Fun Friday Card

What, you say? More neon? Give it a rest already!

See, here’s the problem… when I get a new toy (new ink, new stamps, etc.) I just have to sit down and play. And once I have everything out — my stamps, inks, pens, whatever — I figure I may as well play until I’m either so tired my eyes won’t focus or I have to go work.

Below are two fun cards using Hero Arts‘ Neon ink pads.

This card with the flower background is actually the first card I stamped when I tore open my fresh new pads. I inked just the top portion of this Hero Arts Pom Pom flower

To create this background:

And then it sat. And sat some more. FINALLY… I added some elements:

(It’s brighter in real life. Washi tapes from Happy Tape, “wonderful” stamp from Close To My Heart.)

Then I went crazy stamping owls. I must have stamped a dozen or more of these bad boys.

To make the card, I first ran the card through a Cuttlebug border embossing folder; added a piece of washi tape from Elmer’s (yes, they make adhesives other than glue!) See the green owl? Yup, didn’t clean my stamp very well so he has orange undertones. See the orange owl? Wanted to see if these inks embossed, so I stamped the owl in neon orange on glossy cardstock then sprinkled with clear powder. It worked, intensifying the color but blurring the text a bit. The pink owl? Stamped on matte stock and probably the best of the bunch. “Friends” black embossed on scrap cardstock from my stash. Stamps from Hero Arts.

Have a neon bright weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Fun Friday — Still Texturizing!

Had enough texture yet? (Can one get enough texture?)

Here are more of my extensive, exiciting adventures in texture:

A simple card awaiting a sentiment. Core’dinations paper was run through Lifestyle Crafts’ Whimsy embossing folder. The Butterfly (by Layers of Color was heat embossed with the cool chunky embossing powder from Stampendous! Not sure you can get the full effect of the chunky, multi-colored powder. (A note about Layers of Color: Laura Kirste’s designs are now available through Spellbinders and Penny Black. Check out her new Website, laurakirste.com)

I like the masculine feel of this card — so much pizazz with such little effort. Core’dinations paper, run through Tim Holtz’ Gridlock Texture Fade Fade. The car was dry embossed using Tim’s Artful Muse ATC-sized embossing folderr, then cut out and mounted on foam dots. Sentiment from Hero Arts.

The pretty dots were already on the Core’dinations Jillian paper! I just sanded them lightly to bring out the core color. The larger butterfly is a Cuttlebug die and embossing folder, the smaller butterfly is a three-way punch from EK Success. Love the dimension! Sentiment from Close To My Heart. Stickles for sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by!

More Cards for Soldiers

A quick post … with more cards I made to send to Operation Write Home.

As I did with earlier cards, I was looking for a generic card with multiple uses. This congratulations stamp from Close To My Heart fit the bill nicely.

(Dotted folder from Cuttlebug; washi tape from Elmer’s. Love how the texture even works with the washi tape, a technique I saw on Lisa Spangler’s blog… she has the cutest ideas, you must check her out and look at her pretty cards here! )

Now here’s a bright card, below!

The beautiful, bright cardstock is from Die Cuts With A View, Silky Smooth Brights. The pink piece was embossed using a Lifestyle Crafts folder, then sanded lightly to bring out the white core; the blue piece was cut using a Spellbinders Nestabilities. The flowers are from Hero Arts, the sentiment from Technique Tuesday.

And last…. Love this cute camera paper from Die Cuts With a View — can you see the subtle sparkle on the cameras? The top was embossed using a Lifestyle Crafts folder; the sentiment is by Hero Arts. I stamped and embossed it on DCWV bright yellow Silky Smooth paper, but it was too bright. So I swiped on some Ranger Picket Fences Distress stain, then wiped it off the black-embossed sentiment. The easy border is Bazzill Basics’ Just the Edge selection. Just cut and glue!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Random Cards & Pretty Paper

Last week I played with some wonderful baby paper from Graphic 45. This week, I tore into another pack, a little funkier. Here’s a quick card (I puposely did not add a sentiment because I have a few possible uses for it.):

(butterfly paper, Graphic 45; background stripes by Hero Arts; butterfly stamp, Layers of Color; scallop border punch, Stampin’ Up!; text on border, Stampers Anonymous.)

Next up is a card using a stamp from LaBlanche, makers of the beautifully etched white silicone stamps.

The silver cardstock (from Wausau) was run through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur using a Cuttlebug folder that I bought before Christmas but never used — I love it! I had a piece of scrap paper that had been sprayed with two colors of Clearsnap’s Smooch Spritz. I stamped and embossed the ship (black ink, clear powder) on the scrap. I rounded the corners and layered it on black before mounting the whole thing to the card. The sentiment (Hero Arts) was stamped and black embossed, then trimmed and mounted using foam tape.

Here’s anothere use of the ship stamp (I’m not really fond of this card, but am sharing it anyway!) It needs a sentiment on the bottom!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next week I will show a variety of cards — and a mini book! — made with papers from Close To My Heart.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Seasonal Distress…

… and by seasonal distress I don’t mean the anxiety kind! I mean the Seasonal Distress Inks produced for a limited time by Ranger and Tim Holtz.

I had barely enough time to play with the fall colors when it was time for the winter hues! So here we go:

I ran a piece of glossy scrap card stock through a Cuttlebug folder and rubbed it with the Distress winter inks: festive berries, evergreen bough and iced spruce. The piece was trimmed, edged in gold, be-ribboned and attached to a red card. The chipboard sentiment is from a Brenda Walton K&Company box ‘o chips that I got A YEAR Ago (gasp) and was hoarding until the right moment. That moment is now.

Another Cuttlebug-embossed background (a collage background from Tim), same process.

And because I needed to STAMP, here’s one more:

Could I have gone any simpler?  This is so plain it’s a little embarrassing and kinda dorky. But how fast and easy was this? (You can’t see it very well, but the poinsettias (Hero Arts) are dotted with Distress Rock Candy Stickles.

One final Distress Ink card, this one using the Fall palette:

(Yes, you’ve sort of seen this before. I just added a sentiment and some pearls to the card I posted here.)

Thanks for visiting!