Ad Inspiration Challenge #16

On the cricut message board there is a challenge that uses this ad from Lowe's


I wanted to make a simple "Hi There" card for an older gent that lives in my building. He is a real sweetie and we share the garage. I haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks. He goes out every morning to get his newspaper so I thought it would be fun to surprise him with a card that I'm going to leave on his car door. When I saw the challenge everything just fell into place. I still have a hard time designing cards for men.



I don't know who the paper is by. I was at Hannah's a couple of months ago and they were selling 6x6 scraps of dp for a nickle a sheet. I picked up several sheets just to add to my stash. I cut the paper on the diagonal and trimmed it down a bit so I'd have a larger gap in the center. It is mounted on a pale blue cardstock, then on a "orangish red" cardstock, then on rust. I inked all the edges with Walnut distress ink.

The duck is a Studio G stamp that normally holds a 4 leaf clover. I used my SU black marker and colored everything but the clover. He is colored in with Marvy Embossing Markers and heat set with clear embossing powder. I used an oval nestability to cut him out.

The saying is from Whipper Snapper Designs that I stamped in Walnut then used a water pen and SU Creamy Carmel ink to highlight.

Here is a tip to get your brads lined up nice and even. I use a 5 x 7 sheet of needlepoint plastic canvas. Line it up with the edge of your cardstock and mark where you want the brads. Then use a hole punch where you marked and they will always be straight and evenly spaced.

Cuddlebug Challenge - Be Inspired #33

Here is my entry for "Be Inspired #33 - Monogram and Ellie's Studio" over at the Cuddlebug Challenge Blogspot. I chose to create a monogram card for a friend's birthday that is coming up this week.

This is a Flower Pot Pocket card. I found the instructions on the Split Coast Stampers website. It is a great card to make. There is so many options for decorating it.

EDITED TO ADD LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS: http://sluman.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2009/01/25/flower-pot-pocket-card/

Here is the card all together:



The overall height ended up being 7", so I am able to put this in a 5 X 7 envelope.

The flower pot was made from ivory cardstock cut per the instructions. I used an EK Success border punch on the front edge. Then ran it through my cuddlebug using the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder. To finish it off I stamped over the embossing with a background stamp inked with Stampin' Up's groovy guava ink. I love how this looks. The debossed areas don't catch the ink so your embossed design really stands out.

Here is a picture of the pot and pull-out card:



I used Prism cardstock in Desert Coral light, medium, & dark. The flowers were cut using the Cricut and Storybook cartridge. I cut the large flowers and shadows at 2" and the smaller flowers and shadows at 1 1/4". The large flowers were embossed with the swiss dots folder and the smaller flowers with the Spots & Dots folder. I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Old Paper then added stickles on the swiss dot bumps. I also lightly inked over the embossing on the smaller flowers to accent the design.

To create the leaves I cut out the flourish (Storybook - page 56) and also the shadow. After I glued them together they were embossed with the D'vine Swirl folder. Then I cut up the florish and only used the side pieces as leaves.

The Monogram was cut from the Storybook cartridge at 1 1/2". I ran the letter upside down through my zyron sticker maker and added glitter over the entire letter for even more bling!

Here are some close ups for you to see the detail better.





Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your comments.

Great Blog Candy from a New SU Demo!

Pop on over to Lynou's blog and check out the great blog candy she is giving away to celebrate becoming a new SU Demonstrator. Here is the link Also if you are wanting some SU product why not shop her store. It's nice to support and help the new Demo's get started!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day. I'm happily enjoying the day off work and creating more cards.

This is another Father's Day card. One of the ladies at work has a father that loves to garden so I thought this would make him smile...



And here is the inside:



Have you ever "lost" a stamp? I knew that I had a tiny bee stamp and it wasn't where I thought it should be. I started searching my scraproom and finally found it stuck among the stamps that still need to be mounted and put in my binders! I better get busy getting the rest of those stamps where they belong.

Cuddlebug Challenge - Butterflies

I have entered this card in the challenge over at the cuddlebug challenge blog. I don't have the cuddlebug butterfly and heart die/folder so I used my cricut and cut the butterfly from my new Home Decor cartridge at 2". I then ran it through the cuddlebug using the swiss dots folder. To highlight some of the dots I used a white gel pan and also put clear rhinestones on some random dots. This is also my first "joy fold" card and I have to say it was a lot of fun to create. I got the information from SCS. Stickles were add to parts of the paper to add even more bling!

Hope you enjoy!



and here is the inside:

Father's Day Card #3

I have to admit that this card is my favorite so far. Have you tried Bugawump stamps? They are such fun!



This card is embossed, and embossed, and embossed..... etc. I think I used almost a whole jar of clear embossing powder on this card! I stamped all the images using Stazon Black. Then colored them in using colored embossing markers and heat set them with the clear powder. Even the white dots are embossed. This allowed me to use my inks to create the background. When that was finished I used a paper towel to wipe off any excess ink from the images. Don't you just love the firefly?

Anyway... here is the inside.



I got a little carried away with the fireflys but I couldn't help myself! The inside sentiment was printed onto the cardstock using my printer.

Father's Day Card #2

So you ready for the next one? Well, ready or not, here it comes....



I love this sailboat stamp from Stamping Sensations. I ran into them at a scrapbook expo.
I stamped the sailboat with Black Stazon and colored it in with my prismacolor pencils. I created a mask for the sailboat then stamped the script background using Stampin'up River Rock ink. I also stamped the sailboat a second time and cut out the green sail and used pop dots to mount it on top of the stamped image. I added a touch of stickles to the waves for sparkle.

The anchor is cut from the Mickey & Friends cartridge at 1 1/2". I added glossy accents on the anchor to give it a wet look.

I think the inside sentiment is very appropriate. Here is a pic of the inside of the card.



Remember, you can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Finally got time to create!

It's been quite a long time since I had any time to be creative. But I started working on Father's Day Cards. I hope you get some inspiration from them.

This first one was made using a stamp set from Darcie's Stamps called Fishing Fun. Darcie's stamps are high quality unmounted rubber that are ready for acrylic blocks and come in a great plastic case. She even provides sample cards for you with each stamp set. (I am not affiliated in any way.)

This card is my version of one of the samples.




It was a little challenging for me since I am "Sissor challenged". But I ended up using an xacto knife to cut out the fish and that worked much better.

Here is the inside:



If you click on the picture you can see a larger version.