• My first attempt at using my new Cuttlebug - an awesome Christmas present from my sister! 
    My oldest sister also gave me supplies for the cuttlebug so I made cards for both of them!

    Wplus9 Fresh Cut Floral stamp and die set. Also making good use of my new versacolor stamp cubes. Honestly I have a hard time convincing myself to buy full sized stamp pads if I can find 1"x1" cubes! I plan on buying more of these in January :)
  • Feminine version of another card from day 5 (here). I actually love this design because it covers the front of the card pretty quickly. Instead of a plain circle like I used for the masculine card, I used a scalloped circle punch I had. They may be a bit small for the sentiment, but it's ok. It fits! I used a brown pen to make some tiny dashed lines around the scallop edges so the shape is more obvious.

    Background: Simon Says Stamp stripes stencil
    Inks: DI Fired Brick, DI Worn Lipstick, DI Ripe Persimmon, DI Vintage Photo
    Sentiment: "Happy" is from SSS Happy Meowday, "Holidays" is from Lawn Fawn Milo's ABCs. Holly is from Stampendous Christmas Wishes

    Hers:
     

     His:
    http://papercraftandpictures.blogspot.com/2013/11/occ-holiday-2013-day-5-part-2.html



  • The feminine version of my first card from day 5's online card class holiday series. You can check my masculine version from my previous post.  I love using white on white! It's so pretty! and i'm in love with using the white perfect pearl on white paper. Shimmery goodness! But I wonder if this card is too puffy and embellished to make it through the mail...

    Background: Hero Arts woodgrain stamp with Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder in Perfect Pearl. 
    Branch: Wendy Vecchi embossing paste coated with pearl embossing powder and Ranger Distress Glitter in Rock Candy
    Snowflakes: inked with versamark then coated multiple times with champagne, pearl, and silver embossing powders.
    Sentiment: Stampendous Christmas Wishes



    His and Hers, side by side.



  • So if you're in the holiday card class, and you watched Laura Bassen's video, you can imagine why I was giggling while I was making this card. She's HILARIOUS! 

    I used the Simon Says Stamp stripe stencil for the lines. Finally! a plaid/gingham I can make!

    For inks, I used Distress Ink Pine Needles (it's like needles... but more pine-y), DI Crushed Olive (it's like... olive... but more crushed...), DI Peeled Paint (it's like paint.. but more peeled...), and DI Pumice Stone (it's like stone.. but more pumice-ier). Okay I'm done with that. but still funny!

    For the sentiment, the "Happy" is masked and comes from Avery Elle Oh Happy Day. and the "Christmas" is from SSS Happy Meowday.The holly berries are from Stampendous set Christmas Wishes.
  • Today's lesson made me so eager to go home to try all of the techniques! I'm so happy with the results!
    In the 2 cards I made tonight, I attempted the masculine version of the cards by Debby and Laura. I'll work on the feminine ones tonight after work.

    Like Debby, I used the Wendy Vecchi embossing paste in white for the branch then coated it with Ranger silver embossing powder. Although now I wonder what happens when I heat up the embossing paste in silver. The texture of the paste is different: silver is smooth and white is sort of fluffy and slightly gritty.
    I'll have to try it! I do love the way the white paste puffed up! I actually did that once before on accident while being impatient and trying to dry the white paste faster with my heat gun.

    I also used the snowflake cut pattern from Birds Cards on my silhouette and coated it in Ranger Silver embossing powder. The rhinestone is from My Mind's Eye.

    The "MERRY" (which I stamped crooked!) is from Lawn Fawn Milo's ABCs set and the "Christmas" is a masked off sentiment stamp from Stampendous set Christmas Wishes.




    I'm so in love with this online card class! It was only $20 and TOTALLY worth it!
    http://onlinecardclasses.com/hcw13

  • Inspired by a card made by Shari Carroll from the online holiday class. Once again, worked with what I had. Muted blue winter colors - it's been colder lately ;)


  • I've been dying to use this stamp set since I bought it but never got around to it. Perfect time to use it - for card class! 

    I was attempting to make a card inspired by Laura Bassen's day 3 plaid card. The truth is, I'm still terrible at stamping plaid. I tried and made some really hideous patterns. Lol. So in comes a chance for me to use my 6x6 designer paper pads that I seem to collect. I used the general idea then went a little further. I do love how they turned out though!

    The sentiment is normally "wishing you a cozy day" but I masked off "day" and used a Lawn Fawn alpha set to write "Holiday" to make this card more seasonal. It also helped using my winter/Christmas designer paper. I love the little pillows! 

    The fish (cat card) and bone (dog card) are colored in with Ranger Perfect Pearls in mandarin and biscotti. I'm so so so in love with perfect pearls. Maybe because I used to buy a lot of makeup and it sort of reminds me of those loose powders. The shimmery-ness makes me swoon! 



  • Christmas trees! So cute! and you could do it in any color.. So why not pink! 

    Inspired by Cristina Kowalczyk's day 3 card design. 


  • Neenah Desert Storm base card with brown card stock card front. hero arts wood grain stamp inked with versamark and covered with Ranger perfect pearls. Love the perfect pearls! I just bought it this weekend and it's GORGEOUS! 

    Inspired by Kristina Werner's day 1 card design from Online Card Class holidays 2013

  • Day 2 class included a lesson on  Layered Die Cut Inlay. I didn't have much time as I had dinner with my family then met up with Teresa for some Michael's browsing (PL albums were buy 1 get 1 free!). By the time I got home it was 9pm and I finished the 4 card fronts below (I should do more stamping and more sparkles...) by 11:15pm.  I really just wanted to try the technique. But how to do it without craft dies... *ponder ponder*

    Once again, I have to get creative with my card making because I don't have a die cutter yet. I used my silhouette to cut out various shapes: 
    • trees/house and snowflake are from Birds Cards Xmas Cut Files
    • "joy" is text I welded together
    I cut the design from 4 sheets of different colored cardstock and proceeded to put the puzzles back together! Because I did it this way, and didn't have time to figure out how to layer the cuts in the silhouette software in a clean way, I didnt actually layer the elements. They're all independent..

    I haven't even had the chance to trim and put these on cards yet. I'd like to probably add some small embellishments and/or glitters. These were more just a chance to try out the technique that Jennifer McGuire showed in class. I actually enjoyed putting these together because I like puzzles and I like meticulous detail type of work. I know.. I'm weird.

    A side shot of the first card front to show how flat this card is. SO COOL! Also, I think I need a new blade for my silhouette... the snowflake cuts were a bit fuzzy.


  • Long day at work.. And I just wanted to make a card. I haven't finished the inside yet. I don't have any embossing folders (or even a die cutting machine yet! *waiting for Christmas*) so I went with the SSS diagonal stripes stencil and Wendy Vecchi white embossing paste and masked off the area where I put the washi tape. The cat stamp was longer than I thought (I don't have many Christmas stamps) which made or little to no room for a sentiment. So instead of putting a sentiment on the front, I'll put it on the inside.  I probably went overkill with textures and colors on this! And of course, I painted kitty to look like my Mini. 


    Yeah, this is my Mini girl :)


  • This is the card I made from the other half of the kraft paper that got the wood grain treatment. Inspired by Jennifer McGuire. Gorgeous! Used just versamark ink here. 
    And this is an old unpublished post from late October. 

  • I loved my last online card class so much I decided I would definitely participate in the holiday class! As always, plenty of great ideas and inspiration.

    Here's my card for day 1 inspired by Jennifer McGuire's quarter fold card. 




  • I LOVE this wood grain stamp! I feel like it's difficult to find stamps that look like real wood grain. This stamp is lovely and detailed. 


  • I recently discovered a love for antiques. So I'm totally digging this mama elephant stamp set with the ability to make light bulbs with interesting and cute filaments.

  • Absolutely loving these stamp sets from mama elephant and Avery Elle.
    Used liquid pearl for the centers.

  • My nephew's birthday is coming up and for whatever reasons, I have trouble with boy cards. I love this stamp set from simonsaysstamp.com. The card is perfect for my nephew because he has a couple of bee pillow pets which he can't love without. And this is pretty gender neutral so I'll be sending this to him at the end of the month (stuffed with a little money). 



  • Used the beautiful "Oh Happy Day" stamp set from Avery Elle that I picked up on simonsaysstamp.com. I LOVE this set. The handwritten sentiments are gorgeous!! I need to learn calligraphy. Lol. 

    Inspired by a card post from Nichol Magouirk using a mama elephant stamp set (which I bought and can't wait to try!!) called "Water Blooms". Love the monochromatic design and the little birdies!

  • The 2nd acetate card I made during the online card class: Insider. That class was completely worth it! 




  • Love having tea and love eating macarons! This stamp set is by paper smooches (my first) and it's so cute!

    Put glossy accents on the hearts. Used broken china distress ink around the edges. And used a paint swatch for the banner. 

  • IMy sister had asked me to make some handmade birthday and wedding cards for her to give to people. I've been a bit more focused on trying to make wedding cards because I think they're harder to make. Lol. Here's my first one.


  • Honestly I didn't even know there was such a holiday but what a great excuse to make a card!




  • Another card based on lessons and inspiration from day 2s insider class.

    Super cute! I'm not brave enough to do plaid patterns yet but these stripes turned out cute! And the acetate window is really nice. I would definitely try this again. I also need to figure out how to keep the acetate cover from lifting. I'm sure it was mentioned in the tutorial. I think i just need to move the inside piece down a tiny bit away from the acetate fold. 


    Here's the inside. I need to work on my alignment with repeatable stamps but I'll figure it out! The stamps also turned out a little incomplete when I stamped them. But it looks sorta aged (also bc apparently I didn't clean the stamps enough between colors) so it's certainly interesting. Me likey! 



  • So this kind of ended up being play time with techniques I'm not familiar with. I even used some cheaper paper which curled a little when I used water. But it turned out cute! I'll do another one like this later with better paper and better planning.

    I'm pretty new to using distress inks but I think it still turned out okay. And what a surprise using the brush that came with the Faber-Castell gelato set to make grass using distress ink in peeled paint! it actually looks like grass!


    Wishing you.... didn't live so far away <3