It's a Card-Makin' Day!

I think I've mentioned before how much Smith and Wesson like sitting under my Ott task light when I'm trying to be creative. Today was no exception. I managed to get one card made before Wesson had parked his buttocks under the warmth of the lamp.

It was okay while he was sitting off to one corner of my work table since I still had the majority of it to work with.

Then the little bugger decided he'd take a bath while enjoying the warm light. Smith slept through the entire thing, which is unusual. He's usually the one beating a path to the light as soon as it comes on!

This card is one that my Mom made as one of her Christmas cards this year. We worked on them last Saturday and they turned out GORGEOUS! We started with a card base of Pale Plum. The large snowflake from "Snow Swirled" was stamped on another, slightly smaller, piece of Pale Plum in Pale Plum classic ink. We matted that on a slightly larger piece of Chocolate Chip. A piece of Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon was added about 1/3 of the way from the top of the card. The tree (Lovely As A Tree) was stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink on Pale Plum CS and was heat embossed using the Heat and Stick Powder. While that was still warm, we sprinkled Fine Cosmo glitter in Orchid on it. We tapped the excess off and heated the image again to set the glitter. That piece was matted on Chocolate Chip CS and then added to the front of the card. The sentiment comes from the "To You And Yours" stamp set and was stamped in Chocolate Chip classic ink on Pale Plum CS and then punched using the small oval punch. The large oval punch and Chocolate chip CS were used to create a mat for the sentiment and it was added to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here is a close-up of the card, although neither of these photos do this card justice. It is absolutely STUNNING in real life!

Ok... so that last card was done in non-traditional colors, but I wanted to get REALLY funky with it! Here I stamped the same tree in Taken With Teal craft ink on Pink Passion CS and heat embossed it using the Heat & Stick Powder again. While it was still warm I added the Turquoise Fine Cosmo glitter and tapped off the excess. I heated the image again to set the glitter. The back panel on this card was stamped using the same image from Snow Swirled, only I stamped it in Whisper White craft ink this time. The card base is Whisper White and the other panels are done in Tempting Turquoise and Pink Passion. This is definitely funky and, although I like it, it probably won't be the card I send out this year.

Here's the closeup of the glitter on this one and, again, the photo just doesn't do the bling any justice!

This is my favorite card of the day. It just looks so stinkin' fun! I wanted to participate in Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge and this stamp set came to mind immediately! my card base is Bashful Blue. The patterned paper panel is Frosty Day Designer Series Paper from this year's Holiday Mini Catalog, matted on Close to Cocoa CS. The main image was stamped from the "Holiday Lineup" stamp set. I used my AquaPainter and Bashful Blue classic ink pad to create a shadow behind these guys. Once that was dry (I'm impatient and used my heat tool) I colored the image using Stampin' Write Markers in Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, and Close to Cocoa. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip classic ink on Whisper White CS and punched out with the 1" circle punch. Mats were created in Tangerine Tango and Close to Cocoa using the Spellbinders Nestabilities. A piece of Tangerine Tango striped grosgrain ribbon was added behind the sentiment before adding it to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.

This card started with a Kraft card base and uses the Ski Slope DSP. This also follows Beate's layout for her weekend sketch challenge. The DSP was matted on Chocolate Chip CS, as were the main image and the Felt Flurries embellishment. The main image was stamped in Chocolate Chip classic ink on Whisper White CS. The edges were sponged with Baja Breeze classic ink and a sponge dauber. I used my two-way glue pen on the dove to add Dazzling Diamonds. A rhinestone brad from the Pretties Kit was added to the center of the snowflake. I used my Signo White Gel Pen to add "swirlies" around the edges of each piece before adding them to my card front. A piece of Chocolate Chip felt ribbon from the Alpine Ribbon Originals (Holiday mini Catalog 2008) was added to finish the card off.

Hope you've enjoyed my cards and more cat antics! Toodles!