Thinking of You Butterflies

This is the last of my acetate backgrounds. It's been fun working with them. I have over twenty backgrounds left to use that were done on cardstock. I think maybe I'll put them away again for a little while:) I added a die-cut frame, butterflies and sentiment.

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

April Calendar Page

Wow, and now we're in April. I hope you are all well. We are still doing well, and staying isolated.

Here is my April calendar page. I used my laser printer to print this clipart image. Then I used green foil and my laminator to cover the image. I used a Copic marker to color the "April" and also added ink around the edges with an ink pad.

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

More Birthday Flowers

This is my next-to-the-last card using acetate backgrounds. The background looks a lot more blue in the photo than it actually is, as is often the case with purples. This card uses two pre-made backgrounds - one for the die-cut and the other the acetate background. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is embossed in silver. The flower panel is matted with shimmery silver paper.

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

Christmas Card Part

Another card made with a "card part" I've had in my stash for probably ten years. The background was done on acetate. My first thought was, "what an ugly background!" But then I realized how appropriate it was for a Christmas card. I added a die-cut frame and a die-cut sentiment. I also added three layers of the frame (including the insides) to the back of this piece for more dimension. The card base is ivory.

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

Happy Birthday, Amelia!!

We were recently in Chicago (it was just before schools, etc. started closing, and we stayed put in their house while we were there. We were also extremely careful on our trip home!!) visiting our daughter and her family. Our granddaughter, Amelia, drew me a picture. Since her birthday was coming up (she is turning ten today) I used her picture to make her card. I scanned it and printed it smaller than the original. I colored it with Copic markers. I kind of wish I had finished it a little bit "fancier" but it is what it is. I simply matted it and added the sentiment on the inside. Happy Birthday, Amelia!

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

Stained Glass?

One more card using a "card part" that I received several years ago. This piece was also done on acetate. I used a die to cut the flower out of shiny silver cardstock. It looks a bit like stained glass. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I matted it with silver cardstock and mounted it on Dimensionals.

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

Anniversary With Card Parts

Here are two more cards using backgrounds that were given to me. These were also done on acetate. They are many, many years old! These both had some gold in them, so I used gold accents. For this first one, I used a die for the sentiment and made it four layers thick. The cardbase is ivory. I used shiny gold cardstock strips on the top and bottom edges of the acetate.

For this card, I used a Papertrey Ink stamp for the sentiment. I used gold embossing powder for it. I also added the same thin shiny gold strips on the top and bottom edges.

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

Thank You

Another card using a pre-made background from my "stash." This one had also been done on acetate. I sandwiched it between layers of a die-cut. The sentiment is also a die-cut which has been layered.

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

Color Swap Flowers

I made this card for the monthly color swap in my stamping group. The colors this month are yellow and bright green. The stamp I used for the flowers is from Inkadinkado. I colored them with Zig Clean Color markers. I used a die to cut the bottom edge and matted with bright green. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I also added Wink of Stella to the flowers.

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

Thinking of You

I have been watching a lot of Jennifer McGuire videos while walking on the treadmill. She has been showing a lot of inky backgrounds lately. That reminded me that I have a lot of pre-made backgrounds. Several years ago, I received three boxes of "junk" from a co-worker of my son. She must have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, judging by the materials in the box. I sorted through every single bit of the "stuff." I tossed a lot out, but kept a lot, too. That is where this background, and many more, came from. I plan on making a lot of cards with them, so be prepared! LOL!

This particular background was done on acetate. I added it to a piece of white cardstock and mounted it on foam squares. You can't see it very well in the picture, but there is silver ink in the background. So, I used silver cardstock to die-cut the sentiment. I also cut three more of the sentiment out of white and glued them together for added dimension.

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!

Soft Sympathy

I finally took a little bit of time in my stamping room and made this card. I stamped the flower image, from Crafty Secrets, on watercolor paper. I used my watercolors to paint the flower and leaves. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. Super simple, but it was nice to get a card made. Maybe it will inspire me to do more.

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

Stay Home and Stay Well!

Even with all this time at home, I haven't had time to spend in my stamping room. Maybe soon! But, I just wanted to take this time to check in. We are taking this situation very seriously and are staying home except for going out for walks. We are not even getting together with our son and his family. I think we will start seeing them again in another week or so, after we've all been "quarantined" for a two or three weeks each. Edited to add: And by that I mean - they are not going out at all and we are not going out at all, so as long as we only see each other, we will be fine.

Stay well, everyone!!

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

Simple "Guy" Birthday

When my friend, Bonnie, was here last week, she brought over a card in this design. Hers was a very feminine card, but I needed a couple of cards for nephews. The front of this card is open above the patterned paper. The patterned paper is from an old stack from Die Cuts With a View. I cut the sentiment and the circles with dies. The sentiment is layered for more dimension and stability.

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

Fishy Birthday

My neighbor and stamping friend, Bonnie, was here last Friday. She brought some things over that she had gotten from another friend. One of the things she brought was this cool patterned paper. She had made a card like this, and I got enough of the paper to make two cards. Such quick and great masculine cards. I cut the circles with Nestability dies, and the sentiment was also cut with dies. The sentiment is mounted on foam squares.

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

Glittery Presents

I had a friend over to play on Friday, and I made five cards. Only three different designs, though. This is the one I made to show her how easy it was to use stencils and glitter. I totally messed up a few times! LOL!

At any rate, I did end up with this one. I used a Lasting Impressions brass stencil and some sticky paper, along with Martha Stewart glitter. I mounted the panel on foam squares. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.


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

Watercolor Flowers with Pink

My last watercolored card for a little while. For this one, I drew the image and then watercolored it. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I added a couple black "nail heads." The patterned paper is from Die Cuts With a View. I also did some "doodling" around the edges of the image panel.

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

Even More Watercolor Flowers!

Another watercolored flower card. One more tomorrow - my favorite of the three. :)

For this one, I did the watercoloring, and then I added the black outlines. The image panel is mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is from Stampabilities, I think.

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

Watercolor Anniversary

This is one of the three cards that I made "from scratch" as far as watercoloring. I painted the flower and then drew the lines around it. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. At least I'm pretty sure it is and I don't have time to double check right now! :)

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

More Watercolored Flowers

I've been having fun with watercolor. This card uses a stamp, but the next three I'm going to post are "from scratch."

The image stamps on this card (the three flowers and the leaf) are from a Hampton Arts set. I stamped them on cheap watercolor paper. I painted the flowers and added the stems, and the leaves to the middle flower. I matted it and added the sentiment, which is mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

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

Watercolor Flowers

Time just flies by, doesn't it? It seems like we are busy most of the time, but I can't really account for it. I haven't spent much time in my stamping room again lately. But, while walking on the treadmill, I have been watching some drawing and watercolor videos on YouTube. They make it look so easy! :) 

I love this simple image by Inkadinkado. I have used it in a few different ways. This time, I stamped it on watercolor paper with Versamark ink and embossed it with black powder. Then I very simply watercolored it. The sentiment is by Inky Antics and is also black-embossed. I mounted the panel on foam tape. The tiny-striped paper in the background is from a pad from Die Cuts With a View.

Another project that I did in the past week or so is to go through a few of the cards I've received and "repurpose" them. I turned them into new cards and donated them to our church. I figured it was better to have someone else enjoy them, too, rather than have them just sit in a box in my room. I still have TONS more sitting in boxes, though! LOL.

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

March Calendar Page

I used an old, wooden stamp for this month's calendar page. It's from Canadian Maple Collections. I colored with Copics. The background paper is from Recollections.

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

Glittery Snowflakes

A very simple Christmas card for today. I had made these snowflakes a while back and finally got them added to a card. I had made them using my new (at the time) Couture Creations sticky paper. (I don't even remember what it's called now.) I lightly colored them blue (perhaps with distress ink??) and added Wink of Stella to "glitz" them up a bit. I embossed the background with a Darice embossing folder. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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

Glittery Flower

This card happened because I wanted to use a little bit (well, I'd love to use a LOT!) of my glitter paper. So I stamped and die-cut the flower from gold glitter cardstock. I used a Hero Arts set for this. I colored the center of the flower with a Copic marker. Then I die-cut and embossed the leaves from green glitter cardstock. I covered the entire card front with a piece of patterned paper from Recollections and used a die to cut the stitched border along the bottom. However, I had cut it such that the "stitching" was on the part that I intended to toss. Oops! So, I decided to add that piece to the inside of the card. I added a few sequins from the thousands that I have that used to be my mom's. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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

Butterflies Birthday

I have had a note to make a background like this on my desk for months, and I finally did it. I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers directly on an acrylic block and then spritzed with water and placed it on my cardstock. When it was dry, I added a bit more color with Distress spray. (That doesn't show up very well in the photo.) I die-cut the butterfly piece and also the sentiment. The sentiment is layered with three die-cuts and also has a vellum shadow layer.

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

Paper-Pieced Flowers

More paper-piecing on this card. I stamped and heat-embossed the floral image onto patterned paper and then I used four different patterns of the purple cardstock for the flowers. I cut the flowers out and added a bit of purple ink around the edges. I also used Copic markers to color the leaves and stems.

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

February Color Swap

Here is the card I made for the color swap in my stamping group. The colors are gray and raspberry. I cut the panel on the left with a die. I embossed the right side with a Darice embossing folder. I placed this piece over gray cardstock. The sentiment was embossed with Versamark and mounted on foam squares. It's from Papertrey Ink.

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

Sending Birthday Wishes

I have had a bunch of these large flowers in my "stash" for many years. I've always thought they were too big to use on a card, but they have remained in my room anyway. Finally one of them made it onto a card. I cut the ferny leaves with dies and colored them with Copics. The sentiment strip was in my card parts and I do not know what company made it. The matting on the sentiment and the flower center are glitter paper.

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

Paper-Pieced Trees

Hey, finally a card that does not use pre-made card parts! LOL!

I used Gina K stamps on this card. The trees are paper-pieced with Bo Bonny patterned paper. The image panel is mounted on foam squares. The stamping is all heat embossed with black ink and clear embossing powder.

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

Daisy Bouquet

Another stamped panel from my card parts. I colored this one with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. The sentiment is from Gina K and I'm pretty sure that the flowers stamp is, too. I used an old Stampin' Up! stamp for the speckles in the background.

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

Flower Card Parts

Here are four more cards that I made in my quest to use up my card parts. I will never use up ALL of my card parts, but I am going to continue toward that goal.

I believe that both stamps on this card are from Gina K. It was colored with Copics. I added strips of thin glitter tape along each edge of the image panel. I used a Darice cloud embossing folder for the background.

Again, I think these stamps are from Gina K and again are colored with Copics. I matted with gray cardstock and used patterned paper for the background.

I'm pretty sure this flower stamp is from Stampin' Up! It, too, was colored with Copic markers. I had stamped the background using a Taylored Expressions stamp when I was at a friend's house in early February. The rose image had been colored for years and I realized that it matched the background perfectly. Poof - two card parts used! :) The sentiment stamp is from Gina K.

More Gina K stamps, I think. The image panel is mounted on Dimensionals.

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

Wishing You Sunshine and Love

Another card using a piece that I stamped while visiting a friend. This floral stamp is from Gina K, and the sentiment is, too. I colored the image with Copics. I added a strip of glitter tape to the top of my panel. I mounted the panel on Dimensionals.

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

Balloon Birthdays

I stamped and die-cut the main pieces of these cards at a friend's house. The balloon stamps and dies are from Taylored Expressions. I did all the coloring with Copic markers. On this first one, I added dots to the three separate balloons with a Copic colorless blender. Those balloons are mounted on foam squares. The sentiment was cut from Bo Bunny printed cardstock.

The sentiment on this card is from the same set as the balloons. I added three scored lines above and below the sentiment. The loose balloons are mounted on foam squares.

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

Snowflake Christmas

This card was made with another piece that I die-cut with a friend's die. I think it's from Memory Box. It's supposed to have two pieces coming out the left side, also, but I messed it up. It was too pretty to toss, though. I added it to a strip of blue which I scored with my Scor-Pal along the top and bottom. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I cut the panel to 4 x 5.25 and added it to a white card base.

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

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are the valentines I made for the grandkids this year. I realized after I was done that I had one of these sets last year in time to use it for their last year's cards. Oops! I don't think they'll mind too much, though. :) The stamps and dies are all from Recollections. The backgrounds were embossed with embossing folders. Simple enough!

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

Poinsettia Christmas

I played in a friend's craft room last week, and this is one of the cards I made with my pieces. I used a die set that I believe was from Memory Box/Poppystamps to cut the poinsettia pieces and leaves. I had cut them from white and colored them with Copics after I got home. The background is patterned paper from Gina K. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set.

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

Home Birthday

Well, I finally took some time for card-making. It feels good. I'm not sure how much time I'll spend in my stamping room, but for now at least I have a few cards to share.

I cut these houses and stars with dies. I made the background with some Tim Holtz Distress Sprays that I got on clearance at Michael's when we were in Chicago in December. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I placed it on a strip of black and mounted on foam squares.

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

February Calendar Page

Well, it's February! And here is my calendar page. I used a Recollections Valentine's set for this one. The background was done with an old, retired stamp from Stampin' Up! from the Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set. I sponged pink ink around the edges.

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