I’m really late posting on my blog today — it was a rough night. Sasha (our beautiful Collie) was developing some swelling around her neck - her chin and lower lip were quite swollen and droopy — and we went to the emergency clinic for help.

After bloodwork and lymph node aspirations … it appears it isn’t good news. I’m going to wait to post further news on her until the Pathology report is in, just in case things aren’t what they appear to be. Poor girl sure doesn’t feel very well though.

Onto today’s post. The ‘Clean and Simple’ challenge at Splitcoast this week, was to use Kraft with Turquoise and White. I haven’t been able to participate in the last few weeks, but thought right away I’d like to use my bird punch for this one. Then, when I went to look for my kraft card stock … I found this patterned paper (by Jellybean Soup) in my stash. So, here is my CAS81 card:

I used a Sizzix die for the label, and sponged turquoise on it and on the bird, wing and the leafy portion of the punched branch.

To get the solid colour bird, I simply flipped a scrap of the patterned card stock over as it was only printed on the one side.

Thanks for stopping by today.

On Friday I had a chance to make a quick card using the new FTL104 sketch at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog, but am just now getting it uploaded. It’s a great sketch for using up scraps, and I know I will get a lot of use out of this one.  Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:  I chose to use a strip of coordinating paper rather than a ribbon - to keep it mail friendly.

Then, because it seemed to need something — I layered punched circles then trimmed the finished one in half. One half went below the paper strip and the 2nd half is inside on the left, at the bottom edge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I have a quick card to share this morning … a ‘Clean And Simple’ Poppy card made using my much loved Tim Coffey K&Co line.

I used a Nestability to cut the label that the 3-d poppy sticker is attached to. The poppy paper is heavy-weight PAPER - not card stock - I wanted to line it with a light-weight card stock for stability. However, the paper is double sided and I didn’t want to hide all the pretty pattern.

So I trimmed the white card liner smaller and attached it with double sided tape. I love it - I think it’s SUCH a pretty little card. But I’m biased as I am crazy about that whole line from K&Co. 

Thanks for stopping by today - have a wonderful week.

My Mom ordered a card for their friends 65th Wedding Anniversary, so this is what I came up with:

The cuts were on the Sweethearts cartridge and I thought they would be fitting. The ladies shoe is cut out of Bazzil Bling card stock, so it has a nice shimmer and I added stickles to the heart. The background was embossed with a 5×7 Cuttlebug embossing folder, then spritzed with Glimmer mist. I outlined it with a sparkle pen which really shows up against the black mat. 

The words were also spritzed with Glimmer mist, and layered with a double layer of foam tape. The card was hand delivered,, so we weren’t worried about bulk. The verse inside was computer printed on a white paper with silver sparkles through it, and it’s about how wonderful life is when the right person stands beside you.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I have a very photo heavy post for you today! The first of every month Sue and I pop something in the mail to each other. This year, inspired by Tim Holtz “12 Tags of Christmas”, I decided to do the “12 Tags of 2010″. This is the tag I sent Sue for July … I tried my hand at designing a word book. Now this isn’t a mini-album - there is no room for pictures. It’s just a fancy tag that’s meant to look like a mini-album!

This first picture shows the book tag closed - the pages were designed on my Gypsy and cut out with my Cricut. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the letters and page shapes. The back tag is about 6″ long and 3.5″ wide so it’s a nice size.

I got to use my Bind-It-All for this project, which is always FUN. Love that thing. Plus, I found the 1/2″ ‘O Wires’ on clearance which never fails to make me happy.

The “J” and the “U” pages are flipped over, and here is the “L” page — I used that sweet Stampin’ Up bird punch on this page.

Here is the “Y” page. I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder, and alcohol inks. Never tried his inks on paper before and I liked the way it came out! The dragonfly is a 3-d sticker by K&Co.

The patterned paper used was mostly by Tim Holtz, although I did use up some from my scrap drawer. This next photo shows the back page…

Another shot of the back pages…

I cut the back support tag out of brown Bazzill, and added a coloured paper reinforcer to the punched hole. Pretty fibres finished it off.

Finally, patterned paper and my Scor Pal combined to make the envelope. A Tim Holtz Die and my Big Shot were used for the label on the envelope.

All in all, this was a REALLY fun project to do. I got a good feel for making a word-book mini-album someday, got to play with fun papers and a minimum of embellishments, and my BIA.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I love this embossing folder - it makes a nice deep impression and the design is so appealing to me. These cards are larger than my normal A2 - they are 4.5 x 6″, as I had a couple of envelopes that size. The little paper strips were in a package by Martha Stewart, and the stamps are by Hero Arts.

I think these would make lovely sympathy cards too, and have another idea (sponging) that I want to try before I tuck this folder away for a bit.

Happy Friday - Thanks for stopping by today!

Just a CAS summery card I sent to a pen-pal with her letter. I love this bee (and you don’t often hear me say THOSE words!!) which was Cricut-cut. I can’t remember which cartridge so if you would like to know leave me a message on this post and I’ll look through my handbooks and find the image for you.

I printed the words on my computer first, then used foam tape to attach the layered bee.

I actually worked on a Thanksgiving card last night, but I don’t want to hurry Summer along so won’t post it until it’s much closer to Thanksgiving. However … here is a little teaser. 

Yup - a brand new SVG set was released last night and I couldn’t wait to download it and play. I’ll post full details with my card in a month or so.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Here is another card I made with my 2-Step Bird Punch (Stampin’ Up). I liked the shabby, vintage look and feel to these papers and thought the bird looked sweet. So many of the cards I’ve seen with this punch have been bright and cheery — and while I’m sure to do some of those too, I liked this look for a change.

I still haven’t figured out how I best like to do the birds eye. This card uses a soft gray Copic marker. Other times I have pierced it. Hmmm - maybe a black seed bead? At any rate, I will have to play with this punch some more — it really is sweet.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hi - this is the same sketch as yesterday’s post (FTL103) - it just worked out perfectly for this CAS (Clean and Simple) card! Everything was sitting on my table - scraps and layers, ready to be put away. Even the scalloped border sticker - which was leftover from another project. I just HAD to try out my new stamps (River City Rubber Works). The card practically made itself!

Again, I popped the decorated panel up with foam tape. I never get tired of that look.

Thanks for stopping by today!

There is a new sketch at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog … and I finally had a chance to play! I missed the past couple, so I really didn’t want to let this one get by me too.

I’m not trying to hurry summer along by any means. However, I will likely get a couple of orders for Thanksgiving cards so I need to have some on hand. I adapted the sketch to work with this pumpkin die cut.

Back before I was a Cricut owner, I had picked up this Pumpkin Sizzix die at Michaels at a 40% off sale. I cut 4 of the same pumpkins, 1 for a base and 3 out of different patterned papers or coloured card stock. I stacked the three coloured ones, then sliced them into three sections. After inking all the edges, I reassembled the pumpkins back together on the base and added some pen stitching. I have 3 patchwork pumpkins, each a little different and can get three Thanksgiving cards done! I did end up colouring the stem with a Copic marker as I wanted it to be a different colour.

Both the pumpkin and the white panel are raised up with foam tape. The inside is blank, but once I have the other two assembled I will figure out a Thanksgiving verse to print inside.  I was happy to use up this plaid card stock too — I’ve had it for years and years and am really trying to use up some of my older papers in addition to my fun new ones.

Thanks for stopping by today!