50th Wedding Anniversary Card..............

Just recently my sister-in-law (the one that lost her husband and almost her own life in a horrible auto accident last year) asked me if I would make a 50th anniversary card for some dear friends of hers and of course I said that I would be happy to! The wife used to be a client of mine and is a friend also. I got to thinking of the Splitcoast Featured Stamper Challenge for the week of May 15th when Cathleen (aka/ctorina) was the featured stamper and back in April she had made a card that I thought was absolutely stunning...but then I think all of her work is stunning!!! You can see the card I'm referring to here and I decided to use it for my inspiration. When you case a card of a "featured stamper" you are to change at least 2 or more things on it and I changed a lot more than 2 and one of the ones that I changed was the "orientation". Here is a photo of the front of the card that I made:

And here is a photo of the back of the card I made:

Here is a close-up of the flower that I made using a cutting file designed and sold by Laurne Meader (here is a link to her blog where she has a wonderful video showing how to create them and here is a link to her online store where you can purchase the cutting file and it's only $2.50 (so worth it!). She has a lot more really nice cutting files!!!)

Here is a photo of the inside top of the card where I included the photo that was on their invitation to make this card even more of a keepsake!

And here is a photo of the verse that I used on the inside bottom of the card:

I guess that you can tell that this card will not fit into a regular A7 envelope...so I decided to design an "A7 Card Box" that I can cut using my Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter! Here is a photo of the front of the box I designed:

And here is a photo of a side view of the box:

Finished Card Size: A7/5"x7"
Supplies

Papers: Neenah, Recollections (black), Black Suede Gold Mirror Cardstock and "Sparkling Papers" by WorldWin
Tools: Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter, QuicKutz Revolution, Provo Craft Cuttlebug
Accessories: Spellbinders (LG Classic Ovals, LG Classic Ovals Scalloped, SM Standard Circles and Labels Two), Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page "Double Loops" (border for box sides) and "Floral Vine" & "Garden Trellis" Deep Edge Punches, Peel-Off Stickers, Want2scrap "Black Half Pears", Mark Richards "Gold Half Pearls", "Gold" Stickles

I guess you can say that I "fabricated" this one!!!

This is my card for this week's Splitcoast Stampers "Sketch Challenge" (SC272) and if you want to play too you can find all the pertinent info here! The reason I said "fabricated" is that I used some beautiful fabric that I found at a new quilting store in my area on Tuesday....naturally I could not resist buying a piece of it!!! I adhered it to a piece of cereal box that I cut using my Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter and then ran through my Xyron machine. The absolutely gorgeous 100% silk ribbon that I used came from Sharon Johnson at "No Time to Stamp" and if you would like to purchase some from her, you can find it here. I hate to admit it, but I bought my first order from her about a year ago and I've been hording it and I just ordered some more from her a couple of weeks ago and I'm going to start using it more often. It's so great to work with and it looks stunning!!!! For the "medallion" I used a corner punch by Martha Stewart and Becca's (Amazing Paper Grace) technique.

Now, to the butterfly and you can get a better, larger view of it by clicking on my photo above. A dear friend of mine sent me this birthday card for my birthday in 2008 with some beautiful butterflies on it that were from a stamp set she has. I used them as a model for one I designed to cut and emboss using my Pazzles Inspiration and the Pen Tool that Sue Reynolds, aka/HotPaws designed that will hold many different sizes of pens. I cut two layers and used fun foam to "elevate" the wing tips. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!!!
Finished Card Size: A2/5.5"x4.25"

Supplies

Papers: "Kiwi Iridescent" Effects Papercraft by Canson (butterfly), Darice Paper Crafter, "The Chocolate Box" by Core'dinations, Bazzill
Stamps: "Spring Blossoms Clear Stamp Set" by Inkadinkado (flower and sentiment)
Inks: ColorBox
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", QuicKutz "Revoltion", Range "Heat It"
Accessories: Ranger "Super Fine Detail Gold" Embossing Powder, "Bow Easy", 100% Silk Ribbon, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Martha Stewart "Loops" Corner Punch, "Say it with Bling" and "Say it with Pearls" by want2scrap, Copic Spica "Pink", Beifa Gel Pens

Splitcoast's "Featured Stamper" Challenge

Barbara Anders (aka "Bar") was the "Featured Stamper" at the Splitcoast "Featured Stamper Challenge" (FS157 - Raise the Bar!) yesterday and I chose this card from her gallery! You can also check out her blog and leave her a comment for some blog candy here. I thought her card was so lovely and could not believe that it only received 2 comments! For the challenge we are supposed to change a least two things..... I changed many more but stuck with card layout that she used. If anyone would be interested in taking on this challenge, you can find it here!

The flowers that I used are some that I bought from Michaels and the leaves I used with them are some that I cut and paper sculpted years ago for a quilling project. I paper sculpted the flowers too and then added a couple of colors to the centers for some contrast.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!
Finished Card Size: A7/5"x7"
Supplies

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Wild Asparagus" (patterned papers), Bazzill
Stamps: Hampton Art "Studio G" (sentiment), Flora & Fauna by KaiserCraft, CC Ruben Stamps, Judith
Ink: "Pearlescent Ivy" and "Victorian Violet" Brilliance Pigment (sentiment), Memento "New Sprout"
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter"
Accesories: Recollections "Pearl Stickers", Offray Ribbon, "Brides" Flowers from Michaels, Martha Stewart "Eyelet Lace" Border Punch, "Olive Green" (#15) and "Eggplant" (#107) Marvy LePlume II Markers

And I'm back, yet again!...............

Well, as you can tell by my lack of activity here at my blog, I've been in a bit of a creative slump and I have to thank a very nice lady by the name of Velta for encouraging me to get back to work! The other day, I had stopped by her blog as I do frequently and I was so impressed by a card she had just posted (you can see it here at her blog) that I left her the following comment:

"Oh Velta, this is so beautiful!!!! I've kind of been going through a creative slump lately and this is just the inspiration I need to snap out of it...thank you!!!"

Well, she visited here at my blog and left the following comment:

"Oh MY Pam ~ I have been through your blog and your talent is amazing. All of your creations are so elegant...just what I like! Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog! It is hard for me to understand (other than the holidays) with your talent how you could be in a slump...Get on out here girl and get to work...I want to see more of your art!!!"

After reading her comment, I happened across a link to the Flourishes Newsletter and the first item I saw was "What's Your Cup of Tea? Challenge!" Well, to be honest I found that interesting and decided to take the challenge and make a Valentine card for my husband. My morning beverage is "Starbucks Breakfast Blend" and I went from there. Now, mind you this is not the best card I've ever designed, but my DH does not like "fluffy, girly" stuff, so I tried to keep it simple. Here is a photo showing the Starbucks bag along side of the card I designed:

and here is a close-up of the digitally stamped image I used:

This adorable little snail was a freebie from doodlepalace.com. I actually altered the image by cutting of the tail, changing the envelope sentiment, replacing the antennae with wire ones and adding the eyelashes. I colored the image using markers by Neopiko.

I also want to point out that the paper piercing that I did on this card (the sun rays) was done using my new "Piercing Tool" for the Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter". The needle that I used in it was not quite large enough, so I used a manual piercing tool to make the piercings larger....I need to go to Hobby Lobby and purchase a larger sewing machine needle!

Thank you so much Velta for giving me the "boost" that I needed!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!
Finished Card Size: 5.5"x5.5"
Supplies

Paper: Core'dinations, Daisyd's "Playtime Dots - Pink & Yellow #14061" (hearts border)
Stamps: "Snail Mail" digital freebie from Doodle Palace and Studio G
Ink: Memento "Rich Coccoa"
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", QuicKutz "Revolution"
Accessories: Spellbinders "Nestabilities", Neopiko Markers, Ranger "Diamond" Stickles, Martha Stewart "Lace Heart" Edge Punch, Recollections "Pearl Stickers"

.....and she's back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess everyone thinks that I left the country, but I've really just been so busy with family and preparing for the holidays that I've not had much time for crafting! One thing that my husband and I have been doing is spending lots of time with his siblings. He lost a brother and a sister during the past three years and as I posted here on my blog, we almost lost another sister who was in a horrible auto accident this past March (she lost her husband, our brother-in-law) in that same accident. We now get together (my husband, his oldest brother and two of his three younger sisters) at least once a week....we have dinner together and then play cards and we have a blast. I will always treasure these times!!! Hopefully, once the holiday season is over I will have a lot more time for my crafting!!!

I did make some luminaries to give as little Christmas gifts. I have photos of a couple of them...in all I have made five! If you would like a "recipe" for making them, you can find it here at the Splitcoast Stampers site, as well as a little video tutorial. Everyone I have given them to really like them!!! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to stop by and "Happy Holidays"!!!
Supplies

Paper: Bazzill "French Vanilla" & "Capers" (bases), Bazzill "Blind Date" (blue), digitally designed patterned papers "Joyful Spirit" by Lisa Cohen (floral design) and "Misty Morning" by Joni Gray (ivy leaves), as well as some green wallpaper samples.
Stamps: Walmart, Studio G and In kadinkado
Ink: Tsukineko "VersaMark Watermark"
Embossing Powders: Ranger "Super Fine Detail Gold" & Stamp-n-Stuff "Detail White Opaque"
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", QuicKutz "Revolution", Ranger Inkssentials "Heat-It" Craft Tool
Accessories: Martha Stewart "Arch Lattice" Border Punch, Spellbinders "Labels Four", Michael's "Gold" Rinestone Stickers, The Paper Studio "Pearls"

Happy Birthday Klo!!!

I designed and created this very special birthday card for my friend and teacher Klo, who has taught me so much about the Pazzles Inspiration software for my Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter". Her birthday is the 13th, so I'm not going to post this to my blog until Saturday, the 14th. Another very good friend and fellow Pazzles Design Team Member, Sue Reynolds, just recently designed a new Pen Tool that can be used with my Inspiration, that can hold many different sized pens and for this card, I used her pen tool with a Quickie Glue Pen to made the "lattice" panel. After I removed the panel from my Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter" I covered the "lattice" lines with silver embossing powder and heat set it with my "Heat It" craft tool. I also used the same technique for make the silver lines around the bottom card panel...I wanted it to have the look of "peel-off" stickers, so I'm going to call it "Faux Peel Offs". In addition I used the very same technique for the "sentiment" and the "46", but I added some crystal stickles to the "46". I topped it all off with a bow made with my Bow Easy....love that little tool!!!


For the inside of the card, I used my "faux peel-offs" technique again around the bottom panel.


Here is a close-up of the top inside panel, where I used the smaller "Fluer de lis" pendant die and then some Nestie circles and topped it off with a real "Peel-Off" sticker of a gift:


And here is a close-up of the lower inside panel showing the way I embossed my text onto a vellum square. I did the text in Photoshop using the beautiful "CAC Lasko Even Weight" font (free), printed it out using my Canan PIXMA 530 inkjet's "Photo Paper" setting and just as quickly as I took it out of the printed, I covered it with clear embossing powder to that it would be embossed. The text was done in black but after covering it with the clear EB powder and heat setting it, it almost looks silver!!! Also, the silver trim around it is actually "peel-off" stickers, as well as the "~2009~"!


This was a lot of fun to design and create and I hope Klo really liked it! Thanks for coming by to check it out!!!
Finished Card Size: A2/4.25"x5.25"
Supplies

Paper: Wausau Creative Collection Metallic Cardstock "Chalice Silver", Canson Effects Papercraft "Galvanized" (fleur de lis panel beneath velum text panel), Staples "White Vellum" and Blue/Grey Carstock (don't know brand...some I've had for years!)
Embossing Powders: Stamp-n-Stuff "Detail Silver" and "Detail Clear Transparent"
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", QuicKutz "Revolution", Ranger Inkssentials "Heat-It" Craft Tool, Sue Reynold's "Pen Tool"
Accessories: Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants "Fluer De Lis" and Nestabilities "Circles", Mark Richards "Crystal Stickers Pearls", "Crystal" Stickles, Flower Soft "Peel Off Stickers" (around text block), Mark Richards "Peel-Offs" stickers (gift), Michaels "Bridal Elegance" Ribbon, EK Success "Fleur de lis" border punch, "~2009~" Peel Off Stickers (gift from friend in the UK), Sakura "Quickie Glue Pen"
Fonts: Pazzles "PZ Up Town" and "CAC Lasko Even Weight"

Oops....I forgot to post this card last month!!!

My niece's birthday was October 17th and this is the card that I made for her and I purposely did not upload here to my blog after I finished it, because I was afraid she might stop by and see it...anyway, that's why I forgot! So here it is now!!!


I had just bought the Spellbinders "Fleur De Lis" set a day before I made this card and of course, I could not wait to use it! The design of this card is extremely simple...what makes the card so pretty is the combination of the "Fleur De Lis" set, the gorgeous sparkling papers and the beautiful Swarvoski crystals!!!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!
Finished Card Size: 5.5"x5.5"

Supplies

Papers: Neenah White CS and WorldWin "Sparkling Papers" (Jewel Toned Mica Coated Papers)
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", QuicKutz "Revolution"
Accessories: Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants "Fleur De Lis" and Nestabilities "Circles", PeelOff Stickers (gift from friend in the UK), Mark Richards "Half Pearls" and Swarvoski "Chrystal Beads"