Random Thoughts and Cards...

Isn't this a pretty card? I used the Greenhouse Garden set that was on special last month.


I wanted this set when I first saw it in the catalog last July, but never got around to obtaining it until it went on sale last month.

I've seen a lot of beautiful cards made with since July, and that just kept whetting my appetite. So I got it!

And this is the only card I've made with it so far!

I used the Finial Press embossing folder for the background. I cut out the flowers and popped them up for some additional dimension.

I added the Chocolate Chip Sending Love Epoxy Brads from the Occasions mini - they're so tiny, they were just perfect to make the flowers look like Black Eyed Susans. And used the Pretty in Pink epoxy brads for the pink flowers.

And for the smaller pink flowers, I applied Crystal Effects to give the centers some dimension.

And, of course, the ever popular (at least with me!) Little Leaf Sizzlets die.

I actually have THREE of this die, because I use it so much, and got tired of running it thru Mr. Big so often. Now I can make these leaves three times as fast!

I'm sure I'll use the Greenhouse Garden set again soon - I've been thinking about doing the Black Magic technique using it, but haven't gotten around to it just yet.

And here's another card I made, probably the same evening, for which I used another group of stamps that I've wanted for a while. And another from which I've made exactly ONE card!

















It's made with the Extreme Surfboard stamp as the main image. I used the Extreme Elements (tone on tone) for the background, then took the word stamp from Just Surfing to finish it up. I used the soon-to-be "gone" Bermuda Bay CS as my base.

Since I live in SOCAL, about three miles from the beach (as the crow flies), I've seen my fair share of surfers. Can't say I've ever been tempted to join them though... Just not much of a water person. But I can appreciate watching them!

Tonight I was working on some card templates to teach my stamp club ladies on Saturday.

I make these from all white CS - that way, when you go to use them, you're not biased by the colors on the template and can use any one piece of it to start with and then build from there.

Once I've made the template, I make one or two actual cards using the template layout, to give people the idea of how to transition from the template to a real card.

I have them make full cards for these templates - many times, you can change the orientation of the card and it will still work - but if you only look at it one way, you may not see that. So, for my samples, I try to make a card showing each orientation.

I'll have them each make all three templates, then I'll turn them loose in my stampin' garage to make at least one of the template ideas into a real card. They can use anything in the garage - CS, brads, ribbons, stamps, DSPs - whatever they'd like!

I'll share the templates and sample cards tomorrow evening. And I'll try to remember to take photos of the cards the ladies create from the templates to share with you later.

Thanks for stopping by!