Chalks

How is everyone today?  I’m  pretty sure everyone is getting ready for the  long weekend with the holiday coming.  I have been busy,  me and my family are leaving for a couple days but I did still have time to get a card in.  I am so enjoying how everyone colors their cards so beautifully with all the different shades of colors and stuff.  Which made me think about  my chalks.  I haven’t used them for a long time so I gave it a shot.  I dug out the biggest stamp I could find.  It is called Walking Dragon by Stamps Happen Inc.  This is the first time I have used it.  All I did was stamp the image on white cardstock and started going to town with the chalk.  It was quite fun actually.   I then stamped the good luck with a Versa Mark and rubbed that with chalk also.  It turned out pretty good.  I  mounted it on Orchid Opulence paper which is a Stampin Up color.  I then again used my liquid paint with glitter and put it all over the pink and the brown at the bottom to give it some shine.   As you can tell a new favorite of mine is glitter.  I think its kind of hard to tell from the picture.   I am very happy with the outcome.  What do you all think? Would love any feedback!

New card

Good morning everyone.  The weather is supposed to be great today.  I love the sun and hot weather.  Would  definitely take hot over cold any day.  So I was  rummaging through my crafting things I cam across this beautiful sequin butterfly, someone gave it to me along time ago and I thought what in the heck am  I going to do with this??  Well as I came across it again  I was like this is really cool and I have to  make a handmade card using  it.  I think that it  is great that your taste  and ideas   change from time to time.  So anyways I found some purple paper that was pretty  close to  matching the butterfly.  I wanted something shiny to go with it so I got out my silver embossing powder.  The little butterfly swirls and the birthday wishes are from the Stampin Up set called So Happy For You.  They are both embossed in silver.  I put some paper layers  around the birthday wishes. The purple is Marvelous Magenta and the pink is Pretty in Pink.    I then took  some 26 gauge copper wire and made the butterfly  some little antennas.    I think the littlest ideas or embellishments can really improve a card. So as you can see a very simple but elegant card.  

Digital Stamp

Yesterday I posted my first handmade card using a digital stamp so I thought I would try another idea using the same digi  .  I just love this stamp.  The bears are so cute.  On yesterdays card I used Stampin Up markers to color  with this card I used colored pencils.  After I had the bears colored I decided to color the heart green  and outline it with yellow.  After I finished  that I then took Summer Sun and Gable Green ink from Stampin up and used a cotton ball  and rubbed those colors along the edge of the card.  I then took Glitter Glaze by Lil Davis Designs  and spread it on the heart. I put both cards together yesterdays and today’s  but could not decide which one I liked better.  What do you think?? Have a great evening.

Valentines Day Card

Like I told you a couple of days ago I bought my first digital stamp. I have seen a ton of great ideas  using them so I had to try.  My digi is called Roger and Rosie  I Love You.  I am going to give this one to my hubby  just because,  but it could be a great Valentines Day card .  Maybe I‘ll give it   to him  again then ,he probably won‘t remember anyway .  LOL.  That’s pretty far off though.  I used my Stampin Up markers to color it.  The heart is Pink Passion, the bow in Rosies’s hair and the little heart on Roger’s foot is Brilliant Blue,   the bears are  Creamy Caramel, and  Going Gray.  The blue behind the bears is Brilliant Blue and the brown paper is the Creamy Caramel.  I then used  blue  square eyelets that I had laying around.  If you have been looking at my different cards you will be able to see that I love to tear paper.  My motto is when in doubt  or something is missing  try tearing.  While checking out every ones handmade cards I can see that the coloring alone can make a  great card using the digital stamps..  I hope that I can get the hang of it.  As always I’d love to hear any ideas or advice on my cards.   Have a great night!

Thank You Card

Busy,  busy day today  but wonderful weather.  I got my first sunburn of the  season.  Well I  was  sitting in my craft room deciding what  I was going to make.  While  looking through my stuff ,  I came across this stamp set.  If someone were to ask me what was my favorite kind of stamps were  (flowers,  words, nature, etc) I would probably have an answer of  I do not  have a favorite, but as I look through my stamp sets  I can’t help but notice I have a lot of bugs, fish, and animals.  So even thought I did not know it I guess they are my favorite.  They  just keep showing up. Oh well.  My handmade card today is a thank you card.  Everything in this card idea is from Stampin Up.  The colors are Brocade Blue, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, and Always Artichoke.  All of the stamps are from the set Monkey Business.  I then put some Crystal Effects on all the bananas.   I love these monkeys they are so cute.  Well I have  been working on my card for tomorrows ideas.  I am using a digital image for the first time. Hope it goes well.  Come back tomorrow and check it out!! You’ll have to let me know how I did.

New Card

I just got back from camping with my  family.  We had a great 4 days, it was very wet because all it did was rain but we had a great time.  All the kids  played in the rain and then they played in the puddles after it got done raining.  It  was every kids dream that they  got to do these things and not get in trouble.   So I have a wedding today but I wanted to post  a new card.  This is a very easy quick card.  I do not have many boy cards  and usually I am not very good at them but I figured what boy does not like basketball.  I used the Cricut cartridge  called Basketball for all the images.  The blue and orange are  Stampin Up colors Brocade Blue and Only Orange.  It was a very simple card so I decided  added to more images to the inside also from the Basketball Cartridge.  The Happy Birthday to you is from  Simple Sayings II set  from Stampin Up also.  It is stamped with Basic Black ink. Of course because now we are home from camping the sun decides to come out oh well,  I hope everyone has a great day!!

Digital Downloads

I hope that everyone had a great weekend.  Well, I have been doing a lot of blog hopping lately and have seen a lot of cards and ideas  using digital images.  I am not sure what this is all about so I decided do dig a little deeper and  try it out myself.  I just  bought a digital download.  Yah!!  I have not yet received it and I am not quite sure what I am going to do with it once I get it but I am really excited to try something new and  hoping to get a handle on what its  all about.  So if anyone has  anything helpful  I would appreciate any advice  about these downloads.   Like I said in a previous blog that I have been stamping for about 9 years.  The last 3 years or so I did the bare minimum.  Would make cards  when I needed them, but I did not keep up on the latest trends and the new tools.  I had not boughten anything new except my Cricut.  There have been  lots of changes.   So now  that I have dedicated myself to making  cards on a regular basis and keeping this blog I feel like I have to try and keep up on the different and new things that are out there or at least try them.  The next thing I have to look into is  Copics.  I know that they are colors  or coloring tools of some sort.  I have seen and read that a lot of people are using these and I have seen many awesome handmade cards that they used them on.    Well I am patiently waiting for my digital  download ,  I guess I’ll have to make something else till then.  Have a great day!

New Card

One of my favorite colors is pink.  I’ve seen some really great cards out there lately with pink  and I thought yup now its my turn.  I used my Cricut with this one.  I love these flowers.  They are really cute and so easy to make cards with.  As you can see I did two variations of the same card.  I just changed one color and  rearranged the images.  I think my favorite is the pinks with the black.  I guess I really like black too!!  The flowers were made with the Cricut cartridge Home Décor.  The flowers  are a variety of different sizes.  It is the  same flower though.  The Birthday Wishes stamp is from a Stampin Up set called So Happy For You.  The little pink  jewel things are called Glass Effects  by Heidi Grace Designs.  The different shades of pink are Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink from Stampin Up.  The black card looks great as is, so when I used the white cardstock I thought it looked a little plain .   So I took a cotton ball and dabbed  Regal Rose ink on the whole front to add some color.  It made a huge difference.  As you can see the then layered some paper under the birthday wishes.  I love to tear!!  Always love to hear feedback  on my ideas and handmade cards.  Have a great night.

New Card

Good morning everyone.  I have a busy day today  so I wanted to post my card right away.  A couple of days ago I used my Four Legged Friends Cricut cartridge  for the first time and liked it so much I had to use it again.  This time I did the whole fishbowl and the  words to go with it.  This card was very simple and quick to make, my Cricut did all the work.  All I had to do was pick out some colored paper.  The paper is all Stampin Up.  They are as follows  Real Red, Brilliant Blue,  Bliss Blue,  Night of Navy  and Bordering Blue.  I did put some Crystal Effects on the top of the fish bowl for a shiny look and some more texture.  The Crystal Effects is also a Stampin Up product.  I think this is  a great encouragement  card.  I would love to hear any comments you may have.  Check back soon

Styles

First of all I hope that everyone had a great day.  Mine was pretty prosperous.  Had a great day of shopping with my sister-in-law.  Got the whole lawn cut and trimmed and even had time to sit down and make some cards.   Well I have been looking at many card making idea  blogs over the last couple weeks.  It is so neat because there are never two cards the same.  I have learned just by looking  at many blogs that each person has their own style and way of doing things.  Let me tell you there are a lot of  great handmade card makers out there.  Also I have learned that there is always something new to learn.   When I am looking at someones step by step instructions  on a card and I come across something I have not heard of before I have to write it down so I can go back later and find out what it is  they are talking about.  Making handmade cards has changed and keeps on changing.  I definitely think that its all the new gadgets they come out with..  If you throw in a Cricut or a Cuttlebug ,  you’re on a whole new level.    I really enjoy going to different blogs and seeing  so many great ideas.  There are many that are so detailed.   My cards are not  there yet.  I hope at some point I can get to that level.  My style right now (I think that your style  does change from time to time)  is pretty simple but I think that my cards are cute.. I just enjoy making cards and trying to come up with new ideas.  I hope you’ll come back to see how  my  cards are coming along.  Good night all!! 

Universal Card

This blog has been a great thing for me.  I have a ton of stuff for making cards but  was not using any of it.  By doing this blog it has motivated me to  make cards again.   My goal is to write or post a handmade card every day for the first month.   Now its like any free time I have I am in my back room trying to come up with some new ideas or  cards.  The funny thing is that I forgot how much fun it was.  I feel really good and accomplished when I have made something.
 I think universal cards are great so I’ve made another one.  I was looking through my stuff and came across my embossing things.  I knew I had to make a card using it. I love how embossing looks.  It gives the card texture.   I started out with black cardstock  from the craft store.  I then took my Versa Mark from Stampin Up and stamped the flower, pedal, and swirls.  Next I  poured my white stampin powder on  my stamped images.  Once all the excess powder is removed you  heat  up the embossing powder that is  left on your images  with an embossing tool.   I then used Real Red eyelets  to give it a little color.  For the wonderful  I  used white cardstock .  I stamped the word  with my Versa Mark and  used Basic Black embossing powder.  I then tore around the wonderful and added a couple of black and white layers .  The wonderful is from the  set Warm Words and the rest  of the stamps is from the set Friendship Blooms.   Both  are from Stampin Up.

I hope you are enjoying my handmade cards and ideas.  Like I said I am going to try and post something every day for a month so come and check back each day to see what I have.   Have a great day!!

Fathers Day Card

Well this has been the third time I’ve tried to sit down and make my fathers day card.  The other times I started  my card, the   ideas I came  up with stunk so I  gave up. Since its only 4 days away I thought I would give it another try.  I do not think that this  handmade hard is horrible but I am not feeling so great about it either.  I think the card is kinda cute but plain,  it needs something more.  So if any of you have  suggestions I would love to hear them.   I did use my Cricut Machine for this one.    First I took Basic Black ink from
Stampin up with a cotton ball and just kinda brushed a little color on the front of the card.  I then used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to print the Happy Fathers Day.  Next,  I took my Four Legged Friends Cartridge and printed out the fish.  This was actually the first time I used this one.  I had never done the  printing in layers thing before.  I thought it would be much more complicated than   it was.  Very cool.  I used  black cardstock from the craft store.  The gray is Going Gray which is a Stampin Up color.  Like I said  I thought it was kind of plain so I added some glitter glue to parts of the fish.   Any feedback or help is  welcome.

Handmade Card

Well as I sat down today to make a card I  came across these stars I purchased from a garage sale a couple weeks ago and I thought these are really cool, so I had to make a card using them .   The stars made me think of the 4th of July so I then had to dig out some paper with stars on them.  That is how I got started with the idea for this handmade card.  The stars are very cool.  They are called Foil Rimmed Acetate Shapes made by Li’l Davis Designs.   I’m not sure where you can get these,  like I said I got  them at a garage sale.  The star paper was just from a variety pack I had bought at Joanne Fabrics.  All I did was glue the  star paper to the back of two of the stars,  the other star I left as is. I picked out  the Ruby Red ink.  I then dug  my color coach  out and  looked at which shades of blue went with Ruby Red .  Not Quite Navy  was the answer it gave me .   I then stamped the  word sparkle.  It is from the  Stampin Up set called From Warm Words .  Then I  tore around the word sparkle  and with a cotton ball  rubbed the edges with the Ruby Red ink.  I also placed the stars paper around the middle sparkle. I then placed it all together.  So  you could write or stamp anything you want  in the inside to make it for whatever occasion you want.

My Favorite Products

I  want to tell you  about my favorite products that I use for making handmade cards.  I know that everyone has there own favorite something.  Mine is Stampin Up stuff.  I love the paper ,the ink pads,  the eyelets, the brads,  the markers, the embossing powder, the chalks, the wire and any other colored things.(I’m sure that I’ve missed something.)  I love the products but it has more to do with just the colors of all these  things.  I find that sometimes I sit down   and just look at the different colors of paper and  find a couple that I think go together  and try some ideas.  If  I’m not sure about it  or I don’t think the colors are just right I’ll get out the Stampin Up Color Coach.  This is the greatest thing.   It costs $14.95 but its so worth the money.   For those of you who are not familiar with this,  it’s a handy tool to have .  Find the color you want to use and the wheel will give you coordinating  and complementary colors to go  with your color.  It also gives you dynamic duos.  This wheel is very helpful. It puts together colors that I would have never dreamed of and they look excellent together.  I just love that all their colors match.   Sometimes I think that is half the battle.  Once I get my colored paper picked out then I’ll look which eyelets  match or do I have that color embossing powder . Its also really nice to have the same color paper and ink. You can’t go wrong there.   I would love to hear about any of your favorite product!!

Universal Card

Today my handmade card is  universal but I made it because I have a Confirmation party to go to.  I know that brown and black are not the most upbeat colors but it is for a boy and I feel that I trouble making man  cards.   I thought that there would be no questions with this one that it could be manly.    Today everything used to make this cards if from Stampin Up.  Right now I am in a tearing phase as you can see every card or idea  I have come up with I tore something on each one.  The brown card stock for the card is Chocolate Chip.  Both of the stamps I used are from the same set which is called All I Have Seen.  I then stamped the words and the leaf image on Close To Cocoa paper and tore around each shape. Next I placed them on black cardstock and tore around that to make another layer.  The picture  is done but I then added another layer under the words which is the Close To Cocoa paper  again.  I used Basic Black ink.    Before I glued both shapes on the card  I took a cotton ball and dabbed it on the black ink pad and gently rubbed around the edges  of the card to give it a vintage kind of look.  I then glued  both stamped images down.   Now we are finished.  I hope you enjoyed my handmade card idea.

Creativity and Ideas

Hey everyone  I hope the day is going well .  Here I am trying to create some masterpieces for cards.    I am  just curious but am wondering how this works for you guys.  I can sit down and have what I think are some great ideas in my head  .  So I get started and  I am stamping or layering, cutting or whatever my idea involves and I end up with this hideous  homemade card.  So I then make some changes.  I try different colors or I  change the card around maybe add a layer of something or take one away and I come up with something even worse.  So I try yet again to make some  more changes.  This time I will turn the card and have it open the opposite direction.  I might now try and add  some embellishments  eyelets,  brads ,  wire, or something and it gets even worse.  So if this  happens to me  it  is time to quit for the day. I should run far away from my stamping room.    I can then come back the next day with no ideas in mind and just start trying different things and I come up with this really cool card.  So like I said does this happen to everyone or just me? Do some days you have creativity and some days you don’t?  Where do you get your ideas or inspiration from?  Would love some feedback.

Handmade Cards Ideas

Handmade Cards Ideas
Well I just made some more  handmade cards last night.  I’m so excited.  I have 3 parties coming this weekend so I wanted to make a card that I could use for all 3.  So as you can see the cards or the ideas are pretty much the same but there are a few little differences  between the birthday and the graduation  cards.  My favorite thing about  these cards it the personalization.  I have never done this before.  I thought that it was a real  nice touch.

The first one is the birthday card.  I think pink is so cute.  (I only have boys so  I use the pink whenever I get the chance.) .  I used my Cricut and some  stamps.    The letters are from the Plantin SchoolBook Cartridge, the flowers are from the Home Décor cartridge.  The letter are 2 ¼ inches big.  The big flower is the same size but the little ones I changed and just made a variety of sizes.  The Happy Birthday stamp is from the Stampin Up set called Favorite greetings. As you can see I love to tear   which I did around the happy birthday just to add a little something.   All of the paper and inks are from Stampin up.  The pink the card is made from and the stamp is the color Pink Passion.  The other shades are Stampin Up too but not sure which ones they are.

The other 2 are graduation cards.   I m not sure how this happened but I do not have a stamp with the word graduation in it  so I found a saying  that I thought was appropriate.  It says  May all your wishes come true.   It is  from a Stampin Up set called Heard from the Heart.  I did flip flop the cards to make them a little different.  The colors of Lily’s card is  Night of Navy and  Ballet Blue.  Jen’s card is made from the colors Mellow Moss and Bliss Blue.  All Stampin Up colors.  The letters and the flowers are all the same  sizes as the birthday card. 

So as you can see by just making the slightest changes you can make handmade cards for different occasions at the same time.  I hope  you enjoyed these card ideas.

Organization

Organization  and having your own space  to work is the key to making great cards. Last night  I rearranged my spare room to organize all of my stamping and card making things.  I used to have to take everything out   to make cards.  Then when I was finished I would pack everything back up and have to put it all away.  I know by having to do it this way I did not make cards near as much as I wanted had wanted  to.  It takes a lot of work  and was tiring to get it all out and have to put it away in the same sitting.  I  would think is it even worth it? It is also very time consuming digging through all my bins to find that certain stamp set or those specific colored eyelets or whatever you were looking for.  There were times where I   had  some great ideas but I wanted something specific, by the time I found what I was looking for the ideas or the inspiration I had was gone.   So I really thing that organization is important.  I am so looking forward to sitting down  and getting in some serious handmade card making . It was great I went through all of my stuff and I found things that I forgot I even had.  It was just like shopping!  Now that   I have everything all in order , I hope to be stamping and making cards like crazy  so  I can share with you some of my ideas, techniques,  favorite things, and just some handmade cards with you.  I would love any feedback and can’t wait to hear from you. 

Handmade Cards Ideas

Hey everyone my name is Mik and I started making homemade cards about 9 years ago.. I love to make my own cards and I want to share some cards, ideas, and different techniques (or styles), and just some of my favorite products with you.  Maybe since this is my first post I  will tell you a story about myself so you can get to know me a little.  I am very cheap when it comes to buying cards (I have not bought a card from a store in many,  many years) from the store.  I would go and pick the cheapest one I could find.  I didn't really care what it looked like.  Now when myself or someone in my family recieves a store bought card for whatever occasion I have to look at the back and see how much it cost.  I'm like I can't believe they spent $5.00 on this.  I could have made a much better card than this.  Then I laugh because I will spare no expense when it comes to buying a new tool, cool paper, or whatever it is I see and want for my card ideas.  Oh well what's a girl to do??  I know firsthand that you can never have too much card making stuff.  (Don't ask my husband about that.)

The first handmade card idea was inspired by the next holiday, 4th of July .  As you can see it is a pretty simple card.  The technique for this idea was tearing or ripping the paper.  I thought what a cute idea tearing the paper to look something similar to the flag.  I then stamped the blue and red stars and tore around them also followed by the word celebrate.  This card really could be used for any number of occasions around the 4th.  For this handmade card I used all Stampin Up supplies.  The paper colors are Real Red and Brilliant Blue as well as the stamp pad colors.  The stars are from the set Scribbles and the word celebrate is from the Wonderful Words set.  I hope this card will  give you some new ideas of your own.