Loads of Love Birthday

Hi there, here is a very simple card I made a couple of days ago - simple because some time ago I'd made the striped, embossed and die cut background when I was experimenting with this technique so all I had to do was glue it down and add the Loads of Love Truck to it and it was almost done.  This little truck is really useful as you can 'load' lots of different things on the back of it to suit almost any occasion.

A much simpler card than I usually make, but we all need a change now and then!

What I used:

Card:  Crumb Cake, scraps of Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, So Saffron and Soft Suede

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Punch Bunch (retired).

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scalloped Square punch, Paper Piercer and mat pack.

Happy Birthday Carlos

{I typed up this post way back in February as that's when Carlos had his birthday but due to the hybrid nature of the card (SU products and non-SU products) I was not going to publish it.... but seeing that I have not been able to get anything else posted lately I thought showing you this card was better than not showing you anything at all!!  And it's almost all SU except for the Owl stamp anyway....  :>}

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Now, if I had the Owl punch that is what I would have used for this card!  But I don't own one (yet) so chose an owl stamp from my pre-SU stash and then of course remembered I do have an owl stamp in the Fox and Friends set, but by then it was too late...

Anyway, Carlos gets an owl card because he is an ardent supporter of a Chilean football team (soccer) which has an Owl as a mascot and the shorted name for this team is 'la U" hence the huge U on the card as well (personally I thought that was a stroke of genius LOL!).  Oh yes, and blue, red and white are the team colours, obviously!

What I used:

Card:  Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, White

Ink:  Riding Hood Red, watercolour pencils

Stamp Sets:  Basic Phrases, Wonderful Favourites, Big Deal Alphabet (retired) Owl (non SU)

Tools and other fun stuff:  Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Word Window Punch (I used it to punch out the happy + birthday, then snipped off the rounded ends), non SU scallop dies, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Apple Tree

The embossed 'apple tree' panel on this card really started out as an exercise, I wasn't intending to put in to good use.  Even when it was finished, it sat on my cutting board for a couple of days until I decided to give it a good home - a nice Riding Hood Red base!  I hadn't realized how fantastic this particular red looks with the Certainly Celery - will be using it again in the future that's for sure!

It was the first time I got to try my Square Lattice embossing folder, I had seen quite a few examples of this technique, usually involving hearts or flowers, and was keen to try it out.

I punched the tree out of Certainly Celery with the Wide Oval Punch, punched some red 'apples' with a 1/4" punch, hand-cut the tree trunk, did some sponging with Old Olive and Bashful Blue - glued it all together and rolled it through the Cuttlebug using an embossing folder.  And that's pretty much it really, I matted it with Certainly Celery and then glued it onto Riding Hood Red.  It's just right for this time of the year when apples are coming into season!

What I used:

Card:  Riding Hood Red, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, White

Ink: Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery

Stamp Sets: None

Tools and other fun stuff:  Wide Oval punch, 1/4" punch (non SU), Stampin' sponges, Square Lattice embossing folder.

Loads of Love

Another card for a sketch challenge, it looked quite simple to start with but I tend to have a habit of complicating things sometimes!  So after deciding to use the truck image I thought of building a scene to go with it and after some stamping, masking, stamping again, sponging on 'hills' and clouds, etc here is the result!

I used a sketch from Stamping 411 again, you're most welcome to pop over to their blog if you want to see what other people made with the sketch.

What I used:

Card:  White, Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede

Ink:  Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point.

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Basic Phrases

Tools and other fun stuff:  Large Oval punch, blender pens, Stampin' sponges, non SU embossing folder.

February birthdays

Second post of the day!

For some reason February seems to be rather full of birthdays in our family, a niece, a nephew, my brother, two of my sister-in-laws plus a cousin of Carlos (and I may have even missed some off that list!).

Anyway, both my brother and one of my SILs are turning 50 this month, I've already posted one card off to Chile, and today I got stuck into the enjoyable task of creating a card for my brother who lives in Melbourne.  It is quite a different thought process when you are creating with a specific person in mind, I spent an enjoyable hour reminiscing about teenage years whilst I created, yet all the time bearing in mind that the last card I sent him arrived in pieces!!   Not sure what the postie did but this time it is NOT going to happen!  I glued, then I sewed, then I glued it again all together with WOODWORK glue (I know, terrible thing to admit to!....).  Now, if this birthday card falls to bits in the post I know what he is getting next year - a single layer card!

It was great to have an excuse to follow a sketch on Stamping 411 AND ink up a new set called Autumn Days - I tend to choose nature inspired stamp sets so this was perfect when I saw it in the catalogue.  Not sure if you can see it in the photo but I embossed the DSP and then sponged it a little with Old Olive, I also did some tone on tone stamping on the bottom area of the card for an added layer of interest.  All I needed to really be true to the sketch was three little brads but I don't own any - yet - so will leave them off 'till next time.

(I think the camera was playing tricks today, the card is definitely square and trim, it looks a bit strange in this photo!)

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie, Play Date DSP

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Stamp sets:  Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Sentiments (I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this set!)

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scallop border punch, Large Oval punch, Scalloped Oval punch, swiss dots EF, Stampin' Sponges, 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals, sewing machine.