I've had a great weekend playing with my stamps!

I have made five cards so far and want to share them now. The first two use SU images, so they will count towards extra numbers for tomorrow's game. Both also use the Woodland Cottage set which is absolutely gorgeous, in my humble opinion.

This card was made for a colour challenge at The Stamp Shack. The combination of Chocolate Chip, Peach and Soft Sky is just so gentle and I thought the cottage worked well with these colours. I also used my Cuttlebug for the peach mat and, again, with my Nestabilities. I saw this technique for embossing the rectangle on Nichole Heady's blog and it gives the card such an elegant look, I think. I stamped the image with Ranger's Brushed Corduroy Distrss Ink. Then I added blue brads in the four corners. The sentiment, also from the Woodland Cottage set, was stamped with the same colour distress ink and angled on the corner. And, just to pretty it up some more, I added some Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon.






The next card, from the same set, is for a friend whose father passed away recently. The single rose works well for a sympathy card. Sympathy cards can be difficult to make, but this set lends itself well for this type of card. The sentiment is from the Sincere Salutations set. The card base is Gray Bazzill Bling onto which I mounted some Almost Amethyst. Before I attached it to the card front, out came the Cuttlebug to emboss it first. I did two rectangles this time, overlapping them. Once the embossing was complete, I stamped the images using Dusty Concord Ranger Distress Ink. I attached some black grosgrain ribbon and decided that it had just the right amount of embellishment for a sympathy card.



The next three cards were just for fun. I had to use Dudley the Dragon again because I love him.

Not that it matters in a big way, but I created a new watermark to use for the cards I'll be making for Jessica Lynn Original. I went to Chapters (our local book store) and purchased Photoshop CS3 for Dummies. I was determined to learn how to get text in a circle. As you can see (if you look at the watermark), I DID IT! I'm sure I'll be tweaking the design, but hey, I did it and that makes me happy. Now, on to the card! The card base is Mellow Moss and the designer paper is called simply, Toys. Who made it is a mystery to me as it was a small bit in my stash. How do you ladies remember the manufacturer's name for the DP you use? If there's a secret, please let me know. Once the card base was folded in half, I scored it again, 3/4" from the folded edge and then taped it down. I wanted to do some lacing, but, as you can see, it didn't quite work out. That's okay because while I was sleeping, it came to me what I did wrong. You'll have to wait until the next time I try lacing to see if what was in my dream works. I haven't tried it yet but I had better do so soon 'cause I forget my dreams fairly quickly.

Okay, here we have a stamp from the Carolyn King collection from Gina K. Designs. This dog is so sweet and the little bird on his head looks totally at ease, don't ya' think? Again, the base is Mellow Moss, same DP, but this time I wanted to have a diamond shape on my card. I cut some black c/s into a diamond shape, added more DP, then stamped the image on white, sponged the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and slapped it on. I used my sewing machine for the zig zag stitching and, ladies, I have to say, "I need more practice". I hardly use my sewing machine and it clearly shows. For the next little while, you may see stitching on my cards more frequently, plus, I'm going back to the book store to see if they have Sewing for Dummies! And, in case you didn't notice, the bobbin ran out of thread and rather than try to match us the stitches, I used a green marker to complete the last 3 or 4 stitches. It shows up like a sore thumb! BTW, when I colour in my images now, I only used Copic Ciao Markers. I love them.












And, finally, the last card for this post is for Valentine's Day. The card base is Regal Rose and the DP is Making Memories - Lace Eyelet Edge (I wrote it down on a post-it note and stuck it inside the card, hehehehe). The image is by MissyB Designs, the Rag Dolls set. Again, you will note the stitching and, believe it or not, I wanted the straight stitching on the white c/s to be crooked. I had seen the effect on a card by Bad Sherry from Walkin' on the Bad Side and it looked great. Mine, not so great, but that's no surprise to me! The sentiment is from Gina K. Designs. I'm Canadian and must be bilingual, you know, so it worked perfectly. The addition of some Prima flowers, some pink velvet ribbon and a little bit of yellow satin ribbon and called it done.

Okay, that's it for me. My fingers are worn to the bone from crafting and typing. I'll see you later.