Circle of Flowers

I saw a card challenge that caught my interest, and had an image of a card in my mind that I just had to try.  It didn't actually turn out quite as I had envisioned--does that ever happen to you? I think it's still pretty, though!

All the background "greenery" was stamped with Stampin Up! inks, with a stamp I'll have to name later, as I don't have it with me, and forget the name! I had masked the circle and expected to leave that open behind the flower, but it just didn't have the interest needed, so added the die-cut green circle. The paper flowers are just a bunch of mis-matches from my bucket, mostly Paper Studio and Recollections. The lace ribbon is also Recollections. I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Brown, and heat embossed with clear powder. I have had the Sentiment stamp for ages, and believe it is Stampabilities. That sentiment was cut with a Gina Marie Design Stitched Rectangle, and the edges were inked with TH Distress Ink, Vintage Photo.

I am not a huge fan of sequins, but I'm trying to get used to them, since they're all the Rage! These are my favorite so far: they are a sort of matte burnished brass from Paper Studios. I had a smudge on one of the leaves that I wanted to cover, so added the rest to fill up open space and make it less obvious that the one sequin was covering a boo-boo!

The cover was placed on a craft-paper base, and I chose to do a white insert for the inside greeting as well. This inside sentiment was done with same VersaFine Brown ink, but not heat embossed.

If you like this card, you should definitely check out all the other cards that came from this challenge on the Fusion web-site!

Thanks for looking!!

Multiple Hearts

I am ALL about using up scraps on my cards! I use larger pieces of paper on my scrapbook pages, so I know I have to use up the smaller pieces on cards.  While at a crop this weekend, I pulled out a bunch of pieces of black and white patterned paper, and some that I just thought were pretty. I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the Sizzix Hearts framelits, in two of the smaller sizes--one larger and two smaller of the same paper. And now I've been using them to make some simple Valentine's Day cards. I'm using the same general design, mostly just changing the color schemes.

  This one in the reds seems to be the most Traditional.

 I used the Darice Corner flourishes embossing folder on the Bazzil textured white card stock to add interest. It came out very clean and really made the card rather spectacular. The larger heart is on dimensionals to add interest as well.

I recently purchased my MISTI and have to admit, I probably couldn't have done the Sentiment stamping on these without it. It allowed me to make sure things were exactly where I wanted them, AND I could re-ink several times, which was necessary on the textured card stock. You can learn more about this fabulous tool on their website, MySweetPetunia.com.

My favorite variation is this super simply lavender card. I can't tell you what any of the designer papers or even the card stock is for any of these, except that the white is Bazzil textured, since this all came from my scrap-bins! The Happy Valentine's Day Stamp is Love Grows, from My Sentiments Exactly.

Most of my friends are drawn to this more indepth card, with teal and pink. The ribbon says "I Love You."  I do really like the look of the sentiment being through the window. The texture was done with Sizzix Swiss Dots embossing folding, to match the little back-ground dots on the hearts. All inks are Stampin Up!--I seem to have a major addiction to their inks!

 Thank you for looking and please feel free to comment or share!