Happy Retirement!

A former co-worker of my husband is retiring, and this is the card I made for her. I only had a few minutes to make it, but I'm pleased enough with it. There's nothing new or innovative with it, but it's still pretty!

The patterned paper is from a stack by Recollections. I matted it with matching blue cardstock. The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions. I cut it out with a Memory Box stitched rectangle die and matted with the same blue cardstock. I embossed a piece of ivory cardstock (the cardbase and the sentiment are also ivory) with a Cuttlebug folder and added it to the card front. The sentiment is mounted on Pop Dots. I think she will like it. :)

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

Sympathy Thank You

Here is the thank you card I made for memorials for Jim's mom. I brought home two purple roses from the funeral and took a picture of them. I cropped it and printed it on off-white cardstock, and that is what I used on the card. I matted with a darker purple. The sentiment is from an old Stampin' Up! set.

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

In Memory Of Helen Neus

 My mother-in-law passed away last Wednesday. She was ninety-nine years old. She was a wonderful woman who lived for her family. She was so sharp and witty until her last couple years. She is in a better place now and dancing again with my father-in-law.

These are the boards that my husband and I put together to honor her. We also did another board with pictures of his mom with us and our kids and grandkids, but I have chosen not to share that one.

Thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers.

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

Happy Birthday, Amelia!

Finally, a card:) Life has very much gotten in the way of stamping time. Sick grandkids, travel, extra help with grandkids, etc. My mother-in-law is failing and won't be with us much longer.

But, I had to get this card done. It's for our only granddaughter, who will turn seven on March 29. She is just the sweetest thing:) This card measures four by seven inches. The flower, leaves and stem stamp are from an old Stampin' Up! set. I colored with Copics. I stamped the flower again on scrap cardstock, cut out the center circle and mounted on Pop Dots. I added a min-brad to the center. I also added Star Dust Stickles to the flower center and the dots on the flower. The sentiment is from a Stampabilities set. I stamped with Versafine black and used sparkly embossing powder on it. Rather a simple card (that took me a while to make!) but I hope she will like it.

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

Iris Birthday

I almost wasn't willing to post this card, but it's all I've got. I've just have had NO time in my stamping room, for one reason or another - or many. I actually  just went down there to sit for a minute or two yesterday and found this card ready to be photographed. So, I thought I would go with it.

The iris image is by Penny Black. I stamped it on kraft (one last scrap that I had found) with Versamark and embossed with clear powder. I colored it with Copics. The yellow (slightly speckled) cardstock was also in my scrap pile. I decided I really should use some of my edge punches and also my Scor-Pal, so I did:) The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, again embossed with clear embossing powder. It is matted and mounted on Pop Dots.

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

Simple Christmas

When I was sorting through some scraps, I came across this piece of kraft, and also the green card base. I stamped the bird on the branch and also the sentiment with Versamark and embossed with an Emerald Pearl Lustre embossing powder. I sponged some Antique Linen Distress ink around the edges and added it to the card base.

Two more Christmas cards done. I think that makes seven so far:)

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

Kraft Christmas

Finally - a new card! :) I was sitting in my stamping room a couple days ago, looking at my shimmery paper. It was intermingled with some other colored scraps. In amongst the scraps were a few pieces of kraft, so I thought I would use them - or at least one of them. I had taken this Christmas stamp set out a couple weeks ago to make sure to use it, since I've had it for a few years and I don't think it has seen ink yet. It's by Stampendous. I thought perhaps it would work well on kraft. I stamped the image and the sentiment with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. I matted with a brown cardstock and then with a wider border of white, then added the layers to a kraft cardbase.

I even did another Christmas card which I will share with you tomorrow.

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

March Calendar Page

The year is flying by - it's March already! Amazing! Although, judging by the weather we had in February, it seems like it should be April already:)

At any rate, here is my calendar page for March. The tulips are a stamp by Gina K. I colored them with markers before stamping., The sentiment is computer-generated. I matted with matching green paper.

I'm hoping to take some time for stamping soon, but time just keeps zipping by and it always seems like there is something more important to do. I at least have my January and February calendar pages done for 2018.

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

One Last Valentine

And here is the valentine for our only granddaughter. :)

I cut the hearts and the "love" with a Stampin' Up! set that I borrowed from a friend. For some sparkle, I covered one heart and the sentiment with Versamark and then embossed with "Glitz" embossing powder. The background paper is from Bo Bunny, and I matted with the same red as the die cuts.

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

Two More Valentines

These are the cards for the two younger grandsons - both age 3. I'm pretty sure I have used these stamps before for grandkids, but oh well! I don't have a lot of valentine stamps. They are from a Recollections set.

I stamped the turtles and the sentiment with black ink and colored the turtles with Copics. I added some Diamond Glaze to the hearts. On the bottom card, the whole shell is covered with Diamond Glaze. I matted with red. I thought for something different, I would put one at a slight angle.

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

Two Valentines

 

This is the valentine my husband will get. (He rarely looks at my blog, so I think it's safe for me to post it!) I used a white card base. The pink heart (the background for the scrolly heart) and the scrolly heart were cut with Spellbinders dies. I embossed the background with a Darice folder. The folder is meant for cards to go the other direction - portrait, not landscape. I just embossed part of the red piece (after cutting the heart out of it) by staggering the plates on my BIGkick. Then I moved the folder and embossed from the other direction, again staggering the plates so that I didn't get a line from the edge of the folder.

This is the very, very simple card for the two older grandsons. I cut the heart out of the red and embossed the background, using the same method as the first card. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. You cannot tell at all from the picture (sorry!) but the background for the red piece with the heart cut out of is actually kind of a very pale yellow/light tan. I didn't think the boys (ages 8 and 6) would appreciate pink:)

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

"Kraft Magic" Thinking of You

I watched Gina K do a video on this technique, and thought I would give it a try. Here is my result.

Basically, you stamp solid stamps on kraft with white pigment ink (or use black cardstock, for "Black Magic"), and then color with colored pencils. I used Prismacolor. The flowers, stems and leaves use Gina K stamps. The flower centers are acrylic dots. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! I matted with black and used a kraft base.

I'll be back tomorrow (and for a couple days) with my valentines, which I finally finished on Friday.

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

February Calendar Page

Wow, another month has flown by! Here is my February calendar page. I used dies from Quickutz (LifeStyle Crafts) to cut the center hearts, and a Fiskars punch to punch the smaller hearts. The background was embossed with a Darice embossing folder.

If you would like to print and make your own calendars using my blank calendar file, you can find the Excel file and the cutting instructions in the Calendar tab under my blog title. I'd love to hear from you if you do! If you have problems with the files, please let me know and I can email them to you.

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

My Task

I finally started on the boxes and boxes of pictures, papers, and miscellaneous items from my mom and dad's house. What a task! So far, I've mostly worked on pictures, sorting them into several piles: for my siblings, cousins, to scan, etc. This is the easy - but time-consuming! - part. Figuring out what to do with really old scrapbooks and really old pictures and all the letters that my dad wrote to my grandma when he was in the army in World War II, when he was just eighteen - that will be hard. But, someone has to do it, and I'm the someone:) At least I got the boxes off of my treadmill, which is a good things, because we've stopped walking outside, and haven't been very faithful about going to the dome to walk. Wish me luck! :)

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

Pink Birthday

The last time I was in my stamping room (seems like many moons ago!) I left this card almost finished. The pieces were all done and sitting on my table. So, I took a few minutes today and put it together.

The flower and butterfly were cut with Stampin' Up! dies, borrowed from a friend. I cut the butterfly out of purple, and cut the flower out of white. I colored the flower with Copics. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and I cut it out with a Memory Box stitched rectangle die. The dotted paper is from Bo Bunny. I added three small gems to the butterfly.

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

Serene Christmas

Another Christmas card. They just seem to "happen." I came across a sheet of gold stickers (from Elizabeth Craft) that had just this one tree and a few stars left. I used the tree, and the stars will get put away for another time!

I added the tree to a small piece of white cardstock. I took another scrap and tore a curve on it. I rubbed the edge with Versamark and put gold embossing powder on it. I found this small Merry Christmas stamp (from My Favorite Things) and used gold embossing powder for it, too. I mounted the small "snow" piece on foam squares. I matted the image panel with shimmery gold paper and added it to a white base.

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

Ornament Christmas Cards

While searching for a small "Merry Christmas" stamp, I came across these stamps and dies from My Favorite Things. I've had them for a couple years and have never used them. I thought it was about time. AND, since they had not been used by me, they are NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and therefore qualified for Darnell's NBUS challenge! Please follow the link for details.

Both cards are the same, except the ornaments have different patterns and are different shapes. I stamped the ornament patterns on red cardstock with Versamark, then used detail gold embossing powder on them and cut them out with dies. There was a die in the set to cut the ornament tops, too, and I did them out of shimmery gold paper. I used some mini brads and some gold cord to finish them off. The sentiment is embossed with gold, also. I matted the entire panel with the same shimmery gold paper.

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

Cheery Flower Birthday

Just a simple card to share with you today, to celebrate spending some time in my stamping room! Actually, I had a friend over to stamp yesterday, and we had a great time. She got LOTS of cards done, and I watched - and found her some things she needed. I made this card last week, I think, and made a couple Christmas cards yesterday.

All of the stamps on this card are from a Gina K set. I added a strip of Washi tape across the top and matted with matching cardstock. I mounted on foam squares and added the image panel at an angle on the card front. The image panel and card base are ivory.


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

Hello Birdie

Another short stint in my stamping room, and more card parts:)

This bird was already cut and colored and mounted on foam squares, so I combined him/her with another scrap on my table - the white strip with the lines embossed with my Scor-Pal. I added the "hello" which I cut using one of my new Darice sentiment dies. I matted the white piece with a leftover scrap from the piece I covered the card front with. I also mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a new Bo Bunny pad I got for half price at JoAnn's.

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

Calendar Files Uploaded

Just a short "FYI" post for today. Yesterday afternoon I added the links to the Excel files for the calendars for 2018 and 2019. You can find the links in the tab under my blog title.

I'd love to hear from you if you use them! (Thanks, Sharon, for the nudge I needed to get the new ones uploaded!)

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