Congratulations with Botanical Blooms

 I used SU's Botanical Blooms and Delicate Details. The Delicate Details stamp set is free with a $60 purchase until the end of this month!

dragonflies

Stampin' Up has done it again! Designed the most wonderfully perfectly eye-poppingly delicious stamp and die Dragonfly Dreams bundle. I can't get enough of it and so I keep on and on using these dragonflies On EVERYTHING!! The card (above) has a water color background and if you look closely you can see I used Wink of Stella on the dragonfly as well as the Congrats. (Below) Is an example on a single layer direct-to-paper design with an embossed dragonfly and then masking and sponging.

sparkles

I found the glitter paper at my local craft store. But most of the other product, including these delicious die-cut designs are from Stampin' Up.

congrats grad!!!

Yes, another late one! I had a niece and nephew who graduated this year! These are the cards I made for them.

love 'n sunshine

The Sunshine Sayings bundle, at 10% off, will get you these two cards!! 

pedal pushers saleabration

These two cards showcase two new stamp sets. Actually three! Timeless Textures, Pedal Pushers, and Balloon Celebrations. I soooo hope SU keeps Timeless Textures as it's a MUST HAVE set! I used it to give the illusion of ground and sky on both of these cards. It's a little hard to see, but on the floral card, look closely beneath those flowers and you will see another image from those gorgeous textures. And don't even get me STARTED on Pedal Pushers! WOWWWW!!! And you only have till the end of March to get it ABSOLUTELY FREE with the purchase of $60 worth of SU product (before shipping and taxes). Please do grab it! It's soooo fun especially with spring around the corner.

wedding rose

In between my other card designs I find myself often reverting back to my favorite Rose Garden Thinlits dies. Here's a quick and clean and simple card created by layering pink and white roses and adding vellum leaves. So easy. So effortless. So VERY elegant!!!

celebration window

I recently got my Circle Thinlets Dies and I can't figure out how I existed before them. This card showcases a hostess set, Best Thoughts. I also tried some hand-drawn circles as well, using die cut circles as my guide. This one came together simply and quickly once the water color part was done.

Remarkable You card set

I simply LOVE the images from the Remarkable You set. They color in so beautifully. The background on these cards was done using my brayer and some old "found" textured paper in some old stack somewhere from long ago prehistorically. Well, pre-Stampin' Upically anyway. So no, that design isn't any special technique or stamp. Sorry! I'm missing one of the Remarkable You images since I gave that card away before I got its picture taken.

People Like You...in watercolor

Okay so the whole design isn't watercolor, but the background is---on Whisper White cardstock. I used Stampin' Blendabilities on the flowers and then after the background was painted in, I masked off the flower and stamped on some flourishes and ferns from my ever favorite Butterfly Basics. AGAIN!!!

I fell in love with People Like You long ago but only made a couple cards with it since I couldn't get past that the quote on it. While I don't mind what the original image says (the world is a better place because of beautiful people like you) I'm only going to give that away once or twice. 

One day I had lots of time to think (yes, I was in my recliner due to back issues again...) and I thought, "Hey, there's a punch that matches that shape! I'll use THAT and change what it says!" And since I was in the water color mode I figured those ferns and flowers would be awesome against a pond setting!

So there you have it!

it's in the details {effortless}

 

 Since I was in the mood for something springy and birdlike even though it's -20*C out there and snowing, I decided to give you an {effortless} batch of cards done in white, Coastal Cabana, Old Olive and Pistachio Pudding. I won't go through every detail. You can check those out by studying the pictures.

What I wanted to show you is that you can change up any of the details on any card to create a completely different effect every time. I kept my colors all the same, but changed up ribbons, embellishments, frame shapes and stamped images.

Not difficult at all!

pleasant poppies

This card was done the same way as this butterfly only using different colors. All you do is emboss an image with clear embossing powder on vanilla paper. Then sponge or dab ink directly onto the image. The embossed area won't get inked up at all! Before I had sponge daubers or anything of that sort, I sometimes used cotton balls. Worked very well. 

The thing I like about these type of cards is that they are so very quick and easy.