Truck Birthday Card

Here is a card I made for my father-in-law's birthday. I used stamps from tim holtz's visual artistry clear stamps. The truck is from The Journey and the sprig is from the Flights of Fancy set. I printed off the 'Happy Birthday' from the computer and embossed it with the mosaic cuttlebug folder. I heat embossed the truck with blue embossing powder. I stamped the sprig with peeled paint distress ink.

Entry for the Hero Arts Blog 30grand

I'm putting this on my blog as well as the hero arts flickr group. Here is a card that I made using some butterfly stamps from hero arts. I stamped the butterflies onto some digital paper that I bought from 300dpi. It's the second Mariposa kit, I believe. I cut them out and layered them onto the card with foam tape. The flower border on the bottom of the card was made with a stampendous set called 'flower tops'. I stamped it with yellow colorbox chalk ink and then I cut it out and adhered to my card front. The blue paper on the card front is from The Garden Party Stack from DCWV.

More string art on a card

Here is some more string art! :) I got a pattern from a library book (don't ask which one - I think I have checked out every different kind of card craft book that my library has!). I copied the pattern onto some tracing paper and then placed the tracing paper over my cardstock and pierced my holes. I then followed the instructions for stitching. I used two different colors of metallic thread. I cut around the design with some decorative edge scissors and attached to my cardbase. I am entering this into the Cuttlebug Challenge blog for Be Inspired #71. Hope you like it 8)

My Stitched Card

Here is my card for the Be Inspired #71 challenge on the cuttlebug challenge blog. I used a pretty shade of blue with my black. I cut kind of a top note shape using the accent essentials cartridge on my cricut. I cut multiple sizes of circles using the plantin schoolbook cartridge on my cricut. I textured the circles using my sizzix texture boutique with the sizzix flowers and the sizzix dots folders (not sure of the exact names of the folders). I adhered them to the top note shape and then cut off the excess. I pierced holes then hand stitched some sparkly embroidery floss on. I adhered the top note to the card with scotch foam tape. I textured the card front with the swirls cuttlebug folder. I cut the butterfly top and shadow and chipboard out using scal with my cricut. I put diamond stickles on the butterfly top. I then adhered the butterfly on with scotch foam tape. Hope you like it :)

Entry for Lucy's Cards: Challenge 4 - Glitter

Here's my entry for the challenge on Lucy's Cards http://hedgehogsandladybirds.blogspot.com. I used paper from a free collection that I downloaded from Two Peas in a Bucket. The striped paper is from the All u Need digital collection. The panda was cut using the Pagoda cartridge on my cricut. The digital paper used for the body of the panda I got for free off the internet. It's called FSS - TieDyeCherryBloss FULL Freebie. I covered it with diamond stickles. I stamped the angel wings with the regal flourish visual artistry stamps by Tim Holtz in Black Staz on and put Stampendous Stamp-n-stuff Embossing Powder in Star Dust Transparent on them. Sorry for so many pictures, I felt that in order to see the sparkle, I had to take shots from different angles :)

Faux layer card

Here is card I made using a technique that I saw on youtube. Splitcoaststampers demonstrated this technique. I used my hero arts antique writing stamp with tea dye distress ink and then inked over the area with some more of the same color using my foam blending tool. I stamped the sentiment with an inkadinkadoo stamp with black staz on and then embossed with some stampendous embossing powder with the glitter in it. The butterfly is also a inkadinkadoo stamp, stamped with black staz on.

Butterfly card

Here's a card I made using a cut file with my sure cuts a lot and my cricut. Boy, that was a mouthful! lol! Anyway, I stamped it with my hero arts antique writing stamp and embossed with clear embossing powder. I drew the antenna's on myself (as if you couldn't tell). Then I used some liquid pearls to put a line of dots down the center of the butterfly body. I used the small hearts that cut out of the butterfly along the bottom. I colored them with scattered straw distress ink and covered them with diamond stickles. I popped up the hearts with some scotch foam tape for dimension.

Cards made with the Pagoda cartridge

Here are some cards that I made using the pagoda cartridge. I made my own stencils using a piece of cardstock with some white shelfliner adhered to it. I stenciled (sp?) one koi with scattered straw and peeled paint distress inks; the other koi with worn lipstick and broken china distress inks; the flower with peeled paint, scattered straw and worn lipstick distress inks. Then after inking, I embossed the images with the stencils. For the green koi, I cut the layer using some photo paper. I then inked it with bottle and denim alcohol inks. I attached it with some scotch foam tape for some more dimension (I guess it's kind of hard to see the embossing on this one). The flowers on the side of the green koi and the blue/pink koi were made with a flower punch using floral chiyogami paper.

Have a Great Day Kitty Card

Here is a card I made for my daughter. I actually bought this stamp set for my daughter for Christmas. She said I could borrow it :D. The stampset is by recollections and is called "Meow Meow". I stuck this card into my daughters lunch bag so she could find it at school during lunch. I used the same technique that I used on the butterfly card. I stamped the cat. Then I used a circle template to draw a circle around a portion of the cat. I cut around the circle, and then around the cat. I adhered the cat stamp onto another, slightly bigger circle that I cut out and then inked with my ink blending foam tool. I colored in the cat with my new ranger distress inks, using my ink blending pen.

Thinking of You Butterfly Card

Here is a card I made. I used the negative from a cut out that I made with my cricut. It's kind of like a top note shape. It was on my accent essentials cartridge. Anyway...what I did is embossed the image on the front of my card. Now I know to save the negative image of my cut outs. They make great embossing templates. I don't have a light box, so I used my window. You put the negative behind the card and use your embossing tool to press around the outline. Then, viola! You have a cool embossed image! I just got some ranger distress inks and was having fun playing around with them. I have a blending pen, and used this to color in my stamped butterfly image. I then cut a circle and I used my foam blending tool to color the edges with the scattered straw color. I put the butterfly image on top of this. I also inked all the edges of the card.

Thank You Card

Here is a card I made today for my Grandpa. I was struggling with how to make this card because I'm sending it to a guy and I thought it had to look manly. But, then I realized that it's a thank you card and it doesn't matter what it looks like or what sex it's aimed for. I used the pocket full of posies matstack by dcwv. I used a stamp that I got from the dollar stamps at Michael's. I used a sizzix embossing folder from the dots and flowers set in my new sizzix embossing boutique. I love the embossing boutique! It's nice to get a machine that only does what you need it for. I was struggling with whether or not to purchase a sizzix big shot or a cuttlebug because I didn't need a die cutting machine, only an embossing machine. Up till this point I've been getting by with using my pasta machine to emboss with the cuttlebug folders. Let me tell you, the embossing with the embossing boutique is a major improvement!

Card for my brother-in-law's birthday

Here is a card for my brother-in-law for his birthday. I used some photo card paper for the top layer. I used my decorative edge scissors to add a decorative edge to my layer. I stamped it with some stamps from inkadinkadoo using embossing ink. I then put some clear embossing powder over that. I heat embossed. Then I inked the entire area with Adirondack alcohol inks in denim and bottle. I sanded the tops of my stamped images to make them show up better and then rubbed some rubbing alcohol over the whole area. I adhered the top layer to the card base and attached some 1/8" eyelets to the corners. I used a tim holtz fragment and stamped my greeting on the front. I then turned it over and painted some glossy apple barrel paint in pinwheel blue all over the back. I attached the fragment with some jewel effects embroidery floss to my card.

Card for my sister's birthday

Here is a card I made for my sister's birthday. I designed the card in the cricut design studio. I also designed the lighter blue top layer there too. I embossed the top layer with the cuttlebug swirls folder in my pasta machine. I used a flower stamp I purchased for a dollar at Michael's. I colored in the leaves with a green colored pencil and then colored over the top of the green with a Sakura clear stardust gelly roll pen. I added some heat and stick gems in the middle of the flowers. The flower stamps are on a white sheet of paper with a frame mounted over the top that I cut from the wild card cartridge. I added a ribbon on the card and called it good :)

Christmas Card 2009

Here is my Christmas card for this year. I used a poinsettia svg file that I got from einnej.typepad.com for free. She has a lot of beautiful files there. She invests a lot of time into her cut files. Check out my youtube video:

Second pretty flower card designed in Inkscape

Here is my second design. The card turned out pretty plain, but I think that's okay. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder :) Boy, that Martha Stewart fine glitter is pretty, but I wouldn't suggest using it on a static filled day! That was fun cleaning up 8) Check out my youtube video:

Pretty flower card designed in Inkscape

Here is a card I designed in Inkscape. When you select the polygon/star tool, you can make all kinds of fantastic designs by manipulating the nodes and the settings. I had a lot of fun while designing this card. My inspiration was cuttingtimes youtube video called: The Star Shape and Stroke Used to Create Designs. She has awesome videos and has a very cool blog. The address is: www.cuttingtime.blogspot.com She has some excellent tutorials for Inkscape.
Here is my youtube video:

Wild Card - Pg. 44 Thank You Card

I had a lot of trouble with this card. First the sizing, I shouldn't have used the cricut design studio! I made it so hard on myself. Having to move the card around on the mat 50 million times to figure out how big I could make it, Ugh! Then I made the mistake of inking it with pigment inks because the white looked so plain to me. Then the ink wouldn't dry even when heatset. I ended up tossing both the card and the envelope when I was finished with the video :) When I was punching the holes for my eyelets with my crop a dile, I ended up punching a hole in the back side of the card. And when I was folding my card and envelope, the little score marks cut by the cricut tore. Needless to say, it wasn't a very attractive card and envelope! lol :) Live and learn. Check out my youtube video:

My first meander book

I made this book with one sheet of 12"x12" paper. The covers were made using a old pizza box covered with some decorative paper. Now that's what I call recycling! :) I made some embellishments inside the book using the new Pagoda cricut cartridge, and I made the "celebrate" on the front cover using the Wild Card cricut cartridge. Check out my youtube video:

Flooding/High Water on SE 92nd Ave in Portland Oregon

Here is a video I shot in January 2009. We were living in an apartment complex while looking for a new house. We had just sold our old house and were having a difficult time finding a new one. This flooding happens every year, without fail. Check out my youtube video:

Hello Kitty in a Kimono

Here is a card that I just made using a hello kitty that I turned into a cut file in Inkscape. I cut it using SCAL. It took a bit of work to turn it into a cuttable SVG, but I finally finished it! :-) The fan was cut using the new Pagoda cricut cartridge. It has some really cool images on the cartridge. I hope to use it a lot more. Check out my youtube video:

Paper weaving on a card

Here is a card that I made using some strips of paper to weave a border. I continued the side strips of paper from front to back. I once saw someone complain that people seem to forget the back of the card when designing a layout. I used a flower punch for the flower cut outs. I also used some making memories buttons on the front, on the four corners. This was the first time that I used my crop-a-dile. It took some practice to figure out how to set them, but I got it eventually :)

String art on a scallop circle

Here are three videos with me doing some string art on a scallop circle in two layers. The third video is the card I made with the scallop circle. Check them out:

Hello Kitty pop-up card

Here is my first pop-up card (made off camera this time - see, I am getting smarter!) Here's the video:

Making a card for my Grandpa's 98th birthday

Here is a card I made for what has turned out to be my Grandpa Ray's last birthday :(
I'm sorry to be so depressing, but he just passed away yesterday (11/2/2009). I'm just now posting this video to my blog, but I'm dating it the day I posted it on youtube (just in case the dates are confusing). Here's the video:

Birthday card for my brother-in-law / A frustrating day of cardmaking

I was making a card for my brother-in-law (on the day of his birthday party and on video - bad combination! lol) Anyway, it turned into a very frustrating experience, all preserved on video :) Check it out:

Birthday card with freezer paper stencil design and acrylic paint

Here is a card I made for my daughter Emily's 12th birthday. When I ironed the freezer paper stencil to the card, it attached itself pretty good. I had a hard time getting it off! Also, it probably would have been a good idea to wait until the paint was dry before removing the freezer paper! lol! Check out my youtube video:

Three ways to alter paper with a pasta machine

I told you that things other than cardmaking would show up on my blog! :-)
Here is video I made for youtube about the incredible things my pasta machine can do with paper. lol!

Chipboard flower covered with ribbon

This was my first attempt at doing this, and to make matters worse, I did it on camera. Lucky for me though, it seemed to have turned out okay! Check out my youtube video.