Thank you!

Here's a picture of a card I made for a friend who gifted us with a 6 month supply of coffee from Hawaii, such a generous, kind friend we think of him each morning (hee-hee).

I thought he'd appreciate a thank you card with this theme as he is a business man (plus it's difficult to create "man" cards, I think).  I used a tip from my daughter Nance Lempinen Leedy of Canopy Crafts who made this card sometime ago and actually cut a slit, inserted the smaller paper with the stamped sentiment, I thought this was so cute.  I inserted a blank white panel inside so I could hand write a note of thanks.

Supplies used:
All Stampin' Up, oops except the banner which is a wine tag die from Papertrey Ink.

Feel free to leave me a comment regarding this card, I'd love to hear from you and  I'd like to wish all my blogging friends a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nancy 

Happy Birthday

I needed a birthday card for my brother and decided I didn't want to use the same images I've used for other of his cards.  So, I gathered up some of the "funnier" sayings for birthdays and stamped them every which way on the card front.

I added a strip of black and white striped washi tape down the "spine" area and added black and white baker's twine on top of the tape. I added one sentiment in black ink to tie in with the tape and baker's twine, a few metallic discs and I was done.  I think it turned out pretty good, don't you?

Supplies used:
Many, many birthday sentiment stamps
SU inks and card stock

Would love to hear from ya!

Nancy

Another Christmas card

This has got to be one of my all time favorite Christmas cards.  I love the non-traditional colors together, so rich I think.  Oh surprise, surprise, I used the same colors as my previous Christmas card and to think I'm almost out of that lovely stripe color!

The inspiration (and casing)  for this card came from Dawn McVey of Papertrey Ink (actually it is a die and stamp set she designed as well, clever girl).

So here it is, It's going to be a hard one to part with.  I find when I make something I really like I have difficulty parting with it...but eventually I do, cause that's what it's all about, right?

That's it for today, hope you're having a great day wherever you are.

Thanks for leaving me a comment, I love hearing from everyone.
Nancy

FRESHLY MADE SKETCH # 59

Look at this pretty sketch at Freshly Made isn't it inviting?

So much so I decided to create something for the challenge.  I wanted to use a set I've had for a couple of years and not used (I know I'm bad, but so many of us are, right).  I thought it was the perfect stamp set for this challenge as it has six square images and I've used 4 of them for this card.

I'm really loving these colors I've already  made a few Christmas cards using the same colors.  I stamped the focal squares using four of the stamps included in the set and pretty much followed the sketch design although I did add a heat embossed sentiment on the lower portion of the card as well as choosing not to carry the underneath strip totally across the card face.  I thought it suited my card better by being just under the ribbon.
 I continue to have fumble fingers when it comes to tying bows and to think (all though it was years ago, I guess when my fingers were much more nimble) I worked in a retail store and did gift wrapping, woo hoo!

Anyhow here's my version for the challenge, hope you like it too.

Supplies Used:
PTI's  Stamps-Take Three Winter
SU card stock and DSP-Bright collection
anonymous white satin ribbon
Ink-SU Razzelberry and white embossing powder


I'd love to hear from you if you have time,
take care,
Nancy

Christmas cards

Thought I'd post a couple of cards I've made for the upcoming holidays.

Sending Holiday wishes is a very C&S card using a new stamp set and inspiration from Maile Belles of PTI.   I really like her less is more approach to card making such as this one.  I'm thinking it has a retro look about it, but I can see myself using it for many occasions.

Winter Country Landscape is my next my card for today and I'm really liking this one too..  Again pretty C&S although it might not look like it.   Three die cuts a little bit of "snow" on the edgles of the houses, hills, a stamped sentiment and some falling snow in the sky.   It's hard to see the rolling hills each edged with glittery snow.  The country landscape was a die cut and two other dies for the rolling hills.  I dotted some glue in the sky and added more "snow".  See what I mean pretty simple!

Supplies used for "Sending Holiday wishes

Inks from SU, Tempting Turquoise, Early Espresso & PTI's  Summer Sage

Card stock SU Natural White

Sentiment  and retro snow flakes from PTI

Supplies used for Winter Country Landscape

Landscape die from Memory Box, rolling hill dies from PTI

Sentiment from PTI

Card stock from SU Whisper white and Night of Navy

Hope you have time to comment on my cards, I'd love to hear from you,

Thanks,

Nancy

YOU DID IT, YOU DID IT!

I have to brag just a bit about my granddaughter...she memorized a huge amount of facts and history about Susan B. Anthony and dressed the part for a skit presented at her school.  I wasn't able to be there in person, but my daughter sent me a video (almost as good as being there).  She did such an amazing job I wanted to send her an "atta girl" card to tell her how proud I am of  her.

I will also be submitting the card for the Paper Players Sketch Challenge hosted by my daughter Nance Leedy of Canopy Crafts.

Okay, that's enough bragging for now.



Now here's the card:








 


















Supplies used:

SU card stock, melon mambo, whisper white and DSP from the Brights pack.
Ink also SU, melon mambo
Sentiment from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps



Hope you leave a comment for me to read, I love hearing from everyone!

Nancy

Masculine Thank You card

Here's a card I whipped up pretty quickly, just a matter of stamping some lines and adding a large sentiment stamp.

Love that large Thanks stamp just fills the whole card whether you want it inside or outside.  I chose to leave the inside blank for a personal note.  Seems like I'm really into the C&S style lately!

Supplies used:
S.U. Natural white CS, Espresso ink
PTI sentiment stamp and background stripe stamp


Hope you have time to drop me a line or two, would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Nancy

Easy as 1-2-3 Birthday card!

Isn't it funny how it seems like you're always making cards, but never seem to have the right one for the right occasion, well at least for me that's how it works.  So I had to whip up a birthday card in a hurry and this is what I created.  My inspiration came from a posting from Nicole Heady of Papertrey Ink.  I used the same concept, but with different colors and stamps.

Here it is...

I stamped my leaves and flowers on the background paper added a strip of paper with the stamped sentiment framed it onto a darker color, rounded the two corners and called it done!

I was quite pleased with the results as I always like the over stamping on patterned paper, plus it reminds me of our weather here in MI with tons, I mean tons of leaves falling from the trees in the area.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my card, please drop me a line or two.
Thanks,
Nancy



Supplies used:
Papertrey Ink (PTI) Dearest Jane paper, Stamping Up (SU) Kraft and Espresso card stock
PTI sentiment, leaves and flower stamp
SU (retired) Dusty Durango ink & PTI Smokey Shadow ink

SEPTEMBER BLOG CHALLENGE @ PTI

Papertrey Ink has a Blog challenge to use felt and or fabric as a wrap for a gift!  This should get you started thinking about Christmas.

One of my September purchases from PTI is the Beautiful Beads die...I love it and Nichole Heady of PTI has a very informative tutorial on how to achieve the best results using this die.  I never ever thought I'd be making jewelry, but I tell you I love how this first bracelet turned out.

For my hand made beads I used very thin old paper from a no longer used Thesaurus (actually I believe I purchased it from a resale shop for $1.00 while on a weekend trip to Northern Michigan). I used Swarovski crystal beads and a silver closure.  (We happen to have a fabulous Dollar store in our area and they carry a large selection of Swarovski beads for..ta da...$1.00 a pack.  I love the way they add sparkle!

Anyhow here is my package, first is the adorable bracelet that I made, oops it's late at night and the background color is suppose to be white.

Here's a close up of one of the hand made beads, I think they're adorable!

Here it is attached to a little card to be placed inside the decorated bag.  I punched two holes and tied the bracelet with red/white baker's twine to the card, also stamped the Christmas tree to carry through the theme also the back of the card could be stamped with a "To and From".

Finally to the white paper bag, I added a die cut Christmas tree from green felt material sprinkled with some silver sprinkles and stamped with a sentiment from one of PTI's newer stamp releases. I also used the new tissue paper die with red paper to match the sentiment ink.

I can't tell you how excited I am about these "Beautiful Bead " dies, so much fun to make, I already know several people I'll be making them for.

Thanks for looking, would love to hear your comments.
Nancy

AUTUMN BIRTHDAY CARD & CFC#71

Another wonderful challenge at CAS-ual Fridays here it is:

I'm in love with the triple layer technique and wanted to create a card using Fall colors and stamps and it happened to fit the bill at CAS-ual Fridays too.

This is actually my THIRD, yes third card the first two each had something I didn't like so I scrapped both of 'em. So much for Clean and Simple, it really is had I not made mistakes!

If you're not familiar with this technique, click here, my inspiration came from Dawn Olchefske a S.U Demonstrator.

Here's my card, what do you think?  I'm showing two pictures as the gold embossing was very hard to capture in the photo.

This picture shows the gold embossing a little better, it's very pretty in real life!

I ended up using 3 different leaf stamps as well as one little acorn in 3 different stamp colors, well I guess it is actually 4 since I heat embossed the darker leaves and the sentiment using a gold embossing powder to give it some fall shimmer.
I had to add the little oval with sentiment because the first time I stamped it onto the card...it was crooked and I was determined not to redo this card again!

Here's a look-see at the inside too.

And that's a wrap.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Fall leaf card, thanks for stopping by.
Nancy


Supplies used:
S.U. Natural white and chocolate chip card stock
Inks: S.U. Soft Suede, Crumb cake and PTI's Canyon Clay
Stamp sets Gently Falling & Watercolor Trio from S.U.
Misc: Oval punch, gold embossing powder

MOXIE FAB WORLD-Movement challenge

There are a series of challenges going on over at Moxie World, and always a ton of inspiration.  The challenge I'm entering  is entitled "Movement"!  The deadline for several of the challenges is September 24, so hurry on over there.


This is a card I created a while back and forgot to post (thank goodness) I believe I did capture the "movement" in my card without even realizing it that is until I read the definition from Cathy!  Unfortunately I chose the same stamp set as one of the example cards, but couldn't help it as it is one of my all time favorite stamp sets and as I said I made it a while ago.  Speaking of movement I love the definition in each leaf which is a movement of its own and adds so much to the overall set.

Anyhow here is my card, I hope you like it.

I chose to use only two colors and keep the card simple so that it would be suitable for either male or female.  However a change of colors and/or sentiment would certainly make this card appropriate for almost any occasion.

I love to hear your comments on my cards and hope to hear from you.
Nancy


Supplies:
Stamps, sentiment and card stock all from PTI
Ink from SU

CAS-ual FRIDAYS CHALLENGE #70

There's a challenge over at Cas-ual Fridays using two of my favorite colors-black and white, with an added color of your choice, mine was RED!

I'm trying to get myself in the holiday spirit and get a head-start on projects, so I chose to make a Christmas card.  I've had this set for quite some time (probably even last year) and haven't used it.

I inked the image first in white ink then versamark and heat embossed onto black card stock.  The image is so pretty I thought it deserved to stand alone and the white ink just made it pop.  However, I couldn't resist the urge to add some bling to those tiny little berries so I added tiny drops of Dazzling Details (kinda like Stickles), which then gave me the idea to add the red glitter ribbon behind the main image (don't you love it when one thing you do makes you think of something else)?  I  then adhered everything to a white card base  which had been dry embossed and I was done!

I'm really liking the way this card turned out, hope you do to.  I'd love to hear your thoughts too.  I appreciate hearing from you, come on-leave a comment.
Nancy

Supplies:
SU Beautiful Season stamp set
White/black card stock
white ink/white embossing powder
Ribbon Die from PTI
SU Red glitter paper/Dazzling Details
SU Embossing folder

LESLEY'S PAPER PLAYERS CHALLENGE #119

Here's an elegant color combination from Paper Players.

The design team has some beautiful samples to get you inspired check them out here, this is mine;

I wanted to use some of my papers that haven't seen the light of day in quite a while.  I found this very pretty basic gray, baha breeze paper in the designer pack Urban Garden.  The paper was so pretty I wanted to highlight it with just minor additions.  The two layer label was first stamped in baja breeze then versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder, here's a close-up of the embossing, isn't it pretty? (It's hard to catch the shimmer and get a good photo at the same time, but you can definitely see the embossing.

I thought black velvet ribbon would look nice on this card, but when I checked (was sure I had some) didn't find any, but I did find some nice black felt which I cut into strips with my trusty paper cutter and adhered the strip to the back of the label added a couple of embellies and that was it.

Hope you take the time to leave a comment letting me know your thoughts on my card.
thanks,
Nancy


Supplies:
Card stock, inks & DSP paper-Stampin' Up
Die cut & sentiment -PTI

DYNAMIC DUOS CHALLENGE #19

Since it's the 2nd week of the month Dynamic Duos has a "subtle color' challenge of these lovely colors:

I chose to create a Christmas card using the Cajun Craze instead of the traditional red color.  I think at first glance its hard to even tell it's not red but cajun, I think of it as a southwestern Christmas card!

I started by stamping a foundation for my door, using a brick stamp in a concrete color (basic gray) to look like a porch, then added the cajun craze topiary pots and the door.  I used Always Artichoke for the adorable little door wreath which was die cut, stamped and colored as well as the topiary trees.  Did you notice a bit of bling on the trees?  The little bow on the wreath  got a touch of color again in cajun craze as is the main sentiment at the top of the card.

I trimmed my panel down a bit so I could add just a little more cajun craze polka dot paper on both sides to give it some balance.

What do you think?  I'd love to hear from you with your comments.
Thanks,
Nancy

Supplies:
Image stamps & die from PTI
Sentiment , paper & inks from Stampin' Up
Anonymous bling product

CAS-ual FRIDAYS CHALLENGE #69

This is my second post for today, please scroll down for other posting.
 
I discovered this challenge at CAS-ual FRIDAYS this week for embossing.  I love to emboss somehow it seems  magical when your image appears all crisp and glossy.  I decided one of my newer stamp sets would be perfect fot this, plus I needed an anniversary card next month so I thought I'd be ahead of the game at least once!

Here is my card, since the stamp set is a vintage camera I had to use a paper background that I thought was vintage (can you believe I bought a whole pack of this paper at the dollar store), love those dollar stores!

I also added little corners to the base card as they remind me of the "old time" photo corners that we used way back....to hold photos into the albums.

I love the design of this stamp set and die, the die has a little slot at the bottom where you can add your sentiment or a photo.  Since I needed an anniversary card this is the sentiment I chose, don't ya think it's perfect?

Oh, and look at the rhinestone in the center to mimic the lens!  Too cute (if I do say so myself)!

Now the challenge is for embossing, however the embossing doesn't show well in these photos, so here's another look, can you see it now, it's really pretty in real life.

Well, what do you think?  I'd love to hear your comments on this card,
Thanks for looking.

Nancy

Supplies:
Camera stamp & die-PTI
Inks, punch & embossing power-SU
Paper Anonymous

PLAY DATE CAFE

There's a lovely color challenge over at Play Date Cafe and here are the inspiration colors:

I needed a birthday card for a dear friend and since she doesn't regularly look at my blog I think I'm safe to post it today, her birthday is Monday.

The colors I used are navy blue, peach (which looks more orange in this photo) and a smidge of stone.  The stone color is actually the printed sentiment on the bottom of the designer paper, as you can see my neutral color was very vanilla (but it looks white in the photo).

I'm pretty please with the way this card turned out as it is pretty C&S, wonder why it took me so long to make?  I guess I agonize way too long over minor details, but that's me!

Hope you like my card and this challenge did encourage me to use colors I normally do not use, so thank you!

Please feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Nancy

HEY THERE

Here's a little Thank You card I made over the weekend.

A clean & simple card, should have been easy to make but like my granddaughter, it took me two days to finish!
Placed a layer of DSP over the 5 1/2 X 4 1/4" card stock, stamped the pennants, line and bows onto the designer paper then die cut the pennants and adhered over the stamped images.  Die cut a rectangle and stamped the sentiment.  Speaking of sentiments I love the one at the top of the card, isn't the font gorgeous?
That's it for now.

I'd appreciate hearing your comments on my card, even if it's just a word or two.
Thanks,
Nancy


Supplies:
S.U. Paper Summer Smooches DSP
PTI "Hey There" sentiment, & Pennant stamps & die; S.U's "thanks" sentiment.
Ink: S.U. Razzelberry, Island Indigo and Lucky Limeade

MOXIE FAB MINTY GREEN CHALLENGE!

Well didn't this challenge at Moxie Fab show me that I hardly have any "minty" green paper, tons of green, but not mint! Because the inspiration photos are so lovely I scrounged around in my stash and found a few sheets of minty paper.

My inspiration was this beautiful cottage kitchen, isn't it lovely, so warm and inviting.

I die cut a small kitchen cabinet (or window if you prefer) to mimic the one above, I then stamped a few vases onto the green paper using green ink.  I thought about removing the panes and stamping on the background card stock, but finally decided against it.  I decorated each vase with some decor elements, stamped a little label with a background of one of the vases and the sentiment over that.

 

I like the card, but I LOVE the bow.  I could never, I mean never tie a beautiful bow and I'd always admire all the gorgeous ones I'd see on other cards.  WELL, no more I found a tutorial on easy-peasy bow tying (at Papercraftplanet.net) and this is the result, isn't it scrumptious?  Of course the yummy chocolate satin ribbon does the real trick.  H'mm chocolate, maybe I'll go look through my other stash to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for looking and I'd love to hear from you, I appreciate all your comments.
Cheers,
Nancy

BATTER UP!

Can you believe this is my second post for today, woo hoo!
I needed another birthday card this time for a young man who is absolutely smitten with any sport, but particularly baseball so I tried to make a card he would enjoy.

It's truly a C&S card, not much stampin' at all just the dotted argyle pattern across the center of the card stock and the sentiment "It's your day".  The baseball bat and the "step up to the plate" are both stickers.
Don't think it needs much explaining how I made it.

Here's a look at the inside.  The baseball glove and ball are again stickers, sentiments are stamped. I do prefer to do stamping, but every once in a while when a quick card is needed, stickers sure work!

I'd love to hear from you I really do appreciate your sharing your thoughts with me.
Thanks,
Nancy

Supplies:
Sentiment stamps & background stamps all PTI
Stickers from Karen Foster Design
Ink: SU Black and Cherry Cobbler

Masculine Autumn birthday

I needed a masculine card for a September birthday so I thought why not use an Autumn theme.  Although it's just the end off August, but some of our trees are already starting to change colors which is what inspired me for this card.

I started by stamping a piece of Kraft card stock with a background stamp of Herringbone.  The bottom half was stamped in a darker color and the top half in the same color as the card base.   I love the herringbone pattern don't you, it really does say "Fall" to me.

I stamped the two leaves on a cream color card stock using the double stamping technique, then fussy cut both of them. Before attaching the cut out leaves I stamped the leaf images onto the card stock and then adhered the cut out leaves over the stamping.   Oops forgot to say before attaching the leaves I obviously added a strip of yummy chocolate satin ribbon.  I then attached the panel to my card base.

Here's a peek at the inside of the card.  I used my daughter, Nance Leedy of Canopy Crafts,  idea of carrying the image to the inside in a lighter shade and then stamping the sentiment over it in a darker color, I love the way it looks and adds a little interest inside.

Supplies:
Inks: PTI's Canyon Clay, SU's Early Espresso & Summerstar Fruit
Stamps: PTI's Background Basics: Herringbone & SU's Gently Falling
Sentiment Stamps PTI & SU


Thanks for looking at my card and I hope you'll leave me a comment, I appreciate hearing from everyone.
Thanks,
Nanc

Pieced not Pierced (hard to say)

Here is a little pieced flirty shoe for The Paper Players blog, a clean & simple card with piecing, not piercing.

 Seems one of the design team members recently had not one, but two foot surgeries, so this card is in her honor.  Hopefully she'll be able to wear similar shoes very soon.

My card base is Melon Mambo card stock with DSP also in Melon Mambo on the bottom part of the card. The adorable shoe image is stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with black powder, a little pop of a flower with a rhinestone finishes it off perfectly, don't ya think?

 I used two die cut pieces of the label and cut the black one in half to outline behind the white one.  The white label was dry embossed making it appear that the shoe was sitting pretty on a pillow. A black satin ribbon was adhered under the labels.


Here's a look at the inside of the card with a strip of the same designer polka dot paper at the top and the sentiment in Melon Mambo ink.

All supplies from Stampin' Up
Shoe & Sentiment from "Fabulous You"



Thanks for leaving a comment, I love to hear from  other bloggers.

Nancy

A BOUQUET OF WISHES!

This card is just for the fun of it.  Inspiration is from PTI's Melissa Bickford's card and her stamp design.
I thought it was perfect for a young man's upcoming birthday without being too frilly or girly,  although I had to add the adorable bow and the green card base is for his last name "O'Brien", had to be green, right?

After die cutting all of the balloons I stamped a variety of colors, drew some "strings" from the balloons and adhered all of the balloons.  Of course I fussied around with placement and finally decided on this arrangement.  I guess it's kinda like arranging flowers in a vase, never quite right.

I'd love to hear your comments on my card, so please leave a word or two.
Many thanks,
Nancy


Supplies:

Stamps: PTI's Heart-2-Heart #2
Inks:  SU's, Gumball Green,Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals Baha Breeze, Whisper White
Paper: SU's. Gumball Green CS, DSP Summer Starfruite & Primrose Petals
Die: PTI's Bells &  Boughs

EASY TRIPLE LAYER STAMPING

My friend Diane of Rubber 'n Rafters shared this card with me, thanks Di!
The inspiration for this card came from Dawn Olchefski of DOStampingwithDawn.  Dawn shared this technique a while back, if you visit her blog here she gives all of the dimensions as well as a good video tutorial.
This is one of those things you keep in the back of your mind to try at a later date, so here's my version.  I wanted to use a fall color scheme so I went with rust and green .

I love the layering of the flowers and leaves to give the images dimension, I think this technique works best with a large single image, but who knows maybe someone has tried something similar, if so please share with me.  I'd love to hear from you.


Supplies:
Inks: SU Wild Wasabi, PTI Canyon Clay
Papers: SU Whisper White & Wild Wasbi CS
Stamps:  PTI's Year of Flowers: Mums 
              & sentiment from PTI's Pretty Peonies
Misc: Ribbon Unkown, Button SU

Thanks for looking at my blog, hopefully you'll leave even a small comment.
Nancy

PPA #140

Here's an interesting color combination from Pals Paper Arts

 so I thought I'd give it a try.  Not sure if I like the colors together or not, what do you think (maybe I just didn't use them in the right way)?  But the challenge does get you goin'!

Supplies used:
Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies, So Happy for You
White cardstock & DSP In color Summer Starfruit
Marina Mist ribbon
Stazon Jet Black Ink

If you take a look, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this card, thanks,
Nancy

SUMMER SMOOCHES

When I opened this package of paper it jumped out at me how similar it was to a stamp set I already owned (that doesn't happen often).

My card base is Tempting Turquoise which I stamped with an all-over pattern in the same color hue using the stamp set I thought matched. I added a panel of the DSP framed with a scallop border.  The large die cut flower vase was the perfect compliment to this paper, don't you think?

Couldn't stop there, so I had these little "stems", I think they're something used when making artificial  flowers, here's a picture of them. (they also work great bent in half for butterfly antennae).  Itook my picture outside for better lighting, but my house is surrounded my shade, so the quality doesn't show how the colors pop in real life.

I cut off the "pearl" ends to make it easier to glue little flowers w/rhinestones to the center and adhered them to the backside of the vase with tape, of course the vase neck was just calling out for some bling too.. Added a punched oval with sentiment & scroll and I was done.

It's difficult to see the 3D flowers, so here's a close-up, aren't they cuties?

Supplies used:

S.U. Summer Smooches DSP, CS-Daffodil Delight, Temping Turquoise
S.U. scallop punch, PTI's Gracious Vases stamps, PTI's Mega Gracious Vases dies
S.U. Trio flower punch, Ink Tempting Turquoise,, HB stamp-Teeny Tiny Wishes
Anonymous rhinestones 


I do enjoy hearing from you if you have comments on my cards, thanks for taking the time to look.
Nancy