Happy Friday!

Of the all cards I've made this week, this one is my favorite. I think it's the bright color combination and sweet images. Whatever it is, it makes me smile. As for detail that the camera didn't pick up - The Topiary and Bamboo pieces are textured cardstock. I used Liquid Glass to accent the ladybug's head and spots. The "stitching" along the bottom of the card was created with my piercing tool and white gel pen, and finally, the piece that features the stamped images was mounted with foam mounting tape. It's a happy-looking little card, isn't it?

Materials & Tools: White Daisy and Holiday Red cardstock; Bamboo and Topiary textured cardstock; Topiary, Sunflower, Chocolate, Holiday Red, and Black ink pads; Holiday Red marker; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms, CTMH Spot on Backgrounds, and Hero Arts Anytime Messages stamp sets; Ribbon from Michael's; Liquid Glass; Corner Rounder; Piercing tool; Stampin' Up piercing guide and mat; White gel pen; and 3M foam mounting tape.

What's your plan for the weekend? Marv is deserting me in a little while to go to the still-in-progress hunting cabin for a day or two. That's OK, as I have plenty to do that does not require his presence. In fact, I tend to get more done when he's not around . . . not that I'm pickin' on him or anything . . . In the way of stamping, I need to plan a couple of projects for my club that meets Sunday night. For now, I'm going to go grab a bite to eat and decide what project to tackle first. Thanks for stopping by. I hope your evening is a good one.

Here's the Buzz . . .

Here's another card made with my favorite Bugs and Blooms set from Memory Box. I stamped and colored the bees with a marker but decided they were kinda plain. Thus, I stamped and embossed them on vellum, cut them out and then attached them with mini Glue Dots over the originals. When the sunflower stripes didn't show through the vellum as much as I wanted them to, I ended up coloring them again on the front of the vellum. Make sense? It's a good thing nothing else needs explaining . . . I'm not very good at it.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Sunflower, and Black cardstock; Memory Box Homespun Collection patterned cardstock; Vellum; Black ink pad; Sunflower marker; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms, Hero Arts Anytime Messages, and Papertrey Ink Ladybug Luck stamp sets; Black Bitty Brads; Black gingham ribbon; Paperbilities flowers; Button from Walmart; Mini Glue Dots.

I'm so tired right now I can hardly hold my head up, the cumulative effects, I'm afraid, of staying up late and getting up early all week. The futon beacons me to lay down for a bit, which may or may not be the smart thing to do. If I catch a second wind, I'll stop back later with another card. If not, I'll show it to you tomorrow. Hope your evening is a good one! Later . . .

Pastiche

A few weeks ago, it was music trivia. Tonight, it's the word of the week/month/year. While I've heard it and seen it in print, I don't think I've ever used it, making it new to me. "Pastiche" (pronounced pa-steesh) is defined as 1. a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources, or 2. an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.

Yup, I used stamps from several sets and a combination of inks and papers. A pastiche it is, and I don't know if the result is: 1. Out of the Box, 2. Over the Top, or 3. Butt Ugly. It is interesting, and it was inspired by this very cute card on the My Many Many Passions blog. Once again, I was intrigued by the color combination. I don't know what Stampin' Up colors Monica used, but I used Honey and Breeze, which are not colors I would have chosen without a little inkspiration.

There isn't much to explain. I stamped my flower image on the Honey cardstock with White Daisy Pigment ink, using my embossing tool to aid with the drying process. The heart were stamped on 1/2 inch circles cut with a punch. The camera really picked up on the white ink. It's not nearly as dominant in person, which means this card, like many others, looks better up close and personal. The angle of the shot also makes the card elements less straight than they actually are - not saying it's perfect or anything!

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Honey, and Breeze cardstock; White Daisy Pigment ink pad; Black, Breeze, Sunny Yellow, Citrus Leaf, Watermelon, and Bubblegum ink pads; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms, Hero Arts Anytime Messages, and CTMH Made By Me stamp sets; Ribbon from Walmart; 1/2-inch circle punch.

The elevator was worked on again today, so my Internet service is hit and miss again tonight. The last couple of days have been busy and productive at work, which means the hours have flown by almost as fast as they do on the weekend. Other than that, there isn't much going on. As for getting my corner cleaned up last night, it didn't happen. I made this card instead, which means I'm going to mosey on over there again tonight to see what happens. Maybe I'll straighten up and maybe I won't . . . While I'm doing whatever it is I'm going to do, you have a nice evening. I'll catch you tomorrow!

Posting While I Can . . .

I have intermittent Internet service again this evening, and while I cannot get anyone from the cable service to as much as acknowledge the possibility, I still believe my recent signal problems have had something to do with this building's elevator shaft. An electrician was here today to install a new outlet and light in the elevator pit. With the exception of extreme weather conditions (as in 40 below zero), the only time I have had issues with my signal is when someone messes with the darned elevator, and regardless of what the so-called expert says with regard to probability, I don't think it's a coincidence.

That's enough jabber about my cantankerous mood, the result of my conversation with the cable guy. Rather, we'll discuss my cheerful card. It was an easy one, made simple by the fact that the flower is just the right size to stamp a dozen times on a 4 by 5-1/4 inch piece of cardstock. I used a Sunflower marker to color 11 of the flower centers and the marker and a blending pen to color the petals of the last flower. The center of the yellow flower was created with Liquid Applique - a small detail that makes a big difference. Cards so simple need that "touch me" quality.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Sunflower, and Black cardstock; Black ink pad; Sunflower marker; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Hero Arts Anytime Messages stamp sets; Black Bitty Brads; Liquid Applique.

I made a couple more fun cards with this set that I'll show you in the next day or two. To begin with tonight, I need to get my corner straighted up a bit. As hard as I sometimes try, I can't stay neat when doing something creative. I think, too, that if I had a larger space, I'd just have a bigger mess. I'm sure there are at least a few who can relate to that statement. With that thought, I'll sign off for tonight. Take care and thanks for stopping!

Just Because . . .

Here's another card made with my much-loved and long-awaited Penny Black Gossamer stamp. For this one, I embossed the outline image with black embossing powder. I had yellow/Sunflower in my head and really liked the image once it was "painted." With no plan for the rest of the card, however, I had a heck of a time figuring out what to do with it and flipped through countless paper packs before realizing that this polka dot from the Silhouettes paper packet was just what I wanted. The little bee accent was probably more labor intensive than it would have needed to have been. It's actually three layers - stamped once on the Colonial White (what fit on the circle anyway), then embossed on vellum and cut out, and finally embossed on Sunflower cardstock and cut out (the body). Finishing the card amounted to a little layering, mounting the bee with foam mounting tape, and stamping the just right "Just Because" sentiment up in the corner. I'm happy to say that after so much fiddling around, I love the finished result.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Sunflower, and Black cardstock; Silhouettes paper packet; Vellum; Black, Sunflower, and Olive stamp pads; Penny Black Gossamer stamp and Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages stamp sets; VersaMark ink pad; Black embossing powder; Embossing tool; Waterbrush; 1 and 1-1/4-inch circle punches; 3M foam mounting tape.

Today was busy. I anticipate a busy week - at work, anyway. After all the activity last week, my house seems almost too quiet tonight. I'll get used to it, and if I don't, I'm certain Bjorn and Mathias' mother will let us borrow them for a few hours one night this week. For this evening, however, I'm going pop a CD into the CD player and retreat to my corner for a while where hopefully, I will come up with something to show you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping!

Simple Sunday

As simple is the norm in my corner, the title probably isn't all that appropriate. It's just what popped into my head. This card is all about the color combination. I love Citrus Leaf combined with black and white. The centers of the big flowers are punched circles and the random polka dots were stamped with one of my favorite stamps, a pencil eraser.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Black, and Citrus Leaf cardstock; Black and Citrus Leaf ink pads; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms, Verve Stamps Stems and Blooms, and Paper Trey Ink Mixed Messages stamp sets; Ribbon from reasonableribbon.com; Round metal-rimmed tag.

Most likely to your delight, I don't have time to chat this morning. Places to go and people to see, you know. LOL. Have a great Sunday. I'll probably catch you later.

Cards, Cards, Cards

There are times (but luckily not too many) when I see a single card and have to have a stamp set. When I spotted this oh-so-cute card on Charmaine's Oodabug Alley blog, Bugs and Blooms became one of those sets. The ladybug really got to me. In one word - cute!!!

Materials & Tools: White Daisy and Sweet Leaf cardstock; Black, Sunflower, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, and Topiary ink pads; Holiday Red marker; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Verve Visual Filigree Fantasy stamp sets; Ribbon from Walmart; Corner rounder.

Cute as the ladybug was, I couldn't base my decision to purchase a stamp set on one stamp. Then, I saw the bee. I didn't have a bee stamp but needed one. I also like cute bees as opposed to, for the most part, realistic bees. While I have a true appreciation for the important work done by bees, I'm scared to death of them, and even real-looking bee stamps kind of give me the creeps. What you can't see in the photo are my cute bee's vellum wings.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Black, and Sweet Leaf cardstock; Vellum; Black ink pad; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Verve Visual Thoughtful Florals stamp sets; Black Bitty Brads; Black gingham ribbon; Paper piercing tool; Stampin' Up Horizontal Slot punch.

In addition to the cute bugs, the set includes lots of cute flowers. Who can have too many flowers? This card was inspired by the Be Inspired challenge on Beate's Fresh & Fun blog.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Cranberry, and Buttercup cardstock; Cranberry, Buttercup, Crystal Blue, Garden Green, and Black ink pads; Heavenly Blue marker; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Papertrey Ink Birthday Basics stamp sets; CTMH retired Speckled Backgrounds stamp; EK Success corner rounder.

If I had to pick my favorite flower in this set, it would be the one I saw on that first card. It's just so darned sweet and makes for such a cheerful looking lineup. I saw the background stamp as one I would use again and again, too.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy and Topiary cardstock; Black, Cranberry, Topiary, and Buttercup ink pads; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Verve Visual Thoughtful Florals stamp sets; Topiary My Accents; EK Success corner rounder; Stampin' Up Word Window punch.

Amongst all the little flowers in this set is one that's a bit larger. It's a sweet one, too. For this card, I used my Prismacolor colored pencils, Gamsol mineral spirits and a blending stump to color them. The result was a fun-to-make, simple card.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Garden Green, and Black cardstock; Black and Garden Green ink pads; Prismacolor colored pencils; Gamsol mineral spirits; Blending stump; Memory Box Bugs and Blooms and Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages stamp sets; Ribbon from Michael's; White Bitty Brads; Stampin' Up Ticket punch; 1 and 1-1/4 inch circle punches.

So, with several stamps in the set that have yet to touch an ink pad, I will say I love this set. I will also say that it took longer to write this post than it did to make the cards this morning. Furthermore, I bought Bugs and Blooms (along with the Impression Obsession Cupcakes set featured a couple of posts ago) from Stamper's Dream. I didn't link you there earlier, because I bought the last Bugs and Blooms set they had (Yes, seeing one of something left in stock is a motivator to place an order). Back to Stampers Dream, service was first-class, which seems to be the way with a lot of online companies. And . . . it all started with a ladybug . . .

My husband thinks I'm crazy but, nonetheless, seems to realize that stamping is my therapy. I know for a fact that stamping is cheaper than a shrink. It's more fun, too. Unfortunately, health care coverage does not cover stamps but would be wise (and money ahead) if it did. Now, that I've stamped a little, I'm going to go get on with the business of the day. Thanks for stopping. I hope your day is a good one!