I Fall for You

flourishing phrases Stampin' Up (variety)

 What CAN'T you all do with Flourishing Phrases? Here several different ways I've used this set (again!) to create cards for a variety of occasions.
 

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.

computer generated (mostly love stuff)

I love you!

More new dies from Stampin' Up! And don't you LOVE the copper paper?!

love 'n sunshine

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

love you

all about roses

These cards are all very different from each other, but they have one common element. They were created with the Rose Garden and Rose Wonder stamps and dies bundle. The card above was water colored after the image was embossed in clear on watercolor paper.

 

Above, is another die-cut and water colored rose card. I love how these images lend themselves to simple elegance. Below is a partial die-cut rose. Again, simply elegant.

know what I love?

YOU!!! I embossed the flowers from You've Got This in gold and the sentiment from What I Love in Pool Party. The hearts are punched out of Pool Party and sponged with Espresso. I sponged the edges of the card front.
And that's all, folks!!

free flying...almost

Does anyone know if this technique has a name? When you make something hang in mid-air??!! In a cut-out circle? Well, anyway, that's what happened here on all these cards. The first two were a personal challenge for me to use my circle thinlets card dies. I find them sooooo challenging, but I was happy with what I came up with. Just in time for valentines!

This owl perches on a branch from a different die (I'm sorry I don't remember which one!) but the circle is cut out and that blue/gray you see is actually a poor picture of bashful blue, I believe. I had help from my young friend again in the design of this one!

the perfect blend

Sometimes I don't make sense even to myself! Do you know what I mean? Like WWWAAAAYYY back I got this Perfect Blend stamp set cuz I could NOT be without it. I've made probably five (???) cards total with it. Gulp! BIG gulp! (Of coffee!) So I challenged myself to make at least three more cards with it before I start another project. These are the ones I came up with. Take your pick! My fave is the top one with the middle card coming in second.

I suppose lidded to-go cups don't steam, but this card (above) needed something so I grabbed some ancient pencil crayons and sketched in some heart-y steam. Or steamy hearts. Whatever! And below is a pretty close cousin to the top card, only this one is red. Now place your vote!

I'm serious! I want a comment from SOMEONE!!!!

rose garden (my latest crush!)

Okay! I know I fall in love with every new catalogue that comes out, but surely this one is the best yet! Just LOOK will you? Aren't those rose garden dies THE BEST???!!!  I haven't even used the coordinating Rose Wonder stamp set---yet. But I can't wait. It has such lovely caring sentiments to go along with the images. But about these two cards here: I am so glad I kept my Manhattan Flowers TEF from long ago. It coordinates with these dies as though they were made to go together. Forever....sighhhhh......

I water colored the background by misting the water color paper and then just dabbing on a few drops of reinker with my aqua pen and letting them blend naturally. With the circle dies I cut a large-ish circle into the face paper and embossed it. Then assembled the whole thing. Simple really.

This one's my favorite! I just like the colors better for whatever reason!

waiting...rotary alphabet art

Another card I'd have loved to have when I was younger! Ah well! Someone else will benefit from it! Ha!
I used a mixture of stamp sets (Awesomely Artistic, Sheltering Tree) and the Hello You thinlits for this card.
And of course, my new fave, Alphabet Rotary Stamp.

You can contact me when you decide you can't live without any of these items and I'll gladly order them for you!

love....rotary alphabet art

The cards on this post kinda' tug at my heart. When I was young(er) and newly in love I eagerly paced Hallmark aisles in search of cards like these. They were DIFFICULT to find! Short concise quotes that said it all in a few brief words. NOW though, with my SU rotary stamp, I can create them as freely as I want! OOOOHHHH, to be young again and be able to give him these cards!! But seriously, this stamp is my best discovery since---since, well, since I fell in love with the most WONDERFUL guy in the universe!

One of our wedding cards had this quote on it and I've always liked it. So, now I can make this card over and over again!

together forever...(#tgifc08)

This was a fun challenge and just at the right time since our anniversary is this month! Can't believe we're already celebrating 15 delightful years!!

Here's the challenge sketch from tgifc.

Freshly Made Sketches (challenge 191)

If you know me, I'm a grunge freak. Or maybe I just love weathered worn-looking---ANYTHING! (Well, maybe not worn-out jeans and shoes, but....) Anyway, I am inspired by Freshly Made Sketches and how their goal is designing with NO worn-out or distressed edges and grunge! Keep it CLEAN!!! THIS is challenging for me, to be sure! And I love a challenge, so I made this card to go with the following sketch challenge:

NOTE: Even though Tara, Jane and I are taking a break from The Challenge Spark, I want to join other challenges as a way to keep creating. I seem to need something to inspire me so as much as I am feeling well enough I still want to post and enjoy challenges from other creators!

Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler

Time for Dessert! These colors are a favorite combo of mine. And I'm learning I really LOVE embossing with white on Crumb Cake. Then color in the image. Gorgeous!

Here's a completely different style of card made using the same colors. I dusted the edges with Espresso sponging to weather it a bit. Always like a touch of vintage.

The Challenge Spark (good ol' fashioned doodling!)

Jane from The White Orchid  challenged Tara from Country Girl {Creates} and me to create something fabulous with doodling. This was a REAL challenge for me, but I was happy with what came out of that marker! You can hardly see it on this card, but it's there if you look close. Find it?!

And here's one more Valentine's Day or Love card where I drew on the banner lines as well as the springs that the hearts hang from.

It turned into a fun Challenge Spark, our weekly challenge that we three girls take turns at--- tossing out an idea for the rest to create with us!

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!

{effortless} punchout hearts

So if you made that "heart card" on my previous post, here's a card that uses up those two hearts you punched out of the negative spaces on that one. And what I love about this card, is that if you place the hearts just a teeny bit apart it sorta gives them a 3-d look! You can also dress this one up using ribbons, more or fewer red hearts, borders, background stamping, sentiment, ANYTHING! I kept it simple so it would be easy and straightforward to just copy as is. Can I tell you a secret? While I love creating complicated challenging cards, every now and then I LOVE these Clean and Simple cards. Rather elegant, don't you think? Truly, sometimes less is more.