Catching Up: Cards

Here are some cards I've made in the last two months.

For this first design, I used a new Stampin' Up! stamp set from the Spring mini catalog called Henry Says.  Henry has a lot of accessories that make him useful for not only Christmas cards, but all kind of occasions.  I love working with him and my Stamp-a-ma-jig, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more cards with my favorite elephant!

The next stamp set I worked with was Snowflake Soiree from the Holiday mini catalog.  I have many snowflake stamp sets, but this is my absolute favorite (well, at least until my NEXT favorite comes along!)  I used Regal Rose on my prototype along with a lot of bling:

When I made the set, though, I cut back on the bling and substituted Pretty in Pink for the Regal Rose, which I think gives it a softer look:

I can't take credit for these final three cards, as they were designed by an awesome Stampin' Up! stamper, Diana Gibbs.  (You can check out her website here.)  She is offering by-mail classes, and I thought it would be fun to try one out.  It's been a long time since I stamped without having to design and then collect supplies and then put everything away when I'm done.  Diana's kit came with everything I needed to make these cards except for adhesive.  She even provided the card stock for me to stamp on!  I followed her designs fairly closely, but still tweaked a few things to make them mine.  These cards are definitely not my usual style, so it was VERY fun to get inside Diana's head and create something she dreamed up!

The three cards are designed around the stamp set Affection Collection, which was offered in the Holiday mini catalog.  Because the stamps in the set are unusual and again not my style, I never even considered purchasing the set until I saw Diana's offer.  I'm so glad I gave it a shot!  Okay, enough blabbering -- here are the pictures:

Aren't they the SWEETEST??  Thanks, Diana!

Now that I've updated my blog with my latest ATCs and cards, I guess it's time to get busy making some more stuff!  Hmmm.... what can I get into next?

Thanks for visiting!

Smiles,
Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)

Catching Up: ATCs

I've gotten rather sloppy about blogging my work these last few months, so it's time for me to catch up.  Before I do a post on the cards I've made, I'll post the ATCs.

Here are my ATCs from November:

(Sorry, I did a lousy job of taking pictures of the cards.  I promise that in real life my borders are even and everything is glued on straight!)

I love that last one!  I used a new Spellbinders die to cut and emboss the flowers.  They're delicate to work with, but so worth the effort!

Here are the ATCs I did in December:

 Swap theme: Pretty Papers

  Swap:  Mystery Image

I colored the candy cane with my Spica glitter gel pens, so it's really sparkly in real life.  Looks like my scanner chopped off some of the corner bling, but they really do add a lot to the card.

And finally, here's what I did this month:

  Swap:  Mystery Image

The lines along the sides are gold Dazzles which I colored with a brown Sharpie pen.  The monkeys are rolled and raised on foam.  I was going for a jungle look with my background stamping, but I'm not sure I succeeded -- sometimes things look better in my head than on paper!

  RAK for a friend  :)

  Theme:  Hearts, Hearts, and more Hearts

  RAK

As you can see, I've started doing fewer ATC swaps than I did when I first started making them.  I find that I miss making cards if I do too many ATCs, so I guess cards are my real passion.

Next post will be a catch-up on the cards I've made in the last months.  I hope you enjoy seeing the ATCs!

Smiles,

Joyce Spear (a.k.a. StamperJoyce)