Is that yet another craft?

Why yes! I go through phases of crafting. I am always doing something crafty, but it always varies. Sometimes I'm knitting, quilting, sewing, using my Silhouette, or stamping. I had a friend of mine gift me a bunch of her Stampin' Up stamps and accessories (minus ink) because they just weren't being used and she knew about my love of handmade cards.

So, I have spent the past several days cataloging, sorting, and browsing ideas for my new stamp collection. It just so happened that I knew someone who was having a birthday, so I threw a little card together and I thought it was too cute not to share.

The final product. 

This card was just the first of many while testing out all my new stamps. The base is a 4" x 5.5" folded card using white cardstock. I then cut a red rectangle about 3.75" x 5.25" and used double sided sticky tape to hold it in place.

The next step was creating the lady bug chain. I used a lady bug stamp from a Stampin' Up set called Itty Bitty Boarders.

Then, I then used a copic marker (R17 - Lipstick Orange) to color in the lady bugs.

Helpful tip: When using copic markers and stamps do not use an alcohol or solvent based ink (like Staz-On) or the ink and marker will smear/mix together.

After coloring, I cut down the lady bug strip to a size I thought looked nice. I think the strip is about 1.5" x 5". I used double sided tape again and tacked it down. I had a little square left over after trimming and I decided to use it as decoration on the inside. I used some scrap red pieces behind it to make it pop.

The inside. I like to use decoration on the inside as an excuse to keep the sentiment short and sweet.

One thing I regret doing, and hope to do more in the future is add a little pizzazz on the envelope. I think a couple lady bugs on the flap would have been pretty cute.

I hope to have a few more cards and ideas in the coming days to share with you all. Thanks for reading.