Bird of Happiness

Yvonne, here. Been a while since I have posted to my blog. I have been struggling with a health issue all fall. In spite of it, I have not given up on my cards! I continue to celebrate birthdays and wish those who are ill better days ahead. It was also the catalyst for getting my Christmas Cards started earlier this year as I am having surgery a few days before Christmas! That aside...This card is made from one of the very first plates of images I ever purchased from Artistic Outpost. Remember when birds hit the scene? I still love them, and use them often in my card designs. I don't often use chipboard, but I thought the blue bird with "happiness" stamped on it was just too cute to pass up. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Wishes for Someone Dear

My son and I share September for birthdays. The whole family got together on Sunday to help us celebrate. I made this card to wish my dear son a happy birthday. It uses image from Artistic Outpost. He really seemed to like the design. He also got to pick his favorite meal for mom to make and the birthday cake! Thanks for stopping by. Yvonne

Sunny Greetings

Not my typical birthday card by any stretch of the imagination but I really was anxious to use this beautiful stamp by Artistic Outpost and was very pleased at how it turned out. The card was for one of my husband's staff. Since they know it is for their birthday, I have eased up on the card having to say Happy Birthday on the outside! Being a rule-follower, it is hard to step out of the box sometimes, but a good thing to do, don't you think? Thanks for stopping by today. Would love to hear from you. Until next time, Yvonne

Birthday Greetings

A friend of mine at work knows that I make my own greeting cards. A craft-person herself, she searches out yard sales for items to use at Bible School. She recently provided me with huge rolls of satin ribbon that were so dated, they were "marked" on the spool cover in pencil! When it was time to make her a birthday card, I knew I wanted to make sure I used some of the ribbon. For my image, I chose this beautiful stamp from Artistic Outpost. After stamping the image in black ink, I colored in the image with soft chalks. I added a paper doilie and some vintage buttons that I found at an antique store in California earlier this summer. I hope she likes her birthday greeting. Thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear from you. Have a great day. Yvonne

Grunge Birthday Wishes

I have really enjoyed working with the Generation Redux plate by Artistic Outpost. My inspiration for this card was the background paper. I am not sure I would have put purple, pink and orange together readily. It was nice to be pushed out of my comfort zone! This card is for one of my husband's staff who also is a stamper, though it is on the back burner now that her children have come along. She'll return to it one day, I'm sure! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Yvonne

Enjoy Life!

I made this birthday card recently for my husband's oldest nephew. Since he is an adult, I wanted a sophisticated and masculine card. This is the first time using these beautiful stamps by Artistic Outpost. I love the neutral colors, the design of the stamps and the vintage buttons I found in California at an antique store. Hope he likes it. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday wherever you are. Thanks for stopping by!

A Card of Cheer

My mom's younger sister recently found out that she has an incurable cancer. It was easier for me to reach out to her with a card than it was to call her on the phone. My husband encouraged me to call her and I am glad now that I did. I will continue to shower her with cards on a regular bases and will call her on occasion. For this card, I chose the sweet young woman from Generation Redux, which I won for having a card published in a magazine using Artistic Outpost stamps. Thoughts and prayers coming your way my dear Aunt Janet.

Memorial Day Memories

I am really excited to have these images from Artistic Outpost. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to purchase them. I have used them to welcome home a soldier, and plan to use them to create cards to show honor to veteran heroes this November. Over Memorial Day weekend, I plan to pause and give thanks to all those who gave their lives for the United States throughout the centuries. This card and sleeve were for a Template Challenge by Stampers' Sampler. Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Birds of a Feather

I made this card for a Take Ten Challenge using stamps from Artistic Outpost. I love these images. They are appropriate for so many occasions. I added a couple of soft, fluffy feathers tied together with Scrapper's Floss. The finishing touch, a line of vintage buttons!

Vintage Clown

Just finished 7 cards for a Take Ten Challenge. The basic template included the triangle and rectangle in the center of the card. I turned the card vertically and used images from Artistic Outpost. Just love these vintage images! We'll see how I fair with the challenge!

A Girl and Her Dog

I have been admiring the images of a company call Art Declassified for some time now and just recently started acquiring some of their vintage, often quirkly stamps. Shortly thereafter, I stumbled onto the fact that they went out of business. I have been frantically scouring the web to find any remaining images that I hoped one day to own. I selected the image above, Girls Best Friend, for a card for a girl I work with. She and her husband are the proud parents of four red minature poodles. Today is her birthday and I thought of this stamp when putting a card together for her. Hope she likes it!

Get Well Wishes

One of our friends just had surgery. She and her husband are from a German background so I thought that this plate by Artistic Outpost with what appears to be German text would delight both of them. I usually use the image, which has the eggs built into it as is. This time, I choose to stamp them, again, on a coordinating colored cardstock for an accent. For softness, I colored the robin in with chalks. I finished with three simple buttons and a piece of vintage seam binding that I tucked under the sentiment.

You're a Keeper, Nephew!

For my husband's nephew's birthday, I decided to try using some images from a plate called Keeper by Artistic Outpost . I like the rustic feel of these images and think the ruler really looks real! I colored the images in with Copic Markers. Hope he likes it!

A Birthday for a Queen!

I really love the Lovely Day plate of images by Artistic Outpost. In addition to using many of them for Easter Cards, I think they work well for feminine birthdays. Here I simply stamped with Sepia ink on turquoise cardstock, added some gold photo holders, paper flowers, highlighted the dress and hat with a glitter pen and finished my card with a sentiment and ribbon. One of my husband's staff members will be the lucky recipient of this card. Hope they like it. Enjoy the day!

Wedding Shower Wishes

There was a wedding shower yesterday for my husband's, nephew's fiancee. It was a lovely event. I made this card in a bluish-lavender to match her wedding colors.

I did not want it to be a "wedding card" as the wedding is 29 days away so I selected a stamp called "Going to the Chapel" along with a teeny tiny bride and groom I used on my youngest daughter's wedding invitations to make the card. With a sentiment of "Congratultions" and three black and silver buttons my card was complete.

Hope everyone is having a blessed Easter today. Until next time.

Railroad Birthday Wishes for my Step Father!

My step father's birthday is tomorrow. As a young person, I can remember his love for trains, taking us on a train and later taking my children on a train. He had a beautiful train setup in his basement complete with glass walls for many years! When this new plate of images entitled Steam Punk from Artistic Outpost were released, I immediately ordered them. I am anxious for my step father to receive his card. I hope he likes it!

With Thoughts of You

My husband asked me to make a card for one of his peers who was recovering from "open-heart' surgery. I find making masculine cards to be a challenge at times. When looking through my stamps, I was drawn to this herd of horses. I stamped them on a patterned paper in Sepia ink. I matted the image with a different background paper and tucked a paper leaf by Martha Stewert (left over from Thanksgiving several years ago) behind it. I also added some copper photo holders and brads. The sentiment "Thinking of You" seemed most appropriate. I hope he liked it! Until next time....

Get Well Dear Friend

Perhaps, an unusal Get Well card...but I was drawn to using these images from Send in the Clowns by Artistic Outpost when I learned that my next door neighbor was recovering from knee surgery. Hope it brightened her day!

Happy Birthday Artisitc Outpost and Gingersnap Creations #2

I was inspired to make this birthday card in celebration of Artistic Outpost and Gingersnap Creations while having a sleepless night! This is the first time I worked with this plate of images by Artistic Outpost called Cracker Jack. I choose a soft green cardstock and stamped the various images with Black Versafine ink. I added just a touch of red ink to the baseball so I incorporated a bit of red in the sentiment and edged the "You're a Real Cracker Jack" phrase with red ink to tie it all together. For the finishing touch, I added three large brads in black and green. Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter

My darling oldest daughter celebrates her birthday in three days. I immediately knew when I saw this plate of French images from Stampsmith that I would use them for her birthday card. She and I toured Paris and the Loire Valley twenty years ago. The sentiment and hot air balloons are by Artistic Outpost. I love how the original photograph of the Eiffel Tower was taken looking straight up and the "Can Can" girl is so vintage. I added a Fleur de Lis and a vintage button. Hope she likes it.

Happy Birthday Artistic Outpost and Gingersnap Creations!

During the Month of March one of the owners and three of the designers for Artisitc Outpost are celebrating their birthdays and all on the same day. As well, their friends over at Gingersnap Creations are celebrating their first birthday. In honor of these celebrations, the March Referral Program is seeking art pieces that use Artistic Outpost images that are celebratory or party-like. I just used my Send in the Clowns plate of images for the first time recently as a get well card, and thought they were also appropriate for this occassion. Something tells me my grandson would really like this card! Happy birthday everyone!

Welcome Home!

After unsuccessfully finding just the right card to welcome home the spouse of one of my husband's staff, his office asked if I would put together a card to welcome this husband and father after a six-month tour of duty. I immediately thought of the Heroes plate by Artistic Outpost and chose the Flag image shown here. Wasn't sure about the black card at first, but I think it really makes the red, white and blue pop. Hope he likes it.

A Sunny Birthday Wish!

I just fell in love with this card when I made it. The main image and sentiment are from the Polaroid Cutie Plate by one of my favorite stamp companies, Artistic Outpost. The little girl looks exactly like my granddaughter, and in fact, like me when I was about 4 years old! The daisy ribbon I purchased at a gift shop at a museum in Lancaster, PA and I finished the card with a few glitttered bees and a dried mini sunflower and some Scrappers' Floss. It is just a happy card for a happy occasion!

Bird of Hope

I made this card recently for an aquaintence who just learned that she has pancreatic cancer. I wanted to send her a card with very soft colors and images because it is what I would want to receive if the tables were turned. The images from Artistic Outpost seemed perfect! I hope she is comforted by this card.

For My Granddaughter, on Valentine's Day

My granddaughter's favorite colors are pink and purple so I decided to make her card in those colors. I found this dear little clear stamp image and sentiment at AC Moore and thought it was really cute. I love birds and bird cages. I decided to use turquoise ribbon to mix it up a bit. I decided to edge the white cardtock with aqua ink to make sure the color was repeated in the color scheme. To finish, I gilded the birdcage with some bling. Hope my little Sweetie Pie likes it!

For My Grandson, on Valentine's Day

Although I have already made Valentines for family and friends, I wanted to make an extra special card for my 4 1/2 year old Grandson. I chose grey Bazzil Basics cardstock, and made it pop with red ribbon, heart stickers and buttons. I think the card works well for a little boy. Hope he likes it!

Happy Valentine's Day

After using a Turquoise and Red color combination for my 2009 Christmas cards, I decided to see how I might use my leftover ribbon, buttons and cardstock in my Valentine's Day design. Still recuperating from 220 Christmas Cards with 21 steps to them, I never learn, I decided to scale back a bit with my Valentines! This was my first attempt at using Copic markers since taking a class. Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

He's All Boy!

I recently submitted this card to Stampington and Co. for A "Take Ten" challenge. The stamps are from a plate entitled "Playtime" from one of my favorite stamp companies, Artistic Outpost. This was my first opportunity to use stamps from this set. I know I will use them often to celebrate little boys' birthdays, and perhaps the birth of a child, or to congratulate first-time grandparents. The "All Boy" ribbon I have had on hand for some time. When I started putting this card together, it seemed like the perfect fit. With the addition of the rust colored dog on the ribbon, I thought added the dark orange buttons was a must. I am pleased with how the card came out!

Birds of a Feather

I was preparing some cards for a Take Ten Challege from Stampington when my new stamps arrived from Artistic Outpost! It was love at first sight. Of the six cards I submitted, by far this is my favorite. The card is made from azure blue cardstock and in an interesting color combination of pink, black and blue. I really think the card has a French Inspired Vintage feel to it. The stamp set is entitled "Birds of a Feather." It is destined to become one I use over and over again.

Lilac Birthday Greetings

My husband's oncologist's birthday is today. I really do not know what colors she prefers, but somehow felt safe in selecting various shades of lilac and purples. I love this sheet of paper that I found at Borders Book Store while in Washington, DC, last weekend. It has so many different colors in it. It was made in the UK from recycled paper. Again, I have used one of my favorite stamps, Woman in Repose by Rubber Stampede. I am hopeful that she likes it. Happy Birthday, Dr. Brose!

A Birthday Wish for a Dear Friend

I really like how this card came out. I love the leaf background paper and how I was able to trim it so that I could tuck the image of the young woman behind it. This stamp by Rubber Stampede is one of my favorites and I use it all the time. The sentiment by Penny Black is being used by me for the first time. I really like it though, so I plan to use it often. The icing on the cake: Fresh polka dot green/brown ribbon and several vintage buttons. I really love the feel of these shell buttons and often wonder where they were found.