I Won a Liebster Award!

What a surprise! Sean from Card Crafty Club graciously awarded me a Liebster Award! How sweet is that?  Thank you Sean, I'm honored, especially since life has kept me away from blogging for a while

Don't know what a Liebster Award is?  Well, here's a little history:

The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear, but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany. Liebster, means favorite or dearest, and the Liebster Award is designed to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award, the recipient must pass it on to five more blogs of note.

Isn't that fun?  What a great way to recognize a fellow blogger and then pass along the fun!

Ok then. Let's get this party going!. While there were dozens of blogs I could have included, my list of five blogs is--envelope please (grin):

1. Megan at Chaos Served Daily

2. Kathryn at Kathryn's Cards

3. Yolanda at Imagine. Make. Share.

4. Paula at Handmade by Paula

5. KellyRae at Sassy Rubber Artists

Okay winners, here's what you need to do.

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.

3. Copy and past the blog award on your blog.

4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve recognition.

5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Thanks again, Sean, for the award. You made my day.

Sending Love and Flowers

I've had this felt for the longest time, but for some reason, I was afraid to cut into it. Somehow I felt like I would ruin it or something. It's not like they were never going to make any more--sheesh.  Anyway, today I decided to get over my reluctance to use it.  And here's what I came up with.

I started with a piece of white stock which I embossed and then rounded the upper right corner.  I cut the black polka dot frame (using two different sized Classic Circles dies from Spellbinders nested together) and adhered it to the embossed piece. The sentiment was stamped on a leftover label, and I added a few leaves and flowers stamped in black and colored in. It was popped up on dimensionals.

The felt flowers and leaves were cut  using a die from PaperTrey. It cut smoothly and easily and I loved the final result. I added buttons tied with floss to the centers and adhered them to the card using Score-Tape. Then the card front was mounted to a black base.

I don't know why I waited so long to cut into this felt, but I know I won't wait so long to try it again!

Are you hoarding products you're reluctant to tear into? Go ahead and use them.  They'll make more, I promise.

All Time Favorite

I stumbled into a super sale on Penny Black stamps a while back, and this little Mo Manning image just spoke to me. I love the accompanying sentiment and thought it would make a great card for a soldier to send home to a child or loved one. It just spoke "happy" to me.

The card went together pretty quickly. I stamped and colored the little girl and her bear, then matted it on avocado. The sentiment was stamped in chocolate, and die cut and embossed using a Spellbinders Classic circle die. An avocado mat was added, along with the teeniest sliver of avocado and a few melon colored pears. A bit of melon satin ribbon for a bow, and a scrap of DP that was hanging out in my scrap bin finished it up.

I hope whoever gets this will get as big a kick out of that sweet little image as I did. Like I said, it spoke "happy" to me, and I hope it does to them as well.

Spring Wildflowers

Watercolored flowers say spring to me. Today is another of those gloomy days we've been having and I've been dreaming about sunshine and planting flowers. So, since gardening is out, I made a card instead.

I started with a white piece of card stock and cut the edge with a edge die from PTI.  Using a text stamp inked with Chai ink, I stamped the background randomly. The flowers were colored with waterbased markers and stamped, then darkers highlights were added.  I decided to use a kraft card base, but the white card stock looked a little harsh. So I used the Chai ink to tone it down and added a bit of darker color with Pumice distressed ink.  The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate, and the flowers were highlighted with a  pearl pen. A bit of latte twine finished the card front. I edged the kraft card base's front edge to match, then adhered the finished card front. A bit of the kraft hangs out, which added a nice finish.

On to the inside, I used a piece of Rustic Cream card stock, stamped a few flowers and added it to the inside.

This card will probably go into my Operation Write Home stash, which is why I lined it. But I must say, I really like finishing the insides of my cards. I think it gives a nice finished look to the project.

I hope you're spring has started on a brighter note than ours has. And, as they say, may all your weeds be wildflowers!

Feel Better Soon

Had to make a get well card for my sweetie's uncle. He's having some serious surgery and we can't do much but send our best wishes. Dang, this year has really been a stinker so far!

Anyway, about the card, it's actually stamped on a soft stone colored card stock, using grays and avocado inks. Some of them were stamped off, so there's a bit more depth to the foliage. The sentiment is stamped in dark gray and the whole thing is matted with charcoal gray and avocado card stock. The card base is the soft stone again, even if it does look funky white. It's so gray and rainy here today, it's simply impossible to get a decent picture, so please use your imagination. Thank you.

Even though there's been a lot of  "stuff" to deal with so far this year, at least I'm getting some crafting time in and that's a good thing. Hope you're getting some crafty time, too.

Long Road Home

Here's a CASE of myself! Is that allowed? Hope so, case I rather enjoyed it. (The original is here).

This stamp is one I've had for a long time. I think it's by Magenta. I'd colored it up with Prismacolor pencils some time ago, but never could figure out what to do with it. So it went into my "extras" box and languished there for the longest time.  Today I was looking for something else, and this poor little leftover was there--staring right back at me.  I just had to figure out a way to use it.  So....

I started by matting a piece of rustic cream card stock that I'd stamped with Text Style from PTI. I hemmed and hawed about the colors, but then this piece of Melon Berry popped out of my scrap stash, and, well, the rest was pretty easy. I embossed the melon piece,  adhered the focal piece, and adhered the finished card front to a chocolate base. The sentiment was stamped using one from Boards and Beams onto a scrap of rustic cream, matted in chocolate, and popped to the card front.  The "brads" are more of those fun Candi's I talked about here.  A piece of brown ribbon finished it off, but now that its all glued together, I'm not sure it adds much. I'm not going to take it apart, though. Every time I've tried that I end up with more stuff in the ol' circular file!

Gotta run, but if you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a creative day!

Delft Tile

Do you ever get an idea in your head that's really cool--in your head, at least--but doesn't quite come together the way it looked in your head? Well, this card is one of those, but I thought I'd share it anyway because you can't see what was in my head, so you'll never know how cool that one was and you won't be able to say "what the heck was she thinking!" Ha.

I started by stamping a swirly vine  design on white, punched out four 1-inch circles, then punched four 1-1/4 inch circles from navy stock. These were adhered together, then adhered to a piece of white that I'd embossed and matted with navy. The label was die cut, and stamped using the same blue ink used on the  swirls. It's popped up a bit and shows up nicely in real life, even if it looks a bit flat here. 

My original idea was to recreate a blue delft tile motif--that inspiration might have translated better if I'd used squares instead of circles. But--nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So, there you have it. Too bad you couldn't see the one in my head. It was truly beautiful!!