Give Thanks

Hi Everyone,

Whenever I go on vacation, I always lament about how I wish my home was more like (insert said vacation spot here).  It could be anything from the beach to a concrete jungle big city, whatever, I'm always wishing for something that my home doesn't have.  Except in October.  It's glorious here in northeast Ohio.  The weather is usually cool and crisp, and I love, love, love the fall colors! I don't even have to travel far from home to see the beauty. See?

 

 This is a photo of the empty land next to the store where I grocery shop, and it's only around the corner from my house.  Super pretty, right?

 

And this scenic overlook is only a few miles from my home.  

Seeing all of this around me, inspired me to grab the new Autumn Leaf Pile (575F) stamp and design today's fall card.  I stamped that first, the Single Fall Tree next, and then nestled the Give Thanks Bible Verse (585E) next to them.  I then die cut this and colored the leaves in all of the gorgeous fall colors with my Copic markers. 

The background was created using the Fall Leaf  with Acorn stamp and I made a strip of patterned paper using the Woven Plaid.  Before I attached my image panel, I added an embossed, die cut fall leaf on top of my background.  It added that extra pop of color that my card needed.

Thanks for visiting today and be sure to visit the DRS Designs store and check out all the fun new stamps!

Karin

Thankful People are Happy

Hi Everyone,

I'm here to tell you that you will fall in love with the new stamps that DRS Designs will be releasing on October 24th.  There are wonderful images and greetings for the fall season and beyond, and I'm honored to be able to share this card with you today.  

The background was created using the new Wood Grain (626P) stamp.  It was so easy to use and the results were amazing!  Not sure if it shows up on my card, but the wood grain is complete with a little knot hole, which adds to the texture and realism :)

I stamped the Happy Thankful People (612G) greeting and the lined up the Cattail Milk Pail (581F) right next to it, colored and then die cut it.  I added some sponging in brown and green ink to soften and add a bit of a distressed or rustic look.

 

 

I added some die cut leaves and gems in matching colors to complete the card.

The design team will be showing off all of the new stamp-y goodness this week, so be sure to check back each and every day!

Have a good one :)
Karin

Witches Potions

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy to share another Halloween card with you today, that features two stamps that are tailor made for each other :) 

 I began by stamping and heat embossing the Magic Potion Shelf, which I water colored using my ink pads and a watercolor brush.  I then stamped the rest of the paper using the Starry Background in Versamark, which I also heat embossed.  Sadly, it looked quite dull on the white card stock, so I simply cut off the bottom portion, (if you look close you can still see some of the stars) and added a gemstone border.  Even  witches should have a bit of glamour in their lives :) The Poison Potions Greeting was stamped die cut and embellished with some matching ink, and the spider die cut was added as another bit of embellishment.

 

This card also serves as a reminder for you to join us for the Spooky or Cutesy challenge right here!

Good Luck!
Karin

Halloween Can Be Creepy

                                                                           Hi Everyone,

 

I was inspired by my teammate Nancy's card in this post here.  I loved the effect of ink impressed into card stock using an embossing folder, so I gave it a try too using an interlocking circle design. Since I began with a dark gray card base, I used gray ink for my Spooky Eyes Background as well as the impressed portion, that I edged with a punched border.

 

I stamped the RIP Tombstone 3 times and then used my circle punches on them , adding them to the embossed panel with dimentional tape.

 



The sentiment came from the first line of the Bump Into Me Halloween Greeting... Is it just me, or does the impressed embossing give this card a creepy elegance? I like it :)

Happy Halloween!

Karin

Hey Ghoul-friends!

Hi Everyone,

This new Halloween sentiment from DRS Desigsn is high on my favorite list this year!  I'm a huge fan of  "punny" on cards, and  My Ghoul Friends Witch Greeting hits my funny bone in just the right spot :)

I decided on some bright colors and chose to pull out my drippy goo border punch and spiderweb embossing folder for my background.  I wanted to use something other than a witch image, so I inked up the little hairy Goblin as a stand in for a ghoul, and added a couple of googly eyes.  To turn her into a witch, I fussy cut the hat from Witchly Accessories and colored the band orange to match my card base.

To make it a little more girly I added a polka dotted ribbon tied into a bow.  

Thanks for peeking in today, Ghoulfriends!

Karin

Brewed Just for You!

Hi Everyone,

 

My favorite time of year for card making has finally arrived...Let's hear it for fall and Halloween!

Woo-hoo :) :)  :)  

 

I had a hard time choosing which stamp to ink up first, but finally ended up on the newly released Magic Potion Shelf  from DRS Desigsn, which I colored with my Copic markers in Halloween shades.  

For my background paper, I began by stamping the Burning Cauldron in the corner once, and then again on a scrap, which I then colored and fussy cut.  I took my Splatter Background stamp (one of my favorites for custom backgrounds) and stamped it in each of the four colors to match my bottles.  I wrapped the bottom of the cardstock with a polka dot ribbon and adhered the colored cauldron right on top.

 

I only inked up a portion of the Halloween Brewed By stamp and colored and die cut it after it was stamped.  Both die cut pieces were then attached with some dimensional foam dots.  

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our current challenge for fun & prizes!

Karin

Hike on the Wild Side

Hi Everyone,

 

I just got back from a lovely vacation yesterday, so I'm just now getting caught up on real life :)  My card share is one that I made a couple of weeks ago.  A friend was having a birthday while we were gone, and I wanted to make sure I got it in the mail before we left.  

I try my best to make cards specific to the person and one of his hobbies is hiking, so I thought the Silhouette Hiker stamp and the Walk On the Wild Side Greeting would make a perfect pairing.  Since it's still summer and the trees are green, I chose that as my color palette.  The card base is a light green and I used the Silhouette Background Trees for my background, inking it once and stamping twice for a shadow effect. The image and sentiment were both heat embossed, and the image was die cut, matted and enhanced with a bit of green ink.

 

Sorry to keep it short and sweet, but I'm itching to get inky again after being gone...That's much more fun than getting caught up on laundry :(

 

See ya soon!

Penguin Ornament

Hi Everyone,

For today's card, I used the recently released Simple Christmas Ornament from DRS Designs as my feature item.  It's a great size that works perfectly on a card front, is great to color using a special technique, and can also fit any number of stamps inside of it. So many possibilities!

I chose this cute Percy Penguin stamp for inside and stamped and colored  my Simple Berry Branches  for my background.  

After I fussy cut my ornament, I didn't have the patience to wait for the glossy glaze to dry, so I skipped that and embossed the entire thing with some clear powder instead.  I attached it to my card with some dimensional tape and added a matching bow.

 The tiny sentiment came from the Christmas Multi Greeting stamp.  I only inked up that one portion of the stamp and punched it out, adding it with some dimensional tape as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Greetings of the Season

Hi Everyone,

I really like the stamp used for today's card share.  The nature images are lovely and it has a sentiment built right in :)  It doesn't get much better than that!

I stamped the Nature's Christmas Greetings from DRS Designs and colored the images with my Copic markers, highlighting the berries on the holly and mistletoe with Stickles.  I chose to die cut the image using my rectangle Spellbinders dies and layered the matted image on a snowflake embossed background.

 

 I used a red layer to bring out the color of the berries, so I felt the need to highlight the green as well.  I used the Interlocking Snow Background and white ink on my strip of green card stock and added  a punched snowflake embellished with a half pearl.

Thanks for visiting today!

Ornament Trio

Hi Everyone,

My card today serves as a reminder to join in our current
DRS Designs challenge, "You Left Me Hanging",  which means anything that hangs or dangles.

 

I inked up the new Triple Hanging Christmas Ornaments stamp and colored and fussy cut each one for today's card.  I layered them on a matted die cut rectangle, leaving enough room to stamp the Small Merry Christmas on the bottom portion.  I drew in a little string for a couple of the ornaments and added matching ribbon bows.

 

For my background, I began with a piece of red card stock, adding a couple of strips in gold and green to match the ornaments.  I then embossed the entire background using an ornament embossing folder, embedding the two strips right in.

I hope you get a chance to play along...The prize is 3 holiday stamps from DRS Designs!

 

Good Luck!
Karin

From Santa

Hi Everyone!

 

I started out making tags for my post today, but by the time I stamped, colored, fussy cut, and layered this first tag, I decided it took too long to not be a feature on a card :)  My family only cares about what's inside the package at Christmas, so I'm convinced it would have been under appreciated.  Besides, now it can be a super cute personalized card, just by writing the recipients name on it.

 

After coloring up and fussy cutting the Leonard Pig Christmas List, I used the newly released Gift Tag Greetings stamp for the To/From, attaching the layered circles to a Triple Holly stamped panel with dimensional tape.  

 

 

made my background paper using the Christmas Multi Greeting stamp and added some gems and bit of glitter glue for embellishmet.

 

Kudos to all the crafters that out there, that take extra time to make beautiful tags to adorn holiday gifts. Mine was not nearly as complicated as many I've seen; I'm in awe of your patience and talent!  Basically what I'm saying is, feel free to make a tag for my gift.  I would totally appreciate it :) :) :)

Have a great day and happy stamping!
Karin

Let it snow

Hi Everyone,

It's been pretty hot the past couple of weeks in northeast Ohio where I live, but this is not a complaint.  It took summer a long time to finally arrive, so even though I'm fine with the heat, I did feel the need to cool off at one point.  I couldn't think of a better way than to pull out some holiday stamps and get started on  Christmas cards :)

I ended up with a super simple embossed snowflake card, due to a big smudge
appearing (out of nowhere (!) ) on my colored and fussy cut snowman :(  . I did my best to try and save him, covering him in glitter, but the maroon colored mistake was like a beacon flashing "boo-boo" in the middle of his forehead. . Sigh.

To be honest, it's a happy accident because this design is one that I'm apt to mass produce for my personal Christmas card list.  I took inspiration from the song, Let it Snow and stamped the greeting 3 times, dry embossing on top of it.

 

 

I layered it on maroon card stock with a snowflake border, and in place of the snowman, I added punched snowflakes, embellished with pearl brads.

Have you started on your holiday cards?  We've got some great inspiration headed your way this week, with peeks of new stamps being released at DRS Designs!

Stay tuned :)

Citrus Punch

Hi Everyone,

I've been seeing many cards on the Web made using backgrounds cut on an angle, so that's what I was going for here.  However, it came out looking basically like all of my other cards, just with and angled border.  Oh well!  I'm still patting myself on the back for giving it a try, and I still like all the bright colors and the fun summer theme :)


I labeled my post Citrus punch, because I decided to color the fruit in my Lemonade pitcher from DRS Designs something other than yellow, so it's more than lemonade!  I used the Citrus Slice for my background and colored my Citrus Border to match. 

 

The Five O'clock Somewhere Greeting seemed most appropriate for this time of year....I could go for a glass of this right now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

Two cards

Hi Everyone,

 

I wanted to ink up my Fleur de Lis stamp again, so I made a CAS anniversary card over the weekend.  I chose a simple black and white color combo and stamped the ornament in each of the four corners using my Stamp-a-majig and white ink. Then I stamped the Fleur de Lis end to end in black ink and used an Oval Spellbinders die to cut it out.  This was after fussy cutting the tips, to make it fit.  

 

 

Lastly I adhered the Tiny Happy Anniversary that was stamped and cut out using my circle punches.  Simple and elegant.

I mentioned my friend's 10 year old daughter in my post last week.  Well, the family came back from vacation and she brought us back a souvenir.  Her dad told us she picked it out all by herself, and used her own money to buy it.  Isn't that sweet?   

 

Here is our new mermaid that is currently living on my craft table:

 

 

And Lindsey proudly told me, "She's totally made of REAL shells!...except her head." :) :) :)

So I did a CASE (copy and share everything) of Shelia and Janett's cards for a thank you card for her and the family.

 

 

These are the stamps I used:

Brush Thank You

Palm Tree

4 in 1 Seashells

So happy to be able to share with you on the blog today... Hoping your day is filled with smiles :) :) :) 

Karin