Back Again!

I've managed to get a few things done in my craft room this week.  A couple of cards and a new layout to share with you.  

This first card is one I made after watching this video from Jennifer McGuire.  This is a super cute card when it's all finished.  I used the inside rectangles on the front of the card. All the flowers I used are from Altenew's Garden Treasure stamp set.  The greenery is die cut with a MFT Leafy Greenery Die set.

I stamped lots of images and then added them to the layers inside the card.  The background was stamped with a large background stamp from IO.  You should go watch the video...super cool techniques

This second card was created using 1/4 inch washi tapes.  I just layered them on a card sized rectangle, then trimmed it and added it to a card base.  The sentiment is Birthday Palooza from SSS.  I cut the "Happy" directly from the washi tape background, then popped it with craft foam. Added a few sequins and it was complete!

This is a layout I just completed.  Photos were taken over 10 years ago.  I was working in St. Augustine and my husband decided to make the trip with me and we spent each evening exploring this wonderful city.  Full description of what I used can be found in my gallery at scrapbook.com.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  If you've left me a comment, please know that I sincerely appreciate each and every one!   Hope to see you again soon!

The Flower Challenge and CAS Watercolour Challenge...and SO much more!

Got a couple of things to share with you today.  I've been so busy these past few weeks! Made a couple of cards today that will fit perfect with the Flower Challenge "anything goes" theme and the CAS Watercolour Challenge with a "spring" theme.

Both cards actually fit the Flower Challenge...but the second card is for the CAS Watercolour March challenge. Let's get started....

Have you ever opened your mouth and made a statement, only to realize over a week later that you really should keep your mouth shut?...Yeah, me too....thus the You Matter to Me card.  I used Altenew stamps for the blooms, and SSS You Matter sentiment.  I used two background stamps...one for the stripes on the card base (IO) and the other for the background under the flowers (PB). Added a few dots with some Nuvo and card done.

I used one of my favorite dies for this card....the Penny Black Poppy die.  The sentiment is from SSS You Matter stamp set.  The background for the flowers was a piece of water color paper that I was practicing my "smooshing" on. The poppies were also cut from watercolor paper and painted with water colors. I used a SSS stitched rectangle die to cut the background piece from the watercolor background paper that I'd "smooshed" color onto. For a little "extra" I flicked a few splatters of red and teal onto the background.

I seem to flit from one thing to another...and here's part of the reason why.

Got me a new "toy" a few weeks ago and I've been thoroughly enjoying it!  I've been really busy for the last couple of months making clothes to send on a couple of mission trips for my church.  One trip is to Haiti this month, and the other trip is to Alaska in August.  I've made almost 72 items thus far...shorts, dresses, bibs, burp cloths, blankets, knitted booties and caps, knitted dish cloths....the list goes on.  I think I made more shorts than anything...31 in all!  Anyway, this machine will do SO much more and I can't wait to learn more (embroidery and monogramming!)

In the mist of learning my new machine...I got a wild hair to make an exploding photo box of my great granddaughter for my grandson and his wife.  See...jumping from one thing to another! LOL!

I made pics of all the inside pages, but decided that would be TOO photo heavy!

Last weekend, I made a trip to visit my daughter, so I could see my granddaughter all dressed up for prom.  They do something different at their proms...they have something called "lead out" where all the couples are introduced and all the parents come to watch "lead out".  It was really a nice event. Here's a photo of my beautiful granddaughter and her date.

As I said before...BOY! have I been busy! Now I'm trying to play catch up all in one blog post!  I need to try to post a little more often!

That's all for me today....As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

CAS Watercolor and CAS Mix Up Challenges

I think I'll just make these two challenges...CAS Watercolor and CAS Mix Up.  So here we go...

I actually made 2 cards for each of these challenges...hmm...which shall I chose to enter...

This first card is for the CAS Mix Up challenge and was made using alcohol inks.  I used glossy paper and added drops of three different alcohol inks (sailboat blue, sunshine yellow, and citrus).  I dropped the ink on one or 2 drops at a time and using the Tim Holtz Air Spritzer tool to spray burst of air at each of the drops.  I repeated the process until I was happy with the results.  You really get a different look every time you spray air at the alcohol ink.  I cut it at an angle and popped it on a card base. Sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Quotes set.

This was the second card I made and I wasn't as crazy about it as I was the alcohol ink card.  For this card I used the shaving cream technique that Loll talked about with distress ink re-inkers for the background of the card panel. I stamped the flowers from Sweet 'n Sassy - layering them using masks.  I added some yellow Copics to the flowers. Of course, I also added a touch of wink of stella for a little shine.

This was actually my second card for the CAS Watercolor challenge, but I like it best. I'm really loving playing with water colors. I think I discover something new every time I try it!  I cut a panel larger than I ended up with, and water colored the background. I think I needed a little more blue in the sky...but I'm happy with it. The trees are an older stamp from Flourishes...stamped twice and heat embossed with white. Sentiment is from PTI. Cut the watercolor panel down quite a bit and added a tiny dark blue border behind it, then popped it on a card base that I had embossed with a snow embossing folder.

This was the first card I made for the water color challenge.  I water colored the background, and after it was dry, I stamped some tiny snowflakes (from a really old stamp set).  I cut snowflakes with dies from MFT from glitter paper and added them on top of the painted panel.  Then sentiment is heat embossed with white and is from Flourishes.

This is a card I just thought I'd share since I was posting.  LOVE how this turned out!  More water coloring (but no snowflakes!)  It's kind of all in sepia tones.  Sentiment is from PTI.  

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

CASology and HLS January Challenge...and much more!

I've been really busy making cards this week.  I need a boxed set for a gift and then just some birthday cards for upcoming birthdays...so get ready...lots to see!

               

This first card works for the cue card at CASology and Happy Little Stampers January "anything goes with dies" challenges.

The flowers are die cuts from Penny Black that I cut out of watercolor paper and painted with watercolors.  I had to paint them several times to get the deep red color I wanted. On another piece of water color paper, I loosely painted the background with green and blue.  I really love how the background turned out! I then cut the background with a stitched rectangle die from SSS and popped the flowers on top of the painted background.  The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.

This card could also work for both challenges.  I cut a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of water color paper and added my watercolors in blue and yellow.  I "think" I might be getting the hang of water colors! I die cut the word "Kindness" from the painted background and also cut it from a piece of craft foam and popped it back in the water color base.  The die and the rest of the sentiment are also from Sugar Pea Designs. (Oh...and don't forget to pop the little pieces from the middle of the letters back in the appropriate places!)

Ok...now comes the "photo heavy" part....LOL!

This one is entirely hand painted

The first ten of this last group of cards will be used as a boxed set that I'm giving as a gift.  I've also made a cute little purse (Thanks for the link [for the purse by LeeAnn Greff] to the tutorial, Loll!)

Whew!  I think that's all for right now...

Sorry for such a LONG post, but I really wanted to share my burst of inspiration! For the sake of space and time, I didn't put a description of the cards in this post, but as always, if you have any questions about how something was done, or what products were used...just drop me an email and let me know. (You can click on the contact me button on the right hand side of this blog.)

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

Happy New Year.....and...LIM 309

Happy New Year!  It seems the older I get the faster the years fly by!  Sometimes I can barely keep up! Hopefully, this year, I'll be a little better at keeping up with my blog.  I've been making a few changes and hopefully, keeping up with my blog better will be one of the good changes!

The holidays were extremely busy around here.  We had several family get-togethers and those are always BIG!  There was baking, shopping, wrapping of gifts...and just the general holiday rush! I had to move the location of my tree this year...I'm thinking I like it in this spot. I also managed to make some cards.  Unfortunately, I did not manage to get any Christmas cards mailed this year!  (I'll have plenty for next year though.)☺

I've made a few cards that I can use as encouragement for a friend of mine who recently found out that she has breast cancer.  

So, let's move on to the cards...

I believe this card is perfect for the LIM challenge. The last challenge of the year was to make a card with dimension...and here it is!  I stamped the flowers on water color paper using a Penny Black stamp and a very light distress ink for stamping.  I colored the images with Tombow markers and a little water on a brush.  Then I cut around the edges of the image and popped on a white card base. The sentiment is from SSS.  I colored some water color paper with the same color used for the blooms, then used the believe die to cut the sentiment.  I cut several layers of the word so that It would be popped up off the card.  The "all things are possible" is from the same stamp set.

This next card also has dimension on it...I used the Peony Swirls stamp from Altenew.  I layered my stamping using masks, then after coloring with Copics, I cut around the image and popped it on the card base. The sentiment is from SSS.

I really love this PB stamp, so i used it again, only this time I stamped it on Bristol paper and colored it with Zig Clean Color brushes. I added a few Nuvo pearl drops.

I love this sentiment from SSS.  I smooshed some distress inks on some card stock, then sprinkled a little water over it and blotted it with a paper towel.  After making sure it was really dry, I stamped the SSS sentiment in Versafine black and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I also added a few faux stitches on each side of the panel.

I know this was a looooooong post...so thank you for sticking with me!  Maybe if I keep up with my blog on a regular basis, my post won't be this long! ☺

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

Lots to Share....

First of all...I must warn you....this is a VERY photo-heavy post! 

I've been extremely busy making cards, and just never could get around to posting them.  I needed quite a few cards for the widow's group meeting this month, as we ended up mailing out almost 30 cards to the home bound members from our church.  

So...off we go...and I'll give a brief description for each card, but as always, if you have specific questions, use the contact me button on my blog and I will get back with you as soon as possible.  

Water color with Zig clean color brushes on Bristol paper, mounted on a pink background. Added drops of irResistable.  

One layer card, stamped with Harvest berries from PTI in shades of blue from Hero Arts.  Sentiment is from a very old Flourishes stamp set. Berries are coated with glossy accents and a little wink of stella added to the leaves.

Image cut with Silhouette Cameo, colored with Copics and adhered to card base...with flowers popped off the paper with foam tape.  Sentiment is from SSS.

Image from SU on Bristol paper, and colored with Zig Clean Color brushes.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Added wink of stella on the blooms.

Same image...another color and colored this time with Copics.

Image from SSS and sentiment is from PTI.  Stamped on Bristol paper and colored with Zig Clean Color brushes.  Popped on a deep purple background.

Image from Power Poppy, brought into Silhouette program and made a cut file to cut the flowers out. Printed the sentiment from Silhouette and cut out the oval on the card panel. Put the flowers inside the oval and inked the card base (background) with Distress Inks.

Image from Uniko. Stamped the flower in black, and added the stem with a Copic multi-liner pen. Sentiment is from Jillybean Soup and is stamped in Versafine black.  Added quite a few dots of irResistable drops.

LOVE this (digi) image...from Power Poppy.  I also have this as a Flourishes stamp that I bought years ago (same artist), but I'm able to resize the digi to fit (can't do that with a regular stamp).  Printed this out on water color paper (Canson), and colored it with Inktense water color pencils and then used a water brush to smooth out the pencil and add shading. Sentiment is part of the digi image download. To be able to print both the image and the sentiment at the same time, use something like Photoshop Elements to change the background on the apples to transparent, then when you put the sentiment to the back layer, the two images do not overlap.  When changing the background to a transparent background, you have to save the image as a .png file.  I wasn't able to change the background on the sentiment as the lines are so small, but just taking the white background off the apple image allowed me to print both images at the same time.  I'm sure to some of you this sounds like a foreign language...LOL! But...to those of you that use Photoshop Elements, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Remember...you can learn almost anything watching YouTube videos!

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!