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