Listen to this...

Pubs

Yippee! The two magazines I'm published in this month came this week! It is always sooooo exciting to see my work in print, I don't think I'll ever get used to it...it just seems so weird like it's not actually me or something.  Especially since I've always admired all the women that are published regularly and it seems odd that I'm kind of part of that group now. (Although, my pubs aren't so much "regular" as random.)  Anyway, the first card is from the February issue of CARDS and it was a card that I made for my dear friend Valerie's birthday. 

ETA: The branch and lanterns stamps are from Impress and the sentiment is A Muse.

 

The other mag I'm in is Stamp it! Cards.

 

I actually have two cards in there but I'm only allowed to show one and this one is my fave so here ya go!

ETA: Stamps, notecards, ribbon -A Muse.

 

Have a wonderful Saturday! The hubs and I have a date tonight - yay!

Happy Birthday, Valerie!

It was my dear friend Valerie's birthday yesterday (seems like there have been a lot of birthdays lately) and this is the card I made her.  She's actually moving to Colorado on Saturday (sob!) so we got to go out last night one last time.  I gave her this card along with some framed pictures and a pack of cards.  We had so much fun!  Oh man am I gonna miss that girl!

For her card I couldn't decide what to make so I went to my craft room and just looked through my stamps to see if anything jumped out at me.  I love this paper lantern from Impress and I haven't had a chance to use it and it reminds me of her so I thought it would be perfect.  I also used some of the new vintage paper from A Muse to paper piece the lanterns.  This card is simple but I really like how it turned out.  I hope she liked it!

Love you, Valerie! I will miss you more than you know!

Images - Impress and A Muse (sentiment)
Paper - A Muse, DCWV
Ink: ColorBox, Adirondack

Gettin' Tipsy: Use the paper-piecing technique instead of coloring your outline images. 

Last one

Here's the last of five cards for my Christmas card workshop.  This is my favorite of all of them, I just love it.  This bird stamp is so versatile, I can't wait to add flowers to it for spring and thank you cards later.   

Bird and sentiment - Impress
Flourish - CTMH (I LOVE this stamp!)
Paper - Peterson-Arne and ? (I never know the brands of the patterned paper that I use, sorry!)
Ribbon - Craft Warehouse
Jewels - JoAnn's

Branch - The Finale

Here's my fourth and final branch card (at least for now.) I'm really happy with how this one turned out.  I used the Giga scallop circle to punch a hole in the polka-dot paper and mounted it on cream after I stamped the branch.  I used markers to color in the leaves.   And listen to this, the ribbon is actually from the packaging that they give you at BabyGap. Funny, huh?

Branch - Impress
Sentiment - CTMH
Paper - Bo Bunny, CTMH
Ink - CTMH, ColorBox
Quickie Glue Pen
Stampendous Ultra-fine white glitter
Ribbon - BabyGap

Spooky branch

Anyone tired of this branch stamp, yet?  I hope not because I have a couple more cards to share using it! :)

This card is totally not my usual style and it definitely took me out of my comfort zone.  I'm still not completely happy with it.  I don't own any halloween sentiments so I had to make-do with a font set and just spelled out "boo!"  I think "Happy Halloween" would look better.  Oh, well.   I used the crayone resist technique on the branch which means I high-lighted the parts of the branch with a white crayon, sponged ink over it and then wiped off the ink with a paper towel.  The crayon "resists" the ink thus leaving a white edge along the branch.  And the moon was inspired by my friend Tami.  She sent me a card yesterday with a moon that was done this way and it was super cute so I had to copy her :) Thanks, Tami!! 

Images - Impress and CTMH
Paper, ink, Adhesive Sheets (for the moon) - CTMH
Brads - Bazzil Wings
Marvy square scallop punch
White crazyon, sponge, sandpaper - unknown

Another branch card

Seriously, how cute is this branch stamp??  This is one of many branch cards I've made today so there will be more posted in the future.

I paper pieced the birdie because I colored him tan at first and it looked really bad so I  re-did it in blue.  Also, the left edge of the card looks kind of crooked in the picture but it's not actually like that in real life.  :)

Branch - Impress
Birdie, sentiment, notecard, twinkle stickers - A Muse
Paper, ink - CTMH

Branch

I really, really love simple cards.   It's why I started stamping, to make simple yet lovely cards.  I think this one fits the bill. 

Branch - Impress
Flower, sentiment - A Muse
Paper, ink - CTMH
Ribbon - Offray
Ink - ColorBox