saying and am so happy this set (A Happy Heart) made the new catalog.

I made this card for a swap from Jami-who runs the bestest swaps! In this round we had to make Valentine’s and use a specific set of colors. I used the Ski Slope designer paper for the patchwork background, and stamped the dandelion in real red, and then highlighted the little hearts with glitter.

The 2nd card was made using the Love You Much bundle (still on sale for 20% off this month!). I used Red Riding Hood as the base, and scalloped the bottom edge (I *LOVE* that punch and seem to use it A LOT!!!) A strip of Pink Pirouette along the top with a strip from the Candy Lane designer paper as well.

The “Love you much” was colored in with Saffron and Rose markers, and dotted with Ruby Red, then covered in Dazzling Diamonds glitter, as was the little heart flower. The heart image itself was stamped twice-once on designer paper and then layered over with vellum with spots from the white gel pen for some highlights.

QTFM: when coloring in thin lines, hold your marker brush tip up so that the tip *barely* touches your image. It makes it easier to stay inside the lines if you have a very light hand with the bruch tip rather than pressing hard with the thinner tip

This is the card I swapped with my stamp clubs-after making them Monday I added a layer of Taken with teal for the Wed. night group since I kept looking at it and thinking it need just a *touch* more color (sorry Monday night ladies!)

I used the Eat Cake set in Only Orange and Pomegranate for the presents on the front. The designer paper is Bali Breeze layered over Old Olive. I added a double knot of Pomegranate stitched and Tangerine grosgrain to add some more color.  

The “eat cake” is stamped in Pomegranate and layered into a Build a Brad (which I am now addicted to!) on top of Flower Fusion Felt Flowers (say *that* 10 times fast!).

This month I hosted a swap with my Monday night and Wednesday night stamp clubs-and WOW did they do a terrific job. I thought I would share the gorgeous cards they made! (and as long as we have no power outage tomorrow I can share the Wed. night and my club cards for the week as well!)

These cards were made by Tracie and Laurie. Tracie used the Priceless brass template to dry emboss all the cards (I think she may have given herself Carpal-Tunnel!) and added a perfect little smidge of glitter on the cake. Laurie impressed us all with her Dahlia fold card using Bali Breeze paper-lots of OOOHHHHs when she pulled hers out!

The next group was made by Michelle, Chris, and Jessica. Michelle’s card uses All in the Family and is layered on Magic Mesh for cool texture. IRL you can see sparkle and shine on the little balloon-I think the bright colors and sweet little image worker perfectly together! Chris used True Friend and layered Rose Red designer paper onto Rose Red cardstock witha grosgrain stem(soc lever!)-if you look closely you can see a sprinkling of glitter as well (ahhh glitter-these ladies do me proud!). Jess’ card is a little pull out note card pouch and has a sentiment from “That’s Nice” on the front-great color for a masculine card-plus I love that she used a layout I demo’ed at a workshop she went to last year!

 This month’s theme was birthdays; next month it is embossing and emboss resist-can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Hmm this card is the other one that I made using the same layout as my fabulous flowers card. The great thing about layouts is that you can use them over and over and not feel like you are reinventing the wheel!

The front is a bit different. I used Apple Cider designer paper and cut it into 1″x4″ strips. Then I alternated the sides of the same piece of paper to create a striped and patterned background.

The ribbon was just knotted in front and tucked under the designer paper, and the pumpkin face is from the Carved and Candlelit set-which also has a great face for Halloween Ghosties!

I tend to like big bold images a lot moreso than fine line drawings-and the pumkins in the set sure do fit the bill! What is great is that you can use markers, daubers, or sponges directly on the stamps and get great results with shading if you want a more elegant and less whimsical card.

My absolute FAVORITE new set this catalog is Fabulous Flowers. I *love* that big bold flower and have seen MANY MANY gorgeous samples made with it!

 For Jami’s Holiday Swap I paired the big flower with the new Apple Cider designer paper. I tend to not do a lot of Thanksgiving cards to mail out-but I liked the Apple Cider paper and I think it will be a good choice for many fall cards or projects. I like the variation in patterns and styles included in the package!

Here is my swap card:

The card itself is still a half a sheet of cardstock-but rather than fold it directly in half I folded it about 1″ from the edge and then folded the end piece back over-si it still fits in a traditional envelope. I used this same layout for 2 swaps I did-but using the Apple Cider paper as well. I signed up for 3 swaps due the same week BEFORE we found out about Phoebe arriving-so since they were due after her arrival I had to use the same layout to get them done and ON TIME!!

Here is a closeup on the flower-I love how it came out-in real life I think it looks almost like stiffened fabric! Hmm maybe we should call it faux fabric!

First I inked the flower in Pumpkin Pie, and rolled the edges in Wild Wasabi to give it some depth.

Then I cut out the flower image and sprayed the backside with water and rolled it up into a ball and let it sit that way for a bit.

I unrolled it and heated it with a heat gun to speed up the drying process.

Then I gently tapped the Versamark pad around the flower and embossed using Irridescent Ice embossing powder.

I LOVE the distressed look the paper took on but yet at the same time it has a slot of sparkle and glitz!

I am sure you have seen the buckle cards where a strip of paper is slid through the Word Window Punch to create a buckle to close the card-they are adorable!

 I was in a new catalog swap and decided to do a “faux buckle” card. To do this you raise up the main image on dimensionals and slide the paper underneath so that it tucks under the main image and holds the card clsed that way. This way also covers the hole from the Word Window Punch (which you do not have to use for this buckle).

The background designer paper is from the Cutie Pie set, as is the fold over strup-one wonderful thing about the Cutie Pie paper is that since it is double-sided you still get a cute pattern under the polka dotted side. The main image is raised up on dimensionals. I stamped the butterfly once on the white square, and then again in Real red ink on shimmer white cardstock and cut that one out and placed it over the square image so it pops off the page. The dots that look white are actually microbeads and glitter for an extra sparkle!

This is for the challenge on SCS using Scallops, and my downline swap which I am viciously behind on!

To make the scallop frame I 1st cut out a circle using my Coluzzle on the Soft Sky designer paper.  Then I used my SU circle punch (1 1/4″) to go around and cut the scalloped edge out. I punched the N,S, E, W parts first like  a map compass, and then went back and did between each of those to get a full scallop.

I wanted the corners to match the bigger scallops, so rather than use my corner ticket punch, I used the sme size circle punch and went in a bit to notch the corners out.

The scalloped peekaboo circle is raised up on dimensionals. The mian image is colored in with WCC and Aquapainters. I used a touch of Crystal Effects and SU microbeads to add some dimension to my happy zebra. I added little ribbon knots to bring the black and add some contrast to the front of the card.

QTFM: If you have to do a bunch of ribbon knots, itis easier to knot them all along a long piece of ribbon and cut them after they all are knotted. It is much easier than cutting a small piece and then knotting each one.

Here is a little funky flower made with the set called “Doodle This” in the SU! Spring Mini. It uses a technique I came up with which I am calling the banded brayer using multiple colors of ink pads on a brayer to create a multi-colored background.

This also uses a resist technique. The images were 1st stamped in black ink on glossy paper. The certain portions of the image were highlighted by going over them with the Versamarker I have through Stampin’ Up! Then the entire image was brayered over. You can see the highlighted elements better in the pink passion area where the stems and swirls are. 

The middle strip has piercing along the two sides to mimic the dots throughout the main image panel. Love the apricot/pink passion combo-perfect for Spring!

These are the cards I got in for week 2 of my downline card exchange.  I think we all have SPRING on the brain.  Lots of flowers blooming and ideas a flowing!

If you have never swapped with anyone I suggest you try it out. I have a very specific style that I am used to, and easily find myself falling back on my old favorite layouts or color combos. So by doing swaps I can get ideas that are different from what I would come up with-plus how much fun is it to get mail, right? 

Enjoy!

Here’s the mail

it never fails

it makes me want to

wag my tail

when it comes

I want to wail

M-A-I-L!

I love good mail days-don’t you? Lately I have been having some GREAT ones!  Last week I wrote about my card exchange with my downline, so I wanted to show you the samples I got back.

Aren’t they pretty??!!??  I love that they are so different and show off some cool techniques and layouts. Well done ladies-I cannot wait for this week to be done so I can post some more. I got 2 already-and I think they came out great so I am looking forward to the rest of the bunch.