Blog Makeover

Confession: I know my blog was WAY too boring for being a graphic designer. (I've spent a lot of time working on my other two blogs though.)

I finally found a few hours of free time (thanks to hubby watching the kids) and this is the facelift I came up with. I am a paisley addict and cannot get enough. And flowers are always a welcome addition. Best of all, I think it's perfect for fall.

...And did you notice that I used Stampin' Up! colors for my banner?

What do you think?

Butterfly Landing

Love this card! I used a stamp from the SU! Demonstrator incentive set Merry Mix. I used light purple square rhinestone brads and lots of glitter on the pretty butterflies. They actually pop off the page and look like they momentarily landed on the card. Lots of dimenion! I used Soft Subtles colors (pale plum and perfect plum)--so the purple butterflies are the color of the light purple cardstock I mounted them on. The camera doesn't do it justice. It would almost be a crime to hide this in an envelope for any period of time.

Bling - Rhinestone/Crystal Brads

I think bling is the hottest way to embellish a card. However, please be forewarned that it increases the thickness of the card so that if you are sending it in the mail, you must add 17¢ extra postage for the non-machineable surcharge.

They are great for just giving with gifts or hand delivering. Hot, hot, hot! I will try to make some gift notes and gift card holders with bling. Gimme a few days. I think I spent 6 hours making cards yesterday. My supplies are strewn over my kitchen counters--something I hate to do for more than a few hours. But I just gotta stamp!

Inspired by...

I was browsing blogs and clicked on to From Combat Boots to Rubber Stamps and saw the cutest Halloween card. I decided to do my first challenge in 20 minutes (because I promised myself I'd be in bed by midnight, not like 2 am the past few nights--getting to bed when my hubby has to get up for work). I know it's not the best, but it's my first and it's a starting point. And I two minutes to get to bed! Hooray for me!

Clear & Glazed Stickers

I've departed a little from using only stamps to decorate my cards. I found some really cute stickers at our Dollar Tree that are acid free and great for card images. Miss Elizabeth's is the label. The stickers are great quality and an easy way to create a focal image for your card when you are pressed for time. I do, however, usually stamp extra images when I am making cards. I keep a stash of ready-to-use images in a little box. That way I am not always pulling out all of my stamps and ink and trying to figure out what to use.

Many of you probably already know this, but I just remembered how to create the ticket corner without SU!s ticket corner punch. I used my slit punch and eyeballed how much of the corner to crop. I know you can also use any sort of round punch, handheld or whatever. Ticket corners are just an excuse to use more brads--gotta love that!

The brads on the green and white cake card are purple rhinestones. They look really hot in person. And so does the cake. The stickers are embossed and glittered. Just a note, the colors really do look much better and coordinated in person. These pictures make it look like the colors don't mesh well. It's just an illusion.

Flowers & Coffee

This one has bling, flowers, and lots of dimension. I promise the bling has lots of zing in real life. I used SU! colors. The bling and flowers I bought at Craft Warehouse in Meridian, ID. The flowers match pretty well.

Stamp sets: Treat Yourself & Greetings Galore.

Sharing a Cup o' Coffee with My Sister

I don't really drink coffee (I'm LDS), but this is the best way to share a cup with my dear sister, Mikala.

Hey, Mikey. These are for you. Don't you just love the bling brads (hard to notice with my RAZR cam) and aged copper brads?

Note: Don't put your card orders in just yet, because I have some of the cutest birthday cards, kid cards, and pretty 3D flower cards that I still have to finish.

For guests to my DistinctInk blog, I sell cards, too. I make them and ship them right to you. Easy as that. You can pick from any of the cards that you see in my gallery or on this blog. Prices range between $2 and $4+ (depending on the layers and embellishments used). You get the best deal when you order in bulk (20+ cards). Shipping at cost. Hope you enjoy your visit!

If you would like me to make you a Lunch Tin Card Organizer like this one by Michele Shuman, let me know. It won't look exactly like this one, but we can tailor it to your suit your taste. Cost $20. Comes with dividers.

Another Batch

A Note from the Queen

I've been making some cards for my sister, and I remembered that I had created a crown graphic for Courtney's birthday invitations. So I did a little bit of changing, and ended up with some cute crown cards that say "A note from the Queen" and "A Royal Thanks."

And since it's Fall, I had to play around with leaves and pumpkins.

Playing with Papers

Some simple thank-you cards.






Last week I finally had the opportunity to make cards for the first time in a month, it seems like. I went to the dollar store and bought some scrapbooking stickers (Miss Elizabeth's), and I bought some designer paper from JoAnn Fabrics a while back. So I played with my new stuff. Here's what happened. (I'm forced to use my RAZR camera because of the fatal rebellion of my Fuji digicam. Thus, the picture quality is lacking. For more info, read here.)

Flowers for the Glitter Lovers

I needed to make a gift for someone last minute, so I found some floral stamps, ink, glitter, vellum squares, and other embellishments and came up with these cards. I took pictures so that I could make some for myself when I got home--since I had given them all away.

Birthday Invitations for my 2- and 4-year old

All of the birthdays in our little family of four fall within five weeks of each other during the late summer. Courtney, who just turned two, wanted a princess party. And Mia, who will soon be four, wanted a My Little Pony party. Because I didn't have the right stamps, I just did a little graphic design for the focal image on each invitation. Add a little bling, and here you go. And Mia's My Little Pony (original design just for her) has her name written in the big heart on the pony's rump and the number "4" on the crown. The inside of the invitations may be hard to read, but they definitely add the final touch.