My Rubber Therapy Blog

LOL I know, I know...

Hi Friends,

I have another card to share today.  Yes it is another tulip card as there will be a few more to share.  It is such an easy image to work with this is why I was able to come up with different ways to highlight it on different color Background and how lovely each one looks after it is finished.  Notice this card I also used the same two dies I had used for yesterday's card.  Joy, Cheery Lynn Designs, and Spellbinder oval.

 

Recipe

If you have seen the post before this one you will have seen how I made this card, by changing the background just makes a total new look.  I hope you enjoyed and I want to thank all of you who have either by email or directly commented on the blog.  I appreciate all comments and continue to try and send you answers to your questions when asked.  I hope all is well with all of you. 

I continue to nurse my allergies, as on the daily report here LOL they don't bother giving numbers on what pollen is affecting what anymore, they call it and unfortunate day for allergy sufferers.  I thought that was a quick way to sum the situation up and it is not an understatement.  If you are not one who is suffering from allergies, consider yourself so lucky.  I used to be one of the lucky ones but as time moves on it catches up to some of us.

Good luck on allergy fighting day!  Stay healthy and happy!

Thanks for looking

Card share (Reviewed with name of the die cuts I have used)

Hi Friends,

Re comments:  I am so thrilled that you enjoyed this card thank you for commenting on it.  As for a question I have been asked I wanted to answer here is, how do you take your honey that seems to work with your allergies?  I do take some local honey (important) it should boost your immunity to some pollens.  May not be full proof to all but to me it helps.  I just pour 1 teaspoon of honey and have it pure.  I avoid drinking or eating for 15 minutes after the honey was taken.  Soon after I start feeling my sinuses opening up a little more than without the honey.  I also make sure to moisten my nose with saline spray all day long.  The moisture will keep your nose protected from the heavy duty pollens.  I find that when I have a dry nose I sneeze more and am more susceptible to what allergies will do to us.  This is not a miracle cure LOL unfortunately it is not.  But it will help keep your nose breathing better if it does work for you.

Today I am feeling so much better, what a difference a day make.  Local honey was my answer.  At least for the pollen allergies.  So I am crossing my fingers that the worst is behind me.  Gotta think positive right?  I have many projects on the go today, playing catch up now.  But besides planting in my last planter box, buying some of my flowers, posting this and preparing a lovely dinner I will be doing all of it with a smile.  What a smile that is!  I appreciate the good days that's for sure.  The bruises from my fall will dissipate and be a long term memory *wink*

Here is the card I am sharing for today,

Another fun tulip card I had the pleasure to make.
I hope you can see the layers

Those two gorgeous die cuts work so well together

Recipe

As you can see I used white for the whole card except for the tulips.  I stamped and colored with tulips with colored pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirit and paper stump.  I also cut around the whole tulip image before tucking in the bottom edge as seen in photos.  I hope you enjoyed this card.  I aim to inspire you to create your own art pieces.

DIE CUTS I USED (thanks for reminding me I didn't mention it OOPS)

The large oval die that sits in the back is from Cheery Lynn Designs (DL153) Polysian Sails Oval.  The die cut used to insert the tulips image is from Joy Crafts, I inserted a picture of it below.  I ran across it by pure chance and decided to post it, as I am not paid for advertising on my blog so I am using this for the sole purpose to help my followers to see which die cut I used. 

Note:  I used a Spellbinder circle to cut out the size I wanted to remove from the Joy die to insert the tulips in.  I hope that helps!

UPDATE:  Having another wonderful day here as the allergies are doing better when the wind stop blowing to desert floor to my nose LOL

Have a lovely day!  I sure am having a good one today! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!

testing 1-2 1-2.....

Hi Friends,

Oh have I had difficulties sending a blog in the passed 2 days.  I had a whole post ready to publish and VLAM!  With no questions asked when I came to save it, it had disappeared, just as if I had written nothing at all.  Same with photos.  I add photos and when I come to save them, BAM...GONE.  So after getting so frustrated in trying I decided to go back to my outside chores, gardening and cleaning after all the gusty winds we have gotten recently.

Which bings me to letting you know that I have been a little under the weather for the passed 3 weeks to a month and the planter box photos was the last post I had programmed a month ahead of time.  So you can see from the lack of posts now I have to tell you that I am so slow I can barely do everything I do in one day anymore.  At least not until I get my allergies in check.  I can't breathe normally so it affects my schedule tremendously so a little goes a long way, so that being said, if I am not posting every day bare with me.  I am so late with emails, so if you haven't had an answer within a week now you know why.

On the good side of things I was thrilled to see that I have had this BLOG for 7 years since last November in fact I signed up on November 2006.  I just broke the 1700 blog mark last week.  Which I am so happy to report.  It has been a while, to think that I started this blog just to see if I could start one and get something positive out of cardmaking to share, then I slowly veared toward Decoupage sheet making and soon after that fun 4 years of making Decoupage, sharing my followers cards was also part of my blog, to then just sharing my cards as my time was slowly being cut I had to change my venue to accommodate my time to share things with you. 

I am so proud of what I have shared thus far and I can only be encouraged to bring in another 7 years with variety of things I have planned on doing and share with you.  So stick with me, I will keep on sharing cards and recipes, I will also bring some videos on some techniques you are curious about (July 2013 I should start) then moving on to possibly painting for cards and on canvas.  But that is a long shot as I am not even sure if I will do fairly well enough to share any LOL

So stick around, let me get back on my feet first, health is important as we all say.  I also fell again last week and hurt my knee and shoulder, once again I was fortunate to not break any bones although it always hurts ones ego slightly when this happens. 

So this is the latest from me and will definitely continue where I left off, I am just a little slower than normal but given a few more days I expecy to get back on my feet like my usual twirling self trying to pack in a full day of things to do inside and outside the house.  My two planters are now done.  Just missing some embellishments and will share a photo of the two together soon.

Until next post folks, stay healthy!

 (Will not let me add my signature, oh well)

 

Planter assembled - one of two

Hi Friends,

The wait is over, I finally have photos to share on my first completed planter that Hubby built for me.  So here they are:

 Below the planter you can see what is being used to capture the excess water underneath.

 

The black arrow shows the opening where the board has been slented of a few degrees to allow the drainage and save the water in a bucket.

 

 

 Have a quick glance at my potting shed and the fence we are about to remove.  This was a doggy area and the potting shed was used for their shade since this area is too sunny for dogs to sit there mid-day.  But since we won't get any Lab retreiver in this lifetime we don't need the fence but will recycle it for sure. We can actually see the doggy door on the front of the shed.

 

 

 This is to illustrate how the corners were put together like a puzzle with a Dove tail router bit.

 

 

He prefers to not be shown, his choice

 

He even mixed the dirt for me, how sweet!

 

This was a lot of work but in my opinion, it is 10 times the result of what I had asked for to start.  He went all out to make one that would not only do the trick for us but, he made it big enough so we could use this space to the max.

 Once I have the two planters up and growing I will show them both to you.  In the meantime this one has been planted a few things in it and we had two nights of frost since.  Figures...LOL but we tucked her in for the nights.  Happy to report, everything seems to grow normally now.  A big THANK YOU goes to my wonderful man for taking the time to make this project for us. 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Will try and post another card tomorrow.  Stay tuned...

Have a great day! 

 

 

 

Another favorite SC of mine, have a look

Hi Friends,

What's next, you ask?  My next card is one of the delicate topics of life and after life.

 

I stamped my image, used Memory box Small Gothic Window to encase the stamp.  I only embossed it into the CS did not use the cutting blade.  I simply used the thickness for embossing only.
Before I removed my die from the paper, I used a sponge to add shade Once I embossed my Gothic window into the card, I took it to my Scor-Pal and embossed lines. (ink used, Memento Potter's clay)

The ribbon was a seam binding double bow attached with glue dots.  Simple can be so pretty.

I hope you enjoyed this card and technique.  Try your own version...

Thanks for looking and commenting

Have a wonderful day

Another watercolor card

Hi Friends,

Today's card is inspired by an earlier card I had posted with the watercolor technique explained on March 17th.  This time I wanted to make a card with the yellow specks with the daisy flowers.

Another happy moment in my day is when I find my fingers covered with ink!

I made two of the same card for a different Sentiment, one is for Warm Wishes, and the other is Thinking of you.

Rick rack ribbon was used behind the daisy oval shapes.  Tip:  If you have the cheapest set of watercolor set like small medallions, that is enough to make the most beautiful effect, watercolor is cheap to buy and create such a gorgeous impact on any card.  Give it a try, you will be amazed by the look you get.  Practice and dare trying things you never thought you would try.  I am not a painting artist, but I aspire to become one, never too old to fulfill a dream aren't we?

Have an awesome day, now that you read this, go on with a smile and thanks for stopping and looking.  I really appreciate all comments left on here.  I read them all and answer them personally when questions are asked. 

 

 

Silver with lavender Thank you card

Hi Friends,

Today's card to share is another one of the lavender cards I wanted to make.  With a paper I really was inspired by with the silver dream catchers, which is a popular theme here in the Southwest with the Native people.  I wanted to make a simple card with a nice focal point image that is as simple as the rest of the card.  A card that speaks volume without the bulk!

Thanks

Trying to capture the silver in the card

 

Silk lavender ribbon, stamps by Technique Tuesday, Spellbinder circle, SU silver cord

 This is showing all the silver on this paper, I really love the look

I hope you enjoyed this card and perhaps inspired you to try something with the paper you really like and never dared cutting into for a card.  Dare, just dare!

Have a fun day!  Make it count!

Another Beach vision

Hi Friends,

Another card to share.  I think it was last month I had another beach card with an umbrella, this one is slightly different, yet in my eyes the same appeal this one is made using a rectangle mask inking directly to the linen texture paper, where it is good to dream about sinking our toes in the warm sand at the beach.  The umbrella was also inked with 3 tones of yellow to orange in Memento inks.

Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

A close up of the umbrella to show melting of colors into one another

A really special card to a special person in your life

 I hope you have enjoyed this card to inspire you to try your own by keeping it very simple, will bring a greater impact at first sight.

Have a wonderful day, make it memorable!

 

 

Inspired by Kyoto Japan visit

Hi Friends,

My card share for today is one that I got an idea from a visit to Kyoto Japan we made a few years ago during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I was day dreaming about something that would represent a part of my memory of this forever printed in my mind the gorgeous miles of flowers around us...

The card was started with some drops of watercolor technique I had posted with photos here on March 17th post.  It should get you there on a different pop up window.  You will not lose your page.
A close up to reveal the use of pop up dimentionals
This Thank you Stamp is an old SU stamp I love to use from time to time.
The flowers were stamped/colored/cut and adhered to the leaf stem (flowers from a Heartfelt Creations stamp set)
I inked up the redges of the rectangles and the rest of the card is easy to figure out.  The look in the flesh is stunning I could have stamped the Thank you in a Magenta color as well. 

Thank you for stopping by and looking, thank you for all the fabulous comments, I may also add the more you comment, the more cards I will feel like sharing so, a few words are all it takes followers...

Have a great DAY!

Finished in my sleep!

Hi Friends,

This card was a fun one to build and create.  Another card I had started and set aside for lack of ideas and found the rest of it in my sleep.  Yes I woke up with the rest of the card in mind for the next day.  The cut circle in white linen texture card was already made (I needed something on this CS) I knew I wanted it blue in the background but what to use for a design on the white I could not leave it white.

I remembered a background stamp I had stored a few months ago a perfect candidate stamp for this background so I tried it and was sold on the beginning of it.  Then added some script stamp from my stash while trying to keep a washed look I inked some really rust SU onto the CS darker in some areas more than others.
The tree image was another tree stamp from my stash, only the coloring of it was done by acrylic paint but the background was colored with ink and dauber.  I added a bow on top of my scalopped circle for added interest and a Just for you stamp from stash was added to the bottom right corner.

I made two cards with this technique
A close up of the painting

That's it!  Time consuming on this one was because of the lack of ideas to start.  But when you are really stuck for a card to continue, leave it!  Set it aside where you will see it day after day and one morning you will wake up with a great idea to finish it up and perhaps you will get a happy shock at what you will finish it with, it always works for me.  I start cards all the time and lacks the "Je ne sais quoi" aspect of it so I don't fight it, I just leave it be....

Have a spectacular day, do something fun!

 

CS Thank you card (Justrite)

Hi Friends,

Today I am sharing a card that was inspired by what I think is a beautiful frame and Sentiment stamp from Just Rite stampers collection.  I had this card made partially for a while and set aside until I could find the right focal image for it.

This card CS is white (base), Black (matting), Pattern background, Cool Caribbean SU.

 

Black satin ribbon was run across the card and attached behind the black matting layer onto white card base.

The focal piece was placed on dimentional foam adhesive and the card was finished.  Simple, easy and not too much fuss when a quick thank you card is needed, it fits the bill for male or female card.

Have a fantastic day, make it special...

Thanks for looking, I really love reading comments, don't be shy!

 

Nature silhouettes for Thank you

Hi Friends,

Today's card was inspired by a google search I made on this beautiful die cut from Memory Box called Honey Blossom Sprig.  I saw it used in a silhouette style with a hand cut out for the ground showing different layers to mimic the ground.  I thought it was very effective and had to give it a try and see what I would end up with.

So this is the card: 

Linen texture CS
Black, really rust and green CS from SU for ground

No recipe needed on this one.  But the Birds in the background were used from a set I have by Technique Tuesday, I really love these birds, it can be used for so many cards, sunsets, inked made brackgrounds, it also has a dragonfly silhouette stamp too.  Love this set.

Have a fun day, make it count!  Thank you for looking!

White & Lavender Thank you!

Hi Friends

In the hope that this post will not be as hard to finalize today.  Phew, yesterday's post was so hard to finalize as some of you had noticed the text without photos....I had just forgotten to stop the post from being published is all.  But I was able to finally send the last version of it during the day yesterday.

Here is the card share for today:

I really loved this card when it was finished.  The effect of the white over lavender was no less than stunning in the flesh, photos are always iffy to me.  But this is what I made and sharing for today.
The stamp used for the daisies was from my stash of stamps, not sure if it was from SU or not.  Anyway it was one I wanted to use and make a triple oval cut on an almost rectangle shape just cut by hand from rectangles I had cut with a Spellbinder die cut.  Inked all edges as per seeen in the photos
The happy accident in this card was the lines I had cut with Spellbinder S5-080 Damask Accents.  I was cutting for 2 when I realized that once it had cut one and cut another one right next to it, it would give me this look there.  So I continued the same way until I got my 2 similar lines whick I inked up before applying onto the card as per seen in the photo.
The daisies are colored with copic pen where applicable and the flower itself was colored with Liquid pearl (White Opal and Buttercup)
Thank you stamp was from my stash, sorry no name for it.  The rest of the card is easy to figure out.

That's it for today I hope you have enjoyed the share and if any questions please do not hesitate to ask  me.  I will answer as quickly as I possibly can.  Between gardening jobs and keeping the house fairly decent LOL. 

Happy day everyone!  Try and be creative. 

QUESTION TO ALL OF YOU:  Answer in comment please.  What is the most favorite technique of each one of you?  Do you like to lose yourself with inks, or is your thing, coloring with copics, or what else is ticking your fancy that gets you to run to your craft space to inspire you to play?  I would love to know! 

More photos and one card to share, I am feeling better today

Hi Friends,

I am a little late today to post but I was happy to find extra time to share good news too.  Lately I had Mark making another project and this time it was for the garden.  He is building 2 planters so I can grow veggies without bending over and hurt my back again.  This morning when I woke up he was all excited to show me where he was with this project.  I was happily shocked to see one was almost ready.  He just can't build it in the garage since it will not go through the doors to take it to the back and besides this monster planter would be way too heavy for the two of us to carry it there, no way!

Today was day 2 of storms through the Midwest and it has left us with some mountain snow and cooler temperatures.  I wish everyone to be safe while it is going through the dreaded Tornado alley of the USA in the next day or so.  Be safe all.

So I have photos to share and this post is a little longer than usual but it is about sharing so I hope you enjoy what is on here today. 

Starting with the good, the next 5 pictures are from a sneak peek of my planters.  I am so excited, I had asked for plain rectangular boxes for my raised garden and I am getting the best looking one on this planet.  Thank you Mark and no ladies, I am not renting my Mark.  He stays here, yes I know, I should share more, but I will keep it as far as pictures LOL no hard feelings my friends.

 

  This copper cap is going at each end of the planter
These are the end of the planters
The size of it I don't have right now but picture a twin size bed for children so that is one of the planters

Once assembled it won't be going anywhere, it is heavy!

**********

 Now for updated photos of the water leak we have but under control now with a pail attached to it.  We have gutted the area, removed the vanity, all the tiles, wall where we found where the leak was from and what caused it too.  Copper + iron pipes together = not a match in heaven, it will corrode and drip red water that was what we had been noticing since we moved in.  Red water so I was rarely using it because of that and it was staining the sink  So this will not be a problem anymore but Mark said he suspects that all connections in the house are made the same way.  This is why we continue to have problems with water pipes bursting between walls and no shut off valves were installed either by code.  *Rolling eyes*.

So here is a visual of what we have seen while gutting that area of the bathroom:

You are in luck!  This part is when we removed the mirror and we got the smell hitting us, my eyes suddenly were burning I had to leave the room and that is not mentionning the rotten smell that got to our noses, it is not a scratch and sniff photo so nothing to worry about LOL
Iron and copper a bug no no
My stained sink which is no longer as well as taps, all gone now.
One of the filled bags of tiles and debris from the gutting the bathroom and more to do once we get the plumbing sorted out.  I am happy I have a man who can fix all this mess himself.  Therefore saving us $100.'s of $$$$ if not $1,000's

*********

Now for my card share of the day

This one I can call a brick wall happy accident

A wall accident is rarely happy but mine is.  One day I was playing around with my brick EF by Tim Holtz when I was looking to make a nice subtle effect with inks.  I made a few and left them aside for a day I need a brick wall for a card.  That day came folks...

The ink I used for the brick was Potter's Clay by Memento and some black as well
Once again I used a linen textured CS and ran the EF through the Ebosser.  Before doing so I rubbed the side of the EF where the lines are embossed not on the debossed side.  You can find that by running your fingers on your EF and pick the more raised side.

The red daisy was made after seeing a card online that was made along side of a brickwall.  So that became my rendition of it with a different approach to the colors applied on the brick wall.  I had many daisies made ahead of time but no red ones.  So I made one, fold it up in half, I just added some Liquid Pearl to the middle of the daisy.  The cord was from my supply of bead nick nacks.  The leaf and Thank You stamps were from my stamp stash.  Card base was in white and Black CS for matting.

That's it for today.  I hope you enjoyed this share today.  Sorry for the photos missing.  For some really strange reason my Typepad page wouldn't upload the photos all day yesterday so today it was allowing me, but after being done with the blog earlier I lost half of it and had to redo it all over again.  My lucky streak is continuing LOL, but what matters most is, I am ok and happy!

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the time you take when you leave comments to let me know what you think of my cards and photos.

Cheers!

 

Update on bathroom vanity area leak....

Hi friends,

Well, we had to take action demolition of this section of the bathroom tonight it was passed a drop a second almost into a regular stream of water dripping from behind the wall and in front of it.  I realized that my painting tray under the vanity I had stored there until next painting project was filled with water as well, soaking up all paint brushes and rollers in there.  A flashlight glance under the sink led me to a better idea on the damage.

Right now all windows are open.  I had been getting under the weather from allergies and I thought it was just from pollen but was I ever mistaken.  I told Mark after seeing that all the wood that holds the countertop was soaked and who knows for how long it had been this way, we immediately took action at 10:30 pm.

We were wondering how we would get the mirror away from the wall without breaking it as it's usually well glued on for obvious reasons, but in our case the two small brackets holding the mirror were the only thing holding it up at the bottom only and could have fallen anytime while in there just shutting a door would had been enough to trigger a fall and an ugly mess to pick up.

After removing the mirror without a fight, we both were disgusted by the overwhelming smell of mold invading the space.  The wall behind the mirror was telling a worst story.  BLACK MOLD was discovered and the smell my friends, got really bad.  We had to rush and open all windows, and shut all the doors going to the bathroom to contain the smell from invading the whole house.  Mark has taken a few pictures of the progression and I am told not to get in anywhere near this area.  

After Mark took the mirror out, the tiles holding the mirror just fell on its side because it was so wet nothing was holding nothing anymore.  The mold is so stinky wow.  The plumbing if you know anything about that, was with iron pipes that explains why rusty streaks was sweating onto the tiles and let us know about the leak.

Here is one photo we took when we realized there was a surprise waiting for us behind the wall, now imagine the back of this wall....

That is the result of iron pipes leaking and forming rust between the wall too, not just mold.  We never thought we were going to be stuck with a whole section of this bathroom's renovation but we will have to remove all the tiles.  I could go into details but will spare you.  It's ugly and seeing how people can get sloppy with their own house is beyond us.  Now it is our problem to fix and do properly this time around.  (These tiles on the photo fell after the mirror was removed).

I will have more photos as it progresses but right now I am feel near my tears from all the water trouble we have encountered since we moved into this house.  I will be better tomorrow not to worry.  Live and learn as they say.  At least I will start feeling better again now that we will have removed the mold and stop it from growing even more.  We were wondering why my allergies were getting so out of hand or far from the ordinary, well, now we know.  Mold can make some people sick and I am one of them that knows when there is mold somewhere.  Rashes, difficulty breathing, red eyed, dizziness, throat irritation, and even difficulty to sleep....

More pictures to come soon....  more card sharing will come too LOL between fixes...

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping

 

 

Double framed sunset

Hi Friends

My next card to share for your viewing pleasure is one I made with an array of ink colors again ;)  I can't have enough of this technique as it is so pleasing to the eyes, so enjoy the quick recipe below and I added a little info you might want to read before you leave.  Here is my card:

Quick recipe

The blue back ground inside the oval frame was simply sponge inked before adding the pre-measured frame to the top of it.  The stamped image is from Technique Tuesday.  In order to leave the stamped frame white I had to mask the outside only of the stamp and color the inside with sponge daubers or makeup sponges.  I only stamped the image at the end when the sunset coloring was done.  I also stamped another oval frame and masked the outside as well and colored the inner oval with the same orange I used in the focal image.

The rest is straight forward self explanatory.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  I received a suggestion this week, asking if I could write the colors of the inks I use on my cards.  When I can I will, the problem is, I make so many cards that I can't write a paper on each of them and keep the inks I use all the time or it would be taking me forever which means a lot less blog to share with you.  But my favorite inks I use for sunsets come the Memento collection.

The other collection of my preference is SU and Tim Holtz Distress inks.  If you have a few warm colors mixed say, a few in SU, a few in Tim Holtz and a few in Memento you can still make this work.  Your colors have to be slightly degrading from yellows to oranges, blue and green are also very good colors to have on hand.  Once you see the effect of yellow changing into orange you will enjoy trying another color to blend in slowly into another color.  So make your own recipe of colors, this way you will learn how to play with them better and dare making other color combinations over time.  I learned by experimenting by cutting up dozens of ovals and I would try sunsets with silhouette stamps and sunsets with water, beaches, sunsets with birds flying and twigs appearing from the sides. 

Have fun and I have another card to share shortly so come back soon

I am so happy to get email and comments from this box as well and really appreciate all the suggestions you may think of to improve your viewing experience.  Whenever I can, I will make it possible.  All depends on the time I have to play in here.

The next few months we will be way over our heads busy with fixing yet more water issues I have discovered 2 weeks ago.  We are behind in the water issues and this one could bring another nightmare if it is not addressed quickly.  Needless to say that Mark's list of things to do has grown too fast and time is needed to fix all of them.  So I will be slower posting new cards but I am busy in the background always making sure to share my latest and what I don't have time to show you, I will add to my Nicole G. Album to the right hand side of the blog.  So look in there too you may discover new ones from time to time.

Be creative, try some ink/sponge application techniques of your own you may surprise yourselves at what you may come up with.  Who ever said inks were only for stamping???  Ink is the most versatile part of your craft supplies.   

Hot Air Balloon (4 different ways)

Hi friends

Each year, we are hosts of a popular festival here in town of a Hot Air Balloon Festival bringing people from everywhere around the world we are one of the Festivals happening around the USA but it is great to see it here in the huge valley and the river going across the city.  So when I saw this stamp which is much smaller than the Balloons stamps I had seen in the past, I thought it is perfect for an A2 size card.

4 slightly different card look as you will see when you scroll down to each one of them.  It is a simple card to make so I will have a short recipe down below:

 

For you card

This one has a layered tag (for you) on scalopped die cut.  Inking in blue the edges where the for you sits.  Cheery Lynn Designs die cut template for different strips of paper added on each side of the middle border where the Balloon sits.

Colored and glittered Balloon (Spellbinder die) inked up the die cut with cloud simulating look.  I made my own template with scissors, no fuss.  Just turn around the template so the pattern is not always the same back to back with inking with sponge around the template edge against the paper.  Easy! You will notice on each card the clouds are looking different because it is individually made, no two cloud covered will look alike.

Happy Birthday card with Happy Birthday and corners made out of gold peel offs

Get well soon card

Only difference for this card is the corners (Cheery Lynn Designs corner die cut)

Happy Place card

Recipe

White card base, layered with blue, then pattern paper.  An orange gingham 1/4 inch wide ribbon is wrapped around the pattern paper before adhering it to the card.  Peel offs are used in each corner.  The Balloon and clouds are mentioned above so I won't repeat. 

I hope you enjoyed what you have seen and read today.  Thank you for looking.

Have a happy day!

 

Poppy Prismacolored on a CS card

Hi Friends

This poppy flower is one of my rubberstamp Haflower collection that came with the lovely tulips stamp you have seen a few cards made from lately.  So I went ahead and tested my coloring abilities with my Prismacolor pencils once again.  I was happy to see the result in the end.  Now, like many of my images I like to cut around all of them or close enough to the edge to add more dimension to the image placed on dimentional foam.  Read more about this card below:

 

Recipe

Image colored with Prismacolor pencils and OMS with paper stumps.  White Cs for card base, then red layer, next comes a layer of linen textured CS.  Then comes the frame with its own backing I had to cut by hand after tracing the outside of the die cut (Marianne's Designs) in red.  The top layer of the frame was also embossed to show the details around the frame.  I hope you can see it well on the pictures.

You may not see this, but, the poppy is actually tucked into the bottom crease of the frame secured with glue at the back of the frame.  I added 3 bling stones for embellishment and the Happy Birthday sentiment from my stamp stash.  Easy and so pleasing to the eye.

Have a pleasant day and thanks for stopping in and looking.  I love hearing from you, always!  Thanks for leaving a comment when you have time to do so.  Smiling me!

Come back soon!

 

 

Feel better soon!

Hi Friends

This card was made wanting to  show a greyish, blueish, image to wish a close one better days ahead.  It was another fun sponging technique I use quite often as you have previously seen in my earlier cards.  I really love this because you can hardly make two cards exactly alike so it adds a little more of an original factor to it.  Another card that looked somewhat better in the flesh.  When dealing with blues and greens we often come across blurred or hue changes through the camera's eyes.  Not through mine though LOL.

 

Recipe

White base, blue CS, watercolor paper (2 square die cuts in the watercolor paper and also embossed.  Then grey ink, hues of blue, black, a circle used for masking the image for the moon.  I sponged the image from the bottom up carefully layering the sunset.  Once the background was finished I stamped the same image of grass twice and the sentiment on one of the two die cut squares.  The second aquare later will be used as a shadow being inked up with grey and black around the edges.  Then positionned onto the card.  I used some dimentional foam between the 2 squares for more dimention another simple card to make.

Thanks for stopping and looking, I appreciate all of your comments, I read all of them even if I don't always thank you, just know I am thankful and appreciative all the way!

Make it a really good day!

 

 

 

 

Lattice card

Hi Friends,

Today I chose to show you another card, but this time I decided to mix the green with the lavender which is gorgeous in real life although this is looking a little different on the pictures, but you get the idea I am sure.  Here is my lattice card for your enjoyment:

Direct to stamp water coloring technique

This very easy technique allows the very pretty look of watercolor look without the fuss.  All you need is a rubberstamp or acrylic stamp,  Watercolor markers, or crayons, whichever form you already have in your watercoloring stash.  Water bottle Spritzer.  Watercolor paper, Add direct to stamp the colors you want to use on your stamp and once you have covered the whole design, take the spray bottle (I do this over my waste basket) Spray the stamp at about 12 inches distance away from the stamp.  Be sure not to overdo the watering you have to turn the stamp around and stamp so dripping is not something you want to have to deal with.  I usually spray twice and try it on scrap paper.  Then I know how much water I will need to use for good results. 

 

Recipe

 As per mentionned up above this card is a direct to stamp watercoloring technique and is really fun to to try especially when it comes to flower stamps we have in our collection.  I had a feel better stamp from my stash I used for the sentiment.  Lattice from Cheery Lynn Designs, satin green bow, an embossed square to cut out into 4 corners as you can see on the picture.  A backing paper of flowers placed under the lattice, I inked up the Spellbinder Oval cut die on the edges for a more natural look.

I hope you enjoyed this card, there are so many more to come.  All different from the previous ones. Thank you for stopping and looking 

 

 Happy Day blogger friends!

On April Fools day...

Hi Friends

Today brings fun memories about April first, or April fool's day.  I don't know about you but, when I was in my chilhood years at school we always had fun playing tricks on eachother...Some were targetted more than others.  But this day when not on a weekend was a fun one to watch people get caught into what wasn't real and to see the reactions on friendly pranks was hilarious. 

A few times I almost was on the hook but having the April fool's day imprinted in my head the whole day I was so aware it could happen that anything that was out of the ordinary was making me suspiscious but that made me a good candidate on pulling those on others.  Those were the days over 40 years ago, 40 years ago I never thought I would be sitting here telling you this piece of memory because at the time I thought I wouldn't live this old, which today I think, it was even silly to think 50 + years old folks are old.  I certainly don't agree with this thinking now hee hee.  I hope I was able to trigger some pleasant memories of years passed

My card I am sharing today is a Thank you card made on canvas, see the quick recipe below:

Recipe

White card base whisper white by SU, layers in white linen (2 sizes), Canvas paper found at your craft store sold in a pad of 25 or so sheets.  1 stamp from my stash, inks and Acrylic stamps of nature by Technique Tuesday.  Dimentional foam.  Spellbinder rectangle shape

Making the canvas piece

When I know I will have a foreground to stamp and I want a nice backdrop I know to use colors to enhance the image that will be stamped at the end.  So I used 3 colors complimentary to a sunset background first with 3 of my ink pads with the help of a sponge dauber going in circular motions not pressing too hard or the sponge start losing fibers.  For a more watered down backdrop I could have used a spritzer bottle and spray some water to it and let it mix the colors together but in this case I wasn't after that look.  But you can experiment with your inks you will be amazed that rarely will you want to throw away what you make.  If not for this project, it could be for another one in the future I never throw out my experiments.

Once I dried the image with my heat gun for a few seconds I was then ready to stamp my images of grass and flowers.  Tip: I make sure to get my stamp well inked before stamping you need a good impression since it is not a smooth surface you are stamping on.

I hope it gave you the fun idea of trying this yourself and see what you come up with.  Each time I try it, I am happily impressed by what I am getting, this is when you can decide what stamp you will use that will fit perfectly to your subtle background.  I am sorry the colors are not coming out as clear as I thought it would be.

Have  HAPPY DAY!

See you soon, thanks for stopping by