Easel card 1

I'm finally trying easel cards. Pretty fun! This sweet image is Bronte Kisses from Mo Manning. It was colored with Prismacolor pencils. The text and bones are from an old Crafty Secrets sticker page. The border punch is Fiskars.

This card is for the OWH Stars and Stamps midweek challenge of Dogs and Mo's Digital Challenge #94- Easel cards with an animal or bird. http://www.mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/

Barb H CASE for Stars and Stamps blog

I've been a fan of Barb's for some years now so I was delighted with the opportunity to CASE one of her cards. Check out her blog http://papertherapyponderings.blogspot.com/

The butterfly is painted with Twinkling H2Os. There is gold leafing around the edges of the stamped pieces. It is sparkly but you will just have to take my word for it, LOL. The butterfly image was a RAK and I don't know who the stamp maker is. Beautiful though. The background is chalked. Sentiment is Hero Arts.

Thanks for the inspiration Barb!

Stars & Stamps and Michelle Perkett Studio

Michelle Perkett Studio and OWH's Stars and Stamps blog joined together to challenge cardmakers to create birthday cards using Michelle Perkett's images. This digital stamp, Mary Margaret, has an apple in her hands but I gave her a birthday package to hold for this card. It is an old stamp from The Cat's Pajamas. The clothes were paper pieced which was a little bit of a challenge as one has to run the papers through the printer. I used solid origami papers which I tacked to a base of text weight paper before running them through the printer. The bits and pieces were cut out and glued to a previously colored print of Mary Margaret.

Thanks to Michelle for the challenge and the freebie of Mary Margaret she offered to the Stars and Stamps blog recently. How kind! Check out the Michelle Perkett Studio blog. http://michelleperkettstudio.blogspot.com/

Stars and Stamps mid week throwdown

The Midweek Throwdown challenge on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog was to make thank you cards with autumn themes. The oval frame and sentiment were printed on the computer. I used Spellbinders dies and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The yellow and black strip is embossed Core'dination paper that was sanded.

The background paper on this card and the first card are William Morris prints from an old calendar. The round frame is a digital image from Bird's blog http://www.birdscards.com/Default.aspx?tabid=595 I added the text before printing and colored it afterwards. Again I used Spellbinders dies.

This one has actual rubber stamping, LOL. The sentiment is an old one from Stampa Rosa while the frame is from Serendipity Stamps. I love this full sized Cuttlebug embossing folder. The shear ribbon is metallic but the camera doesn't catch that.

Googlie Eyed Monsters!

Here come the spooky, googlie eyed monsters! I used Recollections and Studio G stamps on this one and colored it with Prismacolor pencils.

No stamps on this one. A few die cuts with Spellbinder and Sizzix dies and a border punch from SU! The Spooktacular ribbon is a few years old and no longer available.

Stars and Stamps Midweek Throwdown; Halloween

This card uses a sketch by Leigh O'Brien for The Cat's Pajamas. http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/sunflower_studio/2010/08/tcp-tuesday-124-sketch-challenge.html I used some goofy, puffy skeleton stickers on it.

This little doll is a digital freebie from Glamourie in Ireland.
http://graceandglamourie.blogspot.com/2010/08/whinifred-witch.html She is adorable! The background paper is done with Distress inks and a Hero Arts background stamp.

Stars and Stamps midweek throwdown

This week's throw down was a recipe challenge. Use a die cut or punch, ribbon and heat or dry embossing. I finished this card, photographed it and then went online. Such a wonderful surprise to discover it matched the challenge exactly! I use Spellbinder & Sizzix dies and a Cuttlebug embossing plate. The sentiment is heat embossed white on navy. And the pretty white ribbon. Hmm, maybe I should buy a lotto ticket today? LOL.

Brayered background Thanksgiving

I cannot resist a pun!

The background is brayered Kaleidacolor pad, Autumn Leaves on glossy white cardstock. The turkeys in the trees stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms (no longer available). Sentiment was printed with the computer.

I live in a town where turkeys were let loose and now live in flocks here and there. This is not a small town. We have about 161,000 people living here but ambling turkeys stop traffic!

More S&S Throwdown cards

I played more with the Michelle Perkett Studio images for this week's Stars and Stamps mid-week throwndown challenge. They were such fun to work with! While this gal is actually called Goldilocks I went with a different look. The sentiment stamp is from Serendipity Stamps.

Mary Margaret in a crisp red and green combo, lol. I went with the sort of gingham look from the printed paper when coloring her dress. (Thanks Karen for the paper!) The apples are an older Studio G stamp.

Just a couple more fall themed versions of Mary Margaret! This fun Basic Grey printed paper was my inspiration.

Stars and Stamps midweek throwdown challenge

This week's throwndown was to use one of the sweet digital images shared by Michelle Perkett Studios. I chose this Goldilocks drawing. I used this week's Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge from http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/ Fun!

Stars and Stamps Midweek Throwdown Challenge

Autumn with no sentiment. That to me was a big challenge! It was fun to use this great tree image from Curtis's Collection along with the Basic Grey paper. The wild fiber seemed like it was made for this card.

Inkadinkado sunflower stamps and a Cuttlebug leaf die. Very simple! Oh and the bee stamp too.

Stars and Stamps mid-week throw down

Including food is the throw down challenge. Clearly I am obsessing on watermelon ;-) I treated myself to my first set of stamps from Verve which included this fun Dr. Seuss quote.

This card was also for the using up scraps challenge for the Summer Haven event underway. It came out so full of sun made me want to eat watermelon right now!

OWH Midweek Throw Down, Gettin' Digi

Tracey of The Stamping Boutique shared a pair of digital images with us on the OWH Stars & Stamps blog. This little sweetie is one of them. I had fun taking her in a little different direction than Tracey intended but I believe it will make someone happy to receive it all the same.
Thanks Tracey!

Midweek throw down- Masculine cards

On the OWH Stars and Stamps blog the midweek throw down challenge is to make masculine cards. I combined the OWH Stars and Stamps sketch for this week with the masculine card challenge. The wonderful freebie motorcycle digital images is by Bird on her blog.

http://www.birdscards.com/Default.aspx?tabid=65 The metal looking plates are cut from tetra pak and embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. It makes such a great masculine touch in my opinion! The ticket stamp is from Hero Arts. This is the first time I've used it. Felt just right with the motorcycle.

Stars and Stamps sketch #19

Here's Karen's sketch for this week.

I had stamped (Sandy Lion Stamps) and colored this little robot quite a long time ago but today he got transformed into a card. Distressed ancient DCWV paper plus recycled stuff. Envelope liner and tetra pack (the silver looking stuff). Cuttlebug and Sizzix die cuts.

Another old pack of paper and printed sentiments got used on this card. A Flavia stack for the sentiment & bottom printed paper. DCWV for the top paper. I'm going to be sad when I use up the last of this cheerful ribbon I bought long ago at Michael's.

Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #15

This week's sketch is nice and simple. It lets you focus on your pretty stamps :-)

This passion flower image is from Stamp Camp and it is a knock out image in my opinion. I used Prismacolor pencils and Glaze pen to color it. The tiny leaf stamp I used on the green section is from Cornish Heritage Farms. I love the tone on tone look it gives stamped with Pealed Paint Distress look on top of that green cardstock.

Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #13

This week's sketch Challenge is from Karen G. Hi Karen! My card also happens to be part of a challenge by Karen on the Stamphaven site.

http://www.stamphaven.com/ It happens to be a materials challenge so the pretty pink paper and pink embellishments are from that package. The letters are made with Sizzix dies. I sure love my glue pen for putting together the letters and sticking them to the card. The oval 'love' is a Studio G stamp. I used a little Diamond Glaze on the heart paper embellishment.

Double Delight!

Well as you can see I added the measurements to my copy of Peggy's sketch. It makes it so easy for me to create the card from it that way. By making up 2 cards I filled to challenges at the same time. The sketch is from Mo's Challenge blog so that is one of the challenges. And making a card up twice, one in a masculine style and one in a feminine style is a challenge at the OWH Stars and Stamps blog.

This little sweetie is a new-ish image from Mo Manning, Baby Fairy Flora. I colored her with Prismacolor pencils and added some diamond glaze to her wings and the tiny bees.

This dude and his dog are clearly having a blast! The image is It's Hot, also from Mo Manning. This image is also colored with Prismacolor pencils. The water is highlighted with Diamond Glaze too.

The sentiment for both cards is computer printed. I used a selection of great tools; Cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart & SU! punches, Nestabilities dies and Distress inks.

Prince Charming

Is he charming or what? This guy is a Mo Manning digital stamp. I read on one of the Stars and Stamps member's blogs (Hi Caro!) that not enough anniversary cards are available for service women to send home to their husbands. I've been making cards for OWH for a long time and I can't remember ever making one myself. It was time to do something about that!

This blue and brown one also fills the current color challenge from the Stars and Stamps blog.

I'm pretty 'challenged' by color challenges so the current challenge from Mo's Digital Challenge blog has been hard. In fact I still haven't succeeded though I tried! It was to be black, white, kraft, and one more color. Yep, no kraft on this one, lol. I did have fun making it though. Hope one of our service women will find it suits her needs.

Stars and Stamps color challenge

The color challenge today on the Stars and Stamps blog is Browns and Blues. This is one of my favorite color combos so it was very fun to whip up this card. The blue patterned papers are envelope liners. The sentiment stamp is from Hampton Arts. The blue glass star is from my stash but came from Michaels long ago I believe. It is a very simple card I made from today's sketch on SCS.