It's coming up daisies!

Okay - all of a sudden I have found much interest in my Upsy Daisy set. I don't know why I didn't just love this set before....but it's begun to earn more ink time here recently. Maybe because it's finally spring and the daisies are taking over my flower bed. They are multiplying where they shouldn't be - I'm gonna have to dig a bunch up and either get rid of them or find a spot to put them.....in the meantime - until mine actually bloom, I'll admire these:
I really like the look of the Whisper White ink on the Kraft cardstock. And here I simply edged one side of them with a Rose Red marker to give them a little "pop". Because the stems didn't go to the edge of the Kraft piece, I covered it with my ribbon and a coordinating button. Clever - right? The pattern paper is from the often used Sweet Pea paper pack. If you don't have this paper yet - you better get your hands on some. You've got 11 days to get some ordered and then it's gone!!!! This paper pack is a great deal. For a little over the cost of 2 packs of DSP, you get the amount of FOUR packs of DSP!!! Plus, all of the paper is SUPER cute.

See how that little bit of marker work adds so much?

I broke out my Pink Pirouette stamp pad to stamp the label from Vintage Labels, and Rose Red to stamp the sentiment.

Now, this one is essentially the same card, but I changed up the ribbon/sentiment portion. You may remember a very similar card from this post. I used one less layer of DSP on this card. And got to thinking that it really needed some extra color, hence the Old Olive ribbon and label color.

Well folks - that's all for today. I'm sure the little ones will be awake soon and the two older ones are going to beg me to take them to the tractor for rides. The corn planting has finally begun! We'll be praying for 7 days of really nice weather, and no breakdowns and hopefully all of the corn can get in the ground then!

Sweet Sixteen...

My sister Megan turned 16 a week ago today. SO, if you've felt a little nervous while on the roadways in Western Iowa, that could be part of the explanation! Another 16 year old on the loose! Here is the card I made her:





I really like the way this card turned out - bright, cheery, perky! Just like a sixteen year old, right? I used the FTL81 from the Clean & Simple Stamping Blog for my sketch, with some adjustments - I didn't let any of the circles "fall off" the page as I really wanted to use the jumbo brads. I think they worked great..... The card base is actually the Melon Mambo that you see in the center of the circles. I stamped the white circles from the Circle Circus set in the holes. The medallion is from Vintage Labels set that is in the Sale-A-Bration catty, it's embossed with black EP to keep everything shinin'. I liked how the ring of circles (that you can barely see around the white) coordinate with the pattern in the brads. I felt as tho something was kinda missing tho - almost too clean for me *GASP!* - and decided to:



....add the black ribbon and bow at the top.....It set it off just the way I wanted it too....yeah, I'm patting myself on the back.....

And, to keep you up to date on life on the farm.....we still have snow - the drifts in our front yard just don't seem to melt. Here is my hubby (who stands 6'3") standing by the drift that never ends. This is the drift that you've seen in many photos over the winter. The pic was taken 3/23/10 (last Thursday) when we were out cleaning up tree branches. Lots and lots of tree branches! At one point this winter - for a good two months actually - we couldn't even see those bushes behind the drift...So I know the drift was 10 -12 ft high at least! It has continued to melt over the weekend, and is now about 3 ft. high....it's just taking it's own sweet time.

We made 4 huge piles in the front yard, making a great "bird's nest" for two little boys!

Will took his job seriously and was moving sticks like he really was a bird! Crazy kid....

Unfortunately for my little birds, their nest was burned yesterday, along with the 4 other piles we had. Now we need to move on to the other branches and trees that are all over the lawn - my hubby is loving the massive amounts of yard we have this spring (approx 3 acres) and the gazzilion trees on it.....and the fact that I'm less than two weeks from having a baby (hopefully!) so I'm not much help at all. If those boys were 5 years older.....I'll regret saying that I know! So, there is your update.

Hope you enjoyed my card - it is what you came here for after all - right!

Tripled up birthday....

My workshops this month are focusing on different ways to watercolor. I actually broke out my pastels for this card!
I hadn't used my pastels for a long time, so it was good to get them out an play again. They've been lonely! This sketch is from Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch, but I was too late to play.
Oh well.....

I really like this years offering of Sale-A-Bration stamp sets. I keep turning to the Vintage Labels (above) and the Happy Moments sets. One reason, I like to color in things....it's therapy for me.

Here, I just used a blender pen and my pastels.

In the end, I think the card is pretty clean and simple. And it sure uses a lot of Sale-A-Bration items - Happy Moments, Vintage Labels, and that super new Scallop Trim punch! Tell me - what is YOUR favorite Sale-A-Bration item????

Making of a card...

Alrighty peeps - grab a cup of coffee, tea, or a soda....or heck, a glass of wine if you so choose!!! THis is a long post today, as I'm going to take you thru the making of a card! Pretty much step by step....
First off - I'm using some Whisper White Craft ink and the daisies from the Upsy Daisy stamp set. I'm needing quite a bit of spring in my life - it snowed all day today (AGAIN) and we're suppose to have even more Sunday and Monday. It's all a big joke anymore - I think we've surpassed 50 inches for the season! So - all you'll see from me from here on out are springy cards!!!

This stamp I ink up upside down. I think I get better coverage this way.

I stamped several pieces of Kraft paper at a time. It's much simpler to make several cards at a time than one at a time.

I'm using designer paper from the Sweet Pea Pattern Pack - here is the So Saffron polka dot, and I'm distressing the edges with So Saffron ink.

I drug my ink pad over the edges quite a bit so that the white wasn't so white.

Then, because I'm quite anal and picky - I use my grid paper to line up my paper when I adhere them together. I'm a firm believer that the grid paper is a true nessecity - and a bargain too. I use my grid paper until it's really dirtied up before I pitch it! My four year old uses it when he's glueing so he doesn't get glue all over my table. Makes a great coloring paper for him too!

See how easy it can be to line up your paper. Each piece of the paper used on this project was cut 1/2 inch smaller than the one it's layered on - making it quite easy to line up. Just go in 1/4" and up 1/4".

Then layer those onto your card front - So Saffron here.

I'm going to use the Vintage Labels set from the Sale-A-Bration catalog - one of those great sets that you can earn FREE!!! Just contact me and I'll hook you up! This is a great set - lots of charm.

I'm going to use the image that coordinates with the Curly Label punch. Again - grid paper. good. I line up the image with the paper - well, because I'm, you know, anal....I wouldn't necessarily need to line this one up since I'll be punching it out.

Then I press my clear block on top really good.

Here you can see that the edges of the stamp has clung to the block, however, the middle of the stamp hasn't clung. If I were to ink this up, I'd get ink on that spot that wasn't "suctioned" to the block, and I'd end up with ink on my project where I didn't want it.

So, be sure to squish that spot onto the block, and get it to cling - here you can see much better that it's good and stuck.

I stamp those in Taken w/ Teal on pieces of scrap paper. ( A great way to use up all of those scrappy pieces!)

Then I picked the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same set - and line it up on that wonderful grid paper! This is more crucial, since I'll be stamping that inside the frame.

This time I'm going to test stamp it back onto my grid paper. You can't always get that image sticker to line up perfectly with the stamp - so I want to test it before I stamp it on my project in case it's off a bit.

I stamped it onto my grid paper, and sure enough, it's off just a bit - see it???

I simply compensate by twisting my block just a bit helter skelter - like so:

And viola! It's near perfect! I know just the angle to turn it so that it's not crooked on my project.

So, I finish stamping all of my frames and punch them out.

Next, I cut lengths of ribbon that are about 4 1/2" long - long enough to peak out of both sides of my frame.

I took one end and snailed it to make a loop.

Then I grabbed my linen thread - which I LOVE! and the little teal buttons out of the Playground Button collection.

Threading the button from the back, I leave a large loop.

Take the loop around the back of the loop of the ribbon on pull tight on the thread.

Tie that in a knot, getting the ribbon to gather up a bit. At this point, don't worry too much about how your gather looks, you can fluff it up in a second.

Tie a bow in the thread and fussy up your ribbon. FYI - I think this is the only way I can tie an actual bow! With little thread - or shoe laces!

There - now I'm pretty well set to assemble the rest of my card.

Here's a detail shot for you to see!

And the final gem!

I really like this color combo - plus it's really a simple card. I'm glad I added that touch of Old Olive ribbon - it really adds some pizzaz!

Want this card - find it on my Etsy shop!