Happy Anniversary Barb & Dave

My sister has an anniversary coming up soon.  The real love of their lives, however, is their beloved Doxie so this called for a special card.  Drats, I can't remember where I bought this digi image but thought it turned out pretty cute.  Paper is from a freebie pack that comes with my wonderful English stamping magazines.  The heart was printed on the PC and cut with a Nestie.  Printed a couple extra hearts so I could punch out the matching photo corners. 

More Black Magic

This card uses Burgandy, White and Black card stock, plus a piece of striped vellum.  I cut the Ovals using my Nestabilities.  The image on this one is Vintage Vogue.  The card is finished with organdy ribbon and a border punch on the vellum piece. 

Black Magic

I have wanted to try this technique for some time and am so happy with it.  You can be sure I will be doing more cards with this technique.  It's called Black Magic.  You start by embossing a more solid type image with White Pigment Ink onto a dark piece of paper.  Once it has fully dried, you can color it using most any medium.  You can expedite drying with your heat tool if you are impatient like me.   I played around with watercolor pencils, chalk pencils, metallic pencils, Copics, pure color, and regular water base dye markers such as Tombow or Stampin Up.  I think I am happiest with the markers, mostly because it gives me a wider range of color options.

  

These first two are on different background colors and use white, black and Almost Amythest papers.  Stamps used are from SU Fast & Fabulous set, a two-step stampin' set.  Flowers on the left  are colored with Chalk pencils.  On the right I used chalk pencils on the side flowers and metallic pencils on the center flower.  All are highlighted here and there with white gel pen.  Metallic gold pens provided the center flower dots.  The Amythest piece was run through the Big Shot using the Lattice embossing folder, just to add texture and interest.  Pearls were the right finishing touch.

By The Tide - with more cut edges

I thought the Flower Shop card turned out so cute that I did another using By The Tide set.  Created some watery looking paper for my fish to be in/on, and did the matching cut as explained in the Flower Shop post.  Stamped the coral from the set in matching ink, lightly sponged the ink around the white background piece and put it together.  One card uses my homemade enamel dots while the other two use metallic confetti pieces I've had lying around for years. 

Blossom Party Die

I'm having just too much fun lately!  So terrific to feel good enough to create again.  This beauty was created using Rich Razzleberry and White.  Little Leaves Sizzlets were cut in Old Olive.  Flowers were made using SU Blossom Party die.  White edge was created using Adorning Accents Edgelit and matching embossing folder.  On my next one, I will try sponging a little color onto the flower petals to give it more depth, and maybe discretely place a few drops of Glossy Accents for dew drops onto the petals.  Small flower was created with the Itty Bitty Punch.  Nothing was dimensionaled.  Rhinestone bling gave a finishing touch.

Flower Shop, with Matching Borders

Another really fun card - lots of new, to me, techniques on this one.  This is a case from the generous France,  http://www.frenchiestamps.com/2014/06/stampin101-card-sketch.html.   She is a very creative gal.
On this card, the 'base' is a single sheet, with the pink card being slightly smaller (1/4") and opening on top of the base color.  The center layers are cut 1/4" smaller, but are lined up at the bottom and hand cut, so that when you put them together with the border it is a perfect match.  Slick!  The center of the big flower is from our Homemade Candy Dots trial day - what a day!  Pony beads were melted in a toaster oven (that is now designated as a Crafting Oven because of the toxic fumes given off by the melting plastics) I used Rich Razzleberry and Pink Pirouette card stock and ink, Gorgeous Grunge stamped in pink barely shows and makes a great addition to the card.  Finish it off by Punching the Flower Shop flower with the Pansy Punch, then punching 3 small flowers using the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.    Small pearls were colored with Copics to match the cardstock and attached to the Itty Bitty flowers.  (No wonder my husband says I have too much stuff!).  Oh, by the way, I saved $5 by buying a $40 toaster oven and some beads so I could make my own 'dots'.  Enjoy

  This will be my third Club card when it's my turn to present in August.

Anniversary Cards

Some dear friends have anniversaries coming up so it's time to get out the stamps!  I knew I wanted to use the old StampinUp "Summer By The Sea" couple.  I found several great photos, scanned them in and printed them out on regular matte card stock.  I picked backing colors, then stamped my couple on the same or complimentary colors.  I fussy cut them and affixed them on the card with thin dimensionals so they stand up just a little.   I lightly stamped "Love" in the sand, hoping it would look like they had written it with a stick.  I think they all came out pretty nice.  Enjoy