Graduation Card

A quick card and post. I have a niece who just graduated from the University of Alabama and I needed to get a card into the mail for her.  Just a few punches of the stars, a sentiment, adding some black and white houndstooth ribbon I picked up at Hobby Lobby and it was finished. The ribbon is by Ribbon Boutique.

If you know anything about the U of AL this will explain the colors and the houndstooth. Think football and  Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant and you'll understand the houndstooth ribbon.

The punches are Fiskars XL star lever punch and Fiskars star small pop up punch.
Paper is Stampin'Up! Cherry Cobbler and PTI white.

Thanks to Carol  at Our Little Inspirations. She is the reason I bought these star punches because she always makes great things with hers. Every time I saw her use her stars, I knew I needed them.  So, I had them on hand just in time for making this card.  Hope you don't mind me showing your masculine card, Carol.

A huge congrats to Linley!! I'm so proud of you.

Mark's Finest Papers-May Sneak Peek

This card is to show a sneak peek of one of the stamp sets to be released next week by Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company. The set is Oopsy Daisy. The little ladybug is part of the image. I cut out and popped it on.
The blog hop will start May 15th....prizes to be given away to lucky winners.

Accessories: Memory Box Die-Madera Corner, Spellbinders Labels 14 nestabilitie, Marianne Design Creatables Anja Lace, Copics, The Paper Studio pink rosette, EK Success Victorian corner punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Cheery Lynn A2 Frame Die, PTI Bitty Dot Basics paper

FOSTV-Mother's Day

Monday means a new challenge for Friends of Speedy TV and this week is to make a Mother's Day card.

I really wanted all the beautiful sparkle to show on this card. I used the Mariposa Stack and that paper is always so pretty. I think most mothers like butterflies and flowers. My Mom used to have a very pretty bird cage and this reminded me of her. I no longer have my Mother but I think she would have loved this card. I have to tell you she had parakeets and I was so scared of them if they got out of the cage. I would always run to my bedroom and close the door until they were back in the cage. I didn't want them to land on me and peck. Actually, just landing on me was terrifying. Why, I don't know.  I was a scaredy-cat then and still am. LOL

If you join the challenge this week, this is the stamp set you could possibly win, Mother's Magnolias.
As you can see, this is the set I used from Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Co.

Recipe:
Stamps-Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Co.- Mother's Magnolias
Paper: DCWV-The Mariposa Stack, green scraps
Ink: MementoTuxedo Black
Accessories-Marvy lily mega punch

SCS QFTD111

The new QFTD was announced on Splitcoaststampers and it is none other than Betty Wright aka gbedwright. Wow! What a gallery and it is a bit intimidating to try to case one of her cards. Here is why....isn't that beautiful? Her work is beautiful and her photography is awesome.

To learn more about this and other images from Digital Two for Tuesday, see my last card done with one of them.
http://benzistampz.blogspot.com/2012/04/flowers-in-vase.html

I am entering this card into the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown -In the Garden

Recipe:
Stamps-Digital Two for Tuesday- Bright -Eyed Coreopsis, Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps/Poppies and Greetings (Sentiment)
Paper-PTI white cs, Black cardstock from Hobby Lobby, Designer Paper is Mimosa daiquiri
Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories-Martha Stewart Iron Gate punch, Button, Seam Binding (I dyed black), Copics

Edit: Ooh, la, la....I see Lydia over at SCS put this on Facebook today. I love when she does that.

CCEE Stampers-gingham challenge

Charlene Merrick is our hostess this month at CCEE Stampers and gave the challenge to make a card using gingham in your design (ribbon, designer paper, buttons, fabric, etc.) I happen to love gingham so it was a fun creation.

My sister gave me this wooden flourish from KaiserCraft a while back and I thought this was the perfect time to use it. It is called iron fence.

I've added some flowers (Martha Stewart hydrangea punch) growing along the fence. The grass is part of the paper. As I love birds, I had to add a blue bird (Martha Stewart punch) perched on the fence. The sun is a Martha Stewart cornflower punch. This punch can also be used to make mums in the fall (tutorial-Chocolate Crafts and Bears, Oh My!) and my card here.  I've added brown and white  gingham ribbon from Offray.

My sentiment is from Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company  stamp set-Mother's Magnolias. The paper is Stampin'Up! Real Red and PTI white cardstock. I believe the dp is DCWV.

That's it for me. Hope you have a day filled with sunshine. Come join us at CCEE Stampers and show us how you create your gingham creations. Check out the lovely cards from the rest of the team, too.

I'm entering my card into these challenges:
 Tuesday Throwdown-In The Garden
Scrapalicious USA-Flower Power

Cloud tutorial

CLOUD TUTORIAL

I made this tutorial for Home of Speedy TV where you can find this one along with several others from Design Team members.

I posted these two cards earlier today and left a link to my tutorial on Speedy TV but decided I would post my tutorial on my blog, also. For details on the cards, see post below this one.

 Making clouds is really simple. I am showing a few ways

to accomplish it.

Cardstock

Punch/punches

Ink

Dauber or sponge

Scissors if cutting out template

I have shown a few punches you could use to make clouds. I only used one of them and for the other I used a die cut template. I believe this is a PTI die. You can make your own template by stamping, punching, or hand drawing a cloud.

 I placed the template on my white cardstock and used the dauber to sponge around just the edges where there are scallops. You can see the clouds forming where I sponged at the top of the cardstock. I usually only sponge around about half the template.

Here is a card using the above method


For my next card, I punched out a cloud template using a Fiskars cloud punch.
I used blue cardstock and placed my punched piece on the cardstock and

sponged white ink inside. Very simple!

My card for this method:

Another way to create clouds is to make cloud masks and place over your white cardstock.  Be sure to tape your clouds to your cardstock so they don’t move around. I’m using a double sided scrapbook tape which can be removed when finished. Sponge or brayer  the entire piece of cardstock with blue ink or whichever color you prefer.You can use gray for a cloudy day or I’ve seen very pretty clouds in brown for a little whimsy .Remove your masks and you have some beautiful, white clouds. For my example below, I used Memento London Fog ink:

Shown With Templates

Remove Templates

Hope my tutorial will be helpful and you'll have beautiful skies ahead.

Cloud Tutorial Photos

I have a couple of cards to show you today that I made for my cloud tutorial at Home of Speedy TV.
Clouds are really simple to make and I showed three ways to achieve it. I'm showing two cards. Here is the link to the tutorial: http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/clouds-tutorial
My first card is using Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company  stamp set Daffodil Greetings. The cardstock is MFP Aged Mottled Berry Smooth Finish cs and MFP white premium cover cardstock. I stamped the butterfly twice, cut out, and popped top layer. I colored with Copics. Ink for sponging is ColorBox Mermaid. The banner was cut out freehand.

This card uses the stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company called Fabulous Dogs.
I'm using a Fiskars cloud punch X large and inked inside the punched area with with white Stampabilities ink. The cardstock is MFP premium cover white cardstock and Aged Mottled Berry.
My designer paper is Paper Adventures Green Brush. The twine is Cappuccino from The Twinery.

FOSTV challenge--- May Theme

Hope you'll join the challenge this week at Friends of Speedy TV at Home of Speedy TV. The challenge this week is to make a card with a May theme. I think flowers says it all for May. You know Spring Showers bring May Flowers. :-)

I'm using a Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company stamp set called Black Eye Susans for Encouragement. Yes, I did my flowers in blue...I'm not one to think you can't get off the path a bit and do something that isn't real life. The sentiment is also from Mark's Finest Papers and is Mother's Magnolias. I split the sentiment to fit the nestabilitie.


If you play the challenge with us this week, here is the stamp set you could possibly win. It is called Pucker Up.

Recipe:
Stamps-MFP, A Heinrich Co.-Black Eyed Susans for Encouragement and Mother's Magnolias (split sentiment)
Paper-MFP Old World Gold, Aqua light, and  Premium cover white cs
Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories-EK Success zig zag chain punch, Spellbinders oval nestabilitie, Copics

CCEE Stampers-Scallops, Flowers, and Buttons

Today's challenge at CCEE STAMPERS, given by Cindy Haffner, is to make a card with buttons, scallops, and flowers. I have it covered. My scallops are the Martha Stewart double loop border punch and I'm using a Marianne Design Creatables die called Tags & Buttons. I placed my buttons on Inchie Arts inchies so they wouldn't drown out on my paper.  My flower is a Recollections floral embellishment.  So, that covers the challenge.

My sentiment is from Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company and is called Sending Happy Thoughts.

I'm using a Spellbinders scalloped rectangle nestabilities and the paper is Stampin'Up! Rose Red, PTI white cardstock, and Martha Stewart Feldspar cardstock for the buttons. I don't know the designer paper.

Hope you'll join us this week  at CCEE Stampers.

Flowers at FOSTV

The challenge starting today for Friends of Speedy TV located at Home of Speedy TV is 'flowers'.
I think just about everyone loves flowers and we hope you'll join us this week. Maybe you could be the winner of this stamp set we're giving away for challenge #17. It is Dogwood Blossoms.

I decided to do my card in cream, white, and brown. I made my chevrons with an EK Success zig zag chain punch and placed a sentiment on top made with the smallest Spellbinders circle nestabilitie and the scalloped circle.

I stamped my images from Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Sending Happy Thoughts set and just left uncolored. Sometimes, I just like that look.

I used the sketch challenge SC295 from Splitcoaststampers.