Wish Away

Saw a great sketch on Retro Sketches this week and decided to use it for two different cards.  Got to love a sketch that inspires more than one card!

Wish Away Supplies:

Core'dinations Cardstock

Lily Bee Designs Paper

Studio Calico Wood Veneers

Darice Sequins

18 Today! Supplies:

Core'dinations Cardstock

Lily Bee Designs Paper

American Crafts Alphas & Hearts

Queen & Co. Pearls

Darice Embossing Folder

Don't forget to check out Retro Sketches Challenge #133!  

~Kate

Hello Spring

Hello Spring!  We are finally seeing green grass and flowers starting to grow in our gardens.  I am happy to see spring inside and out! Today I am sharing some pretty spring decor created with Core'dinations Jillian Spotted, Tillie Spotted and Whitewash Collections. 

Cutting titlework out of Core'dinations Cardstock is always a plus when looking to compliment your layout, project or card perfectly.  I cut the "Hello Spring" out of Core'dinations Whitewash Collection using my Silhoutte. 

When working with Core'dinations Cardstock for my titlework, I like to use the following process:

1) Run the cut title through a Xyron Create-a-Sticker, making sure to rub and peel before you pull the

plastic off. 

2) Keeping the titlework on the adhesive backing, sand the Core'dinations Cardstock with Sand It Gadget until the color core shows.

3) Using your Dust Buddy, dust the sanded titlework.

4) Add any liquid you may use to enhance the color core to your title work before taking the titlework off the adhesive backing.

The pinwheels are cut out of Core'dinations Jillian Spotted Collection.  This fun dotted collection is just perfect for the whimsical pinwheels.

Being one not to waste good negatives, I made two cards out of the titlework negatives.

Core'dinations Supplies:

Tillie Dot Spotted Collection

Jillian Dot Spotted Collection

Whitewash Collection 6x6

Sand It Gadget

Dust Buddy

Other Supplies:

Viva Decor Lila Perle Pen

JilliBean Patterened Paper

Crate Paper Patterned Paper

Dymo

Silhoutte "Pinwheel"

Hoppy Easter Cards

I am totally loving Core'dinations brand new Core Basics 110lb Cardstock!  It is the perfect smooth cardstock for stamping.  Today I am sharing two new Easter cards. Each card has some lovely bunnies stamped onto the 110lb Cardstock. 

I stamped all the bunnies using Quick Quotes Chalk Ink.  The pretty stamped images totally pop on the 110lb Cardstock.

Each card also uses the pretty Pastels Collection.  By embossing and sanding the Pastels, I added just the perfect touch of texture to my simple Easter cards.

Core'dinations Supplies:

Core Basics: 110lb White Cardstock

Pastels Collection: 12" x 12"

Neutrals Collection: 12" x 12"

Sand It Gadget

Dust Buddy

Other Supplies:

Gel-A-Tins Stamps

Quick Quotes Chalk Ink

Ranger Archival Ink

Cart-Us Embossing Folder

Spellbinders Embossing Folder

FabScraps Pearls

Kaisercraft Rhinestones

Wishing you a hippity, hoppity good day!
~Kate

New Year's Cards

Wishing someone a Happy New Year is such a great way to kick off the year! Positive thoughts for a positive start to the new year.

Kicking it off with a BRIGHT card.  The 4.5" x 6" card base and all brightly colored layers were made from the Core Essentials Bright Collection.  I embossed the yellow layer with a chevron embossing folder by Darice.  While embossing, I placed a cardstock shim on top of the plate sandwich. When I ran  this through my Big Shot, the embossing cut through the paper just where the shim was placed.  

Supplies:

Core'dinations Core Essentials Brights Collection

Core'dinations 6" x 6" Glitter Collection

Darice Chevron Embossing Folder

Die-namics Alpha Dies

Xyron Adhesives

This picture perfect card whipped up in no time at all!  The 4.5" x 6" card base is Core'dinations Tulip Jillian Dot. I sanded the little dots with my Sand It Gadget.  The sentiment is printed on a scrap piece of Core'dinations Cardstock (pretty sure it is in the Neutral Collection).  Once printed, I tore the paper and added a bit of Chalking Ink to match the Tulip colored base.  

Supplies:

Core'dinations Jillian Dot Collection

Core'dinations 6"x 6" Glitter Silk Collection

Core'dinations Smooth Stamping Paper

Unity Stamp Co.

Memento Ink 

Quick Quotes Chalking Ink

Want2Scrap Pearls

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year! ~Kate

October is Birthday Month!

This month is so full of birthdays! From friends, to co-workers, to family and even my daughter's 21st birthday.  I am totally in birthday card making mode. Be prepared for several birthday card posts this month.

The cards I am sharing today are for two of my co-workers.  Very nice ladies, who deserved very pretty cards.  My inspiration for the cards came from two brilliant designers at Studio Calico.

This card was inspired by Gayatri Murali. I used Core'dinations Cardstock for the card base and some new 110lb Core'dinations Cardstock stamping base.  This new cardstock is awesome for stamping and for coloring!  

My next card was inspired by the very talented Dana Flenkenstein.  Again, I used Core'dinations Cardstock for the base and embossed roses.  Both cards contain stamps from Stampin' Up! 

I hope you enjoyed these birthday cards. Be sure to stop on by Wednesday for my daughter's birthday card.  It is a fun one! 

~Kate

Celebrate WCMD With Core'dinations!

Tomorrow is World Card Making Day, but Core'dinations is celebrating all weekend with a worldly challenge.  All you cardmakers are going to want to participate in this challenge.  It is fun & trendy!  They will be giving away more than one of these....

I took the challenge pretty literally.  The first card I am sharing is the card I made for my sister's birthday.  She absolutely does mean the world to me!

Supplies:

12 x 12 Neutrals Core Essentials Cardstock 

4.25 x 5.5 Pastels Core Essentials Cardstock

6 x 6 Core Couture Glitter

Sand It Gadget

Dust Buddy 

Couture Creations Embossing Folder

Lawn Fawn Poloroid Die Cut

Ranger Distress Ink

Dymo

Xyron Mega Runner

Next up is a card I made just playing around with my new Cameo.  This die cutting machine is the perfect match for Core'dinations Cardstock.  Cuts it like butter!  

Supplies:

12 x 12 Neutrals Core Essentials Cardstock 

12 x 12 Darks Core Essentials Cardstock

Sand It Gadget

Dust Buddy 

Darice Embossing Folder

October Afternoon Paper

Queen & Co. Pearls

CTMH Stamps

Ranger Archival Ink

Xyron Mega Runner

Helmar Zapdots

For all the details on this challenge, be sure to hop over to the Core'dinations Blog.  Happy World Card Making Day!!!

A Couple of Cards

Hello, Hello!  I have not fallen off the face of the blog planet, I promise.   Our household is adjusting to having a high school freshman who is busy with varsity soccer six days a week and a hubby who is now commuting to the office (he has worked at home for the last four years).  This transition forces my creativity to take a back seat to life.  It also forces my blog to take a back seat to life.  I'm not complaining though, this is an exciting time for my family and I don't want to miss out! I promise I will be posting, just not as frequently in the next couple of months.

Today I have a couple of birthday cards to share with you.  First up is a pretty card that I made for one of my best girlfriends.  She so appreciates a handmade card.  I so appreciate that she saves them all!

Supplies:

Paper & Butterflies ~ Studio Calico

Tags ~ Scarlet Lime

Sentiment ~ Elle's Studio

Adhesives ~ Xyron & Helmar

My second card is one I made for Lily to give to a friend.  I just love the simplicity of this one and the blues with the kraft paper just make me swoon. The feathers and sentiment are heat embossed.  

Supplies:

Paper ~ Core'dinations

Stamps ~ Unity Stamp Co.

Embossing powder ~ Stampendous

Embossing folder ~ CartUs

Versamark ~ Ranger

Adhesives ~ Xyron & Helmar

I hope you have a wonderful day!
~Kate

August Core'dinations Projects

Yesterday I had several projects go live on the Core'dinations Blog.  I always love to see my projects up there because I love the product so, so much!  Today I figured I would share those projects with all of you!

Two of today's projects are cards in which I used the same stamp set on two different kinds of Core'dinations Cardstock.  On the first card, I stamped on some Pastels Core'dinations.  Love the fun texture you can see through the stamping!

On the next card, I stamped on Glitter Silk...

Card Supplies:

Core'dinations~

Core'dinations Essentials - Darks, Neutrals & Brights

Glitter Silk 6x6

Tillie Dot Assorted Pack 6x6

Other Supplies~

Sizzix & Hero Arts Framelits

Ranger Archival Ink

Dymo

Helmar Adhesives

My last project is a earth-toned layout with lots of Neutrals and Darks to give it a masculine feel. I did some embossing, sewing and sanding on this one!

Layout Supplies:

Core'dinations~

Kraft-Core Shattered Collection

Core Essentials Cardstock - Darks

Core Essentials Cardstock -Neutrals

CoreTags - Darks Assorted Sandable

Sand It Set

Other Supplies~

Couture Creations Embossing Folder

American Crafts Alphas

Quick Quotes Chalking Ink

Helmar Adhesives

Twice The Birthday Fun!

August is a big month for our family and friends.  Today I am sharing two cards made for Lily's friends who just happen to be twins. They have two totally different personalities so I made them two totally different cards.

The first card is bright and cheery and simple.  I used scraps of paper, just added some angles and layered the papers.  The stamp is from Unity Stamp Co.

The second card is a bit grungy and edgey.  I used Core'dinations Cardstock for my base and crinkled background.  Lots of fun Pink Paislee accents to decorate it and again, the sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co.  

Thank You, Thank You,

This is definitely a week where making cards by the dozen is a must!  We need them for birthdays, graduation, coach gifts, and Father's Day.  Lily needed "thank you" cards for four teachers and two coaches. Today I am sharing two of the thank you cards I made for her to give.   

I used last week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for my first card.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to post it before the deadline, but I do believe you should give credit where credit is due.  This card whipped up in no time at all with some Studio Calico papers!

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Bazzill Smooth

Papers ~ Studio Calico

Stamp & Die Set ~ Hero Arts w/ Sizzix

Jute ~ American Crafts

Ink ~ Ranger

Although this is not a birthday card, I did get inspiration for this card using a sketch from Seize The Birthday.   Nothing fancy here! I stamped the sentiment down in the left corner and used my new sewing machine to stitch the layered stars onto the card.

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ PaperTrey Ink

Stamp ~ Hero Arts

Papers ~ Jillibean Soup

Ink ~ Ranger

I have lots more cards to share, hopefully this weekend!  

Have a great day,

Kate

Mother's Day 2013: Part Two

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!  I hope you get a chance to slow down and enjoy family today.  Although, I don't know about you, we are busy, busy, busy. Lacrosse and soccer and grandbabies today.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!  

I am sharing two more Mother's Day cards today. The first one I made for my Mom. She appreciates pretty!  So that is what I gave her.  

I started with Core'dinations Cardstock as the base of my card.  By scoring about 1/8 of an inch in around the front of the card and sanding the score marks, I created a simple frame.  The sentiment is printed on a piece of patterned paper.  Lots and lots of glitter was used to give the flowers some shimmer.  

Supplies:

Core'dinations Cardstock

Prima Flowers

7 Dots Paper and Sticker

Want 2 Scrap Bling

Martha Stewart Glitter (fine and course)

Helmar Premium Craft Glue & 450

Next up is my Mother-In-Law's card. I went with a vintage flair for my MIL's card. 

This card is one that looks like a lot of work went into it, but really is quite a simple card.  I used the most recent sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

The 7 Dots printed paper is embossed with Craft Concepts "Christmas Vine" embossing folder for the background.   The embossing really makes it look like I did more work to create this pretty card than I really did! 

I have posted this to CropStop's NSD Embossing Challenge.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you should!  Just create an embossed project and upload to the challenge by May 18th @ midnight. 

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink Cardstock

7 Dots Paper and Banner

Quick Quotes Sentiment

Craft Concepts Embossing Folder

Helmar Premium Craft Glue & ZapDots

Have a lovely Sunday!  

~Kate

CHA Projects 1

If you were at CHA in Anaheim last month you might have seen some of my designs.

I was asked to design 8 cards, 1 altered, and 1 layout by CSW Distributors using 

Couture Creations "Fresh & Fun"Embossing Folders*. 

(photo credit Cheryl Boglioli) 

Today I am sharing some of the cards shown in the display above.  

Each card uses Core'dinations Cardstock in addition to the Couture Creations Embossing Folders.

To create the fun embossing image in "Bursting With Pride" I embossed a piece of Core'dinations Cardstock with Powder Puff embossing folder.  I heat embossed glimmery embossing powder to make it sparkle and then lightly sanded the raised embossed images. 

Debossing was used to create the fun imagery in "A Little Birdie Told Me..." 

 I used the Extra Flint embossing folder with grey Archival Ink to deboss. 

Doesn't this embossing folder  have a bit of retro feel to it?  

I embossed these Maya Road chipboard butterflies with the Almanzo embossing folder.

Once embossed, the butterflies were misted with Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist and the embossed image was swiped with Momento Ink in a darker shade than the mist.  

Petal Pleasures and Fudge embossing folders were used to simply emboss for "Happy Birthday."

I did sand down the embossed image, just a touch, to have the shades of grey show.  

I hope you enjoyed these embossed creations.

I promise to post some more of them in the next couple of days!

*All of the embossing folders I used in today's post can be pre-ordered at CropStop. 

CropStop is the only distributor for Couture Creations Embossing Folders in the U.S. 

Simple & Sweet Cards

I shared these simple & sweet cards on the Gel-a-tins Stamps Blog yesterday.

The stamps are from their "It's Your Day" collection. 

I added a pop of color to the balloons by coloring them with some bright Faber Castell Pitt Pens. 

Love the two heart banner in the "It's Your Day" collection!  My (very, very old) heart brads fit perfectly in the mini heart center adding a nice touch of shine on this card.  

Sometimes a simple & sweet card is just what an occassion calls for!

Supplies:

Stamps ~ Gel-a-tins Stamps

Cardstock ~ PaperTrey Ink

Ink ~ Ranger Archival

Pitt Pens ~ Faber Castell 

Quick Holiday Cards

Something about this season inspires my creativity.  Could be all the family filled activites, the smiles abound, the pretty decorations, or all of the afore mentioned.  I have been a card making fiend the last two days. I'm sharing four of them with you today.

I am submitting my snowman card to the Christmas Love Campaign.  The campaign encourages us to create something special and share it with anyone!  I am sharing my card with a friend who is having a bit of a rough time this holiday season. She always had a wealth of kind words and support for me, so this is my time to give back to her.   Unity stamp is making a $3 donation from the sales of  "One Of A Kind Winter" stamps (snowman & sentiment) towards the Christmas Love Campaign.

My stamped snowman was created using markers.  I used some whimsical colors to dress him up.  The snowflakes and sentiment are stamped in Ranger Ink.

This simply made washi tree Christmas card is make with Unity's "A Little Bit Washi" stamps set by Susan K. Weckesser and Ranger Ink.  I started by stamping the largest washi tape stamp at the bottom working my way up the tree by size. The tree trunk is just one of the washi stamps turned sideways. 

This simple Santa card just puts a smile on my face. Partly because I love the vintage santa images and partly because it came together in less than 5 minutes.  Who doesn't love a cute card that whips up quickly?

I punched three 1/5" circles and three 1" circles out of the same kraft cardstock as the card base.  I stamped the Groovy Santas (Gel-a-tins Stamps) on the larger circles and matching "ho, ho, ho" sentiments on the smaller circles.  The stamped circles are given a bit of height with Helmar ZapDots.

I used the layered tag made for the Core'dination's crop a few weeks ago as the inspiration piece for this card.  Just adding a little bit of pink distressed cardstock and a stamped sentiment with this tag made for a sweet feminine holiday card.

Have you been making holiday cards?  Please share a link any you have made with me in my comments.  I'd like to visit your blog and give some holiday love!

Thank You X2

For the last 5 soccer seasons Lily has had the same supportive, push-you-to-your-best coaches, Christina & Kevin.  We can not say "thank you" enough to show how much we appreciate the time they have volunteered to coach the Red Thunder girls to be the best they can be! 

The tag in my first "Thank You" card was created by placing strips of washi tape on cream colored cardstock and die cutting the tag.  I honestly didn't worry about the strips of tape being straight.

The inside of the card reads "Thank you for teaching me to fly.... and to run, and to defend, and to win!"

Supplies:
Cardstock ~ Bazzill
Alphas ~ American Crafts
Die ~ Tim Holtz
Butterflies ~ Studio Calico
Tag ~ Jenni Bowlin
Glue ~ Helmar

My second "Thank You" card is based on last week's sketch from Elle's Studio. The inside reads "Thank you for always pointing me in the right direction."

Supplies:
Cardstock ~ Bazzill
Paper ~ Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp
Tag ~ Elle's Studio
Stamp ~ Creative Memories
Ink ~ Momento
Glues ~ Helmar

Journaling Cards

I have this wonderful stash of journaling cards in all shapes and sizes.  Some of them are years old. Some of them I have no idea who manufactured them.  When I am done with a kit or collection I tuck away the extra journaling cards.  I just can't see tossing them away, so when I saw Moxie Fab World's Journaling Card Challenge I pulled out my wonderful stash. 

"Have Love" is a play on the journaling tag.  That sweet, retro car image with the hearts trailing behind just invited the "have love will travel" quote.  

Supplies: 

Bazzill Cardstock

Doodlebug Design patterned paper

Cosmo Cricket & American Crafts alpas

Queen & Co. pearls

Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive & Zapdots

The cards above and below have quote journaling cards that I have hoarded.  Not really sure why I haven't used them before as they are super cute.  The simple sentiments on each card perfectly matched the simple style of each. 

 Supplies "I Heart You" & "You Are The Best:"
Bazzill Cardstock
Technique Tuesday stamps
Ranger Archival Ink (black)
Momento Ink (bahama blue)
Queen & Co. pearls
Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive & ZapDots

Have you designed a card with Journaling Cards?  I'd love to see them!

Moxie Fab Challenges!

Moxie Fab World has some of the best card challenges on the web, at least in my honest opinion.  I may not always have time to participatein these challenges, but I do check them out each time a new one is posted(which is often).  Today I got a chance to whip out a couple of the Moxie Fab challenges from World Card Making Day.

This is my card for the "Hello/Thinking of You" challenge:

The embossing folder I used on the teal Core'dinations Cardstock is by Darice. 

The fabulous nametag stamp is from Glitz Designs.  I used Ranger Archival 

Ink to stamp the nametag. Flowers are from my stash.  

This is my card for the "Make a Birthday Card" challenge:

"16" is for my niece who turns 16 next week.  

The background was created by stamping the "Shabby Music Background Stamp" by JustRite Stampers with Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink.  I then misted the stamped image with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Carribean Blue.  The heart is punched out of corregated cardboard and embellished with some American Crafts Thickers, red tulle, and older Maya Road pins.  

I was hoping to get a few more Moxie Fab challenge out today, but alas, time got away from me. 

If you have time the challenges are open until tomorrow!