Victoriana - Green Pearl Hearts Card

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! 

Today I'd like to share a card that I made that has a green color scheme.  I used a green distressed cardstock for the background and ivory for the base card.

I added some torn music paper (from Penny Black...it's gorgeous - not new - but it's one of the few that she has done.  She has this in both the beige and the white.  The previous card I made just before this one (with the mirror) also uses some Penny Black paper only it has gold foil writing instead of music.

I edged the music with forest moss distress ink and glued to the background paper.  I punched out10 leaves from dark green Bazzill cardstock and embossed them.  Doesn't the embossing look great?  This is actually a TWO PUNCH SET.  The first punch punches out the shape and the second one embosses it.  I love the way the leaves come out.  I spray a fine mist of water (just a little) on the punched leaves before I emboss them to make the embossing go a little easier.  I attached my leaves with mounting tape.  (You can find these great punch sets on http://www.franticstamper.com/dutchpunch.htm.   These are dutch punch sets.)

 I added some crotchet ribbon on both the top and bottom of the card.  I love the way crochet looks.  It gives the feel of Victorian days, doesn't it?  I added little green pearl hearts to the center of the leaf clusters. I finished it with a beige ribbon and bow.

I hope you liked this card. Come back again!

Lis

Victoriana - Victorian Cards: Mirror and Gloves Card

Good morning and Happy Saturday!  Yea!  This is the first Saturday Ive had off in a while!  I love my job but sometimes it can get busy!

Today's card has a Victorian feel to it.  I call it my Mirror and Gloves Card!

The mirror and gloves come from Accucut dies (love them!).  I wanted to add a bit of steampunk so I stamped a clock theme onto my gloves and added the green jeweled brad to the mirror.

This side view really shows off this card, don't you think?  The shear blue ribbon adds to the overall color's scheme.

Close up!

I love using pearls on my cards, especially this one! 

Hope you liked my card. Come back again for more Victorian creations!
Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Pearl and Dragon Card

Hi everyone and welcome to the last of my Asian Influence cards: the Pearl and Dragon Card.

I made this card from a deck of cards!  I used a triangle punch and punched out the various designs you see below, matted them on black cardstock and then added them to my card.  The deck of cards that I used are from http://www.franticstamper.com/. This is a great deck because although the backs of the cards are the same, the fronts of the cards are all different.  They are truly beautiful.

I added a gold edged embossed white cardstock background.  I embellished my card with white pearls and a gold dragon.

Close up!

I used three different sizes of pearls for this decoration.

Here is a closer view of the designs I used.  I used two decks: one had paintings and one had people.

Here is the golden dragon!



http://www.fancifuls.com/

I hope that you enjoyed this card today.  Thanks for stopping by and please come back again!

Lis

uh oh.....

Hi everyone and hope you are having a great weekend!

I promised one more Asian Influence card but I havent been able to complete it yet!  (I have the design down, I just havent had time to get it done!)

Work has been really busy!  I am working on a few projects.  My hospital where I work is building a new hospital tower and my dept is going to move there so....I am part of the planning! Yikes!

We are also working on some other great things (I cant go into that now but I'll be sure to keep you posted!)

AND....I broke my foot! OUCH! 

I broke it about 3 weeks ago and I've been wearing this big black boot thing day and night.  My doctor says that I need to continue to wear it three more weeks and then come see him again.  We are both hoping that the bones will heal.  I want to avoid surgery (double yikes!).  I really love my doctor and I know he's doind everything he can to help me.  That's a great feeling!

So....I will try to get that card done for you by tomorrow night.  I'm sorry for the delays....

Hope you come back soon!
Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Panel and Leaf Card

I really like to do panels with washi paper.  Panels seem to evoke an Asian feel to them. 

The card that I am sharing today uses three different washi paper patterns.  The background is white cardstock that is embossed and edged in gold.

Close up!

I like adding pearls to Asian designs.  The pearls below are held by two embossed leaves.  I made the leaves by using a set of punch and emboss punches by Nellie Snellen (Frantic Stamper has them: http://www.franticstamper.com/dutchpunch.htm.)  They are pretty interesting. First you punch out your leaf, then you put the leaf in another punch which is actually an embosser.  I lightly sprayed a fine mist on the punched pieces before embossing them to make them easier to emboss.  They turned out really nice, don't you think?

I am working on one final Asian Influence card so stop by again.  I should have it finished  by Friday!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Chinese Lantern

Hi everyone!  I hope that you are having a good week!

Today's card features a Chinese knot and lantern charm, and black glitter paper.

I really like the black glitter punched border (it's Martha Stewart's scroll heart punch minus the hearts).

Close up!
I really like this lantern.  I normally don't use the larger brass charms. I do have a few of them.  This was one that worked out very well on this card.

I have one more Asian influence card to go.  Come back tomorrow!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Tree and Crane

Hello everyone!  I hope that you are all having a safe and productive week!

I call today's card "Tree and Crane". 

I used a soft flash so that you could see the gold cranes pattern on the paper.  The red background is also very glittery.  It's the kind of "glittery" you might see if you used glitter embossing powder.  It's very fine.  The flowers on the tree are also outlined in gold.

I used another washi paper with a flower pattern in greens and blues for the tree. You may recognize the tree as one of the Tim Holtz dies, and you'd be right!  (I glued the washi paper to white cardstock to make it sturdier before I actually die cut it.)  After I die cut the tree, I glued it to black cardstock (epic black, my favorite!).  I used an xacto blade and cut around the tree to create a border.  I attached the tree to my card with mounting tape.

Close up!
Here is a close up of the bow and pearls.  I added an ivory bow with gold detail.  The pearls make a nice accent.  You can also see the cut edge of the black cardstock.

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Come back for more Asian Influenced cards!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Revised Warlords Card

I received a comment and the writer suggested tassels for my card instead of the ribbons I had.  What a great idea!  I immediately went back and changed my card.

What do you think?  It's better.  I didn't have small tassels so I had to make do with the larger ones.

Thank you for the great comment!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Warlords Card

Hi everyone and welcome to another day of Asian influence cards!

Today's card is a little different. I hope that you like it but it's a little "out there".

I used two faux jade circles and threaded orange ribbon through them.  I fastened the ribbons with jeweled brads.  The center "warlords" are punched out of a playing card (see below for details).  I then lined the punch with gold and attached it with mounting tape.

Close up!
 Here you can really see the green plastic circle I used. I got these from http://www.franticstamper.com/.  Fran has quite a few things for Asian lovers.

I punched this out from a playing card.  I bought the deck (Imperial Paintings Playing Cards)  from Frantic Stamper http://www.franticstamper.com/collage.htm .  It's well worth a look. This deck has a different print on each card and there is so much I'm going to do with them!

I hope you liked today's card. Stop by tomorrow for another Asian Influence card!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Cat and Lily

Hello everyone and Happy Saturday!

You can find yuzen washi papers patterns of cats. One paw is up, and the cat usually symbolizes good luck. I must admit that I like the papers but I find it hard to work with larger patterns and prints.  Today's card has such a cat pattern on it.  Hope you like it!

The ribbon I used is from Mays Arts (I love their ribbons!)  It is orange but goes well with this card.  I think that a lot of the reds that are used in washi papers have a lot of orange in them.  This ribbon seems to go well though!

Close up!

I love brass charms!  This lily is about two inches tall so its larger than what I normally can afford.  But it's SO pretty!  I got this charm from a website called http://www.fancifuls.com/ .  They have a super collection of raw brass charms and the prices are really very good.

You  will also see (on the right side of this picture) that I punched a border pattern out of gold glossy and added that.

 
Hope you liked my card today~!  Stop again because I have more!

Lis

Asian Influence Cards - Asian Card with Pearl Spray

Hello everyone! Today I am excited to share with you a card with wonderful yuzen washi paper in red, black and gold.  The entire paper is covered in a glittery gold.  It's impossible to take a really good picture of this card and paper.  You don't really get to see how rich-looking and color-intense this paper really is.  I hope that what you do see will please you.

Asian Card with Pearl Spray:

The base card is white.  The yuzen washi paper is mounted on black card stock.  I used the Perfect Layers rulers in the smallest border size to create the mat for all three pieces.

This is a much better view of the card.  You can see how I attached the two strips on the left with mounting tape to add dimension.

 Close Up!


I attached the pearl strands between the two strips of mounted paper.  I turned over the top strip and added my mounting tape.  I took off the protective paper from the mounting strip exposing the sticky side.  I trimmed my pearl sprays.  One at a time, I added them to the sticky back of the mounting tape.  Then I attached the top strip to the larger strip.

The delicate ivory organza ribbon I used has a gold edge to it. It complements the gold in the paper nicely.

I hope that you enjoyed today's card.  Come back for more Asian Influence!

Lis

A Note about Supplies (and where I get mine)

We all like our supplies.  And when we find a really good source (or a really good material), we like to share with everyone!


YUZEN WASHI PAPERS:
The yuzen washi paper that I buy is from a company called Jun-Gifts.  This company is located in Japan.  They have a fairly extensive collection of washi papers to choose from.  The price for a PARENT sheet (which is how they sell their papers) is between $6-$8 usually.  This is very inexpensive for handmade (or even machined -but hand decorated) Japanese papers.  They are very good about shipping.  They have a minimum of three sheets of yuzen washi (or about $21 an order).

Note:  A PARENT sheet is a really big sheet of paper, usually 24 to 27 inches by 36 inches.

If you go to Jun-Gifts, they have a WHOLE LOT of stuff.  (Try not to get distracted.  Just keep repeating "I'm here for the paper..."I'm here for the paper...)


White Card stock for card bases:

I use Diamond White card stock that I get from Kelly Paper.  It is a bright white #80 (80 pound) card stock.  I actually buy a ream of it from a stamping and scrapbooking store in Fairfield California called Mainely Stampin' (the owners come from Maine).  They buy in bulk from Kelly Paper.

The black card stock I use is also from Kelly Paper. I buy from them directly. This is a beautiful linen paper. The color is called Epic Black and is probably the best black I've ever seen.  It's a very rich, deep and pure black card stock.  It is offered in text weight (you don't want this - its copier paper weight) and in "COVER" which is the cardstock weight that I get.

The brand (or company) that Kelly gets this black paper from is called NEENAH.  They have a line called "LINEN" and it comes in some beautiful shades including my favorite black, red, Baronial Ivory (this is the ivory I use for my base cards), white, a light blue and a green.  What makes this paper so great is the linen texture.  It has a really rich feel and weight to it, and makes my cards even better looking (at least that's what I think.)

Kelly Paper has stores around the country.  You can go in and buy a single sheet to try out most times.  They sell by the ream and by the sheet usually.


I hope that this has been useful to you.  If you have any questions about where I get some of my supplies (or if you would like to share where you get YOUR supplies, please leave a comment!!)

Take care, Lis

Asian Influence Cards: Lavender Mountain

Hello and welcome to a new week.  This week I will be sharing some beautiful cards with yuzen washi papers.  These handmade papers are breathtaking and beautiful.  Some of the pictures that you will see just won't do these papers justice.  But I hope that you will see some of the beauty of these papers and cards.

Today's card: Lavender Mountain

This first picture is with a flash.  It looked a little washed out but the pink colors in the paper seem to be truer.  You can also see the gold very well.

This photo I took without the flash. Some difference, yes?

You can get a good idea of the dimension of the card.

Close up!

I found this little chinese heart charm and thought it made a cute addition.

The pink organza ribbon has a glittery edge that complements the card.  The top three one inch squares make a nice border.

I hope you liked this sample of cards to come!  Stop on by again tomorrow for a truly fabulous card!

Lis

Scrapbook Page FRIENDS with Martha Stewart Punch

Hi everyone and welcome to the last item for the Martha Stewart Scroll Heart Punch.

Today is a scrapbook page. I don't really do much scrapbooking. I like cards best.  I hope you find this page ok.  I just didn't have a great creative day I guess.  Hope you get some good ideas from it. (The colors for this page are pink which is hard to see.  I will retake the pictures and post again later.  Sometimes I get this darker orangy color contrast and it drives me batty!)

Close Up!

Stop by next weekend for more inspiration!
Lis

Scrapbook Page with Martha Stewart Scroll Heart Deep Edger Punch!

Hi everyone and welcome to the weekend!  This weekend I am going to share some scrapbook pages with you.  Enjoy!

I used the Martha Stewart punch as a border for my picture.  I was trying to get a vintage red, white and blue feel to this. I'm not sure I did though! LOL!

I stamped a chandelier image (hero arts) randomly on the page (Basic Grey paper).  Did you recognize the suitcase? It's one of the Tim Holtz die designs from Sizzix.

I tore some DCWV papers and edged them in Faded Jeans  dye ink (Ranger) - as I did the suitcase.

Close Up!
Don't you love these alphabet pieces?  They are a dimensional yellow plastic and about the same size as typewriter keys (for those of you old enough to remember them like me!)

Here is the suitcase again. I used water droplets to make the case look more worn.

Thanks and come again tomorrow for more scrapbook pages!

Lis

Love's Key Wedding Card with Martha Stewart's Scroll Heart Deep Edger Punch

Hello everyone and welcome to another week's experimentation with Martha Stewart's Scroll Heart Deep Edger Punch.  This week has been quite a week of discovery.  I have been working hard coming up with many designs that i hope you will use in your cards and scrapbook pages too!

Today's card:  This card turned out really pretty.  I think it makes a lovely wedding card to congratulate the new couple.  It looks like a set of gates to me and the key to open the gates of love is hanging on a pretty yellow ribbon.  (I chose the yellow ribbon because in the USA it is used to show that we do not forget a loved one when they are far from us.)

I thought about adding the hearts back in but decided not to.

Close up!

In the three images below you can see how I built my card.  The far left image is to show you what two of the punched borders (without the hearts) look like.  The middle image shows how I placed four of the borders onto my card.  The last image shows the card with a mat. (I debated about whether to put in a mat or not because the borders without the mat are just so darn PRETTY all by themselves!)




This is a close up of the borders.  I punched each border (two in yellow and two in black).  I lined up the two yellow borders as you see in the image below.  I know they look like one punched out piece but you are looking at two pieces glued to the mat.  (I used glue stick so that I could slide the punched borders around a little bit to get them to line up exactly.)

I started on the left side of my card when I started gluing down the borders.

I like ruffling ribbon tails. I like the delicate and Victorian feel that it gives a card.

I hope that you enjoyed today's card!

Join me this weekend for more Martha surprises!  I know that many of you like scrapbooking so....I will ahve a few page designs to share with you using this great punch!

Take care, Lis