WOW! It's Been a While! - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WOW! I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted!  For the past two or three months I have been totally occupied with my granddaughter's wedding preparations.  I made the invitations, the RSVP cards, the wedding programs, made her veil, attended several showers, rehearsal dinner, tied garland for decorations, decorated the reception hall, altered her dress slightly...WHEW!  The wedding was on the 14th, so now I can relax a bit.

During the mist of all of the wedding preparations, I was also making Christmas presents for all my children and grandchildren. I dusted off my sewing machine and made some aprons for my daughters and daughter-in-laws, and made big blankets for each of the grandchildren.  I've also made a few scrapbook albums for several of the children.  Time has flown by...each day gets a little easier...but the holidays are bringing back lots of memories of Christmas' past.  I've shed a lot of tears, but also had some smiles as I remember the good times.

I've made a few cards in the mist of all this activity too that I thought I'd share with you.  I think I might have actually made them for a challenge but didn't have time to get them posted.

I figured I can always use a thank you card at Christmas.  I cut the letters out with the Cameo.  The leaves are cut with a die from Quikutz (very old die).  I colored the area behind the letters with some green and red Copics, then topped it with a bit of glitter using a glitter pen.  I pop dotted the letter panel over the colored area and added some red berries with red stickles.

This card was fun to make.  We rarely get snow in Florida, so I enjoy making snow cards.  I used a Memory Box window die and backed it with a piece of acetate.  I used the Memory Box country landscape die for the scene behind the window.  The top layer of the scene is pop dotted.  I sponged the sky (masking out the moon) with DI - tumbled glass - then added some small white dots for stars.  As a finishing touch, I added some stickles to the window panes on the outside of the window to give it a frosty look.  The sentiment was heat embossed with silver EP.  I believe the sentiment is from PTI.

This last card was made for one of the Less is More challenges, but didn't get posted.  I stamped the image and sentiment with Versamark, then heat embossed it with gold EP. For the topper on the ornament, I stamped the image in Versamark on gold foil paper.  I trimmed all the images and pop dotted them on a solid blue background (I also stamped the bauble on a piece of the blue).  I pop dotted the ornament on a piece of the blue card stock cut to 4 x 5.25 and added a string and bow.  I used a gold leafing pen to added just a tiny gold edge to the 4 x 5.25 layer, then pop dotted that layer onto a blue base.  I love how this one turned out.  Them images are from a free set that came in a magazine (I believe they might be Spellbinder stamps?)

Now, I must get busy and get all these Christmas gifts wrapped...got lots to do and now much time to do it.  We have lots of birthday celebrations this week.  My grandson, Jacob has a birthday tomorrow, my daughter in law on Wednesday, another grandson on Saturday, and then my birthday on Monday.  Busy, busy!

I do appreciate your faithfulness in visiting my blog.  I'm trying hard to get myself together and move on...your continued prayers are appreciated!

Hugs to each and every one of you...and may you have a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

(Hopefully, I will get it together enough to get my post done for my blogiversary.  I have a little prize that I would love to give to someone!  Stay tuned....)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

It's Been a While....

I know it's been a while since I last posted.  Thank you for all your visits and the sweet comments you have left for me.  I'm crafting a little more now, but I still struggle with my crafting.  I haven't participated in the Less is More challenge in quite a while, but the theme of this week's challenge caught my eye, so I thought I'd give it a try.  

This is the first card I made for the challenge:  

I designed the "peace" frame in my Silhouette program and then cut it out with my Cameo.  I used a Memory Box die for the house and trees on the hill and then cut a reverse hill with an xacto knife.  I coated both "hills" with glamour dust for a lot of sparkle.  The background was embossed with the "snow" embossing folder.  I don't think it's available anymore.  The star is a Memory Box die that I cut out 4 times and glued together for added dimension.  The frame and the "hills" are on pop dots to give it a little dimension.  After I finished it, I thought perhaps it might not be CAS enough, so I made one more.

For this second card I used my Cameo to cut out two of the ornaments in white card stock, then glued the two layers together over a piece of fishing line to suspend it in the frame.  The background is again the snow embossing folder.  I cut the frame with the Cameo and put it on pop dots so that the ornament is suspended over the snow background.  The sentiment is from PTI and was stamped in silver.  I just cut a notch in each end of the sentiment strip and added it to the card with pop dots.  I coated the ornament with stickles and glamour dust.  It's really "sparkly" in real life!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Life Moves on....

It seems that life moves on whether I want it to or not.  Each day the sun rises (and then it rains)...and each evening the sun sets and the moon rises.  One foot in front of the other....that's how I get through each day.  I have been working on a couple of "crafty" items that I thought I'd share with you today since it's been over a month since I last posted.  

One of my granddaughters got engaged a week or two ago, and her excitement is bubbling over.  I've agreed to help make the wedding invitations, but I also wanted to make something special for her. Here's what I've made for her:

This is a quote by Sam Keen.  After my husband passed away a few months ago, I was looking through his Bible one day and found a slip of paper that had been torn from a magazine...and this was the quote on the slip of paper. The quote really speaks volumes to me about love. I thought perhaps our granddaughter would appreciate the story behind this quote.

I made this using my Cameo.  I cut out each of the letters 4 times, then layered them on top of each other to get the dimension I wanted.  To place them on the background piece, I printed the layout I wanted for the letters and then printed them with my wide format printer in a very light grey color. Then all I had to do was adhere the stacked letters over the printed card stock.  The hearts (about 30) were cut from an old dictionary, then I stitched down the middle with the sewing machine.  The top layer of the heart has the definition of "love" on it.  I added the red bling heart, and then decided that I wanted to add a small red border around the white piece, so I cut 1/4 inch off each side so that the verse would stay centered and adhered the white to the red card stock.  I placed it in a black shadow box scrapbook frame that is a 12 x 12 inch shadowbox.

I also have a close friend whose daughter is getting married in October, so I wanted to do something special for her too.  I did another like this only using a verse from the Bible. I printed the "1 Corinthians 13: 7-8 on the card stock (in a darker grey color) at the same time I was printing the placement of the letters.

I used a black shadowbox frame for both of these and I think the black really makes the artwork pop.

I hope the recipients don't think these gifts are tacky...I thought they turned out great, but you never know.  I know that each one of these took me hours to complete.  Adhering all those letter together is a very time consuming task!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

LIM128 - Anything but a Square or Rectangle

It's been quite a while since I've posted.  I'm working on getting my life back on track right now so I haven't crafted in a while.  I wanted to get back to "normal"...whatever that is...and so I've made a card for the Less is More challenge this week.  If I don't make it to your blog to leave you a comment, please forgive me...I'm just not there yet.

Here's my card:

I made the card on my Cameo by welding the one and the eight together, making a mirror image and welding that together before cutting out the file. I stamped with a HA stamp in HA pale pink. Sentiment is from PTI and is heat embossed with black embossing powder.

I'd like to say thank you to all of you who have sent me cards and emails.  I appreciate each and every one of them.  I'm still working through some things, and I appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

LIM120 - Our Favorite Pets & Freshly Made Sketches

Another Saturday's rolled around and it's time for my weekly challenge from Less is More.  This week is particularly difficult for me as I don't have stamps with animals on them!  So this week, I had to resort to digital stamps.  

At this point in our lives we don't have pets.  I've had pets off and on during my life, but after losing our last dog, Muffin, I just don't have the heart to get another pet.  Muffin lived to be 15 years old, which is quite old for a Pomeranian.  She was the cutest little ball of fur you've ever seen...all 4.5 pounds of her!  I've never had a cat as a pet except when I was a child.  We always had a cat or two around the house...and usually 3-4 dogs!  Anyway...on to my cards for this week's challenge.

This first card is probably one of my favorite digital stamps.  The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil.  I remember holding a cat like that when I was a child...and obviously the cat is less than thrilled! I printed the image on white card stock and cut out a panel with a Spellbinder die.  I colored the image with Copics, and popped it on a dark blue card base.  The sentiment is from Simon Says and is heat embossed in white. The bottom corners of the card base were rounded with the corner chomper.

This next card was a coloring page that I re-sized to fit my card.  I printed the image on white card stock and only colored portions of it with Copics.  I know the focus is on pets this week, so I only wanted to highlight the puppy.  Actually, I think it turned out kind of cool with only parts of it colored. I pop dotted the image on a piece of red and then adhered the red piece to a white panel .  I stamped the sentiment from Simon Says and added a couple of scored lines below the sentiment and above the red panel and used a ticket punch for the corners of the white panel and the image panel.  I used a Simon Say die to cut the small heart, then added it with a pop dot and coated it with glossy accents.

This card also fits the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches this week. Here's the sketch for the challenge.  I'm not sure where this image is from, I believe it is a coloring page that I re-sized to fit my card.  I made my card base from kraft card stock.  I printed the image on white card stock, and colored it with Copics.  I backed the image with a darker brown paper, and adhered a brown ribbon around the panel.  The sentiment is from Flourishes and is stamped in Memento black.  The bottom corners were rounded with a corner chomper.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Birthday Greetings and a Sketch

Today I made a card that fits two challenges!  If you visit my blog often, you know that I have difficulty making a card that fits more than one challenge.  This card is for the CAS(E) this Sketch and Addicted to CAS challenges.

I really love how this card turned out.

I stamped the large flower (carnation from PTI) in a light tan color, then colored it with Prisma pencils and Copics.  The leaves are a Sizzix die, and the buds are a MB tulip die that I turned into a bud. The large bloom is pop dotted on the white panel and the leaves and buds are adhered to the panel.  The butterflies are a Martha Steward punch and are punched from pink vellum paper and highlighted with a touch of glitter. The sentiment is from PTI.  I pierced a double row of holes in opposing corners of the white panel, then pop dotted the white panel over a white card base.  The leaves and the buds were colored with Copics.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Photo Inspiration - Addicted To Stamps and More

I haven't played along with the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge in a while, but the photo inspiration for this week inspired me.

And here's the result of that inspiration...

I cut a rectangle from a panel of kraft paper and adhered the Memory Box small window die over the opening.  I sponged the sky out side the window and added a few hand drawn "birds" flying off.  The chair is a stamp from CTMH that I stamped in Memento black and colored with Copics and then cut it out.  The sentiment is from Flourishes.  I cut the MB window box from white card stock and colored it with Copics.  The red flowers are a die and the yellow flowers I punched with a small flower punch then trimmed off the ends of the petals to give me a smaller flower.  I added tiny pieces of bling to the centers of the yellow flowers and some liquid pearls to the red flowers.  The stems for the yellow flowers were made using a MB grass die. The flower box and flowers are pop dotted at the top edge of the flower box.  The chair is also pop dotted at the top of the chair.  I added some hand drawn lines to make a wood board background on the kraft card stock.  Then...the kraft panel was pop dotted over the sponged blue sky.  

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

CASology - Bloom-ing...and a surprise card

It's time again to play along with the CASology challenge.  Here's this week's cue card:

I had a couple of ideas floating through my head....

This first card is actually the second card I made for the challenge.  I used a Memory Box die to cut the flower from a white panel.  I colored the flowers with Copics, adding some shadows on the blooms.  I cut the panel slightly smaller than I usually do so that I could add a scalloped border from some peachy colored card scraps.  After coloring the flowers, I inserted them back into the panel I cut them from and put some double sided tape on the back of the panel to hold them in place.  The sentiment is from PTI.  I rounded the right side corners of the panel and the card base, then pop dotted the panel on the white card base.

This second card was actually the first card I made for the challenge, but I wasn't completely happy with the results of my experiment.  I stamped the image on linen card stock with a very light sand ink, then colored the image with Copics.  I was aiming for a water color look, but I don't think I quite got that.  I scored two lines across the bottom and punched the edge with a scallop punch.  A punched three more scalloped edges in two shades of pink and adhered them behind the white panel.  The sentiment is stamped in sepia ink and is a PTI sentiment. I pop dotted the white panel onto a white card base after rounding the corners of the panel and the card base.

Now....my surprise card....

We have a granddaughter graduating this year and I wanted to make her something special. I searched online for something unique and found instructions for this card at www.JillsInk.com. (I can't seem to link directly to the card, but the tutorial was posted on 4/10/13 and is called a graduation cap money card).  If you want it and can't find it, let me know and I can get you the instructions.  I stuck pretty true to her directions...and it's super easy to put together.  I cut the "2013" in burgundy on my Cameo, then cut and outline shadow from gold foil paper.  I added tiny strips of the gold foil paper to the edges of the "hat".  I made the tassel from embroidery floss and attached it to the "hat" before finishing up the inside of the hat.  The photo below shows how the card looks opened up.

As you can see, under the "hat" there's a cute little pocket made for slipping in a little cash or a check.  I never know what to get teenagers these day...but I do know that they all love cash!  The sentiment I stamped inside of the card is from SU.

Well, that's my surprise card...and I hope it's a nice surprise for our granddaughter!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW 139 - 3 by 3 and some Scrabooking

It's been a while since I've played along with the One Layer Wednesday challenge, but I needed a few small note cards, so I thought I'd play along this week.  Cheryl at A Paperie Journey is the host of the challenge this week and she's challenged us to make a one layer card that's only 3 x 3 inches.  Here's what I came up with.  

I made a set of six little cards...and I made envelopes for each of them.  Now I'll have some on hand when I need them!  All the stamps I used for these little note cards were from different Flourishes sets except for the butterfly...and I believe that was a Hero Arts butterfly.  I colored all but the the Just Breathe card with Copics.  The Just Breathe card was simply stamped with a green ink.

I've also done a little scrapping in the last couple of weeks, so since I haven't shared any layouts for a while, I thought I'd share a couple with you today.

This first layout is of my children when they were very small.  That's me in the lower right photo on the right hand side.  Gosh!  I looked so young!  This was right after my son was born and his granny and great grandmother couldn't wait to see him, so they made the 6 hour trip when he was just a few weeks old.  I used a combination of papers for this layout and some card stock.  I think most of the papers and tags were from Echo Park. I double cut the title work from the gold and red card stock and offset them to give a shadow effect. The leaves, bird, and branch were cut with Memory Box dies.

This second layout is of my son and his family in 2009.  Now they have another son who is about 18 months old.  This photo was taken in our back yard in November of 2009.  The papers for this layout are a combination of Echo Park and My Mind's eye...and the title letters are from Webster's Pages.  It's amazing how all of the papers worked so well together.  I also added a few random red flowers with a stamp from Simon Says. Looks like I'm stuck on the bird, branch, and leaves...used the same dies again on this layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!

Less is More 119...one layer week

And just like that another week has rolled around and it's Saturday again!  This week is one layer card week at Less is More.  Chrissie and Jen have challenged us to make a one layer card (i.e., one piece of card stock folded in half) and to use a colored card base (no white, ivory, black or Kraft colored card blanks).  What to do, what to do???

Here's what I've come up with for this week's challenge:

These first two cards blanks were made with a piece of navy speckled card stock that I've had in my stash forever!  At first I thought something was wrong with the card stock until I realized that the speckles were suppose to be in the paper! LOL!  

For the first card, I stamped with white pigment ink from Memories (unicorn).  It's one of the best white inks I've ever used.  You do have to make sure it dry before doing anything to it.  After I dried it with my heat gun, I colored the butterfly with Derwent Inktense pencils and lightly moved the color around with a wet paintbrush.  Since this card base isn't watercolor paper, I had to be very careful not to get too much water on the paper.  The sentiment is from PTI, stamped in white and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I rounded the bottom corners with the 1/4 inch corner chomper.

I found a new product recently and wanted to try it out on this butterfly.  I used a ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker.  It works like a water brush and the glitter goes on beautifully!  I got the brush in clear, silver, and gold...and now I see that there are glitter brushes in several colors!  Might need a little retail therapy soon! 

As mentioned above, this card was made with another piece of the navy speckled card stock.  I stamped the poke leaves from PTI in SU illuminate ink (like Versamark but with a glitter).  It could also be used for tone on tone stamping too.  Anyway...back to the card.  After stamping the leaves and berries, I applied pearl-ex powder in bright yellow...only once applied to the illuminate ink it appears to be a golden color.  The sentiment is from PTI and was also stamped in the illuminate ink and brushed with the pearl-ex powder.  I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but the pearl-ex powder has a glimmery look...as does the ink...so the card is very glimmery IRL. The corners were rounded with a corner chomper.

For my third card, I used a double stamping technique that I saw in the recent His & Hers online card class.  I used a bright gold card stock for the card base.  The leaves and berry stamps are from Paper Smooches.  I masked off the top portion of the card and stamped the leaves in Memento peanut brittle ink, then over-stamped (a little off on purpose) with the white Memories (unicorn) pigment ink.  I added a solid line across the top of the leaves with a Memento's pen (potter's clay) after removing the mask.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is stamped in Memento's potter's clay.  As an afterthought, I decided to add a touch of glitter with my new glitter brush across the solid line and on the darkest part of the berries.  The corners were punched with a deco corner chomper.

Don't know if I'm really "crazy" about this card, but thought I'd add it anyway.  I used a red textured card base. I masked off the bottom of the card and stamped the flower from PTI so that half of the flower would be showing.  I stamped in Versafine onyx black.  I added a solid black line with a black distress marker, and a white dashed line with a Signo white pen.  The sentiment is also from PTI and is stamped in Versafine onyx black.  I  colored the flower with some Prisma pencils and didn't like it, so I colored over that with some watercolor pencils and touched it with a damp paintbrush to push the color around a bit.  For the center circles on the flower, I painted them with the glitter brush...then added a few white flicks of the pen around the edges and in the very center of the flower.  I rounded the corners with the 1/2 inch corner chomper.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!

CASology and ATCAS

This week, I've managed to combine a couple of challenges...CASology and Addicted to CAS and here are the cue cards:

   

Here's my card for both of these challenges:

I used a white card base. The hexagons were cut from rainbow colors using a QK dies.  The sentiment was stamped in black and is from PTI.  After I got all the hexagons lined up just the way I wanted them...they seemed to be floating on the card base, so I added a bit of faux stitching with a black pen.  Super simple...and quick!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!

Another His and Hers Class project...

I made another card for the His and Hers class.  Using techniques from day 3, here's my take:

I stamped a very large Hero Arts image in a light grey on watercolor paper.  I painted the flower with watercolors and a touch of shimmery paint.  The sentiment is stamped in black and is from PTI.  After my flower dried, I splatted a bit of paint over the background. The panel was adhered to a black card base.  To give the image a little more pop, I outlined all the outer edges of the flower with a black pen.  As a finishing touch, I added some glitter to the center of the flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM 118 ---Wild with Color

The challenge this week at Less is More is to create a card using opposing colors on the color wheel. 

I seem to always have trouble with a color challenge...don't have any idea why..but it really is the most difficult for me, I think.  Anyway...here's what I finally came up with.....

I also used some of the techniques we learned this week in the His & Hers online card class.  For this first card, I masked off the top portion of the car and stamped the image in white on Kraft card stock.  I then masked off a small line at the top of the stamped image and inked it up with some white.  After the ink was completely dry, I colored the image with Prisma color pencils and used the opposing colors violet and yellow.   I mounted the kraft panel to a violet card base.

For this second card I used the colors yellow-green and violet-red.  It looks kind of pink on here, but this card front was made with watercolor paper.  I stamped the flowers in a light ink, then added the water colors.  After the panel dried, I outlined the stamped image with a black pen to give it a little pop.  The sentiment was stamped on vellum and embossed in white. In order to really capture the colors for the challenge, I added strips of color around the panel in yellow-green and violet-red.  I also used my paint brush to splatter drops of the two colors over the stamped image.

This is another card I made using techniques from the His and Hers class.  I colored strips of vellum with Copic markers, cut them in varying lengths and adhered them to a white card panel.  I stamped "birthday" on a strip of vellum and adhered it around the card panel. The word "happy" was cut with alpha dies from Simon Says Stamps and are adhered over the vellum strips.  I used the opposing colors blue and orange for this card.

I think this last card is starting to grow on me now.  I wasn't too sure I liked it at first, but it's getting better! LOL!  I used opposing colors blue-violet and yellow-orange for this card.  I use my large Memory Box (Chloe) butterfly die to embossed a white panel (4 x 5.25 inches).  I colored the butterfly with Copics, then added a little sparkle in the "grooves" with a clear star pen (Sakura).  I wanted to add just a little more zip...so I painted over the coloring with some twinkling H20 paints. Since I wasn't using water color paper I was afraid it would not work...but laying the Copic ink down first seemed to help.  I added a light yellow-orange shadow around the butterfly. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps. I layered the panel on a piece of yellow-orange paper and adhered it to a white card base. Is it CAS enough??

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments and your visits are always appreciated!! Until next time...

Hugs!