Friday Fun Day #39

Good afternoon and on this last day of February 2014, there's a Friday Fun Day Challenge #39 over at Jo's Scrap Shack, with a Floral theme. Team A's sponsor was Bugaboo Digi Stamps and my choice was the lovely Thank You Tulip Block, which was so easy to color. It's always a good idea to have a pretty Thank You card in your stash for those occasions when one is needed quickly.

Here's the card made with this Bugaboo digi:

- Image printed multiple times. Colored one image using Copic RV colors to create a pink tulip, YG colors for the leaves. Colored another image using BV colors for the lavender tulip & G colors for the leaves. Airbrushed a 3rd image using B0000 to create a soft background. Covered this with a Memory Box Diamond stencil (88522) and airbrushed with B60 - more lavender toned blue -  to create a subtle pattern.  This created some subtle texture.

- Fussy cut each image, separated the flowers & leaves of each colored image, glued them to the background digi. Butterfly was done the same way, so there are 2 layers of the butterfly, giving it a tiny bit of dimension.

- Sentiment was outlined  with a black Spica, added tiny green rhinestones

Mounted the image on white textured Bazzill with dimensional foam tape, and scored 2 lines above & below the focal image. I think this turned out CAS and need to do more of this style.

Check out what the rest of Jo's DT will choose for today's Floral 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. We'd love to have you share the fun, and see what you can create with this theme. If you have any Bugaboo images, by all means use those, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Thanks for your visit this afternoon. Hope you're all set for a wonderful weekend. Big Hugs

St. Patrick's Day

Welcome. So  happy to have you drop in for a little afternoon visit. Today will be a St. Patrick's Day card made with a LaLa Land Marci digi. Hope you will like it.

- Image printed on Xpress c/stock. Dried overnight, heat set, then colored with various green & flesh colored copic markers. Still had a bit of printer ink smudge on one side of Marci's face & her fingers where she holds the shamrock. Hope it won't be noticeable to the recipient; after the image was all colored, I didn't think it was too detectable. 3D Crystal Lacquer on her shoes, and on the shamrock Marci is holding. For her hair, started with a light yellow marker as a base color. Added E40-41-43 in spots, then added E08 for the auburn color I envisioned for her hair. Added some highlights with a white pen, then smudged with my finger so there wasn't a 'mark' but just a lighter look. (Her eyes looked 'flat' when all the coloring was finished. Bright idea to add some sparkle with the Sakura Clear Star pen. When the photo was taken, her eyes looked like those of a crazy person...(gleaming or somesuch!) Used an Olive Green Spica pen to tone it down. Not noticeable on the card, but it surely was in the photo, which had to be retaken after I saw this crazed eye look! :-)

- Die cut with S/B Octagon die, background colored with BG0000 & BG000 markers.

- All background papers were from VOS stash.(snippets - )

- Impression Obsession clover die for the lightweight glitter paper flowers (snippets). Got 5 shamrocks from this snippet and trashed the remaining piece!

- SU sentiment from another white snippet, punched with an SU punch, edged with Distress Ink.

- Rhinestones were a pale yellow green, - colored with dark green copics to get a darker shade.

I'm off to the Snippets Playground to Parsnip & all my crafty friends, so I hope you'll join us for a lot of fun & inspiration. Everyone has snippets (aka Scraps!) so when you can use 'em up, then come play along with us. Prizes are offered as well, but most of us just like having fun with the group and seeing all the marvelous projects that show up.

In the meantime, have a wonderful afternoon, and come again when you can. Love seeing your comments & having you chat with me. Hugs!

Birds and Blossoms II

Good morning and hope that your Tuesday is off to a swell start. I have to report the floors have still not been cleaned and in a bit,we're picking up  #2 brother & SIL and going to lunch. DH decided yesterday he wanted a 'good fish sandwich', but we were doing some other things and didn't get to this specific restaurant. Since he is a nice fella, he asked our relatives if they would like to go there for a late lunch, as they've never been to this place. You can see - it doesn't take much of an excuse for me to postpone housework!!

Please welcome 2 new friends to this little part of blogland:

Kate P. of Kate's adventures 

Jackie W of jackies crafts. 

Thanks to both of you for joining as followers here. Please do help me welcome these bloggers by paying a visit to their blogs when you have time during your surfing journeys.

My card for today was one of the easiest I've done. What took longest  was deciding on the Spellbinder to make a shaped card. I chose the S/B Grand Label #4, and the white you see is just the background used to photograph the card.

- Image is by Nice Crane Designs from a new set that was just posted to the store, Birds and Blossoms II.  This set has several really beautiful bird images in it. Image printed on Xpress c/d (found that this cardstock yielded quite a vivid image). Still playing with printer settings though. Die cut with the Grand Label 4, also die cut a shaped cardbase from white.  Did a bit of additional shading with copics, just because I wanted to. Sponged some DI Broken China adding some Seedless Preserves around the bottom area. Also used just a tiny bit of Seedless Preserves around the outside edge so that the white cardbase did not show.

- Sentiment stamped in Seedless Preserves with a tiny woodblock stamp. Airbrushed Copic B0000 on the background, then added B01 and B60. Used a scalloped square punch on the corners, smudged DI Seedless Preserves on the outer edge, tied a twine bow, called it done!

You will definitely be seeing more bird cards from this set of images, because they are (1)beautiful (2) make a fast card. Hope you like this & do yourself a favor & check out these images.

In the meantime, have a lovely afternoon, come again when you have time. Hopefully it will be set a spell on the front porch in a few weeks. These past few days would have been lovely porch sitting weather. Hugs & thanks for stopping today.

Memory Box Window Scene

Good afternoon & welcome. Let's welcome some new friends:

Ginny of Maxam Made

Joni of Papell with Love

 

and let me add a link for Bobbie L. of Crafts by Bobbie. When I welcomed Bobbie as a follower earlier, I didn't have a link for her blog.

So please take some time and visit these blogs & leave a little love for them, plus enjoy some great inspiration. Thanks to you all, ladies, for visiting my blog and joining as followers.

Yesterday (Saturday) was meant to be a clean the floor kind of day (not that it needed it or anything silly like that!). DH suggested that we take a ride since the day was pretty, and have lunch at Scrapbook Creations, one of the few remaining LSS in our area. I protested - quite feebly as you might guess - that I really meant to clean the floors - but you know, it really was a No-brainer as to which won. Off we go, and upon arrival, happily discovered that some of my old stamp group buddies were having a weekend crop. So it was fun to catch up on what they were doing, had been doing, etc. Then we had lunch and shopped. A fun afternoon; then came home to take a long nap. Shopping can be tiring you know! Had pizza, salad & chicken wings for dinner...so a lazy day as far as anything productive. My kinda day. :-)

So here's the card meant to be shared yesterday.

- Memory Box window die, MB lamp die, MB Hanging Flower pot die

- MBox shelf  die that is sized to fit this window die; raised with dimensional foam.

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment thanks. 4 layers of c/s snippets, colored with copics.

The window view was salvaged from a card sent advertising a retirement seminar by an investment group. DH thought the scene was pretty & said "Why can't you use this for a card?". This got put behind the window frame & has been on the desk since before Christmas. Just had to think of what to do to finish it. Tried the THoltz brick EF as a background - looked at that for a while. Then decided to use a SU Vintage Wallpaper EF; inked the folder with one of the lighter Memento Blues prior to embossing, liked that look better. Now what to add for some interest? Finally decided on the lamp & flower pot hanger.

Lamp was diecut 4 times, (white snippets); glued layers together for some dimension. Colored the base with copics after gluing on a blue pattern dp. Covered the shade with a snippet of DP, added some tiny lace trim.

- Hanger chains cut from kraft snippet that had been inked for another use, but the design was blurry- so couldn't use it for its intended purpose. Covered the 'chains' with gold Wink of Stella. Pot has a 'wire frame', but this was covered when some of the snippet dotty dp was glued to a kraft snippet. This was the base to the wire pot frame. There's 3 layers on this pot.

- added some green fronds (snippet too!) using Impression Obsession DIE112-D - a set of 4 tiny, tiny leaves. Trimmed the fronds from the stem, dipped the tips into a spot of glue, stuck into the pot. Since there was 3 layers of the dotty pot, the tip slid into the space very nicely. Once it felt adhered well, bent the leaves just a bit with tweezers to make the arrangement more realistic.

Since there's a great many snippets in use on this card, I'm off to see if Parsnip will let me into the Snippet Playground. I have been remiss on visiting my playmates there as much as I should like, so I hope I can spend the afternoon making up for not being around as much! I am sure that you have lots of snippets that could be made into a card. That's all you need to gain entrance into the Crafty Snippets Playground, and meet some super lovely card makers. Check out this challenge.

Have a lovely, relaxing afternoon. I'm going to try hard to not succumb to a nap, and go visitin' some inspirational blogs instead. Thanks for your visit. Hugs. Oh yes, Downton Abby finale tonight, folks!

Friday Fun Day #38 at Jo's Scrap Shack

Happy Friday afternoon. I hope you've had a marvelous week and now ready for a super weekend..doing what makes you happiest.

Here's the latest for Jo's Scrap Shack Friday Fun Day where our sponsors are StampArt Designs and Stamping Chef. Team A was sponsored by Stamp Art and I chose  Full Bloom for today's card & a sketch provided by Jo's Scrap Shack.

- digi printed on GP cardstock, colored with copics - Wink of Stella for added glimmer and some Viva Décor Pearls in the flower centers. Printed the image 3 times to color base image - then colored the flowers only for other 2 prints & fussy cut.  Used a stylus to shape the flowers & leaves on each piece, then glued each over the main image. Don't think the dimension shows in the photo, but quite nice IRL. Die cut with a S/B classic circle.

- green mat die cut with corresponding size S/B scalloped circle.

- Marianne Createables (LR0168) for the dark lavender doily.

- background: Impression Obsession Cover a Card stamps...first using Wisteria Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink on Tapestry 2 (CC025). Then used  Warm Green Colorbox on Greenery (CC018) to overstamp first background.

- green border snippet, covered with green glitter ribbon & purple gauze ribbon side-by-side. A piece of old lace from my sewing days covers the join of the two ribbons.

- sentiment stamped in black using a stamp from the new 3 Twenty Crafts Simple Sentiments set. Traced the sentiment using a black Spica pen for some glimmer so it would show up better against the background.

So why not show us what you can do for this challenge! Use the link up tool found at Jo's Scrap Shack for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing. The rules are posted at Jo's blog and linking is very easy. We'd love to have you join in the fun.

Thanks for visiting this afternoon, and many Hugs.

 

New 3 Twenty Crafts Stamps Release and Blog Hop - Day 4

Hello and welcome to day 4, our final day of the 3 Twenty Crafts 2^nd Release! This week has been so much fun and I have had a blast sharing each new stamp set and all my projects with you. So thank you for stopping by each day this week and joining the fun.

You should have arrived here from Kristin's blog but if you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, simply go to Jo's Scrap Shack .

Today we are showing you the new and awesome stamp set “Personalize It” This stamp set coordinates with Project Life and Smash Books.

Here is what I created using this new stamp set:

- Heavyweight stone colored card base. Red mat die cut with a S/B card shape. Kraft stamped with SU white using an old Hero Arts wood stamp, then another in SU Real Red. Used a Fiskars punch on the white. Adhered pieces of the 2 colors together, and die cut with the smaller S/B used for the red mat. Had to be a bit creative as this size was not quite long enough. Cut part of the shape, flipped die to the opposite end of the kraft, hoped the alignment was correct. It was, thank goodness.

- the list stamp from the set was stamped on cream paper with SU Real Red. Chose different sentiments from the set (notice what most of my goals are!) and then used a red rhinestone for a tick in the box.

- bottom border is the negative from the punch, with red rhinestones for trim.

That's it! I'm happy that you had time to stop for a visit this afternoon. Your next stop on the hop is Mayra's blog.  Have a great time as the Design Team has really created some gorgeous projects that will surely inspire you.

To win today’s stamp set “Personalize it”, make sure to stop at each blog along the hop, become a follower and leave a comment. The winner will be chosen randomly and nobody knows which designer’s blog the winner will be chosen from… so don't miss out on your chances, make sure you complete the hop and leave some comment love!

I hope you have had an awesome time this week and maybe you could be a lucky winner of one of these amazing new stamp sets! Good luck and stop by 3Twenty Crafts on Sunday for another sneak peak & mini hop of an extra stamp set to this new release! Thanks for hopping!

 

New 3 Twenty Crafts Stamps Release and Blog Hop - Day 3

Good afternoon, and once again, thanks for stopping in for a visit.

Welcome to Day 3 of the 3 Twenty Crafts 2^nd Release! You should have arrived here from Kristin's blog but if you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, simply go to Jo's Scrap Shack .

Today we are showing you the new and awesome stamp set “Say it from the Heart”

Here is my card using this new stamp set:

When I saw the set the first thing that caught my eye was the hexagon shape. In another craft lifetime, I was a quilter, so I'm thinking Quilt Designs.

- SU hexagon punch for the shapes, and then stamped different designs from the set onto the shapes. Arranged in a sort of quilt on the front of a SU Top Note die ( liked the stitching look with my quilting theme). Top Note background was made using Copics, airbrushed in several shades of blue, using a hexagon mask cut from card stock. The 'quilt edges' were distressed with DI Chipped Sapphire. Considered adding some Tea Dye for the 'old look', but thought it might muddy the colors.

- S/B Majestic Labels Twenty-five cut twice, and split to create the decorative pieces. This has the piercing look that complements the quilt theme.

- Blue Bazzill Textured card base, seam binding died to match with Copic B93 & B97.

- Sentiment is from the new set, but I masked off the 3rd line. It doesn't show here, but the banner is folded for a bit of dimension, and held in place with glue dots.

- DieVersions sewing machine die, colored with copics in the cool C grays, Sakura Silver Star and Wink of Stella pens. Tiny spool was colored with a gelly roll in sparkling blue. May go back and glue a bit of threading on the machine.

Hope you enjoyed the card for today. Your next stop on the hop is Mayra's blog. Have a great time as my Design Team sisters have really created up some gorgeous projects that will surely inspire you.

To win today’s stamp set “Say it from the Heart”, make sure you stop at each blog along the hop, become a follower and leave a comment. The winner will be chosen randomly and nobody knows which designer’s blog the winner will be chosen from… so don't miss out on your chances, make sure you complete the hop and leave some comment love!

Stop back tomorrow for the last day of the new release blog hop and a look at another awesome new stamp set from 3Twenty Crafts.

Stenciling and Paste

Good morning everyone. It's a lovely sunny & fairly warmish day in Upstate South Carolina. We did have some rain early in the wee small hours, but it's very pretty now. My heart goes out to all of you who are dealing with yet _more_ snow and for my UK friends - this awful rain & wind. God keep you all safe!

Here's some new friends I hope you'll find time to say Hello to as you surf around checking out blogs.

 Bobbie L (and Bobbie is in the Circles stuff, but I can't find a blog for her. Bobbie if you can tell me how to find you, I'll add a blog link for you).

Beth F. of Beth's Beauties

Laurie Unger of  Laurie's Stampin Place

Please do visit these blogs if you can, say hello and enjoy some wonderful projects. Thanks folks for becoming new followers.

Here's my card for today - another stencil & paste experiment. Liked this one better than my first attempt. I used a lighter texture paste, plus was careful to apply less thickly and only to part of the gesso'd cardstock. I believe it yielded a better result, although it is quite bright. I was working on one of our dark 'weather' days, and thinking 'sunshine & green'

- TCW  Mini Art Flower stencil, using stencil paste over transparent gesso coated & dried cardstock.  Did not sand anything on the dried paste; Viva Décor Inka Gold Mint Green spread with my finger over the stenciled flower.  (This product is more 'goopy' and spread easily than the other paste stuff I've used). Dried naturally - then sprayed diluted Dylusions Fresh Lime, Pure Sunshine yellow and Lemon Zest. Tried to spray through the same stencil in another corner, but not happy with the results. (peeking out in the top right corner..)That needs more work for me to do well!

- stamped an Impression Obsession CAC029 music stamp using Memento Cottage Ivy in the blank spots.  S/B Curved Borders Two (S5-201) cut the textured green Bazzill card base front.

- Trimmed the stencil piece with a plain bracket shape from the same set. Mounted this on the cardstock, and used the remaining edge of this trimmed piece on the inner side of the card base.

- Marianne Creatables LR0168 flower cut in yellow, then green, smudged DI green on the yellow flower (snippet) and some Lemonade yellow on the underneath green flower (snippet). Shaped the yellow flower & lifted for a bit of dimension, added a green rhinestone center.

- Sentiment from the new 3 Twenty Crafts Simple Sentiments set onto a snippet - (the smooth side of the flower paper), punched with an SU oval punch, smudged DI green around the edge .

That's it! I'm winging across the water to the Snippets Playground where construction of an Ark is underway, but also nifty prizes to be won. If you bring a card that has even one snippet (or scrap as we Yanks would call 'em) Little Parsnip will let you through the gate. C'mon...it's lots of fun!

In the meantime, have a Blessed day, and there's a new stamp reveal later on this afternoon, so I hope you'll pop back to join me. Until then, many hugs.

New 3 Twenty Crafts Stamps Release & blog hop - Day 2

Hello again.

Welcome to Day 2 of the 3 Twenty Crafts 2^nd Release! You should have arrived here from Kristin's blog but if you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, simply go to Jo's Scrap Shack .

 

Today we are showing you the new and awesome stamp set “Strike a Pose” This stamp set coordinates with Project Life and Smash Books.

Here is a card using this new stamp set:

 

 

- Used another print from the Imaginations paper designed by Debbie Mumm. (VOS & NBUS). Again did some shading with copics. Added some highlights around the butterfly wings with a white Signo pen. Antiqued the edges with DI Tea Dye & Vintage Photo. The 3 Twenty Stamp photo frame Strike a Pose was stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink in Dark Brown, over a small flowered patterned paper.

 

- MS grass border punch using green paper.

 

- Cheery Lyn leaf die corners, shaded with copics.

 

- card base covered with some orange textured Bazzill; toned down the brightness with the Vintage Photo.

That is my card for today and happy that you stopped by today. The next stop on the hop is Mayra. Have a great time enjoying what the Design Team sisters created to inspire you with these new stamps.

To win today’s stamp set “Strike a Pose”, make sure to stop at each blog along the hop, become a follower and leave a comment. The winner will be chosen randomly.  Nobody knows which designer’s blog the winner will be chosen from. So don't miss out on your chances, make sure you complete the hop and leave some comment love!

Stop back tomorrow for another fun-filled day full of inspiration, blog-hopping and a look at another awesome new stamp set from  3Twenty Crafts.

 

In the meantime, Hugs & have a great afternoon.

New 3 Twenty Crafts Stamps Release & blog hop - Day 1

Hello & happy to see you this afternoon.

Welcome to the 3 Twenty Crafts 2^nd Release Blog Hop! This week we have a ton of inspiration to share with you, lots of amazing projects showcasing the new stamp releases and some giveaways too. You will be so amazed with this new release and I am excited to share the first stamp set with you today. So are you ready to get started? You should have arrived here from Kristin's blog but if you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, simply go to Jo's Scrap Shack.

 Today we are showing you the new and awesome stamp set “Simple Sentiments”

Here is my card using this new stamp set:

 

 

 - Image was simple cut out from a Debbie Mumm Imaginations paper (NBUS & VOS!). I did a bit of shading with copics & added some Spica glitter, antiquing the edges using DI Tea Dye & Vintage Photo. Added some VOS paper brown-gold borders to the sides of the bird. Green borders with an EK Success border punch. The side oriented sentiment is a one from the new set of 3 Twenty Crafts.

That is my project and your next stop on the hop is Mayra.  Have a great time as my Design Team sisters have really created up some gorgeous projects that will surely inspire you.

To win today’s stamp set “Simple Sentiments”, make sure you stop at each blog along the hop, become a follower and leave a comment. The winner will be chosen randomly and nobody knows which designer’s blog the winner will be chosen from. So don't miss out on your chances, make sure you complete the hop and leave some comment love.

 

Stop back tomorrow for another fun-filled day full of inspiration, blog-hopping and a look at another awesome new stamp set from 3Twenty Crafts.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon, hope you'll stop by tomorrow to see the next stamp set in the new release. In the meantime, Warm Hugs.

Butterflies and Flowers - a New Challenge

Hello again. This must be a record for me, 3 posts in one day. I've had 2 of these cards in the making, just needed to get finished. The earlier Snowflakes & white was due today, but then was also working on this next card so I could join in a new Butterfly challenge set up by the lovely Mrs. A. and you can find that challenge right here. Mrs. A is one of the Snippets Playground buddies so I really wanted to play along in her first challenge.

This card was fun to make. First the white cardbase was airbrushed with copics, using light yellows (Y02 I think). I just picked a shade of yellow, sprayed and decided it was ok. After covering the base, allowing it to dry, used a TCW mini butterfly stencil; masked off areas so that only the butterfly shape desired was showing, airbrushed that space using B000, B01. Moved to another butterfly shape on the stencil, repeated this process, added in B91 to get a darker contrast. Die cut an aperture using S/B deckled edge oval after the c/s was dried.

- Inked a flower from the SU Blooming with Kindness set, using gelatos, spritzed & stamped on white snippet cardstock. Mounted the yellow piece over this stamped flower using dimensional foam.

- MBox Moonlight Butterfly cut from silver c/s. Two layers of vellum (snippets) to cut MB Kaleidescope Butterfly. Colored the layer adhered over the silver b/fly with some gelli roll pens for a bit of color. Top layer covered with Versamark, Ranger Snowflake EP, lifted the wings for some dimension. Black body die cut from a snippet of black glitter paper.

- Tried my hand at making some roses...they looked terrible - so found some paper roses for the flower part of the challenge. The yellow roses started out white, sprayed the smaller ones with copics. The larger yellow had been done on a previous Dylusions spraying session, (?snippet? )and is just a bit different in color. The blue one - well I left that one as is!

- sentiment stamped with Memento Cottage Ivy - older small wood stamp. Punched with a Fiskars oval punch.

So I'm off to link with

Butterfly Challenge  AND
Pixie's Crafty Workshop Snippets Playground Week 112

Why don't you jump right on in, and play too! Hugs & enjoy your afternoon.

All White and Snowflakes

Hello again. Twice a month there is a wonderful Christmas Club group that I was lucky enough to join.   Hazel (of  Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge fame) selected the theme for this challenge to be All White/Snowflakes. A beautiful choice.

Here's my take on the challenge:

 

 

 

- white cardbase embossed with Darice Snowflake EF. Brayered Versamark over the folder prior to a pass through the Big Shot, then sprinkled Ranger Clear Detail EP & heat set. This created the pearly finish on the background while leaving the raised snowflakes white

 

- S/B A2 Bracket Borders One (S5-181) to die cut the bottom edge. Used a strip of Sookwang tape (double stick paper) sprinkled with Cool Highlights Ritz Glitter, burnished and taped behind the cutout. Doesn't show well in the photo, but IRL this looks very sparkly.

 

- MBox Frostyville Border diecut from the same Sookwang & Cool Highlights Ritz Glitter over, burnished well. There were spots at the top edge where the Versamark did not apply as heavily as should have - which is hard to see when you're doing this - so the EP didn't cover very well. This border was a pretty way to hide the boo-boos. Looks great too...if I may say so!

 

- Elizabeth Craft outline sticker sentiment - white cardstock - edged with a gold Signo pen, handcut the V's. Wanted the card to take center stage, not the sentiment. Used the gold pen to add some tiny dots in recessed areas of the design.

 

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday afternoon, and thanks for joining me today. Hugs



Impression Obsession Wreath die

Howdy, and welcome to my world. I'm sure you have learned in your visits here, that I love dies & embossing folders (and stamps, and paper, and ...ok?) I fell in love with the die used today - primarily because I love cardinals. Somebody found this die on our travels, just had to be sure I saw it, and you know the rest of the story.

Here's the card:

- I.O. wreath die (DIE090-Y). Used a light green paper for the underlying diecut. Then used a darker green card stock weight for the top diecut. IO dies normally cut extremely well in my Big Shot. This one was a bit fiddly, primarily due to all the intricacy I think. I had to do some poking to release some  of the tiny bits, but I really love the die. Birds are attached to the die, and I'm thinking about breaking them away. Yet they are so tiny, I fear losing them if I snap off from the wreath part. Used a tiny red snippet to do the birds on this wreath, but there's 8 birds with the die. I liked the layered look of the 2 green shades and offset each just a smidge. I'm thinking I should have popped the birds up - will next time.

- Solar White C/S embossed with a new SU Arrows EF. Panel on raised dimensional foam strips.

- MB sentiment from the same red snippet that yielded the birds.

This card was sent to a very special person, and I hope she will be pleased with it, and the thoughts behind it.

You'll be seeing more of this wreath I expect! Hope you like it. Have a wonderful day, and lots of cyber hugs coming your way.

Valentine

Ok, ok, I know ---- I said no more with the Valentine cards for this season. I had one that had been mailed, and I wanted to be sure it arrived before I posted it here. I'll be brief (yes, I can be, if I try hard!)

 

 

 

- PB Hedgie image, colored with copics, Glossy Accents on the balloon. S/B deckled oval die, Copic BG0000 for background.

 

- Cheery Lyn Kaleidescope doily die cut from pink textured Bazzill. A 2nd doily was cut from a snippet of pearl white paper, and the 'spikes' trimmed at the edges. Some of the pearl peeks out from the holes in the pink doily.

 

- pink MBox leaf die cut from a snippet of darker pink paper.

 

- Papers from stash, ribbon to hide the join.

 

- sentiment stamped with Memento Love Letter on a S/B ribbon label die, and added glue & some Sparkle n Sprinkle pink glitter to the heart.

 

That's it! Ya'll enjoy the day. If you're where it is raining, I hope you don't get flooded. If you're where it's snowing, I hope that won't be too dreadful with the ice & packing down on roofs. Wherever you may be as you read this post, God Bless & keep you safe. Hugs



Friends, Valentines & Moonlight Snow

Hiya,

Back with a quick post to share what DH just got out of the mailbox about dusk. He thought the ice had melted enough to make a trip out safely. I watched from a window above the garage (our garage is on the bottom level of our house) to watch that he didn't slip. Thinking "if he does, how will I pick him up?". The trip was very worthwhile, because we got 2 envelopes of sweet cheer. Now they may have been in the box 2 days ago, but we weren't risking the trip. 




Candee's Card

 

 



Brenda W's Card

These two thoughtful & beautiful cards just made that trip to the mailbox worthwhile. Thank you, Candee & Brenda, for thinking of us.

 

One last snow picture that I took last night, after DH commented on how pretty the full moon was shining a path across the snow. Well, you can see the moon, but forget the path! We could see it though. Beautiful and the neighborhood was very quiet too. Awesome feeling. 

 

The snow has melted off the front porch so was able to step outside. There's still some ice patches around. Had thought to go out for a Valentine breakfast this morning, but I'm a wimp, and didn't want to chance any black ice. Looked to me like our driveway still had some ice we could see, and I worried about any that we couldn't see. I've already had a turn with that, don't care to repeat the experience.

Hope your V. Day was wonderful. Ours was quiet. Quiet is good...I got a nap. Naps are good too.
G'nite, and thanks for popping in. Stay warm. Hugs



 





Friday Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack

It's FRI-day so that means it's Fun Day Challenge #37 over at Jo's Scrap Shack and today's sponsor is  3 Twenty Crafts  and the theme is, of course, Valentine's Day.

So here's the card I'm sharing:

- 3 Twenty Crafts Background Builder set was used to create the black & red chevron pattern of the heart inside the aperture. Die cut 2 S/B heart shapes, stamped 2 of the border stamps to create the background, first with Brillance Graphite, embossed with Ranger Clear EP. Stamped 2nd die cut heart with Brillance Rocket Red, embossed with clear EP. The tricky part was trying to get the angles properly on each die so that when cut apart, rejoined 2 different colors, a neat chevron pattern would be created. Covered this with 3D Crystal Lacquer, which is quite shiny IRL, but not showing well in the photo.

- card front was diecut with a smaller S/B heart, then brayered with Rocket Red ink over C/Bug Cross My Heart EF.

- MBox Heart Chain border die cut from lightweight black glittered paper. Hearts cut apart to add down the join of the black & white border stamping. Tiny red rhinestones added for some bling.

- using the leftover snippet of the black glitter paper, I switched the position of the heart chain border, recut another heart border, and then used the shaped part - the heart tips. Thought this made an interesting shaped border, rather than using the hearts, as I'd intended. Is this 'thinking outside of the box'?. Added some rhinestones, the MB love sentiment die cut and Cheery Lynn Kisses which were from snippets of the black glitter paper. Rounded the corners using a corner chomper instead of trying a punch. Cut through 4 layers of paper and I didn't have to use any bad words. :-)

Hope you like this card and will play along with us at Jo's Fun Day Friday Challenge. You will find all the rules over at Jo's Blog and it's very easy linking. We'll love seeing what you create for Valentine's Day! You have a chance to win a $10 Gift Certificate in the 3 Twenty Crafts Store.

Hugs & thanks for spending some of your time with me today.

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 

NiceCrane Audubon Birds

Good afternoon & welcome. It's been exciting around our house, due to the 'Snow'. Compared to what our Northern states have been receiving, Upstate South Carolina's was laughable. But not to us residents. Here's a couple pictures I took last night, standing at the doorway, holding open a storm door so I could get the photos a bit more clearly.

Back deck

Front porch

Something was drifting down as the photos were made. I thought it was sleet, I know it was blowing in wet on my face. It was cold too.

The card today has one of the lovely Nicecrane images I recently received. I think this size of image is referred to as a bookmark. I had to give a think as to how to best use it. Kept it simple.

- precolored image printed on paper, adhered to lightweight cardstock, distressed with DI Tea Dye and Vintage Photo. This image is really very beautifully detailed, and my photo skills do not do justice to the richness of colors. I'm going to try again, using some of the Copic Xpress paper to see how it prints on that. Do check out this website and enjoy looking at some beautiful images - not just birds either...lots of vintage designs too.

- Cheery Lyn leaf die, colored with copics over white snippet cardstock.

- cream card base, stamped with Creamy Brown Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink using Impression Obsession Cover A Card Music (CC029). With ink remaining on the stamp, lightly touched to the bird image. Shows faintly IRL as intended, not sure if it will show in the photo.

- top fold card was diecut at the edges with S/B Borderabilities Scalloped Borders Two. I saw the die used so beautifully on this gorgeous card by Benzi. When I saw Benzi's card I just had to hunt for this Spellbinder die. I think it's going to be quite versatile. Very pretty too - with 7 dies in the set.

On another subject, I had the most lovely surprise from Miss Darnell the other day. She & I know the deal, so I think it's enough that I just re-iterate what a super lovely lady is our Darnell, and if you don't  "know Darnell" then you are missing out on something really special. Thank you Darnell, for adding some joy to my afternoon too. Hugs going your way, along with Big Thanks.

That's it from Upstate SC. Stay warm, keep safe & I pray these storms finally fizzle out. God Bless, and thanks for your visit. Hugs

A Stenciling Experiment

Good evening and Upstate South Carolina got the predicted 'weather' today. Nothing really drastic, just some pretty swirling snowflakes. I think the temps were in the mid 30's F. We're being advised that overnight & tomorrow will be much worse, with a sleety ice mixture and more snow. Usually we see quite a bit of traffic go by our home - as we live on the corner of 2 streets in a rather largish subdivision. There's been much less traffic today, but still some. In past winters, we've been able to stand at our front windows and watch our neighbors navigate the icy corner, heading for the steep hill that is the exit from the neighborhood. Very shortly, we see the same car come sliding slowly back past our view. We are both always thankful that we aren't the folks who are having to brave the roads to get to a job. (Well, I'm always more thankful than DH, who is sure He could manage the roads much better! NOT! He learned to drive in South Florida, just as I did!).

Let me say warm welcome to Ignacio Molina of Nicecrane Designs who has joined as my latest follower.

I'm sure that many of you visit here, know these beautiful Nicecrane images. I've seen them used so skillfully by many blogs that I follow, and just purchased some of the designs. (Check Redanne and Stamping with Klass to name 2 very enjoyable places where I had seen these designs used. There are quite a few others too, but these particular blogs were fresh in my memory). I finally got my brain & my fingers coordinated at the same time and ordered a couple of the bird images. You do know, I like birds, right? See my lovely new blog header?? Well, it was designed by Ignacio of NiceCrane and I am just over the moon with how pretty it is. THANK YOU, Ignacio!

Decided to change some of the other colors to complement the new header. What do do you think? And please do yourself a favor, and visit Nicecrane to see the beautiful images...which are extremely reasonably priced. Stay tuned...I hope I can soon do justice to the pretty bird sets I ordered.

I'm sharing my stencil experiment I mentioned in an earlier post. It's really more of an example of: Don't do what I did!

- card stock was coated with gesso and dried overnight. Used some modeling paste over a Memory Box vines stencil. Think I used a stencil that was more intricate than I should have for this attempt and also probably got the paste on too thick. Let this dry overnight, and made sure to clean the stencil immediately when I lifted it from the paste. Still had a little shifting mishap as I lifted the stencil, which yielded a raised surface after drying. (if that makes sense..it was a rough raised place that should not have been there!)  Used a sand block to sand the dried surface, and that helped.

- painted some acrylic paints in golden & turquoise greens that were mixed with a cream color - over the entire surface;  using a small brush, painted in the depressed areas of the vine motif, with the turquoise green. I was liking the effort a bit better after this dried.

- smudged some Viva Décor Inca Silver paste with my finger over 2 corners - where you see the glimmer. Used some Viva Stempel paint in a turquoise color and smudged that around in some areas. The silver gleams nicely - no that is not a camera flash, but the silver that you see!

- MB Serene Bird die in navy blue Bazzill, popped up over a Die-namics Leaf Filled Flourish.
The leaf was cut from a snippet of dp, further shaded with copics. Lighter green leaf  was in the snippets pile, probably is a MB diecut from white c/s, shaded with copics. Used some of the 3D Crystal Effects on the leaves, let that dry overnight. Attempted to add the MB leaf around the bird with Glossy Accents. Where it touched the navy bird, the GA left 2 small smears. Thought it would dry clear. Didn't! Tried covering the edge with some glitter, intending to shade the glitter using dark blue copics. Alas, the copics pulled up the glitter. (I've seen that done on some other blogs, so not sure what I did wrong.).  This bird looks like he's been at our bird feeder and got some ice crystals on his feathers! I don't like it that he looks like he's got sugar spilled all over him, so this will go in the samples stash.

I had been a bit dissatisfied with the stencil results at first. As I kept working on the piece, I was liking it a bit better. As I was putting the dies atop the piece, I was getting happier. When I got the Glossy Accents smears on the bird, I was not pleased. I've always heard this stuff dries clear...well, it didn't on this navy Bazzill.

Dream sentiment is from mirror paper snippet using an Elizabeth Craft die. I enjoyed this experiment enough to try it again. I will use my Aileen's Easy Flow glue to adhere in future. I know this stuff dries clear...

Hope you enjoyed my ramblin's this evening. Also hope that should you be in the path of this storm front, that your power is staying on, snow is not endangering your roof, or any dreadful stuff like that. We're staying cozy, and I even cooked today - also baked a carrot cake for snacking tonight. Remember...I don't cook!

Thanks for your visit, and many Cyber Hugs. Come again when you can.



Lovely Valentine Card from a Lovely Friend

Good evening & welcome to a very late post. Today started late, then had to make a grocery run, as our area is expecting some severe weather to move in tomorrow evening. Could be a 'no-show', and I won't complain, but it's best to have supplies on hand. Our weather folks are saying it could be the worst that our Upstate South Carolina region has seen in a few years. All this is relative, compared to what our neighbors up north are dealing with. Also DH came down with a cold on Friday, so I've been trying to keep my distance, as I don't want it. We're wiping down surfaces, I'm sleeping in another room, and generally staying away from him, except to administer TLC when needed.

Let me welcome some new friends, and I hope you'll find time to pay a visit to these talented bloggers as well, and let them know I sent you.

Shirley R of Card Art, Etc

Jill N of Greenwood Girl Cards

Mary S of All Nite Owls

Also many thanks for all the comments about the light box that I shared; I must give all the credit to Miss Cornelia of Stempel Spass: It was her idea, I just made something rather like what she had done. I'm also finding that it works better for my use at night, but I'm still experimenting with using during the sunshine hours too.

On another note: I tried my first attempt at using stencils & embossing paste last evening. I'll share that later. It was not a stellar result, as I used too much paste over what was probably too intricate a stencil for a first try. (well, I did just a tiny bit in a class, but we won't count that!). I'm going to see what I can do with it now that it's dried.

I don't have a card to share this evening, as I've been working on some other stuff lately, but I did want to share this lovely Valentine we received Saturday, from the lovely Miss Bonnie K. So you can enjoy it along with us!

Exterior of Bonnie's Valentine Card

Interior



So Bonnie, thank you so much for thinking of us. You made the day for 2 people at this house.

Now I'll say good night, 'cause I'm off to watch the next episode of Downton Abbey. Can you say 'addicted'? Well, not really, but I am addicted to Doc Martin. I was so pleased to see that one of the PBS stations had the 1st episode of series 6 aired last night. I had already seen it on Acorn TV, but was not expecting our local PBS affiliates to air it that soon.

Come again when you have time. Hugs

Impression Obsession Bird on Dylusions background

Howdy, and thanks for visiting this morning. First let me welcome 2 new friends:

Leann of Paper Doll's Creations and Carol of Crafty-Stamper. Ladies, thanks so much for joining as followers. I hope that the shout-out here will result in some visits for you, from some of my older friends! (remember, the term "old" used this way, does in no way refer to our ages! Just how long we've been friends, ok???)

To the card for today:

I get in moods where I want to just play with the Dylusions sprays, so I experiment with colors, dilutions of the original sprays, then let these dry naturally on most occasions. Sometimes I will blot with paper towels or perhaps a piece of lace that is kept on the airbrush desk for airbrushing..or just whatever my hand picks up. Then later I pull out one of these, to use as a background. So I can't always say what colors I used...but you get the idea from what you see here, that it was blues, the pinks, turquoise.....Had also used a flower stencil in the play on this piece, but not sure if it's showing up here. Probably sprayed with a blue over the stencil, but I could have just laid the stencil down in the wet spray too. Sorry, I just don't remember, and not even sure if the flower stencil shows in this photo anyway, but I can see it IRL, and I like the pattern.

- stamped an IO bird stamp (E13046- Dina Kowal Designs) using a Versafine navy blue pigment ink - cause I couldn't find the Black StazOn. I'm finding that the Memento Tuxedo Black, which is always on my desk, is just not giving a real crisp sharply inked impression over these backgrounds. Sometimes that's ok, but for this I wanted the music on the bird silhouette to show well. There's also a pretty flower & leaf motif above the tail, but I covered that up pretty much with the flowers & leaves.

- additional leaves punched from another Dylusions snippet using Elizabeth Craft Curvy Leaves (730) dies, shaped with a stylus on a rubber mat thing-y. Roses were from a NBUS package, and were adhered as is. Thought about spraying or sponging, decided not to. The hot pink looks pretty with the pink in the background.

- Navy blue snippet cut for matting, rubbed some silver Viva Décor Inca paste around the edges for some glimmer. Hot pink card base from a textured Bazzill.

- sheer purple tone ribbon VOS - pearl added to hide the knot.

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment die from the same snippet as the leaves.

That is it! Shaping the leaves probably was the longest effort on this one. But I like it! So ya'll have a grand weekend, and hope the weather is giving my Northern friends a break. I hope my UK friends are getting some rain relief too! Thanks for stopping & many Cyber Hugs.

 

 

Friday Fun Day Challenge

Hello and here it is Friday - Uh-gin...so you know there's a new Friday Fun Day #36 challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack where this week's theme is Anything Goes. Our sponsors are Paper Nest Dolls and Bugaboo. I'm Team A, so my sponsor was Paper Nest Dolls and my chosen digi was Circus Seal Sammy .

 

 

- printed 4 images of Sammy on Xpress paper, let dry overnight, then heat set. Used the oval piece of the S/B Filigree Design (card creator series) to cut Sammy out. Colored with C family copics and had a smear at the bottom where his flippers are. Even though this was a gray color, it didn't seem to want to clear up as usual with the colorless blender. Sooo...I colored the remaining images, cut them out and mounted each with dimensionals, and made sure to do a strong shadow around Sam. This successfully hid the smudge made when I tried to blend away the boo-boo. Printed an image on DP, cut out to paper piece his ruffle collar. I should have colored the spots on his collar, but that's hindsight. Used 3D crystal effects on the ball and collar spots.* The background of the oval was colored with BV0000, shadow was BV000, and used some BG0000 & BG000 underneath to ground him (or should that be 'water him'?).

 

- background was a circus print found on the internet, printed out & diecut with another piece of the S/B Filigree Design. I had chosen Sammy because I had some G45 Circus theme paper...but could I find it? Nope.

 

- Card base covered with some orange-tone mirror c/s from a paper pack. No sentiment but I did add some green rhinestones. This will probably be a birthday card later in the year.

 

*Opened the packaging for the Crystal effects purchased last Saturday. I knew it had tiny pieces so opened carefully over a white paper. The tiny pin that is meant to keep in the applicator top when not in use was missing. On Monday I emailed Sakura, and within an hour had a reply. They are sending me the missing pin! How good is that for customer service?! Just sayin'.

 

OK, that's my card for today, so if you can, why not play along with our Friday Fun Day challenge? 

 



Link up using the linky at the bottom of Jo's blog for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge, 

    using the linky tool at Jo's blog.

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

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

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

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us 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.

 

Starts: Friday, February 7th, 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, February 14th 6PM

Thanks for joining me today, and have a fabulous weekend. Hugs.

             

 

 

Dylusions Seascape with Ryn Bubbles Stamp

Good morning sweet visitor. Warm welcomes to all but especially to a new follower, Maureen of Mau's Place. I had been seeing links to this lovely blog as I swooped around some other blogs; followed a link, paid a visit, and found a new friend. What a joy! Please give yourself a treat, and check out Mau's Place. Now if I just knew how to do all that fancy-schmancy stuff Miz Darnell has started doing of late, where she not only provides the links to her new buddies, but also posts a picture, I'd try to do that too! It's such a sweet touch to add for her new friends!  And if you don't know our Darnell, well...you're missing out on your blogging experience. She's not only a skilled cardster, but she's funny too, and what a vocabulary. She of the NBUS word. (Don't tell me you don't know what NBUS stands for? Gosh, you'd better visit Darnell!) I always leave her place after some good chuckles and inspiration. Thanks Darnell for all you do!

One other tidbit: If you notice in the sidebar, our favorite Miss Pixie - of Crafty Snippets Playground fame - created a button for us--Keys to the Playground! Check it out, and do come & visit in the Playground when you can. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

Anyhoo, we are meeting some old high school buddies for lunch in a few minutes; then I have to zip back home, brush my teeth super well, and head to the dentist. At best I will be having a crown...at worst - I may need a root canal.

So here goes with an experimental card that started with no idea beyond using a previously created Dylusions background.

 



- Dylusions blue sprays, think there may have been one of the purple sprays too. This was created quite a while back.

- the wonderful Ryn Water Droplets Stamp* was added after stamping the sea scape stamp*, which also had a few bubbles, but not as many as I wanted.  (EDIT:  sorry - it was Rising Bubbles. Both were on my desk, but until I cleaned stamps that evening I was mistaken in which I had used! ..Fish scene is Fish Friends by Artful Stamper.)

- fish & plants colored with Spicas & gelly roll pens. Wink of Stella pen over places for added glitz.

- Die-Versions Whisper die Sweet Seahorse die cut from a snippet of turquoise-teal that was just the right size to fit the die. Smooshed into a Versamark ink pad, then sprinkled Ranger Snowflakes sparkle EP over it. The turquoise-teal color just didn't look 'right' after I placed it against the card, so I played with the EP. IRL it sparkles very nicely, but I don't like the white look against the blue. I had hoped some of the paper color might come through the EP, but -- it didn't! Remember I said I was experimenting!

Yesterday I received an order from Joggles, and had some of the Wink of Stella pens (not the brush tip, but a marker tip). I think I'm going to like these pens. Again, I had some fast shipping, so that made me happy!

Ya'll enjoy the day, and hope if any of you are where the storms are wreaking such havoc, that you are staying warm and not having to shovel too much snow. Thanks for stopping by, and many big Hugs!

*If you're interested I can provide the stamp manufacturer.