Easel Cards

Have you seen an easel card lately. Well I have just developed two different easel cards using Sparkle N Sprinkle stamps.

This first card is a round easel card using stamps from set209, Floral Berry.

Look how it is able to stand up. What a nice way to display this card if you were the recipiant

After working the round card up, I went back to a card design that I was having trouble finalizing. Well, the easel card made me come up with the final design using a stamp set called Medallions -Flowers Set208 from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Here is the card closed.

Here is a side view of the card opened.

And here is a front view of tis card opened.

I love how this finally came together. These easel cards are easy, fun and really make quite a statement in their own right. If you look closely, you will see the vase in the background, behind the medallion flower. That flower is mounted on a transparency. I love the way this finally came together, don't you???

Well, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Making Your Own Background Paper

I have been in a mode to clean out and "thin the herd" so to speak. In my endeavor to clean out and rearrange, I ran across a stamp that I love to use to make a great background sheet. So I made a few sheets of background and then made a card using a piece of that background paper.

I start out using white or cream CS. Next I ink up the stamp using a shadow ink from Memories, then I take a darker dye ink and run it along the edge of the stamp.(Sorry the Fresco pad is so grundgy looking, this is my go to green. Love the Fresco colors and there are 30 different colors in all and they all remind me of Tuscany) The stamp I use is from Hero Arts, 2005, so, it's not available anymore but I bet you have something similar in your stamp stash.

So, when you stamp your CS you will get a rectangle with a darker edge. Getting started, I start in the center of the CS and stamp.

Next I reink the stamp in the same manner, ink the rubber in a softer color and then ink the edge in a darker color of the same color family, turn the stamp in the opposite direction and overlap the new image onto the stamped image already on the CS. You want to continue in this manner til the CS is totally covered. I find that right angle stamped images look better than randomly stamped rectangles all over the paper. But, you may find that you like that look, so try it and see which you like better. Next, cut your paper into the background size that you need and you now have a great background piece in whatever color you need. You can stamp an image onto it or layer over it.

Here is the card I finished,using my own background paper. This really lends itself to so many possibilities, don't you think??

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

For Mother On Her Day

I made this card with my mother in mind. She has been gone for 17 years and I still miss her. My mother loved to sew and she made all my clothes til I was in high school. My mother was so gifted, she could even make her own patterns. In her later years she quilted and I have two of her masterpieces.

She was a great cook too!!! Boy, I remember her making jelly and jam and spaghetti sauce and goetta and fruitcake. (Yep I am a fruitcake lover. Now don't get me wrong, there are fruitcakes, and then there are fruitcakes.) The only other fruitcake I have tasted that compares to my mother's, is from Gethsemani Farms, close to Bardstown Ky. Yummie, if you like fruitcake.

So, with her in mind, as she always is, I made this card.

The stamp I used is from My Sentiments Exactly. I stamped it in Versamark and embossed it in black using Black Detail (EP171) from Sparkle N Sprinkle. Next I trimmed all the way around the dress and added a thin piece of pink ribbon to look like a sash. If you click on the pic, you will notice that I used pink ribbon at the bottom of the dress. I used my Spellbinders frame (S5-011) on pink cardstock. Affixed the frame onto white glossy cardstock and and the white glossy CS to the pink card. Last, using dimensional tape,I popped the dress up on the white glossy CS. Hope this inspires you to make your mother a Mothers Day card.

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

A Birthday Card

Over the weekend I went looking for my muse, she has been gone for a while. I guess I found her, but she is still a little shy. I decided to use stamps that have been sitting around for a long time. This stamp is one by Susie Toronto. I love her stamps. I only have two and I really cherish them. I decided to make this into a Birthday card, you know, there is a birthday always going on somewhere, so, Happy Birthday to You, whoever you are.

I stamped the birthday girl in India ink and colored her using Permapaque pigment parkers. These markers are great to use stright from the marker or squiggle a little of the paint from the marker onto a piece of plastic and using a watercolor brush and a little water, you can use the paint as a watercolor.

When I decided to layer the paper behind her, I tried to stay with the colors I used in the stamped image. I tore the paper which reminds me of ripping open packages.

Tomorrow, have a card that is just about finished, for the upcoming Mothers Day celebration. Stop in tomorrow to see what I have made for you.

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,


Barbara