Victorian Valentine

 This is the view outside my back door today

So guess where I am spending the day.

I have a commission to make generic adult Valentines--mostly for women. In my paper file, I found this beautiful roses paper from Graphic 45. I turned it into this. It reminds me of the antique Victorian looking Valentines.

I used an ivory cardstock base. Knowing I wanted to use gold accents, I traced the lines of the roses with a gold gel pen. 

A gold ribbon, scrap of vellum, ivory ribbon, gold die cut heart (SU) and an arrow die cut (CAS-UAL Fridays) with a sentiment from SU finish off the card.

I used the sketch from the inaugural Make the Cards Challenge

Generic Valentine's

I had a regular customer call and request some generic adult Valentines to send to some shut-ins. Here is one I made.

 Since she will be sending to mostly females, I thought pretty flower paper would be appropriate. These papers are from SU Sale-A-Bration. I die cut a scalloped pink heart and sponged some darker pink on the edges. The SU sentiment just barely fits on the die cut arrow. 

I used this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Cheerful Get Well

Wow, I am using a lot of get well cards this winter. 

I just received the Many Mates Bundle from Stampin' UP!. and used it for this get well greeting. I am having fun playing with the medallions backgrounds. They really dress up a card.

I added a Daffodil Delight mat to an Old Olive Card base. Then the medallion cover. The banner is a strip from Paper Blooms DSP, free in Sale-A-Bration catalog. Anchoring the banner are 2 strips of diamond die cuts also in the medallion set cut from a scrap of Old Olive.  

The sentiment is from the Many Mates set. The label cut from a scrap of white is also SU but I can't tell you which set. I have taken a bunch of SU labels and put them together in one case so I don't have to search through a bunch of stamps to find the right label. 

I had a whole sheet of birds left from last year's Bird Ballard DSP. I used the Scan N Cut to cut them out. So handy to have one ready when it is needed for a little accent. A few yellow sequins bring in some bling.

I rotated and used the sketch from The Paper Players

Also submitting to Pixie's Crafty Workshop snippet challenge #395.

Also sharing  to Darnell's NBUS blog.

Daffodils

 It has been a cold, gloomy, rainy January so far but today is bright sunshiny one. Hooray! So I was in the mood to make a sunny yellow card with the promise of the fist flowers of spring. I call this one an explosion of daffodils.

I used an SU Daffodil Delight card base. The stamp set is a retired one from SU (You're Inspiring). I stamped the row of daffodils across white cardstock and added 2 rows of ribbon. Then I stamped the larger daffodil image, colored it with Stampin' Blends and die cut with an oval die. The oval is popped up with foam tape to make it "explode" off the page. I left the sentiment off until I decide what occasion I will use the card.

Playing with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches 

Magical Princess

If I had the magic, I would be transporting myself to a tropical island. It is cold and snowing here--not sticking to the roads yet. Since I am not magic, (nor a princess), I created a little magic in my craft room.

 It isn't a tropical island but a winter paradise. The snow hills were die cut with SU Quite Curvy die and lightly sponged with 2 colors of blue. The background is from a boxed set of cards from The Paper Studio. The set was called Stargazer and the fronts had constellations on them. I cut off the back to use for the front of my card. It is on SU Tempting Turquoise (retired) card stock. The princess and castle are from My Favorite Things, colored with Prismacolor pencils and then die cut. The shooting star and sentiment are from an unbranded set.

Entering in Just Us Girls Color Week 567: 3 Shades of Blue. In addition to the Tempting Turquoise, I used Balmy Blue and Bermuda Bay. Then there is the navy blue in the background.

Cute Chick

While I had the papers and stamps out, I decided to make more Hey Chick cards.  See the other one here .

Papers, image, and sentiment are Stampin' Up!  The embossing folder is Cuttlebug. I thought maybe the swirls looked like fluffy chicken feathers. And the 3 die cut leaves at the top look like chicken feather also.

I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Hey Chick

 I am loving the challenges from Let's Squash It!!. It forces me to look through the basket of embossing folders. I invariably find one I haven't used for awhile. This week's challenge is use an embossing folder and an animal.

The chick is from SU, colored with Stampin' Blends. This chick is so much fun and the sentiment is perfect for a note card. The embossing folder is from Cuttlebug.  The swirls remind me of fluffy chicken feathers. I rubbed a purple stamp pad over the swirls for some contrasting highlights The papers are also SU.

Here is the inspiration image. 

Is it Spring Yet?

I know, I know it is only the middle of January and I am not liking these cold gloomy days. I am thinking spring flowers today. 

Have you tried any of the Memories and More card packs from Stampin' Up? I think they are really designed for scrapbooking but I use them for cards. The cost around $10.00  I was able to get 30 cards from the Flowers for Every Season pack.

 The tulip design is from the card pack. The die cut bunnies are from Penny Black. The velvet embossed vellum is also from SU. The sentiment is an old one in my stash. 

This one I am entering at Shopping Our Stash challen #436, What's New With You?

Also since the card pack and the bunny die are both new I am sharing to Darnell's NBUS blog.

Stencil

 One of my granddaugters will be having her confirmation in the Catholic church next month. I wanted a special card for that occasions. As I had no appropriate stamps for religious purposes, I went searching the digital stamp companies. I found this cross one by Chubby Mermaid on etsy.

It has the scripture from Philippians 4:8 about Whatsoever is true, noble, pure, lovely,,.think on these things. It comes with the scroll border. After I printed out the image, I used a stencil from Honey Bee stamps called Stained Glass. I used a lot of pastel inks around the edges of the cross. After trimming the design, I matted it on black and then on a soft green. I added the butterfly as a symbol of new life.

Entering in Just Us Girls

Sending Love

 I am back after a brief interval for some cleaning and maintenance in the craft room.  The major task was refinishing my desk top. I had so many splotches from sticky tape, glue, glitter. I am not very good about putting down a protective surface, guess that should be one of my New Year Resolutions.

New challenge at Send A Smile 4 Kids is Valentines/Love. I have already sent a box of Valentine's to the volunteer but will share one for my teenage granddaughter. Teenagers are such a challenge to get a balance between too cutesy, too childish, or too adult.

Cards come together so quickly when the patterned paper does all the work. This paper is from Stampin' Up! from a couple of years ago. The sentiment is computer made and goes with the stamp theme of the paper. The label is a Sizzix die. To get a smaller border, I cut a red one of the same size and split it diagonally. Give just a hint of color but not too large like the next size label would have been.