Noel

Hello again! I'm back with another quick post of a Christmas card I created. This is my very favorite of all of them because of the unexpected background.

After watching a video by Jennifer McGuire a few weeks ago, I was inspired to get out my old alcohol inks & glossy cardstock. It had been so long, I wasn't even sure they would have any color left. (Most of them did, some of them did not, btw.) Well, I played & played until my hands and fingers were covered. The inked pieces on glossy were set aside until a later time when I would have some idea of what to do with them.

Fast forward to the week before Christmas, and I decided to try my new die from Memory Box that you see above. Once cut, it had many, many little pieces except the scene of Joseph and Mary with Baby Jesus. I saw the scene and suddenly realized the piece that was used with blue alcohol inks might work for the background. Voila! A card was born.

If you look closely, you might be able to tell some silver alcohol ink was used along with the blue on the glossy cardstock. Amazed, I was able to place the diecut piece with the scene so the silver looked like a bright glow around the baby's head. I couldn't have planned that if I'd tried!

Thank you for stopping by again! As always, I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Christmas Cards

Hello everybody! Today I'm posting several Christmas cards that I have been creating during the past few weeks. I've had my head buried in cardstock, inks & stamps so much I haven't taken the time to post them. I had a deadline! Fortunately, all 50 went out in the mail yesterday. Whew! That was close.

To avoid a super-long blog post, I'm not going to describe every detail of every card. I think most of you have seen foiled cards before like you see above. Most products are from Gina K Designs and/or Thermo-Web.

The two cards posted above are for fun. The first one is from a Sizzix Flip-It Die and a "Pudgie" stamp from The Stamps of Life. For the second one, I used reindeer stamps & dies from Mama Elephant. (Please excuse the poor coloring on these fellas - I was trying some new markers and turns out I didn't like them! Going back to my Copics.) The sentiments used on both of these cards are from Gina K Designs.

The 3 cards posted above are some of the prettiest cards I created this year (in my opinion). The card with the wooden piece and flowers was created after watching a video by Lisa Hedtrick at Gina K Designs. I absolutely LOVE this set and plan to use it a lot more in the immediate future, possibly for Valentine's cards.

The two cards with poinsettias are favorites, as well. I used an old Tim Holtz die on paper stamped with a background stamp then inked the edges before adding Stickles. The ribbons are from Gina K, as well as the sentiment. The photograph does not show the glistening gold very well. It looks darker here than it really is.

Following this, I will have another post that shows a rather unique background I created using a different technique. Stay tuned!

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Sharon

Happy Birthday Cory!

Hi everybody, and Happy Thanksgiving! As you can see, I still have Baby Cory on my mind. His pictures are the first thing I look at in the morning and the last in the evening. Now that the baby is two weeks old, I thought it was about time to show you his Birth Day card I created immediately after he was born.

I used a Sizzix die for the card arrangement, and a variety of colored Gina K Designs cardstock that worked together to keep the spirit happy and bright.

The little "poem" on the front is a sticker from my stash. (I've been waiting on a grandchild a LONG time!) I included other various stickers throughout the card that were related to babies.

Then, for my second part of this post, after I created the card, I went to Shelly's Scrap N Design and got help with my Cricut and some vinyl to create this shirt.

Thought it was appropriate, and I'm more than proud to use my new name!

Before I go, I MUST show you another picture of the new man in my life...

Isn't he adorable???!!!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and can enjoy your family & friends today. Thank you so much for stopping by. I appreciate your comments & visits and look forward to seeing you again real soon ~

Shout Out!

Hi everybody! Hope you're having a wonderful day.

The card I am sharing was created for a friend to give to a minister for her birthday. We knew it should be a CAS card with a cross on it, so this is what I came up with. The inside says "Happy Birthday," which is the perfect occasion to "sing for joy!"

The cross and bible verse came from a stamp set by MayMay Made It. I belong to their club and get spiritual stamp sets every month. It's a true joy to discover what's next!

The green strip is simply a piece of Washi Tape. The oval dies are from Gina K Designs, as is the cardstock I used.

On a personal note, I have BIG news! I am a GRANDMOTHER! Cory Oren Richardson was born 5 weeks early on Nov 6, weighing in at 6 lb, 6 oz. I am SO EXCITED!

OK, thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much and hope to see you again real soon ~

Frames

Hi everybody! I think I'm about recovered from the past two Hurricanes (Florence and Michael) so it's time to get back to cardmaking!

For this one I used Mama Elephant's Little Frames set stamped in Gina K's Black Onyx ink. The top piece was layered onto a Red Velvet card base. I also used Red Velvet ink by Gina K Designs for the hearts.

This was a very simple card to make, but it was fun. I saw a similar card design somewhere and decided to try it. Thanks to whoever posted the original. Hope you don't mind I CASEd it!

Thank you for coming back to me! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Flowers

Hello! Hope your Sunday is going well. Today I'm posting yet another birthday card, this time a box card full of flowers. The picture is a little fuzzy since I enlarged it, but you can still see the sentiment.

I created this card using a die from Sizzix and some birthday paper from Stephanie Barnard's The Stamps of Life. The flowers were cut from a mixture of dies I had in my stash, mostly from Sizzix. It was fun putting the different die cuts together to create the flowers. The grass, also cut from a Sizzix die, was added as a base.

This card went to my daughter-in-law, whose birthday was July 7.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

As Cool As You!

Hello again! I hope you had a good Fourth of July. I'm still working on birthday cards, as we have a lot of July birthdays in my family, and also among my friends.

This card was created for my sister's 65th birthday, July 2. She loves red, so I used red ink a lot on it. The popsicles, dies and front sentiment came from Taylored Expressions, and the bundle is called Chill Out. The inside sentiment came from a set I bought at The Stamps of Life.

Physical Therapy continues. The Vertigo has finally faded, and now we're working on balance. I've been pretty busy with it, so I'm sorry I'm behind commenting on some of your blogs.

I do appreciate you stopping by today. Your comments and visits mean the world to me, so I hope to see you again real soon ~

P.S. Here's a picture of me with my sister which was taken a few years ago. Happy Birthday, Cecilia!

Happy Anniversary

Hi everybody! How's your day coming along?

Today's card is one I made for my son and his wife for their 6th Anniversary.  I wanted to create something special, something that really spoke to them.

Coleman, my son, loves turtles. Meredith, my DIL, loves squirrels. So I went through all my stamps and finally found one of each to put on the card.

The turtle came from The Stamps of Life and the squirrel (which I watercolored) is from an old stamp set that is not labelled. The inside (sorry so fuzzy) was a no-brainer. Lots of love was sent in that envelope! I layered the center pieces onto red cardstock cut with a Spellbinders die from my stash and then put it onto Kraft cardstock. Finally, I added a few heart sequins from my Stampin Up stash.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Happy Mother & Father

Hi everybody! Hope you enjoyed celebrating Father's Day over the weekend.

I was recently told a very special young couple is expecting a baby in December, so I quickly got to work and created these two cards for them. The Mother's Day card was obviously belated, but I sent it with the Father's Day card so they would both get them at the same time.

The sentiment on the front of both of these cards was taken from the Happy stamp and die set from Inspired By Stamping. The DAD and MOM die cuts on the inside were from Simon Says Stamp's Big Mom and Big Dad sets. I cut these multiple times and layered them before adhering so they would stand out. The Congratulations stamp and die came from Stampin Up's Itty Bitty Banners set. The stickers were from my stash. They're so old I was surprised they'd still work!

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

BeYOUtiful

Hello everybody! How's your week coming along? I've got a bright card for you today that includes lots of glitter (thanks to Stickles I still use). 

I created this with a new stamp & die set from The Stamps of Life called Sayings 4 Butterfly.  I think they look so cute with the facial expressions. I used some new colors that just came out from Gina K Designs to color the butterfly and also some cardstock of similar colors for layering.  Finally, I added some Stickles to cheer the recipient.

This was a very simple card to create. Next one I'll add more to it. I sent this one to a dear, dear friend of mine. It surprised her, and she loved it!

Thank you for stopping by again today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Little Monkey Agenda

Hi everybody! Surprise! I'm back! Sorry it's been so long. I've had Vertigo so bad I haven't been able to do much at all. Fortunately, I've finally been able to see an excellent Physical Therapist who treats it. She's done an excellent job so far, which means I can accomplish a little more now than in the past few months. YAY!

First, I apologize for the picture of the front of the card. I couldn't get it close enough for a good shot.

This card was made for a friend of mine who has been a big part of my life for the past 10 years. He helps me anytime I need him, and for that I'm very thankful. We have fun, so I decided to make a fun card for him.

The stamp & die set I used are called Little Monkey Agenda, and the frames are called Little Agenda Frames. Both are from Mama Elephant. I watched a video of someone creating a card with them, and I suddenly HAD to try it! (I think it was Laura Bassen, but I'm not sure. Can't find the video anymore! Don't you hate that?) I popped up the frames with Fun Foam that I die cut to fit, then I slid the monkey underneath so it would show up in the window. For the inside, I die cut the sentiment & added a couple more monkeys. It was a fun card to create!

Thank you for coming back to see my new cards. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon - more cards coming!

You're So Kind

Hi everybody! How's your day been? I am way late getting this blog updated, and I apologize for that! My computer finally died - it wouldn't back up and it kept shutting down when I would be in the middle of something, like adding a post on here! Fortunately, I got another computer to use, but then I couldn't get into my blog. Frustrating! Today, I finally figured it out, so here we are. :)

First, I want to thank my friend, Kevin, again for the new St. Patrick's Day banner you see up above. He's a real genius when it comes to computers. I've learned a lot from him!

Today's card was created for a dear friend of mine. She loves pastel colors, and especially pink, so I knew she'd like it. She and her husband had given me the softest blanket I've ever had. This is her Thank You note from me to her.

I used a free stamp & die set Spellbinders sent me during the holidays. I love the little dainty flowers it makes. The Thank You stamp set came from My Favorite Things. Love the big size of the letters. I cut it out with one of my Spellbinders dies and added some Washi Tape and brads I've had forever in my stash.

Thanks for your patience while I worked out the computer problems! I appreciate you coming by today, and as always, I love your comments!  I look forward to seeing you again real soon~

More Kindness

Hello everybody! I'm back with another "Kindness" card for the Monthly Mix Challenge over at Gina K Designs. These are nice cards to make.

I changed the settings on my camera and changed the location for my picture taking. I also used the Ott light with it (thank you, Judy, for that suggestion!). Now you can see the yellow wallpaper behind the card, but at least the picture is more clear. Does it look better to you?

For this card, I used the Boho Flowers kit (also from Gina K) and did some coloring with my Inktense Pencils. Part of the sentiment is die cut in black and the rest is stamped.

Another very Clean and Simple card from me. Would you expect anything else?

Thank you for your kind remarks and prayers while I'm been battling Cluster migraines. After talking with and visiting my PCP and neurologist, I was given the medication necessary to break up the cycle. That has helped tremendously. Any of you who know about Clusters, they are extremely painful. It's hard to move forward with life (or move at all!) while going through a cycle. Now, fortunately, I'm able to deal with them easier and get back to my crafting. It's been several weeks since they started, so the cycle should go away soon. Praise God!They usually last 4-6 weeks.

Snuggles says hello. She somehow got a hold of my old paintbrushes without my knowing it and moved them, one by one, into the bathroom where she kept them under the glass scale.  Every now and then she moves the scale to get to them. That's where I discovered them, all lined up. Guess I'll have to find a new place to keep both the scale and the paintbrushes!

Hope you'all have a wonderful day! Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and visits VERY much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Kindness Times Two

Hello everybody! I'm here with two cards I entered into the Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K Designs' Stamp TV. The theme was kindness, so I chose these two sentiments for my cards.

I foiled the sentiments in Rose Gold with my Heidi Swapp Mini Minc Machine and then layered them onto some turquoise and pink cardstock from my stash. The bling was added and the flowers watercolored. That's all it took! I tend to make CAS cards, in case you hadn't noticed.

Any suggestions on how to clear up these pictures are welcome. I can't get them as clear in this new apartment as they used to be in the old place. Drives me crazy!

Sorry if most of you have already seen these on the Gina K Stamp TV site. My post is late because I've been dealing with Cluster Headaches, a type of Migraine. They only hit me every couple years, and leave after about four weeks. Two more weeks to go! One of these days, I'll grow out of them.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits VERY much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Dog Talk

Hi everybody! I'm here today with a birthday card for my brother. Don't worry, he never has the time to check my blog!

The set I used today is called Dog Talk and it's by Tim Holtz. The dog stamps came with an embossing folder (which I used on the front panel) and dies. I used all of them for this card, although it's a very clean & simple card. Most of mine are that way, I guess.

My brother, turning 61 this month, has a Pitbull named Izzy. She is the most loving dog I've ever seen, and I have no doubt she is the love of his life. She loves to get up on her hind legs and give BIG hugs. She's very strong, so there's no way you can resist her love!

On another note, I got my banner changed for Valentine's Day. It will be here before you know it!

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~