HAPPY FOR YOU

Today's post comes to you courtesy of 2 card challenges and after an absence of more than 3 months. I've thought about how I could have gone this long without even making a single card (except the 4th of July card I sent to friends and family, which alas I didn't photograph), but you have to admit that these are not exactly normal times! My husband teaches school and the last 2 months of his school year classes were conducted online from our dining room table. The 2 international students we were hosting were moved back to the dorm so that they could go into isolation in response to parents' concerns. We had a family medical emergency (our son is doing well now), and in the middle of all of these other fast-moving lifestyle changes we embarked on a remodel of our master bathroom shower, which has turned into the proverbial money pit. I plan to post before and after photos when everything has been pulled back together. 

But today here I am finally dusting off the card-making tools and seeing if I still have my design chops! My niece's daughter graduated from college this summer and I'm finally getting around to letting her know how proud I am of her. 

https://colorthrowdown.blogspot.com/2020/07/color-throwdown-countdown-602.html

   

                                                               

       WHOOPS! The FMS 444 challenge was already closed. I'll try to catch it next time.                

 

It's Been Awhile!

Where to start? I haven't been to my blog for more than two months, but so much has been going on that it feels more like six months!

We've been staying home like most of us - here in Oregon it's by order of the governor. My son has had to close his restaurant and one of his beer stores and my daughter-in-lay was furloughed from her work. The grandkids are home from school until the new school year starts. My husband teaches at a private school and they started their classes online last month so he's busy with that. The school moved our international boarders back to the dorm so that they could be isolated until it's safe for them to travel back to their countries - in our case we had two boys from the UK and it looks like it will be a while before they can return. I would say that we haven't been too effected by COVID-19 but that wouldn't be true - personally I feel calm but it's still feeling a bit surreal.

This past weekend I finally got my supplies back out and started making cards again for the express purpose of sending out personal notes to all of the people we love to let them know we're thinking of them. I made 20 of the following cards, using different accent colors and dies but with the same basic layout, following the current challenge at Just Us Girls - "Square". I will need more than 20 so I will probably choose another challenge for the additional cards.

I did a bit of experimenting with various taupe & white patterned prints and changed off the dies on the cards. I'm not sure which I prefer.

http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/04/just-us-girls-531-trend-week_11.html

SIMPLE BUT SWEET

I had three challenges in mind this morning as I made this little valentine for my husband - AAA Cards CAS Game #158 "Up to One third + optional twist Hearts, CASology "Sweetheart", and Just Us Girls #522 Trend Week "Stripes".

 

The sentiment is "Scripty Sayings" from Lawn Fawn and I have no idea where I got the little leaves. The hearts are from one of the PTI die sets.

 

   

  

 

https://aaacards.blogspot.com/2020/02/cas-game-158-up-to-one-third-optional.html

 

 

 

 

 

http://casology.blogspot.com/2020/02/week-361-sweetheart.html

 

 

 

 

http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/02/just-us-girls-522-trend-week.html

 

 



LOTS OF LOVE

I'm participating with the Less is More Challenge #412 this afternoon - "Less (Tiny & Few)" and Impression Obsession's "Hugs & Kisses". This is another take on Impression Obsession's #SS-971-D "Lots of Love" rubber stamp and an old wood-mounted rubber stamp that I stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with ZING! "Rouge" powder. The outline of the postage stamp is a Paper Smooches nesting die.

 

 



 

 



http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2020/02/challenge-412-less-tiny-and-few.html

 

 

 

 

https://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2020/02/new-impression-obsession-challenge-hugs-kisses.html

 

 



 



VALENTINES

Well, my resolve to spend a bit more time on card making this year hasn't worked out - life interferes! My husband and I agreed to board a couple of international students this school year and my time is just not my own. Between grocery shopping and cooking meals for 2 high school athletes and running them to and from basketball practice, little time is left for me to kick back in my craft room. I'm pretty sure we won't be doing this next year. Having two teenage boys in the house 25 years after our son left home has been pretty disruptive and I'm getting too old for this!

 

In addition to seeing to our boarders, I've been planning a few improvements to our kitchen and master bath. I may post more about that when the work starts at the end of March. 

 

However, I have squeezed out enough time this past week to finish up valentines for our family and friends.

 

 

This cute little lovebird is #SS-176-E "Bird with Hearts" from Impression Obsession, as is the white embossed sentiment on the front. The background is a Hero Arts large background stamp using PTI "Berry Sorbet" ink. The square die is one I've had for quite a few years.

 

 

The postage stamp die is a new one for me from Paper Smooches. I'm not particularly happy with the sentiment on the inside. It's from one of my oldest clear stamp sets that has been used so many times that the image is no longer clear and crisp - must be time for the trash bin!

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Back again with more birthday sentiments...

I have so many January/February birthdays in the family and friends. I have about three more to produce by the first week of February. For this card I'm using inspiration from both Just Us Girls "Create Dimension" and Seize the Birthday "Layer It".

 

 

 

This sweet card was stamped using Waffle Flower's "Enveloper Hello", printed with PTI's "Pinefeather ink. The leaves and flowers in front were fussy-cut and added in front of PTI's "Sweet Blush" printed papers. Also used for the heart is PTI's "Tiny Tags" die and part of a sentiment from "Birthday Bash", stamped and embossed with white. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's "Tiny Tag Sayings: Birthday". The tiny hearts are from a die in my stash. 

 

There are several layers here that don't show up so well in the photos. Here's a close-up:

 

 

http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/01/just-us-girls-trend-week-518.html

 

 

 

 

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/2020/01/seize-birthday-180-layer-it.html

 

 



REPEAT

Back again with birthday cards!

A great day for making cards - the house is quiet and I have nowhere to go. Some time ago I purchased a package of vintage photo cut-outs from Jim Holtz "idea-ology" that caught my eye but I haven't really played with them until today. I decided to use them for a couple of birthday cards.

 

This first card is for my brother and I was also working with the current CASology cue - "Repeat". The stamped sentiments are from PTI's "Birthday Bash Sentiments", printed with their Dark Chocolate and Terra Cotta Tile inks.

 

 

 

http://casology.blogspot.com/2020/01/week-359-repeat.html

 

 

 

 

This second card is for a long-standing friend and former business partner. We've celebrated at least 20 years of birthdays together (the most notable one 2 years ago with two other women on a one-week trip to Kauai). This figure reminded me of her! The sentiment is an Impression Obsession one from one of their fall collections. You can't see the bronze embossing and border on this card, primarily because of the limited light available today.

 

 



WITH SYMPATHY

A New Decade

Welcome to 2020. I took some time off from my card making for a much-needed break for the holidays. It was pleasant to spend time with our extended families over several celebrations!

 

However we are beginning the year on a somber note with the passing of a friend and the fabrication of my least favorite form of card - a note of sympathy. I'll be happy if this is the last sympathy card I need to make this year. I used the sketch by Judy at Freshly Made Sketches for my inspiration.

 

 

The stamp I used for the card front and coordinating envelope is from Papertrey Ink's "Turning A New Leaf" and I used 2 ink colors directly on the stamps. The green background is a Cuttlebug embossing folder, the little stitched heart die is from PTI, and the sentiment is an old Anna Griffin rubber stamp. This was really hard to photograph today because of available light, but the close-up below is closer in tone to the actual paper colors.

 

 

 

 

https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/2020/01/freshly-made-sketches-417-sketch-by-judy.html

 

 

I'm anticipating being back again tomorrow because I have a couple of birthday cards I need to get sent to friends and family members. See you then!

CHRISTMAS 2019

FINISHED THE CHRISTMAS CARDS!

 

My cards this year (as usual) were very labor intensive. I've had a lot on my plate recently, so I wasn't sure I could get them finished. They'll be in tomorrow's mail.

 

 

 

The snowflake die is a new one for me this year - Penny Black 51-561 "Snowflake Tag". The background die is from last year - Sizzix Tim Holtz #663117 "Snowy Stars". The metallic blue cardstock and matching #10 envelope is from Papers and More. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession. Inc., printed with white embossing powder. Here are a few more images:

 

 

 

 

 

Card interior

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



JOYFUL CHRISTMAS

Have a Joyful Christmas

 

This is my attempt to be joyful, although the weather is wet and miserable. And it's almost impossible to get a good photo of this card because of light levels. I just use my cellphone and don't have a more professional set-up for taking photos of my cards.

 

 

 

 

The sentiment is a new rubber stamp from Impression Obsession #D14458, stamped using PTI "Dark Chocolate" ink, VersaMark Watermark, and Stampendous! "Pirate Gold" embossing powder. The deer and bird dies are from MFT and the stitched wavy die is Lawn Fawn. I used my Darice embossing folder to make the embossed snow flakes.

 

I'm entering this in Just Us Girls Challenge #516 "Anything Goes".

 

 

http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/

 

 



Season's Greetings

 

My craft room looks like someone took a wrecking ball to it! After spreading papers and supplies over every available surface, I came out with only 2 cards to show for the mess. The simplicity of this card belies the struggle I had to design it and find the appropriate papers. I think I made at least 4 attempts before just walking away for awhile. I'm entering this into this week's Color Throwdown Challenge #572.

 

 



The inks used are PTI's "Pinefeather" and Versamark's "Watermark" with Stampendous! "Pirate Gold" embossing powder. The small dots of metallic pen don't show up in the photo. In addition the leaves were filled in with green and aqua felt pens. The round and star sequins are from my stash. Both images are from Impression Obsession - the wreath #D12102 rubber cling and the sentiment is from their #CL971 "Holiday Words" set.

 

https://colorthrowdown.blogspot.com/2019/12/color-throwdown-572.html 

 

 

 

 

My second card is one that I made using old papers from a Christmas kit that someone gave me several years ago. I fussy-cut the trees and lined them up on the red-orange strip and glued sequins to the tops. The Impression Obsession sentiment was embossed with white embossing powder onto a coordinating green strip and mounted with foam tape. Two additional sheets of paper were used for the coordinating envelope. Easy-peasy!

 

 

 

 

I'm entering this card into Freshly Made Sketches #414. I rotated the design 90 degrees.

 

 



https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/2019/12/freshly-made-sketches-414-sketch-by.html

 

 



Hello, all - and happy December!

 

It's a beautiful sunny day after a storm last night. I had some time yesterday afternoon to play in my craft room/office and did this CAS card.

 

 

 



The main image on this card is an old rubber cling stamp from my stash, the sentiment is Lawn Fawn's "Tiny Tag Sayings: Birthday". The tag die is a Stampin' Up "Framelits Chalk Talk" and the die-cut leaves are from MFT's "Birds of a Feather". The lower third of the card is embossed using an old Sizzix embossing folder. It was my intention to combine 2 design challenges with this card:

CAS(E) this Sketch #349

 

http://casethissketch.blogspot.com/2019/11/case-this-sketch-349.html

 

 

and

 

Seize the Birthday #179 - "Touch of Red" Topping

 

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/2019/11/seize-birthday-179-touch-of-red.html

  

 

"A Touch of Red"

 

                            

 

 

December 5, 2019

 



Happy Thanksgiving to anyone visiting here!

 

There's so much to be thankful for this year. Today we'll be with our son and his extended family and tomorrow it will be my husband's family - and I'm not cooking for either of these celebrations! I spent the entire day yesterday working on cards. It doesn't get any better than that. I have 3 new card designs to show, but I lost my patience while photographing so I may not post all 3 here today.

 

This first card is in response to the newest challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches by Cécile. The 2 stamps I used are ancient and I have no idea who manufactured them.

 

   

The paper I used for the card and matching envelope is PTI "Ocean Tides" cardstock and some silver cardstock I had on hand. The inks are PTI "Fresh Snow" and "Pinefeather". The star sequins are ones I had on-hand.

 

https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/2019/11/freshly-made-sketches-413-sketch-by.html

 

 

 

While I had the Ocean Tides cardstock strewn all over the room I decided to play with a Sizzix Jim Holtz #663117 die I bought last year that I hadn't used yet. I used the "stars" across the bottom third of the card and then cut out 2 trees from a Cricket holiday set, glued those to the front, and then cut the third tree out of the face of the card, inserting a patterned paper tree into the cut-out. I stamped the Impression Obsession greeting from their CL971 "Holiday Words" and embossed it with silver embossing powder.

 

 

 

And then finally, I believe we'll be using this one for our personal card to family and friends. I'm not entirely happy with the photos - the shimmery metallic paper doesn't really show off so I'll probably re-shoot these for a separate post. At that time I'll include all of the manufacturers' information about the papers, dies and stamps I used.