Purple Birthday

Another piece from my card parts. Hopefully I'll use some new stuff soon! The "happy" (from Stampendous) had been stamped and colored with Copic markers and patterned with a white gel pen and sat in my parts for several years. I had already cut out around it. I found some matching purple and cut a mat for it. I embossed the white layering panel with a folder from The Paper Studio and matted it with the same purple. The "BIRTHDAY" is from one of Gina's new sets. The "happy" is popped up.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Anniversary Hearts

Another card with a layout that I saw on my friend, Cheryl's, blog. I liked it the moment I saw it. I folded two card bases right away. Here is the second one. The patterned paper on the front came with the heart border on it. I had a heart cut out on my table from some other time. I cut out a metallic heart to mount the white one on. I first embossed the white heart and then added ink (lots of colors, trying to match the cardstock!) and then popped up the two layers on foam squares. The sentiment was silver embossed. It's from Stampendous.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

May Calendar Page

Well, May snuck up on me, for sure! Here is my calendar page for the month. The stamp is from Stampendous and I colored it with Copic markers. The patterned paper is from an ancient matstack from Recollections. I really like using that stuff on my calendar pages because it is so thin and the pages fit nicely into the frame. Happy May Day to all!!

I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing well, just busy with so many other things and hardly any time in my stamping room. I am considering a huge project, though. My stamping room does not have a window. We have a guest bedroom that rarely gets used. I'm thinking of switching them around. I would love a window, but I do also love the arrangement of my current room. I've been making diagrams and trying to figure out how it would work out, and it seems as though it might be okay. I guess I'll think about it more and make my decision soon. Wish me luck! :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Daisies

I've seen cards like this in a few places. One of them was on my friend, Vicki's, blog. I hadn't looked at hers since I first saw it, so I was doing it from memory and I like hers better! But, I did mine the easier way. I simply added the square/diamond in the middle and then added the black strips. I colored with Copics and added some Star Dust Stickles to the flower centers. The flowers are from Sheena and the sentiment is from Stampendous.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Jesus is the Reason

Before leaving on my retreat, I stenciled some pieces to use while there. I made three of these. I added the sentiment (from Stampendous) with silver embossing and a bit of sparkle on the star with my Gelly Roll pen.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Three More Very CAS Cards

Three more very clean and simple cards using the same ancient Stampendous set as a few days ago. They all also use scraps leftover from cleaning off my brayer. I did the coloring on them with Copic markers. The sentiment on this first one is from a Technique Tuesday set. The image is popped up on foam squares. The background for all of these is a very light blue/gray paper. This one and the next one are top-folding cards.

For this one, I used a stylus to score the lines on the background paper, then used a sanding block on them. I also added a tiny gem to the flower center.

To highlight this one, I used a marker to draw a border around the image panel and then color it with a very light Copic marker.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Pink Butterflies

This card was made with all really old supplies. The stamps are both from Stampendous - the sentiment as well as the butterflies with black frame. I stamped the butterflies image on a scrap of the cardstock that I had cleaned my brayer off onto. I colored the butterflies with a Copic marker and added white dots to the wings. I still have two or three other scraps like that that I have matted with black. Maybe I'll make them all into cards like this one. The embossed frame was done with a Darice folder. I trimmed it down after embossing.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flowery Birthday

In one of my hot foil plates sets, there were a few tiny dies - not for foiling. They cut out these tiny flowers and leaves. I cut them from white and colored them with markers. I added several of them to a panel and drew in the stems and grass and matted with green. I added the yellow dotted paper to the card base and added the sentiment, which is from Stampendous. I also added some white dots to all of the flowers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Stenciling

Instead of taking out card parts to play with, I took out some "things" - stencils, metallic paints, foil, glitter, stickers, etc. I thought if they were sitting on my table, I would use them. I hope to get a chance to do that! This stencil from Gina K was at the front of the stack and I had just come across this blue piece of cardstock that had gotten accidentally put in with my white scraps. Rather than try to figure out where it should go, I used it to stencil on. The sentiment is from Stampendous. I added Liquid Pearls over the dots in the center of the flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Flower in Frame

Finally, a couple new cards from me. Time is just flying by WAY too fast!! Both of these were made from card parts - the die-cut flowers in frames. I simply added backing and a sentiment to each of them and added them to card fronts. This one has some ancient Stampin' Up! patterned paper behind the die cut. The sentiment is from a Stampendous set. I really like it and need to remember that I have it!

This one has glitter cardstock behind it and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Watercolor Birthday

This is my attempt at watercolor. I watch some watercolor videos while walking on the treadmill in the morning, and it looks so easy! Nah, it's not. :) I stamped the "happy" and "birthday" in Versamark and embossed with black powder. The stamps are from Stampendous. Then I watercolored the background. After drying, I added color to the letters. It'll do! I matted with black and added it to the card base after matting with black. The finished card is 3.5 x 6.25 inches.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Background Stamp

I was given this background stamp (from Stampendous) from a friend, so I wanted to use it. I made five cards using it. One using these colors, three of the second one, and one of the third.

For this first one, I used a multi-color ink pad (light blue, dark blue and silver) and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I matted with dark blue. The sentiment is die-cut and layered. The top layer is silver glitter cardstock.

I stamped this one with Versamark and embossed again with clear embossing powder. I matted with a dark red. The top layer of the sentiment was cut from gold glitter cardstock.

I embossed this one with white embossing powder. I didn't mat it, and I used all white layers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Flowers

I wonder how many blog posts I have done with that title:) Another very simple card again today. I hope to be able to spend extended periods of time in my stamping room soon!!

The stamp I used for the flowers is by Stampendous. I stamped on kid's watercolor paper. That's the last of it, though. Now I'll start using the "real" stuff. I used my new Derwent Intense watercolors to paint the image. I'm really liking watercoloring. Maybe I'll even start doing pictures. We'll see. I'm guessing not. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I added thin strips of black on the edges and used a kraft card base. I also added Wink of Stella to the flowers.

Stay safe and stay well!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Gold Christmas

I made a set of five of these cards to donate to our church for the craft sale at our Lutefisk Dinner. The stamps are from a set by Stampendous. I embossed them both with gold embossing powder. The cardbase and the front panel are ivory. I matted with gold foil cardstock.

I am entering this into the Double D challenge, which is to use silhouettes.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Darnell!

This is the card that I sent to Darnell for her birthday. Little did I know that it met the requirements for the CAS Watercolour Challenge, which coincidently featured Darnell's birthday! I also forgot to take a picture of it, so Darnell wonderfully took pictures and sent them back to me:) So, thanks for the suggestion, Darnell, and here is my submission for the challenge.

As I said, i have watched several Jennifer McGuire videos lately while walking on the treadmill in the mornings. This is something I learned in one of them. I believe Jennifer called it an interlocking gate-fold card. The stamps I used are from Stampendous (flowers) and Papertrey Ink (sentiment.) I added some Wink of Stella to the flowers. I die-cut the frame and the image panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

You Brighten My Day

A couple years ago, I got some Zig Clean Color Real Watercolor Brush Pens. I haven't used them much, as I was really not impressed by them. However, when my friend, Harriet, was here for a visit, she told me about, and gave me, some Tim Holtz Mixed Media cardstock and said that you can blend your markers on it. It worked great! Thanks, Harriet!

The stamps I used for this card are from a tiny (just these two stamps) set from Stampendous that I purchased in Ankeny. I matted with purple and used an ivory cardbase.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Masculine and Butterfly Birthday

These two cards are related, so you get them both today:) The old car stamp on this card is from a Tim Holtz set. The plain paper on the bottom and the patterned paper on the top are both from a 7 Gypsies pad I got at Archiver's several years ago. The sentiment is a Mrs. Grossman's sticker placed on the patterned paper. The tiny strip above it is the same paper, also. I added a thin strip of ivory cardstock between the papers.

The butterfly on this second card is the last one I have from Martha Stewart. I think the sentiment is from Stampendous, but I'm not sure. The bottom pattern was stamped using an old Stampin' Up! background stamp. And I used a little bit more ribbon.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving??

Wow, a Thanksgiving card for today - in December! :) I finally broke down and bought a (cheap) laser printer, a laminator and some foil. I have seen this technique and I think it's really cool. This image was up on my computer because I had been looking for Thanksgiving images for a friend, and I decided to use it for my first foiling sample. And then, of course, I couldn't toss it. So, here is the card. The foil I used is gold. The patterned paper is from Recollections and the sentiment is from Stampendous. The matting is shimmery gold cardstock, and the image is mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

September Calendar Page

And here is my calendar page for September. The leaf stamps are all from a Hero Arts set. The sentiment is from Stampendous.

I'm hoping to get to spend a little time in my stamping room soon. Perhaps I'll share some pictures with you soon, too, from our trip to Alaska. We left on the 16th of August and returned on the 26th. It was fabulous!!! When we returned, we had one of our grandsons here during the day for three days. That was great, too! :) I feel like we're just about caught up with everything now.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

(Almost) No-Lines Coloring

I have tried "no-lines" coloring in the past and have never been remotely happy with my results. But, I tried again. (No-lines coloring is when you stamp your image with a very light ink, then color it so that you can't see the lines.) I think it's usually done with water coloring. For today's card, I used Copic markers to color. I'm much happier with the way it turned out! You can still see the lines in the leaves and the pink flower, but not too much. The flower image is from Stampendous. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die from Memory Box and mounted it on foam squares at an angle.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!