My Red Card

Hello and thank you......to all of you that have dropped in for a peek into my stamping room..... I love to know when you have come for a visit so please leave me a comment if you can.

Why don't you click on the "join this site" button so you will always know what I am up to.

Now, todays card is one that I am going to use to start back into the challenges. One challenge wants us to use something at least 6 months old soooo I used my poppy background stamp from Stampin Up and my dies must be a few years old and my background stamp is 2 years old......boy I think this card has everything old except the verse which is only a couple of months old.

 

The layout for this card is one that was provided by a friend of mine at home for our own friendly challenge.

I used Real Red, Basic Black and white card stock. I don't have many embellishments down here with me sooo I used a punch to make the little dots in the upper left corner instead of buttons. 

Thanks again for peeking in and I hope you like my little creation and will come back soon.

I am entering this card into these challenges:

Stampinroyalty

Cardcrafterscircle

Oldiebutgoodie
Makeitmonday
Alota Rubber Stamps
Stamp n Doodle
Crafting by Designs

Just a cute card

Here I am again...... it is a dull day down here in Florida and looks like it might rain today soooo I will try to get some more cards done before my company arrives this afternoon from Canada.

I belong to a couple of groups down here and of couse they have challenges too BUT the last few months I have not participated very much so this month I went gung hoe and did 2 out of 3 of them. This one was a sketch and here is what I did for it.

I followed the layout exactly as it was shown.... I used a srcap of green paper on the left side then I stamped a background using SU's French Script with a grey ink. I started with dark green for the card base but then changed it to black because I used the solid stamp from Fabulous Flowers with black ink.

Ok I am off to the craft table to see what I can come up with for my next post. I hope to become a little more organized and get a few cards ahead but life does seem to get in the way most times.

Thanks for taking a look at what I am doing. It feels good to be back.
Carolyn

Victorian Lady

I am sorry to say that it has been over three months since I have posted anything and I must apologize but my heart just wasn't in it.

I have received a few emails wondering when I was going to start to post again and when I checked out the site just now, I noticed that I have a new follower and I think this is what finally spurred me on so I must say a big thank you Janet for joining.

For those of you that are wondering about my daughter Susan.... she went last week for her 3 month follow up scans and so far nothing new has shown up.

I hope I can keep up and have some cards to post ...... for now I will post one that I did for a sketch layout with a card group that I belong to down here in Florida. Hope you like it.

I used Soft Suede for the card base and then stamped a background stamp using Soft Suede ink onto a Vanilla piece of card stock.  The Victorian lady and sentiment were also stamped using Soft Suede ink.  I made a double bow  using my fingers as the spacers as the little bow that I usually make using a fork just came out way too small.

Thanks again, for peeking in..... without you, my followers, there would be no reason to post.
Carolyn

Happiness Shared

Today I am sharing a card with you that was designed by my granddaughter Amanda. I was helping her with her children and therefore didn't have much time for desigining cards for my group. She offered to design a card to help me in return.

Now on to her card..... she used the rose and verse  from Happiness Shared and the humming bird from Elements of Style.

The card stock used was Appricot Apeal and Close to Cocoa which are both discontinued BUT there are current colours close to them that could be used.

All of the stamping and sponging on the edges was done with Chocolate Chip ink. She added a soft pink half pearl to the center of the rose as you will see a close up in the second photo. There is also a little crystal added to the birds eye.... which was suggested by one of the gals in class.

Hope you enjoy her card. Thanks for dropping in again.

Carolyn

Christmas Elegance

Thanks for dropping in again to see what I am up to.

As I was getting my card ready for this post and found I didn't have any silver card stock soooo I had to improvise a little....but it worked great.

I needed silver..... had gold .....but wanted silver and you know what that's  like. When you get something in your mind it's all that you want....no changing it.... sooo I looked around and thought and thought then went into the kitchen and grabbed the foil wrap. I then cut out a piece of card stock the size needed and simply wrapped it with the foil.....worked GREAT! I had to turn the card a little when I took the photo so you could see the silver mat.

Now all the green card stock used was Always Artichoke other than the white striped mat. I used my background stamp with Always Artichoke ink to make that. I also embossed the one green mat with a snowflake embossing folder, then the next mat is the silver piece I made from foil wrap. I also did some sponging with Alway Artichoke ink on top of the embossed snowflakes and around the edges of the all card stock pieces.

I used silver embossing powder and heat embossed the snowflake then I went looking for a silver brad or button but didn't have any sooooo now what was I going to do. Well StampinUp has this wonderful little embosslit die of small buttons so now I went looking around for some way to make a silver button!!!

The foil wrap would stick enough as I would have to use 2 sided tape on it soooo I kept looking and I found a roll of sticky silver tape that is used to wrap furnace ducts....I think. It was in my late husbands stuff and so I cut off a square and wrinkled it up then opened it, took off the backing and stuck it down on some card stock then cut out the little buttons. I think it looks fine. Here is a close up.

For the ribbon, I just cut one piece about 3 1/4 inches long then the second piece 2 3/4 inches. I then laid one on top of the other and wrapped a thread around them to gather then attached to the card with a sticky dot. I used some silver thread cut about 3 1/2 inches and simply threaded through the button and tied, then used another sticky dot to place on the ribbon.

I like the way the silver laid across the ribbon.  That just happened....I didn't do anything to make it go that way. LOL

Be sure to come back again some time and see what else I can find to improvise with. LOL

Carolyn

I am entering this at Make it Monday

Another Christmas Card

Hello my blogging friends. So glad you dropped in again. I know I haven't been posting regularly for awhile but I am trying to get back into the groove now.

I have mentioned before that my group likes to make one Christmas card each week so I am posting them here too. I know it seems a bit early BUT just think...... I will be all ready by the time the winter gets here and won't have to rush with my cards. Ok now on to my card......

I love background stamps and have used a plain stripe on this one but just stamped it going two ways to make the plaid. I used Mellow Moss ink for this one so it would match the card base then added a splash of Real Red to perk it up. I also embossed the Real Red using the Lattice folder from Stamping Up.

The stamp set is an old SU set called Festive Favorites. The trees were coloured by pressing some of the Mellow Moss ink onto a small acrylic block then I used the blender pen to picked up the ink and paint  the trees.....this way you get the exact same colour as the card base again.

I hope you like this one and don't mind a few postings with Christmas cards during this hot weather.

Carolyn

Easy Stamped Background

Well I'm back finally after almost a month of MIA.  I see a few of you have been faithfully checking in to see if there is anything new..... thanks for peeking in.

Sorry I haven't been posting for awhile but there were just so many things that had to be done around the property that I just didn't have the time for my favorite thing, which of course is sharing my ideas here with you.

I see that my posting called Clean and Simple-Acrylic block Stamping has had 214 page views since June 9th and I now see people are sharing this on their blogs too. That was one of my favorites and I have done some other things like that too, which I will show in another posting.

When I checked out the challenge at Color Throwdown #149 I saw that they wanted us to use Apricot Appeal, Red Ridinghood Red and Wild Wasabi and while thinking about what I would do it dawned on me that I could use the card that I taught in class last night but just change the colours soooo without saying too much more I will show you the card that I did using the required colours PLUS the card that I taught the night before.... so be sure to scroll down to the second one.

I used an old SU set called Bud Basics and stamped the black outline of the large flowers all over the piece then I used the solid stamp loaded with Apricot Appeal and stamped in the outline.
Then I used the leaf outline with black and stamped leaves close to the flowers, then loaded the solid leaf with Wild Wasabi and stamped in each leaf outline.
It is hard to see but I used the Red Ridinghood Red to fill in the rest of the background with the small outline flower.

Now here is the one I taught last night using  Really Rust,  Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Old Olive and Garden Green. This one seems a little softer as I used the Cameo Coral for the background outline flowers.

Well I hope you like them and will come back for another visit soon.
I have entered this card at Color Throwdown #149

A Quick Violet card

Thanks for stopping in to see what I'm up to. I really appreciate every one of your visits.

Today is going to have to be a very quick and simple card as I have to spend some time putting together my cards for next weeks class. Quick cards are always nice anyways.

I seem to be loving purple these days and that is what I had laying on my table sooo I went in search of a stamp to go with that colour. Then I saw a pile of the violets that I had coloured before.

I first thought ok you have already posted one using this stamp but then I figured I could make it different. So here is what I came up with.

I used Elegant Eggplant for the card base
I stamped a white piece with Elegant Eggplant ink using my En Francais background stamp.
I mounted the violets piece onto a very thin mat of Elegant Eggplant.

Like I said ..... this is a very quick card. Hope you like it.

 Carolyn

Simple Christmas Card

Toady I would like to take a moment to THANK all of you that took a moment to leave such lovely comments for me. It really means a lot to me and also lets me know that there is someone stopping in to see what I am up to. I hope that you are browsing through some of the older posts too.

I started my summer classes up again last night and the gals that attend like me to show them one Christmas Card every week. It keeps me hopping BUT it means I also have my cards done too so no mad rush in the fall which is a big plus.

I tried to get ahead of the game while I was down south for the winter so some of you may have seen this already. This one goes together so fast my sister made 10 of them after she did  one at my place.

OK I will stop rambling and get on to the card.

I love the green and brown together. The card stock used is SU Mellow Moss and Chocolate chip. The stamps are from SU Bells & Boughs. I used a striped background stamp inked with Mellow Moss to match the card base and stamped the sentiment with Chocolate Chip to tie in with the mats.

Let me know what you think of this one and there could be more to follow.
Carolyn

Bicycle girl

So glad you stopped by to see what I am doing.

I hope you like what you see and will come back again.

I am really getting challenged with colours that I wouldn't think about putting together. It really makes you think.

This time I used SU Real Red, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron and Kraft (now called Crumb Cake).

I didn't have any Daffodil Delight card stock sooo I stamped the background with Daffodil Delight ink. I also used 4 red brads in the corners to balance out the red.

I would love to hear what you think of this, your comments mean a lot to me.

Carolyn

Click to enlarge and see true colours.

Challenges:

Colourq 86

Paper Pal Arts

Penny's Paper Crafty

Creating a grid background

 So glad you stopped by to see what I am doing today.
I hope you like what you see and will come back again.

I pulled this card out of my stash and thought maybe some of you that are newer to card making may not know how to do this. We tend to forget that there are always new people starting.

You can use a scoring board or your cutter, if you change the cutting blade to a scoring blade. In a pinch you can just remove the cutting blade and use a credit card to do the scoring if you don't have a scoring blade. I am using my score board today.

I cut a piece of white 4  X  5-1/4 then line up one of the corners at the 6 in mark. BE SURE to run your nail or the score tool down the line so your bottom corner lines up in the correct line. Now starting at the 6 inch mark, score it there, then simply score every 1/2 inch on both sides of it.

Next you will turn it to the very next corner, setting this corner at the 6 inch mark again and scoring there, then every 1/2 inch on both sides again. This is what it will look like.

Now I have done many different things with this background but for this card I just left it as it is.

I cut a strip 1-1/2 inch  X  5-1/4 inch from a piece that I had stamped with a background stamp using Old Olive ink to match the card base of Old Olive.

The small mat is Old Olive cut 2-1/2  X 4 inches and the white is cut 2-1/4  X  3-3/4 inches then stamped with SU Asian Artistry and then I used my SU Ticket punch on the corners.

I hope you like it and will try one for yourself. It makes a clean and simple card.

Carolyn

Grey & White Simple Card

It's been a couple of days since I have posted. Sorry about that but I have been spring cleaning again. I shampooed the dinning room rug yesterday and today I plan to do the hallways sooo the card I made this morning is a quick and simple one.

I used white and grey for simplicity. I stamped the grey mat with a floral background using grey ink. I just wanted to add a little to the background without overpowering it.

I punched out 4 SU Large Tags then cut the top of the tag off and then I used the corner punch on 3 of the corners. I left the 4th corner for the center so it would be easy to line up accurately.

The rest is pretty basic but if you have any questions feel free to email.

Thanks so much for coming to peek in. I hope you like what I have posted so far and will keep coming back once in awhile.

Carolyn

Challenges:

Sketch Frenzy Friday

GAB

Robyn's Fetish Challenge

Victorian Lady

Today I am asking you all for some help, PLEASE.

I am posting 2 different views of a card I made and I need help deciding which one you think is the nicest layout. I have 10 cut out, stamped and ready to put together but am torn between which layout to use.

If you would kindly just take a moment to post a comment and vote for the one you like the best, it would be greatly appreciated.

Card #1

or

Card #2

I used Creamy Carmel for the card base and Chocolate Chip for the dark colour. The patterned mat is a background stamp using Creamy Caramel. I also sponged the edges of both the stamped mat and the stamped lady with Creamy Caramel.

Thanks for your help
Carolyn

Entered at GAB 16 challenge and Make it Monday 38

We grow by dreams

Here is a simple card I made one night. There is really nothing to it. I used Chocolate Chip for the card base then used a background stamp that looks like marble using Chocolate Chip ink on a piece of white cut at 4  X  5 & 1/4.

I love brown and green together so I cut a piece of Mellow Moss 2 X 5 & 1/4 then a piece of Chocolate Chip 1 & 3/4 X 5 & 1/4 for on top of it.

The square Mellow Moss mat is cut at 2 & 3/4  X  2 & 3/4 then next mat is Chocolate Chip cut at 2 & 1/2  X  2 & 1/2. I stamped on a piece of white that was cut at 2 & 1/4  X  2 & 1/4.

The rectangle mat is Mellow Moss again, cut at  3 & 1/8  X 1 & 3/8 then another mat of Chocolate Chip cut at 2 & 7/8  X 1 & 2/8. Then the white to stamp on is cut at 2 & 3/4  X 1.

This is an easy layout that could be used with all kinds of different stamps for any type of card.
Here it is...... Hope you like it.

Monochromatic Just A Note

First, I would like to thank you ladies that have left me comments. It really inspires me to keep posting. Then I must tell you how pleased I am to see that I am gaining a few followers. Thank you so much for taking the time to click follow and then join me ..... I really appreciate it.

Now todays card is another quick one and pretty simple too. I used Lavender Lace for the card base then I cut a 4 x 4 white mat. The next mat was 3 & 3/4  X  3 & 3/4 using Lavender Lace again. Then I cut a piece of white 3 & 1/2  X  3 & 1/2 and stamped it with a basket weave.

The flower is an old SU set called Natural Beauty that I picked up at a garage sale. I stamped it on a piece cut at 2 & 7/8  x  1 & 1/2 then matted with Lavender Lace cut at 3 & 1/8  x 1 & 3/4.

Hope you like it.
Carolyn

Another offset one

You have likely seen me mention that I have a monthly challenge (while I am away for the winter) with a little group that I have a home so they won't forget me. LOL  It lets me feel connected to them and not so far away. Well I try to do more than one card for each challenge so this is another one for them. It also qualifies for Stamping Vacations colour combo for this month too....  sooo 2 birds with one stone so to say.

Oh I found some buttons BUT only 2 match so I didn't glue them down. I will find some that match when I get home. 

Here is the card. Hope you leave a comment.....I love hearing from you.

Supplies:

Card stock: SU Gabel Green, Orchid Opulence, White.

Card base is Gable Green.
Orchid Opulence is cut 5 1/4  X  4.
White stamped mat is cut 4 3/4  X 3 3/4.
Gable Green mat is cut 3  X  4 1/2.
Orchid Opulence is cut 2 3/4  X  4 1/4.
White stamped piece is cut 2 1/2  X 4.

Off set focal point

Boy we had a bad storm here yesterday. There were tornados just south of here but we only had the skies dump rain on us like you wouldn't believe. It looked like a river running through my yard and it flooded the one end of mine and the neighbour behind me. I was ready to run for the closet with my dog and purse and hunker down if I had to.

After everything kind of calmed down I got down to business and started on another card to post. This one is for a challenge with a little web group at home that I started. We have been doing a challenge every month while I have been away for the winter and it kind of keeps us in touch.

I am going to name this challenge "Off Set Focal Point" and this is the card that I came up with.

First I gave them a lay out and said the only rule was that they had to have an off set focal point and it could be a rectangle like the sketch or an oval or a square. From there they could do as little or as much as they wanted. They could embelish it anyway at all, as long as they had an off set focal point.

Here is the sketch I sent have sent to them.

Now here is what I came up with. And don't laugh...I am still buttonless but I am getting used to these punched dots now.

Supplies:
Cardstock: SU Melon Mambo, white & scrap of grey?
Inks: SU Melon Mambo & Basic Grey.
Stamps: SU En Francais & Friends Never Fade.

My measurements:
Card base Melon Mambo
White stamped mat cut at 4  X  5 1/4
Melon Mambo mat cut at 2 1/2  X  3 3/4
Grey mat cut at 2 3/4  X  3 1/2
White stamped cut at 2 1/2  X  3 1/4

This entered at Stamping Vacation for You Name the Challenge

Plain & simple man card

First I would like to thank all of you that are leaving me a comment. I really do appreciate when you take the time to do this. It makes me want to keep adding cards.

Well I have done this card up for another challenge and I think it would make a nice card for a man IF I changed the saying to something else other than "Puppy Love". I find it hard to make man cards so maybe that is what I should challenge myself to do more often.

Let me know what you think of this one.

The cardstock I used was Early Expresso and River Rock. I thought the combination looked good together. The ink I use was Soft Suede. The pattern paper was just a piece out of my scrap box. I am getting pretty limited with my supplies down here right now. Still no buttons .... but if you have been following along each day you know why. LOL
This qualifies for challenge at Stamping Vacation sketch therapy.

CASED a spring card

Hi everyone:
Yesterday I cased a lovely spring card from a friends magazine done by  Lorna Brinkman and I wanted to share it with you.
I finished it and took the photo only to find out that the stamped background didn't show up soooo I tried restamping the flowers in the background with a darker colour only to find that it was too dark (see the one at the bottom right corner) so the rest of them I inked up and then stamped off first and they turned out better.

I hope you like this card as much as I did. Please leave me a comment so I know you have been looking in. I love hearing from you.

The inner scallop is embossed with dots and the birds wing is embossed with lattice folders. I just used a black marker to put a dot on for the eye.

Supplies:
Cardstock: SU So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla.
Ink: SU Black, Rose Red & River Rock.
Ribbon just some laying around
Punch: SU Designer Lable Large & 2 Step Bird Extra Large.
Stamp:Watercolor Trio (Birthday saying) & Punched Posies (flowers) Plaid.

Cardbase So Saffron
First mat Very Vanilla cut  4 1/8  X  5 3/8
Pink cut 4 X 5 1/4
Green cut 1 1/2  X  4

Girl friends in pinks

As you have seen me say before.... I am not at home with all my stamps and what I have down here is very limited and I know I used this one of the girls before BUT what can I say other than hey, it's a different layout and of course different colours.
You just wait untill I get home and start in with all those lonely stamps that got left at home. I will be sure to put them to good use then.
Anyway, here is my card for today. Hope you like it.

I would love to see some comments so I know someone is peeking in.

Supplies:
Card stock - SU Pretty in Pink and white.
Stamp - SU set - The Nicest Things.
Inks- SU pretty in pink, black and going grey.

Card base cut 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 then folded in half
The top white mat stamped with stripes is cut 3 X 4
The bottom white stamped with dots is cut 2 X 4
The square pink mat is cut 3 1/4 X 3 1/4
The white stamped with girl is cut 3 X 3

This qualifys for monochromatic pinks challenge at Stamping Vacation.