More Just Johanna

Another card using my Just Johanna stamps. When I originally considered ordering some of Johanna's designs I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull off cards with the small images. I thought I would purchase a few stamps to challange myself to work with a stamp size I'm not typically comfortable using. I'm finding that I love her stamps and since it seems I am managing to come up some palatable designs, I now think I *gasp* might need more stamps!! LOL!

My thoughts for this card was that there are lots of ordinary "chicks" (aka as birds for my card! hee hee) out there but close friends are extra special...hence my fancy little chick with her lovely hat! The dimension of this card has not photographed well but all of the birds are sitting on some dimensional tape, which pops them off the card, and the sentiment has been embossed on a mousepad to give it some dimension as well. The birds were colored with watercolor pencils.

I'll need to play around a bit more with my JJ stamps but I'm really enjoying them!! They're so darn fun!

Happy Wednesday!

Supplies:
All stamps by Just Johanna
Patterend paper by Amy Butler
Base cardstock, ink, watercolor pencils by Stampin' Up!
Swirl stamp is a Walmart special :-)

The Unforgettables Crop for Kids

Wanted to bring some attention to an upcoming crop, being held in CA, to raise donations for The Unforgettables Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit charity that raises money to help grieving families with expenses after a child has died. This is going to be a large two-day event with raffles for amazing prizes (the big prize is a free photo shoot with Tara Whitney, who is a fantastic photographer) and lots of scrapbooking! You can view full details at Karen Wilson's blog but here are the basics: Date: January 26, 2008 9:30 a.m. - January 27, 2008 2:00 a.m. Cost: $100 per scrapbooker + a donation of at least $100 for TUF (prizes for the higest donations will be awarded!) Cost covers 2 meals, t-shirt, goodie bag & more! Lots of opportunity drawings will be held to win retreat weekends with friends - and so much more! Location: Redlands, California Contact: Karen Wilson - theunforgettablesfoundation@verizon.net if you would like to register or sponsor our event. Availability: 200 crop spaces Fundraising Goal: $50,000Please visit our website for more information about what we do to help grieving families after the death of their child. http://www.theunforgettables.com/ I'm talking with one of my local scrapbooking stores to see if they'd like to host a smaller one-day event. I'll provide more details as those plans solidify. I can hardly imagine the pain associated with losing a child, it makes me weep to even consider it. While nothing could ease such the ache that would come from losing a child, this, at the very least, is a way to help alleviate some of the financial burden. So if you live in the Redlands (and hopefully New England) areas, consider signing up, donating, or participating in some way!

Just Blessed

A congratulations card created for a friend who just had a baby. Ruth, over at Paper and Pearls, welcomed a third beautiful baby into their family about a month ago. He's beautiful! Hopefully she has already received this card so I'm not ruining the surprise! :-)

This card was created with some of my favorite stamps from Papertreyink. One of the things I love about acrylic stamps is that you can alter the layout of an image. The "blessed" sentiment has been bend to fit the circle.

And how about those photo corners? Aren't they great? Nichole Heady posted a tutorial on her site on how to create these with a scalloped heart punch. (Check out the link for other ideas on how to use scalloped punches - Nichole is a creative genius!)

The patterend paper is by Basic Grey and the circle heart is a piece of chipboard covered with more Basic Grey paper. The darker green cardstock (Always Artichoke) is by Stampin' Up! and is one of my favorite colors. Notice that little piece of ribbon? Perfect for covering up a small mistake! **giggle** I got a little crazy with my paper piercing and ended up with a few holes too close together. Ah, ribbon, the perfect solution!

Happy Monday!

Supplies:
Patterned paper by Basic Grey
Stamps by Papertreyink
Ribbon, brads, chipboard, plain cardstock by Stampin' Up!

Grateful

A simple card that I quickly put together for a family member who recently underwent open heart surgery. I chose the word "grateful" vs. something along the lines of "get well" as we wanted to express that we were grateful God granted her a successful and uneventful surgery!

My Rose Red cardstock is stamped with a very fun polka dot background stamp, in Rose Red ink. The layered cardstock is a combination of Stampin' Up! and Basic Grey. The flower image was colored using watercolor crayons. I then misted the colored stamp for a watercolor effect. The outline was then stamped on top of the image to provide a "boundry" for the image. I added one of SU!'s new crystal brads to the center - of course in a coordinating green color :-) - and stamped the sentiment. Very simple but an easy layout for a quick card...

Happy Creating!

Supplies:
All supplies Stampin' Up! with the exception of the floral background paper, which is by Basic Grey

Holy Cow!

A card for a vendor friend of mine who tirelessly worked with one of my more "high end" clients on their big trade show. The show theme? Time to Meet Your New Cash Cow...that's right, we had huge 10' long inflatable cows hanging from the ceiling! It was quite a sight! This was the perfect image and sentiment for her thank you card.

This is another retired SU! set, that I don't actually own, but my good friend (who happens to live next store and be my stamping buddy) does! "Bessie" is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with SU! markers. I also masked the image and very lightly added some Bashful Blue and Saraha Sand ink to the background. The floral and grey papers are from Basic Grey. I created the large scalloped rectangle by punching out four rectangles with my Marvy Giga punch and overlapping them until I had the right size for the image. Because the background paper has a pattern to it, you can't even see the seams. I then pierced each scallop for a little extra something. The BG paper is mounted onto a burgandy paper that was run through my Cuttlebug and very lightly rubbed with a silver ink. The entire piece is mounted on a Sahara Sand pre-folded card that has been stamped with a canvas background. Three black brads and a small piece of light pink ribbon were added for some extra "umph."

Enjoy!

Supplies:
Stamps, plain paper, ribbon, brads, and markers by Stampin' Up!
Patterned paper by Basic Grey

DCM Little Extra - Cartoons

Saw the DCM Little Extra challenge on Gillian's blog this morning and instantly thought of this retired SU! stamp set. I think this can qualify as a cartoon, no? :-)

The saying is another side splitter...at least if you have a lower half like mine...I think I could easily be called a "hippie" chick! **chuckle**

I thought I'd do my best to bring back the colors of my parents kitchen during the 70's for the card colors. I think I nailed it!

The word background stamp, usually just stamped in black, was colored with SU! markers. I confess that coloring in the blocks was not my original idea but found on some cards on the Splitcoast site. My hippy girl was stamped in black on vanilla cardstock and colored with markers. Simple card but oh so fun to share!

Happy Creating!

Supplies:
All supplies by Stampin' Up! (Words by Wanda stamp set is retired)

Cherish

Haven't had much time to play with my new Stampin' Up! sets but this is a card I managed to make last week. Completely in love with the giant swirl image that comes with this set. It makes a wonderful background design.

The background and saying is stamped in the same color green as the cardstock for a subtle effect. The strip of red cardstock was creating using a faux suede technique. You need to use cardstock that is died all the way through (no white core) for this effect. SU! cardstock is perfect because it's not only died all the way through but it's also got a really good weight to it. If you really crumble up the cardstock, really smoosh it, you'll be able to pull the layers apart. The middle of the paper will resemble suede. Fun! The middle design was created by simply stamping each section and cutting out the design. Each part is layered and I'm using the new SU! In Color inks and cardstock. A few eyelets and silver cording finishes off this one!

Happy Creating!

Supplies:
Stamps, ink, cardstock, and embellishments by Stampin' Up!