In the years past, every time Remembrance Day came up, I would be struggling to find any semblance of a decent poppy stamp. For the past number of recent years, I cannot tell you how many poppies have appeared from as many manufacturers. Below is a clear set from Penny Black, which has some lovely artwork, of a number of blossoms including this wonderful double poppy and pods. Bev has made this card by white embossing a Magenta stamp of bamboo grasses across the bottom, and then distressing with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink overtop. Note that the card is a short fold, with approximately two inches exposed. The poppies have been coloured with Twinkling H2O's 'Poppy'.

She has finished the card with a black paint splatter. In the picture, the top fold of the card has remained lifted which reveals the white inside of the card.

Spellbinders Card Creator die kits are composed of seven dies. There are so many different combinations of dies that every cardface can have a different look. In the card below, we have used the A2 Bracket Borders One. Bev has used two of the dies together on the left portion of the cardface, and the remainder that was cut away is used as the other curved line. The mint coloured paper peeking through is on duplex cardstock from Penny Black. The embossing folder was used on the mint coloured cardstock, and then the surface of the mint cardstock was sanded back to the white layer. Pink Versa Color was applied to the white raised image with a finger dauber.

The pink card on the left side was created the same way. The pink cardstock is duplex white and the embossed imaged was sanded. I love the vintage feel of this particular embossing folder, Cottage Floral, once the surface has been sanded.
The Penny Black duplex cardstock comes in lots of gorgeous colours all with the white on the reverse. An 8 x 11 is $0.75.

Been to the beach yet? Most of you have a favourite lighthouse stamp somewhere in your collection. The card below was done with a set from Joy Crafts, but any lighthouse would do. I am loving all of the nautical dies that are showing up on the market. The Marianne's die to the bottom right is an intriguing design. Although they're displaying it with their nautical collection, I still see the potential to use it as a beautiful flourish on an elegant card. This die will not cut out entirely; it is designed to only cut out the card edge. The set of Joy dies ($9.95) is very intricate and all three dies work very well with any beach-themed card. The red layer and the lighthouse layer are cut from Spellbinder's A2-Modern Stationary Card Creator Set. The large striped design in behind is from Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card Stamps.