Gift Card Easel

Sorry there weren't any more posts from Illinois! The lighting thing was just making me crazy. I would have tried out using sunlight, but the sun hid behind a whole bunch of rain for most of my visit. So, I'm back in Colorado and back to making posts! This morning I decided to change the Circle or Square Mojo Monday challenge into an easel card that will make a great gift card holder. There is just the right amount of room to use temporary adhesive to stick a gift card right inside! Perhaps I'm just in an easel card frame of mind after finishing the engagement balloon invites with the bridesmaids yesterday. What great fun that was! An assembly line with a full table of people goes so fast & we had a great time putting them together. It felt like such an accomplishment to see them all completed. I'm running late for the rest of my day (as usual), so I guess I better get a move on!

Paisley Pumpkin

Last week, I found a video on the Stampin' Up demonstrator website that gave ideas on how to use the Texturz plates. I'm going to have to admit just how unhappy I was with these tools. They came out when the Big Shot first became available through Stampin' Up & I just wasn't really happy with the results when I used them. The Impressions Folders were a huge improvement in my opinion.

Then, I watched as they used these plates much like the new letter presses. It's so cool! If you ink your Texturz plate & then run it through with the silicon sheet & crease pad you get this super fun result. Not only is the cardstock embossed, the ink sticks to all the other areas creating this great pop for the embossed images. This time I inked the plate with Chocolate Chip & used Crumb Cake cardstock. I'm sure you'll see me playing with this fun technique again soon. The other lovelies from Paisley Prints could all benefit from a fun embossed/inked background!

Paisley Xmas Tree

As promised, here is my Mojo Monday a day late. This card is a great way to make the most out of a pack of designer paper. Each sheet could give more than two dozen of the little strips you need to make this one. It's a great card to make a whole bunch of if you're sending out a bulk mailing of Christmas cards. Simple, festive, and economical!

I'm playing with new things to do with ribbon & admit I need to work a little on this technique, but I love the look it provides. Such fun. Thanks to the ladies at Mojo Monday for providing yet another great sketch to play with.

Happy Birthday Marge!

August 16th is a very busy day on my birthday calendar! It's the birthday of both my niece and my dear friend, Marge. So, I guess you'll be seeing a couple of birthday cards from me. :)

It's a real challenge for me to put together a card for Marge. She is the person responsible for introducing me to the wonderful world of stamping, so I always want to make her something extra special. You should see the creations she comes up with!

After a long deliberation I decided to just go with something I hadn't tried before. I've never used the frame created from using the Lattice Big Shot Die before and found it made a great window for the soon to be released 2 1/2" Circle Punch. The paisley heart is another gem from the new Holiday Mini Catalog & I embossed it for just the right touch. My sentiment comes from the Curly Cute set, which I just ordered & love.

Marge would have laughed at all the little steps that went to make this simple card. Sponging the frame, embossing the white background, sponging the textured circle, and outlining both the heart and the circle for detail effect made for a fun step by step evolution of the card.

Paisley Swap

Here's another little sneak peak for the Holiday Mini Catalog! This time, it's one of my very favorites: Paisley Prints combined with the new wheel: Paisley Party. As soon as I saw the set I knew I wanted to use these leaves with a reinker/baby wipe ink pad. Such fun! Oh, I also couldn't resist using one of the new punches from the Holiday Mini. See what sort of goodies you are in store for come September 1st! My sponging really made this one work. I used More Mustard ink to sponge the oval behind my sentiment as well as the edges of the stamped images. It really made the card come together. To be honest, I was a little worried about fall cards now that Really Rust has retired. I depended on it in combination with More Mustard as a big part of my fall pallet. I'm very pleased with how Cajun Craze filled in today! It along with other new colors like Early Espresso and Pear Pizazz made a great fall color combo.