Big Hearted love

We've been cleaning out my Dad's apartment. He's been recouping from his major surgery this fall, but he realized he wasn't able to return to his place. He moved into nursing care a few weeks ago. Good for him, but left me to work on clearing out his place over this busy holiday time. Ho, ho, oh heck! Hence, why no New Year cards were made. Anyways, while cleaning I found a stash of cards I had given him and this was amoung them. I really enjoyed making this card. Clean, simple, and yet thought it worked well. The heart was cut from 12X12 printed paper and glued on the card. The circles were punched with Marvy round punches. The words are by Hero Arts and were embossed with white embossing powder.

Celtic Snowflake

Well, since I'm on a roll, here is a snowflake embossed in silver. This is all one stamp. It was layered onto a silver paper. Self adhesive clear gems were added, as well as the ribbon.

Starry Night Stampscapes Card

More embossing! This time I started by taking the starry sky stamp and stamping it with a blue pad in the middle of the card. The edges of the card were sponged in with more blues. Then the branches were embossed with a twinkling white embossing powder. Then trees were then stamped again in blue to give some depth to the card. Some of the stars were enhanced with a glitter pen. This was all done on a white glossy card which was then adhered to a very dark blue paper.

Joy Bling

Tis the time for sending Christmas cards. I try to keep one card each year of the ones I send. This is one I did quite a while ago. It was two stamps. The words are all one stamp, and the holly is the other stamp. The holly was done with glittery green embossing powder, and the words were done with red embossing powder. Lots of bling! The one thing I've found with glittery embossing powder that you have to be careful of, is that it's hard to tell when it's done embossing. It doesn't change color as much as matte powders. So if you are using really glittery powder, be sure to check to make sure everything is cooked.

Embossed Christmas Card

An since I'm on an embossing kick, here is an embossed Christmas card. The image and words are by Paper Inspirations. This is one poinsetta stamp that was inked and stamp numerous times. Then glittery white embossing powder was poured over the image and heat set. The top of bottom edges of the card were also embossed. The words were stamped in blue Versa Fine ink on the white card.

Embossed Lion

Yesterday's card was of embossed leaves. Today we have a lion by Art Impressions that was embossed with black embossing powder. I go in spirts with embossing. It takes a tittle more time and effort to do, but it really gives a great look. The lion in layered onto a card that has strips of printed paper that was pieced to make the design you see. I used double sides sticker paper as the base. That makes for a quick way to put all the pieces in place. Fibers were used to tie off the top of the tag.

A long card

Many people start with the size of the card and work their design inside the dimensions of the card. Some of us tend to go with the image and build the card around the design. That's what happened with this card. It's rather long and narrow. The image is a Judikins stamp that has been embossed in brown on each color. The image was then cut out and glued onto the card.

Memory Box Holiday Card

Not to be bugging you, but here's another suggestion for a nice holiday card. If you start now, you'll be thanking me come December! This card uses some of Dave's great paper. The stamp is also by Memory Box, and was embossed in white onto the Memory Box paper. Then that paper was mounted onto white card stock which was glued to the brown paper. The sentiment, also by Memory Box, was also embossed with white embossing powder. One sheet of this Memory Box paper goes a long ways when you are just using it this way.

At the Beach

Actually, we're not at the beach any more, we are home with all our cards we made while we were at the beach. This one is an embossed chair with orange embossing powder. It was cut out and added to a Marvy oval punch which was overlaid onto the ribbon with a piece of foam tape. The words are from a sticker set. The card is from Memory Box and has a white interior which makes for easy writing.

Beach shoes

I've turned into a total beach freak. My time at the beach is a time to retreat from the cares of daily life and just have some R&R. Of course, my idea of R&R does include stamping. No water on this card, but it reflects the feeling of being at the beach to me.

The flip flops were embossed with a dark brown embossing powder onto the orange paper and punched out with a Stampn' UP! tag punch. A piece of hemp was tied through the tag and attached to the strip of printed paper with a piece of foam adhesive.

Eyes of a Cat

Marsha McCarthy has a very distinct style. This is one of her stamps that I enjoy. Due to the detail, it was embossed in black embossing powder first onto a white card. Then the color was added using Stazpon which are really vibrant on white paper, and sponge applicators. The colors seemed to fit for a warm summertime feel.

Graphic 45 Thanks Card #2

One of the many things to love about this company, is that the paper comes double sided. This is a great way to have paper that is guarenteed to mix well with what ever you are trying make. The word today was embossed in black. There was enough dimension to this card that I felt I needed some dimension to the word as well. The black velvet ribbon was just the extra touch that helped pull everything together.

Tucan Card

And speaking of over sized cards, here's one that took on a life of its own. All stamps are by Art Impressions. The bird was embossed with black embossing powder and colored in with water based markers. Using a blending pen, the colors were added to the bird. The bird was then cut and mounted onto black paper and cut out again. It was placed on top of white paper that had a solid leaf stamped in several colors over the paper. Two leaves were also cut out and mounted under the bird with foam tape. One each side of the bird on the red paper, a strip of red tape was laid vertically. The squares of green paper were randomly placed going down each strip. Then black embossing powder was poured over the tape and heat set. This gave the image sort of a mosaic look. Once again, an extra large envelope would be needed to mail this card.

Resist and Embossed Leaves

This is an old technique. You start by stamping leaves with a watermark pad onto white glossy paper. Next you apply the color over the whole paper. The color will resist the watermark ink so the leaves come though white. Then you watermark the large leaves and then pour black embossing powder over the ink and heat set. Makes a nice contrast.
I'm off to have coffee with a friend. Sure is nice to catch up with my buddies. Had a nice day with a friend this week going to a stamp store out here. Always like seeing what others are doing. Hope you are taking a run to your local stamp store.

Magenta Flower Card

Are you getting flowers for someone for Easter? Here's a nice alternative. I loved these precut flower cards by Magenta. All you have to do is add color. Before adding color to this card, design stamps were used with a Watermark pad on the vase and petals. Clear embossing powder was added and heated which created a resisit to the colors. The colors were then sponged on. After sponging on the color to the petals, a design stamp was stamped over the leaves in a darker green. The last step was to add irridescent glitter glue to various spots on the card. This also makes a great Mother's day card.

Sparkle embossed Card

Here's a card that was done with sparkly embossing powder. The word image was stamped with Versamark onto the paper. Then the purple sparkle embossing powder was poured over the Versamarked words. Because of the wetness of the words from the Versamark, the powder sticks to the image. Then all you have to do is heat emboss. Heat embossing with sparkle embossing powder is a little tricky- It's not as easy to see when the image has been heated enough. A light touch can help if needed, and all you have to do is add a little more heat. The image is by Rubbermoon.

Flower for all card

I'm sitting here looking at a dozen red roses my honey gave me for Valentine's day. He's really good about giving me flowers. Roses are great flowers for anyone, and this card fills the bill for lots of uses. I have made multipes of this and used it as a birthday, mother's day, sympathy, and just as a basic blank note card. The rose was embossed with white embossing powder onto the blue varieted card stock. Then just mounted up in layers onto the card. I've taken tags and stamped whatever words on it (Happy birthday, ect.) and tied it around the ribbon. Never hurts to have some card on hand that can be a go to card when you need one in a hurry.

Shabby Chic Valentine card

Still not making valentines. Had a class last night, and have been making cards for our staff party which we do at the end of the month. Did find this card in my stash, though, and thought it fit for the season. The heart is by Inkadinkado and was embossed with white embossing powder onto blue paper and then cut out. This was then mounted onto the printed paper with a piece of foam tape. The white square was placed on top of the blue paper. The shabby chic look is all done for you on the paper. The white strip of paper and buttons were the only thing I added to the card. The other part of the card that's unique is the fold of the card. The white strip is actually the edge of the card and folds over on to the front heart piece.

Black Glossy Night scene

It's been a snowy winter. In fact, on the news last night they said 49 states have snow. Amazing. So glad we aren't the winners of snow this year. Last year made a big impact that I'm still feeling. But it sure can be pretty! So here's a Stampscapes card we did in my Winterscapes class as a tribute to the beauty of snow. (In the mountains where it should be.) Enjoy.

Embossed Winter House

This PSX house has lots of detail. It's easy to look at all that detail and get overwhelmed by it thinking about how to color it in, but as you can see here, white embossing powder over a dark paper works well. Then just add a touch of color. Red glitter glue was added to the wreaths. A strip of red paper was also added to the inside of the card to add a little more color. The star is a brad that was added as well.