Kitty Birthday Card

I have started using Copic markers in my card making this past year.  I am a definite beginner and not very good at it, but hopefully I am improving as time goes by.  The card I made here was for my daughters birthday this past Spring.  She has a cat with coloring very similar to what I tried to create here on this stamped image --- streaks of grays and browns on her coat of fur.

I stamped and then cut out the window image and placed over a striped design embossed piece of green card stock.  The cat was stamped and fussy cut out yet again and popped up over itself for added dimension.  I used numerous Copic marker colors and didn't record any of them, sadly.
You'll notice that the cat seems to be looking elsewhere -- other than at the birds in this stamped image.
I couldn't resist personalizing this card with an appropriate reason why...................

And here it is.   A squirrel!  Cassie, my daughters cat, loves to watch them.  She's an indoor cat -- which I am sure all squirrels are forever grateful for -- but she is absolutely fascinated by them, even more than birds.  So I couldn't resist hiding one inside the card for fun.

Thanks for looking.
~~~ Kathi

All the Best Card

My oldest daughter had a special 'white coat' ceremony at med school earlier this year, and to celebrate this special occasion I gave her this card.  I also made a decorative stick pin shown in the background, attached to the tulle ribbon I put on a vase of flowers for her.

   This card was another one created using microfine glitter as a result of attending a technique class at a great store called Joys of Life Scrapbooking. Treat the glitter just as you do with embossing powder --- use over a special tray or piece of paper and then pour the remainder back into jar.  The microfine glitter is really cool.  It is not gritty at all and does not rub off.  In fact, if you touch it, it has a velvety feel.  Don't confuse it with ultrafine glitter,  microfine is even better yet.   Glitter Ritz is one of the brands. Again, 'dazzle' stickers were used on this card.  A punch was used to create the bottom border.

    I also had fun putting together the stick pin from my stash of glass beads and other metal embellishments.  I think if you click on the picture you can get a better view of the card in the pop up of the pic. The pretty turquoise microfine glitter will show up more clearly in the close up.

  Lisa graduated from med school this past June, and started a 5 year orthopedic surgery residency.
Sooooo proud of her!  Of course I made her graduation card and will eventually post that at some point.
I have so many things yet to post!

Thanks for looking.
~~~ Kathi

Mom's 80th Birthday Card

   This was the year my mom celebrated her 80th birthday, this past February.  So of course I had to give her a handmade card!  I also created a special treat jar to celebrate the occasion too.

I started off using her favorite color: purple.  Next, I choose butterflies for the beginning of a new decade of her life.  Both the butterflies and the gold circle are microfine glitter.  I had just recently attended a class where I had learned various techniques using the special glitter and wanted to try some out on her card. The butterflies are actually 'dazzles' stickers, stuck on an adhesive sheet for the glitter to adhere.  Then they were fussy cut.  And I admit the antennae were VERY tedious to cut, but worth it.  I forget the maker of the doily die - possibly My Favorite Things.  The label dies are Spellbinders.  The velvet ivory ribbon is retired Stampin Up.  I placed 8 pearls across the ribbon to represent each decade of her life.  As usual, it looks much better in real life.

 Here is the treat jar that I made for mom, using her fave color purple again.  I used a wide mouth mason jar.  Made a padded fabric covered lid and stuck coordinating color pearl straight pins on it.  I filled the jar with exactly 80 pieces of wrapped hard candy -  many different kinds.  Gotta love those candy bins at the stores to get a big variety to chose from!  I wrapped a belly band of decorative paper and a trellis designed ribbon (both not pictured) around the jar.  Then topped that with the label pictured here.  I stamped 'Celebrate 80' and then added numerous K & Company embellishments to the label.  I tied lots of ribbons and trim around the neck of the jar to finish it off.

Thanks for looking.
~~~ Kathi

Some Masculine Cards

      Masculine cards always seem more difficult for me to design than feminine ones.   It also seems that stamps and embellishments are more plentiful for designing 'girly cards',  making it even a bit more challenging.  But I need to make a lot of male cards for family and relatives, so I did a lot of searching for inspiration and combined lots of ideas to come up with a few cards.   So here are some of them that I've made this year....................

This card uses a computer laptop stamp from Too Much Fun, stamped in black on gray cardstock.  I then added some white cardstock stamped with the sentiment to the 'screen' of the laptop.  It's difficult to see but the silver background has a silvery sheen and very pretty.  The camera just doesn't pick it up.  I used a striped black and gray ribbon.  I glued a metal decorative disc to the top of a plain paper clip for interest.  The three dots to the left are actually more metal decorative discs that coordinate with the larger one.  

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This card was made for a mechanically inclined relative who really liked this card.  The gears are from Spellbinders.  Not positive on the metal rivet (large background) and diamond plate (gray triangle piece) emboss folders, but I think they are from Sizzix.  I used brads that look like phillips head screws and there are also some mini square brads on the card too.  Sentiment stamped onto some SU punches. Sorry for the lousy pictures.  The camera just isn't picking up the richness of this card at all.  It looks better in real life.

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This card uses a Stampin Up vintage bicycle stamp with copper brads added to the center of each wheel.  The background is embossed and then had distress ink rubbed over the raised areas.  I frayed a piece of burlap and added it.  The edges of both the brown and ivory squares were roughly distressed/sanded for a more vintage look.  A linen ribbon was stamped with the happy birthday sentiment.  The copper button has a linen thread bow added.

Thanks for looking.
~~~ Kathi

Honeycomb Background Birthday Card

    This card was made for my mom to give to her friend, Dee.    It was a May birthday, so I thought the butterflies and flowers along with the soft colors fit well.  My mom told me that Dee really liked this card and marveled at the details added.  It's always nice to find out that someone enjoys my creations.

    I believe everything used is from Stampin' Up.  The butterflies and flowers are from punches.  I curved the butterfly wings to give some dimension.  The sentiment is placed on punches too.  The stamped floral image was cut from SU framelet dies.  It's a bit difficult to see, but the green bow area is topped with a clear button and a linen thread bow.
                                         

Thanks for looking.
~~~  Kathi

Writer's Group Notecard

      I'm finally returning!  It's been more than a year since I've posted here on my blog.   I really didn't intend to be away so long but life got in the way and things like blogging quickly get forgotten by me.  But I hope to remedy this neglect and just jump in with some posts of my past paper crafts.  Part of my problem is getting very detailed with the items I use to create my projects and the tedious job of adding the labels.  Every time I think about having to do that part, well, I just keep putting it off.

      I will do my best with remembering what I used but I won't go into specific names or take the time to keep going into my craft room to look them up.  If you have any questions, just ask and then I can give specifics at that point.   So here we go........................

     I designed this card last year (2012) as a seasonal note card for my mom, who wanted them to send to her fellow writer's in the group that meets twice monthly at her local library.    I made 8 of them exactly alike and they were a big hit.  This year she is requesting another batch of about 10 cards, so I must get my creative thinking cap on again very soon to design another writing-related card.

    The book design is a stamp from Heartfelt Creations.  I used a couple different ones, hand cutting and layering, curling edges, using glue dots, etc to get the look I wanted.  A thin, brown satin ribbon is used as the bookmark.  I forget which stamp I used to get the 'writing' for the book.  The fountain pen stamp used is a retired Stampin Up one, that I can't recall at the moment, but can check on later.  I stamped, gold embossed, and then cut out the pen which was then adhered with  pop dots.

    The poinsettia is a spellbinder die that I also sprayed with gold glimmer mist.  The leaf flourish is from Cheery Lynn, I believe.  The evergreen is a Martha Stewart punch. A mini gold brad was used to hold the poinsettia layers together.  I don't recall the patterned paper but it was distressed with one of the Tim Holtz ink pads to make it look more on the vintage side.  I believe the corner punch was from Fiskars.  I chose it because the point reminded me of the tip of a fountain pen.  :-)

    I wish the picture could be better, but at this point, I'm just glad I remembered to take one!    I will try to post some more projects today.  Then hopefully MUCH more often going forward rather than an entire year between posts.

    Thanks for looking.
      ~~~ Kathi

Nightime Silhouette Card

  I really do love that Stampin Up Square Lattice emboss folder.   So I'm going to show yet another card using it.  This one is an A2 size card made at a recent class held by my SU upline, Stacie. The original designer was someone else, I believe. 
I changed it just a little bit by adding another layer in SU Wisteria Wonder cardstock as the card base instead of the lattice layer itself.   This card uses a masking technique by using a circle punched 'moon'.  The sponging is 3 colors, starting with the lightest color first.  Use a light hand when sponging -- you can always go back and add more.  Stamp the 'birds in tree' twice in black, slightly overlapping, then put down the 'moon' mask, then sponge.  Also had a slight masked line running along top and bottom.  One last note, the 'thinking of you' was stamped first in SU Elegant Eggplant before running through the emboss folder.  Amazingly, the words didn't get distorted by the lattice design.

Cardstock: SU Natural White, Wisteria Wonder, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Eggplant
Inks: SU Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Eggplant
Stamps: SU Serene Silhouettes,  SU Curly Cute
Die Machine: SU Square Lattice emboss folder
Other: temporary tape, paper, circle punch, craft sponge

Thanks for looking,
~~~ Kathi