The Dies Have It…

Have you noticed lately that so many of the card-makers are turning to creating with dies? If you are on line with any of the card-making groups, it almost has been one of those “frenzies” to see who found the most decorative backgrounds and accents. Guess you might say that yours-truly has been one of those active seekers of unique and hopefully useful pieces of metal. (They are such lovely, displayable pieces!) To be honest, I know just collecting those beautifully elaborately detailed items is (was) fun till I discovered exactly how much had to be stored! I’ll be using some of the more intricate pieces in upcoming projects.

For this featured project, I selected some less frilly and more fitting dies for some special people who will be celebrating their anniversary in a few days.

I used the tree arch before for our 50^th anniversary party. Thought it would be fitting as this couple hosted our event.

The trees are Memory Box’s #99159 -  Medium Forest Archway. The opening space between the trees is perfect for adding a message or figures, like this adorable young couple. The couple was purchased on-line from an unbranded listing. Both cutouts were cut from Elizabeth Ctafts’ Soft Finish Rich Black. I like the texture of this paper and also used it for the base card itself. It is black on one side and white on the other.

Hope you can see the background paper. It is actually a digital print that I found last winter as one of a collection from Whimsy Stamps. I selected a portion of the design and die cut it using Elisabeth Crafts’ Dashing Rectangle Die.

This has been a fun and easy project. Great for any level of crafter.

What have you been doing lately? Something fun, I hope.

Thank you for dropping in. Hope you come back again.

Till next time,

May God Bless You and Yours

Today’s Flower…

Hello and welcome. As you may know, my passion is creating, and sharing with you, my hand-made greeting cards. It is my custom to try to consider what a person might enjoy and create a card with just that person in mind. Today’s recipient loves the color purple so…

To my delight, Heartfelt Creations recently introduced a new series of dies in their Sweet Peony collection. For this card, I selected their Large Sweet Peony Die.

One of the many advantages when using 0.6mm foamiran from Whimsy Stamps is that I was able to cut two layers of Purple Foamiran and two layers of Lilac Foamiran at one time. (I have cut as many as six layers with no difficulty.)  To make my life easier, I use the Gemini die cutting and embossing machine by Crafter’s Companion.

To enhance the petals, I blended Memento’s Sweet Plum to the outer edges of all the petals. To give you a great visual demo, please visit Monika Weclewski’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EyKwC68SP8. Monika is such a talented flower maker, I enjoy her demos.

That beautiful background paper is from USArt Quest called Indian Batik Marble, Forest Green. I love working with this type of paper and because of its texture, will often use it to create some of my leaves. There are dozens of colors in this exciting paper line – you may want to check it out.

To set the flower off, I added a fantastic laser-cut chipboard piece from 14 Craft Bar. Their collection of delicate chipboard art forms is fantastic and well worth a look-see.

Hope you enjoyed Todays Flower and will stop by again.

For now,

May God Bless You and Yours

In Style…

Thank you for taking time to stop by today. Gee, this week has been a busy crafting week for me. I have to admit that I have really been having fun, especially with this card. It is for a young lady who loves to dressed-up. So, wanting to follow through with that idea, I decided to show a few stylishly dressed ladies…older styles and new.

Wish I could say who designed the two older styled stamps (I have had them for years) but the lady in the middle is from the Stampin’ Up’s the Beautiful You collection.

Using a Memento’s Gray Flannel ink, I stamped the images on Gina K’s Layering White card stock. To create more line emphasis, I heat set Ranger’s Fine Clear embossing powder.  To add the coloration, I used alcohol-based pens from Chameleon Pens: NUOO – Nude, YO3 – Warm Sunset, PK3 – Bubble Gun, and BG1 – Lagoon.  For the dresses, I infused the colors for a 2-3 second count – love how they blended.

I used Elisabeth Crafts’ Dashing Rectangle dies to cut the ladies and several layers of black cardstock. Wanting this project to have a little punch, I selected Elizabeth Crafts Time for Teal Soft Finish cardstock for the card base.

Again, thank you for stopping by today. I need to get back to my craft room as I have some new equipment scheduled to arrive in the next few days and I need to make more workable room.

Till later,

Have a Happy Easter and

May God Bless You and Yours

The Same but Different…

Those of you who know me, know how I love creating dimensional flowers. But I have to be honest with you. In the beginning, I did not think I would ever be able to create anything that looked even close to a flower. I watched and studied the videos and tried to determine what I would need to make it work with just one hand. After searching on line, I ordered a few dies from Susan’s Garden (from Sizzix and Elizabeth Crafts) and Heartfelt Creations. I struggled and tossed out probably my first 2 dozen attempts. I do not like feeling defeated.

This quest for creating was about the same time I discovered the advantages of the alcohol- based Chameleon Pens.  In their August 2016 Newsletter, they featured an article by flower designer, Susan Tierney Cockburn (Susan’s Garden). That article really impressed me beyond anything.  I cannot explain why but it did. My flowers were becoming my passion.

I am still excited to create flowers from quality papers. However, a year ago, I discover the art of 0.6mm foamiran. I fell in love with that little softer and more realistic creation. There are actually times the foamiran feels like a real petal. Like the paper, the foam accepts a variety of coloration mediums. The shaping process is a little different but the assembly is similar. 

For me, I have found that I need the various metal dies to create the petals. I tried to master hand cutting but I will not go there!  I now have a nice collection of name brand dies and unbranded dies. Because of my physical situation, it is easier for me to work with the medium to larger designed dies.

The flowers shown on the two cards in this article, were actually cut with the same larger 4pc die set. I used white and an ivory colored 0.6mm foamiran for each then blended sage on the one’s petals and teal on the other.

If you would like more instruction regarding the process, just leave a message and I’ll send you more detail.

Well, it is almost time for Easter, so I had better get going and creating!

Till later my friend,

May God Bless You and Yours.

Loves to Dance…

Hello again. Don’t you just love this wonder dancing lady? Carefree and graceful.

My mother is in a Senior Care Facility about 2000 miles from here. She will be 94 later this summer. When she hears music, she still loves to “cut-a-rug.” I remember growing up, listening to their favorite big band music, mostly Glenn Miller. Dad would often find mom and they would slow dance around the house. I loved watching them.

I wanted to send a less cluttered card this month but one that will catch her eye. Since March is the Irish month, I selected a lovely green and a white cardstock from Elizabeth Craft Design.

This graceful lady is from Stampin’ Up’s Beautiful You collection (#143637). To tone down the impression, I used Memento’s Gray Flannel, then embossed with Ranger’s Clear Fine Embossing Powder.

To add color to our dancer, I used Chameleon Pen’s Green Apple, Mellow Yellow and Nude. I love the flowing yet slightly textured effect the white cardstock offered. Then, using Elizabeth Craft Design’s Dashing Squares dies, I cut the different sized layers.

The green cardstock looked a little flat to me so I used a heart filled embossing folder (unbranded) for that little extra touch.

Well this will go in the mail this week. Hopefully she will receive it in time for St. Patty’s Day.

Till next time…God Bless You and Yours.

May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes. 

Like the candle in the window,       

Welcoming the weary traveler.

Do You Have an Extra Card???

That was the question our daughter asked a few weeks ago. A friend of hers had just lost his closest friend and she wanted something more masculine but without using the word sympathy.

Her request really got me thinking. I make most all my cards with someone in particular in mind, designed according to their likes and personality. Have a feeling most of you do the same thing.

Anyway, I have decided that maybe I should have a few card fronts made up for those, moments when “I need a card right now.” 

 

Recently, I purchased an embossing folder created by Anna Griffin. I used it for my January 18, 2018 post, a white-on-white article entitled Aviary. I can not get the thought of that folder out of my mind. It is so elegant.

 

One of my passions is working with the metallic pearl papers. They offer a unique richness and when embossed the detail shows such depth. I selected an antique gold for the design. Since this was to be mounted on a white pearl cardstock, I used a flat black cardstock to mount the design upon. Really very simple yet it has that touch of class. I’ll probably do a few more similar to this but with a different color theme.

 

I have some time right now, maybe I ought to use it wisely to be prepared. 

Thank you for stopping by today. This really was a fun project for me. 

Hope it might inspire you to create something a little out of your norm. Something to have ready for that “Hey Mom, Do You Have an Extra Card???”

Well, till next time, May God Bless You and Yours.