January Challenges

Thank you for the well wishes concerning my upcoming surgery.  I'll let you know how I'm doing.  Actually, I'm more concerned about hubby & Fritz adjusting to the changes we're going to live with for awhile--haha!  Seriously, hubby has been wanting me to have the surgery for over a year & Fritz adjusts easily as long as he's with his folks.  

Here are the cards I made for a few more January challenges.  First is my PFS Challenge Review entry.  I chose the August theme of Beautiful Backgrounds so I could use one of my favorite stamps:  Lush Vines.  

I gold embossed it & added a vellum Braided Tag diecut to the center.  I used more of the beautiful PFS Washi diecuts my friend Vikki gave me at our retreat last year.  Really love the font of the sentiment from Sweet Friend Floral.  The thick letters made it perfect for gold embossing multiple times to get a smooth, thick, shiny finish.  

Didn't like any embellishments, so just added yellow Stickles to the flower centers & attached the panel to a black mat.

Next is a simple Valentine using AJVD heart dies taped together & die cut from a red scrap to make outline hearts.  The pretty scalloped, mini slimline frame is from Trinity Stamps.  

I stamped the very old MFT sentiment in Versafine Clair Acorn & clear embossed.  Fun look to have the heart centers filled with Nuvo Glaze.  

I'm entering Die Cut Divas & TTTC192 using Hearts, Free, Shade of Red.  Great TTTC board designed by my good friend, Betty.

And one more Valentine.  Had to use some of the little red hearts left from the previous card.  I noticed cards on Pinterest using scrolls & hearts together, so I pulled out an old MFT scroll die.  This time I went with a red, white & gray color scheme. 

Luckily, I kept my old fashioned stamp positioner which I used to stamp an old favorite Amuse wood mounted sentiment.  Christmas Red Stickles glitter glue was added to the hearts which gives beautiful sparkle & shine in person.  

I added cardstock layers to the gray panel for a bit of dimension, but no extra postage required.  I'm entering JUGs & DCD via Flickr.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I'll get back to leaving comments on your blogs as soon as I can.

Three More Cards

I've participated in the monthly CCC card exchange for many years.  It's been fun to "meet" fellow cardmakers all over the world.  Here's my January card that made it to Australia in 3 weeks. 

I was inspired by Dawn Woleslagle's beautiful card.  I stamped an image from Penny Black's Delicate Florals using Distress Inks blueprint sketch, mermaid lagoon & lucky clover.  I used a wet brush to spread a little of the ink.  I picked up very diluted ink to add a bit more color in some areas & splattered the dark blue & green.  The sentiment is from Newton's Nook Blooming Botanicals.

Uniko is celebrating it's 10th birthday.  Beverley is a wonderful designer & such a generous small business owner.  Here's my card for the birthday link up inspired by Laura Bassen's card for her daughter, Bailey. 

I used the Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil with SSS Steel Blue, Mint Candy & Apricot Hybrid inks.  The leaves from Natures Treasures II were stamped in Brilliance Starlite Black & the sentiment from Simply Said Blocks was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I added black splatters & Shimmer Pico Embellisher dots.

 

My final card is for CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #455.  

Again I was inspired by Cecile.  I smooshed Distress Inks picked raspberry, spun sugar & festive berries on a small rectangle of watercolor paper, drying after each color.  Then I stamped 3 very old wood mounted stamps using Versafine Clair Nocturne.  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.