Thursday, September 28, 2017

Falling Leaves

This is my second post of the day. I am back to a Fall design and once again I am using the pretty Gina K. Designs Stitched Leaves Set for the leaves and for the sentiment I used the Joy Clair Harvest Blessings Set. And, I also used a stencil from Crafter's Companion Sheena Douglas division called Groovin' 60's. That stencil has a swirly look to it and I thought it would look like the swirl that falling leaves would leave if they were whipping off a tree. I only used a small portion of the stencil as it is huge.


I used a rainbow pad of Autumn ombre colors from Hero Arts for my leaves. And, the sentiment and outline designs on the leaves were done with Gina K. Designs black ink. I die cut the panel using a die from the My Favorite Things Die-namics Blueprints 29 set. My last addition to the card before adding it to a Gina K. Designs Tomato Soup card base was to add some black rhinestones randomly. I also added a panel of white card stock inside the card for a message to be added.

This card will be entered into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which we are to use Fall Colors.

Well, that will most likely do it for me this week. I have other plans tomorrow. I hope your day has been a fun and fulfilled one. Thanks for visiting.

God bless,
Verna

2 Layer Christmas Card

I have to start making a Christmas card now and then this month or I will be very short handed when it comes time to send my greetings out so I found this NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) stamp set from Penny Black called Red Star. After using it I find I absolutely love the way it looks on a card. So this will be my last card entered into Darnell Knaus's Blog #12 NBUS Challenge.


I used my MISTI so that I could get a good impression and colored the image in with Zig Clean Color markers. These are a watercolor marker and so I only did a small portion of the design at a time and repeated adding the colors until I got the look I wanted. Well this image has a more grainy look to it and so since I wanted to smooth it out a bit more I then took and did a direct to already stamped image using the red colored Zig marker to fill in some of that grainy look. I added some little yellow rhinestones to the center to dress up the design and used black ink to stamp the sentiment. This panel was then die cut with a die from the My Favorite Things Die-namics Blueprints 29 set and then placed on a card base of Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine card stock.


I also die cut another panel from the white card stock and added that to the inside of the card so that I could stamp or write a message.

This card will be entered into the September Rudolph Days Challenge. And, I think I will be making several of this design in the future. I love it.

Thanks for the visit and I hope your week is going great.

God bless,
Verna

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

CAS Fall Birthday

I have a gentleman who is having his birthday in a few days and I did not have any that looked very masculine so I decided to do this CAS design using the Hero Arts Black ink and Ombre Autumn rainbow pad. The leaves and the sentiment are from the CAS-UAL FRIDAYS stamp set called Casual Elegance.



I used Post-It notes to mask off the area I wanted to add color to. Once that was done I took the Ombre stamp pad and swiped it along that area to cover it. I removed the Post-It notes and revealed my colored strip. My next step was to stamp the leaves in with black ink over the top of that colored area. Next I took a marker and a corrugated piece of card board and drew a faux border along the colored area. The corrugated card board sort of made a little bit of a jagged design which I liked. The last step to the card was to add the sentiment with the black ink.

Another very simple design but the colors of those inks make it so beautiful I think and I believe this would be an appropriate birthday card for a man. I will be entering this into the A Blog Named Hero One Layer Challenge.

Thanks for the visit and all the wonderful comments.

God bless,
Verna

CAS One Layer

I was a bit cramped for time but decided to make a simple one layer card for the A Blog Named Hero-One Layer Challenge. I used the stamp set from CAS-UAL FRIDAYS called Snowy Sayings. I used the long mixed snowflake image and repeated it several times on a white card base to get my snowflakes design using blue ink and then simply added the sentiment with red ink. All inks are from Hero Arts, namely Deep Ocean and Crimson.


I love to do CAS designs and this one took about five minutes to complete. I tried to rotate the snowflake strip so that they were more mixed in alignment. For the beginner stamper this is a good way to start out in card making. To dress it up a bit more one could also add some of the flakes inside the card and also onto an envelope to make everything match.

Well, off to do a few household things and then I will be back later to add another post to my blog. Thanks for visiting and for checking out my CAS one layer card.

God bless,
Verna

Monday, September 25, 2017

Stitched Leaves Kit

Today's mail brought my Gina K. Designs Stitched Leaves Kit and I just had to play with it right away. So I guess since this card is the first outing for these leaves and dies it will qualify for Darnell Knaus's NBUS challenge. Today is Day 2. You can see on the side bar the label relating to it.


I was inspired to make this card by the photo that was featured in the Stamp TV Mix It Up Monday Challenge in which they posted an inspirational photo. This card is my take on that photo.



The plaid pattern paper is from Lawn Fawn. I layered the pattern paper onto a piece of dark brown card stock and then die cut the panel using a Die-Namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die. My leaves were stamped with a Hero Arts ink pad and also a Kalaidcolor Ink Pad. These rainbow ink pads work great to capture the colors of Autumn. Both the stamps and the dies for the leaves are in the kit.


Once I had the leaves attached where the plaid and brown card stock met I then added my black and white gingham ribbon which was also from Gina K. Designs. This panel was then mounted onto a white card base.

My final step was to stamp the thankful sentiment from the kit in black ink onto white paper and then die cut it. I also stamped the I'm so in black ink on white card stock and fussy cut that. Each of these were then popped up onto the plaid paper.


I am really happy the way this turned out. And, even if I did not get as great a stamping of the leaves as one really should I still like it. Good thing I am not on a design team as I know that I don't always get things perfect. I just am making my designs for the fun of it. And, hopefully, whoever gets this card will overlook the imperfections.

Well, another dreary day and cold now. Maybe summer is really over. No rain so far today but there is still that chance and it still feels very damp with all we got in previous days. I am going to have to snuggle in more tonight to keep warm as I am sure the hubby will not allow us to turn on the furnace

I thank you for visiting and for all of the sweet comments you leave. It sure makes me feel good to read all of them. 

God bless,
Verna

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Fall Owl and Pumpkin Cards

This is my second post for today. We had more rain again so that was a good time to just sit and craft and make some more cards. I chose for these cards to use the darling owl and pumpkin image along with the sentiment from a digital set by Craftin Desert Divas. I had printed out several and instead of coloring them in myself I chose to try the already colored version. At least these stay in the lines. Hahaaa!


The first design will be entered into Scrapy Land (Challenge #74) which is Anything Goes. I used circle dies from Gina K. Designs and the corner dies are from Cheery Lynn Designs. The pattern paper from Lawn Fawn was added to a white card base. I am also entering this in the Dies R Us Blog Challenge #81-Fancy Corners.



The second card I am entering into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which we are to use leaves. Once again I used the same digi image set from Craftin Desert Divas as well as the same circle die sets from Gina K. Designs. I had a strip of the same pattern paper from Lawn Fawn left over and I used that on my orange card base. The leaf dies I used on this card are some from Gina K. Designs also.


Dies used:
Gina K. Designs Double Stitched Small Circle Die and Single Stitched Large Circle Die
Gina K. Designs Filigree Leaf Die
Cheery Lynn Designs Die is B161 Lace Corner Deco A


Well I hope up are enjoying these first days of Autumn. So far it has seemed more like summer days as we had temps in the 90's for the first day and then that was followed by lots and lots of rain. But I guess we just have to take the Lord's decision that this is the type of weather we should be having and try to enjoy it to the utmost. I am sure before long we will be back into the colder temps that we experienced in the beginning of September.

Well, that will do it for me today. I thank you for visiting and for all the kind words you leave me.

God bless,
Verna

Autumn Leaves

Today I pulled out a wonderful multi-step stamp set from Kitchen Sink Stamps called 3 Step Autumn Squirrel. I made a card with this set and although I am sure I did not perfectly align all the steps I still love how it turned out. Around here all we have is grey squirrels but since I did not have the correct colors I went with a red squirrel on my design. I am entering this into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge which calls for us to use leaves. This is the first time I inked up this set but I have had it in my supply for quite some time.


I chose to back my design onto a base card of kraft card stock. I also added some pattern paper in each corner with fun Fall colors which is from Gina K. Designs. My main panel and these pattern pieces were die cut with a Cottage Cutz Double Stitched Border dies. To the white panel  I added a layer of black card stock which I just fussy cut. To balance the design a bit more I added three black gems to the upper right corner.


Inside the card I also added a strip of the same pattern paper and then die cut out another white panel and placed that also inside so that I could write or stamp an appropriate message.

I am also adding this to the NBUS Challenge that is held by Darnell Knaus on her blog DJKardkreations.com  .


We had lots and lots of rain last night and a great deal of thunder and lightning. At one time we had very strong winds that we were fearing might have been a tornado but no damage was done. But it sounded really bad. There is talk of more rain today but right now it is bright and sunny.

Well, thanks for visiting and I hope your Sunday is starting your week off in great fashion.

God bless,
Verna


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Sunflower Tea

This afternoon I took time off to make a card using a stamp set I won last year in the coffee blog hop. It is a lovely set called Tea In The Garden by Laura K. Bray. I decided my flowers would be sunflowers as they are always a fantastic fall flower I think.  All the stamps are from that set and I made my background by repeated stamping of the small floral image and then adding some random splats of color with my Copic pens. This will be also entered into the 2017 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.


I used colors I associated with Autumn and used them for coloring and for layering. I was quite happy with the way it came together too. The background panel was cut with a Cottage Cutz double stitched die and the other layers I just cut with my scissors by eyeballing. 


I think this would make a nice note card that would work for many occasions by adding an inside message.

There is still a couple days left for the hop so if you want to join in on the fun and have a chance for oodles of prizes get those tea, coffee or hot cocoa cards entered. You could be a lucky winner.

Thanks for visiting and for commenting. I so enjoy reading all of the lovely messages.

God bless,
Verna

Stamplorations Halloween Card

Another freebie offered on the 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop was this darling image from Stamplorations. So I downloaded that one as well, colored it with Copics and this morning made a card using it and lots of plaid papers from the Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall Petite Paper Pack.


I die cut the Stamploration image with a Gina K. Design Small Double Stitched Oval die and then did another one of Gina K. Designs Fresh Asparagus card stock using the Gina K. Designs large single stitched oval die for a layer. I also die cut a small tag from the Gina K. Designs Decorative Tag set from white card stock and then added to a layer of the Fresh Asparagas as well. On this little tag I stamped in black ink the Hello which is included in a set called Shadow Play from Altenew.  I then added a orange brad to the tag and placed it on my layers which I added to a base card of white.

I am entering this in the Stamploration Never Ending Anything Goes challenge too.

We had a big storm last night but no major damage for us but we did get lots of rain again. Anyway, I shut the computer down and unplugged it as there was a tremendous amount of lightning and I did not want to take any chances of ruining my computer. We lost one that way before so we learned our lesson.

Anyway, I appreciate your visits and comments and I hope you have a wonderful day.

God bless,
Verna

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Vintage Lady Coffee Card

This morning I grabbed a few minutes and did a bit of hopping on the 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and found this free digital from Tlc Creations which I think is called Paulette. Anyway I saved it to my computer and this afternoon made a card with it.



The digi was in black and white and lightly sketched but for my card I added some subtle colors with my colored pencils. Then I added Versamark ink all over the cut out image and added some clear embossing powder from Gina K. Designs and heat set it. I then layered this to a black double stitched square die cut which was cut with a Gina K. Designs die. Next I added this to a panel of pattern paper which came from my gift box of yellow items which I won in the hop last year from The Cutting Cafe.

Along the edge of this panel I added a row of the Filigree Leaf Die from Gina K. Designs which I cut out in various Fall colors. Then along the other side on the bottom I added the sentiment and pumpkin which were from the Harvest Blessings set by Joy Clair. The pumpkin and sentiment were stamped with Gina K. Designs black ink and then I colored the pumpkin in with some Copics.

This main yellow pattern paper panel was then layered onto black card stock and then again some orange card stock before I placed it on the white card base.

Now that was fun and I was glad I got time to get a card done again today. We are in a tornado watch until midnight so I may have to turn off the computer later on if there is a lot of lightning. So I am rushing this post. Hopefully, I got all the details in. Thanks for visiting and I hope you are able to do some of the hop as well.

God bless,
Verna

Monday, September 18, 2017

Brentwood The Owl

This is the third card I have made for the 2017 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and this time I used another freebie digi that is available for a limited time during the coffee hop. You can get it at JessicaLynnOriginals.com and even though I am not too fond of using digital stamps, this little guy just caught my eye and I had to use him in a card as well.


I used this digital stamp in a little scene and I took a tree die by Diemond Dies and die cut it from a scrap piece I had foiled using Deco Foil Amber Waterfall. I just love that Deco Foil and ever since I got myself a laminator I have used foiling a lot in my cards.

This Brentwood image was colored with my Copics and then that was layered also over the tree die image. Next I die cut this panel with a Memory Box Cross Stitched Border die. I had previously sponged that panel of white card stock with light blue ink from Gina K. Designs. All were then placed on a base card of white card stock and that completed my simple scene.

Even though I had to work with tomatoes again today I am glad I managed to get a little bit of card making done. I hope all of you are having a fun week and if at all possible will take in some of the fun of the Coffee Hop too. You never know! You could be a lucky winner as there is lots and lots of prizes.

Thanks for the lovely comments you always leave too.

God bless,
Verna


Sunday, September 17, 2017

Another Coffee Card

I was doing some commenting on the 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop when I came across this free digital stamp from Craftin Desert Divas so I grabbed it and today I made a quick card using it. I used the already colored version on the stamp set and from there used pattern papers and dies to make my card. I love how it turned out too! And having the image already colored felt a bit like cheating but it sure did go a lot faster and it matched all the items I wanted to use too!


I used two sets of Gina K. Designs square die sets to cut out the image. I also added some frost on the pumpkin with Gina K. Designs Frozen glitter. The plaid paper is from the Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall Paper Pack. This pattern paper and the sentiment were die cut using dies from the Die-Namics Blueprints 29 set. I outlined all of the layers with black card stock. After adhering all of the items to a white card base I then added some little orange rhinestones along each side of the sentiment.



Oh, this is such a fun and cute image and it is perfect for this time of year. I hope many of you will join in on the 2017 Coffee Lovers Hop. It is a fantastic fun thing and there is lots and lots of prizes being awarded too besides getting free digital stamps. By doing the hop this is getting me a jump start on my Fall card designs.

Well, thanks for the visit and for the comments. I love each and every one.

God bless,
Verna

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Puppy Halloween

Oh, my! I was really caught off guard with all the garden preserving I had been doing that I completely forgot that the 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop was starting this week. So I am a bit behind but at least I will get one card in for the event.


2017 fall hop

I just fell in love with that cute little puppy image and decided that was a design to be used on my Halloween cards this  year. The sentiment is also on the set from Sparkle N Sprinkle which is called A Puppy's Halloween #863.

I stamped the sentiment and puppy with Gina K. Designs black ink and then colored it in with Copics. The sentiment I cut apart so that I could insert a coffee pot which is from a Stamplorations set called Bunnies 'N Beans. My plaid paper which I die cut using a Memory Box Cross Stitch Border die is from the Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall paper pack. And the card stock I used is all from Gina K. Designs.

I also added some fiber which is a braided orange and white which I thought worked well with this design. It is from DL Arts.


I will also be entering this in the Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge for this month.

Oh, this felt so good to make a card again. At least my hands are stained from ink now and not from tomatoes. LOL Thanks for visiting and for your lovely comments. I love reading each and every one of them. Have a great Sunday.

God bless,
Verna

Friday, September 8, 2017

Losing The Lines

Wow! This is my second post of the day. And, again I tried the "no line" stamping. This time I went with an Autumn theme and made a Thanksgiving card. I used a leaf and sentiment from the Simple Things Stamp set by Gina K. Designs and the leaf was stamped three times with the Memento Desert Sand ink. I used alcohol ink markers which were a combination of Copics and Bic Mark-It pens.


I fussy cut around the leaves and then layered that panel onto some Gina K. Designs pattern paper from the Grateful Heart paper pack. These two layers were then added to a white card stock base. I then stamped the sentiment with Gina K. Designs black ink and fussy cut it out. The finishing touch was to add some gold nailhead stickers from the Mark Richards line.

I will be entering this card into the Mod Squad Blog Challenge as well in which we were to lose the lines when stamping our images. I think this time I did a little better. LOL

Well, that's all for today folks! Have a good evening and thanks for visiting.

God bless,
Verna

No Lines??

Well, at least I tried to make a no lines card design. But I am afraid my coloring that way does not compare at all to some of those artists out there who can do it so beautifully! None the less I did my best and so I am entering this in the Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which we are to use the "no lines" technique.


I stamped the design from the Gina K. Designs Rose Bouquet mini stamp set with Memento Desert Sand ink onto Gina K. Designs layering weight white card stock. Since I wanted to use alcohol inks I decided I had better go with a Memento ink. And, I used a combination of Bic Mark-It alcohol ink markers and my Copics. I had to go that route as so many of both sets of markers are dried up and of no use anymore. I should make another purchase one of these days.

I die cut the panel out with my Memory Box Cross Stitched Border die and also cut out another panel of Gina K. Designs green gingham pattern paper for a layer before adding it to a base card of Gina K. Designs white heavy weight card stock. Once I had it all layered together I then added the sentiment from the same stamp set using Gina K. Designs black ink. My final addition was to add some pink rhinestones as an embellishment.


Well, even though it is not as an accomplished looking coloring as some others do I still like it and especially so after I added it to the gingham pattern paper layer. I just cannot seem to get a no line look. Maybe the secret is not to outline things so much but for some reason I cannot help it. I started out that way and it really looked bad so I ended up adding some of the design of the image with darker pink.

Yesterday I had my checkup on my leg and it is as good as it is going to get I guess. I still have a divot spot on my ankle. I go back to see him in a year again unless something develops in the meantime. My next doctor appointment is to a podiatrist to see if I can get some help with my feet.

Well, here it is the weekend already. This morning I froze some tomatoes again. And, sorted out a bunch of others which will be ready to care for in a day or two. So there is not a big break in the garden. I think in a couple days I will need to do some more dill pickles too. So my life is busy and productive one way or the other.

Take care all of you in the middle of the hurricane and for all who are being pushed out of their homes by wild fires too. It sure is a time for much prayers including for the threat from North Korea.

God bless,
Verna

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Adding Some Glitter

The Double D's Blog Challenge is entitled Glitter-Glitter-Glitter! So I made a new Christmas card using a brand new set from Gina K. Designs called Perfect Poinsettia which is illustrated by Claire Brennan. This is a multi-step type of stamping set but since she has an outline you can use it as just an image to color in as well. And, also included in the set is some sentiments. So not only is the stamped poinsettia from that set but so is the sentiment. And I glittered it up by adding strips of red glitter paper from Stampin' Up!


I added some green gingham paper which is from the Gina K. Designs Winter Whimsy paper pack. When I fussy cut the poinsettia and leaves out I left an outline of white card stock showing as I thought it would make the image pop more against the background. All was assembled together and added to a white card base.

The red inks I used were Lipstick, Red Velvet and Cherry Red. For the green I used Jelly Bean Green, Grass Green and Fresh Asparagus. And, for the center I started out with Lemon Drop then added Sweet Corn followed by Prickly Pear last. The sentiment was stamped with black ink. All the inks were from Gina K. Designs.

Well, I am still quite busy these days with garden and then over the weekend we had company which was nice. I even sent some of my garden stuff off with them so that I could find a small frame of time to make a card. When this set arrived in the mail yesterday I knew I wanted to try making one with it.

Now tomorrow I have a check up on my leg and also want to do some shopping so that will take care of most of the day.

And, it was quite cold this morning. Our thermometer showed 40 degrees. I am so glad we shut all the air conditioners off. It still was quite chilly in the house overnight but it did make for great sleeping.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful beginning to your week. And that you enjoy the rest of it too. And my thoughts and prayers are with all in Texas and for those who are facing the onslaught of Irma too.

God bless,
Verna

Fluttering By

 First of all I want to wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day! I hope your day is extra special. This card I am showing uses an Al...