Nature's Nest Turtle

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I've been liking this stamp set for some time.  I finally ordered it and it is really fun to work with!
The new color Cajun Craze worked up so nicely when coloring this turtle.  I'm not sure turtles are really this colorful, but who knows?  It makes a  fun thank you card!
The envelope is handmade and stamped with black Stazon and Always Artichoke.
Thanks for visiting!





  Recipe:
Stamps: Nature's Nest, Inspired by Nature, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke
Ink pads and Refills:
StazOn Jet Black, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, More Mustard, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Aqua Painters

Cheep Talk Pear card

We had a shoebox swap at my upline's house this weekend. Here's the card I took for everyone to make.

The stamping is all done by inking the stamps with markers. The leaves were shaded with gable green and mellow moss inks on the rubber before stamping. The pear was also shaded with markers on the rubber with Apricot Appeal and Cameo Coral. The pear and two tiny leaves were raised up with a dimensional.

The card base is Certainly Celery, and the other two layers are Cameo Coral and Whisper White.

A piece of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon was knotted and tucked behind the white card stock.

Everyone seemed to enjoy making this easy card. Hope you like it, too!

Sock Monkey recreated

This cute card was designed by Kathy Melvin, one of my downline. She copied real fabric on her scanner, then cut the photocopy to the right size for a card. The sock monkey is made with the 1 3/4" circle punch, the large oval and wide oval punches, and the 3/4" circle punch. A black marker was used to fill in the details.

Red checked grosgrain made the bow.

Thanks, Kathy, for sharing this cute idea!

Measure of a Life inside

Here's what a closeup looks like. You can see the detailed paper punching on the Kiwi layer. Also, I stamped the little dragonfly from Organic Grace inside . I like to carry the design inside if I possibly can.


The dragonfly has glittered wings. I think that little touch adds so much to the card. The ribbon is from Oriental Trading. This is a stamp set I keep returning to. I love making cards that incorporate a nature theme.

Inspired by Nature Sympathy Card

I needed a sympathy card this week. I chose this stamp from Inspired by Nature. I inked the stamp with markers using pale plum, perfect plum, and mellow moss.

The paper is pale plum, layered onto a base card of perfect plum.

The sentiment is from the retired set Watercolor Wishes. It's one of my favorites that I keep returning to when I need a sympathy card.

This is a simple yet eye-catching card. I like the way it turned out.

I hope you have a lovely day. Thanks for visiting.

Inspired by Nature inside

Here's the inside of my Inspired by Nature card. The sentiment is from the retired set, Brighter Tomorrow. I really like this one. It says it all.

Part of the image is stamped in the corner. It was inked with markers, The grass was added as a little filler.

I like sending a sympathy card that is simple yet lovely. I hope this one works.

Sweetest Stem Embosslit

This fun Valentine card is made with my Sizzix die cut machine! The flowers are from the Sweetest Stem Embosslit. It is so easy to use...just put your paper inside the folder and run it through the die cut machine. The stem is Kiwi Kiss. It shows up a little better in real life than it does in the photo. I cut the die a second time to make the Pretty in Pink blossoms, cut them off and attached them to the green stem.



The background paper is Raspberry Tart DSP, layered on Pretty in Pink , then on a Chocolate Chip base card.



The heart is a Spellbinders nestabilities die that was cut and embossed in Rose Red paper. It is stamped with the word "love" from Wonderful Words. The little green flower brad is from my stash.



Other details include the ticket corner punch and a piece of Rose Red grosgrain ribbon. Hope you enjoy this fun card. Thanks for visiting.

Glitter Hearts

This card makes good use of the Heart to Heart punch. The hearts are made from Pretty in Pink card stock that has been made glittery with VersaMark ink, Heat n' Stick powder, then glitter. The large one in the center was attached with a dimensional.

The paper is from the Raspberry Tart DSP collection. It was scalloped with the long scallop punch, as was the layer of Regal Rose paper underneath.

The small tag punch was used for the retired "For You" tag, which was stamped with Regal Rose. Did you notice the tiny heart on the tag?

Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon was tied around the strips of paper and the little bow was attached on top with a glue dot.

The card base was made from Old Olive.

I'm really lovin' these punches!

One More Upsy Daisy for you!

Here's another Upsy Daisy card. This one was inked up with Pink, then the olive marker was used on the stems before stamping. It covers the pink stems beautifully!


The card background is the grass from Inspired by Nature. It was stamped in Kiwi Kiss on Pretty in Pink paper.


This was another one of my swaps at the Orlando Regional seminar a short time back. I love the layout of this card. Hope you do too!

Embrace Life Birthday

I made this simple birthday card some time ago. I love the clean-cut look of it. It was stamped with the Embrace Life set in Old Olive ink on Certainly Celery card stock. The leaves were colored in with colored pencil.

The sentiment is sponged and attached with dimensionals and a brad.

A change of sentiment would make this card a lovely sympathy or Thinking of you card.

Hope you like it !

Bloomin' Beautiful friends card

I've loved this poppy since I first saw this stamp set! It colors so nicely and always has a clean, crisp look. It was colored with reinkers and an aqua-painter.

The flower is stamped on a half of a top note die cut, trimmed around the perforated line, then layered on another top note cut out of black card stock. The background of the card looked too white for me, so I added a sprinkling of Itty Bitty Backgrounds. The corner punch was layered in red and black, as well as the sentiment from the hostess set, Best Yet.

This is a great card for a birthday, or almost any occasion.

Thanks for stopping by!

Season of Joy tree

I loved this set when it came out in last year's mini catalog. I am thrilled that it was chosen for the big catalog. It is so versatile because it can be either casual or elegant. The tree stamp is one of my favorites in this set.

This card uses the same basic layout as the one I posted recently using Scandinavian Season. It is a tent-fold card with a panel of designer paper and a few embellishments. The ric-rac strip was made with the scallop border punch. Three gold brads finish the embellishment.

After photographing this card I decided to add a little glitter to the star on top. Actually, I like it either way!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Scandinavian Season

Here's one of my first creations in a series of Christmas cards for this year. It uses Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze card stock, with paper from the Ski Slope designer paper pack. The card is folded from the top and has an easy layout to follow.

The tree was stamped on Whisper White card stock with Baja Breeze ink. The flower was stamped again on a white scrap and cut out. Using a two-way glue stick, glitter was added to the swirls on the tree. The flower was attached with a square ice rhinestone brad.

I love this pretty designer paper's lacy look. It fits so well with the tree stamp. For a final touch I added a piece of silver ribbon under the main image. Hope you enjoy it!

Faux Silk Technique

This card uses the technique called Faux Silk. It lhas a wrinkled look just like real silk. The image is from Embrace Life stamp set. I stamped it with black StazOn ink on tissue paper. If your tissue paper has a shiny side, you will want to stamp on the matte side. Next, I colored the flowers with Pretty in Pink markers. The paper was wadded up into a ball, then opened up and smoothed out a little. Using a Stampin' Up glue stick, I throroughly covered a piece of white card stock. Then I patted the tissue paper to the glued card. When dry, I trimmed the tissue close to the card. Next, I layered the piece on Artichoke card stock. I tinted a piece of white organdy ribbon with artichoke ink, then tied it around the card.

The sentiment is stamped on white in artichoke ink, then punched with the large oval punch. A second oval was punched out of Artichoke paper, cut in half, and glued to the sentiment. A silver brad was added for an embellishment. I also tied a small piece of silver cord around the bow. I hope you enjoy trying this technique. Thanks for stopping by!

Here's another card using part of the Harvest Home image. I just love the Inspired by Nature set, and I think the two sets go nicely together. This card is actually cased from another stamper, (I don't rememer where I saw it, ) but I made a few changes and changed the colors.

The card base is Really Rust, layered on top with More Mustard. The top layer is Very Vanilla, which was brayered with So Saffron. I then punched out a 1" circle from a Post-it-Note, placed it on the card, then brayered with Pumpkin Pie. Next I sponged with Bravo Burgundy along the edges. The grass is stamped in Basic Black.

The pumpkins from Harvest Home were stamped in black StazOn ink, then colored in with a combination of Pure Color Pencils and markers. They are backed with dimensionals to make them stand out a bit. I love this combination of brayer and sponging techniques. Hope you do too!

Harvest Home

I designed this card for a friend who wanted an easy Thanksgiving card. I stamped the image in black StazOn ink, then colored it with markers. I love the Ruby Red for coloring old barns, so I carried that color out when I matted the picture. I decided to mat the picture on an angle. I like a little variation like this occasionally.
The leaves are stamped in Olive Green and the edge of the paper is torn.
The sentiment that comes with this stamp set is too large for this card, so I chose the retired saying from Fancy Flexible Phrases. I think it fits nicely at the edge of the image.

Sock Monkey card

This Sock Monkey card brings back memories of the sock monkeys my aunt used to make. They always looked so silly that they were funny! This little fellow is stamped in black StazOn ink and colored with markers and the Aqua Painter. The balloon is cut out, and the balloon string is actually a very thin strip of card stock. Our Stampin' Up! table top paper cutter does a great job of cutting the tiniest sliver of paper! I used a kraft knife to make slits on both sides of the left arm, and slipped the paper string through the slits. A piece of scotch tape on the back of the card holds it in place. The Just for You sentiment is punched out with the small oval punch and backed with a red oval from the larger oval punch. The background paper is the cute check pattern from the designer series Bella Rose papers. I usually paper-piece this monkey because I like to see different patterns on him, but this coloring technique was must faster, and I do like the effect! Hope you do too!

Another "Kissing"technique card

Here's another card with the Kissing Technique. Again, I used the Fabulous Flowers stamp set. This time I inked the card with So Saffron ink, then inked the smaller stamp (from Fresh Cuts) with Chocolate chip ink. I kissed the stamps together and stamped on a whisper white card. This time I outlined the petals with chocolate chip ink. I like the definitive look it gives to the petals! The background paper was stamped with other stamps from the Fabulous Flowers set, using Cameo Coral ink and paper. The brown-striped paper was used under the So Saffron card, and again under the torn edge of the card. I stamped and punched out the sentiment, using Warmest Regards and the large oval punch. This was was a fun card to do.
Have a great day. I hope you'll try the kissing technique on your next card!

Fabulous Flowers with Kissing Technique

The flower on this card was made using the "kissing " technique. It was first inked in Apricot Appeal. Next a small flower stamp was inked in Ruby red. It was stamped on the inked rubber of the flower stamp. Then the flower was stamped on white paper. I cut it out and put it on a layer of Wild Wasabi, then a layer of Ruby Red. The words, "for you" are from the Fresh Cuts stamp set. The backgkround papers are designer prints paper, a ruby red card strip, and certainly celery. A piece of hodgepodge hardware and a little celery ribbon are the added embellishnents. This card measures 4 1/2" square. Hope you enjoy it!

Upsy Daisy brayered card

I've been wanting to share this technique with you! This is so much fun to do, and very easy also. To make the sun, I punched a 1" circle on a post-it-note and positioned it where the sky would be. The glossy card was then brayered with a sponge brayer (although the regular rubber brayer works fine, too), using a spectrum pad. I removed the post-it-note and sponged Apricot Appeal ink with a dauber to give the sun it's color. Next, I stamped the floral silhouette in classic black ink. I let it dry a few minutes, and layered it on a piece of basic black card stock.

The backgkround paper at the bottom is some of the Bella Rose designer paper. The Birthday Celebrations sentiment was stamped on More Mustard paper, then punched using the large oval punch. I punched out a green designer label and layered them together. The ribbon is from a retired Ribbon Originals Jersey collection. I love how it matches! The card base is More Mustard. Hope you'll try this fun technique soon!