Sending Love...

...on Mother's Day.  Yes, it still, technically is Mother's Day...there's a little more than an hour left to celebrate!  I've had such a busy weekend this is the first chance I've had to sit down at my computer!  I truly hope that all you Moms out there had a wonderful day and felt pampered and appreciated.  Today's post is a cute card I came up with while playing with the new Betsy's Blossoms stamp set.  I am always trying to find new ways to use stamps to make them more versatile and multipurpose.  Have a look...

Cute card featuring the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set with sentiment from Easy Events.

 This card is really simple, but kinda cute.  To create the tree I stamped the large floral image from Betsy's Blossoms in Gumball Green (my new favourite green!) and then punched it out using my 2 1/2", 1 3/4" and 1 1/4" circle punches.  I layered them with dimensionals so the tree really does have shape.  The trunk is a modern label punched out of chocolate chip cardstock.  Do you like the grass?  That was done by punching the edge using the scallop edge punch and then re-punching, offsetting the scallops.  Cute idea, huh?  The little banner was cut using the new Bitty Banners Framelits.  I layered it on real red and hand trimmed the mat.

200 Followers!

Wow!  I just realized there are now 200 of you out there in cyberspace following my little blog!  That  absolutely blows be away...that there would be that many people interested in what I create.  Kinda humbling...and it makes me even more determined to do a better job of posting regularly.  I owe it to all of you, so I hereby pledge to make my blog worthy of your time and attention.  The good news is that I am nearing the end of my crazy schedule of holiday classes and workshops.  Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, in the midst of the chaos of preparing for Christmas, I will get some time to just stamp for fun...I miss that!  I SO can't wait for my pre-order for the Occasions Mini...I have so many ideas for how to put the fabulous new products to use!  But more on that later...today I have a really simple Christmas card for you.  This is one we are doing at my LAST Stamp-A-Stack of the season this coming Sunday...

CAS Holiday card using the Easy Events stamp set

I told you it was simple!  I know its not really my style, but I needed something that would come together quickly and this one really does.  The only thing that takes any time at all is colouring in the image with old olive and real red markers.  The rest is quick and easy.  I'm not sure why I didn't photograph the inside of this one...there is a little more colouring inside and a festive sentiment.  I'm also not sure why the photo is so dark...something didn't work properly, apparently!  One little tip I have for you is that whenever I have stamps that have both an image and a sentiment on them, I cut the sentiment off so that I can use them separately without having to use markers to ink only a portion of the stamp.  In this example, I cut the sentiment off, stamped the image without the sentiment first and then stamped the sentiment afterwards.  It allowed me to space the image and sentiment out more than if I had left the stamp intact.  This trick works really well with clear mount stamps, as it is very easy to put the stamp back together again if you ever desire.  I have found that doing this really adds to the versatility of my stamps. 

Ok...I am off to bed...tired out after a day of teaching high school and a monthly class tonight as well as prepping for another class tomorrow evening!  Have a great week, everybody!

411 Birthday

Today's card is one I did for this week's Saturday Sketch challenge over at Stamping 411.  It is the second card in my series using the new Easy Events set.  I want to show my beginning stampers what a great investment this set is because of it's versatility.  So, here is the sketch:

And here is my birthday card version:

Birthday card for SSC213 using the Easy Events stamp set

Now, don't get all perturbed thinking I used a non-SU embossing folder for this card.  Fact is, I created my own texture plate using Stampin' Up's build-a-cupcake punch!  I did a tutorial for these a while back...check the Tutorials link at the top of the page and scroll down till you hit "DIY Embossing plates".  This card really was easy to put together.  The trickiest part was the watercolouring...and that's no trick!  Its easy using watercolour crayons and my aquapainter.  I just got the crayons and really love them!  There are so many great options for watercolouring I'm not sure which one I like best.  I'm going to have to play some more to come up with a clear preference.  In the meantime, I'm having lots of fun!  To get the shading on the icing I used melon mambo and pretty in pink.  You can't see it in this photo, but I also brushed on a little frost white shimmer paint to make it extra pretty!  The rest is pretty self-explanatory...though if you have questions leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. 
On a completely different note, yesterday I spent the day rearranging and reorganizing my stamping corner.  My DH put up some shelves and we moved some things around and voila...a whole new set-up!  Well, its not really new, but it sure feels spacious and organized!  I can't wait to get down there today and create something!  I'll share what I come up with tomorrow...TTFN!

MOJO200...take two!

I mentioned yesterday that I had a second card that I did based on this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  In case you missed it, here is the sketch I am referring to:

The second card I did  is COMPLETELY different from the first.  See what I mean...

Christmas card for MOJO 200 using Easy Events and Many Merry Messages stamp sets

Inside of card

One of the things I like most about working from a sketch is that most of the design work is done for you.   I just have to plug in my elements and voila...quick and easy card-making!  This is the first of several cards I am working on using all of the stamps in the new Easy Events set.  It is the perfect set for beginning stampers because it has images and sentiments for just about every occasion.  The best part is that the images are line art, so they are perfect for colouring...one of my favourite things to do!  Over the next few weeks I'll be posting more cards using images from this great set.  For now, enjoy your Sunday!