Water Color Wednesday Challenge

Hello!

It's been a long time!  I'm now retired and have recently dusted off my stamps.  I'm in the process of organizing and unmounted my older stamps.  While doing so, I visited one of my favorite stamping sites, Splitcoaststampers.  They have started a new weekly challenge - Water Color Wednesday.  The first challenge was June 3, so I'm a little behind. Here is the link for the challenge.

Here is my entry for WCW001

The technique was for an acetate smoosh, but instead of putting your paper on the acetate, you use a second piece of card stock to transfer it to the watercolor paper. This gives you a lot more control.  There is a very well done video in the challenge thread with directions for this technique. It's difficult to see in the photo, but I also flicked on a bit of gold watercolor after my panel was dry.

My original plan was to mount this on a light aqua paper, but it looked too washed out.  I loved the look on the Old Olive and I think it makes a nice masculine card with the deeper color.

Stamps: SU Summer Silhouettes, PTI Birthday Classics October, PTI Tags Its #10

Ink: SU Always Artichoke, Handsome Hunter, Old Olive, Fine Tec Watercolor Luna Gold, VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black

Paper: Canson 90lb cold press watercolor paper, SU Basic Black, Old Olive

Accessories: SU Black Detail Embossing Powder, Crystal Stickers Mosaic 5mm Black

Well I enjoyed playing with my stamps again, and I certainly hope it won't be 9 years before I post again!

Have fun creating!

Paula

Happy Birthday to Mark

Mark turned 18 last month and this is the card I made for him. I used a retired SU set called Country Pleasures.It's a fun one to watercolor. After I colored the image, I sponged a little Antique Linen Distress ink to age it a bit.

I used an old SU DSP too, called Four Seasons. The backgrounds were made using Print Pattern and Cheesecloth, both by SU.

I hope you enjoy my fall creation. It's a beautiful, sunny,crisp autumn day here in Northern Illinois. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Country Pleasures, Print Pattern, Cheesecloth, On Your Birthday, all by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black, Versamark, Antique Linen
Paper: Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Confetti Cream, Four Seasons DSP by SU!
Extras: brads

Masculine Birthday Greetings

I have such a time with making masculine cards! I know I'm not alone on this, but sometimes it's a true struggle. I turned once again to my trusty Lovely As A Tree set from SU!. This card came out OK. In looking at it now, I wish I had sponged some Creamy Caramel or More Mustard on the Confetti panel. It's looking too stark for me now.

But this card is long gone to it's recipient, my niece's husband. He is married to the niece who received the cupcake card from the last post. Their birthdays are only a week or so apart.

I watercolored this in the car on the way to take Daniel back to school a few weeks ago. I used the aquapainter and a plastic pallet with my markers. A very handy way to watercolor while traveling.

The mustard panel is stamped with the Flannel Plaid background and the greeting is from On Your Birthday.
I used the new large oval punch from SU! for the sentiment.

The kick-off for the hospital massage program was Tuesday and it went well. We had over 45 people and did about 38 short seated massages. There was a PT Assistant who is also a massage therapist who came to help out for a while. Tomorrow is my first day with clients (employees) scheduled. It is also our wedding anniversary tomorrow. Twenty seven years. We will be going out to dinner to celebrate.

Thanks for dropping by. As I am typing this post the Chicago Cubs are beginning their second playoff game. I don't know if I can take much more of this. That game last night was so disappointing. It's easier when they are not in the playoffs. Then there are no expectations; just the usual "There's always next year." Oh my Cubbies...don't let me down!

Stamps: all by SU! Lovely As A Tree, Flannel Plaid, On Your Birthday. Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Ink: Stazon Black, More Mustard
Paper: Confetti White, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Always Artichoke
Extras: Chocalate Grosgrain, brads, SU large oval, and horizontal slot punches, distressing tool, aqua painter.

This card I made for my niece, Danette, who turned 34 earlier this month.

I used an old SU DSP that I forgot the name of. I think it's Sarah or something like that. The stamp set is Crazy for Cupcakes by SU. I watercolored the image and used Stickles on the frosting.

I think it came out cute. I stamped some cupcakes on the envelope and used Stickles on there too, but I didn't get a photo of that. I love putting glitter on my envelopes, mostly because I would love getting an envelope with glitter myself! :) The cupcake ovals were cut with my Nestabilities. The oval for the sentiment was cut using the SU large oval punch.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Stazon Black
Paper: Watercolor, Whisper White, retired SU DSP, Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip
Extras: Lt Pink Grosgrain, Stickles, SU large oval, and slot punch, Nestabilities

Convention Swap

I am at the Stampin' Up! annual convention in Salt Lake City. Actually I am in my living room getting ready to leave for convention tomorrow. I am going to set this to auto post on July 31st. Hopefully it will work!

This is one of my swaps for convention. Way too involved! But I like the way it turned out. I realized when I was printing out the recipe that I used a bit of ribbon from the last mini. Hopefully it will be in the new catty. I will tell everyone before I swap, so they know it has something expired, if it's not in the new catty. I hope it is, because I like that polytwill ribbon.

I used the new scallop edge punch and a new set we were able to preorder, Dreams du Jour. Ii watercolored the image with reinkers, then embossed it twice with Iridescent Ice EP. I didn't like it just embossed once, so I tried it again and liked the effect.

The DP is the new Bella Rose. New In Colors are Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, and Pink Pirouette. I don't know if you can tell, but I used Versamark and the butterfly in the set on the Baja Breeze background.

I made the pink flower by repeatedly curling a piece of pink cardstock over the edge of a ruler until I had broken the fibers and I could separate the layers of paper. Then I used the Boho Blossom punch to make my own paper flowers.

Hope you enjoy the weekend! See you when I get back! Thanks for visiting.

Edited on 8-7-08 to add the full photo. I didn't even realize it wasn't there! Sorry!

Stamps: Dreams du Jour
Ink: Black Stazon; Versamark; Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, and Baja Breeze reinkers.
Paper: Bella Rose DSP, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Confetti White
Extras: Iridescent Ice EP, Scallop Edge, Boho Blossoms, and large oval punches, Old Olive Polytwill ribbon, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, Pretties Kit.

Greetings from Louisville

Today I am in Louisville with my husband who has a conference here. I spent the day walking around downtown Louisville and stamping! Most of my suitcase was filled with stamps and supplies!

I needed to make a card for my great nephew, Andrew. He turns 4 tomorrow. I brought along the paper that I received from Kisa, Daisy D's Sidewalk Chalk Mini's. (Thanks, Kisa!) The second card below was my first attempt. I had everything cut and ready to assemble when I realized I didn't bring any adhesive! Oops! Off to find some.

When I returned, I decided the card was too girly. So I swapped out the Mellow Moss cardstock for Certainly Celery, and the Orchid Opulence cardstock for Brilliant Blue. It's still not too masculine, but he's only 4, so I don't think he'll mind.

I took the first photo during the day, but didn't photograph the second one until evening, so
unfortunately the image isn't as nice.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Unfrogettable SU!

Ink: Stazon Black pad, Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Garden Green, Orchid Opulence, and Bordering Blue Markers for watercoloring

Paper: Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Brilliant Blue, Orchid Opulence, watercolor, Stamper's Select White by PTI, Daisy D's Sidewalk Chalk Swatches Paper Minis.

Extras: Black Brads, Martha Stewart punch, Black gingham ribbon, dimensionals, google eyes.

Bit of a Repeat

This is sort of a duplicate post. This is the original card I made for our stamping day last Thursday. It is the same as the Birthday card in my post from Tuesday, the 17th, except for the sentiment. I wanted to tell you about this particular card and about TAC stamps.

I made this card especially for Suzy, my son Daniel's girlfriend. She is certainly one of my nicest thoughts. She is a great girl and we love her very much. She is away at school this summer and I know she is a bit lonely. So I'm hoping this card will brighten her spirits a bit.

This sentiment is a TAC stamp. I had never used a TAC stamp before, but I received this one from a blog candy that I won from Kisa. She has a great blog, Kisa's Paper Cuts, and she gave away a fabulous package. I got loads of TAC stamps, designer paper, and two darling rub ons that come in an applicator. I will be sure to post once I use the things she gave me.
The TAC stamps come as blue rubber and need to be trimmed. They come with cling vinyl foam that I stamped the image onto before I trimmed it. So you stick the rubber onto the sticky side of the foam, trim it out, pop it on an acrylic block, and you are good to go. Thanks again Kisa! You can find her blog on my blog roll to the right.

The details on this card are in my previous post here. The only difference is the sentiment from TAC.

Have a lovely day, and I hope you get to stamp! Thanks for visiting!

A Turtle Birthday

This card is for my nephew, Matthew who turned 18 the other day. It is a pretty simple card: no ribbon and few layers. My masculine cards tend to run that way.

I used the turtle from the retired set Nature Prints. I like this set and all of the images are appropriate for cards for guys. I watercolored him with my SU! Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

I distressed all of the panel edges and rounded the corners of both the panels and the card. The turtle panel is wrapped in gold DMC metallic thread. It a good fiber to use on a masculine card since it has a metal element, and it's rather subtle. I had forgotten that I had it, until I saw a piece trying to escape from my drawer, and I decided it would be a good addition to my card.

Today was a picture perfect day here in northern Illinois. I met a friend for lunch at the Morton Arboretum. Everyone else seemed to think this was the perfect day for lunch at the Arboretum too, as it was one of their busiest days. I enjoyed the view, the company, and the lunch! Hope your day was picture perfect too. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Nature Prints, Birthday Whimsy, and Flannel Plaid, all by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black, Versamark
Paper: Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Basic Black, watercolor
Extras: Watercolor Wonder Crayons by SU!, Black brads, Corner rounder, DMC Metallic thread Lt. Gold

Birthday Wishes

I made this card for my sister's 65th birthday. She lives in Ohio, so we don't get to see each other too often, but I lived with her for several summers as a young teen. She was a teacher, and would take classes over the summer, and I would live with them for the summer and watch her kids.

This was my card for a shoebox swap that I was at last week. I got together with my old stamping friends Patti and Juli, and met a new friend, Theresa. We spent the morning making our shoe box swaps, had a lovely lunch provided by Patti, and then spent the afternoon playing, mostly with Patti's goodies!

My card uses my Nestabilities, and that cute Martha Stewart Lace Doily punch.
The stamps are from SU!. The watercolored heart is from the Occasion's Mini set Just Celebrate, and the sentiment is a hostess set in the Spring Summer Collection.

I used my Spica At You glitter pens on both the heart and the candle. You can just about make out the clear on the heart in the close-up.

I hope you had chance to stamp today. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Just Celebrate, For A Friend,Hot to Dot wheel, all by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black, Soft Sky Classic pad, Soft Sky, Lavender Lace, and River Rock reinkers
Paper: watercolor, Soft Sky, River Rock, Lavender Lace, Very Vanilla
Extras: Nestabilities, Spica glitter pens, River Rock double stitched ribbon, SU! rhinestone brads, Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's!

I remember my Dad with much fondness today. He was a wonderful Dad and loved all five of us kids very much. He was a good provider working full time into his seventies until I was finished with college. One of the best memories I have of my dad is the last time I danced with him. We were at my niece's wedding and I was dancing with him to "Unforgettable." I always loved to dance with my dad. He was an excellent dancer. I remember telling myself to enjoy this dance, because I couldn't be sure I'd get another opportunity to dance with him. He was 81 at the time. That was in February and he died that same May, just nine months after my mom. That was 16 years ago, and when I hear "Unforgettable", it still brings tears to my eyes. I love you, Daddy.

So anyway, I made this card for my husband, who is a dedicated dad to our 4 boys. Our boys are turning into honest, caring, and loving young men, just like their dad. Well, maybe not the young part!

I watercolored the focal image from SU!'s Thinking of Father. The embellishments on the corners are Dew Drops, and I applied Ranger's Sepia Accents over the main image to give it an aged look. You might be able to see that if you enlarge the image. I used Flannel plaid on the left and Cheesecloth on the right, both by SU!. I thought the right side still needed something, so I used toilet paper wadded up and dabbed on some Antique Linen Distress ink.

I like how it turned out, and more importantly, so did my husband. Although he's so nice, I'm not sure he'd ever say he didn't like a card I made, unless I didn't like it, and then he might agree with me.

I hope you enjoyed Father's Day, either with your own dad, or thinking of him, or with the father of your children. May God bless Father's everywhere today, and everyday.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Thinking of Father, Cheesecloth, Flannel Plaid, all by SU!
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark, Stazon Black, Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink
Paper: Watercolor, More Mustard, Really Rust, Basic Black
Extras: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, Dew Drops, Sepia Accents by Ranger, SU! ticket corner punch, Watercolor Wonder Crayons by SU!

I'm Back!

Sorry that I haven't posted in so long. I was in the hospital last weekend with a cellulitis/bursitis in my knee and leg. I needed IV antibiotics, and ended up going home with a central line so that I can infuse IV antibiotics at home. So things have been pretty crazy around here!

This card is for my niece's daughter, Ava, who was 5 on Wednesday. She's getting this a little late since I was out of commission for a bit. This card is also a submission for the Ways To Use It 166 challenge on SCS. This challenge is to use Inchies in a card. Inchies are little mini canvases to work on. One inch by one inch. You can use a little stamp, or a portion of a bigger stamp.

I used the little cupcake from SU's Short and Sweet. I used masking so it looked like a group of them. The other images are from SU's Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories. I used a square Nestability to make the scalloped mats for the images.

If you click on the image to enlarge it, you might be able to see the Amuse twinkle rhinestone stickers I used for the cherries on the cupcakes and for the dot on the "i" in big. There is also some of my favorite Spica clear glitter pen on the images too.

I hope you enjoy this little inchie birthday wish. Have a great weekend, and hopefully you will have nice weather and maybe get a bit of stamping in too! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Short and Sweet, Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, all by SU!
Ink: Black Stazon
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, WW
Extras: Amuse Rhinestone Twinkle stickers, Spica clear glitter pen, Lt pink grosgrain ribbon, SU key tag and horizontal slot punches, Nestability square scallop.

Get Well Melissa

This is a quick little card I made for my Curves buddy, Melissa, who hasn't been able to work out for a while due to a back injury. So I've been missing her and I thought I'd let her know by sending her some flowers. haha

I watercolored the pick up with my markers. I partially colored the truck with markers and then I used my aquapainter to blend the ink. I used a gel pen on the chrome parts of the truck. You can see that better in the close up.

I used decorative edged scallop scissors to make the scallop edge and then punched with my 1/16" hole punch. The little paper flowers are my faux primas. Here's how you can make some. Take a small piece of card stock and run it over the edge of the table a bunch of times until it gets soft. The edges will begin to separate. You should be able to pull the pieces apart fairly easily. If they aren't separating easily, keep working your card stock to break the fibers a bit more. Once you separate it, you can take any flower punch you have and make your own Prima-type flowers!

A few rhinestones, a little Stickles, and an SU flower ribbon slide teamed up with some pink grosgrain finished up the card. Hope you have a great weekend and you find some time to stamp! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories both by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black
Paper: Watercolor, Lavender Lace, Whisper White, Retired SU! DP
Extras: Three for You Punch, Sakura gel pen, Spica glitter pen sin lemon and melo, SU flower ribbon slide, pink grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge scissors, 1/16" punch, Target $ spot rhinestone tattoos, Star Dust Stickles

Vintage Christening

Yesterday was the baptism of my niece's son, Benjamin. The babies in our family use a gown that my paternal grandmother made in 1902 for my uncle's birth. My father, my brother and sisters, most of my nieces, nephews, their children, my children, and I were baptized in it. So this image from Buggies and Booties from SU! is perfect.

Several years ago at convention, SU! demonstrated making a baptism record using this set. This is my version of it. I made a pink version for my niece when her daughter was born 3 years ago, so I made her one for Benjamin too.

This is actually quite easy. The gowns are stamped in Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with markers. I used Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, and Apricot Appeal. I distressed the edges, mounted them on torn Barely Banana panels and tied off-white narrow organdy ribbon around the bottom of each panel.

I die cut 3 tags from watercolor paper and stamped them with date, time and place on each tag, using markers to color in the words I wanted. Then I wrote in the date, time, and church with a grey marker, and tied them onto the ribbons with a length of crochet cotton.

I really wanted to be able to have an embossed background because I wanted the vintage look that embossing would lend. The Cuttlebug folders are only about 4" by 5 1/2", and the Cuttlebug is only about 6" wide, so I wasn't able to emboss the entire sheet. I thought about cutting and piecing the background, but I really didn't want any seams. So, I got out my rolling pin and placed my folder on my large sheet and rolled away. It was pretty hard work, and I had to do it 6 times, moving the folder to a new section each time. The embossing didn't come out nearly as crisp as when it's done in the Cuttlebug, but I was pleased with how it turned out; sort of a "distressed" embossing.

The frame is from Walmart, $9.99. In the corner, I used a Hodgepodge Hardware frame to enclose the baby's name. I attached the frame with some dimensionals and attached some pale blue grosgrain around the corner.

I wanted to create a space, like a shadow box, between the framing glass and the art work, so I attached the glass to the inside front of the frame with my ATC gun adhesive. I tossed all of those filler pieces that come with the frame to help keep your picture against the glass. Mounting the artwork onto the back panel of the frame left a nice space so that the 3 dimensional parts of the project stay that way.

Of course, the baby needed a Christening card, so I used the same gown image for the card. I die cut a tag and stamped the word Blessings from the SU set God's Blessings. The rest of the details for the card are the same as for the baptismal record.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend. We had a picture perfect spring day here in northern Illinois. Spring is finally here! Woohoo! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: SU Buggies and Booties, God's Blessings
Ink: Stazon Black, Going Grey, SU Markers for watercoloring
Paper:Watercolor, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana
Extras: Hodgepogde Hardware, Ivory narrow organdy ribbon, Oval punch, Cuttlebug tag die cut and embossing folder, pale blue narrow grosgrain ribbon

Tickled Pink!

We are tickled pink! Our son Daniel has been dating his girlfriend for about 4 years now. Suzy has become a part of our family and we think the world of her. She is a sophomore at ISU and has been waiting to hear about her acceptance into the school of nursing. She was recently accepted and we are so happy for her. I made her this card to let her know. She will make a wonderful nurse!

This card was made for another VSN challenge. See my last post if you aren't sure what this means. This challenge, following the fashion theme, was a limited supply challenge. We were supposed to remember our school uniforms and think no bling, 2 stamp limit, only 2 colors of paper, only 2 tools from a limited list, and only 2 accessories from a short list. The challenge is explained here if you'd like to try.

I chose pink and black as my colors, 2 sizes of circle punches for my tools, and brads as my embellishments. These choices ensured a much better look than my Catholic school uniform garb of gray and drab blue scratchy wool plaid! ;)

This first card was blinged up a bit after I posted it on SCS, because it's really hard for me to send out a cute card without ribbon, glitter, and bling! ;) The second photo below is how I submitted it for the challenge. I added the bow, 2 little pink crystals on the ends of the antennae and traced over the sentiment with a clear Spica glitter pen. I'm not that happy with the bow. I would have preferred to have it tied behind that main image panel, but it was stuck on too well.

Hope you have something today that you are tickled pink about. Happy Monday! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Very Punny by SU
Ink: Stazon Black pad, Pixie Pink and Bordering Blue Markers
Paper: Basic Black, Pixie Pink, and Confetti White
Extras: 1/2" and 5/8" circle punches, brads, pink crystals (Target clearance), pink grosgrain ribbon, clear Spica glitter pen
Technique: watercoloring

Fashionable Fish

You might be wondering why this fish is fashionable.
I've been participating in a challenge stamping weekend over at SCS. It's called Virtual Stamp Night, or VSN. You can read about it here. A challenge is put out every hour that somehow relates to the theme. The theme this weekend is Fashion. You have 45 minutes to make the card.

The challenge for this card was to use thread in your design. I started thinking about this as I was going to bed last night. I wanted to use my sewing machine, so I started thinking about fabric. The SU background stamp, Flannel Plaid popped into my head and I remembered that my niece's husband's birthday is coming up. He is an avid outdoorsman and fisherman. So I thought I would go masculine for this card.

I watercolored the fish with one of my favorite methods; markers scribbled on a plastic pallet and picked up with a wet brush. It's quicker than opening up a bunch of stamp pads, and more transparent than watercolor crayons. I sponged on Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye on both the fish image and the sentiment.

I stamped the teal layer with the Flannel stamp in Garden Green to help tone down the brightness of the teal. I stamped the Canvas background on the small green panel and then I stitched it onto the flannel panel. I heavily distressed the edges of my layers with the distressing tool from SU! to invoke the feeling of flannel.

I had to use my Spica glitter pens on the fish. I used turquoise, olive, lemon, and clear. I LOVE these glitter pens. They have such a fine sparkle. I know that most "men" type cards don't usually have glitter on them, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway, nature has lots of sparkle, and I had to make my fish fashionable, right? teehee.

So, if you have a bit of time this weekend, join in some VSN fun. Anyone can play and the only requirement is to do the card in 45 minutes. That is a challenge, but I find that I can make a nice card in that time. I'm thinking I should limit my time for all of my cards to an hour. I spend way too much time agonizing over every little detail. With just 45 minutes, you can't ditz around with decision making. Decide and do it! That's my new motto.

I hope you are enjoying some lovely spring weather. We are having our first beautiful spring day today here in Northern Illinois. How nice for us that it's on a weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Nature Prints, It's Your Birthday, Canvas, Flannel Plaid, all by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black and Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress ink pads, SU! markers in Garden Green, Taken with Teal, Close to Cocoa, and More Mustard.
Paper: Garden Green, Taken with Teal, Basic Black, Confetti White,and watercolor
Extras: Spica glitter pens in turquoise, olive, lemon and clear; SU! cutter kit, circle paper clip, sewing machine, and black thread.

Happy Spring!

Yesterday I asked my husband if he had seen any robins yet. I hadn't seen any yet, and he told me, rather gloomily, that he hadn't either. This morning, which is a gorgeously sunny but crisp day here, as I was taking the dog for a walk, I saw not one, but about a dozen robins in the field near our house! I guess their flight got in last night. I was so delighted, I told the dog about them. I don't think she cared. ;)

I made up a bunch of these little treat holders for our family who is coming to dinner on Easter Sunday. I thought they came out very cute. I didn't get overly creative on these; I just followed the tutorial by Beate on SCS. You can find it here. They are easy to make, and not too time consuming. I used one of my only Easter sets, a retired set from SU!, Funny Bunny, and a retired SU! wheel, Blossoms and Bugs. I used a bit of Cotton Candy Stickles on the dots and a pink Spica glitter on the nose. If you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see the glitter better. I love those Spica glitter markers! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages. I had to get that set because Debbie Olsen kept using it on many of her fabulous cards. I love little tags, and this set is perfect for little tags. Debbie is a very talented artist. If you haven't seen her work, check out her blog for some wonderful inspiration.

I have to go enjoy the first day of spring, because we have a winter storm warning posted for tonight and tomorrow here in northern Illinois. They are predicting between 6 and 10 inches of snow. Yikes! Hope those robins brought their overcoats! If I don't post again before Sunday, I wish everyone a very blessed Easter. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Funny Bunny and Bugs and Blossoms wheel by SU!, Mixed Messages by Papertrey Ink.
Ink: Stazon Black, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip ink pads, and Pretty in Pink reinker
Paper: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Confetti White
Extras: SU! scallop punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Lt. Pink narrow grosgrain ribbon, Ranger Cotton Candy Stickles, Pink Spica glitter marker, decorative edge scissors.

Friends

This will have to be a fast post. I am meeting two friends for brunch soon. In fact, they are the recipients of this card. (I did make two; they don't have to share!) I missed our last lunch because I forgot. I'd make a bad socialite! I wanted to let them know how much I value their friendship. I will edit this post with all of the details later. I love Groovy Guava with More Mustard. It's hard to see, but I have some Swarovski crystals on the main image and on the little flowers. I love this card size: 6 5/8" by 3 1/4".

We are off to Pittsburgh today to see our oldest son who is working and living out there, so I won't be posting for a few days. Have a good weekend!

Stamps: Time Well Spent
Ink:Stazon Black Pad, Groovy Guava, River Rock, More Mustard, and Blue Bayou Reinkers
Paper: Groovy Guava, More Mustard, River Rock, Watercolor
Extras: River Rock Double Stitched Ribbon, Spica Yellow Glitter pen, Swarovski Crystals

Kyra's Birthday

I am very pleased with this card. I tried a new technique for watercoloring with markers. Normally I scribble with my marker onto a plastic pallet and pick up the color with a wet brush or aqua painter. I like this method, but I recently saw a video about a way to use the markers on the paper first and then move them around with your wet brush. So I tried it on this card. I stamped the image 6 times in black Stazon. I kept trying until I was satisfied with my fifth and sixth images. I still have a lot to learn, but I was happy with how this turned out. There is also a good tutorial here on this same method.

On to the rest of the card. After I colored the image, I used some Crystal Stickles on the icing, and some Spica yellow glitter pen on the flames of the candles. I think if you click on the photo to get a larger image you can see the Stickles.

Once the Stickles was dry, I punched the cake out with a Giga oval scallop punch. I don't have a larger oval, so I was unable to mat it with another oval. So I was left with using a rectangle. I decided to round the corners to make them softer; more in keeping with the oval shape. I also scalloped the bottom of the blue panel with my corner rounder. When I finished the panel and flipped it over, I noticed these little indentations created by the punch. I decided to use them in the design. I've seen people use a white gel pen to make mini eyelets, so I thought since I already had the centers, I'd make eyelets.

The little tag was free form cut from a larger tag. A little patterned paper, a pink eyelet, and some lovely wide grosgrain ribbon finished off the card.


Kyra will be 9 and I think she will love this card. I hope so, anyway. I hope you've had a great weekend, and have gotten some stamping time in. I may not post for a few days; I am working Monday and Tuesday, and on Tuesday after work I am driving out to DeKalb to volunteer as a massage therapist. The AMTA is organizing volunteers to offer chair massages to the crisis workers that will be on hand for the students returning to NIU. I am glad to be able to help in this small way and am looking forward to the experience. I will let you know how it goes.

Stamps: Just Celebrate and Amazing to Zany, both by SU!
Ink: Stazon Black, Regal Rose , Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue, markers
Paper: Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue SU! CS, Patterned paper form Creating Keepsakes All in One Scrapbooking Kit(Target), watercolor paper.
Extras: Giga scallop punch, Pink eyelet, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, silver cord, SU! confetti white tag, dimensionals, Crystal Stickles, white gel pen

Trio of Thanks

When I need a quick little gift, I like to pull out my Fabriano Mediovalis note cards. They are made of a wonderful paper that is ideal to use for water color and are the perfect size for a thank you or quick note. I stamp 3 notes and envelopes and tie them together in a little bundle with a coordinating ribbon, and voila! I have a nice little gift for someone. These three notes I have made over and over again because I love them so much. And they are very easy. The flower is from Petal Prints and the sentiment is from Everyday Flexible phrases, both by SU.
I water colored the flowers in Pixie Pink, Opulent Orchid and Bashful Blue. I added a little bit of Crystal Stickles to the flower centers. The little dot to the left of the sentiment is a Swarovski crystal. It adds a classy bit of bling! I used the same colors on the envelopes, and also added the Stickles. The envelopes are made from the same lovely paper and take the water colors beautifully. I think these notes are a great example of how something very simple can be very effective. Sometimes we get so caught up in layers, ribbon, metal,etc.(all of which I love) that we forget that simple can work too.
Hope you have a nice warm day. It's very cold here today; 4 degrees this morning, but it is beautifully sunny! Thanks for visiting.
Stamps: Everyday Flexible Phrases, Petal Prints
Ink: Pixie Pink, Opulent Orchid, Bashful Blue, Stazon Black
Paper: Fabriano Mediovalis Notecards
Extras: Crystal Stickles, Swarovski crystals by Darice

We Can All Use A Little Love

Let me begin by expressing my heartfelt sympathy to the victims and families of the tragic shooting at Northern Illinois University. NIU is my and my husband's alma mater. None of my children go to school there, but they know many who do. My thoughts and prayers are with all of the NIU community this evening.


On to a lighter note. We had our 5th enrichment club this afternoon. This little guy was our final Valentine's Day project. Didn't he turn out cute? Sorry for the glare on the photo. I was running out of daylight and shot him quickly. He is from SU's Toucan of My Love set. We watercolored him with Orange Peel Twinkling H20s, and filled in the little hearts with Pink Passion marker. We used googly eyes and a clear Spica pen on the hearts. You might be able to see that in the close up photo. I just love those Spica glitter pens. The clear is fantastic. I got mine from Ellen's store, but it doesn't look like clear is available right now. Here is another place I have found litter Pens, and they are on sale too. I wish SU would carry them. The candy is a Nestle Crunch heart which matches SU's PinkPassion perfectly!

Tomorrow I will try to post the other project we did today. I need to get a photo in good light.
Happy Valentine's Day. Go give all of your loved ones a big hug and a kiss. Thanks for stopping by.
Stamps: Toucan of My Love
Ink: Stazon Black
Paper: Confetti White, Pink Passion
Extras: Twinkling H2O's (Orange Peel), Pink Passion Marker, SU small cello bag, googly eyes from Hobby Lobby.