a rose is a rose (distress inking)

I'm on a roll.  And it's all about a rose.  And a set of cards for my neighbor for her birthday.

I used sketch #13 from Retro Sketches for my first card.  Love this sketch and some great DT work with it too.  You should have a look.



And although I decided to make all the cards different, I opted to go with one image from my new The Craft's Meow, Beautiful Spring.  Let me tell you, I LOVE IT.  Here's #1.

Heat embossed the rose on Neenah CS.  Inked it up with Adirondack and Distress Inks - a la the rose "Gloria Dei".  Cut it out.  Stamped the leaf onto green scrap , cut out and toned it down by applying a bit of Distress Peeled Paint.  Cut a piece of white CS and rounded the top using partial die cutting with a circle die.  Punched a hole for the tag.  Dry embossed with woodgrain folder.  Added ribbon scrap.  Adhered a strip of digital PP to card base.  Stamped sentiment and adhered tag with dimensional adhesive.  Did I mention I love it?!?!

It's Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp.  I'm comin'.

Happy blooming roses to you.

Supplies glückwunsch:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, CS American Crafts and Basic Grey, Neenah, PP Pink Petticoat

Stamps: The Craft's Meow, sentiment Inkystamp

Ink: Ádirondack and Distress, Versamark

Tools: embossing folder Craft Concepts

Other: embossing powder, ribbon

wine label is also designer paper, isnt it?

Quick post here to join the CASual Friday's challenge for a masculine card using designer paper.
Well, I used a wine label.  It's designed, by someone.  And it's paper.


And it's from our friend Rudolph's winery.  If you ever find yourself in Nierstein in the Rhine River Valley, check out his "Zwitscherstubb" eatery.  

(source: weinstrub.de)

Good food, good wine and great people.  One of those places your always walk out of having made new friends.  Anyho, Rudolph's having a Geburtstag.  A "round one" as they say.  Here's the card I made him.

Since they've finished bottling the 2011, Rudolph gave me some leftover labels.  I knew I had to incorporate one into his card, but how?  DH's T-sirt gave me an idea.  (Another great place to visit on the other side of the pond.   Of course, I'm prejudiced!)   My layout. Sorta.

Began by attaching the label to card base.  Stamped over it with musical notes (Rudolph's one of those guitar-playing barkeeper types).  Smeared some ink around on the card (mistake turned marbling ;)  Used two different sentiment stamps to frame the label and heat embossed "60" in gold to match the gold strip of the label which you can see better in the little photo up top.  Cut a strip of burgundy CS and dry embossed it.  Attached it at the bottom to round out the design.

Hope he likes it.  I'm guessing he may not even notice the label at first - but his wife will ;)

One more photo to share with you.  Was out on my bike and saw these:

Had to go get the camera and snap a few shots.  Weeds they are.  And they only last a day.  But what a blast of happy color they share with us.  Wanted to share them with you.  Especially with Lisa Johnson of Poppy Paperie.  Heard she's having a rough time at present and wanted to wish her well and say thanks for all the inspiration.

Supplies Happ Birthday:

Paper: CS American Crafts

Stamps: BG Prima,   60 We R Memory Keepers, sentiments TPC Studio

Ink:black Versafine ,brown chalk Versamagic

Tools: embossing folder Sizzix

Other: embossing powder Knorr

the post-man (distress inking)

Another episode of inky fingers.  This time inspired by the Postage Challenge over at Moxie Fab as well as the Man-tastic Tuesday Trigger.



Don't ya just love the names of Distress Inks.  Barn Door, Tumbled Glass, Blue Jeans - how real life down-home-goodness are those?  I prepped my white panel by BG stamping with text, distress inking, Glimmer misting and water spattering it BEFORE dry embossing it with the Tim Holtz Postal folder.   Then I ran the Chipped Sapphire over the raised areas to highlight them.

Before attaching the panel to my card base I added a heat embossed scrap of recycled vellum envelope and a scrap of the sticky paper stamps (stamp waste?  as in sequin waste?) come on stamped with my sentiment.  Quite in keeping with the postage theme, eh?  Oh, and a circle punched from some packaging.  A bit of stitching to keep the vellum in place and voila.  Pour tou.

Happy Tuesday.

Supplies friends:

Paper: card base Buttinette, CS Neenah

Stamps: BG CHF,  dots Hero Arts, sentiment Inkadinkado

Ink:black Memento,  Distress Inks Ranger, Glimmer Mist
Tools: embossing folder Sizzix

Other: embossing powder Knorr, Glimmer Mist, paintbrush/water

erwin...forever young (distress inks)

Time for inky fingers again.  Gotta love distress inks.  And Erwin, our neighbor - gymnist in his younger days, loving Opa today - celebrating his 80th.

I like to make these personalized collage cards - and decided to keep two challenges in mind when making this.  Lily Pad's Simon Says challenge wants stars.  And Simon Says Stamp and Show wants something for the boys.  OK.

Heat embossed the sentiment and distress inked the BG.  Stamped and heat embossed the nest, masked and stamped the branch.  Added some leaves and stars.  Added Erwin (photocopy) with an "e" on his chest and gave him a crown.  Even at 80 he's open to English so I went with the sentiments in English.  The 80th is stamped, the other PC generated.  Rounded corners and distressed edges.  Mounted the image on CS and distressed and made it into an oversized tag.  Put in a vellum envelope since I was hand delivering.  Like it when the "artwork" shows through.

Thanks for looking. 

Supplies Erwin!:

Paper: CS Coredinations

Stamps: BG CHF, nest Crafty Secrets, branch Artemio, crown Viva,  star ?, sentiment Making Memories 

Ink:brown chalk Versamagic, brown Memento,  black Versafine, Distress Inks
Tools: corner rounder EKS, eyelet setter

Other: PC

lacy gingham spatter (DIY embellies)

The oh-so-fun challenges at Moxie Fab, Card Creations, Gingham, Spatter Technique and Doilies and Lace have been making cardmaking more enjoyable again.

(And I must admit, also the rules and consequences we established for DS and DD, which definitely take some of the stress out of parenting.  Should you be experiencing similar stress, may I recommend The Total Transformation.  As well as this site.)

Anyho, back to the fun stuff.  See this butterfly? 

She used to be the lacy layer on the bridesmaid dress I wore for BFF's wedding. Twenty five years ago...

The dress got shortened and did a stint in DD's dress-up box.  Now I believe it's up in the attic.  What I cut off I put into my fabric collection.  And when Cath said to use lace I decided to pull it out.

Started by die cutting the butterfly from the lace and then from a piece of turquoise paper to Mod Podge it onto.  Added some glitter while still wet too.  A snip of lace, a button and some button twine and she was ready to flutter off.

Also made a flower from some polka dot fabric and a snippet of white lacy fabric.  Added a scrap of the turquoise lace to the center.  Added some dimension by heating the flower to crinkle a couple layers.  Love to do that.

Dry embossed the leaves onto the front panel.  (Check this video to see how to make your own "embossing folders".)  Added some spatter with shimmery watercolors.  Absolutely not happy with those spatters.  I'd love to know Aga's secret - she is, for me, the queen of spatter.

Stamped my sentiment onto a die cut gingham ric rac and attached with stitching.  Attached the flower and butterfly.  Don't really know what motivated me to add the funky gray artistic strokes around the outside edge, but I did...

This became a birthday card for DD's riding teacher so I gussied up the gift bag to match.

Thanks for looking.  Happy long weekend - it's actually a holiday in Germany too.  Whitsunday.

Supplies Sending Warmest Wishes!:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, CS American Crafts, PP Pink Petticoat
Stamps: sentiment The Craft's Meow, flourish Rubbernecker, "a" Hero Arts
Ink:gray and blue Versacolor
Tools: paintbrush, butterfly die Memory Box, leaf die Sizzix,  circle punch EKS, butterfly punch Martha Stewart, sewing machine, Mod Podge
Other: shimmery watercolors, fabrics

spatter... as in the basement wall

DD celebrates her bday this weekend with a sleepover.  Ten girls.  In her mind, at her age there's no greater way to celebrate!  I'm all for it.

And it gave me cause to spatter the basement wall.  Good thing it was only watercolors!

Yep, this is my entry for the Card Creation Spatter challenge over at the Moxie Fab World.  Love the idea and opted to combine the spatters with a skyline.  Like fireworks.  Had to include the touch of Checker Cab too!  And a few lighted windows in the skyscrapers.  Wonder how long it will be before DD will prefer a shopping trip in NYC to a sleepover.....

Used the colors from The Play Date Cafe challenge #133, cuz hey, fireworks and red, white and blue.  No brainer.  And DD is half American :)



Here's a close-up to share the sparkly light blue, case you missed it.

Thanks for visiting.  Have a great one.

Supplies celebrate!:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, CS American Crafts
Stamps: Artemio, sentiment Inkadinkado
Ink:black Versafine, blue Versacolor

Tools: paintbrush, square punch EKS

Other: watercolors, colored pencils, bling

doily wedding (DIY embellies)

OK, one last silver and white wedding card.  It was actually this card of mine that my friend saw laying on my dining room table which made her ask me to make a wedding card.  Wonder if she'll choose this one?

I'm entering this into the Moxie Fab Doilies and Lace challenge.  Don't really know if the stamp is a doily, but I'm thinkin' it is.

Also hooking up to CASual Fridays current challenge cuz this wouldn't have been possible without my Sizzix die to make the bloom.

Appreciate your visit.

Supplies glückwunsch:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, copy paper (stamped)
Stamps: flourish Rubbernecker, butterfly Martha Stewart, sentiment Inkystamp
Ink:gray Versacolor, black Memento, Versamark

Tools: flower die Sizzix,

Other: paper flower Prima, brad, embossing powder, colored pencils

lace wedding (heat and dry embossing)

Yep, another silver and white wedding card.  Figured I could give my friend a couple to choose from.  And give the Moxie Fab challenges a go.  I actually love these Card Creation challenges - Damask, Lace, Gingham.  And Spatter.  Hmmm still no good idea for that one.

Anyway, here's my card.  This one's going to the Doilies and Lace Challenge.

Cut my front panel from CS, figured out where I wanted the dry embossed flutterbys to go and then where the die cut should be among them.  Die cut.  Dry embossed.  Then I figured out where the  lacy looking pattern needed to be on my card base in order to peek through the butterfly window.  Stamped and embossed.  (TIP: Better to stamp a bigger area than too small. Ask me how I know.)

I went with the beautiful "Love" sentiment and rounded it out with a pop of red heart and grounded it on a base of lace which I stitched on.  Adhered the panel with dimensional adhesive.

I'm wondering...  the wedding couple is German and Mexican, hope English is OK...
I sure love the Hero Arts wedding set CL360 - good for various styles.

Also going over to the "Punchy" challenge at CASual Fridays this week.



And to Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #19 cuz my choice of "Love" sentiment came right out of the inspiration pic.  Check out the owl on the chair.



Now I'm going out to plant some leaf lettuce in the garden.  Do you like to dig in the dirt too?

Supplies Love:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, CS American Crafts
Stamps: lace Prima, sentiment Hero Arts
Ink: Versamark, black Versafine, red Versamagic
Tools: die Memory Box, embossing folder Craft Concepts, sewing machine
Other: embossing powder, lace

brocade wedding (heat embossing)

Don't know if "el mojo" has returned, if it's just a deadline approaching or the fact that I got a couple of rules established with DS and DD (curfew, etc) and they seem to be working.  Whatever... creative energy level is up and I got a card made!

Had a request for a wedding card - "white and silver" - nothing more specific.  So I opted to go with one of the Moxie Fab challenges, "Damask and Brocade".  Heat embossed clear powder that I applied to rose colored pigment ink which I stamped onto PP using the Hero Arts Large Fabric stamp.  Follow?  New one for me. The technique and the stamp.

Balanced out the brocade panel with white CS stamped with white Versamagic chalk ink and a Spanish script stamp.  Heat embossed the sentiment in silver on that.  Added satin ribbon to the front panel and glossy accented two pearl hearts onto the ribbon.

Thanks for coming to visit.  I plan to be back soon.  Have a sunny day.

Supplies Mr and Mrs:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, PP Dream Street
Stamps: fabric and sentiment Hero Arts, Spanish text CHF
Ink: rose Cats Eye, Versamark
Tools:
Other: embossing powder, pearl hearts, satin ribbon

MIL's Day (recycle)

Had my MIL here for the weekend and actually managed to get a card made in time.  Thanks to the inspiration from the sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow and my need to recycle.  This is the sketch.



And this, the recycling. 

DD went to town with my Big Shot and some Distress Inks a while back, decorating the side of her wardrobe  (using half a box of Glue Dots I might add... must be nice to be clueless about the price of scrapbooking supplies, eh?)  Since she's now into de-childish-ing her room, these babies landed back on my desk.

So I incorporated them into a pretty simple card for my MIL.  Thought she might appreciate the added touch of her granddaughter's art.

Followed the sketch, going a bit overboard with the action on the right edge.  But I punched smaller hearts from DD's original ones and then decided that they reminded me of the seeds that the little fairy might be blowing into the air.  So I went with lots of them.

Stamped the fairy onto vellum. No butterfly, but still wings.  Cool eh?  PC generated the German sentiment and mounted it on a banner of coordinating PP.  Left it up to DH to write a message inside.  After all, it is HIS mother.

Speaking of seeds floating through the air (was someone?), you may remember this post about the dandelions in the field across the street?  This is for you, Mitra.  Check this recent photo.  Wanna trade? 

Supplies Zum Muttertag:

Paper: card base Buttinette, PP Max Bringmann, vellum
Stamps: The Craft's Meow
Ink: Distress Inks, black Stazon
Tools: die Sizzix, embossing folders dots Sizzix and Cuttlebug, punches, corner rounder EKS
Other: PC

do it for CASual Fridays

OK, if you saw my earlier post today you're probably real surprised to see me again today!  Let me add, I wrote that post yesterday morning but couldn't get Blogger to upload my photo until I tricked it today.

In the meantime I was checking my reader and saw that Casual Fridays is celebrating birthday numero uno.   Whudda thunkit?  They are so classy over there, I -being relatively new in this milieu - thought they'd been around for years.  (Wonder if those ladies ever get their mojo knocked out of them?)

Anyhoo, not that my mojo is back.  But I cased myself and made 'em a bird-day card.

Distress inked the BG after heat embossing the clouds.  Attached the die cut tree and the birds cut apart from the Martha Stewart border punch.  Ripped some PP and attached it as grass.  Added glitter glue as I did on my original card's winter scene, but should have skipped that step :(
Stamped the sentiment -  I'm a sucker for birds, what can I say?  Inked edges and attached to card base.

Hope your day is happy.  And here's to many more CAS-ual Fridays.

Supplies happy bird-day:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette,  CS Neenah and Coredinations, PP Basic Grey
Stamps: cloud Sassafras, sentiment Basic Grey
Ink: Distress Ink Ranger, Memento
Tools: tree die Memory Box, border punch Martha Stewart
Other: clear embossing powder, glitter glue, foam dots

Wo bin ich?

Followers.  People who like what you do.  And want to see more.  I get it, I really do.

But at the moment I'm up to my eyeballs in dealing with an errant teenager and trying to figure out how to be a more effective parent.  I'm actually learning new things.  Actually very interesting stuff.  But VERY energy consuming.

And technology.  Don't know if the problem is Blogger.  Or my PC.  Or the strange sites that are "hitting" my PC from somewhere in remote Russia.  But this is definitely taking the fun out of blogging.

And I guess it's also eaten my mojo.  Never really knew what that meant when people would write that their mojo had disappeared.  Now I get that too.   Got a list of cards I need to make.  With dates nearing.  But I find myself lured out into the sunshine instead of downstairs into my laundry room when I need to clear my head.

Just thought I'd tell ya'll that, in case you were NOT happy about one less message in your reader :)

Figures I could share an old project with you that I did for my parents.  After a great weekend spent with them in downtown Detroit (their old "stompin grounds) to celebrate their 60th anniversary.  Detroit Institute of Arts.  Belle Isle.  RenCen.  Hart Plaza.  City County Building.

The photo shows just the innards - the final product was an 8x10 picture frame.  Not that it was spectacular or anything, but it was so much fun to make and they really enjoy looking at it and remembering our time together.

I had sent them 20 of the best photos from the weekend, so when I punched out interesting portions of my copies of those 20 and arranged them here, they were able to recognize them.  And they had a blast doing it  ("Oh look.  Those are my feet...")  And I had a blast using my circle punch - moving it around on a photo to see what looked good... 

After that I just added some Staz-On stamping onto acetate and put it into a frame.

Bis bald...  and may the mojo return.

Lu(k), it's a poppy! (DIY embellies)

Have you seen the new challenge at Lily Pad Cards.  It's Virginia's (Lu) View.



I love these little natural beauties.  They pop up all over in fields around Germany.  Only last about a day, but how lovely.  Made my own little lovely.

A red polyester scrap of fabric (I think it was a pirate scarf for DS back in the kindergarten days).  Some freehand cut circles.  A heat tool to crinkle the edges.  Some black seed beads in the center.

Then a little stamping on recycled packing paper.  Made into a tag thanks to an eyelet and raffia.  Then an uber-gorgeous begonia (hope my girlfriend has better luck with them than I do - but it was so luscious I couldn't resist) and the bday present is complete.

On another note... do ya'll - BTW, I am just shocked that there are 24 of you out in blogland that like to see what I do.  I'm honored.  Flabbergasted actually -  know cardmaker, photographer, artist Colleen D.  over at Dietrich Designs?  She is one talented lady.  Can you believe those amazing butterflies?  Anyhoo, I had sent her a little something awhile ago and received the most gorgeous thank you card today.  I can share it with you cuz it's here in all its moxiefabness.  You should see those little butterflies IRL.  So shimmery.

Here's a big hug to all the wonderful talent-sharing, support-giving, beauty-loving cardmakers out there.  So nice to hang out with you all!

Supplies for you tag:

Paper: recycled packing paper, CS Coredinations
Stamps: BG and flourish CHF, circle and sentiment Stampendous
Ink: Distress Ink Ranger, black Versafine
Tools: corner rounder EKS, eyelet setter
Other: fabric, beads, raffia