I am still playing with some of my new JustRite stamps.  The stamps I used today are from the "Anchors Away" clear stamps set.  I had a lot of fun creating the background for this card.  I wanted a masculine looking background so decided to create the background using torn pieces of masking tape.  Have you ever done this?  It is a little work, but I love the look, especially for masculine cards.

I added additional texture by using the the Poppy Stamps "Grassland" and Cheery Lynn "Grass Border" dies.  The Cheery Lynn grass was die cut using a darker shade of green card stock and the Poppy Stamps grass was die cut using a lighter shade of green to give some contrast between the two.  I wanted to create "cattails" in the grass so I used an old punch I have that was intended to create holes for a ribbon border.  The punched out pieces were perfect to use for cattails. These pieces were glued to the tips of the Poppy Stamps (taller) grass.

Since the Bass is jumping out of the lake, I figured he must be after something good to eat.  I added a pretty Memory Box "Willow Dragonfly".  It was die cut using a light lime card stock.  The wings were glued to the bottom of the body.  This die will cut two sets of wings and a body.  I have also placed the wings on top of the body in different posts, but kind of like it with the body on top of the wings.  To make it very "appealing", I add three colors of "Stickles" to the wings and another color to the body.  I first added "Firefly" over the wings, then a little "Lime Green", to the tips of the wings, then mixed in little "Aqua".   "Golden Red" Stickles was added to the body.  It turned out really pretty.  Too pretty for that fish to eat!!!!!   On the cattails, I added a little "Distress Vintage Photo" Stickles to help make them standout.   On the swirls, in the water, "Diamond" Stickles was added.  That doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it makes the rippled water look more realistic.  The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations.

Today is my husband's birthday. He is an avid golfer so naturally I had to make a "golf" birthday card. Gina did a StampTV tutorial today on how to ink a Cuttlebug embossing folder. She made a beautiful card and her technique is easier than what I have done in the past. You can watch her video here. I loved the card she made and thought this would be the perfect background for my card.

I used the Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder, Vanilla card stock and Sahara Sand ink pad. Gina did this with a small ink pad and I think it would work much better but I didn't have a soft neutral color, in a small pad, so used a regular size pad and a brayer. Don't you love the way this technique brings out the texture of the embossing! I mounted it on Night of Navy card stock.

I stamped the golf bag (retired from SU) with black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. The reason I use Memento ink is because the ink does not smear when using the Copic markers. You can use other inks, but you usually need to heat set them first. I used a silver Copic's glitter pen on the head of the golf clubs to make them look like metal. After getting it colored, I cut the image out. I used the Long Rectangle Nestabilities to cut out a Sahara Sand card stock frame. I mounted that with dimensionals onto a piece of Night of Navy card stock.

The "Happy Birthday" is from SU. I cut it out using a the SU Word Window Punch. I added two brads in the tag and mounted it on dimensionals. The golf club is an embellishment I have had for a while and decided to add it to this card for more dimension. I used Scor-Tape to attach it. I then stamped three golf balls using VersaMark and Detail White Embossing Powder.

The inside of this card holds a gift certificate for him to go play at a very nice golf course he has been wanting to go to. We will be having a special dinner and party tonight.

Have you ever been up in a hot air balloon? I went straight up in one once, but didn't actually go for a ride. It was very noisy, but fun. I think it would be fun to really go for a ride. When we go to visit our son, down in Del Mar, CA, there are lots of hot air balloons out every day. We love to watch them.

This card was made with another stamp from the StampTV Eclectic Summer Kit and the verse is from the Eclectic Summer Verses. This all comes in the fantastic new kit just released - everything is there to make lots of beautiful cards. To give you lots of ideas, be sure to check out Gina's tutorial over on StampTV. You receive two stamp sets, sheets of red, white, and blue cardstock, designer paper, ribbons, brads and a storage case to keep everything in. There is also a free digital paper download on StampTV that works well with these stamps. Get your free download here: http://stamptv.ning.com/page/freebies-2

To make this card, I first stamped the hot air balloon on a piece of white cardstock then cut it out with the petite oval nestabilities. I used a piece of the navy blue cardstock for the scalloped background. The sky was first sponged using a large sponge dauber and Bashful Blue ink. I then stamped one of the trees from Gina's "Tree Silhouettes" on the left side and added some grass to the bottom of the frame.




To create the hot air balloon, I stamped it twice -- once on the red/white stripped digi paper and once on the navy with stars digi paper. I did this different than Gina did on her tutorial on StampTV. I cut out the entire balloon part from both pieces. I then cut out the four strips of blue and glued them to the red strip. (You can see I'm working on that Tan Teflon Craft Sheet I talked about in my blog on Monday.) I then stamped the top portion of the balloon, just to get the red band that goes across the top, and cut it out then glued it to the balloon. I then pieced all that onto the hot air balloon stamped on the oval frame. A brown marker was used to color the bottom of the balloon frame and the basket.

For the card background, a piece of white cardstock was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder then layered on a piece of the red cardstock. A piece of ribbon from the kit was attached to the bottom and the verse attached on it with dimensional glue dots. Red rhinestones were added for a little sparkle.

Our family is going up to Canada early in the morning to spend the weekend, so I will not have any posts until next Monday. Have a fun weekend.

I am loving this set. Up until now, I have not had many stamps to make masculine cards with. This is another card made with "Guiding Light" from GinaK Designs. I wanted to try something different this time. I wanted it to feel like you are seeing the lighthouse from the ocean, rather than looking out at the ocean. I used a piece of Gina's Digi background paper with some of the nautical netting she now carries. It goes so perfect with this set. The lighthouse was black embossed then watercolored with Peerless Watercolors. You can purchase them from GinaK here: http://www.shop.ginakdesigns.com/category.sc?categoryId=50 I love these watercolors because they come on a thin sheet and you can punch out a small square of each color and mount them on a piece of heavy cardstock. All your colors are right in front of you and it makes it so easy to choose colors to blend. You just use the Niji Waterbrush to pick up color.

After coloring the lighthouse, it was masked off and the background was stamped then sponged. The mountains are from a retired SU set. Long rectangle Nestabilities were used to create the frames. Each layer is on dimensionals. The anchor was colored with a Copic Glitter pen. To get the netting and sailor's knot to stick to the background, I ran it through a sticker machine. Three bronze brads were added under the scene.

This card is made with Rupa's "Guiding Light" set from GinaK Designs. Actually when I purchased this set I wasn't sure I could come up with many good ideas (after all, it isn't a flower set!!!). However, I just love working with it. I decided for a "different" texture I would do a background using masking tape. I tore tiny pieces of the tape and covered the whole piece of cardstock. I then rubbed my Barely Banana ink pad over the whole thing then repeated with Cameo Coral and then some Old Olive ink. Because the texture of the tape is rough, I then poured clear embossing powder all over it and then heated it up with my heat tool. It gave it a shiny look. That finished off my textured background.

I then black embossed the lighthouse. I cut it out using nestabilities. I left it in the frame while adding color. I masked off the lighthouse. I then used sponge daubers to create the sky to coordinate with my background, sponged on the ocean and the sand. I then used colored pencils to create an "old dirty" looking lighthouse and buildings. I used my Peerless Watercolors to create the faded red on the buildings. I added the birds to give it more dimension. I used Kitty Caracciolo's Cause a Scene beach set for the small birds and the sand. I cut a piece of the nautical webbing I purchased from Gina and ran it through my small adhesive machine so it would stick well to my background. I added a few nautical charms I had to the netting and three brads to the upper right corner. I don't usually get very excited about a card I make but I really like how this one turned out. I am going to save it and send it to my son who lives in San Diego.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I would love to be spending time on the beach. My friend, Dianna, just returned and had a fabulous time. I'm looking forward to today. My sweet granddaughter, Alison, is making a special dinner for her mom and me -- it is one of our favorite meals. She is 15. Hard to believe my grandkids are getting so "grown up". Maybe Shannon will be giving us each a beautiful card she made. She is 11 and has been my stamping buddy since she was very small.

This is another card made with Rupa Shevde's "Guiding Light" set from GinaK Designs. The images were black embossed and colored with Peerless Watercolors. The seagull, on the pilings, was cut out and attached just on the bottom half to give it a 3-D effect. The sand was watercolored then I used a little "sand" stamp from Kitty Caracciolo's Cause a Scene beach set. I thought it gave the large sand area some texture. The Lighthouse was masked then I used Not Quite Navy ink and a large sponge dauber to create the sea. The sky was sponged with Bashful Blue using a cloud template and a large sponge dauber. The birds in the sky are on dimensionals. I had a few little sea shell embellishments that I thought looked great in the on the bottom of the card.

It is beautiful outside today so I am going to do my post this morning so I can go out and enjoy some sun. This card was made with a new set released by GinaK. It is Rupa's "Guiding Light" set. The image is black embossed then colored with Peerless Watercolors I purchased from GinaK. So fun to work with these watercolors! On StampTV, Jessica showed us how to punch small squares of each color and tape them to a cardboard. I purchased both the starter set and the larger set so I have lots of colors to choose from. The colors are vibrant and blend so beautifully. I used a cloud stencil and a large sponge dauber to create the clouds. The image was cut out with Oval Nestabilities. The cardstock colors are Bravo Burgundy, Basic Black and Always Artichoke. The base of the card is Very Vanilla. I used the SU scallop punch to make the border then attached the sailor's knot on top. Thanks to Brenda from StampTV for the instructions on how to do this. The top portion of the background was embossed with the Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder. The image is raised on dimensionals.

Well I'm off to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather! Have a great day.

The weather is finally getting nice and I would love to go to the beach. I see seagulls in the shopping center parking lot but it's not the same as seeing them on the beach. This card was made using Rupa's "Guiding Light" stamp set. This set was just released by GinaK Designs. The main image was colored using Copic markers. I used a large sponge dauber and Soft Blue ink to create the sky/clouds with a cloud stencil. The sand was created with a stamp from Kitty's Caracciolo "Cause a Scene". I used chalks to fill in the sand area. The rectangles were cut with Nestabilities. The So Saffron piece was run through the Cuttlebug Tiny Mosaic Texture embossing folder. I thought it coordinated well with the rope. The designer paper is a piece out of my paper stash. The two birds in the sky are put on dimensionals. I added antique brass brads to each corner of the design.

Well, I just couldn't stand it. I didn't expect to stamp until later next week since I don't have the best eye sight right now. However, I just received Theresa's Out West stamp set (GinaK Designs) and just had to make a card with it. I was so excited for this set to arrive. Theresa's mom, Geri, made a beautiful card that I love, and it was the inspiration for my card. You can see Geri's card here: http://stamptv.ning.com/photo/in-the-stables. She made the most realistic woodgrain for her card. I used the Cuttlebug Distressed Strips embossing folder to create my woodgrain. I also used a Cuttlebug cut/emboss frame for the horse, and sponged over it. The images were colored with colored pencils and OMS. The lasso was made with hemp and hung on a large brad. Howdy was black embossed.

Wanted to create a scene with this little money from Melanie's "Just so Hippy". I created the tree trunk by cutting 3 narrow strips of Creamy Carmel cardstock and spraying them with water to soften them. I then used a clip to hold all three pieces together and started braiding. To create the top of the tree, I used a leaf stamp from SU Daisy set. I stamped seven and alternated layers. The monkey had to sit on sand, so I tore a piece of River Rock cardstock and stamped some sand hills using one of Kittie's scene sets. I then tore a piece of sky blue to add for water and mounted on a piece of Bordering Blue for the sky. I used Sky Blue, and a new large sponge dauber I ordered from GinaK, to create the clouds and waves. The monkey is colored with chalks and colored pencils. I did not use OMS because I wanted it to look like hair on the monkey. I cut three very thin strips of green cardstock for stems then attached the little flowers from that set. The Miss You is also from the Just So Hippy set and cut out with an oval nestability. I used the piercing tool to punch holes around the oval. Two black gems were added on the upper corners.