Saturday, March 12, 2016

Greeting cards by the dozens!

Last month, I hosted an All Occasions Card Buffet class.  Participants could choose the cards they wanted to make, and boy, did we all stamp a lot of cards!  It was fun to see what everyone chose to make and which cards were the most popular.

Here is the collection of all ten cards!




This first card features the free Sale-a-bration set, "What I Love" stamp set.  It is a three step stamp that is much more beautiful in real life than in the brochure.  Inks used: Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry, Blushing Bride, and Mossy Meadow.  Card stock used: Blushing Bride, Blackberry Bliss, and Whisper White.
Here is another popular free Sale-a-bration set -- Flowering Fields -- along with matching Wildflower Fields DSP -- also a SAB freebie.  Inks used: Memento Black, Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive, Cameo Coral.  Card stock used: Hello Honey, Blackberry bliss, Lost Lagoon.  Those little candy dots give a nice little accent, as well as dazzling details applied to the flower petals for a little bit of sparkle.




This little punch art fox card, was a sweet little idea I saw on Pinterest.  I used different colors and a few different punches than what they used, but I got the idea from there.  You could make a girl fox with a flower in her hair, or a boy fox with no flower. :)  Punches used: Bird and branch, extra large oval, retired small oval, cupcake, 1 3/8 circle, festive flower, word window, scallop circle.  Card stock used: Heavy weight white, retired Baja Breeze, retired Gumball Green DSP, Cajun Craze, Whisper White.



I really love the Ronald McDonald stamp set this year -- Sprinkles of Life.  SU donates a percentage of each of these sets sold to the Ronald McDonald program.  They came up with a super cute set this year, I think.  You can make trees, baskets, clouds, ice cream, cupcakes, and more with this set and its matching tree builder punch.  These would be the perfect little birthday card for the little girl in your life.  That embossing folder used on the front of the card, is a new one in the Occasions catalog called Confetti textured embossing folder.  It has an un-embossed middle section -- perfect for stamping a message or an ice cream cone or cupcake in!  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  I used some retired Regal Rose card stock, as well as Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.  The little cherry is from the cupcake punch.  We used a sponge dauber to add Regal Rose ink to the embossed area, to make the pattern pop.




This little Easter Lamb stamp is from the Occasions catalog.  I LOVE this cute little lamb!  Just could not resist getting this stamp!  Works perfectly for Easter, of course, but also for a baby card or birthday.  Just pure sweetness!  We stamped the lamb on Sahara Sand card stock, and cut it out using a die I ordered from Dave's Dies.  We then used the white gel pen to color in some of the "wool".  Card stock colors used: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper white, Sahara Sand.  Ink colors: Memento Black, Blender pen and Old Olive and Strawberry Slush inks. Doesn't this card make you want to buy that little lamb stamp???!!!!  It just makes me smile!



Washi tape is all the rage these days, and I have collected a ton of it! but don't seem to use it up like I should, so I challenged myself to use washi tape on a card.  I got the idea for this card from Pinterest as well.  Simple, cute, and not hard to create.  The card base is Crisp Cantaloupe -- a retired color that matched this pack of retired washi tape.  Soft, spring colors.  The flowers were made using the Flower shop bundle.  We used the fun flower punch for the leaves -- simply punch the flower out of green and cut the petals apart for leaves.


I really wanted to feature this elk stamp from Wilderness Awaits stamp set, since Montana is elk country!  We used watercolor paper and the new water proof Basic Black ink and used Auqua painters and Soft Suede ink to color in the elk.  It's good to practice your watercoloring skills once in a while!  The card base is Crumb Cake stamped with the Hardwood background stamp.  LOVE that stamp and use it all the time!  So versatile.




Simple masculine card featuring the Map Background stamp, and The Open Sea stamp set.  We used the 2 1/2" circle punch to punch a bite out of the Island Indigo panel and stamped the ship on the white card base.  Some rhinestones colored blue with a Sharpie, and a bit of retired Island Indigo chevron ribbon.  Fun!




This stamp set -- World of Dreams -- hasn't seen ink as much as it should, so it was on my list to use. I think the little nest is perfect for a Mother's Day card -- with the little pearl eggs in it!  Colors used: Pool Party, Early Espresso, Pool Party glitter ribbon -- from the Occasions catalog.  The little flowers are from the Itty Bitty punch pack -- using the gold Wink of Stella pen to add gold to the centers of the flowers.




Last, but not least, the Rose Wonder bundle!  I made two versions of this card -- one simple and one with stamping the small flower in Soft Suede ink and colored in with the gold Wink of Stella pen.  Colors used: Basic Black, Tip Top Taupe, and Very Vanilla. I put the vanilla card stock through my Xyron before die cutting it, so you could just peel and stick the die cut to your card front.  Makes it so much easier to apply intricate die cuts.

Whew! if you've managed to read all the way to the end of this post, GOOD FOR YOU! :)  Remember that March is the last month for Sale-a-bration, so if there are freebies you have to have, get them now!