One week, 12 cards

My mother in law is here for a visit. I decided that I needed to make her a set of cards. Husband said I should make 12. I was plugging along fairly well, until I ran out of ideas, then I decided to make Christmas cards.
Here are the non-Christmas cards that I made.

The diamond pattern came from a treasure bag I bought at a sale (misc packs were $2... who can pass that up??). The green is a Martha Stewart shade, and the pink is a scrap piece I had in my stash. I used my Fiskars punch to dress it up a bit, and tied in the black with a piece of ribbon.

I am loving brown and blue lately. I bought this stamp from Scrappin' Great Deals and embossed it with clear powder. The striped paper is from a paper sample pack, and the ribbon is American Crafts. The oval was cut with my Nesties and the brown was embossed with my cuttlebug.

I love the simplicity of this card. The yellow is from my score at the local scrapbooking store. I embossed the white with my cuttlebug and the sentiment is overlaid on pieces cut with my nesties.

Once again.... Tim Holtz, how I love thee! I used some Martha Stewart CS for the background and then distressed the white cardstock. I stamped the sentiments and the vehicle with brown ink.

This cuttlebug folder is probably my favourite (for now, at least). Orange isn't a colour I usually use, but I liked the way it looks with the ribbon.

We were at Costco with my mother in law, and there was a set of Royal Daulton china. There was a pattern that had white dots on a blue background, and I was inspired by that cup. I embossed the blue with Swiss Dots and then rubbed white ink over the card. The sentiment is embossed with white.

Pretty basic- layered card, American Craft ribbon and the happy birthday embossing folder.

Oh Distress Ink... how I love thee!

I have been playing with the Tim Holtz Distress Inks I won from an EBay auction (and the one I bought from Michael's... shhh... don't tell my husband! ;))
I have to say, I really love the way they look on paper and the creativity and unique qualities they give to cards. I have been creating a range of things this week... cards, bookmarks and easle cards.
Here are three cards that I have created.

This card was created by putting Brick Red distress ink on a piece of glass and pressing the white cardstock into it. Then, I took the wet paper and crumpled it up, taking care when uncrumpling. Then, I took Weathered Wood distress ink and brushed it across the creases. I dried with a heat tool then ironed the paper so it was flat. I then took the scalloped nestabilities and cut out the shape, adhered it to the black cardstock and added the red paper roses, which I purchased from the dollar store.

This card was stamped with the flower using versamark, then I embossed it with clear embossing powder. I put the distress ink on glass and then pressed the white card into it again. The resist technique worked particularly well with this stamp. I then added the vellum on top, attaching it with the brads. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz.

This one is probably my favourite... for now. I used the Broken China, Brick Red and Marmalade distress inks on glass, then crumpled the paper again. When it dried, I stamped the flowers onto the card and embossed with white. The dragonfly is embossed with blue, and the sentiment is stamped with black ink.

Mothers' Day mayhem

I wanted to do two Mothers' Day cards this year- one for my mom and one for my mother in law. I had a very specific idea for the card I wanted to do for my mother in law, and it involved playing with some new stuff that finally arrived from an EBay auction I won.
Included in the auction from EBay was some crackle paint. I wasn't sure about it, and I have decided that I do like it, but it takes a little play time to get it right. If you put it on too thick, it tends to make the paper curve.

This card was done with brown cardstock. I painted the pink crackle paint over the cardstock, let it dry and then attached it to a white background. The brown cardstock frame was embossed with the cuttlebug and then the opening was made using the nestabilities. The flower was one that I got from the dollar store and took and the brad was part of a set purchased at the dollar store. The colour didn't match anything, so I painted it with crackle paint. The ribbon was found at Michael's. 

 This is the card that I did for my mom. I love black and white. It's so clean and classic.
The black cardstock is punched out then the patterned black paper is layered on top of a piece of white which was embossed with the cuttlebug. The butterfly stamp was embossed with silver, and the flower which was purchased at the dollar store adds a little bit of colour.