More hand colored open flowers

I wasn't satisfied with the earlier version of this "open flower" card so I went back to try again.  I had purchased a set of Chalk pencils in a very small office supply store that also had some artist supplies!  I've never worked with chalk, but figured it is more opaque and might be fun.  Anyway, this one is my first with the chalk so be kind.  

After making the card, I saw a post on Alanna's blog here and she explained that she stamped the flowers, colored them, and then came back to do the embossing so that the coloring part wouldn't ruin the heat embossing!  Alanna - you are a genius!!!  That is the part I needed to know!  My next attempt at this style will be done and posted soon (I hope).  Still, I do love all the gold embossing on this card and the gold striped vellum is amazing!

Another mouse!

I changed up the colors on this mouse card!  The mouse is in brown tones with peach (smoothie) color ears and holds a golden heart.  She is sitting on "grass".  I used sequins and hand-dyed seam binding.  Can you tell that I used a micron marker to change her mouth just a very slight bit to make her seem to be smiling?  I really love this mouse!

I bought this mouse from Unity on a BIG sale - and I actually LOVE it!!!!

I colored with my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and used washi tape on the card front with a small line of bright red twine.  The "Hello" is a CTMH stamp (Pewter ink).  I don't have any idea how I'll use this one - but I'm sure it will leave home one day.  Do you have favorite cards that you keep and keep and keep?  

Hugs - Arizona style

I was inspired by a similar card made by Diane Zechman, Creative Team for Sweet & Sassy Stamps.  I changed several things - so maybe it isn't exactly stolen!  LOL  But anyway, different stamps, one element missing, different sentiment all CTMH supplies.  

These are Close to My Heart cactus stamps from 2017.  They are retired now, but I was smart lucky enough to get them and their coordinating thin cuts before they sold out.  I had fun trying to make the stamps show up on the smallish letters.  I have a stack of three - base is Desert Sand cardstock, then white, then the stamped/colored white.  I also used some foam adhesive.  I decorated the inside of the cards with a complete cactus (in case the recipient didn't get the images) and send them both as anniversary cards!  

Under the sea . . .

I finally got brave and made my first shaker card(s).  I love them!!  I used images from a current CTMH stamp set, and the "sea-weed" inside the shaker was a bit from the very old retired Sunflower stamp set.  The sentiment from another very old set.  Isn't the octopus adorable?!  I somehow got the crabs upside down on the two lighter blue ones!  But I was too tired to change them.  

Yoga Birthday Card!

I have a dear friend in Mesa that does a LOT of yoga.  She likes to do head stands (really?  likes?) and has photos of herself doing arm balances and head stands in beautiful outdoor spots.  So when I thought of her birthday card this year I thought of the new CTMH Fresh Air paper pack!

I paper-pieces the clothing for the Yogi, and used two of the Picture My Life cards that come with the pack and a part of a zip-strip.  You are not surprised, I'm sure, that I used my new favorite card template (again).  

Great news, she loved the card!  👍 This paper is only available until July 31.  It's been very popular, too!

Divine Bovine!

I needed a birthday card for a friend who loves cows!  CTMH has a retired set that includes this image - still brand new without ink but over 5 years old!  SO, we got some ink on this baby!  I used Momento Espresso Truffle because I knew I wanted to add some other colors and wanted an ink that wouldn't move.  

The second photo shows this card standing.  I used Derwent pastel pencils to lightly color the sky, grass, the ground, and some of the seal (gold, of course).  Inside the card I used a CTMH dye ink in pale yellow (canary?) to background stamp the sentiment, and then the sentiment in the Espresso Truffle.  It turned out fun - with the new "Documented" paper pack.  

Summer is interesting this year.  I'm much stronger healthy-wise, and have been mostly doing yoga practice 2/week.  I caught some bug recently that knocked me down, but I'm on the tail end of it now.  What that means is that I've had some quiet time at my studio desk!  Yea!!

I think this card could have been for a lot of different reasons, but I sent it as an Anniversary card - thinking how cute these two creatures are sharing their pink lemonade!  The image is from House Mouse and it was a gift from Curtis O'Brien.  He stamped off a few special images for me.  I've been hoarding, but finally decided to use it.  The second photo shows that I put liquid glass over the lemonade glass, and shimmer brush (like Wink-of-Stella) on the hummingbird!  The liquid glass was too large of an area and I had problems with warping of the paper - and I really messed up a small spot under the bow.  That's why it is in such a funky place.  But hey - I'm claiming creative license!  Hugs!!

Another Anniversary card!

This was for one of our family - they love fuchsias, too!  I used a retired design paper (the script) for the backdrop, and I fussy cut the fuchsias out for the card.  The bottom of the flowers have a bit of foam adhesive to make them pop up a bit but the rest of the flower is flat.  Double matted - Olive cardstock on a bit of Pansy Purple card base.  I'm partial to this card (because I love the flowers so much!).  

A 50th Anniversary!!

We have friends that celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary recently - I wanted their card to be special!  I used some of the gold foil paper that was in the fundamentals pack - and the script also was from CTMH.  The gold doilies were heat embossed on both sides of the card, and the Happy Anniversary banner added with some foam adhesive tape to give dimension.  I also put a small strip of the gold foil vellum on the inside of the card - and heat embossed the sentiment.  All products used were from Close to My Heart! 

 

We are finally back from our vacation - it was AMAZING and FANTASTIC, CHALLENGING and REWARDING!  We went to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, into BC, Canada (SO beautiful!) and visited dear friends there for several days.  Then to Victoria where we attended a Reggae concert and ate Greek food truck goodness!  We went whale watching and saw a pod of Ocras!  We even got to watch them hunting as a pod.  It was spectacular!  Then we had high tea at the Empress Hotel (WOW!) and visited the Butchart Gardens (I described it on my FB page as Disneyland but quieter!).  It was enchanting.

Then - both of us exhausted - we decided to go home early.  Once Steve's mind is made up - I think he could have driven straight through!  We covered 1,000 miles the first day and the rest the second - achieving Brainerd, MN in two days.  But I am very glad to be home and finally back in my studio.  

Hugs!!