Woodgrain Background

Hello! Happy Thursday! The weekend is near, WooHoo! Unfortunately, it's raining outside. Yuk.

This card was created for the Mix It Up Monday Card Challenge at Gina K Designs. We were to create a woodgrain background using a scoreboard and ink. I think it turned out ok, especially if you like green!

I used Honey Mustard, Kraft and Fresh Asparagus inks from Gina K Designs (GKD). Using a butterfly stamp from her Springtime Silhouettes stamp set, I inked it in Fresh Asparagus ink and stamped it a little bit off the side, then added a smaller butterfly from her Dreams Take Flight set. Thinking the frame looked too plain, I distressed the edges with the same ink and added dots. That helped it pop against the Fresh Asparagus cardstock and ribbon, also by GKD.

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

Friendship

Here's another card for Darnell Knauss's NBUS ("Never Before Used Schtuff") Challenge.

 I've had this stamp for years and never used it. I like the way the sticker on top shows the image, but I just never tried it, so today's the day. WooHoo! I love it!

The stamp is a Sue Dreamer stamp by Inkadinkado, and I believe I bought it at JoAnn's when I first started stampng. I think it works well for a friendship card. After coloring in the images with Copics, I punched a few leaf branches out with an EK Success punch and added them to the sentiment tag, cut out with a Spellbinder's die. The sentiment comes from, you guessed it, All Occasion Tags by Tami Mayberry at Gina K Designs. The ribbon is something I've had in my stash for a long time, too, but I do believe I've used it before. Everything was layered onto a pink piece of cardstock from Stampin Up!

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

Happy Aniversary

Hello! Happy Tuesday! I am enjoying a day of crafting inside while the weather is hot and humid outside. Of course, I should be doing housework, but first things, first, right?

This card was designed with a few challenges in mind. Time Out Challenges requires something for Summer, with a twist of flowers. Fusion has a sketch and also the colors yellow, orange and pink; you can either follow the sketch, the colors, or both.  This card follows both. I've also discovered CASology is asking for Anniversary cards. WooHoo!

I think I've got enough on this card to post to all three challenges. WooHoo!  I don't know how some of you do it when you have one card for multiple -- and I mean multiple -- card challenges! It's more than I could keep up with. Go figure. Too much for my little brain...

This card is a little different in that I watercolored the image. The class I took (Watercolors for Card Makers Online Card Class) was so much fun it got me hooked. Now, every time I see this stamp, I think I need to watercolor it just because I did it in class. It is a challenge to keep it in the lines, but I enjoy sitting down and focusing on the image while I paint.

The sentiment is from All Occasion Tags by Tami Mayberry at Gina K Designs. It's an old stamp set but I rarely use the Happy Anniversary stamp. This is a great set to have because it's full of sentiments you could use every day.

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

Well Done

Hi there! I'm back! I decided to get out my Cricut and join the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge. We were to create a card to replenish my stash. Well, I don't have many encouraging cards around, so this image in the Block Party cartridge was what I picked.

(I'm having trouble connecting the LINK, so I apologize for that!)

This card is intended to go to my ex-husband, who is the father of my two grown sons. Although divorced, we remain good friends, and I wanted to send him a card for Father's Day. This seemed to fit the bill.

It was fun getting out the Cricut again. I must admit, it's been a while. Lots of gluing little, tiny pieces but I still enjoyed it. I felt a little like I was working a puzzle!

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

For A Friend

Hi there!  How is everybody doing on this pretty Saturday? I found an opportunity to post another card. This one is for Darnell J Knauss at djkardkcreations. She's got blog candy...woohoo! I'm up for that!

We were supposed to create a card for a friend. That means something bright and happy to me. We were also supposed to use NBUS, which means "never before used schtuff," as she puts it. That was easy, because these stamps and dies from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life just came in the mail! They didn't sit around for long. I couldn't wait to dig in and try them out.

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

Bleached Heart

Watch Out! I'm on a roll with this bleaching technique! This is my second post for today, and I'm having fun!

This is a post for the Mod Squad Challenge, which asked for an Anniversary card. I think this one would work well.

I used the hand and heart image from Gina K Design's Where Your Heart Is stamp set by Melanie Muenchinger. First, I used clear embossing powder to heat emboss the image that had been inked in black Versafine ink.Then I painted around and inside the hands with bleach and watched the magic happen as the Ocean Mist cardstock turned to an ivory color. Soooo cool!

This technique is so much fun, it's addictive. I like how the colors in the patterned paper, also from Gina K Designs, go so well with the bleached cardstock. This wasn't planned at the beginning -- I painted first to see what color the cardstock would turn before selecting the background paper. I was amazed how lucky I was that it all worked together. I used a piece of Ocean Mist ribbon around the patterned paper and then added the sentiment. All of this was layered onto Black Onyx cardstock to finish up the card.

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

Bleached Flower

Happy Friday everybody! Wow, this week went by fast! I am so glad you're here today. This is a new technique to show you.

Gina K Designs Stamp TV has a challenge up to try a technique using bleach. You could either put the entire stamp into a pad soaked in bleach and then stamp it, or you could stamp an image of an outline and fill it in with a brush dipped in bleach. I chose the latter. Even though they said it doesn't hurt your stamp to dip it in bleach, I was afraid to do it! Of course, these techniques called for rubber stamps, not clear.

The flower is from Gina K Design's Whimsical Wishes stamp set illustrated by Theresa Momber, and the sentiment is from their Framed Greetings set. I used patterned paper and cardstock from the Gina K Designs Shabby Spring Stamp TV kit.

The image is heat embossed in white onto Turquoise Sea cardstock, but once I painted the flower with bleach, it turned a very pale yellow. Depending on the color of the cardstock, the bleach could change it to any color once applied. It is a very interesting technique to use and you never know what color you will create with the bleach.

If you haven't tried this technique, I encourage you to jump in and join us! It took me a very long time to actually do it. I've watched Gina's videos many times but was too hesitant to try it until this challenge. Go ahead, give it a try!

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

Swirls

Hello! Happy Sunday to you! I hope you're having a good, positive day. The weather is beautiful today here in North Carolina, and I'm enjoying the sunshine.

Every now and then I see a card on Facebook that I really want to try. This is my take on one of those cards. If I knew who should get the credit, I would name them, but the card has long since disappeared and I can't tell you a thing.

A dear friend of mine, who desires to remain nameless, sent me some beautiful swirl, flourish stamps. When I saw the card on FB, I knew I could use them to get the same effect. They turned out pretty good!

I added Liquid Pearls to the dots around the swirl and along the bottom in the border which was cut with a punch from EK Success. The sentiment and frame are from Gina K Designs.

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