Bugs Hugs for Hubs!This wee

This week my husband and I celebrated our 41st Anniversary and I made this card for him.  He has always been fastidious when it comes to his wardrobe and when the business offices moved to casual dress, he instituted his own dress code known affectionately as "Dress Up Monday".  Dress Up Monday is topped off with a bowtie and matching sox.  So, the bowtie was a perfect embellishment for his card.  We had the day off work and went to see a movie.  It was a wonderful day with a wonderful man.

Rubber stamps are from Fiskars set Vintage Jar.

The cardstock is a premade card by The Linen Closet available at Joanns.

"with love" stamp placed in stamped frame and airbrushed with Copic markers.  Embellishments are from American Crafts Do It yourself embellishments..

Scotland Forever!

Today's card features a stamp from Highlander Celtic Stamps.  The Vintage Scottish Highland Dancer.  She is airbrushed with Copic markers, surrounded with a wreath of Rubber Stamp Tapestry flowers and foliage in blue and then wrapped in a Spellbinders frame.  The frame is mounted on Graphic 45 paper.  She's a beauty, Aye!

Laughter, Family and Good Times

I have two cards today that were made using Graphic 45 paper and stamps.  I really like the sentiment on this card, it states a real truth.  A fond memory that I have is from when I was a little girl.  My parents had bought a camper and we took it on a trip into the Unaka Mountains of the Smokeys where my ancestors are from.  We camped at a campsite near a log cabin that was built by my great great grandfather, Arch Stewart.  It is in the Cherokee National Forest and the cabin is maintained by the Forest Rangers.  I understand that there was a silent film made that was filmed in this area called "Stark Love" and that some of my musical ancestors were included playing blue grass music.  That night I met a lot of my North Carolina family.  I remember that they had a big campfire and had a very large tree turned on its side with one end laying in the flaming fire and the other stretched out on the grass.  As the end of the tree burned and turned to ashes, they simply pushed the tree further into the fire.  It was a magnificent campfire and lasted all night and longer.  There were many aunts and uncles there along with my grandparents who hadn't seen each other in a long time.  They were truly enjoying each other's company and as I lay in my camper bed listening to them reminisce about their earlier times, my fondest memory is of laughter and how they joked and carried on with each other.  I had occasionally seen this sense of humor in my father, aunt and my grandfather, but to have the whole family together, it was easy to see that this prankish humor was a characteristic carried in the DNA of our family.  They teased each other and laughed it up into the wee hours of the night.  The pictures below are of my grandfather's grandparents, aunts and uncles and grandparents. If they were looking down to earth that starry night, I'm sure they had a big laugh with us.

James Archibald "Arch" Stewart and Katherine "Kate" Ash Stewart.

Cabin built by Arch Stewart near Stratton Meadows in Graham County NC.

J. Arch's son John Fane Stewart with his cousins.  He is the one wearing the boots.

Dollie (Self) Stewart, John Fane Stewart's wife.  Nice fur.

Siblings, Laura (left) and Rhoda Stewart with Grant Stewart.

Grant and Elva (Carver) Stewart

Archibald Benjamin "Ben" and Mary (Carver) Stewart and Family

Dave Stewart, Sis Odum and Dave's wife Brass (Odum) Stewart.

John Wayne card made with Graphic 45 paper.

Clothes Pin Fun

A sweet little backyard scene. 
 A clothesline filled with colorful baby clothes and fun little critters.    It was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, then colored and airbrushed with Copic markers. The sentiment is from the Cloud 9 Baby collection.  

Our curious little woodland friends are stamps from the Art Impressions try-fold collection that were fussy cut and pop dot mounted.

The card was mounted on two layers of solid color coordinated cardstock.

Open the card to find more furry friends inside.

My Polka Dot Chair

I created a card with the Sizzix Base Card that accomodates the Pop 'N Cuts inserts.  The outside is cut without the chair or any other insert, just the plain base card die.   This snapshot is of the outside of the card which I designed to look like the outside of a house with a trellis and vining flowers.  The bricks are created with a Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder.   The flowers are a combination of die cuts and punches layered.  The trellis is from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The picket fence is a Martha Stewart edge punch.  The bricks and flowers were colored with Copic markers using both airbrushing and coloring.

This is the inside of the card.  The base of the card was cut with the diecut base including the chair insert.  The walls are were then cut with the base cut die and chair insert using paper  from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Paper Pad 6 x 6 from American Crafts paper .  I'm uncertain of the name of the floor paper but it came from Hobby Lobby.  The polka dot chair paper is also from American Crafts from the paper pad below.

This is the base die (the larger black piece in the picture).  The smaller black piece is the circle insert which is taken out to cut the base of this card .

Paper used for wallpaper and chair.

Pop 'n Cuts chair insert this piece is placedn the magnetic portion of the die where the circle insert was before it was taken out.

Texture Fades bricks and wood grain.

Cheery Lynn Designs dies Ivy and trellis

Poppy Stamps die for flowers

Martha Stewart picket fence punch

Flowers are colored with Copic markers and layered.  I used the 3/16" Glue dots for the trellis and flowers.  I do wish that they made these in a smaller size.  Sometimes I cut them in half.  The QuicKutz quicker poker picker upper is a great tool for lifting the glue dots off the paper and rolling it to put on the backs of the flowers and trellis.

The sofa table, lamp, picture and throw rug are from this Sizzix embossing folder called "Foyer".  After embossing them, I fussy cut them  out and did some accent coloring and shading with Copic markers.

The girl on the horse is a stamp from Stampscapes colored with Copic Markers.

This sentiment from Cloud 9 Simple Thoughts Baby says it all.  It is airbrushed with Copic markers.

This little one gets photographed every month in her polka dot chair.  The photo was printed on cardstock and fussy cut.  The yellow scissors in the picture below are KAI.  They have the finest point that I have ever seen on a pair of scissors.  I would call them surgical quality....and have stabbed myself more than once.  However, I can cut things with these scissors that I never though possible.  I made the pillow with pop dots and the wallpaper paper.  

 Kia scisscors, Fiskar scissos, Spellbinders label and QuicKutz Quicker-Poker-Picker-Upper which is great for rolling the glue dots to fit on the back of small places..

Cloud 9 Simple Thoughts Baby

Would love to see these glue dots in a smaller size, at least half of this size.

Stampscapes stamp.

A Stampscape Inchie Birthday Card.
Inchies are cards with one inch vignettes.  This is a masculine birthday card made with a layout of 4 inchies using small parts of Stampscape stamps.

Let us Grow Old like Beautiful Lace, Cherished and Treasured and Cared for with Grace

I made this embellishment for a birthday card for my sister.  You can see the full card toward the end of the blog.  It turned out to be one of my all time favorite cards.  Maybe that is because of the sentimental value.  Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are centered around watching my sister draw and design clothing.  When she was in high school drawing was one of her favorite past times.  My mother had a desk from her childhood that she refinished and put in my sister's bedroom.  My sister would sit for hours drawing ladies with fashionable clothing.  Her dream was to be a designer of couture clothing.  My grandmother, mother and sister all sewed clothing.  I remember once my mother making turquoise (my favorite color) look alike dresses for the three of us.  They had those twirly skirts and mine had a big black K in a beautiful font on the bodice. I loved that dress! My sister helped me with my first sewing project in junior high school.

I started with Ranger Archival ink and stamped the image below on Cryogen card stock.  The image is an unmounted rubber stamp from a show...so I'm not sure who it belongs to.  If anyone knows, I will be happy to add the name here.  

Colored with Copic Markers below:

I used the Brother Scan'n Cut to cut out the image.  It did a great job!  And then I tried free hand writing the poem that I wanted to use and cutting that out.  FABULOUS!  This just amazed me that it would cut such a fine line.  So much fun to use my new Christmas present!!  Thank you to my wonderful husband!!!

So Cool!

Next, some deckle edged vanilla cardstock.

I found this really cool paper, Botanique!.

Add caption

I cut out layered ovals and mounted the sewing girl with pop-ups.

Colored up some scrap lace left over from a wedding recpetion invitation...

Added some tiny buttons. And a row of edging cut out on the Broteher Scan 'n Cut.

Voila!