Sympathy cards - part two

Greetings all - I'm back with part two of sharing some recent sympathy cards. I received a ton of cards from family and friends when my mom passed, including from my blogging friends & from former coworkers when I worked in Eau Claire WI over 30 years ago! So wonderful to have friends like that! One of them mentioned losing her mom recently & I hadn't heard the news before. Quickly made the following card for her family.

Supplies: Paper - Park Lane A2 card; Neenah white

Other - Copic Markers; Antique Linen Distress Ink; white gel pen

Dies - A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Stamps - Joy Clair Thankful for You & Heartfelt Sympathy

I stamped a floral spray from Joy Clair's Heartfelt Sympathy set & colored with Copics. You can see a card using the other spray from this set here. The bible verse also came from a Joy Clair set - I used it on one of yesterday's cards - such a great verse. I stamped on white but it looked wrong so I sponged Antique Linen Distress ink around the edges - much better. The butterfly was a punched one that's been in my bits box forever - Heather (stamping and stitching) sent me a bunch eons ago. Thanks again, Heather! I gave it a body, though, trimming one from a Spellbinders set.

Next I'm sharing a card I sent to my brother and sister-in-law back in February. I hadn't posted it earlier and was reminded because this month I would've had kitty niece Misty to stay with me. Sadly she passed away after a short illness but she'd had a good long life! If you check my blog for Misty labels, you'll see several posts with photo. I'm lucky to have some saved videos on my phone; she's playing with different toys I kept at my house for her. RIP sweet Misty!

Supplies: Paper - Spellbinders (rainbow print from some kit);

Paper Studio A2 card; Neenah white & Poptone Black Licorice

Dies - Waffle Flower Rainbow Bridge Cat;

A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Stamps - Hero Arts I Love My Cat (retired)

Divinity Designs Mini Tag Sentiments

I die cut the rainbow bridge from black and backed with white. I colored in the rainbow with pencils as an afterthought and blended with an alcohol pen. Next time I'd do an inlay... Stamped the sentiment and the Meow in blue ink and glued the panel to a patterned paper rainbow background.

Hopefully no more sympathy cards to make for a long while! Thanks for stopping & enjoy your day!

Boo Hoo - the final Twofer Challenge!

Hey friends - Darnell will close her Twofer Card Challenge after this month - sad, but understandable! So much work goes into a challenge blog and I've appreciated Darnell and her team these past four years!! Yes, I was there for Challenge 1 with my Feather cards and for many (sadly not all) subsequent challenges. I close my Twofer Chapter with this pair for Challenge 41 the Final Challenge to use a dog or a cat image:

And yes, I'm a cat lady!! I used the chunky kitty from an old Hero Arts stamp set as my common item. Here's a closer look at each card with supply list:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah White;

Paper Studio navy A2 card

Stamps - Hero Arts I Love My Cat, Frosty Wishes & 

Create your own Snowman (all retired)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 (retired);

Kat Scrappiness Crafters Essentials Winter;

Dies to match snowman set

Other - Copic Markers; Hero Arts inks;

Tim Holtz Prize Ribbon Distress Ink;

Taylored Expressions Salt Water Taffy

Supplies: Paper - Neenah White; Paper Studio black;

Poppystamps freebie dotted

Stamps - Hero Arts I Love My Cat (retired) &

Everyday Sayings

Dies - Taylored Expressions Mini Slim Square Window Cutting Plate

Other - Copic Markers; Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Had to laugh - those kitty paw prints look more like a wolf's but they were the only ones in kitty set! I saved the pieces cut out of the windows to make another poinsettia card like the second one on this post if you missed it. The fish bowl just had the fish in it but I added some "seaweed".

If you're still with me, I had to include another photo of my kitty niece Misty. She visited me for a couple weeks this summer and was very "helpful" with card making!

Misty has her eye on those little strips of white paper which she later pawed off the craft mat. Then she discovered the plastic cover to the scissors and she batted it off the table. She played with scissors cover for several minutes (I took video) before she went off for a nap - so entertaining!! Times like that I miss my two kitties who've been gone for over 10 years - time flies! One liked paper and the other liked ribbon when it came to crafty "help".

I'm adding my snowman card to the current Watercooler Wednesday All Occasions Challenge. I'm adding the kitty duo with fishbowl card to the current Sweet Stampin' Challenge to feature an animal.

Thanks for stopping and thanks again to all for fun challenges!!

 

A Card Making Day!

Hey there - hope you're enjoying the weekend!! Several chorus friends also make cards and one of them, Julie, joined me yesterday for a card-making day. It was such fun to have someone else in the same room with me!! 

Julie claims she wasn't scared away but the sheer volume of my stash (I did mention it was only the tip of the iceberg...). Here's one of the cards I made:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Ms Sparkle A2 card;

Momenta Watercolor prints

Dies - Hero Arts Leaves and Vines Fancy Die;

A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Stamp - Taylored Expressions Hand Lettered Sentiments

with coordinating die

Other - Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips Thanks;

Tea Dye Distress & Memento Tuxedo Black Inks

It's similar to a thank you card I made back in June but different enough that I thought I'd share. Interesting how rotating the background die 180 degrees and changing the paper colors slightly made a big difference. I left off the flower from the previous card, used a different sentiment plus a sentiment strip - love those! I made one other card but it's for my August Die Cut Diva post - check back 8/21. Julie made a bunch of cards - she was assembling Christmas card kits from her Stampin' Up demonstrator. Such a help for the demonstrator to put these together when she couldn't have classes during the pandemic. She'd either mail the kits or, if you lived close, you could pop over and pick them up from a box outside the door. That's what Julie could do, living in the same neighborhood.

My brother and his wife gave me Misty for her annual summer vacation with me. As usual, she wanted to "help" with crafting. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a shot of her climbing onto a ream of paper but here she is on a table. Don't laugh but I put a folding sewing table over top of my antique trunk. With the legs extended to counter height, the table fits perfectly over the truck. Julie didn't say a word but I'm sure she questioned the decorating in my dining room!!

Julie brought me a flower bouquet - so sweet of her!! I just love the rose colors in this one! It came in cellophane and I arranged it in one of my own vases - not bad, eh? I made simple sandwiches for lunch and we had some fruit salad left from a lunch I enjoyed at another friend's house on Wednesday. That friend will receive the card above & I'll make a different design for Julie.

And here's another thanks card using the fabulous Big Thanks Sugar Script from Birch Press Design (the July sponsor at Die Cut Divas). It's not tone-on-tone like the current DCD challenge but I thought I'd share another use of that die (see the other HERE if you missed it). Love, love, love the BPD Sugar Script line!!

This card went to Jeanne (RebaLiCreates). We went out for dinner last week and she gave me a couple Taylored Expressions die sets which I still need to try - thanks again, Jeanne! The funny thing about this card - I meant it to be a mini slimline 3.5x6" but it ended up 3x7" - I scored the wrong side - oops! Oh well, I just popped it in a 5x7 envelope. Jeanne probably rolled her eyes and wondered where my mind went!! Yeah - it's gone....

If you're still with me, thanks for hanging in and stopping by! Happy crafting!!

Strawberry Basket & a kitty

Hi everyone - a lazy Saturday for me, starting at my local Hallmark store for this year's Christmas ornament premiere. If you're interested, go HERE to see my fave of this year's minis. I love my ornaments and wish I could put my Christmas tree up now - LOL! This afternoon I had a play with a cute die set I bought at Michael's yesterday. I was off to practice chorus music with a small group but still had time to shop - big surprise...

Supplies: DCWV A2 card; Michael's kraft;
Lawn Fawn Spring Perfectly Plaid;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps - Hero Arts CL663 Thanks a Bunch

Dies - Recollections Stay Cool; 
Hero Arts DI410 Paper Layering Basket;

Our Daily Bread Mini Tags; 
My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 - retired

Other - Copic Markers, foam tape, May Arts string twine

I bought the Stay Cool set with the idea of making fun summer cards with the icecream treats. Instead I diecut a bunch of strawberries. I liked that they lightly emboss at the same time. Probably would've had more depth had I used an embossing mat and run them through an extra time, oh well. Colored them & decided to pop them into a basket diecut from kraft cardstock and colored lightly with Copics. A little tag for the sentiment and some fun plaid behind - done!

I'm sitting here waiting for my bro & SIL to stop by and pick up their kitty. Misty has been visiting me for a week and I really enjoy having a pet around. Can't resist sharing a photo of her making herself comfortable in the living room.

Misty does so many cute things! I won't bore you with the video I took of her chasing and pouncing on one of her stuffed toys. Then she ran toward me and meowed like "look at me" :) Wish I could've grabbed my phone more often while she was here but she is camera shy! She tends to run when she sees me going for my phone - I'm surprised I was able to get any photos and video.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!!

Cat in Window with My Monthly Hero

Hi all - I was excited to find the February My Monthly Hero kit (already sold out), plus some add-ons, in my mailbox tonight! But where to start, there is so much goodness in this kit!!

► 1 4×6″ clear stamp set
► 20 coordinating dies
► 1 coordinating stencil, with several cutouts included
► 1 Soft Sky ink cube
► 1 sponge for daubing
► 2 thin rolls of glitter washi tape in blue and silver
► 1 skein silver embroidery thread
► Vellum in blue and patterned white

The stamp set has darling cloud, umbrella and rain images, along with matching dies plus more. I fell in love with the window die and thought it would be perfect paired with the cat & moon dies. I needed a thank you card for my brother and sister-in-law for treating me to dinner on my birthday. Here's my card:

Supplies: February 2017 My Monthly Hero kit (window, cat, & moon dies)
Hero Arts Cerulean and Latte layering paper; Neenah Solar White and scrap of black and patterned
Stamp - Hero Arts CL663 Thanks a Bunch; Other - foam tape (behind cat)

I can't resist including a photo I took of their cat who just spent over a week with me during their vacation. Misty loves to lay on this bench my dad made me - don't ask me why. She went home with them last night after my birthday dinner - I miss her already!

Misty was a great "helper" while I made cards during her visit. She especially loved chewing on the edge of a Neenah envelope box - I finally had to empty it and give it to her as a toy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a crafty week!

Some Christmas trees & my helper

OK - I've had some requests to post some holiday decoration photos so here they are. I don't decorate the outdoors at all but I usually put a tree in front of the living room window and a trio of lighted candles in the family room window. These can be seen from the street by passersby.

I bought this slim pre-lit artificial tree a couple years ago - a perfect fit in the corner by the family room staircase. This year I decided to give it the spot in front of the living room window - looks great in the center panel of a three panel window.

One of Mom's friends made the tree skirt. My brother gave me the topper - a crystal angel that he didn't need anymore. Most of the ornaments are by Hallmark but I also have a few on there from other companies. One - Newbridge Silver in Ireland - Heather sent me a couple (thanks again!!) and I bought one when I visited her in 2014. Another - Chico's (the clothing store) who has offered several beautiful metal and bead ornaments over the years. I love to open all the boxes and appreciate all the details of each ornament. Quite a few play music including "Feliz Navidad", "Santa Baby", "I've Been Everywhere", and my favorite - "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". Every day I go around the tree pressing the buttons and singing along as the ornaments play. My brother's cat Misty was visiting me and "helping" with the decorating (she didn't bother the tree or play with the ornaments, thankfully). Here she is supervising from one of my packing crates:

One last "tree" - this one sits on the kitchen table. It has a cookie cutter for a topper, reminiscent of the antique star cutter I use for my almond shortbread cookies. The tree and the ornaments are all by Hallmark.

I have other decorations put around but didn't photograph them. There's plenty more I haven't put out but I wanted to get some decorating done because my brother and sister-in-law came to get Misty (boo-hoo) last night and I fixed them dinner. Donna makes lefse so she brought a large bundle of them. Brother wanted lutefisk so I picked some up at the grocery - very easy in Minnesota this time of year - LOL. Despite being of Norwegian descent, Donna doesn't touch lutefisk - that's why she wanted me to make it for my brother. She ended up with some rotisserie chicken; that way I didn't have to make Swedish meatballs (what we usual serve the non-lutefisk eaters). They will be with her family for the holidays this year so I enjoyed fixing a holiday dinner for them now.

No cards to share today - I've been working on getting my Christmas cards ready to mail. When I made my Merry Monday cards throughout the year, I didn't do the insides. I'm mass producing the insides with the help of the MISTI. I already have the cards in piles of horizontal vs vertical orientation and by theme. Hope this is a good plan - it worked great for the first batch! Wish me luck and thanks for stopping!!

Same stamp set - a challenge

Hey everyone - back with a challenge I threw down to my friend, Heather. We both recently ordered a bunch of new Hero Arts supplies from their 2015 Christmas release - love, love, love!! This was all part of their new website makeover so if you haven't checked it out, please do so - it looks great! Many thanks to Hero Arts who is always so good to us former Hostesses!

Anyway, Heather and I both bought the new Color Layering Dimensional Bird (CL906), among many other things. We decided to use this one for our same stamp challenge. Here's my card:

I started by gold embossing the bird with ultra-thick gold embossing powder. I had done another bird using Ranger Princess Gold but it didn't stand out enough. The thing about doing the layers on the bird, though, is that the embossed outlines prevent some of the stamping along the edges. Not to worry, I just filled in with Distress Markers to match the Distress Inks used. Each time I did a layer, I clear embossed it. I did the birdie feet last and apparently some of the bird's lower body wasn't fully clear embossed - I got a bit of gold down there too, but decided it was ok. Couldn't do anything about it but start over which I wasn't about to do!!

I had intended this to be a one layer but after I finished my entire bird with all that embossing, I stamped the branch totally off for the bird to be sitting on it - ugh, hate when that happens! So I ended up fussy cutting the bird. The rest of the card is a one layer. I stamped the card base with Paint on Canvas Bold Print (CG672) using Scattered Straw Distress Ink for a tone-on-tone look. After stamping the branch, I decided I wanted a fall card so I added some leaves & a sentiment from the new clear set Autumn (CL882). I felt the card needed some shading so I went round the leaves with some Distress Markers and then colored some of the lines - just a random few. Oops, I see some ink blobs - guess my fingers had some Aged Mahogany on them. Added a few Hero Arts gems and a couple Doodlebug sprinkle shapes - done!

I had taken a photo of the card but wasn't really sure I like the gold embossing, given the direction the rest of the card. Then I remembered a sheet of gold leaves I bought from the dollar bin at Target! Tried a few before deciding on the two I stuck down. There, that tied in well with the gold embossed bird - whew!! I'm sure I'll have plenty more chances to use this beautiful bird set! I'm also quite sure that dear Heather has come up with something much better than this - can't wait to see it!!

Decided to enter this in Hero Arts current Makeover challenge too, as it's a remake of this birdie card.

Now for one last picture of Misty - in an earlier post, I mentioned putting all the crafty supplies away into the guest room because my brother's cat Misty is visiting. Well, I didn't close the door very well when I was grabbing some items to bring to the kitchen. She hastened to jump onto a card table I had used to pile all sorts of stuff - her little body is wedged next to a tote on which, moments earlier, she was chewing!! I distracted her by snapping my fingers so that's why she's looking up in the photo. Isn't she precious??!

Misty goes home later today after being here for almost two weeks. I will miss her; she has been quite the sweet guest. I won't miss having to watch where the crafty stuff lands - I'm used to keeping it out all over the place with no little animals coming to play with it! You should also have seen her bat a Starbucks cup stopper and a plastic bottle top (aka new Misty toys) all over the living room!!

Thanks for stopping by and if you happen to create something with the Color Layering Dimensional Bird set, I hope you'll share a link - would love to see it!!

Hello duo and a laundry "helper"

Happy Sunday everyone - it's Labor Day weekend and we could hope for a better weather day! It's been raining (or should I say storming) off and on all morning. I went to get gas and lightening struck so close to the station that their power went out for a sec and their system went down. Needless to say I didn't fill up at that moment!!

A couple weeks ago my friend Jayne and I meet Betty for lunch. See Betty's post about it here. Dear Betty brought us some goodies in a yummy bag with a card - thanks again, Betty!! Oh, oh - reminds me, I owe her a thank you card! I made her a card and an ATC so I thought I'd share them today:

I used an old favorite cling stamp by Hero Arts called the Friend Definition, for the little rectangle on the card at left and as the background on the kraft ATC. Both got a "hello" die using a newer Hero Arts Stamp & Cut set DC151 Hello - just love these sets!! The "friend" stamp is from the Hero Arts w/Studio Calico clear set 331234 Oh, Snap - the sentiment is Hello, Friend but I cut off the Hello, - LOL. The card got some branches from Hero Arts Spring Branch fancy die and the ATC got a butterfly from the Color Layering Butterflies die set.

I'm doing the usual Sunday chores including grocery shopping and the dreaded laundry. Today though, I have a little laundry "helper" - my brother's cat Misty. Misty wasn't too interested in yesterday's crafting but she was quite delighted to jump into the laundry basket! At least she waited until I took the dried laundry out of it!! I once had a cat who's favorite spot was on top of the freshly dried laundry - ugh, the cat hair! So here's sweet Misty in the basket:

I also once had a cat who like to help me make the bed with freshly washed sheets. She would dive under the top sheet when I shook it out over the bed! Made a lovely bump as I tried to spread it out!! Thankfully Misty was off to her favorite spot in the window during the bed-making operation.

Well, I'd better head off to make that overdue thank you card for Betty!! Then I hope to have time to play with some new Hero Arts Christmas stuff that came in the mail on Friday. Thanks for stopping and enjoy the Labor Day weekend!!

It's Scramble time again! Quickcard117 with LaVon

On the Hero Arts Flickr group today, LaVon posted a fun Scramble challenge to use one of three Hero Arts Sketches from 2012. I love sketches and these are three I remember fondly. I decided to use sketch # 3 and I'll tell you why in a bit. Here's my card:

I used a fun new Hero Arts clear set that just arrived in my mail yesterday - CL882 Autumn. When I first saw this set I thought it might be fun to color all the little panels on the leaves. Well, not for a Scramble - not  enough time! I'll try it sometime soon, though. The kraft card is stamped with one of Hero Arts' 6x6 bold prints cling stamps called CG671 Forest Floor - just love this stamp. I inked and stamped twice, first with Fossilized Amber and then with Antique Linen with splashes of Gathered Twigs. I used the same Distress inks for the leafy panel. The little label is from a set of three by Memory Box called Pastry Labels. The embellies are from Doodlebug.

I went with sketch 3 as it seemed the quickest. I put away all my crafty supplies due to my brother's cat coming over for a visit. Misty enjoys her "vacation" from her home on the other side of the Twin Cities! One of her favorite spots is the windowsill in my lower level family room. If the blinds are closed she will meow until I open them!! Here she is, soaking up the sun:

Well, I'd better clean up the Scramble mess before Misty gets into it! Thanks for stopping and have a great Labor Day weekend!!

Misty's coming to visit!

Who's Misty? you ask.  Misty is my brother's cat who visits me periodically.  I loooove Misty - she's so sweet!  As you can see in this photo from her last visit, Misty makes herself right at home.  She loves to jump up on my Crop in Style and take a nap.  One time I had the lid open and she didn't realize it - fell right in!  Thankfully there wasn't anything in there sticking up to hurt her.

And now to today's card.  I wanted to create something using this month's Hero Arts contest technique of kissing.  See this awesome article by Shari Carroll on the technique.  Just about everything in this card is kissed - Clouds kissed with Envelope Pattern, Cityscape kissed with Floral Scallop, Row of Houses kissed with Envelope Pattern, "grass" Classic Fabric Design kissed with the notes from Musical Clef - all Hero Arts stamps.

Thanks for stopping!