A Perfect Pairing!

A friend of mine is going through some tough times right now so I thought I’d make a card to brighten her day. This is what I came up with; hopefully it will put a smile on her face.

I recently received this exquisite stamp in the mail and knew it was perfect for the job. Isn’t it stunning? It’s the new Cling Jumbo Baroque Bouquet from Stampendous. I love how the Cling Music Score (also a Stampendous stamp & one of my all-time favorites) compliments the Baroque Bouquet image. Combining these two stamps makes me want to listen to another perfect Baroque pairing, the Goldberg Variations played by hmmm Glenn Gould or Simone Dinnerstein, maybe both… ooh sorry, I digress. My point is Stampendous has done it again. No matter what you create with this image, the result will be magical! Please visit the Stampendous blog for more inspiration.

Stampendous Supplies:

Cling Jumbo Baroque Bouquet CRS5019 (image)
Orchid Greetings SSC1053 (sentiment)
Cling Music Score CRR103 (background)

Other Supplies:

Copic Markers
X-Press It Blending Card
The Paper Company Bronze Metallic card stock
Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Ranger Archival Jet Black ink
Ranger Glossy Accents
Tsukineko Versamark watermark ink

Card Notes:

Create a card base using the Bronze Metallic card stock (mine is a 5.25" square card).
Trim a piece of X-Press It Blending Card slightly smaller than card base; stamp image & color using Copics.
Stamp image again on a scrap of paper and fussy-cut; use this as a mask; Place over main image.
Stamp the Music Score using Versamark; Stamp more than once to cover the entire card front.
Use an ink blending tool to distress the edges of card front with Antique Linen ink.
Stamp a small section of the image & the sentiment on a scrap of X-Press It; color desired flower & leaves then fussy-cut; trim sentiment & mat on scrap of Bronze Metallic card stock.
Distress the edges of the sentiment panel; adhere to card front using dimensional foam adhesive; adhere flower & leaves; accent all flower centers with Glossy Accents.
Adhere the card front to the card base.
Use a corner rounder to create fancy corners on the card & sentiment panel (I used the Corner Chomper stub).

For your listening pleasure, click here to listen to Simone Dinnerstein playing the Aria from the Bach Goldberg Variations.

Good Night & Thanks for visiting!

4th of July Invite

Today, I thought I'd share an invitation I made for some upcoming weekend plans. 4th of July is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't know if it's the fireworks or parades or maybe the music. It's just a lot of fun.

Card Notes:

Stamp the image onto the X-Press It Blending Card & color; Trim image.

Trace the fireworks with the Quickie Glue pen and sprinkle with glitter; Tap off excess.

Cut two stars out of complimentary patterned paper using the Cricut electronic cutting machine; One star should measure 4 3/4" while the other is 5"; Mat the smaller star with the bigger one.

Cut a 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" piece of patterned paper; stamp the sentiment onto this piece of patterned paper & mat onto black cardstock.

Finish by simply assembling the card.


Stamps: Stampendous Cling Firework Day Set CRS2033; Mini Happy 4th SSC478
Patterned Paper: various pieces from October Afternoon Rocket Age Collection
Cardstock & Specialty Paper: Copic X-Press It Blending Card;
Recolllections Black Cardstock; Cardbase (unknown)
Diecut: Star from Plantin Schoolbook cartridge cut with my Cricut
Markers: Copics R20/R21/R24/R27/R29/B0000/B91/B93/B97/B99/BG10/E00/E01/E40/E41/E50/
E53/E55/E57/W0
Glitter: from the Stampendous Glitzy Glitter 80's Flashback set GK02
Adhesives: American Crafts Permanent Dot Runner; Sakura Quickie Glue pen
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink; Ranger Jet Black archival ink



Thanks so much for visiting. Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Hello Muddah...A Summer Card Camp Hello

Summer camp has been so much fun this week. Thank you Online Card Classes Summer Card Camp 2011 & thank you Debbie Olson for giving me this great opportunity. I've found myself singing & humming all week "Hello Muddah, Hello Fuddah." OK, the piano teacher in me wants to say to all of my students: yes, here is another example of pop music borrowing from a classical composer. Make sure to scroll down & you'll find yourself humming along too.

Here's a quick & easy card I made for Summer Card Camp. I find myself migrating to mini cards a lot these days. It seems like you can never have enough of them sitting around to give as gift cards. This 3.5" square card is the perfect size to enclose a small note and then tuck onto a package. It's also a great size when using Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page punches. To make the punched pink mat I started with a 3.25" square. With this size, all you have to do is punch the 4 corners, then punch each side once. There's no lining up, which is great when you are in a hurry.

The flowers were made using Hero Arts 4 Fun Flowers CG278, stamped in Hero Hues Iris Chalk Ink. After a spritz of Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist, I fussy-cut each flower & rolled the edges using a wooden cuticle stick (One of my favorite go-to tools. I used Glue Dots to stack them and to adhere them to the page. The sentiment is from the Hero Arts Trees, Birds & Messages clear set CL182, stamped in Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink. I love how the letters are a little distressed.

Here's something for your listening pleasure. Here's one for all of you purists. Thanks for visiting!

The Amazing Flower Fields & Camp

Today was the start of Summer Card Camp 2011. I was lucky enough to win a spot by commenting on Debbie Olson's blog. If you are not familiar with Debbie's art, please go visit. Her coloring and designs are absolutely stunning. Thanks Debbie for this great opportunity.

The 1st day of camp is always exciting and believe me, this 1st day did not disappoint. Jennifer McGuire & Kristina Werner challenged us with a color combination of warm shades of purple, pink & orange complimented with sky blue & white. Both of their cards were amazing!



When I saw the color combination, I instantly thought about a recent trip I took to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California. Like most Carlsbad tourists, I was there to see Legoland. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time because I stumbled on to this incredible ranunculus farm. You can't imagine the joy it gives you to see acre upon acre of these beautiful flowers in every color of the rainbow. My favorites...the purple, pink & orange.

For my take on the challenge I used the Stampendous Ranunculus Field stamp R112 (Go figure). I colored the stamp this time with Memento Dual Tip Markers in Rose Bud, Lilac Posies, Tangelo, Bamboo Leaves & New Sprout. After a spritz of Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist, I stamped the image on Aquarelle Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor paper. I trimmed the image and mounted it to a purple card stock and then a blue card base. The ribbon is a white Creative Impressions silk ribbon that I easily colored with my V17 Copic marker. Thanks to a little strategically placed adhesive, I twisted & looped the ribbon and finished the card with a pearlized brad from TPC Studio. It's a pretty simple design but I really think this gorgeous Stampendous image needs very little embellishment.

Thanks so much for visiting. Good Night!

Thank You Stampendous!

Stampendous just announced their new BlogStar team and I am honored to say that they picked me to be a part of it. Stampendous has been very instrumental in my card making. I started this wonderful journey by entering one of their sketch challenges a little over a year ago and I've been hooked with card making and stamping ever since. If you have never entered a challenge, I highly recommend getting your feet wet with Stampendous. Why?... First and foremost, the product is fabulous! I love their stamps. They have wonderful holiday and exquisite floral images. My new favorite is this Jumbo Cling Dahlia



And then there is Fluffles. You can never have too many Fluffles stamps! You can always find some cute, whimsical images along with some very lovely scenes. Did I mention the quality is excellent. You will get a clean, crisp image every time.

In addition to the quality products, another reason to join in the fun at Stampendous is the wonderful, amazing group of women that you meet there. They are sweet, sincere and always encouraging.

Please check out Stampendous on their blog or their facebook page. They even have a great Flickr Group.

Thanks for visiting and thank you Stampendous!

My Superhero

It's Father's Day so I've been doing a lot of thinking about my wonderful husband. Hank is truly the greatest human being I have ever met. He's taught me so much about so many things. He's kind & funny & so very smart. He's generous & patient & extremely musical. I could go on forever but what I love the most about Hank is his innate ability to be the best father I could ever have dreamed of for our son. He amazes me everyday with how he nurtures and loves Ian. I love listening to their interactions whether they are working on some new math problem or playing the blues. I feel so very blessed to have Hank in Ian's & my life. Hank, you are my superhero!

Here is the card we gave to Hank today. Ian wrote the inscription on the inside of the card. It reads: A superhero is kind, caring, smart, funny, truthful, musical & playful. A superhero is you! Happy Father's Day Dad!

To make the card I used three different stamp sets from three different manufacturers. The cute superhero is from My Favorite Things Ben Paper Dolls set. There is an image of a boy in a t-shirt & shorts & then there are 3 different costumes: a pirate, a superhero & an astronaut. I stamped the superhero costume on X-Press It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink & masked it. I then stamped "Ben" on top of the mask to transform Ben into a superhero. The sunburst-like rays were created using a stamp from Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Bitty Grunge CMS089. I inked the stamp with Ranger Mustard Seed Distress Ink & then inked around the edges on top of the Mustard Seed with Barn Door Distress Ink. After stamping the image on Neenah card stock, I repeated the inking & stamped again to create the complete sunburst. The superhero "lingo" was stamped from the Oriental Trading Company set Super Hero In-65/80385. Both Ben & the lingo were colored with Copics. I fussy-cut all stamped images and adhered them to a card base.

Thanks for visiting & may you all be so lucky to have a superhero in your lives!

A Couple of cards

I entered these cards in this month's Hero Arts Contest. It combined two of my favorite things: flowers & coloring.



Here are the details of the May Challenge: Create a NEW stamped card, scrapbook page, or other project based on any of the following…

Fabulous Flowers — Include one or more flowers on your project
ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) — Miniature works of art created on a 2. 5″ x 3. 5″ base. ATCs can be of any theme for this challenge.
Colored Pencil Techniques. Projects using this technique can be of any theme.
Please use at least one Hero Arts stamp or Hero Arts digital element on each of your projects.



I loved Shari Carroll's video tutorial on coloring with colored pencils. She is amazing! Speaking of Shari Carroll, I am so excited because I am spending the weekend with Shari Carroll and Jennifer McGuire. They are co-teaching a weekend of classes in Kettering, Ohio at Simply Scrapbooks.

As for my cards, I used Hero Arts Two Birds CG152; Hero Arts Cling Dots CG139; Hero Arts Special moments CG108; Hero Arts Anytime Messages CL129. I colored both cards with Prismacolor colored pencils. The Cling Dots were stamped with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend!