Seasons

      Today I want to celebrate the beauty and joy of the changing seasons. 

 

      Winter; cold and not so much fun for most people, shoveling, wearing boots and heavy winter coats. However, there are also times, when you look out the window after a snow storm and everything is pure white and laced with snow and ice and it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. Building a snowman with your kids, sledding, skiing, snowboarding, when you have snowball fights or make snow angels, Christmas. Then Winter becomes a wonderland full of fun and excitement.

      Spring; crocuses, daffodils, tulips, cherry blossoms, dogwoods in bloom,  trees waking from their winters nap with green buds, rain, birds singing, the sound geese flying overhead and spotting the first robin of the season. The promise of warmer, longer days, Easter bonnets, bright colors and baseball games. People coming outside after a lone winters hibernation to enjoy the beauty of a new season. What a glorious time of year.

      Summer; longer hotter days, lots of sunshine, cookouts, 4th of July, fireworks, family reunions, graduations, weddings, and of course vacations. It's a time to celebrate with friends and neighbors, a time for swimming, flip flops, shorts, hiking, tubing, camping, mowing the lawn and making s'mores around the fire pit. Hopping in the car and taking long rides in the country, carnivals, festivals, amusement parks, finding adventure around every corner. Summer is full of fun and enjoyment for everyone.

      Autumn; leaves changing from green to red, orange, yellow and brown; cooler days and nights, a crispness to the air. Sweatshirts, sneakers, long pants and jackets. Farmers markets, apples picking, carving pumpkins, Halloween, trick or treats, falling leaves and the World Series. Thanksgiving with family and friends, Football, pumpkin and apple pie   A time to take stock in all you have and to be thankful.

     My cards today reflect the beauty of the Fall season.

     Card #1 Celebrate

Products used:

Penny Black #40-357 Autumn Dance

Penny Black Die #51-028 Celebrations

Ranger Queens Gold embossing powder

VersaMark

Ranger Distress ink

Misti

Canson watercolor paper 130lb

      Using the Misti, I placed the watercolor paper in it and centered the stamp. Then I inked it with VersaMark and stamped it on the paper, I did this twice to make sure all the detail was stamped. I removed the paper from the Misti and covered it with the embossing powder, then tapped off the excess and embossed with my heat gum. When the embossing was set I let it cool then used my Ranger distress ink to shade and blend the background. I spritzed it with water and dried it. I did this twice to give the background movement and texture. I wiped any excess ink off  the embossing and added the celebrate die-cut.

Card #2

       I learned this technique from my friend Lynda, and she in turn learned it by watching 

 Watercolor with Brushstroke stamps and the Misti PB and J YouTube   



Products used:

Penny Black #40-492 Berry Kissed

Penny Black #30-229 Special Wishes

Canson watercolor paper 130lb

Canson card stock

Ranger distress ink markers 

Ranger Archival ink

Misti

     I started out with my stamp and watercolor paper in the Misti. I colored in just the leaves with Tea Die and then I added some Gathered Twigs to the bottoms of each leaf and just a touch to some of the edges. I spritzed the stamp with water and closed the Misti to stamp the leaves. Then I used a paint brush and blended just a few of the leaves at a time, and stamped again without adding any more ink. I did this with all the leaves until I was happy with the texture, color and definition in each leaf. I repeated this technique with the berries using Carved Pumpkin and Rusty Hinge. I did the stems in Ground Espresso. (see website above)

     I also used my Misti to stamp my sentiment so I would get a clear stamping and so that if it wasn't I could stamp it over again if needed.

 

     This technique is so awesome I have already used it on a bunch of my other stamps. Try it I'm sure you will love it too.

    

 I will be entering these cards in:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (Nature)

Color Q Challenge #361

Make My Monday( No Patterned Paper)     

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a wonderfully crafty day!

Karen

My Journey to Card making

      I have been crafting one thing or another most of my life. My grandmother started me off at 5yrs old doing cross stitch and needle point. My Mom was a seamstress and taught me to sew as soon as I could sit at the Singer and work the knee pedal. I taught myself to crochet when I was 18 to make a blanket for my first nephew.

    

      In 1998 I began scrapbooking. I loved creating something that was more than a photo album, something that brought the pictures to life. Something that my now grown children and grandchildren love to open up and relive the good times in there lives. I never dreamed at the time that I would someday have a room dedicated to just crafts, and that I'd have enough of that stuff to stock a store. LOL

 

      Card making came as a direct result of my love for stamping on my scrapbooking pages. I love to give gifts that I have created myself so I started making gift tags and cards for friends and family. Card making then became my favorite craft. Oh, I still scrapbook to keep up with the grandkids lives and I still crochet, but Card making seems to be my greatest love and I do it as much as possible.

       I love discovering new stamp companies and recently I stumbled onto the website of JustRite stamps. (http://justrite-papercraft.myshopify.com/) I love all these beautiful stamps and have used them on many of my cards. This company is affiliated with Spellbinders.

 

       My card today is made with a JustRite background stamp that I just fell in love with. I'm always inspired by cards with lots of colors and flowers. They make me happy so in turn, I believe they will make others happy.

Products used:

JustRite #CL-05089 Blooming Vines

Hampton Arts  (Smile)

Canson watercolor paper

Ranger distress inks

Ranger Archival ink

Misti

     I started by placing the stamp in the Misti, inking with archival ink and stamping it. The beauty of the Misti is that if the first impression isn't perfect you can re-stamp until it is. When I was happy with the outcome I started water coloring using my ranger inks and a paint brush. First the leaves, I used Peeled Paint distress ink, I painted a very lite watered down layer. When that was dry I went back to each leaf with the same color, with less water and added just a touch to the bottoms of each leaf for shadow and texture. I did the same with the flowers using Shaded Lilac distress ink.

    

     After I was done water coloring I placed my paper back into my Misti, making sure it was in the exact spot as when I stamped the first time, and stamped it again to define the out lines. Then I used Abandoned Coral distress ink and a blending brush and did the outside edges of the card.

      I cut it down to 41/8 x53/8 and wrapped a piece of purple nylon ribbon around it and tied a knot. Then I adhered it to a violet card.

      I stamped the word smile and the frame from the same set and fussy cut it out, popped it up with dimensional tape and I was done.

I will be entering this card in these challenges:

Color Throwdown Countdown #411

House of Cards Challenge (Add a Bird and/or Colors)

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog #86 (Anything Goes)

Muse Challenge #185

   

Thanks for stopping buy.

Have a wonderfully crafty day!

Karen 

    



Clean and Simple

     Clean and simple card are not my favorite cards to make. While they are usually quick and easy I have a problem knowing when to stop. I always want to add just a little more of this or that and then they're not Clean and Simple anymore.

     Well today I am happy to say that I started out with an idea of what my card should look like and I didn't add anything extra. Yay for me. However, it wasn't simple, but it was fun.

Products used:

Altenew "Peony Bouquet"

Misti

Ranger distress ink

Ranger Archival ink

Penny Black #30-229 "Special Wishes"

Canson 130lb watercolor paper

Inkadinkado masking paper

     Using my Misti I inked the first peony outline with distress ink, Mustard Seed, and spritzed it with water then stamped it onto the water color paper. Using a paint brush and some water I drew the ink from the edges to color in the flower.  Then I inked the stamp again and re-stamped the image using the same ink. I then lined up the second stamp, highlights, over the first stamped image, inked using Mustard Seed, and spritzed with just a little water and stamped. I used a brush to soften the highlights, then masked it and moved onto the next 2 flowers and the leaves using the same technique. The Misti allowed me to stamp my image as many times as needed to get the desired effect with each layer. It is by far one of my favorite stamping tools.

     

     Using distress ink, Tumbled Glass, and water I added a shadow around the bouquet to give it stability.

     I stamped the sentiment also using my Misti and I was very glad I did because the first stamping was not dark enough so I re-inked the stamp and stamped it again, perfect!  

     My inspiration for this card came from the Muse card below The colors and the flowers, these colors are so perfect together, and I love to watercolor flowers.

I will be adding this card to these challenges:

AAA Cards "Masking"

Addicted to Stamps and More "Make Your Mark"

Muse Challenge Blog #184

Altenew Ultimate Blog Hop

     Muse

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a wonderfully crafty day!

Karen

 

    



Autumn Colors

     I love the beautiful colors of fall, the gold, yellow, red, orange, browns and greens they make me feel warm inside.  Cooler days and crisp nights, cuddling with the one you love. Fire pits burning bright in the evenings, s'mores, a glass of wine, and good company. Taking a drive in the country to just look at the beauty of God's wonderful creation in full color, breathtaking! Halloween, all the kids dressed up in their costumes. Trick or Treat! We loved those days setting up all the decorations and carving pumpkins, fun times. Then there's Thanksgiving, friends and family getting together to enjoy a wonderful meal and being thankful for all the good in our lives, and Football, of course. Those are the things I look forward to when fall comes around.

     

     When making this card I was tried to capture some of the beauty of Autumn.

Products used:

Just Rite Shabby Chic "Autumn leaves" #CR-03870

Impression Obsession #E13185

Ranger Archival ink Black

Ranger distress inks

Canson watercolor paper

Canson card stock

Misti

     Using the Misti and distress ink, Carved Pumpkin, I spritzed with water and stamped the Chinese Lanterns. This is an outline stamp so next I took water and a brush and colored in the image, pulling the color from the stamped areas. I then stamped the image again after inking the stamp with a darker color, Rusty Hinge, no water this time. I pulled some of the darker color out for shading and then stamped it again for definition. I used a mask to cover the first stamping and added the lower branch using the same technique. The sentiment is from the Just Rite set. Then I used Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Carved Pumpkin and Fired Brick distress inks to blend the background.

     For the second panel I used the same colors to blend the background and the using Archival black ink I stamped the Leaves.

I will be entering this card in these challenges:

Make My Monday #30 Autumn/Fall colours"

MoJo Monday #466 Sketch

Time Out Challenge #66 "Photo Inspiration"

Color Q Challenge #360

               

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a wonderfully crafty day!

Karen  

 

  

Upcycling Fall

     Well September has been very busy, busy, busy. Birthdays for 2 of our grandchildren and our niece's wedding, Dr. appointments, Grandparents Day, kids football games, and a whole host of other little errands.  I thought our retirement would be, kick off your shoes, sit back and relax. It's been anything but. I don't know how we found the time to work, with all the other things going on in our lives. I guess I would have time for work if I wasn't in my craft room, and on my blog for 6 hours a day, but what fun would that be. LOL

    

     I have been very busy working on, new to me, techniques. My friend Lynda and I have gotten together quite a few times and tried out some new things on our Misti. It's so wonderful having a friend that loves to create as much as I do, and lives 5 minutes away.

     My card today is an "Up cycled" card. I used a Thanksgiving napkin from last year to create a falling leaves card. 

      

 

Products used:

Ranger distress ink

Napkin

Stamp-n-up "Sentiment"

     This card came together in about 20 minutes. First I removed the extra layers from the napkin and glued it to some white card stock to make it easier to cut out and give it more stability. Then I used a Gathered Twiggs distress marker and went around the edges to cover the white and make them pop. I added dimension, by popping up two of the leaves. Peeled Paint, Fired Brick and Carved Pumpkin distress ink on the stamped sentiment and then added just a touch of Wild Honey distress ink to the edges. Done! 

I will be entering this card in:

                                               AAA Cards#73 "Up cycling"

                                               Colour Q Challenge #360 "Photo Inspiration"

                                               Addicted to Stamps "Trees/Branches/Leaves"

                                               Make My Monday Challenge "Autumn Colors"

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a wonderfully crafty day!

Karen