Masculine card

The card on the right is the one I made for my son, Nick, who is currently attending college in Colorado for outdoor recreation.  He loves to mountain climb and the card on the right was my inspiration for his birthday card.  I saw the card on Pinterest and found out that it was made by Erin Lincoln and was published in Paper Crafts "Card Creations for Him".   

I liked Erin's card very much, but wanted to make the card my own.  I used black card stock as the base, then used a shimmery gray textured card stock (both from a local scrapbook store).  I wish I had a better picture of my card, but It would lay flat because of the textured cardstock.  I traced one of the many carabiners we have around the house on yellow, green and orange cardstock and cut them out.  I then used silver shiny paper and attached them to the orange, yellow and green carabiners with silver brads so they would open like a real carabiners.  I attached them to the card by tying them on with black cording.  I then printed off different mountain climbing terms cut and attached them to the front of the card.  My card isn't as clean and simple as Erin's, but I still like the way it turned out and Nick thought it was a great card.  He called me the day he received it pretty excited about the card.  Don't you just love it when you make a card for someone that you know is just perfect for them?  It is one of the biggest reasons why I make cards!

Birthday posies for Dynamic Duos Challenge (DD#87)

I need to start today, by thanking Darnell Knauss for the shout out on her blog http://www.djkardkreations.com/ today.  That was so very nice of her.  If you have time and haven't visited her blog, check her out.  She has gorgeous cards and I love her playhouse.  I wish I had one!!!

I need to start making  February birthday cards for my sister and I wanted to see what the colors were for Dynamic Duos today and thought these two colors would look great on a birthday card.  I don't have any umbrella stamps or die cuts, so I was glad that was optional.  Here's my card for this week's challenge and I have one card done for my sister...always a bonus.  I used Stampin' Up's black card stock and then used Gina K's "passionate pink" card stock and the designer paper is from Gina K's "Wisteria Lane" 6x6 pack.  The black ribbon is also from Gina K.  I used Spellbinders "Heartfelt Creations Posy: die cuts for all the flowers.  The large posy is cut out of the pink card stock and backed with designer paper.  I then cut smaller posies out of black card stock and the circles out of the pink cardstock and used pearl dots to finish off the flowers.  All the flowers are pop dotted, as is the pink card stock.  The stamp "make a wish" is from an unknown stamp set that Marcia gave me as a gift a few years back.  Thanks DD for the color challenge this week.  Thank you for stopping by.

O Holy Night card for Festive Friday FFC#23

It just dawned on me today that one of the cards I made for this past Christmas works for the Festive Friday FFC#23 challenge.   So here's it is.  I started out with Gina K white cardstock, then used Stampin' Up's "Real Red" cardstock and embossed it with Stampin' Up's "Northern Flurry".  I then used Stampin' Up's "O Holy Night" stamped in Color Box's "Chianti" ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I mounted it on Silver paper that I picked up years ago at a local scrapbook store.  The ribbon is from Michael's that is a few years old, too.  I also used Stampin' Up's "White Stampin' Chalk" marker, which is one of the best white markers I have used to date.  I loved how simply this card came together for me.  Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Monday #92 & Festive Friday FFC#23 Challenges -- Winter Hills

I'm back again for another Merry Monday Challenge.  I knew as soon as I saw this week's challengethat I had to participate.  I love these colors together, especially for Christmas.  I had already made a card similar to this one earlier this month, but in blues.  I will post that card after the upcoming birthday.   So all week, I had this card running through my head and just needed to find the time to make it.  I am cutting it close to today's deadline of noon PST or 3pm EST!  This card also works for the Festive Friday Challenge too.  Here's the picture that your inspiration was to come from.  I instantly thought of this stamp when I say the picture of the red barn!

 I started with Stampin' Up's "Chocolate Chip" and "Crumb Cake" cardstock.  I used "Ivory" cardstock from Gina K and stamped the "Christmas Sayings" Background by Rubber Stampede in Stampin' Up's "Soft Suede"ink.  Then I put a 2.25" strip of snowflake designer paper from Echo Park's "Very Merry Christmas" 6x6 paper pad.  I then stamped the house & barn from Paper Tray Ink's "Winter Hills" stamp set in Stampin' Up's "Soft Suede" ink and colored the barn and house with Copic Markers #R27 and E43 and used Zig marker "Wink of Stella" which give the snow and roof tops a glimmer of sparkle, which is very hard to see.  I finished the card with lots of ribbon.  The brown ribbon is from Gina K and the kraft poke-a-dot  and red poke-a dot ribbons are both from American Crafts.  This challenge was fun and I loved how the idea in my head worked out so well on paper!  Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Monday #91 - Frosty Snowman

Wow how time flies when you are very busy.  I couldn't believe my last post was in October.   I thought I better post so no one thinks I've abandoned blogging.   It's not like I haven't been making cards because I have made many in the last 3 months.  I will try to get them all up on my blog as soon as I can. 

Cardstock - Ivory from Gina K, Red from local scrapbook store and Crumb Cake from Stampin' Up.
Sizzix Snowflake Embossing Folder
Ink:  Soft Suede
Copic Markers: R27, G14 and E74
Ribbon bought at Michaels
Stampin' Up's Labels Collection Dies
Stamp: Stampin' Up's Best of 25  "Best of Snow"
Stampendous Shabby White Embossing enamel

I embossed the snowflakes on Crumb Cake cardstock, sponged Soft Suede over the embossed snowflakes and scattered some Shabby White embossing enamel.  I wrapped white glitter ribbon around the crumb cake cardstock, which I mounted on red cardstock and then on Ivory cardstock.  I stamped the snowman on Ivory cardstock in soft suede ink colored him with copics and used the shabby white embossing enamel on the bottom and along the right side of the snowman.  I mounted him on red cardstock and used the shabby white embossing enamel along the edge of the red cardstock.  I have to tell you I'm in love with the embossing enamel.  I love that you heat it from underneath and see it melt before your eyes!  Coolest stuff ever!

My influence for this card came from my good friend Marcia Hill.  She always makes some great "vintage" looking cards that I love and wish I could make them as well as she does!

I have been watching Marcia make Christmas cards each week for the past year for Merry Monday Challenges and thought I should try to do the same this year, so I could have a healthy stack of Christmas cards ready for Christmas 2014, instead of waiting until it's almost too late to get my Christmas cards made, signed, addressed and in the mail!  Here's my first entry!