Crafty weekend and a special birthday coming up 12/9 - Virginia Lu!!

It's been awhile again - I guess I'm not a devoted blogger.  Oh well, I do what I can....

I've been busy this weekend working on Christmas and other cards.  It was great to be in the crafting mood!  Today I'm sharing two cards I made this weekend - first a birthday card for a special friend and then a Christmas card.

My friend Virginia is celebrating a special birthday.  She's having a virtual party and we've been busily uploading cards to our Flickr group.  Virginia was a Hero Hostess when I first joined the Hero Arts group.  She was very kind and encouraging, plus she makes fabulous, inspiring cards!  Hope you have a great birthday, Virginia!

This card uses Out of Print Papers from Basic Grey, #s cut on the Silhouette (Snap ITC font) and stamped with Hero Arts Flower Dot Pattern (loooove this one).  I matted the #s on Hero Arts Big Ticket - another fun stamp I've used a lot.

This next card developed from various parts and ideas roaming around my head.   I started with the blue background piece I'd been playing around with.  A la Jennifer McGuire from her 2011 Holiday Card Boot Camp, I covered cardstock with Broken China Distress Ink (inkpad direct to paper).  Then I put Picket Fence Distress stain on Hero Art’s Artistic Circle design block and stamped the blue piece.  I had a bit too much stain and the design spread out - didn't like it and set it aside for a week.  Then I had the thought to overstamp with the holiday text.  Hmmm, I liked it.  Mounted on a predesigned card base from Michaels (comes in a pack of 24 with 2 designs - this snowflake and a green with dots).  Was playing around with my Silhouette and decided the caroler silhouette image would be great here.  Cut it out using a piece of Basic Grey Out of Print paper.  The finishing touch is a grungeboard shape from Tim Holtz.  I’ve been faithfully following his 12 Tags of Christmas – not that I get any tags made from his inspiration – but I thought his Christmas Star would add a lot to my card.  Painted it with gold paint and spritzed it w/Perfect Pearl mist.

Thanks for stopping!