Cards

Its been a few months since I've updated this blog. I have no excuses...so to catch up I uploaded some cards that I've either made or received in card swaps. I've participated in over 25 Splitcoast Stampers card swaps and hosted two swaps on Splitcoast. I've also participated in our NorCal Card Swappers Shoebox swaps this year. They are held every 2 months.

Tomorrow (Saturday) my NorCal Card Swappers group is having a Shoebox Swap. The theme is Valentine's Day. The following 2 cards are my cards for the swap. Both of them are simple. I'm not real pleased with the coloring on this first card. I used a clear glitter pen on this one to give it some bling. On this card I used a clear stamp set by Bo Bunny. Bo Bunny makes some gorgeous designer scrap paper and in fact the paper I've used on this is from Bo Bunny. I'm not real impressed with the stamps in the way they stamp. Also, I masked this one...stamped the birds first then stamped the cage over the birds. Some of the cage imagine didn't stamp so I used a silver glitter pen and traced the whole cage with the pen. I also traced over the sentiment.

This is the birthday card that I made for Denise for her recent birthday. I saw the "happy birthday" on a blog called "No Time to Stamp" and knew I had to have it. I know I will use it often. I used some designer scrap paper, a little bit of lace, prima flowers with a flower brad and then the die cut flourish behind the flowers are from some flourishes that Denise cut for me using her Cricut. I'm participating in a "Happy Birthday" swap on SCS, due in January. I'm going to use the same layout as this card with some other designer paper.

I used a strip of the paper on the inside of the card.

These next 2 cards are ones I submitted for a Memory Box card swap. We had to use all Memory Box products. These stamps are part of their Christmas 2010 release. I kept both very simple.

This card was for another SCS swap. I made a gatefold card. I thought this came out pretty good. That's a paper doily I used and there are pearl stickers in all 4 corners. I used velcro to keep the card closed.

The inside.

A pocket card for the same swap. Both cards turned out to be "pretty girly". :)

This was my Christmas card for our NorCal Card Swappers October Shoebox swap. The stamp is from Memory Box. Very simple. I haven't taken pictures of the cards we made yet.

A friend of ours celebrated his 50th birthday with a huge party. It was a beach theme. I wanted to use some sandpaper for the sand...Gerry didn't have any so I used some kraft cardstock. I added 3 brads on the side for some added interest. Can't use ribbon on guys cards. :)

This was for a fall themed SCS swap. I colored the image with pencils instead of using Copic markers.

This was my second card for the same swap. I didn't notice until I uploaded the card to my computer that I forgot to color in the grapes and the corn. And it got sent to the swap hostess that way. Mercy, how absent-minded can a person be. The hostess didn't say a thing...hope she kept it for herself and didn't swap it. I colored the whole image with pencils.

This was for a Christmas swap. Simple yet kind of fun.

Another SCS swap I participated in. This is an easel card.

Cards I received in SCS Sympathy swap. I need to use one of these on Sunday for a memorial service we're attending. A friend of ours passed away last week Friday.

Wow, this is a long post. If you are still with me, thanks for hanging in. I need to take pictures of other cards I have and will do that sometime soon. There just aren't enough hours in the day. :)

Two SCS Card Swaps & Card Order

Here are projects I've worked on the last few days. The first two cards are for two different Sympathy card swaps. The cardbase on this first one is Always Artichoke and then a layer of Confetti Cream. I used a Nestability die cut for the Perfect Plum layer and Confetti Cream. I used 2 different purple markers for the flowers and a dark green for the leaves. I found the ribbon at The Paper Garden and it has 2 shades of purple in it and small olive green. It matches so perfectly. I also used two different oval punches for the saying and finished that off with 2 tiny pearl stickers. This card I went simple and clean. The colors are 2 shades of lavender and a soft turquoise. I stamped the image using small lime green and lavendar ink pads. I've discovered that Q-tips are a handy item to have on my craft table. They help to remove ink from spots where I don't want the ink. :) The card was finished off with 3 lavender gem stickers.

The next 5 cards are thank you cards that I made for Kazumi Akamine who owns Yui Marlu Japanese restaurant. This is the Japanese restaurant where I go every week, it was called "Sushi Masa". Masa-san sold the restaurant to Kazumi-san last year in October. I have made cards for her before and for one of her nieces who sometimes works in the restaurant. Last week Kazumi-san asked if I would make her 5 thank you cards. She wanted floral and an Asian design. I took them to her today. She said she liked them...we didn't really have a chance to talk because for a nice change, it was busy.

On this card I used some decorator paper. It is double sided so I used both sides.

The next 3 cards I used some origami paper as a layer. I really like this blue combination. It is the same stamp as the previous one.

The butterfly has a tiny pearl sticker in the middle.

I love this one. It is hard to see in the picture. The cardbase is some Japanese cardstock in a wheat color that I've had for some time. The company I got this from was based in Hawaii; unfortunately they are no longer in business. Then I used a dark purple layer and the image is stamped on ivory rather than white. I colored the flower purple. Then the ribbon is a dark (Hunter) green. I stamped the thank you inside the card since I thought if I put it on the outside, it would take away from the design.

I'm quite pleased with the way these all turned out. All of the stamps used are the Stampin Up Asian sets that I have. And I used Copics to color.

Nor Cal Shoebox Card Swap - August 14th

On August 14th, 8 of us from our Shoebox Swap group got together to make cards and socialize. We met at a Round Table Pizza Place over in Fair Oaks. It is the same one where daughter Elizabeth has her girls' birthday parties. They have a huge room that can be closed off and then there's a smaller section off to itself. We had reserved the huge room, however, since there was just 8 of us, we decided to use the smaller section. It worked out fine.


This first card is Tyana's. She lives in West Sacramento and is a friend of Jenni's. This was her second swap of ours to come to. Anyway, this is a gatefold card. Very nice...except don't look too closely...I've got my image upside down. :) The colors are black, a brownish red and gold. Very Fall. The inside of the card, a layer of ivory cardstock and a leaf brad.

This is Tyana's second project...a little treat holder. So cute.

Karen did 2 projects...this first one is a gift card holder. I am not very good at tying bows.

Here's the inside. The middle part is where the gift card would go. Super neat idea.

For Karen's 2nd project, she did a Valentine's card. I'm not sure that this is how it is suppose to go together. I didn't finish this at the swap so guessed and read her instructions that she included. A message was suppose to be written in the crossword puzzle.

On the inside of the front, she punched a heart so the red shows through....

Then on the back she punched out another heart. A piece of white cardstock was put in the inside so it shows through the heart. Clever idea.

This is Joyce's Christmas card. It is another type of gate fold card. Very adorable...love the snowman.

Jenni's card. The inside layer slides out. The card base is a dark purple. The orange looks really great with it. Jenni lives in Vacaville.

Here's Bonnie's card. Her cards are always so nice.

Julie's card. She was our hostess for this swap. She had to leave to help her sister with her one-year-0ld niece's birthday party so she couldn't stay. She did come back later. Anyway on her card, we used watercolor crayons on the pumpkin. Then used a blender pen to shade. This is not something I do very well. It looks ok though, I think.

Rhonda's card. This was her second swap and I do believe she is going to be one of our regulars. She lives in Antelope, not too far from me. Its been fun getting to know her.

And lastly, here are my cards. I think I did a little bit too much sponging around the buck.

And my second card. I'm not sure that I got what I was trying to do on the dove. Everyone thought it looked great.

Our next swap is sometime in October. We don't have a date yet or where it will be held. These sure are fun and the ladies are all so neat. I thoroughly enjoy being around them.

SCS Card Swap-Whipper Snapper & Penny Black Stamps

I received my cards from the hostess of this Whipper Snapper & Penny Black Stamps swap the other day. I finally got the pictures taken.





I signed up for one Penny Black spot so I got 5 cards back. This first one was made by Gay. It is all sparkly. I love it! Loretta. So cute.

This is a square easel card made by Jean. Another cute card.

Leslie's hedgehog. I have this stamp. I love the color scheme she used.

Carol. Sweet Sheltie being led by a hedgehog. The whole image was cut out and popped up.

I signed up for 2 spots of the Whipper Snapper stamps so I got back 10 cards. This first one is by Carol. The turtles are adorable.

Here's the inside of the card.

Laurie. The sweetest scarecrow I've ever seen. :) It's a larger card so she included an envelope.

Lisa. She left some space for a sentiment. So cute!

Loretta. I got 2 Whipper Snapper cards and 1 Penny Black card from her. The image is completely cut out. Love the goggly eyes! :)

This is the other Whipper Snapper one from Loretta. The head of the cow was cut out and popped up. This is a seriously cute card...makes me smile. :)

Terry. I absolutely adore this card. Need to figure out how she made the flower.

Evelyn. She cut the image out and added a bbq fork brad. So cute!

Laura. Another adorable card.

Heather. Love the colors she used and the nesties she used to cut the layers.

Adelle. Another adorable card. That little pup is the cutest thing.

Another great swap.