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.

 





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.

Blog Candy Sticky Post

STICKY POST

 

Please scroll down to get to the regular post, and thanks!

 

Hi, and this post will reference Blog Candy for the #6 Blogaversary that is coming up on March 12. Hard for me to realize 6 years have passed by, while I've been meeting new friends, and sharing my work online. Frequently I manage to order 2 of something or other, and if I don't pass the extra along to a pal, I save the item for future blog candy. Here's a picture of what will be currently on offer to a follower of my blog.

Rules to win:

 

1. Be a follower of this blog

 

2. Post a picture of the current blog candy in your sidebar with a link to this blog

 

3. Leave comments on the posts between now & March 15 (was late getting this post up, but the actual blogaversary is March 12)

 

4. Winner will be chosen with the Random Generator app and announced after March 15th.

5. Winner need not be a USA resident.

 

This post will stay at the top of the blog (if I've done things correctly - LOL) until after March 15. As any winner of my past blog candy will tell you, I always tuck in a few surprises in addition to what is shown in the photo. Sorry for the glare on the photo, but that stamp set has the matching die set to go with it.  Good luck and thanks for being a follower & hopefully a friend!

 



Pot o' Gold

Welcome to another St. Paddy post. It's a new leprechaun, stamped and colored some time ago; I don't remember the manufacturer, but should you be interested, I can hunt him up and advise.

After the card was put together, I realized, the rainbow should have been on top, with the bucket of gold at the 'end of the rainbow'. Oh well........since I've never found/won any gold, I don't really know the proper rules I guess :-) (perhaps I should amend that: guess Mr, DD, my family & friends are my gold!)

The rainbow circle and shamrock letter square were in an Irish themed 6x6 paper pack purchased last year...just cut out, adhere. The rainbow has some fun foam to create dimension.

Pot of gold was a clear stamp, colored with copics, added some glossy accents to the gold coins...used a Pentel slicci gold pen for the pot handle.

A Hero Arts Infinity Rounded rectangle set cut out the little leprechaun, and his glasses and pipe have glossy accents. Used blue painter's tape around the edges so that the image could be shaded with some Distress Ink and took the ink inwards very lightly, because it looked just too white otherwise. The deckled rectangle under foot was a snippet left on the desk as was the fishtail sentiment.

A Darice Shamrock EF on the darker green layer, and a white card base was covered with a more yellow green shade (maybe this is called chartreuse? Michaels had a Recollections variegated green paper pack - good to pick up those packs on a 3 for $10 sale).

Just a heads up: On March 12, this blog will be 6 yrs old. You know what that means? Blog Candy! Will assemble some goodies, take pictures, and post in the sidebar. The usual rules will be:

(1)be a follower - (and please don't follow just  for the candy if you don't intend to visit sometimes)

(2)Visit this blog between Mar 1 and Mar 12 and leave a comment 

(3)winner will be selected by random generator using my data base followers' list and if that person has visited during the time period...that's the winner!

 

I'll put a sticky note with this info at the top of the posts until March 1 if I can remember how to do it!

 

In the meantime, thanks for coming by, and God Bless.