Fall card

Hello. I have a Fall card to share with you today. If you have been following my blog for awhile, you will know that one of my favorite techniques is heat embossing a dry embossed image. This card is using that very technique:

I used a brass template that I bought years ago when I was first experimenting with dry embossing. So I apologize, but I don't know where I found this cute little pumpkin gem. So, I dry embossed the image onto some Stampin Up Whisper White Card Stock, colored the image with my Stampin Up Markers, then colored the raised image again with my Versamarker, and heat embossed with some clear embossing powder. I mounted it onto some Pumpkin Pie SU card stock. The other piece of card stock is simply a piece of Whisper White card stock sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink. I didn't have any DSP that I liked, so I created my own. I placed the whole thing onto Garden Green card base, and added a small sentiment and some DCWV buttons for embellishment. I hope you like it. Until next time..............Blessings, Lisa

Bright and Cheery

Cards for a friend, that is what was on my agenda today. I have a friend that had to spend some time in the hospital recently because her sugar levels and bloodpressure were out of control. Unfortunately for her, both her parents are diabetics, and she had gestational diabetes with all 3 of her pregnancies, so it was inevitable she would become a diabetic. However, she had that under control with diet and pills. That disease seems to be unpredicable at times. Where she is getting the high bloodpressure from, they don't know. So, I said alot of prayers for her, and I know she likes handmade cards so I am sending her one with bright colors to brighten her day with. Here are the two versions that I made:


I have no idea who the manufacturer of this stamp is, as it doesn't say on the stamp, and I purchased it years ago at Garden Ridge for $1.00. Great deal, huh? Anyways, the design of it makes me think of stained glass windows, so I stamped it on vellum card stock from Stampin Up with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with black embossing powder. Do not try to heat emboss on regular vellum it is too thin, purchase some vellum card stock to do this! Then, I turned it over and colored the back with my Stampin Up markers. The greeting is from a tub of mini greetings by Hero Arts. I hand drew the polka dots around the greeting. The purple scallop circle that the greeting is on is popped up with dimensionals, the flower is a Prima flower, and the gemstones are from Michael's. The border under the butterflies is one of those new EK Success punches. Yes, I just had to try one, and I love it! That thing punched through my heavy Stampin Up card stock like it was butter! So awesome I am looking for all kinds of excuses to use it.

It is hard to see in the photo, but it is the Scalloped Scallops punch. Click on the photo to zoom in so that you can see the scallops. Me likey the scallops! I am sure my next post will have those awesome scallops in it too.

Now, this yellow version is the one I am mailing to my friend. I am hoping she is not seeing this yet. Anyways, the same method applies here, except the colors and border punch have changed. The border punch is a Martha Stewart Border punch. STILL LOOKING FOR THAT BUNNY BORDER PUNCH; BY THE WAY! Have any of you seen it? They want way too much for it on ebay, if you can find it! They had them at Archiver's, but sold out! Urgh! They only had the goofy ducky one! Bunnies are my favorite Easter character, I gotta have that punch! Yes I know, I am obsessed! Ok, "nuff said". I will give you a complete list of colors used below. Enjoy the Spring weather that has finally arrived and have a great week! Lisa

Supplies Used:
Cardstock ~ Stampin Up Vellum CS, Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore.
Markers ~ Stampin Up Yoyo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Pink Passion, Green Galore, Basic Gray.

Not Much Stamping Involved

Hello. Well, I was trying to wait to blog again until I had time to get to the store and fix my digital photo problem. However, the weather here in Ohio was snowy and icy and the roads were not safe enough for a few days to travel on. Plus, schools were all closed for 3 days. So, I was stuck inside trying to keep my daughter occupied. Anyways, I put a little card together this evening and scanned it. You will notice that there isn't alot of stamping involved. Oh well. I am a very dedicated Stampin Up Demo, but I must admit to having a terrible Prima flower addiction. Yep, as my 9 year old daughter tells me........I am not to purchase anymore flowers until I use up some of the ones that I already have! I will remember this the next time she wants another Nintendo DS game. She got approximately 7-9 of them for Christmas from uncles and grandmother's. She has alot of uncles who like to spoil her. Ok, enough said, here is the card:
Well, the scanner doesn't capture the colors well at all, but here it is anyways. I got the awesome brown ribbon that sort of looks like a trellis at our local stamp store "Stamp Your Heart Out". I apologize, but I do not know the name of the manufacturer. The flowers are Prima "Got Flower's Deux". They are too cute and approximately the size of an adult fingerprint. The bling centers are sticky gems from Michael's. The border was made with a Martha Stewart Scallop Lace border punch. The card stock base is Stampin Up's Naturals Ivory, and the blue edge is Stampin Up's Ballet Blue. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Retired Warmest Regards, and it was heat embossed with blue embossing powder from the retired Rich Regals EP stack.
I hope you like it.

Lisa

I took back my MS Snowflake border punch!

Wow, I don't know about all of you, but I am so glad to have that election over with. I was still getting election phone calls the day of the election. So tired of it all! OK, "nuff" said on that!

I went back to Michael's with my yucky Martha Stewart Snowflake border punch, and exchanged it for the gingerbread border punch. I LOVE IT! I have this very cute Gingerbread man stamp from a company called: Imaginisce, that I knew would look great on a card with that punch. So, the card in the picture is what I came up with!

I first cut the two scalloped squares with my Nesties and Cuttlebug machine, then stamped the gingerbread man with Versamark and SU's Chocolate Chip ink. Then I heat embossed him with clear embossing powder. Next I colored him with SU markers. Then, I punched the base of the card with my new punch. Oh, little tip I found out after using these border punches a few times. Start in the middle of your card for the first punch, then finish off each side, so that it looks proportional all the way across. I noticed on my snowflake card from my previous post that one end of the card has a snowflake, the other had that little diamond shape. Just a little thing I am picky about. Next I placed a piece of red card stock under the punched border, to show off the border a little more. The ribbon I used at the top is from the stash of goodies that my good friend gave me (page down to see post). The buttons were from my button stash, the one in the middle was a little experiment that I was trying with double layering buttons. Looks kind of neat if I do say so myself. That about sums it up. Products used are listed below.

Card stock: SU retired Wild Wasabi, Red Unknown
Ink: Versamark, SU classic Chocolate Chip
Markers: SU Real Red, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, SU Clear EP, Ribbon and Buttons unknown, Martha Stewart Gingerbread Border Punch, Nestibilities Large Classic Scalloped Rectangles

See ya, Lisa

Snowflake Border Punches - Martha Stewart or Ek Success?

Hello, the photos above are two different snowflake border punches. The one on the bottom is by Martha Stewart, and the snowflake is supposed to be embossed, and it is a little bit. The punch itself shows a much prettier more detailed embossed snowflake than you can see in the photo. Yes, I even had my husband, whom has very strong hands, give it a try; and it still did not turn out like it shows on the punch itself. Now, the photo on the top is a border punch by EK Success - paper shapers. I love that one. What you see on the package and punch, is what you get when you use it. Plus, you also get these cute little snowflakes leftover to use on another project if you want to. See photo below.

Now, I must admit that I am a little one sided on paper punches because as you know I am a Stampin Up Demonstrator, and EK Success manufactures all of SU's paper punches. I am not by any means against Martha Stewart's paper punches as a whole. I have two other MS punches, and I adore them, and I have a few more on my wish list. However, this particular one is a huge disappointment. I am telling you all of this to let you know to beware of any of her punches that say they emboss. The result that you get may not be what you expected! Well, that is all that I have for tonight. Tomorrow, I will have a wall hanging that I made for my daughter's room made with Stampin Up's Stamp set called "Garden Whimsey". She loves it, I am hoping you will too. Take care. Lisa

I Luv my mummy

Hello. I threw this card together kind of quick tonight, and thought I would share it. The stamp is from a mini clear stamp set from Studio G, from the Archiver's hot spot. The card fold is cased from Jennifer McGuire, check out her blog sometime. The scalloped ovals were made with my "one and only" Nestibilities die cut set. I heat embossed the mummy image with SU Black embossing powder, sponged the small oval edges with SU's Going Gray, which is also the color of the card base. The outer oval is SU Basic Gray, inner oval is SU Whisper White. The cobweb ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. When you open the card up, it says "Happy Halloween" under the scalloped ovals. The mini clear bling around in the scallops are from Michael's, and the white Ghost shapes are these little die-cuts that I can't remember the name of. You are supposed to pound on them with a special tool made for them, but I ran them through my cuttlebug machine the same way I would the Nestibilities die cuts. I will enclose a photo of the die cuts since I can't remember what they are called. All I know is that they looked cute, they were seriously marked down on clearance, and they called out to me to give them a home. haha. That's all for tonight. Take care, and keep stamping.

Fall Card and Ribbon

Hello. I am running so late tonight, and can barely keep my eyes open. Well heck no wonder, it is almost 2am. I must be nuts. My silly daughter slept in today until 12:00pm, so I couldn't get her off the computer to go to bed until way past her bedtime. Thank heavens she doesn't have school on Monday. Anyways, after I got her to bed, I was checking out my favorite blogs, and lost track of time. Better late than never, I guess.

I bought a stamp from the Archiver's dollar spot a while ago, and had not used it yet, so I decided to play around with it yesterday. It is one of those acrylic stamps (which I am not particularly fond of), but have a few, because the designs were just too cute not to buy. I am sure you know how that is, right? It is made by a company called Autumn Leaves. Since it is acrylic, it would not hold onto my Stampin Up Classic ink. It wouldn't even hold onto my SU Craft Pigment ink. So, I had to trick it by first stamping it onto a Versamark Pad, then taking my little sponge daubers and dabbing the ink colors onto the places where I wanted them. Then, while the ink was still wet, I added some clear embossing powder and heat set it. It took a lot of time and patience.

After that, I decided to try out my very first Nestibilities diecut/embossing shapes. I got the large scalloped ovals (40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby), and used them in my Cuttlebug Machine. Not realizing that in order to emboss as well as cut, I needed to have some special embossing mat. Duh!!!! So, not wanting to wait, I embossed them the old fashioned way, with a stylus. Me no likey that method anymore! My Cuttlebug dry embossing folders have me extremely spoiled! So, being out of patience, I set it aside after that and didn't come back to it until Sunday evening. This is when I put it together in the form that you see above. Now, I am still not too good with bows (I need to watch a few tutorials over and over), so please do not ask me how I made that bow. I don't mean to be rude, but I am just not sure that I could repeat it, nor do I want to. That thing took me a lo..................ng time. I am thinking that I may have to frame that card in a shadow box, so nothing will ever happen to it. It took me far too long to put into the mail. Ever had one of those days? Anyways, the punched border at the bottom was made with a Fiskers border punch. The little blings in the scallops came from Michael's, along with the pretty sparkly ribbon. They had Halloween ribbon on sale dirt cheap this past week. I picked up two other colors as well, which you can see in the photo below. Isn't it gorgeous, I love fall colors, especially when they have some sparkle. Oh, I forgot to mention that the sparkle brad on the bow is from Stampin Up, along with all of the cardstock used, and both scalloped ovals are popped up with foam dimentionals. Well, I can no longer keep my eyes open, so I will sign off for tonight. Take care, and stay healthy. Lisa