Happy 4th!

Here's a quick and simple 4th of July card using Memorable Moments and Everything Eleanor stamp sets and a little scrap of Designer Series Paper. I added a few sequins and rhinestones to give him some bling.

Happy Accident

A few years ago my sister coined the phrase "happy accident" when we were sharing some stamping time. One of us had mis-stamped something and then worked to make it look okay and liked the new design even better than the original idea.
Well this was a card that I started to make in the landscape position. My thought was I would put a piece of Designer Series Paper along the left hand side. I thought that paper was Pool Party. But when I stamped my Swirl in Pool Party it clashed with the paper. (Still not sure what color that paper was supposed to be.) Anyhow, I thought I might be able to re-stamp over it with a darker color and still use that DSP. But I didn't get the second image aligned exactly on the top. But loved the new stamped image. Since I had a piece of Night of Navy laying right by my trimmer I just grabbed it, decided to change the orientation and stamped my greeting and loved how it turned out. A happy accident!

Bookmark Keepsake Card

This is the commercially made card that I received for Easter. It's a clever idea of combining a card and bookmark. The right side of the card had a line of perforation and pulled off to become a bookmark for the recipient.

So, first of all I planned a design that was one layer and with a right edge that would make a pleasing bookmark. Then after stamping I had to make that perforation line. I'm sure I have a perforation blade somewhere but do you think I could find it. So, I wound up using a seamstress tracing wheel and stratightedge to make my perforation line. 

Here's my card...

To give it a little more pizzazz I used my chalk pen to color in with white on some of the flowers and also used Clear Wink of Stella on the centers. 

That's all for this week and commercial card inspiration. Tune in next week to see what I'm creating.

Glittery Background

 It's not real easy to see in this photo but the purchased card had glittery swirls for the background. Again I thought the easiest way to duplicate the cross overlay would be to use some vellum. Since confirmation is coming up in May I decided to stay with the cross as a focal point but the expression I wanted to use made me change the orientation.

 This card is for the girls being confirmed. I used the swirl from Everything Eleanor. I stamped the sentiment with Soft Suede ink and then let it dry. Then I stamped just two times with Crumb Cake ink on Crumb Cake cardstock and immediately sprinkled with Iridescent Ice and then heat embossed. Then I filled in the background using VersaMark ink and again embossing with Iridescent Ice.

The card for boys was made in the same way but I used two stamps from Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to make the card.
Both crosses come from the Blessed by God stamp set and were stamped with White Staz On on vellum. A little fussy coating and a couple of glue dots to adhere them and the card front was finished.

Lolly Gift Card Holder

 Today's card is a CASE from Linda Heller. I didn't have all the same supplies she had so I just improvised. The swirl background comes from the Everything Eleanor stamp set. This is a card you would want to hand deliver. The lolly on the front would get smashed if you tried to mail it. And as Linda recommends using a glue gun when making the lolly and I have to say that is the best(!) piece of advise; otherwise they just want to spring apart.
Designer Series Paper, Glimmer Paper and the sequins from the Frosted Sequins Accessories make this gift card holder sparkle.

And now I have to share a cute story. I gave one of my coaster calendars to a friend who had treated the three of us to an Advent concert on Sunday evening. The concert was so good and this is the second year she has provided tickets for us. Anyhow, I also included this card in the gift bag telling her now much we enjoyed our evening. She called me to say how much she liked the calendar and that the card was a "work of art" and of course, it is because that's the name of the stamp set used!. LOL

All Occasion Card from Work of Art

Here's one of the calendar pages I made and then decided not to use. So, I turned it into a card. The flourish comes from the Everything Eleanor stamp set. I added a few rhinestones when I decided to make it into a card. The interior is left blank. We use a lot of all occasion/blank cards in our house, There always seems to be some occasion that we need to acknowledge or someone who needs a little encouragement.