Roses for Denise (Teapot Tuesday)

It's time for another Teapot Tuesday challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.  This week's recipient has been dealing with some serious medical issues lately and could use a little happy mail.  She is an artist who paints a lot of trees and landscapes, and she loves tulips and roses.  I had some gorgeous rose paper in my stash, so I knew right away that I would feature this paper on my project.

Here's my card:

I started with a black card stock base.  I cut a panel of patterned paper slightly smaller than the card front (about 1/8" smaller on all sides) and attached it to the base.  I stamped my sentiment on vellum and heat set it with clear embossing powder, then die cut it.  Because it was difficult to see the sentiment against the patterned paper, I also die cut a piece of black card stock in the same size to layer behind it.  I attached the vellum to the card stock with tiny black brads.  I wrapped black fiber around the card base and added my sentiment over the fibers using dimensional foam tape.  Not much stamping on this card, but I love how the paper really steals the show!

We still haven't had much snow or rain where I live (and we desperately need it), but I heard we may be getting a storm in the next couple of days.  I'm hoping for snow, but at this point I'll take whatever moisture we can get!  

I hope you are staying safe and warm, and I hope you'll visit me again.  Thanks for stopping by!

Products Used:
Stamp: Sincere Salutations (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Craft Black (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Red Roses (Recollections); black card stock, vellum (unknown)

Tools and Accessories: Nestabilities Labels Eighteen (Spellbinders); black fiber (On the Surface); clear embossing powder (Mrs. O'Leary's); dimensional foam tape (Scotch); tiny black brads (unknown)

Valentine's Day Card for My Husband

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you're having a fun, relaxing day with the ones you love.  This is just a quick post to show you the Valentine's Day card I made for my husband:

I wanted something masculine but still romantic, so I avoided hearts and lace and stuck with basic ribbon and brads.  I "roughed up" the pretty paper with some distressing, so hopefully this is manly enough for my big bear of a husband (who's really more "teddy bear" than "growly bear", but don't tell him I shared that secret!).  I waited to post this until after I gave it to him, thinking it would be a surprise.  He opened it and said, "I figured this one was for me."  That's when I realized it had been sitting in plain sight after I took pictures for the blog.  Oops!  But at least I know he pays attention to what I'm crafting!

I started with a natural white (almost ivory) card stock base.  Then I used two-sided paper from Authentique: one side I stamped on for the card front, and the other side is the dotted panel, which I heavily distressed to darken the dots and mute the red a bit.  For the larger piece, I used a script stamp and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  To get the softer effect, I stamped off first on a piece of scrap paper, then stamped on my card piece.  I used a Nestabilities die to cut my scalloped piece.  I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa on another piece of natural white, then added more distressing with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.  I attached the sentiment piece to the scalloped piece and added the brads.  I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around the dotted piece, then adhered the scalloped piece over the ribbon using foam dimensionals.

Thanks for taking the time to visit me on Valentine's Day! 

Products Used:

Stamps: Old Letter Writing (Hero Arts); Be My Valentine (Hambo Stamps)

Paper: Authentique Collection: Lovely (used "Greetings" and "Crush" 2-sided paper); Classic Natural White 80 lb. card stock (Neenah)

Ink: Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks (Tim Holtz/Ranger); Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools and Accessories: Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Rectangles Small (Spellbinders); ribbon (Celebrate It Basic-Basic); brads (Recollections); dimensional  tape (Scotch)

Vintage Valentine

Happy Tuesday!  It's bright and sunny but very cold here today.  We were blessed with beautiful weather on Saturday (no jackets! short sleeves!) but today we're back to bundling up in coats and hats.  

Over the weekend I stopped in at my local scrapbooking and stamping store.  Sometimes I drop in just to get inspiration, sometimes to pick up something I need and sometimes just to relax and enjoy a little kid-free quiet time.  The owner is very knowledgeable and friendly, and this weekend she pointed me toward some of the cutest 12x12, two-sided Valentine-style paper I've ever seen!  As soon as I saw it, I knew I would be making vintage Valentine's Day cards with it.  Vintage usually isn't my style, but this paper just begs to be distressed!

This week's Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge at Splitcoast Stampers is a sketch challenge (view the challenge sketch HERE to play along).   I chose to flip the sketch on its side and use one of the images from this delightful patterned paper in place of stamping  The challenge with CAS is to use very minimal stamping, images and embellishments while still making a beautiful card, and I've found vintage CAS to be even harder.  I had to restrain myself to keep from adding elements to this card!

(I apologize for the poor picture quality.  I use natural light so I really need to photograph at just the right time of day to get a good picture, but I was running behind and missed the best light.)

I started by cutting the image and distressing it. Next I cut a mat from the reverse side of the paper, distressed it and adhered the image to the mat.  I die cut a border from natural white card stock and distressed that, too.  I attached the border to the larger panel and added three brads, then attached the entire piece to a dark brown card stock base, which was cut slightly smaller than A2 size for a better fit.  

There are several other Valentine images on the 12x12 patterned paper and I can't wait to make cards using the other images.  I liked this paper so much that I hurried back to the store to buy a few more sheets before it's sold out!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you stay warm and cozy!

Products Used:

Paper: Collection: Lovely "Greetings" Two-Sided Paper (Authentique); 

Classic Crest Natural White 80 lb. card stock (Neenah); dark brown card stock (unknown)

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink (Tim Holtz/Ranger) 

Tools and Accessories: Borderabilities Jumbo Scalloped Petite Borders (Spellbinders); brads (Recollections)

Thanks a Bunch!

I finally had a chance to spend some time in my craft room and boy, is my craft table a mess!  Looks like I will be doing some reorganizing this weekend.  Doesn't that sound like fun?!

I want to give a shout-out and thanks to my followers.  Some of you have just started following my blog, and I thank each of you for taking the time to follow and visit!

After a busy week without much creative time, I really wanted to get back to challenges.  I combined this week's Ways to Use It challenge at Splitcoast Stampers (make a "thank you" card) with this week's sketch challenge at Operation Write Home.  Here's the sketch:

I love the simplicity of this sketch!  I chose to make a few small additions but tried to stick closely to the measurements provided.  Here's my card:

(I apologize for the shadows on this card, particularly the one around the sentiment panel.  The shadow and the brown card stock really blend together and it's hard to tell where the paper ends and the shadow begins.  I didn't notice it until I had already deleted my other pictures...ugh!)

I really struggle with matching patterned papers, so I was pleased as punch to find this two-sided paper in my stash!  I used the flowery side for the larger panel and used the lighter side for the smaller piece.  I made a card base with Chocolate Chip card stock and added some brown and white baker's twine to tie it all together.  I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa on Crumb Cake, used watercolor crayons and a slightly wet brush to color the image, then layered that piece with Chocolate Chip.  I had planned to simply attach the sentiment panel to the middle of the long strip, but I made an error as I was adhering my layers and tore the flowery paper slightly.  Thankfully there's usually a way to hide errors like this, and it often involves adding more layers or moving elements around.  I moved the sentiment panel to the left side of the card to cover my mistake and adhered it with dimensionals.  I knew I'd need some sort of embellishment on the right side to balance it all out, so I decided to fussy-cut two of the flowers from the leftover patterned paper (I am not a fan of fussy-cutting, so I did not come to this decision easily!).  After cutting out the flowers, I added a small white brad to the middle of each and attached them to the card with mini glue dots.  To add a little dimension, I lightly rolled the ends of the flowers so they would stand off the paper a bit.

This is a simple and quick card that could be used for many occasions just by changing the sentiment.  I am sure I will be using this sketch again!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Products Used:

 

Stamp: Thanks a Bunch (Unity)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Paper: Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake card stock (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (unknown)

Accessories and Tools: Watercolor crayons (Staedtler); white mini brads, brown and white baker's twine

Anniversary Card for My Husband

Recently my husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.  He's the kind of guy who thoughtfully remembers the little details that I often forget, so I tried very hard to create a card with details that were reminiscent of our wedding.  Our wedding colors were black and white, and my bridesmaids and I carried red roses to add a splash of color.  I recreated those colors on this card.  The sentiment is from a set I used to stamp the napkins for our wedding.  I tried to keep the embellishments to a minimum, as I didn't want to "girly" this card up too much for my husband!  Here's the card I made for him:

I stamped the background stamp in craft ink on white card stock, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I attached a piece of red ribbon (repurposed from a package I received recently...I always save those ribbons!) to the embossed panel.  I used my Big Shot and a Sizzix die to cut rectangles of black and white card stock, stamped my sentiment and adhered the stamped piece to a larger black rectangle.  I added black brads to the corners and adhered that piece to the embossed card stock using dimensionals.  I then attached the whole panel to a card base made of black card stock and added a white liner to the inside of the card.

My husband and I have been blessed with beautiful children, a strong support system of family and friends, and a Savior who has carried us through the ups and downs of life.  There's a whole lot of love in our house, and life around here is always exciting.  If that's not worth taking the time to make a special card, I don't know what is!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Products used:
Background Stamp: Soft Swirls (Stampin' Up!)

Sentiment Stamp: Love Matters (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Basic Black Craft ink (Stampin' Up!), Memento Tuxedo Black

Embossing Powder: Clear (Mrs. O'Leary's)

Embellishments: Black brads, red ribbon