Friday Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack

Good afternoon, and you know what happens on Friday, right? The Fun Day Challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack, and it's number 35, our Sponsor is Bugaboo Digital Stamps, our theme this week is Celebrate.

I need an anniversary card, so I chose this cute little digi by Stella Love. I liked the sentiment that comes with the stamp. Printed the image out first on Xpress paper, which didn't color well at all with my copics; my different pencil brands didn't work well either on this paper. Reprinted the image on Walmart's GP cardstock, and it colored much better with the copics. On the Xpress paper I had a terrible smearing problem with the printer ink even though I let it dry overnight.  I used Best Quality Photo on Premium Matte Paper with the Xpress. Used the same setting for the GP, but the GP is not as glossy as the Xpress... so will be interested in what you think might work better with an Epson Stylus.

Here's the card:

- Copic coloring, paper piecing on the dress, diecut with S/B Label 14, airbrushed with BG0000 on the background. Some VOS - EK Success puffy sticker hearts added.

- background paper was left from another project, and the pink rectangle is a snippet from a Dylusions background that had been embossed.

- yellow grosgrain ribbon border & bow.

- Sentiment dies from 2 different sets using the same DP as her dress. (Happy Birthday from Elizabeth Craft, Anniversary from Brittania). Didn't show up well against the blue background, so I colored with RV copics until I got a contrast I liked.

I'll add the cute sentiment inside the card. It's not my usual style but I think my SIL will get a kick out of the old dudes and the words that go with them. (about finding that special person to annoy for a lifetime! They have been married 67 years*. A milestone in today's world. And she has a good sense of humor. Not so sure if my brother will smile!) *another relative corrected me. It's 66 years...they got married in 1948..Obviously I can't subtract! Still an awesome track record though.

Check out what the rest of Jo's DT will choose for today's Celebrate theme, and think about playing along with us. The very simple rules are posted at Jo's Blog, and the link-up is very easy.

Thanks for your visit this afternoon. Tomorrow is the stamp show that I thought was last week - so you know I'll be a happy stamper. Quite a few of my stamp buddies are driving down to attend. I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend. Hugs.

Northwoods Valentine Tree

Good Morning, and happy Friday. The sun is shining, we still have a few snow patches, it's cold. Tomorrow there is Heirloom Stamp show in Dululth, Georgia, which is about 2 hrs or less from our home. I waffled about attending, but at the last minute...we're going. It's always fun.

Found an image that was colored last year, just waiting to go onto a card. Needed to get something ready to post this morning, so used a S/B Grand Nestie in the same shape as this image to make a card.

- Northwoods stamp, colored with copics, diecut with a S/B Grand Labels 23, edged with DI while still in the die.

- Glossy accents had already been applied to the hearts, but as there was a package of EK Success puffy heart stickers still on the desk, decided to stick a few on the hanging hearts. Trying to use up this package of stickers. (If you notice the tiny stamp bottom right corner, it is one made for DH to use. Got it in my hand by mistake, as it is shaped just like the one I normally use for cards I create.)

Northwoods stamps are among my favorite stamps to color. The images always stamp out crisp & clean, and I just like the classic styles that the company produces. Guess I am just a traditionalist at heart.

Since it is a Friday, there will be a post for the Fun Friday Challenge later this afternoon. Hope you can pop back over for a quick visit, and I'm off to get things ready for our fun tomorrow. Printed out a list of IO Cover A Card stamps that I have, plus a list of the Memory Box dies...I'm going to try very hard to not duplicate items I already own. We'll see how well I adhere to this plan. As always, thanks for spending time here this morning, and I hope you like today's card. Hugs

Friends' Cards

Hiya, and I wanted to share a lovely card received yesterday evening from Carol L. of Our Little Inspirations and also to say warm welcomes to Janeen, of a Little Bit of This and That - who joined as my newest follower. I hope you'll enjoy what you find here. Please do treat yourself to a very enjoyable visit to Janeen's blog. It's always fun finding new artistic folks.

We have melting snow currently, and it really wasn't all that much - perhaps an inch. The weather guys are telling us that it will be much worse tonight. Melting snow leaving moisture, then the overnight temps dropping, so there will be ice. Much worse than snow. Thankful that Mr. & I don't have to get up in the morning to drive to a job on icy roads. Oh yes, last night's chili was one of my better batches, and my brother & SIL said it was good. Sometimes the chili is pretty good, and sometimes just so-so. I just toss things in that I think will work well, no real recipe as such. We use ground turkey (which I don't especially like in chili or spaghetti sauce), as DH has tried to forego red meat.

I'm working on some projects in the background, but I did want to show off my pretty new easel (from the Playground Miss). When Carol's pretty card arrived, decided it would be my first to try out the new easel.

The card is so pretty, and I think even prettier, standing in this classy easel. Thanks Carol and Thanks Diane!
Ya'll have a great afternoon. I'm off to try to get at least one of the online class videos viewed. I'm enjoying all the 'homework' I've seen on other blogs, and feeling guilty because I am so behind.
Hugs, stay warm.

Snow Day

Our backyard

Good evening. I didn't have a card ready to share today, and I wanted to welcome a new follower, Irene.. I think this is the proper link to Irene's wonderful blog: ttp://alloccasionscards.blogspot.com/. Please take time to pay a visit to this lovely blogger.

We started getting light snow flurries in Upstate South Carolina about 1:30pm. It's been floating down all afternoon and DH challenged me to go outside to take some pictures. Our deck is beginning to be covered with white, so I stepped very gingerly. Now, I know my buddies up in the Northeast & Midwest are gonna say "That's nothing". True, but  in our area This Is A Big Hairy Deal! Thought I'd share some event pictures with you. Also a little adventure that I had on Saturday. Pics first:




    Back deck

 Shed - and maybe you can see the snowflakes drifting.

 

  

Now my adventure: Saturday night there was just a small bit of some chicken fajita mixture left - too much to toss, but not enough to bother storing. Decided to heat up in the microwave and nibble. Intended power setting was at 90% power, 1.5 minutes. Got on the pc, where I was returning visits & commenting. Became engrossed in all the lovely work I was enjoying at the blogs, when suddenly the smell of burning. Evidently I had set the timer for 15 minutes instead of the intended 1.5, and burned up the food; blackened a Blue & White corning ware ceramic pots that is older than our kid. Interior of the microwave was all brown & stained, not to mention a terrible burn smell. Left a cup of baking soda in it overnight, but next morning was still pretty awful. I couldn't stand the odor long enough to try to clean it, so out on the back porch it went. A Costco trip replaced it. The workman who had been doing some cement by the shed took it. We asked if he wanted it, that we thought it could be cleaned, but if he didn't - it was going to the dump. It worked just fine, but I couldn't stand the burnt smell. The oven is placed in an open cupboard built to house it, and the inside of that was all brown & stained as well - from the smoke escaping around the microwave.  DH has been putting a Kilz paint product on the cupboard walls after he washed off what stain he could, then adding coats of paint. The burnt smell is _nearly_ gone, but the paint smell - although low odor - is still with us. The new microwave is setting on the counter, and in the way of everything I try to do! Kinda scary when you do Dingbat things.

 

Now to a happier note: Yesterday this lovely brass easel for holding cards arrived from the lovely Miss Pixie (Diane) at the Snippet Playground. Mr. RG selected my number, and WOW was I one happy Elf! Thanks Miz Pixie. I LUV IT! Took a picture of the sweet little card enclosed, but it turned out blurry. DH has invited relatives for the chili I've got cooking, so gotta run & finish some mayo slaw & Texas Toast.. Great meal for a chilly evening. I was hurrying to get the pics made & posted, because of c'mp'ny comin' for supper. I had to get my photo gear off the table so we could get ready to eat.
 















 

 

 

That's it for this evening. I'll be MIA for a few days, as I have some card commitments due. I may manage to get something finish to post - but if not, Warm hugs. Be safe if it's icey or slippery where you are. Thanks for your visit.  

 



Memory Box Twiggy Tree Valentine

Good Morning lovely visitor, hope you have a nice cup of something warm & let's have a little chat. A bit too cold to swing on the front porch, but we can pull up a chair by the fireplace and enjoy some coffee or latte, or whatever fits your fancy.

I saw this lovely card at Selma's Stamping Corner when I was trying to remember how to use the Memory Box Heart Canopy for the tree on the card today. Just went back trying to find the specific card so I could be sure to thank Selma for my inspiration, and My Goodness Gracious, I got lost just wandering around looking at her wonderful art. I've got to have some time to really enjoy her blog, but first I have some commenting to do, 4 on-line classes to catch up, and get this card scheduled to post! Thanks Selma for some marvelous inspiration & can't wait to return for a long lovely browse.

- Memory Box Twiggy Tree (98143) die cut from silver mirror paper (a piece that I've been trimming from for a bit, so I'm calling this one a snippet too. I used all of the bits on the snowflakes from the Rudolph Peace card. So the tiny bits have gone into the trash, and I'll have to hunt up another piece of silver.

- MB Heart Canopy (98283) using a white K&Company 12x12 Specialty Paper. (it's white with light silver floral motifs, and this pack is a NBUS - also VOS)

- lightweight red glitter paper(snippet) taped on the back. Tried to zoom to show how these red hearts glitter, but it blurred.

- Layers adhered to black glitter paper (center removed with a square die to save layers).

- EK Success punch on the corners (another boo-boo. I tried to use a pretty MS corner punch which worked great on 3 corners; messed up on the 4th, and basically chewed the corner. I should know better than to try this since the punch was cutting through the white & red glitter papers). Used snippets of the red glitter to cut cover up corners, added a pearl to decorate.

- red velvet paper c/stock (from inside of a box but it diecut well) used to cover the white square card base.  Again removed the part under the motifs & used it on the Rudolph Owls card. Used a tiny snippet of this c/s to punch the hearts - and surprisingly, this punched quite well. This was an old Paper Studio punch and I was amazed that it punched out as the velvet covering on the card backing is a bit thick. Bet the MS punch wouldn't have done so!

Think this will be for Sweetie as he hasn't seen it yet. Other than my chewed up corner, I liked this card. Hope you will too.

I managed to use up some more snippets on this card, so it will be submitted to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground, Week 109. Since this is a scheduled post, I will edit when the post is live, to finish the linking process. Thanks for your visit & have a lovely day. Hugs.

January 2014 Rudolph Day

Happy Monday afternoon, and before I share two cards that are for entry into Sarn's Rudolph Day at Stamping for Pleasure let me say a big warm welcome to 2 new followers:

Terri of Krafti Korner and Lisa of Bellalistona. Thanks, ladies for choosing to spend some time here with me. Please take a visit to each of these lovely blogs, and be inspired with some beautiful works.

Now onto the cards for the very first Rudolph Day Challenge of 2014. If you can join in the fun, please be sure to check out the Rules posted at the top of Sarn's blog, as these are just a bit different from last year's. Sarn's always trying to help us get more motivated. I know it worked for me! (psst... we have to share 2 cards, but just one post..so check it out). I hope I got it right!!!

#1

I did this stamp & diecut last year, so I don't remember the stamp company. Die is a S/B label die. DI ink around the edge, copic coloring, spica highlighting, and some Flower Soft on the fur hat.
Mat is a snippet from Cottage Cutz Cardinal die.
Red velvet square also a snippet from a future project
that will be posted soon. It's a cut-out from a larger piece, saving on layering.

Scallop punched trim from a 6x6 Pebbles Welcome Christmas, tiny trees punched from lightweight glitter paper snippet with an MS punch.

Tiny red rhinestones added on the holly in the diecut. Copic holly berries were a bust, so covered with rhinestones, looked much better!

Close up of the owls...don't you just love the way the eyes cut towards each other. (My DH & I do that a lot! Not just at Christmas either!!!)

 

 

#2

- Background was a Dylusions sprays gone wrong. First heat embossed some snowflakes with white EP, then used various Dylusions sprays in the blue family. Didn't like the effect, but kept it - just thinking about it. Decided to stamp the sprayed piece again with Versamark Frost & Champagne with

Valentine with Memory Box Serafina Heart

G'morning lovely visitor, and thanks for surfing in on a Sunday morning. Here's another Valentine  Sorry to have another Valentine motif, but I still have a couple of special ones that need to be made, then get inserts done on the others I've already shared. Check my list of recipients and make sure I've got all of them covered with a card.

- Memory Box Cupid Heart (98281) cut with red velvet paper

- Serafina Heart (98278) cut with a snippet of silver pattern hologram paper

- C/B Hugs & Kisses EF - folder was inked with Memento Love Letter prior to running through the Big Shot.

- Impression Obsession Die017-V set (there's 2 die patterns) on red & white snippety strips

- Paper Studio Peel-off silver stickers for bottom trimming.

- cardbase is white, and tiny pearls added on the Serafina heart and on the border red trim.

Don't think I'll put a sentiment on the outside of this. I think the recipient will know what it's for.

Ya'll enjoy your Sunday, hope you are keeping warm in your part of the world. Thanks for visiting, and Hugs.

Congratulations with an LOTV topper

Good morning, and WHEE, it's Saturday. Even though I've been retired for a while, I still love Saturdays - and Friday evenings. Silly--yes I know. I worked longer years than I've been retired, so I guess that's my excuse. You know what? I think I got more done when I worked. I guess because I had to manage my time better. Now I can tell myself, "Oh well, I'll get it done tomorrow". Then I go take a nap or find another way to piddle away my time.

OK, here's my card to share this morning:

- LOTV topper that I've had for a while, and thought it was appropriate for the occasion. Diecut with the MFT pierced circle and edged around the outside with DI..Antique Linen and a bit of Broken China to blend with the DP. Card base was a pale blue parchment type of paper.

- banner is a Dylusions sprayed piece, sentiment done with Elizabeth Craft die.

- MS punched Butterfly & border trim,

- EK Success punched photo corners.

- Think this is a Sizzix EF, but I can provide specifics if you ask.

I hope you are staying cozy & warm where you are. We've been fortunate to have beautiful sunshine, but the temps have been low for our area. We were having some cement done by the shed to enlarge the entryway where DH has to drive out his lawnmower. So we're hoping that no rain shows up until it's cured in well. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for your visit this morning. Hugs!

Friday Fun Day Challenge #34 at Jo's Scrap Shack

Good afternoon, lovely Reader and welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack. Today's Challenge #34 was to use this sketch with our 3 Twenty Crafts sponsor's stamps:

 

 

Challenge starts: Friday, January 24, 12:00 PM
Ends:                  Friday, January 31, 6:00 PM (central time)

Here's my challenge card:

- I used one of the 3 Twenty Crafts Winter Wonderland trees, stamped with Versamark, embossed with Queen's Gold on dark green Bazzill; diecut & outlined with a gold pen, matted on some red velvet salvaged c/stock. (It came from the inside of a box, but the S/B square die cut it well using a couple of back n forth passes in the Big Shot). The white surround was the photo background. This is a 5 1/2 x 8 card, larger than my usual size.

- Embossed the checker border pattern (Background Builders) in the same way as above on the green DP.

- Design papers are VOS {Very Old Stuff} - from stash, using front & back. One of the stripes on the top portion is green glitter.

- S/B border die cut the green glitter scallop trim

- Sentiment embossed with the Queens Gold using a sentiment from Tags and Trimmings, and then added a snowflake from Winter Winterland, popped on a tiny red rhinestone.

Make sure to stop by my DT sister's blogs to check out their designs for this challenge, and then show what you can do for the challenge & a chance to win top 3 and get entered into the monthly prize drawing.

Challenge Rules*

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge entry. Use the linky tool found at Jo's blog.

2. Be sure to include a link back to this challenge on your post.

3. 3 entries per person and must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. May combine with other challenges as long as you link back to this challenge in your post.

* All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.

The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.

You have until January 31th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.

All winners will be announced on Monday, February 3.

Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create! Thanks for joining me today, as always. Big Hugs & Happy Weekend.

 

Sparkle n Sprinkle Daisy Rectangle

Good afternoon, lovely visitor. First let me welcome 2 new friends:

Gail L. of What's Normal and Hazel E. of HazelsBasketsofJoy.  Thanks so much for choosing to follow me; Gail had to work especially hard to join as Blogger was misbehaving. I do appreciate you taking all the time to persevere considering all the aggravations. So please do take a few moments to pay a visit to these wonderful people for some most enjoyable inspiration.

One other shout out to Cornelia of Fun Stamping. She has an excellent idea for making a lightbox to take photos (and hers are awesome). It's certainly worth your time to pay a visit and see the tutorial & pictures she has posted. All of us who are not-so-great photographers can learn some good stuff! Thanks Cornelia, for doing this great tutorial.

I'm a bit tired of Valentine cards (still got 2 very special ones to make still), and I wanted something that said "Spring". This cute little Daisy Rectangle stamp had jumped in the basket on a visit to Sparkle n Sprinkle; it looked as though it would be  easy coloring with any type of medium, and it WAS! I'm not fast with my coloring.

 

- Stamped Daisy on a snippet of white Xpress, using Memento Grey Flannel. Just started choosing markers in yellows, light oranges & I think an E35 too for the centers. Just kept laying down colors until I got something I liked. Greens were YG03 with a putty to shade. (In the YG family, but I forget the number!). Background colored with G0000. I made my daisies look more like tiny sunflowers with the brown centers, just because I wanted to!



 

- SnS Daisy Rectangle frame colors were Sakura gel star pen that looked silvery, then outer frame Spica yellow, then Sakura gell pen in yellow. IRL these sparkle very nicely.

 

- Curly frame was a white snippet - probably a bit left from inside one of the C/B heavy plastic embossing frames that also had a cutout. This bit hid deep in the already colored images box. Used DI greens to shade it. Added some Brushable glue around the edges, then sprinkled with SnS Semi Transparent Diamond Dust.  Trying to use more of the glitters that I have stockpiled.

 

- Inside part of a S/B Twisted Metal Accent using a snippet from a Dylusions background created with the green, yellow & chocolate browns...all of which had been diluted with water & water & white linen. It's fun to see the different effects from these combos, and also what air drying or blotting will create.

 

- MS border punch, and some American Craft twine (another product I need to use more). Button is really VOS. I've collected buttons for years (don't anymore though!) and I have buttons from my Mom, some Aunts, and a friend who does estate sales used to buy jars of buttons for me. This one really looks grunge-y, and I debated on using it. Decided it would be my 'vintage' item. Hope you like this one. It went together very fast, especially for my slowness!

 

Now you've seen there are snippets on this card, so you know what's next! Off to the Snippets Playground and since I'm sure you have those little critters hanging around your craft area, why not jump o'er the Pond and have some fun.

 

Will also enter in the Sparkle n Sprinkle January Challenge, since lots of SnS products were used.

 

Thanks so much for joining me this afternoon. Hugs.

Penny Black Tokens of Love Valentine

Good afternoon, and in Upstate South Carolina, we have sunshine, whistling wind and dropping temperatures. I just read on MSN about our northern & midwest states expecting this ferocious storm that apparently is moving fast enough that evening commuters may have a difficult trip home tonight. If you're in the path of this extreme weather, I hope you will be safe & warm. We were out about 2 hours earlier & the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees from when we left home just before noon, until we drove back in our garage.

Let me welcome some new followers:  Andrea of Andrea's Work;  sheharper and PippaP.   I'm sorry I can't provide a name or link for sheharper (if you would, please let me know this info, so I can provide your link so my readers can get to your site) and also PippaP, for whom I don't have a link. Saw the numbers in the followers listing change, so went looking for names not on my database list. If you sweet followers will leave a comment and provide the information, I'll list it. Everyone likes to visit new sites and enjoy the blogger's work.

Here's the card for today, and I was inspired by this card at Susie's My Little Sanctuary. I loved her neutrals on this card and wanted to try the look. I have the stamp Susie used, but {ahem} couldn't put my hands on it, and the one I used on this card was where I could grab it fast.

http://susiestacey.blogspot.com/

- PB Tokens of Love wooden stamp, copic coloring, Oval S/B diecut. Clear Wink of Stella on balloons & tiny heart on the letter. DI Antique Linen smudged around the edges, with a light touch of Spun Sugar over top of the Antique Linen.

 

- VOS from the paper stash - & I mean this was really VOS! - to diecut with one of the fancy S/B rectangle shapes, then another S/B on the darker piece for the mat under the rectangle. If anyone wants the die specifics, please let me know, & I'll provide it.The mats are each on dimensional foam.

 

White cardbase sprayed with Copics E35 & 55 using (1)piece of lace which didn't give enough color; (2)then used a plastic small heart stencil to add some heart shapes. Still didn't like the look that was happening, so (3) finally used a heavy paper border stencil that had found its way into the stencil box...just moving it around vertically, horizontally & diagonally until I got a look that pleased me. Then embossed the front with a tiny heart EF* (*that should have been debossed, 'cause I had the folder wrong way round when I ran it through the Big Shot!)

 

Why did I go to all this spraying bother? I didn't have any papers that looked 'right' with the colors of the other tans/beiges. Can you believe that? I couldn't, but I fiddled for a long time trying to find something that pleased my eye & decided that's why I have sprays & airbrush supplies.

 

Nylon seam binding dyed with E35 copic reinker to get a 'matchy' color. Thought about going for the pink-y/brown in the balloons, but I was working hard to stay in the fairly neutral-tan colors. Susie, thank you for the fantastic inspiration!

 

The Penny Black and More January Challenge of Love Is In the Air is still open, so I'm going to link up this card. It says "Love" to me!

 

Thanks for visiting this afternoon, stay warm & cozy if possible, and big Hugs from me.

 

PS:  I have a sweet blogger who is trying to become a follower through Google Friend connect. She is not seeing the block of faces at the top of my blog, just a big white space. She's not seeing the icon above the Follower list either. Does anyone have any idea what causes this? She has tried different computers, I'm not sure what her browser is, but I don't know a fix. Thought maybe some of you blogger & computer experts might have some suggestions for her to try. Thanks!

Valentine - Cottage Cutz Cupid

Good Morning. How did it get to be Monday already? Did we really have a weekend...it went by way too fast.

Here's another very simple Valentine card to share. No sprays, stamping or coloring on this one.

- Cottage Cutz Cupid from plain red paper (snippet). Added a bit of DI Barn red smudging, and a small rhinestone. Mounted on dimensional foam.

- Negative diecut is from S/B Scalloped heart, then embossed with a Cuttlebug EF basket weave pattern. Adhered as a panel over a white cardbase  (navy paper is just for photo background). Should have elevated panel for more impact. Didn't think of it until too late!

- black textured Bazzill under the negative space

- Cheery Lynn script sentiment using red velvet snippet as was the tiny heart  - from this card. The heart was one of the bits left from the MB heart border. Shame to waste it!

Thanks for visiting, and come again soon. Hope your weather is not terribly dreadful, and that you have something pleasant planned today. Hugs.

Christmas Card Club - Anything to Do with Food

Happy Sunday afternoon, and the theme over at the Christmas Card Club was chosen by by Lizzie of  Verity Cards to be Anything to do with food. Now I don't cook a lot, and don't have any cooking or food themed stamps. (well, actually I do have some fruit stamps, but didn't know if that would work in a Christmas Club!) So off to search for an appropriate digital image, which I found at DeeDee's Digis. I thought perhaps this image of a sweet ole gran (Lovin' from My Oven) might fit the bill. The file comes with line art, and colored art as well. I chose to use the colored images, but I added in a bit more shading in places with copics. Then tried to think of how to make it fit the Club's Christmas goals.

Here's the card:

- S/B label 3 to diecut the image. Shaded with DI Pumice Stone, then very lightly with Barndoor red.

- S/B Lace Doily as a mat, using some Christmas paper from the stash.

- fussy cut the recipe book and cooking supplies, added onto the fold out tab with dimensional foam. Tab had been embossed with a Brenda Walton Holly Leaf motif & then strips of the same mat dp added for top & bottom trim.

- Elizabeth Craft diecut sentiment using the same dp as the mat.

- another fussy cut supplies image was adhered on the inside, and I tried to place it, so that it 'shadows' the popped up outside image. The verse will go on the inside of the card when this is ready to send out Christmas 2014!

Thanks for visiting this afternoon, so lovely to have you join me, and I hope the remaining day will be most pleasant where you may live. Hugs.





Black Dylusions - Memory Box Red Hearts

Hiya. Back again with another Valentine card.

I've never experimented with the black Dylusions  spray, as it's quite dark & I tend to be heavy handed with my spritz technique. Decided to mix up a bit with the white linen; added in some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Tinsel  (more opaque than the Dylusions) to create a lighter silvery shade. In another bottle - just plain water with the black dylusions. Set about spraying 90# Strathmore Mixed Media paper with the sprays, not a clue as to what it would look like. After laying down the blacks, spritzed with Color Shine Chartreuse (which looks more gold than greenish to my eyes). Liked it so far - a bit different from my usual pastels or brights. After it dried a bit spritzed on some Tattered Angels Candy Apple Red. I've had the Tattered Angels and some other sprays for a while, but never really got good results with them, until I begin playing with the Dylusions. Oh yes, I do wear gloves, and I've plenty of waste paper covering the work space as well. It is messy. The inks will wash off your hands, though it takes a wash or two (ask how I know this). I use the cheap white gloves boxed in 100 or 200 count - about $3 - $6.00 - wherever I find them inexpensively. Sometimes I can find them in the Dollar Store, but not always. These are thin enough that it's not clumsy to work with gloves on. I can't do anything wearing the Playtex heavier gloves made for household chores.

Here's what resulted:

 

 

- Memory Box Twirled Heart die(98279), which yielded a thin outline and used the pop out hearts on the corner. This red paper has a velvety texture & came from JoAnn. The die cut extremely well, but I did give it a couple of passes in the Big Shot to ensure it cut cleanly.

 

- Penny Black Love die (there's 4 in the package and it's really a set of Christmas sentiments). This also cut very well, but again, a couple of passes.

 

That's it! A little different look for me, no copics, no stamps, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. DH wasn't either. His usual comment when he doesn't really like my card is "well, it doesn't look like You". So I guess this won't be _his_ Valentine! I've a pretty sentiment stamp that I got at Sparkle n Sprinkle over Christmas - nice verse I mean - so that will go inside.

 

Thanks for your visit, have a wonderful rest of the evening, and HAPPY WEEKEND! Hugs.

 

Edit: Thanks to blogger Cornelia , I got a heads up that this card would fit in with the challenge currently going on at Simply Create Too. I hope that it's acceptable, and thanks Cornelia!

Blog Candy

Good afternoon lovely visitor. Welcome.

First Business: Blog candy & how I did the count

 - I tracked all commenters' names for each of the days I had posted new blog candy. Each day that I added something to the collage, I had a scratch sheet where I listed each commenter's name for that day's post & would add when I saw new comments come in. After I saw the 200th follower, I created a spreadsheet with all the data, so I could see the names, assign numbers & get a total count. . Then used the maximum number of total entries & entered into the Random Generator thing-y. Several sweet commenters did not get included in the count, because I could not find them in the Blog Followers listing.  I checked & doublechecked. So hope I didn't miss counting someone who is a follower but that I can't see them. Anyway, several commenters loyally commented each day, and I put that information by the names as well (but I didn't use that as part of the RG thing & the name only had one entry for the final count)The number that showed up was no. 8. (I'll identify that name in a moment).My intentions with tracking the number of days each commentor visited, was that I plan to include a few extra treats for the winner...and I thought "One extra item for each day if more than one day's visit". I hope all this makes sense, and seems fair to everyone.

OK...now Random Generator selected #8, which my spreadsheet identified as

Carol L of Our Little Inspirations 

Congratulations Carol L, and I hope you like the goodies. Carol L. will have 3 days (until Jan 20)to contact me with her snail mail so I can get the package off in the mail. If you leave the info as a comment, your personal info will not be published as I have moderate comments set on.

Carol has been a loyal follower, steady encourager and tip suggester- visited 3 days out of the 4. I have appreciated getting to know her. I wish I could have sent something to everyone who was kind enough to visit & leave sweet words each day. Even if I could give each a gift, the bloomin' postage would be too prohibitive! My sincere & humble thanks to everyone who comes, leaves words & gives me a link to return to your own lovely blogs for so much enjoyment & inspiration. So many talented people, and I'm so lucky to have each of you come see my work.

Think that's all the blog candy business, so on to a card on a separate post that will be scheduled later this evening. Come back again if you have time to check out one of my spray experiments and until then, God Bless & hugs. Thanks again to all of you lovely people who were along on the journey to 200 followers.

Friday Fun Day Challenge #33 at Jo's Scrap Shack

Hello lovely people. It's Friday and of course that means a new Fun Day Challenge at Jo's Scrap Shack. Today our sponsor is Stamp Art Design by Kathryne. Since our theme for FFC #33 was It's a Love Thing, I chose Filled with Love. This was a really cute digi and very easily colored with copics.

Here's the Valentine card I made with this sweet digi and I selected a gate-fold (or tri-fold.. I don't really know what the proper term is!)

- Used some #90 Strathmore Mixed Media paper to spray with Dylusions sprays in Bubblegum & Cherry Pie. Some were diluted with White Linen, some were diluted with water. Added in a spritz of Postbox red, again a bit that had been diluted with just plain water, then a bit with white linen. Just a tiny spritz with the Vivid Turquoise - also diluted. I kept playing with the colors until I got something I liked. Then added some Iridescent pearly gold over it all. Did one side and let it dry. Flipped to do similar spritzing to the opposite side as I had decided I would do a folded card.

- The closure tab is a wood mounted Impression Obsession heart that I've had for years. Used Memento markers in reds & pinks to color different portions of the stamp, then huffed & stamped it with a white snippet of GP paper. Cut it out & used a metallic gel marker around the edge.

- dp is from stash & really a snippet fer sure.  Used the opposite side of the paper on the inside folds. I used a tiny heart pattern EF to emboss. This is pretty much the last snippety bit of this paper unless I come across some more stashed in the piles of my paper stacks.

 

 

- Filled with Love digi image by Kathryne, printed on Xpress paper. Let the ink dry for a few hours, then colored with copics, spica pens, and just a bit of Wink of Stella on the buttons. I will add a sentiment on one of the inside panels once I decide who gets this card.

- S/B circle heart die to cut it out. Brushed just a tiny bit of DI Spun Sugar on the edge of diecut, and popped up with dimensional foam pieces. Then closed the card, weighted it so it would stay closed, and added a rhinestone heart to the heart tab for a little sparkle.

We'd love to see what your designs are on today's theme. Pop over to Jo's Scrap Shack & link up. The rules are on Jo's Blog, are super easy as is the linky tool. If I can manage to do it, you can too! So come on & play along with us today.

Thanks for visiting here this afternoon, and I hope you are ready for a super great weekend of fun 'something' or other. Crafty Hugs!

Edit: This was a scheduled post, so now that it's live, I am going to zip right over to the Snippets Playground to have a bit of fun since I had a couple snippets on this card. Won't you come along?There's still time before Mr. Linky closes...

Sparkle n Sprinkle Snowman

Hello and HooRay! Saw my 200th follower pop into the list this morning. ASAP will do the Random Generator gig, &  post the winner of the blog candy.

I am doing a Happy Dance, can you see me??? I said YESSSS when I saw that number, and DH came in to see what the fuss was about. He just said "Hmmm...that's nice" when I told him   :-[

Extending warm welcomes to: Alethea of Lilo Design, and for NO. 200, MaggieC of The SilverCrafter. Thank you for becoming followers and helping me achieve my latest goal. Please do take some time to leave some love and have a fun browse around these bloggers' fantastic work.

An update on yesterday's test: Mammogram was pretty easy...the tech is very skillful, takes quick pictures and seldom has to retake one. Found that my bone density could not be done yesterday - due to insurance constraints. Will need to be rescheduled for Jan 2015, to keep my mammo & bone density tests done at the same time & comply with insurance constraints. I was lucky that the bone tech checked my records to see that it had not been quite 2 yrs since my last one, else I would been billed rather than our silly insurance rules covering it! Next headed for a nearby Panera Bread & had a yummy brunch of mini-quiches, orange scones, & caramel cappuccino.  Then thus fortified, we did some running around errands.

Here's one of the hardest cards I've had to try to take a picture of to date. I've been messing about with the camera and this card all day.

- image is a sale stamp picked up on our Christmas visit to Sparkle n Sprinkle in Ruskin, Fla. Stamped on Xpress snippet & colored very easily with copics.   Just dabbed on various bright colors.  Used some spica pens, wink of stella on different places. Wink applied over the snowflakes then glittered.

Die cut with a S/B & edged lightly with BG0000 & splotches of BG0000 under him, for icy patches. Dabbed on a smidge of brushable glue using a toothpick, then sprinkled some Crystal Ice glitter over the snowflakes & the ice patch. Hat fur got brushable glue, then Twinkling Clouds. This product makes the nicest snowy look when added. I liked it so much I purchased a larger jar of it, so I don't run out.

- Card base is Bazzil textured navy blue, embossed with THoltz Tall Pines EF. Glue added here & there on the 'branches', dusted Swan Wing glitter tinsel over the glue. Looks quite icy IRL.

- MB Frostyville Border (988146) diecut from Studio G 6x6 paper.  I had seen this Youtube by Scrap Made Simple. Stacy demonstrates using a cutting die with design paper backed onto double sided  adhesive. She used Sookwang, and so did I.  Poked all the bits out, peeled the adhesive away, and didn't have to glue tiny places. Loved this technique, and will use it again.

Snowy was adhered to a DP banner (snippet from the diecut border), & sent to the top corner as I didn't want to cover up all the decorating. Frustrating trying to get a decent picture, but finally had to settle on this one. I've used some snippets, so this will get linked over at Pixie's Snippet Playground for Week 107. I spent a most enjoyable last evening being inspired by all the lovelies that have been shared by those Playground Elves, and laughed my head off at Miss P's poem. Trust me, you gotta check this out if you need a good chuckle and craft inspiration.

Realized I should enter this one in the January 2014 Sparkle n Sprinkle challenge too, since I used so many of their products!

My assignment this afternoon is to empty the hot water heater closet - which is by my airbrush table - so that the plumber can have clear work space to install a new heater come Saturday. Purchasing a new hot water tank was one of our chores yesterday.

Thanks to all you wonderful, supportive followers who have made my blog journey such fun. I'll be back with a candy winner as soon as I get the DH off my back about doing something besides sitting here at the pc & wasting time!!! (sound familiar? He's usually very good but I do know there's some chores that need to be done in time for the Saturday project). So off I go, Thanks for your visit today. I know I rambled on a bit, but heck, I'm excited.  HUGS! HUGS! Hugs

Birches on Blue

Good afternoon, and welcome! I'm still 3 followers away from Goal, so Candy is in countdown mode & I'm trying to watch closely for the 200th follower to show up in the followers' list.

I'm working on some cards that are in various stages of completion. Tomorrow my day will start with a mammogram & bone  density test..early. As I've told you - I don't DO early! And you know how much fun it is to get a mammogram...oh yeah!

So here's the card for today:

- Image is a Hampton Art wood block stamp, using Memento Paris Dusk on white paper (snippet). Cardinals colored with copics. Partial second stamping to get the cardinals, colored again, punched with a small circle punch and popped up for emphasis. I saw this done on another card, but don't remember where it was, so I'll have to give credit to "unknown".  Used DI Chipped Sapphire on the outer edges to create light more towards the center & the birds.

- Matted with Red, then Navy blue papers, which were free-hand cut to fit the image shape.

- Sizzix Flourish EF embossing on card base.

Sentiment from a Flourishes Wreaths of All Seasons clear set, using Paris Dusk, punched with an oval punch on white snippet.

- American Crafts glitter ribbon.

That's it! This was an easy one to make, other than trying to get the ink distributed evenly on the stamp for a good sharp image. I finally really rubbed the pad over the stamp very hard rather than just 'pat-pat', and then used the Bonnie's Best stamp press I have. This resulted in a much better image.

A couple of snippets used here, so that's my ticket to jump over to the Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground, Week 107. I'm sure you probably have a lot of scraps & bits  (aka snippets!) so why not whip up a card & join in. There's been tales of fireworks, poor Parsnip getting a fish bowl on his little head, and gosh, sounds exciting. Check it out! There's a nifty prize available too.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope whatever you are working on today is going great & that you have a pleasant afternoon in store. Come again when you have time, and as always - thanks for joining me. Hugs.

Little Miss Muffet Valentine Bear

Good afternoon & a big welcome to 2 new followers:

Karen B of Serendipty Dragonfly and Patricia D of Summerhouse Crafts. Thanks so much for joining my followers list and helping me get to my goal of 200 followers. When you have some free minutes, please visit these lovely blogs & be inspired with some wonderful projects.

A reminder: To be in the drawing for the Blog Candy you must be a follower and I'm tracking the comments that are made on the days I add blog candy. There's been 3 days where I added more items to the first day of posting blog candy, which started with this post . Each time I change the picture collage, it changes previous post pictures...so hopefully you've left a comment each day! Those names on each day's candy post will be used when I do the Random Generator numbers for the draw. I hope to add candy for one more day. Then when I see the 200 number show up at the top picture where the following is, that will end the eligibility period. Once again, if you follow via Bloglovin: please do join using the Join this site with Google Friend Connect, so that I see you are a follower. If your icon is not a picture but the 'gray head' - those show up at the end of the followers' list, leave a note in your comment - so I remember to check that area. Most of the new followers show up at the 'beginning' of the list if you have a photo on your profile. I don't want to miss anyone! I am so very appreciative of all who visit here. It's been a rewarding journey & I've made so many friends & learned so much from visiting your blogs & being inspired.

Here's the card for today:

- image is Little Miss Muffet colored with copics, fussy cut & applied over the chevron diecut with dimensional dots. Some Sparkle n Sprinkle White Diamonds glitter on the candy box ribbon.

- QuicKutz Nesting Doily ovals die, Memory Box Cerise Label black die

- Pink DP from WeR Memory Keepers, 6x6 Crazy for you; black is Recollections from stash

- paper doily colored with DI Pickled Pink

- Couture Creations EF (Smooch) - highlighted with Picked Pink over embossed areas.

As I look at the picture, I'm wishing I had used a more contrasting ink on the doily.

We're getting a lot of rain in our area, so once again a very gloomy day. My to-do list for Saturday is to set up new file folders for 2014 & move 2013 to another area. I hope your day has some crafting plans. Whatever you have planned, God Bless and thanks for joining me here in my little corner of the world. Hugs

Friday Fun Day Challenge

Happy Friday and welcome to Friday's Fun Day Challenge #32 at Jo's Scrap Shack where the theme is "Anything Goes". I invite you to join in & play along with us. Here's my card:

 

I would like to extend a warm welcome to a new follower Sarah George of Sarah's Art Corner and say thanks for helping me reach my current goal of 200 followers. We're getting closer to Blog Candy Day!! I hope you'll take a few minutes to zip over, say Hi to Sarah, and tell her I sent you. Her blog is lovely.

 

Here's the card specs:



- Northwoods image colored with copics, spica pens with just a bit of Glossy Accents on the perched cardinal & tree stump where he perches. DI Vintage Photo was smudged around the edges of rectangle. EK Success punched photo corners from a snippet of red foil left from Christmas projects. There was a tiny snippet left, just large enough to diecut some Memory Box Resting Birds to add to the trees.

- background created using a metal Dreamweaver Birch Tree stencil over white GP; pan pastels in various shades of blues, with a bit of dark purple added in the top right corner. I quite liked this as a background, but sponging over the metal shreds a sponge quite badly. I had first tried using some Dylusions sprays over a purchased card blank. The paper was not strong enough to take the sprays and warped, although it did give a nice look. Adhered the background to a stone colored card blank from a sale package.

In the photo it looks as though the stamped image is placed a bit crooked, but when I look at the card, it looks straight. Hmmmm...so aggravating.The outer dark blue is a piece of navy cardstock placed behind the card for photographing. The card itself is the stone color.

So please take time to check out what the other DT mates have created for today's challenge over at Jo's and maybe join in the Friday fun. Rules are posted at Jo's, are very simple & it's very easy to link up. We'd love to see you there!

Have a great afternoon, a wonderful weekend, and Cyber Hugs.

Mulberry Wood Sweet Love

Hi Ya, and Good Morning. We have sunshine, the temps are warming up, one scheduled 'fixit' tech has showed up as promised, and we are waiting on another one. I finished a card last night, so here we go:

- Mulberry Wood image (Sweet Love), stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Xpress paper, colored with copics, spica pens & Wink of Stella. The image is adhered with dimensional foam onto the border panel.

- My Favorite Things Die-namics circle die that has the piercing in the die. Love it! I'm trying to find the oval set. Smudged Victorian Velvet & Pickled Raspberry while still in the die.

- Dylusions Background: Cherry Pie, Postbox Red sprays that were diluted with white linen. Teal and Fresh Lime diluted with water. Perfect Pearls copper lightly spritzed after the Dylusions layer had dried. (This was a background I had done earlier, and thought it looked nice with the image.  ??).

- Border is matted with black rectangle that opens & has some punched heart shapes that were embossed with a Darice hearts EF, then used Versamark & added some Sparkle n Sprinkles white detail to one heart, peppermint stick to the other heart. A Valentine verse will be added to the card insert. Heart paper is a a snippet from Basic Gray 6x6 Kneehigh. Black matting was also a snippet.

The January 2014 challenge theme over at Penny Black and More is Love is in the Air so I'll be linking this little bear as it looks like love to me! I think this one might just go to DH...

So hope you'll give that challenge a look-in, as I'm sure you have plenty of Valentine cards to share!

Since there are a few snippets in use on this card, and since I missed several weeks over at the Snippets Playground, I think I shall go check on the fence repair progress, and see if the goat has turned up. C'mon along if you can. The weather may be frosty but the welcome will certainly be warm. Just bring along your snippety card as a ticket to enter in the fun.

Our next repair tech just called that he is on his way, so I'm off. We just discovered that our natural gas hot water heater pilot is out; DH's back doesn't want him crouching down to relight it, so have still another fella on call that we hope will show up later. Else we will be getting cold showers, and it's much too chilly for that to be fun! Have a great day, stay warm and come back again when you can visit.  Hugs

Hello again, and I wanted to share another beautiful card from the Christmas blessings we received from some of the Blog Buddies who were so kind to share their talents with us.

Karen's Card

This is simply stunning done on kraft with expert pencil coloring and some sparkles added.

 





Kay's Card

I am guessing that Kay, who is a skilled photographer, took the picture of this rustic cross against the textured walls. It is so striking with the simplicity of the cross & stark contrasts of the shadows & lights. So very beautiful a reminder of what the Christmas holiday celebrates.


I think I've shared all the wonderful handmade cards we were blessed to receive. Once again, I'd like to extend our thanks to those skilled cardmakers who shared their talent, time - and not to mention postage costs - to my husband and me. You will never know just how special it made the BOTH of us feel. So stay warm, and many hugs and thanks for your visit & support.

Valentines

Happy Monday morning Friends. We have sunshine, but the wind is really whistling around the corners of our house. Our predicted night temp has changed from 12F to 8F now. Brrrrr...I know that lots of you are having even worse. 8F is pretty cold for our SC Upstate area though.

I'd like to extend a big welcome to some new followers, and thank you so much for helping me reach a goal of 200 followers.
Verna at VA's Creative Clutter - a very brand new blogger who is gaining followers rapidly
Jenny at Jenfa Cards
Holly at KopyKat Creations

Please do yourself a large Monday favor and say Hi to these very awesome cardmakers. They each have some amazing cards to provide you with lots of inspiration. Thanks ladies for becoming followers.

I finally finished the Valentine card that I started while we were in Fla. (got the image part colored & messed up on part of it).**

- image is Red Lead Paperworks on Xpress paper, colored with copics & spica glitter pens. The hanging heart had letters, which were colored in with a white signo pen & got messy;  I used a .03 black multiliner pen to try to outline & fix which just made it worse. Tried a fine point sharpie over that...yep, just got worse again. SO...I restamped the heart part of the image,-a snippet of white; cut it out & Versamark inkpad over that, then used some Sparkle n Sprinkle Winter Berry EP to emboss it. Liked that, so while it was still 'hot', I sprinkled more of the EP and gave a 2nd coat. Good way to fix a boo-boo. I used an embossing pen over the apron trim and sprinkled some SnS Crystal Ice Semi-transparent glitter over the pink that had been colored. Not sure if this shows up in the photo.

- diecut with S/B labels 4, smudged edges with DI Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose. Faux mat cut from a white snippet, removing the interior part of the cut piece. Used the embossing pen around the edges, Winter Berry EP over that - adds some pretty glitz.

- hearts were also snippets from punches that had just been in the desk pile. Smudged on some Tombow glue, dumped SnS Diamond Dust semi-transparent glitter over that.

Blog Candy & Friends Cards

Hello again, and it's dark at my house. I have not finished a card of my own to share, but I did manage to get a photo of the starting blog candy. And I'll share a few more of the pretty cards we got from some of you lovely people.

I worked with photoshop to create a collage & started off with 2 of the items I plan to offer as candy when I reach 200 followers. On different posts, I will attempt to add another item (or maybe two!) to the candy collage. There will be several items, including some dies. This collage business will be another learning curve for Moi. I may have to chuck this idea, and just post a picture to stay on top of the blog posts...we'll see. Come along for the ride.

 

OK...I'm thinking about having the winner comment each day that I post something new to the collage, then I'll keep a list of those blogger comments & assign a number by the person's name . IF you are a follower, and you check in regularly, then you will be in the running. Sound fair? I'm open to suggestions, and so far these are just my thoughts on how I'd like to do this.

As I stated before, to have 200 followers is a REAL BIG DEAL to me! (Yes I am shouting!) Now for some of you who follow in Bloglovin, if you would like to get considered, I need to add your names to my spreadsheet, 'cuz that's how I correlate your names to the Random Generator number thing-y...so please...if you don't see your 'face' in the pictures at the top of this blog, add it there! (sorry for my ignorance causing inconvenience). Also I'd like to be sure I have all my followers with their blog link in my spreadsheet, and I'm missing a few. Will try to correct this.

Now some more cards:


Evelyn's Card



Hazel's Card

Thank you so much to Evelyn & Hazel for these beautiful cards which brought us so much pleasure. Maybe I'll get that card done tonight...so G'night. Hugs.

More Friends Cards

Hiya...and Brrrrr..is it cold in our area. (29F I think). Not as cold in a lot of the other places around the world, and I'm thankful to be inside where it is cozy & warm. Just finished a small bit of housework, and thought I'd take a moment to share a few more of the cards we received from some extremely talented card makers. I'll share their blog links if the creator has a blog.

Elaine's step card, which has a tiny tab on the back, allowing the card to be displayed to full view. The images are Art Impressions, and don't you love the bright yet icy colors she chose. I love these cute polar bears. The snowflakes are layered with a glittered flake behind the blue, but the photo doesn't show this well. And you all know how I love birds, and this little guy is adorable.

 



Next up is from Valery Anne (or Mrs. A as she's known at Pixie's Playground)..She's counts waterpistol marksmanship among her artistic talents too. (should that have been marksladyship???)

This is the cutest easel card, and you can see the flat view in center. We both just giggled when we saw the goofy expression on this critter. Loved those eyes too. Delightful card.

I've had some questions about what is the meaning of the term 'snippets' that I use on some posts. Well, in Yankee speak, we'd say "Scraps" "Leftover cuts" or something of the sort. In the UK, they are called 'Snippets', which I think sounds ever so much more fun. When I first started to blog, one kind reader directed me to the website Pixie's Crafty Workshop and suggested I submit a card.(the only requirement for the challenge is that one uses a scrappy bit - ie- snippet. Rules are very easy as is linking up).  It was the very first time I'd tried anything of the sort. Of course I managed to be a total mess-up with the process; Miss Pixie (aka Di or Diane- who does all the hardwork to maintain the challenge & offers some super prizes too) took the time to help me, explain how (and re-explain several times when I kept screwing it up!). She also generously gave her time to help me with some blogging how-to's...etc. So if you have never checked out this site, please, please do. There's so many talented folks who submit cards, projects & have really awesome blogs to browse. People there are friendly, so generous with their ideas & encouragement. It's just been a wonderful experience for me, and particularly in early days when I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing, but just needed to do something 'new'. So many people who visit there regularly have offered me such warm friendship, & many of these cards that I'm sharing - came from those lovely & wonderful card makers. So, as a New Year's treat to yourself, please take the time and visit for some fabulous inspiration--- & giggles too on occasion!

I hope to be back later with a few more cards, and I'm going to start posting a picture of the blog candy that I'd like to offer when I reach 200 followers. I've an idea about how I'm going to do it, and I hope you'll approve. In the meantime, have a super Saturday. If you're where the weather is terrible, I hope you have the opportunity to stay inside, be cozy & warm...and thankful to be so! Hugs, Hugs, Hugs. As always, thanks for the time you spent visiting here with me. MWAH!