DRIED FLOWER CARD:

I love this card. It is sooooo pretty when you see it in real life! These were flowers I dried myself. After the flowers are dried, you lay the flowers out on the sticky side of clear Self-Adhesive Laminating paper. After you get the arrangement you want, then top it with another sheet of laminating paper, making sure to get as much air out as possible without breaking the flowers, and seal the edges of the laminating paper very well. When you make dried flower cards they come out sooooo stunning. You would surprise yourself!

The easiest way I find to dry the flowers is to place the flower between the pages of a large book, such as a dictionary. Close the book and then place several other large books on top of it and let it sit for a few weeks. The results are fabulous!

P. S. Don't add too many flowers to a page/book as it could cause too much dampness and the flowers could mildew.

PEARL EX / GLASS PAINT

Vison Inc. makes this stamp. I love it, not only because it is such a beautiful stamp, but also because it is so versatile. You can stamp it alone, as I did, or you can use any/all of the flowers and/or butterfly separately and/or on other cards.

It is colored with Pearl Ex paints and the lady bugs are colored with red glass paint...love the glass paint and the Pearl Ex!

Reminder: Always remember to stamp your card with pigment ink and emboss it before using Pearl Ex, as the embossed edges of your image hold in the paint and prevent the different colors from running into each other.

Stampendous makes a line of bee stamps that are sooooo cute! I have a few of these stamps and use them often.

The Bzzzz and the Just B' Cuz were done in my Printshop program.

The yellow strip is just a piece of card stock. I added a little ribbon and some dashes.

Then I added some glitter to the wings and flower just to add some pizazz!

I took this photo of clouds around sunset. You can really get some cool photos of clouds when the sun is about to set.
I now carry my little digital camera with me in my purse so that I am always ready if I see a sunset, clouds, flowers, children, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and always carry an extra battery that is charged so you don't get caught without power to your camera.
The scenery image is by Stampendous and the little boat/fisherman is from Stampscapes. I drew in the rocks at the bottom of the card by hand.

Here's another card I made by stamping on a cloud photo. This is a pretty good example of what happens when you don't have enough of the white clouds in the lower part of the photo. The sky portion shows up as shadows after you color the image. Also, if you have too much gray in the clouds it will also show up as shadows. You want to make sure your clouds are as white as possible.
The image is by Stampendous.

This also is my own photograph. I was in my neighborhood taking pictures of flowers and I liked the way this photo of roses turned out, so I made it into a card. This shows how you can use your own photographs to make cards.
The angel stamp is from Penny Black, and the little hearts background stamp is from Dots and is called "Heart Dust".

And here is yet another cloud photograph that I stamped on.
This stamp belonged to a friend of mine, but I believe it is also from Stampscapes.
I showed this card to a friend of mine who was in the South Pacific during World War II and he said, "Wow, it's just like being there!"
The photograph of the clouds really makes the card look like a postcard.

~STAMPING ON PHOTOGRAPHS OF CLOUDS~

One of my favorite techniques is stamping on photos of clouds.
I'm sure you've all seen the awesome clouds that float up in the sky during the months of March and April. Springtime is the best time to take these photographs.
You want to make sure most of the white part of the clouds is from the bottom to 3/4Th's the way up the photo because that's the area you are going to stamp and color on. If you have blue sky at the bottom of the photo then your image comes out too dark when you stamp and color it. So you want to make sure your card is mostly white clouds with a little bit of blue sky towards the top.
The images on this card are from Stampscapes.

Pearl Ex

This looks like a pretty plain card, but in person it just pops.

The background is done with glossy black card stock. I put dots/swirls of Marvy Metallics on the card stock and then wadded up a piece of plastic wrap and dabbed all over the card stock to spread around the metallic ink. You have to dab the ink quickly as it dries rather quickly.

The angel is by Penny Black and is stamped with pigment ink and embossed and then painted with Pearl-Ex paints.

Here's a card I recently made for a friend's birthday. It's mostly background paper, punched hearts, a piece of ribbon and a free online image.

Another apple card. I really like the brightness in this card. Believe it or not, this stamp does NOT have a name on it. That is very unusual. Anyway, a simple card, yet crisp and clean. I did the wording in my Printshop program, then stamped it, and colored it with my markers.

I have looked high and low for these stamps. They are mine. My granddaughter, Lexi, and I made cards like this one day, and for the life of me I cannot find the stamps. But, as soon as I do I will post who made them.
I put a little round acrylic thingie from Michaels in the middle of the main flower and hand cut some corner edges for it.Anyway, it was just a really cute little card that was fun to do.

This is an easy little card that I made from some inexpensive plastic stencils. You can purchase these at Walmart and Michaels. When I color my stencils I use chalks, dye inks, and/or pigment inks. I've tried all the different ways and I like them all.

This particular card was colored with pigment inks and then I added some glitter glue on all the little dots just to give it some pizazz!

~Glass Paint~

Another really fun technique I like is painting my images with glass paint. You can purchase it at Michaels and many other craft stores. It's hard to see here, but the glass paint adds a little bit of height and a glass-like shine to your image. On this card I only added the glass paint to the apples to add a little interest on the card...the leaves and stems are colored with markers. Oh, and you do want to stamp your image first with pigment ink and emboss it before applying the glass paint as the embossed edges tend to hold the glass paint where it belongs. And, another nice thing about glass paint is that it cleans up with water.
Again, I don't know who makes this stamp as it belongs to a friend of mine. I layered the image and added a little Swiss dot ribbon.

~Scrap Layering Continued~

Here's the other card I was telling you about on which I did the Scrap Layering.

On this particular card I used two different kinds of background paper and after that was applied then I stamped over them with some pine tree images. I love this technique as it really makes your main image pop! As you can see on this card and the previous card, I also leave little spaces between each piece of scrap background paper so you can see some of the main card stock that shows through. Then I also use a piece of the same card stock to layer the main image.

I can't tell you who makes this image as it belongs to a friend of mine...I made the card at her house.

~Scrap Layering~

I have not used any stamps on this card. The bear image was taken from a greeting card that was given to me and I recycled it! I've done that with a few of my cards. I think it's a good idea. If you're not going to keep certain cards that you've received from people (or if you have cards you've purchased, but probably won't use), recycle them rather than throw them away.
Around the outside edge is a technique I made up that I call "Scrap Layering". I actually take scraps of background paper, cut them different sizes, and glue them randomly around the outside edges of the card. You want to have your image already colored before choosing the background paper scraps, as you want to match the colors in your image with the colors around the edge. Or you can choose your background paper first and then color your image matching the colors in the background paper.
The same background paper is used in the layering of the bear image.
On some of my cards I've used this technique and have also used two or more different kinds of background paper around the edge, and then I've also stamped images on them. You'll see what I mean in my next post.

This is my little Grandson, Brayden, who just turned 5 years old yesterday. He spent a couple of days with me last week and we did a lot of things together and had a very nice time. Here he just finished a Cars puzzle. He loves coming to Grandma's house and I love having him! He is such a sweet little boy!

Oooooo I just love taking my own photos and using them in my cards.....sooooo fun.
Here's another card for the man at my church. The flower image is a photograph I took of some pink flowers. Since this was a flower image I wanted to make it more masculine looking...even though I really don't believe God made flowers only for the female gender.
I put the image into my Printshop program and tweaked it into this image and added the saying. The leaf punch is an edge punch from Fiskars and the little teenie-weenie butterfly comes from a Martha Stewart edge punch.

The fish background on this card is actually from a package of paper I purchased at my local office supply store a long time ago.
The frame is from Art Gone Wild and is embossed in gold and then colored in.
The clouds/sky is a photograph I took of the sky on a cloudy day and cut it out to fit in the frame.
I added some sand and a shell to give it dimension.

Here's a fun little card I made. 
The butterfly is actually from a piece of material I bought. I glued the material onto a piece of card stock and then cut it out and raised it up with mounting tape. I use all kinds of things to make cards with!!! It's fun!!!
The colorful background is done in Kaleidoscope Painter. It's a website that is actually like a kaleidoscope! The designs you can make are unlimited! And, they're free for personal use too. You can find it at:
permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html.

This little cartoon image comes from Joyful Toons. They have tons of cartoons that are free for personal use only. You can find them at www.joyfultoons.com
I found the little dog and dog house at Michaels craft store.
The white area at the bottom was scored with the Scor-Pal. You can find their Web Site at:
www.scor-pal.com

This card was actually inspired by Kimberly Crawford, For the Love of Paper. I loved her card so I made a similar one. I have to admit, hers turned out better though. Good job, Kimberly! She has some awesome cards.

The next three cards are made for a man in my church who is in prison. When he first went to prison the Lord laid it on my heart to make cards for him. So I make cards, take them to church, and the members take them and write little notes of encouragement to him and mail them out. It has been very successful and it has helped him a lot. He loves hearing from everyone and loves the cards too! And, he is doing very well. The images on this card are Public Domain images I found online. I added a little piece of ribbon across the middle.
The "Bee Happy" was typed from my computer with the "Pass the Chex" font. You can download TONS of really cool free fonts from online, download them onto your desktop and then drag them into your font folder in your computer. Just make sure they are True Type fonts.

Sometimes I just like a simple little card, and this is one of them.
The flower stamps are the type of stamps where you actually color on the stamp itself. The best markers for this technique are the Marvy Brush Markers as the ink actually stays wet a lot longer than regular markers. Also, after you color on the stamp, huff on it with your breath to actually add a little more moisture to the ink before stamping the image.
Both the daisy stamp and the background stamp are from Rubber Stampede.
The saying was typed on my computer.

Brayden's 5th Birthday

My grandson Brayden is turning five years old on April 15th...that's right, tax day!!! It's unbelievable that he's that old already. He will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Boo hoo! That makes me sad to see him that old already! His party is tomorrow.

This card was made with background paper, some images from my Printshop card program and the circle words were done in Microsoft Word. Family Treasures makes the sun punch.

Happy "40Th" Birthday Todd!

Today is my son Todd's "40th" birthday! WOW - what does that make me? I don't even want to think about it!!! 
Happy Birthday Todd!
You're an awesome son and I am very proud of you! I know you're at work right now, but when you see this I want you to know that I thought of you and pray you have a happy day! I love you, Mom :)

For this card I used background paper, a Nestabilities scalloped circle, a little piece of black and white plaid ribbon, a little free online cupcake image, and a little balloon punch by Carl. The "Happy "40Th" Birthday Todd" was done in Microsoft Word.

Another really simple card here. The happy birthday background is a Cuddlebug folder. The oval is punched with a Nestabilities oval and embossed with a Cuddlebug folder and colored over with crayons. Oh and the butterfly? Well, that's my favorite butterfly! It's from Marvy and it punches and embosses at the same time! I love it! The corners are punched with a little green corner punch that has no name on it. But, you can purchase corner punches in most stores that sell the punches. And, last, but not least, I added three little pink beads on the butterfly's body.

Mostly background paper is what is used in this card. The little leaf punch is from EK Success and the hi! stamp is from Inkadinkado. I added a little flower from Michaels and a little brad in the middle. Very simple.

Sometimes I think simple is best! I have a girlfriend who LOVES this card, so she will get one of these for her next birthday.

The lined border stamp here is called "Long Plaid Stripe" by Alias Smith and Rowe (I hope I spelled that right - its hard to read it on the stamp. The corners are cut with the green "Nostalgia" Fiscars Corner Edgers. I made the "Girlfriend" in Microsoft Word, printed it out, and punched it out with with a circle punch. On the bottom of the card I added some bling that I purchased at Michaels, and put two little flowers and a brad in the center.

Ooooo I love this flower! I simply drew out a flower shape on a piece of card stock and then cut it out to use as a template. For this flower I cut two flower shapes, but you can use as many as you'd like. I found the best paper to use for these flowers is Origami paper as it is lightweight. Simple computer paper (white or colored) works well also. You can print backgrounds from your computer onto white/colored paper to use as well. There really are TONS of ways to make flowers and the ideas are endless.

I used a Cuddlebug embossing folder. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. The leaf punch is by Martha Stewart. The center of the flower is a little green brad. Under that is a punch from Punch Bunch and the little green leaves are from a punch by EK Success.

Pinch the petals on your flowers when you are finished so that they will stand up and you will have a happy flower!

Mmmmm I love birds! They are sooooo cute. I love to watch them in my yard. There are all kinds of them year round. Right now, springtime, the quail are going to be hatching their babies soon. You should see the mama and papa and all the little babies. When they first start walking around, the babies are not much bigger than the end of my thumb! Adorable!

Here I've used a Cuddlebug folder for the background. I've found the best way to color the Cuddlebug folders is to use either crayons or colored pencils. They seem to work the best for me. Haven't tried inking the folders with pigment ink yet. I've seen it done on other blogs and I like it. I will try it one day though. The birds are by Hero Arts. The leaf punch is Martha Stewart. The circle is punched with either 1 1/2" or 2" punch. The dot stamp is from Printworks. I loveeeee my dot stamp...I have used it so many times. I also added a real bird feather and a raffia bow.

This was my Grandson Zack's 16th Birthday card. He will be turning 17 in June and made the Honor Roll this last quarter!!! You go Zack!!! Awesome!!! Zack is my first-born grandchild and is an AWESOME basketball player!

On this card I used a Cuddlebug Folder, Nestabilities that I cut with the Wizard, and the basketballs and shoe are free online images.

You can get TONS of free images online. Just type in your search: Free Images, Free Clip Art, Public Domain Images, etc. Just use your imagination. The images are unlimited! And, be sure to read the "Terms of Use" for each site.

This is my Grandson, Jake's 1st Birthday card! Isn't he sooooo adorable? He'll be two in two more months! Unbelievable!!! And, can you believe...he LOVES the vacuum cleaner...it's his FAVORITE thing to play with. He doesn't play with toys...has no interest in them.  And, he does dishes!!! Yes, he stands on a chair at the sink and rinses them off and then puts them in the dishwasher. He'll be every woman's dream when he grows up!

Made with background paper, photo, little trinkets and buttons. The star was done in Printshop, printed, cut out, and raised up.

This is one of my favorite cards!  My mother-in-law wanted one of my cards, so I sent her this one.  She said she loved it.  

The stamp is by Rubber Stampede. I stamped it on background paper, colored it with markers, and then raised up some Prima flowers from Got Flowers.

This card turned out really pretty.

The Background is done with a Cuddlebug folder. The large punch is by Martha Stewart and the small punch is by Marvy. The little leaf punch is from EK Success. I added a silk flower I purchased from Michaels. Michaels has wonderful flowers that you can purchase and add to your cards.

Flowers are fun!

I wish I could remember the name of the website where I got this free image. If anyone out there knows, please let me know so I can post it here.

The background frame was done in Printshop. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Art Impressions.

I printed out the flower image twice. I cut out the leaves and flowers from the second image, raising them up on the original image.

I L O V E the beach...it's one of my very favorite places to go...therefore I always have
fun making these kinds of cards.
The background is done with colored pencils. The starfish stamp is from Comotion Rubber Stamps. The other large shell stamp came in a box with several other stamps with no name on the box. It was a gift. The seaweed punch is by Martha Stewart. The saying was done on my computer and the corner punch is from E K Success.
And I added some little tiny shells that I got from the beach...sorta hard to see them unless you click on the card to enlarge it.

FINALLY!

Wow, it's taken me this long to get the photos taken and then I had to put them into Photoshop and turn them all into JPEG's. It was very time consuming as I have LOTS of them! But, I'm now ready to start adding more cards to my blog.
This card was dry embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate (a little hard to see in this photo. The Cuttlebug Embossing Folders work much better. I also added a little cross charm to the bow. The angel stamp is from Penny Black and the saying is from Inkadinkado.

Oops

I thought I would have more cards uploaded by now, but when I was photographing them I just couldn't seem to get the lighting right. I had to redo the photos three times before I finally got them right. I guess this will take me a little longer than I previously though! :( I'll start uploading soon - I promise!

NEW CARDS COMING SOON:

Yesterday I spent a lot of time taking photos of quite a few cards I have and haven't given away yet. I haven't downloaded them to my puter yet, but will do that today or tomorrow. I hope to post most of them this week.

Here's a photo of my friend Phyllis. When we were down in Southern California in 2007 we went to the beach in Oceanside. Phyllis and her husband Joe have a time-share down there and they invite me and others down periodically. My niece and her husband, Janay and Mark, live down there too and when we were down in 2008 Janay and Phyllis and I went to Disneyland and had sooooo much fun. Also, one night Janay and Mark came over. Mark brought his guitar and we all sat around singing Christian songs. Even though we were all pretty much off key, we had a blast! Looking forward to next time! We always have such a good time when we go. Thank you, Phyllis and Joe!!! You're awesome friends!!!

I love photography, card making, and have only in the last few years gotten into writing a little poetry. ("The Sea" ... ©  by Cindy Romero 2007.)

This was a card for my grandson, Skyler's 8th birthday. He's now 10. Skyler is an awesome athlete...you should see him golf! He's amazing for his age! Watch out Tiger!!!
Slowly, but surely I'll get a lot of my cards uploaded. And, they probably won't be in any special order at the beginning! I'm finding them little by little amongst all my photos!

This was made with background paper, an online image, and the balls at the bottom are a sticker. The words and the watermark are done in Printshop.

This card is pretty self explanatory...just some stamped letters, flowers, background papers, and a chipboard frame. But, it turned out pretty cute! In fact, I liked it so much I saved it for my Daughter-in-law, Amanda's birthday.

Well, I think I've got this posting down now.

This was a fun card too.
I made it for my son and daughter-in-law as they had just found out they were having their third baby. They already had two boys and when the youngest, Brayden (3), was asked if it was a boy or a girl, his response was, "Oh my God, another boy!"

Here's another birthday card I made for my little granddaughter, Lexi. She is sooooo special...the sweetest little girl in the world! She'll be a teenager this year - UNBELIVABLE!!! It was a fun card to make and she really liked it!

The cupcake is made from a stencil...the frosting was put on with glue and different colored glitter.

March 24, 2010  7:49 PM:

I'm trying to figure out how to get an image into this blog...will it work? Well, I think it did! I'll find out in a minute or so!!!

YAHOO!!!  I see it worked! That's GREAT!!! Now I'm EXCITED!!!
Next, I'll see if I can find and insert a photo of myself.
Good luck to me! :)

Well, everything's worked out pretty well...so far I'm pleased!

This card was made with scrap paper, balloon punch outs, and the Happy Birthday was created by me in the Printshop card program...I LOVE the Printshop program...the BEST card program I've seen!!!

Stamp Artistry

My first blog! Yahooooooo! Wow...now what do I say? I've thought about doing this for a while, but have been putting it off. I don't work for a stamp company, nor am I a designer for one. I just love to stamp and make cards out of anything and everything! I also like to incorporate the computer into the inside/outside of the card. As time goes on I will try and post some of my cards...not sure how to do that yet!  I love to look at stamping blogs for ideas, hints, freebies, etc.

May God be real in your life,

Cindy :)