Blue and bold flower card

 Here's another easy, striking format for a card (any occasion) that yields a nice result. Pick two stamps. I love flowers, and this stamp is really cheerful. I took a bold color, folded it with a noticeable difference in bottom lengths (there is probably a special name for this style, and I have no idea what it is). Then I grabbed my white embossing powder.

I am a texture person, so I took my cute big daisy stamp and covered the whole front of the card and ten I stamped part of the stamp on the bottom margin inside  the card as well. 

 I stamped and embossed the white card stock, too!

 I intentionally made this photo large so you could see the detail. 

I attached a ribbon along the top and tied a wired bead on the end to dress it up a little, and then last but not least, I grabbed a scrap of my bold blue and stamped the sentiment. Isn't this easy?

I think you could really re-invent this concept with all sorts of stamps, really. Simple geometric shapes, woodgrain (for a masculine card)... lots of options. Have you done much with tone on tone embossing? I'd like to hear about it!

Just a simple hi

I wish I could take credit for making this card- it's just so darn cute and cheery. My mom made this little sweet card with not much more than an eyelet, some thin gauge wire, and a couple of daisy punches.

That's it. And look at the payoff.

I love seeing really simple cards that are striking like this one.

And I'd love so see your simple, elegant cards too!

Itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow... birthday card

This card makes me sad. Not because of anything on the surface, but I can't for the life of me find that darling happy birthday frame stamp (doesn't that just bite?)

But beyond the surface of this seemingly normal square card lurks the unexpected ..

It's an accordion (mini accordion card on top).

So with a simple untie of the bow, you have a happy little boing, boing mini card bursting out!

What is hard to see on this picture (apologies for my less than stellar photography) is that the white paper on said accordion mini card is stamped with a matchy yellow gift stamped all over to leave a fun, colorful, yet fairly subtle texture to the otherwise slightly boring white cardstock.


Again, I hope to provide you with credits on these cards, but they are so old, I don't know how I could find out about half the stuff I used . My primary hope is to bring inspiration. :)

Wellness in a card

I bet you're never going to guess what kind of card this is...

Give up?


Okay, in case you are wondering, I am sassy. I apologize if you are not a fan of the sass, but there is more to come, better believe it!

My mom bought these two little stick figure stamps AGES ago, and we've done different things with them over the years- made them into brides, a dad (for Father's day), etc.

But we thought little stick figure lady already was rocking the nurse's uniform, she just needed to accessorize (and have a little more color- she's just so pale! So we rigged up a little old school nurses hat, a state-of-the-art clip board, and a stethoscope- grabbed our colored pencils and voila you have a sweet little get well card!

What sort of get well cards have you made?

I like this card (if I do say so myself). I like the simplicity of just candles on a card, I mean, c'mon, if it's your birthday, and someone hands you a card, you don't say, "hmmm. Candles. I wonder what those are for?" Are you with me on this? I guess I'm kind of high context. Anyway, you can probably tell just by looking at it that I made the cuts a little wonky. I used an X-acto knife, and intentionally made the cuts goofy so that you can't tell that I am terrible (I repeat, terrible) at using these!

So I attached three tear drop punches onto the front of the card, and the patterned designs are on the inside.



And here's what the inside looks like...

Fun, huh? I figure you could use any printed paper, and with all the punches available these days, you wouldn't be stuck using just the balloons, but I'm a traditionalist (sometimes). I like me some balloons for birthdays.

But I posted this because you could interpret this idea so many different ways and have a really cute and interesting card- am I right? What would you do?

Once, twice, 3 times a lady...bug

Ah yes, the lady bug. I have always liked lady bugs, and so making a cute little gate card with a bunch of black circles and you have yourself a cutie little card! This was so simple, I dare not give the tutorial- you can tell just by looking at it what we did. I have re-made this card (and don't have a picture, sorry) for my beautiful niece two years ago, and I had a red circle shaped card, so it was even easier, and I added some wire on top to make antennae- super easy! And if you're just joining us, you will start to see a pattern here. I don't do difficult cards. I love making cards for loved ones, but I just don't have the time or the patience to make super-intricate over-the-top cards. Less is more as far as I am concerned, and this is one of those kind of cards.

I like this idea for a kid's card, even a baby shower (cute as a bug)-

So now it's your turn! Show me your cute kiddo cards, and watch me be amazed!

thanks for reading!

History in the making... of cards, that is

Used to make two of every card (this was approximately 100 years ago). That way, I could have a box (or 30) filled with card to use when I needed them, or have inspiration. My poor mom has been holding many of my cards, and a number of her own know for a loooooong time, so we decided to get with the program (better late than never), and take photos of the cards so we can use the ones we've already made, and with the advent of Pinterest, there's no reason not to share these- especially since I've been so inspired by so many talented folks out there with their own cards.

Got to apologize here- I am posting old cards, so I do not have much by way of credit, but I hope that these will inspire future card creations, so I am going to post some, and I'd love to hear your feedback!

So this one my mom made, and i think it's darling. She took some chalk ink to give a soft look it, and if you can't see it well (sorry) the stem of the flower says Happy Birthday!

   

This could be done a 100 different ways, and that's one of the reasons I like this card so much. You or use a different center (this one is a flat marble), or use a fabric flower, or even maybe could make this stamp be the string connected to a balloon!I have always liked long skinny cards, and this one is simple and lots of fun!

I still have this cute stamp at my parents' house, (I will find out who to credit and post )- Do you have this stamp? How have you used it? Remember, sharing is caring!