Peek

It's a bit hard to see, but this card is actually shaped like a door.  How fun is that! I found it on the Silhouette store.  99¢ well spent.  It went just perfect with a Door County Rubber Stamp I had of a girl peeking through the door with her teddy.  Then I found the "I knew you'd look" sentiment from River City Rubber works.  I love it when a plan comes together :-)

 

I made a few versions of the card.  One (this one) I used flowersoft on the wreath.  Another I embossed and sanded.  Both were pretty, I love the realism of the flowersoft, but if I were doing masses for Christmas, I would probably emboss and sand.  Much faster

 

 

Here's a close up of the image.  I love the sepia tone, with just a pop of red for her hair ribbon.

 

 Here's the same image used as the whole front of the card.  It reminds me a lot of Maurice Sendak 's art for some reason.

Winter Miracle

 Two projects, but the same materials and images.  I think if I were doing this again I might paper piece the angel's cloak, since it was a bit challenging coloring in such a large area with copics.  Door County Kid stamps often work wonderfully for paper piecing.  So much fun.  Like paper dolls.

 The first project is actually a wooden block made especially for me when I need a block to hold a photo by sweet Michelle LaRue of Pine Needle Hill.  I've become a bit addicted to the larger size of these as a focal point when making a set.  Or you know, just making a single pretty block to perch around that won't get hurt if little people (or klutzy me) knock it off the display.

wooden block (snowy church is a stamp by Northwoods Stamps)

And here's the card I made from the same concept.  I did paper piece the snow on this one.  Love the texty-ness of this paper snow.  And now texty-ness is a real word.  For sure.

card with texty-ness snow

You can find the stamp here: Door County Rubber Stamps or if you are in my neck of the woods here: Backroads Plum Crazy.  Papers are from October Afternoon's Silent Night, and the Snowflake Frame is a Spellbinders die.

Harvest Glow

It is another rainy Monday, but the leaves are starting to change, and I have a bushel of honeycrisp apples and a gallon of apple cider.  Things to be thankful for.  I think I'll go heat a cup of that cider while I tell you about this pretty thing. 

It's hard to see in the cloudy gray light, but the card base is a deep plum.  The rest paper is from the Harvest Glow collection by Reminisce.  I love Reminisce because #1 they are from Iowa, like me, and are therefore super cool, and #2 Reminisce is eclectic.  They have more than one style in their bag of tricks so you never, ever say Oh, yep, that again.  #3 and final is that they made Harvest Glow.  People just about fall over when they see this one in person at Backroads Plum Crazy. It is so beautiful!!! Now there's pretty paper and beautiful paper, this is the latter.  It glows (hence it's name) and is just lovely, classic, and warm like apple pie.  Ach, just impossible to describe so you better just go look here at Reminisce's site. Or better yet, go buy some.  Because it's better in real life, believe me. 

The stamp is of course, my favorite Door County Stamp.  I used Memento Cocoa Brown to stamp her so the lines wouldn't be so prominent after I colored her in with copics.  I think if I make more of them for card club, I'll try it in Potters Clay so she just looks painted.

To make the frame cut and emboss Spellbinders Classic Frame, but leave it in the die.  Stencil Aged Mahogany distress ink through the openings in the die, then pop it out and go over the whole frame with Vintage Photo.  Looks like the Classic Frame must be discontinued since I don't find it on the Spellbinder site.  Pity, it's very useful.  Hope you have one already :-)

Supplies used:
Memento Cocoa Brown Ink
Copic Markers
Kaisercraft mint flowers
Door County Stamp- Blowin' in the wind
Spellbinder Classic Frame Die S5 012
Glitz Teeny Letters
Reminsice Harvest: Harvest Plaid (just one sheet front and back)


Mmm, warm spiced cider and crunchy maple leaves.  Hello fall!

Lil' Sprout

Here's the baby cards for card club, made just in the nick of time.  I was drying the stickles with a embossing gun just as the first car rolled in, lol.

The stamps are from Rubbernecker, a great little stamp company.  I especially like their Goddess stamps.  They remind me of Alphonse Mucha paintings.  Lovely and unusual.  Now that I think about it, I bet they'd look great with Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante collection.  Anyway, train of thought back on the rails, you can check out everbody else's cards here.

Love Notes

My first fling with Cricut Design Studio.  Oo la la, the romance, it has begun!

  

1. Weld the shadow from LOVE from Home Accents with the square from George.  
2. Add a few wings from Indie Art to a Door County Girl to turn her into a sweet little cupid.
3. Dangle the smallest scallop heart from a string.

Made with Love

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

I stamped the my little baker twice.  Once on the oval and then on a scrap so I could cut her out and layer her over everything with foam dots, making it look like her little kitty is behind her skirt.  Ah, I love dimension.  Speaking of dimension, if you haven't used liquid pearls may I highly recommend them to you.  The red makes great little holly berries, or in this case, cherries and the other colors have a ton of uses too (perhaps a line of ivory pearl buttons marching down the back of a Victorian girl's gown, which you can see larger if you click on the image below).  I don't empathize with this stamp, nope.  Have you checked out Joy the Baker today?  Or the Cupcake Bakeshop?  Stamping and complex carbohydrates, there really is no better combo in my book.  Plus the occasional adorable cat trying to trip you and make off with the goodies.



Card number 11:

Supplies:
Door County Rubber Stamps Holiday Baking
Inkadinkado Sentiment
Ranger Ivory & Red Liquid Pearls


May Arts Burgandy Silk Ribbon
Copic Markers
Kaisercraft Pink Rhinestone, Rhinestone Strips
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack


Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Scallop Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts

Hearts Desire

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

I used a silver paint pen on these scallop hearts, to gussy them up a little and accent their ruffles, plus then you don't really need to layer them up with the straight edge heart nesties sine you have a two tone look already.  Sweetness.



Card number 10:

Supplies:

Krylon Silver Paint Pen


May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
Copic Rose Pink Marker
Kaisercraft Rhinestone




Crafty Secrets Lucky Wishes Stamp Set



Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack


Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Labels Four & Scallop Hearts

Shine On

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

I used pens to add just that last little touch to accent this card.  Spicas add a tasteful hint of sparkle and color to the sentiment and a gold paint pen makes the one little rhinestone into a great focal point.  You could make tons of these cards for pretty minimal money if you think about it.  I mean, just think how many rhinestones are in one of those Kaisercraft packs. 

Card number 9:
Supplies:

Marvy Uchida Fine Point Gold Paint Pen
Copic Spicas
EK Success Postage Border Punch
Kaisercraft Rhinestone



Crafty Secrets Christmas Stamp Set

Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack


Spellbinders Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts

Onions have Layers, Ogres have Layers

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

Okay, so no ogres, or onions.  But there are layers, lots of heart layers, and more Ellie Pooh paper, which ogres must surely approve of.
Card number 8:
Supplies:
Ranger Inkessentials White Pen (my favorite to date)
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Ellie Pooh Paper
Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
You could stitch this, but setting up my sewing machine means cleaning a space.  I'm not a big fan of decluttering, so I use faux stitching.  Just use a white gel pen to create a dashed line border all around your card.  I was really pleased at how well the Ranger pen worked on the super fibery Ellie Pooh paper.

Two Hearts, One Love

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

I stamped a sentiment on vellum that layered over my patterned Bittersweet paper so soften the look and really make my two scallop hearts show up.  I made the vellum top layer just a tad longer than the pattern paper mounted them flush together and then attached the two together to the card base with foam dots making it all floaty and romantic.  The card base is made from Ellie Pooh paper, which is really cool and earthy but not so romantic when you know it's made from elephant poop!

Card number 7:
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Ellie Pooh Heavyweight Paper
May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
Inkadinkado Sentiment
Spellbinders  Scallop Hearts

Hay

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

Here's one for all my rural homies especially the ones who've ever bottle fed a calf.  There are few things sweeter than those big brown baby cow eyes peering up at you.  Except for maybe if those big brown calf eyes are peering at you out of George Clooney's face ;-)
This pun is courtesy of River City Rubberworks, makers of probably some of the funniest sentiment stamps ever.

Card number 6:
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
May Arts Two Tone Ribbon
American Crafts Thickers
Door County Rubber Stamps Best Pals
Spellbinders Doodle Parts, Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Kaisercraft 12" Pink Rhinestone Strips

A Paisley Heart

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.
I'm normally not a big fan of paisley, but.... I just love this marbled paisley from Bittersweet.  It just makes everything so lush.  I heart it, like I need a full 25 pack of it just for me.  Candy.
It's a bit hard to see, but I used Spellbinder's Impressabilities on the bottom half of the card base.  I like the look and I love that there aren't any edges from an embossing folder because there is no embossing folder, but I'd really prefer a deeper more dramatic emboss.  I think some experimenting with cardstock shims may get me the look I'm going for.  How fun is having a pink inside of your card?  Totally fun :-)
Card number 5
Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Impressabilities & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye

May Arts Sheer Organza Heart Ribbon
Look Ma! No Stamps! (shocking I know)

Yippee!

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.
Distress Ink is really handy to have on hand.  It's cheap and adds such a nice finish to things.  I keep my blending tool out all the time.  And I do mean ALL.  A cosmetic foam wedge would probably work for most of what I do with it, which is going over my paper edges.  It makes things look just a tad more well, I don't think "polished" is quite the right word,  I guess I'll go with "distressed" lol.
This card is an inside joke with Michelle from the shop in addition to being a pretty little thing.
Card number 4:





Supplies:
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Nested Flowers (discontinued), Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye

SEI Rhinestone Brad
Scor-It Board (used to create embossed lines on the card base)

Jewel of my Heart(s)

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

You can click on the pictures to see larger versions.

Card number 3:
Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy Green Velvet Scallop Ribbon
Crafty Secrets Sentiments Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick & Tea Dye
Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones

Sending Love

The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

This one is one of my favorites and I completely scraplifted it off of another person here (lots of great inspiration, really you should go check it out)

Card number 2:
Supplies:
Martha Stewart Lattice Arch Border Punch
Crafty Secrets Kewpie Stamp Set
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack

Spellbinders Classic Ovals & Scallop Hearts
You could use a template or a cricut to create a little envelope, but I just folded in the corners of a scrap square of white cardstock to make mine.  Easy peasy.

Heart Attack

Well I'm home sick today (the shop is open Sunday afternoons) with what is hopefully the last grand headcold of the season, so I'm all curled up with my laptop, my laptop cord munching kitten, and watching glorious weather reports of rain.  Rain! So exciting to have rain not snow :-) and it's not even going to be FREEZING rain. Spring is definitely on the horizon.  So I'm going to spread the love and catch up with you, my bloggy buddies, with a series of hearty cards.
The challenge is use only cardstock and the papers from a Basic Grey paper pack I've had in my stash for about a year.  A friend of mine was also feeling uninspired by the Scallop Heart Nesties she had bought, so to make things interesting, use this set of dies on every. single. one.   Turned out limiting your supplies is a great way to get inspired.

Card number 1:

Supplies:
Basic Grey Bittersweet Paper Pack
Mark Richards Rhinestone Alphabet (X &O)
Spellbinders Classic Hearts & Scallop Hearts
Kaisercraft 12" Pink Rhinestone Strips
The Greeting Farm Pirate Anya (I think she's been discontinued, but there's lot's of other great characters there that would look just as cute, like this sassy little number)

Oh Boy!

Paper:          Daisy D, Anna Griffin
Die Cuts:      Elephant & Balloons by Cricut
                   Label 1 by Spellbinders
Stamps:        Brayton Alphabet by JustRite

Sorry for the blurriness of the photo.  Every have one of those days where no matter how you sweet talk your camera, it's not going to take a good shot?  Today was one of those days.

This card was made for a Baby themed card swap, but since all my friends (and I) are lining up to be Old Maids, I thought I'd come up with something that could swing for birthdays or other festive events as well, preferably ones that involve cotton candy.  I love cotton candy :-)  What you can't see due to excessive blurriness, is that I sanded nearly every square inch of that card and then rubbed brown ink over it in an artistic manner.  Even the elephant, who looks way cool distressed, btw, like an 1950s storybook about a circus that was very well loved.

Might as Well be Spring

Hooray, hooray~ It's up above freezing today!  The birds are singing and the dog is chasing them all the way to the neighbors farm.  Definitely something Springish in the air, groundhog be darned.  Here's a pretty little card to celebrate:

This is an uber simple card, easily replicated for masses of Valentines or birth announcements, you don't even have any major coloring to do, just stamp the main image (Crafty Secrets) in Versafine Black ink.  Normally I stamp images with Tsukineko's Archival Brillance Graphite so I can color them with Copics and not worry about bleeding, but with really detailed images you need that Versafine or you are going to wind up with a blob.  A very sad blob.

I did this card once using Marvy punches and one with Spellbinder Nestabilities in what I suppose could be called a cardmaking version of the WWF Smackdown.  Guess what? Nesties won, hands down.  They just look way more polished, especially when you are working with vellum, like on the background scallop here.  One other thing you can't do with the punches in that reverse stenciling technique to create a border (you can see a how to on reverse stenciling a couple of posts back, the blog party post).  Nope that's not an extra piece of tan cardstock behind the main image, I just inked up the die itself with a light brown fluid chalk inkpad.

A big THANK YOU!!!!!! and Blog Candy!

I got a lot of great comments on the tire swing stamp I used on this yellow card (also seen at the bottom of my Spellbinders reveal entry)  She's a Door County Kid made by Door County Rubberstamps.  We sell them at Backroads Plum Crazy, but if you can't get here or to Oscar's shop in Door County then do visit their website- their stamps are so adorable and work great with Copics!

I figured while we were "in the swing" (har har)) of giving away fantabulous things, I'd throw out some more blog candy!  E-mail me by Saturday (the 24th of January) 11:59 PM CST at donya@backroadsplumcrazy.com and put "tire swing" as your subject line for a chance to win your very own!

Stamps:  Tire Swing by Door County Rubberstamps
                Live by Inque Boutique
Ink:        Tsukineko Brilliance Graphite
Paper:    Buttercream Cardstock
               Yellow Gingham Paper from my stash bought eons ago
               White Cardstcock
               aged teal scrap
Extras:   Copic Sketch markers, Spellbinders Classic Circle and Pinking Circle dies, Pop Dots

The Envelope Please....

And the winner of a lovely new set of Spellbinder dies is......

Julie Talford of Wisconsin

Julie's comment was.......

The spellbinder dies can be
used for so many various projects.  Now that they have added so many new
dies the possibilities are truly endless.  Thank you for a wonderful
product.

Congratulations, Julie!  Hope you have tons of fun with your new toys!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks to everyone who visited, hope you got some great ideas!