Anniversary Roses

Good Morning, and welcome. Today is our 55th wedding anniversary, and gosh, it doesn't seem like it was _that_ long ago, when 2 kids who were much too young to be married, got hitched. Then again, sometimes it seems as though we've _always_ been together. He's my best friend and can also sometimes make me madder than anybody else in my world. I expect he might say the same thing about me - in so far as the making mad or annoying part! Still he's stuck with me all these years, so I guess that's saying something. It ain't always been easy, and we've had our share of life's problems... but I can't think of anyone else with whom I'd have wanted to share 55 years. I can honestly say that as I look back over the years. I hope he can too. Nothing special planned for the day - dinner out tonight. We'd discussed a little trip, but with the weather so hot, I suggested we take a little get-away when it's cooler...maybe early fall - September or so. The leaves will be turning in the mountains, and we've always talked about going there to see that. Also thought about North Carolina's Outer Banks, but it would be hot there as well.

Anyway, here's the card I made; Mr. likes roses and he likes blue.

 

A Sizzix die set cut the 5 layered frame using 2 sizes of the die set. Used the in-between sized die to cut the embossed background. This time just inked the embossed piece (Sizzix Botanical 3D EF) with the WOW embossing pad, heat embossed with a Ranger Blue Pearl. (Meant to only heat emboss the raised areas, but I got the piece in the folder wrong-way round and it debossed). The blue pearl shows nicely IRL with a blue-ish sheen, but the photo just shows it as shine.  

 

- Cardinal has 2 layers - white snippets - and was a gift from a friend (thanks Bonnie). Added a pearl for his eye.

 

- Blue roses made with the Heartfelt mold and classic rose stamp and die.(used some white snippets cardstock). I've been practicing...I think the roses are turning out better than the vellum poinsettias. I know: practice makes perfect. Also finding that the c/stock weight makes a difference in how well the finished product turns out. A heavier weight seems to work better for me.  The roses are good to work on while watching mindless tv. Stamp, die cut, color with daubers. Put in the mold, spritz and put on the top part of the mold. Let dry, then glue the layers together. Should be real easy...the video makes it look very easy :-).

 

Just added another pretty card to the Cards by Friends page, so I hope you'll check it out. And thanks for joining me today. There's a couple snippets on this card, so I think I'll jump the pond and visit the Snippets Playground for Challenge #330...why don't you come along?

 

Thanks for joining me today, and Ya'll have a great day. Hugs.

 

EDIT:  Just saw on A Mermaid's Crafts that DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge is Anniversary for today, so I hope this anniversary card might qualify! Thanks for the headsup Lisa!

 



Christmas Card Club - Challenge 12 Anything But A Square

Hello and welcome to another Christmas Card Club Challenge - No 12 for 2018. Our team member Sylvie  selected this week's theme as "Anything But A Square". I was pressed for time as we had a first cousin pass away Thursday (although she had been ill for a few months, it was one of those 'improve some' 'regress again' kind of things). We had a 3 hour drive to our hometown with my 2 brothers; other mishaps ensued over the day, but finally we reversed the 3 hr drive, and arrived home safely about 8pm Saturday evening. Call us Tired.

 I made this card last night (Friday) after  discovering a recycled card from  years ago. I decided it would look cute to  cut a circle with the Hero Arts Infinity Circles, put some UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) on it, and turn it into an ornament. When you see it, you'll know exactly why the card got saved.

- Cut the part of the card desired into a circle; applied DI Chipped Sapphire round the edges; before applying the UTEE, another circle was cut and glued to the backing, to add some stability to the original cut..  Did one more UTEE coat. It looks very glossy  and quite like a 'for real' ornament surface. Next 2 larger size circles in that set  cut some lightweight red glitter paper for a frame.

Adhered the skinny red frame to another circle backing, thenlaid the UTEE embossed circle on the frame.  This backing had Chipped Sapphire sponged so that no white would show between the frame and image. Fitted the birds piece into the frame.

An S/B Delite set that had a coffee cup, with one of those holders (so you don't burn your hands) was used to cut the metal top. It's hard to see, but there are grooves cut into the silver (3 layers of  snippet silver that had been lying on my desk for who knows how long).  Just the right size to cut 3 pieces, with a more sturdy white c/s behind to stabilize.  Used a piece of gold cording to make the hanger, and there you go.

Please check the right sidebar for links to my team members and if you have time, see what they've shared in the Anything But a Square Challenge this week.

Hugs & Blessings; Have a great Sunday. Come again when you have time.

Christmas Card Club - Sentiment as the Focus

Hello and welcome. Also a big Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mothers who might visit today.

It's time again for our Christmas Card Club to share our cards for Challenge 10 - and today's challenge theme was chosen by Carol ; Carol wanted our cards to be geared to having the sentiment as the main focus. I hope she'll like what I am sharing today.

- Northwoods Stamp - Colored with copics, WoS on the letters and some slicci gel pen on the 'doodles' - with some gold highlights on the pine branches.

 - Memory Box Oval Master Frame (99357) cut in red c/s and white c/stock. Used the red for the framing, and white for the holly embossing.

- Holly embossing folder - dry embossed, then used versamark to ink generously

- WOW Atlantic Seaspray WS99R embossing powder

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you'll take time to check out my team mates' cards to see their interpretation of this challenge. Their blog links are on the right hand sidebar.

Ya'll have a lovely day. Blessings and Hugs

CAS Watercolor for April

Hi, and welcome to another watercolor attempt by yours truly. Linking in at the last minute, sorry to say, to the April CAS Watercolor, and this month's theme is Birds. Thought of several ways I could try to watercolor something, using a die with a wash of color; but finally decide to use a stamp gifted by a very sweet friend (thank you!) and try the Zigs again.

 

 

 

 

Stamplorations clear stamp

 

Versamark inking using the Misti - inked twice, to get a good image

 

- embossed with Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold

 

- Watercolored with Zig markers.

 

- gold mat was just white c/s that was inked with Versamark, embossed with the Gilded Gold.

 

- dry embossed an edging frame with a S/Binder rectangle.

 

To get the darker shading in places where I wanted it, I used an under layer of Lilac, then various red Zig markers. At first I thought I'd ruined the image with the purple as it showed very magenta, nothing like a Cardinal color. A few layers of red covered it, and did what I'd hoped to accomplish. As I look at the photo, I wonder if perhaps a light blue background would have been a better choice?

 

The eye was embossed solidly, which looked odd, so used a drop of Nuvo to make it look like an 'eye'.

 

Off to link up with the April CAS Watercolor Challenge, scrambling at the last minute.

Thanks for joining me today. The rain seems to have stopped, the sun is trying to come out, so Blessings and Hugs.

 





March 2018 Rudolph Day

Good afternoon, and welcome to March 2018 Rudolph Day (which I nearly forgot about!) While returning some visits on Tuesday night (the 27th), I saw some Rudy Day entries, and suddenly realized the significance of the date. If you don't know about the Rudolph Day Challenge, look here.
This is an easy challenge to play in, as all one must do, is have a card with something Christmas as the theme, and the challenge opens the 25th of each month, and ends on the last day of that month. It's a terrific way to build up your Christmas card stash all during the year.  Here's my entry for March's Rudy Day. Hope you like it.

 

- Dee's Distinctively Birch Tree Frame (IME-266) - Enhanced with Warm Gray copics to look like birch trees we see in New England. Covered with WOW Embossing, then sprinkled WOW clear EP glitter over it. This EP is translucent, allowing what is underneath to show, and this created an icy, brrr feel to the oval cutout.

 

- IO Die 333-H (birds, cut from white snippet, colored with copics, WoS)



- background sky created with DOX Broken China, Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers, and Memento Sky Blue. Used a white gel pen for snow.

- Gina Marie Designs Double Pierced Oval was dry embossed around the Birch Tree frame.

- Memory Box Be Merry Flourish, 2 layers of snippets. Used Brutus Monroe Ultra Fine Sterling EP to emboss the sentiment. I had first colored this with a red copic and it didn't look right, so decided to use the Sterling instead. Liked this better.

Entering in March 2018 Rudolph Day
Snippets Playground Challenge 322 (must use snippets or scraps!)

Both challenges still are open! C'mon and join in.

Thanks for visiting, and come again when you have time! (hopefully my comment notification problem has corrected itself...!) Hugs & Blessings.

Christmas Card Club - Robins

Hello, and it's time again for a Christmas Card Club Sunday - Challenge 5. Our Mrs. A chose the theme "Robins". Yay, you know I love the birds! Decision time: Do an English Robin or an American Robin? They look quite different, you know. Decided to go with an English Robin; remembered I had been gifted with some lovely toppers a while back by Sylvie (a CCC team mate) so hunted up the topper. Also remembered I'd gotten some Sue Wilson stamps recently and thought there was a robin motif (yep, there was, found that too. Stars are aligning here :-).

Found out it's a bit difficult to get the coloring on an English robin just properly done, printed out an image from the net so I could see the coloration better... My first effort had too much orange all over the head... Here's the 2nd image I did (and may still use the 1st one on something else - he just won't be an English Robin!)

 

 

 

 

 

When I bought some SWilson stamps, I thought I'd made certain I had the compatible dies. Well, this one ended up being fussy cut...Had dimensional tape behind the image.

 

Kraft background stamped with Colorbox (pigment) greens using an Impression Obsession Cover A Card Pine Branches stamp. VOS red & gold dp (sort of like mulberry paper in texture but it is not mulberry...just very fragile & I've had it forever I think).

 

MBox sentiment floated over the motif, added a gold textured twine bow.

 

 

 

Kraft cardstock used in Card #1 was die cut with an aperture for the topper.  Gina Marie die dry embossed the edge design and then spritzed with a gold mica spray.

 

Used Vellum and Altenew Platinum and WOW embossing ink over the vellum. Tore this & tucked some glue into places where it might 'hide' - using the PBlack embellishment. (this was 2 white snippet layers, colored with copics) Added another small sprig of holly in the corner, on the vellum and in one place on the topper -  to sort of tie things together. The photo shows this holly very brightly colored, but actually it's a darker look than what the picture is showing here!

 

Please do take time to visit my team members, whose blog links are listed in the right side bar.

 

And have a lovely Sunday. If you are anywhere that the weather is being awful, I hope you can stay warm & safe until this frigid cold is gone for Spring! Blessings and Hugs and come back when you can.

 





Caroling Cardinals for Rudolph Day February 2018

Good evening, and welcome. I'm skating just under the wire to play in February's Rudolph Day....so best get to it! You ask what is Rudolph Day (or as I usually call it "Rudy Day")? Well, it's an Anything goes as long as it's Christmas themed challenge, hosted by Sweet Maureen (Scrappymoi)...opens on the 25th of each month and closes whatever the last day of the month is. Easy peasy, so do join in. Helps to build a good stash come December.

Artful Stamper image (wood block, VOS), colored with copics, enhanced with gel pens, black nuvo drops (on the eyes) and some glitter and snow for them to dance upon. That center guy is doing some moves, isn't he?

- Spellbinders dies, Authentique 6x6 dp, and red top fold card base (Recollections)

- SU punched out sentiment...which was cut from a snippet of the Authentique pack.

Let's be off to that linky tool at Rudolph Day. Ya'll come back when you can, and big hugs going your way.

Birthday Birdhouse

Good evening, and welcome. We're just back from celebrating an 89th birthday with a big family dinner. Actual birthday is tomorrow, and my family must have some strong, long-lived genes. My parents were 85(Mom) and 89(Dad) who was 20 days away from 90; got a couple aunts who lived past 100, uncles in the 90-s. So it looks like the 2 oldest brothers got these genes. The remaining brother is 81, is in very good health, active, good eyesight...which we feel is a blessing, since our family seems to have the Macular Degeneration curse. My brother's 4 daughters came to celebrate with their Dad for this special birthday, some of his grandkids, and 4 gr-grands. Brother #2 (87) went with us. It was noisy! A bit emotional for the birthday fella too, when they brought out the cake and sang Happy Birthday. I was wishing they hadn't done this, as I felt he was embarrassed to have gotten a bit teary. I think he was pleased however.

Here's the card he got from me. Someone had to tell him what it looks like as his vision is poor.

Die is a Gina K scallop frame--cuts out the scalloped center piece along with the stitched frame. Oxide Ink distressing around the edges, inlaid the center; added a bit of WoS, some bits of DP for trim. Found a set of bird motif brads - sort of a darkish pewter, decided to add one.

Cut the sentiment at a slant, since the font is a little on the wonky side. Did 3 efforts thinking it was OE, finally decided the stamp is meant to look like this. A bit of distress ink edging again. Tucked it under the bird brad. Added some Walnut Nuvo pearls, one of which is on top of the brad, but don't think the photo shows it well.

Been working on the baseboard cleaning gig & nearly done. Started in the office, which is a smaller room than the living room, so thought that room would go quickly. Moving a bunch of 'stuff' out to get at the baseboard took most of the day to get the task done. While doing so, decluttered some: think small packs of hardened rubber bands, dried out glue sticks, rusty paper clips, old pictorial calendars I had saved for 'some reason', bags that were to be decorated, memorabilia from by-gone trips. Just office supplies past their Use By Date and all dust collectors. So living room (or den...as it's not at all formal) will finish up this effort.It also has a chair rail trim which will need to be wiped down  as well as the baseboards. Already found what is to be the next task before all my motivation is gone: Emptying 2 bookcase of every single item, and wiping down. Usually I just dust the edges where you can see the dust. May do some cleanout there too.

Ya'll have a wonderful Sunday, and thanks for your visit this evening. God Bless and Big Hugs

Birthday Hummingbird

Hello and welcome. Hope that everyone had a pleasant weekend. It was rather quiet here, did a few house chores, made some phone calls, ran some errands. Yesterday we finally got some much needed rain, but then late afternoon, we had tornado warnings for our area. Nothing dreadful happened right around this community, but in the next county, a small twister blew down some trees. We might get  more rain today, which will be ok. I can work on cleaning the windows that face on the front porch, as I will be under roof if I should step outside to wash instead of tilting those windows inward.

Today's share is another bits & pieces cards, that was sent to the son-in-law for his birthday which is later this month. The hummingbird is a pretty Northwoods image (wooden block) which I couldn't resist when I saw it. NWoods has the prettiest flower and birds images of any company I've seen; always stamp out crisply aside from Operator Error. Sometimes with the large blocks, the stamp press works terrifically to  help with OE.

The background is Very Old Stuff  with a large pattern but I liked the shade of green with the colored image. Tried to cut it to take advantage of the pretty floral, but at least managed to get the insect intact. It looks like the very bottom edge 'bubbled', but didn't see that until in the photo. The die cuts a large rectangle, the oval, including the skinny oval frame. Cut the DP along with some dark green c/s, and used the dark green to create the inlay framing look. The golden frame is part of the image, and colored with a pentel gold metallic pen. Wink of Stella was also used on the frame. Also noticed that when editing, I forgot to add the signature hallmark :-) Ah me.

Am enjoying the visits from my old friends....I'm so grateful you all stayed with me while I was MIA so long. I'm doing my best to return visits as comments are made, and hope to get back to visiting  lots of other followers who haven't re-found me lately. We're still trying to provide support to the 2 widowed brothers, while getting back to the routine of our own lives.

Thanks for taking time to visit today. How do you like the blog's Fall look? (actually it was last year's Fall look, but had to remember how to upload the template - hope I've got it right).Thanks Loll!

Anybody watching The Outlander new series? I've enjoyed it so far. Also loving the Doc Martin Series 8! We're waiting to see some of the stuff we saw filmed, and also looking at the scenes and saying "Did we see that bit?" or "Do you remember that?" Adds such added fun to the viewing.

Hugs & God Bless.

Crazy Birds for Christmas

Good afternoon from sunny, lovely South Florida. I hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas, spent with those that you love best. Also wishing you some of this beautiful golden sunshine we've enjoyed each day since arriving. Although the day can become quite warm, there's been a soft cooling breeze to make the warmth very pleasant. Quite a welcome change from the gloomy overcast & sometimes chilly days we had before we left home.

Today's share will be the 3 last minute cards done for the family. After scrambling to finish them, I very nearly left them on the desk at home. Just happened to spot the envelope stack on the desk when turning off the light downstairs, to head up the steps, be ready for a very early (4:30am) departure.

DD's card -

 

 

 

DH Card -

 

The circle on DH's card is a mess-up from trying to emboss the Hero Arts Infinity Circles as Jennifer McGuire shows in her video. Used heavy weight w/c paper, and it still cut through the paper in places, rather than just embossing. Was able to salvage this portion, so cut out the bird and just adhered him to the embossed circles. A S/B border die cut the 2 side borders. 

 

 



SIL card 

These images are from the small size of the THoltz Crazy Birds, which have the accessories with the set, and used the same set of matching dies to cut out the hats. (Then did a bit of trimming). Used the Misti to mask for the hat, then after doing all the masking, realized it would have been easier to just stamp the hat, stick over the top of the CB's head, and would have probably been placed better too! The white fur was done with the Marvy snow pen, then heat set to puff it up.

S/B circle used to cut out the central motif, then a larger one to cut the mat. The papers are from a Christmas 6x6 pack - from the stash. The added bow on SIL's card came from a gift box that had some Godiva chocolates. Should have put this on DD's card, but didn't! (always 2nd guessing myself LOL)

Each Sweetie got a 'pretty card' which has been previously shared, and then the 3 'funny' ones. I think they liked them!

We had a lovely but quiet Christmas day. We had agreed to 'no gifts', but still Santa showed up. It's very difficult to think of surprises for adults, who buy what they want (that they can _afford_!) through the year. None of us needed clothes or more 'schtuff'. However Gift cards were welcome, and Mr. got a nice set of Uggs to keep his feet warm this winter. He asked me the size when he first saw them. I said "Never mind what size, just see if they fit"...they did look quite large compared to his actual foot size. However, they did fit, and both kids said "Uggs run small, in whole sizes, so you have to pick the next size up". So guess I won't have to be returning these!

That's it for today. Hope everyone has had a good start to the week, and probably lots are back at work after the holiday break. Big hugs and many prayers going out to those of my friends who stand in need just now. God Bless. Thanks for stopping in.

Retro Reindeer in the Snow

Hello and welcome to a scheduled post. Hopefully as you read this, we will have safely arrived in Florida. And MANY, MANY Thanks to all of you lovely friends who have sent us such beautiful Christmas cards. How that does brighten our day, and these are on the mantel for us to enjoy for a while.

Here's the card that DD will get this year (and a Crazy Bird card if I can get it finished in time!)

Background was first airbrushed using copics BG0000, BG000. This looked too pale, so before adding the reindeer, birds and snow hill, sponged around the edges/corners with DI Stormy Sky.

- Retro Reindeer - cut from brown glitter paper, using the nice thick metal shim that I have. Couple of passes, and it cut through that thick glitter paper very nicely. Added a Nuvo Glitter red nose.

- used a Memory Box tree die to cut fun foam, to ink up with Versamark, use as a stamp. Sprinkled this with some WOW silver glitter. We have some dinner plates that are white, have a light silver bare branches tree, with a single cardinal perched on a limb. That's where I got the idea. (but this card looked a little bare with just one red cardinal, so I added 2 more!).

Background was first airbrushed using copics BG0000, BG000. This looked too pale, so before adding the reindeer, birds and snow hill, sponged around the edges/corners with DI Stormy Sky.

Impression Obsession DIE333-H cut the cardinals from white snippets; colored the ones used with copics, added some glossy accents.

- used a Marvy snow writer to dot some falling snowflakes. Once the pen dots the flakes, using the heat gun creates a raised puffy effect. This looks rather like the liquid applique to me.

- American Crafts white glitter paper (this is much thinner with no plastic backing like some glitters have, comes in 6x6 paper packs) and a stitched hills die cut the snow hills.

- A stitched rectangle cut out the image, adhered over a white snowflake embossed card front, using some fun foam for dimension.

Hope you like this one....Thanks for joining me, and big cyber hugs. Remember, He knows when you've been sleeping...He knows when you're awake...la, la, la!

Hero Arts - Layered Cardinal

Good Afternoon. I expect most of you are scurrying around with last minute shopping, wrapping, baking, etc. We've been busy, but I surely don't know what it is that we've accomplished! Didn't do any decorating, aside from hanging wreath on front & back door. Nada on the baking as well. Weren't just sure until last minute if we'd be able to go to Florida so didn't do a lot of shopping, thinking we'd be sending $$$$ instead of gifts. Then found out we will be able to make the trip, so a bit of scurrying then, and you know, it's really difficult to think of gifts for adult kids. They buy things that they want, have enough dust collectors, can't buy them clothes, and gift cards seem like a cop-out (but some got purchased!) Found out you can do egift cards at Amazon too, so I hope my first try at that will work out with no hitches!

Before any more blah-blah, let me give a very warm welcome to a new follower, who joined about 2 wks ago, but I just didn't have a chance to introduce my new friend, Camille S. of Short on Ideas. Thanks for becoming a follower here, and one of these days, maybe I'll get to the 350 mark, and have a bit of New Year Blog Candy. I hope I haven't missed giving a welcome to any new followers, but if I have neglected to welcome you, provide a link to your blog so that my friends can visit you, please do let me know! Hope you have time to visit Camille, and enjoy her work.

OK, before today's card, I want to share a Halloween tag that was sent to DH, by my sweet (and so-talented) friend, Anne R. (Redanne).  Anne loves Halloween, and so does DH, and she has sent him some awesome Halloween cards. He is just so thrilled that someone - so far away, that he's never met, is kind enough to do such.

 

So why am I sharing this just now? Anne had given me the heads up that she had sent Mr. a Halloween treat, but it didn't come, it didn't come, and we just thought it was lost in the mail. In collecting a packet of Christmas cards from the mail box quite recently, lo & behold, I saw an envelope from Miss Anne. We'd already gotten a lovely Christmas card, so I happened to glance at the franking date. It was Oct 15! How excited I was to hand this one over to the Mr, and say "Here's your Halloween card!" Both of us said, bet this envelope could tell some tales of where it's been for over 2 months!!!

 

Now for the Hero Arts Cardinal: (this will be DH's card this year).

 

 

 

H.A. Layered Cardinal - stamp & die set. Used some of the Altenew colored cube sets along with some Distress Inks to do the color layers. Even using the Misti, I had some frustration with this stamp set. The bird worked out ok, but tried to place his feet on the branch, add the greenery, and it was a mess. Finally just used the die set, cut all parts out, and assembled as shown here. Was tempted to do some hand cutting around the elements, to eliminate the 'white' from the die cut, but time was running out.

 

The background embossing was done with a rectangle die set that has a leaf pattern* (thought it was PTI, but can't locate it to provide a link.) Had seen Jennifer McGuire use dies to emboss, using this layered cardinal as the focal image.  Tried using the circle infinity dies as she does in the video, but even with 140# watercolor c/s, the c/s was being cut more so than embossed. Finally used the sizzix emboss mat (the black one) rather than the thicker tan one that I normally use, and got a decent emboss. However, this die arrived in the mail, decided to try it on the technique, liked it much better. I can provide the die company if anyone is interested .. was pretty sure it was Paper Trey Ink.*

*EDIT: PTI Leaf & Sprigs Frame Die 

 

- Tim Holtz Sizzix 661597 Thinlets Holiday Greens for the holly and branches. (cut from white snippet c/s and colored with copics.). After placing the holly in the corners, thought the holly needed some branches, to make the greenery more lush. Holly berries are Nuvo Crystal glitter.

 

- SU sentiment, stamped with DI festive berry, and used SU punch.

 

That's it folks. Will have a scheduled post tomorrow. Trying to finish a couple of Crazy Birds cards to take along. Just added a lot of lovely Christmas cards to the Cards by Friends section, so if you've time, enjoy these right along with us.

 

Ya'll take care, try not to get too stressed with the coming holiday, and thanks for joining me. Prayers & good thoughts going out to my friends who are in need of that just now. Big Hugs, and hope you are not being Naughty!!!

 





Thinking of You Birds

Welcome to a scheduled post. Hope that you had a good day. It was lovely to see sunshine again today, as much as we did need the rain of the past 2 days. Our dogwood trees had developed the most beautiful red leaves, and I _meant_ to take some pictures. However yesterday's rain and wind stripped most of the leaves off the branches, and the 3 trees look quite sad today - so there will be no photos I guess!

Found this colored image in the UFO box, decided to do a little touch-up on the birds and turn it into a card:

-  remember this is a wooden stamp, don't remember who made it. Colored with copics, but after finding it in the UFO box, die cut with a rounded S/B square, then used some WoS on the birds, then added in some more shading with the Kaisercraft gel pens. I'm not fond of the neon ones, guess I've just not had a chance to use them on something appropriate yet. I do like the jewel colors tho', and the blue brightened up the colors of on the birds, also did some leaf veining.

- S/B Asian motif die to cut the created background done with sponging over white c/s with DI Clover and Stormy Skies. Burnished with Perfect Pearls Biscotti to get a nice sheen. Use the bottom of this piece to cut the sentiment.

- embossed the card front using a Tuesday Morning find of a Sizzix EF, $3.99. Inked the folder with a blue shade of Hero Arts Ombre pigment ink, and this is the 2nd generation - first embossing was too dark to go nicely with the mat color.

Thanks for stopping for a visit this evening. I'm trying to keep up with commenting and returning visits, so be patient with me if I've not stopped by to say hello.

Cyber Hugs to all and Prayers for those who are in need of being uplifted just at the moment.

Let's See Some Wings

Hello and welcome to the Sunday Christmas Card posting where our theme "Let's See Some Wings" was chosen by Christine over at Christine's Cards and Crafts.  Our choice was angels, fairies, birds...I chose birds.

Here's card #1 using a white wash on kraft technique seen in a video by Melanie Muenchinger.

 

 

- PBlack Holly Concert image, stamped in Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Seafoam White. Mement greens in 2 shades for the leaves, blues for the birds and reds for the berries. Used a water brush to dab directly into the pad, making sure the brush was not too wet, then brushed onto the kraft. As Melanie suggests, left more uncolored space at first. Because of the smaller areas, this was not what I wanted. After looking at the results, went back and w/colored in the remaining areas. Tried spattering some white over the craft (falling snow!) & this easy technique is not as easy as it looks! Smudged some green around the edge of die cut.

 

- S/B Gold Label 4 for the image die cut. S/B Grand Label 4 used for the mat.

 

- Light blue cardbase embossed with the Taylored Expressions Holly cutting plate using a thick tan rubber mat so that the metal would not cut, but just emboss. Smudged this with DI Sage, which was also added to the mat & main image.

 

- SU sentiment stamped with SU Real Red on vellum, heat embossed with clear EP. Impression Obsession holly leaves die - Christmas Red stickles added to the berries. Punched with an SU oval punch.

 

- Memory Box Poinsettia die cut twice from vellum to get multiple layers of the flower, which were colored with copics. Shaped, and glued at the centers.

 

Card #2

 

Recently found a new to me product called Embossable Acetate, which can be colored and embossed. I've used packaging acetate for alcohol inks and embossing before...this product is thicker.

 

- Nellie Snellen Snow birds EF . White snow done with an SU white chalk marker coloring on reverse side. Used gel pens for the birds & sun.

 

- Blue background was also embossed with the same EF, and just slightly offset. This looks quite nice IRL, but did not photo well, as the acetate is a bit 'bowed'. The blue flower corners cover the vellum glue - which is not supposed to show..but  does when you know it's there!

 

Closing today with a wish that you have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, and visit again when you have time. Many Hugs.



SU Woodland Folder for Rudolph Day May 2016

Good morning, and welcome to Rudy Day, May 2016! I've had the Stampin Up Woodland NBUS embossing folder for a while. Had been seeing some really pretty cards using it, so after sorting the embossing folders for a couple nights, decided this folder needed to be used. Guess what? It was NOT in the SU plastic storage box....it was NOT in the Trees section of the other EF plastic boxes. So much for my sorting efforts  :-(  ! Then remembered putting it away 'carefully' so I'd not misplace it, (not in the EF boxes of course!). Began hunting through some other places. It did turn up, and after this use, will go into that SU box.  I liked the folder so much I made several cards - just using different colors of inks. Here's one of the cards that I decided would work for Rudolph Day. You DO know about Rudolph Day, right? It's a challenge hosted by Maureen of Scraps of Life by Scrappymoi, starts the 25th of each month til month's end. Only rule: have a Christmas theme. Easy Peasy, yes?

 

- SU Woodland Textured Embossing folder over a top fold tan cardstock, which was left from another project (Hmm...could this be considered a snippet? Perhaps). Copic warm grays to shadow the trees and darken around the tree bark. A white pigment ink (Hero Arts Unicorn - very wet)

was used to ink the folder. My first effort, I inked the trees instead and that yielded nice look - but that will be in a later DT post. Looked at some videos, yeah, you're meant to ink the background....Many thanks to all those bloggers & Pinterest posters who inspired me with their use of this pretty EF--- way too many to mention & link.

 

- MBox birds die cut the cardinals from a white snippet, then colored with copic reds, with black Spica for the birds' masks. (you knew they'd be cardinals, didn'cha?)

 

- MBox Woodland Fawn die cut from a snippet of copper that had been created by using a butane torch to patina. (Stamping with Loll's Heated Copper Technique - great video). Got a better result with the effort this time; my first try some time ago, was not very successful. Still do not have the lovely patina you'll see in the video, but it's improving. The fawn is popped up on dimensional tape.

 

- Simon Says Stamp sentiment - tried to cut this from the copper, but the lettering was just too fiddly; cut another from a white snippet.  First embossed with a Sweet Stamps Rose Bronze EP-- the color didn't look well with the rest of the elements. Re-embossed this with a Ranger Gold Detail EP, and liked it better. Just for grunts & giggles, have been using a WOW embossing pad, and like it just as well as the old faithful Versamark. It seems a bit 'juicier' - and not just due to being freshly inked either.

 

OK...so now I'm off to link up with May's Rudy Day, and ya know what, perhaps I'll see if Parsnip will let me in the gate at the Snippets Playground for Week 230.  It's been so long since he's seen me, he may not recognize me! Why don't you come along to both these friendly challenges, and have some fun with the rest of us?

 

Thanks for popping in today, and hope it's a wonderful afternoon for you. I'm waiting on some marble folks to (hopefully!) show up to put in a new shower pan. THEN we wait for some other crafts people to show. The coordination of crafts persons is what is taking this project so bloomin' long! (But I'm trying hard to be patient. Impatience doesn't help, I've already tried that!!! LOL)

 

Hugs & Blessings.

 



Crazy Bird

 

Good evening and I hope you're ready for a lovely weekend. I've spent the afternoon doing some much needed housework; then my SU lady came by to drop off my order and we visited for a while. She is just back from visiting some European cities, so it was fun to hear her talk about the trip highlights. They had a great time. DH will be gone most of the day tomorrow, at a car show with our old high school buddy...so who knows what I shall get up to while here on my own?

 

I did finally catch up some blog visits, so thought I'd post this card that has been waiting. Another of the Crazy Birds...aren't they just so goofy? This guy was colored with Zig Watercolor brush pens, and he turned out better than the first effort. I was ok with his colors. This was on 140# Strathmore watercolor paper. Better results with the Zigs I think.

 

 

CB was die cut with a stitched circle die. After seeing cards with circles inserted & trimmed to a straight edge, I thought I'd give this a try. I was a bit limited, as the blue brusho background was a snippet, so sizing was a consideration. The yellow & green swirl also a snippet, and even the gold "S" shape at the top right...yep, waste bits from a die (ergo, snippet in my book). I thought the shapes were pretty swirly, and 2 happened to land together. Hmmm...that looks like an S. Stick a rhinestone at the join, and there you go! Actually I might consider CB a snippet too, as he was a practice piece that has been driftin' around looking lonesome for a card or something. I always smile when I see it float to the surface.

 

The metal sentiment is a tiny charm bought at Whimsodoodle on our last trip to Florida. I got a bag of these things, and where did I put them? How did I find this one, you might ask? Well, the bag had spilled when I brought them in the room, and this is one that didn't get rescued (and stored away safely, never to be found when I want them). When I was moving stuff aside on the desk, there it was. I kinda thought it was meant to go on this card, since it appeared as it did! (no, I'm not really superstitious, but ya know???)

 

So glad you enjoyed the porch photos. They were made last year (I think), but other than the fact that the front lawn is green, not patchy as it appears in the photo, and we didn't plant the purple verbena by the steps this year...it all pretty much looks the same. The verbena didn't get an encore...because it simply took over, and spread everywhere. Even creeping up under the bushes, and over the walk. Yet it didn't thrive out under the mailbox at the street, where we wanted it to be lush and thick. That looked patchy. Neither of us has a green thumb. LOL. I'd love to have anyone who likes, join me on the swing. I'll provide the coffee or tea... your choice.

 

Hope you get a smile from CB and if he makes you grin, that's my job done! Big Hugs & Thanks for joining me this evening.

Crazy Bird Watercolor with Bleeding Art Tissue

Happy Sunday! It's another sunny hot one around here, but not quite so hot as yesterday, and perhaps not quite so humid. Still pleasant to be in the air conditioning though, and be quiet.

I've been trying to finish up some UFO's. Had seen this Eileen Godwin video using bleeding tissue paper to make a background, and thought How Neat! Ordered some of this art tissue, and finally had a little play. Not too successful with the outcome, so of course have to rewatch the video. This effort is about the 3rd time I tried it. Still not pleased, so used the reverse side to stamp the THoltz Crazy Bird that is all over Blogland. Embossed the black stamping with clear, and used the Zigs on CB. (thanks to a blogger who asked me what CB means. sorry 'bout that. I got lazy and was just typing CB instead of spelling out Crazy Bird each time!) The paper seemed too 'coarse' to blend the inks well, and I had trouble with waterlines. It was 140# watercolor paper. Put it aside and did another one with better results (will be a later project). In the course of moving things around on the desk, CB and the leftover turned up again. Hmmm...perhaps if I used some turquoise tissue, and did the bleeding bit again, might that help? Here's the result. I really do hate to let something defeat me, and end up in the trash. I'll have to be selective as to who gets this bird. Not everyone I know will think he's cute!

- Diecut CB with a stitched circle die (probably MFT)...added a little grounding for him. Used Glossy Accents on his tail feathers, google eyes, scrawny legs and beak (sort of wished I'd left it off the beak).

- Embossed the salvaged bleeding art background with an EF that has bird motifs on it. Added some double stick tape to the circle area, and inlaid CB back into it.

- White snippets (3 layers) for the Momenta die sentiment, adding Glossy Accents.

- Amuse bird in flight die (2 layers) from another small white snippet and called this UFO done. I will have to work on this bleeding art tissue technique. I'm tempted to try it with just some 'regular' tissue paper and see if that works at all. I'd be interested if you've tried the technique and how your experiments worked.

If you have time - do check the Cards by Friends page as there is a beautiful new card, that I had forgotten to add.

We're hoping to attend the Stampaway USA & perhaps get to meet a lovely blogger friend. So I'm working to get some card commitments finished, posts written & scheduled, and of course - the dread housework. If anyone else is planning to go to Stampaway, please do let me know. It would be great to meet face-to-face. (oh yes, for those who worry about my commenting on trips, we have somebody stay & a burglar alarm - along with neighbors who keep an eye on each other! Else I would not say anything on the blog).

Thanks for joining me this afternoon...and hope your weekend has just been terrific. Hugs.

PS..I see that the Snippets Playground Week 188 has opened the gates, so I'll meander over and join in the fun. After seeing all the wonderful cards already shared, I'm a bit hesitant to take Crazy Bird over. Ah, well, all those ladies are sweet and will let me in to play along. There's a lovely stamp set for some lucky person too. C'mon!

Christmas Card Club - Critters

Hi and welcome. This will be a scheduled post so will hope that it loads properly. Our bi-monthly Christmas Card Club Challenge theme of Feature a Critter (or Critters) was chosen by our sweet Miss Maureen (otherwise known as Scrappymoi of Scraps of Life by Scrappymoi). This card has been partially done for several weeks, as a nice Cardinal punch was spied on one of my Hobby Lobby trips.

- I know you are surprised that I would be attracted to a cardinal punch, but there it is. These critters were punched from a snippet of white c/s and colored with copics. Tiny jewel & pearls added for the eyes.

- Lightweight silver glitter strip (a snippet) was used for the border, and 2 strips of the dark green added for a little separation between the border & the background paper. (Green is the reverse of this check paper)

- Red country check from a 6x6 Christmas pack, embossed with a Couture Creations EF. I can't remember the name, and not much of it shows anyway...LOL

- Sizzix TH Thinlits Merry Christmas die for the sentiment - done with white snippets, colored with copics. Only 2 layers but still gave a bit of dimension.

- green rhinestones were colored with various dark green copics to better go with the green border strips, as was the sentiment die.

Easy card once I got round to the finishing up part of it.

My fellow Christmas Card Club members are listed on the sidebar, so please check out the wonderful cards they are sharing this week. Thanks Maureen for having an easy & fun challenge.

Big Hugs, and thanks for popping round. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon. God Bless

Mixed Media Challenge for March 2015 - Hint of Spring

Good afternoon and today's card was a result of the Mixed Media Challenge for March - Hints of Spring.

Lately I've been having some fun playing with the Brusho water crystals background. Was working on a St. Pat's card (scheduled for tomorrow) and had an extra background that I thought - with some effort - could fit the bill for this Mixed Media Challenge. So here 'tis:

- Brusho background (I like the colors too!) was stenciled over using some pearlized paste and TH Splatters stencil. Let this dry for a bit, then decided to add some Sparke n Sprinkle Aztec Gold glitter...it's pretty, but I sort of wished afterwards, that I'd left off the glitter. It was going Everywhere! So spritzed some Tattered Angels gold spray over the piece, which helped with the glitter staying put, -- but then the w/c paper looks buckled. Weighting the card down will probably help this problem, but it's buckled in the photo.

- Inkadinkadoo bird image was colored with Intense pencils, then blended with gamsol, and die cut with MFT stitched circle.

- Cottage Cutz sentiment created from a snippet of Brusho background (on tomorrow's card) and a 'wipe-up' piece of vellum. Tested vellum to see how it would work blotting up extra color from the wet brusho background. Didn't work very well as I see it, but used a snippet from the vellum to die cut a 2nd sentiment, which was glued over the green Brusho background. The green base made the vellum color show better. Think I'll add a pearl for the dot over the 'i'.

- Impression Obsession DIE055-N for the branch. Cut from white snippet, then colored with copic shades of green. The green branch has a more delicate spring green than the yellow greens in the Brusho background. This is the shade we're see on the daffodil and tulip stems that are poking their heads up in our yard.

Hope you like this one. It's definitely got several different 'mix media' going on! Along with being submitted to the Mixed Media Card Challenge - March Hints of Spring, it's going over to the Snippet Playground for week 166. Hope you have time to check out both of these fun places and perhaps play along with a fun card.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Our day was so-so with the sunshine & overcast, but temp was ok, but it feels damp. It's lovely to see some tiny green things beginning to poke through the earth again. Come again when you can. Big Hugs & hope you had a grand day.

Thank You to all Our Veterans

GOD BLESS the RED, WHITE and BLUE

Good afternoon. Today is a time to say a very heartfelt Thank You to those brave men & women who have served our country and bought the freedoms which we take for granted today. So many have sacrificed their lives over the centuries in which the United States has been a sovereign nation. Too often, we forget the high cost of these freedoms & rights. At least today, we should pause & remember. Let me take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to anyone reading this blog - who served our country or who had a loved one who did. My father, my 5 brothers, my husband, and many of our extended family members gave years of their lives in the armed services of the United States. I salute each of them and am so proud of them. It was a sacrifice for those of us who loved them as well. So here's my small tribute to those brave people.

- I Love Rubber Stamps image, stamped with Memento Gray Flannel, colored with copics and a white gel pen to enhance the stars. DH bought this stamp at a  long ago stamp show so I thought it fitting to make a card for today.

- Lil Inker stitched rectangle & stars dies. Computer generated sentiment.

That's it for today. Thank you for visiting, and thank you for participating in our country's day to remember our Veterans. God Bless.