Basic design and building on it . . .

Yesterday while I was designing the anniversary card I posted, I got to thinking, again, about all the time it takes me to design one card. I came up with a new strategy out of frustration. This morning I decided to start with a basic, clean, and simple design. I used the "Thank You" stamp by Impress Rubber Stamps and the Sea Shell stamp by Inkadinkado. I picked two colors I really like together (SU! Night of Navy and Certainly Celery), stamped the images, cut the mats, and adhered them. There! The card was finished and I was pleased with it. Whew! No hours of agonizing over one card! I already had an idea of how I wanted to develop that basic design. I wanted to add a "random" patterned layer under the "Thank You" image. My "random" has never come out the way I wanted it to, so I have kind of avoided "random". I "googled" random stamping and the very first article that came up was "How to "Random" Stamp" by Tracy Liu. I printed her article, put it down next to me on the kitchen island where I was stamping, and followed her formula. It worked the VERY FIRST TIME! (Did you hear me shrieking with excitement?) Then I used my first sheet of SU! grid paper and stamped the "Thank You" and the sea shells in the exact spots! (I shrieked again!)
This is one of those events that you want to share with someone who stamps, too. I'd tell my DH, but he probably wouldn't appreciate my excitement. Now I have a few more variations spinning around in my head. I should write them down. Thanks so much for dropping by!

Happy Anniversary

Today I made an anniversary card for my younger brother and sister-in-law for their 25th anniversary. I didn't go down the silver anniversary road as you can see. You might be able to tell, I LOVE SU! Soft Sky and use it quite a bit. I should really broaden my color horizons ... which I will be doing now that I have added significantly to my SU! cardstock inventory.
I started the card with the Cuttlebug embossing folder you see. It made it so easy to stamp the sentiment right onto the card. I punched the hearts with my Marvy Uchida scallop heart punches and then ran them through different CB embossing folders. They are both "popped up" with SU! dimensionals. I stamped the flower which is from the Vintage Vogue set (unmounted -- love them!) and cut it out. (I continue to push myself to do that. It looks so nice when you do. And I need to work on my cutting skills as well. I always wonder if I flunked scissor cutting in kindergarten!) I added a few pearls and there you have it! I did more stamping on the inside, back, and envie, too. Thanks so much for looking and if you feel like it or have the time, I'd love for you to comment.

Two Card Monday

There are times when a card just does NOT turn out the way I had envisioned it would. This is DEFINITELY one of those times! I started with the SU! set entitled Vintage Vogue. I chose to use only the "Friends" stamp from that set. The ink I stamped the image with was SU! Basic Gray. It turned out to be darker than I had hoped. Maybe when my new stamp pad of Soft Suede arrives, I will try it with that! The card base is a lighter gray followed by a layer of Whisper White and then the Cuttlebug embossed layer of Rose Red. I added a strip of white Bazzill also embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and edged with the SU! Scallop Border Punch. The ribbon is from my SU! ribbon stash. The ovals (both plain and scalloped) from from Marvy Uchida. I punched two of the gray ones as I didn't have the larger size than the one I punched the Rose Red oval from. The brads were an afterthought. At that point, I was desperate to add "a little something more". I realized too late that I should have placed the "Friends" oval further from the left. However, the SU! dimensionals had adhered so well to the cardstock that the oval wasn't going anywhere!
My second card of the day is one of the last sympathy cards I made for the card ministry project. I started with an SU! Kraft card base, a layer of SU! confetti card stock, and a layer of SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock embossed with another CB embossing folder. The stamped image is layered in the same fashion. The flower is part of the SU! set entitled "Of the Earth" and the sentiment is from SU! Thoughts and Prayers. I used SU! Chocolate Chip ink, did a bit of paper-piercing, and finished up the card with an SU! button and SU! linen thread.
That's it for today. I am off to come up with a better design for that "Friends" card! Hmm . . . maybe it is time to just CASE a few designs. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. And thanks to all who have been commenting. It's so fun to read your messages! Have a great week!

No card today ...

Happy Sunday! I do not have any pictures to post today . . . waiting for my DH to return home this morning with my camera before I can take decent pictures of the tri-shutter card as well as the rest of the sympathy cards for our card ministry. Yes, I am finished with them! All they need are envelopes and to be stamped on the back of each with our card ministry stamp.
As usual, I spent some time early this morning surfing the SCS galleries ... so much amazing talent and so very many great ideas.
I've already stamped a couple of images to work on after I return from picking up DH at the airport. Now that my "sympathy card" project is completed, I should really make a list of the cards I need to make as well as the ones I want to make! Oh, and I do have another project for a different group I am part of. I need to come up with some designs for fundraising purposes.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some new card pictures. Hope you are having a great summer Sunday and that the weather in your part of the world is just the way you'd like it!

Gate-fold Sympathy Card

Always wanting to vary designs when "mass producing", I decided to make a few gate-fold cards. I used the same Sizzix Damask embossing folder set as well as the punches, sentiment, etc. SU! Soft Sky and the same Bazzill White were my paper choices. Of course, when I reach that magic number of 35, I still need to complete the insides of the cards. I have a few different sympathy sentiments I am planning to use for that.
Yesterday I worked on a tri-shutter card. It is a new style card for me. However, as I began working on it, I realized it was very similar to a style I loved about 4 years ago called color blocking. The tri-shutter card has actual physical dimension to it because you score, cut, and mountain-fold the card base before beginning to lay down your design. I watched a tutorial for it in Splitcoast Stampers' Resources section. It was great to be able to watch the video as well as look at the individual steps which are also part of the tutorial. You get all the information you need. If you haven't visited the Resources section on SCS, you are missing a lot of valuable information and lots of techniques. I will be returning there on a regular basis!
I sent my camera off yesterday with my DH who went to St. Charles, IL to attend Bloomington Gold/Mecum Auto Auction. He'll be coming home with LOTS of pictures of Corvettes. In the meantime, all I have for photographing my cards is my cell phone. I plan to wait until he comes back on Sunday to take "good" pictures of my first tri-shutter card. I'll upload them to my blog then.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy the lovingly summer weather. And thank you for coming by!

More sympathy cards, different design ...

Today I decided to change the design for the next batch of sympathy cards for card ministry. I am now up to 26 cards on my way to 35. I used SU! Brocade Blue and Bazzill White for these cards. I also used Metallic Silver from The Paper Company for the card on the left. The embossing folders used are from a Sizzix set entitled Damask. The scallop punches are from Marvy Uchida and the circle punches are SU! I used the sentiment "Here for You" from the SU! set entitled Friends 24/7. The ink is Stazon Black. The pearl is from Hero Arts and the ribbon is SU!. I am not such of the original of the dew drop. My goal is to have all 35 completed by Saturday for sure. DH has requested cards, too, so I need to keep very busy creating. Have a great weekend!

Masculine Sympathy Card

I really love the SU! Thoughts & Prayers set ... as you can tell from prior posts. Since I need to make 35 sympathy cards for card ministry, I thought some of them should have a masculine look. I used Kraft and Close to Cocoa card stock, the Cuttlebug argyle embossing folder, the SU! Curley Label punch, and a button from the SU! Button Latte package. It might be time for me to switch to another sympathy stamp set to finish the rest of my assignment. :-) Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy this summer day wherever you are!