Birthday card for my mom!

Front of birthday card

Inside of birthday card

My mother turned 89 years old in March.  Everyone who knows my mother knows she loves anything with an Oriental flair!  I found some gorgeous oriental designer card stock at a local scrapbook store.  I couldn't resist buying the papers, knowing they would make a gorgeous card for my mom's birthday.  I also bought an oriental stamp to coordinate with the papers.  

I used versa mark ink when stamping the oriental image on black card stock.  I then sprinkled gold embossing powder over the ink and used my heat gun to emboss the image -- it really turned out beautifully!  I trimmed the paper down so only the design was left on the black card stock.  I used turquoise card stock as a mat underneath the black card stock to make more of a statement, highlighting the embossed image as well as picking up some of the turquoise color from the printed card stock.  Then the fun began, cutting up the oriental card stock, piecing it on the front of the card.  I scored a small square of black-gold oriental card stock and folded it into a fan.  I then attached a gold thread around the base of the fan and used heavy-duty glue dots to keep it attached to the card front.  I found a "Mother" embossed sticker from KCompany, which complimented the rest of the card front.

I wanted the inside of the card to be a special as the front, so I found a border punch with an oriental-type look and punched two borders out of black card stock to frame the inside verse that I printed on gold card stock.

I was really happy with the final product -- so was my mom!  Let me know your thoughts!

Valentine's Day Cards 2013

Valentine Bird

Vintage Cupid / Heart

Vintage Valentine Girl

Love Birds

Vintage Valentine

Here are the first five cards I have designed for my Valentine's Day workshops this year.  Each one is unique, with different techniques.  Besides Valentine's Day, these could also be appropriate for weddings, bridal showers, birthdays, etc.

My classes will be on Wednesdays during our lunch hour here where I work.  I use a conference room down the hallway from my office.  Lots of fun and a great way to release some tension at the workplace, playing with paper, scissors and glue for an hour during the work day!

I'll be uploading a few more cards later this week, once my new Stampin' Up! order arrives with lots of new goodies to play with!  

Let me know what you think of these cards!!!

Interested in buying any of my card creations?  Go to the Uniquely Noreen link in the right hand column to see prices and ordering information!  Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Creating Embellishments!

Plain chipboard die cuts

Decorated brads, borders, etc.

Chipboard die cuts stained and distressed with metallic paints

Thought I would give you a view of my workspace where I do a lot of my card design work.  Here are some chipboard cutouts that I distress with stains and then highlight with metallic dauber paints.  The fun part is trying to get the stains and paints off my fingers when I'm done for the day!

Nature-Inspired Cards

Flower/Bird Vine

Acetate Butterfly 

Bird Egg printed cardstock/embellishment

                                               

I've been playing with some embellishments, border punches, and papers and designed a few new cards using a nature theme for the Little Red School House craft show that will be held the first Sunday in October.  Everything has to have something related to a nature theme for that particular show.  Some of the embellishments are acetate designs (butterfly and bird), chipboard (vines), and 3-dimensionals (words).  

50th Wedding Invitation

A lady who purchased a few of my greeting cards at a craft show last fall called me to see if I might be interested in designing invitations for her and her husband's 50th wedding celebration.  I scanned a copy of their wedding photo and cropped it down to the size I would need to balance the front of the invitation.  I chose four different printed cardstock designs and started tearing and distressing the paper until I came up with this design.  I stamped the word "Memories" on one of the printed papers and attached two antique brads to the sides.  I distressed all edges of the papers and photo to give it a vintage look.  A small silk flower with a pearl center is attached with a tiny glue dot after the edges were distressed.  I found a golden-colored organza ribbon that gives the card a little more elegance and wrapped it around the entire front of the card.  The inside of the card was printed directly from my computer.  The couple was thrilled with the results and originally ordered thirty invitations. A week later, they order an additional ten invitations!  I am really proud of the result!!!

More Mother's Day Cards!

Here are three more cards I designed for Mother's Day, each one is unique!  The first one uses a die cut that is in the shape of an apron.  I embossed the entire shape after it was stamped.  I then added stamped flowers that I cut out individually and attached using small glue dots for a little dimension.


The second card was distressed on the edges of the mat, the border strip that I cut from a new Martha Stewart punch, and the flowers made from a Tim Holtz die cut -- lots of fun!  


The third card used three embossing folders:  one for the top section of the card, one for the bottom section, and the third for the hat.  I used a circle punch, a scalloped oval punch and a smaller oval punch to make the hat.  Added a small width ribbon to the hat brim, punched a small flower, added a tiny yellow pearl in the center of the flower...and added the vintage lace around the center for texture.  


Let me know what you think!

Mother's Day Card from Kids

Card front

Inside of card

Here is the Mother's Day card I made for my co-worker 's kids 

to give to their mom.  

I used a printed cardstock for the front, printed the words on my computer, cut out the tags and attached them to the flower stems using bright yellow-orange twine.  

The inside verse was placed over a pink cardstock mat that coordinates with the front of the card.

Let me know what you think!