Wedding frames

One of my favorite things to do is to use all my card making "stuff" to make framed pieces of art. The framed pieces are great keepsakes that last longer than a card, and the cards we make are so beautiful, they are mini pieces of art.

Here is a framed gift I made for my friend who got married this summer. It's hard to see, but the white heart is embossed with three little rhinestones down the center, kind of like buttons on a wedding dress. The little charm says "bliss." (I tried to take a close up of it, but my camera isn't that good!)


The second one I did is in a shadow box frame. I went to my cousin's wedding this summer, and she sent one of those notices in her invitation that our presence was her present. I knew I wanted to make her something in honor of her wedding. Sitting at each place setting on was a small white box tied shut with this beautiful ribbon (one of the the wedding colors). So I used the ribbon in the frame. I used a much thinner green ribbon to make the "tie" on the tux, and again I have the embossed "wedding dress" with three rhinestones (although the pearls would be beautiful, too). Again, the little charm says "bliss."

This shot with the flash let's you see the ribbon and charm a little better.

I hope they love their gifts. I know I love them and I am giving them with love and "bliss-ful" wishes for a happy marriage.

Thanks for looking...

Color Throw Down!

Another challenge I just tried is the Color Throw Down.

The challenge was to use River Rock, Certainly Celery, and Ridinghood Red together. This idea immediately came to mind (maybe because I just got my elegant lines embossing folder from back order? Maybe because I saw something resembling this in my blog travels? ) Anyway, like I said before, I usually make two cards, but I tweek them. They both have the celery base, a layer of ridinghood red and the top layer is river rock (which, by the way, I L-O-V-E, love! I bought two extra packages before it retired... I am so, so, so happy it's back for good!) Also, both cards have flowers in ridinghood red punched with the boho blossoms, and all the flowers have a green celery colored pearl that I found at the scrapbooking show I went to ($1.00 for a package! What a deal! I love deals, too!) I did change up the sentiment. I used ridinghood red ink on celery paper. On the birthday card has a small piece of celery ribbon (from the Sale-A-Brations cattie from two years ago, I think).

Here I used a small knot of river rock that was out when it was a "in color" color.

I think the cards are pretty, but there are so many beautiful cards on this challenge. There are some amazing artists out there.

Thanks for looking...

A color challenge

With my recent fascination to blogs, I have been exposed to lots of challenges. I love them! I think it's a great way to get my "mo-jo" flowin', and they get me creating. I am not really sure which blog came first or how I got around to so many different ones, but I think I found this challenge through Marlene's hands on blog. She mentioned some challenges, and she was able to link me right to the other pages... I am going to try... (no promises... I do cards, not technology). This particular challenge was from here (Just Add Ink). {On a totally separate note, yeah me! I did it!! Well, my husband had to help just a little bit}

So the challenge is to create a man card using baja breeze, chocolate chip and kraft... uh... excuse me, crumb cake. Here's my creation. I used an embossing folder that I got at the scrapbooking show I mentioned below. It is a wood grain look that is pretty cool. I sponged a bit of black ink to bring out the grain a bit more. I stamped the owl from the Goody-Goody Gumdrops set. I stamped him in Espresso ink on Crumb Cake and used my markers to color him in. His breast is baja, and his face is Crumb Cake. I cheated a bit and used Mustard to color in his feet and beak (don't disqualify me, please!) Then I sponged some baja breeze on the edges of the crumb cake. Then, I layered that piece on a piece of the baja breeze. I popped that up on the front of the card and then used my word window and modern label punch to put the happy birthday on the front. Then I put some crystal effects on his eyes! I love how it turned out!

I always tend to make two of each card and change something up a bit. Here I have placed the sentiment off to the right and cut it off a bit.

Bonus: my brother-in-law who is very hip and cool loves owls (well... to be fair, in our family, when someone says they like something, the rest of us decide that means that person "loves" it, and we start giving said person any and every thing that has to do with the item the person said they liked.) My point? This will be his birthday card! (I am sure that he is not reading my blog. That'll show him!)

So.... I cased myself! The bottom card of this post is the card I created a few weeks ago for my good friend Susan. Long story short, Susan and I went to our first scrapbooking show and were floored by all we got to see. However, we got a hoot (pun intended) out of all the owl things that we saw. Yeah...owls are popular right now... I get it!!! However, neither Susan and I are that "in" to owls. Clearly, we are not hip. Nevertheless, I do have a couple owl stamps from some Stampin' Up sets that I have. So I made this owl card and sent it to Susan. Trust me... it was funny! (but you had to be there...) Thanks for looking!

I inspired myself...

So after making the "Get Well Soon" easel card for my friend, I decided to make one for my grandfather, who, as it turns out, is also in the hospital. I wanted to make one that was more manly and bright to help cheer him up. I, once again, looked to my ribbon collection to give me the color clues. I decided on this blue and green striped ribbon. I got it a while ago in a dollar bin at a craft store, and I thought (and still think) that it is super cute. I pulled out some retired Gable Green and Green Galore and added some tempting turquoise. I ran the turquoise through my cuttlebug using the lattice embossing envelope. I threw in some turquoise brads, and bah-da-bing, I have a man-ish, bright get well card for Gramps. I hope he likes it!
I actually ended up making two (the ribbon on each is slightly different... see?) Inside to help hold the card up in the easel position, I have a 1" stripe of the darker of the two retired greens and a boarder punch in the turquoise. I think it's cute!

Cards for a friend

My friend asked me to design some cards for her. I was happy to oblige. She has a friend who is in the hospital and will be for several weeks. The first card I designed was this purse card. It's a fun card for any woman. I made this before using black and white, white "purse," black ribbon and black swirls. My friend wanted something a little more girly and frilly. I was going to put rhinestones on the front, but a whole lot of people will be signing this, and I image that the whole inside will be filled. Those beautiful rhinestones would make it hard to sign so I had to nix them, but I did add a few for the clasp of the purse. So fun. I left this one blank on the inside for all the signatures, but the other one I made, I used the SU set (can't remember the name) with the shoes and purse. It has lots of cute staying about shoes, and one of them says, "I didn't forget your birthday; I'm just fashionably late." Anyway, I used a small piece of velcro to hold the purse shut... viola! Purse card...

The second card was just a general "get well soon" card. However, I am trying to use my DSP and really loved this set. Again, I cannot recall the name of the set, but it has cameo coral, river rock (from back when river rock was an "in color"), groovy guava and the ruby red. This is my first ever easel card. I am really happy with the way it turned out, and I hope that it will help bring some cheer to my friend's friend in some way. Since it's an easel card, it can be propped up so she will be able to see it, and won't blow over like regular cards tend to do when you sit them up.

That's all for today! Thanks for looking!

Sweet lists

I don't know about you, but I love making lists! I guess I just feel more organized when I do it. This is an idea I CASEd from somewhere (sorry I don't remember who gave me this idea, but thank you! I love it!) I am sure lots of folks will be getting these this year from me. Who wouldn't love making list with these cute lists? I used raspberry tart, a retired designer series paper (on sale from Stampin' Up's clearance rack... thank you SU!) I love the way these turned out. I am not sure if you can see it, but I stamped images in random places on the note pads using Botanical Blooms (a Sale-A-Brations free set... LOVE the free sets!)

Color Inspiration #133... My First Color Challenge

I have just attempted my first ever color challenge! (I think blogspot has created a monster!) I loved the Stamping 411's sketch challenge so much, I decided to try the color challenge, too, using a stamp from my most recent order (in the new catalogue...ooh-la-la!) This is such a simple card, but it is also one I'd be proud to give and thrilled to receive. I used the colors Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, and Crumb Cake and the new Elizabeth stamp, which I love. It's very elegant looking. I kind of used the SU cattie for my inspiration on this one! I hope you like it!

One Fair Entry

Last year my good friend, Susan, introduced me to entering my crafts into our county's yearly fair. Here are some shots of one of my entries.

These 4 cute cards go inside of a "book" type holder...

Then the book slides into a box to hold it together....

How cute!!! I used Stampin' Up paper (Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, and Opulent Orchid and the DSP

Cottage Wall). I used the stamp set Bloomin' Beautiful (and all but the Old Olive and Rich Rassleberry

are retired).

Thanks for looking!

My First Challenge EVER!

I am so excited to post my first challenge ever! I have been checking out the Stamping 411 blog for awhile now, wanting to participate. I have actually used the sketch several times to design cards. This weeks challenge was a fun one. I wanted to do something a little different than the hearts (which are oh so cute). I decided to go with stars, two punches I have. I looked up at my ribbon display and saw a little spool of star ribbon which helped to dictate my colors. Besides the ribbon, all my stuff was from Stampin' Up. The base is whisper white, I have a layer of Sahara sand, and the stars are old olive, basic black, elegant eggplant, and summer sun (sadly, a retired color). Thanks for looking!

Can it be this easy???

I cannot believe that I just made my own blog!?! I have been into blogs recently. I have been saying for a few months that I need to start my own, but in typical fashion, have not done anything. Today it is approximately 500 degrees outside, I woke up from a good 2 hour nap, my husband is sleeping, and I decided, I am going to do it. Why did I wait so long??? Thank you blog spot! This was so easy! I am excited to show my work and to try some challenges. So... I am going to post a picture then check out stampin' 411 to finally participate in a challenge!