Pretty Bird Cards

I was simply inspired by this Instagram Post which is actually funny, because I don't have the stamp and die set that she used.  But I know someone who does - Brandy.  On a recent
"girl's night" I spent a bit of time die cutting, stamping and embossing the pieces for these cards and then ultimately went home to put them together.  I love, love, love how they turned out.

The stamp and die set is Papertrey Ink's Songbirds and is so pretty and detailed and delightful that the cards practically went together on their own.  The patterned paper is Moda Scrap Gran Canyon 6 x 6 paper pack.  This is one of those papers that it almost hurts to cut apart, but in the end is so pretty that I'm glad to have used it.

I couldn't be more pleased and grateful that I got to borrow the stamps and dies.  Thank you, Brandy!

For You Card Using Spellbinders Truck Dies

How much fun is this?!  Brandy has put her Spellbinders Truckin' Through the Seasons dies to creat this fantastic card.  There is a lot of Cricut die cuts and other die cuts in this card, but that truck is definitely the centerpiece of the card.  I can't decide if I like the inside better than the outside, that's just how appealing this card is!

Way to make someone feel special, don't you think? I'm entering this in the SSS Wednesday challenge Anything Goes.


Andie for 

Pretty Peonies Notecards

I'm sharing with you a card set I made using my Simon Says Stamp Pretty Peonies background stamp.  I white heat embossed the background stamp on watercolor paper and then they sat in the stash for a while.  I couldn't decide what technique I would use.

Ultimately, I settled on using my Mission Gold watercolors with a waterbrush and these cards are the result.  I used colored card bases and white heat embossed sentiments on vellum.

This pink one is my favorite.  it is so vibrant.  Love me some Mission Gold watercolors.

Every single on of these card fronts were a delight to color.  So much fun!

These will go into the stash for use in future notes to good friends who need a bright hello for a day.

I'm entering these cards into the SSS Anything Goes challenge.

One Remaining Father's Day Card

I had saved the card I made for my husband so that he wouldn't accidentally see it before the big day (which was also his birthday this year).  As such, I just plain forgot to post the card.

I used my June 2018 Hero Arts card kit stamps and sand embossing powder to create this card.  We had traveled to Newport Beach in late May and I wanted my DH to remember our trip.  We saw sandy beaches, seashells, sailboats and cloud filled, sunny days. 

This is a perfect card to enter into SSS Wednesday challenge Travel/Vacation.

Cosmos Notecards

I do think that my technique with my Mission Gold watercolors has improved.  Part of that is because I decided to give them a try with a water brush.  These cards are made from that "learning" session.  The cosmos were stamped using my SSS Cosmos background stamp onto watercolor paper.  I used my MISTI to get a clean image.  I super love this version with the multi-colored flowers.  The variety is very attractive to me.

The stamping is not as crisp on this card, but the finish is lovely as well. 

Super fun to see the improvement. Plus, I get a couple of cards for the stash.

Flower Notecard

I had stamped and white heat embossed these card fronts months ago.   I ultimately made a set of cards after using my Mission Gold watercolors to color a few of the panels.  You can find that card set here.  I finally decided I wanted to paint the remaining card fronts.  This time, I decided to change the orientation and to embellish them quite differently. 

I'm definitely more pleased with these versions.  I think my technique is better in the painting, but also like the difference in sentiments and colors of sentiments. 

Yellow isn't one of my favorite colors, but I do like how this card turned out.  The sentiment is probably what does it for me.

Good use of old stuff from the stash.  Now to move onto new stuff in the stash!

Repairing a Crochet Hanging

My MIL had a friend with an heirloom crocheted wall hanging that had un-raveled.  She asked if I could fix it.  I was so intimidated after doing a Google search for instructions that I set it aside and forgot about it.  Shame on me.  Recently stumbled across it and decided that I felt bad enough to just try to fix it right. 

Essentially, if anyone stumbles across this post looking for instructions on repairing crochet doilies and/or wall hangings, what I would say is just try.  It can't hurt - the hanging was useless as it was.  Also, you have to give up on perfection.  I couldn't even mimic my own tension and style, let alone someone else's tension and crochet style.  So just jump in.  I started by un-raveling enough to be certain I'd found all the loose ends.  It wouldn't do any good to repair if the piece came apart again.  This took courage as I ultimately had to "cut" more thread off - you can't crochet with 3 inches of thread which is tangled because it's been like this for ages.  Next, I tried to knot each loose end at an appropriately strong point - mostly at the double crochet points.  Then it was a matter of tying on to the lowest point for repair - weaving my own loose ends and trying my best to minim to the tension and crochet style of the original.  This was probably the most challenging for me because I use a significantly tighter tension.  I ultimately ripped my own work out and re-crocheted sections multiple times.  As I joined to the existing portion on each side I did a liberal amount of slip stitches to "climb" to the next row, again, trying to hide the knots I had to make on the loose ends. 

The repair spans the entire width of the "A" in "Came", pictured above.  On the right, you can clearly see the heavy double crochets where I tied on.  On the left, towards the top, you can see my error - adding a gap where one should not be as I joined to the original.  I didn't realize this error until I was all fixed and I was too scared that I might do more damage fixing my error that everyone might not see.

I hope the owner is not disappointed.  I'm pleased as punch to have fixed such a lovely work of art.

Hooray!

I had some of these darling kids colored and die cut just sitting out on the work station.   I've been pretty good about making extras and using those extras recently.  This card was quick to put together and the images an infectious.  I love how it turned out!

A Prickly Set of Cards

Earlier this year Brandy and I attended Embellish It's Mesa, AZ Play All Day event.  It was so much fun, essentially two full days of nothing but time to chat, craft and enjoy each other's company.  You can read about our card swaps for Andie and Brandy that we participated in. 

During the Play All Day, Brandy used the Spellbinders March 2019 Card Kit and put together a whole bunch of cards.  You can find them here.  In addition, she used the dies in the kit to die cut a massive amount of flowers and cacti for use in future card making.  Of course, life does have a way of getting ahead of you, but Brandy followed through and finished up a set of cards using those die cuts.  This is the result of that card making endeavor and I'm tickled to be able to share them with you. 

We've had a mild spring in Arizona and so some cacti are still blooming and we had a beautiful bloom earlier with more color and green than is typical since it was a mile spring.  I am delighted with these cards and I think Brandy is too.

Andie for 

A Card Kit

During the Play All Day with Embellish It! in March, both Brandy and I won a card kit as a part of the card swap challenge.  You can see our cards here and here.  I finally put the card kit together and want to share them with you.  Keep in mind that I altered the kit instructions, but not by much so the design is all kit related. 

Winning was the most fun - especially since this was our second year to win.  Putting the card kit together was fun too.