Cotton Candy Cards

After yesterday's monochromatic cards, I thought I'd mix things up a bit today while working again with the Flowers for You designer series double-sided paper. Looking at these two completed cards, I realized that they remind me of cotton candy because of the color combination (primarily Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac, and Regal Rose)!



Can you tell I *really* like this quotation by Rumi? It'll probably keep showing up until the borrowed stamp returns to its home in North Carolina. Since I had the Three For You punch box kit within arm's reach, I had at it with the flower trio punch -- and I still can't believe I found turquoise brads in my stash!






I made this next card using scraps from all the Flowers For You paper I chopped up over the last several days. This is twice in a row where I like the scraps card from DSP almost (almost) better than the rest of the cards! (The Western Sky scraps card from last week is still one of my all-time favorites.) The Regal Rose Flower is from the Just Like You set, and the words are from Sweet Serendipity.






Looking ahead: I think (although this isn't carved in stone) that it's time to work with the die-cut Blooms from the Occasions mini catalog. I "built" a whole bunch of flowers with them last Wednesday (see the March 19th post), and now they're begging me to be used!

Butterfly of Happiness

It's baaaack! My mojo, that is. Huzzah!



I'm still working with the Flowers for You DSP, and after making one of these cards in Lovely Lilac, I just had to make another one like it in Tempting Turquoise. The stamped images are from the retired "Butterfly of Happiness" Stampin' Up! set. I used both the Marvy Scallop punch and the SU! scallop punch, and was surprised at how well they work together, at least in this layout. Some sponging, some dots and tiddles around the edges of the circles, some hole punching in the scallops to make them lace-ier ... and voila!

Regal Rose Day

My mojo was a bit off today, but I managed to squeeze out three average-looking cards using the Flowers for You designer paper and Regal Rose cardstock.



The Magenta birds make one more appearance on this first card, hastily blender-penned with color. Meh.






Here's another card with a bit of unimaginatively placed white grosgrain ribbon. I also pulled out my Marvy scallop punch as well as the corner rounder punch for the scallops along the right edge.






And finally, the card which sent me into retirement for the rest of the day... I punched out the scallop circle from the designer paper, adhered it to the cardfront -- and then realized that all the butterflys on the DSP were standing on their heads. After reworking the card, I decided it would be best to see what tomorrow brings before I continue my creative endeavors.

Flowers For You Designer Paper

I decided to work with SU!'s Flowers for You double-sided designer paper today. Coordinating colors are Regal Rose, Lovely Lilac, Certainly Celery, and Tempting Turquoise.



Supplies on this first card include a quotation sticker from Wordsworth and narrow white organdy.






Supplies include gold eyelets and the Word Window punch.






If I recall correctly, these silly birds are from a stamp by Magenta.






I found some happy little flower brads for this card...






This card went through several remakes, and I'm still not sure about it. The glittery stuff is Stickles, because, you know, Stickles makes everything work!






This simple but elegant card features a quotation sticker from Wordsworth and some white grosgrain ribbon.






Look! The Magenta birds again! This time I colored them with blender pens instead of straight markers. Looks better, I think.

Goodbye to Western Sky

I used of the last of my Western Sky paper sampler on these four cards. I'm sorry to have run out, but I still have time if I get desperate and feel the need to order a full pack of the designer paper.












This last card was made using scraps and schnibbles of Western Sky. I think it turned out pretty decent!

More Western Sky

I've been drop-dead tired today, but I still managed to complete four more cards using SU!'s Western Sky double-sided designer paper and quotation stickers from Wordsworth.

Got the Blues

I played around today with a sample of double-sided designer paper (Western Sky, to be exact) and some of my newest stamp sets. In keeping with the colors on the DSP, I worked mostly with Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, River Rock, and (eventually) Ruby Red. I also broke open my Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon.



The quote on this first card is a sticker from Wordsworth.






I used the Paisley background stamp on this next card. The scallops on the right edge of the card were made using the 3/16" corner rounder punch minus the paper guide. Cool, huh? The Rumi quote is by Hampton Art Stamps.






Another card with a Wordsworth quotation sticker...






The "Happy Hellos" is markered/huffed with one of the stamps from the Lots of Thoughts Sale-a-Bration set. I just love using the Paisley background with Soft Sky ink on Soft Sky paper!






Another Rumi quote card, this time with the Canvas background stamp in Blue Bayou on Blue Bayou. I really got into the scallops on this one. The posies were made using the Three For You punch box kit.






You know, I hardly ever make birthday cards, and I don't know why. The So Many Scallops Sale-a-Bration set made this card easy. I'm really happy with the background made with the Spot On jumbo wheel, which seems quite versatile.






And finally, after a day of the blues, I flipped over a piece of the double-sided paper and made a card in Ruby Red and River Rock.







And now.... I'm ready for bed!

Die-cut Blooms

I ordered the Die-Cut Blooms from the SU! Occasions Mini, and spent some time playing with them last night. They layer beautifully, as you can see. I can't wait to make some projects using these flowers!

Hero Arts Stitched Flower Trio

I somehow got myself signed up for a March themed card in the Hero Arts Card Exchange Yahoo! group, and as I looked at the calendar this morning and realized it's the 15th already, decided I better get a move on. (I to this moment maintain someone else put my name in the database, since until I saw an email with my name indicating I was participating in the swap, I didn't even know it existed!) The theme is, "March Reminds Me of..." -- and for me, that's definitely Spring flowers, especially tulips.



Anyway, I used the "Stitched Flower Trio" stamp from Hero Arts. This super simple card is colored with SU!'s Pure Color Pencils and Gamsol. In the exchange card, I also used Hero Arts' "Fanciful Flowers" tub set for the subtle background flower; while in the cards shown here I used the single flower from SU!'s Three For You punch box kit. Card base is YoYo Yellow, while the matting and punched posies are Rose Red.

French Flair Crayon Resist

My friend and upline Hewitt asked me to make a card for her similar to a card by Diane Mello she had seen in one of our Yahoo! groups, and I accepted her challenge.



I used the Crayon Resist technique, which goes like this:

1. Stamp image (SU!'s French Flair background) in black on glossy white cardstock.

2. Highlight parts of the image with white crayon.

3. Sponge over the image using a variety of colors.

4. Wipe down the image with paper towel or tissue to remove the ink from the crayon wax.



I used YoYo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink, and Green Galore for sponging. I matted the image on black and then placed it on a Green Galore card base. The "wish" (from SU!'s Small Script set) is three layers of circle punches attached to the card with a black pop dot.



Thanks, Hewitt, for getting me to expand my horizons a bit with this project!

Always Swap Card

Here's the card that I'll be swapping with my upline's upline's downline in a few days.



Stampin' Up! stamp set: Always

Colors: Purely Pomegranite, Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava, Whisper White

Etc.: Purely Pomegranite double-stitched ribbon, Slit punch

Technique: Stencil sponging

An Improvement

At the suggestion of a friend, I trimmed back the big peacock feathers to the edge of the cards. Much better, I think!

What a Difference a Feather Makes!

Today I followed through on my idea to make some peacock cards similar to those I made last week. Although these are the same design, I had to use different size and shape feathers since I ran out of the small ones. Makes for a different look, don't you think?

Peacocks Cards!

I found my stash of peacock feathers AND my peacock stamp from Prickly Pear Rubber Stamps all in the same day last week, so I figured the Universe was trying to tell me something. (Eat more chocolate?) Actually, I've had my mind set for awhile now to make some peacock cards for a friend of mine in Nevada who owns some peacocks and sent me a whole lot of feathers to use for decoration and art projects... but life keeps happening and I kept getting sidetracked. I'm working on a batch of cards to send her (this month, I hope), so finding the peacock stuff was quite serendipitous.



I'm pretty happy with these cards, considering they're rather different from the kinds of cards I've been making lately. The card base is Tempting Turquoise stamped in Lovely Lilac with a peacock feather stamp (not sure what company now that I've put it away). The central stamp image is embossed on Glorious Green cardstock with (how fitting) "Peacock" embossing powder, which turns rainbow colors depending on how long you apply heat to it; and then layered on a bit of Lovely Lilac. The crowning touch was the addition of real peacock feathers, adhered with just a bit of two-way glue. I'm please enough with these that I think I may make a few more, since these two cards are already spoken for.

Eight before Eight

I had a restless night, so I got up early and made these eight cards before 8:00 a.m. -- go ahead, be impressed! I know I am!



The focus for this batch was once again SU!'s Cutie Pie designer series paper. I also found a sheet of Wordsworth quote stickers that were just begging to be used. Flowers are Bazzill Wings.

White Rub-ons on Black.... Cool!

I had just a few white rub-ons left, so I whipped these two cards together using Basic Black on a Whisper White card base. Little dots are made by my trusty white gel pen.

More Cards with Cutie Pie Designer Paper