Guest Designing For March Twofer

I am very honored to be guest designing for the No. 3 March Twofer Card challenge. I was so lucky to be chosen the winner on the very first Twofer challenge and therefore, was asked to do a guest spot.

The challenge this month is to use a blossom or flower image on two cards in different and unique ways. My blossoms were taken from a Concord and 9th stamp set called Flourish. I also used a sentiment from Gina K. Designs for the Easter design.

The first one is simply the floral design and this Flourish stamp set was the first set from Concord & 9th  I purchased and I still love it. It is a very fun and more artsy looking floral design. The sentiment for this card was taken from another Concord & 9th set called Many Mandalas Stamp set. My inks of choice were Hero Arts Ombre ink pads and I used a Memory Box Cross Stitched Border die to cut out the white stamped panel and the black panel. The sentiment was stamped with Versafine black ink before I placed the layered panels on a white card base. The last items added were the black gem rhinestones.

Now using the same stamp set I made an Easter scene. The Flourish set flowers were used to make the grass and the decorations on the eggs. By the way I did not have any plain egg dies but I figured a small oval would serve just as well. So I die cut some using a Cheery Lynn Die and then decorated them with the flower images.

The rabbit die is one from Cheery Lynn Designs called Funny Bunny and I simply cut it in white and backed it onto some pink card stock. I then cut around the image to make it look more visible against the blue sponged background I did for the sky. I thought the sentiment would look cute if it was on a cloud so I did it that way and popped it up. The sentiment is from the Gina K. Designs Springtime Baskets set.

I always enjoy making cards and both of these designs were fun to make. A little thinking outside the box is sometimes required but I think that is a part of the fun of the challenge. I hope some of you will consider joining in on the challenge as well.

Thanks for the visit and comments. See you next time!

God bless,
Verna

Heartfelt Thoughts In Gray

The Double D's Challenge this time is to use mostly gray in your card design. Well this was a challenge for me mainly because I had gray papers but they were different shades and when combined together some of them instead looked green and some blue instead of gray. I finally settled on this combination of papers and inks to make my card and I think it is a fairly good match.

The stamps used for this card are from the Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Blooms set. And the ink I chose to use is Versafine Smokey Gray. The white focal panel was die cut with a Cottage Cutz Double Stitched Rectangle die. And, the ribbed gray paper and the ribbon were some I had in my stash for ages and of course, I don't know where they came from.

Just a very simple and quick card to make but I really love the way it looks. It has a sort of quiet elegance about it I think.

Anyway, that was my project for today. We shall see what tomorrow brings. I might just spend the day addressing my St. Patrick's Day cards instead of making cards. Anyway, thanks for the visit and for the wonderful comments you leave.

God bless,
Verna

Black, White and Red

My latest Gina K. Designs stamp set and stencil arrived recently but this was the first chance I had to play with them. So I decided to join the Stamp TV Mix It Up Monday Challenge in which we are to use black and white along with another color and also add a ribbon.

My card was made with the Gina K. Designs Wreath Builder set along with the Gina K. Designs stencil template. I made my wreath builder design onto a 4 x 4 square of white card stock. It was originally a wreath design but I wanted to add more to the panel so I added extra images to fill out the whole area to  make a pattern paper look.  Once I had my design done to my liking I then cut it in two down the center. One half was applied to a black card stock base on the top and one half was applied to the bottom.

Then in the middle I added a white panel which was layered to a black piece of card stock and on this panel I stamped the sentiment and also another red blossom from the Wreath Builder set. But before I added that panel to the main card I added a gingham black and white ribbon. I chose to use Gina K. Designs Red Velvet and Black Onyx inks and also White, Black Onyx and Red Velvet card stocks from Gina K. Designs.

I added a floral design in each corner along the bottom of the white panel that I added to the inside of the card. This way it ties the outside design to the inside. I also added a sentiment from the stamp set inside.

Well, this was fun to do. And, the sun was shining again and it warmed a wee bit so that there is just a little melting. Much nicer day then when it was snowing so hard. I hope your day is going well for you too! Thanks for the visit and until next time take care.

God bless,
Verna

St. Pat's Shaker Card

Just for the fun of it I thought I would see if I could use some of my Cheapo dies and make a shaker card. Well everything was going great until I realized I did not have the right elements to put into a shaker. But then I thought of the box of goodies I inherited from my Mom after she passed on and I found some confetti in it that I think worked just fine. Of course, I had to hand pick the gold and green ones only for my shaker since it was for St. Patrick's Day. And since I am not a shaker card maker I think this is not too bad considering. I think I might have made two more in my lifetime.

I used some Gina K. Designs pattern paper from the Garden Tour paper pack. I also used some Crafter's Companion green card stock and the peach colored card stock for the card base is from Gina K. Designs. Also the light green card stock is from Gina K. Designs.

I used the Cheapo clover die set which consists of two pieces and used the negative for the shaker area. I then used the two dies from the set together to make a frame for it. And, the flourish was cut out and placed along the right side and I added some orange gems to it.

The last thing added to my card was the sentiment from Gingerbread of Arlington, SD which was stamped in Gina K. Designs Christmas Pine ink and then cut out with a Marvy Uchida scalloped oval punch. The Gingerbread company is no longer in business but in the early days of my stamping and card making career I bought quite a few stamps from them.

Cheapo Dies used:
Clover Flourish
Fancy Clover Set

Well, we have had electricity all day and hubby has been cleaning out our yard and the neighbor's yard. So he has been extra busy all day. It is such a wet snow so it is very hard to blow it. He had a lot of plugging up with the blower and sheared a few pins too. Good thing he always has extras on hand to fix it again in a hurry. We got about a foot of snow.

Thanks so much for your visits and wonderful comments. Here's wishing you a great evening now.

God bless,
Verna

Uchi's Design Animation Butterfly

A few months ago I bought a Uchi's Designs grid die and for the life of me I could not get it to work. Well I am happy to report that Uchi's  Designs replaced my grid die and also sent me more stamps for all the problems I had. And, even more lovely is that this new die works wonderfully. I am so happy about it so while we are having a blizzard today I used my new grid along with the Uchi's Designs Butterfly animation stamp set to make this card

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Dies used are:
Cheery Lynn Designs-Just For You
Memory Box-Wonky Stitched Rectangles on the pattern paper.
Uchi's Designs-Grid Die
Spellbinder Dies-Labels Sixteen

The pattern paper is some I got from Gina K. Designs Garden Tour paper pack. I thought it was a pretty floral design and I liked that it had lots of black besides all the other fun colors. The butterflies on the card stock under the grid are from Uchi's Design too and were stamped in Versafine Black ink.

I am hoping by comparing the two photos of the card with the butterfly panel at different positions that you will see the animation look. Sorry I don't do videos.  After applying all the layers I finished the card off by adding some flowers along the top and bottom of the grid along with some rhinestone centers.

Well, weather wise it has been quite a past few hours. Last night around midnight we had a strong thunder storm and this morning when I woke up it was snowing like crazy. And, so very windy too! Hubby says we have about a foot of snow so far. And, still coming down. And, it is a wet snow and every now and then the electricity goes off and on. I hope it keeps coming back on all the time as I hate to think of having to get the generator out and get it going. ****No more then wrote this and off it went again. So glad I got the post restored so I did not lose all of it.

Well, everyone take care and have a safe and good night. Thanks for the visit.

God bless,
Verna

St. Pat's Card

Some time back I was the lucky winner of some digital photos from Iralmijashop and one of the sets I picked out was one that featured St. Patrick's Day designs. So along with an old rainbow pattern paper that Dee Gruenig sold several years ago and some dies I made a St. Patrick's Day card.

The rainbow pattern paper was die cut with a Memory Box Cross Stitched Border die and the Fancy Clover die set consists of two dies. An outer one and then the fancy inside design. So each die could be used separately as well. They are from Cheapo Dies.

This will be one of the cards I will send to the shut-ins. I hope they will like it. It doesn't show up too well but that rainbow paper has some glitter infused in it so it looks much better in person. For some reason I could not capture it in the photos I took.

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Scrapy Land #84-Anything Goes
Dies R Us Challenge #92-Use Pastel Colors

Well, the weekend is upon us. So no doubt I will be taking a break. This Sunday is Jack's baptism. So we are looking forward to that and hope the big storm holds off  until all get back to their homes safely. You have a great weekend too and thanks so much for the lovely comments you leave me.

God bless,
Verna

Heart Frame Card

Well March 1st came in like a lamb today. It was a beautiful day with lots of snow melting. And today my order from Cheapo Dies arrived too and I just had to play a bit so I chose to use this one for a CAS card design. I went with spring colors.  I had seen where so many saved the negative part of the card and then refilled it in with the die cut so I decided to try my luck at it. I must say even I am impressed with the end result. And, that die cut perfectly the first pass through. I am so happy with it.

Behind the die frame I added some plaid pattern paper from My Favorite Things and I tried to use colors on the frame and flowers to compliment that paper. I sponged the colors in so it does not have a perfect coloring as some of the colors overlapped to create a different color. But even so I love it. I added gems to each of the flowers too.

And, the card stock is from Gina K. Designs and the sentiment is from the Gina K. Designs Spring Basket stamp set. I wasn't sure what I wanted to use this card for so I chose a sentiment that would work for many occasions. The main panel was die cut with the Memory Box Cross Stitched Border die before I added it to the card base.

I am entering this in the following:
Scrapy Land Challenge #84-Anything Goes
Dies R Us Challenge #92-Use Pastel Colors

Well, we will enjoy the beautiful weather while it lasts. According to the forecast we will start on Sunday late in the day with freezing rain followed by snow. It may last into Tuesday too. So I guess we are technically still in the Winter season but it sure was nice these few days experiencing a taste of Spring. I hope you are enjoying great weather too. Thanks for the visits as well.

God bless,
Verna