Mothers Day 2013

I made this card for my MIL. She is a wonderful MIL, a sweet person and I am blessed to have a wonderful friendship with her. We clicked almost immediately.  Happy Mother's Day Mom Craig!

Thanks for stopping by.

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A quick Scramble

Last Saturday, there was another scramble hosted by Marcy at the Hero Arts Flickr group. Her sample cards were gorgeous!

I was to go out with hubs for lunch and some errand running. I took a quick peek at the theme, and I had to play...but I played fast. Thirty minutes from start to upload I think. I made a very basic card, but somehow it was appealing to me.

The theme was: The word SUNSHINE or
An image (die, cut file or stamp) of the SUN or
An ALL YELLOW monochromatic project that conveys the feeling of a SUNNY day

There were so many beautiful cards made, I wish I had had more time for the scramble. If you'd like to see them, click here.

The next scramble is coming up Saturday, May 18, at 5:00 p.m. PDT (8:00 p.m. EDT). 

Thanks for stopping by.

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Birthday Cards

I needed to make birthday cards for our nephews, and I was completely brain dead. Finally I made a few and let hubs pick out who got what. Of course the one I liked best was deemed too girly for the pre-teen and teen boys.

deemed too girly

Selected

Deemed too mature 

From the stash, made last fall, also selected

Which two would you have chosen ?
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Lilies

I brought all my Stampin Up tools, stamps, inks and paper to Maryland. I have decided to concentrate on using those stamps because some have never seen ink. Granted I have only been collecting them for 9 months.
First up a sympathy card. These are so very hard to make. I'd rather make a man card...or even a teenaged BOY card.  This one uses Fifth Avenue Floral. I colored it with Memento Markers. The frame is the result of two spellbinder dies.  The sentiment strip comes from a Simon Says Stamp tilted banner die. The sentiment itself is Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Tuesday Trigger

Image Credit

When I saw this picture at Moxie Fab Worlds Tuesday Trigger, I wanted to play along. The things that struck me were  the pinkish flowers, the silver serving spatula and the wood grain the desserts are sitting on. Of course I had to change it up some.

I dry embossed some water color paper with a Sizzix wood grain embossing folder. Then I added fuchsia Inktense pencil with a water brush. I just wanted a wash of pink, with the  wood grain still showing through. I heat embossed flowers (Hero Arts) with Winter White embossing powder (silvery white) onto vellum. They shimmer, but that is hard to capture in a photograph.

I drew on Silver Zig marker paint around the edges of the card base. 

The edges of the die were patted into versamark prior to cutting the shape.  I then stamped the sentiment with the die still on the vellum. I pried them apart carefully and added the embossing powder then melted it with the heat tool.

The flowers were adhered to the wood grain panel with foam dots. The sentiment is adhered flat.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Day 4 and 5 of His and Hers

I got side tracked this week and did not get to my homework until late Sunday evening.  I wanted to finish my last 4 cards before midnight and get them posted...then I get to start the week fresh.
Day 4, I was captivated by the partial die cut technique we were shown. Cards were to be for Mother's and Father's Day. I have other already made, so I decided just to try the technique.  An I loved my His card, my Her card is not quite right, but I am too tired to figure it out tonight...

 Day 5 was Love Cards/Anniversary Cards.  I enjoy watching the video on double embossing - dry embossing a panel, then covering the raised portions with versamark watermark ink and embossing powder, and lastly heat setting the powder.  This is much much much harder than it looks in the video.  I am happy with both cards, both have a bit of "smear", but I like what resulted.

 Lastly we were given on day one a sheet for figuring what his and hers meant to each of us. Below is my list.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

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(")_(")~~Cat

Happy Birthday Dear Friend

Upon my return to Maryland, there was a modest stack of crafting magazines waiting for me. Hubs is very good about placing them right on my desk in a neat pile when I am out of state.  One of the mags I get is the British Cardmaking and Papercraft. It is a bit pricey, but there is always a goody or two included. The current issue included a stamp set and some patterned papers.

The freebie stamp set called Apple of my Eye Collection by Jayne Nestorenko had the cutest stamp of two girls walking along; a perfect image for my matron of honor and best girlfriend of close to 40 years now. She is having her birthday today.  I wanted to make her a special birthday card.  We were able to see one another just once while I was in California, but we had several telephone conversations as well. Thank goodness for telephones, it makes leaving my gal pals behind not quite so sad. 

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored it with a whole slew of Spectrum Noir markers. I cut it out with a Spellbinders die, added some inking around most of the inner area, and then matted it with a hand cut tracing of the same spellbinder die.  This gave a thin border mat.  I used a Simon Says stamp banner die, and the oh so adorable white heat embossed sentiment from Stampin Up’s Curly Cute set.

The patterned papers are Emma’s Garden by Jennifer Ellory, the scalloped edge produced by an EK Success punch, and a bit of left over yellow rick rack ribbon added some more color.  I loved the nostalgic feel of the card, after all we were girls together and grew into women together over the years.



Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat



Markers: Blender, BGR1, CT1, CT3, CT4, DG2, DG3, DR1, DR5, , EB1, EB2, EB7, EB8, FS6, GB5, GB8, PP1, PP3, PP5, TB3, TB5,TN8
Cardstock: Neenah Aspen White 110lb for card base
Card Size: 4.25 by 5.5

His and Hers Day 3- Sympathy

Today, my homework was done well before the sun even set.  Sympathy cards...I am on the fence about them. Wait until it is needed...or have a few ahead of time. One is a card made not in the best of creative spirit, the other just seems wrong somehow. A true conundrum. 

This time I followed Kristina's lead.  I used the same ink colors (Hero Arts Soft Pool and Soft Sand), same card base (Stampin Up Very Vanilla), and three stamp sets.  The border stamps came from a Recollections set, the sentiments came from Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp. 

Care to guess which is the His version and which is the Her's?

Thanks for stopping! 
 
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(=';'=) 
(")_(")~~Cat

Kaleidoscope; H&H Day2

Day 2 of His and Hers was so full of GREAT cards.  I am once again up late working on my homework. I am happy to say I finished it a couple of minutes before midnight. 

 
The colored vellum technique looked so cool, but after a few tries it was such a no go for me.  

So I decided to go with Jennifer's Kaleidoscope style card. I personalized it a bit. My first challenge was finding a leaf stamp that was solid.  None of my stash has a solid leaf.  Then I found a clear stamp set (Hero Arts CL374) and used the back side for a solid surface.  

I really like the masculine card that Jennifer showed us which was white stamped on Kraft with greens and browns, and decided to use that design for both the cards. I changed only the ink colors, sentiment styles, and I added some twine.

My "Hers" card used  Memento Brilliance in Pearlescent Yellow for the base of the pattern on white card. On top of that I stamped  Hero Arts inks in Neon Pink, Red Royal, Pale Tomato, and Bubblegum. The sentiment is from Hero Arts as well set CL611, white embossed on vellum.  I added some yellow and white twine and tied an offset bow.  This was all placed on a yellow dot embossed card base.  Card size is 4.25 by 4.25

My "His" card used Colorbox Frost White for the base pattern on Kraft. I then stamped the leaf again in shades of blue ink all from Hero Arts: Soft Pool, Cornflower, Stonewash, and Navy.  The sentiment is from the same Hero Arts set CL611 also heat embossed white on vellum.  I couldn't resist the twine and added brown and white tied in a knot along the sentiment strip. This was mounted on a very vanilla card base. Card size is 4.25 by 4.25.

I am so loving this class! 


Thanks for stopping by.

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(=';'=)

(")_(")~~Cat

Thinking of you

I've recently returned to Maryland after 3 weeks in California taking care of some matters, meeting friends and spending some time with my Dad.  After I packed my bag to come back to Maryland, I caught this picture of Onyx the family cat.  He is an absolute sweetheart, even though he can look fierce. He is not happy with me at the moment, he absolutely knows what a suitcase means...no more snacks from the cook in the kitchen!





Now that I am back in my favorite crafting room, I am hoping my mojo comes back. I signed up to take Online Card Classes' newest class His and Hers.  This is another week-long course. 

             

For today's homework I chose to use the same basic sketch, the same sentiment set, the same color card base, wood veneer embellishments, heat embossing, and some die cutting.  I definitely achieved a "His" card and a "Hers" card changing up just a few things.  I really like the idea of using a favorite sketch and then tweeking certian elements to make it more masculine or feminine. 

The class has just started, its go at your own pace, check it out!

Thanks for stopping by.

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(=';'=)

(")_(")~~Cat