Wednesday, March 25, 2009

More fun cards

I've been having tons of fun with these fancy cards for our church card ministry. Even though the cards look very complex, they really are not.

The elegance of the card is the Cuttlebug designs on the white cardstock. I used sheer ribbon on many of the cards to add to the elegance.
The tulip cards use the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the background piece. The scalloped oval was embossed first using the Textile embossing folder and then cut using Nestabilities scalloped oval.
The image oval was colored using Koh-I-Noor woodless colour pencils and Gamsol, then cut and embossed using a classic oval Nestie.
I added polka dot sheer ribbon and mounted the finished piece to pastel card bases.

The rhinestones in the center of the Cuttlebugged flowers gave a nice touch of color to these cards. The flowers are from the With Love borders folders. Argyle embossing folder and ScorPal detailed the card front. I added sheer ribbons. The sentiment circle was cut using the Nesties Petite Scalloped circle and Classic circle dies. A tiny nail gem was added to the circle. I hand drew the dotted line and used a marker to slightly edge the circle.
This card can be used for nearly any occasion by simply replacing the "thank you" sentiment with any other one you want.

The main image of these cards was stamped and colored, embossed using the Swiss Dots folder, then cut with a Nesties oval die and mounted on a pink scalloped oval.

The plaid paper inspired the colors in the Garden Boots image. Each card has different colored Prima flowers and brads for the centers.

Thanks for looking.

Spring is almost here!

Blessings,

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

I really did have these done for Valentine's Day for my daughter and co-workers.


House Mouse images have been become real favorites of mine.



The little heart confetti pieces are dabbed with Stickles.
Very fun to make and very cute when finished.
I cut and embossed the heart using one of the scalloped heart Nestibilities dies.
The edges were inked with Real Red ink and I tried to get each point on the embossed edge with the ink.
Quick and simple tonight.
Thanks for looking!
Blessings,

Jodie's Cards

In my last post I probably wore your eyes out doing all that reading!
Now - here are pictures of the cards Jodie made during her weekend with us.


She fell in love with the House Mouse stamps. So she stamped up lots of them on folded cardstock so they were actual cards when she finished coloring them. Most she left blank on the inside so she could write personal messages in them.



Jodie did all the coloring using only colored pencils. I was amazed at her shading of the colors - especially on the cupcake card.

The marshmallows in the cups of cocoa were puffed up using Liquid Applique and my heat tool.




Then we got really creative and used the Cuttlebug to emboss a border across the bottom of the Friendship card.
Nestibilities were used to cut the scalloped oval window from the white card. She stamped the daisy vase from Gina K's Flowers for Daisy so it would show through the window.
Then she stamped a House Mouse on the oval cutout, layered it and mounted it on the front of another card. She REALLY caught on fast!

Enjoy! Blessings,

One Very Special Young Lady - Jodie

Since 1999 my DH and I have been volunteering at Freedom Village, USA. Over the years I have done sewing for dozens of the girls who have been there at one time or another.

We have also had several Adopt-A-Teen girls during that time. When we first heard Jodie's story of how she came to Freedom Village I told DH that "she is mine!" And when she became eligible to be an AAT she was assigned to us. She has been at the Village for about 5 years now. She got saved, became a beautiful Christian young lady, graduated from high school and now works on senior staff . This is her way to say thank you for the chance she was given to change her life and now tell others about the saving power of Jesus Christ. She travels with one of the singing groups and gives her testimony at schools, churches, banquets - anywhere she can.

For nearly a year we have been talking about Jodie coming to spend a weekend with us and teaching her to make cards.
WELL---- on February 27 we brought Jodie home for the weekend.
On Friday night we started stamping images, coloring them, putting a card together. Saturday after breakfast, we stamped and colored more images. Saturday afternoon we went to a Stampin' Up! workshop. After dinner Saturday evening - you guessed it!! - we stamped more images, colored images and made more cards! What a fantastic weekend.

Here is most of our stamping gang - from left -
Me, Roxy, Deby, Jodie, Betty, Kim and Lori.

A couple of our group don't attend our church so they are missing from the pic.
(I forgot to take my camera to the workshop)



My DH does not like having his picture taken, but he allowed it this time for Jodie.
We are so proud of Jodie and the beautiful Christian young lady she has become.

She wants to use the cardmaking as a tool to encourage girls who are having a difficult time and to have something fun to do while just "hanging out".

But, as the saying goes - all good things must come to an end. On Sunday afternoon we had to take Jodie back to Freedom Village. BUT - she took with her cardstock, images, colored pencils, tape, 2 sets of stamps, Stampin' Spots inks and anything else I could think of to give her!

Be blessed,

Special Occasion Cards

Our pastor's wife asked me to make some cards for special occasions to be available for the card ministry our church does. Birthday and anniversary cards are sent out to our attendees and their families. There are many people who never get cards from anyone to mark a birthday or any event in their lives.

Here are some of the ones I came up with. Nearly all of the ideas are cased from a Cuttlebug website.


This card is shimmery white. The design is done using the Cuttlebug With Love border folders and ScorPal. Self adhesive flat pearls were added on the flowers.



Very simple - very elegant.




This card is done with the tiny heart embossing folder from Love Language and the long stem flowers from With Love border folder and the ScorPal.

The flower centers are tiny self adhesive nail decorations. The sheer ribbon bows are attached with Zots.








This card was so easy and quick to make that I got carried away and made it in several other colors!





The same rough diamond shape cut around the flower bouquet was placed in different positions on the cards.
Each one is embossed with a different Cuttlebug folder and the ScorPal.




The "Thank you" and "thanks" were embossed using the Thanks small embossing folders.











I really like this card - very simple and can be used for any number of card giving occasions.
The Just My Type embossing folder was used for the dots and the lines are ScorPal!
Small sentiment words can be easily stamped near the bottom of the stems or above the daisies.

I used several different colors of dotted sheer ribbon on the cards.




One of the embossing folders from Fancy Corners was used for this card. It was embossed three times along one side of the card. A fourth one was mounted alone and used as the focal point of this card. The sheer ribbon is lined up along two ScorPal lines. Another plus for this card is that it can be either top fold or side fold.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these cards!
Blessings,