A Little Glitz

Hi everyone! Another long absence stretch in blogland I am sorry to say. I guess it is just one those times that we all have...one thing after another comes at you and you can't seem to catch up. Various members of my family have been sick and now I have the crud. Oh well. I have a great card to show you though. It has just a touch of sparkle too.
And a side shot to show a little of the sparkle:
I got the idea for this sketch at a recent rubber stamping show and I loved the simplicity. I wanted to come home and use an SU image to create the same look. The tiny butterfly from the new SAB set called Sweet Summer worked really well here. (Just a reminder too....this set will only be available until the end of the month so get it while you can. Any purchase of $50 or more earns you this set for FREE.) I colored them in with Blender Pens and ink pads for a look that is less intense than markers alone. And for a little visual interest, I topped all the wings with some Smooch Pearlized Illuminate Top Coat. This adds a glittery look without the mess and also without changing the base color of your image. The middles of each butterfly are colored in with the Gold Lame Smooch ink. If you haven't tried these inks, you must! They add a lot of appeal for very little work. I am very surprised at how easy they are to use and how well the applicator tip is controlled with minimum effort. I thought they would be hard for someone that could flunk Paint Your Nails 101...the remedial course. ;) I even added some Top Coat to the brads around the sentiment and it worked very well.

That about does it for this card. I will be back TOMORROW with another new card. I can promise that because it is already made and photographed. I might just give a few hints about some new products that will be found in the new Summer Mini catalog which I got to preview today. Very exciting! I also want to holler out a reminder to my Hostess Club girls too. tomorrow night, the 16th is Hostess Club so start putting those orders together. Have a great evening!

Simple Thank You Note

Happy Tuesday! My week is moving right along and I hope yours is too. First, I would like to remind everyone that tonight is Hostess Club. Our February meeting will kick off the new cycle which will take us to the end of the current catalog.

I have another new card for you today but I have to rush off for an appointment in a minute so I will be brief. I used one of the new Sale A Bration sets (So Happy for You) and an adorable image from the Level 1 Hostess set (A Slice of Life) included in the Occasions Mini. These sets can both be yours with a qualifying order so don't miss out! Wanna see my card?
And then a side shot...

This card was so easy to make and now I will have it on hand when the need arises. I water colored the image using my Watercolor Crayons and an Aqua Painter pen. The vase is paper pieced by stamping the image on a scrap of River Rock CS and then hand trimming it. The sentiment is accented by a piece of embossed (Square Lattice embossing folder and my Big Shot) Certainly Celery CS that was punched using the Decorative Label punch. The wording itself was stamped on Very Vanilla CS and then punched out using my small oval punch. A pink Designer button finishes it off. I hope you like it! If you have any questions, please ask!

Le Cage Aux...BIRTHDAY! (SU only)

Hello my friends! It is back to the grind I guess. Happy Monday to ya! I have a darling card to show you today. I hope it makes a January Monday a little brighter for you. The sentiment is from the new SAB set called So Happy for You but everything else can be found in the regular catalog. Take a look and I will tell you more in just a minute.
And here is an angled shot for a different perspective:
Since we had a little burst of warm weather this weekend, I was in the mood for some bright color and a little whimsy. That cute little bird cage image is from the set called Aviary. I bought it to demo a while before Christmas and it sat, unloved & uninked all this time. For shame! It is too cute to just sit! I combined it with prints from the Build A Bear Pawsitively Prints DSP and a few embellishments and voila!... a sweet and simple birthday card to have on hand. The set includes several different birdcages and various birds to go in them. They all mix and match well and lend themselves perfectly to embellishment. Here, I added a brad (Tempting Turquoise from the Brights brad assortment) to the top of the cage and a little ribbon (1/4" grosgrain in Daffodil Delight) to the cage pole. The red trim down the side of the card was made by punching a strip of Poppy Parade with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch. Last but not least, the 2 little red buttons are from the Brights button assortment.

I think that does it for me today. Check back tomorrow for another new card using another print from the Springtime Vintage DSP. Have a great day!

Simple Birthday Wishes- SU only card

Hi guys! Hope your weekend is wonderful so far. Ours has been really busy. Yesterday was simply nuts. I am looking forward to sitting down at my desk and playing with large quantities of stamping stuff as soon as possible this afternoon. You should do the same! ;)

Today's card is extremely simple but I bother to post it because I wanted to mention something we all need to remember. Sometimes, we get caught up in the latest materials and techniques and think our projects have to be bigger and better in order to share with others. Well, every time I end up giving a card that I worried was too simple, I am reminded that the "non-stamping" world doesn't have a clue what the latest "stuff" is all about. They just love that someone thought enough of them to actually make a card for them. Remember this the next time you are in need of a card and think you don't have time to make one. Take a look...
This card took me less than 15 minutes to make. It was probably closer to 10 minutes actually. Really! I picked one of my favorite prints from the Greenhouse Gala DSP and paired it with matching card stock, which in this case is Baja Breeze. A couple Paper Daisies accented with some ribbon (retired So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain) and a button are all I used for embellishment. The sentiment could be anything you chose here but since I needed a birthday card, I used that perky little "birthday wishes" image from the new SAB set called So Happy for You. Finished! Easy peasy! See? We really don't have an excuse to buy a card. Ever. ;)