Some more Magnolia

Hi there,

After my earlier card I returned my books to the library - I love the feel of a hard-backed book. I've gotten over the need to own them -- I simply don't have the room to store them.

Of course I left my craft desk a mess, so before cleaning up, I stamped and heat embossed a few more of those Altenew Magnolias.  I am hoarding my bristol paper since I have a long month to go before I can buy any more crafty supplies.  I found a pad of Artist's Loft mixed media paper and used that.  The Zig markers worked pretty well on that paper. I colored the marker on and blended with a water brush after heat embossing the image.

I made 4 cards and they'll do for 4 different challenges.  So lots of photos to come.

For Less is More - Dry Embossing I made this card:

For Addicted to Stamps and More Anything Goes, I am submitting this card:

For Inspired by all the Little Things I am submitting this card:  I was inspired by the pink flowers and the touches of aqua/blue in the inspiration photo.

For the City Crafter Challenge Blog - Die Cuts, I am submitting this version:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

   

Week 401 ~ Die Cuts

 

Altenew February Challenge

Hi There -

I hope to get a lot of cards made this month along with using the new stamps I have sitting in a bin.  For lent this year I am not doing any crafty shopping what-so-ever.  This is tough as all the lovely flower stamps are starting to make appearances.  My wish list however is growing...but it will be interesting to see which ones I am still interested in after a months time. Might be a lesson for the future.

Birthday cards, Thank you cards and Easter cards are my top priorities for the nest few weeks and the February Inspiration at Altenew is a perfect starting place for me.  I love the colors.

 

I used Altenew's Build-A-Flower Magnolia along with Altenew inks in Rose Quarts, Puffy Heart, Cosmic Berry, Purple Wine, Forest Garden, Evergreen and Paper Bag.  The sentiment is from MFT. The background is an SU stamp.  I actually stamped the Magnolia twice, once I messed up the branch but I just trimmed that off and popped it behind the full image for some added flower depth.  There is a bit of winking on the petals in the dark areas, and some clear iridescent sequins that IRL twinkle pink.

Thanks very much for stopping by!

Feburary Bizzare and Unique Day

Hi there-

This month, my card was inspired by Polar Bear Day.  I am still enjoying so much my MFT Polar Bear Pals stamp set I got last year and only used it once before the flower season took over --which for me and my cards is practically year round.  I spent a day with this set, and created several cards - most of which have been already posted.  This one was my favorite of the bunch.

Lots of masking for the bears and the freehand iceberg, inking for the sky and copic coloring for the bears, ice and iceberg. The card took time, but I love the result.  The card is going to my long time bestie - we've known one another and have been friends since 1975 when my family moved to California and she and I ended up sitting together in craft class.  She always had more artistic flair than I did...but decades later I think I found my artistic niche.

Have a fabulous Day, and thank you so much for visiting.

Feel Better

Hi there!

My last post was sympathy card focused; another card I don't like making on the fly is a get well, feel better card. I like to have a few of these in reserve so they can be sent out quickly. I recently depleted my stash. I tend to lean more to the feel better sentiment rather than the get well sentiment -- which do you prefer?

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is to make your own background.  I have three sets of stamps that I have combined from MFT, CTMH and WPlus9 to make these cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

With Sympathy

Hi There  -

Tonight I made two sympathy cards to have in my stash. One will probably be needed soon.  My friend's son has a debilitating terminal disease and he has been declining for the last two months. I'd rather have the cards in my stash, than to have to make one at a moment's notice.

Two challenges  AAA Cards and CAS on Friday have challenges to use die cuts  I prefer to used botanical images and a simple sympathy statement on my bereavement cards. I an a bit partial to the first card, it feels more CAS so I am entering that one to both challenges.

I picked out 1 word die set and two botanical dies.  The botanicals were cut from vellum, and the sentiments from the same cardstock as the card panel, but I made it a bit darker with a copic marker.

The vellum pieces were a bit too light and a bit too light weight. I doused them with versafine and covered them in silver pearl embossing power and heat set them.  That gave them a bit more body, and made them more visible against the panel.  All pieces were glued down using Elmer's craft bond (spray adhesive).

These were very difficult to photograph, this was the best I could do.

       

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hydrangea Birthday

Hi there~

I am taking a bit of license in making my Hydrangea more purple than blue, I love purple and green together and at Color Throwdown the colors this week are Purple, Green, Gray, and white.  The sketch at Freshly Made sketches gave me a jumping off point.  I am also adding this to Winnie & Walters 4th Birthday Bash - Watercolor with a twist.  I am adding shading with pencils.

 

I have a slew of birthday cards to make and flowers will adorn most of the feminine ones.  Instead of black ink I used versafine smokey gray to stamp the image and sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Seasons Greetings

Hello~

The Olympics are keeping me in the mood to work on Christmas Cards for my stash.  I have a goal of 5 per month.  January went well, and here is the first of February's collection. I will likely make several of these cute snow-families. 

This week's Muse                                                  Words 2 Craft by : If kisses were snowflakes
                                                                                                           I'd send you a blizzard.

                               

Tracey's card at Muse is a sweet Valentine, and I was completely taken in by her inked background with spatters.  For my version I used a snow stencil to give some texture to my inked background and I went with Christmas as my holiday.  Since I have a snowy scene with my stenciled embossing paste and glittered snow this card is also going to Words 2 Craft By.

I stamped and masked off my snow family image (from Wild Rose Studio); I then sponged on the background blue with tumbled glass DI.  After coloring the snow family with DI markers and a water brush I let them dry, and then added my blizzard with SSS Falling snow stencil and embossing paste. Before it dried I topped it with distress glitter in clear rock candy.  I waited about 10 minutes then die cut the panel, added the sentiment and mounted it to a card base.

Thanks much for stopping by!

Heart Twofer

Hi there, I am back to play in another of Darnell's Twofer challenges.

My twofers are using a die that gives an outline and inside heart pieces.  The outline was used as is to outline some inked areas. The inside heart pieces were inked and then made into a dimensional flower with many petals. - Can you see the hearts?  Although I have used the same colors on both cards, the  cards have very different feels to them.

Give this challenge a try it is open until the 24th.  If you don't know about this new challenge, here are some guidelines:

• Use the monthly PROMPT.
• Use the EXACT same stamp or die.
• Make two distinctly DIFFERENT DESIGNS.
• Make your cards for two DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.
  (Please explain in your post if there is no sentiment on your card front.)
• Link ONE PHOTO of both cards here AND on any social media.

There are a few more guidelines and a whole page of FAQ's all of which can be gotten to through the link above.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love Hearts Together

Hi there,
I'm popping in with a card made for hubs for Valentine's Day.  It also will fit a couple of challenges...

 So first up is Casology Week 287 with the theme of together...my interpretation is that my hearts are grouped together!  And a second entry for AAA CAS game # 108 all you need is love.

The background is from Lil Inker, and the hearts and tag are from Simon Says Stamp. The 'you' is from MFT.  I am hoping hubs interprets the front as  love LOVE LOVE you with each heart gaining intensity.

 

Happy Valentines  may you be surrounded by love of family and friends.

Cat

Valentine Penguin

Greetings,

Who do you send Valentines to?  I send them to family, my crafty friends, and my single girlfriends.  I have a few different styles this year, some were made several times, some just once because they were colored with copic's.  This is one I made late January with a seriously cute set from Gerda Steiner - Valentine Penguins.

I used the warm grays for the body of the penguin.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

AAA Cards and Work it Wednesday

Hi there,

I am finishing up those Valentine's...and this one is for my Dad from his three cats.  They send him birthday cards too. ;)

I love Gerda Steiner's critters, they are so cute; and these kitties are no exception.

I've of course colored them simply and similarly to the three trouble makers (l to r)  Digger, Little One, and Jack.  Digger is a one person cat, his life is all about my Dad. Little One is a stray that showed up last summer - very wild though she is now starting to domesticate with humans other than my Dad. On my most recent visit she was schmoozing with hubs and I.  And lastly Jack - he is a big fluff ball--friendly, loves tummy rubs and is a constant gift bringer.  I'm sure my Dad will recognize them all.

I added Nuvo drops for the eyes to make them pop a bit, and hand wrote the sentiment. 

I am submitting this to two challenges :
AAA Cards - All you need is love
Work it Wednesday - Simon Says Stamp - Love Themed

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cut and Paste

Hi there, 

I am avoiding finishing my Valentines...I have no idea why and they need to be in the mail no later than Friday.  In the mean time I was doing a little cleaning and straightening in the crafty space.  I tend to go immediately to organizing when I am avoiding things...I did it while I worked and I still do it.

I was putting away a package of card stock I had gotten from Close to My Heart. There are several sheets of two sided papers all 12X12.  I buy them for scrapbooking.  There are some amazing patterns and papers and I do LOVE paper.  In each pack there are 2 sheets of designs intended for those pocket scrapbook--or use compartmentalized sheet protectors.  I have always found these to be a waste for me...but I haven't thrown them out.  Its two sheets and one side has the images in portrait orientation, the other side in landscape orientation.

I wish I had taken a photo before I started cutting up this set, but I did take a photo of it from the catalog.

Those designs are not my cup of tea for scrapbooking...but I think they made some darned cute little note cards about 3.5 inches square.  I added only the card bases and the bling in the form of glitter tape and some enamel hearts and dots. 6 cards out of  2 pages destined for the trash bin - I say that is a save.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Card Concept

Hey There...I am seriously scrambling to beat the buzzer on the Card Concept challenge - rustic blooms.  I got so wrapped up in my Valentine's I almost missed out on this challenge and it has my favorite elements - wood grain and flowers!

My woodgrain is from Stampin Up, and the bloom is from Altenew for this clean and layered card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fusion Stained Glass Hearts

Hello...yup I am still awake...but this is my last card...my eyelids are starting to droop.

Fusion has a fabulous inspiration...I took a bit from both...those stained glass hearts are gorgeous and I love the simple sketch.

I was inspired by the stainglass hearts, I wanted that glossy look on mine. I first colored paper with spectrum noir sparkle pens, then I glazed it with Nuvo Crystal Glaze. After it dried for an hour or so, I die cut the hearts added a sentiment and finished the card. They are quite shiny and have a subtle sparkle in person.  I also loved the sketch, but I pulled my banner to the front instead of sliding it behind.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

CAS Ombre

Hi there from the early hours.

I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd get some cards made and some challenges played.  This card is for Addicted to Cas with code word Ombre.   I tried several other cards and all were too busy...were is my CAS mojo...it probably went to sleep hours ago.

I die cut  a heart, then inked it up with distress inks overlapping them for a good blend. A simple sentiment was added to a vellum strip, the white space was too white, so I ran it through with a quilting cover plate. A bit of texture was needed.

Thanks so much for coming by.

Ombre Valentine

Hello there!

This one is going to Shopping our Stash-He Loves me He loves me not -  Make a Valentine Card or Project.

Thanks for stopping by!

A new year of the Card Chain Challenge

Hi Everyone,

I've  begun the year with another swap for The Card Chain Challenge.  The options are plentiful - something for everyone to be inspired by.  This Month the options were :
 Colors:                                                                                         Sketch:

   

Theme:  Snowflake / Unicorn / Friendship
Product Options:  Glitter / Embossing

 

As you can see there are 7 options to choose from this month, (Friendship is available every month)

I chose the sketch, which I used a bit of artistic license on, but I can see the sketch - can you?  I also used  snowflakes and embossing.

 

My card is going to Lorraine in England, and I hope she likes it! 

Just in time for Just Us Girls 425

Hey there....can you hear me huffin? I am just under the wire to get this card in for the Photo Inspiration at Just Us Girls. 

 

I was inspired by that yellow couch, the striped black and white rug and the yellow blooms in the background.  Anytime I can put yellow and flowers into a card I am gonna do it.

I have to say of all the Altenew stamps and other multi step stamps I have this set called flower arrangement was so easy to layer.  I shocked myself - that it took me only two tries to find the sweet-spot on the large bloom. You all will definitely be seeing more of these beauties.

Have a great evening.