WMSC#62-Sewing Box Christmas

I guess I have officially started the holiday season as I brought out my holiday stamp equipment along with my great big box of paper, stamps and punches.  Today I made a tag for Waltzingmouse Stamps Sketch Challenge #62 which is a tag.  Yesterday, I made a card with a tag on it.  Today, I made a tag all by itself.  First, here is the sketch by Anya Schreier:

Here is my tag:

For this card I decided to use Sewing Box Christmas.  

Sewing Box Christmas

So many images to choose from, but for this one, the holly image won out.  I stamped it on some patterned paper by DCWV called the Christmas Combo, all left over from last Christmas.  I stamped the holly twice and cut the layers out and popped them up with dimensionals.  The holly berries are also a little circular image from Sewing Box Christmas stamped on more of the Christmas Combo Paper.  The striped holly layer, big surprise, Christmas Combo Paper too.  I zig zag stitched around the edges and layered another identical white tag to the back to hide the stitching.  I cut a few little banners to stamp my sentiment on and attached them with little mini clothespins dyed with food coloring.  The final touch was a little bow tied with my bow easy.  I love this tag and will have to think long and hard whose present to attach it to.  Thanks for taking a look at my first little bit of Holiday spirit for the 2011 season.

WMSC#62:Sewing Box Hugs

I am so excited to share this card today.  I received a little advice from my very sweet and talented friend, Renee who makes beautiful cards with Waltzingmouse stamps.  She has been Top Mouse 3 times so far and the Big Cheese once or maybe even twice (I've lost count, it's so often!).  I had asked Renee to honestly tell me how to make my cards better.  I wanted her to be brutal, and not to worry about hurting my feelings.  Her advice was to SLOW DOWN, take my time as I design and create a card.  She advised me to think, think and think some more.  She ran me through her design process and I was determined to give her suggestions a try.  The result is this card.   I thought about it all day Sat. and I chose the stamp set I wanted to use.  That was as far as I got on the first day.  The second day, I chose the patterned papers and roughly laid out the card the way I pictured it in my mind.  Today, I finished assembling the card.  Three days is a long time for me to work on a card.  I have to admit I really enjoyed the "process" so much more.  I ended up changing the card around several times, altered the card shape, changed the color of the doily and even had some help from my son and his wife choosing the ribbon and button color.  I had fun making this card.  This is one I am really proud of and can not wait to send it to the recipient.  So, now that I have told you this very long story, here is the card I made using the Waltzingmouse Sketch #62 designed by Anya Schrier.

I made a card with a tag using Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box Hugs.  

Sewing Box Hugs


This is a large card, 5 1/2" square.  Much bigger than my usual cards, but with an extra large tag, it just had to be big.  I chose some patterned papers by My Minds Eye (Home, Glitter). and smokey shadow and rustic cream cardstock for the tag.  I impressed the cream tag with a woodgrain impression plate for texture.  I die cut a doily and sponged it with tea dye for a little aging.  The main images from Sewing Box Hugs were stamped onto some gingham paper I made using aqua mist ink.  This stamp set looks SO GREAT stamped on gingham.  I cut three double ended banners for the little sentiments and added a few flowers, also from Sewing Box Hugs.  For a little frill, I added some lace and pearls to the tag as well as to the centers of the main images.  The absolute last thing I did was tie a little bow using some wrinkled ribbon.  This is the part where my son and daughter-in-law helped me choose between aqua mist ribbon or vintage cream ribbon.  Vintage Cream won out in the end.  I'm not sure if this is the best card ever made, but it sure was the best card I have made in a while.  Thanks for sticking with me on this very long post!

Houndstooth Baby Girl Card

Today I made a baby card at my husband's request.  Yes, I said it.  At my husbands request.  He has only asked me one other time to make a card, so I was pretty excited this time, and this one was a baby card!  I sent him back and forth a few times to find out the sex of the baby and when he needed the card for the office shower, but once I got the info I needed, I knew exactly which set I wanted to use.  I just got the Houndstooth background stamp from Papertrey Ink and thought it would make an adorable baby card stamped in pink.  I have the elephant Click Simple template converted to a file I can resize on my cricut, so I resized it to fit on a Mat Stack #1 diecut.  I also got to use a Layerz Mat Stack diecut to make a beautiful pink and houndstooth focal point layer.  Also used on this card was a cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder, a double ended banner a sentiment from Baby Button Bits and some pearls for the elephants eyes and cascading out of her trunk.  I love the little elephant ear stamped with the houndstooth pattern.  I only hope my husband doesn't lose this before the shower next week.  I wouldn't put it past him to run out to Hallmark and replace it with something store bought!

Papertrey Ink August Blog Hop

                                                     Isn't this a gorgeous inspiration photo?

Today I have made a card for the August Papertrey Ink Blog Hop and this pretty photo is to be our inspiration.  With so much to see in this photo if you really look closely, choosing what parts of it to use for my card was tough.  I finally settled on my love of the colors and patterns of the dress in the photo along with the bookprint and color red.  Here is my card:

If you look very closely at the inspiration photo, you will see that the girl in the picture is wearing a gingham dress which has what look to be embroidered white flowers along the bottom of the dress.  To get this effect, I used blueberry sky cardstock stamped with an IO CAC Roses background stamp to create the subtle white flower background using fresh snow ink.  I stamped a gingham background using some A Muse ink (blueberry) and cut both it and a layer of bookprint using Papertrey Ink's Edger Die #3, overlapping them slightly.  I cut a frame from the gingham layer using a Fillable Frame and one of my most favorite sentiments from Think Big Favorites # 3 in pure poppy ink.  I wrapped some red/white twine around the layers before I adhered them to the cardstock base.  Now, for no other reason than I wanted to try making one, I added a red flower made with the new Papertrey ink Bloom Builder #3 die.  I love how that red flower really pops against the blue gingham background.  This was a quick and easy card to make, hope you enjoy the blog hop!

One Last Card for WMSC#61

I hadn't planned to make three cards for this weeks Waltzingmouse sketch challenge, but today I had an idea.  How many times have you said that?  Here is the sketch that I ended up loving so much I couldn't stop using it: 

And here is my card:

Halloween Party

I used Waltzingmouse Halloween Party again for this one.  Such a great set with so many uses other than just a party invitation set.  To make this card I first stamped some Waltzingmouse     Text-It gothic style text using smokey shadow ink onto some spider web patterned paper I have had since last Halloween.  The gray ink gave a very subtle texture to the patterned paper.  I used orange ink with one of the sentiment stamps to create a background for the circle focal point.  I then stamped the witch silhouette in black right on top.  I love how it turned out.  I layered that over a lavender circle and a black pinked circle.  The polka dot paper and orange rick rack diecut is from last years stash.  I added a few bats and also a double ended banner stamped with a sentiment and some images from Halloween Party.  This is one of my favorite Waltzingmouse cards so far.  I plan to give it to my little niece who is going to be a witch for this Halloween.  Thanks for taking a look!

WMSC #61- This one is for me

Today I did something I never do.  I made something for me.  No one else, just for me.  I have had a pretty bad couple of weeks. 

Here's the sketch by Sara Martina Parker.










Here is what I made:

 My mom is in the early phases of dementia.  It hasn't been that bad so far, my dad has been the one who has dealt with it on a daily basis.  Two weeks ago, my dad had a mini stroke.  Again, wasn't too serious, he was home quickly but had to have some surgery a few days later.  After the surgery, he has totally changed.  He can't do everything he used to, but it is not 100% permanent.  He could recover completely.  Thing is, his spirit is broken.  He has given up.  No amount of rational explanation has sunk in and he is so sad and depressed.  He's treating each day as if he is going to drop dead the next.  Giving away all of his things, paying future bills way too early, just not acting like my dad used to. 

I have had this heavy blanket of sadness hanging over me lately and I decided that I needed a little pep talk myself.  This little framed card is going to sit on my desk at work.  I love this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt.  It is from Waltzingmouse Afternoon Tea Sentiments which I just got a few days ago.

 I can't believe how appropriate this sentiment is for the way I have been feeling.  I have to be strong, especially at a time when my parents can't be.  To make the card I stamped a subtle background on dark chocolate cardstock.  The patterned papers are from Webster's pages, Country Estate.  The colors are so delicate and pretty, especially paper pieced for the cute tea cup.  I did a little stitching on this one, added some pearls to the teacup and adhered a bit of cream colored lace at the bottom.  The flowers are just something I have had in my stash forever.  I hope my dad gets better.  I really do think he will, but no matter what, I will have to be the one who is strong now, something I learned from my dad.

Next post, going to be something a lot more cheerful, promise.

Sweet As Can Be

It is no secret that all of us cardmakers have way too many stamps and have a hard time using everything that we have.  Today I am sharing a card I made with some dies and stamps I am just getting around to using.  A few months ago I bought the dies for PTI's Sweet As Can Be set and both stamps and dies for Half and Half.  I have had them quite a while now and had only opened and put them away in their CD case.  Finally, I have broken them out and I am so glad that I did.  I made this card in minutes, that was how quick it came together.

Isn't this pretty and almost good enough to eat?

I chose felt colors that looked to me like rainbow sherbet.  The cardstock is melon berry stamped in versamark with IO CAC "Distressed Dots".  I love that I only have to stamp one time and cover the whole card.  I did the same thing with the Half and Half diecut using versamark to stamp IO CAC "Gingham".  The ice cream cone is cut from kraft cardstock and embossed with the SU Square Lattice embossing folder.  I stamped the sentiment in from Half and Half in dark chocolate ink and wrapped some brown/white twine around the diecut.  Originally, I only had the rhinestone sprinkles on the top scoop of ice cream, but my daugher Carly said, "There can never be enough sprinkles!", so rhinestones are EVERYWHERE.  Thanks for taking a look at my Sweet as Can Be card.