Happy Birthday Katie

I cannot believe my grand-daughter will turn one year old tomorrow.  I just had to make her a very very special card to celebrate.  I found this card at Jackie Topa's Blog (she is amazing!)

For the front I decided I wanted to go with a vintage look since I had done so much sponging on the inside.  I ran my inked brayer over the impression folder and then ran it all through the Big Shot.  I then, of course, sponged around all of the edges. My 8 yr old daughter wanted me to add lots of pearls but I decided to use just one to dot the i in Birthday.  I colored the sentiment stamp with the markers before stamping on the card stock.

So this card actually fold pretty flat.  I have sent cards out for Christmas that did not need extra postage so I ma not so sure this one would have.  Of course it went in a box via UPS filled with lots of birthday goodies.

The Amoire was so fun to do since a great Aunt had given her one not too long ago as a gift.

I did not do a side step like Jackie had in her original card since I wanted it all to fold up.  So with mine the base folds up to put away and pops down to stay open.  I used the half pearls as knobs.

Ok, do not do this card when you are in a hurry or when your kids decide it is "question day"  I had both bears all done and then I realized that I had not done one in mirror image....duh!  so thankfully card stock has two sides and I just flipped it all around.  I did not have the die that she used for her oval scalloped mirror so I used my large scallop circle and my circle scissor to make my mirror.

Well, I hope she enjoys the bears that Grandma made her for her birthday and another great big thank you to Jackie for all of the wonderful inspiration on her blog!

Card Details:

Stamps: Perfect Punches, WoodGrain Background, Whimsical Words (2010 SAB set), Tiny Tags

Paper:Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Blueberry Crisp DSP, Window Sheet, Very Vanilla

Ink: Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Big Shot, Wide Oval Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Impression Folder, Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Marina Mist Grosgrain Ribbon, Victoria Crochet Trim, Basic Pearls, 2 Step Owl Punch-heart, Curly Label Punch, Scallop Circle #2 Die, Circle Scissor, Bear Bigz Die, Beary Essentials Bigz Die, Small Heart Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

More Heritage Pages MDS

On these 2 pages I was working with photocopies of pictures. I do not know what happened to the originals but by the time they got to me they were about 6 pictures ran through a copy machine unto a single piece of paper.  I am thankful that I have them!  My Great Grandmother was very special to me.  We spent a lot of time with her growing up.  She died on the day of my wedding just over 25 years ago.  I knew that she had been adopted.  While I was doing this book I was able to acquire pictures of my Great Grandmother with her adopted family but to find out that after she married my Great Grandfather and had my Grandfather her birth mother visited her.  So I was able to get her name and even pictures of them together.

My Digital Studio Page Details:
Stamps:Fundamental Phrases, Enjoy Every Moment
Paper: Summertime Splender - Orchids DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories:  Circle Punch

Simple Impressed

I saw this super elegant, super easy card in a gallery a few weeks back and just had to Case it.  I just ran the card front through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper Impression Folder strapped the ribbons on with glue dots, stamped the image, punched it out and put another punched layer behind it.  As simple as that and yet it is beautiful!

Card Details:

Stamps: Perfect Punches

Paper:Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake

Ink:Early Espresso

Accessories: Big Shot, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Impression Folder, Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon

Owl Hello

It was a very hard to decide what to use this morning.  My first real order from the catalog came in on Monday and I am re-modeling a bedroom into a laundry room so my time is not spent stamping right now and I feel guilty doing anything else.  Well, this morning between running my son to driver's training and picking him up before lunch and then off to a doctor's appointment I had a few to sit down and play (after all I could not do any sanding since I was already dressed for the doctor appointment). :)  I took a look at the Sketch challenge and this card just fell in to place.  It was probably the easiest concept card I have made in a very long time. The biggest challenge was to decide what of my new order was going to be used.  Since I am trying to hold the budget tighter and I tend to buy a lot of Designer paper (and not use it) I only allowed myself to buy one pack of paper this time so that really helped with the color scheme.  I knew the second I saw the sketch that I wanted to use the owl punch and they fit perfect in the concept.  I did do quite a bit of sponging.  I think the only thing I dd not sponge was the white of the owl's eyes.  I am so glad I bought some of the pretty new ribbon. I just love this Victoria ribbon!! and should I use the pearl halves or the rhinestones....I went with the pearls since they seemed to match my color scheme more.  I did stamp off the light flower on the jewelry tag punch to lighten it.  I popped up the middle owl with a Dimensional.

Card Details:

Stamps: Sanded Background, Tiny Tags

Paper: Marina Mist, pacific Point, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Blueberry Crisp Designer Paper, Sahara Sand

Ink: Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist

Accessories: Two Step Owl Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch, Pearl Half, Victoria Crochet Ribbon

Census Pages and Certificates MDS

(Click to enlarge in a new tab/window) With this genealogy book comes a  lot of charts and graphs.  I felt that they needed to be included but they are not as much fun to look at as a page of pictures.  I, myself, find family history very interesting and did not want these pages to be just overlooked.  On the first page of this post is the 1920 census where I found my Great Grandfather.  I highlighted his family names in my photo editing program before bringing it into MDS. The second page is a copy of my Great Grandmother's adoption papers.  These documents meant so much to my father as these are the people he was raised by after his mother died when he was 15.  He knew a lot of the stories but to see it in print brought it all together.  Did I mention that the original book that I did was for my Dad for Christmas a few years back?  His oldest sister helped me gather quite a few of the pictures and documents and a wonderful stranger on Splitcoast offered to help me with the genealogy search.  We went back to the year 1590 in Cambridge England and the ship they took to get to America.  I hope to share quite a bit of the book with you in the up coming weeks.


My Digital Studio Page Details:
Stamps:none
Paper: So Saffron Script DSP,
Ink: So Saffron(1920: Shadowed and the Copy and Direct pasted until I got the depth I wanted.)
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Brads, Designer Kit: Happy Birthday Flowers

Another Graduation

One more graduation card I needed to get done.  I am by far a good water-colorer but I really wanted this set so I just had to go to it.  I love using the impression folders, they add so much texture to the cards with actually very little effort...unless my desk needs to be cleaned off to use my Big Shot (haha).  I am sure getting my money's worth out of this set. The image was embossed before I colored it.  I find that so much easier to stay in the line.  The hats are popped up on dimensionals.

Card Details:
Stamps:  Go Graduate
Paper: Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Ink: VersaMark, Basic Gray, Various colors for watercoloring
Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Dots Impression Folder, Curves Ahead Die, Black Embossing Powder

Kindergarten Graduation

I was in need of a Kindergarten graduation card.  I wanted it to be bright, colorful and cheerful.  The filmstrip concept is an easy way to make a fun card fast.  I stamped, embossed, and colored with re-inkers and water pens on one sheet. I then punched the owls out with a 1-1/4" Square punch.  If I remember right I gave 1/2" on each side for the Spiral Border Punch.

Card Details:
Stamps: Go Graduate
Paper: Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point
Ink: Versa Mark, Pacific Point, Watercolor-Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point

Accessories: Big Shot,  Perfect Dots Impression Folder, Spiral Punch, Corner Rounder

Geneology Memorial

Like I said I have been working on my geneology book. I have all of the pictures laid out and pages added. I just now need to go through and add the backgrounds and embellishments.  In total I have 65 and I am working on page 45.  I jumped ahead this week to page 54.  This is my beautiful sister.  The Lord decided to take her home 7 years ago tomorrow at the age of 23.  Her husband, her and their 4 day old son where all killed in a car accident on the way home from church one Sunday.  July is such a hard time for my family even though we know they are safe in heaven they are very much missed. 


If you have seen this background paper you would realize that the spot where the word Sisters are on the bottom also contains more flowers.  Since I did not want an excessive amount of flowers on the page I decided to cover them (something you cannot do as easily when paper scrap booking)  I used a few different punches here to get the various dimensions I wanted to add.  To get the flowers just how I wanted them I added the punch and made sure I got it just the size I wanted it to be. I then changed the color to background image and lined it up just exactly over the flowers.  I had to double click the punch after I got the paper on it so that I could move it around so that the flower was in the punched area.  Next I added a very thin mat and a tad bit of a shadow.  To cover the flowers at the bottom I added a square punch, filled it in with the same paper, double clicked on the punch and moved it to the very top of the page.  I then flipped the punch so that the darker gray was at the bottom.  If you need a step by step tutorial on what I am talking about just mention it in the comment section and I will get right on it!

My Digital Studio Page Details:
Stamps:none
Paper: Summertime Splender - Bouquet DSP
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Square Punch, Circle Punch, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Pinking Hearts Corner Punch, Rea; Red Wide Polka Dot Ribbon and Knot

Get Well Ice Cream

What can make you feel better than ice cream?  I have seen a few of these in the gallery on Splitcoast so I tried to go as far back as I could find to give credit to the one that was posted first.  I did not go back and read how she did hers so I will just tell you how I did mine...I started with a Pacific Point card base.  I cut a strip for the scalloped edge (mine is turned over just a bit for a little extra dimension)  I then took a piece of  Whisper White cards stock and scalloped one of the edges making sure to start at a full scallop and not a half.  I cut my Pacific Point pieces with my Word Window Punch and glued them on every other one.  I then scored it right above the end.  I gave it 2 more scores on the awning.  On the first one I did not do a good job measuring how much room I would need for the cones so I end up doing some double dip cones to fill in the too much blank space.  My kids liked that one better but what kid does not prefer a double dip over a single cone?  So that one went the their friend who just ended up having an emergency gallbladder surgery.  The other one was sent to my brother-in-law who just had carpel tunnel surgery on the same day.  Anyway... I stamped the cones in Crumb Cake (Kraft) and then ran a Chocolate Chip marker around the outside edges After I stamped them on I  then place my impressed scalloped skirt right underneath the cones.  I did get this set in the clear mount and it was so much easier to see to get them all lined up, if not the Stamp-a-ma-jig would work great too.  I stamped the ice cream, cut them out and mounted them with Dimensionals for just a bit of a pop.  As easy as that!

Card Details:
Stamps:Sweet Scoops, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Pacific Point
Accessories: Big Shot,  Perfect Dots Impression Folder, Scallop Edge Punch, Word Window Punch, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack

Envelope of Butterflies

Well, today was a hard one. This card went together soo slow.  I got up with the thought that I wanted to do the sketch challenge.  I just could not get things going. I just sat and stared at it.  I went to see if I could get some motivation from my colors and just stood there in front of my card stock rack and nothing....  So I grabbed my new color coach and just started spreading out the colors to see if something caught my eye, of course it was the Cherry Cobbler.  I might as well put loads of it on my order now so I never ever run out.  According to the Color Coach the colors under the Creative Combination were Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso.  So I grabbed a sheet of each and ran with it.  I laid them out and I must of rearranged them 15 times before I got them in an order I was happy to proceed with.  I had done a blog design a while back for someone where I had buttons being poured out of an envelope.  That is what I saw here after I sat and stared at my set, dies, and colors. So off I went to see if the vision in my head would look as good in paper and ink.

The first thing I made was my envelope.  I scored it and folded it so that it would fit through my scallop oval punch.  I folded the scored edges in and cut them from the flap area.  I then slid the whole thing through the punch until I had the flap just where I wanted it.  Next I sponged the Cherry Cobbler ink around all of the edges and ran it through the Big Shot with the Impression Folder.  I glued it together and moved on to figure out what size I wanted my circles to be.  I cut them out with my Scissor Plus, stamped and sponged.  In the beginning I had the ribbons going straight out but in the long run I wanted them flared just a bit.  I toyed with many variation with punches for the sentiment and found I liked this combination the best.  I just got the Tag Dies and I know I will get my money's worth out of them. All in all this card took me about 3 hours from start mail, which is extremely long for me. Well, off to sign it and put it in an envelope to mail yet today.  Thanks for stopping!

Card Details:

Stamps: En Francias Background, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Naturals Ivory

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso

Accessories: Big Shot, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Circle Scissor Plus, Vintage Wallpaper Impression Folder, Beautiful Wings Die, Lots of Tags Die, Piercing tool and Mat pack, Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon

MDS Picture Editing

So as I was working this week on my genealogy book this last week I started doing a few black and white background pages.  It made the sepia pictures stand out so much. So I decided to make them all look the same.

So I clicked on the picture that I wanted to change and then chose the photo effect button.

I wanted the picture to be black and white just like the others so I chose black and white.

It switched the color and since I approved I hit Ok.

So now all of my pictures on the same page are the same color and I think it looks quite a bit better.

Anniversary Season

This was a hurry up and get in the mail card.  When I did this card my husband had been out of the country on business for a couple of weeks and his parent's anniversary had totally slipped my mind.  So I had a few minutes to put together a card and get it in the mail.  Both of my in-laws love working in the garden and plant special flowers just to draw in more butterflies so I knew I wanted to use this set and to add a few butterflies to it.  It went together very quick.  The only time consuming thing was to cut the flowers out.  I cut the 2 larger circles with the Circle Scissor Plus.  The large scallop is a die.

Card Details:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Season of Friendship
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Pink PirouetteInk: Rich Razzleberry, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pink PirouetteAccessories: Big Shot,  Circle Scissor Plus, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Scallop Circle #2 Die, Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Backgrounds #1 Texturz Plate

Wonderful Father

I know this is a challenge for many to what to do on a man's card.  I find this set to be my go to set for the cards I make for guys.  This is a very simple card.  I also noticed the guy cards I have been making the last few weeks I have been using the twine on instead of the ribbon.

Card Details:
Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Inspired by Nature  (on tag),  Wonderful Favorites
Paper: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Big Shot,  Twine,  Top Note Die, Woodgrain Texture Plate,  Antique Brad

Grandpa and Grandma

I love working on this book.  I never got to meet my Dad's Mom as she died when he was just 15 yrs old.  I have been told by my Dad's siblings that we look very much alike.  This is the only picture we have of just the two of them. Doing this book makes me feel so much closer to her.  For those of you who have not seen my Heritage Room, take a look.  I love learning and teaching my kids about where they came from.  This was a fun page to do. If you have not yet learned how to put the picture into the punch shapes check out the Picture In Punches tutorial in the side bar under the MDS certified gadget.  I knew that I wanted a black black background for this page but when I clicked on black in the background paper it was more a gray than a black.  So I put a stamped image up and then used the color picker on the background paper which turned it a much richer, deeper black.  I used the Offset Stamping on the Life Happens stamp to give it a bit of dimension. I also used the Opacity bar to lighten the flourishes around the picture.

Digital Details:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Basic Black Brads

Ruffles Galore

I saw this idea in the new catalog.  If you have yours (my cases are scheduled to arrive today!) check out page 186. I love the ruffled look.  When I went to make the one I pictured I saw it with eyelet ruffles.  This was a super easy card.  I chose my colors, cut it all 4.25" wide, punched two edges and cut them in half.  I layered and glued it all together, did my piercing and then added my impressed, punched hearts with dimensionals cut in half.  Simple and Sweet!


Card Details:

Stamps: Heard from the Heart

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Pacific Point

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Piercing tool and mat pack, Big Shot, Small Heart Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Perfect Dot Impression Folder

Razzleberry Roses

Off this morning to do the Sketch Challenge...I knew right away right set I wanted to use.  I needed to make an anniversary card so I wanted it warm and romantic.I also knew that I wanted to use the impression folder that matched the set but I did not want to cover it up with the top 2 layers.  I then decided to use a transparency sheet as one of my layers.  I stamped the rose in White Stazon and sponged some around the layer of transparency and card front.  The focus rose was stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with Whisper White Embossing powder.  I then just painted over the whole thing with re-inker and an Aqua Pen.  I went back and filled in some of the areas with a deeper amount of re-inker. I added a flying butterfly in the upper corner to add just a bit more dimension and color.  To add the transparency on without being able to see the adhesive I stuck the focus rose where I wanted it on the transparency and they added the adhesive to the back of the transparency only where the focus rose would cover.  I guess I am still in my monochromatic mode...

Card Details:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Transparency Sheet

Ink: Versamark, White Stazon

Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Two-Step Bird Punch, Word Window Punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

MDS Monday

Wow, I have not had a MDS Monday in quite a while but then I realized that I had been working on my family genealogy book in the evenings and since I have been working on it in MDS that it would qualify for MDS Monday (duh!).  I made my Dad a scrapbook a few years back and searched his family tree back to the 1500's.  After I got into digital scrap booking I decided that I wanted to make one of my own that his siblings would be able to get a copy of.  I had already scanned all of the pictures when I did his because his oldest sister had helped me find them.  So I was all set to go. (click to enlarge image in a new window/tab)  I do 8.5" x 11" so this is a 2 page spread.

Digital Details:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Enjoy Every Moment
Paper:Summer Home DSP, Whisper White for matting, Presto Pattern Overlay
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Pink Pirouette Button Bouquet, Whisper White Brads, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Graduation Thank You

I had a son graduate from 8th grade this year so I got a chance to make graduation thank you cards.  I just love the new colors!  I hope I can make it to the catalog release before I use up the colors I bought.  I will not place another pre-order!!!! Oodles of sponging! I love this little hat cut out and popped up.  The sentiment is layered and then popped up too.  Off to reproduce a bunch of these.....have a great weekend!!

Card Details:
Stamps: Sanded Background, Go Graduate
Paper: Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze
Ink: Cajun Craze
Accessories: Big Shot,  Twine, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border, Thanks Embossing Die, Magnetic Movers & Shapers