On being creatively dry ...

Gosh, I don't remember Christmas cards being such a exercise in desperation. You see, it's creatively dry here ... so very dry. I just can't seem to come up with designs that I'm happy with. I'm on card number five at this point and they're basically good for Lucy the cat to chew the corners off or lick (she seems to really love SU's Always Artichoke.) Looking at all the evidence I believe the problem can be laid at the wooden blocks of the images that I've purchased (admittedly there aren't that many and there's one or two clear bad boys as well.) The cards turn out great until I add the image and then all hope is quickly lost. Perhaps soon I will come up with something worth sharing.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps (really, he does.)

Birthday Wishes

This card was created for my partner David's birthday. I finally dipped into the Basic Grey Marrakesh paper pad. The papers in this collection are so rich in blues that it was easy to find matches in the Stampin' UP! cardstock. As for the matches I picked the retired Soft Sky and Night of Navy (ink and ribbon as well.) The stamp was one of those "I've used all my birthday stamps too many times and I must have a new one!" Which resulted in a last minute jaunt to the AC Moore and is from Inkadinkado.

The card design is from one of the Card Sketch challenges on SCS. Unfortunately, I don't remember which number and trying to find it again is beyond my patience. I'll just say again that SCS is a wonderful resource and if you haven't checked it out you're missing out.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Weekend Sketch Challenge #105

One of my favorite paper crafting artists Beate Johns has a sketch challenge every weekend on her blog Fresh & Fun. This past weekend I decided to swim with the big fish and to participate. This card is the result of that challenge.

I picked a stamp by Memory Box entitled Cardinal Collage as the focal image and the sentiment is from the Stampin' UP! Snow Swirled set. Ink is SU Real Red, markers are SU Real Red and BIC Mark It Rambunctious Red. Cardstock is Real Red By SU and patterned paper is from the brand new SEI Winter Song collection.

As a critique of my own card I'll readily admit my marker coloring skills leave something to be desired. Bare with me please I'm afraid coloring is going to take quite a bit of practice.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Tri-Shutter Card ... take two

Here we go again, a second try at the tri-shutter card that's been featured on SCS! This time I had a scoring board the new one by Martha Stewart in fact and it helped out tremendously (and with a coupon was so affordable!)


So, I recently had a phone conversation with my cousin Tammie for the first time in months and months. Tammie and I have always been extremely close but with my move up north all those years ago time and space just gets in the way. I wanted to show her how much she means to me without clobbering her over the head with sentimentality. So I struggled with this card for just about a week. With a drawer full of Basic Grey paper pads that part was simple but the image was a bear. And then I stumbled upon Paper Makeup Stamps, found a wonderful WordArt Digital Stamp and then everything just fell into place.

Now I won't claim for even one second that this card contains the superior stamping or design work that so many stampers seem to possess and display with great pride. But this card has heart and for that reason I am pleased with it.

I stepped out of my comfort zone with this one using the clear Nurture You set by MSE and Broken China Distress Ink by Tim Holtz (based on the recommendation of my stamping guru Beate Johns.) I thought the paper pack Marrakesh by Basic Grey had a few pages that looked remarkably like quilting it worked great on the card. I got the ribbon at Michael's in the Christmas section and it matches almost perfectly to Old Olive. And that's about it.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!