You Have Survived 100% of Your Worst Days Card

When dad got home from the hospital yesterday, I had a special card waiting for him….

I like the sentiment so much, I made one for myself to hang on my inspiration board!

I especially like the part inside that says, ‘I puffy heart love you’ as I always sign my name with a puffy heart!

Materials used:

  • Tonic Studios Topnote Trellis dies
  • CAS-ual Fridays stamps: Doing Great & Puffy Heart Love
  • Park Lane Paperie 110# paper – jewels and pastels
  • Tsukineko Versamark ink
  • Stampendous Beach – Sky Blue embossing powder
  • Recollections Encrusted Jewels – Detail Peacock embossing powder
  • Misc. adhesives

Thank you all so much for stopping by and for your well-wishes for dad!

~D.Ann

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CATchy MEWsic Card

Hello and thanks for your patience! I’ve been out sick again, but finally got back in the saddle with a really fun card I needed to make up for a friend. I used the current challenge prompts from A Blog Named Hero: Love is in the Air with a color palette:

   

Now that I’m on my computer, I see that third color is fuchsia… on my phone it looks red. I figured out it’s the phone… I took a screen shot from the pone and put it on my computer and it looks just like the one above. Crazy! Oh well, it’s close enough and still perfect for the theme. Next time I know to check the computer for truer colors!

From the minute I saw this Dancing Music Notes die, it was almost exactly what I’ve long had in mind for my Taking Note poem about the people in the symphony of our lives. I wanted the poem written across a flowing staff with pictures of people’s faces in the notes. I have tried and tried to fit it in, but it just looks too crowded…

I guess I’ll have to just print it out in a pretty font on the inside of the card… unless I can talk Hero Arts into making this into an 8×10 die and printing my poem on a stamp, too! lol! For this card I specifically wanted this lovely sentiment on the inside:

At least my other idea for this die worked… having cats playing across the music staff… so fun! My favorite is the white kitty in the lower right who’s resting with her paw linked through a musical rest symbol! To get the reverse image of the dangling kitty I stamped him off on a flat rubber stamp and stamped that onto paper. Since the impression was light, I traced over it with an ultra fine pen. I didn’t worry about the umbrella piece showing… It just looks like part of his paw. I may have gone a little overboard with the hearts, but to me they represent their fabulous musical purrs. The sentiments seemed a little lost after I added the hearts, so I outlined them with the black ultrafine marker. If I could have put my hands on a paw-print stamp, I’d’ve probably put one in each note, and then it would’ve been WAY too busy, so it’s a good thing I couldn’t find one handy.

Supplies used:

  • Hero Arts Dancing Music Notes Confetti Die
  • Hero Arts Raining Cats and Dogs stamps and dies
  • Hero Arts MMH04-18 & Cinco de Meow stamp sets (feel the MEWsic)
  • Die-Versions My Micro Font 1/4″ die (CAT-chy!)
  • CAS-ual Fridays Big Treble stamp set(inside)
  • Tsukineko Memento dye ink: Tuxedo Black
  • Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils (cats):  Cadmium Orange, Dark Cadmium Yellow, Warm Gray 1 & 3, Ivory, Pink Carmine, Rose Carmine, Light Red Violet
  • Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks (blended background): Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Barn Door
  • Hero Arts inks: MMH 01-18 Passion Flower (sentiments) & MMH04-18 Fiesta Red (hearts)
  • Sakura Microperm 01 ultrafine pen
  • Core’dinations cardstock: white & purple; card base: Parisian Nights
  • Simply Defined permanent adhesive runner and ‘Stay-Put’ glue

Thanks for stopping by to CATch this MEWsical little number! I hope it made you smile!!

~D.Ann

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Just. Can’t. Even.? – A Little Coffee Makes Everything Better Card

Welcome back to my second post for the Fall Coffee Lovers Hop.

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I thought I’d start by sharing with you something cool that came my way recently. Knowing I love tea and tea parties, my cousins surprised me this fabulously beautiful and unique Burton + Burton teapot/cup for one, and a terrific loose-leaf brewer/strainer with a bunch of wonderful Teavana teas, including a DIVINE chocolate decadence oolong. What a bunch of sweeties they are!! The teapot came from an amazing tea house called Batar, near Seymour, Indiana. Check out their website to see their amazing edible cookie gift boxes and other fun stuff. Worth stopping by if you’re travelling through!! (They serve regular tea-bag teas, but their food was delish and the shopping delightful for any tea/coffee lover!!)

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Now, on to today’s card. I have a fun shaker tag on it with a concealed gift card for a coffee drinking friend:

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I think most gals with CFS feel that chick most days – talk about hitting the wall! lol! If I were making this for me, I’d’ve put ‘chocolate’ instead of coffee. : )

Among other things that inspired this card were the Bellarific Friday {Mojo}Bella Card Sketch (#19) and color inspiration photo:

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A quick note on how the leaves were made: I love how the Color Burst pigment powders do just what their name says… you sprinkle just a little on your paper, then spritz with water and the colors really do burst on the scene!

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Now, I could’ve added more color and spritzed again, but I wanted that just for some natural variation in the fall leaves. I then cut them out and colored the rest in with Copics and distressed them, folding in the veins. In real life, they look pretty realistic!

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Oh, one other quick note… I had a brand new Hero Arts ombre pad that came unglued from the base. A while back another manufacturer’s petal point ink pad did the same and they told me just to glue it back on. I wrote Hero Arts asking the best way to glue theirs back on and they quickly wrote back saying that they stand by their product and would replace it for me. It was in the mail the very next day. THAT is customer service, folks!! This pad has worked fine ever since. Now I love Hero Arts all the more!

Supplies:

  • Hero Arts – A Little stamp set
  • Stamping Bella – the chicks who “couldn’t even” stamp set
  • CAS-ual Fridays – Scallop Tag and Acorn Fri-dies
  • Hero Arts ombre Butter Bar to Orange Soda dye ink pad
  • Color Box Cocoa pigment ink (for COFFEE)
  • Ranger clear embossing powder (over the cocoa ink)
  • Memento Rich cocoa ink (bird and sentiment)
  • Ken Oliver’s Color Bursts:  Sepia, Burnt Orange, Yellow Ochre
  • Copic Markers:
    • Bird & wall: C1, 3, 5; Y13, 15, 17; YR04, 07; R29, 89; W1, 3
    • Leaves: E29, YR02, 04, 07; R29, 39
  • Pebbles, Inc. Basic Brights Chalks
  • Dreamweaver Picasso tool (for clouds)
  • Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Leaf Glitter – Brownstone
  • Core-dinations cardstock – white & orange
  • Tombow: Xtreme permanent adhesive and foam tape
  • Misc. seed beads
  • Starbucks gift card

I’m playing along with the following hops and challenges – just click on any one for more information:

Thanks for stopping by today and for all of your kind comments!

~D.Ann

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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Clear & Sheer Class – Day 4 – More Techniques: Embossed Acetate Card

Welcome back! If you’ve been following my recent posts, you know I’ve been having fun with Online Card Classes Clear & Sheer class this week.

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This card was made from Day 4 – More Techniques. One of the videos showed how to emboss clear acetate and use die cuts for your sentiment and writing space on the inside of the card. I upped it a notch by adding a vellum intricate die cut to the front, with a bit hanging over the edge. Believe it or not, it was almost harder to photograph this card than it was to make it!

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What is it about acetate and vellum cards that makes them so intriguing?!! Just holding this card in my hand makes me smile! The acetate came with the stripes on it and I wanted to see if the embossing showed up any different in the colored area versus the clear. Not really.

Here’s the inside of the card with room to write your note on the back of the butterfly…

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And the back has a space for your ‘made by’ signature.

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I used some glossy accents for the antennae and put a dollop of pollen on the tips. : ) I also highlighted the edges of the vellum butterfly with Stickles to make them stand out a bit more.

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As you can tell, there were plenty of cool ideas in this class to get you jump started – and I didn’t even use half of the techniques covered. I look forward to playing around with acetate and vellum more in the future!

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Materials used:

  • We R Memory Keepers: Clearly Bold Neon Teal Strips acetate
  • Cuttlebug: Organic Flourish Border embossing folder
  • Spellbinders: Wonderful Wings dies
  • Stamp of Approval: Beautiful World Collection
    • SugarPea Designs: Enchanted Garden stamp set (butterfly)
    • CAS-ual Fridays:  All About YOU stamp set and YOU die
  • Tsukineko Brilliance pigment ink – Rocket Red Gold
  • Ranger Stickles Tropical Tangerine
  • Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
  • American Crafts glitter cardstock: carrot
  • Recollections white cardstock
  • Simply Defined 2.5″ wide double sided adhesive (“Stacey Tape”) by Scrapbooking Made Simple
  • Aleene’s Crystal Clear Tacky Spray
  • Tombow Xtreme permanent adhesive

I’m going to enter this card into the following galleries, hops and challenges – You can click on each one for more information:

I hope to be back soon with a really amazing interactive card also from this class… if I can get it to work… Please stop by again to see how it turned out!

-D.Ann

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Clear & Sheer Class – Day 3 – Acetate Techniques: Glitter Window Card

On day three of the Online Card Classes Clear & Sheer class, the focus was on Acetate Techniques.

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I especially wanted to try the glitter window card and here is what I came up with:

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I wish I could catch how sparkly it turned out, but here’s the best I could do…

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And the inside:

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It’s a rather simple technique that yields spectacular results. You cover a piece of acetate with double sided tape. This was tricky for me. I had some Stick-It, but I find that when you pull the release paper, some of the adhesive pulls up and would leave me with uncovered areas – not a serious issue with die cuts, but for this technique you need complete coverage. So, I pulled out my ‘Stacey Tape’ from Scrapbooking Made Simple. It wasn’t quite wide enough and my unsteady hand overlapped the two pieces, so there is a slightly noticeable line. Guess I need to spring for the wider tape next time!

The colors were inspired from Verve’s April Diva challenge:

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(There IS some bright orange in the sunset pic!)

I used a Spellbinders butterfly die set that has both the outline and the intricate die cut to cut out the release paper. This helped me to layer my colors nicely. First I laid down the solid outline of the butterfly cut out in release paper and poured the Elizabeth Crafts Warm Diamond Microfine Glitter and burnished it onto the adhesive. A piece of a Swiffer dusting cloth picks up the extra glitter with ease!

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Next, I peeled up the solid butterfly and laid down the intricate butterfly die cut release paper to use as a stencil and added in various colors one at a time, burnishing after each.

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Finally, I took off the release paper, exposing the outline of the butterfly and repeated the process.

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Then it was just a matter of cutting the window and adhering it to the back and covering it with a second window. NOTE TO SELF…. If you’re going to chalk the edges of the windows, do it BEFORE you place the glitter piece in. I knew the glitter would pick up Copic Markers if you colored it, but it also picks up the chalk color, too.

To make the window stand out even more I put cut out a different colored heart for the inside of the card, placing it right behind the window. To add depth, I stamped some butterflies that you can see as shadows through the window. I love using Brilliance inks as they really sparkle and shine depending on how they catch the light.

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I used a Tsukineko Fantastix coloring tool to pick up some of the ink and dot it around for butterfly trails on the front of the card and chalked in some blue sky.

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Materials used:

  • Stamp of Approval Beautiful World Collection
    • Gina K: Beautiful World stamp set (sentiment)
    • SugarPea Designs Enchanted Garden stamp set (butterfly)
    • CAS-ual Fridays:  YOU die
  • Spellbinders Les Papillions & Lace Hearts dies
  • American Crafts: The Color of Memories acetate
  • American Crafts glitter cardstock: carrot
  • Simply Defined 2.5″ wide double sided adhesive (“Stacey Tape”) by Scrapbooking Made Simple
  • Elizabeth Crafts Silk Microfine Glitter – Warm Diamond
  • Martha Stewart Crafts Essential Colors Glitters:
    • Cinnabar, Fire Opal, Garnet
    • Aquamarine Crystal, Feldspar, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise
  • Tsukineko Brilliance pigment ink – Rocket Red Gold
  • Tsukineko Fantastix color tool
  • Pebbles, Inc. Pearlescent Chalks
  • Recollections white cardstock
  • Tombow Xtreme permanent adhesive

I’m going to enter this card into the following galleries, hops and challenges – You can click on each one for more information:

I hope to be back later this afternoon with the other nifty acetate card I made from day 4. See you later!

-D.Ann

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p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

YOU Make Me Happy Card

Helloooooo again! It’s been a rough month and I’m happy to slowly be getting back to crafting!!

This card was inspired by several things…

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The current Virginia’s View Challenge is for any type of friendship card.

The April 2016 Color Challenge over at Clearsnap has this inspiration photo:

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And Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday Challenge is: Make It Girlie

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I recently received Catherine Pooler’s latest Stamp of Approval set and have been wanting to ink it up, so I pulled out my ColorBox inks, MISTI and was able to easily make this CAS (Clean And Simple) card:

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(Sigh, I still have trouble getting white pictures to come out even at full resolution. Sorry)

I love that the ColorBox Petal Point inks are shaped perfect for detail coloring on stamps like that top stamp… it’s one continuous stamp, but I was easily able to ink it in 3 colors!

Materials used:

  • Stamp of Approval – Beautiful World Collection
    • Catherine Pooler Designs GeoBuilders stamp set
    • Cas-ual Fridays stamp set: All About YOU
  • ColorBox Petal Point Classic Pigment Inkpads by Clearsnap
    • Pinwheel & Enchantment: Green, Pink, and Royal Blue
  • Core’dinations cardstock – white
  • MISTI stamping tool

I’m playing along in the following challenges… if you’d like to join the fun, just click on the name to get all the details:

Hopefully I’ll be seeing you a little more regularly again. Thanks for stopping by today!

-D.Ann

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p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.