Whoooo knew?

Whoooo knew I'd love owls so much? I don't know when my love of owls began, but it seems like there are a lot of us owl lovers out there! This is only the beginning of my owl collection, but it's still my favorite thus far. The owl and branch are two separate acrylic stamps that I placed on the same block when stamping. I stamped them both in Versamark and then used black detail embossing powder. I love the look of embossed images, don't you? It really makes them pop. I colored them in with my Crayola markers and added googly eyes. I used a Martha edge punch that also embosses the white cardstock and tied a brown satin ribbon underneath the owl. I left the card blank so that I could add a sentiment later. The 3 pink dew drops were one of my greatest finds from Michaels. They came in this huge bag and were on clearance for $2! They are actually called something else and used to fill up vases, but they serve the same purpose as dew drops and look great to me! A small Zots glue dot is the perfect size for them too. :)

Stamp set: Oliver & Friends by Sassafras

Paper: random scrap papers from a friend's bin

Accessories: brown satin ribbon from Michaels dollar bin, dew drops, Martha edge punch and embosser

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multi and tape runner, Zots glue dots

Martha

It wasn't until Martha Stewart craft products became available at Michaels that I realized what I had been missing. I LOVE her paper punches! This card relies heavily on her lace edge paper punch and her butterfly punch. The background paper I used was a self-adhesive paper found at Target that I stuck onto a piece of dark blue cardstock. The stamp sentiment is from SU! and I hand dotted the butterfly trail using a black marker.

Stamp set: Simply Said by SU!

Paper: Target self-adhesive patterned paper, cardstock from Michaels
Tools: Martha Stewart Doily Lacy Edge Punch and Royal Butterfly Punch

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multi and Permanent Mono Adhesive

Always

I started getting better at this point with my design and use of tools. I used black detail embossing powder for the bird and colored it in with markers. I also embossed the always circle that was first stamped on patterned paper. The pink scalloped circle was sponged with distressed ink around the edges. I used paper from a scrap pack and a piece of beige cardstock from Michaels as a base.

Stamp set: Always by SU!

Sam's Club paper

I made this card using paper from a scrap pack to layer on top of paper from Sam's Club. This was when I first realized I needed to buy better quality cardstock to serve as at least the base of a card. The Sam's club paper was super thin and flimsy! It's not even good paper to cut with on a Cricut machine. The only thing nice about it is that you get a ton of colors in a pack and it's double-sided with a subtle pattern on one side and a solid color on the other.


Stamp set: Stampin' Up! Pun Fun
Paper: scrap pack from Michaels, Sam's Club cardstock
Ink: Stampin' Up!
Accessories: ribbon from Michaels dollar bin
Tools: Fiskars corner punch, blender pen

The Beginning

I've always been a creator or crafts in one form or another, but it wasn't until about 6 months ago that I began making greeting cards. It all started when a friend of mine had invited me to a Stampin' Up! party and I was able to see all things I could make out of paper and all the neat tools involved. I was immediately sucked in! The cards were like mini works of art and I couldn't believe I had actually made one! I loved every minute of the process and knew I had to continue making more cards. I rationalized that with the price of fancier cards steadily increasing in stores, this would be more of an investment than simply a hobby. Yeah, it didn't exactly work out that way. lol The more I bought the more I want to buy, so it hasn't exactly been an investment, but perhaps it will be in the future. For now, I'm just happy to be creating something I love and I thought I'd create this blog to log my progress as it unfolds.

Here is my very first card:

It's a very simple card using white and red cardstock. The cake was stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with an iridescent black embossing powder. I used a corner punch for all four corners and slid the white cardstock into place. I had very little supplies at this point, so that's why I had to take a minimalist approach to this card. lol

Stamp set: Birthday Whimsy (Sale-A-Bration February 1 - March 17, 2008)