Quick & Easy Swap Card

Here's the card I made yesterday, this was for my monthly swap and so I made 8 of these. Is that little turtle adorable or what?! He's a Kristin Soboloski's "Artful Inkables" that I got from Starvingartistamps. Some patterned paper from I don't remember where and some Stampin' Up cardstock. The main image is on a shimmery ivory paper although you can't see the shimmer in the pic. I colored him in with ink and blender pens b/c I didn't have time for pencils and gamsol (I am too obsessive about making it "just right" with the color blending, so each card takes awhile and I had a limited window of sleeping child time!). Soft Sky, True Thyme, Close to Cocoa and Wild Wasabi ink for the image, Palette Burnt Umber for the stamping, Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip cardstock. Very quick and easy card! I wanted to add some ribbon to the side but the image piece ended up being too large. Oh well - next time!

Another Daisy!

Another daisy - in purple this time! This card uses the Polished Stone technique. I used Stampin' Up! classic reinkers in Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant and Encore Silver. The cardstock is Pale Plum, Whisper White, Glossy White and Elegant Eggplant. Palette Hybrid Noir ink for the images. Corner rounder from EK Success. The paper piercing used the template from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from the old Hope for Comfort set.

This is a pretty simple card, the most work is just making the Polished Stone background! I made a whole 8.5" x 11" piece at once to save time and effort. (I did the same for the Faux Mother of Pearl, see next post down). Then I just cut down what I needed and now I have some more to play with another time! My extra tips for making Polished Stone backgrounds - don't skimp on the rubbing alcohol, keep those cotton balls wet so the ink doesn't get blotchy on your paper. Use those cheap, disposible rubber gloves (you only need it on one hand) and change them if needed. I bought a 2-pack box with several hundred gloves in it at Sam's Club for around $5. This keeps you from accidentally transferring ink where you don't want it and keeps fingers clean (and hands from getting alcohol-chapped too). If you skip the sealing step, you WILL transfer metallic ink off your paper - it's not worth it!

So, A Girl Has New Rubbah....

...now what? Well, must stamp of course! I made these three SUPER FAST and easy cards using the cute, Cute CUTE Doodle Factory animal "Squirt" from Starving Artist Stamps. I love him! I need more of these little guys, they are so fun. I am lumping all these cards into one post since they're so similar.

I stamped him a bunch of times on Whisper White cardstock in Palette Noir ink - the bestest black ink ever. I get mine from my friend Kisa who is a TAC demo. Then I colored him in with Prisma alcohol markers.

The first card (above) is 4.25" square and also uses the Borders and Corners - Circle set from PaperTrey Ink and the Dots-Hollow Bubbles background stamp from FireCracker Designs by Pamela.

The next one is also 4.25" square. The "you rock" is punched out of a 1" circle of Whisper White (EK Success punch) and the circle on the front of the card is made with a 1-1/8" circle punch (also EK Success) so it's a little bigger. Then I just popped it on a dimensional on the inside of the card so it poked through. The "you rock" stamp came from Purple Onion Designs, they've got some fun images over there and this was actually a little freebie that was sent with my order - woo hoo! I can get a lot of use out of a stamp like that. I did the corners with the Prisma marker and the Stampin' Up! paper piercing template. I can't keep dots even to save my life so I use that little plastic template constantly!

This last card is a standard A2-size card, I just punched Mr. Squirt out with a 1-3/8" punch (I have the Stampin' Up! one) and layered onto coordinating circles punched with a 1-1/2" punch (EK Success). 7/8" organdy ribbon and the saying from the retired "Fun Phrases" from Stampin' Up! since it needed something there.

Card for Victoria

I could not get back to sleep this morning after DH went to work so I got up and decided to stamp. I saw some posts on various blogs regarding a girl in Texas named Victoria who is battling cancer. Her teacher is trying to get 5,000 cards/letters via US mail to her by the end of this month. I thought that was a GREAT reason to get stamping, so here is my contribution! It's heading her way in today's mail. Check out Courtney's blog for more info on Victoria's story and for a chance to win some blog candy. Angelosity also has some blog candy for participating, as does Beate. So get stamping!!

This card used the following supplies: Stampendous Tier of Treats, Starvingartistamps Mosaic Background (I LOVE THIS STAMP!!!), Stampin' Up! Mini Mates and By Definition (it's in white ink over the mosaic so it's hard to see in the pic). All cardstock by Stampin' Up!, plus *lots* of glitter and some self-adhesive rhinestones. I colored in the treats using Prisma alcohol markers.

This card also fits in with the Sketch Challenge for this week at SCS, SC142 (except that I added the extra little square at the top left b/c it NEEDED something extra there). Wow!! That's the first time I've ever done a sketch while it was still "fresh", LOL!