Happy Birthday Tamela

I wanted to make a special birthday card for a former co worker.  Tamela is very talented.  She sews beautiful costumes for herself and others for Ren Fairs.  She makes jewelry and the list goes on and on for her many talents for such a young soul.

Since she loves to sew I wanted to use this dress form stamp.  I had a new die cut for flowers so used that with old pattern pieces.

Here are some close ups of different parts of the card.  You can see the leftover gold trim from a class I took with Frank Garcia.  The gold filigree was also left over from the class and the paper too.    There is a bunch of thread from canvas that I tore.  A small piece of burlap is up in the corner.  I have many pieces of lace in my collection and I used a small piece on this card.  All the edges were distressed.

I think sewing patterns make such great flowers especially on a sewing themed project.

I even decided to make a special envelope since I had to hand deliver the card.  I cut a brown paper bag into the correct size and sewed up the sides (I almost made it too small. I dug into my supply of paper doilies and added a piece of leftover Prima paper.  Both the card and envelope were sprayed with a gold Tattered Angels spray.

The card was delivered last night and she loved it.

I am entering this card into the weekly challenge on the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog where the challenge this week is Flowers.  I have a few hand made flowers on the card.

Thanks for stopping by.  It was fun to get out my vintage stuff and go to town.

Oldie Moldie Monday

I made a couple more masculine (boy) cards for the Collins House kids.  I found the robots already colored and the paper was laying out so it was a perfect combination for my cards.

I know they will bring a smile to a couple little boys faces.  It also makes me smile because I used up a very small amount of paper and images but I did use them.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Stencil It

I believe Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog looked into my craft room and saw that I was playing with stencils this week.

I have been working on purple postcards and created a background I really loved so I made another of the same background for a graduation card.

The card is for an amazing young lady graduating from college with a degree in business and majors in accounting and finance and has already passed the first part of her CPA exam.  She worked for me for 4 years as a student worker and was so great.  I wish her the best in her new adventures.  Of course, she already has a job offer.

The background is done with three shades of acrylic paint.  The original layer is two book pages glued together and painted with gesso and a shade of purple.  After this layer dries, a layer of the original purple is stenciled on through a dot stencil.  The next layer is a Hero Arts stencil I just purchased from Simon Says with a darker shade of purple.  I love how it turned out.  I did spray it with a Tattered Angels glitter mist.  The sentiment is done on vellum with my new purple embossing powder.  I had this ribbon and it was perfect.

The card will need to be mailed in a puffy envelope.  I am going to put some cotton balls in the bow to keep them intact.

Plus purple is the school colors.

Sympathy Cards

I think sympathy cards are the hardest card to make.  I think it would be smart to have some made ahead of time so you don't have to be creative when you are feeling sad for your friends and family who have lost a loved one.

I had bought this beautiful sheet of patterned floral paper with a matching piece of card stock.  When I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches it fit in with my two papers.

I die cut the two layers so they have a more finished look.  I stamped my sentiment on vellum and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment strip will be adjusted on each card front so the best of the floral design shows through.  I have four cards ready to be finished.

I am also making cards for two baskets for charity auctions and I will use two of my cards for these baskets.  It is an easy way to help out charities by doing something we love and something we know we have ample supplies for.  I am not great at doing multiples but I could do three or four of the same card - maybe - maybe not.  We will see.  Cards as easy as this one would be easy to duplicate.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Card

I wanted to make a card for a polka dot challenge and found this wonderful colored paper in a 12 x 12 pad I had bought at Michael's.  I needed a birthday card.  Away we went on a creative journey.

I think this stamp is wonderful and I have no idea where I bought it.  I heat embossed it on a more solid piece of paper from the same pad.  I picked out an area of the paper that brought in all the colors of the dots and stripes.  Here is a close up of the sentiment.

I had the ribbon - once again I have no idea where it came from but it was the perfect finishing touch for the card.  Someone asked how I tied the bow - I said:  lots of loops, scrunch and tie.  I just do it and with a soft ribbon like this it is very forgiving and turns into a beautiful bow.

It is a beautiful day in Wisconsin and I am going to putz, pick up and when it gets a little warmer out go outside and do some work in the flower gardens.  It is nice in retirement to be able to do those things.  Have a wonderful day and I hope you get to do something fun also.

Oldie Moldie Monday

I was in need of more thank you notes to thank special people who impacted my Mom's life in her last years.

This card goes to her doctor.  (My mom went by the name Bea.)

This card went to the administrator at the nursing home.  He was a great help to my sister.

The thank you is a digi image I had left over from Operation Write Home card making days.  All the paper is from Authentique.

Mixed Media Mojo May Challenge

Hard to believe it is already May and time to start a new challenge on Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge for May is Flowers with the twist of stitching (real for faux).

I found a page in a journal where I had been putzing for months.  The first layer was putting gel medium through a stencil and yes it did work.  You do end up with a very faint design on your page.  After that I just kept adding layers of paint and never really knew where I was going.  I was a little crunched on time for creating something for this challenge so decided to start with this page in my book.  I do wish I had taken a picture of it before I added all the layers.

The flower was on the page along with the painted background.  I did add some more of the aqua which is the blue on the left side.  I was working over the orange and pinks so that must be why I ended up with this shade of blue.

I drew on the stem and leaves.  They have about four layers of different greens on their in different paints.  I could not get the coverage or color I wanted.  I added some veins with a ink intense pencil.  The white on the leaves are rub on stitches which I have had for many years.  Of course, they do not work as well as when they are new so we get a random look when they are added to your pictures.

There is some journaling on the page.  I have written along the stem and the leaves.  Bloom where you are planted is the message and then lots of Bloom.  I really feel we have it within our own power to make the best of where ever we are and we just need to plant some roots and start growing and blooming.

I added some embossing paste through stencils and then also scraped some on in different places.  Of course, the last step is the black splatters.  There is no control for me on this step - all I got was the big ones and I am scared but finally I managed some smaller splatters and I liked it better.  I also painted the center of the flower with the same black.

Here are some close ups of different parts of the journal page.

The stitching on my page is all faux.  I tried to use the rub ons and then I also used a white gel pen and added more stitching lines.

I hope you come along and play with us.  Don't you have a mother's day card to make or a graduation card which needs a flower on it and some stitching.