Colors of Inspiration

With a new packet of luscious stamps at hand, I've been eager to enter the 

Altenew July Inspiration Challenge.  I grabbed these colors and went to work with my new stamps. 

First, I used the Sketched Flowers set over a splattered background I'd created on a watercolor card.  I drew a few sketchy ovals with a black marker to tie the images together.  

 For my next card I used the White Swan Echinacea stamp set.  I stamped these in black ink on a scrap of ivory card, die cut that square and sponged the flowers with chalk pastels.  I glued this to the card base over another scrap of lime green cardstock.  Calligraphy is my own, done with Wisteria Ziller ink.

Summer seems to last forever, doesn't it?  But we got a lovely wash of rain last night.

Thanks for stopping by!

Because of you...

Imagine my surprise.

I found not only this Girls Strolling friendship card with my own message, but also myself, featured in the latest  Cardthartic newsletter.  It brought tears to my eyes.  

I know more than ever that what I do, what I write is because of you, the friends and family I have known all my life...and those I wish I had.

Thank you, Cardthartic.

An Official "Cardie"

It's official.  One of my card messages was published, and my profile is now up as one of the Contributing Cardies at Cardthartic.  I'm excited--and blessed--to be in such company.

I've always loved writing--writing poems and stories and letters.  Ideas come to me best when I'm cleaning.  I'll have to stop mid-vacuuming and quick scribble in a notebook again and again.  

But the words don't always come right when I want them.

This past Christmas I was afraid the words wouldn't come at all.  I had a few lines in mind, but nothing else would fit.  I struggled from every angle, trying to yank words out of this air and squeeze them into some sort of rhyme and meter.  Nothing.  Finally, after confiding my worries to Cousin Denny and finding his warm reply, I came up with a little something.  It wasn't good.  I wasn't thrilled.  But it would do.

Then a day or two later, when I thought I'd given up on even thinking about it, I was cleaning up in the evening, and lines kept falling into my lap.  Good lines.  Lines that actually said what I wanted to say for my dad.

Here's to cards and letters and "Cardies" everywhere.

Inspired by Altenew

I feel like this is Friday, since I've been finishing things today.

First of all, I squeezed in a little time to do a little "homework" for the short course I've been taking:  

Altenew Academy-All About Layering 3, while also making an entry for the 

Altenew Inspiration Challenge

For my card I immediately imagined using Altenew's Stunning Cosmos stamp set.  I don't have the matching dies, so after stamping the layers I carefully cut out the flowers.

I did the lettering with a white Gelly Roll pen.

I thought about pulling out my white calligraphy ink, but since I had a piece to letter for a customer in black, I didn't want to have to scrub that nib first.

The other thing I finished today was this calligraphy for my client.  Here's a photo before I added the personal message on the bottom for her.

Thanks for stopping by!

Watching over me in 2019

I got a Christmas card in yesterday's mail--all that much dearer because it came now and because of the precious words written there. 

Mother and I just took the tree down the day before.

It's always a much sadder job than putting it up, which we do right after Halloween.  The anticipation is no longer there.  The days are already lengthening, and I can feel the evenings slipping through my fingers far too quickly.

 It's time to say goodbye for now to dear things, like Grandpa's beads, the snowman ornament Aunt Norma gave me, the little plastic red Santa ornament Mother got at the town Christmas parade when she was a little girl (his pack was filled with candy), the tiny stocking Aunt Dorothy painted for Mother so long ago, the manger scene Father Cullen gave everyone in my class years ago (I always hang it in front of a light, so that can shine through the little cut-out star.).  

Everything is packed away now in layers of tissue paper.

This year we didn't break anything, and I didn't forget to put the tree stand in the box like last year.

Last year I was determined to learn something new, to take up more challenges.  I didn't happen quite the way I planned.  Oh, there were challenges, but not the kind I expected.

This is a new year. 

When I saw a free course offered from Altenew Academy, I grabbed it up.  Didn't really matter what it was.  I wanted to push myself to do something a little different. So here I am.

With a nod to Lydia Evans's "Sweet Rose Bouquet" card on All About Layering 3- Day 1, I created my own get well card.

While I often turn to vellum when creating cards, she inspired me to use it in a different way.  I don't have the same frame die set Lydia used, but I decided to create a frame of sorts with the flowers themselves--something fairly simple to set off a message.

Altenew's Wildflower Garden set stamped beautifully on vellum.  It needed a little extra drying time before using the matching die-cuts, but I simply shifted over to another project for a while. Once my pieces were cut, I kept rearranging them over a piece of plain pink cardstock, but I wasn't pleased.  

This piece from a watercolor stack by Momenta just begged to be used.  There's only one dilemma.  The splashes of gold are difficult to stamp or write over, but I didn't want to cover them up with another layer, either.  That would defeat the purpose and spoil the look.

Vellum to the rescue!

I die cut an oval of vellum and (since I already had sumi ink and a fine nib ready for a client's calligraphy rough draft) calligraphed a short message.  

I almost wept for joy.  The ink wrote so smoothly, keeping the fine details of each letter, and it dried almost immediately, even on the vellum.

.............

That Christmas card I hugged close to me said, at the closing, 

"May God watch over you in 2019."

I feel like he will.

A Last Gift, part two

Time and again,

our hearts get broken,

and still we going on living...

and loving.

When Dad passed away we received flowers and cards from family and friends, new and old.  Mark's wife, Loretta, sent over two homemade suppers.  Bless her heart!  Then after Dad's graveside service down in Fredonia in late September, there were more people Mother and I both wanted to write.

So I needed another easy-to-duplicate design.

I turned to my new stamps delivered from Altenew.  I recently discovered these stamps and dies.  Mother and I looked through their site together and placed an order.  Not only that, but I came across the October 2018 Inspiration Challenge.  Perfect timing.

 Immediately I knew the Cosmos stamp set done up with deep oranges would look autumn-ish and abundantly thankful, which was how I often felt as I was writing.

I used the Tim Hotz stamping platform Mother gave me last Christmas, lined up these flowers--sometimes on plain ivory cardstock, sometimes on patterned scraps--and stamped the various layers in deepening shades of orange, green and brown.  I then trimmed the paper to leave a clean border.  (For 5 x 7 cards, I left a good half-inch border all around; for 4 x 5 1/2-inch cards, I made a much smaller border.)  I inked around the stamped piece before gluing to the front of a card.

I made a few different versions of these, some using thank-you stamps from Altenew, others using my own calligraphy.  I think this one with the watercolor background was one of my favorites.  

Making these, I could almost feel a morning breeze whispering through dewy flowers.

Cardstock:  ivory, Watercolor Splash stack (Momenta)

Stamps:  Stunning Cosmos set (Altenew) Thanks Around the World set (Altenew)

Dye inks:  orange, green, brown (Imagine Crafts)

Chalk ink: orange (Clearsnap)

Thank you for visiting!

I love your comments!

A Last Gift

I never knew it would be so hard to say "goodbye" to a life that's always been a part of my life.

These were the hardest cards to begin.

Dad passed away in the early hour of September 5th, and amid all the other things that needed to be done--decisions to be made, places to be notified-- I needed a lot of thank-you cards.  Fast.

At first it seemed like a good idea to create one design and copy it on the computer.  It sounded easy.  It wasn't.  I tried three or four times and hated the results.  I felt like a failure.

I cleared all those attempts away, sat down and started fresh...on one single card.

Dad grew up on a farm near Severy, Kansas, driving the horses to plough the fields when he was six years old.  So I wanted to image of a sunrise or sunset.  Digging through my box of stamps, I picked out these wildflowers from Inkadinkado to use as a silhouette.

However, they wouldn't cover a whole width of card, even a small one, so I tried masking, creating a border with masking tape.  Then I sponged sunset colors, using pastels for a soft look.  I stamped thee flowers with black dye ink.

I loved the look, but it was too much trouble.  Too much time and masking tape for 20-30 cards.

Aha!  (Why didn't I think of it before?)  I decided to cut rectangles of cardstock, sponge, stamp, let dry, and then TRIM the edges before adding calligraphy and gluing to a small card front.

I don't remember where I came across this quote from Thoreau, but it seemed fitting.  Not too gushy.
Dad was never a happy man--not with his family.  Since he passed away I found myself mourning the good times we all could have shared...if only...

I wish he could have seen heaven all around him.

These cards were my last gift to him.

You can find them for sale on my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/639800056/sympathy-cards-set-of-three-condolence?click_key=08953e161bec8a4d0ad7d72da3d8b998634a3df3%3A639800056&click_sum=7bd6e2e3&ref=shop_home_active_24

Cardstock:  Hobby Lobby, Inc.

Ink:  Momenta Tuxedo Black Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Stamp:  Meadow Set (Inkadinkado)

Soft pastels (Faber-Castell)

Sumi ink and Brause nib

"Watercolor?"

Don't you just love watercolors?

They give handmade cards such a free and airy look.

But you don't always have to dig out your watercolor pencils.

This monochrome card was easy to create, using Memento Rich Cocoa from Imagine.

I stamped this girl on a leftover scrap of watercolor paper and blended along the outlines with a waterbrush.  For a few of the deeper areas, I stamped color directly only an acrylic block and picked it up to create shadows. 

You can't see it in this photo.....but I must confess I'd forgotten to clean my brush after painting with some Delicata Golden Glitz, so some of that showed up in my first strokes on the umbrella.

I liked the look, so I sponged it along the edges of the textured brown cardstock used for layering.

Gives the whole card just a little shine.

Supplies

5 x 6 1/2-inch pre-folded ivory card

textured brown cardstock scrap, cut to a rectangle as shown

"Beautiful You" stamp set--Stampin' Up

Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink, Delicata Golden Glitz--Imagine/Tsukineko

Like this card?  Share to Pinterest!

Thanks for stopping by.

November Days

The smallest things

fill our hearts with the greatest joy.

It's a beautiful, cloudy, misty day in northeast Kansas.

Trees are scattering their leaves.  For the past couple of weeks I could look out our windows to the south and see this deep scarlet tree nearly a block away grow brighter each day.  Then suddenly one morning, after a frost, the tree was nearly bare, and the ground all around it was deep scarlet.  

These kind of days put me in the mood to do things.

The tree is up...and almost all decorated.

A few presents are wrapped.

I'm eager to cut out a little dress that I'll smock for my aunt Nancy's first granddaughter.

And I've been making more cards.

I'm still playing with ways to use this new die cut flower I purchased from Penny Black.

First I die cut and embossed a 2 5/8 x 4 5/8-inch rectangle.  I sponged this with Electric Coral and Electric Yellow, being sure not to cover too much of the rectangle.  Leave lots of breathing space!

I die cut the flower from this rectangle.

 I sprayed the cut flower with a few applications of Sheer Shimmer Mist...

...and stamped a brush stroke (now discontinued from Hero Arts, but you can find others out there) with Golden Glitz Delicata along the right and bottom edges.  This gives it an elegant look like gold leaf, but without the mess!  I then "brushed" inside the die cut areas with the same Golden Glitz, using a Fantastix.

Next, I took a pre-folded 5 x 7 ivory card and masked a long rectangle along the left side with two pieces of masking tape.  (I get the tape not-too-sticky by pressing it along the inside of my elbow first!  One of these days someone will catch me walking around with strips of masking tape hanging off me.......)

Anyway, I sponged this rectangle with Electric Coral, Electric Yellow and Electric Orange, making the colors good and deep.

Then, for a bokeh effect, I sponged circles of Moonlight White through a stencil...and sometimes just using the sponge dauber on its own to make a small circle.  Keep the circles random, sometimes overlapping.

I removed the mask, adhered the rectangle and then the die cut flower as shown.  

I stamped the "Thanks" with more Golden Glitz.

Let me know how you like it.

Share on Pinterest and Facebook.

Supplies

        Radiant Neon 4 set – Warm,    Brilliance Moonlight White, 

           Delicata Golden Glitz,  Sheer Shimmer Mist,    

           Sponge daubers and  Fantastix     (Imagine/Tsukineko)

        Heavyweight ivory cardstock (The Paper Studio)

        Matting Basics B Rectangles die set (Spellbinders)

        Beautiful You stamp set (Stampin’ Up)

        My Notebook stamp set (Hero Arts)

Peonies stamp and die set (Avery Elle)

        Circles stencil (Fiskars)

        2-way Glue (Kuretake)

         Big Shot die cutting machine (Sizzix)

        Acrylic block

        

Cool Snap

 Autumn is here, dabbing hillsides, fields and trees with her paintbrush.  

Last week we took a drive north of town on Buck Creek Road, looking for bittersweet to stuff in the windowbox.  This scene below caught my eye.

This perfect weather puts me in the mood to add the stash of Christmas cards for my mother.  This one below I created by masking and sponging with Denim Kaleidacolor from Imagine Crafts for the background.  A few spritzes of sheer Shimmer Spray give it just the right amount of holiday sparkle.  I stamped my Kaleidacolor pad on an empty acrylic block and used this ink with a Fantastix to add a bit of "snow shadow." 

I used...

Denim Kaleidacolor inkpad

Cantaloupe Memonto Dew Drop ink pad

Mini Ink Blending Foam and handles

Fantastix, bullet tip

Sheer Shimmer Spray

(all from Imaginecrafts/Tsukineko)

white cardstock

Watercolor Splash patterned paper pad (Momenta)

Trees stamp set (Inkadinkado)

Holiday Sentiments stamp set (My Sentiments Exactly)

Card Creator 5 x 7 Matting Basics B dies (Spellbinders)

2-Way Glue (EKSuccess)

acrylic block

Sponged Embossing

In cardmaking, new products and techniques abound.  When I first saw a Cricut demonstrated on TV years ago, I admit, I scoffed at the very idea.  I'm not laughing now

Four years ago, I tried to talk myself out of wanting a Cuttlebug.  I eventually gave in.  Now I use both that and a Sizzix Big Shot and can't imagine doing without them.  

I do my share of die-cutting these days, but I was first looking for a good embossed image for sponging.  Recently I played with sponging again.  It takes on a new look on kraft paper.

Here I embossed a piece with the Poppy Fields folder from Darice.

I trimmed this and sponging it with Rich Cocoa dye ink.

With pastel pencils, I added color to the poppies and a few of the tall flowers and leaves...

...smoothing and filling it in with a cotton swab.

I used:

Cardstock:  kraft (Hobby Lobby, Inc.), Watercolor Paper stack (Making Memories)

Embossing folder:  Poppy Field (Darice)

Stamps:  Hot Air Balloon Framelits w/stamps set #660690 (Sizzix)

Dye Ink:  Rich Cocoa Memento Dew Drop (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts)

Dies:  Puffy Cloud Borders (Lawn Fawn)

Chalk Pastel Pencils:  light blue, sap green, orange (General’s)

Sponge dauber (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts)

Die-cutting/embossing machine (Sizzix)

Brads:  4 copper (Hobby Lobby, Inc.)

Glue dots

Cotton swab

Masking Tape Frames

It's been a while since we got together.  

October is already more than half over, and I'm still waiting for McIntosh apples to hit the grocery store.  I like to bite into a crisp and juicy one while watching the sunset deepen from our kitchen window.

Last time I showed you some of my cardmaking using masking tape.

There's nothing quite like it for creating one-layer cards.  

Below, I started with a pre-folded watercolor card and created a frame with masking tape.

***I take out some of the stickiness by sticking it to myself a few times!

Inside the frame, I stamped this discontinued flower from Hero Arts, using watercolor pencils.  After stamping, I deepened shadows and added a loose background with watercolor pencils and a brush...not using too much water.

I added a bit of calligraphy for the complete card.  This was a birthday card for my cousin's daughter.

I did pretty much the same thing here with this rose stamp, a new one from Hero Arts, adding a wash of blue and yellow around the flower.

What's your favorite way to mask?

Un-Masked

When I was little, my oldest brother, Leo, had one of those clear Halloween masks--the kind that don't really hide the face, but instead give it a creepy, distorted leer. 

 He'd put it on and scare me to death every time.  

In cardmaking, masking is anything but scary.

There was various ways of masking (both true and mortise masks) as just as many reasons for using this technique.  Often, I will use a mask to create a bouquet of flowers or to give the impression of depth on a single-layer card.  Today, however, I'm going to show you several ways I use one simple too:  masking tape.

First, I'll use it to make my greeting stand out on an understated card.

Pictured below is my piece of cardstock cut a little smaller than the finished card front.  I tore off a piece of masking tape about four inches long.  

***I take out some of the stickiness by sticking it to myself a few times!

I applied it about two-thirds of the way down on this panel.  The torn edge was just the look I wanted.

I used this discontinued stamp from Hero Arts with the Denim Kaleidacolor inkpad from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts, alternating direction.  Each inking gave me two good stampings with varied darks and lights.

When I finished stamping my brushstrokes, I carefully peeled away the masking tape.

That gave me the perfect place to stamp "Happy Birthday."  I liked this one from Flonz.  I bet you have a favorite on hand that would fit just fine.

Below is the card I sent off to my cousin Rik.

Next, for all three cards below, I used two longer strips of masking tape to create colorful panels.  The first two were sponged with Radiant Neon Yellow and Orange into VersaMagic Turquoise Gem all from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts.

Here, I stamped the tree in brown chalk ink and then added dabs of Radiant Neon Yellow Amplify.

Below, I tried my first stamped reflection!

These two cards below were sponged with all colors of Radiant Neon  4 Warm from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts.  I applied Orange Amplify to flower centers.

Come back for more masking tape fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

I appreciate your comments!

Belated Happy Birthday to Kansas

I'm a little late wishing my home state a Happy Birthday.

But my mother was on the phone with her little sister, Nancy, and she happened the mention the time my picture was in the paper after we dressed up at school for Kansas Day.

My great grandparents, George and Sarah Jane, both were born in 1865 and came to Kansas when they were very young.  Unfortunately, I never got to know them.

They were true pioneers.

Here I am pretending to be one.

This was 1979 Kansas Day.   I was in the first grade.  That day they arranged the classrooms like one-room-schoolhouses.....brothers and sisters in the same room, one teacher, little kids (like me) up front and the older ones in back.  So I got to be in class that day with both Amy and John.  She was in 5th grade, and he was in 6th.  That was the only year the three of us were in school together.  (I always wished I could have been in school with my brothers and sisters more.  I enjoyed it!  I loved it when teachers remembered the older ones.  I LIKED having expectations from me...from us.)   I THINK our teacher that day was Mrs. Duffer.  She ordinarily taught the 6th grade kids, and I, of course, did have her later.   She was one of the very few good teachers in St. John's. ........one of the very few good memories.

One day, the first year or two that I was on Facebook, I was surprised to get a "friend request" from Mrs. Duffer.   That was kinda neat.  She was friends with John, too, and he'd play games with her on there.  They were quite close.   And then she died a few years ago.....a brain aneurysm.   When I told John, he was shocked.  "But I was just playing Scrabble with her!" he said.

I love memories...good and bad.  

Thanks for visiting with me.

Come back soon!

Embossed Iris

Like many newspapers, I'm sure, our local rag doesn't publish much of a society page any more.  They'e even shifted the obituaries to the back of an insert!

I take it these new editors have never watched The Andy Griffith Show.  They don't know (or maybe don't really care) what sections of the paper we head to first.  Maybe they've never heard of sitting down with the paper at breakfast, rather than scanning it in the car on a tablet.

But anyway...

...this one 50th anniversary picture on the back of the paper happened to be someone I know.  Immediately, I had an idea in mind, and I thought it would fit in with the latest

 Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  

I love, love, LOVE this Penny Black iris.  Usually, I stamp it with watercolor pencils.  Here, I thought I'd do that on a leftover scrap of watercolor paper and then add a vellum overlay, which has an embossed iris.  I sometimes worry about vellum overheating and curling up when I use embossing powders, but it's never happened yet.  I stamp with watermark ink, sprinkle on the gold embossing powder and heat carefully, making sure not to stay in one spot too long.  

Isn't this pad of watercolor cardstock from Momenta absolutely scrumptious?  I cut a square of the green hue and attached the stamped layers with gold brads.  

The sentiment was stamped and embossed on another scrap of watercolor paper (I guess there are some benefits from making mistakes on my calligraphy!).  I attached that to the card with adhesive foam squares.

I'm so pleased, I think I'll make a few more as birthday cards...and maybe a get-well.

Thanks for visiting!

Come back soon!

Cut Flower

It's damp and warm, and the air smells green, like spring.

I don't even want to think about spring!

But a misty, foggy day like this puts me in a "doing" mood.  I've got a workbasket with sewing projects waiting to be finished.   I'm in the middle of editing a family video, and of course there's laundry to be folded.

But first thing this morning I dig out paper, stamps and inks again, and I created this little card from an idea burning in my head.

I'd been wanting to use this new die set from Momenta, which my sister gave me.

First, I used black chalk ink to stamp this lone flower from Fiskars Petals from Scratch set.  I lined inside the petals with a white crayon and then sponged over the flower with Radiant Neon Coral from Imagine Crafts.  I used the tip of a cotton swab to ink over the leaf and stem with Lettuce green chalk ink.  I die cut the sentiment three times and layered it for extra dimension, and then used a round corner punch all around the card.

Done!

I'm entering this in the latest CASology Challenge.  

Week #232--Cue: Cut

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year....again!

Happy 2017!

Christmas has come and gone.  We took the tree down yesterday, carefully packed away the ornaments and shifted the furniture back where it belongs.

Somehow nothing seemed very Christmasy this year.   That last month simply found me totally unprepared.  (And I'd started out the year so well!)  On Christmas Day it was 68 degrees right here in Kansas, with chances of thunderstorms and even a possible tornado.  It didn't snow.  It rained.  

We got our snow this past Wednesday, and yes it did get good and cold, too.  I went out to shovel before it was completely light outside, enjoying every breath of it.

A gift to myself this new year:  I want to get back to cardmaking and entering challenges.

Yesterday morning, I made this simple card...

I used a pre-folded white card.  First, I created a bit of background, using a sponge dauber and Summer Sky Tsukineko and Cornflower Hero Arts dye inks.

I stamped the tree Inkadinkado and the message in black and then added

......it's a bit hard to see here.......

dots of white snow with a white gelly roll pen Sakura

I scored around the edges of the card just to add a little detail.  

Done!  And I love it.

This is my very first time to enter the CASology challenge.

Their first cue card of the year, for week 230 is:  Cold.

I was happily dreaming of cold, snowy days with mugs of chai as I made it.

Thanks for visiting!  I love your comments.  Please come back soon!

By the Sea, By the Sea

It's Saturday afternoon.

The day started out relatively cool for August in Kansas,...particularly since it was 102 degrees here just two days ago.  With all the windows thrown open, there was a nice breeze travelling all through the house.  After lunch, my mother and sister and I drove around town, looking for garage and estate sales.  Now it's quiet--only the rhythmic hum of the ceiling fan and the tap of the keyboard.

These sets from Stampin Up have been retired for some time (yeah, I know I'm behind the times), but I just discovered them and purchased a couple of unused sets (yea!) early this year.  I fell in love at first sight. 

Sketches and Seaside Sketches 

I've made quite a few cards with them already.

For some, I stamped the image in brown chalk ink and colored very loosely--really just adding a few lines of color here and there, as I did on this birthday card for my niece

Then I decided to see if these word work with spritzing and coloring the stamp with watercolor pencils, as I love to do.  This was the result.

What do you think?

It was just what I wanted...and more.

I created these three cards with that technique.

For these next cards, I just used a bit of simple masking and sponging to create a relaxing shore scene.

I can tell these stamp sets are going to get a lot of use!

Thanks for stopping by!