Puppy Love D2D Card Tutorial

I've been making so many Valentine's Cards for the veterans in the nursing home, that I almost forgot to make some for my kids...again!  Since my youngest & her hubby train, board & groom dogs, I thought a dog card would be in order.  I was real pleased when I saw that the progressive challenge image over at Designed 2 Delight was no other than 2 dogs called Puppy Love.  I had my image, now I needed to do something different.  I decided to make a shaped card, but I didn't really think this one totally out before I started it.

Since I have tons of stencils, I chose a size that I liked and made a pattern on scrap paper.  I wanted it to open in the center to show the image, so I made another heart and cut it down the center.  Now, how was I going to put it together without piecing it?  I laid the cut pieces to each side, but it didn't fit exactly when I folded it together.  I tried again, but this time I did it all in one piece, laying the cut pieces on each side of the main image.   I folded the pieces up and it worked, even though some of the bottom sides were cut down some in size.

Next, I picked my design paper for the front.  Place the card, open side down on the backside of the design paper so it will fit properly.  After cutting the heart out of the design paper, make a cut down the center of the design paper with a straight edge and Exacto, or you could even line it up and cut it in your paper cutter.

I decided to go a bit more complicated on this card, so everything had to line up at a diagonal.  After deciding what direction I wanted the paper to go, I pushed a pin at the top and bottom center to mark my starting spots.  The first side was then cut out.  Line the right sides of the paper up so that the patterns will match.  Mark the paper again with a pin at the top and bottom.  Turn the paper with the wrong side down and then draw the other side of the heart.  Cut this side out and then you can cut out the sides with deckle edge scissors like I did.  I also inked all the edges with Memories brown ink.

For the inside center of the card, you can draw the pattern on the right side of the paper if you want design paper on the inside.  I wanted two different papers, so the sides of the card had to be drawn on the back side of the paper again.  You want to outline the card with the cut side facing down.  After this heart is cut out, line it up to one of the sides before you cut out the center just in case the cut isn't perfectly down the center.

Now all that is left to do is decorate the card!  I've had these 2 dog ribbons from Hobby Lobby for awhile, so I used this instead of some newer ribbon (I'm still working on downsizing my stash!).  I also haven't used many rubons, so I used 2 different sets of American Crafts rubons on the front of the card.  The inside of the card has a sticker from EK Success on the left and a stamped and embossed the PSX sentiment on the right with Memento Tuxedo black ink & Mark Ent. EP.  The paw prints and dog bones came from Hobby Lobby and the rhinestones were from my stash.  The image from Designed 2 Delight was colored with colored pencils and attached with a tape runner.  I thought I was done until I tried to set the card up. 

Ooops!  That was a little technical item I forgot about!  It doesn't stand up on it's own! :o(  Oh well, I just stuck it on a 6" card base and glued a 2" strip of matching paper in the center of the card base so it wouldn't fall flat.  I added some more American Craft rubons to the sides of the card and now it was done.  Phew!  That was a long post!  As you can see, not all of my experiments work, but I was lucky this time that it could be fixed without any major problems.  If anyone out there has a better idea on how to make this card so it will stand on its' own, email me at:  grandma_lee_t@yahoo.com   ~  Lee  ~

Challenges:

Puppy Love digi image at Designed 2 Delight

Use Pink! at Crazy 4 Challenges

Paper Folding at Crafty Angels

Pearl's Got the Blues

It looks like I'm stuck on the color blue here, but that's because you don't see the tons of other cards I did between these postings!

This card features a new release from Michelle Perkett Studio called Pearl.  This one doesn't have a lot of supplies for once.  I printed her on cardstock from my HP printer & embossed her with Ultra fine clear embossing powder.  Next I colored her with colored pencils & blended with a blending stump and Goo Gone.  Then I highlighted her with several different colors of Magic Scraps with a Zig glue pen.  I wanted dimension on the pearls, so I put Blue Pearl 3-D Crystal Laquer on top of the colored pearls.  After she dried, I cut her out, added the eyelash yarn from my stash and then glued the image on to the card with a glue runner.

Challenge:
Inspiration Challenge for the NEW Michelle Perkett Challenge Blog
This was inspired by Michelle's Forest Fairy, Emerald Enchantment and Winter cards that were all done in monochromatic colors.  I originally was going to make Pearl's skin flesh toned, but I decided to experiment and I'm glad I did.  ~  Lee  ~

Penguin Valentine Card

It's time to get away from the regular Valentines that I make for the veteran's in the nursing homes.  Cooking It Up With Katie's Blog had a challenge to make a card that wasn't your usual valentine, so I decided that this penguin image that I got as a freebie at Shirley's 2 Girls was perfect.  Although I finally posted this a day late, I wanted to let you know where the inspiration came from.

I started by printing this image onto white cardstock on my HP printer.  I embossed the image with Ultra Fine Embossing Powder as soon as it came out of the printer.  I've been doing this lately, so I don't have to use an embossing pen & my sometimes unsteady hands later if needed.  The image was black where the blue glitter paper by Colorbok is, but I paper pieced it with this glitter paper.  Another challenge I'm using this for is a color challenge that asks you to use blue and white, so I thought he would look good in a new blue suit!

The design paper from The Paper Studio was used on his hat and scarf, and then I added some white flocking from Mark Enterprises with the help of my handy Zig glue pen.  Magic Scraps glitter was then used on his belly , beak, feet and snow.  The matting for the penguin is textured cardstock from a Mat Stack from DCWV and the matting for  the heart paper is from the Paper Bouquet. 

The lace ribbon was rescued from my stash for this project which is one of my New Year's resolutions.  The snowflake ribbon came from the Target $1 Shop.  This sentiment was another freebie that was included with the penguin, but I added the outline with the help of a Zig Millenium black pen.  Since there was snow on the tops of the letters, I had to add some more Magic Scraps glitter here too and on the top of the blue snowflake.  This cute little heart with the buttons came from Stampin' Up! and was embossed with Versa Mark and blue embossing powder.  I used pop dots to mount the sentiment and the snowflakes that are from my stash.  To finish it off and add some more bling, I added some adhesive heart gems from K & Company.

This card need the inside to finish how the penguin was tied into Valentine's Day.  You Melt My Heart sentiment is an oldie from Co-Motion that was embossed with Versa Mark and the Stamp 'n' Stuff  Kaleidoscope embossing powder.  The Happy Valentines Day is from a foam mounted set from PSX that I embossed with Versa Mark and blue glitter from Stampendous.  Last but not least is the JRL Designs Heart Vine on the bottom of the card.

I really love thinking outside of the box as much as possible to recharge my energy, so that's why I like doing challenges as much as possible.  When you make all of the cards I do each month to give away, you don't always want to exert yourself to make some extra special cards all of the time.  Another good thing about putting more time into challenge cards is that I can sometimes find shortcuts to make multiple cards much faster.  Now that you've seen mine, why don't you make yourself do a challenge today that you wouldn't normally consider.   ~  Lee  ~

Challenges:
Blue and White color challenge from Stamp Something A Weekly Challenge Blog
Sketch came from Stampin' For The Weekend
Winter Theme challenge from Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog
Favorite Color Combination and a Digi Image for the Bee Crafty Download Challenge
Two Different Types of bling from Humble Pie Stamps
Let's Go Digi at the Corrosive Challenge Blog

Michelle Perkett Mermaid Card Winner at PCP

Well, I finally won my first challenge!  Yippee!  I'm so honored especially since the other cards were so unbelievably gorgeous!  The challenge I won was the last one held on Michelle Perkett Studio's Paper Craft Planet page.  From now on, the challenges will be held on Michelle Perkett's Studio Design Challenge Blog.  The challenge for this week will be to go to Michelle's Etsy Store and pick one of the works of art in her Etsy store and use this as an inspiration piece.  The weekly challenges will be posted on Tuesdays.

My winning card is a digital image called Tutti Fruiti Mermaid from Michelle Perkett Studio.  The image was printed on The Paper Company shimmer paper from my HP printer and embossed it with Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder by Stampendous.  The trick is to get the embossing powder on the image as soon as you take it from the printer when it's still wet.  I choose heidi grace designs shimmer foiled paper called Beyond the Sea/Tinsel for the main panels of my card.  The cardstock and matting are from Hobby Lobby.

The image was colored with colored pencils that were blended with Goo Gone.  I then cut the image out with a craft knife.  This image really screamed for lots of bling, so I gave it to her.  Her hair was highlighter with Orange Stickles and Red Amos Glitter Glue Sparkle.  The pearls were accented with the irridescent glitter glue from Amos and her tail's scales were highlighted with the green.  The ends of the curliques were hard to cut out, so I added some Magic Scraps glitter to the ends to hide some of my cutting mistakes. 

Tutti-Frutti's gorgeous ring and the corners of the card were highlighted with rhinestones I found in a package of a kid's manicure set.  To make her stand out better, she was matted on this beautiful orange mulberry paper I won on eBay.  I've had this sparkly yarn for a while in my stash, so I used it around the DCWV Pocket Full of Posies Adhesive Ribbon.  Originally, I had tried to gold leaf the edges, but it didn't show up, so I used these Strasbourg rub-ons with some rhinestone bling.

Hurry on over to Michelle's blog or her etsy shop to see all of her gorgeous digi stamps that she has to offer.  As for me, I'm going shopping with the gift certificate I won!    ~  Lee  ~ 

Remember When... Jump Rope Card

We had a "Healthy Digi Day" over at SNR Card Universe yesterday with Louby Loo Digital Delights stamps.  Wendy Hall, the owner & designer, was gracious enough to give us this digi image called Hannah Healthy to play with for this special occasion.  I knew almost immediately the saying I wanted to put on the card; "Remember when we used to think jumping rope was fun?"  It's hard for me to imagine myself jumping rope these days, but my doctors would probably have a cow if I did!  lol

The image was printed on white cardstock from my  HP printer.  No special inks are used, but I do set the print at best quality.  Since Hannah had a star on her dress, I knew that I was going to use Scenic Route DP from a kit (Halloween) that I got for a song at Tuesday Morning.  She was a breeze to color with colored pencils & blended with Goo Gone (better smelling than Gamsol & I hear they also have pens!).  As usual, I highlighted with a white gel pen & then cut her out.

The sentiment was computer generated onto the DP & matted on more DP that I cut out by hand with the help of a stencil.  I added the dots & stitch details with a black Zig Millenium pen.  The jump letters were from a Colorbok Punch Out Pack.  The little dragonflies in Hannah's hair were from a punch & then I added the details with the Zig pen.  She did have a black line for the jump rope, but I added sticky stitches from Colorbok to look like the ropes I used to use. 

Challenge:  You're A Star Baby, Now Get in Shape at the Order of the Opus Gluei

~  Lee

Michelle Perkett Digi Cards

If you haven't been to the Michelle Perkett Studio, then you need to go!  I found her on Paper Craft Planet, & I couldn't wait to get some of her images colored!  That's one thing I love about digi images....instant gratification!  I'm sharing two of her images with you today.

My first card features the Queen of Hearts Birthday Girl.  She was printed on white cardstock & cut out in an oval shape.  I colored her with colored pencils & blended them with Goo Gone & a blending stump.  Next, I inked the edges with Memories pink & red inks.  Queens need lots of bling, so I added lots of Magic Scraps glitter on the hearts, hair, shoes, lace & highlights, but it doesn't show up in the picture.

Since I bought a ton of papers from the Target $1 Shop last week, I just couldn't resist using 2 of them in the background of this card.  Target also carries these totally yummy glitter paper by Colorbok for only $1 for TWO sheets!  I bought some in pink, blue & white.  The Heidi Grace flowers were another bargain, only this time it was from Big Lots.  The rest of the ribbons, rhinestones & brads were from my stash.  If I keep using stuff from my stash, I should probably deplete it in about 10 years!!!  lol

The next card uses another Michelle Perkett image called Buddy.  He had a snowflake sweater when I bought him, but I wanted to dress him for Valentines Day with lots of bling from the K & Co. Adhesive Gems pack!  I have a rottweiler as a service dog, so I couldn't resist coloring him like a rottie.  He was colored with colored pencils & blended with Goo Gone & the highlights were added with a white gel pen.

Another set of the Target $1 Shop papers got recruited for this card too.  I cut the bone out by hand from an adhesive mat stack from DCWV (another Big Lots bargain!).  The Love sentiment is a sticker from my stash.  Buddy had to have some more bones on this card, so I added some from a pack of The Paper Studio embellishments.  I put my trusty Fiskars edge punch to work on the plaid paper.  I didn't want to fence Buddy in, so I added some Magic Mesh BEHIND him!  The edges were inked with Adirondack inks (hit another $1.99 bargain at Tuesday Morning!) & then I added some XXOO around the border of the bone with an Zig marker that doesn't show up in the picture very well.  

I bought a couple more images from Michelle, so I'm off to play with them too.  Hop on over to Michelle Perkett's etsy shop or her group on Paper Craft Planet if you love these images as much as I do! 

Challenge:  Anything New at Charisma Cards Challenges  ~  Lee  ~

Designed 2 Delight Love Collage Card

I've been playing in the digis again, so I thought I better get a picture before I forgot again.  The name of this image is Love Collage & it's a freebie from Designed 2 Delight.  They have a progressive challenge going on their blog.  A what, you may ask.  It goes something like this; you grab their free image & when you post a project using that digi on their site you will get another free image.  This is my first time doing this, so I'll let you know how it goes.

This card went together quickly.  I just outlined the image with Prang colored pencils & blended it with a blender stump & Goo Gone.  I made circular marks with the grey & pink for the background to simulate marble.  I cut the edges with Fiskars deckle edge scissors, matted the DP from The Paper Studio onto The Paper Company cardstock & then added these cute mirror tiles &sticker letters from my stash.  The brad & flowers were also from my stash.  I'm doing well so far on my New Year's resolution to use my stash items up!  ~  Lee

Challenges:

Mojo Monday Week 120 - Sketch pictured to the left

Lucy's Cards Challenge  - Monochromatic - 1 color w/black & white (well, grey is close to black!)

Taylord Concepts Mega Blog Candy

If you haven't already signed up, you need to hop on over to Taylord Concepts to sign up for Erika Taylor's blog candy! WOW! The picture above is only one of the pictures of items that she is offering. However wins this haul will be VERY happy!!! Check it out here: http://taylordconcepts.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-blogoversary-to-me.html? ~ Lee

Whooooo Loves You?

It's about time I posted a card here! The holidays are over, so I don't have anymore excuses! Today's card is a digi from Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps that was actually a freebie. I'm not normally an owl person, but since I make so many cards for the vets overseas & in the nursing home I thought I should broaden my horizons a bit. I went a "bit" outside of the box with her, but I wanted to make it fit another challenge.

I must admit...this was a very cheap card to make. The digi was a freebie, the DP are by the Target $ Shop, the flowers were from some branches I was going to toss, the ribbon was 25 cents & the Zingz from Fiskars were only $1.00 at Big Lots & the brad was given to me in a challenge I won. The sentiment was made on my computer & I even got the package of 25 cards & envelopes at a garage sale for 50 cents! Talk about being frugal! - Lee

This card is being entered in the following challenges:
SNS Sketch Challenge Blog - http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/
Pile It On Challenge Blog #29 & #30 - CLEAR - http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/
Bee-Crafty Blog - DIGI - http://bee-crafty.blogspot.com/
Papertake Weekly - NEW BEGINNINGS - http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/
(I took this very literal; it's a new digi! How about a new love? New color for the owl???)
Our Creative Corner - Clean & Simple (late) - http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/

Awesome Angel card by Dawn

In was checking out some cards on Mo's Digital Challenge blog & came across this awesome Angel card by Dawn at My Stamping Thyme.

Sometimes words just can't express what you think about something, & I'm sure you will agree with me on this card! ~ Lee

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to take a moment & wish everyone a Happy New Year! I only did a few New Years cards, but the pics didn't come out that good (did I already say I really need a new camera?).

This card is made from a digital image by Mo Manning. I had another image of hers that I also love with the New Year's baby, but this one also works great for this purpose. I showed the cards with & without the extra confetti. It's hard to cut out all of those tiny pieces, so I used some of my punches. Notice that Bronte the dog even has some bones in his confetti! ~ Lee

Digital stamp image by Mo Manning (Digital Pencil Too)
Markers: Zig & white gel pen for highlights
Letter Stickers: Miss Elizabeths
DP & textured mulberry paper: unknown
Border & Ovals: Fiskars scissors & Oval Maker
Ribbon: unknown
Punches: various - McGill, Fiskars, The Paper Studio
Adhesive: Tape Runner & Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive