Lovely as a Tree is one of my all time favorite and most used stamp sets. It’s one of the first stamp sets that I reach for when I need an elegant stamp. It’s also wonderful for masculine cards.

I tried something different when I inked this stamp to get a multi tone look. First, I covered the entire stamp with Sahara Sand ink. Then I used my Always Artichoke marker to color part of the tree by brushing on the stamp, making sure to leave some of the Sahara Sand ink untouched. I used my Chocolate Chip marker to color the trunk of the tree and several of the branches in the tree, then I huffed on the stamp (to re-moisten the ink) and stamped it onto Very Vanilla carstock.

I wanted to add a little bit of a watercolor look so I used my aqua painter to soften the color on the tree and blend the brown into the trunk. Once it dried, I cut it out with one of my circle nestabilities and added a screw style brad.

The layout of this card is CASE’d from page 111 of the Stampin’ Up! Fall-Winter Collection 2007. It was perfect for this card!

I distressed the bottom edge of the textured brown cardstock before adhering it onto the River Rock cardfront and then pierced some holes below that with my paper piercer. The strip of Always Artichoke carsdtock was first stamped with Canvas using Always Artichoke ink before adhering to the cardfront.

The main image was mounted using mounting tape and then I added the rub-on greeting.

I’m liking this Of a Feather stamp set more and more!! I can even make a masculine card with it. You can find it in Michelle’s store: Stamper’s Dream.

The tree image is stamped with Palette’s Nior Black ink onto Papertrey’s white cardstock and colored in with a Copic marker - YG91.

I turned the corners over just a bit to roughen it up and then matted it on a piece of Really Rust cardstock. The georgouse Brown Satin ribbon is stapled onto the back and then I added some dimension with mounting tape.

The cardbase is a beautiful shade of olive cardstock that I picked up at Archivers (my 5 free sheets). It’s softer than SU’s Old Olive and richer than their River Rock. It was perfect for this project! The little bird image was stamped on the cardbase with VersaMark ink.

I hope that all of you had a fabulous Mother’s Day!! Today’s post is a graduation gift that I made for a friend of our family’s.

The card uses the “congratulations” stamp from Stampin’ Up’s Bursting with joy stamp set. I stamped it on white cardstock using Palette’s Nior Black ink pad and trimmed it.

The scalloped edge was created by stamping the circle image from “Of a Feather” in a row and covered the top half with the patterned paper. I used a distressing tool to roughen up the edges of the patterned paper.

I adhered the strip of white cardstock over the patterned paper and added two gemstones on either side.

Momma picked several of these journals up at target on sale to use a graduation gifts. Some of them are polka-dot and some of them are striped.

The main flower image is from the Build a Bouquet stamp set. I love all of the images in that set - they make it so versatile.

I wrapped a length of olive grosgrain ribbon around the book and glued it inside of the cover. The knot was added before glueing it on and I added a pearl headed pin to the center.

The little white flower is a faux prima and I added a little gemstone to the center of it.

To finish off the journal, I made a coordinating RSVP pen and put a piece of the polka-dot patterned paper inside.

Isn’t this tea cup cute?! It’s from the Tea Sparkle stamp set from Stamper’s Dream.

I first stamped the heart image on white cardstock using Black StazOn ink. I then masked it off and stamped the tea cup image over it also using Black StazOn ink. I used my aqua painter and watercolor crayons to color the image and then cut it out using my oval nestabilities.

I used a scallop nesti to cut out the Elegant Eggplant cardstock and adhered the tea cup image on top of it. The main image is then mounted on the cardbase with dimensionals.

The main cardbase is a window sheet that I attached a piece of striped paper to (from the Sprout Collection) using brads. By putting the paper on the inside of the window sheet, I added some dimension to the sentiment which is stamped on the window sheet using Black StazOn ink.

I’m so excited about this card that I could hardly wait to show it to you! It’s so simple but I pulled off just the right amount of detail to make it pop!

This stamp set is Melanie Muenchinger’s new set called “Hip-Hop Accessories” and it’s available from Gina K. Designs.

I stamped the crown image on white cardstock using More Mustard ink and colored it in using More Mustard ink and a watercolor brush. I used a 3/4″ punch to punch it out and then mounted it onto the strip of brown cardstock using dimensionals.

I sewed around a piece of Always Artichoke carstock using my sisters sewing machine, and adhered it to a Sahara Sand card front.

The strip of brown cardstock is attached to the Always Artichoke carsdtock using glue dots and I added a brad to the left side.

I stamped the word “king” from Melanie’s set using White craft ink from SU, but I didn’t like the way that it turned out on the artichoke cardstock so I stopped by Archivers and picked up some VersaMagic, VersaColor, and Brilliance white inks to play around with. I found that VersaMagic showed up best on the artichoke cardstock so that’s what I used on the card for the rest of the sentiment.

This is a set of cards that I made as a present for Momma. She liked the new Tea stamp set that I got from Stamper’s Dream, so I made her a few cards to send to friends.

(click on the picture below to see a larger image)

I stamped the tea bag image onto white cardstock with Palette’s Nior Black ink and colored it in with Copic Markers; E93 for the heart; YG91 for the tea on the blue, brown and pink cards; E43 for the tea on the green cards; W-1 for the shadow; 0 to soften the tea color;

After cutting out the image with rectangle nestabilities I mounted it on the cardfront with dimensionals. The ribbon was folded over and adhered under the image with double-stick tape, and two gemstones were added to either side.

I stamped a sentiment on the cardfront using Palette’s Nior Black ink and centered it under the gemstones on the right. This design is ultra-simple but I love it!

Here is a close-up of the design.

Today is my Momma’s birthday, so I figured that I’d share the birthday card that I made for her! Her favorite flower is the Lily of the Valley so I used one of our many Lily of the Valley stamps to create this card.

I used my Sahara Sand and Old Olive markers to color the stamp before stamping it on white cardstock. The white cardstock is actually the backing of the clear Penny Black stamp sets - it’s slightly glossy so the ink stays wet longer and I was able to use a watercolor brush and blend the colors around.

I tied a bow around the bottom third of the white cardstock using Chocolate Chip twill, and that’s a big deal! I only tie a bow on very special cards because it takes forever for me to tie it perfectly and I would never send it through the mail to get squished.

The Happy Birthday frame was stamped with Timber Brown StazOn ink, trimmed, and mounted with dimensionals. I also added three gemstones to direct the eye to the sentiment.

I layered the white cardstock onto River Rock cardstock that I sponged the edges of. Then the River Rock cardstock was mounted to the dark brown cardfront with dimensionals.

For the final embellishment, I added a little pin in the middle of the bow. It’s one of those pins that come attached to dress shirts. I would never throw free embellishments away! LOL

EDITED TO ADD: I purchased the Lily of the Valley from either Jo Ann’s or Michael’s - I don’t remember which.
This is the copyright info on the side of the stamp:

©Anna Griffin
ALL NIGHT MEDIA® INC.
Norcross, GA 30091-7600
580J22

Link: Stamper’s Dream

Run over to Stamper’s Dream and check out what’s on sale! Michelle put a ton of stuff on sale this week so you’re sure to find a great bargain! And if you don’t know of an idea for a certain stamp, then check the gallery (it’s listed on the left sidebar).

This card uses the Memory Box clear stamp set called “Of a Feather”. It has many different trees and birds along with several sentiments and accents - a great value!

I stamped the tree image on white cardstock using Timber Brown StazOn ink and colored it in using water-based ink and an aqua painter. The bird image was stamped using Olympia Green VersaFine ink. The VersaFine ink is such a vibrant pigment that it works well with rubber or polymer stamps - and it dries in just a couple minutes, unlike SU which takes several hours on some paper.

After cutting and embossing the white cardstock with my cuttlebug, I added several of Hero Arts’ mini purple gemstones. They look like little blossoms on the tree!

I mounted the main image onto the cardfront with dimesionals and then stamped the dashed border image with VersaMark around the edges of the cardfront.

The cute words in the frame were stamped using Timber Brown StazOn ink, trimmed, and them mounted with dimensionals.

I felt that my Stampin’ Up! stamps were feeling left out lately so I got them out to make a card for some friends that are expecting twins!

I used the small images from the By Ones & By Twos stamp set and stamped them on white cardstock using Palette’s Nior Black ink. I then colored them in using Copic markers and punched them out with a 3/4″ square punch.

The strips of Soft Sky, Barely Banana, and Mellow Moss, were sponged and stamped on with their coordinating color of ink. The words are from the same set as the small images.

I added a brad to the left of each colored strip and trimmed the right sides with a ribbon look. The little squares are mounted with dimensionals for a little POP.

I stamped the Contratulations2 image using Palette’s Nior Black ink at the bottom of the card and added a decorative element from a Technique Tuesday stamp set - also stamped in Nior Black ink.

The rounded corner at the top of the card adds a softness to the card - perfect since it’s a baby card.

I love this new owl image from the Owl Always Love You stamp set from Gina K. Designs!! And of course I love the other images too - but I think these owls are so cute!

I stamped the owl image onto a piece of tan stucco paper using Nior Black Palette ink, and colored it in using Copic markers; W-1 and W-3 for the owl; E43 for the branch; E43 and E57 for the owl’s feet, his beak, and the nest; R85 and RV34 for the flowers; YG91 and YG95 for the leaves;

After coloring the owl, I used my rectangle nestabilities to cut him out. I like the slight round corner that the nestabilities add to the rectangles - just a perfect little touch.

I mounted a piece of dotted patterned paper to a piece of white cardstock and left about 1/8″ of the white showing to add more balance to the design.

The words are stamped with Nior Black ink as well, and adhered under the stucco paper. I then mounted the main image onto the cardfront with dimensionals.

To finish off the card, I added three of the new Screw Brads.