Best Fishes

 Hi Everyone,

Boy this looks like a rainy week for me, which isn't bad news, because that just means more stamping time for me!  

Masculine cards are always a challenge for me.  I usually go for neural colors or a pairing of orange and blue, like I did below.  I sponged a sky and also sponged the water, using some sticky notes, a scallop punch to aid me along. The photo makes the water look more splotchy than it does in real life, and I'm not sure if the gel pen waves show up to well either.  You'll just have to trust me on that. 

I stamped and embossed the Silhouette Fishermen and also stamped the Best Fishes Hook, coloring in the hook with a sliver pen, to give it a look of metal.  I then paper pieced the actual phrase on top. The two fish were stamped a colored using Copics and a bit of that white pen again. 

The fish came from these 2 stamps:

3 in 1 Ocean Floor Designs

4 in 1 Ocean Designs

Here's a card from the previous release that I forgot to share here on the blog.  This one is the opposite of masculine, but it's pretty simple in it's design as well.

I stamped the birds multiple times, and wrapped the panel with the ribbon, before attaching the sentiment, which was die cut.

 The stamps I used are:
Flowering Bird Branch  
His  Blessings Faith Greeting

 I then added a big gem embellishment to finish it off.
Thanks for visiting today!
Karin

Billiards Anyone?

  Hi Everyone,

It's been ages since I played a game of billiards!  During high school I babysat for a family who had a pool table, and their son always wanted to play when I came over to sit. I'm pretty sure it's because he knew he could beat me :)  These new pool themed stamps brought back all sorts of memories for me and I couldn't wait to create and share a couple of cards with you today.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw these stamps, was the green felt on top to the pool table. I didn't have any felt to add to my project, but I did have some green sparkly flock, so I tried to make my card resemble a pool table. I used a corner punch and a circle punch for the corners and two long sides before spraying my cardstock with adhesive, and covering it with the flock.
I stamped colored and fussy cut the Pool Cue, Ball & Rack and attached them along with the new die cut Billiards Birthday Greeting.

For this card I began by stamping a bunch of the Billiard Balls,  and then realized I needed to Google how to color them up!  They were pretty colorful in the end, so I only added a banner with the Racking Up Birthday Greeting on it, and a few star shaped gems for pizzazz.

Be sure to visit the DRS Designs new releases page for these stamps and much, much more!  

Happy Stamping!

Karin

2 Cards

 Hi Everyone,

It's a gloomy weather week here in north east Ohio, so I needed to spur on some spring though my stamping this week.  

This lovely greeting is suitable for Easter, or even a sympathy card.  It's always nice to have those in one's stash, for unexpected moments.  I dry embossed one half with flowers and stamped and colored the other side to match.  After attaching the die cut greeting, I added a few square gems to balance out the design. 

Here are the stamps I used:
Dogwood Branch
His Blessings Faith Greeting

 

Did you know that DRS Designs has a birthday stamp for every month of the year?  They do, and it's such a fun way to personalize someone's card!

Here I used the month of April and designed it using extras and leftovers on my craft table.  The chick was a spare from my place cards, the die cut grass was also an unused extra, the background stamp is always on my table, and the flower is one I didn't use on this card.  The moral of the story is, don't throw anything out!

Here are the links to these stamps:

Chick in Nest

Splatter Background

Easy Grass Background

April Birthday Greeting

Cheers to sunny days ahead...  

 Thanks for visiting!

Karin

Peep, it's Spring!

  Hi Everyone,

I love this darling little Chick in Nest stamp, and while it's great for Easter, it makes for a great spring time hello card too.  

I attached it to a background of embossed chicken wire and a stamped Checkerboard Background in yellow ink. I covered up the seam using some lace and burlap trim, embellishing with a pre-made yellow flower.

The peep greeting was made using only the word peep from the Favorite Easter Peeps Greeting and a word bubble punch.

For my scene on this card I stamped Frog Boy Cutie Pie Kid and then masked him off in order to create the sky and river bank behind him.  I wanted him to look like he was standing in the creek catching frogs, so it tried to color over his feet and make the bottom of his overalls darker in color.  I'm not sure how successful I was, but his little face is just so cute!

I stamped the Have I Toad You Greeting by splitting it in half, to fit inside a punch and added the I Love You Greeting, that was also made using a banner punch.  

I remember picking dandelions for my mom as a small child, as a symbol of my love for her.  Perhaps if I was a boy, I may have brought her frogs instead :)  

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Chicks and Bunnies

                                                                       Hi Everyone,

 I last weekend was a nice one for you and yours, and that you are in Spring time mode now!  Once the Easter holiday is past for me, it means stepping outside and getting the yard ready for warmer weather.

While these two cards celebrate Easter, this cute images are appropriate for any spring time card! 

Here I made a background using the Large Original Plaid stamp in pink, green and yellow inks.  The Chick in Nest was stamped, colored, die cut and matted.  The Favorite Easter Peep Greeting was a cute match.   

 

This was a last minute card made from left over scraps from my craft table.  I had an extra Tails Up Bunny that I couldn't use when I made this card, so I attached it to a background stamped using the Splatter Background stamp. 

I had a scrap of pale green cardstock, so that was attached behind the bunny and I added the 

Some Bunny Loves You Greeting.

Thanks for visiting the blog today!

Karin

 

Easter Time

 Hi Everyone,

It was Palm Sunday this past weekend, which means it's Holy Week on the Christian calendar.  It's the week where Christians remember and prepare their hearts for Easter Sunday, and DRS Designs has this new Holy Week Religious Icons stamp that pays homage to to this time of the year. 

I stamped it twice, die cutting the one image and then coloring and fussy cutting the second, adding the little images with some dimensional foam tape.  It seemed perfect for a square card, so I made one that was 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".  A punched scalloped border, attached some lace ribbon, and a few enamel dots  to finish it off.

I kept with the gold and purple color combo and made this CAS Easter card.  The card base was stamped using the Splatter Background stamp, and I chose the classic Swiss Dot dry embossing folder for my background.  I die cut the new Hope is the Greatest Gift of Easter Greeting, along with the enamel dot embellished die cut cross.  A colored flower that was fussy cut from the Flower Border stamp was added to complete the look.

 

And finally, here is a quick photo of my Easter dinner place cards that I made using the new Chick in Nest stamp.  Can you tell I was practicing my coloring? They're all slightly different!  There are only 5 of us this year, but it's better than last year, which was only 3.  I'm praying that everyone will comfortable gathering in a big group next year!

Happy Easter stamping Friends!

Have a lovely week :)
Karin

Have I Toad You

 Hi Everyone!

I was trying to figure out how to add a ribbon to this card.  Looking at it, I still feel like I need to add a ribbon and bow; thread it through the white die cut, or behind the toad and flowers...I don't know and I could seem to make it work, so I chose the less is better route and here we are.  I do, however, love the purple and green colors together and the darling Friendly Flower Frog paired up with the Have I Toad You Greeting. I will stand by the concept, if you have great stamps, you really don't need more, so I simply added the fussy cut Flower Border that was colored to match the other flowers.

 

And to match the outside greeting, I stamped the Medium Happy Easter Greeting and the Tiny Frog inside.

Want more fun stamps for spring and Easter time?

 DRS Designs has you covered!  Just hop on over to the DRS Designs store.

Have a great day!
Karin

St. Patrick's Day and Spring

  Hi Everyone,

I'm celebrating St. Patrick's Day and the imminent arrival of Springtime and the Easter holiday with my cards today.

This card has a shamrock background that was stamped using the Shamrock of Shamrocks stamp.  

I chose the Irish Blessing for a greeting and added the tiny Mushroom House because I thought it  matched the words in the sentiment.  I anchored it with a strip of white paper tied with a green ribbon and finished it off with a few gems.

New stamps have arrived for spring and Easter and I was so looking forward to stamping with this adorable Tails Up Bunny stamp!  Isn't it the cutest??!  

I stamped and colored them up, using some glue and flock on the tails to make them soft.  I punched them out and made the background while they dried.  

I used the Woven Plaid stamp, which was cut apart, so that I could stamp in multiple colors.  I used 2 kinds of pink, green and brown.  The embossed strip was layered onto a lace border and attached that to the background along with the bunnies.  The Happy Tails to You Greeting was a natural fit, and I added a die cut butterfly and pink gems for embellishment. 

And here is a peek at the simply stamped inside. 

Stamped used are;

Happy Easter Everybunny 

Tails Up Bunny

I'm so excited for you to see all of the new stamps! The design team will be posting their cards, but you can see all of the stamps now, by clicking over to DRS Designs!

Happy stamping, happy spring!  Happy happy everything!

Karin

Blessings

  Hi Everyone, 

I'm sending everyone blessings today, by way of my card share.  The way I see it, we can all use and extra blessing or two, right?

Here I made my own splatter background, by flicking some watered down green ink onto my paper. I usually use the Splatter Background stamp, but I thought you all might be tired of me doing that.  However, I think the stamp actually works better and looks better than the DIY version, if your looking for my opinion ;-)

I stamped and embossed the Silhouette Shamrock Field and added a green glitter strip to anchor my sentiment, which was embellished with a few fussy cut Four Leaf Clovers.

Both the Blessings on St. Patrick's Day Greeting and the Shamrocks were heat embossed.

As I mentioned last week, friends and family have many birthdays in March, so here is another offering using my favorite flower stamp the Dogwood Branch.  The background was also heat embossed and I added some pink chalk around the God Bless Birthday Greeting.

I tried to get a close up of the embossing and the random gems.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karin

Happy St Patrick's Day & Happy Birthday

 Hi Everyone,

This cute little Peeking Gnome, rife with facial hair, made me remember I have this mustache embossing folder.  I thought it would make a great background for him and this funny Turn Their Ankles Greeting for my St. Patrick's day card share today.

This patterned paper was made using the Small Shamrock Group and the ubiquitous (at least on my projects) Splatter Background stamps in green and orange ink. To turn my gnome into a leprechaun, I replaced his hat with the top hat from the Top Hat St. Patrick's Day Greeting stamp.  And the added shamrocks were stamped, colored and fussy cut from the Tall Shamrocks stamp.

Inside I simply stamped the Top Hat St. Patrick's Day Greeting and the Tall Shamrocks again. 

March is a heavy birthday month, so this is the first of the cards I've made for family and friends.  

I realized I have two different honeycomb backgrounds, so I used both to dry emboss on my card, and I inked up the background embossing folder to add a light yellow hue.

I used the Bee Happy Birthday Greeting, along with the Bitsy Bumble Bee stamp.  I colored them up, punched them out and attached them using some dimensional foam tape. 

To finish it off, I simply added some glitter to the wings!

If you need more inspiration for your card making, be sure to pop on over to DRS Designs!

Thanks for stopping by,

Karin

Happy Thoughts

 Hi Everyone,

I'm showing off the new Arched Window stamp on my first card today.  It's so cold and snowy here, I needed to make a pleasant scene to warm me up...I'm dreaming of the sunny, cheerful days to come.

I stamped the window a few times and fussy cut out the first one.  I made a mask out of the second one, and fussy cut the shutters on the third one. I then colored and attached those shutters to the back of the window shutters, so that they could be folded shut.  I hope that makes sense.

The background was made using The Floor stamp and an embossed brick wall. I also stamped and fussy cut the Cattail Milk Pail and the One Line Happy Thoughts Greeting.

Here you can see what the window looks like opened up.  I used the mask I made for the window as a helper to stamp the tree top and the hot air balloon.

The tree and balloon come from the following stamps:

4 in 1 the Sky

Christmas Village 4 in 1 Accessories

For my St. Patrick's Day card I stamped and heat embossed the new Shamrock of Shamrocks using gold embossing powder.  I stamped the bottom using the Small Shamrock Group and the made the greeting using the Tiny St. Pat's Day

Please send me some Irish luck to chase away the snowflakes! 

Happy Stamping!
Karin

St. Patrick's Day

Hi Everyone!

 I'm working on St. Patrick's day cards, and that to me is good news.  It means we're that much closer to spring!  I'm even excited about turning the clocks ahead for more daylight, so I'm counting down to that too!  In the mean time, St. Paddy's day it is!

Here I stamped the Tall Shamrocks and colored them in, adding a dot of glitter glue to the centers.  I used the new Blessings on St. Patrick's Day Greeting (372) for the sentiment, die cutting it and adding a mat.  The card was too plain for me, so I fussy cut a tiny frog and top hat, for a bit of festive fun.  Those elements came from the new stamps, Toad Made for You Recognition stamp (363D) and Top Hat St. Patrick's Day Greeting (378G). The final thing was to add some gauzy orange ribbon behind the sentiment.

This card highlights the new St. Patrick's Pot of Gold (466H), which I stamped, colored and die cut.  I attached it to a dry embossed background, along with some gold glitter paper, to highlight the loot in the pot.  There is a bit of shamrock ribbon covering the seam between the papers and I also added a fussy cut rainbow for embellishment.

The rainbow came from the Sean and the Rainbow stamp, and I finished the card with a few square shaped gems. 

Be sure to check out the entire DRS Designs store for all your crafty wants and needs!

Wishing you lots of luck with all your stamping projects!

Karin

Bee My Valentine

Hi Everyone,

I have my final valentine of the year to share with you today.  It's just a sweet, simple card that I hope will bring a smile to someone's face.  

Since I knew it had a bee theme, I began by stamping my base using the Honeycomb Design stamp.  Using a stamp block with a grid on it, let me line up the images along the border with ease. 

After that was done, I simply stamped the panel with my chosen images and colored them in, adding some glitter glue to the flowers and the bee.  Because well,  that's what you do on a valentine with cheerful images!

Here are the stamps I used on the main panel:

Flower Hearts

Beehive

Bitsy Bumble Bee

Bee My Valentine Greeting

Thanks for stopping by today!
Karin

Valentines

  Hi Everyone,

Happy Groundhog's Day!  No card to celebrate this minor holiday, but I do have a couple of Valentines to share.

I've spoken about my love of puns on cards, so I went ahead and made a minor change on the new Lucky in Love greeting, to make it match my image on today's card.  I simply added a die cut letter d.

For the image, I stamped the Ducks Decoration, and then made a mask of the ducks too, so that I could stamp a field of Flower Hearts for them to frolic in.  

The background paper was made with the faithful, never let me down Splatter Background stamp, along with the Small Silhouette Heart stamp in pink ink.  It's subtle, but I promise you they are there, and I finished the card by making some matching, gem filled flowers.

 

Inside, I used the new Valentine Drop Hearts for the message and a few more of those pink hearts.

While I made this card with Valentine's day in mind, since it's not red or pink, it could be used for your sweetheart any time of the year.  

I colored up Jimbo and the Gang and attached it to a background that I made by inking up an embossing folder.  A row of die cut hearts and the I'm Wild About You Greeting were all I added to it.

The DRS Designs store has all of these stamps and other card making desires!  Just click on over here!

Have a great day!
Karin