Vintage Male Card

Just a quick post to share a card I am entering into the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. Here's the sketch:

This is also being entered into The Outlawz greeting cards challenge: Masculine, vintage B-day card.
Here is the card I made:

This card was made entirely of scraps. There are several layers:

1. Base: dark brown
2. Next layer is cream
3. another dark brown layer
4. another cream layer
5. green plaid square placed to the side of the card
6. cream, green, red rectangle makes up the top layer.

All layers were distress with a Stampin' Up distress tool. The cream layers were inked with Vintage Photo distress ink. I printed the sentiment and image onto the cream, green, red cardstock. The stamp is from www.freevintagedigitalstamps.com. I then distressed the edges, wadded up the paper, and took a pretty dry sponge with Vintage Photo to it to highlight the wrinkles. I added the red brads for a pop of color. They were a little too bright, so I inked them with Vintage photo to take the edge off. The green button was actually part of a piece of design paper. I cut it out, used a small whole punch for the holes, and added some burlap fibers.

I actually love the grungy, antique look and probably should do more with it. Oh, well. Hope you like it.

Have a great day!

Miranda

L.I.O.B

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day! I haven't really had the best of days, but I was able to slowly complete a card that I will enter into several challenges.

First I will give a little back ground. This card is for all my Phi Mu Fraternity sisters out there. Yes, it is a fraternity. Phi Mu was founded before the word "sorority" was coined. I attended college at Georgetown College and joined my Phi Mu sisters my freshman year. I learned so much from my sisters and miss them dearly. So, this is for them.

The lion is our Mascot. His name is Sir Fideles. Our Motto is "Les Soerus Fideles" or The Faithful sister. This Motto is how our mascot got his name. Our Flower is the rose colored carnation and the colors are Rose and White. Unfortunately, I cannot elaborate on the LIOB, but if you are  Phi Mu, you understand.

All papers used were from my scrap pile. The rhinestones are from Studio G. The ribbons were from my stash. The resin flower was also from my stash. The lion was cut from the French Manor Cricut Cartridge as was the quatrefoil. The letters were cut from the Elegant Cakes cartridge.

Challenges this card will be entered into:

1. BBTB2: Zoo Animal Challenge
2. I (heart) card sketches:
3. Paper Playtime: 2 or more ribbons
4. Craftin Desert Divas: Anything goes with ribbon or twine.
5. Created with Love Challenges: You Live me up (3 or more layers)

This card is not for everyone, so if you don't really like it, I will understand. But, thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Miranda

2 quick cards

Happy Saturday! I have 2 quick cards then I have errands to run.

I made this first card for my mom to give to one of her home health nurses. When she first had her stroke, she had a wonderful home health nurse who mom absolutely loved. Unfortunately for my mom, that nurse got engaged and moved out of state. Well, mom got an e-mail from that nurse who said she would be in town and wanted to know if she could stop by. Well, of course she could. So, I made a quick card thank you card for mom to give to her.

 

 

There is something about this picture that seems off to me, so if you fell, a bit disoriented, I apologize.

Turns out, mom's favorite nurse is way into flowers. Mom was telling me that this nurse would come over and help mom in her flower beds, so I chose a flowery paper from Recollections as the scrub top. The neckline and pocket were scrap card stock. I used white gel pen for the faux stitching. The stethoscope was cut from the Dr. Checkup Cricut Cartridge. The layering for the sentiment is done from scrap card stock. Thank you was hand written. I think this is so cute for a nurse/aide/etc. Very easy to make. Each shape could be hand cut if needed. I only used the Cricut for the stethoscope.

 

This next card I am entering into the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

My Version:

This is two A2 Cards adhered together so that they open in opposing directions. It's just plain white card stock. The blue paper is scrap. The Vertical bling is kind of like blingy washi tape I got from Michael's a year or so ago and never used. The Fleur De Lis were cut from the Wedding Cricut Cartridge. The bling on the Fleur De Lis is from studio G. I added some highlights with white gel pen.

 

 

 



 

This is the first opening of the card. I think you can kind of tell from this pic that the Fleur De Lis are only partially adhered so that they can help hold the front of the card in place when totally folded up. The sentiment is from Close to My Heart.

 

This is the card totally unfolded.

A closer view of the sentiment reveals the rest of the stamp from Close to my heart as well as a Fleur de Lis from Stampin' Up. The color is Totally Turquoise from Stampin' Up.

Hope you like these! Have a great weekend and Holiday!

Miranda

 

 



Memorial Day Guest Design Project

Hello again everyone! I am so excited! On Monday, I told you that I had been asked to be a guest designer. Well, I have completed my project and turned it in. It will be featured on Little Scrap Pieces and the theme is "Let's Hear it for the Red, White, and Blue!"

I immediately had sooooo many ideas, I finally settled on this:

I don't think we can ever thank our troops sufficiently for protecting us and our rights. We can never forget that even if we don't support the cause, we can still support the troops. They put their lives on the line everyday for us! And don't forget the Veteran's also. Just because they are not longer actively serving in the military, they are heroes just the same!

This is a 5x7 card with a plain white cardstock base. The flag image was cut from the Ultimate Creative Sampler Cricut cartridge. The silver stars are from Recollections. They were actually brads, but I took the "brad" part off and just hot glued them down. The soldier was also cut from the Ultimate Creative Sampler cartridge. The sentiment is from the Beyond Birthdays Cricut Catridge.

I think this turned out to be a very powerful card. I hope you like it. Have a great day, weekend, holiday, etc. If you are partying for the holiday, have a great time but please be careful but be responsible. If you are drinking, have a designated driver, give up your keys. There is no shame in doing what is right! Please be safe and have fun!

I am also entering this into the Memorial Day Challenge at FCCB.

Miranda

P.I.T.A and Pretty Rainbow

This was a quick and easy card inspired by 2 challenges:
1.  I Heart Sketches: No. 19

2.  Casology: Royal


Here it is:

This is an A2 card.

Paper: white generic card stock. Purple card stock. Silver glitter paper from DCWV from scrap pile. Silver and Purple metallic paper from scrap pile.

Embossing: Cricut folder Mary Ann

Embellishments: rhinestones from Michael's

Sentiment: printed from computer

But, I am much more excited about what just happened outside my house. We were having a thunderstorm and when I looked outside this is what I saw:

Both ends of a double rainbow.

Have a great night:

Miranda

Butterfly Bike

Very tired today, so this post will be short and sweet.

Challenges:

1. Die Cuttin' Divas: Bike
2. Flutter By Wednesday: Use a butterfly + sketch
3. Perfect Sentiment: Anything goes
4. Exploring Cricut: Here comes summer

The finished Product:

• Card Base: Kraft inked in early espresso ink from Stampin' Up
• Sentiment: stamped in black Stazon. Sentiment from Stampin' UP Vintage Verses
• Butterfly: digital image from http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/2012/04/free-vintage-image-download-lovely.html and cut out by hand.
• Flower: Cream colored paper from Michael's. Cut from Ultimate Creative Sampler Cricut Cartridge.
• Bike: Black card stock from Michael's. Cut from Ultimate Creative Sampler Circuit Cartridge.

Hope you enjoy.

Miranda

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

OK, before I get going, there are multiple challenges that I am going to enter this into. So, let's get the technical stuff out of the way

1. BBTB2:  Pass it on/Celebrate the Joy of Giving
2. My Craft Spot: Ribbon and Twine
3. Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog: Oh Baby!
4. Paper Playtime: Buttons or Brads
5. Catch the Bug Challenge Blog: Bugaboo Bingo
6. The Outlawz: Paper a la Mode w/ Anything Goes
7. The Perfect Sentiment: PSC80: Anything Goes
8. 3 Girl JAM: Anything Goes with Ribbon

OK, here's the finished product:

This is a 9x12 canvas covered with light blue card stock. I'm not sure how made it. I came in a pack I got from target, but the information about it is gone. The bottom most brown square is Early Espresso from Stampin' UP. The next layer is Very Vanilla from Stampin' Up. The next layer is from DCWV the Haberdash collection. I picked this stack up at Big Lots for $5.

The next layer from what I can tell, is an Anna Griffin transparency. It was a single 12x12 page I got from Michael's. I've about used it all up and am going to have to get more if I can. I have totally fallen in love with how you can see through to the previous layer.  The "A" was cut from paper from Michael's using the Cricut Alphabet cartridge. I sponged the edges with Early Espresso ink from Stampin' Up.

 The word "ALWAYS" is cut from the same paper at the "A" but from the Stone Script cartridge. "Kiss me good night" is cut from the dark brown paper from Michael's and is cut from the Designer's Calendar cartridge.

The buttons are brass buttons from my stash that I grunged up with white acrylic paint. The ribbon I bought at a yard sale and is from American Crafts.
I have always loved this saying and have had this idea in my head for a while, but it wasn't until recently that I actually had a reason to create it (other than the challenges). I have a friend who has a little boy. Her biggest fear (OK, maybe not fear but obsession) is what will she do if she forgets to kiss him goodnight. So, with the inspiration of the saying in my head and from the challenges listed above, she will be getting a cut little display to hang in his room as a gentle reminder to always kiss him good night.

Have a great night.

Miranda

I'm Back!

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted. I had a very bad week last week, and my energy has still not returned. But, I have been asked to be a guest designer and have been working on some things for that. Check back Friday for those projects.

Today, I have a Thank you card for a new challenge I have found. The name of the Site is The Outlawz. The challenge is a greeting card with the theme "Purpleishious."

This card was made with no special cutting tools such as a cricut, punches, etc. My husband was using the computer and I didn't have access to my cricut, so, I had to make due with hand cut shapes.

 The dark purple back ground paper is from Michael's. The medium purple pattern paper is from Recollections. The light purple paper is stamped with Stampin' Up Doily Stamp in purple Studio G ink. The two purple circles are from Recollections. The Vanilla paper is from Stampin' Up. The girl is a Close to My heart Stamp and is stamped in black Staz On. Her skirt, shoes, and collar are colored with oil pencil. I used two small flat back pearls for the buttons on her shirt.

Here is the inside:

Sorry for the bad pic. But, the corner stamps are from Stampin' Up and are stamped in purple Studio G ink. The Thank you is stamped in black staz on and is from the same Close to My Heart stamp set as the girl. I'm not sure of the title of the set, I bought it used at a garage sale and there was nothing to tell me the name of the set.

I will do as much crafting as I can, but I seem to tire very easily these days.

I hope you like the card.

Miranda

Mother's Day Card Container

Hey guys! Hope you have had a good past couple of days. I haven't been feeling the best, so I have missed a few days. Sorry.

Anyway, if you remember, a couple of weeks ago I made a card from my mother-in-law:

You can see here, that there is absolutely no way to put this into an envelope. I was just going to put it in a flat rate box and send it, but my husband suggested that make something similar to the masculine box I made a while back. So I came up with a book:



This is the front. The papers are scrap, but I think the pink roses came from DCWV and the paper on the spine is from Recollections. The rosette ribbon is from Stampin' Up. To the center of the flowers I used glossy accents to adhere pink beads from my stash. The digital stamp is from freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/ and colored with Stampin' UP ink: Regal Rose, Always Artichoke, and early espresso. I couldn't get the "book" to close properly so I added a resin rose and bakers twine and a crinkle ribbon bow as a closure.

The sides of the book are from recollections.

The inside papers are from K & Company. And you can see that the card fits almost perfectly. The boxy part of the book is actually a small flat rate box from the post office. I think my mother-in-law will love it. It will be sent out tomorrow. She will get it late, but, better late than never I guess.

I am going to enter this into 3 contests:
1. Little Scrap Pieces:  Fun Friday Mother's Day Challenge
2. 3 Girl JAM Challenge:  Use a digi with ribbon

Have a great night!

Miranda

Just Ducky

Another quick card to enter into 2 challenges:
1. Die Cuttin Divas:

2. CASology:


Here is my interpretation of the combined challenges:

The base is a simple white cardstock base. The next two layers are shimmer paper from DCWV. The blue die cut waves were cut from the Cricut Cartridge Paper Dolls for Everyday and were inked in Stampin' Up Ballet Blue ink. The blue paper is from recollections. The hexagon wave paper came from my scrap box and the hexagon was hand cut.  The ducky was a free stamp from Bugaboo Digi Stamps adhered with foam tape, and colored with oil pencils. The yellow hexagons in the corners are also something I pulled out of my scrap box. It was part of a border I cut from the Theresa Collins Basics cartridge. The sentiment was hand printed on the same paper as the die cut waves and inked with the same ink.

 

Kinda cute don't' you think?

 

Have a great day!

 

Miranda

For You!

Sorry it took so long to get back to posting. I actually fell asleep. Anyway, this card will be entered into 2 challenges on the same site:

I (heart) sketches:  the weekly sketch challenge and the monthly stamp challenge.
 

The stamp is the monthly release from I (Heart) Sketches. I colored it in oil pencil. The purple border is scrap paper. The flowers are from my stash. I think I got them at a garage sale. The vertical stamp is from the Fresh Vintage Stampin' Up set and is stamped in Wonderful Wisteria (I think that's the name). Sentiment was printed off the computer.

Here you can see that I added glossy accents to the flowers.

Rather cute don't you think?

Have a great evening!

Miranda

Mom

I trust everyone had a good weekend. It's been rainy and dreary here. You know, the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up under a blanket and veg out all day. It's still like that today. Meet Sugars, he's got the right idea!

This coming Sunday is Mother's day, and just about every blog has a Mother's Day challenge. Since I have already made my Mom's and MIL's cards, I decided I would make a very clean and simple card for the challenges and I actually think it turned out beautiful.

This is a 5x7 card with a basic white card base. I then scalloped the edge of the front of the card and added kraft paper to contrast. The flowers are a 6 petal cut from 3 Birds on Parade. The biggest flower is adhered directly to the card. The medium flower is adhered with on layer of foam tape. The smallest flower is adhered with 2 layers of foam tape. The fibers are strands of burlap. I hand printed "Mom" in pink passion marker from Stampin' Up.

 

This card is very basic, but I think it turned out beautiful. Sometimes less is more.

 

This card will be entered into the challenges at:

1. BBTB2: Mom is the best

2. FCCB: #159 -- Mother's Day

3. Cardz TV: There's no other like my mother

4. Exploring Cricut: Mother's Day Challenge

5. My Craft Spot: For Mom

 

I have one more card that I will be posting here in a few minutes.

 

Have a great day!

 

Miranda





Lady Bug Card

Ok, let's get the technical mumbo jumbo out of the way. I will be entering this card into the following challenges:
1. Cardz TV: Make a card, layout, or craft project for Mother's day
2. Little Scrap Pieces: It's a bug's life
3. 3 Girl Jam: Anything goes with Ribbon

Ok, this card was actually kind of an experiment. I saw a card on the web that is very similar to this one. It appears to be a card that was done at a Stampin' up retreat (http://stampndesignstore.blogspot.com/2011/03/butterfly-bee-lady-bug-cards.html). I could have paid for the template, but figured it would be easy enough to figure out. Which, after some thought, it really wasn't that hard to figure out. So, here is the card:

Say hello to little miss lady bug. I believe the black paper is from recollections. The red paper is glitter paper from DCWV. The black buttons are from my stash. The eyes are while gel pen with black sharpie. The crinkle ribbon I received in an RAK.  Thanks Karen!!! Now for the inside:

AS you can see, this card is simply shapes. The base is three 4" circles welded together with a 2 inch circle welded to the top of the center circle. The two outer circles are folded back on each other and adhered to itself. I added the black half circle so that the wording couldn't be seen peeking through from the inside. I then cut a small wedge out of the circles to represent the  opening of the wings. I printed the sentiment out on the computer and adhered to center circle.

The sentiment: I was going through some things at my Mom's house the other day when I came across a box of stuff I had made in elementary school. Included in this box was a hand made card made of  white constructions paper with ladybug stickers all over it. On the inside, was this sentiment. I'm sure it was something the teacher provided, but I think it is very cute.

I think it needs a little refinement and definitely more buttons. Oh, well, there's always next time.

Hope you like it.

Miranda

Masculine Anniversary Card

My 5 year anniversary is coming up on the 20th and the challenge at BBB2 is a wedding/anniversary challenge. So, I used this as the perfect time to come up with a card for my husband to celebrate our anniversary. Now, we have been married for 5 years, but were together for 5 years before that and were friends for 2 years before that. So, we really have given each other some of the best years of our lives. Anyway, here is what  he will be getting:

I you have been following my blog for a while, you know that my husband and I love to fish, so it made sense to make a fishing card for him. The back ground paper is from recollections. The brown paper is scrap, the "wood" paper is a scrap piece of light tan paper that I ran through the embosser with a wood grain folder then inked the debossed side with crumb cake ink from Stampin' Up. The sentiment was printed off the computer. Now, the fish was cut with the Camp Out Cricut cartridge at 2.5". The paper is actually paint chips from Glidden. Every time I go to Lowes or Home Depot, I go to the paint department and chose some pain chips to use in my crafting. I inked the edges and cut outs with an olive green sharpie to bring out more of the green tint in the paper. The fishing rod is a dowel that is wrapped in twine. Nothing special about the twine, I got it in the automotive department at the dollar store. 

Obviously, this is the inside of the card. The fish are stickers from Stickabilities, that I have had in my collection since 2 houses ago. So, that would be 4 years in this house, 2 in the previous house, and 2 in the condo. Wow, almost 10 years.

I will also be entering this card into the challenge at Paper Playtime. The challenge is embossing.

Hope you like it.

Miranda

Mother's Day Gift

I have finally finished the project I will be giving to my mom for Mother's day. Her card has already been posted but here is a refresher pic:

So, here is the actual gift:

This is a 9x12 canvas. The base paper is from Recollections. The doily stamp is from Stampin' UP and stamped in crumb cake. The blue butterfly is part of the base paper. The blue rose is from the Michael's dollar isle. I got the brown rose from Sa Crafters. The "Family" is a chip board sticker from the Prima Engravers collection. The metal butterfly on the "h" is from Maya Road. I added pink rhinestones from studio g to the metal butterfly.
Now for the wooden frame. The frame is from Michael's as is the letter. I added a piece of doily transparency from Michael's to the back of the frame. The edges of the letter were painted in acrylic paint by Americana (burnt umber). The face of the letter was a blended color I made with white, water, and laguna blue paint. The letter was then adhered to the frame.

I love the way this turned out. It is very simple, but my mom is the queen of less is more. I am actually thinking about doing one to keep for myself.

I am going to enter this into one challenge:  Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 116:  Anything goes.

I hope you find it as beautiful as I do.

Have a great evening!

Miranda

Wishing You a Special Day

I have been working on my Mom's Mother's day project, so I really haven't been doing much as far as challenges go, but I did whip out a quick and simple card. I'm going to show it to you, but please be warned that everything is off kilter. I think my ability to judge a straight line in impaired today. So, here goes:

 

The base is kraft. The stamps used were Vintage verses and Fresh Vintage from Stampin' Up. The border stamped on the kraft paper was stamped in Early Espresso. The ribbon was out of my scrap jar. I cut the rounded rectangle from Stampin' Up Very vanilla paper. The back ground was stamped in crumb cake, pink pirouette, and certainly celery. The Sentiment is stamped in pink passion and early espresso. The rectangle is popped up with foam tape.

This was actually kind of an experiment in layered stamping. I'm not really sure how I feel about this one, but I will be entering it into the challenge as CAS(E) this Sketch.


Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, questions....

Have a great day!

Miranda