Friday, January 31, 2014

CASE T. Joy


Time for another Mod Squad Challenge! This week we are to CASE (I always say that's for Copy and Stamp but I don't think that's exactly it) another card to our liking. I chose a card by T. Joy on Stamp TV. Love her card, and I had similar supplies, so I went with it. Her card has stamped images from the latest Stamp TV Kit that's called Journey of the Heart.  Thank you, T. Joy!

I used supplies from Gina K Designs Love Letters Patterned Paper Pack for my card, and stamped Cherry Red hearts in from All Occasion Tags by Tami Mayberry onto the Red Hot Cardstock. I added a Gina K Designs ribbon in the center before adding a piece of wood cardstock (from Simon Says Stamps) with a punched heart taken from water-colored paper.

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Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and your comments very much, as they keep me moving forward on this creative journey. Stay warm!

Stenciled Love

Hello! Everybody staying warm? I finally went outside today after a week indoors. Yay! As the days passed, my mind kept whirling about something new I could create for Valentine's Day. Finally, after looking at a bunch of inspiration online, I came up with this.

I love these little stenciled hearts! I just put embossing paste on top of the stencil, smoothed it out, then lifted. Voila! Little hearts appeared! To finish the card, I heat embossed the sentiment on a piece of Vellum and added a heart that had been watercolored. After adding that to the top of the card, I wrapped it in red and white Baker's Twine to finish.

The sentiment is from Gina K Designs All Occasion Tags by Tami Mayberry. The heart stencil, embossing paste and Baker's Twine are from Simon Says Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much, as they keep me moving forward on my creative journey. Take it easy, and stay warm!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

WOYWW 243

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Well, it's Wednesday again, time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) challenge at Stamping Ground! Showing the state of my desk (mind) is a little hard to get used to, but I'm getting there. You can see a card I'm working on, some butterflies that are still out waiting to be fussy-cut, and the ever-present adhesives I use. Keep looking...there's plenty more stuff! I should tell you that prescription bottle is not full of pills, but little, tiny hearts that have been die cut from the image you see on the card. Had to put them somewhere!

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and your comments very much, as they keep me moving forward on this creative journey. See you again soon!

Love

Here's a card I put together today using dies from Die-namics. I layered the sentiment, "Love," several times before topping off with Glossy Accents. I also added Glossy Accents to the center of the hearts that go across the bottom. The inside of the card simply says, "is all you need." Very Clean and Simple.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate your visit and your comments very much, as they keep me moving forward on this creative journey. See you again soon!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Snowflakes


Hi! I'm back with another card for today that I'm submitting to The Outlawz Challenges. This one is for Twisted Thursday, and the stipulation was to add a snowflake. So, what the heck, I added three! (What can I say? It's just part of my personality!) I found this embossing folder in my collection that only embosses the border up one side, and it has snowflakes, too. Perfect! I had room for the sentiment, which is from Stampin Up, and then I added the ribbon from Gina K Designs.  Low and behold, I found an old EK Success snowflake punch! I punched out some snowflakes using a Glittered Christmas Cardstock pack from Paper Studio. I doubled up the snowflakes before adding to my page. I also discovered some little blue pearls in my stash, so I centered those in the snowflakes. Finally, I added a touch of Diamond Stickles throughout the embossed part so the rest of the card would sparkle, too.

Thanks for stopping by again today! I appreciate your visits and comments VERY much! They keep me moving forward on this creative journey. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday Color Challenge

Hi there! How's your Saturday coming along? I got up and decided to review challenges at The Outlawz and right away fell in love with the Color Challenge for this week. The colors specified are Lime Crush, Sugar Pink and Gorgeous Grape. Those are some fancy labels! I had the colors from different vendors, so I gave it a whirl. Using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn and Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life Inks in Guava and Grape, I used my stamp set from Simon Says Stamps and started layering that stamp up the page. I absolute love that stamp but cannot remember the name of it. (So sorry!) Once I got up about a third of the page, I inked the additional stamp at the top and added the Happy Birthday sentiment in Memento Black Onyx. Finally, I added the stamped ribbon, filled it in with my Glitter Pen, and wrapped around a White Organza Ribbon that was purchased from Gina K Designs.

This was a fun, Happy, card to make! Love those colors, and they look great together for a Birthday card, which was the "twist" for the challenge. Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and your visits very much! They are very motivating and keep me moving forward on this continuous journey. See you again soon!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Wood!






Hi my friends! How's your Friday? Ready for the weekend? I recently joined a new challenge at modsquadchallenge.blogspot.com. Every Wednesday they start a new challenge and then at the end of the challenge, they pick three winners who might have the opportunity to win some good stuff. This challenge is extra fun because you can use any vendor's products, even though the "Administrators" (Contributors, whatever they're called) for this group are from Gina K Designs. At least that's how I got to know them. They are good people, and I'm so happy they started this!

OK, this card uses paper I received in the Simon Says Stamp Holiday 2013 Card Kit, believe it or not. (Doesn't look like Christmas on my card, though, does it?) The good thing about most of the paper or cardstock in this kit is that it is two-sided, so you have a choice which to use...and that can be a hard choice! The layers are super nice, and they go together nicely, but the top layer is extra special, because it is WOOD paper! Actual WOOD! That's pretty neat! I found it to be very easy to work with -- it cuts nicely and also does a good job handling ink from a stamp. The black embellishment was in a gift bag from a dear friend, Anna Jernigan, who sent me some goodies when I was down and out with a broken leg last year. She has a heart of gold! The sentiment is from Gina K Designs's Vogue Vases 2 stamp set by Theresa Momber. Love that set! Theresa's another dear friend who sent me these stamps when I was recovering from my break. I have some dear Angels in my life, for sure!

OK, that's it for now. Thank you so much  for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and your visits very much. They keep me moving forward on this creative journey. Have a good weekend!

Get Well

Hi there! How is everybody today? Thank Goodness It's Friday! I put this card together this morning using a variety of materials in my stash. A friend of mine sent me the striped paper I used for the background, and I just love it!

For the image and sentiment, I used Gina K Designs Vogue Vases 2 by Theresa Momber. Love that set, and I love Theresa! (She sent me these stamps when I was down and out with a broken ankle/leg last Spring. Very sweet girl!) On top of the floral image,  I stamped the sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Because the striped paper was so vibrant in color and design, I didn't want to take away from the image so I covered it with a piece of vellum (that has sparkles) before attaching. This was layered onto Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Black Onyx and Sandy Beach, both in the cardstock pack for Love Letters patterned paper. The base layer for the card is also Black Onyx, with a layer of Sandy Beach inside to make it light enough for writing a personal message.

Creating this card was a little different for me because I used pieces from a variety of supplies, some from a pack and some pieces that were separate, just laying in my stash. I really like that striped paper and am glad I used it in this card. Floral images are always a favorite for me. Adding the sentiment over the image was a first for me. What do you think?

Thanks for coming by today. I appreciate your visits and your comments very, very much! Hope to see you again soon!!!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Hello Friend

This card is about as Clean and Simple (CAS) as you can get!!! Took me about five minutes to create, and that includes cleaning the ink off the stamps. :)

I will enter this card for the CAS Challenge at Gina K Designs (GKD). That's my natural creative card style (CAS), so I'll probably keep at it the rest of the week. Love it!!!

For this creation, I used Theresa Momber's Vogue Vases 2 stamp set from GKD. This set is full of beautiful yet simple designs of flowers and phrases, which are just perfect for this challenge. I used GKD Cranberry Tart ink and pale yellow/ivory ribbon. (You'd think this was an advertisement for Gina, wouldn't you? Well, that's ok, because her products are top quality!)

Thank you so much for stopping by. Your visits and comments mean the world to me, and they keep me moving forward on this creative journey. See you again soon!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Workdesk Wednesday!

Yes folks, that's my "desk." Actually, this is my Dining Room table, but for now, it's my desk. I've joined in the fun at What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) at the Stamping Ground and, therefore, admit I'm not one to have everything out of site when I work. You know...neat and put away? No! I've got to see what I've got to work with! Here you go...a perfect example! Will I use everything that's out? No, not for just one card...but I might need it for the next. Who knows? I'm not there yet!

Well, this is so embarrassing, I'm going to leave now. Hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday! Thanks for your visits and your comments--I appreciate every one of them very much!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Watercolored Background

Hi again! How are you'all doing today? I've been playing in my watercolors, as you can see. What fun, but messy! Oh, well. That's art, right?

I watched a video from Kristina Werner today where she cut out delicate flowers and layered them on a circle frame, using a watercolored background. I believe she had different colors than me, but I tried her technique and used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries, Dusty Concord and Mowed Lawn. I die cut the flowers with a Dancing Tulips die from Memory Box and layered them on top of the watercolored layer, which had been inserted into the circle frame (I had in my stash). Finally, I put everything on top of a layer of black before adding the patterned paper from Gina K Designs Love Letters. I wrapped a thin red ribbon around the layered pieces and put it on a black onyx cardstock base. Before putting everything away, I added the sentiment from Gina K Designs Bold and Beautiful stamp set, cut with a Spellbinders Oval die.

OK, did you follow all that? This was not an easy card to make, and it was very time-consuming but I like the end result. Now that I've done it once, I might try it again with different colors.

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visits and your comments very, very much. Hope you are having a good day, and I'll see you again soon!

Butterfly

Hello! I've created another Clean and Simple (CAS)...surprise! That seems to be my style. This time, however, I purposely made it CAS so I could submit it to the current challenge at Stamp TV.

I used Gina K Designs (GKD) Pure Luxury White and Ocean Mist cardstock. A GKD ribbon was attached across the bottom of the card, with a stamped butterfly, also from GKD, layered on top. The butterfly is water-colored with Derwent's Inktense Pencils available at Simon Says Stamp in blue, blue-green, and green. Those colors have such vibrant color! Finally, I added the sentiment from GKD stamp set Labelled With Love.

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your visit and especially your comments, for that's how I continue to learn on this creative journey. Have a good day!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Creating Custom Paper

Yesterday I saw a tutorial on Joanna Munster's Inspired By Stamping (WHW #126) showing how to create your own background paper using watercolors. First, I added colors of red, pink and orange from my Inktense Pencils by Derwent (available on Simon Says Stamps) onto watercolor paper. Then, I brushed water across the page to blend the colors. After it dried, I stamped floral images onto the page in red ink. Finally, I stamped butterflies in VersaMark ink across the page and heat embossed them in white. After layering the finished watercolor paper onto Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Red Hot paper, I attached it to the Pure Luxury White card base. All that was left was to add a sentiment, also from Gina K Designs.

This was a fun technique for me, and I appreciate the tutorial from Inspired By Stamping. I have not submitted a card to this challenge before, but for this card, I will. I love their designs, and it would be great to win some products!

I appreciate your visit today and hope to see you again soon. Your visits and comments mean the world to me, so don't forget to write a note before you go! It keeps me moving forward on this creative journey. Thank you!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Heart Circle Card


This card is my second entry for the Challenge at Gina K Designs to be picked for Guest Designer for the month of February. For this Challenge, we were instructed to create a shaped card. I knew I wanted to use my Heart Circle Die from Spellbinders, but it took me a few tries to get it right at the top where it connects. I love this Die, but there are a lot of little pieces to pick out of it once you finish cutting (as you can see all around it). In fact, to get those pieces out, I first put a layer of wax paper in the Die to keep it from sticking. That's a good tip for any of you who have intricate Dies. Wax paper always helps!

Of course, I used Gina K Designs Red Hot Pure Luxury Cardstock and Gina K Designs Pure Luxury White Cardstock, as well as Gina K Designs Red Hot ink. It's for her challenge, after all! The stamp set is her Always and Forever stamp duos.

Thanks for stopping by! I enjoy your visits and your comments, so please keep coming back!

Clean and Simple


Hello Again! You can relax, this isn't another Christmas Card! This card is, however, for another new Challenge I found via my friend, Darnell Knauss. Thank you, Darnell! This one is for The Card Concept at thecardconcept.blogspot.com and it's stipulation was to use certain colors, including espresso, kraft, pink and vanilla. I got every one of those on my card. The base layer is ivory, or "vanilla," the kraft is in the layers of paper, and the pink is in the middle layer of paper and also in the top ribbon, which is laying on top of vanilla (ivory) ribbon. We were also to choose one of the styles mentioned in the Challenge, and I chose Clean and Simple, which is my style on a regular basis!

The paper came in 6 x 6 paper pads from Crate Paper and also Studio Calico, which were in my stocking that my wonderful son packed (Thank you again, Chris!). The ribbons and card base are from Gina K Designs, and the sentiment is from the Stampin Up stamp set called Four You, which I absolutely love!

Thank you for your visit today! I appreciate having you here, and I always appreciate your comments, so don't forget to drop a quick note before you go. That really makes my day-- it means so much to me! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you again soon!

Christmas Again!

Another Christmas card! Yes, you're seeing right...I am entering a new Challenge called Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, and the requirement is to submit a Christmas card (every Monday if you want) with the stipulation it has a ribbon. I put together this card using items from my Simon Says Holiday Christmas Kit. Everything but the blue background paper and the ribbon was in it. Those things came from Gina K Designs. Don't you just love that paper with the white dots? It kind of reminds me of snow falling down.

There will probably be more Christmas cards pop up throughout the year if I keep entering this challenge every week, so don't be surprised when you see more! My thanks to Darnell Klauss for introducing me to this challenge. I just have to try it!

I appreciate your visit here today. Your visits and comments mean the world to me, so keep on keepin' on! See you soon!

Friday, January 10, 2014

What's Poppin'?

What fun is this?! Here is a card created with some of Stamps of Life's latest monthly stamp set for January. It also came with dies that work with the images and oval with sentiments. After stamping with Stamps of Life ink, I layered it with Cranberry Tart paper (from Gina K Designs), then added two more layers of patterned paper from Crate Paper's 6 x 6 inch Pad. That Crate Paper was part of my gift from my son, Chris Richardson, which I found in my stocking. WooHoo! Was that exciting or what? He knows what I love!

Thank you for coming by. Your visits and your comments really make my day. Please come back again soon, and have a good weekend!

If I Had A Flower

I love this sentiment! This card was created for a Monochromatic Challenge at Gina K Design's Stamp TV. We are to use one color, or shades of one color. Black and white are allowed. I love this floral image, as well as the sentiment. I stamped it in black, then added a Gina K ribbon behind the sentiment. I edged the sentiment card with a part of the image, also in black. All this is layered on Gina K's Pure Luxury Turquise Sea and Black Onyx cardstock. The base layer is Pure Luxury white. Eventually, I added a dot of Black Enamel Accents to the center of each flower, but you cannot see that in the photo.

Your visits and your comments mean a lot to me! Thank you for coming by, and I hope to see you again soon!

Rose Banner

Hi everybody! Yes, Kevin was here and now we have another new banner! I wanted something that would work around Valentine's Day without being exactly for Valentine's Day only. I will probably add hearts when it gets closer to the actual day, but for now I think this works nicely. If anyone wonders where I found the images, I simply typed in what I was looking for as a search, (rose images), then picked the actual picture I liked to copy and paste. The hard part is sizing it correctly, but that gets easier the more you do it...or the more you watch someone else do it! Ha! That's my truth!

Look for more posts soon--I have several challenges at Gina K Design's Stamp TV I want to participate in, plus others to try that I've never done before.

Thanks for stopping by. Your visits and comments mean the world to me, and they have a huge part in moving me forward on this creative journey.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

For My Friend

Here's another card I submitted for the Challenge to be a Guest Designer at Gina K Designs Stamp TV. Wouldn't that be great? Their products are top quality, and Gina couldn't be any sweeter. She produces tremendous videos that teach new techniques and more. She is my role model, and I would love to be a part of her team for the one month challenge!

This card uses all Gina K Designs products. For the card base, I used the Springtime Silhouette stamp set, and the tag came from All Occasion Tag set by Tami Mayberry. I die cut it using Spellbinder's Grommet Tags. Inks, also from Gina K, include Fresh Asparagus, Innocent Pink, Honey Mustard and Cranberry Tart. The ribbon is GKD's Ivory.

Thank you so much for your support, your visit and your comments! They really give me a boost, and I appreciate your being here more than you know. You are special friends, indeed! Hope you come back soon!

Monday, January 6, 2014

Thank You

This card was created for a challenge at Gina K Designs. They are offering an opportunity to become a Guest Designer for one month by describing a specific challenge that must meet certain guidelines and be posted within two weeks. Then, there will be another challenge for the same purpose for another two weeks, until four weeks have passed and a winner is selected by the team of moderators and Gina K. That winner will be the Guest Designer for one month, when they start another round of four challenges to give someone else a chance to win and become a Guest Designer. Wouldn't it be fantastic to win? I love Gina K, her products, her videos and her challenges. They are top quality!

This card was created using all Gina K products, including inks in Fresh Asparagus, Honey Mustard, Dark Sage and Ocean Mist; pure luxury card stock in Fresh Asparagus, Ocean Mist, Black Onyx and white; Gina K ribbon; and Sakura Jelly Roll Glitter pen. This was quite a challenge, but I like the outcome. I tried to get everything just perfect, including a good background. With the weather so bitter cold outside, the picture had to be taken inside for a change, but it worked out ok.

Appreciate you stopping by! Your visit and your comments mean the world to me, and I hope to see you again real soon!