One day 10 cards #1

This past Saturday M-J and I attended a fun filled day at a friend of mine who's a Stampin Up rep. She had all the prep work done for us and so we just had to spend our day putting 10 fabulous birthday cards together. To top it off she provided us with lunch too. How good is that!!! Boy is this ever a great way to get my stash built up.

This is the first card I'm showing. After embossing the background on creme CS I sponged it with 'early expresso' to  bring out the texture. The bird cage is stamped with the brown and then the bird was stamped. It amazes me how it looks like the bird was done first, but it wasn't. The sentiment was stamped on a piece of  'cherry cobbler'. This matches the sheer ribbon and brad.
I gave this card today to a neighbour.

I'm going to get the rest of the cards scanned and then share them.


Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

February Calendar Page

I know that posting is over a week late, but I've been 'under the weather' with a head cold and just haven't had the energy to do much of anything.

When I made this February Calendar page I was thinking that here in Calgary we would be having our regular winter weather. That usually means that we would be in deep into our winter. This year however, we are having a very dry and  mild winter and in fact we do not have enough snow on the ground to even make a snowball! This image is one that I've had in my collection for quite awhile. I do not actually have the stamp itself. I think it may be one that I used from M-J's collection. I coloured it with my prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS.  As with the majority of my calendar pages the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink "mixed messages" set.
As a reminder I got my templates for my calendar page from Lynette's blog http://mystampingaddiction.blogspot.com/
Now lets see it I can get some cards made this month.

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

Birthday card with new stamps from Australia

I am so lucky. When M-J was visiting Australia last month she brought me some wonderful stamps that are not readily available here in North America. One set is a fabulous set of flowers from 'darkroom door' called the full bloom collection.
I used one of these stamps to create a birthday card for a friend.

I inked up the tulip stamp using Distress Inks. I used 'victorian velvet' on the blossom and 'peeled paint' on the foliage. For the two darker images I inked and stamped the lighter on was stamped without re-inking.
I matted with pink and green Bazzil CS and mounted it on a white of A2 card base.
I'm really looking forward to working with the rest of this wonderful set.

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

My First Calendar Page

There is a card maker who's blog I follow regularly and she has given me a lot of inspiration. Lynette's blog is called "My Stamping Addiction" and you can find a link to it on the right sidebar. One of the things she has been sharing for several years is a set of calendar pages. This year for Christmas I gave a couple of sets as gifts and through out the year I will share them with you.  Thanks Lynette for this wonderful gift idea!
Well, I just learned something for next year's calendar pages...If I'm going to scan white pages make sure that I put a dark background on the scanner first. They looked fine in my photo albums but as you can see I've had to make a 'greying background' change to my blog so you can see the edges of the page. Oh well, it is all part of the learning curve.

For the stamped image I used a clear stamp purchased in a bargain bin at a LSS. The sentiment used on this, and the majority of the pages I will be sharing for this year, is from and wonderful stamp set by  Papertrey Ink called 'Mixed Messages'. All of the stamping was done using Versamark along with silver detail embossing powder. The border for this piece to be mounted on was produced with the same embossing powder using the technique I learned watching Gina K video's. This way the silver in your stamped images match perfectly with your border.

I want to take this opportunity to wish all a very Happy New Year. May 2012 bring everyone health, happiness and for those who are my stamping friends...lots of fun times creating!

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

A Truly Recycled Christmas Card

This card is a truly recycled card, with a fun story behind it.

One of my very good friends put this tag on my Christmas gift last year. As soon as I saw it, my card making side thought "what a great start that it would be for a card". So I kept it with my Christmas card making stash. This is the card I made with the tag as the centre piece. I started with using my Cuttlebug to emboss a glossy white CS with the ornaments embossing folder. After trimming it to allow an 1/8" border it was mounted onto the blue CS and added to the A2 cardbase. The ornament tag is popped on some dimensionals and then I added the silver ribbon to finish it off.
The card itself was a great hit when we had a good giggle over the ultimate in recycling.

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

I have been busy with all my Christmas preparation and as I sat down this evening I realized that although I have scanned all the cards I've made I have not shared any of them here. Oops!!! The follow are 10 cards that were made at a wonderful day at a friend of mine who had 15 people over for a "Stampn' Up card making day. Oh what a fun productive day it was!

For those of you counting...I know I said we made 10 cards, but unfortunately one of them didn't scan very well. So I will have to get my camera out and see if I can capture a better image of it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As for cards that I've made since the Blitz day. This is the one that I planned to mass produce.

It is a stamp set from Stampn' Up this year, that I feel I will get a lot of use of.  I stamped the image and sentiment with Versamark and then heat embossed them both with silver detail powder.  I used the same to make the border on the piece I matted the image on. Then it all on an A2 card base.  It is a very clean and simple look but that is what I wanted.
As I mentioned I was going to mass produce this one, but unfortunately I only got 6 made. Oh, well, in my card making life that is sort of mass produced.
 

This card is one that I made using a tag that I made at make and take at my LSS.  I really like the tag, but just felt if I mounted it on a 4 x 9" dark green CS it would make a good card.  The tag itself is made mostly using Tim Holtz dies, stamps and trinkets.  It is a fairly bulky card, but as it will be had delivered that isn't really a problem.
 
 
I do have a few more cards made ready to share, I want to make sure they've been received those who are getting them, before I post them here.
 
Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy
 

A Start on Christmas Cards.

I know that there are some of my card making buddies out there who have all their Christmas cards done but I do have a pretty good start on mine.

This is a set of cards that I did and sent to a cousin who is going to be having to celebrate Christmas this year without her husband who passed away a few months ago. I knew that it would be a difficult time for her and thought that maybe having a few simple cards to use would be helpful.
The image is from Stamp'n Up a few years ago. It is part of M-J's collection. The sentiment "The Miracle of Christmas" is from a purchase from http://www.susanascustomartandcarddesign.com/  (sorry I don't have the manufacturer's name right now). I used Versafine black onyx (my go to ink). The stamped image has been matted with black. Then a simple black ribbon to finish it off.
I almost forgot, there is a small golden stick-on gem in the centre of the star.

I am working a my own cards but they are all in various stages of construction right now.
Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy