A Panda Hello

Hello everyone,

Today post is a bright and cheerful 'hello' card.

The card base is Recollections White.  The printed paper is an origami paper of unknown origin layered on a gold also of unknown origin.  The image is Local King Rubber Stamps Pandas - 4 stamped in Altenew Jet Black on Recollections White and layered on more gold.  The sentiment is Gina K Pleasant Plurals stamped in Altenew Heart Beat.  The ribbon is American Crafts.  The butterfly brad is Creative Impressions.

This was the first panda image I stamped last weekend.  I love those expressive eyes!  Before trimming the panel, I made certain there was enough room for a simple sentiment.  I've often used origami paper for Asian-style cards.  I love the warm reds in this particular piece.  The hints of gold made it easy to coordinate.  I hadn't originally planned to add a ribbon but like how it balances out the image.  I wish I'd had a panda brad!

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

A Panda For You

Hello everyone,

Today's post is a great 'for you' card.

The card base is Recollections White.  The images are Local King Rubber Stamps stamped in Altenew Jet Black and Parrot on Recollections White.  The image panel is layered on Recollections Black, Stampin' Up Lemon Lime Twist and a medium green Bazzill.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up Itty Bitty Banners stamped in Altenew Jet Black on Recollections White and cut with the coordinating die.

If you read yesterday's post, you'll know that I had an adventure in crafting panda cards.  This card came together after I had rejected the original panda image.  I realized that the panda images in this set would be pretty easy to cut out and use for masking.  I really wanted to have the bamboo stalk behind the panda.  I can't believe I hadn't done this before!  Add a couple of coordinating layers and a fabulous card was born!  It was worth the initial angst.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Little Panda Wishes

Hello everyone,

Today's post is a birthday card I crafted for my daughter.

The card base is Recollections White.  The bamboo stem images are Local King Rubber Stamps Panda Bear 4, stamped in Altenew Parrot, Olive and Moss on Recollections White and layered on a dark and medium green Bazzill, and Close To My Heart Citrus Leaf.  The panda images are Stamp Magik stamped in Altenew Jet Black.  The sentiment is Rubbernecker Happy Birthday also stamped in Altenew Jet Black.  The card is highlighted with Lime Green Stickles.

The more I worked on this card, the more it changed.  Thank goodness I have a wide selection of panda bear stamps!  The multiple iterations have also resulted in a few other panda cards being crafted.  I wish I'd thought of adding the three little pandas before I'd adhered the panels together.  I think they would have looked much better had they been stamped off the edge.  Hindsight!!!!!!  I'm still quite happy with the results and I know my daughter will love this card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Milestone Birthday

Hello everyone,

Today's post is the birthday card I crafted for my daughter's upcoming birthday.

The card base is Stampin' Up Lemon Lime Twist.  The background image is Local King Rubber Stamp - Garden Delight stamped on a white of unknown origin with Aurora Color Box ink and layered on Recollections Black.  The image is Stamp Oasis also stamped on a white of unknown origin in Versafine Onyx Black and layered on more Recollections Black.  The sentiment is Joy Crafts Sayings 6410/0308 stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  The embellishments are Bazzill Clear 3-4 mm jewels.

I knew I wanted to craft a panda card for my daughter but I'm not sure if this was what I envisioned, though I love the results.  This is a cute pair of pandas!  The background stamp, one which I don't use that often, takes multiple inks wonderfully because the images are nicely spaced and any colour overlap still looks great.  I think my daughter will love her card!

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Happy 20th

Hello everyone,

A few days ago my darling daughter celebrated her 20th birthday.  Today's post is the special card I crafted for her.

The image is Joy Crafts Orientals 6002/0232 die cut from Recollections White and sponged with Altenew Jet Black, Rocky Shore, Espresso, Moss and Olive.  The background images are Local King Rubber Stamp Panda Bear 4  and Stampin' Up Artistically Asian stamped on Recollections White in Altenew Forest Glades and Bamboo.  The image panel is layered on Close To My Heart Sweet Leaf and Recollections Black.

I love this card.  The combination of stamped background and the raised image are really appealing. It was a little tricky to sponge the images.  I had to tape over those parts where I didn't want the ink colours to overlap.  I also wanted to be sure that I didn't get colour in the white areas as that would just mess up the panda aspect.  This card turned out wonderfully and my daughter loved it!

Happy Birthday Darling!

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

A Big Birthday

Hello everyone,

Today's post is my sister's 50th birthday card.

The image is Local King Rubber Stamps - Panda Bear stamped in StazOn Jet Black on glossy paper.  The image is layered on Stampin' Up Blackberry Bliss and a watercolour paper that was painted with a variety of Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons.  The background image is also Local King Rubber Stamps - Panda Bear stamped in Stampin' Up Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, and  Close To My Heart Ponderosa Pine, Sweet Leaf and Topiary.  The sentiment is Sentimentally Yours More Scribbled Sentiments stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  The embellishments are from Fabricland.

My sister has a collection of panda bears that is pretty amazing.  As she is celebrating her 50th in a couple of days, I decided to craft a card with a theme that I knew would make her feel special.  I found the background layer as I was cleaning up my crafting space.  I suspect I made it a while ago and placed it (an the others I found) between a couple of books to flatten it out.  I love those kinds of surprises.  I'm so very happy with this card and am pretty certain my sister will love it!

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Missing You

Hello everyone,

I've recently sent my daughter off to University and I'm missing her so I thought I'd craft her something special.

The paper is Black Ink Creative International Papers Red Decorative Papers.  The image is Local King Rubber Stamp stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Recollections White.  The sentiment is Altenew Scribbled Flowers stamped in Close To My Heart Tulip.  The ribbons are Crafts.

I stamped a number of panda images before I got into the groove of this card.  Simple and sophisticated with some texture and a bit of shine.  I love the simple font of the sentiment and the red pops wonderfully with the red paper and ribbon.  It's perfect for my girl!

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Proud Panda

Hello everyone,

Today's special congratulations card is for my very own high school graduate.

The focal image is Local King Rubber Stamp Panda Bear 4 stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Stampin' Up Whisper White, layered on Basic Black, and highlighted with Wink of Stella Clear 999.  The background images are Local King Rubber Stamp Panda Bear 4 stamped in Mossy Meadow, and Stampin' Up Work of Art stamped in Blackberry Bliss, Eggplant Envy, and Perfect Plum.  The sentiment is Avery Elle Oh Happy Day stamped in Blackberry Bliss and highlighted with Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.

My darling daughter has always had a 'thing' for pandas so its natural for me to stamp her cards using panda images.  I used different shades of purple for the background images because its always been one of her favourite colours.  I really like stamping a horizontal sentiment on the vertical so I made sure to stamp the bamboo leaves to work with the sentiment.  I'm extremely happy with the results and I'm pretty sure she'll be pleased too.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Five Challenge Card II

Hello everyone,

Nothing thrills me more than to be able to make more than one card in a single day especially when it happens on a weekday. Against my norm, I decided I would craft a card that fulfills multiple challenges and by that I mean more than three. I don't do this all that often because I find that it can become more about fulfilling the challenges than crafting the card and then I'm not all that happy with the final card. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are so many really wonderful challenges out there so it can be really hard to limit myself and I do end up missing some really great challenges. It's such a tough life.

The challenges which inspired this card are:

Diva Coffee Break Designs - sketch

Crafty Creations - black and white with a pop of red

Quixotic Challenges - an animal or a gift for an animal

My Time To Craft - a wild animal

Tuesday Taggers - texture

The card base is Recollections. The remaining paper is Stampin' Up Basic Black, Real Red and glossy. The background layer is textured with Sizzix Retro Squares. The ribbon in Michael's special value. The image is Local King Rubber Stamp Panda Bear 4. The sentiment is Waltzingmouse Say It With Style.

I'm quite pleased with this card. I love black and white and red together. I also think that the simplicity of the sketch is what makes it all pop. I don't think I would have attempted to use so many challenges on one card if pandas didn't suit the colour scheme so well.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Finished Another

Hello again everyone,

I love having guilt-free time to craft. I've used three challenges as inspiration for this card. Stamptacular Sunday asked for sugar and spice and everything nice - a girly card. Yesterday's Allsorts challenge was to not use designer paper. Putting together my earlier card for Everything Old Is New Again, I came across a number of unfinished bits that I wanted to use so I'm doing that challenge a second time.


The card base is from Recollections. The purple and green layers are Bazzill Basics Textures card stock scraps. The patterned layered is Local King Rubber Stamps Garden Delight stamped on a piece of glossy card stock and highlighted with Stickles. The yellow layer is an unknown scrap textured with Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy dry embossing folder. The sentiment is Sweet 'n Sassy Birthday Greetings, stamped on Stampin' Up Whisper White then heat embossed with Stampendous Amethyst embossing powder. The ribbon is a dollar store find.

I wasn't all that happy with the image when I first stamped it as it is challenging on glossy paper. The Stickles certainly helped but didn't solve the entire problem. I think the butterfly colours are flat and that's why it's off. Anyway, I didn't want to throw the piece away because it wasn't totally horrid. I do think it works well with the solid layers and I do like how it eventually came together. I also thought it would be difficult to avoid using designer paper but it wasn't at all. Thanks to this large stamp and texture, this card didn't even need anything designer. I like that.

I love the freshness of this card. This is a nice 'spring' birthday card and I can't wait to give it away.

I hope you enjoy and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Card For Caroline

Hello everyone,

Creativity tonight was lagging terribly. I couldn't even find a challenge that inspired even though today's Papertake Weekly Challenge is an open theme. When I mentioned this to my panda-loving daughter, she said, "Stamp a panda". I've done just that and I'm beyond grateful for her suggestion.

The background papers are DCWV Neutral Textured card stock. The images are Local King Rubber Stamp Panda Bear 4. The images are stamped on glossy paper using a colouring technique learned at last fall's Creativ Festival. The sentiment is Stampin' Up Warm Words. The pearls are from Hero Arts.
I love this card! Considering I couldn't come up with any ideas for a card tonight, this card turned out beautifully. I love being inspired by my daughter. Thanks Caroline.
Please enjoy this panda and come back to SPI again soon.
Gisèle