Birthday Lanterns

Good morning!



Valentine's Day is 5 days away, but I have decided it's time for me to move on from that "love"ly holiday. Although I haven't exhausted my ideas or materials for valentine cards and crafts, I've created all of the valentines I need for me to send and for others to purchase.


My house is still decorated for Valentine's Day and there are still valentine treats to bake, but I am in the process of transforming my "Own Little Corner" to get ready for Spring, Easter, and Mother's Day creations. I've rearranged my stamps so that the ones I have for those occasions are front and center. My ribbon organizer is mainly filled with pastel ribbons. Rotating materials makes me more aware of what I have and also makes me aware of what I "need". Note to self... I DON'T need any more Easter or spring themed paper punches.


I rotate my materials frequently, but I clean this corner CONSTANTLY! Why is dust so attracted to computer monitors? Add embossing powders, glitter, adhesives and tiny scraps of paper to the work area and there's even more of a need to clean.


Last night's class for the Lexington Community Education program was so much fun. I met the nicest people who created adorable wreaths and sweet cards. It's fun to share ideas and techniques and to see how others approach their projects.

I made this birthday card a few days ago. The lanterns were created with 2 wooden (from a set of 3) lantern stamps from Hero Arts. I used my Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad to stamp the images onto some scraps of pink, green, and yellow vellum. I colored the images with my Marvy Twinklette markers. I fussy cut the lanterns and punched a tiny hole in the top of each of them before I threaded some gold cord through them.


I ran a piece of white tag through a dotted Cuttlebug embossing folder before I attached it to a blank card. The lanterns are adhered to the layering paper with dimensional foam tape. I touched the tip of a few markers to some of the dots on the tag to make them look like confetti falling through the air. "Birthdays are the best" was stamped with a PaperTrey Ink clear stamp from their Blooming Buttons set. I deliberately "curled" the stamp a little before I attached it to a clear block.


Have a great day!
Carol

Baskets of Fun

Hi Everyone!

Today’s cards were created with some stamp sets from Hero Arts. The basket and the flowers are 2 of the 3 stamps in the Sunny Smiles clings stamp set. The pineapple and the phrase "simply the best" are 2 of the 9 stamps in the Simply the Best clear stamps set.

I did some masking on both of today’s cards. I wanted the flowers to look as if they were in the basket. I wanted the pineapples to look as if they were in a basket and I wanted one pineapple to look as if it were behind 2 other pineapples.

For the card with the flowers in the basket I began by stamping the basket on a sheet of 4" x 5.25" white tag. Then I stamped the basket on a Post-it and cut it out. Look at the image of the basket. I trimmed the Post-it so only the front handles and front of the basket were intact. I then placed the Post-it on top of the image I had stamped on the white tag. Then I stamped the flowers. Some of the stems went on the Post-it and some went "in the basket." When I removed the Post-it , it looked as if the flowers were in the basket. I used Marvy Twinklette markers to color the basket and the flowers and then attached the white tag to a green A2 card.

I used Martha Stewart fringe scissors to create the grass on the card. If you’re unfamiliar with these scissors you may want to check them out the next time you are out shopping. Instead of the usual 2 blades, these scissors have 10 blades, five on each side that all cut at the same time. They are fun to use when you are creating grass, fringing, cutting confetti, etc.

I didn’t ink the back handles or the strip across the back of the picnic basket when I stamped the basket image for the second card onto white tag.

I used the same mask I created for the first card on the basket with pineapples card. I put the mask on top of the basket and then I stamped the pineapple that you see in the center of the basket. I stamped a pineapple on a Post-it and cut it out. I placed the Post-It pineapple on the pineapple I had stamped and put the mask for the basket on top of the stamped basket. Then I stamped a pineapple to the left and to the right of the original pineapple. After I colored in the pineapples and the basket I cut them out. I attached them to the "sky decorative paper" with thin pop dots. I used an EK Success dotted wave border punch to create the edging on the curtains.

I love that basket stamp and think it has lots of possiblities. Have a great night.
Carol

Flower Chat

Hi Everyone!

I spent this humid day surrounded by 3 fans! I sat at my worktable and prepped 4 workshops, created games for a summer program for preschoolers, and made some cards. I decided to use a set of clear stamps from Stampendous called "Flower Chat" on today’s cards.

When you look at the picture of "Flower Chat" you will notice that instead of phrases many of the words are individual words that have an outline around them. There are additional phrases and single words in a variety of fonts and a bunch of flowers in a "window box".

Since the words are individual words you can arrange them any way that you want on a clear block before you stamp them. The "window box" has a space in it for a word to be stamped.

On this first card I stamped everything onto a white background paper and then used my Marvy Twinklette markers to color the stamped images. I put a tiny brad through the middle of each flower before I adhered the white background paper to a layer of green paper and then attached those papers to a blank card.

On the second card I cut the words out before I attached them to the card. A thin layer of foam tape would make the words pop out a little more.

The words are just stamped on the white paper for this card. Instead of using the "window box" stamp, I used silk flowers and brads for the floral arrangement. I added a butterfly to the arrangement after I studied the photograph I had taken of the card.

This time I just used the "window box" stamp and stamped the word "hello" in the window box’s empty space. I placed different sizes of white pearls in the center of each flower.

This is my favorite card. Stamped the window box on white and adhered the white onto a layer of brown. I wrapped some sheer brown ribbon around the polka dotted paper, added brads to the ribbon and attached it to the blank card before I attached the paper with the floral arrangement.

Hope that at least one of these cards inspires you.

Stay cool!

Carol