Art Journal Inspiration and Valentine’s Day Cards!

Good evening friends!  Tomorrow is about “LOVE” for Valentine’s Day!  I hope that whatever you’re doing that you spend it with those that you love or at least tell someone how much they mean to you!  I have a special post this evening that is dedicated or inspired by love. ❤️

First up is my art journal page with the prompt/theme of “LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT” that I’m guest hosting this month for the Art Journal Journey Challenge.   It’s been so fun to see all of the wonderful art created so far!

This page was inspired by not just the “light” prompt for the challenge, but it was also inspired by the love of my life.  We have spent many moons together and have enjoyed our time in the moonlight as we both love nature and have spent some time traveling and seeing some beautiful things.  I’m so thankful to have had these special memories with him.

For the background:  I started with a 5.5″x8.5″ watercolor with pre-punched holes at the top with my Zutter machine.  I used my watercolor to create the blue sky background with an idea of where I was going to place the moon.  I left that area to watercolor in the yellow rather than the blue.  I then used some white opaque copic watered down and splattered over top for stars.  The “moon” was die cut in white with a heart shaped die and I added a moon stencil over top to make it look like a heart shaped moon and glued it in the center of the watercolor background.

The bottom portion was made with just ripping some cardstock and ink blending one with the greens and one with greys and black.  I die cut the trees in black and glued them in place and then added the ripped layers over top.

I stamped the Lavinia Stamps “Star Gazers” stamp in black in and fussy cut it out.  I colored the rocks they were sitting on as well as their wings and popped them up on the grey ripped border.  I also hand drew more rocks around them and used a white gel pen to highlight.  I added some glitter to the wings.  Lastly, I wrote over black cardstock with a white gel pen, cut them out and attached to the ripped green border.  I then used a black pen to doodle around the words.


Next up are a few Valentine cards that I’ve made.  I’m actually really bummed because I would’ve shared another two cards that I made, but I forgot to take photos of them before I sent them out!  I used a pizza theme and they were so fun! 

This first one is for my husband and I’ve used the Craft Roulette #201 parameters to create it:

We had to make an easel card, so I decided to make a heart shaped one.  I’ve used the cute skunk from Lawn Fawn with all of the “sweets”. (which was also one of the parameters)  My husband loves his sweets!  I also had to use “quiet” colors and some sort of bokeh, so I’ve made a bokeh background and used a solid heart stamp in white over the blended colors.  It reminds me of those conversation hearts.  This skunk makes me smile!

This is another fun card that I’ve made for a friend!  I couldn’t wait to use this fun mosaic heart from Taylored Expressions.  It came as a freebie for a limited time with a Valentine release.  I like that it comes with the solid heart backer which makes putting it together easier.   I ink blended a panel in two shades of pink and then die cut the heart with the pieces.  I used the frame cut in white and then popped in the ink blended pieces inside the frame.  

The embossed heart background was made after cutting out a piece of Bubblegum cardstock with the postage rectangle die.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment over top of the heart and added some gold rhinestones. 

And this card was done for the Inky Stamper FB challenge which was to create a square card.  I have made this one 4.25″ square and used the cute Snail stamp set along with some Doodlebug papers which you can also find in their store.

I just stamped, colored and cut out the images, added a border at the bottom and cut out a scallop square in white and stenciled some clouds at the top.  More pink papers onto a white square card base and called it done!  There’s nothing better than getting snail mail!

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my heart-filled post today and you’ve been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you again on Thursday for a new challenge to try!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT (art journal page only)
  2. Crafty Animals – #80 Anything Goes + animal (skunk card)
  3. Critter Crazy – #83 Anything Goes + critter (snail card)
  4. Pearly Sparkles Love/Have a Heart (skunk card)
  5. Creative Knockouts – #514 Love/Valentine’s Day (skunk card)
  6. A Place to Start – Monochrome (mosaic heart card – pink)
  7. Aud Sentiments – #310 Dies/Love/Wed/Anniversary + sentiment (skunk card)
  8. Creative Inspirations – For Someone You Love/Special Friend (mosaic heart card)
  9. The Male Room – Valentine/Use a Heart (skunk card)
  10. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional: Valentine/Love (snail card)

More Inspiration for AJJ-Be Like a Feather

Hello friends and happy weekend!  I have some more inspiration for you using the “LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT” theme over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month!  There are so many options to play with as well as inspiration, so hope you can join in the fun!

Loved getting messy with a rainbow watercolor on this one!  I fell in love with these feathers from Taylored Expressions and knew the large images would be wonderful for an AJ page!

For the Background:  Started with my usual 5.5″x8.5″ Canson Watercolor 140# cold press paper that was pre-punched at the top with a Zutter machine.  I stamped each feather with a grey waterproof ink.  I then used my set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor and blended in the rainbow colors over the feathers.  After it dried, I splattered some of the gold watercolor over top.

I then used a large stamp with several words and stamped it second generation over the two opposite corners in the grey ink.  The words at the bottom and throughout the falling feathers were computer generated and cut out.  I inked around the edges and glued them to the page.  I did take a strip of gold mirror cardstock across the bottom and the “feather title” was made into a banner with a layer of grey cardstock behind it.  I added one gold rhinestone to each feather.

  • If I haven’t mentioned why I like to art journal, it’s simply something that gives me the freedom to create any style, any medium and no fear of trying something new as this is something personal for me only.  I don’t give away my art journal pages.  It’s something that I can release in art what comes from my heart and head…and that’s fine with me.  If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to just have fun with it and let go.

I thank you kindly for stopping by and for your kind words…I truly appreciate any way that you interact with me and I’m glad you’re here!  See you next time!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT
  2. Try it On Tuesday – Add Some Text
  3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

2024 Calendars Completed

Hello friends!  It’s that time of year when we turn over a new year and then realize that we need a calendar to keep track of our days…at least I do anyway!  I don’t feel ready for the year ahead until I’ve got my calendars up and ready to roll!  Usually, I’m ready to go by the end of the year, but I ran out of time with the Holidays, and I had planned on giving calendar gifts which I sent late, but I did get them done!  I still feel in Holiday mode because of this…Ugh!

So this month I’ve been working on several calendars and spending most of my time coloring them up.  It’s been very cold over my way, so I actually enjoyed doing them.  Here are a few sets that I sent out for gifts:

I think these Taylored Expressions Feisty Square Calendar Cards are my favorite!😆  I was laughing at each one as I was coloring them up!  The cards are already printed and makes it easy to get them colored up and attach them to the Desk Calendars.  All of the image cards are blank so that you can use them however.  I decided to just create my own background with each one using my markers in different ways while I was coloring them up.

I gave this set as a gift and wasn’t sure how they would choose to be displayed, so I added a magnet on the back of each one and also included a Walnut Wood Display, so they had a couple of options to use.

This next set was put together the same way I did the calendar above, expect these are the Taylored Expressions Scratch-Off cards.  (This one is not available in the store because I received the entire set with my Advent Calendar purchase.)  I thought these pups and cats were too cute and a perfect gift for someone that has both a dog and cat in their family.

After I colored them in, I added the Taylored Expressions Scratch Off Stickers to cover up the joke punch line.  I then used the TE Square Tear Off Calendar dies to create the design around the edges and a layer of cardstock to coordinate behind each one before placing on the calendar cards.  I also stamped “scratch off” under each card so that the person can scratch off the joke punch line for every month and see a new joke.

I also added a magnet on the back of each one as well as include a Walnut Wood Display so the recipient can choose how to display the calendar.

  • Click on the photos to enlarge on website!

Every year I always get the Inky Stamper Calendar kit that gets put together at the end of each year.  There is usually a number limit on how many are available each year, so if you are interested, you might want to click on the link to get one because I’m not sure how many more there are left.

These were also fun to put together and color.  I chose to stamp my own images and cut them out.  You still get the pattern papers and white sentiment strip with each month.

I absolutely love how this calendar turned out!  I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Friendly Square Calendar Cards and I thought they were so uplifting.  This time of the year positivity is something that is very important to me and can be hard to come by.  The days seem to be gloomy and short with little sunshine, so coloring all of these was great to fill my time with.

For this display, you may remember a calendar I had done a few years ago on THIS POST using the TE Snarky Calendar Cards.  I’ve decided to update that one and used the same display stand to create this one, which is why I prefer using this stand.  It’s nice and durable.

I have gold foiled each card and colored it.  I’ve made a new background display card with a layered stencil and I’ve layered everything with gold foil cardstock.  I’ve got a bag on the back to store my extra cards so that I can switch them out whenever I’d like.  All of the gold shine really catches my eye and is pleasant to view.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my post this afternoon and I REALLY appreciate you taking the time out of your day to leave me a comment.  It means very much to me as does your support!

Have a beautiful day and I’ll see you on Saturday for my first Art Journal Page of the year!

Challenges:

  1. Crafting From the Heart– Anything Goes
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  4. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. A Perfect Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  6. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  7. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

Happy New Year! Mixing Up with Mixed Media!

Hello friends and welcome to 2024!🎉  I’m looking forward to a year filled with many happy memories and fun!  I’m wishing these things for you as well!  So to get the year started, I’m inviting you to a fun challenge to play along with at the Mix It Up Challenge!

The theme is always ANYTHING GOES with an optional theme of MIXED MEDIA!  With these challenges, you have plenty of time to enter as they run for 6 weeks!  I look forward to seeing what you come up with!  

I know that mixed media can seem a bit intimidating, but it’s only using more than 1 extra medium of any kind on your creation.  I usually do that anyway!  Here’s the card that I came up with for this challenge using the Mixed Media option:

I’m really loving how this turned out!  I’ve used another fun card kit from Taylored Expressions with the Snow Crystals card kit. (no longer available)

Background:  I started by white heat embossing the Swirling Snow Background Stamp over watercolor cardstock.  I used different shades of blue watercolor with a bit of turquoise in there as well.  I spritzed it with water to get the “watermark” look and let it dry.  I then used some Copic opaque white mixed with water and splattered some over top for another layer of snow.  After it was dry, I also filled in the circles with a glitter brush pen.

I die cut the snowflake die in navy and again in white cardstock 3 times.  I layered the navy at the bottom over the background.  The three snowflakes cut out with white were glued together and then I took 2 layers of sparkle silver embossing powder to heat set.  I layered the embossed snowflake slightly tilted from the navy snowflake and attached over top.  I also silver embossed the sentiment over a navy strip and added some “dash marks” with a white gel pen before attaching to the background.

Finished off the card by running the edges of the background panel with liquid glue and then attaching some chunky glitter to the edges.  I also attached a silver rhinestone in the center of the snowflake.  It’s so glittery and shiny in person!

Thanks so much for stopping in today and I hope that you will take the time to play along with us!  Be sure to check out the Mix It Up Challenge Blog for the design team inspiration!  

Challenges:

  1. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  2. Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
  3. Allsorts – Cold & Ice
  4. Crafting Happiness – Anything Goes
  5. Gem of a Craft – Anything Goes
  6. Four Seasons – Winter Season

Lots of Joy Mailed Out!

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a great start to your week!  We’re almost there as Christmas approaches us quickly!  I’ve been enjoying the Season and having fun keeping busy.  Currently baking cookies and decided to take a break from that to sit and make a post about all of things that I’ve been doing besides posting!😆

This is just one of the several similar cards that I created for my Christmas cards this year.  It came from a Christmas in July card kit from Taylored Expressions.  It mainly used the Wreathed in Joy Stamp & Stencil Combo set.  There are dies you can cut them out with as well as foilable panels which is shown on this one.

I do not like to make several of the “same thing”, so I’ve changed them up to different colors, layouts, etc.  So you can see the different versions I’ve done below.  (If you are visiting my web page, just click on each photo to see it enlarged.)

 *Apologies for the messy stack for photo taking…it was a lot to do all at once!

I thought these would be enough for all of the Christmas cards to send out, but I realized going back through my list that I wasn’t going to quite have enough. 

So I’m glad that at the beginning of this month I took a Hero Arts Stamp-a-Long and made several different types of Christmas cards.  Here are the results of these below:  (Again, if you’re looking on my web page, just click on the photos to enlarge them.)

So some of these were also taken and used for sending out more Christmas cards.  I’m glad that I did the projects for this class or I probably would not have had enough cards.

BUT WAIT!  That’s not all!  I’ve also made a few other Christmas items that I’ve also sent out.  I’m also sharing some gifts and gift tags that I’ve made from a Taylored Expressions Advent Calendar that I got this year.  I made some more cards and tags.  (I tried out wax melting which is something I’ve never done…it was fun)  Others are from classes I took or participated in Craft Roulette for.

If you’re on my web page, just click on the photos below to enlarge each one.

Wow, so that was a lot!  I know that my blog has been pretty sparse with posts lately and I am finally getting around to posting the things that I’ve been working on, so I hope you’ll get that and you’re able to take some time for yourself this season and enjoy the peaceful quiet moments!

I will be sure to take a moment and catch up with everyone before Christmas arrives.  In the meantime, it’s back to cookie making!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!❤️

Grateful & Encouraged

Hello friends!  It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow for us in the United States and I’d like to send a heartfelt Thanksgiving greeting to you all!  I would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone for your kindness and friendship.  I’m very grateful for you and encouraged by your support!

I’ve been working on several things and haven’t spent the time to photograph and share everything yet, but I will be sharing soon.  In the meantime, I’d like to share a few projects that I’ve made in lieu of the Thanksgiving holiday:

I don’t normally send Thanksgiving cards, but it’s a great way to say thank you to someone that hosted a dinner or brought something to share or just spend time with you!  That is the ONLY turkey stamp I own!  The stamp set is called “Sassy Thanksgiving” by CZ Designs at Simon Says Stamp.  I thought the sentiments in it were too cute and funny.  You certainly could make this any type of thank you as well.

This is also a fancy/fun fold card called a “Swing Easel Card”.  I found a tutorial using a vertical style on You Tube here – SWING EASEL TUTORIAL (I also used the same detail of embossing an additional panel with leaves and went over the texture with some gold paste.)

I made another panel for the center area and ink blended some blue that faded out and then splattered some gold paint over it.  I then layered it over a piece of gold that fits in the center panel of the easel.  I gold heat embossed the large sentiment and cut it out with the die.  It was popped up over the leaves.  I also cut an additional strip with the gold for the “catcher” of the front panel of the easel card.  I added the turkey and leaves along with the stamped sentiment on the inside bottom.


Autumn is my favorite time of the year and I enjoy using the colors and images in the cards I make, so here’s more that I’ve made:

I’ve made a couple of encouragement cards to send out to some people and I’ve used a favorite card kit from my stash by Taylored Expressions.  The images come from the stamp set Wheatfield Dreams.  I’ve used an oval die and oval mask to do some ink blending and just cut out the colored image to pop them over top.  Both sentiments were copper heat embossed.

I kept the backgrounds simple with the one on the left stamped with a background stamp from TE and the other was cut out with a wonky stitch die and layered over a green card base.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my creations, and I am so grateful you’ve chosen to stop by!❤️

Challenges:

  1. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  2. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Crafting Happiness – Thanksgiving/Harvest #148
  5. Four Seasons – Fall Season
  6. The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
  7. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes

It’s Halloween!

Hello friends!  Tomorrow is Halloween and so I thought I’d share some cards that I’ve made that were sent out to people. 

The dog and cat ghosts are too cute from Newton’s Nook!  I love their “howling”!  Not much to color and I’ve used the dies to cut them out and pop over the background with the paper pad from NN as well.  I heat embossed the sentiment over a die cut banner and then added a frame around the edges with some holographic paper.

I made this for someone who loves Halloween almost as much as I do and also has both a dog and cat.  The cat’s name is Spooky! LOL

And here’s another card I’ve made using some Taylored Expressions products.  I first ink blended the background in a couple of blue tones with dark blue around the edges and then splattered some silver watercolor for the stars.  I used a layered moon stencil to the moon effect and then die cut the witch in glitter black cardstock.  The sentiment was white heat embossed and cut out with a banner die.  I’ve also used another frame of the holographic cardstock.

And last but not least, I’ve made this card and not necessarily for Halloween, but this was made for my husband’s anniversary card.  We’ve been married 24 years and we both feel the same about Halloween/spooky things! LOL  I found these fun digital images from Etsy to print out and then I fussy cut part of one to add to another.  I stamped the background with a background stamp I had covered with roses and blended some inks around the heart.  I also added some black gems around it and covered the rose “Jack” is holding with a glitter pen.

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed my post today!  Thanks for dropping in and I hope you all have a wonderfully fun and spooky Halloween!👻

Challenges:

  1. Little Red Wagon – Trick or Treat
  2. Papercraft – Happy Halloween
  3. Creative Crafting Uncles – Halloween
  4. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
  6. Krafty Chicks – All Occasions (bottom card anniversary)
  7. Sweet Stampin’ – All Hallow’s Eve

Special Silver Wedding

Hello friends!  Hope you’re having a great week so far!  Now that I’m back from a very short break, I wanted to share a special anniversary card that I made for a couple celebrating their 25th:

I always think these are so fun to make with die-cutting and layers.  There was no stamping involved except for the inside you can see in the photo below.

All products I’ve used are from Taylored Expressions.  The gorgeous heart came from the Forever Love Die Set cut out with both glitter and mirror silver cardstock.  I left those circle dots inside the heart because I liked them better intact.  The number were cut from the TE Cap It Off Numbers die set in white and silver glitter.  (I just attached them over the heart.)  Underneath the heart layers, I’ve cut out white sprigs from the TE Subtle Sprigs die set and tucked them underneath.

For the background layers:  I’ve cut out a panel that went through the TE Stitched with Love Cutting Plate and layered that over an A2 side folding white card base.  To help bring out the silver, I’ve also cut a frame piece from the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate in the size I wanted to add detail to the design.

This is the inside of the card where I have silver heat embossed the sentiment from the TE The Inside Scoop-Anniversary stamp set.  I took a couple of the silver mirror hearts that were cut from the larger heart on the front of the card and attached them to the inside.

Hope that you’ve enjoyed my card today or been inspired!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Challenges:

  1. CRAFT – Wedding/anniversary (cutting it close!)
  2. The Divas That Cut…Paper – Layers/Layer Dies (The heart is a layer die)
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

September AJ Page-Thankful Imprint

Hello friends!  Can you believe we’re already through September?!  Today is a scheduled post from me as I’m away in an area with spotty to no connection right now, but wanted to be sure that I had my Art Journal Page posted for this month.

It’s also hard to believe that this is the 9th page done for this year!  I’m so glad I’ve done the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month.  I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” September prompt of “IMPRINT” (using gel plate, print machine, leaves or something to create an impression):

Really had a fun time with this as I hadn’t gotten a chance to play around with my gel plate very much and I received about 15 different prints in one sitting!  It started out like I didn’t have a clue, but the more I kept experimenting, the more fun and unique prints came out.  Do you have a gel plate and/or do you use it often? (If you’re new to Gel Printing, here’s a link to a You Tube video showing you basics on how to get started The Basics of Gel Printing)  

For my print here, I decided to try something from nature and found a couple of maple leaves in my yard that were laying on the ground starting to turn.  I think there are about 3 layers of prints on this one…hard to remember when you just keep going!  I cut it out to fit the size of my AJ page.

FOR THE BACKGROUND – I started with my usual 6″ x 9″ Canson 140# cold pressed watercolor paper with pre-punched holes at the top and covered it with DecoArt media fluid acrylic Primary Cyan applied with a baby wipe.  Really love the blue background it gave here.  Then this is when I applied the gel print piece to my background.  I then used some orange, black and white colored acrylic paints to create some splatters over the background and gel print piece.

I die cut some maple looking leaves from the Taylored Expressions Garden Variety-Fall die set and ink blended them.  I also splattered some orange paint over them as well.  I had some gold glitter sheets that I cut down in a couple of thin strips to add to the top and bottom of my gel print piece.  I then attached the die cut maple leaves.  

I cut out the word “Thankful” from Impression Obsession three times in Pumpkin cardstock and layered them together for my page.  I also grabbed this sentiment from the Tim Holtz small talk stickers and layered it over the same Pumpkin cardstock and attached it next to the “Thankful” word on the page.

I thought about adding something more, but I then thought it would distract from the printing which already has a “busy” look to it and so I called this one done.

  • I’m very THANKFUL that you’ve taken the time to stop by and your kind support!  It’s always more fun to craft with like-minded friends!  I’m also THANKFUL to my crafty friend Carol for sharing this monthly AJ fun with me as well!  (I will stop by to see your page as soon as I can my friend!)

Have a great day and see you in October! 😊

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Occasional Blooms

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a wonderful week!  I’m excited about the changes I’m seeing outside with the weather!  Looking forward to that cooler temperature and pretty colors!

  • I wanted to do a bit of “house keeping” regarding my blog.  I apologize if you’re having problems trying to leave a comment.  I’ve had a few people contact me about this and I noticed that when I cleared the “cookies/cache” from my end…it somehow changed the appearance of my blog comment area…I don’t know why!?  I did find out that if you start typing in the comment box, buttons above the box will appear in which you can choose how to login.  I suggest that if you don’t have a WordPress/Gravatar account, to choose the envelope button to leave your name and e-mail address that way. (The Facebook login does not work.)  Then you can hit the reply button below the box to publish it.  I tried letting the commenter leave an anonymous reply (without having to type in name and e-mail), but then I’ll have NO idea who it is unless a name is given within the comment, so I had to re-engage that again.  I have also contacted a support person to help me navigate what’s going on and maybe I can get it back the way it was before.  I do apologize if it’s giving you a problem.  You can also go to gravatar.com to create an account which will work with ANY WordPress platform blog….but you don’t have to unless you want to do that!  You should still be able to leave a comment regardless.  Thank you for taking the time to care enough to share your support with me…I deeply appreciate it!

So now to get on with some crafting projects!  I’ve had to change gears on the seasonal makes and create some cards that I needed to send out to some people and they all happen to be in blooms:

First up is a “thinking of you” card creating for a friend using several Lisa Horton products.  These particular LH products all came from Inky Stamper.

I started with the craft background and embossed it with the LH Variegated Leaf 3D embossing folder and went over the texture with white ink.  I then used the LH Hydrangea Stencil/Die/Embossing Folder to create the blooms…love how it turned out!  I took some gold ink on the last layer of the stencil to go over the centers of the flowers.  I popped the bloom up over the embossed craft background and white heat embossed the sentiment from the IS Pig Cause stamp set and cut it out in a banner to place over the blooms.  I finished it with some gold gems.

My next card is a sympathy card needed for a craft friend who lost a loved one.  This person likes to cross-stitch and quilt, so I thought this MFT stitched quilt die (this one retired) would be fun to do over some pretty floral papers.  I had to die cut several white frames with it and lay the centers of the paper cut pieces on the first frame and then I layered two more of the white frames over top with the last pattern paper over that to give it that 3D look.  (Not sure where the paper came from other my stash!)

I cut the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Sympathy/Heartfelt/Condolences die set and layered it in the same way I did the quilt frame die.  I also white heat embossed the sentiment from the WS Deepest Sympathy stamp set and cut it out from a banner to attach right underneath the “p” in the die cut word.  I finished this one off with some clear gems.

And on a happier note, I’ve made another bloom card to wish someone turning 75 years young a happy birthday!  This is the first chance I’ve had to use this fun die set from Taylored Expressions!  The bottom container came from the TE Antique Pails die set.   I stamped the TE Burlap Background over it with the same color ink as the cardstock as well as Butter Cream ink to give it some texture.  The flower arrangement was cut out from the TE Garden Variety die set in various colors.  I also brushed some of the same colors in the centers of the flowers.  The centers of the flowers have a silver metallic enamel dot.

For the frame, I’ve used the TE Diagonal Stitch Rectangle die that only leaves the marks but doesn’t cut anything out.  The sentiment was stamped and cut out with the TE All Together-Occasions 2 set/die and popped up with foam squares over the panel.

I think the most fun was arranging the flowers in the container!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my cards today and you’ve been inspired!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I appreciate you!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Addicted to Stamps & More – Any Occasion
  2. The Sisterhood of Crafters – Die Cuts/Anything Goes
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  5. Cardz 4 Galz – Use a Stencil, a Sentiment, an Image (top card only)
  6. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  7. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes no twist
  8. The Corrosive – Anything Goes