Climbing Vines

Today I worked up a green and white design for the Mod Squad Blog Challenge. I had not planned on using green so soon but who can resist a challenge and it was not required to be a St. Patrick's Day card either. So I decided to join in. And, I admit I do love the color green.

I once again used something that had laid in my drawer for a long time and had never seen any love. It is a card front die from Top Dog Dies (which is no longer in business) so I am so glad I purchased it as it is gorgeous. I cut it out from white card stock and placed it over the top of my base card of Gina K. Designs Apple Mint colored card stock. I thought it sort of looked like a trellis.

Next I stamped the sentiment and the vines from CAS-UAL FRIDAYS STAMPS with Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine ink on white card stock. I cut the sentiment out with a circle die from Cheery Lynn Designs and also cut another larger circle from Christmas Pine card stock. I fussy cut the vines with a scissors and then I added the layered sentiment and vines to the card front. The sentiment was popped up.

I added some dark green rhinestones on the die cut front and also one lighter colored single rhinestone on the sentiment layer. The finishing touch was a dark green ribbon bow.

The photo below shows how I also stamped some of the vines inside the card.

Well, time to work on something to eat for the pot luck at church tonight. We Lutherans do enjoy our pot luck meals after the service. We never go hungry either. LOL

God bless,
Verna

Orange Blossom Easter

Again this is a one layer card and again I used images from Gina K. Designs Stately Flowers 8 set. This is the last floral image on the set and since I had never inked it up before I decided it was a good time to do so.

I had no clue as to what color orange blossoms were so I had to check it out on the computer and see a few photos. I saw that they were mostly white blossoms. So I tried to keep my images as white as possible with only adding a little light gray color here and there on the petals. I again used the new set of Zig markers I purchased. I sponged orange colors around the images so that they would pop more. I finished the card by adding a few orange rhinestones randomly and a orange and white polka dot ribbon. I messed up by the butterfly a bit and got outside the lines, but we will pretend it is just some shadow. LOL Afterall, if it were perfect no one would know it was handmade, right?

Well, I finally used all of the flowers from that set on a card so I accomplished what I had set out to do. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I did with them as well.

Have a super evening everyone and thanks for visiting once again.

God bless,
Verna

Yellow Jasmine Easter

I made another one layer card again and I tried to make it have more dimension with sponging added to create an interesting affect. I am not sure I achieved quite what I was going for but none the less it isn't too badly done.

Once again I have used images from the Gina K. Designs Stately Flowers 8 set which is illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. I also used a negative of a cross die which I had purchased last Easter season and never used which was made by Top Dog Dies. I am sad to say that company is no longer in business but I am glad I got this die as it is really a lovely design. But this time I used the negative as a stencil and sponged in the cross with Gina K. Designs Prickly Pear dye ink.

Next I took and sponged in what I had hoped would look like rays shooting off the cross with Gina K. Designs Lemon Drop and Sweet Corn yellow dye inks. I am not sure I quite got that look but at least I tried.

The yellow jasmine images were stamped twice with black Versafine ink and then colored in with Zig markers. And the last steps were to stamp the sentiment in the upper left corner and add the pearls to the cross.

Well, thanks for stopping in. The last two mornings we have awakened to a thick fog, but at least the temperatures are above normal for this time of year. I am not sure if that will speak to warmer all summer long or not, but right now I think all are appreciating the Spring temperatures. You have a great Tuesday.

God bless,
Verna

Iris Easter Card

My new Zig pens arrived last week that I ordered through Amazon so I decided to try them out and use them to color a one layer card using the Iris image from the Gina K. Designs Stately Flowers 8 set. The sentiment and butterfly are from that set too!

This is a simple card design. I stamped the Iris and the butterfly with Onyx Black ink from Versafine and then colored them in with my Zig watercolor pens. I also scribbled a bit of a blue ink around the Iris to make the image pop more. I am not sure if I like it or not. Perhaps it would have looked better if I had sponged on the blue. The last steps were to stamp the sentiment with the Onyx Black ink and add some blue rhinestone gems here and there.

I have to do fairly easy Easter designs as I found out that also this month is a church bake sale again so I will have to devote one week to baking for that fund raiser. And, I am hosting the family for Easter as well. So my time will be well occupied this month.

Well, I at least I am happy to move on to another holiday on the calendar. And, it is a good thing I have plenty of birthday cards lined up for a while too.

You take care and I hope your Monday is going great. Mine sure is. I was not able to access StampTV for several days. It seemed I was blocked from the website. I don't know what happened to cause it but I am so happy that this morning I was able to get back on. I hope it stays that way too!

God bless,
Verna

Another For NBUS #6

I found a Cheery Lynn Doily die that I had not used before. It was one that has a wing with it and so I decided this was a good time to use it. I am still working on St. Patrick's Day cards so I am once again going "green".

And I used the sentiment and four leaf clover images from the Clover set by CAS-UAL FRIDAYS stamps. The four leaf clover was stamped with green and then colored in with Spectrum Noir Aqua pens and fussy cut out. Then in the center I placed some light green rhinestone gems for more texture.

The background die facer was cut out with a duplex green card stock and I used the darker colored side and placed it over the white card base. Next I cut the doily out but since it was so large I cut a portion of it off and layered it on the wing that was cut out of the same duplex card stock but instead I used the lighter color.

My sentiment was also stamped in green ink on white card stock and the layered to both colors of the duplex papers. After that was done I then popped the four leaf cover over the end of it. The last addition to the card was the double bow ribbon of white satin trimmed chiffon.

This will be my last entry into the NBUS #6 contest at Darnell Knauss's blog. She is always inspiring 

me to use those things "I loved and had to have" but still had not used. Thanks so much for that push in the right direction Darnell.

Cheery Lynn Designs dies used are:

Spring Flower Burst Doily w/ Angel Wing DL 221

A2 Frame Die FRM 114

I am also entering this in the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #22-Doilies Theme

Scrapy Land Challenge-#37 Anything Goes

Oh, and my leg wound is considered healed now. So I don't have to go back for three months unless something changes in the meantime. I am really happy about that good news! I hope all of you will have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by too!

God bless,

Verna

Nice Normal Family

Today I am using more Never Before Used Schtuff. I pulled out a stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle called Chicken Run Stamp Set 761 which I fell in love with but never had used and also found some pattern paper that was a Christmas gift several years ago which had not been opened either. So today was the day to get the stamps inky and use the paper. And, since it will soon be St. Patrick's Day I thought all my family should be dressed in green except for a little pop of red.

My solid silhouette chicken family was inked with a Marvy rainbow pad of green hues and stamped onto white card stock. I added just a touch of red to the older family members on their combs. The sentiment from the set was stamped in Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine. I then took a Die-Namics die set called Wonky Stitches Rectangle Stackers MFT 839 to cut out the white stamped panel as well as the polka dot green pattern paper layer. They were then placed on a base card of white. I added a strip of pattern paper inside the card too so that the inside and outside were connected. The last step was to add some red rhinestones.

I got my inspiration for the colors from this photo which is shown in the Double D Blog challenge for this week. Therefore, this will be entered into their challenge contest.

I am also adding my card to the NBUS challenge which is sponsored by Darnell Knauss.

And the final challenge this will be entered into is the Mod Squad Blog Challenge which is once again using animals which also includes birds. So this will qualify for that also.

I was always waiting for the right time to use that set of chicken stamps and I think this was a perfect opportunity for that. Here is another photo taken from a different angle.

Well, I might be doing more cards later this week but tomorrow I have a checkup for my leg. As far as I know it is still healed so hopefully, the doctor will agree with me. So if I am quiet and not commenting much on your creations that could be why as usually it is an all day affair.

Thanks for stopping by.

God bless,

Verna

Never Before Used Schtuff!

Darnell Knauss has her NBUS Challenge going so I wanted to join in and I took the opportunity to finally play with something I purchased last month and never got around to using yet. I had bought an embossing folder and some tools to use with any brand embossing folders. I purchased them from Crafter's Companion and after my first try I am seeing that they will be quite useful to me. I also used some ribbon that I have held onto for a couple years now and finally have found a home for it.

I had an already cut piece of the Gina K. Designs Lipstick colored card stock on hand so just for a practice run with my new tools I decided to try my luck with them. I was so thrilled that I decided it was good enough to make into a card design. These new tools are the Inside Out Embossing Plate 10EPF01-Frame It and Plate I0EPS01 Oval Set. Before I began though I did watch the  Cheery Lynn Designs video showing how to use them.

My first step was to put my card stock in the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and then I placed the oval template over the top of the embossing folder before I put it through my machine. When it came out of the folder only the outer portions were embossed and the inside oval was left plain. Well, I could have left it like that and continued on, but I decided to go a step further and add the decorative oval design to the lipstick embossed layer too.

That was accomplished with the Frame-It set in which I placed the Lipstick card stock inside that embossing folder but this time I added a larger rectangle frame from the Oval set. After I had run it through the machine, I was thrilled to see only the decorative oval frame added to my Swiss Dots design.

I decided to use some Cheery Lynn oval dies then also to enhance the inside oval area. I stamped a jar of flowers from the Gina K. Designs Birthday Blessings set on white card stock and colored them in with Spectrum Noir Aqua markers and then layered that onto Gina K. Designs Black and Apple Green card stock. Those layered flowers then fit right inside the embossed oval frame.

The next step in making the card was to add this panel to more Black and Apple Green card stock before placing it on the main card base of Gina K. Designs Lemon Drop card stock. The finishing touch was the addition of a double ribbon bow of yellow and white polka dots and some yellow pearls on each of the flowers.

The Cheery Lynn Dies used are:

Oval Classics SM-7

Oval Inverted Scalloped XM-9

I chose more Spring colors for this card and even though it is very cold today I am still thinking Spring. I will add this to the Mix It Up Monday Challenge at Stamp TV too if I can get it to load up on their website. For some reason I have been having lots of difficulties doing so of late.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful rest of the week.

God bless,

Verna