PTI Blog Hop

Hi-

Just a quick post for tonight, as I have physics hw to do! I made this card for the PTI Blog Hop. I have to say that I was really excited by the theme this month, which was to create a holiday card that is not specifically Christmas. It is so great to see people making Hanukkah and other holiday cards!

I hope you enjoy!

Eyeballs!

This card was made by using the new Friendship Jars from PTI. When we first saw them we didn't  think we would  get a lot of use out of them. Yet this past month, they introduced the fall fillers (halloween and autumn) and we simply could not resist. Having had the set for only a week, I can honestly say that we LOVE it. The jar is just so cute. 

For this card, I cut and stamped the jar image on a piece of Kraft PTI cardstock. The new dies from PTI make it very easy to cut out the jar image. I then punched a bunch of white circles using a SU punch. The eyeball comes from the fall filler addition to the Friendship Jar PTI set. I then die-cut the jar label and stamped the matching sentiment! Don't you just love the eyeballs for Halloween?? The jar is sitting on a piece of the new Halloween paper from PTI. I added a small strip of black cardstock to the bottom and attached a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set from SU. Hope you enjoy!

I don't normally enter my cards into online challenges, but I thought it would be fun to start. This card works well for Ted's Halloween challenge. If any one is interested, you should really check out his great blog! 

Falling for you!

Hello everyone!

I thought I would share some cards made using our newest stamps from PTI. We got a bunch of Halloween sets as well as a fun fall/autumn set. 

I have to say that I absolutely love the fall. Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays so I really enjoy making these cards for OWH. Its hard to believe that the deadline for Halloween is so close. 

This first card was made from a set called Falling Leaves. The set comes with a tree and various leaves. It also has an adorable acorn and a small apple. I used different shades of red, yellow and orange ink to stamp the leaves. I then added the brown acorns. The entire image was cut out and backed with an orange/red piece of cardstock. Finally, I stamped the sentiment on the bottom with a matching acorn. It is a very clean and simple card. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas In July #2

Hey!

Here is another Christmas card that we made for OWH. This adorable santa comes from the Holiday Button Bits set from PTI. Anyone who has seen some of our cards knows that we absolutely LOVE buttons. After using the Everyday Button Bits set so much, we decided it would be great to have a button set for the holidays. I stamped this santa twice, so that I could cut out the head and its beard to mount on top of the red button. I colored his body using a Copic Marker. Using a foam dimensional sticker, I then attached the colored head piece on top of the stamped body. This made the santa look really 3D. The button is a Pure Poppy button from PTI. I stamped the background using A Little Argyle also from PTI. I punched the santa using Marvy circle punches and then backed it with a red scalloped circle. To add a final touch, I used flocking powder on his beard and on the trim of his suit. This added a nice fluffy look to the final product. I hope you enjoy! 

Christmas in July

Hey Everyone!

I have to apologize for not posting in a while on the blog. I am taking a summer course in Organic Chemistry and have had very little extra time. 

Its July which means Christmas and Halloween cards for OWH! I have to say that these are some of my favorite cards to make and I love this time of year. Sometimes it is hard to find supplies for Christmas cards in the middle of July, but we have been pretty lucky and are using some old supplies from last year. 

We recently ordered a few Christmas sets from PTI so I thought I would share one of these. This first card was made with our new Peaceful Poinsettia stamp set from PTI. I stamped the large flower in red using Momento Ink. I then used an olive green ink for the leaves. The sentiment also comes with this set and it is one of my favorites! I am sure you will see me using it a lot. I backed the image with Bazzil red cardstock and a piece of green and white striped paper. To finish it off, I added three tiny gold pearls to the center of the flower. I hope you enjoy!

 I decided to enter this card into Jill's First Annual Christmas in July challenge! 

OWH Blog Hop

Welcome to the OWH BLOGHOP!!!

If you want to start at the beginning and see all the great cards, please go to Operation Write Home's Blog: www.owhstarsandstamps.org

For this blog hop, the instructions were to make a red, white and blue missing you card. Our first stamp set from Papertrey Ink is our absolute favorite! I don't think a week goes by when we don't use it. Therefore, when I read the instructions for this bloghop, I thought the set would be perfect for the bloghop card. This card was made with the Everyday Button Bits stamp set. The vintage buttons for the hot air balloons are also from Papertrey. Finally, the sentiment comes from AMUSE stamps. The red paper behind the sentiment was punched with the Stampin' Up window punch. 

The Operation Write Home Blog is an amazing resource for new card makers! It has great tips and tutorials on there. We always visit the blog to learn about new projects and products. In fact, we learned about PTI from the blog! 

I hope our cards can bring a smile to someone hearing from their family members overseas! I feel like it is the least we can do to help these amazing heros and their families. 

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the card! 

The next stop on the bloghop is : http://shelleyscreations.blogspot.com/

Some bunny loves you

Hi-

I just though I would post a similar card to the one below. For this card, I also used the Tiny Treats: Valentine set from Papertrey Ink. I really like the bunny image- the little heart tail is so sweet. I stamped the border in a light pink and the bunny with the sentiment in black. I put the bunny in the frame on a piece of maroon Bazzill swiss dot paper. I then finished the card off with a strip of pink paper and two small pink buttons. Instead of coloring the entire bunny, I decided just to make the inside of the ears pink and the heart tail red. 

You're a great catch!

Good Evening! I have to start off by apologizing for not updating the blog in a while. I have been inundated with school work. Thankfully, last Tuesday was my last final exam!!! We spent Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning out the dorm. When I finally had some free time, I decided to use all of our new stamp sets. In the past few months, Robin and I have discovered the amazing stamps from Papertrey Ink. Every month they come out with new stamps and I have to admit that we are totally addicted. We are currently waiting for even more stamps that we ordered Friday night, but I decided that I should ink up some of the other PTI stamps that we have. This stamp is from a fantastic set called Tiny Treats: Valentine. It comes with the larger frame and various small images with matching sentiments. The images include a small bunny, a frog, a dog etc. and all of them have a small heart. I really love that all of the images and sentiments fit perfectly in the border stamp. Furthermore, it is great that this image coordinates with the Marvy Punches. 

For this card, I decided to use the fish image and the sentiment, "you're a great catch".  I stamped the border in a light blue and the fish and sentiment in black. I then colored the image with Copic makers. After punching out the entire stamped image, I mounted it on a large piece of navy swiss dot paper from Bazzill. I then added a strip of light blue paper. To finish it off, I attached two small blue buttons. 

I hope you enjoy!

Purrfect!

The midweek challenge on Operation Write Home's blog this week was a Free For All- create a card using any of our favorite past challenges or sketches! Although I normally like the fact that the sketches and challenges provide some direction, I thought this would be fun for a change. I really don't have a favorite challenge, but I loved looking through all of the gorgeous cards people created for the "Four Legged Friends" theme. There is something about a cute animal that brings a smile to almost anyone's face. 

Robin made this card and when I saw it, I thought it would be perfect for the blog this week. Recently we have been using a lot of stickers from Paper House Productions. The stickers are awesome- they are images of either animals, flowers, shells etc. and they are incredibly realistic. A few months back, we posted a card using the sea shell stickers. For this card, Robin used the small kitten stickers from Paper House. She put each sticker on a 1 inch white square created by a Clever Lever Punch. The cats are then sitting on a chocolate chip brown square and all of this is on some matching green and brown paper. All of the matching papers are from Stampin' Up. Finally, the sentiment came from the Stampin' Up 'Pun Fun' stamp set. She punched it out using the two Stampin' up sentiment punches and backed it with the matching chocolate chip paper. 

We have made many versions of this card, using cats, dogs and even butterflies. If you have not used these stickers before, you should really check them out! They are a lot of fun to use on cards for our heros. Hope you like the card! 

OWH Sketch # 9

Good Morning! After my midterm yesterday, I decided that I needed a break and so I made a few cards for Operation Write Home. One of the cards I made was for Sketch #9 on the operation write home blog. I really liked the sketch this week, as it was unlike anything I have previously done on a card. The owl came from the Inchie 'Heart Full of Love' set. Robin stamped up a bunch of these owls and we have had them around the house for a while. I thought it would be fun  to use one for this challenge, although I was worried it might look too much like a Valentine's Day Card! I hope someone will use it as a general 'love you' or 'miss you' card to send home. I colored the hearts and the envelope in the stamp with various Copic markers. I punched out the pink background plain square as well as the red scalloped square using the Clever Lever Punches. Recently we have been using an old DCWV adhesive border paper pack. This paper pack has long, thin strips of patterned paper that are absolutely gorgeous! I love the various patterns, such as the floral piece that I used on the card. To dress it up a little, I used a Stampin' Up border punch to create the loops on the bottom. The sentiment is one of my favorite 'miss you' stamps and it comes from Amuse. Although the card looked nice as it was, I thought it needed something else. I decided to add three small red buttons from Papertrey Ink. I hope you enjoy it! 

Spring Break Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the bloghop! This is the first time we are participating in a bloghop so I'm quite excited! If you want to start at the beginning and see all the wonderful cards, please go to Operation Write Home's Blog: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/. 

The instructions for the card were quite broad, although it had to be something springy. We have ordered a lot of new Stampin' Up products in the past month or so, so I thought it would be fun to use them on this blog for everyone to see. The tree stamp on this card comes from the 'Seasons of Friendship' stamp set from Stampin' Up. For those of you not familiar with the set, it comes with a tree, a flower, leaves, a bird and a sentiment. It's a really awesome stamp set! I used chocolate chip brown ink to stamp the tree directly onto the white card. I then placed a piece of patterned green paper on the bottom. The paper comes from a Sizzix paper pack that we bought years ago. It has been sitting in the drawer for a while, but I thought the green paper with leaves on it was perfect for this card! I used a green marker to ink up the leaves and stamped them right onto the branches. I then used pink chalk ink for the flowers and stamped them on a scrap of white paper. Using a very small pair of scissors, I cut each one out and attached it to the card using pop up dots. This gave the tree a nice 3D look. Next, I used a small piece of chocolate chip ribbon on the bottom of the card. Finally, the sentiment comes from the 'Teeny Tiny Wishes' stamp set also from Stampin' Up. I punched it out using the window punch and then the larger punch to create the green background for the sentiment. I hope you enjoy! 

Although we are fairly new to Operation Write Home, I have to say that my favorite thing so far has been the Sunday sketch challenges on the new blog. I also love the tutorials on there! They really inspire us to try new techniques and different products. We have been making cards for a long time, and always had them lying around the house. Robin found out about Operation Write Home this past summer and it seemed like the perfect way to use our cards. We went from only making a few cards around the holidays to mailing out a box of over 150 cards every other week. I just hope our cards can bring a smile to someone serving our country and to their families when they receive the cards. 

As I mentioned above, Robin and I are fairly new at making cards and stamping so please leave us a comment! We would love to hear what you think about our cards! Thanks! 

Hop on over to http://thepaperspa.blogspot.com to see more beautiful cards! The cards on her blog are simple yet gorgeous so you should really check them out! 

Get Whale Soon

Good Evening. This card was created for the Operation Write Home sketch challenge #7 as well as the Moxie Fab World: Picking Up the Pieces Challenge.  I thought it would be fun to do something with the new Stampin' Up set that we received last week. The last two weeks for me have been full of exams and papers, so I have not had a moment to even try out the new supplies that came. Yet, after handing in my last paper and hw assignment today, I officially started my Spring break. This break I hope to make a lot of cards and hopefully I will post frequently for everyone to see them.

One of the stamp sets that we bought one was the Stampin' Up Pun Fun set. Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that I absolutely love cute stamps with matching sayings! This set was just awesome and I couldn't wait to use it. The blue paper strips on the card came from a variety of scraps we had around the house. A few of them came from an old Sizzix paper pad, which has some really pretty papers. Others were from a DCWV paper pack. After reading the post about paper piecing, I decided to give it a try. I stamped the whale on a piece of blue and white patterned paper from the Sizzix paper pad. I had never tried this before but I absolutely loved it! I stamped the whale on the patterned paper and on a piece of white cardstock. I cut out the whale from the blue paper and attached it to the image on the white paper. I then punched this out using the Clever Lever square punch and backed it with a larger scalloped square. Finally, the ribbon on the bottom came from an Operation Write Home prize from December. The navy seemed to go really well with the other hues of blue on the card. I hope you enjoy! 

Sketch #6

We made these cards for the new sketch on the Operation Write Home blog. The sketch had four equal sized rectangles covering the card with a small square in the middle. We were very intrigued by this sketch. Although it seemed relatively simple, Robin and I had a lot of trouble coming up with an idea for this sketch. We talked quite a bit about what would look best for the sketch, but we couldn't decide on one design. Therefore, we both made two cards and thought we would see which looked best. To our surprise, all four looked great! Therefore, we decided to do something new and post two cards in one post. We will post the other two tomorrow. 

Robin made this first card, and it is one of my favorites. The card is made with four rectangles from the Martha Stewart Valentines paper pack. We really like this paper, as it is double sided and each sheet seems to match perfectly with the rest. These two patterned papers are the pink and red polka dot papers from the set. Last week, after a very difficult exam in school, we received an awesome package in the mail from Papertray Ink. After reading the Operation Write Home blog entry about buttons, we learned about a stamp set from Papertray Ink that is meant to incorporate buttons into the design. Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that we love buttons, so this stamp set was perfect for us. The set is known as 'Everyday button bits' and comes with everything from hot air balloons to flowers. For this card, robin used the cherry stamp. The stamp just has the stems and leaves, and the cherries are left blank. We found a few nice red buttons around the house and used those for the cherries. Finally, we stamped the 'you're so sweet' sentiment that came with the set. The cherries and the sentiment were punched out using a scalloped square Clever Lever punch. 

Next, I made this card with a floral pattern and a matching solid paper. I was really interested in doing something 'springy' so I thought the paper would be perfect. The floral paper came from the grab bag that we won around Thanksgiving of last year from a local scrapbooking store. I am not sure who made the floral paper, but the solid blue comes from Bazzil. The paper has a really nice sheen to it. I then stamped the sentiment which came from the Hero Arts Thinking of You' stamp set. I punched it out using an oval Clever Lever Punch and then punched out a darker pink scalloped oval to go behind it. Finally, I punched out a butterfly using the Martha Stewart 3 in 1 Butterfly stamp/punch. I tried to pick up the darker blue color in the floral paper. 

Bugs and Kisses

Good Evening! This is a card Robin made for a sketch challenge on Operation Write Home's blog. The sketch had three rectangles in the middle of the card and the sentiment on the bottom. Recently, Robin and I purchased some stamps from Stampin' Up, which was our first time really using their products. Although I was a little skeptical at first, I have to say that I love their stuff. While I prefer clear stamps, all of the stamps we purchased from Stampin' Up were wood.

Anyone who has been following this blog probably knows that we love stamps that come with cute sayings! This card was made with the Bugs and Kisses stamp set, which comes with sayings such as 'bugs and kisses' and 'wishing you worm wishes on your bug day'. The kit also came with a wide variety of bugs or insects! We used Tombo markers as ink to stamp the bugs on white cardstock. The paper is 'To the Nines Speciality Paper' which also came from Stampin' up. Robin absolutely loves the paper and loves the fact that everything from them matches. Who knew you could find matching patterned paper, ink and ribbon in the same place! 

Stash Challenge

This week the new Operation Write Home blog had a "Stash Challenge" where the instructions were to use buttons and at least two patterned papers. Robin made this card and we thought it would be perfect for the challenge. The card is a solid baby pink Anna Griffin card from one of her card making sets. Robin used a postage stamp punch to cut out the little squares on the card. The patterned papers came from the same Anna Griffin set. Finally, she attached three white buttons onto the squares. A white ribbon was put on the bottom with two small hearts punched form the matching paper. The sentiment is a 'miss you' stamp from Amuse Stamps. While we have had some trouble attaching buttons, over time we have learned that Glue Dots work the best. The card is really fun and perfect for the soldiers to send home! 

We have made many different versions of this card. The possibilities are really endless! We have used white/off white cards with different blue papers and even some green papers. On each, we put different buttons and a different sentiment. Although the ribbon is not necessary, it does add a nice touch to the final card. We thought this challenge was quite fun, as we LOVE to use buttons on our cards and frequently use patterned paper. I hope you enjoy! 

Sunflower

Good Evening! I thought I would post this card as I fell in love with it when Robin made it last week. She had showed me the card with the sunflower alone, which was quite pretty. Yet, when she added that giant yellow button, the card became absolutely gorgeous. I have to say that we have always loved buttons, but rarely used them on our cards. In the past few weeks, we have been trying to incorporate more buttons into our work. At first we had trouble getting them to stick, but we learned that a glue dot is the perfect adhesive! 

Some of the first card sets and paper that we purchased were from Anna Griffin. A friend of ours always loved her stuff and I have to say that she got us hooked. At first I thought that perhaps the colors were too muted or the patterns were too delicate. Yet, over time I have come to love her products- the cards we make with her paper are always quite sophisticated and stunning. 

Robin made this card using a 12x12 piece of cardstock from Anna Griffin. The paper was tan with a brown floral pattern. She cut out the sunflower using the small square Clever Lever Punch. Then she carefully lined up the squares and attached them to a matching piece of brown cardstock. A few weeks ago we purchased a bag of random buttons at Michael's Craft Store. Robin used one of these buttons, a large yellow button with two small holes in the center of the sunflower. This button was probably a little less than an inch in diameter. I think it looks amazing on this card. Finally, the sentiment comes from Pebbles Inc. and is one of their 'thinking of you' rub-offs. The card is quite simple, yet very elegant. I hope you enjoy!

Heat It Up

For the past few weeks, Robin and I have been talking about trying to do some heat embossing. We bought a heat gun about a year ago and tried it soon after but the results were unfortunately disastrous. The stamping and powder application went smoothly but we had a lot of trouble with the heating process. The powder melted nicely and we saw that 'wave' of melting that we were told to look for. Unfortunately, the paper around the stamped image turned brown and the card smelled like burnt paper. After this we decided that perhaps embossing was not for us. Yet, about a week ago something changed. We were watching some card making videos online and saw someone emboss a background stamp. I watched this and was determined to try again. Robin went out a few days later and bought some embossing powder. Yet, the bad memories of our past experience kept us from trying it again. The embossing powder just sat on our kitchen table. 

This all changed last Wednesday. The special post on Operation Write Home's new blog was a tutorial about embossing- just what we needed! The timing was just too perfect. After my statistics exam Thursday morning, Robin and I decided to tackle our fears and try this once again. We cleared the table, and set up all of the materials we needed. Robin bought all types of embossing powders- some opaque and some translucent so we wanted to try each one. 

The animal stamps for this card come from the Stampin' Up 'Wild About You' stamp set. I stamped each image on colored paper using a clear Versa Mark ink pad. We liked the opaque white powder the best, so I used it for this card. After we had stamped everything, we plugged in the heat gun. To our surprise, the heating process went incredibly smoothly. The powder melted nicely and the finished images were gorgeous. 

I punched out the stamped animals using the Clever Lever circle punch. I then used the larger scalloped circle for the center image. The circles were mounted on a piece of embossed paper that we made in the Cuttlebug. I used 3D pop dots to attach the circles so that they were not flat on the card. Next, I placed a piece of pink ribbon on the bottom of the card. Finally, I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set on navy paper. Feeling confident about the embossing process, I decided to emboss the sentiment as well. I hope you enjoy!

Stars and Stripes

We made this card for sketch#3 on Operation Write Home's new blog. It was really simple to make yet we thought it would be perfect for the heroes. The background of the card is a blue piece of paper with small white stars. This piece of paper was quite interesting, as it started off on one edge as light blue and gradually got darker and darker. Recently, Robin purchased two Clever Lever star punches so I though I would use them on the card. The larger stars are punched out of navy paper and the smaller ones are punched out of white. The white stars were attached to the navy stars with 3D pop dots so they stick up. I used a small heart button in the middle of the card. I really wanted to get some red onto the card so this seemed like a great way to do so. Finally, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white card stock and punched it out using a circle Clever Lever Punch. I used a navy pen to do some faux stitching around the white strip on the bottom as well as the circle. I am not very good with the stitching, but with each card the lines seem to get straighter! Hope you enjoy!

Wild About You

I have always loved animal stamps. A few months back I saw some cards on the internet that used the 'Wild About You' stamp set from Stampin' Up. I was totally hooked on it and desperately tried to scour the internet to find a set for myself. Unfortunately, the set had been retired and it was incredibly hard to find. Luckily, I found a set on Ebay and it arrived a few days later. To my delight, the set came with an elephant, giraffe, lion, alligator, penguin and the adorable saying 'Wild About You'. There were also a few extras such as a flower. As soon as the set arrived I went a little crazy and made a bunch of animal cards. 

I made this card using the elephant stamp from the Stampin' Up 'Wild About You' set.  I stamped the elephant using Colorbox Red ink and stamped the ear separately with a pink water based marker. I then cut out the ear and attached it with a pop up dot to the elephant so it was raised. Using a small pair of scissors, I was able to cut out the elephant. I then took a strip of red Bazzil paper and attached it to the bottom of the card. Last year I bought a small (orange) Clever Lever circle punch for a school project in which I had to create my family tree. I never really thought I would use this small punch again, but it was perfect for this card. I used it to punch out dark and light pink circles and arranged them on the bottom and side of the card. I found some white buttons to attach to the bottom and some smaller circles (from a whole puncher) for the side of the card. I thought it would be fun to use the flower stamp that came with the set so I used markers once again to stamp it directly on the white card. Next, I attached the red elephant to the white card so that the trunk was right over the flower. It really looks like the elephant is carrying the flower!  Finally, I used the same pink marker to stamp the sentiment on the bottom of the card. To add a little bit of extra embellishment, I used a white gel pen to stitch along the bottom strip of red paper and attached two small 3D heart stickers on the top. 

OWH Challenge #2

Hello! I decided to make some cards this afternoon so I thought I would also post on the blog. I made this card for the Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge #2. The sketch had a 2 inch strip down the left hand side of the card with a square in the middle that measured 2.5 x3.5. Finally, the sketch included a ribbon on the top. 

Although we have had this stamp for a while, I thought it would be fun to use it for this challenge. Unfortunately, I do not remember who made the stamp. I used colored pencils to color in the birds and blue Pebbles Inc. chalk for the sky. The chalk gives it a very delicate look which is nice for the sky. I then mounted the the stamp on Bazzil red and pearlized yellow paper. Around Thanksgiving, Robin and I won a prize at a local Scrapboking store that included a bunch of different papers. One of the sheets in the grab-bag was a piece of yellow and red check paper from Sassafras. The pattern is known as 'Daisy Dots'. I used this paper as the 2 inch strip for the background.  I then used a piece of beige ribbon to top off the design. The sentiment is from A Muse Artstamps. I used the same red paper that I used for the bird stamp to back the sentiment. Finally, I used glossy accents 3D liquid to add some dimension to the birds. Although it may be hard to see, the glossy accents makes it so that they are 3D which is really cool. I hope you enjoy the card!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh my!

Good evening! I finished my work tonight and decided to make some cards. There was a challenge on the Operation Write Home website this week to make a card using a template that they provided. The template had a 3x3 square in the middle with a 1 inch strip down the side. I decided to use the new Sei Zoo Pals paper pack that I got last weekend to make this card. First, I cut a 3x3 square out of the lion paper. I then cut out two more lions to pop them up. I initially raised the whole lion off of the paper and then popped the mane/face again so that the overall lion is layered on the card and appears to be 3D. A strip of green paper from the same pack was used on the edge and is 1 inch wide. Finally, the sentiment comes from the Stampin' Up 'Wild About You' Stamp set. Since I do not have an orange ink-pad, I used a marker to stamp the sentiment. I then punched it out using the Clever Lever oval punch and backed it with a yellow/orange paper. Finally, I placed a green ribbon on the bottom to embellish the card a little bit more. I hope you enjoy! 

Seashells

Good afternoon! I just finished doing some reading for one of my  classes so I thought it would be a nice break to post a card on the blog. Robin has been stuck home all this week because of workmen in the apartment. While she doesn't exactly enjoy having to stay in the house all day, she did get a chance to make some amazing cards!  I can't wait to go home and see them. As soon as we get them photographed we will post them on the blog. 

It was pretty cold in New York today- I think the weather channel said it felt like 26 degrees when I left for class this morning. Walking back to my room, all I could think about was vacationing in a warmer climate. Therefore, when I went to pick a card for the post today, I thought this would be a great one. For all of you in the northeast, I hope this generates some warm thoughts of sunny days and sandy beaches. 

Robin created this card when we returned from our trip to Florida. She used the Clever Lever punches to create three dark brown squares. Although it may be hard to see, the brown paper actually has a really nice sheen to it. She then punched out three white squares that were slightly smaller. The shells are these beautiful stickers from Paper House Productions. They are incredibly realistic which is what drew us to them in the first place. I believe we bought them at Michael's Craft Store, although I have seen them in many stores recently. We have them in shells, butterflies, popsicles, and roses. They are slightly translucent so it is best to place them on white or light paper. The sentiment is a black rub off from Pebbles Inc. There is something very elegant about this card, with its clean lines and simple layout. Recently, Robin and I have been trying to make cards that are appropriate for both men and women. I think this card fits the bill perfectly! 

Hummingbird

Good evening! First of all, I want to apologize for not posting anything since last week! When I started this blog I made a decision that no matter what was going on in my life I would continue to update at least every couple of days. Yet, with the stress and confusion that always comes with the first week of  a new semester at school, I did exactly what I promised myself I would not do: put the blog on the back burner.  

It is the beginning of the second week of classes and things still feel quite foreign. Usually the semester starts off quite lightly, yet this past weekend I had a fair amount of work. Luckily, Sunday afternoon I did get an hour or so to make a few cards, which was incredibly relaxing. I am hoping that as the semester progresses, I can use the blog as a way to spend 10 or 15 minutes a couple days per week away from the stress of school. Therefore, I am as determined as ever to keep this going!

Before school started I selected some cards that I wanted to display on the blog. If you have read some of the previous posts, you probably will not be surprised that I chose this card. The hummingbird stamp is quite delicate and perfect for coloring. It comes from the Inkadinkado Inchies- Butterflies and Birds stamp set. I colored the bird and flowers with various Copic markers. I then used Pebbles light blue chalk to color the border of the stamp. The chalk makes it easy to add a little bit of color without it being too dark. I think it looks like the sky which is a nice touch for a stamp of a bird. The blue and green squares were created using the Clever Lever punches. The stamp was then placed on a piece of  purple and white paper from a Mat Stacks set. I actually designed this card with the back (solid purple) paper in mind. I had just received my first set of Core'dinations paper and wanted to try to make a card with it. The papers we got were all solid colors and had a little bit of texture to them. The cool thing is that when you tear them, the inner core comes through. The piece I selected for this card was dark purple on the outside with a light purple core. I thought the colors went nicely with the purple flowers in the stamped image. Using a paper cutter, I created  a strip of the dark purple paper that was slightly wider than I wanted it to be. Tearing the edges of the strip exposed the lighter color. I had trouble tearing the paper evenly, so that the lighter purple was even all around. The sentiment was printed on my computer and then backed with the same Core'dinations purple paper. Despite the fact that I had some trouble with the new paper, the final product came out quite nicely! 

Pawsing... to say hi

School starts again today. I enjoy school but I will definitely miss my wonderful break! It was quite cold out during my vacation, so Robin and I spent many days inside making cards for Operation Write Home. It was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. We also had a chance to bake! Anyway, I thought I would post a card before my first class this morning. Although this card is very simple, I have always loved it. 

Unfortunately, I am not sure who makes the dog stamp that was used on the card. I do remember that we purchased the it from Michael's Craft Store. I colored the dog using colored pencils. It was stamped on white cardstock and then mounted on a light brown and dark brown piece of paper. Finally, the image was then placed on a yellow check strip of paper from Mat Stacks. The sentiment was printed from the computer and then mounted on the same dark brown paper. As I said above, this is a really simple card. Yet, I think it is the perfect variation on the classic 'thinking of you' or 'Hi' note. Robin and I sent many cards like this to Operation Write Home. I hope some little kid will enjoy getting this card from a parent or family member overseas. 

Cupcakes

Good morning! Every time Robin and I talk about what cards to post next, this birthday card comes up as a must. So, I decided to post it this morning. I have to say that Robin and I make a lot of birthday cards. We figure that the soldiers often need birthday cards and there is always someone we know who is celebrating a special day. Therefore, on a recent trip to Michael's Craft Store, when we saw the new Martha Stewart Cupcake stamp and punch combination, we had to buy it. While Martha Stewart Crafts has always made a basic cupcake punch, this new tool comes with three clear stamps as well as a punch. Therefore, you can stamp your image on cardstock and then punch it out using the punch. The first stamp is just the bottom of the cupcake, the second is just the top decorated with sprinkles. Finally, the last stamp is the combination- the entire cupcake which has the bottom wrapper and the sprinkled top. 

For this card, I chose to use the stamp that only has the bottom wrapper, as I wanted to use brightly colored papers to make the tops. When I made this card, we only had darker ink pads and I did not want to stamp the top of the cupcake in black or navy blue etc. Therefore, the first thing I did was stamp the bottom wrapper using Archival Jet Black ink on a white piece of cardstock. I then punched it out using the punch portion of the tool. Next, I selected various colors of Bazzil Paper. As you can see from the card, I used different pinks/reds/coral. I chose some that were regular matte paper and others that had a gorgeous sheen to them. Finally, the top cupcake came from a random piece of patterned paper that happened to look like sprinkles. After I picked the papers I wanted, I stamped each one out with the punch. I then trimmed the colored pieces to the size I wanted and attached them with tape to a bottom. Once the cupcakes had been assembled, I attached 6 to each card. Next, I used the Stampendous 'Hey There Cupcake' Clear Stamp set to put sprinkles on the bottom 5 cupcakes. I used A Recollection's small pearl on the top cupcake for a cherry. Finally, I used the same cupcake stamp set to put the sentiment on the bottom of the card. 

Although this card does have many steps, each one is quite easy thanks to the new Martha Stewart Stamp and Punch tool. This punch comes in other shapes including a butterfly, bird, snowflake, flower and a leaf. They are quite easy to use and alleviate the difficult task of cutting out stamped images. 

Hey There Cupcake

As I have mentioned before, I really like to work with small stamps. The cupcake in the card above is one of those smaller stamps that I work with frequently. It comes form the Stampendous 'Hey There Cupcake' Clear Stamp set. While there are many "cupcake" stamp sets on the market, I really like this one because there are so many different ways it can be used. Instead of a regular stamp set that comes with pre-formed cupcakes, this set includes six different cupcake tops and six different bottoms, which can be mixed and matched to your liking. It also comes with adorable toppings for your cupcakes, such as a cherry, sprinkles or candles. Finally, the set includes  sentiments that can be put together to form a phrase. I really like how small the sentiments are; as you can see from the card above they are very delicate and not overwhelming. 

For this card, I chose a cupcake top and bottom that I liked. I stamped both on white paper and then proceeded to color them. The bottom was colored with different shades of brown colored pencils. The top was colored using Pebbles Inc. chalk. I find that these chalks give you a really nice, almost fluffy look, which was perfect for the cupcake. The cupcake was mounted on a purple scalloped square and then placed on a lavender and white strip of paper from one of our Die Cuts With a View Mat Stacks. Finally, the sentiment was stamped with an Archival Ink Pad in Jet Black. It was mounted on the same papers as the cupcake. Both pieces were then placed on a purple card. Although it is a lot of purple, I really like the finished product. 

Happy Tape

This past December, Martha Stewart Magazine featured a write up about a type of Japanese Masking Tape made from washi paper. Unlike regular masking tape, the rolls come in vibrant colors and geometric patterns that really add a lot to any craft project. As Martha Stewart mentioned in her article, the tape is really easy to tear and reposition. The tape can be purchased from happytape.com and comes either as a single roll or in gorgeous color combination packages. 

Our first order of Happy Tape arrived mid December. We purchased a pink and white stripe as well as a white and pink polka dot tape, as we had already started to make Valentine's Day cards. I have to say that I loved the tape almost immediately. They are really easy to use and add a great deal of color to a card. While we make a lot of cards, Robin and I are still fairly new to this. I have to say that I often make mistakes on my cards. Perhaps this is why I love this tape so much. It is just so easy to pull the piece up and reposition it. So if the tape is not perfectly straight or perhaps would look better a few inches up, it is not a problem. Just pick it up, and move it. 

While I fell in love with the tape almost immediately, Robin was much more skeptical. She liked what the tape looked like on the finished cards, but was hesitant about using it. Yet, in the past few days, she has discovered how easy this product is to use. In fact she begged me to write a post about it- "tell them how wonderful the tape is" she exclaimed. Now both she and I love to use the tape to embellish our cards. 

Robin made this card yesterday. She used her favorite tools, the Clever Lever Punches, to create the diamond. The different blue papers go incredibly well with each other and the white button is the perfect finish. Finally, she embellished the card using a dark blue strip of Happy Tape. The 'Miss you' sentiment is a small Amuse Art Stamp.

 In the same article mentioned above, Martha Stewart also suggested using the tape to embellish wrapping paper. It comes in so many different colors and patterns that the possibilities for its use are endless. Enjoy!

Love Bug

Valentine's Day is coming up soon so I thought I would share one of the cards we recently made. When surfing the Internet the other day, I read that The Greeting Card Association estimated that 1 billion Valentine cards are sent every year world wide. It is thought to be the second most popular card sending holiday, right after Christmas. Therefore, when Operation Write Home announced that they were starting to collect Valentine's Day cards, Robin and I immediately started. We bought all different red and pink papers, new stamps and embellishments. 

On a recent trip to A.C. Moore I purchased these ladybug 3D stickers from Jolee's Boutique. They were different shades of pink and red, perfect for Valentine's day. I also loved the small jewel eyes and the wire antennae that protruded from their small, delicate heads. When I got home from the store, I decided to design some Valentine's day cards based on these ladybug stickers. The ladybug was mounted on a Clever Lever (blue) scalloped circle. I used a pearl pink paper for this, which really seemed to work well with the colors in the sticker. The whole thing is then mounted on a white circle created from the Extra Giga Clever Lever punch. A small piece of white ribbon was used on the bottom to add a little texture to the card. Finally, the sentiment comes from the Inkadinkado - Heartful of Love clear stamp set. 

Robin and I have made many Valentine's Day cards over the past 6 weeks or so for Operation Write Home and I hope to share them with everyone soon.

Merry Christmas

Even though the holidays are over, I thought it would be fun to put up some of the Christmas cards that we made this season. Over the summer, we purchased a Die Cuts with a View Ultimate Scrapbook Kit for Christmas. It came with wonderful holiday papers, stickers, chipboard, ribbon, quotes and tons of embellishments. We used this kit to make the majority of our holiday cards, although we often supplemented it with stickers and embellishments from a local craft store. 

This card was made using the white and red stripe paper from the DCWV kit. A strip of dark green Bazzil Paper was added and embellished with two santa hat 3D stickers. These stickers were one of my favorite embellishments this past holiday season. They were very soft and had the perfect fluffy white trim and pom pom. The gold corners and strip on the bottom are from a metallic sticker set found in many kits from Ecstasy Crafts. In the years past, Robin and I did not make that many Christmas cards. Yet, this past season we made a couple hundred holiday cards, all of which were mailed to the soldiers over seas. It was a lot of fun!

Punches

While we have acquired many new card making tools over the past year or so, I would say that our favorite find has to be the Clever Lever punches. We have found that some of the older punches, with the button that must be pushed down, are quite hard to use. They require a lot of pressure and often get jammed. Because of this, we frequently shied away from punches. Yet, the Clever Lever punches have changed everything. What started with one or two smaller punches has turned into a major collection of varying sizes and colors. The fact that the punches are color coded by size has made card making quite effortless. 

While I have used these punches quite a bit, Robin is actually the one who has become so amazing at using them. She carefully layers the various squares or circles to create gorgeous cards, such as the one above. On many of her cards, she starts with one of the smaller (1 inch) punches and makes her way up to the largest one. It creates a really nice layered look. The key to these cards seems to be the color choice for the paper, as they must work together yet be different enough that each one can be seen individually. On this particular card, the layers were made using various papers, including some from a new Martha Stewart Crafts valentine's day paper pack. A flower sticker from the Martha Stewart Collection was placed in the middle. The sentiment comes from the Hero Arts Stamp set- Thinking of you. 

Up until a few weeks ago, Robin and I thought that the Purple Giga Punch was the largest one in the line. Yet while away on vacation, we discovered that there is actually a larger punch, known as the Extra Giga Craft Punch. These punches are light green/aqua. I have to say that when Robin first saw this huge green punch, her eyes lit up as if she had discovered something truly amazing. We have not been able to find these large green punches in NYC but luckily my Grandma has been able to get them in FL and is willing to ship them up north. I was so excited when a package arrived from her- Robin looked at it and exclaimed- our punch arrived! So Grandma if you are reading this- Thank you so much! We love the punch!  I am sure you will see us use these punches more and more in the future. 

Wild About You

A week or so ago I learned about a stamp set that included the phrase "Wild about you". Many of the cards for the soldiers are ultimately sent to children in their families. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to make some cards that were geared toward young children. For this card, I used the Alligator stamp from Amuse Stamps. I stamped the image twice on white paper. I colored the first one in with a light green marker. On the second image, I only colored in the legs with a darker green. I then proceeded to cut them out. This was not the easiest task, as the legs were quite small. Once I cut them out, I used a small pop up dot to attach the cut out legs to the original stamped image. This gave the card some dimension and almost made it look like the alligator was walking off the card. The stamp was backed with a piece of textured green paper. Finally, the sentiment was placed below. While this is a really simple card, I hope that it will brighten the day of a young child. 

Today I received a few new animal stamps which I hope to use with the 'Wild about you' phrase. We got an elephant, giraffe, lion and penguin. Hopefully I will get to make some cards with the new stamps shortly and will post them. 

Inchie Crazy

Most people who know me well know that I love small things. I prefer donut holes to larger donuts, sliders over regular burgers etc. So it should be no surprise that I absolutely fell in love with Inchie stamps when I first learned about them this past summer. I remember that Robin actually found these wonderful stamps on-line very late one night. Before leaving for work the next morning, she woke me up, and said that I should check them out- she had a feeling that I was going to LOVE them. And I did. I spent most of that day searching the internet, trying to find out where to buy the tiles and stamps and how best to use them on greeting cards.

 

This was the start of my obsession with Inchie stamps. I’m sure you will see many cards on this website using an Inchie stamp or tile in the future.  I made this card before purchasing any official Inchie stamps or products. Therefore, I used the yellow, one inch Clever Lever punch to create four white squares. To start, I taped the white squares down to my table using removable double-sided tape so that they would not move when I stamped them. I used my favorite ink pad- the Archival Ink Pad Jet Black to stamp the image of the sunflower over the white squares. I then colored the image using Copic markers. Finally, the squares were mounted on solid brown paper and then on a paper with a gorgeous gold stripe. The gold sentiment at the bottom came from Ecstacy Crafts.

 

While this is not the typical Inchie card that we make, at the time, I did not own any stamps that would fit within the one inch white tiles, so I had to compromise. Today, I seek out different Inchie stamps, especially the Itty Bitty’s from Lockhart Stamp Company. These stamps are just too cute! I am sure we will post some cards made with traditional Inchie stamps in the future, so keep your eyes out for them. I hope you are inspired by this awesome technique as much as I was when I first saw it many months ago. 

Flower Pot

 On a recent trip to Pompano Beach, FL, Robin and I learned how to emboss using the Cuttlebug machine. We originally thought that embossing required an embossing tool and a light box, yet we learned how simple and quick the process can be using the Cuttlebug. Initially, we bought the 'happy birthday' and 'thank you' folders. Within a week, we purchased two more. One of my favorites is the Spots and Dots, which I used for the above card. As soon as we arrived in FL, Robin and I looked up stamp and scrapbooking stores. We found a wonderful store quite near where we were staying. Living in NYC, we don't have a lot of access to typical stamp and craft stores. Therefore, we were like two young kids in a candy store! 

I have always loved the stamps from Lockhart Stamp Company but they are very hard to find anywhere near our home. I originally learned about the company because of their Inchie stamps. 

This card was created using a Lockhart flower pot stamp and then colored using a combination of colored pencils and Copic markers. The centers of the flowers are micro beads from the Martha Stewart Collection at Michael's Craft Stores. It is mounted on a yellow Clever Lever Circle followed by their blue scalloped circle. Finally, the sentiment came from the Hero Arts Thinking of You stamp set. Often, when I get a good idea, I try to make multiple cards using the same layout. For this, I varied the color of the background paper and the color of the flowers. Although the coloring and beading was a lot of work, the final product was lovely. I hope the soldiers enjoy these cards. 

Have a Sweet Day

Hi- Our first post- so exciting!

This is a card that we just finished after a recent trip to Michael's Craft Store. The cupcakes are Recollection stickers, which are wonderful. They are placed on squares made using two different Clever Lever punches. We printed the saying from our computer and backed it using the same purple check paper that is behind the cupcakes. Enjoy!