Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

The crayon box is fabric but the card stock and sentiment are well aged supplies.  I think this card turned out so cute.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Whew - I thought my computer had dumped on me but a lovely IT person within minutes had it back running.  I consider him a miracle worker.

Now I can post my Oldie Moldie Monday cards.

I am working on adding some cards to a friend's military box.  I made some masculine cards.  I had never used this stamp before.  The dies have been used but not too often and did use up a couple sheets of paper.  1 million more to go.

Thanks for stopping by.

Seize the Birthday - Bright Colors

The new challenge at Seize the Birthday is a birthday card (of course) and the optional topping is bright colors.  Since I am a lover of bright colors, this was not hard for me to do. 

I started with a die cut base of Bristol Smooth card stock.  I also again added color to my background using a favorite method of squishing.  I put the ink (a light pink from Gina K) on work surface, spritzed with water and then dipped the background in it to give it a little color.

I stamped the sentiment down in the lower left corner so I knew where to place my large floral stamp.

The stamp is a Penny Black brushstroke stamp.  I first stamped the leaves and vine in two shades of green.  The flower was stamped in a brighter pink ink than what I used for the background.  I had to do several stampings to get good coverage.  Thank goodness we now have stamping platforms.

After I was done stamping, I watered down some of the bright pink and splattered it across the card front.  A few sequins were glued to the card front.  Yesterday when shopping, I bought a pink assortment of sequins so I had more choices.

I also made some turquoise cards with this stamp.  I do want to try distress oxide inks and then for the final stamp do a light mist of water on the stamp and then stamp over the image to have the water blend the ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sending Love

Hand making a card and mailing it to someone is a very special way of sending love.  A wonderful touch of kindness to show someone that you care.  We not only receive the creative pleasure of making the card but also knowing that the recipient will enjoy receiving some special mail. 

This card will go to my 92 year old aunt who now lives in a nursing home.  She did something special for me so I wanted her to know how much I appreciate it.

Freshly Made Sketches has a wonderful sketch this week.  You can do so many things with it. 

 I had some pieces of watercolor paper hanging out on my desk so I die cut two circles.  The fancy circle was a new die I just bought.  I love the little detail on it.

All the paper was colored using the squish method.  I put Gina K ink on my mat and sprayed water on it.  I then dipped the paper into the inky water and added color to everything.  I had two shades of the same color family so used the darker color on the bigger circle and to color the butterfly.

The butterfly (Gina K Designs) was stamped with black VersaFine ink and clear embossing powder added to it.  The sentiment (Gina K Designs) was done the same way.

I cut my card base to fit my large watercolor panel.

Please make a card and send it to someone to brighten their day.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Sympathy Cards

I normally like to make my sympathy cards when I need them so they can be more personal, unfortunately, most of the time, you just can't make them.  I have decided to try and keep a supply of masculine and feminine sympathy cards on hand. 

This is my female version for a sympathy card.  I was using a die cut for the first time.  The background with the scallops is the die I had never used.  I bought it as Christmas.  I had not used the floral spray many times either.

I am entering this in a new challenge blog I found.  It is a monthly challenge blog called Creative With Stamps.  

I have kitted a few of these to assemble when I am dog sitting.  I will be prepared the next time I need a sympathy card.

If you want to see how I used the floral die cut - check it out at this link.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Playing With Distress Oxide Inks

I love to play with the distress oxide inks.  It can be so fun to just play with the inks and make beautiful backgrounds.  If you are going to get messy, you should make many backgrounds at one time.  No one will turn out the same and that is the fun of doing it.

This background was made with different shades of blue.  I also used a pink in the background.  It is just peeking out around the card front. 

The sentiment is from Fun Stampers Journey.  A wonderful encouragement card for someone - a greeting to pick you up when you need it or have accomplished something that deserves recognition.

I stamped it in VersaFine Black Onyx ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Have a wonderful day. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I found the remains of several pieces of coordinating paper and I was able to make these two cards.  I love the colors and the birds that were in the design.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to show some love for your old supplies.

CAS(E) This Sketch Card

I am working on some more cards for a military box.  I am trying to get some masculine cards made.  It seems they are the hardest to make for many people.

I decided to try the weekly challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch. 

The papers come from a 6 x 6 pad I picked up at Tuesday morning.  It has a camping theme to the papers although you can't tell that from the papers I used.  I liked the bright colors.  I also love Hello stamps.  They are so versatile.

Thank you much for stopping by. 

Freshly Made Sketch Challenge

 I am trying to make more CAS cards so try to do the weekly challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

The lighthouse stamp is from Gina K Designs and the paper is from an Authetique 6 x 6 winter themed pad.  I thought the colors worked great for a lighthouse card.  The sentiment is from Altenew.

I have a couple more of these to assemble for a military box.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Merry Christmas

I was cleaning the other day and I found this wonderful spool of ribbon that I had bought (most likely on clearance) to make Christmas cards out of.

I actually immediately went to my studio and made a couple cards.  Sometimes you just have to do it - and who does not need a break from cleaning.  How lucky that the current challenge at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge is to use ribbon. 

I removed the wire from the edges of the ribbon.  There are two different designs of cardinals on the ribbon.  I made a card for each cardinal design.

The first image I used the design is longer (how cool it includes a sentiment on the ribbon also)  I picked up on the natural tones of the images and used kraft, red, green and brown for my card stock.

I added some dry embossing to add more texture to the card.

Here is the second design.  I actually kitted some of these for my friend Mary.  She helps with a craft fair that benefits Hospice in South Carolina.  I try to help out with different things.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you find something wonderful while you are cleaning.

A New Challenge Site

A friend told me about a new challenge site to me - Cards In Envy.  I am always looking for new challenge sites to jump start my creativity.

Their current challenge is to use the negative space of your die cuts.

I had these two yellow frames lying on my design table - leftovers from my Easter cards.  I decided I wanted to used them up before they got destroyed or buried forever.

I cut a piece of blue paper that looks water colored to back the frames.  I cut out some pinkish/yellowish paper to fit inside the smallest yellow frame.  The butterflies were die cut and colored with oxide inks.  I added just a little blue to the center of each butterfly to pick up the blue in the background.  The sentiment was stamped on another piece of scrap hanging out on the table to bring a little more blue into the design.  The butterflies were adhered with glue in the center so the wings are somewhat dimensional but still very easy to mail.  A few sequins were added to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Another New Technique

I have been reading about Tim Holtz Micro Glaze works with distress oxides on glossy paper.  I finally found some of the glaze and was able to play with it.

I took my glossy paper and dipped it in the distress oxides many times to get many layers.  I rubbed the glaze over the top and magic happens. 

On this card I die cut the background out of white paper and adhered it to the background of many colors.  A circle was die cut and a butterfly dimensional sticker was applied to the top.  A word die cut completed the card.

On This card, I die cut the panel of many colors and added it to a white background.  I added the circle, butterfly and sentiment.

Which one do you like better?

I am entering this creation into the monthly challenge Simply Create Too.  The challenge this month is to use a die cut.

Thanks for stopping by.

April Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge

It is April and it is time for a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge. 

ATC's are so fun to make.  Little pieces of art work that measure 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. 

The challenge this month is Butterfly. 

The background of my ATC's were made with Dina Wakely acrylic paints.  I love bright colors.

The butterfly was stamped on the ATC but I also stamped it on vellum which was colored pink.  I then fussy cut it out.  I glued the vellum butterfly at the center so the wings pop up.

Here is a close up of one of the ATC's.

Here is the other ATC.

They were so much fun to make.  Please come join us at Happy Little Stampers and make a butterfly ATC.

A Favorite Technique

The challenge at AAA Cards - Clean and Simple Challenges is to use a favorite technique and make a CAS card.

I love to play with distress inks - it can be regular distress inks or the somewhat new distress oxide inks.  One of my favorite techniques with the distress inks is to make backgrounds.  This time I played with the oxide inks.  I take the inks and squish them on a piece of acetate and then spray it with water.  You take the acetate to your background paper and do some more squishing.  By drying in between layers, you can make some wonderful backgrounds.

 I made two different backgrounds and then die cut them with some die cuts I have not used in a long time.  I thought the shape was interesting.  I dry embossed the white background to add some texture.

The butterflies are from a sheet of stickers I found at Hobby Lobby which were on clearance for $1.00.

I am also entering it into the challenge at As You See It.   I saw ink or paint blobs so ink squishes would qualify, I think.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I used a digi image for the sentiment.  All this paper came from a well aged 6 x 6 pad.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Little Stampers April Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

It is time to dig out all your dies and make a card for the Anything Goes With Dies challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  

This was a birthday card for a very special young lady.  I dug out some dies I had never used.  The little pandas and their dies are new in my collection.  They are so cute.  I believe there is one more panda stamp that was not used.

I had never used this die that had all the openings in it.  I die cut and stacked several of this design so it popped off the pink background.  The sentiment is also several layers stacked together.  A few sequins completed the design.

Here is a close up of the focal point.

Please come join us at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies Challenge.  There are prizes. 

Put A Bird On It

I found a new challenge site and this should be a great one to help me out through the year.  The site is Seize the Birthday.  The current challenge is to put a bird on it. 

I am part of a private group on Facebook of card makers.  Some of us have been friends for at least 10 years through different phases of our creative card making journey.   I put a challenge out for the week end to use something we had bought and never used before.  (I am sure none of you do that).  I have had this bird stamp set for a long time.

The paper is aged to perfection.  It has not been in my supplies for that long but I loved the retro vibe I got from the pieces of paper I used.  I was going to color the bird but when I put it on the paper I decided leaving it in black and white fit in with the retro feel of the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I am having breakfast with some of my cousins in this morning so I need to go get ready. 

Have a wonderful day. 

Birthday Card for May

I have several birthdays in May and need to make some cards.  I used the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch for one of the cards.

I started my card with some Bristol smooth card stock.  I dipped it in a pink oxide ink.  After it was dried I used a stripe stamp from Kaiser Crafts stamped in pink.  I masked off the diagonal line before I did any stamping.  I then stamped one stripe across the top of the stripes to provide a breaking point for the stripes.

I cut some flowers off a Memory Box Die and colored them with the same oxide ink.  The sentiment - from Art Gone Wild - was stamped in grey.  I finished the card off by matting it in grey and adding a few sequins.  I used some clear glitter in the center of the sequins and in the center of the flowers.

I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the challenge is A Trio of Something.

I am also entering it into the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge where the challenge is Happy Birthday.

I just stumbled across a new challenge to me - Always Fun Challenges where the challenge is Happy Birthday. 

Thanks for dropping by.

April Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

It is April and it is time for a new mixed media challenge at Happy Little Stampers. 

Come join us and get messy with your mixed media products.  Our challenge this month is travel.

This is a 6 x 6 canvas board.  It is a gift for a friend who loves to travel.  She takes every opportunity she has to travel and experience where she lands. 

The background is packaging which was colored with distress oxide inks.  Gold embossing powder and another products were added to spots on the canvas which were not drying.  The wet spots grabbed the two products and held them for melting. 

More packaging, black thread and other paper were added to the background.  The focal point and the mat were distressed.  They were added to the front of  the canvas by gluing them on a piece of cardboard box. 

I looked through all my embellishments and found all these wonderful things  to finish my canvas.

Here are close ups of all the different corners of the canvas.

Please come join us at Happy Little Stampers and play along with our mixed media challenge.  There are prizes. 

Freshly Made Sketches - Take One

I am in need of a congraulatory card so I decided to play along with this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

I first took a piece of Bristol smooth card stock and dipped it in distress oxide ink to give some color to the background.  I then used the same color to stamp the two stripes (Paper Artsy stamp) on the left side.

I cut out a Memory Box die (first time used)  for the focal point.  The flowers and stems were colored with distress oxide inks.  The sentiment is from Art Gone Wilk.  I added a few sequins with glitter in the middle to finish the card off.  I may come back and add some glitter in the middle of the flowers.

I chose to stamp my sentiment in grey and mat the front in grey also.  I love to use grey rather than black - it is a softer color.

Here is a close up of the flowers.

I am also entering it in the weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes.

I am also going to participate in the challenge at CAS-ual Friday where the challenge is Spring Fever.  We had snow this week and it is cold.  Please bring spring on.

Thanks for stopping by.