Whirlpool of Imagination

Black and White Flowers

I always like the classic black and white color combo so every once in a while I throw those two colors together and see what happens.

I think that stamp image is from The Angel Company - it's all one stamp so it's an easy collage-y look. After layering black and white card stock, I used one of my favorite embossing folders for a little bit of texture.

Was busy working on my Summer Bucket List that I mentioned a few posts ago. Can't wait to get the pictures up and show you what we've got planned this summer.

Have a great night!

Birthday Numbers

A couple of months ago I challenged the members of my card guild to create something using vegetables as the inspiration. I decided to create a card and use this as a color inspiration. I chose an avocado and it's shades of green.

The cake stamp is from Spunky Stamps and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

This is a layout design that I like and use often. I decided to have a little fun with the background layer. I took a lighter piece of green cardstock and used the numbers cuttlebug folder on it to emboss it. I then painted the entire thing with a darker green. Once dry, I took a piece of sandpaper and rubbed off some of the paint to reveal the lighter green below.

I love using paint but usually just dry brush some on. This time I went with fuller coverage and then removal of some color. It's a totally different look but lots of fun in a slightly distressed way.

I am finally almost done with my moving announcements - phew. But I can't seem to find all my A7 envelopes from the move - oops - quick trip for some envies for me!

Have a great day!

Summer Fun

Normally I leave all the family stuff on my Lollipop blog, but this one is too good so I'm posting it to both blogs!

As summer vacation gets closer, our plans this year are to have as much fun as possible. We've been inspired by the Happy Family Movement and their Summer Bucket List Challenge.

This weekend is all about getting our list together and making a fun way to display it.

Check out the challenge - maybe join in the fun - if you do, link up so I can follow your list!

Purple Butterflies

I'm a list maker, always have been. It's come in handy when I make cards so I can tell when I've uploaded them to my store and when I've blogged about them. Since I stopped blogging for almost three months, I've been looking through my lists and realize that there's lots of cards I haven't shared here.

Today, let's talk butterflies.

This card originally started out from all those die cut hearts cards that were floating around for a while. I really wanted to use this butterfly die but it was larger than I roginally thought so instead of a slew of butterflies, I went with three.

The butterflies were die cut in various shades of purple and then sent through the cuttlebug with my trusty swiss dots folder.

From there I just went crazy with layers, something I don't do all that often.

The stamped image is a backgrounder from Cornish Heritage which I stamped the same color as the card stock so it would blend a bit more into the background.

And then I layered, layered and layered some more.

Still haven't jumped on those moving announcements - spent my crafty time today thinking about summer activities for the kiddos since I've just realized we only have  a month left of school. With no camps planned this year, I'm starting to panic thinking about a completely empty summer calendar - ack!

Lacey Flowers Birthday

Once of my favorite color combinations is shades of pink with shades of brown. But not just any pink, variations of pomegranate or rose red with brown make me smile when I create with them.

Today I've got a really  quick birthday card that uses that color combo.

These lace flowers are a big bold stamp so I wanted to enjoy them fully. Because of their size I went with the A7 sized card - a size I very rarely create with.

The flowers (from Papertrey Ink) are stamped in my rose red ink that I adore. The sentiment (also Papertrey) is probably espresso brown if I had to guess from the picture.

I kept it simple with just repeating the layers in colors from from image block and there you have it, a quick and easy, but very pretty birthday card.

I am working on our change of address cards (slowly!) at the moment. I have a design and I have a plan - just haven't had the discipline to get the assembly line working and get these made. My goal? Get myself in gear and have them done by the weekend. Hopefully I'll have them created and photographed to show off next week!

Have a wonderful night!

Butterfly and Paper

A couple of weeks ago, there was a Papertry tutorial about using patterned paper strips and mixing and matching. I didn't watch the video but the basci idea stuck in my head. So when I recently went to make a card, I decided to give it a whirl.

I started with the butterfly image and sentiment stamped in one of my favorite colors - marina mist from Stampin' Up. (the stamps are from Papertrey)

With the blue guiding me, I pulled out a Basic Grey paper pack and matched some papers that I though went nicely with the blue.

Usually I use one paper design and stick with just the one on a card. I liked mixing and matching and of course, the paper packs make it easy as they all sort of match to begin with. Hopefully I'll get out of my comfort zone more often and try it again!

Have a great day!

Colorful Thank You

This card was started last month for my Rainbow of Color April Card Makers guild challenge. Then everything I needed got packed away for the move so I set aside the parts I had already done and as I was unpacking today, I found the bits and pieces I had set aside. Luckily, enough was unpacked that I could do what I had originally envisioned doing with this design.

The shapes were die cut and adhered and then I ran it through the Cuttlebug to get some texture. The little sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

Here's a little peek at the close up:

Shush - I'm sneaking in stamping time when I should be unpacking.......but it feels great to be back in the studio and creating, even if I can't find everything yet!

Have a great night!

In a New Home

Yippee - finally got our internet back! The first day or two without phone, internet or tv was kind of nice in a get away from the world kind of way. But after the week dragged on, things got old fast!

I am getting my studio up to speed so when it's (semi) organized, I'll snap some pictures.

But after the warm welcome we received from our new neighborhood, I had to pull out enough supplies to get some thank you cards done.

Yikes - not the best picture but I'm still working on where to take pics in the new house.

The image is from Taylored Expressions and the sentiment from Papertrey Ink. I pulled out enough copic markers and a bit of ribbon to get the card decorated although kept it in my usual CAS style.

The carpets were cleaned yesterday so I'm hoping that by tomorrow they will be dry and I can get to organizing. Have a great night!