Inspirations of Julie (HRR)...

Ok, it's 7:45.....FINALLY got some inspiration at 6:40 tonight (when I was still at work....grrrrrr), raced home, flung my lunch dishes in the sink and yelled over my shoulder as I sprinted (ok, I was just walking REALLY fast) to my stamp room, "Don't talk to me, gotta make a card, take a photo and get it posted on my blog and then add it to the A Muse challenge.....by 8:00 o'clock!!!" Bob was running for his life!!

In honor of HRR, Julie - thanks for all of your inspiration, shared talent and down-right fun times!!

Cardbase, stamp, gem stones & ribbon - A Muse

Martha Stewart border punch

Marvy scalloped oval punch

Memento & Color Box Chalk Inks

Stickles

I made the B&T paper....completely inspired by Julie!!

Stair-Steppin'

Another card tutorial found on Splitcoast Stampers...........there's a wealth of info to be had if you have hours to browse. I've been "collecting" these cool card ideas for quite a while and NOW, I finally can try one every now and again.

I won't bog you down with the details (no sense re-inventing the wheel - the tutorial is excellent). This was a my first attempt and now I know how I would change it - but hey practice to perfection, right??

Ribbon - A Muse
Stamp - CTMH
Martha Stewart Border Punch
Various Marvy & EK Success punches
B&T paper - too old......something I grabbed at Michaels (when they carried 8x8 paper!!)

Deep Pockets

Unfettered Card

Loaded down with GOODIES!!!

Here it is....my first double-pocket card. So do you see what I'm talking about?? It needs some sort of stamped, matted SOMETHING in the bottom left corner and it would be complete. Hey, Maria (the receipient) was happy with the card (well, mostly with the straight cash and gift card) - but her mom will most likely tear the card apart to figure out how to make it so as long as the knowledge moves along, all is good!!

Cardbase - PTI

B&T (from a package from Target)

Lavendar CS - Hero Arts (but really Memory Box)

Stamps & circular paper clips - CTMH

Ink - Memento

Martha Stewart Border Punch

Say, That's Quite a Hat!!

Card Front

Inside

I just HAD to use the oh-so tall shamrock hat and I wanted it to be funny so of course putting it on top of the smallest Memory Box Penguin in my collection was absolutely hysterical, right?? Well I thought so too!!!

Figuring what to do with the rest of the card took a little while but then it all sort of fell together. A bit time-consuming to do the rainbow but once you get on that assembly-line style of stamping, it's amazing how many cards can be produced. I have a new piece of equipment that I've used here......can you guess what it is?? Martha's "Fringe Scissors".....so silly and so fun!! Snip, snip, snip and you've got rolling grass like nobody's business.

Hope you find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Cardbase - Crest Classic Solar White

Stamps: Stampendous ("luck of the Irish" & "Happy St. Patrick's Day" & tall shamrock top hat); Memory Box Penguin; A Muse's Pot Of Gold

Inks - Memento

Copics & Spicas

Silver Gel Pen

Marvy Punch

Martha Stewart's Fringe Scissors

Double Pocket

All Nice & Tidy....

Better view of the bookmarks...

Found a tutorial of this double-pocket card on Spitcoasters (absolutely wonderful tutorials to be found on that website). I needed a b-day card that would hold some straight cash (Creepella's favorite) and a gift card.....and I didn't want to just dump them inside the card, you know??? I'll show that card later in the week - it turned out ok, but it's pretty obvious it was my first go at this style of card (and I was a wee bit pinched for time....).

For my St. Patty's cards, I struggled to come up with something for the pockets - FINALLY I thought of bookmarks.....relatively easy to do (especially when you can make the cool "tag" top with a punch), fast & easy stamping on the "LUCK" bookmark and NO stamping on the skinny one (AND I just used scraps - I looooooove that!!). The B&T paper is some really old stuff from CTMH.....and I'm finally down to my last few sheets of the stuff so it's kind of bitter-sweet.....and this too shall pass.

Cardbase - PTI

B&T Paper and round "Good Luck" stamp - CTMH

Alpha Stamps - A Muse

Shamrock background stamp - Stampin' Up

Memento Inks

Copics

EK Success & Marvy Punches

Swiss Dot Ribbon - A Muse

Stardream CS

Various other CS scraps

Lucky Trio

Well huh - doesn't time fly when you're not blogging??? Well, I was kind of busy with getting gifties and goofing around with NEW cross stitch patterns (and the whole business of getting the fibers and cool fabrics and all that new patterns entails....) ANNNNNND, I've actually been completing some stitching projects that have been "in progress" for an embarrassingly long time. I haven't photographed them yet but once I do I'll be posting some them......I know you're absolutely on pins & needles to see the finished item (well MOSTLY finished.....the stitching is done but I have yet to decide what to do with all of them......yet) - right Heidi??

And now back to the card. Pretty simple design but actually a bit time-consuming with the QuicKutz letters and "creating" a 4-leaf clover. Sponged the edge of the scalloped oval so that it would stand out against the white cardstock (getting depth with white on white requires a little help). Not sure if you can tell, but "Lucky" has been die-cut from Stardream cardstock so it shimmers quite alluringly. I Stickled the 4-leaf clover to shine the spotlight on the "lucky" clover and wrapped that oh-so skinny ribbon around the card for a bit of color and more texture (that ribbon was a great find at Michaels....30% off!!). Popped out the scalloped oval with foam tape too - made a dozen of them and half of them are in the mail to Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado and Oregon.........I just wish a cool St. Patty's postage stamp would come out one of these years!!

Cardbase - Classic Crest Solar White
QuicKutz mini Eliza font
Stardream CS
Stampendous Stamp
Inks - Memento & PTI
Copics & Stickls
Marvy Scallop Oval
Ribbon from Michaels

Slight Variation

This set of stamps from CTMH is so cool.....and one that I love to use and forget about ALL of the time - grrrrrr. The card design is modified from one that I saw on PTI's blog. I love the look of stamping on Kraft CS, coloring with Copics (LOVE the subtleties of the Copics on Kraft CS) and then "framing" the design....with lines!! Made 3 "Feel Better Soon" cards and then swapped out the sentiment on a 4th card to the "Happy Everything"......this is a good "spare" card. I like getting "fun" mail - I think most people do, don't you??

Stamps - CTMH; "Feel Better Soon" (PTI)

Inks - Memento & PTI chalk ink

Kraft CS - Memory Box

Sakura White Gel Pen

Spicas

B&T paper in the background?? More of that oh-so pretty "Bella" paper from CTMH...love it!!

Left-Overs

A true paper-lover could NOT toss that little bit of B&T paper - and I am a TRUE paper-lover. So instead of tucking that bit of paper away some place safe (and almost immediately forgotten...), I decided to USE it RIGHT then. Since I had already pulled out all of the "stuff" for the cards and measured and eye-balled and dinked around with inks and ribbon it was pretty easy to finish things up with a "scrap" card. I especially love it when the scrap card actually looks like I meant to do whatever I did....it's a very cool feeling!!

Stamps - CTMH (spikey burst); PTI (sentiment)

Cardbase, B&T and Ribbon - PTI

Cardstock - CTMH

Ink - Memento

Stickles

Brads - Making Memory

Cheery Bursts

Following another card design from CTMH's "Wishes" book.....LOVED this when it was done in blues - but it was too plain for my taste so I wanted a bit more happening in my card paper-wise since the stamps are so very teeny-tiny. I selected PTI's B&T paper (first time I've used any of this particular pack....my hands were shaking as I tore it from the pack) and cardstock (for the card base). Memento Inks worked so well I knew it was meant to be!! I love the color and the design and the whole card just makes me grin. I made 4 cards in this design and then ended up with just a scrap of the B&T left-over that I could NOT toss into recycle - so I made a "scrap" card with it......come back tomorrow and see how it turned out!!

Stamps & CS - CTMH
B&T, Cardbase & Ribbon - PTI
Inks - Memento & Colorbox Chalk Inks
Punch - Stampin' Up
Brads - Making Memories