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

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!

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!

Snow Days

We got a beautiful snow here in Kansas yesterday.  It floated down in huge flakes for a while, but swept away easily from the sidewalks and driveway.  I had a bit of time to spare, so I created this card, using my new Winter Fenceline stamp from Serendipity Stamps.

I stamped Winter Fenceline in my favorite Rich Cocoa from Imagine Crafts/Tsukindeko and sponged the background with VersaMagic Turquoise Gem to match the stripes.

I'm entering this in the current Serendipity Stamps Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!  

I love your comments!

The Leaves Grow Old

I almost think I love late autumn best of all, when the sky hangs low with wintery-looking clouds and those last bright leaves still cling to the tree branches.  I’m forever trying to capture this look on paper.  

For this card, I knew I wanted to do some double-layer stamping. 

I dotted in colorful leaves with yellow and orange dye ink...

 ...and then added  Imagine Crafts/Tsukinedo Amplify! to make the bigger tree pop from the page without adding a lot of extra bulk.

I fell in love, first with this quote and then with my card, and I decided to send it to my aunt June for her 89th birthday.

Materials Needed

 Tsukineko:       Kaleidacolor Tahiti ink;   Radiant Neon Warm ink;  Memento Rich Cocoa ink;          Radiant Neon Amplify! Electric Orange and Electric Yellow;  Sponge daubers;   Bullet tip Fantastix

·        Sheer Shimmer Spritz;  Tear It! Tape

·        Inkadinkado:  Fall Trees stamp set

       Penny Black:  Fantasy Tree stamp

·        Pretty Pink Posh:  Stitched Banner Duo die set

·        Momenta:  Gemtone Basics 8 x 8 cardstock pad

·        Miscellaneous:  kraft and white cardstock, heat gun, calligraphy pen, temporary adhesive

Thanks for visiting!!

Autumn Birthdays

I can't help it.  I'm hooked on fall, even if the weather doesn't always cooperate.  So any birthdays this time of year are likely to celebrate the season as well.

Here I experimented with a couple of new stamp pads from Imaginecrafts/tsukineko, not blending the sponging too much.

 Supplies:

  Imaginecrafts/tsukineko

•  Kaleidacolor Tahiti ink
•   Radiant Neon Warm ink
•   Memento Rich Cocoa ink
•  sponge daubers 

 Inkadinkado

•   Fall Trees stamp set    

·        The Paper Studio

• Dendrology paper pad

Autumn Leaves

Fall is beautiful.

Everywhere we go, the trees are turning.

I think I like it best when the trees have nearly lost all their leaves and just a few still cling to the dark branches.

With so many colors...which one is your favorite? 

Celebrating the many colors of fall, I created this easy, colorful card.

Supplies:   Cherish Yesterday  stamp set from Hero Arts; Autumn Leaves Kaleidacolor stamp pad from Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Thank you so much for stopping by.

When Inspiration Hits...

What do you do when inspiration hits at four in the morning?

That's what happened to me.  I woke up with this idea in my head, got up and, as quietly as I could (so I wouldn't wake anyone else) made this card.

I usually try to keep some white card bases on hand, so this one was ready to whip out.  

I simply used the brick embossing folder along the center of the card and sponged that with Picante chalk ink.  

From another scrap of white cardstock I cut this rectangle for the two flowers and die cut this tag.

• Cardstock, foam adhesive squares and A2-Bricks embossing folder (Hobby Lobby)
•  My Notebook set (Hero Arts); ST-15-21 Peonies (Avery Elle)
•  Picante chalk ink (Clearsnap)
•  Cantaloupe, Bahama Blue, Bamboo, black dye ink and sponge daubers (Tsukineko)
• Stitched Labels die set (Pretty Pink Posh
• Sizzix Big Shot

It was so much fun to make, I ended up doing several more that day.

Thanks for stopping by.  

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Autumn at Last

My second cousin Dick wrote from Washington over a month ago:   

The trees in the yard are starting to change color and we watch the geese getting ready for their trip south (some stay here all year).  It’s been a very hot summer here, (20 days over 90 degrees)  (2 months over 80) and we are glad to see fall come around.  It was a good year for the fruit trees in the back yard; cherries, pears, plums, apples and peaches all did well.  Also the raspberries and Logan berries.

I was so jealous, for it was still hot and sticky here in Kansas.  Now, however, autumn is beginning to show.  We traveled to Homecoming in Fredonia, Kansas, on Saturday. Along the roadside, the bright gold of wild sunflowers has given way to the deeper gold of ripening soybeans--fields and fields of them.  Some are even curling and brown, ready to harvest.  Here and there, a tall tree stood out, bright red among all the other greens.  It was even sweater weather.  Add to that the smell of pork sausages smoking on the town square.  

Yes, fall is here.

And so I tried another card for the Serendipity Stamps Challenge #47, which is all about creating your own background. 

When I first saw this stamp of geese, I knew I wanted to use it to create my oldest brother's birthday card. 

Here I added a background with chalks, blending the colors (blue and brown) with a cotton ball.  I stamped everything with brown dye ink from Tsukineko and added a touch of contrasting orange to those berries on the branches from Inkadinkado.

Happy Autumn, Everyone!

Hero Arts Makeover Challenge

It's still summertime here in the midwest, but my heart, as always, longs for fall.  I want to feel the cool days and crisp nights, see the trees slowly turning colors on the hillsides, smell woodsmoke in the air and hear the crunch of acorns underfoot.  

My card-thoughts turn to autumn, too.  

I wanted to enter the Hero Arts Makeover Challenge, which asks us to makeover one of our own old card designs.  What better to makeover than an old autumn card of mine?  

Looking back through photos of my older cards--some of them my first attempts--I often cringe.  But often I also come across ideas that I still like.  This leaf card is one of those. 

I decided to play with this idea today, using the same leaf from my Hero Arts Poetic Prints set, but trying a one-layer card.

First, I made this one, sponging around a circle mask and adding the outer leaves from Stampin' Up.  Everything is inked with Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves rainbow inkpad from Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

For a second card, I masked and sponged two background squares beneath the same leaf, using Yellow Ochre and Chestnut Roan.  I added the sentiment from Hero Arts Cherish Yesterday set.  At first, I was going to place it as I did in the original card, but I decided to go all around the edges.  

What do you think?

Early Christmas: Part Two

Ever start on a design that went awry, but you just couldn't bear to waste it?

That's now this card began.  

I decided to just cover up my flaws, and it actually worked!

Again, I used Winter Homestead from Serendipity Stamps, and Vintage Pine Tree from Stampabilities; paper is Visions of Christmas stack from K & Company; brown dye ink from Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

I didn't want to add any words to the front of this card, so it can be used as a birthday card if needed.  (We have plenty of winter birthdays around here!) 

I'm entering this in

SSCB #45 Challenge: Monochrome

Thanks for stopping by!

Stars

I created this piece today in loving memory of my cousin,

Kenneth Andrew Osburn,

who should have celebrated his 58th birthday today.

After completing the calligraphy, I sponged around the piece with Sky Blue and Twilight dye ink, then added a few stars with gold.

I couldn't resist playing with these lines a bit more.  With Kenny looking over my shoulder, I soon created these versions.

Like this quote?  You can find it on my Etsy shop at Third Sister Handmade

Happy Birthday, Kenny!

Thanks so much for stopping by!