Waterside Retreat

I have to say that Waterside Retreat is my favorite product page from the May catalog!  It comes with 2 pages of watercolored landscape images that you can cut out and use for your cards.  This first card has a beautiful boat scene and I used Peaceful Pine and Misty Moonlight cardstock and colors to go with it.  

The paper pack also has papers with images of oars, life jackets, fish and boat buoys that are just adorable.  The papers can be used for both masculine and feminine cards, and especially for anyone that loves being at the lake.

For this card, I started with Misty Moonlight cardstock and added the beach scene.  The fence posts are from On the Horizon die set and I think they really add to the card.  I used some little pebble embellishments in the sand.  It's completed with the oars and Father's Day saying.

This third card has some wave paper for the background.  I added two of the scenes from the designer papers, some buoys and a loose anchor trinket to the card.  In the background is a sea net cut out from the Sunset Coast.  I love the peaceful blue colors to this card.  

Don't these cards make you want to take a day trip to the lake?  Sea shells, sailboats, a walk on the beach and a ride in the rowboat.  Mmm, great summer cards.  

 

Let's Set Sail

For my summer stamping classes I wanted to make cards using summer themes.  So for this class, I made sailboat cards for a "Day at the lake." 

We used the stamp set and punch called Let's Set Sail.  The punch coordinates with the sailboat but honestly, they could have designed it better.  You have to punch each sail and mast separately when it would have been so easy to just make the stamps all in one image to punch easier.

For this first card, we stamped the water several times and then brushed some light blue into the sky using ink and the brushes.  This gave the sky a little bit of color so that the clouds show up better.  I used the cloud dies from Give it a Whirl.  

I got the idea for this card from Karen Ksenzahovic.

This next sailboat card gives you the feeling of sailing off into the sunset!  I used some cut out designer papers for the circular sunset focal point.  The addition of the birds makes it look like a real summer night sky.

For some reason, my sailboats always seem to be blue.  I love the breezy feel that this card has.  You could send it for any occasion.

For this pretty red card, I used watercolor crayons for the sea and sky.  Then I stamped the sailboat shadow, birds and saying right onto the white panel.

I added a steering wheel from another sailboat set, even though sailboats don't have steering wheels.  LOL

This card has a very nautical look to it.  

This is the exact same card, only I used a different designer paper for the background.  I often give alternative card options for my stamping ladies.  

I loved using this fun sailboat set, even if the punch doesn't line up easily!  These cards can be used for both women and men, adding to my stash of masculine cards.  

I hope you enjoyed sailing along with me today.  :)

 

What To Do With the Bear

Okay, I have to admit that sometimes I like some of the "weird" stamps that Stampin Up sells.  Because I have so many stamps to begin with, more flowers just doesn't do much for me anymore.  This bear happens to be one of the ones that I thought was different and a little bit quirky.  I loved him right from the beginning when he appeared in the last mini catalog!  

Looking on Pinterest, I have not found many samples at all using this set.  But finally I took him out this week and made a couple of cards using the Wildlife Wonder set.

Honestly, he stamped so well.  It's a great image and I'm looking forward to doing more things with him!  Here is the card that I made to go in my "masculine card" pile.  I got the layout from Glenda Calkins.  I used the In Good Taste designer papers for the background.  

After I made the bear card, I tried out the wolf.  He stamped so nicely, too.  This is such a nice wildlife set.  And it has a great font and sayings.  I am definitely going to try some more cards using it.  

What do you think of the bear?  I think he'd look good in a camping scene with a tent in the background!  In what ways would you use him?

 

Way To Goat

 I finally got a chance to take out these really cute goat stamps, called Way to Goat.  They are so silly and make up some really nice whimsical cards.  I especially like the saying, "Happy Birthday you old goat!"  I'm not sure if I'd send this card to just anyone, but if you know someone with a good sense of humor, it's sure to be a hit.  I got the idea for this from Angie over at Chic-n-Scratch.

This card is so silly, too!  I love this one.  The saying says, I got you a cake... but I ate it!  The remainder of the saying is on the inside of the card.  I thought that this set really needed a cake, because of the saying.  I looked back in the "archives" for this little cake that I think matches it perfectly!  It's from an old set called Party Animals from 1999.  I got the idea for this from Jane Proffitt.  I changed up the colors and added the cake.

For this next card, I wanted to show my stampers that the goats can be feminine, as well as masculine.  So I added some flower paper and flowers to dress her up a bit.  I love the Bumblebee gingham ribbon on this, too.  I saw this idea from Diana Gibbs.

Which goat card do you like the best?  My stampers voted on the one with the little cake.  :)

Tasteful Textures Cards with a Card Holder

 This week I sent a couple of days working on some cards for my card class.  I chose the Tasteful Textures stamp set along with it's coordinating framelits and designer papers.  I just love how they all turned out!

The cards are what I call "mix and match."  The sayings and images are interchangeable and you can make each card more masculine or feminine, as desired.  I had a fun time using this set and it's components.

I also made a card holder for the set of cards.  You can use them individually or give them as a set.  

It's hard to tell in the photos, but I've used embossing folders and Wink of Stella to embellish the cards.  The flowers and feathers have a bit of sparkle on them to make them stand out.

Although I could have used more colors, I decided to keep the color palate simple.  I used Navy, Misty Moonlight and Gray Granite.  I got the ideas for my cards from Jackie Bolhuis and Sarah Sayers.  The box holder idea is from Teri Pocock.  

What do you think?  

More Forever Fern

I saw a sample last week on mystampgarden blog and although I used slightly different colors, I branched out from the usual greens and made this card with the Forever Fern stamp set.  I had some pineapple paper from the Tropical Oasis paper pack and I just love how it looks on this card!  I used Gorgeous Grape, an older color and Crushed Curry for this card.  So different; I just love it. :)

While I was looking through the pretty designer papers that come with the Forever Greenery suite, I took this one.  It kind of reminded me of walking through the forest.  So I added the moose and a little saying to the top of the card.  I don't make a lot of masculine cards, but his one is very masculine!  Doesn't that moose look like he's wandering through the trees in a forest?  It's kind of silly, but somehow I like how it turned out.  :)

Masculine Cards Using Seagulls

I needed a masculine Thank You card today to send out and after looking through my card stash, I found that I didn't' have a single one to use!  So I made this sweet card using Bird Ballad designer paper and the seagull stamp from a Paper Pumpkin kit that coordinated with the Bird Ballad suite.  I found this idea from Kerry Bunting on Pinterest.

After I made that, I realized that I needed more masculine cards.  My son's birthday is this week and I wanted to make one for him, too.  So I made another one.

And another one.

And another!  I ended up making 5 cards using these colors and this theme.  Why have I not used this amazing designer paper before? 

Here are four of the five cards.  Which one do you like the best?

Money Speaks

I wasn't sure what to give my son for his birthday, so I made the "present" into a card!  I got the idea from Jill Hilliard on Pinterest (of course) and thought that it was a cute idea.  I hope that he likes it. 

I wish that I had moved the "candles" more toward the middle of the card, because when I was done adhering them, there was a lot of blank space near the right of the card!  So I added some buttons to fill it in! 

What do you do to fill in the empty spaces on your projects or cards?  My stamping friends know that I don't like to start over!