Dreams are a Wish your Heart Makes

I made this card for yesterday's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The image is from Crafty Secrets 'Sweet Kids'. The card stock colors are white, Wild Wasabi, and Regal Rose. The designer paper is from DCWV Nana's Nursery 'Baby Girl'. The sentiment and hat are popped up on dimensionals. There are Stickles on the hearts. Ribbon and Adhesive Crystals were added for embellishment.


I'm having major Internet problems today. I've had to shut off and reboot my computer three times already and I am really tiring of it, so I'm going to say a quick goodbye before I lose my temper and throw a shoe through my computer screen. LOL! Have a great day! Amy

Blue and White

Here are a couple of cards that I made for challenges that only use two colors: Blue and White. Blue and White is a Classic Color Combo that never goes out of style. That's why I designed my kitchen with it, because kitchen's are so expensive to renovate and I didn't want to have to keep re-doing it every 10 years because it becomes 'dated'. For example, just a wait a few years when those granite counter tops that are all the rage right now become the harvest gold and orange counter tops of the 70's that we now all despise! LOL! Anyway, onto my cards.

For my first card I used last week's sketch from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge (SC225). I know its April, but as most of you already know, I make five Christmas Cards a month so I don't have to make them all at once during the month of November. This is one of this month's five Christmas Cards. The image is from Crafty Secrets 'Sweet Kids' and is mounted up on dimensionals. The snow is Liquid Applique. And I used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder to create the Snowflakes.

My second card was created for this week's Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. The Featured Stamper is Wattle, and you can see her card here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1219067 I kept the same layout, used the same butterfly stamp, but changed the colors, papers, and sentiment stamp. I also added pearls to the heads of the butterflies. I used the Martha Stewart Lace Border Punch on the Stampin Up! Bashful Blue Designer Paper. There are blue adhesive rhinestones in the corner. The butterflies are glued down only on their bodies and I bent the wings up.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my cards today! Have a great day! Amy

Digital Tuesday Challenge #4 "April Showers Bring May Flowers"

Good Morning Everyone! Today I have some news to share with you. I was asked to be on the Digital Tuesdays Challenge Blog Design Team. Every Tuesday, a new challenge is issued using Digital Stamps and I am this week's hostess. If you've never heard of digital stamps before, they are FANTASTIC. Instead of using a rubber stamp, you 'buy' the image off the internet and download it to your computer. You just print the image out on card stock when you want to use it. The best part is that you can print the image to ANY SIZE YOU WANT! And, what a space saver if you don't have much crafting space to store rubber stamps. Its very inexpensive too! Most Digital Images only cost around $3.00 each!

This week's challenge is 'April Showers Bring May Flowers'. Simply create a card or project using digital images that have rain or flowers on it, or simply evokes a 'feeling' of a storm or a beautiful spring day. The winner will receive three free images of their choice from this week's sponsor Dustin Pike http://dustinpike.blogspot.com/. One lucky winner will be chosen by random next Tuesday. If you'd like to play along with this challenge, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Blinkie in my sidebar, and it will take you right to the blog.

Here is the card I made for the challenge. I chose this GORGEOUS Digital Image by Digital Stamp Oasis called 'Susie Squirrel in the Rain". You can find her images by going clicking on the Digital Stamp Oasis Blinkie in my sidebar. For my card, I colored the image with Copic Markers. I printed the image out twice so I could cut out and mount up the daisy so it has a lot of dimension. There is a side view picture below so you can get a better idea of the what the dimension looks like in real life. The papers are all Stampin Up!: White, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue Designer Paper. I mounted up both the main image panel, and the designer paper panel. The White panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder.

I hope you have time to join us and play along! Its a lot of fun, and you may win some free images too! Have a great day! Amy

Shout Out to Sheetload!

Hi Everyone! I worked all weekend so I wasn't able to make anything new to show. Hopefully this afternoon I'll be able to get something done to post tomorrow. But I did want to post a Shout Out to Sheetload! I know I've done this before, but for those of you who haven't checked out the April issue yet, you must head on over to http://sheetload.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-2009-sheetload-of-cards-sponsored.html and check it out! This month sketch is great and there are some great samples using Greeting Farm images. For those of you unfamiliar with Sheetload of Cards, every month they put out a FREE issue contain a sketch and the dimensions needed to make just one card or a Sheetload of them! There are also fabulous examples of cards made using that month's sketch. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and check it out!

Hoppy Birthday!

Whew! It was HOT today! In the 80's! I tell you, first I'm whining Spring will never come, next thing you know, I'm complaining that its too hot. Well, it was. But now a storm is moving in and its going to rain for several days and be back down into the 50's again. Much more Spring-like temperatures for Northern Wisconsin.

My card today was made for both the sketch and color challenges on Paper Craft Planet. The card stock colors are Very Vanilla, White, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Garden Green, and Night of Navy. I HAD NO IDEA HOW I WAS GOING TO MANAGE GETTING THAT MANY COLORS ON ONE CARD, but I did: by using them all sparingly. The image is from The Stamp Pad Company and is colored with Copics. The sentiment is computer generated. The Pale Plum base is stamped with the retired Stampin Up! set 'Stitched'. I hand drew the dots and faux-stitching with a marker. The butterfly is a Cuttlebug die. There are stickles on the flowers of the image. The dots on the six Very Vanilla strips are adhesive crystals.

Have a great day. Amy

From One Bag to Another

First of all, for all you people who have been nagging me to change my header because it wasn't winter anymore, notice my new picture? It finally warmed up a bit here in Northern Wisconsin and a small patch of spring flowers bloomed so I took a quick picture so you'd all stop nagging me! LOL! Its not the best photograph in the world, and you can't see my Blog Title very well, so it won't last long. As soon as more flowers start to bloom, it will be changed again, but at least for now there is no longer a winter picture in my header. Alleluia! Winter is over, SPRING is here!

Now onto the details of my card. I made the card for the Splitcoaststamper's Sketch Challenge. The image is from Crafty Secrets 'Coffee and Tea' and is mounted up on dimensionals. Don't you just love the sentiment with this image? How hysterical is that? The card stock colors are White, Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, and Chocolate Chip. The designer paper is Basic Grey.

Well that's all for today. I don't work today so I'm off to spend a few hours in my craft room, then I'll go outside and continue to work in the garden enjoying God's beautiful creation, then off to Card Making Class at my local scrap booking store. What a wonderful day it will be doing all the things I love to do! God Bless! Amy

Visit this New Blog!

I just popped in and visited a brand new blog called Crystal Crafts A-lot, isn't that a cute title? It would definately describe me! She is offering up some great blog candy right now too! To visit her blog go here: http://crystalk.bk.blogspot.com/. Have fun visiting, I know I did!

His Holy Name Challenge #6 and Scripture Challenge Words # 11 and #12

Yikes! I keep getting farther and farther behind on Patter Cross's Challenges ('Triple the Scraps')! She is on Week 8 already, and I just finished Week 6! LOL! I was just so busy making cards for the local consignment store, I didn't have the time. But here is Week 6, and sorry about the bad photographs, that's what happens when I photograph early in the morning: the light is too blue and gives a blueish-cast to my cards. Trust me, they are much prettier in real life. LOL!

The first picture is of my 6 x 6 scrapbook page, that when completed with the year-long challenge will become a book of all the names of God. This week's Name was 'Almighty'. I chose the verse "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty' from Psalm 91:1. I chose a tree (Stampin Up! 'Season of Friendship) as my main image because a tree represents shelter for both animal and human life. I hand drew the grass.

For my first card (the second picture) the scripture word was 'Listen'. When I tried to think of an image that symbolized the word 'Listen' to me I thought immediately of the grass image from Stampin Up! 'Inspired by Nature'. I have some ornamental grasses in my garden and on a breezy day I just love the sound of it as it blows in the wind. My daughter took a video camera outside one summer day and accidentally captured this beautiful image and sound on her camera. It really touched me, the simple beauty of it all. And it reminded me of God and how His voice is in the wind. The verse I picked is 'Listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him' Deuteronomy 30:20. The butterflies are Cuttlebug Dies.

For my last card, the scripture word was 'Live'. We just heard an amazing message of 'Hope' at church last Sunday, so I really wanted to use this image as a remembrance of that message. The image is retired Stampin Up! 'Symbols of Salvation'. It is colored with SU! markers and water. The colors are from this week's color challenge on Splitcoaststampers: Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, and Basic Grey. For some reason, I really didn't like this color combo and couldn't even find a card in the SCS gallery that I really liked with this color combo either. I just don't think the two pinks go together very well. I don't like this card very much, but I posted it anyway because I like the message, and I'm sure someday I'll give this card to someone who will appreciate for the message, even though its not the most beautiful card in the world. LOL! The computer generated sentiment reads: 'We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor. 5:7. I embossed the background with 'Floral Screen' from Cuttlebug. I put Stickles all over the surrounding areas of the cross and in the flower centers. Both the main image and sentiment are mounted up on dimensionals.

Well its suppose to be a beautiful Spring Day here in Wisconsin, so after I work in my craft room and do a few household chores, I hope to get out in my garden. You can sure I will be listening for God's Voice in the wind and the music of the birds. God Bless! Amy

Challenge Cards

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA for a few days, but I've been super busy with work and all of my son's many activities. Spring is a busy time in the garden, and as many of you already know, I have a HUGE perennial flower garden, so I might have to spend a lot less time in my craft room until the spring gardening chores are done. Its too wet to work outside today, so hopefully I can make a few cards before I go to work tonight.

Both of my cards for today's post are for Splitcoaststampers (SCS) Challenges. The first card is for both the sketch and color challenge. The image is Stampin Up! 'Season of Friendship'. I put little adhesive crystals in the centers of all the flowers. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. The card stock and ink colors are: Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, and Close to Cocoa.

My second card is for the Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. This week's featured stamper is jaymerz, you can see her original card here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1260426?cat=500+ppuser=86428 I changed the paper, sentiment, buttons and eliminated the piercing and sidewalk (only because I have no idea how she made the sidewalk, but I sure wish I knew!) otherwise its the exact same card and layout. Why mess with a good thing?

Have a great day! Amy

Just a Few More Mother's Day Cards

I have a few more Mother's Day Cards to show you. The first one uses the same sketch I used for a Sympathy Card in my previous post. The image is from retired Stampin Up! 'Heartspeak'. The sentiment is from the new Papertrey Mother's Day Set. The background is retired Stampin Up! 'French Script'. Card stock colors are Elegant Eggplant, Pink Pirouette, and white. The image was colored with Copic Markers and I put Stickles on the flowers.

My second card also uses an image from 'Heartspeak'. It is mounted up on dimensionals and colored with Copic Markers. The Papertrey sentiment is stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink directly on the designer paper. The large flower and small flower attached to the stamped image panel are actually 3D stickers. The card stock colors are Certainly Celery, Pink Pirouette, and White. I used a Ticket Corner Punch to create the corners, and then applied adhesive pearls.

My third card also uses an image from "Heartspeak". The card stock colors are Bashful Blue and White. I ran the White Panel through the Cuttlebug using the 'Swiss Dots' Embossing Folder. Lace, ribbon, and dew drops were added for embellishment.

My last card I'm not crazy about, but I'm posting it anyway. The sketch is from Paper Craft Planet, but I don't really like it and struggled with it, that's probably why my card turned out so poorly. The image is from Penny Black, and the colors are also from this week's Color Challenge on PCP: Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, and Very Vanilla. I used the Stampin Up! Scalloped Border Punch to create the border under the image. A Coluzzle was used to create the ovals for the sentiment.

I'm almost done with Mother's Day Cards. Yesterday I've dropped off all the cards I've made so far at the Consignment Store, but since Mother's Day is the Number 1 Card Giving Holiday of the year, I think I need to make a few more. So bear with me if your tired of seeing Mother's Day Cards. Have a great day! Amy

More Sympathy Cards

I don't know what is going on in my little community, but there have been a lot of funerals lately and the demand for Sympathy Cards has greatly increased. I just dropped a huge bunch of sympathy cards off at the consignment store a month ago, and I've already had to make another batch. So unfortunately, I have more Sympathy Cards to show today.

The first card uses an image from the retired Stampin Up! (SU!) set 'Heartspeak'. I used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder for the top edge. The designer paper is unknown. I stamped the sentiment from retired SU! 'Brighter Tomorrow' directly on it. Card stock colors are Mellow Moss, Blue Bayou, and White. The image is colored with Prismacolored Pencils and Gamosol and is mounted up on dimensionals.

The second card uses the retired image from SU! 'Touch of Nature'. It is colored with Copic Markers. The card stock colors are Blush Blossom, White, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, and Mellow Moss. The flowers are from Martha Stewart's Wedding Collection, I just colored them with Copic Markers and put a adhesive crystal in the center. All the backgrounds were embossed with Cuttlebug Embossing Folders.

The third card uses a stamp from Inkadinkado. I colored it with Copic Markers and put Stickles in the flower centers. Adhesive crystals are from Martha Stewart. Card stock colors are White, Pretty in Pink, and Wild Wasabi.

I cased my fourth card from an SCS gallery but unfortunately have since lost the link. This image is also from the "Heartspeak" stamp set and is colored with Copics. The background is retired SU! 'French Script' stamped in Blue Bayou ink. I used a Sizzix Photo Corner die and put blue adhesive crystals on it. Sentiment is from 'The Stamp Pad Company'.

My fifth card uses a sentiment from 'Stampabilities'. It is stamped in Lovely Lilac Ink and is mounted up on dimensionals. The poppies in the background is actually unknown designer paper. The butterfly is a sticker that I attached to card stock and just glued the body of the insect down so its wings are popped up. This card is so much prettier in real life because the wings of the butterfly have glitter on them and it really 'sparkles'! Card stock colors are Almost Amethyst, Mellow Moss, and White. Adhesive pearls and ribbon were added for embellishment.

For my sixth card, I cased the layout from an SCS gallery, but changed just about everything else. The daisies are from Stampin Up! 'Upsy Daisy' and are stamped in Bashful Blue ink. Card stock colors are Kraft, White, Black, and Bashful Blue. The sentiment is mounted up on dimensionals and is stamped in Close to Cocoa Ink. Brads and ribbon were added for embellishment.

My seventh card also uses another message from 'Heartspeak'. What a versatile set it is, heh? The designer paper is basic grey. Card stock colors are white, Close to Cocoa, and Pink Pirouette. The image is colored with Copics and mounted up on dimensionals. Sentiment is stamped in Close to Cocoa ink. I used Nestabilities to create the scalloped square. The four corners of the card are pierced. Ribbon was added for embellishment and Stickles were applied to the flowers in the heart.

My eighth card uses an image from the retired Stampin Up! set 'Symbols of Salvation'. Card stock colors are White, Basic Grey, Black, More Mustard and Summer Sun. I colored the image with Copics and applied Stickles to the center of the cross so its really sparkly in real life. The photo corner is a Sizzix die. The More Mustard background was embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Textiles' Embossing Folder. Ribbon was added for embellishment.

For my ninth card, I actually cased the layout for this card from my good on-line friend Susan and her blog Susan's Day Off. Just click on the link in my blog list in the right side bar if you'd like to pay her blog a visit. Susan loves Clean and Simple Cards, and I really needed some Clean and Simple Design Ideas since I had to make so many cards! LOL! My background of flowers on my card is actually designer paper from DCWV 'The Spring Stack'. Card stock colors are Bashful Blue, Rose Red, and White. The butterfly is a Cuttlebug die with an adhesive crystal on its head. I cut out the circles with Nestibilities.

For my tenth and FINAL card, I used the sketch from last week's Paper Craft Planet (PCP) sketch challenge. Yes, I actually 'wove' the card stock strips. It wasn't fun. LOL! I can promise you I won't do that too often, even though I love the card and how it turned out. I think it has a great modern look to it. The card stock colors were also last week's Color Challenge on PCP, they are: White, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Yo Yo Yellow, Bashful Blue, and Riding Hood Red. It was probably THE MOST CHALLENGING COLOR COMBO I have ever done, but the easiest way to work with challenging color combos is to use LOTS OF WHITE! LOL! The Butterflies are Cuttlebug dies with adhesive crystals on them.

Well I hope you enjoyed looking at my cards, but I really hope is that you won't need to use any of them anytime soon. Have a great day! Amy

SCS Challenge Cards

Good Morning! So did everyone have a nice Easter? I did, which is unusual for me. I usually always experience a let down every holiday because it never measures up to what I expect it to be. This year, I didn't think of Easter as anything more than a regular day, and you know what, I actually enjoyed it. Maybe that's the trick to holidays. Don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed. LOL! For our holiday, we first went to the Easter Breakfast Buffet at our church. I made Breakfast Burritos, but I never got to even taste them, they were gobbled up so fast by the church members! LOL! Oh well, I can always make more for myself later. Then we attended our church's service and it was actually really good. The pastor preached a great message and there was special music and drama. For the afternoon I just went outside and enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine for a change and worked in my garden. It felt so good to be in nature again and feel the warmth of the sun. Then I came in about 3:00 and started putting together an Easter Dinner for the three of us (my husband, son and me). My daughter Ashley stayed at college. She had a lot of paid singing gigs and lots of homework to do. But even though it was just the three of us, we had a very pleasant dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. And although my seventeen year old son never thanked me for the meal, I knew he appreciated it when he groaned in ecstasy at every bite! LOL!

Well I hope you all had good Easter Celebrations also. Now onto my cards. My first card was made for the Featured Stamper Challenge on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) and the monthly Christmas Card Challenge. The Featured Stamper this week is Inge. I had never heard of her before, but I'm sure glad she was chosen as the Featured Stamper so I could be introduced to her wonderful work. You can see Inge's original card here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/701892?cat=500+ppuser=107578 I changed the colors, papers and stamp sets, but basically kept the same layout and concept. The stamp set I used is retired Stampin Up! 'Sweet Seasons'. Card stock colors are white, Chocolate Chip, and Brocade Blue. I put Liquid Applique on the tree, ground, and the boy's hat. The image is colored with Prismacolored Pencils and Gamosol. And would you believe there are four different sheets of designer paper on this card? They all match so perfectly, it doesn't look busy! They are all pre-glittered and are from 'My Mind's Eye Signature Christmas Stack'. The snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch.

My second card is for Saturday's Inspiration Challenge on SCS. The postcards from Grandin Road was my Inspiration Piece. To make my card, I took a piece of designer paper by Brenda Walton and stamped the retired Stampin Up! background image 'French Script' on it. The main image is retired Stampin Up! 'Measure of a Life' and is colored with Prismacolored Pencils and Gamosol. I put stickles on the dragonfly's wings and mounted it up on dimensionals. Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, and Pink Pirouette are the card stock colors. Ribbon and Dew Drops were added for embellishment. The words around the dragonfly read 'To everything there is a season and a time to every activity under heaven Eccl.3:1'. The inside of the card says 'With Sympathy'.

Have a wonderful day! Amy

Mother's Day Cards

I know its a tad bit early for Mother's Day Cards, but I will be making about twenty cards for my local consignment store and I thought I'd better show you a few of them now or it will be a very long post if I show them all to you at once! LOL! Plus, if you see them now, you'll get some ideas for your own Mother's Day Card.

The first card uses both the sketch and color challenges on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) this week. The image is retired Stampin Up! 'Tu Tu Terrific'. The sentiment is computer generated, and the inside of the card reads 'I'd pick you. Happy Mother's Day'. Both of the squares are mounted up on dimensionals. The card stock colors are white, So Saffron, and Bashful Blue. The Designer Paper is SU! Bashful Blue. The white panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder 'Swiss Dots'.


My second card was made for the Technique Challenge on SCS. It is a Flower Pot Pocket Card. Card Stock Colors are Really, Rust, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Rose Red, Pale Plum and Lavender Lace. I used all Cuttlebug Dies to make the Flowers, tag, and lattice trim. The leaf is a punch by Martha Stewart. Sentiments are from Papertrey.

For my third card, I paper pieced the image from My Favorite Things. The sentiment is from Papertrey. Card Stock colors are Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, and Certainly Celery. I used the SU! Scallop Border Punch on the DCWV 'Baby Girl Nursery Stack' Designer Paper.

My fourth card is actually a card I made in a Card Class I take every Tuesday at my local scrap booking store. I did not design it, I just put it together. I just wanted to show you how pretty it was. Its not a stamped image, but a pre-printed image that you cut out and then layer with dimensionals. Stickles were added on the flowers. The inside sentiment is by Papertrey and says 'Mother, Everything I am today, I owe to you because your love showed me the way. Happy Mothers Day'.

My fifth card actually uses an image from a Father's Day Set, but I thought it was appropriate for a Mother's Day Card too. The image is from Stampin Up! 'Thoughts of Father' and is colored with Prismacolored Pencils and Gamosol. Card stock colors are Certainly Celery, white, Mellow Moss, and Bayou Blue. Designer paper is unknown. The Mellow Moss Card stock was embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and then cut out. Sentiment is from Papertrey.

For my final card I used a retired Stampin Up! image from 'Abundant Joy'. I colored the image with Copics and put Stickles in the flowers. The frame was cut with Nestabilities and is mounted up on dimensionals. The white lace border was done with a Martha Stewart Punch. Card Stock colors are Wild Wasabi, Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant and white. The Elegant Eggplant panel is embossed with the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. The jewel in the center of the Prima Flower is from Martha Stewart 'Weddings'.

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter! God Bless! Amy

First Holy Communion Cards

Although I am not Catholic, there are many Catholics in our Community that have requested First Holy Communion Cards, so I made about twenty of them. I will just show a few of them to you today so you can get some ideas to make cards of your own if you have a loved one who will be celebrating their First Holy Communion also.

The first card uses images from 'Our Daily Bread Designs'. They are a Christian Stamp Company that sells stamps with Christian Images that you can find no where else. I just love all their images and wish I could own them all. They are so beautiful and inspiring. To make this card, I cut the stamped image out and mounted it up on dimensionals. The sentiment is also mounted up. The designer paper is unknown. Card stock colors are Naturals Ivory, Close to Cocoa, and Creamy Caramel.

The second card you might recognize from a previous post. I used the same colors and layout, but just changed the sentiment. The image is from Inkadinkado. Card Stock colors are white, Pretty in Pink, and Kiwi Kiss. I put Stickles on the inside of the flowers.

I wanted to do one card only in white since that is the color the children wear on their special occasion. To make this card, I embossed one of the white panels with the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' Embossing Folder. The image is embossed with Gold Embossing Powder and is mounted up on dimensionals.

The gold card was made using the cross image from the retired Stampin Up! set 'Symbols of Salvation'. I put gold Stickles on the cross so its very sparkly and pretty in real life. The sentiment is also from the 'Holy Communion' stamp set from Our Daily Bread Designs. The Card Stock colors are White, Basic Grey, More Mustard, and So Saffron. The So Saffron panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Textiles' Embossing Folder. Ribbon is from Michaels.

For my final card, I simply the stamped the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant ink. Then I cut out the image and mounted it up on dimensionals.

Have a great day! Amy

A Featured Stamper Christmas Card

This week's Featured Stamper on Splitcoaststampers is one of my all-time favorites: Justwritedesigns! Julie is always so creative and makes the most original designs! Here is her original card: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showtread.php?t=430248 I changed the colors, stamp set, papers, eliminated the leaves and added ribbon, but the overall layout and design is basically the same.

For my card I used the retired Stampin Up! set "Holiday Basics" and "Punches Three". Card stock colors are Bravo Burgundy and Naturals Ivory. The designer paper is from 'My Minds Eye: Signature Christmas Stack'. Ink colors are Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, More Mustard, and Really Rust. I mounted the center Christmas Tree and the image sentiment up on dimensionals. Ribbon is from JoAnn's.

Have a wonderful day! Amy

Graduation Cards

As most of you already know, I make cards and other paper craft project and sell them at a local consignment store in my town. The shop owner asked me to make Graduation Cards, Mother's Day Cards, Holy Communion Cards, Sympathy Cards and Thank You Cards. That was about a month ago, and so far I've only gotten the Graduation Cards done. I made about twenty Graduation Cards, but I'm only featuring some of them today. I have no idea how I'm going to finish all the other cards. Between working part-time, and taking care of a family and house, there just isn't enough hours in the day! Plus, I really need to get outside and cut down all the winter garden foliage of my 2 acre perennial beds before the daffodils start popping up! Ugh! If only I could live without sleep! LOL!

Anyway, onto the cards. The colors of the major high school in my area is Blue and White, so most of the cards have that color scheme. The other high school colors in the area are red and white, and purple and gold, so you'll see those colors too. I also made some cards with just plain black and white in case someone wanted a card for a graduate that didn't go to any of the local schools. I kept all the cards pretty simple since I was mass-producing and also because half of all the recipients will be boys and I know they don't like a 'fluff'. LOL!

The first card shown I also did in blue and white as shown below. I used my computer to type up the schools name and graduation year. The dry embossing was done with a Cuttlebug and the 'Congrats' Embossing Folder. The 'diploma' is from the retired Stampin Up! set 'Tassel Time' which I bought on Ebay. I also used a graduation cap die from Cuttlebug for the first card.

The second card uses the same 'Tassel Time' set and the new set from Stampin Up! 'Congrats!'

The fourth card also uses 'Tassel Time', but I used the 'hats off' sentiment from the retired Stampin Up! set 'Eventfull'.

The Hat on the fifth card is from 'Tassel Time'. I mounted up the main image panel on dimensionals.

The hat on the sixth card is from 'Eventfull'. It is also mounted up on dimensionals.

I bought this cute stamp on the seventh card at my local scrap booking store but unfortunately cannot read the label on the side of the wood block to let you know what company it is from. The artist's name is Carolee Jones if that helps. I made this card in red/white and purple/gold too but I'm only picturing the Blue and White one. I colored the big star with a silver gel pen so its nice and sparkly in real life. I pierced little holes all around the card using a paper piercer. The diploma is a Cuttlebug Die.

For the eighth card, the hat is from 'Tassel Time' and is mounted up on dimensionals. Sentiment is from 'Congrats'. The stars are adhesive embellishments given to me by my Divine Secret Sister (MaryAnnK) on Splitcoaststampers. Thanks Mary!

I used this months sketch from 'Sheetload of Cards' for my ninth card. The hat is from 'Eventfull', sentiment is from 'Congrats', and the stars are Cuttlebug Dies. The designer paper is unknown. The card stock colors are Naturals Ivory, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Bravo Burgundy.

For my tenth and final card, I used the Caardvarks Sketch Challenge. The stamped background and sentiment are from 'Tassel Time', the year is from retired Stampin Up! 'Brushstrokes Numbers'.

I hope I have given you some ideas for Graduation Cards of your own to make. That time of year is approaching fast!

Have a great day! Amy