Friendship & Birthday

My rehab is going well.  Today I was released from having to use the walker, so it's up to me.  Even though I limped for at least 3 years, my gait is already nearly normal.  I'm faithful with my exercise program & now am also concentrating on my gait.  Rain is on the way, but I got out for a short walk this afternoon--just in front of our house.  Felt good!

Here's the card I made before surgery for the January CCC exchange.  I love The Stamp Market Layered chrysanthemum die set--totally different than any other florals I have.  

This time I inked the blooms with DO aged mahogany, kitsch flamingo & spun sugar.  I can't remember what gray ink I used for the stem & leaves, but think it was PTI Weathervane.  Poppystamps Playful Hugs & the flower tips are coated in Distress Rock Candy glitter.  I die cut Pigment Craft Company's Dashed Diamonds cover plate from PTI Soft Stone cardstock.  I was in a hurry to get everything done before surgery.  The card was ready & hubby was about to go to the post office.  I hurried up & addressed the envelope & totally forgot to sign the card!  Luckily, it just made Marianne laugh.

Uniko is celebrating their 11th birthday with a BD card challenge.  No way I was missing this, so it became my next project.  I've always admired Bev's talent & ability to run a one woman business while also being wife & mom.  I have a fair number of her products, including my unused Flower Power #8 stencil.  

I blended Pigment Craft Company Tajine in the center & Blush on the ends fading out to almost no color.  Gotta say, a beautiful image really doesn't need much, so I just added a Spellbinders gold dot.  The Simply Said Blocks sentiment was stamped in Tajine, trimmed & matted with a gold embossed strip & mounted with thin foam tape.

I cut down the panel so the gold embossed card edge would show & added a couple more gold dots.  This really is my kind of card, although I love seeing a variety of styles.  I'm also entering Seize the Birthday without the topping.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I'm continuing to catch up on your blogs.  Thank you for your patience.

Christmas Card

As you probably know, I make Christmas cards all year.  It's been awhile, so felt really good to make this simple card using a couple dies I love: MFT Mistletoe Cover die & Winnie & Walter Noel die.  

I used a beautiful bright green textured cardstock which I couldn't get right in the photos, unfortunately.  The card is PTI Fine Linen, which I decided to use instead of cream, just for a change.  I stacked the Noel 3 high & covered the top layer with shimmer & Nuvo Glaze.

Christmas Red Stickles make beautiful sparkly berries.  I'm entering Rudolph Days, MFT Christmas Challenge & SSS Wednesday.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I'm working on catching up my blog reading.  Rehab is going well.  I may get released from using the walker by the first of next week.

Update and a Valentine

I'm doing well after my hip replacement surgery.  Everything takes me a long time, but I know things will improve.  Thank you for all the prayers & well wishes.  It took several days, but I did complete a card--yay!  My friend, Betty, encouraged me to try the watercolor bubbles technique.  I used Hero Arts red liquid metallic watercolor which gave a lovely pink result.  

The floral dies are TH Cutout Blossoms & the white embossed sentiment is from IO Valentine Hearts.  I found a red scrap in my stash that was just the right shade to go with the pink bubbles background. 

I used thin foam adhesive to mount the sentiment strip.  Love the bit of sparkle from my old white glitter dots.  I'm entering Color Hues, SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday, DCD & Snippets Playground.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I'll be stopping by your blogs as soon as I can.

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.

Memory Box and Poppystamps

I'm working on monthly challenge entries.  Usually I end up doing them at the end of the month, but that may not be possible this time.  I've known for a few years that I would need a right hip replacement.  Finally talked myself into doing it & the date is almost here.  Hopefully I'll be able to make cards soon, as that helps keep me sane!

The Memory Box January Ravishing Reds challenge inspired me to make hubby's Valentine.  I used Alizarin Crimson Color Burst powder & water on a mixed media panel.  While it was very wet, I sprinkled it with Pearl Perfect Pearls & mixed it with a brush.  

I used the color from the brush on the heavy white cardstock MB Bingham Heart diecut.  MB Grand Heart & Parker Lowercase Alphabet letters were die cut from the red panel & backed with white diecuts.  The Bingham Heart diecut was also stacked 2 high.  You can see the shimmer in a short video HERE.  The embossed background was made with Taylored Expressions Swiss Hearts folder.  I'm also entering Die Cut Divas, Time Out Challenges & Word Art Wednesday.

Snippets Playground challenge 445 is celebrating the 11th Blogoversary of my dear blogging friend & fellow doggy momma, Di.  This time we are to show a picture of the snippets we used to make our entry.  The first picture is of the 2 scraps I began with.  The second picture shows the white scrap after it had been silver embossed & cut.  There was enough left to die cut the J & Y. 

I picked the blue & white scraps to make a snowflake card for the January Poppystamps challenge.  My sweet friend, Maria, gave me the Poppystamps Seed Snowflake Joy die a long time ago.  I love the die, but don't think I ever made a card with it.  This was the perfect time to change that & I actually ended up with 2 cards!  

This one was made by diecutting a blue panel cut from the scrap.  (The snippets picture & close up show the actual blue color.)  I backed it with part of the silver embossed white scrap.  Decided I wanted the letters put into the negative spaces & there was just enough of the silver embossed scrap to die cut them.  

The Winnie & Walter sentiment was stamped in Versamark & clear embossed.  Love that it matches & doesn't overpower the design.  Amazing the difference it makes to have the silver embossed edges, rather than just the blue card front.  I'm also entering Christmas Craft Creations, a snippets challenge for January. 

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

I will visit you.

Thank You

Wishing everyone peace & joy in 2023.  I used a gift certificate for a small order that included Altenew's Berried Cotoneaster embossing folder & stencils.  It arrived cross country in 2 days!  I had been trying to decide what to use for a thank you card for someone who belongs to the Garden Club & takes vacations to see gardens in various towns.  Not a hard decision to use my new goodies!  I looked at the year's monthly challenge photos & found the perfect color combo in May.  Now I have a last minute entry for Altenew's A Year in Review Challenge.

The short videos on the website are so helpful in deciding if you really want an item & showing how to use it.  I tried to find the right color inks & then realized I have the Altenew inks Terri used:  Magenta, Fuchsia, Fresh Leaf & Lime.  For the gold in the photo I used DO fossilized amber.  I cut the panel down & mounted it to a card whose front edges I inked with Fresh Leaf.  Love the beautiful font of the word from the Teeny Twigs mini set.  

I gold embossed the word & die cut it with Altenew Nesting Ovals.  The panel was splattered with Gansai Tambi light gold watercolor which is so beautiful in person.  I used my favorite Lucy's Iridescent Gems for embellishment.

Thanks to all of you for another year of friendship & support.  I'm going to try & keep up better on blog reading next year.