Make a card in a box...

The box easily folds to fit in an envelope for mailing.
What a cheerful "bouquet" to send someone.

Bordering on Romance

Here's my lastest stampin' project with my newest stamp set...

"Bordering on Romance"...available in the "Occasions Mini Catalog"

through April 30th.

I can see that I'll love using this stamp!

for my friend...

In the middle of my piles of headband makin' goodies,

I managed to make this card for my good friend!

It always feels so good to stamp...especially for a friend! 

Christmas card swap...

I couldn't believe it this week. 
Our mall has the Christmas garland up!  I think this is the earliest yet.

Too early...

             ...unless we have things to make for Christmas,
then now is a good time to start.

Here's what I made for a Christmas card swap.  I like the color combination...different from the usual red & green.  With knitting, other card making & making headbands every spare moment, I needed a rather quick card.

After thinking all day about different layouts,

this is what I made...even though it wasn't in my thoughts during the day.



A variation on step card

I love the dimension of step cards...fun to make!

Stair step cards...

These cards take me quite a bit longer to make...mostly in deciding the combination of stamps I want to use.  I think the time is well spent!

Made for our (coffee lovin') daughter....

This beautiful paper (Stampin' Up!) is called MOCHA MORNING SPECIALTY...

with flocking on the black part of the design.

I added wire for the 'steam', pearls, and metal heart beads.

...thanks a latte!

I've been wanting to send several thank you cards to people

who have been extra thoughtful.

This is a card I gave to one person...who said she felt like she should send me a thank you card for the thank you card.

She also said the card was a gift.

When they are that touched & happy...so am I!

That's the reason I love spending the time

to specially design my cards.

 

The flowers were stamped separately, cut out and attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.

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We have a generous family at church who shares the bounty from their garden.

This is for them...

The pumpkin is made from the small oval punch & the leaves

from the Bird Builder punch.

Lovin' the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch!

I still have another person to make a thank you card for.

stay tuned...

I love card orders....

I have a friend that orders cards from me every now & then.

She requested 4 sets of five cards.

Besides using cards I had on hand,

I made new cards specifically for her.

These are the new cards I made...

~~~     ~~~     ~~~

Her only specific request was to make one set of cards with bees...

I didn't want to just give my friend four stacks of five cards

so I made little

gift bags for each set along with a gift tag,

ready for her to give away as gifts.

She was as thrilled with them as I'd hoped!!!

Feathered cards...

The feathers from Rick's pheasant are not only perfect for Emaline's headbands....

...but for cards, too.

This is a graduation card I made

using Stampin' Up! decorator paper, stamps & punches.

A little gold cord & beads added...

To distress the cardstock,

I just ran my fingernail along the edges.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Pheasant feathers really are beautiful! 

They have such a variety of color. 

The feathers I used on this card have

"Bashful Blue" (SU! color)tips.

Also used is the Stampin' Up!

Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Embossing folder.

Thank you cards for my sister...

So many friends took food to my sister's family

while Craig was in the hospital & after they came home.

Their caring & thoughtfulness was so appreciated.

I knew Susan was keeping track of everything so she could

send thank you notes.

 These are cards I made for her to use.

Susan loves her coffee! : )

  The hearts & flowers pictured above are the stamps.

Did you know you can actually shop at the post office?

There are so many more designs than just the flag stamp.

I'm patriotic & love our flag but I sure like the variety of stamps available!

These were cheery!

Being from Laurel, most of the friends are Laurel Locomotive fans!

 

(This was actually made on gold card stock, too.)

The EMA*LINE headband

Here are a few pictures of more of the "Emaline Headbands"

Emaline is known for her headbands!

She has received headbands from friends...even from very thoughtful, caring people they haven't even had the opportunity to meet yet.

Previously, I've shown a few of the headbands I've made for her & for Melanie to give away as a way of "scattering joy"

to someone needing encouragment.

The tag for the headband reads:

the EMA*LINE headband.

...made to Scatter Joy

Beautiful*Bowdacious*Blingy

(Emaline's middle name is Joy)

The day after Emaline got out of Good Shepherd Hospital,

her Aunt Maria got married. 

Part of Maria's floral arrangements were made

with peacock feathers,

so Emaline needed a peacock feather headband!

This is the one I made for the wedding.

The first picture shows the back side where 

I put big flowers to make it pretty, too,

 in case it was also visible. 

The very thin feathers at the bottom 

are also peacock feathers. 

Their feathers are so unique and beautiful! 

I think peacocks have the right to strut "Proud as a Peacock"!

    

Since I make the headbands without having

a model to try them on,

I'm never sure how they'll fit.

Melanie put the headband on "upside down"

from what I was thinking

and it turned out PERFECT!

 

Is this a gorgeous little family, or what!?!

I was glad I put the flowers on the back side because they do show!

 

 

Ema's peacock headband worked for Easter, too!

I love her little crossed ankles!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This cheerful teal and green headband is one I made for Melanie to give away.

The UPS man got to the hospital just as the Mommy was at the door to leave.

I'm so glad Melanie was able to give it to her in time!

Rick & Melanie wanted a thank you card to give to the staff at

Good Sheherd Hospital. 

I was thrilled that they asked me to make the card.

Close up of the card...

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

I took this picture as a little teaser of what Melanie

could look for in her UPS pkg.

It is a closeup of the headbands and card with some photo effects.

I love background papers and thought this will make a great one! 

Two Step Stamps

This is a birthday card I made for my "apple loving" friend.

I know she likes sunflowers, too, so I thought I'd do something

besides apples this year.

This stamp is from a retired set but the same technique can be used with any Two-Step Stampin' stamps.

Two-Step Stampin'

First, I stamped the big flower and stem with Versa Mark then colored with

Stampin' Pastels (chalk)

Next, I stamped the detail stamps with Versa Mark

on top of the flower and leaves

and again colored with Stampin' Pastels using accent colors.

You can get so much shading and depth to your artwork this way.

Struggling with layout...

Sometimes, the layout of a card just doesn't want to work!
I started this card last night...didn't care for it so left it until today.  Sometimes, leaving a card and going back to it helps.  Today, I still was not impressed.  Here's a few ways I laid it out...

This is what I finally came up with..

Instead of layering a bigger scallop circle behind the stamped image, I used the same sized circle with the center cut out to frame the image.  Adding a little ribbon never hurts!  Stampin' Pastels were used for coloring.  I used the Big Shot to make a textured card stock. I still may some glimmer!