Mason Jar Bouquet of Flowers

I love the look of painted Mason jars, so in keeping with a summer theme, here is a Mason jar filled with a flower bouquet. I cased this card from Pinterest. The Mason jar stamp is so versatile and you can literally fill it with anything you want. My stamp is an older one, but there are lots of Mason jar stamps out there now. I used Wink of Stella to go over the stamped lines along the edges of the jar for a glassy effect.

My flowers are from Color Pop Florals by Papertrey Ink. (See my previous post where I stenciled the flowers for a card background from the same set.) The patterned paper is from the Affectionately Yours DSP set of papers. I matted the DSP onto Night of Navy cardstock and my card base is Daffodil Delight, all from Stampin' Up! The Celebrate Today is also from the Color Pop Florals set which included this die, along with the dies for the flowers. I die cut the words from a water color looking patterned paper in my stash and it really gave it an ombre effect. Finished card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, Layers were each cut 1/4 inch smaller than the previous layer.

I have another Mason jar card in mind for next week, so if you are a fan of Mason jars, stay tuned! There is a link on the right if you would like to follow along!

Summer Cooler Cards

I don't know about you, but where I live the heat is upon us! I thought it would be a good time for some "Summer Cooler" cards. The original idea for the yellow and orange card came from Dawn Griffith of Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. Link to Dawn's Video She got it from someone else, so we are all passing on the cuteness!

I used clear window sheet rather than vellum and I love the look of a real glass! The second card was made the same way I did the Valentine heart jar back in February. (See link here) I stamped the jar image onto white cardstock, sponged it to look like a drink inside, then stamped the image again onto clear window sheet material with Staz-On ink. I cut both of them out and layered the "straw" in between the layers.

For the yellow and orange lemonade card I cut the yellow paper and then cut the clear window sheet slightly taller to give the illusion of a glass. I sandwiched the "straw" in between the same as the strawberry lemonade card. I didn't have a lemon stamp, so I found an image on Google, printed it, and cut it in half to use on my card.

Papers and stamps are all Stampin' Up as follows:
Yellow and Orange Lemonade Card:
White Cardstock (Card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, top opening)
Orange Papers from Brights DSP Stack
Yellow "lemonade" layer from Watercolor Garden DSP (retired)
Endless Thanks stamp set
Window sheet

Red and Green Strawberry Lemonade Card:
White cardstock (card measures 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 and is side opening)
Fruit Stand DSP
Window sheet
Garden Green polka dot paper from Regals DSP stack
Red striped straw from Brights DSP stack
Jar stamp (retired), but they have a new one now and I have seen others out there.
Happy Day To You from Sale-a-Bration Perfect Pairings stamp set
Retired Candy Dots
Small punched flowers from a Martha Stewart punch

Stay cool out there and I'll be back next week with another card!

Pink Flamingo Card

I am loving all the cute flamingo stamps and card ideas floating around these days!  I thought I would share a card I made this week for someone's birthday. The card base is from a pack of note cards from the dollar bin at Target! They are really nice quality and not flimsy at all. The flamingo stamp is from the dollar bin at Michaels. I colored the flamingo with Bic markers and cut it out with some oval dies. I added a few little punched out pink flowers and a sentiment from the Remembering Your Birthday stamp set from Stampin' Up.

I lined a plain white envelope with some black and white striped paper (Heidi Swapp paper pack by American Crafts). I think lining the envelope dresses up the presentation of a card, especially for a birthday or special ocasion. All you have to do is measure your envelope, including the flap, and cut the paper slightly smaller. I rounded the top corners, inserted the paper into the envelope, then attached just the top part to the flap below the glued edge. I folded the flap down to crease it and it was done!

Have a great week and look out for those pink flamingos!

Father's Day/Masculine Cards

Need a masculine card for a birthday or Father's Day? Raid your husband's calendar! I saw a video on You Tube about turning calendars into pages for flip books and thought, "Why can't I do that with a card?" I used last year's calendar so I didn't mess up this year's, but  I'm thinking about buying one just to have on hand for these kind of cards!

You need a piece of clear plastic to place over the calendar page to decide where you want to cut the piece from, and then just trace and cut. You don't need to use the entire photo. You can crop it down. My card is A2 size, which is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, so I cut the calendar page down to 12 x 5-1/4 and then cut it into thirds for each panel of the card to be 4 inches wide. If your calendar isn't that big, just make a two panel card instead of three, or maybe even just one panel for the front of the card. I liked the continuous flow of one end of the car to the other, so I used both the  front and inside of the card and let the car image(s) be the focal point of the entire card. I wrote my message and signed it on the back of the card using a white chalk marker or gel pen (since my card base was black). If your calendar panels are a little smaller than mine, you can just mat them. 

I have found that it is hard to stamp on the calendar paper unless you use Staz-On ink, or you can write on it with a Sharpie marker. I stamped my greetings separately and then attached them to the card, but you can do it either way. It kind of depends on the blank space in the picture and where you can place the greeting. (My greetings are all from Stampin' Up but the only current greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.)

I first made one of these cards as a birthday card for my son, then my brother, and now I'm making Father's Day cards! I think it's a great idea for the guys in your life.