gerbera daisy

while I was on a roll with valita's flowers, I put together some gerbera daisies from the in color 6x6 hostess dsp pack. I used the same background technique as I did with the other flower cards, and added a couple of pearls to the center that I had colored with a brown permanent marker. the center isn't very accurate, but it's fun! the daisy was made with the daisies #2 sizzix die.

open sea

here's a new card I did for a recent "summer mini" swap using the open sea stamp set, nautical expedition dsp, and the cherry cobbler/white baker's twine. I took the cardstock choices directly from the dsp, using cherry cobbler, not quite navy and early espresso. it was pretty bland looking initially, then I added the pearls on the compass and bottom side and added the happy birthday (again with pearls) using the modern label punch. I would have made it a father's day card in general, since the nautical theme lends itself to a more masculine card, but the happy father's day stamp I had didn't fit in the word window punch, so "happy birthday" it was! sometimes necessity
IS the mother of invention.

more gorgeous florals

here's another picture of those gorgeous flowers all together (not being vain, they are gorgeous and it's thanks to valita, not me), and since I always make things and give them away instead of saving one for me, I made a "sample" card that had ALL of the flowers on it too! it's a little overwhelming to give as a gift, but it's nice for me to look at and know that I can go back to those and make more if the right occasion comes up.

stack and store caddy

I think these things are brilliant and I have 4 of them, mainly because I don't get rid of anything and I think 2 of them are full of retired items, like brads and eyelets. also when I buy multiple packs of something, I tend to separate them out so I can use all of one thing when I'm doing a swap. anyway, I love them, but I spend an awful lot of time spinning that thing around trying to find what I need and sometimes have more than one of the same thing in 2 different places so I order more when I still have a bunch (sound like anybody else out there?). the other day I thought to myself "I could use that flat space next to the container to mount one of each thing". now I'm guessing that SU! already thought of that, and probably everyone else already does it, but it finally just came to me. I used the retired pop up glue dots since they're "meatier" and super sticky, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I've already utilized it since completing it, and did inventory at the same time, combining containers when I could. hope this helps someone else, I know it will keep me from being totally frustrated!

more florals

these were the other cards I made for the luv2stamp group birthday celebration. valita's blog, www.valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com showed how to make the easter lilies, then I adapted it with pumpkin pie cardstock, tangerine tango sponged in the center and smooch spritz in log cabin to make the "freckles" of a tiger lily. I know they usually aren't so random in real tiger lilies, but I liked how it turned out on my interpretation. I cut 2 pieces of cardstock down to 9 3/4 x 8 1/2 and scored it at 2" all the way around to make a box with a lid to hold the card 1/4" larger than the card size so it was easy to get in and out, and 2" high to accommodate the height of the flowers on all the cards.

floral birthdays

several ladies from our luv2stamp group are having lunch today to celebrate 4 birthdays. unfortunately, I have to work, but I wanted to recognize everyone's great achievement (I mean really, consider the option) in making it through another year, and wanted to do something special. I wandered upon this amazing blog, www.valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com, and had to try several of the flowers that she has video's on. she does amazing work, and explains things really well, so even I can make them! the fuchsia was a little time consuming, but was pretty straight forward. I made several at one time. the large heart punch was used for the leaves, and the 5 petal flower punch was used for most of the fuchsia, along with the large scallop circle (for the center). valita has some amazing tips for doing the stamen, you should definitely check out her video's. the rose was made with the owl punch - the hardest part was cutting off his legs! once again, the video was very helpful in putting the whole thing together. I added some ribbon roses that I colored with reinkers and an aqua painter. I hope they'll like their cards. thankfully, they'll be hand delivered today, since they'd never make it through the mail. tomorrow I'll show you the other 2. I used the hostess pack of 6x6 in color dsp prints to make the top notes, and you can get one whole and more than half of another out of each piece, so I cut several of the pear pizazz and mixed the prints for a fun background. hope you enjoy! now go visit that other blog, you'll see what I mean!