GSG Swap Card

I waited as long as I could. I'm thinking Becky has gotten the swaps out in the mail on their way back to us, so I am probably only a day early on this post. If you are a GSG girl and reading this and you want to be surprised when your swaps arrive then stop reading! I know you won't, but thought I'd throw the spoiler alert in there anyway! LOL! This is one of my favorite cards I've made with this set to date. I used the Top Note Bigz die and then stamped the grass and flower images in kiwi kiss. This photo doesn't show it, but one of those big flowers is embossed with clear embossing powder. After I stamped the full image, I cleaned the stamp and then inked up only the 1 large flower with the Versamarker and clear embossed it. I love the texture it adds to the cards,plus because it was embossed with clear powder, it highlights anything that is stamped behind it. I think it is such a cool effect. I offset the main image a bit so I could show off the scalloped borders a little more. I used strips from the Urban Garden dsp. The whole card was mounted on Basic Grey cs and then again onto Baja Breeze. The sentiment was stamped and punched out with the wide oval punch and finished off with a piece of striped Kiwi grosgrain ribbon. Happy Monday! Hugs,

Putting Leftovers to Good Use

I hate leftovers. There are very few foods I will eat leftover-weird, I know. This is something I inherited from my dad I guess. I do, however LOVE using my leftover scraps on new projects. I punched a ton of scallops from the Urban Garden dsp for one of the swap cards I've been working on. Well, if you have used the new scallop edge punch from SU you will know you are left with a thin strip of paper after you are finished punching (no more little fly aways, like with the corner rounder-yeah!). Since I had lots of these strips sitting on my desk, all the same size I figured I would put them to good use. I glued them onto a piece of basic grey cs and then attached that to a Baja breeze card base (this card is a 4 1/4 square). I added a birthday greeting from the On Your Birthday set, tied on some Baja striped ribbon and used one of the beautiful buttons from the Button Bouquet to complete the card. This was quick and easy! Try it, use those scraps and see what you come up with! Hugs,

Urban Garden

Today I guess you can see I'm showcasing the Urban Garden dsp. I love, love love the colors in the pack! Oh and the prints too, they are gorgeous!!! I was working on swap designs and these were a few other cards I came up with. Yes, I am teasing you girls again with the actual card-for that you'll have to wait! This first one has turned out to be a favorite of mine. I was inspired by Beate's weekend sketch challenge. Did you know she has returned from her blogcation? Yeah! Check out this sketch and give it a try. I say I was inspired by her sketch because as you can see, I didn't follow it exactly (having the computer upstairs and wanting to use my wide oval punch contributed to the deviation). The card is a 4 1/4 square card. I used the cherry blossom image from Embrace life for my background and then let the dsp take center stage. I stamped my favorite sentiment on kiwi cs and punched that off with my wide oval punch. I accented the card with striped kiwi grosgrain ribbon and a baja felt flower from the Flower Fusion too kit. I had to use one of my filigree brads (they are an amazing accent, but I am feeling the need to hoard them). This second card uses many of the same elements and all the same colors. I left off the large circle and went with scallop edge punch to show off the dsp this time. I used the Inspired by Nature set in the background and stamped the sentiment on a piece of the dsp, bringing in another subtle pattern. I hope you love the colors as much as I do. If you don't' have the dsp pack yet, still go for a similar look just use the colors. Hope your week is starting out great! Mine is. As much as I hate getting up early, I feel good getting up and being able to walk and shower all by 9am thanks to our new school schedule! Hugs,