Birthday Cards

            I keep adding items to my sale pages, so you might want to take a look.

For some reason I'm having a terrible time getting good pictures of my cards.  Hopefully you can still get an idea of what they look like.
I made this card for my Time Out Challenges GD reminder post.  After about 50 tries to get a picture that didn't look blurry, I gave up & made a new card using the rest of my smooshed DO glossy panel.  The original card looked fine in person & it's now made it to the recipient.  Decided I may as well post it to enter some challenges.  The DO colors are squeezed lemonade, cracked pistachio, candied apple, picked raspberry & broken china.

This was my first time to use the Distress Glaze to wipe off some of the milky look of the oxides.  SSS Painted Happy Birthday die was stacked several high & the top layer was covered with Art Institute Banana Glitter which is so sparkly & pretty in person.  I used a textured yellow cardstock scrap for the mat & added yellow sequins.  I'm entering SSS Flickr 124, SSS Wednesday & The Snippets Playground.

I had an idea for a second card to enter the Altenew May Inspiration Challenge & finally last night I got it made.  This one is for my cousin who is turning 70.  We're just 2 years apart & are close in spite of living across the country from each other most of our lives.  I was born in Indianapolis where he still lives.  Recently I came across one of my favorite family pictures--my grandfather, cousin & me.

We were the first 2 grandchildren of my dad's parents.  Just wish there was a similar picture with my grandmother, but I've never seen one.  My card uses a Magenta brick stencil I'd never opened along with Altenew Layered Laurel & Painted Greetings.

I used a brush with DI pumice stone for the lightly stenciled background & stamped the laurels in Altenew Forest Glades & Frayed Leaf.  By stamping each color once for an image & twice for another image, I got 4 shades from the 2 ink pads.  I'd already cut apart the sentiment words & they're stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  I found a very old piece of patterned paper that was just what I needed to finish it off.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday & WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Time Out Challenges Reminder

I'm back with another card as the Time Out Challenges Guest Designer.  There's still time to play along & you might win the prize from Stamplorations!  Here's another look at the inspiration photo.

There are lots of textures, colors & images to incorporate into a card.  You may remember my first card was based on the textured wall & large, dark flower in the front vase.  Today's card looks very different.  The ceramic vases made me think of ink smooshing & to get the sheen I used glossy photo paper.

The Distress Oxides I used are squeezed lemonade, cracked pistachio, candied apple, picked raspberry & broken china.  The colors look a lot softer using the oxides compared to the regular Distress Inks.  I did apply Distress Glaze which removes the somewhat cloudy look the oxides give.  I die cut SSS Painted Happy Birthday from the center of the panel & attached it to a white card.  Kind of hard to tell in the picture that the letters are cut out of the panel, not glued on top of it.  In real life using the negative space is a great change up from the usual.  For a bit more interest, I cut a couple thin strips to add above & below the focal point.  Pico Embellisher clear drops finish it off.  Here's a close up of the inspiration photo so you can see more detail.

Hope you'll check out the wonderful DT cards & add your own creation to the gallery.  I'm entering Allsorts, SSS Flickr 124 & SSS Wednesday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Anniversary, Christmas, Friendship

Check out my sale pages if you're looking for bargains.  

Hard to believe it's almost the end of May.  Hope everyone in the US enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend & remembered the men & women who died for our freedom.  Roses are in full bloom, so I had some work to do after the rain.  Of course, I also did some cardmaking!
First up is another card with MFT cross stitch tags.  I used one of the patterns on their website to make an anniversary card for hubby's daughter & her husband.

The little sentiment is from SSS Sentiment Strips & they can be foiled using a laminator.

It's hard to see, but so fun to have a bit of metallic sparkle.  The card front is debossed with little hearts & circles.  I'm entering DRU.

I cross stitched a Santa tag for one of the cards I sent last year, but didn't get it posted.

It's also a cross stitch tag & pattern from MFT.  I used little stickers for the sentiment & I'm entering Rudolph Days.
This time of year I love seeing all the hanging baskets in the neighborhood.  My favorite is one with flowers in shades of pink & purple.  That's my inspiration for LFF at Ink to Paper where the challenge is to use your favorite summer color combo.

I made a CAS, one layer card stamping images from PTI Corner Adorner: February in Lovely Lady, Scarlet Jewel, Winter Wisteria & Vintage Jadeite.  The sentiment from the set was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.  The flower center was covered in Shimmery Pico Embellisher & I added additional dots for embellishment.  I'm also entering ModSquad.


Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designer at Time Out Challenges

I was so honored to have my card chosen as the winner a few weeks ago & now it's my turn to guest design at Time Out Challenges.  There are lots of possibilities using this colorful photo inspiration.

The wall immediately caught my attention & made me think of dry embossing.  I used a beautiful old Cuttlebug folder on an aqua cardstock panel.  Then I lightly inked the raised areas with white dye ink.  It's so fun to see how it changes the look.

The big dark flower & white table inspired the rest of my card.  I stamped the outline image from Altenew Majestic Bloom in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  The other layers were stamped in Altenew Coral Berry & Ruby Red.  I used a gold gel pen to color the center & I brushed the white edges with Coral Berry.  MFT Layered Leaves die cuts were tucked under the bloom & I gently lifted up the ends.  The die cut sentiment from the same Altenew set was stacked 3 high & brushed with a shimmer pen.  Just for fun, I didn't center the panel on the card front & I added a few white sequins for embellishment.
Here's a close up of the inspiration photo so you can see more details & you'll find lots of inspiration from the talented DT.  I'd love for you to play along & you might win the prize from Stamplorations! 

I'm entering WAW.

Hurrah--I finally have my laptop back!  The repairman even gave me a discount since the delay was due to his accidentally ruining the new part.  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I've gotten behind on blog reading, but if your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you as soon as I can.

Three Cards

           I keep adding items to my sale pages, so you might want to take a look.

I've really being having fun making cards while I can't spend too much time on the computer.  My last post has the second card I made inspired by Jennifer's video & here's my first attempt.

 
So glad I finally used the sweet floral image in RC Tall Blooms--worked great!  I just clear heat embossed the flower on kraft cardstock & ran it through the laminator with pink sparkle foil. 

I added a little color with pencils, but you do have to be really careful not to touch the foil.  The sentiment is from the same set & I added brown splatters.  Finished by rounding the corners & adding brown cord.  I'm entering Allsorts 10th BD celebration & RC May Challenge.

When I saw the theme for Inkspirational was gold dipped, I had to play along.  Several ideas ran through my head, but I settled on dipping the large Winnie & Walter noel word die cut. 

Before stacking, I gold embossed the red layer multiple times until it was very smooth.  A piece of purple tape gave me the straight edge.  The card front was also heat embossed with the same gold ink & powder, but only once giving the textured look.  The frame is my new Poppystamps Double Stitch Scalloped Rectangle Frames dies which I LOVE!  Again I used the same gold ink but this time I used Hero Arts Sparkle embossing powder for yet another gold look.  I stacked it to be the highest element of my card.  The hardest thing was deciding what to have behind the word.  Luckily I remembered my Tim Holtz poinsettia embossing folder which I used on a cream colored panel.

I wanted some gold there, too, so brushed on gold Perfect Pearls mixed with water--so pretty in person.  Finished off with little red (not black like they look in the photo) sparkle gems I've had forever.  I'm also entering Double D.

Last but not least is my card for the Winnie & Walter May Color Combo.  The inspiration photo is beautiful & I used Heather's Distress Ink colors of fossilized amber, ripe persimmon & seedless preserves to ink blend a panel.  Then I die cut W&W The Leaf Effect cover plate & used only the leaves on a white panel. 

I still have the negative which might end up on a card, too.  I spritzed with gold shimmer spray before mounting the panel to black cardstock die cut with the largest die in W&W Tilda Cutaways. 

The die cut word is from W&W The Big, the Bold & the Happy.  Tried out my new Sticky Specks to stack the word & to attach it to the leaf panel.  Verna mentioned using them just when I won a Dies R Us gc, so I ordered them.  They are very sticky, so it's a bit tricky peeling off a word like this.  Need to use them some more before I decide if they'll replace liquid adhesive for intricate die cuts.  I'm just not a fan of spray adhesive, but I know it's a good option for some people.  The little stamped word is from W&W The Big, the Bold & the Happy stamp set.  I'm also entering WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Yellow & Blue Birthday with Foil

            I keep adding items to my sale pages, so you might want to take a look.

You may remember that I'm a huge fan of foil.  In fact, that was the theme for one of my Winnie & Walter Leading Lady posts.  But I just learned something new, thanks to Jennifer McGuire's video.  This time I didn't wait long to see if I could foil a heat embossed image using a laminator.  My first attempt with a single flower came out nearly perfect & I'll post that card soon.  My next try was using Impression Obsession Sketched Roses CAC.

 
I clear embossed the roses on Lemon Tart cardstock & then ran it through my laminator with teal foil.  It didn't come out perfect, but I thought it was worth using. 

I added color by brushing on Memento Teal Zeal & intensified the yellow cardstock with Distress Ink squeezed lemonade.  A dark teal cardstock worked great for the mat & I used it to die cut the sentiment which is from IO Greetings Top Edgers.  The sentiment mat is a scrap of Lemon Tart cardstock, the words are brushed with a shimmer pen & it's attached with foam tape.  I added teal & yellow sequins for embellishment.  I'm entering Impression Obsession, Allsorts, The Flower Challenge & Virginia's Show & Share.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.