My Rubber Therapy Blog

My newest Birthday card

Hi Friends

March 1st already!  Wow we didn't have a Winter to speak of about one inch of snow that was it.  But it's not over on paper yet.  So I shouldn't speak too quickly through my hat.  But, it is nice to have this type of temperatures as it is very comfortable and I get my Vitamine D every day.

I had so much fun today, I had to try some new paper with mica in it, it is the same as the shimmered cardstock we are used to, only this is paper and it molds flowers so beautifully no fuss no fight to get it the way I want, it is really nice.  I wanted to test it on the smallest flowers I have from Cheery Lynn Designs as well as their set of 4 vases.  I did some gold embossing with my heat tool and randomly added some golden stickles. 

We can never have enough Birthday card on hand for Birthdays coming up especially the ones I send cards to every year.  So I have started to make more so this is my first of many to come.  I hope you enjoy the look of this vase and tiny what looks like daisies.  I also took the time to see what my stash of Washi paper I had in my stash.  When I found the background paper for it I was so happy it was made to go with my card.  The stripes I used were from a cling rubber stamp packaging that I decided to recycle.  Fun fun fun to rediscover some neat paper I had stashed away a long time ago. 

I had said I would show you my Apricot tree in bloom when it was completely blooming so I will take a photo of it tomorrow I also have my decorative Cherry blossom in bloom as well.  This one is just starting.

Here is my latest card I hope you will enjoy it:

Fun and elegant card to make, sure was a fun afternoon for me.  I had no rules to follow just letting myself come up with a simple card with a bouquet of flowers, it almost ended up with a bow, but I resisted the temptation.

Here you can see the dragonflies that were gold embossed onto the vase and the gold Stickles.

The Happy Birthday Sentiment is from my sentiment stash.  I used a SU oval punch and fussy cut the black layer

Cheery Lynn Designs B376, B306 and Impression Obsession the Leafy Branch that I have cut to needed size

 

I hope you enjoyed this card and given you some inspiration for your future projects.  Thanks for dropping in for your regular eye candy and thanks for the lovely comments.

Have a fun day! 

 

 

 

A Leprechaun in Da House!

Hi Friends,

As promised I am sharing my Leprechaun card with you, it is for a mini class at full speed, just before St-Patrick's Day.  Also at the store on the second weekend of March, Cheery Lynn Designs BJ Dwyan will be at the store giving us a nice class on their dies and some die cuts will even debut right there and then.  This is also our weekend stamp show event in town, so I will be at the show and at the store attending this event.  More fun things to come, just want more hours per day is all, not asking for too much am I?  Can we make it so we can have 30 hours per day???  Oh I wish it were possible.  Where does the time go?  Any idea??

We tried to turn on our Dripping system this weekend but it was a NO CAN DO once again!  We found instant Geysers blowing water up to 4 feet high in some areas.  So we decided we will redo the whole system from scratch, a back breaking job because we need to move around the decorative gravel first.  So I will be fairly busy to say the least.  But a drip system is so necessary here as when Summer kicks in, one day without watering a plant, is a deadly point of no return, it doesn't forgive.  So we need to fix this with higher quality pipes.  Oh I better move on to my card I am sharing today and let this topic go to rest until we have the equipment on hand and ready for action.

So here is the card for today:

Memory Box Lucky Charm dies,  Spellbinders Labels Twenty, Deep red cling rubber stamp Lucky Leprechaun, Gold Liquid Pearl as well as Stickles (Diamond).  Prismacolor pencils, a gold coin and crystal effect for the black accessories on him.  2 Memento green ink pads and Sky blue with sponge daubers.  Fun and quick masking technique.

I hope this gives you some inspiration to try your hand at your own Leprechaun, just for the fun of it.  It was a fun thing for me but I wouldn't want to make more than 2 which is what I exactly did for class purpose.

I figured, each year when I get computer glitches around March I always blame it on the green guy so this year I wanted to celebrate him in a card so he will leave my computer alone  :)

Have a great day everyone!

Thanks for dropping by and for the support in comments and emails.  Al very much appreciated.

 

 

Here we go again! Another card to share with you

Hi Friends,

Feels good to be back making cards after such a wonderful relaxing week away.  Sometimes, it takes to go away from any routine to appreciate coming back to it. 

We have been gardening quite a bit this weekend which has taken a toll on my timing for my cards and samples but I am back inside today trying to make up for a lot of time.  It has gotten so Spring like here in New Mexico that our Apricot tree is in bloom, that's right, you read this right, in bloom!  I am checking regularly to see if there are any bees doing their job if not I will have to take it from here.  Fruit trees don't survive well in this climate because we sometimes get really mild weather early while everyone else is in a deep freeze right now.  But, later on there are a few nights that reaches the below 0F and kills any effort a tree can be making in starting the production of its fruits.  But luckily enough we have it in a huge pot and on wheels so if it happens we can pull the apricot tree under cover.  We shall see if we succeed in keeping it on track.  I will take a picture of it later on when there are more blooms out for us.

Where were we?  Oh and the joys of gardening for a new year is again letting the back of my legs feeling like it is not wanting to cooperate not forgetting my lower back.  So, I will have a few days of taking it easy for sure.  But it's all good!

Today I have a card to share it is not an A2 since it is a sample and needs to be a little smaller to fit on the hooks at the store without covering everything else.  This is a 4 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches card.  I'd say a cute size for a special love note!

So here is the sample card that was a little more labor intensive than I had planned but nevertheless I really enjoyed the final result.  I hope you do too!

The heart and the I love you die cut is a set from Impression Obsession DIE131-K, the rest of the dies I used were from Cheery Lynn Designs,  B364 Baby's Breath, B376 Tiny Flower Kit, B152 Miniature Rose, B178 Flourish Leaf strip.

I like to use a foam dots to layer the heart as well as the I love you, adding dimension to a card, makes a big difference especially when flowers are added to the card.  The tiny flower kit flowers were fun and easy to make 2 layers which I pressed with a stylus in the center of the two layers on my molding pad to make it come to life.  I needed a focal (main) flower and then added the smallest blooms working around the Baby's Breath branches.

Hoping you enjoyed this card and thanks for dropping in for a peek!  Love your emails and comments, always!

Have a very creative day, my next card will be about St-Patrick's day, a mini class coming in March, so, come back soon.

Waving Hi Folks!

Hi Friends,

Well, as many of you have written emails asking me if I am still alive and kicking?  Here's the answer?  Yes, I'm doing great, thanks for asking!  Now that we're back from our little relaxing escapade, I can finally tell you where we were.  We went to Hawaii, on Oahu Island once again.  Out of 7 days we had the first 3 days of sun and ideal temperatures and the next 4 days we had constant rain.  But since we live where it is always dry and rarely any rain to speak of outside of the Monsoon season, we were feeling good that our skin was enjoying the humidity for a short while.  Soft and hydrated skin?  Oh my! We were there to relax and the weather made sure we were there, doing just that.

So my friends, we are back!  We have been so busy since we returned.  I had to finish preparing for a class and now preparing 2 cards for next month's classes.  Mid-month.  So as soon as I find the time to share a card with you I will do so with great pleasure.  Sorry it has been slow viewing new cards, but it will be a little slow since gardening season is starting way too soon this year.  I have an Apricot tree that is about to burst into blooms in February, imagine that?  Weeds are already out in full force so I say: "there we go again".  It will be at least 1 hour every day, trimming rose branches, weeding,and preparing pots for flowers to purchase later in a few months. 

My tulips and daffodils are almost 3 inches tall already, irises are also growing, some of my roses still have green leaves on them from the lack of intense freezing this Winter, it's all happening fast.  Good thing the 2 koi ponds are still hibernating to at least end of March so is my bullfrog.  My veggetable garden can wait a few months longer, any break, I will take, for the sake of time here.  Oh and my asparagus are starting to grow and get greener.  We just can't stop nature from doing its thing, can we LOL?

So this is what we have been up to lately.  Although Hawaii is a gorgeous place to visit, we are always happy to come back home every time, so appreciative of our routine and comfortable bed too. 

As soon as I have a card to publish, I will be here doing just that.  In the meantime, I hope you are all doing well and thanks for your visit I'm happy you stopped by, thanks for your caring emails and comments.

 

A wish for Springtime to arrive

Hi Friends,

No matter what the season you are in right now, there is always a stage when we wish for a little cooler or a little warmer times are just around the corner???  Well, lately for me, it has been the thought of Springtime to show a little sign.   I catch myself thinking that and on the other hand, Springtime here if we bling, we don't see it as we fall right into our HOT SUMMERS for what seems to last forever and once again I think, oh I wish it was Winter LOL. 

Aren't we ever happy about the weather?  Some of you have rain forever and then some.  Here, we have sun most days...I wish I could share some sun with our friends across the pond in England, some areas have been flooded for sometime now and yet, there is more rain in the forecast, one wonders when a break in the weather will come, SUNNY for all!  Truly wishing you SUN, SOON!!!!!!!!!

This brings me to the topic at hand, a new card freshly out of the camera to share with you for your eye candy.  I am hoping this can make you smile and wish for Sunny days ahead and a little more warmth inside and out.

A photo taken at sunset! 

A much better view of the card.  Dies from Obsession Obsession, Cheery Lynn Designs, Elizabeth crafts Designs and Tattered Lace made this card what you see now, I simply added a little love to it and I gave me a Birthday card.  This could easily be an Easter Card, or Thinking of you as well or whatever you would see it be a perfect occasion card that would make a statement!

A slightly angled view to show this card is not very thick

 

 

Burlap paper was used for the Birthday sign.  The lady bug you see on the Birthday sign is made with Liquid Pearl in red and Onyx, then a 0.2 Micron pen for the line and dots on the body.  It is fun and makes a sweet realistic looking lady bug that is the perfect size to accent any floral card and more.

I hope you enjoyed your visit, thanks for the comments and I thank you for your visit.  More cards to add soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

A February mini class card

Hi Friends,

I will be participating in another Mini Class card this month.  This month I was asked to use some Peel Off stickers in a simple manner, I don't to too well with simple as you know.  But I had to know when to stop but not before I was satisfied with the look of it.  In fact I made 2 of similar base, the only difference is, I used 2 different butterflies and the scalloped frames are alternated so we can make more use of all the nested die cuts.  The Peel off stickers are of Butterflies and it contains 3 different butterflies so not all cards will be the same.

Last month's mini class had raved reviews on a quick card to make, so we had to repeat this month with another mini class.  My set up consists of 8 students per session.  This time we had two sessions.  It was fun.

This month's Mini Class card is as follows:

As you can see the Peel offs are of a butterfly and 4 corners.  3 layers, black, pink and Bazzill script background paper.  The Nesting scallop die cut is of Prickly Pear (4 nested dies).  Cheery Lynn Designs Tiny Flowers set B376 and Flourish leaf strip B178.  Liquid Pearl.

Foam dots were added to the scallop frames after giving them a stylus forming session. 

The Butterfly was made with some double sided adhesive that comes in a large roll I cut a square piece of about 2 1/2 square in.  The same size in white card.  I adhered the white card to the one side of the double sided adhesive square and on the other side I added the butterfly to it.  Then with transparent glitter I covered the whole area and burnished it with my fingers.  Brushed the excess glitter.  Fussy cut around the butterfly leaving a very tiny edge all around it.  Used Copic markers in 3 hues, on the butterfly, molded it on foam pad.

I hope you have enjoyed the two slightly different cards I shared today.

Thanks for all the comments, and thank you for dropping by to have a look at my latest card(s).  Come back soon!

 

 

One Birthday card

Hi Friends,

I hope all is well with everyone.  I have received my new Ebosser and found out that we can get the defective part shipped to us so I will be the proud owner of two Ebosser machines, as one will be for a back up when the other one has an unexpected issue, in the hope it will not happen again.  I had a few warnings prior to it, stopping completely, but one learns well after all is said and done.

Today I am back to share a Birthday card I made with a gorgeous shoe die cut made by Tattered Lace in England.  Blue appealed to me for this card but I also know that black and white would also stand out beautifully or yet for the pink color fans, would also look so very elegant and feminine.

So here is the card featured for today:

This Shoe card was fun to make as my first goal was to make a nice nesting frame to also use an embossing folder pattern when all the shapes were done with.  2 Spellbinder dies were used, Large Ovals and Labels Seventeen.  Cheery Lynn Designs B216, B178(for leaves), DL218(for the daisy).  Tattered Lace shoe die cut.  The Embossing folder is one of Anna Griffin by Cuttlebug called "Matelasse".  Half pearls.

I hope you enjoyed this newest card and thank you for all the emails and comments in the comment box here for my latest cards.  All of your comments are appreciated more than you know.  Thank you for dropping in to have a look at my latest addition.

My next posting will be of a Mini Class this month with Black Peel-off stickers. 

Have a lovely weekend