Sympathy Card

Sadly, I had to make my first sympathy card. Jared's stepmother's mother passed away. :(
No matter how long and good a life a person has lived, we can't help but miss them and wish they could stay even longer. I know a card doesn't make life easier, but it's a gesture that his father and stepmother are in our thoughts, so I hope it brings at least a minimal amount of comfort. They are very loved.

In this card:
Card stock - Soft Sky (base), River Rock and White
Stamps - SU! Baroque Motifs, SU! Define Your Life, SU! Garden Silhouettes (retired)

Froggy Swap

I finished my froggy themed card, finally! I was getting worried, because I couldn't figure out how to finish it exactly. So here it is:



I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I ran the card base through Nicole and KC's Cuttlebug - which is an awesome tool by the way! You use it to cut a shape, emboss a shape, or cut then emboss shapes with the inspired designs available exclusively with Cuttlebug cutting and embossing dies. Then I used Nicole's Lily Pad roller and colored it and cut out a section. I used water color techniques and I finished off the lilies with Crystal Effects which is officially my favorite add on - it's so shiny and soft.

In this card:
Card stock - Wasabi Green (base), Brilliant Blue, Yo Yo Yellow and White
Stamps - SU! Lily Pad, SU! Very Punny (retired), Hero Arts ?

Wedding Bells

Love is in the air, and it's not just my own wedding that is coming up! I know plenty of people who are tying the knot, so I decided to make a wedding card and am very happy with the way it came out. I used my SU! DSP and a new stamp set my friend KC gave me.

In this card:
Card stock - River Rock (base), Ginger Blossoms DSP and White
Stamps - SU! Together Forever

Happy Diversion

So the other night my best friend Nicole and I were planning to work on some wedding stuff (flower girl baskets), but instead decided to make some cards. :)

We made a couple of really cute ones!

This first one is Nicole's. It's adorable. I especially love the use of SU! hodgepodge hardware with the ice blue brads. We also bought a ton of ribbon at Michael's, and I did the bow for her. I'm pretty ok with bows :)



Mine was a little more low key, but I like it. I made it for my brother's birthday which is on Labor Day. It's a 3x3 with a little piece of wire for the balloon string.

In this card:
Card stock - Rose Red (base), Summer Picnic DSP and White
Stamps - SU! Birthday Whimsy (SAB)

New find - Kaiser Craft

I found a great website called Kaiser Craft. I found their site when I was going through a scrap booking magazine focused on mini albums. They carry lots of embellishments, chipboard, and albums. The best thing about their site is that they have a free workshop magazine with alot of great ideas, so be sure to check it out. I think I want to try and be more adventurous and see what other things I can create. :)

eBay is killing me

I found a really cute stamp on eBay. The company that made it is called Hero Arts, and seems to be somewhat popular. Take a look at the stamp I got and you'll see why - it's simple but adorable! It was a whole set but I only bought the frog (even though the rest of the set is just as adorable). Generally I don't care too much about frogs, but I like this one. Now that I have it, I've joined another swap, this time for frog cards. This isn't a newbie swap, so I have to make sure to do a good job. I've already started some ideas, but just haven't settled on anything yet.

Stamp Culture in Japan

Going back to my previous rant about wanting to go to Japan (for stamp research, yeah...and because it's AWESOME). I found a website that talked a little bit about how rubber stamps there are used very often, and lots of rubber stamps have been created to commemorate special events, as a tribute to historical monuments and simple things like marking your train pass. It was interesting to see how detailed they were for things that seem so mundane, like riding a train.

http://www.dotpattern.com/artwerk/rubber-stamps/japan-rubber-stamps.html