Family notes and a hidden message

At the retirement party, Laura's son, daughter in law and grandsons wrote notes of love and praise. In big letters across the page reads N I C K. Afterwards, I added some 'Blessings' and a quote about mothers and hidden in the blue folder is a heart in a hand. I left post it notes in spots where I wanted people to write and Brook wrote underneath the acetate tag.

Lots of odds and ends

For this layout I pulled out all kinds of things I had around. The red bird in the corner was made with embossing paste years ago and waited to be put on a card. The birdhouse was cut from an envelope for a card Layli received. The metal corners and perfect fit acetate tag came from the dollar store! And I fit in some of my DeNami stamps. Kudos for Kerri for suggesting an old Art Impressions border stamp that matched the tag decor.

The final page

The final page. On the left side Layli added a beautiful poem. Though I promised her I'd block off the rest of the page, I didn't do it before someone else wrote on it. I added my first attempt at doodling in an art journal to break up the sections. The teal bird is cut from fabric and I loved it.

I'll will figure this out!

OK, I'm having some problems getting this settled right but I will figure this out. There has to be a way to delete that sideways photo. (which I later figured out)

In the meantime, these cards were motivated by a desire to use the scraps of Memory Box papers. Most come in 6x6 sheets and as you make A2 cards, you end up with strips of these beautiful papers. Plus, these papers generally sell out and you can't get more. You know what that means? I can't throw away the strips. So I intentionally made cards motivated to use the strips, like the hearts. The photos can't do justice to these beautiful papers.

More Memory Box

Memory Box Samples

I'm in love with the simple elegance of Memory Box rubber stamps and their beautiful artistic papers. Here are some quick and easy cards featuring their product.

The first card features Tattered Angels shimmer spray in olive green, peach and gold. I like using cards with unusual folds because I make so many basic A 2 size cards. The second card features a beautiful swirl/bird paper from Stampin' Up! and swarovski crystals. There is some glittering Stickles on the cards but they didn't show up well in the photo. I love both of these stamps.

DeNami Color Challenge

DeNami Designs has posted their first color challenge. This was a fun challenge and several great designs were submitted. I hope you enjoy my first ever published pieces.

For the first card, I was fortunate to find this lime citrus paper from Stampington & Co in the current issue of Take Ten.

Stamp the butterfly border stamp with Versafine Vintage Sepia on lime green papered paper. Color the butterflies with a Tombow magenta marker and top with a pink gelly roll glitter pen. Color the flowers with a green gelly roll glitter pen. Add clear Stickles to the dots in the border. Adhere magenta rick rack across the top. Add a strip of A Muse shimmer brown paper decorated with a Fiskars paper trimmer. This is my favorite of the three cards I designed with this color scheme.

For the floral card, top a kraft card with a white layer and then a magenta shimmer vellum layer. The magenta layer is trimmed with a Fiskars paper trimmer and has a white sheer ribbon run between the slots and tied into a bow.

Stamp the flower trio with Versafine Vintage Sepia on a lime layer and adher to a white layer. Color with magenta and lime Tombow markers. Add A Muse brown pearls in the center of the flowers. Add lime dew drops to the side of the flower panel.

Stamp the birdhouse trio on white cardstock with Versafine Vintage Sepia and roughly cut. Color the birdhouses with brown tone Tombow markers. Color the hearts and grass with gelly roll glitter magenta and green markers. Add A Muse brown pearls to the birdhouses. Stamp the birdhouses again on a textured magenta paper. Cut the hearts of the birdhouses and glue to the white layer.

Adhered the piece to a layer of magenta textured paper which had the corners punched with a corner rounder. Add a strip of shimmer brown card stock that has two corners punched with the corner rounder is adhered to one side. Adhere the entire piece to a lime green card. Tie white sheer ribbon across the top and tie into a bow.

Great colors; great choice Nami. Thanks for the challenge.