Happy 50th Anniversary, Doug and Barb!

Our daughter-in-law's parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary today. Congrats, Barb and Doug! Here is the card that I made for them. I saw this style of card on Jennifer McGuire's YouTube channel. I embossed gold-foiled cardstock with a Sizzix folder for each of the panels. Most of the wording was done with my JustRite stamper - from the olden days! LOL! The "50th" is from TPC Studio. I used gold embossing powder for all of the sentiment. I added some die-cut leaves on each side of the sentiment.

There is a panel attached to one side of the back - white with the gold matting. The gold cardstock has kraft on the back, unfortunately. :-( Oh well.

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Merry Christmas!

I almost forgot to wish you all a Merry Christmas with a picture of our tree. I hope all who celebrate have a wonderful Christmas. Safe travels to those who are traveling, and enjoy your family and friends.

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More Upcycled Christmas

We got a Christmas thank you card from friends, and I made these three cards using the card and the envelope liner. I used dies on this first card - to cut the image out and to emboss the frame on the under panel. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

I added some envelope liner under the main image panel.

More envelope liner on this one. The image is from Stampin' Up! and is embossed with gold. I added a gold strip across the bottom of the striped panel. The sentiment is again from Lawn Fawn. I'm guessing this will be the last cards of the year!

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Calendar Leftovers - Part Four

And the last of my calendar leftovers. This image is from Image Tree. I colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I matted the image and patterned paper with a dark gray cardstock. The stamping was done with gray, also.

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Calendar Leftovers - Part Three

I used the embossed side for one of these cards and the debossed side for the other. I'm not sure which one I like better! I simply matted the images and added the sentiment. I really do love Clean and Simple! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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Calendar Leftovers - Part Two

The second of my "calendar leftovers." I matted the piece with light blue. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I had ink-blended the sky using a torn piece of cardstock and my blending brushes. The butterflies were cut from glitter cardstock.

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Calendar Leftovers - Part One

This is the first of four "calendar leftover" cards. Often when I'm making my calendar pages, I try something out, or just plain make extra pieces. Monday when I got up at about 4:00 and went into my stamping room, I decided to work on using them up. I was successful - no more pieces to file in my card parts book. The rainbow pieces and the clouds are die-cut. I colored the pieces of the rainbow with Copic markers, rather than cutting them out of different colors. I sponged ink on the edges of the clouds. The rainbow and clouds are popped up on foam squares. The sentiment is from Gina K.

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New (to Me) Technique

Oops!! I accidentally scheduled two posts for today. Dang! :-) Please scroll down to see another new one.

I saw an Altenew video on this technique and then saw it someplace else, and I thought I should try it. It's pretty cool, and simple, too. You emboss with a folder, and then ink blend the color on the debossed side. After you are done adding the color, you use a black ink pad direct to paper and go over the top surface. I also added some Copic marker coloring to this first one (flower centers, beaks, feet) and some white dots with a gel pen to the second one. The folders are from Altenew and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

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Upcycled Christmas

This card was made from a beautiful envelope I received from a friend. She hand-delivered it, so there was no stamp to contend with. The address was written in the center, which I covered with the sentiment panel. Under the ribbon was the word "TO." The sentiment is embossed with gold powder. I die-cut a small sprig and added it over the ribbon.

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Noah's Ark Stickers

I had these stickers that needed to be used up. I believe they came from Darnell, who very generously sent a box of stamping supplies for our granddaughter, Ameila, a couple years ago. Amelia recently realized that she would not be using the stickers, and returned them to me. So here they are! For this first one, I used strips from a stack of patterned paper that I bought awhile back to make the background. These strips were the very tops of the pages.

The sentiment on this one and the next are from Technique Tuesday. I used a die to emboss the circle on the turtle one.

The sentiment on this one is from Stampin' Up!

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Blue Snowflakes

I think I have come up with a new technique, but I'm not sure. At least I have never seen it before that I can recall. Not sure how I like it, anyway. I cut the snowflakes out of copy paper and placed them on an inked up embossing folder (from Sizzix) before embossing with it, and then removed them. At first I didn't think they were defined enough, but I think I do like them now. The sentiment is from Gina K and is popped up on foam squares.

I put the snowflakes in the folder again to make another one and noticed that they got darker with more ink. So I glued them on.

And for this one, I used a piece of cardstock that I had cleaned my brayer on. I glued some copy paper snowflakes on it and ran it through my machine to embed them.

This may be all I post until after Christmas. I'm not sure I'll have any more time in my stamping room. The calendar is pretty full! But, on the other hand, things are mostly under control so maybe I'll get a chance to play!

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

Happy Hanukkah

My one Hanukkah card for the year. The sentiment was cut with a borrowed die out of blue glitter cardstock. I embossed the background by inking up the folder before embossing. The snowflakes are all silver metallic. I also added a few clear and blue enamel dots. This card is 5 X 7.

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Silver Snowflakes

These snowflakes were all in my card parts. I used silver shimmery paper with them. The sentiments are all Gina K. The embossing on the last card was done with a Sizzix folder.

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Simple Patterned Papers - Again

I made a few cards similar to these - with patterned paper and a plain strip. The paper on the first card is from Gina K. The second card's papers are from The Paper Studio. The first sentiment is from Gina K and the second one is from an old Hero Arts set.

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Penguins in Blue

I don't like this one so much, but I have people on my list that don't really care, so one of them got this one! The stamps are from a Penny Black set that I've had for ages and have possibly never used. The background was done while cleaning my brayer. I rolled it on a baby wipe and then put a piece of white cardstock on top of it and brayered it some more. I colored the letters with a very light blue Copic marker. 

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Christmas Peguins

Some of the last cards I made were VERY simple. These are certainly simple, too, but at least there were images to color to make them a little bit special. The penguins are from Gina K and have coordinating dies. The sentiments are from different companies. The frames for the penguins were cut with dies and the penguins are mounted on foam squares.

Whew! The decorating is all done. We have most plans made. And the cards are on their way. Life is a bit more calm, the way it should be during the holiday season. I hope your stress level is manageable.

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

Pine-y Christmas

One of my simple cards. The background is patterned paper. The sentiment is embossed with gold. The bells are colored with Copic markers. The image panel is matted with shimmery gold paper and mounted on foam squares.

I feel so much better about things. The calendars are all finished and packaged up. (Sorry if I've already said that!) The cards and letters are all ready to head to the post office this morning. The house decorating is about 80% done - won't take long at all to finish up. Then just presents for the grandkids. That's about it. Whew!

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

NOEL in Blue

Here is one of my recent Christmas cards. I realized that I needed to make 30 more for this year, and so they are extremely simple and I made multiples of some. I first stamped the image and sentiment on five card bases using my MISTI. Then I masked off the strip on the left and ink-blended.  Done!

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Happy (Belated!) Thanksgiving

Well, I'm finally catching up a little bit. The fronts of my Christmas cards are done and I have printed the insides. The labels are printed. The letter still needs to be done, though. My calendars are finished. Yippee!! I have several cards that I can post - I just need the time to do that. So, I thought I would start with the one Thanksgiving card that I made. It comes as a result of doing my November calendar page for next year. The pumpkin image is from Inkadinkadoo. I stamped it with Versamark on vellum, embossed it with gold, and colored on the backside with Copic markers. The image panel is popped up on foam squares.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And I hope you all can enjoy this holiday season without too much stress!!

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

December Calendar Page

And, the final calendar page for 2023. Oh my! The dry embossing was done with a Darice border embossing folder. It is matted with silver paper. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is embossed with detail silver powder. Happy December!

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