Tag Archives: Concord & 9th

Cute Birthday Card Using Both Digital and Stamped Images

Posted in Cards by

I have collected so many digital images that I just never seem to think about once I store them away in the appropriate folder on my computer.  After seeing a recent Instagram post from Kathy Racoosin (@kathyrac) where she colored a gorgeous digital image, I was inspired to go through my stash to find something that I could use on the birthday card that I was making.  As you’ll see, I decided to start pretty small, but I’m hoping that it will inspire me to use more digital images in the future.

My Empty Nest Creations Birthday Card using Bugaboo Digital RPHello image

I started by ink blending my background (4×5 1/4″) using Distress Oxides Broken China, Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans and Black Soot.  As you can see, I had a slight mishap on the lower part, but I kept going because I figured that I could “hide” it a bit with my dog image.  (For some reason, the mishap isn’t so obvious on the real card.  Lighting and camera seem to highlight it.)  I finished the background adding some water spritzes and some white heat embossed stars using Simon Says Stamp Birthday Celebrations stamp set.  The final touch for the background was a few clouds cut from vellum using Ellen Hutson Silver Linings die set.  In order to hide the spray adhesive on the clouds, I simply added some white gel pen lines.

On to the stamping and coloring…Using Spectrum Noir paper, I stamped the heart balloon from Concord & 9ths Monster Love stamp set using Gina K Amalgam ink, and I printed the cute dog from Bugaboo Digital Stamps (RPHello).  After some very basic coloring, I fussy cut both images and put them aside to dry a bit.

Putting everything together was easy.  Using foam squares for some dimension, I adhered the dog and balloon in places that would leave room for the birthday banner.  Before adding the banner, I tied and glued the string around the balloon end.  While I let that dry, I stamped the greeting using Hero Arts Stamp & Cut Ribbon Messages stamps, but I knew that I wanted to have a portion of the banner to wrap around the balloon string.  To do this, I used the partial die cutting technique that Jennifer McGuire has shown many times on her blog.  I let the die cut most of the image, but left the left side of the die off the cutting pad.  Using my scissors, I added a bit to wrap around the string.

Once the glue was dry on the balloon string, I attached the banner and glued the string to the dog’s paw, and called it done!

Thanks for visiting 🙂

Computer Signature

p.s.  If you’re not following Kathy on Instagram, you really should.  She is so incredibly talented and a genuinely nice person.  Also, be sure to check out Bugaboo Digital Stamps to see some adorable images.

Sprinkles Really Do Make Everything Better!

Posted in Cards by

I fell in love with Impression Obsession’s “Sprinkles Make Everything Better” stamp when I first saw it.  I thought it would be really cute paired with some tiny cupcakes.  I haven’t made a single layer stamped card in a quite a while, so I thought this would be the perfect design for this card.

My Empty Nest Creations Cupcake Sprinkle Card

To make it easier to stamp my cupcakes, I started by stamping the sentiment in the center with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Concord & 9th’s Sprinkles Turnabout Stamp has some darling cupcakes, muffin paper designs and sprinkles.  They were perfect for my card.  I stamped the cupcakes with Versafine Onyx Black ink and then stamped the colorful pieces using my favorite Distress Oxide inks–Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China and Twisted Citron.

That’s it.  Definitely a very simple, but colorful card.  I hope you like it!

Computer Signature

Concord & 9th’s Hello Lovely…again!

Posted in Cards by

I just love this stamp set, and I seem to use it on every other card that I make.  It is just that beautiful.  I paired this stamp with some pretty bright Zig Clean Color markers.  I usually am drawn to more pastel or muted colors, but I wanted to venture a little beyond my normal comfort zone.

My Empty Nest Creations Concord & 9th's Hello Lovely Just For You card

I started by white heat embossing the floral image onto Bristol paper.  I especially like doing this because it makes using a water brush much easier.  I used several Zig Clean Color markers to paint the flowers and leaves.  To highlight the floral image, I lightly water colored a gray background using marker 091.

Using Waffle Flower’s Lacy Layers, I die cut the floral piece (what an adorable scalloped edge 🙂 and attached it to a piece of yellow card stock that matched the yellow flowers perfectly.  To give the card a little dimension, I used foam tape to adhere it to the purple polka dot card base.  This card base comes from a Pebbles Cardmaking pad that is loaded with adorable bright colored card bases.  All that was left, was the sentiment.  I white heat embossed a sentiment from Altenew’s Penned Rose stamp set onto a scrap piece of black card stock.

I hope you like it!

Computer Signature

Concord & 9th’s Love Always

Posted in Cards by

I just love the cascading hearts border stamp in this set, and I’ve been wanting to use it for a long time.  Today is the day!  My original plan was to have the hearts cascading  from the center out of an A2 size card front.  Just as I was about to implement my plan, I realized that it would mean that the top portion of my card would have upside down hearts 😦  So, I had to come up with something else.

My Empty Nest Creations Cascading Hearts Love Card

I decided to stick with original plan and have the center of my card be “heartless”, but to avoid having upside down hearts, I just stamped the border stamp in the same direction–once on the top and once just below center.  Next came my favorite ink blending.  I used Candied Apple, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick Tim Holtz Distress Oxides.  My Favorite Things Love die is one of my favorites.  I die cut that out of the center, and attached my pink card front onto an A2 top folding card using foam tape.  I just love the recessed look of the letters (unfortunately, the photo doesn’t show that very well.)  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Handwritten Borders stamp set.  The stamp actually has the word love at the beginning.  I just wiped the Versamark ink off of the word love, so that I could have just “everything about you”.  The greeting is white heat embossed onto black card stock.  After trimming out the black piece, I thought that it seemed too wide and covered too much of the love die cut area.  To get around that, I just fussy cut around it–perfect!!!

Thanks for visiting!

Computer Signature

Concord & 9th’s Hello Lovely is Truly Lovely

Posted in Cards by

I have been ogling over this stamp set since it was released (which was quite a while ago).  For whatever reason, it usually takes me a couple of months after a stamp release to order/receive it.  This one will always be one of my favorites.  I love the floral arrangement, but I also really like the greetings.

My Empty Nest Creations Card using Concord & 9th's Hello Lovely Stamp Set

I started off by gold heat embossing the floral stamp onto watercolor paper.  (Because of the texture of the paper, I had to stamp a couple of times with Versamark ink in order to get good coverage.  The MISTI makes this process so incredibly easy!)  Next, I chose a couple of Zig Clean Color Markers for my coloring.  I really like the watercolor look, so I just added ink directly to the paper and used my waterbrush to spread the ink.  To highlight the floral image a bit, I used a light blue Zig marker and my waterbrush to softly outline the image.  I gold heat embossed the HELLO greeting from the same stamp set.  I knew that I needed to add something to the top to balance the card a bit.  To go with the soft watercolor feel, I just added a few stripes of color using my Zigs and waterbrush.  A few Nuvo drops in gold, pink and purple (I know you can’t really see the colors in the photo) gave me the finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂