Thinking of You - More Floral Blooms

On a recent trip to Michigan, I was delighted to be able to visit the store Paper and I in Marshall, Michigan.  Local scrapbook stores are so rare now, I drove 90 minutes to find this charming little shop.  There was so much goodness packed into that rather small space that I had a hard time deciding what to treat myself to.  I ended up picking up the new Penny Black Wings and Vases stamp and die set.  This set of cards came out of that purchase.  So fun to color with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and then die cut and mount on a delicate doily-like background!

These cards were a blast to make.  I'm sure there are a few more in my future, but for now I've justified the purchase with a make!

Hello Friend! A Set of Notecards

I had previously purchased the Concord & 9th Annuals stamp and die set.  It sat unloved and un-inked for months.Can't say why.  Just a lot of crafting goodness in the past few weeks with few opportunities to craft because of work in February. 

I ended the drought this past week and stamped the floral images onto Bristol paper.  Of course, my favorite tool for coloring on Bristol is my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and these cards are no different.  In this case, I used the frames in the die set to create a background for my flowers.  I'm pleased with the final result of these two cards - so soft and pretty they feel like spring.

The leaves are the perfect accent for my focal point and the coloring is so delicate I can fair see through those petals.  The Zigs are delightfully easy to create a beautiful result.

More cards for the stash.  So much fun to color and put together.

Still Counting the Happies

I recently had an opportunity (haven't we all?!?!) to spend a little time indoors and coloring.  There was rain here in Arizona, which is rare.  I had previously stamped and white heat embossed these images using my Scraps of Love Smile stamp set onto Toner Grey paper.  This paper has a little texture so my Polychromos worked very well to create these cards.  I am so very pleased with this very alternative color scheme for the first card.  I didn't know what to expect, but thought I would try.

For the remainder of the cards, I decided to go with various brighter colored cards.  I am very pleased with this blue monochromatic set.  I love how the green leaves offset the colored flowers.

Orange is my least favorite color, but I decided to give it a try.  I like the variation of color and how the white gel pen accents impacts the image.  I didn't expect to enjoy this card, but find it is growing on me.

Not sure I enjoy this red which is probably too bright for me, but I think I salvaged this one into a passable card.

I tried to use the opposite to the previous card and I'm not sure I enjoy the yellow flower, but the rest of this card works for me.  Again, resulted in a passable card, so I'm pleased.

I have previously read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I started to write down my gratitude and somehow stopped around 300+.  It's a steady difficult job.  However, I haven't stopped praying my thanks and I like to think I'm closer after a few years, I just stop writing it down.

I'm counting my happies through this difficult time.  I'm grateful for aging parents and a grandpa who have so far stayed healthy.  I'm grateful for continued work (from home) when I could be facing a business shut down at some point in the future.  I'm grateful for my kids and husband (not necessarily in that order, just depends the day!).  I'm grateful for a bestie who can still tolerate crafty chats - more on the phone than previously in person.  I'm grateful for the comfort and hope that I have in my Savior, Jesus.

Sending you all the happies too and hoping you can find a way to count your own happies. 

Cruising to 16

My nephew's 16th birthday is fast approaching and I wanted to make him a special card to commemorate this milestone.  Making masculine cards is something I find challenging and especially for a teenage boy, but then I saw the Art Impressions Bus Cubbies stamp and die set and I knew it was the answer.

I pretty much duplicated the exact placement of the critters in the bus as the packaging from AI, coloring with my Zig Real Brush Markers on Bristol paper.  I then added my own stenciled background clouds and grass using MFT Radiating Ray's and Mini Cloud stencils with regular Distress Inks. I also used a MFT number dies set for the 16.

I hope my nephew enjoys the card and being 16.

A Few More Tulips

I had stamped some of the Waffle Flower Tulip stamp set and colored with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  I had die cut them and they were on the desktop.  I decided to do some simple white cardstock frames behind the tulips for a bit of drama over some dry embossed cardstock mats. 

I'm tickled with this stamp set and the resulting cards.  So much cardmaking fun during a time of uncertainty.

Sending health and well being to all out there.

Love and Hugs

I mentioned in this post that my bestie and blog-sharer Brandy celebrated a birthday earlier this month.  It is a bit daunting having a bestie with such artistic talent.  This caused me to make a run at a couple different card designs and I'm sharing the results of those efforts.  These cards are beautiful, but they just didn't make the cut for my Brandy. Just a note - these cards are A7 sized.  A best friend deserves a little bigger card to celebrate her birthday!

I used Distress Oxides to stamp the individual flowers and then a colored pencil to add some color back into the blooms.  The card front was stamp and embossed with clear sparkle embossing powder to give a finished look.  A light brushed ink created a pale backdrop for the flowers.  This led to my last attempt.

For this card, I wanted a saturated backdrop and so I used a lot more color to blend.  In the end, I liked all three cards, but I liked the second design that I made more than that.  So, these go into the stash.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I did say that I intended to make some A2 sized St. Patrick's Day cards and so here I am sharing these cards.  I used the Art Impressions Sham-rock stamp set, Watercolor Elves stamp set and the watercolor foliage stamps, just like the cards made with Brandy during our crafty session.  I don't have the Tombow markers, so I used my Distress Ink to make these cards.  The colors aren't a direct match, but I think it works!  The technique is the same as Kendra shared in her video. 

The backgrounds are ink blended using Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks which matches quite well.  I'm so happy and considering my favorite color is green, I'm practically an adopted Irishman for the day!  Hope your celebrations are happy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Making a St. Patrick's Day Wreath Card

Brandy and I watched Kendra from Art Impressions in this video and were simply enchanted by her combination of the Art Impressions Sham-rock stamp set, Watercolor Elves stamp set and the watercolor foliage stamps.  Brandy has a set of the Tombow watercolor markers and so it was a make session using the techniques from Kendra's video.  These cards are the result of that fun crafty time.  I tried to mostly follow Kendra's technique, though I did add some yellow dots rather than using the green like Kendra.  I am so very pleased with how these turned out - pretty and fun and I intend to mail these out to celebrate this week.  Hence the quick photography and blog post.

I do intended to make a few more cards using the same technique but attempting to fit into an A2 size cards.  Stay tuned.

Stash On Hand Birthday Cards

A few weeks ago my son said he had a friend having a baby and was on his way to get a gift for the baby shower. I happen to know the young lady, so I asked why he didn't ask me to make her a card?  His response was that he had been busy and hadn't thought about it. Which lead to him telling me that he didn't understand why he doesn't have an assortment of cards on hand considering his mom makes them?  Good question.

We agreed I would start working on an all occasion card set for him.  Since I routinely do this for my sister, I figured I would do some for her as well.

I wanted to use supplies I had in the stash, and this is what I came up with for the first designs.  I used my Papertrey Ink Your Beautiful Birthday stamp set for the cake and sentiment.  I really like this set, I have used it before and the best part is that they sent as a free gift!

I used several different inks to do the stamping Altenew, Wendy Vecchi Archival, and the red, very bright red, blue, and yellow is from Rina K.'s Electro Pop line.  I have to say, I really think that one is my favorite, maybe because it is different.

The background for the banners were all stamped so long ago using Distress Oxides and put in the stash for safe keeping.

I have really loved using so many supplies that have been in the stash for so long, but I love that my son wanted my cards more.

Pretty Tulips - A Set of Cards

Brandy and I went to the Rubber Stamp Show in Mesa, Arizona last weekend.  I was so enamoured with this card made by Natalia Zubkova that I purchased the Waffle Flower Tulips stamps and dies.  I knew I wanted to try to repeat the beautiful detailed embellishment on the flowers using a white gel pen.  I'm sharing my first few cards made with the stamps and dies which I colored with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers on Bristol.

On these two cards I ink blended with Distress Oxide inks to create a scalloped background for my first Mother's Day cards of the year.  I'm ever so pleased with how these cards turned out.  So fun to make!

I'm so pleased with how these cards turned out.  What fun!  I'm so glad to spend the day with my best friend and I get to make pretty cards with my purchases.  Hooray!

Happy Easter

I have been committed to using items from my stash in 2020 and these cards are no different.  I will be honest, I did purchase some new Easter/Spring items from The Greetery recently, but told myself I needed to use some of my other products first.

Once again, I have mixed manufacturers together to come up with this cards.  The rabbit  and Easter eggs are die cut and stamped from Papertrey Ink's Bunny Blessings stamp and die set. I heat embossed each bunny with different embossing powders from Recollections and WOW,the background paper is from a Prima paperback that is several years old, I sprayed the paper with some gold glitter spray, but I don't think the photos captured that.  The birch trees and hollyhock dies are by Tim Holtz, grasses are from Impression Obsession and the butterflies are from a Spellbinders die of the month, I think January 2019. 

I cut the hollyhocks and butterflies from vellum paper and colored the backside of each with my Tombow markers.  I added some Spectrum Noir glitter pen on the butterfly wings and it is done.

Spring starts early here in AZ and goes by very quickly before it is just hot.  I hope wherever you are in the world you get to enjoy this time of year.