Make a Wish

I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to create birthday cards that are neutral enough to be given to men. So when I do manage to pull one off, it's always worthy of a big ol' pat on the back!

Today's card certainly fits the bill. While it's certainly very gender neutral, it still offers elements that appeal to the ladies (hello, glitter!) and a color scheme that definitely appeals to the gents. When it was all said and done, I was quite proud of myself for this one. (But I must admit that Whitney helped! *wink*)


Make a Wish recipe
Base: cream card
Paper: DCWV - glitter cardstock; SU - vanilla
Ink: VF - onyx; SU - riding hood red
Stamps: Hampton Art - Happy Birthday
Misc: ScorTape; Stickles; glitter; pop dots

Beautiful Whoopsy

Don't you just hate it when you mess up a card when your stamp rocks just a little and gets ink in places there shouldn't be any?! I know I sure do. And today's card is a perfect example of how it sometimes works out for the best.

I started by stamping the Upsy Daisy in eggplant. Before reinking, I stamped the image again to create a shadow effect. In order to fill 2/3 of the card, I needed to repeat this process one more time. Well, that's when I got a little heavy handed and managed to get ink on the edges of my rubber stamp and then rocked a bit too much and got that ink on the card. What was I going to do now?

Well, lucky for me, Whitney was over helping me out and she suggested that we cover those places up with something. So we hunted through our punches and found the butterflies and it just so happened they were big enough to cover up my booboo - perfect! I used three of them to keep with the rule of Odds (or even perhaps the rule of Threes) to give balance to the card. If you look closely, you can still see my mistake, but it's not as prominent and your eye is certainly not drawn to it but to the butterfly instead.

When all was said and done, I couldn't decide where to place my sentiment and that's when I decided that it didn't need one. Not on the outside anyway. So here you have a very simple design that packs a lot of punch. I couldn't have been more pleased with my mistake, and that's why I call it my beautiful whoopsy!


Butterflies recipe
Base: cream card
Paper: SU - eggplant
Ink: SU - eggplant
Stamps: SU - Upsy Daisy
Misc: Jolee's - butterfly punch; misc. butterfly punch; pop dots

By My Side

It's been a while since I've posted anything here on the ol' craftin' blog. But it's definitely not for lack of craftin'!!! Nosiree! Quite the contrary actually. Aside from some personal projects I've worked on, the biggest portion of my crafting time has been taken up with projects for a new business. That's right, I finally started a card business.

It's a long story, but I'll try to give you the Reader's Digest version, for anyone who might actually be interested. My friend Whitney and I have a pretty sweet little part-time singing gig at a local church. The downturn in the economy has really impacted the church's budget, and we thought we were gonna be let go. Whitney approached me with questions about starting a card business, and I told her that it's virtually impossible to have a viable business on your own and I proceeded to give her all my reasons why. And so she said, "then why don't we do it together?" And that, my friends, is how High Notes Ink was born. The business is going well and we are cranking out new product all the time.

Since I do have a backlog of personal projects that I haven't posted over these five long months, I'll try my best to schedule a post or two a week to catch you up on my projects. My regular posts these days are dedicated to the biz, so if you're interested in some light reading 5 days (or more) a week, then hop on over and follow our blog.

On with today's card! Each year I make cards for my grandmother. Several years ago, I made her a box to hold all of her prized handmade cards and now I work to keep her in stock with cuteys to send to friends all year. This card is from this year's batch. Isn't it adorable? I absolutely LOVE these sets of Papertrey Ink stamps, and what's even better is that there are dies to coordinate so there's no tedious cutting! Just diecut it, stamp it, and stick it. Easy peasy!

It seemed so fitting to have a little doggie looking lovingly toward his owner's favorite chair to coordinate with the sentiment "thank you for always being by my side." If you have furry friends, you understand oh-so-perfectly what it means to have a faithful little friend who's always waiting to give you love. I know I sure do - as I sit here blogging with a snuggly, purring kitty on my lap!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's card and that you'll stop back by every once in a while to keep me honest in my promise to catch you up on all of the fun projects I've done!


By My Side recipe
Base: kraft card
Paper: SU - Patterns Pack III
Stamps: PTI - Chair-ished, On My Couch, On My Couch Additions
Ink: VF - onyx; SU - riding hood red
Misc: Zots; pop dots; PTI - On My Couch dies

Good Friends

Clearly I'm loving me some Papertrey Ink these days. You know how, when you get a new stamp set, you just want to make a bunch of cards with it? Yeah, well ...

I made this card for a coworker who is going through a really rough time right now. Hopefully it gave her spirits a little lift. The design was based on this card by Nikie Estes.



Cardstock/Paper: SU - Patterns Pack DSP III (hostess)
Ink: VF - onyx; SU - creamy caramel, real red; CB - kraft; VM
Stamps: PTI - On My Couch, On My Couch Additions, Chair-ished
Misc: SU - eyelet border punch, close to cocoa polkadot satin ribbon, white embossing powder, white gel pen; pop dots; ScorTape; PTI - On My Couch dies

Miss You

I just love this set by Lisa Johnson, and I absolutely fell in love with the card that she made with it in this post. It was absolutely the perfect design for a card that I sent to my cousin who is currently in Marine Corps Boot Camp. Hoorah!

And you'll notice that I was on another kick to dress up the inside of the card for this one too. It just didn't seem fair to leave the kitty uninked. *wink*



Cardstock/Paper: SU - Patterns Pack DSP III (hostess), very vanilla, basic black
Ink: VF - onyx; SU - real red, creamy caramel, chocolate chip
Stamps: PTI - Chair-ished, On My Couch, On My Couch Additions
Misc: pop dots; PTI - On My Couch dies, button twine; SU - whisper white satin ribbon; MM - ribbed ribbon; misc. red button; ScorTape

Masculine Card

I've had this Papertrey set for quite a while and just haven't sat down and played with it. My supply of ready-made blank cards has dwindled, so I decided to make a few. This design lends itself to many uses - thinking of you, sympathy, birthday, get well, etc. I opted not to stamp a sentiment of any kind on the front or inside of the card until I'm ready to send it. I adapted my layout from this card by Dawn McVey.


Cardstock/Paper: SU - Patterns Pack DSP III (hostess), very vanilla, chocolate chip
Ink: SO - timber brown
Stamps: PTI - Through the Trees
Misc.: SU - antinque brads, ticket corner punch; SEI - twine ribbon; Zig - glue pen; glitter; ScorTape

Chair-ished

My dad recently came over and did some plumbing work at our house. While a formal thank-you never seems to be necessary with the parentals, I think it's still nice to offer a gesture of appreciation. So I made this card using one of my new Papertrey sets. It's a little difficult to see but the cardstock I used to stamp my sentiment on is actually a scrap that I had used to catch Glimmer Mist overspray. The scrap got just a light dusting of sparkle, which went with this card perfectly.



I also did something that I rarely ever do. I "finished" the inside of the card, as well. It just seemed too ... blah ... to leave only a sentiment on the inside.


Cardstock/Paper: SU - Patterns Pack DSP III (hostess), very vanilla, whisper white
Ink: VF - onyx; SO - timber brown
Stamps: PTI - Chair-ished, On My Couch, On My Couch Additions, Inside & Out Thanks
Misc: PTI - On My Couch dies, button twine; pop dots; misc. button (Michaels variety pack); TA - Glimmer Mist (misc. colors); misc. brown pen; white gel pen; blue glitter pen
Card design based on a card by set creator Lisa Johnson

Happy Father's Day

I intended to post this card yesterday, but I danced my time away and then completely forgot. While not indicative from the outside, I made this card for Father's Day using some of my new Tattered Angels products. I don't know if I ever mentioned that I went to a Glimmer Mist class at the Great American Scrapbook Convention, but I did and I absolutely fell in love with all things Tattered Angels. Honestly, it was hard to stop myself.

For this one-layer card, I used glimmer screens with the mist. It's difficult to see one of the screens in this photo, but if you look closely at the top right corner of the card, you can see a little of the Glacier scroll peaking through. The real, true shimmer of the card is quite difficult to capture on camera, but hopefully there's enough shimmeriness (yes, I just made that up) to give you the idea.


Card base: Michaels
Stamps: Tattered Angels - Tattered Traveler
Ink: SO - timber brown
Misc: Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist (Metallics - Glacier, Gold, Graphite, Silver; Blue - Sapphire; Tattered Leather); Glimmer Screens - Tattered Traveler, Garden Lattice

Happy Mother's Day

Today's card is based on this card by Ashley Cannon Newell. I thought the soft colors lended themselves well to Mother's Day. A simple sentiment substitution was all it took. Overall, this card was very simple to execute. Probably the fastest I've ever made one actually.


Cardstock: SU - pink pirouhette, chocolate chip, whisper white; kraft
Ink: SO - timber brown; CB - white craft; SU - pretty in pink, blush blossom, pink pirouhette, rose red, pixie pink
Stamps: PTI - Out on a Limb, Daily Designs Sentiments
Misc: SU - pink pirouhette grossgrain, eyelet border punch; pop dots; ScorTape

Welcome, Little One

Yowzas! It's been a while. Not sure what happened. I guess life just got in the way. But not to worry. I've been crafting these last several months, so there will be some things to see over the next week or so. And I hope to get some more time in the craft room this weekend, too.

Now for the card. Way back in April, I attended a baby shower for my friend Carla & sweet baby Emma. This is the card I made to accompany her gift. You'll notice that I used the emboss resist technique for this card. Such a nice, soft look - perfect for baby cards!


Cardstock: SU - pink pirouhette, pretty in pink, very vanilla; Luxe - (polka dots)
Ink: SU - pink pirouhette, pretty in pink
Stamps: PTI - Text Style, Inside & Out Baby; Verve - Fluttering By
Misc: clear embossing powder; corner rounder; MM - flower ribbon, eyelet ribbon; ScorTape