Thursday, February 28, 2019

Bee Thinking of You

Recently I was a lucky winner of the Heartfelt Creations Sweet as Honey Kit which had the instructions and elements needed for three cards and also a few extra pieces. Well, I tried to follow the directions on how to make the first card but I did not like the way it looked inside with the backs of the bee girl and the hive showing so I redid the card to a way I thought had a more finished look. Here is the outside of the card.



I used Bic markers to color in the hive house, girl bee and the flowers. Then I decided to add a verse inside so I am showing the inside in the next photo.


That is a beautiful scene and since it was pre-colored I cannot take credit for the wonderful coloring. Along the other side I added a sentiment from I Brake for Stamps. I have always liked that sentiment but perhaps it is getting too old and brittle on me as I had a hard time getting it to stamp well. So I carefully went in with a fine line black marker to fill in the blanks. LOL

I was going to wait until the weekend to use this kit but I found some time on my hands so I proceeded to make one card with it. I don't know why but somehow I feel like using a kit like this is harder then if I made up my own design. I prefer more simpler designs so this is somewhat difficult for me to comprehend how to make things look fantastic like others seem to be able to do. But at least I will try.

I hope all have a wonderful evening. Thanks for visiting too.

God bless,
Verna

St. Pat's Cards Set 1

As you may remember the other day I had so much frustration from trying to put a color cartridge into my printer. Well this is the reason why as I wanted to print out the St. Patrick's Collage sheet from Iralamijashop so that I could make up some simple card designs. So with a couple of those beautiful vintage pre-colored photos I made up these simple cards.



I also used a Clover Flourish die from Cheapo dies to cut out some green glitter paper. However, the glitter paper seemed to stick terribly and therefore of the three I die cut only one came out  perfect. But I still used portions of the die cut design to decorate my cards. I only need four cards this year as my shut-in list sadly has been downsized since last year. I will show the other two another time.

With all the frustration I had in getting the printer to work I forgot to put in my card stock to print the images on so instead they were printed out on regular printer paper. I decided to use them even if it was the wrong paper. I thought the images were very vivid looking and would still work fine.

Well, almost to the weekend again. I hear according to the forecast that March is coming in like a Lion. Oh, well! Most of our weekends are stormy this winter so guess it doesn't make much difference. I hope all of you have a great weekend. I am planning to work on a kit I won recently to use for card making. I have not done that before so we shall see what develops from that. So on that note, until next time take care.

God bless,
Verna

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Final February Christmas Designs

I am trying to make two or more Christmas cards every month so with the three I am posting here I will have made four for this month. I also did four last month so I am hoping to stay on that path if at all possible. All cards use the stamps from the Gina K. Designs Deck The Halls stamp set.



These two are the last ways I used the stamp set and all the inks and card stock are from Gina K. Designs as well. I used the mini ink cubes to add the color to the stamps. And I mixed and matched colors to try and get a bit of a blended look. All the cards used the Memory Box cross stitched border die. I used more non-traditional colors on these. And I placed the focal panels in my Misti to do the stamping. That way I could give more coats to my ornaments.


The next photo shows the original design. And when doing this first one I did a boo boo but tried to rectify it by stamping the topper on the ornament again where the ribbon goes. Apparently the paper got moved and I stamped that topper too low so I just redid it after positioning it the correct way. What do you think? I feel it still can be used as a card even if not perfect. And of course, this boo boo happened right before I was all finished with the rest of the panel. Isn't that the way it usually goes?

I would have had this post done a lot sooner but I had to change the ink cartridge in my printer and for some reason I had a dickens of a time doing it and getting the printer to work. Finally, I got the cartridge in right and by the time I was done messing with it I was way behind. So the rest of the afternoon was doing a catch up with some household chores. Now I have to figure out what to fix for our evening meal. So that is how my afternoon went. LOL

But I am glad you are visiting and I hope you all have a great evening.

God bless,
Verna


Monday, February 25, 2019

February Rudolph Days

This card today is the one I am entering in the February Rudolph Days Challenge. I used a Tutti Designs die called Holy Nativity.


I die cut the design from adhesive backed glitter paper from The Ton. I was so glad it was already sticky and ready to just add to my Plum Punch card stock. I trimmed that panel down then and added it to a layer of the same adhesive glitter paper and then finally to an Ivory card base. The sentiment is from Poinsettias stamp set from Inspired by Stamping. And, it was stamped with Plum Punch ink. The ink used and the card stock are all from Gina K. Designs.

Although this was a really easy card to make I find that it has the elegance so fitting for the birth of a King. I on purpose went with the more purple hues as I thought it represented royalty.

I hope your week is off to a good start. We have sunshine today and even if colder we are glad the wind has gone down. It really made for some hard snow drifts this last stormy round. Hubby had some issues trying to blow it and in places even drove right over the banks as they were so packed.
Anyway, thanks always for your visits. See you again soon.

God bless,
Verna

Friday, February 22, 2019

Looking Ahead To Graduation!

I know this year we will be having quite a few graduations to attend for family and friends so on that note I decided to take this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp! called Celebrate Your Day and a die from another set from Simon Says Stamp! called Shine on and along with an old wood mounted graduation cap and diploma from Conner's Collectibles to make a graduation card.


I went with a variety of colors and then glitzed it up by die cutting the stars with gold glitter paper. A pretty simple card but still gets the message across that it is a special occasion. All inks were from Gina K. Designs.

Mixed bag of tricks it seems might be coming our way. Some drizzle with snow and strong winds so it could get icy. I have no plans to go anywhere so I will be okay. Unless the ice causes electric outages which I am hoping will not be the case. I hope wherever you are that you have a great weekend. Thanks for visiting and for commenting. They mean the world to me.

God bless,
Verna

Thursday, February 21, 2019

More Pink and White

I had a lot of pink and white papers and card stock already out so I decided to ink up this cute bunny from and sentiment from the Your Next Stamp set called Bluebell Bunny. I think she is a cutie! I guess I will enter it in the Double D's Challenge which calls for Pink and White.


I started out with a white card stock base and to that I added pattern paper from Gina K. Designs. The pattern paper strip across the center is also from Gina K. Designs. My little bunny was stamped with black Amalgam ink from Gina K. Designs and then colored with a combo of Bic markers and Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol.  After I had the bunny colored I die cut it with Gina K. Designs small double stitched rectangle die. I also made a layer for that panel by die cutting a Dark Chocolate layer with the Gina K. Designs large single stitched rectangle die. These were placed over the pattern papers. I stamped the sentiment in Gina K. Designs Dark Chocolate ink onto white card stock and then layered that also to a Dark Chocolate card stock. The finishing touch was to add some flower gems from Kaiser to the corners of the white panel.

Still winter here but at least we saw sunshine and the temp got into the low 20's which is pretty nice considering as it is not a single digit number. The week is speeding by so fast and I have not gotten near done what I wanted to accomplish at all. I sure am slow now that I am in my senior years. LOL

Well, until next time!
God bless,
Verna

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Pink and White

The new Double D's Challenge is to use Pink and White so with those colors in mind I made a card for Mother's Day which is coming soon. I make cards for my daughters and daughter-in-law.


For my focal design I chose to use some Dogwood Blossoms from I Brake for Stamps which I stamped with Gina K. Designs Amalgam ink. I then colored them with Copics. Over the upper portion of the card I added a sentiment from the Gina K. Designs Elegant Florals 2 set. Then along the bottom I took a Die'Sire Edge'able die called Victoriana to create a decorative look. I lightly sponged on some Gina K. Designs Passionate Pink ink to that die cut area. I dressed the design up a bit more by adding some pink rhinestones. To tie the colors into the inside of the card I taped off a section along the bottom to which I sponged on more ink.

Thanks for looking and I appreciated all the feedback about my font size. I decided to go with a bit larger size as it makes it easy then for more to view.

I love all the comments you leave me. So take care and see you next time.

God bless,
Verna

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Testing

I was trying to see if I could make the font larger for some of my readers who have sight issues. If this is better for some of you let me know.

Or would the largest print work. I hate to have anyone need to use a magnifying glass to read them. I had no idea I could even  change the font until I checked into it. So I hope a change in this way will be beneficial and better for you to read.

Let me know which is better....the top size or the largest I can go.

Take care and God bless,
Verna

Monday, February 18, 2019

TODAY is Your Day!

New stamp set and a new die so of course I had to give them a try. This is the card I made and the colors look so bright and cheery with the black. I am very happy with it. Since I used a lot of Coral Reef color on it I guess I will put it in the monthly challenge at Stamp TV.


The first thing I did with a white card stock panel was to place some of that purple tape along a line that would mask off the area I wanted to sponge color onto. Once that was done I sponged on Gina K. Designs Coral Reef, Wild Dandelion and Dusty Rose inks. Then I placed this panel into my MISTI and proceeded to stamp the floral design and sentiments with Versafine black ink. The stamps I used are all from the Gina K. Designs Today & Always set by Lisa Hetrick. I also added some black polka dots using the stamped design from that same stamp set on the white area. Along the polka dotted area I used a Die'Sire Die called Beatrice to create that wonderful scalloped edge. I also placed a strip of black card stock down the middle of the card between the stamped and die cut area to give a more finished look before adding it to a Coral Reef card stock base. Inside the card I added a panel of white to which I had stamped some of those black dots to tie it in with the outer design. And that my friends completes my card I did today.

Well, I hope the sun is shining for you. We did enjoy some here so that was very uplifting for a change. Have a great week everyone and thanks for the visits.

God bless,
Verna

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Think Happy...Think Spring!

Today I brought out some new dies, new stamp set and other new things to create a card which had a more Spring like theme to it. It made my Winter blahs go away while making it. I hope it makes yours a little less extreme too.


First I took a white card base and then did some blending of colors with the Life Changing Blending Brushes from Picket Fence Designs. Over that blended color design I added the Lg. Flourish Background die which was cut with green card stock to which I added some darker green ink here and there to make it a little more intense. Over this flourish design I added the bird and the Vellum pre-printed sentiment sheet which was from Crafters Companion. But before I added the sentiment to the card I took the little bee stamps from the Woodware Stamp set called A Maze of Memories and stamped them in black onto the vellum as well.  Lastly I added some punched flowers which I shaped. They came with a Yellow Kit from The Cutting Cafe Shop. To each flower I added Doodlebug Designs Inc. beetle black glitter sprinkle gems. All card stock used was from Gina K. Designs.

Dies used:
Memory Box Elodee Bird
Memory Box Elodee Bird Background
Impression Obsession Lg. Flourish Background

I am entering this in the Dies R Us Blog Challenge #115-Birds and/or Bees and also the Scrapy Land {Challenge #107-Anything Goes

It was fun to get back to making a card again. Most of yesterday was taken up with my six month checkup. I had a good report all around and also got my flu shot. When I got home I more or less just rested in the afternoon as that trip involved a lot of walking and sometimes the shot makes me feel a bit achy and more tired.

Well, I am so glad you stopped to visit and leave such wonderful comments. And, sometimes I can send Gmail people messages and sometimes not.  A good majority of my family uses Gmail so that is a  bad thing if I need to reach them by that way. I cannot figure out why it should be that way, but it is what it is. Anyway, until next time take care.

God bless,
Verna

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine's Day

Greetings everyone!  I hope all of you are having a good day and feeling a lot of love. If not from someone else, then for yourself. And, I know God loves all of you.

I am sharing a Valentine I baked for my hubby and me to share. It will last most of the week as I cut it into 12 pieces so that we don't overload so much on the carbs. And we will only eat one piece each day.


This is a Tiara cake filled with lite cherry pie filling. We top it off with a dollop of whipped cream or topping. Years ago I got these pans along with a cake mix from Duncan Hines. Put half of a cake mix batter in the greased pan and bake it.  Let it cool. Then you tip it out onto a plate or platter and then add a filling inside the recessed area. I chose the cherry pie filling as it looked more like a Valentine. But I have also some times added a pudding type filling too. Anyone else get some of these pans? They work really great for making a fast dessert.

My hubby was so sweet to me and gave me chocolates along with a sweet card he purchased. I will share those chocolates with him as well. In fact, he got two big heart shaped boxes. One of Lindor and one of Russell Stover assortment. Yummy to both! After eating these treats we should both be extra sweet. LOL

I don't know if I will do anymore cards or not this week. And, we had snow again this morning and really strong winds. Now the snow quit and the sun is out but the winds are still raging and causing drifting. And, it is supposed to get colder as the day goes on. Oh, Winter, I am so tired of you! Spring come swiftly! I might have to cancel my six month checkup if this keeps on.

But in the meantime, thanks for the visit and you all take care.

God bless,
Verna

Monday, February 11, 2019

Twofer Challenge #13-Stars

How lucky I am that only a few weeks ago I got a new stamp set from Gina K. Designs which featured lots of stars on it. It is called All Stars and is illustrated by Beth Silaika. So when the Twofer Challenge #13-Stars was announced I knew I was all set to join in.


For my first card I chose to make a graduation card. Besides using the stars and sentiments from the stamp set I also used a die cut of a jumping graduate from the Impression Obsession set called DIE295-R. I could not find any other name for it. I also used a Cottage Cutz double stitched rectangle die to cut out the main panel. All stamps and card stock were from Gina K. Designs and colors used were Denim Blue, Christmas Pine, Tranquil Teal, Tangerine Twist and Black and also white card stock.


My second card was made to honor a Dad on Father's Day. I chose to use only two colors from the Gina K. Designs inks and they were Plum Punch and Wild Dandelion. I also used card stock of those same colors along with white. The main panel for this card was die cut with the MFT Die-Namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stackers set.


I was really happy with both of these cards and they are types that I will be needing before long. I know of several who are graduating and I also know a lot of Dads in my family for whom this card would work.

Well, so happy I was able to work on cards for this challenge and I can see where I will be getting lots of mileage from that stamp set.

Well, take care and thanks for the comments. If I don't thank you with an email at least you can see the thanks here. I am so glad you take the time to visit.

God bless,
Verna

Gmail messages

Hi all,
I don't use Gmail myself but it seems any emails I try to send to Gmail accounts are being rejected. I just wanted to let you know I am trying to respond but it does not seem to be letting them go through. They are sent back as undeliverable. I never had issues before so I wonder if Google + elimination is making things difficult.

I had someone wanting to know if I broke my foot. Well, I did not. I have extreme arthritis in the one foot by the arch and between that and the fact I got a blister from wearing new shoes caused it to be difficult to walk. But it is getting better.

 In fact, I was able to go Sunday and attend the birthday party for my youngest grandson Jack who turned one year old. He had an extra busy weekend as he was in the Baby Crawl in their area and he took first place. Oh, and he did walk before his first birthday. But when in crawling position he cannot get up unless he can find a chair or a table to pull himself up with. It was fun to see him in action and how he has come so far after his rocky start a year ago.

So thanks everyone for the wonderful comments for the past few days. I guess maybe eliminating my Google + account did cause some issues in the email respect and I don't know if there is a solution to fixing it.

I hope to get some card making in again this week. I also have a doctor's appointment for a six month check up so that will take care of one day at least. And, this stupid weather we are having says another storm coming in tonight. I hope you can tell how thrilled I am about that. LOL

Take care and God bless,
Verna

Thursday, February 7, 2019

All Occasion Geometric Heart

Today I spotted my Gina K. Designs set called Geo Thanks and decided to make a card using an inspirational photo from the Double D's Challenge. I also thought by using a vellum strip for the sentiment I could also add this to the Mod Squad Challenge too. I hope you like it as much as I do.




The heart was colored in with Bic Markers. But around the heart and in the inner portion I took my white paint pen and outlined it to make it pop a bit more. I used Gina K. Designs Dark Chocolate, Warm Cocoa and Sand card stock to make the layers behind the colored image and added it to a card base of Ivory. The sentiment is one from the Gina K. Designs Assorted Greetings set which was stamped with black ink onto a strip of vellum. The Sand and Warm Cocoa layers were die cut with a Cottage Cutz double stitched die and then layered to the Dark Chocolate. The last thing I added was some brown rhinestones to fill in the center of the geometric heart design.

We are in a blizzard so we are hunkering down. I don't think I will be posting any more this week as I bruised my bad foot somehow and I am in lots of pain when I walk. So I plan to take it easier tomorrow and just sit as much as I can with my feet up. This old age thing is not fun! LOL

I thank you for all your visits. I so appreciate them. So until next time, take care.

God bless,
Verna

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Hello My Deer

Another wonderful and fun digi design from Tiddly Inks beckoned to me when I was perusing their website so I had to buy this cute digi too. I really love the way it turned out and I used Zig Markers to color it in.  This digi is called Hello My Deer.


I die cut it with an Unbranded scalloped stitched die and then  layered the scene to a piece of black card stock. I ended up making six of this design and again they are note cards. But one could easily make them for a birthday or get well card too. I think it is such a cheery little scene. And every note card was added to Dandelion Yellow card stock from Gina K. Designs.

Well,  here we go again. It is snowing and the wind is picking up. It sounds like it will last overnight until around midnight Thursday. I am hoping they are wrong and with the winds we will once again drop way down in temperatures. But we are fine here and nice and warm again as long as we stay inside.

I hope all  who are out in the elements are faring okay too. I especially am praying for a little girl who wandered away without warm clothes in western South Dakota and has been missing for four days now. I hope those who are searching for her will be okay as well.

Thanks so much for the visits and I love viewing all the comments you leave.

God bless,
Verna

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Caterpillar Hello

Normally I am not one to use many digital images but I recently got a $3 gift certificate to a company called Tiddly Inks where they carried both digital and acrylic stamps. Well, I wanted something ASAP so I went with a few digital images and I love them. They are so cute and I wanted to share a CAS design I did with one of them for some note cards.


The name of this image is Nice 2 C U. And, that one cute caterpillar just looks like he is saying Hello to the other one. I colored it in different ways and no matter how I did it I loved the way it looked. I used Copic markers.  The sentiment is one from Gina K. Designs. And the oval double stitched dies are also from Gina K. Designs.

Well, I did some tweaking because of Google + so I am hoping all is going to work fine with this blog. I deleted my Google + information so hope I got rid of it everywhere. Thanks so much for the visits over the years and for being my blogging friend.

God bless,
Verna

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Stars, stars and more stars!

I finally got my Gina K. Designs order and inside was the wonderful All Stars set illustrated by Beth Silaika. I had to work up a design while hubby watched the Super Bowl with it. I also am entering this in the Turner Syndrome Awareness Inaugural Blog Hop. Check out all about that and maybe like me you will learn a few things. Ooops! I guess I am too late and it has closed. But at least you can still learn about this syndrome. I know it was very new to me.

And since I used a lot of the Coral Reef color from Gina K. Designs it will also be entered into the February challenge at Stamp TV too.


I also carried the design over into the inside. You can see a peek of it showing off to the left. I was not quite sure what other colors to use and then I saw the photo showing off the colors used for the Turner Syndrome hop so I went with them.

Well, I guess that will do it for me tonight. I am ready to crash soon. It has been a busy day for me as I made out my Valentines and wrapped up a birthday gift and now made a card. I consider all of them in the paper crafting line. LOL Doing that and making meals took up my day pretty much. Thanks for dropping by.

Take care and God bless,
Verna

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Loads of Love

Today I made a quick Valentine just  using dies. I chose to use the Cheapo Loads of Love die set to create this card and I also used an Unbranded scalloped stitched frame.


I added a piece of white card stock inside the card to stamp or write a message and along the bottom of the white panel I added some red hearts. You can see a glimpse of one in this next photo.


I am entering this in the Dies R Us Challenge #114-Use the Color Red.

I hope this works okay. I was using Google Chrome but lately it has been not working so well so I am  using Edge for this post. It is a learning experience for me again as it is different somewhat. I hope my Google doesn't go wrong as I really like it. Anyone else having issues? I noticed a lot of the Google emails I sent to people were returned as undeliverable too. So if you have a Google email address and did not hear from me that is probably why.

Well, believe it or not it is 35 degrees above zero today. What a change. They predict rain tomorrow. This Winter weather is really a different bag of tricks this year.

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting and for commenting.

God bless,
Verna

Friday, February 1, 2019

Yappy Birthday!

I bought a darling Stampendous Puppy stamp and die set about a year ago when I knew we were going to have a new grandson. So today I made a card for Jack who will soon be turning one. I can hardly believe how fast that birthday came around. He got off to a rough start but he is doing great now. I made a card without a lot of bling on it as I still think he stuffs a lot of things into his mouth  yet. So it is just a simple little scene but I really like it.


The body and the head of the puppy come as two different stamps so you can position the head in any direction you please. I wanted to have him looking like his head was cocked to one side. I also used the bone from the set and added that to the grass which was some Gina K. Design pattern paper which I cut out using the MFT Die-namics Grassy Edges die set. My coloring medium used was Copics for the puppy and for the sky I used Gina K. Designs ink which was blended on with a Life Changing Blending Brush. The sentiment was only Yappy Birthday but I took the liberty of adding the #1 to it with a Bic fine line black marker.

I think this will work well for a toddler who still likes to shove everything into his mouth. I don't know if he will be walking by his birthday on his own but he sure can walk around things. In fact, his Dad has to use a walker to walk so when he goes walking Jack hangs onto a lower bar below and walks with his Dad. That is so cute.

We warmed up to 25 degrees above zero. And, it sounds like that will be the case tomorrow too. But I think it will be short lived. Anyway I hope you have a nice weekend.

Take care and 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...