Summer Flowers!

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful flowers of Summer!  I enjoyed my blooming Lilacs earlier this Spring and I am now anxiously awaiting my Hydrangeas.  To celebrate, I have made two cards, each one with my favorite flower:

I created the first card using Creative Impressions MSE Stamp set (Y402).  I started with a cream folded card and die cut an oval in the center.  I then adhered a purple card stock panel The same size as the card front behind the oval.

The lilacs were stamped separately on a piece of white card stock, watercolored and cut out.  I took a piece of 1/8" Lime Green Organdy Ribbon ( 70603) and wrapped it around the card close to the fold.  I played with the positioning of the lilacs around the card's overall opening until I was satisfied with the placement.  The lilacs were then adhered around the oval, catching part of the ribbon before adhering.

"Happy Anniversary" was stamped with Black ink in the center of the purple oval panel.  The finishing touch was adding a Purple Metallic Butterfly  from the Pearl Butterfly Assorted Brads (90705).

Now for the second card.  Hydrangeas have always been one of my favorite flowers.  They make me think of my Grandmother, so, when I saw this set for the first time, I jumped for joy!  This set is our Creative Impressions MSE set YCC201 Floral Birthday Cards.  I began by stamping the hydrangea image onto a white card stock circle I had previously die cut.  I then watercolored the flower and set it aside.

Next I cut out two patterned paper banners of different sizes and adhered both of them to a slightly larger black mat.  Both banners were adhered to a larger piece of black card stock, then to a green card stock mat and finally to the card itself.  The hydrangea circle was then adhered to the top of the blue patterned paper piece.  I stamped "Best Wishes" on a piece of scrap white card stock, cut it down, adhered it to a black mat and finally to the card itself, just below the hydrangea circle.  The final touch was a Pastel Blue 3/4" Crepe Ribbon Bow (70144) affixed to the hydrangea circle.

I hope you have enjoyed my floral cards and will make some yourselves!  Happy Summer!

Susan

 

Fun Cards by Chari Hogsett!

 Hello everyone!  I have some truly fun cards by Chari Hogsett to share with you today.  Chari created some flirty cards featuring everything from handbags and shoes to purple dresses.

Aren't these adorable?

This first card is all about cute shoes and bling!  Chari used our MSE set number M166 to stamp this high heeled shoe along with the sentiment "What a Girl Wants...Shoes!!!".  She added a pretty 1/8" Blank Grosgrain Magenta bow (70508) to the shoe, matted the entire piece onto a green mat and finally adhered this piece to some background paper she had with shoes on it.  For the bling, she added our Bright Smooth Circle Bling (50503) to some of the shoes on the patterned paper.  Darling!

Now for the second card:

This sweet card features our Purple Dress stamp T335.  Chari stamped this out on scrap white card stock with purple, went around the edges in black and cut it out.  Once cut out, some of our White Pearls (50510) were added down the center of the dress.  For some extra bling, a simple dotted patterned paper panel was cut out, matted with black card stock and added to a green background adhered to the side folded card..  A purple flower was created from our Pastel Flower Bling (50531)and some leaves from our Olive Leafy Vine (70221) and was placed in the lower left hand corner of the dotted panel.  The dress was then adhered to the card along with a bow made with our Pink on Pink Swirl Organdy (70313).

To finish this card, Chari black embossed the sentiment from our MSE stamp DD307 at the base of this card.  Darling!

Now to finish this trio of cards!.  Chari created multiple mats with the top being some patterned paper featuring handbags and dresses.  She stamped "Have an Amazing Day" MSE stamp DD307 on white scrap card stock, cut it out with some Fiskar's scissors and matted the sentiment with a pice of black.  This was adhered on a diagonal after first adding a Tropical Funky Flower (90663) to the right hand corner of the sentiment.  To finish, a bow was made using our Magenta with White Dotted Ribbon (70432) and adhered to the top of the card.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful cards, Chari

Susan

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

 Hello Everyone!  Today I am featuring a card made by Yours Truly, using our MSE stamp set YCC229 BoHo Feather Silhouette.  Jan Francis made a beautiful card using this same set.  This is my take on these stamps.

I used the feather included with this stamp set.  I added Distress Inks to the stamp in Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Fired Brick.  I then sprayed the  stamp lightly with water and stamped the image multiple times on different scraps of cream card stock.  This is the first image I got which is a bit darker, but still very pretty.

Next I stamped the image again.

I tried one time again:

This stamping was just a bit too light for what I wanted, even though it would still look lovely on a card.  I used the second stamping for my card.  Using a technique used by Jan Francis on her card, I stamped the sentiment in black ink over the top of the image and off to the side.

To finish, I cut the card down and added a black card stock mat behind it.  I cut a piece of patterned paper that coordinated with the ink colors I used and adhered it to a black mat.  To add some interest I used our Brown Web Ribbon ( 70188 ) and adhered a length of it to the left side of this piece.  Then I added a length of our Crepe Ribbon in Antique Gold (70128), wrapping the ends to the back of the mat.  The last touch was taking a length of Black Thin Twine  (80605) and wrapping it once around this piece, tying a bow in the lower right of the patterned paper piece.

The patterned paper piece was then adhered to a card and my feather with the sentiment piece was adhered slightly over to the left, covering part of the patterned paper piece.  This has turned out to be one of my favorite cards!

Hope you will try making this card yourself.  It really was quite easy and makes an impressive card.

Happy Stamping!

Susan

Cards to Celebrate the 4th!

Hello everyone!  I have a few more 4th of July cards created by yours truly to celebrate the birth of our Nation!  Hope you like them:

                     

For the first card I made three paper rosettes, two small and one slightly larger, using red, white and blue card stock.  There are lots of free tutorials found on the internet if you would like to create some for yourselves.  I punched 6 circles for the center, two for the top and bottom of each rosette.  

I stamped "Let Freedom Ring" (MSE stamp E193) on a separate piece of white card stock and cut apart the three words.  I  adhered each word on the center of each rosette which had been adhered previously over the top of a larger banner with a smaller one underneath.

I then punched three stars from the different colors of card stock and placed a White Glimmer Round (90907) in the center of each star.

The finishing touches for this card included the addition of Gold Stickles around the edges of the rosettes and stars for a little bling!  Not enough Bling?  Now to add some of our Star Bling (50540)             We have to have bling for the celebration, don't we?

Now for the second card.  This time I created a card made from a 4 1/4" x 11" top folded card with the center cut out .  I cut a blue mat for the top and bottom sections and set them aside.  

I then stamped our MSE solid star in red on a piece of extra card stock.  Then, using a stamp positioner, I stamped V155 which has the words from the Pledge of Allegiance on it, over the top in blue ink which I embossed with a holographic embossing powder to give the star some bling.  I adhered the star to a piece of blue card stock and cut the star out slightly larger with the blue mat.  "Let Freedom Ring (MSE E193) was stamped on a scrap piece of white and cut out.  I added some Primary Red and Blue Mini Rounds (90170) to the sentiments, added a blue mat and added this to the center of the star.  

I added the Red, White and Blue Assorted Star Brads ((90215) to the blue mats I set aside earlier, using the center star as a placement guide.  I added our Star Bling ( 50540 ) to the center of each Star Brad for some added bling.  At this point I could adhere the top and bottom of the star to the top and lower edges of the card.  Remember the center has been cut out.

That's all there is to it!  I had not made one of these cards before.  Not only was it easy but gave a cool look to the star! Give it a try!

Happy early 4th!

Susan

Fourth of July with Jan Francis!

 Hello Everyone!  I have been seeing so much in the way of 4th of July crafts and cards, so I guess it is time to start featuring some of the wonderful cards we have received and share them with you!  Our very own Jan Francis created this perfect "celebration" card:

Jan used our MSE stamp set M102 Celebration to create this fabulous card.  We love the circles she die cut, also using the solid circle and "special day" stamps in the set.  The colors, along with the Red, White and Blue Primitive Stars (90680) definitely yell out "4th of July" which indeed is a special day and celebration for all Americans.  Jan used two of our Silver Mini Star Brads (92002)  on the "Celebration" word panel and finished the card off with Blue (Aqua/White 80705)  and Red/White Bakers Twine (80700).  Perfection!  Thanks for sharing, Jan!

Have fun making your July 4th celebration cards.  I will have a few more cards to share with you coming up.

Susan                         ,