Thank You

Good morning. Seems I'm doing Sympathy or Thank You cards this week. Still need to work on birthday cards, and hopefully some Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving cards too. Recently we had a good visit with a blog friend, and I wanted to say Thank You for some wonderful hospitality. The overspray waste from using brusho and other products still has a bit of paper left. Thought this would make a nice background sky for a Loon die that I have.

- Your Next Stamp border stamp...used some cube inks in shades of blue and purple, to complement the background of the Loon.

- Gina Marie Loon die

- Crafters Companion Thank You Die - 3 layers of white snippet stacked, then colored with shades of Copic Blue Violet...

I didn't think about this until DH mentioned it...the folks we were visiting have some very nice Duck decoys decorating their home. I hope they will enjoy this card!!!

Just for grunts and giggles, I changed the email addy for the comment notification to my old Hotmail address. Which I can now see in the Outlook that was in the Windows 10 operating system  as well as my other email addy which I normally use. My guru set up accounts so that I can see these 2 inboxes, along with 2 other email ID's I had him set up because of these blogger problems. After trying many, many tiresome times to get blogger to send me a new subscribe message to that address, I changed it to Hotmail, and Voila, shortly thereafter, got a subscribe message, which of course I DID! So hopefully I may start seeing the comment notifications there. Fingers X'd!

Thanks for visiting, and ya'll have a great day. Blessings.

Sizzix 3D Thank You

Good morning and welcome to another scheduled post. I wanted to make a thank you card for our friend who found the old record player and mailed it recently. He's a fella who doesn't go in for frilly, so thought the Sizzix Mechanical 3D folder would make an appropriate card for him...

Sizzix Mechanical 3D EF
Altenew ink - brown shade from one of the cube sets to ink the inside of the folder prior to embossing
Crafters Companion die (found at Tuesday Morning, reduced price)...3 layers (white snippet) colored with various shades of Copic earthtone colors. Added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze after adhering. This die did NOT cut all that well, even using the nice metal shim that helps with most dies. I was happy that I'd not paid full price after seeing how much 'clean up' had to be done to the die cuts.

I do like the font though.

Done and done....I think I like this folder for a masculine card.

Thanks for visiting, and have a blessed day.

Inspiration Thank You

Good morning, and welcome to a sunny hot Wednesday in Upstate South Carolina. Recently our neighbor was kind enough to present such a beautiful card with a little birthday gift. I thought the card was so pretty that I wanted to try to use for the thank you card in return. I didn't succeed totally, and will try again, but having recently gotten one of the Gina K Wreath Builder sets, I decided to try my hand with the tiny flowers in that set.

Inspiration Card



My Card





The card base used was from a $1.00 pack of Dollar Store small cards, that was purchased enroute to one of the family kids' birthday picnic, as I didn't have time to make her a card. I thought a good way to use this pack up was to cover the front with whatever design I wanted. It's the perfect size for a thank you card.

Heat embossed the sentiment using Ranger Seafoam White. I didn't think to 'prepare' the flower stamps first (where you pre-stamp or sort of sand the polymer lightly) and some of them didn't stamp as well as I'd expected. Good thing for Misti. Used various cube inks for the colors, and this would bead up on the tiny stamps.  After stamping around the edges and creating a 'frame' for the sentiment, sponged a DI light pink shade and then tea dye, going darker in the corners. The Inspiration card has more yellow tones than my pink card, and I didn't do any 'stitching' lines, but I think my neighbor will like it.

Hope all of you are keeping cool as I know so many of my European pals are dealing with brutal heat as well as we Yanks are. Thanks for dropping in....I hope I got my visiting caught up. We were busy earlier in the week, so I got behind - Uh-gin! Life and Lazy get in my way too much!

Big Hugs. Have a wonderful day and come back when you have time.

Thank You

Thanks for coming by for a visit, and to share this Thank You card with me, that I've been forever finishing. Pieces of it have been on my desk for some time, and each day I'd plan to finish it, something would interfere. Isn't that the way life goes? My life goes that way, anyhow!

So here it is:

- Memory Box die, cut from white cardstock. Heat embossed first with Ranger's Princess Gold, & I didn't like the look. Re-versamarked it, then used an SnS EP (can't remember the name of it) but looked much much better. A similar size piece of previously created background - from sprays or brusho-s I don't remember that either, as it came from the background box! - was cut to size and glued to the circle to create a background

6x6 card pack had some paper that I thought looked ok with the circle motif. A Hero Arts Infinity circle die embossed a frame for the circle before it was adhered to this DP. (you use the tan pad that embosses instead of cutting...if you are lucky! I have sometimes cut through if it's a thin paper like this was, instead of the thicker card stock. Placing an extra piece of c/s on top of or below the thinner paper is helpful. If you think to do it, which I usually do not, until I ruin the first piece of paper!!!

Stamped the sentiment on a snippet of vellum, heat embossed with the same color used on the circle die. It looks quite different when on the vellum. A few yellow pearls to trim - that's it!

Ya'll have a nice Wednesday. God Bless.

Thank You Flower

Happy Friday & Welcome. We have glorious warm sunshine today, after a couple dreary rainy days. Sky is the beautiful blue our area calls Carolina Blue - and I'm not seeing any white clouds floating about. Always a good recipe for a happy weekend in my opinion.

We have a friend in Massachusetts who was born deaf, and didn't learn speech because of her deafness. Her Mom was a nurse & was exposed to measles in her 1st trimester of pregnancy. It was only when the baby was quite a few months old, that she suspected the baby didn't appear to hear. Many medical consultations, and years later, our young friend was enrolled in the American School for the Deaf. There was no school close in the area of Massachusetts where our friends lived, so every Sunday night, her Mama drove 90 miles down to Hartford Connecticut to take her child to school. Repeated the drive on Friday evening to bring her home for the weekend. This was the routine for 12 years of schooling. Over the years, other children were born, so Mom had an impossibly full schedule to care for ALL of her family. Mom learned sign language along with her daughter, but as she grew up, they developed their own shorthand signs to speak with each other. I never got the slightest intimation that Mom ever felt life was unfair, she just accepted what was, and got on with things. In my book, I think she's the closest person to a Saint I'll ever know. All of her kids and her siblings would heartily agree with me. I was blessed to have known her. I've also been in awe of Kathy, ever since I first got to know her...as she lets nothing stop her from doing anything she's ever wanted to do.

Now our handicapped friend has retired from work, she's started to develop a new career. She began going to the local Senior Center, and has learned to paint. No lessons, just pick up a brush and go. She's amazing. On our last visit to Massachusetts, she kindly gifted us with 2 of her paintings. She knows I love the white birches that grow so plentifully up in New England, but are not in our area of the country. So one scene was of white birches in the spring. Another was of beautiful yellow tulips against a deep purple-blue background. We went off and forgot to pack them, which made me feel badly (as well as major ungrateful!) When our BFF was here recently - it's his niece that is the artist - he brought them along. I wanted to send Kathy a thank you card for these paintings.

 

 

The image was inked with versamark, heat embossed with white EP, sponged with DOX in Lemonade right in the center. Then sponged over the entire area with Broken China. I was trying for a sort of 'glow' around the center. The outer corners had some extra Broken China sponged. Used Bristol Smooth Vellum cardstock, die cut with a stitched die.

 

Black snippet was embossed with SNS Opaque Detail White, after die cutting the shape with a tag die. The focal image has fun foam behind it, and the outside edge of the tag sentiment is raised up with 2 layers of dimensional tape so as to make it level with the flower.

 

Dry embossed the stitched framing around the focal image. I hope Kathy and you like it! I was rather pleased with it, myself.

Here's a beautiful sunset we had last night after the rain subsided. It was just awesome.

Thanks for stopping by. Sending hugs and many wishes that you will have a super weekend, and if you're where that intense cold is about you, stay warm and safe.

Pineapple and Feathers

Welcome and thanks for stopping in. Today is a scheduled post, as I'm trying to get some things done ahead. This is a card created from a UFO image colored long ago. Did a faint script stamping over the previously colored pineapple when it was rediscovered, then some sponging for the background. A little vintage color was added to the edge of the rectangle.

 

Some feather dies cut with white snippets,  sponged using a finger dauber & pale green ink, then some very dried out Novu gold mousse rubbed over the raised areas. These feathers made me think of the pineapple's green leaves.  Lastly added some clear drops.  The background was done with gold mica spray over a stencil (used the wet color left on the stencil to create this background). Don't you love it when you can make 2 backgrounds with one effort? I sure do.  This is a very simple card, but I rather liked it!

 

 

 

Ya'll have a good afternoon, stay flu & bug free. Hugs & Blessings. Come again when you have time.

Distress Oxide Ink Thank You

Good evening. I expect all of you think I've disappeared forever. Sadly, our family has just had a lot of illness and bereavement in the last 6 months. In April SIL#2 passed away, and right after the funeral, her husband developed a very bad eye infection in his 'good eye'. He has macular degeneration, has been getting the shots for about 7 years, and shortly after getting one, got a really bad infection which basically blinded him for about 6-8 wks. Just added to his depression after losing his wife. Someone had to be with him 24/7 and do pretty much everything for him. We're down the street, so we were staying there all the time for about a month.  His kids and other relatives came into the breach so that we could take our planned trip to the UK in early June.

The afternoon prior to our departure I spent at the emergency room with SIL#1, who had brain cancer last August, underwent surgery and treatment, seemed to have been doing very well. Then she started having some bad symptoms. It was another lesion on the opposite side from before, and was deemed inoperable. So after an encouraging phone call from that SIL the night prior to leaving, we set off. What she said was: 'You can't do anything to help me here but pray, and you can do that traveling just as well. I know you've wanted to go, so go and enjoy yourself.' I tried real hard to do that...but.....

We visited Pt Isaac, where I got to shake hands with "Doc" and "Louisa". I must say that Caroline Catz is much more beautiful IRL than she is on the program...and she's gorgeous in the film! Had a couple photos with John Marquez, saw the other major actors in my favorite tv show. Just didn't have a long enough time to explore Cornwall, but what we saw was so very beautiful. Then on to the Isle of Guernsey, also very lovely with friendly people. Then back to London, for a flight to Edinburgh. Again, great time, and thoroughly enjoyed all the sights. However I got one of my breathing attacks there, after exiting a pub into a gaggle of smokers. Still managed to take our booked bus tour up into the Highlands for a day...awesome scenery there. Back to London, where thankfully we had a hotel with air conditioning, as that was the time of the heat wave. We had a couple tours booked there, but I had to stay put, as I was coughing badly, having trouble breathing, and just generally miserable. Tours were non-refundable, so I persuaded DH and our friend to go ahead. Talk about feeling sorry for myself.

Anyway, when we returned  home, the SIL news was grim. So from June until early September it was a watch, wait and pray. She was so brave & courageous, but left us on September 13, with her 4 daughters and my brother by her side. We all know she went to the Lord, and was content to do so. And by then, everyone was relieved & thankful she was now out of pain and at peace.

With all of that, not been in the mood to craft, blog or do much else. Additionally many relatives have come and we hosted some of these.

However, I did manage to do a couple cards, which I photo'd but just not had the frame of mind to share as yet. Also received SO many comforting emails, that seemed to arrive just on the right day to lift my spirits. Ditto for wonderfully lovely cards, which I will share soon (well I hope I can get back into the swing of blogging, visiting, and seeing my friends' work).

Please forgive me for being so long MIA, but I hope you understand. It's part of Life and living to have to say goodbye to those we love, but oh, it's so hard. And in the span of 10 months, our family lost 3 sisters-in-law, 2 of them we were so close to. They lived nearby, and had been in the family for most of my life -- really more like sisters than inlaws. None of us can actually believe they have left us.

I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to so many of you who kept me smiling & feeling grateful for emails & cards in the times when all I really wanted to do was crawl in bed, and just cry. Thank you!

While in Guernsey, we met a young lady at the hotel where we stayed there, who (gasp!) is a card maker. She had some of her wonderful cards displayed in the lobby, so I'll be sharing those too.

For tonight, here's the 2 cards I've found on the computer. Realized I still have some in the camera that I didn't download

 

 

 

My first experiment using black gesso, crackle embossing paste with a stencil (which didn't turn out the greatest, but I had fun). Had gotten the first set of Distress Oxides, so used those over the embossing. It's a technique I hope to revisit, and get better results. I was inspired by one of the cards my friend Loll had done. Hope you'll take time to see Loll's pretty card, if you've missed it.

 

 

The 2nd card was done for a neighbor who lost her Mom. The background was made with sponging Distress oxide on c/stock, then die cutting the sentiment. The inlaid sentiment on this card was cut from the same color of oxide sponged over a stencil which had been placed over white card stock. Switched the sentiments with the backgrounds, and have another background ready to make into a card. Seems like we're having to do more of this kind of card lately.

 

 

I will be sharing some of my wonderful blog friends' cards, but I knew I had to get this post done tonight, else tomorrow I'd find another reason to put it off. We're trying to get the house winter ready, as we had our first really cool day on Sunday. Porches being cleaned, and then need to clean some windows. Still are having relatives come in to visit with the brothers, so we are yet a bit busy with that part of our life as well. I miss you all, and hope to get back to visiting your blogs and commenting real soon! In the meantime, God Bless, and thanks again for your friendship and kindness! My next post will be a happier one, I promise, but I did want to share this update with you.

 

Hugs

 

 



 

Thank you #2

Hi, welcome and I'm back with another Thank you card for a neighbor who so kindly provided a delicious meal catered for the family. That's a Southern 'thing' for those of you who are unfamiliar with this tradition. Here in our area ...the neighbors bring food to family when there is a death or sickness. We have a good sized subdivision, and one neighbor coordinated who was bringing 'what' and on what day. I grew up with this tradition, but after living in Florida for so long, where nobody did this kind of thing, even I was amazed at seeing this outpouring of support. My next door neighbor waited a couple days after the main 'giving meals'  and then she had a delicious meal catered and delivered to my brother's house. Just makes you feel so humbled to know how your family is regarded. Both my SIL & brother are very well loved in here, knew everyone, and everybody knows them. It was nearly as big a shock to the neighbors as to the immediate family. If you have time check out this humorous video by Jeanne Robertson that details in a cute way this Southern tradition.

I also wanted to say a huge Thank You to all of you who sent me such lovely supportive emails. Meant to say that in the last post, and forgot! It meant so much to me, to sit down and read something kind, as we were going through the journey of letting go. As I've said previously, the wonderful people I've met blogging, have been By Far The Best Part of this unexpected endeavor I took 5 yrs ago! God Bless you all who cared!

- background was created using sprays and brusho-s. The flowers were previously colored piece using Tombow Watercolor markers - Direct to Rubber & spritzing, so was trying to get something complementary to the flower colors for the background. First time I think I've tried the purple Brusho, and there is no pink Brusho- only Rose Red. (Have the 25 color set, bought back before the price got so expensive!)  So lots of experimenting to get a pink shade :-). There's some white Brusho and white pearl spray in this piece too.

- a postage shape die cut the image, and a brusho snippet previously done was used for the mat. Needed some green to separate the image from all that pinky purple.

- embossed the background, added a lovely flourish that had been a RAK from sweet Jennie . Used copics to change the white flourish to a color that worked with the background. Used some Nuvo crystal drops to add centers to the flowers.

Simple sentiment, just trimmed, edged with color, and Voila! Got it mailed yesterday - finally!

Thanks for popping in, and God Bless. Hugs too.

Thank You .....

Good afternoon, and thanks for dropping by to visit. I'm sorry I've been MIA for a while, and equally sorry to say it's apt to continue for a time yet. I did want to post a thank you card for kindness by neighbors & friends...and after the card share a bit about what's going on in our lives. I expect you have been aware that my SIL's illness resulted in gentle passing shortly after she was moved to the teaching hospital in our city. Thankfully, all her children arrived in time - although she was in a coma, and we don't know if she was aware of anything. The service was heartfelt and lovely, with a wonderful eulogy given by her grandson-in-law. (well, if any service of this kind can be considered lovely!) What an outpouring of support my brother & his family have had from our community...it really boggles the mind. People have been so very kind to all of us.

Still lots of things to be done & we're trying as best we can to help him adjust, do the things that follow this kind of situation. One daughter is local, but she also works. So we try to help with whatever he feels he needs/wants done. He's solo'd in the day a couple times, but said he is not ready to be alone just yet at night. We've stayed with him some nights - he wants to stay in their home, and a few nights, 2 of his granddaughters - very young adults - have come over to stay with their "Pawpaw". I've told him, he'll know when he is ready to be there alone at night.. I understand how he feels the loss more at night.

- a snippet from a box of long-ago colored flowers....a Stacy Stamp. Just die cut with a S/B Deckled rectangle, edged with DI mustard seed. Found some 6x6 papers, cut rectangles from the plain S/B rectangle set.

- background was stamped on DP in Memento Bamboo Shoot green with the same flower used in the focal image. Then embossed (and ended up with the wrong side of the EF, so this one got debossed!)

- Scalloped rectangle punch for the sentiment, and the card was done. Even with all the elements to hand, still took a while to get it together, get it photo'd, before mailing :-)

On a much happier note: We have been planning a big trip for a couple of months. The unforeseen events made me feel I couldn't go away just now. However, we've arranged (hopefully) for my older brother & SIL to come stay at our house while we're away, and at night, go stay with #2 brother. It's good to have somebody in the house anyway, and they live a some miles away from our subdivision. Don't drive at night (well, he doesn't drive as he has Macular Degeneration too - as #2 brother is dealing with as well). So that's the plan.

We are driving to Boston, then after a rest from the drive, fly from Boston to London with our best friend (the Yankee! Who happens to be in Spain just now with our DD & SIL. They flew from Fla, he left from Boston, and they met up in Spain). Boy, do we sound like world travelers. Really not!
From London, the plan is to take the train down towards Pt. Isaac, rent a car, and drive. I hope with 3 of us in the car, we can insure we stay on the proper side of the road. This has been a dream of mine for so long, and I figured it was just that - a dream. Nearly dropped my jaw when I heard DH on the phone back in February, "ask your travel person about setting up this trip". And he did, got all the flights, reservations planned. Then when we had the family emergency, I said I didn't feel able to leave. As long as my brother has somebody to look in as he needs it, then I can go. I'd love to meet up with lots of my UK pals. However, with 2 men, I'm not sure that would work. Both would be great about it, but -- this is a sightseeing trip for the 3 of us. We have so many things each of us wants to see, so I thought it best to not try to plan on meetups that might be tricky to schedule. We'll be in the UK for about 3 wks, then fly back to Boston. Be there for a couple days to rest, then drive back to South Carolina. I've been so excited about this for a couple of weeks...

I'm taking a little hiatus from the Christmas Card Club - just can't seem to manage what is going on at the moment with our family, & making cards, keeping up with our obligations, and trying to assist in another scenario. So I do hope you will all understand if I don't visit for a while. And I hope you won't forget me! I'll be back - God Willing. Just need some time.

Please do look on the Cards by Friends page. We have received some of the most beautiful cards from some of you. I can't describe how comforting we both found them, and how kind of those friends who had us in their prayers. Will share with the rest of the family in time; just now, they have enough doing the things that are part of a death, and try to just get through each day. We will--we are a close family, God fearing, and strong together.

I wish all the Mothers a wonderful & most happy day, that you can be with your children.
God Bless and thanks for being my friends. I'll have another scheduled post in a few days...and perhaps even finish up some tidbits...who knows!

Hugs

Thank You Poppies

Good afternoon. I hope that all my USA friends had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, with pleasant weather, relaxation and all good things to help celebrate a holiday.

Found some bits & pieces of a pre-started card (VOS) when I needed to make a Thank You card for the wonderfully caring folks who took care of me on my recent surgery. Basically to get this ready, all I did was add a die cut Poppy Flower from black glitter paper, a bold sentiment die, and a couple of butterflies. Nothing fancy.

- MBox flower die (or was it Penny Black? I can check if anyone wants to know fer sure).

- MStewart punched butterflies - snippets.. Put the silver one on, decided it needed some color, so a snippet of red glitter paper, Voila, another butterfly. Then I thought "hmm, maybe should have left off the red one". Too late, it's stuck down! This MS punch is one that the piece doesn't just pop out...it's a bit fiddly. Think it might be meant to stamp partially and lift wings out of the background to create dimension.

- Avery Elle Thank you die (I think!) from a snippet of white water color paper that was handy.

some black & white Pretty Posh sequins.

- the design papers are VOS, and the card front had already been made...probably years ago. The black paper has a lot of texture.

Like I said, nothing fancy.....I expect the nursing staff doesn't get a lot of appreciation from patients, but I bet they get plenty of complaints. So I thought a thank you card was in order.

Ya'll have a great day. Big hugs & Thanks for stopping in.

A Simple Thank You

Good morning, and Happy Friday...another hot day in our neighborhood. Recently read a post by Princess Judy wherein she was going through her stash of precolored images, and either using or tossing. Thought "What a super idea". One night when  not feeling in the mood to do aught else, dug out a box of images, either stamped up to take on a trip or else colored but never used and found some of the samples of early copic practice coloring. Decided to see if it was possible to use some of this stash; and if not, take PJ's excellent advice and toss it. Here's a first effort - and this little floral image was stamped years ago, but never colored. I could also tell it was Neenah cardstock, which I used early in my copic efforts.

The stamp was probably a borrowed one. Die cut with S/B classic circle, matted with S/B classic scalloped circle, then a 3rd mat with the larger S/B circle.

- cut strips of snippets papers (some were created backgrounds), glued to another snippet of white c/s.
Die cut with an MFT stitched fishtail die, which had to be elongated a bit to fit the space. Once it was put on the card, the top was just a smidge too extended, but I decided to leave it as is.

- White card base was embossed with a basketweave pattern EF, (perhaps Darice?). A die sentiment was cut from the same yellow paper in the fishtail. This was an ombre paper, so colored it with some copic yellows to make it stand out more on the border. Used 2 layers of package cardboard behind the paper die cut, so that it has some nice dimension. Don't usually decorate the inside of a card. However there were 2 tiny strips from die cutting the border that fit perfectly as a top & bottom trim  on the inside of the card. Called it done. This will be going to some very sweet gardening neighbors who are kindly keeping us in homegrown tomatoes.

Thanks Judy for this good idea to shop the stash -- use or lose it! It was interesting to see some of the very early copic pieces that were hanging around. Some of them are salvageable I think, with adding some much needed contrast. Now just need to make some cards with these pieces.

Ya'll have a great day, and hope your weekend is going to be just grand. Come again when you have time. Hugs.

Teal Butterflies Embossed with a Stencil



 

Hi, and in case you didn't already know this, I spend a lot of time watching Youtube (could this be why I accomplish so little during the day? Nah, probably not!)

 

 

Caught this video from Ellen Hutson using a plastic stencil. I'd seen this done before, and had tried it, but never felt like I got a good embossing. Loved the Hero Arts stencil used in this video, but don't have it (_yet_!). Hunted through my stencils, and thought to try this MBox stencil. Mrs. A's  Butterfly Challenge #53 was for teal & texture, and this was started with that challenge in mind. Doing my usual ploy of missing the deadline, decided this would also work for the May CAS Mix Up Challenge.

 



 

 

 

 

MBox Butterfly Vine Stencil was taped over white card stock, run through the Big Shot as instructed in the video. However, I had to go to Tab 1, and add a lightweight shim (cut from a tv dinner box). My B/S is a newer one, and the sandwich used in the video was too 'tight' to go through on Tab 2. Worked good on Tab 1, with the shim, and got a very nice embossing.

 

Used Memento Teal and DI Concord Grape to sponge over the still taped stencil.

 

MBox butterfly (solid die cut from a snippet from a heavier weight paper that came from a set of sheets..it was part of the packing that helps keep the sheet package in a shaped form. It was white on one side, so hmmm...to the craft room instead of the recycle box. It cut very nicely, and there's 2 layers). The matching overlay die was used to cut the top butterfly, and this was sponged the ink remaining on the sponge from the Concord Grape. Added a couple rhinestones for a little glitz.

 

Sentiment is from a PBlack clear set, chosen primarily because it fit the space where I wanted to put it. Inked with the Memento Teal, heat embossed with Ranger Clear EP.

 

The stitched edges were made from a Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle. (Jennifer McGuire recent video showing how to do this. Cut the rectangle shape. Replace the rectangle die so that it is only going to cut on a 2nd edge..and then you have the skinnier rectangle with the stitching all around it. Would post the link, but can't find it just now!). If anyone is interested, I'll try to hunt it up. I learn a lot from Jennifer!!!

 

Hope this will fit the bill of fare for CAS Mix Up. So thanks for skipping by and come back when you can. Blessings & Hugs.

 

 

 

 

Embossing over Watercoloring Thank You

Welcome. The card in this post has been received, so time to share it here. This one is based on a video by Gina K on the technique of Stamping over Watercolor.

- Used Zig brush markers over watercolor paper, spritzed - just as in the video. Then versamark applied to the clear stampings*, embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold. (*meant to say, applied versamark to a clear stamp and then stamped it!)

- Distress Inks in Iced Spruce and another blue shade were sponged over the results. Had tried using the darker inks as Gina does, but found I liked the results of this sponging best. I've tried Memento Paris Dusk (navy) over clear and also tried the black. Not happy with the looks that resulted for me, but I really liked the look Gina achieved.

- die cut this piece with a rectangle shape, layered a Memory Box Postage die cut under it (snippet). The gold edging done by sponging versamark at the edges and heat embossing with Queen's Gold. Black mat layer. The edges are not exactly even, but hey, this is not Hallmark!

- White card base sponged with more Distress Inks to try to compliment the colors in the focal piece as none of the tons of cardstock that live here, seemed to look right with the other elements.

- Impression Obsession sentiment die from white snippets, heat embossed with Queen's Gold. This die is best cut with the metal Sizzix Precision plate.

This was a special thank you to a very generous & sweet person, so I hope she liked it. I always hesitate to send my work to someone who is such an awesome designer herself. Am I the only card maker who feels this way?

Ya'll have a good day, and come back when ya can! Hugs.

Floral Thank You - Faux Mother of Pearl

Good afternoon, and hello from South Carolina, where we have lovely sunshine! We are getting sorted around from traveling all day yesterday. It was a good ride up the road, and we made good time, except for one place in Atlanta, where the traffic slowed to a standstill. However, we had left early (when the DD left for work at 5:30 am...Ugh. You know how I love to get up early). So thankful to arrive home safely last evening. Today is unpacking, sorting & paying bills, doing some laundry.

This card has been received, so sharing now on the blog.  Hope you like it.

- Faux Mother of Pearl background created by dabbing some Tsukineko Frost White Ink onto the c/stock with a wadded piece of cling wrap. Just in some areas, leaving plenty of non-dabbed spaces. Let this dry, then used some sprays in coral/orange tones, with some darker green spray over that. This muddles together, and I thought it looked quite nice. I was trying to get shades on the background that looked ok with the flower colors. The pearly white glimmer shows through so pretty.

- An older wooden stamp was inked up with Memento markers, spritzed with a fine mist of water; stamped onto white c/s (may have been watercolor paper...forget exactly what I used :-}. Embossed with several sizes of an oval die.

- Die cut the framing piece with the largest oval in the die set, and adhered the floral piece under this, placed on a white cardbase.

- Elizabeth Craft die sentiment, several layers, (yay, snippets) colored with copic markers, added a layer of WoStella for shimmer. Then added a natural twine bow that has a little gold thread running through it.

This card was for a special blogger who has been so kind and helpful to me during our friendship, and I wanted to say a heartfelt Thank you. The faux mother-of-pearl technique with the frost white ink was something I learned from her. I have such extremely talented blog friends - for whom I am so grateful - for each of you teaches me something!

Thanks for joining me today. As soon as things get caught up here (and yes, we have doctor's appointments this week too - ugh)..I will get going on some Design Team assignments. Ya'll have a great week. Hugs & Blessings. (oh yes, it's perfect porch swing weather just now too).

Golden Poppies Thank You

Good afternoon. Here's another card done with that versatile Rubbernecker stamp used in earlier projects.

 

- Brusho background (yellows, orange and a little green with some gold spray), die cut with S/Binders Labels 40 Decorative Accents

 

- Image inked with Versamark, stamped onto the previously created brusho background, then embossed with Ranger's Queen's Gold. I like the look of the gold embossing, but as with the white embossing, the fine details of the stamp are lost. I also liked the way the orange-y colors seemed to create a bit of glow in the central portion of the arrangement. That was pure serendipity, which I noticed only in the photo. Sure didn't see it on the card itself!

 

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment die cut 3 layers of white snippets, which were then colored with the Pentel gold pen. A few tiny gold pearls, and this card was in the mail. Our sweet neighbor gifted me with a lovely circular monogram wooden hanger for the newly painted front door. It's awaiting a light sanding, then spray paint, and some summer flowers wired onto it. Then it will grace the bright red door.

 

Thanks for popping in for a little visit. Hope that your Sunday afternoon is going just super. Blessings & hugs. Come again when you can.   

Snippets Thank You

Good afternoon, welcome, and I hope you're not getting too bored with all the Thank You cards! Today's card is made from a lot of snippets that have been floating around on the desk, and so Yay! I'll get to go see my little buddy Parsnip!

First, though, please welcome a new follower, Suzanne from Keep In Touch. Suzanne is from the New England area, but recently had the huge treat of getting to meet Our Darnell (doesn't Everybody know Darnell?!); got to take a tour of the Famous Playhouse. That's how I got to meet Suzanne (via Blogland of course), but looking forward to getting to know a new friend. You might want to give a pop-in and enjoy some inspiration just as I did. I love this Play It Forward thing, don't you?

We have some very skillful & generous gardeners in our subdivision. Fortunately for us, they have been very kind to share some luscious tasting tomatoes with us this summer. The card is for these neighbors.

- Roses were stamped with a very old PSX stamp recently purchased at a local stamp garage sale. Colored with copics, added some WoS (clear!). Recently discovered an old pot of Judikins MicroGlaze, from a long ago stamp show (NBUS). Decided to see what it looked like if a bit was rubbed over the image, as it is supposed to provide a protective coat. Made the piece quite shiny. Oh yes, the stamping was done on a snippet of Copic Xpress paper.

- White embossed border is a snippet left over from this card, and the xstitched oval mat came from this card prior to embossing branches onto the created green background.

- The S/B mat behind all of this other stuff was a boo-boo that looked as though it might come in handy. What happened was the white strip at the bottom of the dp didn't get removed before any diecutting was done. For some reason, I cut the piece from the white reverse side, and oops, when I turned it over, there is that white printed strip to the left side of the dang die cut! Fortunately this was a 12x12 piece, so I had enough paper to finish out THAT project...and didn't clean the desk, so the embossed border covered up the Ooopsy.

- Top fold white card base was sponged with DI Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron and Abandoned Coral. Used some pearl & gold sprays to blend these colors and assembled the card. The MS punched butterfly hides another little Uh-Oh. When spreading the MicroGlaze on the white embossing, got a little crinkle in the paper. Punched 2 MS butterfly layers from a brusho-background, put these together so that no white shows under the wings, added some black pearls, and Voila.

- Elizabeth Craft die cut sentiment from more white snippets (3 layers), and colored with a pink WoS.

Parsnip, may I come play at the Snippets Playground? (BTW, it's week 185, and the gates are still open for 3 more days..psst, there's also a lovely MBox Christmas tree die on offer too, along with some truly fab inspirational cards. You don't wanna miss out, now do you?)

Thanks for popping in this afternoon. Big Hugs and lots of Blessings. Stay cool if the weather is as hot in your area as 'tis here.

A lovely sunset enjoyed from the deck on Monday about 8:30. The camera never truly captures the glory of the colors we see, even though I tried several settings. But this is quite pretty I thought.

Thank you...More Poppies

Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you to everyone who left sweet anniversary wishes for us.Each one was so very much appreciated. Our day was quiet, but pleasantly relaxed. Another very hot day, so we stayed inside in the cool air conditioning all day. We had an invitation to go out to dinner, but neither of us really wanted to get 'fixed up' to go out, and we had plenty of leftovers that needed to be eaten. Not a very romantic way to spend an anniversary, but it suited us just fine! A wonderful part of being married for this long, is: we are very comfortable with each other, and enjoy doing 'nothing' together.. which I find is a very good place to be. It's also fun to do 'something' together, but never have to feel that we must - to be content & happy. (My wisdom, such as it is ...for the day - LOL!).

Please help me welcome a lovely new follower, Gail of Gail's Place.

 

Gail & I have met on the HLS Christmas Challenge DT and I'm looking forward to getting to know a wonderfully talented new friend. Thanks for becoming my newest follower.

Remember that I said I'd made several cards with the very nice Rubbernecker stamp and here is another one. These posts are not necessarily being done in the same order as the cards were made.

 

- another Brusho created background... don't really remember which specific blues & greens were used. But isn't it so pretty? The stamp was inked with versamark, stamped over the well dried Brusho background, then sprinkled with some Hero Arts white EP, and heat set. The embossing is quite nice, but it doesn't allow for the shading as done on this card. Still a pretty but different look with this stamp.

 

- a S/Binder label 20 die to cut out the card. Decided I liked the shape so this turned into a shaped card, hinged at the side. The outer edge of the front piece was sponged with a finger dauber and Delicata Gold.

 

- 3 layers of white snippets cut the Elizabeth Craft sentiment. Each layer was colored with Copic 110 and then the top layer was colored with a WoS clear marker. Very simply done, but I like this card very much, and it's for a VIP - whom I hope will like it too!

 

Thanks for your visit, and come again when you have time. Right now - alas - too hot to enjoy the porch swing.

Poppies Thank You

Hip Hip Hooray! It's Saturday and another blistering hot one here in Upstate SC. Yesterday we went out for lunch, and a trip to Costco (help with the Smart Phones for 2 dummies). When we got back to the car about 4:15pm, it registered 102F! Now _THAT's_ HOT! When things were stored away,  headed for a cool shower and the recliner. Both of us were just poopered from the heat.

Anyway, been working on a couple of cards and will share one today. I've made 3 with the same image, (mainly because I love it - stamps out so nicely & think it will be quite versatile). Recently some very sweet blogger friends were so generous to me for the recent birthday. So the first card is for one those lovely ladies.

Bought this in Feb at the Heirloom Stamp show in Lawrenceville, Georgia

- Solid image was inked up with some forgotten Memento markers..and it turned out pretty cool (remember I'm rather rubbish with water colors!). It helps if one is fast with the process - which I'm not. Inked with Rhubarb, Morrocco (orange-y tone) and a bit of Love Letter, - then the foliage greens -  spritzed it lightly with water. Waited half a second and then Splat! Onto the c/stock. Was quite pleased with how it looked. Let it air dry, then took the reds & green markers, swiped a couple of strokes over an acrylic block. Dampened a regular small brush, and tried to add a bit more shading for definition. Lastly, used the fine tip on the individual markers to add some 'petal lines'. The fine tip of the black marker did the centers, and then just a bit of clear WoS (made sure it was the CLEAR one too!). 

- S/B labels 8 to diecut, and then shaded around edges with DI Antique Linen and Sage.

- S/B Labels 40 Decorative Accent cut the mat behind the focal image. This was a brusho background - created with Lime Green, Orange and Lemon - then spritzed with some gold sprays. The colors meshed together so pretty, and since the center portion (behind the image!) gets removed, that piece will be a snippet on a later project.

Bazzill pink c/s for the card base, (couldn't find the coral color that I wanted). Decided the pink was 'too pinky' with the flower colors, so used DI shades of Rusty Hinge, Barn Door to sponge some colors over the pink. Liked that better with the poppies. A tiny hint of the pink shows through the die cut frame, and looks nice (at least I think so!)

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment die - 3 layers of white snippets, glued together, then colored with Copic 110 (black) and used a WoS black marker to add a bit of sparkle. Thought about adding a butterfly (the recipient is partial to butterflies!), but decided to leave it alone!

Hope you like it too. And for my UK friends, hope this unseasonable heat & thunderstorms that some of you have been experiencingd, has passed. I expect you're not accustomed to the summer heat like us Yanks (well, truly, you don't ever get "used to it", but you endure it during summer in some of our states).

Will share a few more pictures of the pretty Easter Lily which has more blooms. Our magenta crape myrtles in the front flower bed have finally started to bloom. The center white one has been blooming for about 6 wks. Also note the sky color..it's not that lovely Carolina Blue that is so pretty to see.

Don't forget about the HLS Christmas Challenge that is currently underway. Do hope you'll find time to play along with us. Come again when you can, as always - thanks for taking time to visit me. Have a blessed & cool day.

Edit: Ooops, looked at the stamp package and see that it says "watercolor tulips". They don't look like TULIPS to me! So for this card, and the others...it's POPPIES! Which is what it looks like to my eyes! LOL

Thank You

Good evening again, after another very hot day. Thank Heavens for air conditioning. We're still hibernating in the coolth, unless we have errands. I've been trying to finish up some cards that were UFO's and here's another one. This beautiful card by Kate sent me on the hunt for this lovely Altenew Vintage Roses stamp.  The Misti came in quite handy for doing these layered roses, but I still need a bit of practice!

- Altenew layered roses were inked with Memento shades of pink, and the leaves with Memento greens.

- Sue Wilson die used for the sentiment.

- Sizzix corner rose embossing... and that's it.

I didn't get the leaves placed as well as I would have desired, but I still liked the card. This is a nifty stamp set, so thanks Kate for the inspiration of your gorgeous card.

Thanks for popping by to visit and come again when you can. In the meantime - stay cool if you're in the heat, warm if it's cold where you live, and Big hugs from me.

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.