Thank you Bouquets

Hello Friends!

Today's cards are a whole slew of thank you cards.


I needed to make one for use right away but figured while I was at it I might as well make a few more for my stash.


I'd been wanting to play with a stamp set I hadn't gotten to use yet - Bitty Bouquets from Papertrey Ink. It's got the cutest little bouquets you can stamp up in various colors with very little effort.


I had also recently purchased a paper pack from Papertrey Ink called Chicken Scratch Gingham. I thought it was a great choice when you need a fast card. The paper pack has 6 colors and a lovely linen finish. And of course it coordinates perfectly with PTI cardstock - so your chances for a really pretty outcome on your card are immediately upped!


I stamped up all my images and sentiments on white cardstock that I cut from the Lil Inker Designs Stitched Mats: Rectangles.


Then mounted them on a coordinating cardstock and patterned paper.

It's pretty wild that the cardstock I mounted the image on just fits perfectly inside that rectangle on the patterned paper - and I hadn't even measured it to do that!


Probably the fastest bunch of thank you's I've ever made!

That's all for today friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs are the best medicine

Hello Friends. Sorry I've not been posting here in the last week. I have been posting a good bit over on Instagram playing along with the 30 Day Color Challenge. It's a lot of fun and great way to get in some coloring (read: therapy) every day. I've been managing to sneak in some coloring everyday and it feels good. I'm also in my sketchbook everyday which is very good for me.  But have I been making cards? Well of course.
I made this one for my Aunt this week. I wanted to try out that technique you see here - where you cut into your card with a word die then raise that word up (stacking the diecuts). I'm sure someone has given this clever technique a name - regardless it makes a pretty nifty card. I fashioned my card after one I saw Laura Bassen make. I used a Heidi Swapp stencil and a bunch of different inks to create the background. The die and sentiment are from a Papertrey Ink stamp set called Big Hugs.
Okay that's all from me today. Thanks for stopping by!

Doodlie-do Thinking of You

Good Morning Friends!

Since I've been participating in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge, I've been pulling out stamps that I haven't used in a while.

Doodlie-do is one of those stamp sets. I made two cards using the stamps. One card colored in browns and teals and the other card colored in pinkish tones - not unlike Papertrey Ink's color Berry Sorbet.

I used a die from the Keep it Simple Frames and added a sentiment from Keep it Simple: Thinking of you.

That's all for today.
Thanks for stopping by!

Dear Ones March Card - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day Friends!
Not a huge holiday for everyone but in my house - it's a big deal. My mother was 100% Irish - first generation American. My grandparents came through Ellis Island. I could go on and on but suffice it to say we are proud of the Irish heritage. Every year I bake some Irish Soda bread - my grandmother's recipe (I skip the corned beef and cabbage however....). I wish I could share that with my "Dear Ones" but they are all so far away. So this month's addition of my Dear Ones is a St. Patrick's Day card. I know they'll be happy to see this shamrock and all the green! The shamrock itself is a PSX stamp, The tag die and paper are from Papertrey Ink. I colored the shamrock with Copics.
That's all from me for today. Thanks for stopping by!

It's Spring! (or at least it feels like it)

Hello Friends! Can you tell I'm loving the warmer temps? It definitely feels like Spring and, after a particularly cold winter, temps in the 50's are amazing! When it's warmer out I like to open the doors and windows and let the fresh air in. As some of you may know I have two crazy kitties. They are indoor cats. But when the weather is like this I open up the doors to our deck and our kitties can also enjoy the wonderful weather. (Part of the deck area is enclosed so no worries.) The other day I did exactly this and Willie (our girl cat) went zipping in and out of those doors - clearly she was happy about the warm weather too. I'm coloring away at the 30 day challenge by Kathy at the Daily Marker (which has been so wonderfully motivating!). I decided I'd use a stamp from Simon Says Stamp - Pawesome. Such an adorable kitty - totally reminded me of little Miss Willie zipping all over our house. I stamped the image three times across the top of the card. I also wanted to use some alphabet stamps from Papertrey Ink - Outlines. These alphas have been on my wishlist forever - and now that they're retiring at the end of this month - headed to Papertrey's Vault - I finally took the plunge. I stamped out the words and began coloring them and the cats in Copics. It was so much fun to settle in and color. Not only fun - it's thoroughly therapeutic. You get in that wonderful zone and completely forget about everything else.
Okay - that's all from me today - thank you so much for stopping by!

Welcome Spring

Good morning friends. I am still coloring away on the 30 day challenge on Instagram. I decided to color this bunch of flowers - it's an older stamp from Hero Arts - one of my favorites. When I've colored it before I've colored the image as is - its an outline stamp and those flower centers end up being black. So this time I decided I wanted to color them in and make the flowers into daisies. Kinda springy - light and bright. I colored everything with Copics. Then I got to those black centers - I decided to use a white gelly roll pen to cover over the black. Then I went back in and colored them with a yellow Copic. It worked out pretty well. I finished it off with a little banner and sentiment (both from Papertrey Ink).
Thanks for stopping by!

Year of Thinking of You - November

Well I think I'm done with the Year of Thinking of You cards. I decided to try coloring with one Prismacolor pencil (and odorless mineral spirits with a blending stump). I chose this image from Papertrey Ink's Year of Flowers: Mums. Such a pretty image don't you think? As this card is for the November card again I wanted to pick something seasonal and I think this flower fits the bill. I colored and blended and colored and blended (lather, rinse, repeat) and finally decided to stop here. I can obsess over this stuff and couldn't let it get too out of hand. In general I'm happy with my result. I added the sentiment (PTI Keeping it Simple: Thinking of You) and was done. It's definitely a departure from the other cards and I hope my sister-in-law likes it. It certainly won't take more than one stamp :-)
Hope you're having a great day - thanks for stopping by!

30 Day Coloring Challenge

Have you been following the challenge from Kathy at The Daily Marker? I saw her posting on Instagram and decided it was the perfect challenge for me. I love to color and thought it would give me something to work on every day. I've been posting every day on Instagram and it's been a lot of fun to see what everyone has been coloring. If you haven't gotten in on it - why not join today?
I've been coloring up a storm!
I made this card for my 96 year old Aunt - she is pretty amazing. And unfortunately had to have some surgery last week so I sent this get well card. The image is from Lockhart Stamp Company and the sentiment and patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink. I used some Copics and Prismacolor pencils to color the image and did some stitching (a little crooked LOL) to finish off the card.
Thanks for stopping by and check out that challenge!

Year of Thinking of You cards - December

Hello friends! I'm almost done my "Year of Thinking of You" cards. Today's edition is for December. Only November to go! Now you'd think with the weather being so wintery outside that I'd have no problem getting ideas for a winter card. But I think for the very same reason I've been only thinking spring time colors, warm weather etc. So I started flipping through my stamp sets to find something that would work for a December card. Since I store my PTI stamps alphabetically, it took a while to come upon the Winter Hills stamp set ;-) I remembered when I bought the set there had been a card that Nichole Heady had made that kinda sealed the deal on my buying Winter Hills (the woman is Enabler Extraordinaire!). I wanted to try and create a card in a similar vein - a scene with a lot of atmosphere. I think I was somewhat successful. I used a lot of inks, blending with my little Tim Holtz blender tool, and a bit of masking and for the house- a copic marker. Yes the sentiment is ever so slightly crooked. Not pleased with that - I had one shot at that after I had inked up that driveway to the house :-) but all in all I am pleased with it.  I went back and forth deciding on a color for a mat for the card. After much deliberation I decided on the red mat. It keeps the card a little brighter and happier in my opinion.
Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate all the lovely comments lately. You have no idea how much.

Year of Thinking of You - September

Well - this edition of my "Year of Thinking of You" cards should probably be August - but I got a little mixed up when I was posting all these cards. No matter - my sister-in-law will send the card she wants to send at the appropriate time right?
We're a big beach family - we've got a family home at the beach in Delaware. This sister-in-law (the one who is sending these cards) is especially fond of the beach and the friend she's sending the cards to has been a visitor to the house on many occasions. I knew my s-i-l would like to include a beach-y card to her friend.
I found the sentiment in the Silhouette design store a few years ago. I actually made t-shirts for us all with that cutfile :-) So I decided to put it to use again this time by making it a print & cut file. I printed it off and distressed the edges a little then mounted it on a piece of cardstock I ran through my cuttlebug with the Woodgrain Impression plate from PTI. I distressed that woodgrain piece after adding some Fresh Snow ink. The stamped the background cardstock with some stamps from StampinUp (long since retired - Stipple Shells) with Versamark. Finally I tied on some Rustic Cream twine. Ooops - almost forgot - I diecut that starfish using an old die from Quickutz. Thanks for stopping by!

Year of Thinking of You - October

Hello friends! Another "Year of Thinking of You" cards for my s-i-l. Today's edition is for October. My sister-in-law told me what she loved about my "Year of Cards" gift at Christmas was the cards were all seasonal. So I've been trying to keep to that - and October is a good month for fall-ish looking cards right? I used Papertrey Ink's Leaf Prints, Keep it Simple: Thinking of You and the Keep it Simple Frame die. Thanks for stopping by!