Easter card

I don't know why the pale plum does not show up well,
but the patterned area extends just beyond top of flower.

STAMPS: Art of Life (retired, Stampin' Up), Happy Easter (Rubber Soul)
PAPER: Lap of Luxery (Darice), Great White (Darice)
INK: Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum (SU)
ACCESSORIES: Grograin Ribbon

Happy St Patrick's Day

A card for the day, combining my two top hobbies

Misc. Cards

Every year, I make up a set of cards for a friend, which she and her mother use for her father's church (for themselves or for others to use). I do up a bunch of similar designs, usually 30-50 cards, and try to use up some of the odds and ends leftover from other projects. Here is a selection of cards made for her this year. I was a bit limited as I was out of my standard white invitation envelopes, so had to use card bases from a set received as a gift several years ago (original packaging long gone). Most of the greetings were printed on the computer, with the exception of some "Happy Birthday" stamps from Stampin' Up's "Sincere Greetings" set. Patterned paper is from DCWV

Fall Birthday Collection

A few fall birthday cards for the ladies . . .

I love this stamp, and have one more in that series ("Reese") -- I didn't discover them until they were on clearance, so missed getting others that went with them. Greeting on the inside is from Endless Creations and says, "Happy Birthday / Hoping this greeting finds you celebrating in style!"


Stamps: Julia (Stampendous)
Paper: DCWV, Recollections
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Colored pencils, blender pen, oval punches (Marvy), Computer printed gretting, Word Window punch (Stampin' Up)

Thursday Thirteen 286: Things Found in the Craft Workspace

This is a take on the "what's on my desk" lists often seen for this meme. Since my desk tends to be pretty orderly, I thought I'd share a few pics of the craft work area, also known as my dining room table. The space is currently set up for making cards, but I use many of the same products for scrapbooks.

Thirteen things you might find on the table:




First, an over-view of the table. No, it does not always look this orderly.
Note the white paper laid down in the actual stamping space.
This is important for protecting the table surface and testing ink combos
and design before stamping on cardstock.



1. Punches. I have at least 50 punches, in a variety of shapes
and sizes. Here you see a couple of circles, a square,
a ribbon punch, and a scalloped border punch. 



2. Stamps, both wood and clear. The vast majority are from
Stampin' Up, but Inkadinkado, Hero Arts and Stampendous
are also well represented.



3. Brads, in assorted colors and sizes 
4. Paper flowers from Prima and Hero Arts
5. Stamp cleaning pad (the black thing)



6. Ink pads, all from Stampin' Up. These are only a few of my
most-used colors. I have dozens more at my disposal.



7. Cards in progress.



8. Assorted ribbon and fibers (The tissue box holds ribbon remnants)
9. Cutting and scoring tool--the orange piece at top is a ruler that swings
out for measuring cardstock. The orange blade cuts, black blade scores. 



10. Tools -- scissors, ruler, hole piercing kit, stamp cleaner, etc.



11. Assorted paper -- this stack changes with the seasons and by project.
I have stacks of paper, including an entire bin just for Christmas.
12. Sketches (templates) printed from online for inspiration.



13. Tombow Mono Adhesive (two-sided tape in a dispenser)
and dimensionals for putting things together.

BONUS -- 14. Box for finished cards.

LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen

{Birthday Sentiments} card set

This is a set of ten birthday cards made for my own use. The stamps are a clear set I have not used much and are from one of my favorite companies, Inkadinkado. I tried to use coordinating paper scraps with a vintage look for these cards. Most of the images are popped up with dimensionals. The colors and style make them ideal for male or female, and though some are similar, they are all different. Click on any photo for a better view.



This is my least favorite image in the set. It is larger than the others, taking up most of the card front. I'm thinking it might work better with a tall, skinny card -- might have to play around with that . . .





Three of the cards side by side.




MATERIALS

Stamps: Birthday Sentiments (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Wausaus Paper (white), DCWV (some designer paper), Assorted paper scraps
Ink: Basic Black (Stampin' Up)
Accessories: Brads, Dimensionals, Scalloped Edge border punch (Stampin' Up), Unknown border punch*


* I have no idea how I acquired this punch...whether a friend gave it to me as a gift or I purchased it on my own. There is no company name on the punch, which is unusual, and is making it difficult for me to find the name of the punch. I am fairly certain it is not from Stampin' Up, as their name is printed prominently on other punches I have by them. I do not think it is by Fiskars, as their name is on other products of their I own. It does not look like a Martha Stewart. Hindsight being what it is, I should have checked for company/product name when i opened it, and made my own label when I found none on it.




The unidentified border punch



Anniversary and Birthday Cards

I have been horrible about uploading stuff lately, and I have a bunch of cards I've been meaning to share, going back to December. So, here are a few to get us started.

Anniversary card for Sis and BIL, using SC384. The image is an older retired one from Stampin' Up.

Birthday card for The Bug -- this is a 4.25" square card. I really should have looked at what I did for her last before making this. Without realizing it or meaning to, I did something similar to last year's card. Oops. To be fair, they use different stamp sets and one is predominantly purple, while the other is pink, but still.  You may be sure I won't make that mistake again this year.

Another quick card using SC384. What can I say? I had a bunch of cards done up for this sketch with various designer papers, just needed to add images and/or greetings to them. I have a few other cards using this sketch to share later.

A friend's birthday card, using a Verve Stamps sketch and dragonfly brads.

And two final cards to share today, using another Verve sketch. I was apparently going through a teal phase earlier this month. *G*

Though I did not join the "official" challenge, the dragonfly and cupcake cards would be the first three in the "100 cards in 100 days" challenge. More on that to follow...eventually. *G*

Stamp Out Illiteracy

Some bookmarks I made recently...

STAMPS: Max the Mouse (Stampendous); Bookworm (Hanna Stamps--now out of business)
PAPER: None
INK: Basic Black (Stampin' Up)
ACCESSORIES: Tags (Unknown vendor); Colored Pencils (PrismaColor); Blender Pen; Ribbon

Thursday Thirteen 232: Christmas Gifts

Two weeks ago I shared many of the homemade gifts I was giving for Christmas 2011. Here are a few of the things I was grateful to receive.



1. Two books by Patricia Cornwell, Isle of Dogs (Andy Brazil #3) and All That Remains (Kay Scarpetta #3); Sense of Evil (Bishop #6) by Kay Hooper; Holly Lane (Destiny #4) by Toni Blake; and Tombs of Endearment (Pepper Martin #3) by Casey Daniels.



2. Mary Engelbreit Day-to-Day Calendar.



3. Pail of homemade sausage balls from one friend—these were so good, they did not survive the week—and a loaf of homemade chocolate chip bread from another, which is almost gone. Soooo good!.

4. Chocolate: Lindor Dark Chocolate Truffles and Peppermint Bark. Mmm...

5. DVD: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One (I have a feeling part two is coming for my birthday).

6. DVD: Monk, Season Three—received first two last year.

7. DVD: Psych, Season Four—now to acquire season five...not that I'm greedy or anything! *G*

8. CD: Christmas by Michael Bublé.




9. Four clear stamp sets, including “Trick or Treat” by Inkadinkado and “French Market” by Tim Holtz.



10. Two Tim Holtz embossing folders, “Artful Muse (3-pack)” and “Frame and Postal (2-pack” (for card making) .



11. Sizzix “Butterflies and Vines” border die and Martha Stewart “Spiderweb” border punch.



12. Four ornaments, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse glass icicles from Disney World, and two different snowmen.



13. Glass angel that lights up and is nearly a foot tall (sorry, forgot to take pic before I packed away the Christmas decorations).


Was there a favorite gift you received this past holiday season?

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