Bonjour!

I've gotten it into my head to go through my stamp sets and use the stamps that are rarely or never used.  This lead me to my Papertrey Ink Fresh Floral Wrap Ups stamp set.  Their stamp sets are almost always scaled for an A2 card and I often make more like A7 cards.  As such, I sorta was carried away with the novelty of  the size and the charming florals that this set makes.

It was super fun to try out different inks on kraft paper as well as to try different patterned papers together for this very forgiving card design.  Don't I feel cosmopolitan having made this lovely card set?

Let this encourage you - pick up those seldom used or never used tools and give them some much needed love.  My project was a welcome balm during a very difficult week.

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Simon Says Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday's Challenge Weeks 270/271: Anything Goes

A Late Valentine's Day Post

I'm ever so late in posting these cards of my Valentine's Day fun!  Time slips away and I could give you the list of reasons why I missed this post, but none of that matters.

I watched a video technique using white pigment ink to stamp an image and colored pencils to color on the image.  These Valentine's cards are inspired by that and I have this amazing heart/love stamp that I never quite know what to do to use it.

On the inside, a simple stamped sentiment to make sure everyone knows what the card is for.  I'm  not sprinkling romantic love around the office randomly, just expressing some holiday,  not weird at all "love".

I ended up trying a variety of coloring combinations,  mainly to keep me interested.  The effect is not "in the lines" neatness and so I had to reign in my inner perfectionist.   She decided a nap was in order and I got to make quite a few.  She still cringes at some of the finished results, but they really are lovely and the recipients thought it a special surprise.

My daughter asked for help in making a few valentines herself.   I used my Lawn Fawn Whale You Be Mine stamp set.  Cute, easy to make and, apparently, easy to forget because she ended up taking them to school the day after Valentine's Day.

I'm in Flagstaff recovering from participating in the Honors Explore day with same daughter.  She's committed to NAU for school which means she's leaving me in the fall.  It's a beautiful campus (we walked  through a large portion and many flights of stairs in the high mountain air) and she's very excited.  I'm grateful for some quite time this morning with which I remembered these pictures and actually had time to edit and post.

I hope your weekend is fantastic.

Carrying on the Balloon Theme

I'm thinking that Brandy's balloon card was great and I wish I could say that her card inspired mine, but I think it was just that the spring in Arizona fills the skies with hot air balloons and so we were both probably inspired by the same spirit of wonder at looking up to see them floating by.  Here I clear embossed my balloons, dipping the baskets in some coffee Archival Ink to give me the perfect medium to watercolor with.  These balloons were watercolored with my Mission Gold watercolors.

On the inside, I used one of the coordinating stamps to keep the theme with this banner.  It was difficult to get a good picture of the color in the banner, but trust me that it was subtle, but nice in person!

I backed the balloons with a stitched rectangle patterned paper piece raised with foam squares.  The kraft card base was embossed with a swiss dots embossing folder.

I simply can't decide which background I like best.  They all have their own inspiration and my set of cards was put to good use expressing some gratitude.

I'm going to link these cards up to the following challenges:

City Crafter Challenge Blog A Few Stitches since I used my stitched rectangle die

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Transport It since I used my hot air balloons which are a manner of transport

Wall Hangings More Than a Year in the Making

In 2015, I spied a Pinterest idea and made some pastel paper flowers with  a thought to make some wall hangings for my office at work.  I shared the flowers that I made in this post.  I changed jobs since then and my new job moved our offices (1 mile closer to home!) recently.  I decided that getting this project done needed to be a priority.  So, I'm sharing the flowers with you today.

I die cut plain white cardstock with my Arianna Blooms die and then water colored the flowers with Worn Lipstick, Faded Lilac and Peacock Feathers Distress ink.  After shaping the flowers, I used a lollypop stick that I stuck through a hole cut in the center of the flower.  Using floral tape, I wrapped the bottom of the flower down the lollypop stick to create the stem.  I poured a fair bit of Crystal Accents in the center over the step and covered with the Heart of Gold prills.

The wood plaques were purchased on sale from Michaels and I stained them with some mahogany stain I had on hand to match the furniture in my office.  Here's what it looks like alongside a picture of the spot where my husband asked me to marry him almost 26 years ago...

This project was a long time finishing, but well worth the effort.  Maybe I can be an encouragement to get those projects completed.  I'm certainly glad that I get to look at these every day.  They make me smile and brighten my office.

I'm linking this project up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge, Fantastic Florals and Word Art Wednesday's Weeks #270/271 - Anything Goes and since I took this "old" flowers and finally made them new, I'm going to link up to the City Crafter Challenge Blog's Old Stuff, New Look challenge.

Our Beautiful World - Love

Our Beautiful World is hosting it's last challenge this week.  I've had so much fun playing along, I just couldn't help but join the fun.  The word prompt this week is Love and I wanted to share this photo of my grandparents, Bob and Mabel.  They celebrated 70 years of wedded bliss last year (it will be 71 in a few short weeks).  This picture was taken at their anniversary party and will always come to mind when I think of the word Love.

Love is in the air this week.  What are you doing to celebrate?  Why not snap a picture and join the fun over at

 

You're Cool Set of Cards

I had this great inspiration for a card and thought that I had the perfect die cut using my Cricut.  However, I could not find the Cricut cart that I was looking for (what happened?! the world may never know).  I had picked up Lawn Fawn's Snow Cool stamp set in a post holiday sale and so, I ended up purchasing Avery Elle's Be Jolly stamp set.  The snowman and sentiment were stamped using Memento London Fog ink. I colored the scarf, nose and arms with colored pencils to stay with the soft color scheme.  The snow is embossed in white and some snow glitter is on the hat.

I made a set of these cards for thankgiving and note cards for this season.  We don't really have snow in Arizona, but this makes me think I got a small taste (not really!).  Have a fantastic weekend with or without snow!

A Special Milestone Birthday

I've a milestone birthday card to share with you today.  The big "5" "0".  I'm rapidly approaching this milestone myself and my husband will achieve this milestone later this year so it should come as no surprise that my friends are achieving this milestone as well.

I stamped the focal image using my Concord and 9th Happy Day stamp set onto Bristol paper.  I colored the image with my Zig Clean Color Clear Brush markers using a waterbrush to spread the color on the image.  The image was then fussy cut out.  I used the matching dies to cut the image out of the polka dot patterned paper creating a window to place the image over some black cardstock.  A little grosgrain ribbon from the stash and the card is finished simply. I think the result is a cute card that hopefully cheered the recipient.  

What cute card creations do you have up your sleeve?  I'm still feeling the new year swell of creativity so I'll be back with more creations later this week.  Hope it is a good finish to your week!

I'll linking up with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge:  Cute 
Word Art Wednesday's challenge #268-269 Anything Goes

Up, Up and Away

This one is another inspiring card by Brandy.  In this case, those balloons were colored with her Distress inks (Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmons, Squeezed Lemonade, Mown Lawn and Salty Ocean) and then covered in Spectrum Noir sparkle pen.  There was a who lot of fussy cutting of the balloons, banners and clouds in order to lay them  down on the watercolored card base.  Theres a bit of foam tape behind two of the balloons to give this an "up and away" vibe.

I just love the bright colors and the cheery sentiment to go with it.  A wonderful card that I'm sure gave the recipient a smile.  Plus, I get the joy of sharing it with you here today.

Our Beautiful World - Yummy!

Our Beautiful World is a photo blog that issues word prompts each week.  It's been a while since I posted pictures - that's because I've had my hands full with work and the posts (read: editing photos) here on this blog.  This week, I just couldn't miss the fun of joining in their word prompt - Yummy!

I had to go to Las Vegas for work last weekend.  It was a very good conference and I learned a lot for my new job, but it was exhausting.  I worked all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday and needed to travel home Sunday (we drove from Phoenix) to get back in time to finish some chores and get back to work Monday morning.  Since it was such a busy week, I decided to enjoy the dinner Saturday night.  We shuttled over to the Bellagio hotel and casino to see what the garden looked like - this year it was decorated for Chinese New Year (being Saturday when we were there!).  We had dinner at the Bellagio Cafe where I enjoyed this lovely berry martini (how grown up of me do you say - since this is likely to be the only "drink" I have for months...) and a chocolate layer cake that was just heavenly.  Both sweet treats that I couldn't have enjoyed more!

After it all, it was outside to watch the fountains and then, sadly as this is what kind of grown up I really am, back to the hotel to fall into bed in an exhausted heap.  It was a trip worth the effort and our little dinner out was a fine reward.  Yummy!

Come join the fun at

A Very Floral Card Set

I was inspired by this pin and decided I couldn't stay away from my SSS Favorite Flowers stamp set.  I decided to go a little softer on the color scheme, but stayed real close to the layout inspiration.  This one layer card was super fun to make, so I made many.

SSS Favorite Flowers was one of my very first stamp sets I bought from them.  Their customer service has waned over the years so that I don't buy from them as often as I used to.  However, I really enjoy this very first of the layering stamps sets and I should use it more often than I do.  Get out that old tool/stamp set and put it to good use.  I can almost hear the flowers sighing happily...

Fishing Around for a Card Front

Stopping in to once again share a card front made by Brandy.  Wow, I love the scene she created using the Heartfelt Creations Under the Sea stamp set and Coral Reef Collage stamp sets.  A little masking was used to place that stunning goldfish over the conch shell.  The fish and shell were stamped and white heat embossed onto some watercolor paper.  This makes coloring the image very easy as the embossing creates ridges that prevent the water from spreading too much.  The image was colored using her Mission Gold watercolors.  The colors are far more vibrant than this picture allows - one of the unfortunate facts of the Mission Gold watercolors.  In person, stunning!

Brandy used a white gel pen to hand draw all of those bubbles.  So fantastic, it feels like we're all in the coral reef enjoying this view, doesn't it?

This card front isn't yet finished into a card.  If Brandy sends me a photo, I'll share with you all here.  I just couldn't wait to share the card front since it turned out so nicely.