Serene Thoughts

I've had a very eventful past week! I knew I would be busy with baby shower preparations so I had cards photographed and edited and ready to upload here so I'd be able to keep up with my blog postings...BUT my ailing, old computer had other ideas...it crashed! :-( 

We got a new computer, but I've had to go through the tedious task of setting everything up...and I'm not the best with computers! Somehow I've managed to get most everything back and functioning. It looks like all my photos and documents are still here...so that is good! I was worried about that! Anyways...here's one of the cards I intended to share with you last week.

This card used one of my favorite sheets of DSP from the Serene Scenery Paper Stack. All I had to do to create this beautiful card was stamp the sentiment from the Thoughts & Prayers set. I had intended on using some sort of ribbon or other embellishment but I rather liked it as is. Doesn't get much easier than that!

I shared photos of all the beautiful papers in this stack in my last post. Check it out here. 

Flourishing Butterfly

I've been wanting to try this simple mask and sponge technique using the Bold Butterfly Framelits for a while.

First, I cut a butterfly from a piece of copy paper a big enough to cover by background panel and used temp adhesive to hold it in place. Using Sponge Daubers I sponged Marina Mist over the entire butterfly. Then, using Elegant Eggplant I lightly sponged just the edges.

With the mask still in place, I stamped the pretty floral image from Thoughts and Prayers several times to fill in the inside of the butterfly. After removing the mask I stamped the sentiment from the new set Flourishing Phrases.I just love the font used on this set! I die cut the border using the Flourish Thinlits...my favorite new dies from this catalog! I think this adds a nice finishing touch without being too much...I try to keep sympathy cards more clean and simple.

Thanks for visiting today.

Thoughts and Prayers Flowering Tree

My hubby's two week vacation is winding down. It's been warm and sunny, so lots of time to enjoy our pool and get some projects done around the house. Most evenings I've been too busy or too tired to get downstairs in my stamp room. Unfortunately, I received some sad news earlier this week which forced me to get in there and create a sympathy card.

Without doing much stamping in the past couple weeks, I think I'm a bit rusty and had a hard time coming up with something suitable...sympathy cards are always difficult to create anyways. I ended up pulling out my go to sympathy set - Thoughts and Prayers and created this card.

There's a teeny tiny flower die in the Fiesta Time Framelits that was perfect for creating some flowers for this tree. I cut them from Elegant Eggplant cardstock...which for some reason didn't show up that color in my photo. Too late to try and take a better photo however because the card is now on it's way to the recipient. So just imagine that the flowers and mats are Elegant Eggplant, OK? I really love that color paired with Sahara Sand, which is what the main panel is. The flowering vine stamp creates a pretty background when stamped multiple times.

I used the line, wood grain-like image from Gorgeous Grunge inked in Sahara Sand and then stamped off once. It added some interest to otherwise plain background but was light enough to not over power the tree.

Thanks for visiting...I should be back to posting more regularly soon. Have a nice weekend!

Masculine Thoughts & Prayers

One of the most elegant stamps sets in my collection, is Thoughts & Prayers. It's been a while since I've used it, and I thought it would be a nice choice to make a card for my uncle who just had surgery.

The tree image is perfect for either feminine or masculine cards depending on the colors and accessories used. The color combo I used: Always Artichoke, Early Espresso & Cajun Craze.

The Woodgrain Embossing Folder used with Early Espresso Core'dinations Card Stock makes a rustic looking background for the stamped tree. I also used the Timber Wheel to add a more subtle wood grain to the die cut Deco Label.

To set off the label and add more interest, I added some piercing and a little sponging. A row of Always Artichoke Candy Dots finish this off along the bottom.

Thanks for visiting today!

Elegant Tree

Unfortunately I had to make some sympathy cards this past week. Those are always difficult. I hope they brought some comfort to the recipients. Here is one of the cards I made using the Thoughts & Prayers set along with (retired) Elegant Soiree DSP.

As you can see I used a few new Big Shot Dies here...the Labels Framelits and the Adorning Accents Edgelits with the matching embossing folder. I also did some paper piercing and punched a small hole in each scallop for extra detail. Here's a closer look...

Thanks for stopping by!

Wisteria Tree

I was inspired by the sample on page 160 of the new catalog using the Thoughts & Prayers set. I just changed up the colors and the embellishments but used the pretty much the same layout. I really liked how they used the tree as a background on the bottom strip. Here's my version of that card...

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Tiny Tags & Linen Background (retired)
Card stock: Basic Grey, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush & Whisper White
Ink: Basic Grey, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush
Accessories: Matchbox Die (label), Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Scalloped Trim Border, Mat Stack & Paper Piercer
If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you may have noticed that it looks different? I've been busy working with the Cheerful Treat Hostess Digital Content CD for My Digital Studio. I'm lovin' the new papers & accessories with this kit! Yeah...PURPLE!!! I still have some tweaking to get my page to look how I want it...but hopefully I will get to it later. Thanks for visiting.

Elegant Thoughts

Here's a sympathy card I created for a friend using Elegant Soiree papers and the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set. I really love the colors in this pack of papers...so soft and soothing.

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Crumb Cake, Baja Blue & Soft Suede
Card stock: Elegant Soiree DSP, Crumb Cake, Baja Blue, Very Vanilla & Soft Suede
Accessories: Scalloped Trim Border, Decorative Label, Small Oval & Large Oval Punches, Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain (retired)


Have a wonderful weekend!

Cracked Glass Floral Sympathy

Here's a sympathy card I made last week for some dear friends. I used the cracked glass technique for the image. After cracking, I sponged on some reinker to the edges. The ink highlights the cracks and makes it look more antiqued. Using Crystal Effects, I glued on some small seed beads to the center of each of the flowers to add more dimension. Here's a close up look:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: VersaMark, Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede
Card stock: Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede & Thoroughly Modern DP
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch (SAB), Glassy Glaze EP, Artichoke grosgrain, Word Window, Ticket Corner, Scalloped Oval, Small & Large Oval Punches, Mat Pack & Paper Piercer

Yesterday a big box of SU! goodies came for me, so today I plan to forget about everything until dinner time and do nothing but stamp! Hopefully I'll have some fun new creations to share with you tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Parisian Thoughts

Two challenges...one card. I used Mojo Monday's weekly sketch and Stamp Something's challenge this week was to create something using showers or flowers. This card has flowers and I figured the blue could be for showers too. If you want to dig deeper...the brown signifies mud...which our road is right now after all the showers we've had! Hey...at least everything is green now...so that's a good thing, right!?
The beautiful flower image from the Thoughts and Prayers set goes really well with the little flowers in the Parisian Breeze print I chose for the bottom section...I hadn't noticed that before. I just love this paper (and this stamp set too!) I also love this white organza ribbon...it is so soft and easy to work with, plus it adds a simple elegance to any project.

Speaking of the pretty images from the Thoughts and Prayers set...guess what I got yesterday? The Thoughts & Prayers Tree Decor Element! I've been wanting it since the first time I saw it, and finally decided where I wanted it. I hope to put it up today. I'll be sure to take pictures so you can see how it turns out. Wish me luck...I've only worked with small DE images so far...and this sucker is huge...with several pieces. YIKES!

Thoughts and Prayers

Wow, this week sure has flown by! I've been pretty busy with a couple home improvement projects around here, plus I've been designing some cards for an upcoming card class this weekend so I haven't had much time for blogging. After my card class I'll have lots of new things to show you. ;-)

Today I'm sharing a couple simple cards that were one of the make & takes at a workshop I did earlier this week. The guests had their choice of using either the tree or the floral design. Both of these images are so pretty it would be hard to pick. The workshop guests were pretty much evenly split on the tree vs the floral design.


Here's the tree card:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Card stock: Mellow Moss, Perfect Plum, Whisper White & Perfect Plum DP
Ink: Mellow Moss & Perfect Plum Markers: Chocolate chip, Perfect Plum & Always Artichoke
Accessories: Moss grosgrain ribbon & Ticket Corner Punch
Have a great weekend!