Happy Birthday Wishes

This week over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is "Make a Wish" while at AAA Cards there is also a birthday theme in honor of their 2nd birthday.

I recently discovered a small, pretty new company, Power Poppy, that has incredibly detailed floral images including a Magnolia which to me is the most beautiful and regal of all the flowering trees although Crabapple and Cherry Blossom Trees would be a close 2nd.  I talked quite a bit about this company a few days ago on this post.  I wanted to create the Magnolia Coral Lake color in the card for today.  There is even a Black Tulip Magnolia which has deep purple blooms. I didn't even know these existed a week ago.

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of watercolor paper.  I stamped the Planning For Magnolias branch using Versamark Ink and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I stamped a second time coming in from the opposite corner using just a portion of the stamp. I always use a powder "tool" of some kind these days which in this case was a small container of baby powder and an Oval Mop dry paint brush.  I have an EK Success Powder Tool but I don't like it as well and the bristles break off way too easily.  I keep one method on my desk and one on my table so I'm covered either way.  For heat embossing I normally work on my table because it is right next to where my heat tool is plugged in.  I walk over there and turn on my heat tool to start warming up while I do the actual stamping and sprinkling of embossing powder.  It works perfect to get my heat tool warmed up.  

For my flower colors, I used Abandoned Coral Distress Marker with a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Sugared Almond Pink.  I started with a light wash of the coral and then added pink and coral in layers until it suited me.  I'm not sure my photograph can accurately capture the color, but trust me when I tell you it is there.  I used Gathered Twigs and Forest Moss for the branch and leaves and I was able to finish this in about 30 minutes.  

I'm not really a cutesy critter or punny sayings kind of girl, so florals are always a fantastic choice for nearly any kind of card I want to make. My favorite sentiment stamp set, "Graceful Greetings" from Papertrey Ink, was used for the "Happy Birthday".

Once all the painting was completed and dry, I gave the whole panel a spritz of Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz and set it aside to dry while I made a card base from Stamper's Select White and cut a background panel from Berry Sorbet, also a Papertrey Ink Cardstock. I really love all of their cardstock.  It is 110 lb. and so smooth.  I've beeen scrapbooking or making cards for 18 years by now so I have used a lot of cardstock in my day and I think theirs is absolutely the best quality out there.  I also find their prices to be very reasonable.  

Everything was assembled to the card base using my ATG gun.  My mother-in-law has a birthday coming up on June 2nd and I know she will enjoy the beautiful colors in this card so I am planning to send this to her.  

That's the project for today but thank you so much for stoppng by.  I'd love to have you subscribe to my blog via e-mail if you like.  I post on average 4 times a week or more.  I'll be back with another project soon.   

Clean & Simple Style

Today I wanted to play over at the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge.  I already did on Saturday, but my card was not as Clean & Simple as it probably should have been so I decided to give it another go this morning.  Fair is fair after all.

I don't know if I've ever made a true one layer card in my life so this is as close as I ever get. I'm also trying to go through my stamp sets and use them in new ways. There was something I liked about them in the first place or I wouldn't have purchased them.  I'm ecstatic about the current Photopolymer Stamps that are out as I can store so many more than I can in wood mounted or even cling mounted stamps.  But I have several wood mounted sets in my supplies that have been sadly neglected.  It was one of those that I dug out this morning.

This is actually a multi-layering set where you are supposed to stamp each layer in a deeper color but the brushstroke style of this set is what I used as my watercolor "brush" this morning.  It's really hard to stamp multiple layers when they are wood mounted stamps but I do love this set called "Roses in Winter" from Stampin' Up in 2003.

As much as I would like to, I just can't seem to freehand watercolor yet, so I have to find ways to create watercolor looks that work for me.  I was surprised at how easy it was to do this using just a single layer of the images.  White space is really important in this style and I think it worked perfectly.

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Arches Hot Pressed #140 Watercolor Paper.  Hot pressed paper has a really smooth surface while cold pressed has more texture.  I like the smoothness and since I was trying to make this look more like a background paper, it was the look I was going for.  I'm not always that lucky.  I wasn't sure if I would add water or not so I wanted to make sure I was using paper that could hold up to the water without pilling. I did actually try use the stamps with water and a water brush but I didn't like the results so they went into File 13.  *Ü*

Both of these cards are straight up stamping.  For one card I used a combination of Mowed Lawn Distress Ink and Vintage Jadeite from Papertrey Ink for the leaves and stems and the other I used just the Vintage Jadeite.  For the Roses I used Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I think Worn Lipstick is my 2nd favorite of the Distress Inks after Seedless Preserves. The butterflies were stamped in Lavender Moon and Hawaiian Shores Ink from Papertrey Ink.  The piece with the lavender butterfly was attached directly to a Berry Sorbet Top Folding Notecard and the other was matted with the Berry Sorbet and then mounted on an Ivory Top Folding Notecard.  The Arches Watercolor Paper is definitely not as white as some of the other papers I use so it would have been very noticeable if I had used white card bases.

Both greetings came from Graceful Greetings by Papertrey Ink and were stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  It's important to note that the #140 watercolor paper holds water much longer than the Bristol I usually use.  Be sure to let the paper dry before attempting to heat emboss it.  I had a bit of a mess on one of my panels and I had to wipe the Versamark off and start again.  Regular Cardstock would not be so forgiving of this process but I was okay to wipe it off with a baby wipe since it was watercolor paper.


For the last touch I used Versamark Pen with a stencil that has some dots as part of the pattern and heat embossed them so I could also enter them in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge theme of "Let's Do The Polka".  Both Stitched Rectangle Panels were spritzed with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz and allowed to dry before assembling the cards.



I like how these turned out for a Clean & Simple Card Challenge  and the Curtain Call Keep It Simple Challenge, proving that you don't always have to use a gazillion layers to have a nice card.

Have a great day and come back soon to see my next project.

Tie Quilts and Baby Blankets

I stayed home from a wedding this weekend since one of my puppy girls was so sick. When my husband arrived home this morning, he came bearing gifts from my girlfriend, Carol Jean. Her husband and mine have been friends for years and it was her son who got married yesterday.  I'm not sure if my husband met me before or after his friend JD (although I just asked him and he said I came first). I I had never asked.  I have known my husband all of my adult life and we have been married for almost 32 years of that life.

Carol Jean was the conservator for JD's Auntie Kay who lived in Topeka, Kansas where my husband and I did from 1986 until 1997.  Carol Jean would come to town from Dodge City, where they lived at the time, and tend to Auntie Kay's business and just have a good time visiting with her and taking her all the places she wanted to go that weekend.  Oh my - the adventures we had with her. There's a whole lot of history in Kansas if you know where to look for it.  Carol Jean always stayed at our house and through the years, we became pretty close friends which was nice since our husbands are such good friends.

Auntie Kay always had a saying, "The Good Lord gives you your looks and Father Time takes them away".  She was so funny and fun to be around.  She was young at heart and I am pleased to have a piece of Cranberry Glass and Pink Depression glass that had been hers.  I used to have quite the collection of Pink Depression Glass but I only have the pieces that are near and dear to my heart now.  That's still a significant number of pieces, but I haven't added anything to the collection in over 18 years.

Carol Jean and I both know how to sew and we had many a trip to Hancock Fabrics or anywhere they carried fabric through all the years that we've been friends.  She and JD married just the year before hubby and I did. She still does quite a lot of sewing although not as much as she used to. I only sew if I need to do a repair and my sewing machine is not working all that well due to lack of use.  So I was pleased when I saw the Tie Quilt and matching pillows she had sent home for me. The fabric was purchased many years ago during one of those afternoon excursions when we'd be visiting each other's home.  They live on a Ranch in Sharon, Kansas now and we enjoy visiting them even more.  My butterfly avatar is a photograph I took while visiting their ranch.

Now, that isn't the first time she has made me a tie quilt but the first one finally got eaten by the washing machine and came apart several years ago.  This new one is fantastic because it is longer than any others we have from her.  And there's just something special about having a blanket with your name on it (so to speak) that is comforting.  I know this holds true for at least one of my grandsons.  I had two blankets made for him before he was born and one of them is embroidered with "Xander is Mimi's Star" with a big embroidered star on it too.  The other one is nearly identical except that it doesn't have those words on it.  But when it's time for him to go to bed at night, the "right" blanket has to be there and trust me, even before he could walk or talk he knew which one was which.

I wanted to get a card made up to send out in the morning mail thanking her for the handcrafted gift.  I will treasure it and she was so busy this week taking care of wedding things for her son.  It was incredibly generous of her to make time to do it!

I wanted to participate in The Paper Players Challenge and The Tic Tac Toe Challenge this week. The Paper Players challenge is "Butterflies".  Seeing as how I love them, that was easy to include on my card. For The Tic Tac Toe Challenge, you are supposed to select three options in a row, but I don't like square cards so I included three butteflies for the 3 of a kind and I also used their Color Inspiration Image as well.


For this card, I started with a piece of Vintage Jadeite Cardstock from Papertrey Ink trimmed 1/16th of an inch smaller than 4.25 x 5.5.  I cut the Cover Plate: Twist from a piece of Navy Cardstock and adhered it over the top of the Vintage Jadeite using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  Once the glue had a few minutes to set, I ran it through my die cutting machine with the embossing pad which helps to create an inlaid look.  Using the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set and coordinating dies, I heat embossed the leaves onto Vintage Jadeite, then die cut them.  I heat embossed the flower onto Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper. Both of these used Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I wanted a way to soften the background pattern and to use the flower and leaves as a frame so I die cut a Stitched Oval out of Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select Vellum from My Favorite Things Oval Stax and heat embossed the "Thanks" from Graceful Greetings using Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder.  The Butterflies were stamped onto vellum as well with the Antique Gold Embossing Powder and cut out using the coordinating punch from Stampin' Up.  I colored the back of the vellum butterflies with Copic Markers and went over the top with Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen. For the Flower, I used Nicholson's Peerless Watercolors in Sky Blue.  The leaves were glued directly to the card panel over the vellum, hiding the adhesive behind the flower and leaves so it wouldn't show.  I also cut a narrow strip of foam adhesive to put down the center of the butterflies' bodies. That allows me to "fluff" the wings up a little bit.  The flower was adhered with Thin 3D Foam Squares for easy mailing.  Once it was assembled, I adhered the entire panel to an A2 Top Folding Card Base made from Stamper's Select White.

I'll also be entering this over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for the April Showers Bring May Flowers theme. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you'll come back another time.  I'll be back soon with another project to share.

Ink Blending

One of my favorite techniques in card making is ink blending on Watercolor Paper. For this Card I am using Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper.  It's a lot of fun to take a plain piece of white and watch it magically become a beautifully colored background. It's also a really fantastic way to create a one layer card that has lots of hints of depth and dimension. If you combine that with another favorite technique, heat embossing, it can create a visually impactful card.

I have a couple of girlfriends who are battling Breast Cancer right now.  One lives near and the other lives in Carolina Panther Territory.  I have made them both several cards. For my girlfriend who lives nearby, I take a home cooked meal out before each Chemotherapy Session so that she doesn't have to cook for a few days following her infusion.  Growing up in a family of 6 kids and 2 parents, I have still never learned how to make smaller portions, so I have enough homemade Chicken and Noodles to feed a small army!  Between me, her family, her church family and her friends, I hope she has enough food for quite a few days and I hope I'm doing enough to help.

Angie's favorite color is Orange and I wanted to make a card to take out with the meal we're dropping by tonight.  Normally, we take it out the day before her infusion but I won't be around this weekend so we're going to drop it by this evening.

Like me, Angie likes a little bling.  I used SU!'s Calypso Coral with a Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool to ink up this background panel, applying a heavier concentration of color toward the center. Once I had that done, I spritzed it all over with some Iridescent Gold Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. The Glimmer Mist I have is several years old and was purchased locally when I lived in Dallas although that store is closed now and Simon Says Stamp doesn't carry it but I think the Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz would do the job for you. I think you can catch a little bit of the sparkle and shine in the photograph, but it's so much more beautiful in real life!

One of my favorite things I've discovered recently is Metallic Glitter Embossing Powders.  For this card I used Ranger's Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder with Papertrey Ink's Mehndi Medallions and Graceful Greetings which is my current favorite sentiment set.  I just love the typography of this font and I hope that Betsy Veldman will create others.  It's important to note that the ink and the shimmer sprays must be completely dry before you attempt embossing and you do need to use a powder tool, powder pouch or even just dust the front off with cornstarch before you attempt to emboss it so you don't get powder where you don't want it.

Once I had all my stamping completed and heat set, I used the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle to die cut the panel and adhered it to a top folding A2 white card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week is one-layer cards so I'll be entering this card over there.  The Mehndi Medallions make really quick work of a lovely looking card that stays flat for mailing.  Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you'll come back soon.