More French Foliage....

I have been having fun with my new French Foliage stamp set.  Here is another card I've made:

I like all the leaves in this stamp set, but especially this leaf.  First I stamped the "french writing" on the vanilla using Crumb Cake.  Then I stamped some leaves in More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Crumb Cake on top of that, down the right hand side of the card. 

I stamped individual leaves, too, and punched them out with my Scallop Square punch.  Those individual leaves are backed by scallop squares cut with the new Scallop Square Duo Die from the Holiday Mini.  I love how those two layer!  Here is a close up of them. 

Notice I have the "French writing" on them, too.  Finally, I tied an Old Olive satin ribbon around the vanilla and mounted it on a Crumb Cake card.  I think this is another pretty fall one!

Thanks for stopping by today!! Smiles, Laura

French Foliage....

Hello!  I recently bought the French Foliage stamp set and could not wait to play with it. I had seen alot of cards made using this set and just had to purchase it myself.   Here is my first card I made. 

                         

The leaves on the white are stamped using Old Olive, More Mustard, and Cajun Craze ink.  Then I ran the white through the Top Note die and mounted it on Cajun Craze cardstock.  The card itself is Old Olive.  I used the new Victoria Crochet Trim behind the sentiment.  The sentiment itself is from the Grateful Greetings stamp set.

The sentiment is stamped on a piece cut with the new Decorative Label punch.  I punched a Large Oval from Mustard and a Designer Label from Olive and cut them in half to back the Decorative Label.  I like the effect.

Here is a close up of the two leaves I stamped and cut out to put on the sentiment.  This first one was stamped with Cajun on Mustard paper.

This leaf was stamped with Olive on Mustard cardstock.  Both were cut out and then popped up with dimensionals.  I think they add alot to the card and sentiment.

After I had punched out the Top Note, I had a neat piece of cardstock left that I thought would outline the inside of my card, so I added it inside. I added white in the middle of it for my message when I write it.   Here is the card's inside.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I always love having you stop in.  Smiles, Laura

Snowflakes....

I know with this beautiful fall weather, it's hard to think of winter and snow, but it will come!  I'm starting to work on my Christmas cards (and winter cards) and wanted to play with the new Northern Frost Decorative Strip die.  This die is in the Holiday Mini and has 8 different snowflakes on it.  What fun to cut all those beauties!!

                                   

For this card, I used a Bashful Blue card, layered it with white and then added a Bashful Blue layer on top.  I embossed the top blue layer with the new Northern Flurry embossing folder, also from the Holiday Mini.  You can see it well in this close-up shot  

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I brushed the white stamp pad over the raised parts of the snowflake to add some white onto it.  Then I added the white snowflakes cut with the die on top of that.  I put a Pearl Jewel in the center of each one.  They show up so nicely.

The sentiment is from the Bells and Bough stamp set in the Holiday Mini.  I stamped it Night of Navy and punched it with the Wide Oval punch.  I added a white satin ribbon behind it.  Isn't this a great winter card?

See you another day! Smiles, Laura



Circles on top of circles....

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I want to show you a card we are making in class this month.  I'm calling it "Circles on top of Circles".  I used the 1-3/8" circle punch, the 1" and the 3/4" circle punches to get these circles for the card.  The card itself is made from Crumb Cake cardstock and I stamped "Hello, You" from the Hello, You set on it using Espresso ink.

It's hard to tell until you see the close-up shot, but I embossed all the largest Soft Suede circles with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  I used the Square Lattice embossing folder to emboss SOME of the Baja Breeze circles.  And each stack of circles has a dimensional SOMEWHERE in it--either at the bottom, between the largest and next size circles or near the top under the smallest circle so that each stack has some dimension. 

The nice thing about this card is that it is suitable for any color and pattern of paper.  It's a GREAT WAY to use up DSP scraps!   It was so much fun to make this card.  Try one yourself!

Come back soon!  I'll have more samples to show you.  Smiles, Laura

What a dear....

I hope I haven't posted this sample before.  Don't want to bore you.  I made this card last month, but we are doing it this month in class.  I just love this little deer--it's a dear! 

This card uses Baja Breeze and Soft Suede, two colors that have to be my favorites.  I use them alot.  I used Elegant Soiree background paper for the front of the card. 

The little deer and owl are from the Forest Friends set.  There is also a tree and a rabbit in that set and it is fun to play with.  I stamped Hi There from the Fundamental Phrases set.  I used my Word Window and Scalloped Border punches for the card, also. 

This card is good for men and children--always a challenge to find cards suitable for them.  And of course the layout can be used for other stamp sets and sentiments. 

See you another day!!  Smiles, Laura

The Bird is the Word....

Remember that old song, "The bird, bird, bird; the bird is the word."  I don't remember the rest of that song, but the song just popped into my head when I think of this little fellow.  He's a cutie we are making at my class this month.  I'm calling him a "dodo bird".  I have seen several similar ones on other blogs, but all have been blue.  Since our NC state bird is the cardinal and it's red, I decided my bird had to be red in color.

                                

This little fellow is made using the wide oval, but in my classes we are using the ornament punch for the body.  The head is punched with a 1-1/4" circle punch and the wings are from the Two-step Bird punch.  The tail feathers comes from the Boho Blossoms punch.

The sentiment is from the Great Freind stamp set.  We cut out the Peach Parfait shape and backed it with Pear Pizzazz using the Matchbox die to cut it out. 

Thanks for stopping in to visit today.  Smiles, Laura

Since we're talking fall....

Yes, we were talking fall with my post yesterday...anyway, since we're talking fall, here is another card I want that I wanted to share.  Again, hopefully a fall look.

                              

I used the stamp set Autumn Splendor for this one.  The card itself is Soft Suede and I put Tangerine Tango on the front.  On the Tangerine, I stamped leaves in suede to make a background. 

I also stamped three leaves, but on vanilla in Old Olive, Cajun Craze and Tangerine Tango.  For the middle one, I stamped the leaf again in Suede and colored it with Cajun and cut it out.  It is mounted with dimensionals so that it is raised a bit.  I sponged with Suede around the Vanilla before backing it with Old Olive.  I used the Photo Corners punch to put Olive and Cajun corners on the picture.

                            

The sentiment is from the Word Play set.  I punched the Vanilla it is stamped on out with the new Decorative Label punch from the Holiday Mini catalog.  Again, the edges are sponged with Suede to give it more of a fall look.  See the ovals sticking out on each side?  I punched a Large oval out of Cajun Craze cardstock and cut it in half, putting one on each side.  I did the same with the Model Label punch, punching it from the Old Olive cardstock and sponging the edges.  I added brads for dimension.

Now doesn't this one make you think of fall?  I'm ready!!

Smiles, Laura

Let's think fall.....

With the long hot summer we've had, it is surely time to start thinking fall.  In fact, we had 48 degrees here one morning this week, so fall is beginning to peep her face out.  I am participating in a challenge swap where they give you the card requirements and you have to make a card to send to just one person.  For this challenge, we were given this card (below) and told to change three things about it. (It just so happens it is a card by me that I made for an earlier swap.)  

So I got busy yesterday afternoon to make my card for my challenge partner. I wanted my card to look fall-ish, since I'm anticipating fall now!   Here is what I made:

The card itself is Pumpkin Pie and the front layer is Cajun Craze.  I embossed the Cajun using the Square Lattice embossing folder, same as the original sample.  I put a scalloped square using the new Scalloped Squares Duo Die for the bigger square on here.  The sentiment is from the Seasonal Sentiments set from the Holiday Mini.  It has four wonderful sentiments in the set for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines.  The little tree is from the Trendy Trees stamp set.  The base of the tree was stamped in Crumb Cake and the leaves with Cajun Craze.  

I punched the leaves using the Two Step Bird punch.  The leaves in that punch are SO versatile.  They are punched from Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  I added the wide striped Pumpkin Pie bow. 

So what do you think, comparing the two cards?  I made quite a few changes, but can you tell it is the same layout?  I hope so!!  And I hope I wasn't supposed to just change THREE things, because I changed more.   Oh, well, I hope my partner likes the card!

Smiles, Laura

Feeling Blue?

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that Jessica and I made when she was with me before school started.  We had such fun stamping and playing.  I have some stamps with sayings from children and just love using them, especially when Jessica and I are stamping.  They are so appropriate for her to use on her cards.

                                           

This frist card was fun.  We used glossy white cardstock and reinkers and a "wet one".  We just put red ink on the wet one and drug it down the piece of paper.  We followed that with other colors, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.  They left beautiful color down our page.  We backed this piece with black cardstock and stamped the sentiment beside it.  I just love this sentiment, "If you are feeling blue, tryin painting yourself a different color."  Neat!!  Adding the different colors of jewels across the top finished it off. 

Jessica wanted to play with the re-inkers more, so for this next one, we put the color in in the form of a rainbow. 

                                     

Again, we backed it in black, but didn't add the jewels this time.  It's a simple card to go with the child's sentiment, "Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms."  Love that one, too.

And finally, we made this card:

                                     

For it, we just punched the men from a die I had on hand.  We left out the purple color for it---didn't figure anyone wanted to see a "purple people eater."  Ha!

These are simple cards but ould be great to send to someone who was alittle down. 

Smiles, Laura

More Halloween....

I'll share another Halloween card with you today.  This is a swap I did for a yahoo group I'm in. 

                              

The card itself is made of Basic Grey cardstock and is 4.25" x 4.25".  The Elegant Eggplant and Pumpkin pie frame is sticking out to the right over the edge of the card, so that it still fits into a regular A2 envelope.  I rolled the Web wheel across it 3 times to get the background on the card.

                                      

The part with the picture is Daffodil Delight and I stamped the tree and owl from House of Haunts in black.  Then I punched out a 1" circle from a Post It note and stuck it on where I wanted the moon.  I sponged Old Olive ink all over the Daffodil cardstock to give it the greenish look.  I sponged with Basic Grey around the edge of the picture.

The sentiment is from Grateful Greenings set.  I stamped this in black and overstamped a jack-o-lantern from the House of Haunts set in Pumpkin Pie ink.  That is backed with an Old Olive scalloped circle.  

The ribbon is the finishing touch.  I just LOVE this beautiful striped ribbon that Stampin' Up! has in many wonderful colors.  I hope the girls in this swap like the sample!

Thanks for stopping in.  Smiles, Laura 

Time to think Halloween...

I know I've already shared a Halloween card but I'm seriously thinking Halloween now.  I won't do alot of Halloween cards, but I like to do a few for my sisters and grandchildren, etc.  Here is one I did for a swap at my Smudge Bunch stamping club. 

I typed the sentiment on my computer and punched it out with the Curly Label punch.  The haunted house is from the House of Haunts stamp set.  And the black cat and spider web punches are from another company.  Here  is the inside of the card.  The sentiments here are from the House of Haunts and Grateful Greentings sets. 

This card is an easel card, so the black part of the front folds back so it will stand up.  Here is how that looks.

You can see where the black folds back so that the purple stands up like it's on an easel.  The cat's tail holds it in place so it doesn't slide down.

To get this moon to look like it does on the purple cardstock, I stamped it on Daffodil Delight cardstock, then punched out the moon part with the 1-1/4" circle punch, and glued it on top of the house on the card. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  More later.....

Smiles, Laura

Corners and cuts....

I saw a neat card in Paper Crafts magazine with squares and cut corners and such and decided I wanted to make one similar. Of course it did not tell you the dimensions on the squares, so I just eye-balled the size of them. I thought it was fairly bare--it didn't have too many squares/rectangles, so I decided mine would have more. And of course, I used Soft Suede for the card because I love that color so much. Here is my card: I used Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and Marina Mist for my squares and rectangles. Each square or rectangle has opposite corners rounded. I stamped it "Just for You" with a stamp from the Afterthoughts level 1 hostess set. I think I've told you before that I cut off the other words on that stamp because I like the "Just for You" by itself. This card could be used for many different occasions.

I decided I wanted to make another one in different colors. Here that one is:

This one is also a Soft Suede card, but I used Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist on it. Otherwise, the cards are the same. I wonder which is your favorite. I know which is mine.....

Come back again soon! Smiles, Laura

Hoot, Hoot!!

Have I told you how much I love the little owl punch? I think I have and you've seen him already on several cards, but in case you missed it, you MUST get the owl punch if you don't have it. Here is a card I made for my friend Vicky's birthday. That little owl is telling her Happy Birthday (it was yesterday). The designer paper used on the background and the owl's vest is Celebrations--perfect for a birthday card! I cut the parenthesis with the Round Tab punch. That's a very versatile punch! I cut the letters using Naturally Serif die on the Big Shot.

This next little fellow is very simple, but he makes a great card for a man or child. I used the Island Oasis designer paper that retired yesterday. I hated to see it go because it had so many colors in it to go with lots of cardstock colors.

This wording stamp, "Hello, you" is a new one this year that I'm finding I use alot. There are two stamps in the set (named Hello, you). The other ones says "sweet friend". I can think of alot of uses for this set.

Here is a closeup of the owl. I don't usually, but this time I added a beak to him. I thought it was a nice touch, since the card is simple.

Thanks for visiting my blog!! Smiles, Laura

Back to school...

I guess all of our children and grandchildren are back in school now. I know my grandchildren are and both are really pleased with their teachers and new school. (Dillon is in middle school now.) I like to send my children cards for the first day of school and also some for the next few weeks, so they have something fun to open when they get in from a long day at school. Here are a couple of cards I made recently for them. My class also made this one, but Dillon got the first one. It uses the First Day stamp set that recently retired in the Summer Mini catalog. We cut the books using the Word Window punch. The little book the bookworm is holding is popped up with dimensionals so it give the card some dimension. Dillon liked this one. For Jessica I made this one (below) with the bookworm made from punches. I started with the 1/2" circle punch for the tail, progressed up with the 3/4", 1" and 1-1/4" circles. His head is made with the large oval punch. I had a hard time keeping Jessica from seeing this one since she spent that last week before school started with me. She was all over the stamp room, but I had the card for her hidden, awaiting the first days of school.

This next one hasn't gone out to Dillon yet--and I may not send it because it looks a lot like his other one. But I did want to put some math and the owl punch "teacher" on this one. I saw a similar one on Connie Babbert's blog. She had simpler addition (2 + 2 = 4), but hey, Dillon is in 7th grade now, so I added a harder addition problem. Ha! The numbers are cut from the Naturally Serif die on the Big Shot. Here's another one I made yesterday that might go to one of the children. I saw something like this one on another blog, too and LOVED the pencil idea. I decided to make scored lines down mine so it would look like the hexagon shape of a pencil. (The one I saw didn't have that.) Otherwise, I pretty much copied the one I saw except for colors.Here is a close up of the little raised portion on the card. I colored in the H and I so it would show up better, but am not sure it does. I raised this with dimensionals. These letters are from the Cute by the Inch level 2 Hostess set. I got that one recently and had so much fun playing with it. You will be seeing more samples using this set!Well, I have other tasks for today, so I'm signing off. I'll post more in the next day or so. Thanks for visiting my blog!! If you like what you see, leave me a comment. I love reading them!! Smiles, Laura