Because ...

Sometimes you want to have a few cards which will work for any occasion. This card project was made for that purpose. With the simple sentiment "Because," you can use this card for many reasons. And this type of card is fun to make.

I started with some cream colored card stock and created a rainbow of colors with Distress Inks horizontally across the card. I then used a My Favorite Things stencil called "Spring Flowers" to emboss the image on the entire front with clear embossing powder which adds shine in a deeper hue in each color.

To finish the panel, I die cut it with a scalloped rectangle and added the sentiment which is from Honey Bee "Thinking of You." I love these bold sentiments which come with a shadow die as well. I heat embossed the word "because" with clear embossing powder to give it shine and adhered the whole panel onto a light yellow card base.

Entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes" for this week!

Love

Today I have a card project with water colored flowers. This stamp is from Penny Black, called "Bouquet Ballet"which I water colored with Kuretake clean color real brush markers after stamping and heat embossing with black embossing powder. The black embossing gives the project some dimension and also makes it simple to color the elements with water color. I have been experimenting with different water color mediums for the last year and this was one attempt  to blend out the color from dark to light on the flower petals.

Once the image was colored, I carefully filled in the open space on the panel with the Scripty Stamp from Just Rite using a light gray ink. The panel was cut using a small scalloped rectangle die and adhered to a coral card base. The sentiment, also cut from coral card stock, is from Simon Says Stamp. The coral looks a little pink in the photo, but in real life it matched the flower color very well.

I am placing this card on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes" page. Please visit to see many outstanding card projects submitted there!

Thanks for checking out my blog today. I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday!

Big Hugs & Happy Thoughts

A few days ago I remarked that I have a few close friends who need "Get Well Cards" or similar Encouragement cards, so I am trying to add some of these to my collection. Here's a new one which I made with the My Favorite Things Color Challenge in mind. The colors can be seen below, and here is my card project -

     

I took the enlarged photo so the embossing shine could be seen! This stamp is from Simon Says Stamp called "Healing Hugs." The background stencil is from My Favorite Things "Bold Paisley." I used Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks with the stencil on the background. For added interest, I used Spellbinder's Hemstitch Rectangle around the large embossed sentiment. The small tag is embossed with white and popped up on the card. Lastly, I added some copper brown sequins. I am also adding this card to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes."

Happy Birthday

Adding to my birthday stash, this card project features both a large background stamp (Memory Box's "Drifting Oak Leaves" Cling) and a focal image (from Power Poppy) colored with copic markers. The card design has several layers tying in the colors and a banner from Reverse Confetti. I finished the card with a Hero Arts "Many Everyday Messages" embossed in white on the banner die. Entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes."

Season's Greetings Ornaments

This is a super quick post. Some of my holiday cards take more time than others. This one was a quickie. I used a Hero Arts Stamp & Cut set so I could add a second layer with the middle ornament which is cut and adhered on top of the stamped image. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's "Scripty Winter Sayings." The patterned paper makes this project fast and the colored string finishes it off.
Submitting this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge for this week. Check out the other projects there for fun and inspiration!

Hot Chocolate

I have several friends at the moment who are either recovering from surgery, about to have surgery or are under the weather in one way or another. This card project is for one of them, and I pushed myself to use this week's My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #464. I found this sketch a little challenging, especially since I wanted to combine it with MFT's other challenge, Color Challenge #130! but that's good for the brain! Check out the sketch and colors below.  Here is the card I came up with:

I started with a Jelly Bean Green card base, and added pattern paper tag from MFT using the "Traditional Tags Stax" die. I punched two holes on the left side and used some orange and white twine for an accent. The three elements on the tag are from "Winter Warmth" set and the sentiment is from "Hug in a Mug" stamped in Milk Chocolate ink.

For added detail, I heat embossed the snowflake on the mug and designs on the mittens with white detail embossing powder. The snowflake is cut out of glitter paper and it's ready to send to my friend.

Jingle All the Way

This card project is a little unusual for me because of the color combination, but I figured change is good! I was following the sketch for My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #464 (see below.)

 

I flipped the sketch on it's side, placing the Santa at the bottom and the snowflakes on top. Of course Santa is from "Jingle All the Way" one of my all time favorite stamp sets from MFT. The snowflakes are from Simon Says Stamp. I added Nuvo drops in the center of them. The center section of the panel was made with a new stamp also from SSS called "Holiday Background" which I cut to place vertically in the center of the black card base. As I said, this is a new color combination for my Holiday Cards, but in the end I loved it!

Star of Wonder (Napkin Project)

Here is my second napkin project using the Mini Mink machine from Heidi Swap. Again, I bought a set of adorable napkins while on a trip through Villach, Austria on my trip two weeks ago. After adhering the napkin to the Dessert Storm card stock, I used some Faber Castell pencils to darken the scene as it was very muted on the napkin. I have only just started using the Polychromos a few weeks ago and I think I am going to like them. For this card project I only used Burnt Umber, Brown Ochre, White, and Black. I layered the panel on dark brown card stock, used an ivory card base and added a sentiment from SSS "Merry Everything" on a strip with heat embossed white powder. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges of the picture and the tag. This is my last entry for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Recycle."

Happy Holidays (Napkin Project)

While I was in Austria on my vacation last week, I picked up some gorgeous napkins which I knew I wanted to make into cards. Now I know many of you have done this technique before, but I never have! So I checked You Tube and found several ways to adhere the napkin to the card stock. One way was to use the mini Mink machine by Heidi Swap. I used it with several different napkins and it seemed to work (using the #5 setting on the machine.) One napkin, however peeled away from the card stock and I couldn't figure out why that one design reacted differently than the rest of the bunch I did yesterday. So if you use your Mink for this purpose, be aware it may not work 100% of the time. One of my cards is below. Entering this in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Recycle."

I loved this penguin when I saw him! I used an oval die from MFT for the window. I used some sequins and snowflake mix in my stash around his head under the page protector which is covering the image. At first I thought I might make this a shaker card, but I changed my mind.


The sentiment is from MFT "Trim the Tree." The sprig in the upper left corner is made from Lawn Fawn's Mini Snow Flake die and Poppy's Small Wispy Pine Needle die. I coated them with clear embossing powder / glitter for more effect. The snowflake at the bottom is also from Lawn Fawn cut from glitter paper.

I made three of these to use this holiday season. Thanks for visiting!

Warmest Wishes

This holiday card started with a small stamp from Altenew called "Winter" which depicts the cabin in the snow. I masked the roof of the cabin with Fineline Masking fluid, created a moon with masking tape, and used distress inks in tumbled glass, stormy sky, chipped sapphire, and black soot to create the sky. For stars I splattered white paint on gently with a paint brush.

        

The cover die is from Mama Elephant called "Winter Forrest" and the moose is from Hero Arts "Woodland" set colored with copic markers, cut and popped up in front. The sentiment on the front of the card is from Simon Says Stamp's set "Merry Everything."

For the inside of the card, I created a frame using two rectangle dies, Simon Says Stamp's "Merry Everything" stamp set, and snow flakes from Lia Griffith's mini clear snowflakes stamp set.

I actually made 5 of these to use this year for the holidays and think they turned out very nicely. This card fits perfectly into Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Starry Starry Night. Check out the lovely entries there!

Italy, Croatia, Slovenia!

I just got back from a 12 day tour of three countries and about ten cities, and it was a fabulous trip! Going to post a few of the pic here just for fun.

Arona, Italy

 

Vicenza, Italy

Villa La Rotunda in Vicenza, Italy

Villach, Austria, alps in distance

Carmela, Karin, and me

Tito's summer home in Bled, Slovenia

me at the Postumia Caves, Slovenia

Dragon Bridge, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Rovinj, Croatia

Rovinj, Croatia

Me, Carol and Kathie

Pula, Croatia

Pula, Croatia

Opatija, Croatia

Opatija, Croatia

Aquileia near Trieste, Italy

Me and Kathie in Trieste, Italy

WW I Museum near Trieste, Italy

City Center, Trieste, Italy

Carol, Tina, Lorraine, and me

me and Beth

HB with Sprinkles!

I made a few birthday cards for kids because my stash was low. Here's one for a boy or a girl - everyone loves ice cream! The stamp set is from Newton's Nook called "Summer Scoops." I used copic markers and then cut the panel with Lawn Fawn's "Scalloped Rectangle Stackable" dies. Entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes."