Sunday, July 31, 2011

Black Out Bling 4


This card was designed by Kimi of the defunct Island Images.  Kimi now works for Judikins.  It is all black except for the two little grey triangle shadows so I do not think the photo does it justsice.  I ran the large black panel through my cuttlebug with the swiss dot folder, then covered the entire thing in Versamark ink and clear embossing power and heat set.  I then stamped and embossed two more panels one with fern fronds and the other with a dotty pattern which I cut into triangles.  Of course I had to add a few black jewels.  I think it looks like a handome gentlemen in his tuxedo ready to go out for a black tie affair.

JR

Friday, July 29, 2011

Grandma's Lace and Pearls - Bling 3


I think I was channeling my grandma with this one, at least it reminds me of her.  I think I must have been thinking of my grandmother in anticipation of my surgery wishing she were still with us.  She used to make me all my favorite treats when I was little and was the best nurse ever, truly the grandmother that fairytales are made of.  The lacy center is by Prima, the other pearls are by Martha Stewart, patterned paper by K & Co., distressed ink by Tim Holtz and lace stamp by Heartfelt Creations.

JR

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Asian Bling 2


I used Hanko paper and Prima pearls in this gatefold card.  I am just loving these pearls.  Prima is great!  Plus I love, love, love Hanko paper, especially the linen texture no embossing folders needed.  The patterned washi paper is also Hanko and I used a paper cutter here rather than tearing it, but you can still see the little stray fibers.  I decided I can live with that.  What do you think?

JR

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Home Healing

I am home with my knee up, wrapped and iced and being well taken care of.  I am still a bit out of it and taking lots of naps.  Thank you to all who were praying for me and wishing me well.  It helped me through.  I hope I am up crafting and out and about soon.  More bling scheduled for tomorrow.

JR

Monday, July 25, 2011

Christmas in July - Bling Series 1


Today I am having some surgery on my knee so I prepared a few BLING posts ahead of time and scheduled them to post over the next week or so.  I really love jewels, pearls, glitter and all kinds of bling and feel like they are especially useful when I am in a hurry or do not know what to do to finish a card.  So this is the first card in my bling series which contains all easy cards that I put together one weekend not too long ago.
This card was made for my local stamp club swap this month.  As you can see our theme was Christmas in July.  I saw this stylised wreath made by Denami and thought I might as well go Denami all the way.  The stamps and paper are by Denami - simple elegance.  The jewels were purchased at JoAnn's in a very big bag that I store in a huge pickle jar on the shelf about my work bench.

Hope you are all having a sparkling day.
JR

JR

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Happy Birthday - Asian Style


I love these coins with the hole in the middle and I wanted to make it the focal point of the card.  hope you like it.

JR

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Alcohol Ink Lady

I wish I could get this much volume in my hair!  The lady stamp was done in a class ages ago, so I finally glued things together.  The background panel on this card was made with alcohol ink. 

JR

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Hero Arts Be Silly

This card is simple and fun.  Hero Arts has many stamps that are great fun to play with.  I hope you are enjoying summer.

JR

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Tea For Three


I am staying home this weekend as the freeway near my house is closed for the weekend and that means it will be difficult to get anywhere.  So I made a card similar to one I made in a class ages ago that was taught by the S.I.T. gals, Janis and Alma.  Alma is the owner and artist of "The Cats Pajamas" which has some great whimisical stamps.  You can check out her website by clicking here.  Janis is one of the founding members of my local stamp club, unfortunately their classes are part of the past now.

JR

Friday, July 15, 2011

Praise for Prima Flowers and Pearls


I bought some of Prima's lovely Pearl swirls from Addicted to Rubber Stamps when they were closing and I just love them.  I wish I had bought more of them.  This card was made with K & Co. paper, Kreaxions corner punch, prima flowers, Hero Arts polka dot stamp, gold ink, and a gold Krylon pen combined with Prima flowers to make this quick and easy card.

JR

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Hello From Hero Arts



Happy Wednesday!  I am off to the doctor for some pre-op tests, but thought I would post a quick and easy card made from Hero Arts Stamps.  Have a great day!

JR

Monday, July 11, 2011

BINGO - Christmas in July


Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I was busy creating and will be taking photos and getting them up on the blog soon.  In the meantime I thought it was time for some Christmas in July. 

Those of you who have been following my blog know that my local stamp club has a sister group in South Africa so one of my friends, Janis, and I made Christmas cards to send to them last year using Tim Holtz' bingo embossing folder.  Isn't it lucky (or cleverly planned) that there is a 25 on that Bingo folder.  We used some little stamps from Close to My Heart, some white and green circles that we cut out with my Cricut, some Stickles glitter glue on the 25 and added some ribbon that I purchased from Michaels ages ago.  We only had to make fifteen, but we had quite a little assembly line going that day.

JR

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Pretty In Pink




I found this pretty ribbon at Michael's on a BIG sale after the Christmas holidays and thought it would work for more than Christmas.  I used some Hero Arts images, a gold leafing pen, Copic markers, a jewel and some fabulous Hanko paper and made this card for a Happy Birthday Card swap at my local stamp club.

JR

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Independence Day


Hope you are all enjoying time with your friends and family or doing whatever you like best.  My husband and I will be having a quiet day trying to distract the kidlettes (Lily and Tommy) from any loud firecrackers.

I made this card for a patriotic swap, and threw caution to the wind and took my distress ink pads direct to the paper after embossing my statue of liberty (by Stampin Up) and little white dots for stars.  I tarted up the metal star a bit with some embossing powder and used Tim Holtz' tool for distressing the edge of the panel and blue card stock.  All in all it sure was messy, but I like the result.

Happy 4th of July,
JR

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Patriotic Cards - Sharing cards made by my local stamp group



This card was made by my friend Bonnie.  I believe she did the stars on the white card stock with Versamark ink and chalk.


Donna, our local group's Stampin Up representative, did this card.  Her cards are always great!


This photo simply does not do Metoka's card justice at all.  It was spectacular in person.


Love, love, love those glittered stripes that Kristi did on her card.


Last but not least is Janis' card.  She came over and used my Cricut to cut out the word liberty, but the lady was cut out by hand.  I wish I could color as well as she does.

I think everyone did a fantastic job and just love the variety of cards.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

JR

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Embossing 4 - Brass Stencils and Shimmer Sprays


So this embossing technique was not done with an embossing folder, but with a brass stencil from Dreamweavers.  To emboss using a stencil, be sure to put the stencil face down on the most solid flat plate for your machine (this is so that you do not bend your stencil which would ruin it), then put your lightly misted (with water or alcohol) cardstock, next comes a rubber mat, then another plate or two and/or shims (it varies depending on your machine) and run it through your machine. 

A gold shimmery spray was sprayed on the cardstock after it was embossed and then green ink was sponged on horizontally and vertically in a failed attempt to get a linen look.  The thanks was added with black mat paste onto vellum using another Dreamweaver stencil.  This card was inspired by Rebekka, but I just could not be a good soldier and follow her directions, instead I did my own thing which did not turn out nearly as well as Rebekka's, but I like it anyway.

JR

Friday, July 1, 2011

Embossing Folders 3 - Bling It Up


This time I really got carried away with the bling, I jusst couldn't stop.  If you clilck on the picture it should get larger and you can see it better.  I was surprised by how long it too to add all the bling, but the result was worth it!

JR