Stenciled Spring

The release party challenge Thursday night by Gina K. Designs was to use two different pattern papers together to create a card. I decided this afternoon to try and make a design with that in mind and used images from the Stenciled Spring stamp set which I was lucky enough to win in a grab bag from Gina K. Designs.

I did my best to match Spectrum Noir Aqua pens with the colors used in the papers. This was as close as I could get. And, since this is a solid type image I colored directly onto the stamp and while it was still moist I stamped it on the white card stock.

I cut the center pattern paper on a diagonal and then added the other pattern paper design on each side. Next I lined it with a black oval before I added it to the white card base. I added some of the blanket stitched design die cuts from the Cheery Lynn Designs Allison's Ribbons along the adjoining edges. I thought this looked a bit more decorative and sort of reminded me of a quilt pattern.

The stamped image was then cut with an oval die from Cheery Lynn Designs and then layered onto a larger oval die in black. I then popped this over the center of the card. The finishing touch was to add some black pearls to the center of each flower.

Well, two cards done today. But I confess one of them was started already last night. But now it is time to put my toys away for awhile. I sort of think hubby would appreciate me making something for the evening meal instead of more cards. LOL

You have a great evening and I hope your weekend is wonderful too!

God bless,
Verna

From Hearts To Clover

Well, I am back to working on my St. Patrick's Day cards and I am so loving the colors of Apple Mint card stock and Christmas Pine together that I decided to work another one up using those colors. I also found in my stash some ribbon, rhinestones and a button that would work well too.

Once again I implemented dies from Cheery Lynn Designs. I just love that heart die and I used the smallest one in the set to create some clovers with the Christmas Pine card stock. I then added some flourishes which wove through the clover design and around the banner where I had my sentiment stamped. The sentiment is from the Clovers set by CAS-UAL Fridays Stamps.

Cheery Lynn dies used are:
Mini Fanciful Flourish B117S
Two of Hearts DL128
Pierced Banners DL303

I will be entering this in the following challenges:
Scrapyland Blog Challenge
Cheery Lynn Designs Blog Challenge

Thanks for all your uplifting comments. You really make my day when you leave your messages.

God bless,
Verna

Holy Cow!

The Mod Squad Blog Challenge for this week was the theme Animal Fun. So I chose to do a card with one of my favorite animals.......the Holstein cow. We had a dairy farm for over 25 years and although I was not that fond of the work involved, I did think some of the cows were nice looking and that their calves were really cute,

I dug out some older wood mounted stamps from Embossing Arts and used them for this card. And, I am glad to report that all of the images are still being made and are available at I Brake for Stamps.

I stamped the frame, cow and sentiment all in black. On the cow I added some Spectrum Noir Aqua markers and also a bit of Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen to the wings and to the halo. All were then cut out and layered to red card stock before I added them to the white card base.

I added a bit of the frame to the bottom of the inside too, so that both inside and outside were connected. I have not added a sentiment inside yet. I might have to think about what I will do for that and maybe eventually computer generate something. However I do it I hope the recipient gets a little chuckle from this cow card. I think it could be used for many occasions too!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have an udderly fine rest of the week too!

God bless,
Verna

Repeat Impressions Sketch #F2416

I saw this wonderful sketch at the Repeat Impressions Blog post and so decided I liked it so much that I would join in on the challenge.

As you can see I did my own interpretation on the sketch and used pattern papers from My Favorite Things. The little chick and the sentiments are from Stampin" Up! I colored the chick in with my Spectrum Noir Aqua markers. And, the die I used is Classic Scalloped Squares from Spellbinder. I think that was one of the first dies I ever purchased.

The finishing touch was to add some little pearls in three of the dots on the pattern paper and I added some of the pattern paper inside the card as well. Again, I think this is a card that any age or gender would love to get on their birthday.

Thanks for stopping in and for all the wonderful comments.

God bless,

Verna

Color Bursts Birthday

I mentioned before that the month of March is loaded with birthdays so here is one of the cards I made using a heart stencil and Color Bursts for the background. I also used stamps from the Gina K. Designs Made with Love TV Kit. That kit also included the heart stencil.

The hearts design is not always visible but I still liked the combination of colors. I had used yellow, red and blue Color Bursts water color granules. I put the stencil down on the white watercolor paper and then shook a bit of each granule colors here and there. When I spritzed the granules with water the colors were dispersed all over the panel to create this background.

When this panel was dry I then overstamped in black some of the flourish designs in the kit. And, before adding it to the white card base my final additions were the gingham ribbon, black layer, stamped flowers and the sentiment which I outlined with black. The center flower was popped. I also added a black pearl to the center of each flower.

I love all the bright colors of this card and think it will be a cheery one to send to someone on their birthday.

Well, not much sunshine today. But the temps are not too bad and each day with above freezing ones help the snow to disappear a bit more.

Thanks so much for visiting.

God bless,
Verna

Spring Flowers

Even though there is lots of snow still on the ground here I am beginning to think of Spring and all the refreshing signs of it. One thing that is always indicative of Spring is the new growth and I love to see the flowers beginning to peek through. So I was inspired to create a card with some Spring flowers on it. Nothing very complicated and a very clean and simple design. I hope you like it.

I used the flowers and butterfly images from the Gina K. Designs stamp sets in the Made With Love StampTV kit. The sentiment is from the Gina K. Designs set called Birds & Blossoms which is illustrated by Theresa Momber

The flowers are a solid stamp so I inked them up well with my color of choice and then took a Spectrum Noir Aqua marker and went around each one with a complimentary color to give more dimension. I stamped the butterfly and the sentiment with brown ink. Then I colored the butterfly in with the Aqua markers.  I also took a sponge dauber and added some brown ink to the bottom to resemble the soil from which the flowers are growing.

Using a Memory Box Die called Cross Stitched Frame Borders I cut out the scene before I added it to the Gina K. Designs Lipstick card stock base. Since this is a thinner card stock I did not want to add too many layers to my card.

I am sure it will be awhile before the flowers emerged from the earth but one can still think ahead and dream about it. First we need to melt all the snow in our area. And, the month of March can be one of our worst ones for snow storms. I am sure we will still get a few tastes of Old Man Winter before it is really Spring.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is off to a good start.

God bless,
Verna

Red & White/Emboss Resist

This card will be entered in the Mix It Up Monday Challenge at Stamp TV and also at the Red & White challenge at the Double D Blog Challenge for this week.

The rose image and the sentiment are from the Gina K. Designs Stamp TV Kit Made With Love. My inks used were Versamark and Gina K. Designs Cherry Red.

First I stamped the rose on white paper in a random design with Versamark and then I sprinkled them with Gina K. Designs clear embossing powder. After heat setting the powder I then took a sponge and added Cherry Red dye ink to cover the panel. Once I had it all colored I then took a paper towel and wiped more of the red off the embossed areas so that the white would pop more.

I layered this panel then onto a white card base. Next I die cut the Cheery Lynn Dies banner and on this I stamped the sentiment with Cheery Red ink. A portion of the banner was cut off so that it would fit correctly onto the card.

On a separate piece of white card stock I stamped the rose image again only this time in the Cherry Red. I then fussy cut a little white border around this rose and popped it up on the banner tag.

The finishing touch was to add some white pearls onto the open red areas between the roses. This is a card that will work for many occasions by just adding an appropriate verse inside.

Cheery Lynn Designs Die:
Pierced Banners DL303

Well, my week of crafting is done. And, most likely I will be staying put in the house this weekend as we had rain overnight and it caused the snow covered ground to be an ice rink. If hubby has a tough time standing I am sure I would be down in no time at all.  So if any of you are having icy conditions your way, please take it easy and be careful. We don't want anyone breaking some bones.

God bless,
Verna

Apple Mint & White Friendship

Just in time for getting St. Patrick's Day cards ready I became the owner of some of the newly released ink and card stock from Gina K. Designs called Apple Mint. It is such a pretty spring colored green shade and I really love it. It works so well with the Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine in this card I created.

For this card I used the sentiment and the four leaf clover from the CAS-UAL Fridays Stamps set called Clover. I love all the wonderful sentiments on that set and I know it will be a great asset for many St. Patrick Days to come too! The clover was colored in with Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. By blending several colors together I was able to match the color of the Apple Mint and the Christmas Pine colors. I popped that clover to give some dimension to the card.

I also used several dies from Cheery Lynn Designs. I just love the big Fleur De Lis Facer die which dresses up a card so well. I cut it from white card stock and then lined it with the Apple Mint card stock. I stamped in the sentiment with Christmas Pine ink and added the green daisies which are die cut as well. They were sponged with some of the Christmas Pine ink and I used a small button brad from Eyelet Outlet for the center. The daisies were placed over the Christmas Pine card stock flourish die cuts from Cheery Lynn Designs. The last addition to the card was the satin ribbon.

Here is a recap of the Cheery Lynn Dies used.
Fleur De Lis A2 Card Facer B701
Daisy Strip B259
Mini Fanciful Flourish B117S

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Scrapy Land Blog Challenge
Cheery Lynn Designs Blog Challenge
Love To Scrap Challenge Blog

I hope you enjoyed looking at what I did this afternoon. I did accomplish quite a bit in the card making area so I feel quite pleased with myself. Thanks for stopping in and for taking the time to comment. I love every word you type!

God bless,
Verna

Rustic Cabin Scene

I had so much fun making scenes that I decided to do another one. Cards like this work so well for masculine cards in my opinion. And, this time I made one with a rustic old cabin and some pine trees.
All the stamps used are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. And my cabin must be a little older then some as I see I have it leaning a bit. LOL Oh, well! There are lots of cabins which might lean but still are very functional. So I am sticking with it the way it is.

I used stamps from three different sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The pine trees are from the Pine Trees set and the cabin is from the Cabin By The Lake set. I also added the flying birds which is from the Tree Friends set. All of these sets are multi step ones. All go so well together to make up a great outdoor scene.

The images were all inked up with Gina K. Designs dye inks except for the path and the foliage along the one side of the cabin. Those were added with Spectrum Noir Aqua markers by freehand drawing. I also added a little brown marker line to the trees to show the trunks.

I used the Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders die. I really like that die a lot and love all the fun layers you can get from it. I used this die to cut the main scene layer, the rust colored layer and the plaid pattern paper layer. I then placed this all on a thin border layer of darker brown card stock before I added it to the white base card. The twine bow finished off the card design.

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Scrapy Land Blog Challenge
Mod Squad Blog Challenge

I hope you liked my little scene card. And thanks always for the lovely comments. I hope your day is going really great too!

God bless,
Verna

Spring Birthday

One of the first signs of spring is the first shoots of green on the grass and the trees. I tried to get some of the essence of that in this simple little scene using stamps from Inspired by Stamping.

I stamped the images and then sponged on inks to bring the scene to a more realistic look. The scene stamps are all from the Tree of Seasons set and the sentiment is from the Cherry Blossoms set. I made this one into a spring birthday card and used more sentiment stamps from Inspired by Stamping inside the card.

I am entering this into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge for this week. The theme is the Great Outdoors.

And with melting of snow this week it does make one think of Spring. So I think this is an appropriate theme for my card.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

God bless,
Verna

Stampin' Up! Wetland Scene

I have always admired those who used the Wetlands stamp set from Stampin' Up! so when the chance came for me to purchase it I jumped right on it. Using this set I made a simple sunset scene with the use of water colors using my Spectrum Noir Aqua markers. I took the makers and scribbled on a plastic palette and added water with a water brush to soften them. I then painted onto my water color card stock which is from Tim Holtz.

The images and sentiment were stamped on the card with black ink from Gina K. Designs and then I added a bit of more color to the birds and also to the grass fronds. After layering the scene onto a light brown card stock I then added it to the base card of white card stock.

This was made as a Thinking of You card but I will actually be using it as a sympathy card for a man who died this past week. I hope it will bring comfort to his family.

Have a great week everyone. And, thanks for looking and leaving such wonderful comments.

God bless,
Verna

Check this out Die-Namite Die Lovers

Every month they have a challenge and it is so fun to come up with a design following the monthly theme. I encourage any of you who have Die-Namite dies to check it out and enter your project.

Here is the link to the Die-Namite Blog Challenge. They need at least nine people to enter in order to hold the contest. Last month there were not enough so there were no winners. And, who knows! You could be the lucky person who wins the great prize too.

Well, I hope your week goes great. I just thought I would pass this word along.

God bless,
Verna

Heart Leaf Birthday

I did up a quickie today using the beautiful leafy potted plant image from Gina K. Designs Made With Love Stamp TV Kit. I took some of the new ink colors that Gina K. Designs came out with called Blue Lagoon and Apple Mint and put some of the ink in each lid. Then I took a wet brush and mixed it with the ink and then painted the leaves. I finished the pot and shadow along the bottom with Spectrum Noir Aqua markers. The sentiment I added is also from Gina K. Designs and is from the Stamper's Favorites set which is illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger.

I used Gina K. Designs Blue Lagoon, Apple Mint and White card stock along with some sort of rust colored card stock which I had in my stash. My tag was a die from Cheery Lynn Designs on which I put the potted plant image. I also used a die from Spellbinders for the edged designs. And, the final touch was to add a ribbon bow from American Crafts and some enamel dots which are from Stampin' Up! Oh, the inside was lined with a white sheet of paper so that I can add a sentiment inside.

This will be entered into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge for this week.

Well, that's all folks! Have a great weekend. Mine will be busy with family so that will be fun!

God bless,
Verna

Another Birthday Card

This time I went with a completely different direction and stayed away from the bold and bright colors and simply stamped my design on kraft paper and colored it in with black, white and gray colored pencils. I also added a bit of white gel pen to the design. I used Melanie Muenchinger's stamp set from Gina K. Designs called Stampers Favorites and also her technique that she showed on her video at Stamp TV this week.

Now I will be the first to admit that I did not do justice to the stamp set like she showed in her video but at least I tried. I think I went a little overboard with the sketch look too. But maybe in the future I will improve. We all know we don't always make a perfect look every time but I did not think I could throw this one out either. So I am still going to be sending it as I do like the look fairly well.

I stamped the feathers and sentiment with black ink on the kraft card stock. I then colored the feathers in with white colored pencil from Spectrum Noir. I then used shades of gray and black pencils to make shadows and sketchy designs around each of them. I also added a little sketchy look by the sentiment too.

It went quick and easy and my final touch was to add three black pearls to the card. Oh and along the center of the feather I used a white gel pen to make the quill a bit brighter.

Well, that is all for today. And, I am going into cleaning mode and I have doctor appointment tomorrow for a check up.,That will fill up my week no doubt as we have company coming on the weekend. Then Sunday I am going to visit my sister and wish her a happy 85th birthday provided the weather cooperates for the 3 hour trip there.

I wish you all a great rest of the week too! Thanks for checking things out again and for commenting.

God bless,
Verna

Birthday Wishes

Another birthday card and I am working with some older items I have and again with some of the newer acquisitions from last week.

My main focal image is a die cut using one of my Die-Namites dies that I seem to use a lot. So it is one of my favorites. I cut it out with white card stock and then colored it with Color Bursts. I used   a paint palette made from a plastic lid and brushed the colors of green, red and yellow which were mixed with water onto the die image. The more water added the lighter the colors so I tried to create more of a pinkish look as well as some darker reds in the blossoms. My colors were inspired by the photo below.

And the die I used is a nice big one and features hearts and flowers both which are favorite things for me. I thought instead of a Valentine though I would make use of it for a birthday card. It is called Love Arrangement.

I also took a straight on photo of my project and I hope you can see all the details of things I added to the colored die. 

And I love the nice big sentiment. It is a new set which I got from Gina K. Designs and it is called Massive Messages. I know that set will be getting inky quite often.

I finished the card by adding some pearls to the center of the flowers and also by gluing in the negative heart dies inside the hearts. I took a pen and added some corresponding colored dots to them. And the last step was to add some black polka dot washi tape to the right side and also inside the card. This new roll of washi tape is from Stampin'  Up!

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Die-Namites Inspiration Challenge

Scrapy Land Challenge-Anything Goes

Double D's Blog Challenge-Pretty Pink Hearts

Thanks for stopping by this windy and blizzard like day! We did not get much snow but with 40+ mile an hour winds it sure looked like a lot more. Stay safe everyone who is in the same situation! 

Don't travel unless you absolutely must!

God bless,

Verna

Celebrate With Cake

Last week a lot of happy mail arrived at my door and I was contemplating which I should play with first and finally decided that the first arriving at my door would be the products I would use. So I made a birthday card using my supplies I purchased from Stampin' Up! And, this is the first time I ever made a card like this and I am so happy it turned out okay. First I will show you the outside of it.

I used images from a couple different stamp sets. The sentiment, candle and the cake are from the Party With Cake set and the balloons are from the Honeycomb Happiness set. I used Gina K. Designs Black ink for the sentiment and for the balloons and colored them with my Spectrum Noir Aqua pens The cake was stamped with Gina K. Designs Dusty Rose ink and  after I stamped the candle on the cake I colored it with the Aqua pens. I also added some Washi tape and enamel dots which are from Stampin' Up!

Now I will show you the inside and this is the portion of the card that I was so tickled pink to have work out okay and look amazing. I wasn't sure how to do the inside but I cut my card stock to the size I needed and then creased it in the middle so that I had a way to align the die. I used a tiny bit of washi tape to hold the die in place too before I ran it through my machine. Once it was cut out I did a valley fold on the die cut design and then I added the washi tape. It was now ready to add to the inside of the base card.

That is a die I also got from Stampin' Up and I was so happy that it worked so easily for a popup card design. I also added some Washi tape inside.

I think this is a card design that will work for any age or gender just by using a different color of card stock. This is a more feminine card as I used pink but blue or any other color could be used too.

I am entering this in the Seize The Birthday Blog challenge.

Well, time to settle down and watch the Super Bowl with my hubby. I loved how Lady Gaga sang the national anthem. But I like her singing anyway and love how she and Tony Bennet do duets together.

Well, thanks for stopping in and for all the comments you leave.

God bless,
Verna

Toddler Safe Valentine

We have a toddler in the family and I know that little ones like to pick things off of their cards and stuff them in their mouths. So I decided to not add any buttons, ribbons or gems to the one I made for her. I hope she likes it. Her Grandma thinks it is quite cute anyway. LOL

I chose pattern paper and the little ewe image and the sentiments from My Favorite Things products. And, I just love plaid papers and I thought this mixture of colors worked so well with the design I had in mind. The stamp set is called Ewe Are The Best BB-29 and the pattern paper pack is called Subtle Plaids.

And once again I used Cheery Lynn Designs dies on my card. The dies used are:
Pierced Banners DL303
Two of Hearts DL 128

Everything was added to an A2 size base of pink card stock. My little ewe was colored in with my Spectrum Noir Aqua pens.

Here is another view of the card from a different angle.

Well, my friends! I think this is the last Valentine I will be doing unless I get a start on next year. I got all of them addressed and ready to be in the mail Monday morning. Next holiday will be St. Patrick's Day cards and of course, lots more birthday cards as the month of March is filled with them.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Scrapy Land Blog Challenge-Anything Goes
Mod Squad Blog Challenge-Hearts & Flowers
Love to Scrap Challenge-Have a Heart
Double D Challenge-Pretty Pink Hearts
Cheery Lynn Blog Challenge-Tickled Pink

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. And, thanks for stopping by.

God bless,
Verna

Some Rambling!

Well, hubby and I had a fun evening last night as we attended a birthday party for a friend and it was a Progressive Whist party. We had not attended one of those in years and so it was a really entertaining thing to do. And, good eats! I had to do some recalling as to how the progressive party rules went but between several of us we got them all remembered correctly. It was a fantastic time to visit with old friends and meet some new ones too!

Today I am writing out my Valentines for family and shut ins so I hope I have enough made. If not I will have to get back to the coloring board and make up a few more. I did get one off in the mail to my grandsons in Japan so hope it arrives in time.

Oh, and good news to share. I have had my leg declared healed but I still need to go back in a month to make sure it is still on track in that department. I am so happy to hear the doctor say that. He thought as much apparently as I was grinning like crazy! LOL

Well have a happy Saturday! And, thanks for being my friends.

God bless,
Verna

Loves Mew!

Well, that cute kitty Newton just jumped onto a box and from there onto my card design. I think he is so cute!

I had die cut some hearts with pattern papers from My Favorite Things with a die from Cheery Lynn Designs called Two of Hearts DL 128 and applied them to a white die cut panel from Die-Namics called Wonky Stitched Stackers MFT-839. This in turn was added to a turquoise colored card. But before I added the white panel I added a turquoise ribbon across the bottom and below that I added the sentiment and some little red hearts.

All the stamped images including Newton, the little red outline hearts and the sentiment are from the stamp set Newton's Antics by Newton's Nook Designs.

Here is a side view of the card.

I think this is a card that would make anyone's day much better no matter if they are young or old. Newton cannot but cheer you up as he is so cute!

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Love To Scrap Blog Challenge

Scrapy Land Blog Challenge

Mod Squad Blog Challenge

I hope you are having a fun and creative day as well.

God Bless,
Verna

Pink Heart Valentine

Using mostly die cuts and a stamped sentiment I made a Valentine card that incorporates a lot of pink. I got a new die and had to try it out.

The new die is from Cheery Lynn Designs and is called Fleur De Lis A2 Card Facer B701. I also used another favorite Cheery Lynn heart shaped die called Two of Hearts DL 128.

I cut the Fleur De Lis design out of a sheet of white card stock and then placed it over a card base of Gina K. Designs Bubble Gum Pink card stock. The Two of Hearts was cut from some decorative striped paper from My Favorite Things. I glued that to some of the pink card stock and then fussy cut around it to make a border. This heart was then placed on top of the card front.

The sentiment from the Gina K. Designs Stately Flowers 6 set was stamped with red ink in the open area at the top. And, I finished the card by adding red rhinestones around the open area to make a border. And I goofed and got the sentiment a bit crooked but I left it that way anyway.

I also added some of the negative portions from the Fleur De Lis die along with one rhinestone gem in the lower inside left corner.

Here is another view of the card.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Mod Squad Blog Challenge

Love To Scrap Blog Challenge

Double D's Blog Challenge

Scrapy Land Blog Challenge

Thanks for stopping by. And, I appreciate all of your comments too!

God bless,

Verna

Birthday Splash!

Yesterday I worked on some birthday cards and this is one I came up with that went together really quick and easy with the use of bingo daubers and an old ink cleaner bottle with yellow food coloring water in it, I used them for making a background. If one bounces the dauber really hard it will splash spatters of ink for a neat look.

Then my next mission was to add the sentiment which is from the Gina K. Designs Stamp It Big set. I popped up the birthday portion of the sentiment over where I had added the hanging presents image which is from the Gina K. Designs Happy Birthday To You set.  I found Spectrum Noir Aqua markers which were nearly the same shade as some of the inks and used them to color the presents. After that I layered this panel to Gina K. Designs Blue Raspberry card stock which matched the ink in the sentiment. My final step in the creation of this card was to add the ribbon bow.

Our weather is changing and we are getting back to more normal winter temperatures for us. So far it is not too bad but the wind is picking up. South of us they are supposed to get lots of snow too, but the weather map did not show us getting nearly as much if any!

Well, have a nice day everyone!

God bless,
Verna

Hook, Line & Sinker!

I am once again working with the ice fishing theme and this time I used both the photo and the stamp image to create a card design.

No matter how hard I try I can never get the right colors for the stamp as they compare to the photo. So for this design I thought I would just make a black inked image background and let the actual photo take the limelight!

Again the ice fisherman is from Sutter Stamps and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things! I also used more of the die cut hearts that fell out of previous die cut images for my embellishment.

Thanks for looking! And, now and then using photos you have really make nice cards too!

God bless,
Verna