Sunday, June 22, 2014

When I Stand Before God

Hi Friends,

This really great poem came to me in the form of this gorgeous hand-made card created by my good friend Sandy.  I've blogged about her work before - here - when she sent me my "initials" beautifully altered and shabby-fied. She pretty much single handedly launched my interest in altered art and vintage style card making.

This card that she made came amazingly embellished with embellished embellishments!!  Seriously, just about every detail on this card was altered in some delicate and subtle way, making the overall piece a wonderful work of art!  The front, the back, the inside, the envelope - she touched every part.  It's just gorgeous and I love it!  Thank you so much my friend!



"When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left,
and I could say "I used everything You gave me".
Author Unknown

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Friday, June 13, 2014

Heartfelt Creations Dies

 Hi Friends,

This card is another fun flowery Heartfelt Creations card that believe it or not it came together quick and easy!  It's all about the tools, right??!

The flowers are Heartfelt Creations Majestic Mornings stamp set. I stamped the flowers with brown ink onto white CS, used Viva 3-D stamp paint in copper, lime green and red to quickly sponge on some color, then die cut them with the coordinating die that ends up giving you 12 different flowers all at once. I used a stylus and shaping mat to shape and layer the pieces.  

On my white cardstock panel, I stamped the coordinating HC Blooms image and colored just the leaves.  I adhered all my flowers over the image and added my sentiment (Just Rite "Grand Sentiments".  I did a little spattering over the card with some of the copper paint, added a few dots and mounted the panel onto black CS. 

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Filigree Bow Cards


Hi Friends,

These cards are made featuring a couple of Filigree dies I recently purchased from an Etsy Shop called PNW Crafts. I stumbled across them while searching for the bow die because it happens to be hard to find right now since it's not made in the US.  This shop had one left, along with quite a few other goodies, that I loved so much I ended up making a pretty large purchase.  (oops!)  The stuff came in 2 days!  I'm telling you, you can't get better service! "Shout Out" to PNW Crafts!!


The baby card is made with the small filigree bow designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions.  The die set comes with dies to make two sizes of bows and accent ribbon.  Additional dies used were Marianne Creatables LR0269 lattice dome and 0218 baby carriage dies. I embossed texture on the bottom of the front panel with an EF and accented the bow with a decorative button.



 The birthday card is made using two of the large-sized bows in the set.  I made one complete bow and adhered it to the card, then I made a second bow and cut it in half and adhered one half to each side of the first bow to give the illusion of a double bow. I accented the bow with a small white flower. 


The circle doily is made using Heartfelt Creations Raindrops on Roses set (which I also got from PNW Crafts).  The sentiment and frilly stamped frame in the center is Just Rite Designs "You Inspire Me" stamp set.  I finished off the embellishing with some rose-colored pearls scattered around the design. 

Here's photos of the dies I used.


TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

So I Bought a Few Stencils


Hi Friends,

Slow on this bandwagon I think... but I bought a few stencils awhile back and hadn't used any yet.  So here's a card that was inspired by many seen on Pinterest.  (What did I do before Pinterest???).

The stencil on this card is Heidi Swapp.  I used a sponge dauber to sponge TH Peacock Feathers, TH Spiced Marmalade and SU Smokey Slate over the corner. Apparently not the best tool to use for stencils, will have to investigate other applicators for best results!



I added a flower from a stash of some I made using TH Sizzlits Tattered Flower Garden.

The sentiment is Hero Arts "Made With Love" set in Versafine Onyx Black.  I sprinkled it with gems, rounded the corners and mounted it to my card base.

Hope you have a great weekend!   TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

An Inky Background - Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pads


Hi All,

The watercolor technique on this card is fun to play around with because you can't predict what you'll end up with, but the result is always unique and surprising!

I tapped some Tim Holtz distress ink pads randomly and directly onto an acrylic block, sprayed with lots of water so it started to blend, then pressed it onto my white cardstock panel. It was easy to get a variety of colors using Tim's new mini ink pads.  Their tiny 1"x1" size makes it easy to fit lots of color onto a block for this technique.  

After the background was completely dry, I layered it onto black cardstock, then stamped my images (Candles from Inkadinkadoo Birthday Sentiments) and sentiment (Hero Arts Essential Messages) using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Added a tiny bit of yellow glitter to the flames of the candles and then mounted the finished panel onto white cardstock base.

Good as done!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Fan Fold Cards

Hi All,

Bought a new punch and wanted to try it out, so I resurrected an old corner-fan fold card design from awhile back and made a couple to test drive the punch!

I scored a 12x8" sheet of K&Co DP every 1/2" on my scoreboard.  Used my new Martha Stewart "Fans and Flourishes" deep edge border punch and punched along both ends.  I cut the piece lengthwise down the middle and that gave me two scored and punched strips of paper to fold into fan shapes for my cards.



After sponging the edges of the fans, I expanded them and adhered them to the corners of my panels.  The dimensional die cuts I used to decorate the cards are also by K&Co and the frilly frames and popped up sentiments on both cards are from Just Rite's "You Inspire Me" stamp set. 

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!