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.)