A CUPPA...

While visiting the free card showcase at Archivers last weekend, I came across this really cute coffee cup stamp set to use as an image or as a gift card holder. I also can imagine a little creative cutting to make it look like a flower pot and flowers of any kind can be added. So here are two versions of it used as gift card holders.
The lids flip up to expose the card. TFS

A FEW HEART DROPS

This is an image from Penny Black and she is fun to color with Copics. I only used three colors (but several shades of those three colors) pink, turquoise blue, and yellow. I used a very light shade of pink behind her to make the image pop. That is a Copic trick so that it just isn't all white around the image. Kind of pulls it together. It is REALLY nice having so many shades of each color of the Copics. It gives me lots of options for coloring and blending, although my blending skills need much improvement. I am still learning at 69.

I adhered her on a turquoise blue mat, then popped her up on a light pink mat which has a punched Martha Stewart beaded scallop edge. I used a glitter dot CS in a deep pink under that and matted with a medium pink shade.

I used a hot pink heart button and used some pink/white bakers twine to tie on a small SU jewelry tag that says "friend". The upper right "needed" something and I had a short length of medium pink ribbon that I tied loosely and added on. Seems to help visually, I think. Guess this is my "pink" offering for breast cancer awareness month. Inside it says, "Rain or shine, you're a friend of mine!" And you "are" for taking the time to read my blog. Thanks.

WATERFALL CARD

Halloween stamps at Michaels were the inspiration for this Halloween waterfall card. They were cheap ones and can be used year to year and by the grand daughters. I have made a waterfall card twice before but it has been a while. I do not celebrate Halloween although I think it is fun to dress up in costumes and carve pumpkins and trick or treat with the little ones.

I have a really good friend whose birthday is on Halloween and so that became my reason for making four of this card . I had three other people in mind who might enjoy it. As you can see, there are four small images stacked so that they show halfway. They are matted in four different colors. They are attached to the pull tab and when you pull the tab, the pictures flip up and behind so eventually all four can be seen, one-at-a-time. The four pictures are: a black cat with gold rhinestone eyes, black witches shoes with legs in striped stockings (I covered the black shoes in Glossy Accents), a ghost with purple Stickles dots all around, and lastly "BOO!" with gold stones scattered. The pull tab has a pumpkin face pattern on black. I see that I have the faces up-side-down. : ) The other side is a stripe but doesn't show. The jack o'lantern band is matted to give it some stability and the front part of the tab is attached with double sided tape. I covered the card base with the green print which has spider webs heat embossed in black in both upper corners, and there is a plastic spider hanging down on the right. I tied a little orange ribbon on the tab to indicate it is to be pulled. All coloring was done with Copics and stamped with black Momento ink . I am sorry the little pictures are out-of-order and at different levels. My skills are woefully lacking in trying to get things to look a certain way or lined up. TFS

MY BUTTERFLY

Here is a blue butterfly from Northwoods MN stamp company that I love. Emma colored this one earlier this year. I don't think I ever posted my version of the image. So here goes...

I matted the circular image with a Spellbinders Large Scallop I cut out using my Cuttlebug. I used Copics to color the image and use a blue Spica gel glitter pen on the wings. I popped the circular piece up with pop dots on top of the pink back ground and green matting with a green satin ribbon and bow. It is a simple card, but lots of fun to color.

LOVE WATERMELON

This summer I think I ate more watermelon than I did in the last 10 years. Hubby does not eat it so when I get some, I have to plan. If I buy a whole one, I usually share half with our son's family or with church as a treat for fellowship. In August, I ate a whole big one all by myself over a week-and-a-half and I tell you...it was delicious! I drank some of it putting it in the blender.

Here is a little House Mouse card with mice eating watermelon and looking very happy about it. I so enjoy making House Mouse image cards. They are fun to color, very detailed, make me smile or laugh out-loud, and the best part is when I get to make them fuzzy by gluing on Fun Flocking in brown, black or gray.

I colored the image with my Copics, trimmed the image leaving a narrow edge of white, and matted in red and black. Inside it says, " Relaxing is Mice"! I should go back and add some shading on the sides of the picnic table boards. I did change the coloration around the mice to create some shading. I'm still new with the Copics and have to learn by trial-and-err0r. Hope you enjoy this image as much as I did making it. TFS

LONG TIME NO READ...

Hi there! It has been some time since I posted, about a month and a half. No, I did not go out of the country on vacation! No, I have not been sick (although that might be a matter of opinion.) We breezed through Sept while in MN and have been in WI for Oct. We have been able to keep our grand daughters over night twice, and they attended church with me twice. They seem to really enjoy coming with me and participating in Sunday School, the singing part of worship, and then their own children's worship. I so enjoy being with them.

My card making has been sporadic at best. I have several made this summer and then have made a few since. I will begin with the summer ones. The turquoise blue and green card was made using an image which is called a "reverse" image. The flowers, stems and white parts are the watercolor CS showing through because they are etched out of the flat rubber. The green and turquoise ink were applied to the flat background using markers and blended a little in the middle, then stamped. I believe I also spritzed this one with a little water to give a watercolor effect. I matted it on a piece of turquoise CS that was smaller than my card base on the sides. I punched the bottom edge of the turquoise using the Martha Stewart Vintage Floral border. I mounted it and there was a wide margin left on either side. I kept looking and looking at it for several weeks, and decided to punch the outside borders too and make the front of the card peek-a-boo. I kind of like how it turned out but honestly it just evolved...no creative planning or imagination...just trial and error. Sometimes that works. The inside is one of my favorite sentiments, heat embossed with turquoise.