Kristine, the creative mind behind Designs by Kristine, has released a stunning new kit – I LOVE LOVE LOVE the papers and flowers in this kit!

Since I”m fortunate enough to be on her DT, I was able to play a bit early.  My DH asked me to make a sympathy card for a friend who suddenly lost her husband.   I immediately knew I wanted to use one of the wonderful papers from this kit!   My card base is textured white Bazzill CS (6×6).  I printed the fabulous purple DP from Lindsay’s Beginning – I love the subtle coloration and florals – and embossed it with an SU texture plate and my Big Shot.  I used an EK Success punch to create the scallop edge.  The Iris is from a retires SU set – Still Life Stems.  I colored directly on the stamp with my SU markers and then “huffed” before stamping onto Whisper White CS.  I typically use Georgia Pacific or Staples CS for my digi-images, but I wanted the extra crispness that the vivid white SU CS offered.  The image and glitter CS (DCWV) mat were trimmed with my Long Rectangle and Scallop Nestabilites.  I added a bit of Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac inks with a sponge dauber to give subtle color to the glittered CS mat.  The narrow organdy ribbon is from my stash.  After adhering everything together, I stamped the sentiment (SU) twice – first with Silver MetalExtra ink (Clearsnap) and then with Vintage Violet (SU) to give an embossed effect.  I added the adhesive pearls from Michaels for a bit of dimension and elegance. I continued the theme on the inside by reprinting the DP from Lindsay’s Beginning with a verse I found on the internet.  The verse reads:  

Although we know at such a time there’s little we can say. We want to let you know that you are in our thoughts today.

My DH was then able to personalize his message. I found my 6×6 envelopes weren’t large enough, so I used a sheet of 12×12 paper and created an envelope for the card too.

Since I was in a card making mood, and this kit is so stunning, I have a little goodie for.  I have created 2 printable (4.5×5.5) cards for you (with Kristine’s permission).  I didn’t add a sentiment, so you can personalize the cards to suit your needs.  You can print them one a single sheet of 8.5×11 paper using a borderless setting and then stamp your sentiment or open them in your favorite editing software and type your sentiment before printing. I hope you enjoy them! If you like what you see, please send your friends to my blog to download for themselves.  Thanks!

That’s all from me.  Mondays are errand running/grocery days, so we’ll be busy busy today!  Be sure to check out Lindsay’s Beginning and the rest of goodies at Kristine’s store (and her blog – I’ve hears there might be goodies there too) and then head over to the DSO store too – the Designers have a released a new Collab Kit – with a twist! You won’t be disappointed!  

It’s Thursday – which means gymnastics for my little one and a new project for Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff! Lindsay has some awesome new Houndstooth papers in her My Grafico store (and they’re on-sale right now!!), as well as some cute Princess stamps.  However, I have once again, used her Love Grows Here set along with Jodiann’s Gelly Hearts and Mini Stripes Light styles to create 4 cute little cards.

Using Lindsay’s Multi-Bracket Paper SVG freebie as a starting point, I experimented in Inkscape until I created Multi-Bracket card base and mat SVG files – definitely a bit of a learning curve, but completely doable! Then I turned to my trusty Photoshop and with the help of Jodiann’s styles, created 5 different papers that I printed out and then using SCAL cut the card bases and mats – I used 5.5 inches as the height for me card base and 5.15 inches for the height of the mat.. Then, using Photoshop again, I selected and printed the stamps from Love Grows Here.

I must admit, I’m rather pleased with the way they turned out – though my fingers were getting a little tired – thankfully I have really good, sharp scissors!  The birds are colored with Copics and Bic Mark-Its; the hearts have a generous coating of red stickles on them, and the the stitching was drawn in with a Blue Spica pen. The sheer organdy ribbon is from my stash. The heart paper is one I created and the card base is from my stash. This was one of my DH’s favorites. This little guy was colored with Bic Mark-Its with a touch of Spica Yellow glitter pen added to his wing and Cool Grey 1 Copic for shadow. Since Lindsay is sponsoring this week’s challenge over at Tuesday Morning Sketches, I used Melissa’s fabulous sketch to guide my layout. I used Bazzill CS and an EK Success Punch to create the image mat.  The card mat is one of my creations; the base is Bazzill textured CS.  The flowers are from Prima (checkout my friend Suzanne’s store – Crafting Connection, for awesome deals on Prima) and the pearls are from Michaels. This was DH’s other favorite!

Yes, once again, I HAD to use the fabulous cupcakes in the Love Grows Here set.  I colored the cupcakes with Copics, Mark-Its, and Spica pens – I used a white gel pen for accent.  The small cupcake sprinkles are coated with Red Stickles while the large sprinkles are Dew Drops from Crafting Connection.  I added ribbon from my stash to the card mat (another of my papers).  The card base is SU.Last but not least, I used the doily heart from Love Grows Here.  I colored the heart with Copics and punched the holes in the lace with my Fiskars hand punch.  The flowers are Prima and the pearls are MS.  Both the card mat and base were created by me.

That’s about it from me, but before you head over to Lindsay’s blog to check our her fab project and goodies – as well as the links to the other DT creations, I have a surprise for you!  I’m giving away the card base and mat SVG cutting files and 4 layered, printable cards – you can get them here.  If you like them, please leave a comment and send your friends to my blog – don’t share the links directly – thanks!

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Whew – 2 projects in one day! I’m on a roll!  My friend and fellow DT member for Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff, Micki, is hosting the digi-day challenge for Sweet N’ Sassy stamps at Paper Craft Planet today – so I played along: My card layout is based on this week’s sketch at Friday Sketchers – I was shooting to beat the Early Bird deadline for the PCP (which is 10PM EST – though I didn’t pay attention and thought it was 8PM) – so go figure – when there’s a deadline, I opt to create a scene! The castle/drawbridge is a background stamp from Dustin Pike, the frog is a previous Sweet N Sassy digital freebie, and the crown is from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff’s Pretty Princess set. I generated the sentiment in Photoshop.  The scene and the sentiment are matted with patterned, glitter CS from DCWV.  The card base and mat are both Bazzill.  I haven’t put anything on the inside yet, but I am thinking something along the lines of “I Hope All of Your Dreams Come True”. 

That’s all again – it’s time for supper!