Winter's Almost Gone

When you see a melting snowman on the ground, you know that winter's almost gone and the tulips will soon be blooming.

This funny little snowman has had it.  This is a digi image that came pre-colored, and I have to admit that it was shared with me so I have no idea where it came from.  I touched up the coloring with Copic markers since the printed image was not vibrant at all.  I also added the shadow in front of him with Copic marker B000 Pale Porcelain Blue and C-1 Cool Gray No. 1.  He was printed on white card stock and cut out with a rectangular Nestabilities die and backed with an aqua card stock cut with the rectangular scalloped Nestabilities die.  Using foam dots, he was mounted to a matching piece of white card stock, and the corners were punched with an EK Success punch which reminds me of lightning because, after all, I'm sure my snowman was born during a thundersnow storm.

The base of the card is a dark blue-gray and topped with a light blue card stock to which the image and white CS were mounted.  The little aqua snowflakes were a DP which had been cut with a square Nellie Snellen die.  They were the punch-outs from the die and too cute to throw away.

Should I by chance forget to post tomorrow, I want to wish my oldest son the very happiest of birthdays.  He was born at 3:18 p.m. on March 8th, and I will leave it up to him if he cares to share the year.

Although Valentine's Day is over, I wanted to show you this card because of the Diamond Fold which is not nearly as hard to do as it looks.  Probably the most important part of folding it is to make sure the folds are crisp and exact.  With a bone folder, Scor-Pal and ruler, it becomes easy to fold. 

This is the front of the card as it is folded. Silver Valley River Rock (8-6210) by SEI was used for the base of the card.  The color shows more gray in the scan but in actuality is more of a grayed-beige and is a double-sided paper.  The Magenta corner stickers were silver, but I colored them with a black Copic marker since the other highlights on the card would show up as gold.  The white borders were made using a Martha Stewart border punch and are shown better on the back side of the card.  The hearts were individual plain hearts that I cut using a Lifestyle Crafts die.  The inside of the hearts were cut from scrap card stock using a smaller scalloped Lifestyle Crafts die.  One of the hearts was cut, and the other was slipped through and then glued over the cut on the bottom heart.  The words were clear stamps which were stamped with Marvy Matchables Cherry ink.  The little hearts in the corners and the border were hand-drawn using a red Sharpie Ultra Fine Point pen.

This is the back of the card unfolded.  Since there was a border on both sides of the card, it was too long for the scanner on the left side.  The white card stock with the punched border was mounted on each side, and pieces of the double-sided card stock were mounted over the white.  The center of the card is a small houndstooth check which is the reverse of the double-sided paper.  Again the hearts were cut using the Lifestyle Crafts die.  The diamond was again borded by hand using hearts in the corner.  The message was a Hero Arts stamp and was stamped using Marvy Matchables Cherry ink.

Yesterday was a lazy day.  It was such a lazy day that I forgot to post anything on my blog.

I made this card for a friend who maintains she is a queen, so I know that "Queens Rock".  The base of the card was a soft peach card stock from Stampin' Up!  The first layer is a brownish-orange Bazzill card stock, and the designer papers are the same as on the card I posted on February 21st.  I was using up leftovers, and this is the result. 

The sentiment was computer generated and mounted on Bazzill card stock which had been cut out with a Nestabilities die (S5-083).  To make the darker background, I traced around the die and cut it by hand.  The queen image was stamped on Cougar Opaque white card stock using an image from Eccentric Images Rubber Stamp Company and Marvy Matchables black dye ink.  (I bought this stamp several years ago and would definitely like more from Eccentric Images; however, I cannot find a web site for the company so I'm not sure they are still in business.  I did find a few of their stamps on eBay.) 

The wings were colored with Twinkling H2O's Iridescent Gold which makes them shine.  The body of the queen and her flower scepter were colored with Copic markers and then the stem of the rose and the queen's crown were highlighted with a Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.  Although it doesn't show well on here, the pen definitely added a gold sparkle to the card.  The "jewels" in the crown were made by using round Class A Peels stickers from Stampendous.  A drop of Diamond Glaze from JudiKins give the stickers dimension and make the stickers sparkle like real jewels.  The dies used to cut the image were from Nestabilities and Nellie Snellen.

Leftovers are good ... whether they're leftovers to eat or leftovers to create cards. 

I'm amazing myself with the fact that this is another day, another addition to my blog.

This card was made as an answer to a challenge on one of the groups I belong to.  The base of the card is white Cougar Opaque card stock in an A2 size.  Lavender card stock was embossed using the Wicker Weave Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The purple die card stock was cut using a die from a Nestabilities set (S5-070).  The digi image was printed on white Cougar Opaque card stock and colored with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.  The die used to cut it was also from the S5-070 set, and it was mounted with foam tape on the purple CS.  Flat-backed pearls embellished the card.

For a change of pace, I am in the process of making a card for a one-year-old birthday girl, and I hope to have it finished so that I can post it tomorrow.

Is this little blondie cute or what?  She's a digital image I found on Pinterest, and the artist's name is Victoria.  After coloring her with Copic markers, I used my Nestabilities small round die to cut her out and backed her with a solid color cut using the large round die.  Although the cardstock appears to be brown, it is actually a brownish-orange color from Bazzill.  The designer paper is double-sided, and I covered the card with the dotted side, then cut a 2" strip and glued the reverse side over the dotted side.  I had originally tried to do two strips side by side, but it didn't look as good as this version.  The DP is #120C617 Olivia Cashmere from Bo Bunny.  I'm not sure if it would still be available since I have had it for several years.  The flower is a Petal Pusher from Bazzill. 

Posting to my blog two days in a row?  It seems a miracle is happening before our very eyes.

The challenge was to make a card using something with the letter B.  I chose the basket by Aleesa Baker Designs from Impression Obssession and stamped it on Cougar Opaque's Natural card stock, using Adirondack's Espresso ink.  I then heat set it before coloring it with Copic markers.  After the image was colored, I used Rubber Stampede's brown watercolor pencil and a water pen with very, very little water to brush across the basket itself.  After allowing it to dry well, I cut it out.  The card base is a dark brown from Stampin' Up!, and the patterned paper mounted on it was a scrap from a previous cardmaking experience.  The peach colored paper was also a scrap which I punched on both ends with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I then mounted the basket using foam dots to elevate it a bit.

The hardest part of making this card was cutting the rounded part of the handles, but I found using a swivel knife made it much easier.

If there is anyone following my blog and is familiar with computers, can you please tell me why the box appears around my card and around my signature ... and how to fix it?  There have been a lot of changes since I originally started my blog, and I cannot find out how to eliminate the box.  Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

It is amazing to realize how long it has been since I have posted anything to my blog.  I thinkg about it and then find something else to do.  For the past year or so I have become more and more involved in card making and have joined a group which is full of stampers I have known on various groups over the years.

This week we were issued a challenge to use one embossing folder and three different dies to make a card.  I chose a masculine theme featuring a Ford Thunderbird.  For the background, I chose a red and white chevron paper mounted on a sand colored card stock.  The embossing folder is the Diamond Plate folder from Cuttlebug.  For the dies, I used Nestabilities.  One is a label die, and the other two are circles. The red circle was cut using Nestabilities S4-114 Standard Circle, and it is backed with a dark sand circle cut with the Nestabilities Pinking Circles.  Both the round circle and the pinking circle were cut in half and glued behind the Nestabilities label and then mounted on the rectangle of brown CS which had been embossed with the Diamond Plate folder.
Masculine cards are easy for me to make, but now I am going to try making a card in answer to the challenge which will definitely be feminine.