Yee-Haw!

I just could not put it off any longer. I had to use the Out West 2 set from Gina K. Designs which was illustrated by Theresa Momber. Her wonderful designs and the way she stamps her scenes have always been an inspiration to me. So I decided to use some black to frame the colorful scene to make it "pop" more. I am going to enter this in the Mix It Up Monday challenge at Stamp TV in which we are challenged to make it "pop" with black.

I have been a long time fan of scene stamping and so it was a natural that I would want this set. This particular card will be used for a graduation card. The recipient comes from a family where they like horses a lot so I thought it to be very appropriate.

I used sponges to add the color and then stamped my scene over the sponged layout. By making it a late evening "sun down" sky it really made the solid black horses pop too!

To connect the outside with the inside I added some cacti images along with the sentiment.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my little scene card and I hope my graduate will love it as well!

Thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely comments too!

God bless,
Verna

Poppin' With Black

Greetings my friends. I hope you who were mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day! I know I was treated royally and got flowers and jewelry and many cards.  And we had some good eating too! That is always a fun thing about a family get together. Our family knows how to put out the feed bag for everyone to enjoy. LOL

Today I made a card for the Mix It Up Monday Challenge for this week at Stamp TV in which we were to make our cards pop with lots of black. I hope that I achieved that look with my card.

I stamped the flowers and the filler images with Gina K. Designs black ink. I then colored in the flowers with my Copics and tried to make it a mix of colors to maket a more brighter look. I also filled in the oval image which was cut with a Spellbinder die by sponging on some Gina K. Designs Ocean Mist ink. My card was layered onto a panel of Gina K. Black card stock and on two of the corners I added black and white plaid ribbon which I also purchased from Gina K. Designs. I added small complimentary gems to each corner before I adhered it to the Gina K. Designs Ocean Mist card base. The sentiment was inked in black and added to a panel of black card stock before placing on the oval panel. All images including the sentiment are from the Gina K. Designs set Wild Flowers by Melanie Muenchinger.

I am glad I got to stamp on this rainy and dreary cold spring day. Making some bright flowers really perked me up and made me feel the chill in the air a lot less. I hope you have a bright and beautiful day as well.
Thanks for stopping by.

God bless,
Verna

Soldier Mom

Since it is Mother's Day Sunday I decided to make a card that would work for a soldier mom but which could be used all year round. I didn't want it limited to just Mother's Day.

And, normally when one does a camouflage look one uses the normal tan, olive green and brown colors but for this particular card I took the camouflage background from Stampers Best and made it in more pinkish hues. I then took the boot stamp from Cottage Stampers, Inc. ( which is an old stamp, so not sure it is made anymore) and stamped it once in a deep pink, then masked it and stamped it again so it appears to be a pair. I colored the boots with Copic markers. I added some additional darker pink ink with a sponge to make it more realistic looking. I finished the card by adding the sentiment from Gina K. Designs and some pink rhinestones.

For all those soldier moms who are away from their children, I wish for them a most wonderful Mother's Day. We owe them so much and I want them to know I appreciate their sacrifice too.  And, to the rest of you moms who are not soldiers I wish you a wonderful day as well.

This card will be entered in the Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which we are to take a normally masculine image and make it look feminine. I think this will be a qualifying entry. And, I did enjoy making it too!

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear from you.

God bless,
Verna

Pink Barn

We recently made a weekend road trip to St. Paul, MN and on the way we saw this farm site in which all the buildings were a very pretty pink instead of the traditional red.  I commented to my husband that I thought this was a farm that belonged to a woman. I said you can see her touch all over the farm stead.

Well, when the Mod Squad Blog Challenge hosted by Karen Hightower for this week was introduced in which we were to make a card from a traditionally male element, I decided I wanted to go with a pink barn scene. Normally, the barn scenes are given to mostly masculine recipients so I thought this would be a unique way to turn things around for the ladies to enjoy too. 

My barn image is from Rubber Cottage. I am not sure if that stamp company is still in business or not anymore but I did see the stamp on Ebay. The sentiment and the pretty plaid pattern paper are from Gina K. Designs. I used the Cheery Lynn Design circle die to cut out my scene and then I popped it onto the pink card stock frame made with the Lacey Circles die from Spellbinder. My scene was colored in with Copics and also some sponging was done with dye inks from Gina K. Designs. To add more to the feminine look I added pink rhinestones. 

Well, I really had fun making my pink barn scene and I hope you got a bit of inspiration and cheer from it too. This would work well for a lady who is suffering from breast cancer I would think, but also would be great for a thinking of you card or birthday. There are so many ways this would be appropriate.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a wonderful week.

God bless,

Verna

Especially For You!

Oh, my! I had so much fun doing the one layer cards that I had to try my hand at it again. This time I used an incentive stamp duo set from Gina K. Designs which I acquired with a qualifying order.  I love that set very much too and can see all sorts of ways to make use of it.

I blocked off the pink edges with Post-It notes and left an empty white space in between. I then sponged on the pink colors. Then I over stamped onto the pink and white with the flower image. Using Copic markers I colored in the flowers. Once this was done I took a black Copic and made a faux layer and then finished the card by adding black specks with a texture brush.

I am entering this in the Mix It Up Monday challenge at Stamp TV.

Thanks for looking and I hope you were a little inspired. Have a great week.

God bless,

Verna

Another One Layer Wonder

I had so much fun with the last "one layer" card I created that I had to try a more clean and simple design this time. I used stamps from Gina K. Designs and they are all from the Stamper's Favorites set by Melanie Muenchinger.

My card stock of choice this time was kraft and by taking a Spellbinder A2 Curved Matting Basics A die and aligning it just below the fold created the card base. I stamped the images in Gina K. Black ink and colored them with Copic markers. I also took a texture brush tool that gives sort of a stippled look and added some brown ink around the colored images. My bling I added was originally clear and black rhinestones but I took my Copic markers and colored the clear ones to match the colors in my card. The bling is made by Want 2 Scrap.

By making this a Thinking of You type of card it allows me to use it for more than one occasion. I like to do that a lot.

This card will be also entered into this week's Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which we were to make one layer cards. 

Wow! Two cards in one day. And, I remember when I used to make several in one day but I guess I have slowed down and take more time to create a bit better or at least I hope that is the case. 

I hope all of you are having a fun filled day too! And, thanks for looking at my card creations and ramblings about them. I so appreciate it!

God bless,

Verna

One Layer Wonder

The challenge this week at the Mod Squad Blog Challenge is to make a one layer wonder card. Well, it is the graduation season and I was needing a few of those types of cards so my entry will be a one layer graduation card.

I used all stamps from the Sparkle & Sprinkle Set 435 called Graduation. I am not sure that set is still available though! Edit: Just heard that it is available still but apparently the website is currently having some issues, so check back often if you want to see this really lovely set which is perfect for graduation cards.

This card involved masking. First I stamped the diploma and masked that. Then I took a negative of a die cut, placed over the card base and sponged on some blue ink. Once that was done I stamped the sentiment inside it. Still keeping the mask on the diploma I also added a die cut mask over the blue inked area with the sentiment. Then I proceeded to stamp the graduation caps image to create a look of pattern paper. After coloring these images in with water base markers I then sponged a light brown or sandy colored ink around the outside. And, even though this is a cream colored card stock card base the diploma appears to be white looking. I tried to create the illusion of a layer around the die sponged area with a black marker. The card was finished by adding some black pearls.

Thanks again for stopping by to look at what I was doing at the kitchen table/craft area today. I so appreciate all the wonderful comments you leave me too.

God bless,
Verna