Cheery Cherries

I'm really liking this Lockhart cherries stamp...I don't know, it just seems refreshing. We lived by a cherry orchard when I was a girl, and I remember eating tons of fresh cherries, right off the tree. Even though cherry season is over, I still think of it this time of year...

Anyway, I made a cherry card for my mom with darker patterned paper (here's a photo of the card). She really liked it and had me make a set of 6 for her to give as a gift. After making that, I decided to make a few cherry cards with brighter colors, just to show her that bright looks nice, too. I think she still preferred the darker ones, but at least I got a little happier after making these.
SUPPLIES: Stamp...bowl of cherries (Lockhart), cherry for envelope (Fiskars Thankyou set); Paper...Homespun DP, water & hollyberry cardstock (Memory Box), Stamper's Select (PTI); Ink...Palette Noir; Misc...scarlet lake, crimson red, spring green, grass green (Prismacolor markers), cool gray 30% & 50%, cloud blue (prismacolor pencils), OMS & blending stumps, white grosgrain (Joann's generic holiday brand), dimensionals

Stamp of the Month: June

Looks like I haven't posted in a while...been busy making cards and stuff for Mom. Hey, I got the June's Stamp of the Month kit from Ellen Hutson, and made all the cards in the kit! Don't know if I will have time to do this every month, but it was so much fun to have all the supplies ready, and a layout to follow. I changed the card construction a bit, from Ellen's sample, but really the layout looks the same as hers. I took a photo of the sheet of images that I colored: I don't know, it looked so cute, I just had to...

Here's the finished card...

So I did these cards in mass production mode, and it was kind of fun. Here's some of the finished guys...I don't know, just wanted a photo so I could see that I actually got something done last week (sometimes it seems like I work all day, but get nothing done).

SUPPLIES: Paper...Holly Berry, Sapphire? (Memory Box), Neenah Solar White Paper and envelopes; Stamps...Picnic, IB Watermelon, sentiment (Lockhart); Ink...Palette Noir; Coloring...canary yellow, spring green, grass green, scarlet lake, lt cerulean blue (prismacolor markers); spring green, limepeel, canary yellow, goldenrod, spanish orange,carmine red, process red, crimson, copenhagen blue (prismacolor pencils); sakura glitter pen; Misc...Ornare corner flower piercing template, paper piercer/mat, OMS, blending stump.

Too Buzzy?

I hope this card isn't too busy...I thought it looked okay, but Steve said, "Hmm, that's alot of bees." It's just that I was in a yellow-and-black kind of mood, so this is what I made.

I was going to put a bow on the left, but figured the card had enough going on already.The sentiment is printed on the card interior, because this card is for my mom's stash, and she likes the sentiments in, rather than out. Doesn't matter much to me, I just like making cards!Here's the inside. I used Giddyup font for this because Anastasia said the swirlies on the letters look like the swirlies of the bee trail:


SUPPLIES: Paper...yellow note card (colorbok), black perf (DCWV), yellow gingham (making memories),110# white (Georgia Pacific); Stamps...IB Bee (Lockhart); Ink...Noir (Palette); Misc...Martha Stewart scallop punch, dimensionals, Marvy scallop square punch, square Whale of a Punch.

Red, White, and Blue

Don't know why, but I feel like doing things in red, white, and blue during June and July. Maybe it's the power of suggestion from all the displays in the ads and stores. Anyways, when I saw Nicole Heady's blog for her Memorial Day party, I knew the design she used was just what I needed for some thank-you notes. Her design kind of makes me think of band playing John Philips Sousa in a gazebo in the park (don't know why). Which is what I was looking for: Americana with Class.

I don't have Photo Shop, so it ended of to be kind of a pain to print out just what I wanted. I printed out her blank invitation documents. Then I made a Word document of "Thank You" in Chopin Script and printed that on the invitation paper. I printed it so that the cards would be horizontal because I wanted the stars to be a little "tilty". I really wish I could have resized her template, because the note with the zig-zag is too big for a standard envelope, and I had to make my own (which is not too hard, but I can't do 10 of these guys, and get them done before Christmas time). The zig-zag idea is from Debbie Olson, using a Martha Stewart punch.


The patriotic star motif was also perfect for a gift card enclosure for a set of napkins that I sewed for my mom. I got this cute fabric at Joann's last month, and finally got around to sewing the napkins last week. Also picked up a cute towel at Target that matches the set! So I made a gift tag, and also printed a blank invitation-sized card to write Mom a short note.
SUPPLIES: Paper...Stamper's Select (PTI), Textured Blue (DCWV); Misc...zig-zag punch (Martha Stewart), Chopin Script font

A Card for Daddy

Okay, short post, since Steve is out of town, school's out, and Ziggy has no one to talk to...Here is the card we made Steve for Father's Day...He's not really outdoorsy and doesn't do sports or grill or fish, so I decided to do something office-y (which he does do).

I got the idea for our card from this card on Kristina Werner's blog. I didn't have the "Hello my name is" stamp, so I printed the tag using this cool website (you can print the name tags in any color you want). The website makes sheet of 6 tags for you to print. After I printed out a sheet, I made a mini tag for our "logo" on the back of the card by color-copying and size-reducing the original (and to have some cool name tags for my daughters' dolls).


Anastasia was in charge of layout and stamping on the cover:Sophia did the stamping on the card interior:
Of course, we had to have our logo, with Scooby on it:


SUPPLIES: Paper...kraft (unknown), SK Woodcut Collage Flat (don't know cuz I accidentally cut of the brand name, which is annoying because I like this paper), old business cards of DH; Stamps...Mixed Messages (PTI), small variety alphabet (Hero Arts), date stamp (Walmart), Basic Font Clear (Fiskars); Ink...Noir (Palette), Espresso (Adirondack); Misc...corner rounder punch,Sakura stardust pen, mini file folder (JoAnn),paper piercer.

Father's Day

Here's the card I made for my dad...kind of funny that this is the same layout of the first card I ever made; I guess it's my "go to" layout. You can't really see it in the photo, but the trees are clear-embossed, and the image edge is lightly sponged.

So Dad prays for everyone in the family every morning, and says each person's favorite verse before praying for that person. So I wrote all the verses, consecutively, in Optimus Princeps Semibold in light gray (set the margins so they would fit in 4.25x5.5 space), and printed it out twice. Then I wrote the sentiment in Chopin Script in dark brown and printed that on one of the verse papers. I used the other verse paper to line the envelope (and act as a cushion for the card).After I loaded this photo, I noticed a smudge in the photo, and long story short, my camera is at the Canon repair center now :(
Whenever I send a card to my parents, they want our "logo" on the back. It's basically a scottie dog with 3 dots on either side, but to my mom, it's our "trademark"...gotta love my parents, they're my biggest fans!
SUPPLIES: Paper...textured dark brown (DCWV), Brown Damonds (Paper Pizazz); Stamps...Mixed Messages (PTI), Winter Woods (Rubber Stampede); Ink...Espresso Brown (Adirondack), Jumbo Java (VersaMagic chalk) Antique Linen distress ink; other...brads (Making Memories), clear EP, gelly roll stardust pen, dimensionals.

Thank You Martha Stewart!

This is a thank-you card for my kids' art teacher. Her house is totally decorated in blue and white, so I think she'll like the colors on this. I was going to do all blue butterflies, but it didn't look airy enough, so I put in some white ones. The butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch. I used another MS punch for the bottom edge.

I really like these punches: they're really easy to use, and store upright on the shelf. I think I have 3 now...so my question is: why is it that I go in to Michael's with my coupon and get one of these guys, and some other stuff and it ends up to be $4o or so, every time? Like every week, which is almost $200 a month. But then when I go online to order (like from Papertrey or Ellen Hutson, or CHF), I'll rethink every item (do I really need it? can I make 3 cards out of that?) and keep my order minimal and under budget. Just wondering...

SUPPLIES: Paper...Ariel (Memory Box), Light Blue (from LSS unmarked manufacturer); Stamps: Fancy Thank You (CHF); Ink...Aegean Blue (Versamagic Chalk); Other...Bling (Around the Block), clear embossing powder, ivory organdy ribbon