Happy Valentine's Day X 5

Hello friends and a very Happy Valentine's Day!   Do any of you do anything special to celebrate this holiday?  Because my birthday is the day before (the 13th), Valentine's Day was always celebrated along with my birthday, until the kids came along.  Now that our girls have grown up and grandchildren are in the picture, I make a card for each of them along with a treat and also make a card for hubby and a few friends.  This post is about the Valentine cards I made for the 5 grandkids, and I'm starting with the youngest (she's 1) and then working my way up to the oldest who is 11.

 This one was stamped with PB's all my love on white cs and then again on DSP from PTI. The LOVE stamped on the DSP was fussy cut and then paper pieced over the stamped image that was colored with Copics.  I used the postage die and more DSP for the background and a sentiment from The Greetery.

   For our 2 year old grandson who loves CHOO CHOO trains, I used PB's love train dies and a sentiment from The Greetery.  He LOVES trains so I think he's going to love this!!

For our 5 year old granddaughter I stamped PB's fur-ever yours and Copic colored the bear.  The heart she's holding was stamped onto the red velvet cs I've been using lately and the sentiment from The Greetery was also stamped onto it.  (I ended up having to stamp and cut a 2nd time as the black ink takes a while to dry enough so that it doesn't smear all over your fingers and everywhere else too...grrrrrr!!)  The framing (also PB) was cut from that same velvet cs and the background was hot foiled with red foil using a PFS foil plate. 

 Our oldest grandson is almost 9 years old, and I didn't think he'd be too excited by a critter card, so I used PB's stitched xoxo dies and added it to a SB's ef (Heart Blooms) background.  I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of the inside and back of the card as I stamped a YETI from MFT's Beast Friends on the inside and big foot paw prints running up the back of the card.  Hopefully he'll get a kick out of it!!

 And last but definitely not last, a card for our oldest granddaughter using Anita Jeram's (CCC) ever thine stamp set.  The mouse holding the heart was once again colored with my Copics, die cut and then added to a background of more of that red velvet paper.  The frame was left over from our 5 year olds card.  The tiny heart tags on both the 4th & 5th cards are from PTI's Tiny Tags set.

I'm sending the first 4 cards to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is an "anything goes/optional romance" challenge for this month of February.

However you celebrate this day, I hope it's a good one for all of you!  And may sound kinda corny, but LOVE really is the answer, so be kind to everyone friends! This world really, really NEEDS it!! 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Double D Challenge - Vintage/Shabby Chic

Hello friends.  The gals over at the Double D Challenge are playing with Vintage/Shabby Chic this time around and I couldn't resist playing with them.

I don't usually make vintage/shabby chic cards, but with Valentine's Day just a few days away and some new products from The Greetery, it was definitely a match made in heaven!  Here's what I came up with...

 I started with kraft cs and The Greetery's Rosemal Reflections ef and Capsule Basics dies.  For the outside embossed area I used a white pigment ink pad to make the embossing stand out a bit more.  This part looks to me like I embossed on vellum, and while that was not my intention, I really like the look!  The inside area was ink blended with brown to make it stand out, and then I used matte gold cs to die cut the Capsule Filigree Border Die to separate the two embossed areas.  

At this point I added the Coquette Heart ef to red cs and then added the Filigree Heart Die with the same matte gold cs to match with the filigree capsule and tie it all together.  I also used the matte gold cs to die cut my bow from the Regency Bow No. 1 die and then finished with a Ruby Red Gem (PFS) adhered to the center of the bow.  I left a sentiment off the front as I think it's pretty obvious that it's a Valentine card. 

The DT has made some incredibly BEAUTIFUL vintage cards that you can check out HERE for inspiration.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Feb. 15th @ 8:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Freshly Made Sketches #722

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge where Kim has come up with a wonderful sketch...

Whenever I see a card with strips of different widths cardstock, I think of Laura Bassen and her "strippen it up" cards, and this sketch definitely made me think of that!  I came up with a very CAS card using Kim's sketch...

I started with an embossed background using SB's Heart Blooms ef and then added my 3 strips of pink, red, & pink cardstock.

Next I die cut the red heart from The Greetery's Coquette Hearts die and then embossed with the coordinating embossing folder and added the Filigree Heart die cut on top of the heart.  I also embossed the sentiment in white from The Greetery's Simple Valentine Mini Sentiments and then added a bow using The Greetery's Regency Bow No. 1 at the top of the heart.  A pink gem (PFS) was also added to the center of the bow.  VERY CAS and I love the way it turned out.

Check out all the beautiful cards from the talented DT and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till Monday, Feb. 8th @ 3:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Peace on Earth Challenge #105

Hello friends.  Trying to keep up with my Christmas stash this year and playing along with the gals over at the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge.  

Of course I fell in love with the bottom left photo because of the SNOWMAN, and also the red heart balloon as it's almost Valentines Day.  I had a pkg of SU! dsp laying out for a while now, planning to use it for something that I can't remember now (am I the only one who does that??) and decided it would make a great background for my snowman.  Here's what I came up with...

I probably should have left the dsp uncovered so you could see it (SU!'s PEACEFUL PLACE) as it's really pretty snowy pine trees all in black & white, but I had the idea to make it a shaker card with a Gina Marie Birch Tree cover plate die laying over the dsp.  All the silver glitter flat dots from TK were used as shaker bits.

My snowman is a Cottage Cutz die called Winter Snowman and was decorated up in blacks and reds (scarf is a dsp scrap I think from SU!), before being adhered to the front of the birch trees.  The very merry sentiment on the wooden sign comes from PTI's Tiny Tags stamp set.  A little bit of glitter around the edges of the snowman finished up my card.

Lots of beautiful inspiration from the DT over at the challenge and you can find it all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Feb. 17th @ 8:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues #126 - Red & Pink

Hello friends.  Time for a new challenge here at Color Hues, and our sweet hostess Julie would like to see Red & Pink on our cards.

I received some new dies from my sweet friend Birgit for Christmas and figured this color pairing would be the perfect time to try them out!  Here's what I came up with...

Originally, I had planned on using black (neutral) for only the leaves, but after trying the layered arch die cuts (Spellbinders Essential Arches) in different combos of red & pink, none of them had the look I was going for, so a bit more black on this card than I had intended, but I like the way it came out!  l stamped my background first using an older SU! background stamp called Script and then arranged my die cut floral pieces (Spellbinders Gorgeous You Florals) over the script.

 My sentiment was cut from the same red (SU! Real Red) as the blooms using Memory Box's Happy Birthday Posh Script die.  I finished with a bit of WOS on the flower centers and also added a few Disco Ball sequins (Gina K). Pretty simple but I love the card being shaped and the red & pink pairing is so pretty together with the dramatic black neutral.

As always, lots of beautiful inspiration from the rest of the DT and also our Special GD JoAnn, and you can find it all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Saturday, Feb. 14th @ 9:00AM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Freshly Made Sketches #721

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge where DT member Jen M. has a fun and easy sketch to follow...

I had just recently watched and fell in love with a video on rainbow floral card ideas from Therese Calvrid (watch HERE) and decided to try it out using this sketch.  Here's what I came up with...

I used a SSS stencil (Elegant Rose) and did like Therese showed in the video with using basically stripes of color with each stencil. This particular stencil is a set of 4, so each time I lined it up and started with turquoise, then purple, pink, orange and then yellow, ink blending from the top of the stencil to the bottom. You start very light with the 1st stencil and then get a shade darker with each successive stencil.  Really only 3 stencils (the 4th stencil is the leaves), so you basically need light, medium & dark inks.  

I used PFS's Diagonal Stitched Circle dies to cut out my rainbow rose and then inlaid to a white card base. For the strip in the sketch I used Altenew's Organic Linen embossing folder and also cut the half circle from the strip so I could continue with the inlaid look.  Before I inlaid the circle, I used Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spray on it for some shine.  My sentiment comes from Gina K's A LITTLE LOVE stamp set and then finished with a few Disco Ball Sequins that are also from Gina K.  This was actually my 2nd attempt at the rainbow bloom...for my first try I started with the turquoise and purple and then used orange and that made BROWN when blending...remember to use colors next to each other that blend to create another complimentary color.  I guess sometimes we have to learn the hard way! Ha!

The DT as usual has wonderful ideas for using the sketch, so check them out right HERE and play along.  This challenge is open till Monday, Feb. 2nd @ 3:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Double D Challenge - FRIENDS

Hello friends.  We've been buried under so much snow and COLD lately, but I have to admit that it makes for more time in the craft room as I'm not a fan of venturing out in this stuff!  Playing along with the gals over at the Double D Challenge where they are looking for cards with FRIENDS...

Isn't that just the sweetest mood board?!  I've been blessed with so many wonderful friends in my lifetime, including my hubby, and Penny Black has such a sweet image from their cute couple stamp set that I thought worked beautifully for this challenge.  Take a look...

My hair isn't that long anymore and hubby doesn't have ANY hair anymore, but otherwise it's us! I colored the image with my Copics and then used the coordinating die to cut it out.  For my card base, I die cut the one end with a heart border die from PB's stitched xoxo and then added a strip of red cs to the inside of the card...when the card is closed the hearts are red.  Next I masked the heart border and then stamped SSS's Friendship Text Background with light gray ink.

Next I added The Greetery's Heart Arrow Die to the card base and then stamped my sentiment from another PB stamp set called flood of hearts.  Hubby and I were attached with foam tape for a little dimension and then I finished with a few Disco Ball Sequins (Gina K) and some red & white baker's twine.  Hubby won't show much emotion when I give him this card, but he's saved every card I've ever made for him, so they must mean something to him! :0)

The DT over at the DD have some AWESOME cards that evoke friendship, so if you're in need of inspiration, you can check them all out right HERE.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Feb. 1st @ 8:00PM. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!