Faux Leather Look Card with Bisters

I love how this masculine card turned out - looks even more rustic IRL. I started with a piece of thick kraft cardstock and heat embossed an old TAC crackle background with clear embossing powder. Then I sprinkled on mahogany, natural and brown Bister powders (purchased at I Brake for Stamps) and spritzed with water. I soaked up the excess water with a paper towel and dried the piece with a heat gun. I always use extra watercolor or thick cardstock when working with Bisters or Brushos so I can tape the piece down on a craft sheet with removable tape. Then I cut it down to the size I want for the card. I stamped Crackerbox Palace's old time watch on grey paper, cut out and sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink. I die cut For You (from Impression Obsession) and punched it out with a circle punch. I die cut two black braids from the Braid Border set by Dee's Distinctively, laid them down with alternating centers and attached with silver nail heads. The faux leather card front was attached to a black card base. I will be teaching this card in card classes coming up in my home.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Tuesday Throwdown.

Crackerbox Palace Little Black Dress Card

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a feminine card I made with Crackerbox Palace’s awesome stamps. I started with a black 4 ¼” x 11” card and folded it at 5 ½”. Then I folded the left side back in half again. I used the partial die cut technique in the center of the black card front to cut only the right half of a label die from QuicKutz (put the top glass only on the half you want to cut.) Then I folded back the cut part and attached to the left side of the card front. I cut a slightly smaller QuicKutz label shaped piece out of script designer paper and stamped Crackerbox Palace’s Party Dress in black and added a flower at the waist. On the inside I stamped “You’re Utterly Fabulous” for the fabulous lady who will receive this card.

**As a present to you from Crackerbox Palace, all the  stamps  on this card will be 20% OFF for one week! What a deal! **

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Fancy Folds challenge at Crafty Gals Corner.

Yikes! It's Another Sketch Challenge at Repeat Impressions

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for another fun sketch challenge at The House that Stamps Built and we are challenging you to make a card using the sketch below and link it up for a chance at some great Repeat Impressions rubber! For all the details on what you can win and to see the other Rock Stars cards using this sketch, please visit our blog.

CAS card and sketch this week and I decided to make a card that would put a smile on someone’s face. I stamped “Yikes!” a bunch of times on a striped dp. Then I stamped the Yikes Cat and cut him out with a scalloped circle die. I colored him and added some blue gel dots around the circle. Then I attached him with a Wobbles spring so he shakes and wiggles. 

Here is the sketch for you to follow when you create a card for our challenge. You do not need to use Repeat Impressions stamps to enter our challenges, but you get an extra chance to win if you do!

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Love to Scrap and Craft Your Passion.

**Don’t Forget: for a 10% discount on any size order at Repeat Impressions, make a note of my discount code (rr10kh), click on the blog badge on the side of my blog and go to the website here to shop and save!**

Sneak Peak of Wedding Stamp Camp Card

I think white on white is such an elegant look for a card. I designed this card for a stamp camp my friend Jane Luxem and I are hosting on May 16th. More information will be posted on the stamp camp later. This wedding card features my favorite die cut - the leafy flourish from Cherry Lynn Designs and their challenge this week is Anything Goes so I am entering this card. I started with a 6 x 4 1/2"  folded card base and cut off the right side of the front with a large oval die. I embossed the side of the front and inside with an embossing folder by Sizzix. I attached the leafy die cut (Cherry Lynn Designs) and the Congrats die cut (Penny Black). I embossed some punched butterflies in the Swiss dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and attached them with some pearls.

I am also entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Scribble and Scrap.

Positive and Negative Friend Card for Classes

I love using positive and negative images of punches and paper on my cards and I designed this card for a friend and to share in the classes I teach in my home. I started with a favorite paper of mine - Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Shattered by Core'dination. The front is the cracked purple and the back is kraft. This card is joy-fold card and you can see how it starts to open in this picture:

The base card is 5 1/4" x 7 3/4" scored at 5 1/4" (so the card is square.) The center piece is 7' x 3 1/2" scored at 3 1/2". I punched a border of flowers (Martha Stewart punch) in purple for the kraft side and in kraft for the purple side. On the left side of the front square piece, I attached a kraft piece to half. I punched 4 one inch squares, cut two in half and attached them in the pattern shown- purple over kraft and kraft over purple. I sponged a kraft flower and attached in the middle with a purple gem. Then I stamped the friends and blossom sentiment (from Amuse) in purple ink. Here is a look at the inside:

I am entering this card in "The Color Purple" challenge at Allsorts and the Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create.

Sparkly Embossed Bird Card

I love using texture and sparkle in my cards and this card that I designed to share at my next stamp club has plenty of both. I was inspired by this card on Pinterest  to pull out my favorite bird die and stencils. But I decided to make the bird all sparkly with glitter and distress inks. Take a closer look at the bird (because it is so much prettier IRL):

I applied a two sided sticky sheet to white cardstock and die cut the bird (Poppy Stamps). Then I peeled of the top sheet and dumped very fine white glitter on the die cut bird. After burnishing in the glitter, I embossed the bird with a SU embossing folder and colored with a couple distress inks. On the white card base, I sponged some more distress ink through a stencil from Memory Box and then attached a twig die cut from Penny Black. I attached some black glitter tape to the side of the card, added a sentiment die from Penny Black and some sequins I colored peach with a Copic. My sparkly bird was attached with pop dots to raise her for dimension.

Punches and/or Die Cuts 4 Kids at SAS4Kids!

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Punches and/or Die Cuts 4 Kids! Create and link any card for a child using punches and/or die cuts and you could win one of our great prizes.

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge: Flat Friends Boutique is giving their winner 6 digis of their choice!  The Paper Shelter is giving their randomly picked winner 3 digis!  And Sassy Studio’s winner gets 4 digis of their choice! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above features a digi image called "Skate Away with Me" from Flat Friends Boutique. I paper pieced her skating outfit and did a little coloring. Her white cardstock piece was attached to a top folding navy blue card with a strip of snowy dp on the top. Then I added a bunch of punched and die cut snowflakes and some gems for a fun winter card.

I used oval stitched die cuts to frame this pretty little girl and her dog from The Paper Shelter. The digi is called "Bath Time" and I printed the colored version of the digi then cut the ovals to create the frame. I added some punched blue birds to complete the cheery card for one of our kids.

Normally I make two cards for my SAS4Kids blog posts, but when I saw the awesome Frozen digis from our third sponsor Sassy Studios, I just had to get them and make another card. Sassy Studios has a whole set of all the sayings from Frozen and I chose the famous "Let it Go". I punched it out with a circle punch and layered onto a die cut snowflake. I printed the Snow Queen Elsa (also from Sassy Studios) and paper pieced her beautiful gown and hair. Then I added a Memory Box snowflake swirl, another punched snowflake and some gems. I am hoping a little girl who absolutely loves Frozen gets this card.

I am entering the second card in the Animal challenge at The Paper Shelter, and the Frozen card in the Anything Goes challenge at Wonderful Wednesdays, and the Design Team Showcase.

Monochromatic Masculine Birthday

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a monochromatic masculine card I made with Crackerbox Palace’s awesome stamps. I started with a grey card base and stamped the vertical Happy Birthday and straight and curvy barb wire. I stamped the Poster on Wood on grey and then stamped the cowboy silhouette inside. I sponged the outside frame with black Distress ink and the inside was sponged with a white pigment ink. I cut it out and attached to the card front with pop dots to raise it. I don’t know any cowboys, but I think most any guy would like this card. 

 **As a present to you from Crackerbox Palace, all the  stamps  on this card will be 20% OFF for one week! What a deal! **

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapper’s Delight, the G is for Grey challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, and the Animals challenge at The Paper Shelter.

Repeat Impression's Photo Inspiration Challenge

On the third Wednesday of every month at Repeat Impression’s blog, The House that Stamps Built, the challenge is going to be an Inspiration Photo challenge. I find it fascinating to see each stamper’s take on a card based on the same inspiration photo. This is this month’s Inspiration Photo:

Will you be inspired by the colors or the objects or shapes in the photo? It is up to you to pick out what inspires you and make a card, then enter it for a chance to win some great Repeat Impressions rubber. Be sure to check out the RI blog for the inspiration based cards by the other Rock Stars. I have seen them and you do not want to miss them!

I was inspired by the heart shape and the tree to create a love card with Repeat Impression’s stamps. I started with RI’s Winter Tree and sponged a heart over the tree with a stencil I created with acetate and a heart die from Spellbinders. I stamped a heart stencil background with reds and pinks in the heart shape. I added another stencil heart and a love sentiment to complete the inspiration card.

I am entering my card in the Celebrate Challenge at Raisin Boat (celebrating love or Valentine’s Day a little late), and the Design Team Showcase.

Anything Goes at Through the Craft Room Door

It’s Tuesday and time for another Through the Craft Room Door challenge. As always the theme is my favorite, Anything Goes! There is a new challenge every Tuesday at TTCRD. I am on Team A and this week is our turn to post our cards. The sponsor this week is The Paper Shelter. Check out the TTCRD blog for all the details and great cards by the rest of the dt.

For this challenge, I created a simple yet beautiful card using Rose from The Paper Shelter. Rose is available as a colored digi or uncolored for those of you who love to color. I printed the colored version twice and cut into two different sized squares. The top one was die cut with Sizzix Celebra’tions pierced squares die and attached with pop dots to raise. I added some punched butterflies (SU and Martha Stewart) and gems and layered onto an aqua blue cardbase.

**Don’t Miss It! The January/February 2015 issue of Through The Craft Room Door magazine is available for your viewing pleasure in the "Subscribers Only Area" of the TTCRD website.  It is loaded with over 100 pages of paper craft tutorials, tons of inspirations and projects you can create. Plus free digis, an article by me on Bisters and 9 of my cards! Come check it out! If you do not currently subscribe to the magazine you will need to go to the top of the page and click on the Subscription/Renewals tab. I highly recommend everyone get a subscription to this great on line magazine!**

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Scribble and Scrap and 613 Avenue Create, and the Design Team Showcase.

Sending you the warmest of thoughts...

from frigid Wisconsin! Wind chills well below zero everyday this week, but hopefully a card like this one will warm up the recipient. My favorite new embossing folder is the one I used on the card front from C Gull. I cut apart a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp to stamp along the curved bottom edges of the embossing. Then I die cut the butterfly by Memory Box in peach tones. CAS but I really like it!

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create and the Any Occasion other than Birthday at Allsorts. 

Kitty Cat Diorama Class Card

I have been playing with my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and designing cards to teach in my monthly in home classes starting again in March. I created the front of this card with a cute new stamp called Cat's Meow from Fun Stampers Journey, the Kitty Cat Birthday sentiment from Crackerbox Palace and a new Geometric Square die from Leabilities. What's new and teachable you ask? Just look at the inside:

The inside of the card pops up to create a diorama look with the perfect sentiment from Crackerbox Palace in the inside of the popped up diorama piece. I added a Geometric Corner die cut from the same set by Leabilities and a couple punched kitties (Fiskars) to complete the inside.

I am entering this card in the "All Creatures Great and Small" challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Favorite Color Combo (red, black and white) challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am sharing the Valentine I sent to my BFF who is enjoying the warmth far away from frigid Wisconsin. I love using the positives and negatives of dies and the Sketch Heart from Simon Says Stamp works beautifully for that. I die cut it several times out of white and deep red to create this card. I also die cut the sentiment out of an alphabet die from Die-Versions. This is what the inside looks like:

One more sketch heart and a "friend" from Paper Smooches. I am finding I am using die cuts even more than stamps lately.

 I am entering this card in the Valentines challenge at Scrap and Craft and the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapper's Delights.

Happy Valentine's Day to my Main Squeeze

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a cute Valentine I made with some fun stamps from Crackerbox Palace. I created a colorful cardbase with some red polka dotted cardstock. I cut a square hole in the center of a white layer and stamped the sentiment in red ink. A second smaller square was cut with a die from Spellbinders. I stamped the cute monkey swinging in a heart on kraft paper and on white. I colored the heart swing red and paper pieced the monkey after a little coloring. He is “hanging” on a rope made with a thin washi tape.

I am entering this card in the All Creatures Great and Small challenge at Simon Says Stamp, and the Have a Heart challenge at Crafting for all Seasons. 

**As a present to you from Crackerbox Palace, all the  stamps  on this card will be 20% OFF for one week! What a deal! **

Thank You Cards for Repeat Impression's Designer Choice Challenge

It’s another Designer’s Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built, Repeat Impression’s blog. It is Joy’s turn and her challenge is to create a Thank You Card. Why don’t you join us in this challenge and enter your thank you card for a chance to win some awesome Repeat Impressions rubber? Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's projects for this DCC challenge. I have seen them and you do not want to miss them!

I was inspired by the colors and masking on this card on this blog to make my thank you card. I created a circular mask in the middle of the white card base. Then I repeatedly stamped Repeat Impression’s small butterfly in pink and orange inks. After removing the mask, I stamped the Thank You and added a punched butterfly and some gems to complete the CAS card.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Craft Your Passion and Crafting from the Heart, and the Design Team Showcase.

And don’t forget: For a 10% discount on any size order at Repeat Impressions, just make a note of my discount code (rr10kh), click on the blog badge on the side of my blog and go to the website here to shop and save!

Love You Heart Card

I am loving a couple new heart dies I bought from Simon Says Stamp recently and made one more love card with them leading up to Valentine's Day. The Danish Heart die from SSS is so fun to work with to create the woven look. I used the largest and middle size dies and a two sided red dp and raised the smaller one up on pop dots. The cardbase was embossed with a hearts embossing folder by Darice. I die cut the Sketch Heart (also from Simon Says Stamp) and the You (Penny Black) out of the same red dp. The card will say "Love You" on an anniversary or any day card for my DH.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create and the Seeing Red challenge at Sentimental Sundays.

Stamps and Stencils for Repeat Impression's POTW

It's my turn to do a Project of the Week for Repeat Impressions and I am sharing ways to use stencils with stamps and stamps with stencils. I have purchased many of the inexpensive plastic stencils from a variety of sources and had fun experimenting with them to enhance Repeat Impression's great stamps. My first card above features an open heart stamp that is actually a hot air balloon. I cut off the bottom part leaving a nice open heart that I sponged various patterns from stencils in a variety of colors of Distress inks from Ranger. I used stencils from Tim Holtz, Crafter's Workshop and one I made myself with acetate and a die from Spellbinders. I embossed the cardbase with an embossing folder from Darice and added the Happy Valentine's message stamped several times.

I love how this card turned out with the peach colored distress ink, a Memory Box stencil background and the Wings Negative stamp. The stenciled background shows through the wings on the stamp beautifully. I added the sentiment in black and layered the front piece on a black cardbase.

My last card also uses a Memory Box stencil and distress inks, along with fun stamps from Repeat Impressions. I turned the stencil to create the illusion of water in the fish bowl and paper pieced the fish. I added another fun sentiment and layered onto a green cardbase.

If you have stencils and open stamps, try using them together for easy and fun cards.

I am entering the second card in the No Pink or Red challenge at Open-Minded Crafting and the first card in the Add a Heart challenge at Sweet Stampin'.

Bright and Beautiful Hearts Card

My Sizzix Big Shot is just about shot:( But I have used and used it for years and I just wore it out. I can still emboss and cut some dies, but it is just about ready to give up the good fight.  I have ordered the new Big Shot Plus from Sizzix and am hoping my old Big Shot holds on until April when the new model is released and shipped. I wanted to cut Memory Box's beautiful floral heart in gold for this card, but I just couldn't get a clean cut no matter what I tried. Then I remembered a card I saw on the brilliant Virginia Lu's blog where she had a similar problem and just left the intricate pieces in the shape and it looked great. I added some hearts over some of the flowers to continue the love theme. I punched along the side with a Martha Stewart heart punch and attached a strip of the gold paper under the hearts. I stamped the sentiment from Whippersnapper and cut it out with a Spellbinders labels die. While the piece was still in the die, I sponged on some red ink.

I am entering this card in the All Things Bright and Beautiful challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Valentine/Love challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.

For the Boys at Send a Smile 4 Kids!

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is For the Boys! Create and link any card for a boy and you could win one of our great prizes. Cards for boys –especially the older boys- is the kind of card we receive the least here at SAS4Kids, so we are using this challenge to remind you to keep boys in mind when designing your cards to donate. Donating your card is not a requirement to enter our challenge, but our boys (and girls) in the 13 hospitals we currently serve would sure love it if you did!

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge: Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet is giving their winner a $10 gift certificate!  Fred She Said is giving their randomly picked winner a $10 gift certificate!  And Squigglefly’s winner gets 3 digis of their choice! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

I love the "Bumpy Road" silhouette digital stamp from Stitchy Stamps of Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet on the card above! I simply printed him on some striped dp, and added the "Be" stamp and "Awesome" die cut from Studio Calico. Then I attached the whole front to a black card base.

I have been seeing many Etch-a-Sketch cards in Pinterest land lately and thought the cute robot from Squigglefly would be perfect for one. I am wondering, though, do today's kids even know what an Etch-a-Sketch is? Not sure if they are even sold anymore, but I sure remember them. I printed the cute robot on grey cardstock and cut it out with rounded corners. I attached to a red card base also with rounded corners and added the "knobs" popped up on pop dots.

I am entering these cards in the Masculine challenge at Cuttin' and Stampin' , the Design Team Showcase and the Anything Goes challenge at Love's Rubberstamps.

Snowflake Shaker Warm Winter Wishes Card

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a snowflake shaker card I made with some fun snowflake stamps from Crackerbox Palace. I am so glad shaker cards have become so popular again because they are fun to make! I created the opening in the navy blue square piece with a new die from Darice. I attached a piece of acetate behind the snowflake opening. In the center of the  white cardbase I stamped “Warm winter wishes” and a bunch of tiny snowflakes. I also stamped some lovely larger snowflakes from CBP in the front corners with white pigment ink. I used mounting tape to seal off the shaker part and dumped in some blue, white and snowflake sequins and a few glass shards. Here is another look after shaking the card: 

I used the die cut snowflake taken out of the opening in the front on the inside of the card with another perfect sentiment from Crackerbox Palace:

**As a present to you from Crackerbox Palace, all the  stamps  on this card will be 20% OFF for one week! What a deal! **

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Papertake Weekly and the shaker cards challenge at Virginia’s View.

Red, Pink and White Color Challenge at Repeat Impressions

The first Wednesday of each month at Repeat Impression’s blog, The House that Stamps Built, is going to be a color challenge. We give you the color inspiration, and you can make a card using those colors to possibly win a great prize of Repeat Impressions rubber! Here is the color palette chosen this month:

I started my card with a red cardbase and a layer of pink. Then I applied red Brusho Crystal Colours to a piece of watercolor paper and spritzed it with water.  Red Brushos take on a pinky tone when they are used alone and the result was a red and pink sunset sky. I paper pieced a couple of Repeat Impression’s heart hot air balloons and added some bird silhouette die cuts from IO. To complete the card, I stamped the perfect sentiment from Repeat Impressions on pink, cut it out and attached.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Love’s Rubberstamps and the Design Team Showcase.

Easter Egg Bunny Card for TTCRD

It’s Tuesday and time for another Through the Craft Room Door challenge. As always the theme is my favorite, Anything Goes! There is a new challenge every Tuesday at TTCRD. I am on Team A and this week is our turn to post our cards. The sponsor this week is Fitztown and the prize is 3 digis of the winner’s choice!

I had fun making an Easter card with this super cute bunny digi from Fitztown. I had pinned this card from Splitcoast with a plan to try one sometime before Easter and when I saw this adorable bunny, I knew I wanted to have him pop out of a cracked Easter egg. There were no instructions, but I was able to figure how to attach a punched “word window” (from Stampin’ up) piece to the two sides of the egg and the inside piece with a brad which allows the cracked egg to open. I cut a yellow patterned egg oval, a white smaller oval and a green oval with my Nestabilities from Spellbinders. I paper pieced the bunny and his clothes and shoes. I cut the crack in the yellow Easter egg by hand. The perfect sentiment I stamped on the green front oval piece is from Crackerbox Palace. I added a flower sticker to complete the card. 

Here is a picture with the egg closed:

**Don’t Miss It! The January/February 2015 issue of Through The Craft Room Door magazine is available for your viewing pleasure in the "Subscribers Only Area" of the TTCRD website.  It is loaded with over 100 pages of paper craft tutorials, tons of inspirations and projects you can create. Plus free digis, an article by me on Bisters and 9 of my cards! Come check it out! If you do not currently subscribe to the magazine you will need to go to the top of the page and click on the Subscription/Renewals tab. I highly recommend everyone get a subscription to this great on line magazine!**

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at That Craft Place, 613 Avenue Create, and the Design Team Showcase.

Olaf Frozen Card

I recently got an awesome digital stamp file from Sassy Studios with all the sayings from Frozen in fun fonts. (I also got Elsa the Snow Queen which you will see on a SAS4Kids Saturday.) I had saved a punch art Olaf card with an instructions link in my Pinterest board and decided now was the time to finally try making one. Making the first one takes a long time, but since so many kids love Olaf and Frozen, it is definitely worth the effort. I have plenty of circle and oval punches, but do not have the bowtie punch from SU that the videos show for the head. I went on line and was able to copy a template for the head, arms and "hair". I am happy with how it turned out and hope the child who receives this card loves it too.

I am entering this card in the "No Red or Pink" challenge at Open-Minded Crafting and the "One for the Kids" challenge at Left of Center.

Danish Hearts Double Easel Card

I have been wanting to try a Triple Easel Heart card and I watched this good tutorial on how to make them. But I was also so inspired by the Danish hearts on this card that I had to go to Simon Says Stamp and buy them immediately. I made the three heart sizes in the Danish Heart die set (by Simon Says Stamp) with Tim Holtz's Kraft-Core Shattered red and kraft paper by Core'dinations and added the white stitches like in my inspiration card.

The video describes sizes from the Stampin' up set of heart dies, but I have the Nestabilities set from Spellbinders. So I created the base with the largest scalloped heart die in white. The Danish heart dies are smaller than the SU hearts, but they did match up well with the medium sizes of the nesties set. The Danish hearts are attached to mini heart shaped cards with the top bottom half folded down for the easel. Because the dies I own are so much smaller than the ones described in the video, I decided to make a double easel card instead of a triple easel card.  I used the third smallest Danish heart (on pop dots) to hold up the other two hearts. I attached the Love and You die cuts to finish the card.

Here are a couple more pictures of the card- one from the top and one with the card closed:

If you watch the video you will understand the basics of a triple (or double as in my card) heart easel card, I am going to teach this card in my monthly classes starting again in March. If you are local, there is still room for you and/or friends, so contact me if interested.

I am entering this card in the Stitching (Real or Faux) challenge at Crafty Catz and the Hearts challenge at Wags 'n Whiskers.