A few cards to end the week

Hi. Ok, so I decided I needed a kick-start back to cardmaking, so I got out my August issue of Cards magazine and went page by page picking out layouts I liked and copying them. Some I made exactly the same, some are just similar. All the paper is from the July Self-Addressed kit. I get the 6x6 kit and then add on the 12x12 paper and cards pack. I find that works best for me. So this first card is a near exact copy of the one in the book. I used my smallest circle punch to cut out the windows for the ribbon, three 1.5x1.5" scraps of paper and then I added the "30" numbers from my KI Memories Alphabet Soup collection. Simple but nice. This card was actually kind of tough for me to make. You just take scraps (or in my case, cut out the shapes from the big paper) and ink them. Well, I had no directions that said to cut them particular sizes, so I kind of freaked. "How big should this be?" "Is this too big?" "Too square?" In the end, I just cut shapes and said, "No one is going to know if this piece is 'supposed' to be square or rectangular, so just do it" and so I did. The card is 5.5x5.5. The blue flower is from a previous month's SA kit and the rickrack is from WalMart. Gem is from my collection of sparklies. The sentiment is from a stamp stack I got ages ago. I don't know the manufacturer. As if you really cared anyhow. + I love this striped paper so much. All this paper is from the My Mind's Eye "Tres Jolie" collection. Isn't it cool? Do you find yourself collecting certain "collections"of paper? I do. Well, ok I collect ALL papers, but certain collections just appeal to me. I love the Tres Jolie collection a lot. I also love Crate Paper. Yummy! Back to the card. Simple 4.25x5.5 card. I used a fuzzy rickrack that I got at WalMart. Sentiment stamp and heart stamp are justjohanna. I used my blue glitter pen to color the "sing". I really like this kitty image. That little mouse up there just cracks me up. Stamp is by Inky Antics and the sentiment is Art Impressions. Again, a simple to do card that I copied from Cards magazine. I colored the image with my Prismas and used the colorless blender to smooth it all out. I used colored staples in the corners just like the sample card, but if I were to make this again, I'd do away with the staples. They're cute, but not that cute. Blue ribbon is from my huge ribbon stash. Do you collect ribbon? I LOVE ribbon, but I don't use that much of it, so I have to remind myself to use it. I'd much rather buy paper. This last little number is actually my favorite. Simple layout, again from Cards mag. Used my circle punch to do the corners. Used my Giga scalloped punch to cut out the shimmer cardstock for the sentiment. Sentiment is by justjohanna. I put orange stickles on the scallop. It isn't really orangy in real life. I'm not that sick. The flower was fun to do. I used two different sizes of chipboard flowers (Maya Road) and on the blue one, I used my Majestic Blue Twinkling H2O's Radiant Rain paint dauber. Those paints rock! Of course, I love anything that sparkles. The smaller flower I used my newest Brilliance dewdrop ink, Pearlescent Chocolate, added a MM flower brad and done. Oh, I put brown brads in the cut out corners of the paisley paper. Card size is A2. Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be making lots more cards this weekend. I hope you come back.