String Of Hearts

I'm not sure why the Kraft cards come out so crappy photgraphy-wise. It looks like a weird sickly brown/gray combo....ick. I love the look of Kraft cards and since I've "found" an entire ream of it (along with several other reams of various CS.....), I'll be using more of it. I love the spin it gives in comparison with white or cream CS.....very casual and comfy - am I making any sense here??

Anyhow here's my Inspired Creation v-day card......got the idea from Paper Crafts' "Color Inspiration" issue. Tons of cool card ideas and if mixing and matching colors isn't your thing, loads of inspiration in that area as well. Their card was monochromatic which was nice but I really wanted to make the punched hearts POP out at you so I switched out to the Kraft cardbase (I also added a ton more hearts to the bakers twine......wanted the card LOADED with hearts!).

Creepella was watching me finish up these cards and told me this was one of her top favorite cards - guess which one she'll be getting on the 14th??!!

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Memento

CB: CTMH

CS scraps......well, they were scraps!!

EK Success small heart punch

Martha Stewart Heart Cluster punch & baking twine

Pucker Up

Creepella loves the colors on this one - nontraditional I agree but ooooooh, I like it too. Trying REALLY hard to get as much use out of my stamping tools as I can. You know, being responsible, wise and moderate in my spending naturally spills over in trying to get the most use out of every purchase that is made. So you might notice a running "punched hearts" theme on many of my V-Day cards this year.

Love those PTI tag and mini stamp sets - have you seen the latest celebration set??? If I were to ever win a lottery, I would place a PTI order and just say "one of everything" please!!

It seems that I've got quite a bit of a lot.......so I'm really trying to USE some of it. I had all but forgotten about all of the Pretty Little Papers from A Muse so I've set out a couple of packages on my desk to serve as a visual reminder to myself.

CTMH Spring/Summer catty is here and my Wish List seems a mile long. However, I plan on sharing sets of the B&T paper and I'll be reviewing that Wish List on a regular basis - trying to whittle it down to a more manageable size. Haven't even seen the new Hero Arts catty (absolutely deadly for me) and I'm holding out as long as I can!!

Trying to use up the Memory Box cardbases whenever I can - while I like having a nice variety of color, I don't like a wimpy-weighted cardbase!! I like to layer B&T paper (both text-weight and lighter CS), I use foam mounting tape every chance I get so I need a substantial cardbase......Memory Box (while beautiful) aren't sturdy enough and I'm finding a lot of them are cut kind of wonky - not squared up, you know??? So now I've decided that for the most part, I'll be sticking to neutral cardbases (white, cream & Kraft)......heck, I've got tons of it already - being thrifty and all means I need to use it up before I even consider getting anything more in the way of cardbases!!

Stamps: PTI (V-Day minis); Hero Arts ("Happy V-day"); CTMH ("U" & "R")

Inks: Memento (Brown) & CTMH (Gypsy)

Copics & Spicas

Martha Steward Cluster Heart punch

CS scraps (Stardream & solid CS)

U + Me

I think I picked up this Bo Bunny 6 x 6 stack in December while Creepella and I were browsing for Jolee stickers. I liked that there was so much RED and BLACK and not so much pink. Not much coloring, it's mostly playing with paper!!

Stamps: Stampendous (2 flowers) & CTMH (sentiment & alphabet for "u" & "me")

Paper: CB - Memory Box; B&T - Bo Bunny

Inks: Memento & Colorbox chalk ink

Misc: Martha Stewart border punch; sheer ribbon & mini twinkle stickers by A Muse; Stickles

Key-Holder

Needed to make new Valentine cards this.....I ended up with 6 designs since my card-making buddy totally flaked (yes, I'm talking to YOU Heidi......) and I think all but one card was my own design (shaking off those designing cobwebs one card at a time). Here's one of them.

Just a giant background stamp for some interest and having at it with punches and die-cuts! While it's a super simple card, it took FOREVER to complete. I love the Eliza alphabet die-cuts (I think it's retired now) - it's usually my "go-to" alphabet of choice when I think "romantic" or "elegant". Of course since I only have about 6-ish alphabets to choose from but they're all pretty different - gotta be able to fit the mood of the card, you know?

Love those Martha Stewart border punches on borders but I love how they can perk up a square layer too!! Some metallic cardstock for the key was spot-on!

Stamps - Hero Arts & CTMH

Ink & red CS - CTMH

Die-cuts - QuicKutz

Punches - Martha Stewart border punch & heart filigree

Blue...

Love CTMH stuff....true, this isn't the brand-BRAND new stuff, but it's still pretty new. Loved the monster stamp set as soon as I saw it (it was on my first order of that catalog....naturally). The B&T paper is soooooo pretty - I rarely "remember" to stamp on it directly but hey, this time I did!!. As you can see, the card is pretty easy and straight-forward and it's uh, very blue!!

Stamps and B&T paper - CTMH

Ink - Memento

Copics

Martha Stewart border punch

Kissing Couple

Originally made as an anniversary card, I figured by changing the sentiment inside it would be great as a Valentine's Day card. A little masking of the kissing couple allowed for that hint of the hearts background (second generation stamping softened the ink perfectly). The extra large heart gem really screams LOVE to me.......and it's rather sparkly too!!

Stamps - A Muse/Kissing Couple; Heart background/CTMH; sentiment/-can't remember!!

Ink - Memento

Cardbase - Memory Box

Misc. - A Muse/sheer ribbon; Marvy/scalloped heart punch; Heart gem/Hero Arts; corner rounder

Brunch Thanks

Hmmm, I don't remember when or where I saw this card sketch. I liked the simplicity and by using those beautiful Basic Grey papers, understated elegance emerges - it's like magic!

Stamps - A Muse/table setting; PTI/Flowers & sentiment
Inks - Memento & Colorbox chalk inks
Paper - Basic Grey B&T paper
Misc. - Organza ribbon

Penguin Applause

Darn it - I forgot to pop the envelope under the card when I took this photo......alas the card is gone (yipppee - I actually sent a card!!). I stamped a corner flourish in the red ink and inked up some "dots" in black....it tied in very well with the card. The "spotlight" was sponged in 2 shades of yellow (CTMH's Sunny Yellow and Sunflower).

I can almost hear the penguins' applause with this card (they were Thank You cards) - I love it when a card idea translates exactly how I see it in my head onto paper.....sigh......I'm a happy stamper!

• Stamps: CTMH/alphabet
• Paper: B&T paper and black CS/CTMH
• Inks: Memento and CTMH
• Misc: Oval punch; Penguins & scalloped border punches/Martha Stewart; Stickles; Sponge
  

I.C. - Julie's Popping Flower

I felt like such a dork as I was browsing through a stamping magazine that had folding techniques.....and I came across this lovely folded flower by my stamping hero, Julie Ebersole. Why the feeling of dorkiness you might ask? Welllllll - I had taken a class by said hero where she actually taught us the folded flower herself!!! I fished out the card (oh yes, you bet I keep every single card I make in certain classes) and "remembered" how to make the folds and Ta-Dah.......made this card.

• Stamps: CTMH, PTI & Hero Arts
• Paper: B&T/CTMH; Orange Stardream
• Inks: Memento & Colorbox Chalk Inks
• Misc: Large flower punch/Marvy; Butterfly border punch & small butterfly punch/Martha Stewart
  

I.C. Starz Card

This is nearly dead-on a card I saw in a Paper Craft Magazine.....I used the same PTI set but I selected a different star design and added the loopy border punch on the lime green band of CS on the front of the card and sponged the top portion to make the white cardbase pop just a little. Since you rarely see the sentiment inside (or the inside of the card at all in most magazines), the loopy border above the sentiment is my own extra touch - it brings the party INSIDE the card AND I'm trying to use every scrap of B&T paper so that it's not wasted NOR is it saved....

• Stamps: PTI & Hero Arts
• Paper: B&T paper and colored CS from a pad of 8X8 on clearance at Target about 3 years ago
• Inks: Memento & Fluid Chalk ink
• Misc: Martha Stewart border punch; Stampin' Up Word Window punch; small star brad/Making Memories

Thinking of U!

Just want to let someone know you're thinking about THEM - tell'em!! Repeated stamping for the "thinking of you" background and the giant "u" kinda screams at you, don't you think?? Inked (and swiped) the "u" and the exclamation point and stamped them on textured stamps and THEN stamped them on CS. After a quick trim and a bit o' ribbon - I was happy with the effect.

Stamps - CTMH

Ink - Memento

Misc - A Muse/sheer ribbon; Marvy/oval punch

I.C. - Floating Flowers

Yep, another I.C. card - it's pretty exciting because I'm actually stamping again!! Ok technically, not so much stamping on this card......but at least cards are getting made!!

Love using those Martha Stewart punches over and over and over again - I know I'm getting my money's worth and it lowers the cost of the punches each time they get used (I can rationalize just about anything stamp-related!!).

I think this card was from a Paper Crafts magazine (sorry, I didn't make note of the issue).

• Stamps: PTI, Printworks and CTMH
• Ink: Memento
• Paper: CB/Memory Box; punched hydrangea CS/Stardream
• Misc: Stickles

Introducing "I.C." cards...

Not sure if my 3 blog readers have noticed, but it's been kind of quiet on the ol' Blog Front in the last few months. I could yammer on about being busy - but come on....pretty much EVERYONE is busy and I probably have an "average" busy-ness level of life. Sooooo it comes down to how lame a person is - or how I like to look at things.....what a person CHOOSES to do. As a stamper, I did hit a major "stampers block" and combined with a few other things, creating cards just wasn't a very high priority.

Never fear, I wasn't just lounging around eating bon-bons (although that sounds like fun)....I was pretty busy. I made several gifts for Christmas: 18 scarves (crochet); 3 pairs of earrings; and a couple of ornaments. Creepella, Heidi and I spent a few days on a "Girls Only" Vacation - loads of fun!! I worked on several stitched projects (I'm nearly finished with one....I'll post it when I'm done). Work continues to be a nightmare and I spend inordinate amounts of time there trying to shovel through the mountains of work that threaten to avalanche. By the time I get home, any hope of getting the creative juices flowing is pretty hopeless...sigh... When I don't zonk out, I'm usually doing something that doesn't require much effort (crochet or stitching) - that way I'm doing something creative (aka therapeutic) but I'm pretty much planted on the couch.

But finally, during time off after Christmas, I had a stern talk with myself and asked, "What the.....????" I have way too much $$$ invested into stamping - I need to hoist myself up off of the couch and back into the stamp room and start STAMPING. Which I tried to do - however I did little to no stamping.....I dinked around.....and dinked and dinked.......and then I finally realized I was in an official Stamping Funk - no ideas, nothing was inspiring me - zippoooooo. In desperation, my eyes flew around the stamp room - grasping at ANYTHING that would give some pathetic thread of inspiration......and my eye did spy........a stack of stamping magazines!! And so I selected 5 of them, got a pencil and pad of Post-It notes and 2 different types of tabs and looked at each page and pondered. By the time I was finished, I had MANY tabs and Post-It notes in each magazine.

I've wrestled with the idea of "copying" cards......nearly hanging my head in shame - but Creepella put a clever spin on things - she reminded me that I get the magazines because I enjoy looking at other cards and stampers get inspired from one another so I'm not really "copying" cards......they're "inspiring" me - and so they'll now be known as I.C. (Inspired Cards). I'm hoping to get my act together enough so that I'll also include the magazine or blog listing for each I.C. card.

This card was inspired by one that I saw on a blog.....but I think instead of the letters in the circle tabs there were hearts and the sentiment said something about "love".

Hoping to get back into the Stamping Saddle on a regular basis - we shall see.......

• Stamps: "Birthday"/PTI; "HAPPY" (alpha set)/CTMH
• CS: Colored CS/CTMH
• Inks: CTMH & Memento
• Misc: Ribbon/A Muse; Circle punches & corner rounder; Spica pen (Black)

Good News Penguin

This is a little 4-bar card........small but packs a punch, right? Had stamped, colored and cut out the penguins eons ago - they were just hanging around waiting for me to DO something with them! And so finally, here they are.....

• Stamps - Memory Box Penguin; "ahhh-nouncing!"/A Muse; "you did it!"/PTI; CTMH for everything remaining
• Inks - Memento
• Copics & Spicas
• Paper - Red circle-punched CS/Stardream; Cardbase and B&T for mini-envelope/CTMH;
• Misc - Marvy circle punch; mini-envelope punch; corner rounder

Looking for a VACATION Home...

This one seems nice and most dinner-party guests could probably find it at night...hmmm - wonder if those are LED lights???

Close to nature in this one.....

Creepella is dazzled by the gold roof-tops here...a bit too showy for my taste though.

Aaaaahhh - what a view AND it's nice and remote...not too many people who would be "just passing by" with this driveway!

Deep breath .................. the refreshing air of the Alps is so invigorating!!

Hmmm, always nice to have "beach access"......

But really, pretty much anywhere that's within driving distance of this long-haired creepy young woman is fine with me!!