My Valentine

 Hi,
   My card today has a little story behind it so here goes. My husband and I have been married for 40 years and always celebrate Valentines as if it is our first. Candy, flowers and a special dinner. He gets candy too. He always finds just the right card to give me and I do the same. However in the past I've had to buy his card because I didn't have the right stamps to make one. This year I did.
    While browsing the Penny Black sight I found 2 stamps that were perfect for what I had in mind. Tom and Lily (40-098) and Sweetheart (40-503). I bought them and waited. As soon as they arrived I got to work on my vision for the perfect Valentines card for my sweet hubby.
     I stamped them, separately, on Tim Holtz white watercolor paper with black archival ink and used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens to color. When I was done coloring the heart wreath, I fussy cut it out leaving just a hint of white around the flowers. I then worked on coloring Tom and Lily, and added some blue to the background to look like sky and clouds. I stamped the Happy Valentine's Day in red Archival ink using Clearly Posh Stamps (POSH-CST_024) then went over it with a red glitter pen. I used some dimensional tape and popped up the heart around their heads. Then I stamped several different sized hearts with red archival ink and colored them with the red glitter pen. Lastly I found the Eternally Yours stamp in My stash (from the $ bin at Michael's) and stamped it on the bench. The birds are from Altenew's Be A Lighthouse set.

     

 I'm very excited to give this card to my wonderful hubby Dale, as we celebrate Love and Happiness this Valentine's Day.

I will be entering this card in these challenges: Mod Squad Challenge Valentine Love

                                                                       Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Layer it Up

                                                                       Penny Black- January-Anything Goes

Have a very crafty day!

God Bless

Karen 

 

Birthday Wishes

Hello!


     I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog. I've been so busy! I've  made lots of cards for lots of  Birthday's, Anniversaries and Mother's day. My Daughter-in-Law Graduated from college and we went on vacation to visit my In-Laws they're 93 and 90 and have had a rough year but they came out on top and are in good health.
     I'm itching to get back in the swing of things and I'm starting with this card I made for the Altenew May Inspiration Challenge.

     I've been trying to work on and perfect my water coloring and shading so I've been practicing, a lot. I embossed my image first, for a little extra help keeping in the lines of the petal. For this card I used Remember This and Beautiful Day stamp sets and my Sentiment is from Floral Frame.

     Using my MISTI, I stamped the flowers and leaves on Canson watercolor paper using VersaMark ink and embossed in Ranger Queen's Gold embossing powder. I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens to color the rose buds, leaves and small rose. For the larger flower I used Ranger distress inks to watercolor. Then I fussy cut all the pieces out.

     I used 110lb Core'dinations white card stock for my A2 card and a strip of  SU gold paper for the edge. After affixing the gold strip to the card I laid out all the leaves and the buds where I wanted them and adhered them to the front of the card, then I use dimensional tape to adhere the larger flowers. I stamped the birthday wishes with VersaMark and embossed it using Queen's Gold again.

     Using my Clairty brushes and Tumbled Glass distress ink I shaded around the flowers. I added some blue Queen and Comp. pearls and was done.  

     I really enjoyed making this card, and I think I'm going to have a hard time giving it away, LOL.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

       Well that's it for today have to go make dinner. Happy Crafting

     I will be entering this card in these challenges:



                                                                                Altenew May Inspiration Challenge

                                                                                Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by.

God Bless

Karen

Day 6

Hello,
     Just a quick pop in for day 6 of The Daily Marker 30 day challenge. Today I decided to work with my Zig Clean Color Pens. I cut some Strathmore Bristol paper to 4 x 51/4 then using my MISTI I stamped on one side of the paper the flipped it and stamped on the other side so the flowers would be framing the sentiment.
     I used my Zig pens and a paint brush to water color the flowers and leaves. Stamped the sentiment in the center and mounted it on a blue card. That it!

Products used:

Strathmore Bristol paper

Altenew Best Mom (flowers)

Altenew Fresh Freesia (sentiment)

Kuretake Zig Clean Color real Brush Pens

Ranger Archival ink black



Card stock core'dinations
I will be adding this card to:The Daily Marker 30 Day challenge (Day 1)
Thanks for stopping in.
God Bless ,
Karen

The Daily Marker 30 Day Challenge-(Days 4&5)

Hi All,

      Had some difficulty linking my project to Kathy's blog, but I finally figured it out. I guest when I read the first blog I forgot that all Links are to the first 30 Day challenge blog. I did post them on the 30 Day challenge Facebook page, but now that I know where I'm going I will be posting through my blog post.

       So (Day 4) was a Penny Black slapstick/cling and my Altenew markers. I haven't used the markers much yet but after watching several YouTube videos I went to work coloring this beautiful stamp. When I got done I decided to fussy cut it out, I love to fussy cut, and pop it up on a spellbinders A2 card creator die. I was very happy with the result.

Products used:

Penny Black #40-428 scented beauty

Altenew markers set A

Spellbinders Card Creator #S5-218 for A2 card

     For (Day 5) I went back to my Prismacolor pencils to see if the card I created with them on day 3 was a fluke. LOL. I used another Penny Black stamp and went to work. This one, I got for Christmas from my Hubby and I just love it. It has several different flowers and leaves so I could use lots of color, I was very excited to see how I would do.

     After I finished coloring it I went back and used my black pencil, very sharp tip, and  outlined the leaves and some of the flowers, this made everything pop and I love it.

I then added a few extra touches. I used my Tim Holtz brick stencil and some distress in to create a wall in the background and a sentiment from Penny Black. I used foam to pop the whole thing up on the card.

Products used:

Penny Black #40-466 Flower cascade

Penny Black #30-105 gratitude

Prismacolor soft core colored pencils

Tim Holtz Brick Stencil #THS038

Ranger distress ink

Ranger Archival ink

I will be linking these cards to: The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge (Day 1)

Thanks for stopping by.

God Bless,

Karen

 

One-Of-A-Kind

Hello,
    I've been doing a little experimenting, trying to see if I can make my own glimmer paste. I have some Dreamweaver's translucent embossing paste and I wanted to make a pretty textured background for my card. I took about a tablespoon of the paste and added some Martha Stewart green glitter, about a teaspoon. I didn't measure it, but when I mixed it, it was very green. I used a stencil and pallet knife to apply the paste to my card and let it dry. I was thrilled at the result. I will definitely use this technique again. the best thing is no glitter mess coming off the card.
 (for full instructions http://simplypaperaddress.blogspot.com/2017/02/be-mine.html)
     I stamped Altenew's One-Of-A-Kind mini flower on watercolor paper, colored it with my Zig clean color pens and fussy cut it out. I used a spellbinders die, and dimensional tape to pop-up the flower on the die. Then I used a 1" piece of white paper, stamped One-Of-A-Kind, and used my Ranger distress ink (Picked Raspberry) and my blender tool to color the strip and the edges of the frame. Then popped up the front panel on a white card with foam.

     Here's a close up of the glimmer

     Products used:

Altenew mini stamp One-Of-A-Kind

Dreamweaver translucent embossing paste    

Martha Stewart Malachite glitter

Spellbinders die

Joggles stencil#30-33714 (branches)

Bristol vellum surface paper By Strathmore

Core'dination cardstock

Craft foam

3m dimensional tape

     I will be entering this card in these challenges:



Altenew Feburary 2017 Inspiration Challenge

Make My Monday Shimmer and Shine Challenge

Sunday Stamps Sketch #146

Happy crafting!

God Bless,

Karen

      

Be Mine

Hello,


     I've been spending a lot of time in my craft room this past week, trying new techniques and some old ones that I've forgotten about. I was reminded of one that I used to teach years ago, by Vicki Papaioannou ( Birthday Card/ Aqua Flow pens/ Novo Glimmer Paste/video).
     I don't have any Novo Glimmer paste (http://goo.gl/1DZxhR) but I do have tons of embossing paste from my classes and some Farber Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel.
    I started by selecting the stencil I wanted for the background, I have tons of stencils so finding the right one took me a while. Once I had it, I cut my paper down to the size I wanted, because once the paste dries it would be impossible to cut on my trimmer. I used a 110lb cardstock for this to give it stability, but 65lb works just as well. I taped down my card stock, using Scotch removable Tape, I love using it because it doesn't stick to my card ever. Then I aligned the stencil where I wanted it, and taped it down. Using my pallet knife I applied the FC Glass Bead paste to the stencil in a downward stroke, using just enough pressure to apply the paste, then in an upward stroke in the same place. By doing this it fills in all the spaces you might have missed on the first stroke and gives a more even layer. Then I removed the stencil and placed it in a warm soapy water bath so the stencil would clean up easily. I removed the tape from my paper and move my background to a safe place to dry while I made my flowers.
     I stamped out my flowers using Altenew's Beautiful Day stamps, and Distress Ink. Then I fussy cut them out. By the time I was done my background was dry and I could put my card together.
     Using glue dots I placed my leaves where I wanted them on the background. then I cut a circle for the back of one of the flowers, to give just a little more dimension from the leaves. the second flower was popped up using dimensional tape. I cut a small banner of pink and stamped Be Mine from my Clearly Posh stamp set (POSH-CST-024). Then matted in pink and adhered it to a white card.
      I love the way the card turned out and will be using this technique more often from now on.
                                            
I've added this close up for a better view of the glass bead background shimmer.

I will be entering this card in these challenges:

Altenew's February 2017 Inspiration Challenge

Allsorts challenge (Hearts/Flowers)

Make My Monday Challenge (Shimmer and Shine)

Addicted to stamps challenge(Holiday)

ModSquad Challenge (Text/urize)

Thanks for stopping by,

God Bless,

Karen