More cardinals

I managed to assemble a couple more cardinal cards today.  This time I used the satin ribbon over the sheer ribbon.

Those sentiment stickers are shiny gold, but the scanner won't show that.

Cardinal stamps and dies

I've spent a few more days trying to make cards with the cardinal stamps and dies from Heartfelt Designs.  I think they are no longer produced, but I'm enjoying them.  I stamped the stamps on both white cardstock and red cardstock.  I used the die to cut out the red one.  I just added some color to the beaks and colored the leaves and flowers with Prismacolor pencils.

The first one is done with a sheer black ribbon and doesn't show up well in the scan.  On the second card I used black satin ribbon.  The sentiments are made with peel off stickers.

Cardinals, with love

I'm trying to force myself to make some love cards for the troops.  I used both the male and female cardinals stamps from Heartfelt Designs with stickers from Pop-Ups for sentiments.

I colored these images with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits.  I colored the gold metallic stickers with a red Sharpie, which I learned from the video tutorials at Pop-Ups.

Cardinals

I have always loved cardinals.  They are such elegant birds.  Besides, that was the name of our sports team in high school.

I bought some lovely cardinal stamps by Heartfelt Creations.  When I received them, I learned that they make dies to cut out the cardinals.  However, no one had them in stock.  They may have been discontinued.  I finally found some at another online store and ordered them.  Before I received the dies, I stamped and colored the images with Prismacolor pencils.  I'll work with dies later.

Operation Write Home has a request for more thank you cards for our deployed troops.  They like to thank those who send them care packages.

Missing you

I've had a real lack of mojo recently.  I think this is another stage of grief.  Holidays were always spent with my late husband.  Since I lost him over a year ago, I'm occasionally consumed with grief.  I just have problems making Christmas cards and Valentines.  I'm just skipping over those seasons for card making.  I'm working on springtime cards, but still having problems.

This card took me several days to make.

I recently got his new embossing folder from Craft Concepts.  It's pretty and I didn't want to cover it, so I just patted on a little ink to make the embossed images more visable.  I kept it very simple after trying so many different approaches.  The ribbon is very old and was given to me by a friend.  I added the blue heart brad to add a little interest.

Thanksgiving cards

Since I had my pressed leaves out for the previous post, I decided to use them for Thanksgiving cards.   These are for my personal use since I think the leaves are too fragile for Operation Write Home.

Autumn Leaves

One of my hobbies for years has been pressing flowers and leaves.  The colorful leaves deserve to be preserved.  They are never as colorful as when they are fresh, but still make lovely cards.  I needed some cards for personal use and decided to use some of the leaves I pressed a couple of years ago.

I chose a Cuttlebug embossing folder for these cards.  I used a variety of patterned papers with a green tone.  I then highlighted the embossed swirls with Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink.  The sentiments were stamped with the same ink.

I attached the leaves with Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue.

 

Chickadee

This card was made with a stamp and die from Our Daily Bread Designs.  I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.  Paper is from Echo Park.

ODBD bird stamp and die

I participated in a challenge in September and forgot all about it.  Would you believe I won a prize?  Actually, the winner are just randomly chosen from the participants.  Anyway, I won a $25 gift certificate at Our Daily Bread Designs.  Of course, I went shopping!

One of the things I ordered was this bird stamp and die.  I stamped the sparrow on white cardstock, then cut it out with the die.  Next, I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.

When I put it on my patterned paper, it was hard to see the details without mounting the image on another color.  I trimmed off that white border that is left by the die and cut another piece out of the brown cardstock.  All this 'fussy-cutting' took me a while, then I had to glue the image to the die-cut.  After all this, I assembled these cards.

 

 This patterned paper is from a 6X6 pad called Songbird Collection by Prima Marketing.  The sentiments are gold stickers that I put on the ribbon.

Gate fold card

I have had a total loss of mojo lately.  I decided to make a fun card for a friend.  I can't actually post this until she receives it, but it is in the mail.  I'm just writing this and will post it after she receives her card.

I enjoy making gate fold cards.  The two attachments on front of card cross to opposite side for closure.  The image is from Stamper's Best and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The sentiment on front is an unlabeled unmounted rubber stamp.  The card is held closed by small magnetic buttons that are attached between layers of paper.

It's hard to read the inside of the card in this photo.  The left side says 'Butterfly Wishes' and the right side says 'Dragonfly Dreams'.   These stamps are by the Stamp Doctor.  The center sentiment is by Penny Black.

The butterflies are made with punches by Martha Stewart and the dragonfly is a sticker by Starform.  I actually punched 2 of each butterfly.  The dark one is glued flat on the card and the gold one is only attached in center.