Altered Treat Jar with Hearts

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a fun altered treat jar I decorated with tissue paper hearts for the Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Anything but a Card Challenge. I like to save my empty glass jars and bottles to decorate as treat jars for gifts. For this one, I started with some salvaged dark pink tissue gift wrap. I stamped it with my Winnie & Walter - Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stamp set in gold and silver pigment ink.

Next I folded it into several layers and die cut it with the solid heart die from my Serendipity - Heart Scroll stamp and die set.

I had previously gessoed up the lid, so it was time to put a heart on it. I used a matte decoupage medium.

I had already glued a "paint clean up" paper towel onto the jar, so it was ready for hearts, too. I outlined them with Elmer's Painters Markers in silver.

After the hearts and all the decoupage medium were dry, I spread some Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel here and there for some sparkle in between the hearts. After the glitter gel was completely dry, I rubbed on some Gelatos in Metallic Grape and Bubble Gum. I blended it with my fingers and misted with water to let it blend and run together. I put some on the lid, too, for some pretty color. I also sprayed it here and there with my Hero Arts Neon Ink Spray in pink.



I got tired of waiting for the neon ink spray to dry where it had pooled, so I got out my Perfect Pearls and dusted on some of the powder in Interference Red to absorb the rest of the tackiness and to give some extra shimmer.








Here's the front of the jar:

I finished up the jar with a shimmery ribbon and a tag I cut from a free printable from the Winnie & Walter shop. It's from their Daily Grind Collection Vol. 1 - Holiday Mint. I used my Paper Smooches - Gift Tags Dies to cut the tag.

That's all for now. Tomorrow (Saturday) is my birthday and we are going to be gone so I want to get this posted tonight. :) Don't forget to be watching for my Belated 2nd Blogoversary/Birthday Giveaway in early March! Yay! Have a wonderful weekend.

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this project in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Two Challenge with Shay (I used 2 colors of ink and 2 colors of pink paper)
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Anything but a Card Challenge
3. Serendipity Stamps Challenge #52 - Anything Goes
4. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
5. Little Claire's Designs Challenge #66 - Love and Marriage
6. Creative Artiste Mixed Media - Anything Goes with Mixed Media
7. Design Memory Craft Take the Challenge with Mou February - Hearts
8. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Love Card with Heart Doily

I just love photos of cat friends. I have a couple of boy kitties at my house that are best buds: Marshmallow and Alexander. They are so sweet together....rubbing, play-wrestling, eating, and hanging out.. Marshy lost his previous best buddy, Suzie, a year ago or so. Suzie was a highly-intelligent and very short-haired Siamese X and we thought simple-minded Marshy would be lost without her. (Talking for big fat fluffy Marshy we would say: "Suzie has enough brains for the two of us and I have enough coat.") But, for whatever reason, he never seemed affected by her loss. At any rate, when Alexander showed up, it wasn't long before he and Marshy were bonded. Now...Marshy is the brains AND the coat of this pair! Ha. That's how naive and simple Alexander is!!! lol...

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a sweet card I made for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge. They have just the freshest and prettiest color combination this time. I couldn't resist playing along!

I pulled another pieced card base from my stash that I had made months ago. It already had these fabulous colors on it, so I went to work. I decided to go feminine this time and added a big heart doily that goes over the edge.

For the sentiment panel, I used part of the Unity - Love Itty Bitty set. I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed it with silver powder. Love the swirling font and the shimmer. I wanted something more on the panel, so I used some 4 pointed stars from my Winnie & Walter - Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stamp set. I stamped them in a sweep across the panel with Distress Ink in Stormy Sky, stamping off on scrap paper to mute the intensity of the color. Then I took a sparkly clear gel pen and filled in some of the stars and outlined some of the others. I also added tiny dots here and there. I LOVE the magical look!!

I really love how this card turned out.  It has non-traditional colors for a valentine, but I think it could be used as a wedding card.  What do you think?  How would you use it?  

Thank you so much for stopping in today.  Hey, tomorrow's my birthday, but I have been so busy this month with being sick and taking care of sick granddaughter and trying to play in challenges that I haven't gotten a 2nd Blogoversary/Janis' Birthday Giveaway organized.  I think I will take a cue from Winnie & Walter and do a Belated Birthday giveaway.  lol...  So stay tuned in early March for that!  It's only one short leap day away!  :)

<3

Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Two Challenge with Shay (I used 2 colors -green and blue...and stamps from 2 companies - W&W and Unity)
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash - Over the Edge (My heart doily goes over the edge.)
3. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Inspired by a Song
("We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters - "White lace and promises...." Do young people even know about this song, anymore????? Ha.)
4. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
5. Sweet Stamps Blog February Challenge - Anything Goes
6. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
7. Little Claire's Designs Challenge #66 - Love and Marriage
8. Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #348

Happy Belated 2nd Birthday to Winnie & Walter!

Hi, Friends....

If you haven't noticed, I have been having a ton of fun making projects for the Winnie & Walter's Belated 2nd Birthday Bash challenge extravaganza! What's a birthday without a pretty tag for the gift? I made this one for their Rainbow Challenge. It was another fast one because I already had the textured bokeh rainbow piece leftover from some previous experiment. It was dry embossed with my Darice - Swirl Background folder.

I used another of the Winnie and Walter free printables from the 1st Birthday Bash Digital Elements Collection. I printed out the 3x4 journaling card that said "Let's Celebrate" and die cut it with my Paper Smooches - Gift Tags Dies. I used a scrap of yellow cardstock for an additional layer in back and tied it with some pretty pastel lime chevron ribbon that my crafty friend, Karen L., sent me. :) With all the colors on this tag, it will look great with almost any solid color gift bag. Yay!

Thank you for taking a peek at my project. Hope you are getting your week wrapped up so you can play in all the challenges, too!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this tag in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash Rainbow Challenge
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Anything but a Card Challenge
3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
4. Sweet Stamps Blog February Challenge - Anything Goes

Pretty Blue Spring Flowers

Hi, Friends......

I am here with a pretty floral card in cool spring colors for the Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash Floral Challenge.  This was an easy one to make because I already had the pieced card background lying in wait in my stash.  :)  I used one of the fun free printables from the Winnie & Walter shop.  This squiggly frame is from their 1st Birthday Bash Digital Elements Collection.  

The flowers and stems are from a very old Stampin' Up set that I got at a thrift store. I don't know the name of it. I stamped them on the printable with Altenew Crisp Dye Ink in Desert Night (THANKS, Jennifer McGuire and Altenew!!) and Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn. The two tones of blue were done by stamping them again without reinking. I die cut the panels with my My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Square STAX die set and layered them over my card base. I love the clean fresh look. Do you?

Thank you for stopping in. I have been making tons of cards lately for lots of challenges. Hope you are participating in all the fun games, too!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash Floral Challenge
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Two Challenge with Shay
 (I used 2 colors of ink and layered 2 die cut stitched squares)
3. Craftin Desert Divas - Nature's Wonders
4. Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday February Challenge - Use Florals
5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
6. Sweet Stamps Blog February Challenge - Anything Goes
7. Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #348

Grungy Valentine with Inlaid Die Cut

Okay, so it's not a cat meme this time.....but it is funny.  :)

Hi, Friends.....

I am here to share another inlaid die cut card that I made for the Waffle Flower February Challenge. It's almost time to put my valentine supplies away for another year, but first I wanted to try a different kind of heart project using some grungy mixed media techniques. I used my Waffle Flower - On My Mark stamp set and the solid heart die from my Serendipity - Heart Scroll stamp and die set.

My background was made by gessoing up a piece of white cardstock and then rubbing some red Gelato onto it.  Then I misted with water to make some scrumptious drips and pools.  After it was dry, I stamped and dry embossed over it.  Not much of the texture shows in the photograph.  

Other supplies used include:
Gelato - Red Cherry
Darice - Birthday with Dots - used just the dotted part for the inlaid heart
Darice - Crackle embossing folder for red background
Versafine Ink - Smokey Gray for stamping sentiment
Distress Ink - Black Soot for stamping on red background
Heart background stamp from dollar rack
Versamark ink and silver embossing powder for loooooooong cat

Thanks for stopping by today. Maybe this has inspired you to break out of your usual style and try something a bit experimental, too. I'd love to see what you come up with!!
<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Waffle Flower February 2016 Challenge - Inlaid Die Cutting
2. Double D Challenges - Red and White
3. Design Memory Craft Take the Challenge with Mou February - Hearts

You're So Amazing!

Ha.  Peacocks are pretty amazing.  Some people a few miles away have peafowl.  During certain times of the year when you are driving past on the narrow, steep, winding dirt/gravel road past their house, their crazy peacock will jump into the road and display his tail at you... lol...  He's ready to take on all comers and is not about to let anyone steal away the affections of his peahens!!!  :)  

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a card I made for the Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Make Your Own Background Challenge. I love making backgrounds, as you might know, and I have dozens of them sitting around in various stages of completion. This one was an experiment with craft foiling that had been in my stash for over a year. I had begun with a premade embossed card base and brayered Tombow Multi Mono Glue over the texture and pressed on some gold Clearsnap - Designer Foils. I loved how it turned out, but was waiting for just the right time to use it. Well, I rediscovered it the other day and couldn't leave well enough alone. Ha.

I tore the embossed cover off of the card base and decided to make it also fit with the W&W Color Challenge (coral, lime, chartreuse, and aqua). So I got out my Dylusions Ink Sprays in Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise and went at it. I put it atop some tissue scavenged from some old gift wrap to catch the overspray. This colorful tissue will end up as a mixed media project, eventually. :) Still not being content with it just sprayed, I also misted it with water for a blended look. LOVE!!!

I didn't have any coral mist, so I put some Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral reinker in a mini-mister with some water and splattered it here and there for some accents.

Next, I stamped the sentiment panel with a background of tiny dots in gold ink from my Winnie & Walter - Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stamp set and a sentiment from my Powerpoppy - Azalea stamp set (Thanks, PP!!) in Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and heat embossed with clear powder. Here's my finished card:

Hope you enjoyed my card. Maybe it has inspired you to add mists and sprays to some of your cards, too!

Have a great mid-week! Thank you for stopping by to visit!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Create Your Own Background
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash Color Challenge - coral, lime/chartreuse and aqua/light turquoise.
3. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Use Gold + Watercolor
4. A Colourful Journey February Let's Play Challenge - Use neglected supplies
5. Moving Along with the Times Challenge #14 - Words Only, No Image
6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
7. Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #282 - Create Your Own Background

Peace - Inlaid Die Cut

Awwwww......

Hi, Friends......

I'm here with a simple card that I made for the Winnie & Walter Belated Birthday Party Inlaid Die Cut Challenge. As you might already know, I am not a big one to use digis or printables. However, Winnie & Walter has a bunch of really fun freebies on their website. That's where I got this image. :) It's from the Daily Grind Collection Vol. 1 - Holiday Mint.

I thought it would look nice as an inlaid scene, so I die cut it with my My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Square STAX die set and cut a corresponding hole in a white background I dry embossed with my Darice - Snowflakes folder. I like the subtle texture the dry embossing brings without drawing too much attention away from the image panel.

This scene looked so peaceful that I pulled out a sentiment from my Mark's Finest Papers - Crisp Winter stamp set and stamped the word PEACE with Versafine - Smokey Gray ink on a scrap of white cardstock that I had die cut with my Inspired by Stamping - Fancy Labels 3 Dies. I sponged the edges lightly with Distress Ink - Pine Needles and put it up on foam squares.

I resisted the urge to do much more to this card because I love the CAS look with all the white....so I didn't add any glitter or heat embossing. I matted with a narrow band of green and mounted it on a white card base.

I am really loving this simple card and I hope you do, too. Please join us over at Winnie & Walter. They have a ton of things going on over there!!! See you soon with more cards.

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash - Inlaid Die Cutting
2. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Two Challenge with Shay (The image has 2 deer and I used 2 colors of cardstock)
3. Mod Squad Challenge Blog - The Great Outdoors
4. Word Art Wednesday Challenge #220 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
5. Craftin Desert Divas - Nature's Wonders
6. Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #348

Asian Look Layered Embossed Anniversary Card

Hi, Friends......

I am here with a pretty anniversary card I made from a background I'd had around for awhile. The background was made with DCWV scraps glued onto the cardstock and dry embossed with my Darice - Flowers and Vines Pattern folder. I thought it had kind of a peaceful Asian garden look to it, so I stamped over it with a Chinese character text stamp from my Mark's Finest Papers - Works of Art stamp set with Distress Ink in Peeled Paint.  The stamp mostly hit just the high points giving more depth to the embossed surface.

I used the same text stamp on the sentiment panel and heat embossed a Happy Anniversary stamp from my stash.  Do you like the pretty pearl and lace trim I added to one of the panels?  I thought it added just the right touch of frill to the card.  Kraft seemed to go well with the calm colors, too, so I matted my sentiment panel with it and put it all on a kraft card base.  I really like how this turned out.  Hope you do, too!!

Thank you for coming to visit.  I hope you have a great week!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Craft Stamper Take It Make It February Challenge - Text Me
2. Craftin Desert Divas - Nature's Wonders
3. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
4. Amusing Challenge - Paper Scraps
5. Die Cut Divas February Challenge - Love, Marriage, Anniversary
6. Crop Stop Linky Party #13 - Anything Goes (used a Darice embossing folder)
7. Word Art Wednesday Challenge #220 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
8. Pixie's Snippets Playground Week 217 - Use Snippets

Puffy Heart Valentine

Hi, Friends.....

I still have my valentine supplies out, so I am sharing a quick Happy Valentine's Day card I made.  I actually like making cards after the holiday (when there is no pressure) for having on hand for the next year.  Seems like I am always in a time crunch and it is such a relief to open my storage box for a particular occasion and find some ready-to-use cards already in there!  Yay!

For this card, I used an adorable Great Impressions kitty stamp (#E860S) which sadly seems to be discontinued. I stamped with Versafine ink in Smokey Gray and heat embossed with clear powder.  Next, I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut it with my My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Square STAX die set.  I added some sweet puffy heart trim that my crafty friend, Karen L., sent to me a long time ago.  It's a super-simple card, but I really like how it turned out.  Hope you do, too.  I might have to make a few more of these while I still have my things out!

Have a great week!!!

<3

Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Double D Challenges - Red and White
2. Great Impressions February Challenge - Let's Celebrate! (Hey, I am STILL celebrating Valentine's Day!!!  Aren't you???)
3. Crop Stop Linky Party #13 - Anything Goes (Used MFT Die-Namics Dies)
4. Penny Black at All Sorts February Challenge - Anything Goes with Stamp and Die
5. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
6. Addicted to Stamps Challenge #120 - Die Cuts
7. SUYP - Cats Only Challenge #3- Kitty Love
8. Die Cut Divas February Challenge - Love, Marriage, Anniversary

Springtime Z-Fold Card

Hi, Friends......

I am here to share a pretty springtime card with a Z-Fold Design. I used the fabulous tutorial with this week's MFP Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge where we are asked to make a card of this kind. It's the first one I have ever made. It was fun and easy!

I used the bunny from my Mark's Finest Papers - Hoppy Easter stamp set and the crocus from my Inspired by Stamping - Garden Seed Packets stamp set to make a sweet early spring scene for my card. I colored my little scene with my aquabrush, Gelatos, and Crayola Watercolor Pencils. The scariest part of the whole card was hand-drawing in those little tufts of grass!! Eeek! (I probably have them too evenly distributed, don't I? Oh, well...) I cut the squares for the image panels with my My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Square STAX die set.

I used patterned paper from my DCWV Fresh Floral Stack and I finished things off with two sizes of Petaloo daisies with rhinestone centers and a bit of sparkle gel pen over the crocus petals. Fun.

Thank you for stopping in today. Have a lovely week!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Mod Squad Challenge Blog - The Great Outdoors
2. MFP Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge #8 - Z-Fold Cards
3. Craftin Desert Divas - Nature's Wonders
4. Twofers Challenge #14 - Anything Goes with a Stamp no Digis
5. Crop Stop Linky Party #13 - Anything Goes (Used MFT Die-Namics Dies)
6. Docerela Challenge #96 - Pastel Colors
7. Penny Black at All Sorts February Challenge - Anything Goes with Stamp and Die
8. Little Scrap Pieces Show-it-Off Saturday Linky Party
9. Addicted to Stamps Challenge #120 - Die Cuts

Easter Card with Gingham and Flowers

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a sweet pastel Easter card to help get us in the mood for spring.  Easter is early this year on March 27th! (That means we will probably have snow on Easter morning here in Idaho, but I don't mind.  Easter sunrise services are very beautiful with snow either falling or on the ground!) It will be here before we know it!

I used one of my favorite techniques on this card: layered embossing. I glued these pretty floral and gingham scraps onto cardstock and then dry embossed with my Darice - Floral and Butterfly Background folder.

NOTE:  I am very pleased to mention that Crop Stop carries a ton of gorgeous Darice embossing folders...in addition to many other brands.  You will want to check them out.  I noticed several patterns that are hard to find!  I am using the CS link for the folder I used for today's project in my Product Links page. 

I kept this card very simple by using only a small sentiment (from a discontinued Clear Stamps set) stamped with Versafine ink in Smokey Gray and then adding some sparkly jeweled flowers.  I like the pretty uncluttered look.

Thank you for your kind words about my projects.  Your visits and meaningful comments make my day.  I hope you are getting ready to have a great weekend!!

<3 
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. DRS Designs Challenge #214 - Inspired by Color  Use some or all of the colors.

2. Word Art Wednesday Challenge #220 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
3. Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #216 - Use Snippets
4. Crop Stop Linky Party #13 - Anything Goes (used a Darice embossing folder)
5. Great Impressions February Challenge - Let's Celebrate!

Words Cannot Express.......

Hi, Friends......

I am here to share a card of love and appreciation for my dear hubby.  He did something really special for me for Valentine's Day and I wanted to make him a card to tell him how much I love and admire him.....even though words cannot adequately express it at all.  (Awwww....now I have gone all mushy!)

I'm not eloquent, like he is, so I may have gone a little crazy with a bunch of terrific words I found in an ancient paper stack.  (And I do mean ANCIENT!!!  I got it in a thrift store grab bag, but the stack has a 2005 copyright on it!!  EEEK!  I must have bought the grab bag for the other contents, because I think this is the first time or maybe second time that I have ever used anything from this very dated and neglected stack!)

I resisted the urge to use the word tile that said "Grumpy"  lol....

Do you like the little charms???  Since this is for hubby, I didn't want to go overboard on embellishments...but I thought the charms worked fine.  My daughter gave me a bunch of these miscellaneous pieces when she discovered how much I loved that broken owl charm I used recently.  It was fun picking out a few to place near the appropriate words.  I think you can see most of them pretty well, but the intelligent little owl next to the "expert" is one of my favorites.

I took some liberties, but I really did follow the Atlantic Hearts Sketch for this card....at least for the background panels.  :)





I used very few other supplies but here they are:  Distress Ink in Fired Brick, DCWV cardstock in white and red, Beacon 3-in-1 craft glue.  Oh, and, in case you are interested, this old stack of paper is called "Deja Views - Alpha Blocks in Really Hot Red".  (Yikes!....Even the name and color description sound dated!  Ha.  It also says it contains over 660 pieces ... (gulp) ... Horrors!!!)

I hope you enjoyed seeing this card.  Maybe it inspires you to do some stashbusting by pulling out some really old product or perhaps it gives you some ideas of ways to use all those words that you have piled up somewhere!  Since I am a cardmaker and not a scrapper, I tend not to use these words very much.  Anyway, I was delighted to think of this card idea.  I think my dear hubby will like it, too.

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Atlantic Hearts Challenge - Sketch #147
2. Double D Challenges - Red and White
3. Moving Along with the Times Challenge #14 - Words Only, No Image
4. The Male Room Challenge #29 - Monochromatic
5. A Colorful Journey - Let's Play with Neglected Art Supplies (This very old paper stack sat unused in my stash for a long time.)
6. DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #174 - Pink, Red, Hearts, or Any Combination of One or More
7. Word Art Wednesday Challenge #220 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
8. One Crazy Stamper February Challenge - Anything Goes
9. Crop Stop Linky Party #13 - Anything Goes (I used Distress Ink for the edges of my word tiles.)
10. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
11. Simply Create Too Challenge #103 - Use Pink or Red Only

Sending Prayers Your Way - Sapphire and Silver Butterfly

Hi, Friends.......

I am here with a pretty card I made for Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge.  The challenge this time is Butterfly + S for Stamping and/or S for Sapphire.  How could I resist that prompt????  

I pulled out some super-shiny foil holographic sheets my son gave me for Christmas (THANKS, James!) and started die cutting with my Serendipity - Floral Butterfly dies.  (This plastic material is a bit tricky to cut, so some of the intricate butterflies didn't cut all the way through.  I think I see a mixed media project in the future for those hapless partially-metamorphosed creatures that resulted!)

I wish the pale silver sentiment showed up better here. It says:  "Sending prayers your way"

I was going to make this more of a blue on white card.  But after trying the die cuts against a million different backgrounds, I decided on the vertical silver pinstripes from the DCWV Formal Affair Stack.  (This DCWV stack is discontinued, which is probably why I scored it for 40% off of $6!!!  Yay!! ) I love how it draws the eye upward along with the butterfly and flourish and how that goes so well with the Unity sentiment of "Sending prayers your way".


Other supplies used include:
My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Oval STAX die set
Memory Box - Gwyneth Flourish
Distress Inks - Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone
Versamark Ink
Silver embossing powder
Scraps from my stash for the die cut oval and the sentiment panel

Hope you enjoyed my card.  It took me forever (and I do mean 4-ever!) to make it, but I have lots of die cuts and coordinating things leftover to use another time.  lol....  Anyway, I totally LOVE how it turned out.

Thank you for visiting and leaving your sweet comments!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.  Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge - Butterfly + S is for Stamping and/or Sapphire (I used both of the S prompts.)
2.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #216 - Use Snippets
3.  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Shake it Up (I shook some embossing powder on, and my butterfly wings flap if you shake the card.  Hope that counts!)
4.  One Crazy Stamper February Challenge - Anything Goes
5.  Serendipity Stamps Challenge #52 - Anything Goes
6.  Shopping Our Stash Challenge #239 - Fantastic Plastic (The butterfly is made out of a plastic holographic foil material.)
7.  Addicted to Stamps Challenge #120 - Die Cuts
8.  Little Scrap Pieces Show-it-off Saturday Linky Party
9.  DL.Art February Linky Party Challenge - Anything Goes
10. Word Art Wednesday Challenge #220 - Anything Goes Family Friendly

Inlaid Die Cut Card - First Attempt

My little granddaughter's cat loves to chase bubbles, too.  So cute.

Hi, Friends......

I am here with a whimsical little card where I tried the inlaid die cut technique for the first time.  I'm not sure I did it the "right" way, but it worked...so I guess that's what counts!

For my first attempt, I probably should have tried something a little blockier and not so many tiny things......but did I think of that???  Noooooooo......  Ha.  I lost that microscopic little piece of blue below the last pink heart flower on the right.  I searched and searched around for it.  Oh, but I wasn't about to give up!  Finally, 15 minutes later, I found it.  lol...

I did find that putting pieces of scotch tape under the main blue oval helped keep the little bits in their places.  Then I just glued the entire thing on my background.  Not sure that's how the "real crafters" do it, but that's what I did.  :)

Supplies used include:
Sun from My Favorite Things Die-namics - Sunny Skies (THANKS, MFT!!)
Pink heart flowers from Poppystamps - Love Cottage Roof and Decor die set (THANKS, Poppystamps!)
Oval from My Favorite Things Die-namics - Stitched Oval STAX die set
Sentiment from Waffle Flower - On My Mark stamp set
Bubbles in background from Winnie & Walter - Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stamp set
Wink of Stella Pen for my sentiment strip and the bubbles
Versamark ink
Embossing powders in sparkly blue and clear sparkle.
Scraps from my stash...mostly DCWV.

That's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed this fun little card.  Have a great week!

<3

Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:

1.  Waffle Flower February 2016 Challenge - Inlaid Die Cutting

2.  Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash - Inlaid Die Cutting

3.  Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd Birthday Bash - Over the Edge

How to Train Your Dragon

This kitty has her dragon purr-fectly trained.

Hi, Friends.......

I am here with a dragon card I made for this week's MFP Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge. (My card doesn't really have anything to do with the movie that I referenced in the title of this post, I just thought "Dragon Card" seemed a little uninspiring!)  This week at MFP, Pat gave us an interesting tutorial to follow where you block off your image in black and make a squiggle frame.  Even my best attempts at straight lines end up being squiggles, so that part was right up my alley!!  :)

I used the dragon image from my Mark's Finest Papers - Lucky You stamp set. He's a majestic creature, but coloring him and the black block was a labor of love! I used gel pens to color each individual dragon scale in shimmering reds and gold. Do you like him on the kraft? The tutorial did not specify that you had to use white cardstock, and I thought kraft suited him better. I used Versafine ink in Onyx Black and heat embossed him with clear powder so the black lines wouldn't disappear into the block pattern.



Other supplies used:  Mark's Finest Papers - Works of Art stamp set,
(I used the Chinese character background stamp on my red panel. I needed something to make that subtle polka dot pattern more Oriental!! Now you can't even tell it has dots behind there. Yay!)
Distress Ink - Brushed Corduroy, Fired Brick, thrift store gold and red twines.

Hope you like my card. Thank you, as always, for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comments.
 
<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. MFP Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge #7
2. The Male Room Challenge #28 - Oriental
3. DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #174 - Pink, Red, Hearts, or Any Combination of One or More
4. Ribbon Girls February Challenge - Any Card
5. One Crazy Stamper February Challenge - Anything Goes
6. DRS Designs Challenge #213 - Hot or Cold
7. DL.Art February Linky Party Challenge - Anything Goes
8. Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #50 - Any Card
9. Craft Stamper Take It Make It February Challenge - Text Me

Silvery Valentine

Hi, Friends......

I am here to share a valentine with you......that I did a bold experiment on!  This started out as two backgrounds I had made last year.  I had set them aside in the black hole that consumes all my extra backgrounds and figured I would deal with them later!  Ha. Well, a year later it is nearly Valentines Day, so I thought I had better pull the poor dears out of oblivion and make something with them.  But I had a problem.....

Question:  What can you do when you have your card all finished and you still think the colors are more intense than they should be?  

Answer:  Give it a good spritzing with Perfect Pearls Mist!!!  

Yep, that's what I did.  The card was all done....100% completely finished....sentiment panel and all....and I realized it was just too bright.  So I threw caution to the wind, fully realizing that I might absolutely ruin this card, and started spritzing.  lol... I don't use my Perfect Pearls Mist nearly often enough and so I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing.  But I love how it ended up with this super-frosty look.  Magical!!

What do you think?

I have the light angled here so you can see the silver shimmer!

Other supplies I used include: Darice - Flowers and Vines Pattern embossing folder, Darice - Swirl Background embossing folder, Versamark ink, silver embossing powder, DCWV scraps, Elmer's Painters Marker - silver, sentiment from dollar rack, thrift store silver mesh ribbon, premade gray card base.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my misting experiment!  Thank you for all your wonderful comments.  Have a lovely weekend!!

<3
Janis


Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Spritz & Spray
2. Mod Squad - From the Heart
3. DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #174 - Pink, Red, Hearts, or Any Combination of One or More
4. Dragonfly Journeys Challenge #43 - Queen of Hearts
5. Amusing Challenge - Hearts
6. Country View Challenges February - Make Your Own Background
7. Ribbon Girls February Challenge - Any Card
8. Design Memory Craft Take the Challenge with Mou February - Hearts
9. A Colorful Journey Let's Play February Challenge - Use Some Neglected Art Supplies (I used some neglected backgrounds and my Perfect Pearls Mist)
10. Southern Ridge Trading Company February Challenge - Anything Love
11. One Crazy Stamper February Challenge - Anything Goes

Starry Sky with Distress Inks

My cats never crowd together like this on the hood of my car.  They don't get along together that well!!   However, when I go out after dark with a headlamp on to close up my chicken pen, I do see glowing pairs of eyes watching me from all over the place.  8)

Hi, Friends.....

I am back with my other entry for the Mark's Finest Papers January Blog Hop Tutorial Challenge. You can see my first entry here. For this challenge, we were given a wonderful tutorial for making a water background with Distress Inks and flicking water. It seemed like it would be perfect for a night sky background, too, so I grabbed my Winnie & Walter - Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stamp set for some stars using emboss resist.

My image and sentiment are from Mark's Finest Papers - Heavenly Harmony stamp set.  The image is stamped on a scrap of vellum and heat embossed with silver powder.  I have never been able to get what I consider a good heat embossed image with this sun/moon image and had neglected it because of that.  So this time, I played around with several of my different silver embossing powders and eventually found the right powder for the job: a mid-grade (not too coarse, not too fine) that gave me a good image of true silver when heated.  Yay!  

I just hadn't taken the time before to really play with all my silver powders to figure this out.  Do you want to take a guess at how many different silver embossing powders I have?  I have eight different varieties....ranging from aged silver to chunky embossing enamel to fine detail powder.  Each has different properties and a different color.  I write notes on the stamp packages and/or powder containers about which works best with what. 

Do you think the water splattered background technique works for the night sky?  I think so.  

Keeping this short again, so I can get this posted and linked up.  Thank you for visiting!!!

<3

Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:

1. Mark's Finest Papers January Blog Hop Tutorial Challenge
2. DRS Designs Challenge #213 - Hot or Cold
3. A Colorful Journey Let's Play February Challenge - Use Some Neglected Art Supplies (I used a stamp that I had neglected)
4. Flonzcraft VSC #41 - Splatters or Drips (I used water splattering.)
5. Country View Challenges February - Make Your Own Background
6. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Two Challenge with Shay (I used two stamps sets and two colors of embossing powder)
7. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Create Your Own Background
8. Pixie's Snippets Playground Week 215 - Use Snippets
9. Winnie & Walter Belated 2nd BD Bash - Image Inspiration
(I was inspired by the dark and light panel contrasts and also by the big flower on the coffee table that reminded me of the sun/moon image I used.)