Father's Day Cards

Hello peeps, I hope everyone is doing well.  I have been so busy that I didn't even post my mother's day cards for you to see, please accept my apologies on that.  I have some quick Father's day card ideas for you.  I have a hard time with masculine cards as many ladies do, so I could not skip posting these.  One is for my dad and the other is for my daughter to give to my hubby.

This one is obviously for my dad.  The funny thing is that I bought this stamp set from Just for Fun Stamp Company to use in scrapbooking to create titles for pages, but found that some of them work great on cards as well.  With the words dad, father and Grandfather on it, it works great for all of us to send it.  The background stamp is from Hero Arts, love their background stamps!  The little star embellishments are Martha Stewart. The twine of course is from Doodle Bug Design.  Here is the next card:

Similar layout, different stamps.  These stamps are from an Inkadinkado alphabet stamp set that was a gift from a friend.  I then punched them out with a retired Stampin Up punch, I forget what is called, but it is a kind of wonky square shape.  Well, that is it for today.  Have a great father's day!

Until next time..................blessings, Lisa

Hero Arts Valentines

Oh my gosh, I just realized this morning that Valentine's Day is tomorrow. I knew this, and just forgot about it. So, here I am posting the Valentine cards that I made over a week ago, at the last minute. I hope you enjoy them anyways and derive some inspiration from them.

I used Hero Arts stamps called "Patterned Hearts", and the background stamp is called "Dots and Flowers". I used Stampin Up's White Craft Ink with the background stamp and with the hearts I used Classic Ink Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Rose Red. The card base is SU Crumb Cake, and the other card stock that I used was Whisper White, and Rose Red. Here they are:

Simple x-mas card!!!

Ok, I am browsing my favorite blogs list yesterday, and what do I see? This post on Jana Millen's blog, here.

I had just purchased the stamp set that she used at Archiver's last week with my fabulous 30% off coupon! Great minds think alike, right Jana? I love the fact that is has the Christian beliefs about Christmas in the set, and have been looking for something similar for awhile. So, the day that I purchased the set, I sat right down in their workroom and created the following very simple one layer card with it:



Jana has a photo of the whole set on her blog, go there and take a peek, then leave her a nice comment. As you can see I made it very, very simple. Heat embossed with gold Embossing powder, rounded the corners with my round corner punch, and added some gold shiny string. Took me all of about 5 minutes, gotta love it! If you need any last minute cards, highly recommend this layout!

Come back tomorrow, and I will see what other quick Christmas cards I have laying around my craft table to show you.

Until Next time.... Blessings, Lisa

Halloween Cards

Hello. I have a couple of Halloween cards to share with you today! I decided that I would stick to only 3 colors.........Whisper White, Basic Black, and Going Gray from Stampin Up for those of you who are new to my blog.


The first card features the Bat stamp from Stampin Up's "Halloween Frights" stamp set, the second features a Hero Arts Ghost stamp. So, here is the first card:


You will have to excuse my photography on this one, as I was in a huge hurry tonight. The bat border punch is by EK Success, I got it on a clearance shelf at Michael's for quite a bargain. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp set. That is a great stamp set, there is a short and sweet sentiment for every occasion you need to make a card for. It is a definite "must have". I used a 1-1/4" regular square punch to punch out my stamped bats, and they are mounted on scalloped squares made with the SU scallop square punch. The little gray bats in the squares were leftovers from punching the border, and the rest of the little gray batty leftovers, are on the inside of the card as you can see on the photo below. I hate to waste anything, if I can avoid it.




Now the next card I used the same color scheme, but different tools, stamps and design. The large ghost in the upper right hand corner is a small Hero arts stamp that I found in the "Hot Spot" at Archiver's, is he cute or what? He is punched with a 1-1/4" square punch and mounted on the SU scallop square punch. The sentiment is punched out with the Stampin Up Word Window punch, and mounted on the Stampin Up Modern Label punch. The very cute graveyard border at the bottom is a Martha Stewart border punch, and the also adorable flying ghosts above the border are some tiny little die-cuts that I can't remember the name of. They work in my Cuttlebug or the Big Shot, that is all that I care about. I hope you enjoy them.


Until next time...........................Blessings, Lisa

Simple Card Sketch

Today, I decided to play along with the card sketch over on Splitcoast Stampers website that was posted for this week. It is such a versatile layout, there are many, many stamp sets that will work.




The sketch shows circles on it, but any shape you can stamp on will do. Some people posted cards with squares, hearts, tag shapes, etc. This is actually the first square card that I have ever made, as I don't usually keep square envelopes around. I am going to be ordering some though, as this is such a fun sketch. Remember, if you need any square envelopes, I am a Stampin Up Demo and we sell them. Just let me know, or click onto their website from my sidebar link, and submit me as your demo.

The card is pretty self explanatory, so I will just tell you what products that I used. All card stock is from Stampin Up (Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Whisper White). I used a 1 inch, and 1-1/4" circle punches. The stamps are Hero Arts mini stamps in a tube; this set is called Sea Life...Duh! I actually bought them for my 10 year old daughter, but she isn't using them, so I decided to put them to use. Well, that is it for today. Happy Friday and have a safe and happy 4th of July celebration! Blessings, Lisa

Hiding Butterflies

are on the card that I am showing you today. A few months ago, a friend of mine was cleaning out her craft room, and gave me a bunch of stuff for free that she wasn't using. Well, one of those items was a package of pre-cut cards with windows cut out of them. I was pondering what could I do with them, and the card below is what I came up with:















The stamps that I used are from a Hero Arts Wood mounted set called Patterned Butterflies. I stamped the butterflies on the inside, knowing that the full butterfly would not be seen from the front of the card, then when you open it up, the second page looks like the following photo:















Then, so that the card could be used to write on, I added a third page with Stampin Up's Whisper White Card stock, which can be seen in this photo:















The colors of ink that were used to stamp this card were the following:

Stampin Up ~ Ballet Blue, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Lovely Lilac, Yoyo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Pink Passion. The two flower embellishments on the front are from Prima.

I hope it brightens your day. Until next time...Blessings, Lisa

More fun with Chipboard!

Hello. I was in a chipboard mood again. So, I heat embossed 3 Stampin Up Chipboard hearts with Stampin Up Craft Ink and Clear Embossing powder, and added a red sticky gem to each of them. Next, I punched 3 circles from Stampin Up Pretty in Pink card stock, and 3 scallop circles also punching a 1/16" circle into each of the scallops. The chipboard hearts were adhered with Stampin Up Crystal Effects (love that stuff). The sentiment was heat embossed with the SU retired dark brown EP. The tiny heart buttons were adhered with SU crystal effects, and I am sorry, but I can't remember where the buttons came from. The base of the card is Stampin Up Kraft card stock, and the designer paper under the hearts is made by Provo craft. The scallop/circle border was made with a Martha Stewart border punch. Thanks for visiting my blog, and have a great weekend! Lisa

Heat Embossing on Chipboard!

I decided to play around with my Stampin Up Chipboard this evening, and try to keep it simple. So this is what I came up with.

One thing I need to mention in case some of you have not used Stampin Up's chipboard before. It comes in a sort of cardboard color, and not white. So, when you add ink to it, the ink color appears darker on the chipboard than it would on white or vanilla card stock. For instance, I used Stampin Up Almost Amethyst Craft Ink on the chipboard piece you see on today's card. The butterfly on the upper left corner of the card is Stampin Up Almost Amethyst card stock. There is a big difference as you can see. Since the craft ink is so wet, I added some SU Clear embossing powder, and heat set 2 times to get a really glossy look to it. While I am at it, the base of the card is Stampin Up Barely Banana, and the other butterflies are Bashful Blue. I rounded the corners of the base with Stampin Up's corner rounder punch, and the butterflies were made with Martha Stewart single and trio butterfly punches. The sentiment was stamped on Almost Amethyst with a Hero Arts Sentiment and SU Lovely Lilac Classic Ink. Then I punched out the sentiment with a 3/4" square punch. I also used some foam dimensionals to pop up the chipboard frame, and the birthday sentiment. I guess that sums it all up. See you next time. Blessings, Lisa

Yeah, I'm digital again!

Yeah! I finally got to the store to get a new memory card for my digital camera, so I took a picture of my latest card creation and here it is:



This was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers website, however, I can't remember who it was and I changed the layout about 50%.

Anyways, I used the spiral punch from Stampin Up to punch the border on both sides of the black card stock strip. The hearts were punched with an unknown paper punch that I have had in my stash for around 6-7 years. How weird there is no manufacturer listed on it. Then after punching each heart I did some tone-on-tone sponging on one edge of each heart with Stampin Up Classic inks then I adhered them. The happy Valentine's day stamp is a Hero Arts stamp, stamped in SU Real Red Classic Ink. That is all there is to it. Complete supply list to follow. I hope you like it.

Supplies Used:
Card stock ~ Stampin Up Basic Black, Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Unknown Red, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Brilliant Blue.
Ink ~ Stampin Up Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Brilliant Blue.
Accessories ~ Stampin Up Spiral Punch.

Easy Valentines Card

Hello. I was in the mood to make a simple valentine card last night, and this is what I came up with. I used one of the stamps from the Hero Arts "Patterned Hearts" stamp set. Pop on over to their blog, and check out their online catalog. They have some cute stamps. So, The picture quality is not too good, as I am still scanning instead of taking photos. I will correct that issue in the next few days, it is driving me nuts! How the heck did we survive without digital cameras? Anyways, I achieved the dotted square image by running the card stock through my cuttlebug with one of my small embossing folders. There are 4 square frames in a set. Then I took my Stampin Up Real Red Marker, and dabbed it on each raised dot. Next I stamped the heart on my versamark ink pad, then a real red classic ink pad, then on card stock (whisper white) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. It is kind of hard to tell in the photo but I stamped the red ink lightly on the stamp, then again darker on the edges of the heart. I am sure you have all heard of this method called the "Rock and Roll" technique. Next I cut a panel of red card stock from my "Die Cuts With a View" stash. I couldn't get that heart border punch through the thick Stampin Up card stock. Bummer! After the border was finished, I added some cute satin offray ribbon to it that a friend gave me, and some red sticky gems that the same friend gave me. So easy, I had it made in a flash. I hope you enjoy.

Speaking of cute stamps, have you seen the new Stampin Up catalog? Oh, my gosh, they have so many new and adorable stamp sets, and some really fun new accessories, from glitter, to buttons, to corduroy buttons to new chipboard shapes and new cutting/embossing die cuts for the Big Shot machine. They also work in the cuttlebug if you already have that one. I am going to plan an open house soon to show off some of these new things, I just have to wait until they arrive at my door. Until then, click over to their website and view the catalog online. See link on my sidebar.

Blessings, Lisa

Early Mother's Day card

Hello. I was feeling inspired when I saw my Prima flowers and my cuttlebug supplies sitting on my craft table, so this card was the result of that inspiration. Not too much stamping involved, but tomorrow there will be. The sentiment on the front is a hero arts stamp that I have had forever, and it came in a container with a dozen other nice sentiments for almost any occasion minus any holidays. I plan to stamp "Happy Mother's Day" on the inside, and sore it away for my mom. Good thing she doesn't have or play on computers. I was kind of bummed with how the photo turned out, the lighting was bad I guess, and you can't see the true colors on the card. I wanted to use these particular flowers, because they were a shade of blue that my mom loves, and the retired Buckaroo Blue color from Stampin Up matched them perfectly. So, I got out my treasured stash of Buckaroo Blue card stock and went to town cutting. Who better to use such a precious retired color on than a card for mom? The paper that the flowers are on is an iridescent white from The Paper Studio, and ran through my cuttlebug machine with one of my Die-cuts. Then I double mounted them on Buckaroo Blue and Bazzill's Navy card stock (I ran out of Night of Navy - one of my favorites). Next, I took some SU Whisper White, and ran it through my cuttlebug with one of my embossing folders. Then I sponged some Buckaroo Blue ink onto the embossed piece, and double mounted it as well. Then I pulled some ribbon from my stash that came close to matching, and adhered that, along with a blue rhinestone brad from SU. Next I stamped, sponged, double mounted a sentiment and adhered with foam dimentionals. The flowers are popped up with foam dimensionals as well. Then the last thing I did was to mount the whole thing onto some SU Whisper White card stock, sponge the edges, and add some light blue gems to the flowers. Tah Da. Now, always remember that any Cuttlebug die-cuts, and embossing folders can be used in the SU/Sizzix Big Shot. I can show you how! I already had a cuttlebug long before the Big Shot was introduced, so I continue to use that. If anyone wants to do a workshop using the SU Big Shot die-cuts, just let me know. We can do some really cute stuff with them. I need to go pay some attention to my daughter before bed-time, so I am off. Enjoy the close-up photo below, and come back tomorrow so we can "Embrace Life" together. Am I witty or what? Probably the "what".

Splitcoast Card Sketch

Hello. This is the card sketch over on Splitcoaststampers.com this week. I decided to go with it, as I thought it would make a really quick card. For most people it would, for "picky" little me it did not. I seem to have this terrible stumbling block with colors this week, or at least deciding on which colors. I have seen a lot of people online using kraft card stock lately, and the idea has kind of grown with me. However, I knew that I didn't have any SU Kraft card stock; but possibly some other misc. brand might be in my stash. I searched for 30 minutes, and only found 1 piece of Kraft card stock. Guess what is going on my next SU order? Have any of you ever noticed that no matter how much

card stock, paper, designer paper, etc that you accumulate......You can never seem to have what you want while you are paper crafting? I have the same problem with ribbon. I guess it depends on what the obsession is with. Anyways, the card below is my version of the card sketch above. I hope you like it. The SU Real Red card stock was run through my cuttlebug with my Swiss Dots embossing folder. The cute little stamps are from Hero Arts Stamps; are they cute little critters or what? The three circles are SU Whisper White card stock. The thin green panel is a Bazzill shimmer card stock. The red rhinestones are from Hero Arts, and the ink used was SU Basic Black, and SU Real Red Marker. The circles and red panel are popped up with foam dimensionals. That about sums it up. I probably won't be posting tomorrow (Thursday), I need a day to organize my craft area, and take care of some important matters. Have a great Thursday.

A Hero Arts Christmas Card!

A few months ago, I won a free Hero Arts Stamp set on a blog of a very nice and talented crafter named Jana Millen. Click on her name to visit her blog. She was hosting a Hero Arts Stamp set giveaway, and I actually got lucky and won one of the sets. So, I wanted to post a card that I made with that stamp set as another thank you for the very nice prize she gave me. Here is a photo of the stamp set.


Is this too cute or what? I am completely in love with it.



So, the next photo is a card that I came up with; made with a few of the stamps from this awesomely adorable set.













The base of the card is some unknown red card stock, the blue rectangle is Stampin Up's Bashful Blue, and was run through my Cuttlebug with a Spellbinder's Nestibilities Die-cut Rectangle. The piece of card stock behind the blue rectangle is SU Vellum Card Stock (not vellum paper). I ran it through my Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. Have I ever mentioned that you can use the Cuttlebug die-cuts and embossing folders in the Stampin Up Big-Shot Machine? Yep! Totally possible! You can also use the Big Shot Die-cuts in the Cuttlebug Machine! So, contact me when you you want to order some Big Shot Die-cuts and/or the Big Shot Machine itself. It is a very wonderful tool to have. Ok, back to the card. The little penguin and saying were stamped on SU Whisper White card Stock and then cut out before adhering. The penguin's scarf was then colored with SU marker-Real Red. The snowflake embellishment was made with a Martha Stewart Paper Punch, and the Rhinestone on it is from Michael's, along with the red ribbon on the card. Oh, please excuse my pitiful bow, I am still trying to improve my bow tying technique. I have watched the video tutorial on bow tying on Becca Feeken's blog several times, but I think I need to watch it a few more times. Oh well, I hope you like the card, it came to me after a two day creative block! I hate it when that happens, don't you? Anyways, I am going out of town for the weekend to visit family, so I won't be posting for a few days. Have a blessed weekend.

Lisa