My good friend Gill (aka my “kid”) got her driver’s license last week and I couldn’t be happier for her. I made this card to congratulate her, using this week’s color and sketch challenges on SCS. It gave me a chance to use some of Stampin’ Up!’s new colors: Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, and Concord Crush.

Thanks for stopping by!

When I saw that Gina K.’s Design Team blog hop was all about favorite StampTV episodes this month, I jumped at the chance to finally try this idea of Cropped Circles. I’ve been wanting to use this technique on a card for a long time.

I used the sailboat image from the Enjoy the Sunshine stamp set to make a wedding anniversary card for my parents. In the Dutch language, we have an expression for getting married (in het huwelijksbootje stappen) that literally translates to “getting into a wedding boat.” My parents have (figuratively) been sailing around in their boat for 49 years!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Waltzingmouse Stamps order arrived in the mail today, and I saw that as a sign that I should participate in their sketch challenge for the first time. The deadline is tonight, so I just made it in the nick of time. This would have been a very quick card if it hadn’t taken me a few tries before I had the background stamped the way I liked it. I am so used to breaking out my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig that it felt weird not to use it with these clear stamps.

I got lots of birthday cards to send out this month, so I selected a birthday sentiment that I received as a “thank you” gift with one of my Verve Stamps orders. It’s also one of the stamps in the Big Wish stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by!

I try to make my cards quick and easy for shoebox swaps, and this one is no exception. Just sponge some red ink on the dry-embossed background, stamp the frame and sentiment, color the stars red and set four silver eyelets. Adhere sentiment panel to card with dimensionals and you’re done!

Thanks for stopping by!

The card I did send to the birthday girl can be seen here. I haven’t been able to part with this card since October and now at least I get to keep it in the family!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tomorrow I’m attending a baby shower for two neighbors who are both expecting a baby boy. This is one of the cards I made for the occasion. My next-door neighbor is in the process of selling her house and moving to Texas, so I thought a (rocking) horse image would be very appropriate for her card!

I stamped the image and sentiment from Rupa Shevde’s Oh, Baby! set in black ink on a Labels Seven die-cut. I traced around the inside of the die with a red glitter pen. When I colored the saddle red with Copic markers, it was wonderful to be able to stay inside the lines (for the first time ever, I think). Red is not an easy color when you’re working with Copics. The background was stamped with blue ink and striped grosgrain ribbon was the only embellishment I used.

Thanks for stopping by!

After spending a nice long Memorial Day weekend in West Virginia, I was having a hard time trying to make a card for today’s sketch challenge on SCS (SC283). Next time I will be taking some stamping supplies with me to the mountains!

I used the colors from StampTV’s chocolate, green, and ivory challenge (which made me think of Stampin’ Up!’s Brocade Background DSP). I puzzled two pieces with the same design but different color combinations together in the background. The flowers were colored with Copic markers.

Thanks for stopping by!

I knew I had to try this Reverse Nestabilities technique after watching the wonderful video tutorial Gina K. posted this week. Although it looks like a window card, the stamped image and sentiment are still on the front of the card. The Pacific Point panel is adhered with dimensionals to create the depth effect.

The colors I used for this masculine get well card are from Kristina Werner’s second Readers’ Choice Color Inspiration challenge. I didn’t really have the right purple ink to match the picture, so I ended up stamping with Elegant Eggplant ink (which Kristina said was too dark). I hope she can forgive me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wouldn’t this card make a nice iTunes gift card holder? Of course you can’t see the inside (I haven’t prettied that up yet), but I followed the instructions found in this old SCS Try a New Technique challenge: TLC165 – Gift Card Holder.

I started out with a 5-1/2″ x 12″ piece of textured card stock and scored it in half first. Then I scored it at 4-1/4″ from each end and ran a piece of Sticky Strip along one of those score lines to glue both sides together. Inside the card you end up with a 1-3/4″ pocket. Punch right on the edge of that pocket with the Word Window punch to create an opening for your gift card. I marked with a pencil how long my opening needed to be and had to punch three times to make it large enough.

The front of the card was embellished with beautiful new Cappella BasicGrey paper and double-stitched 1″ wide grosgrain ribbon, using the sketch of today’s SCS challenge (SC282). I rubbed the sentiment directly on the ribbon after it was already tied to the card. The Extreme Guitar image was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink and I sponged Bordering Blue and Sahara Sand ink around it while the panel was still inside the Nestabilities die.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just having fun with my beloved Up, Up & Away stamp set and combining a few challenges: Verve’s Ready, SET, Stamp challenge and this week’s sketch challenge on SCS (SC281). This would make a nice graduation or retirement card, I think.

I paper-pieced the hot air balloon and colored the basket with a Copic marker. The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark and white embossed.

Thanks for stopping by!