This Little Card of Mine

Just checking in....

Several of you sweet friends have emailed me, concerned that I haven't posted anything in awhile.  And concerned that my Mom was worse.  Thankfully, the reason I've not been on here is simple busyness and lack of creative mojo.  But Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner's Summer Card Class is inspiring me. And as soon as I can get into my studio I will have new cards to share.  I am so grateful for your concerna and continued prayers for my family.

I do have some miraculous news about my Mom.  She has a number of health issues:  COPD, Kidney failure, diabetes.   Recently she has been hospitalized almost weekly with breathing issues.  In the end they figured out that she needed dialysis 4, not 3, days a week. (it removed fluids that were affecting breathing)  While she isn't thrilled she will do anything to be able to breathe better.  So far it is working!

This past week she went to the doc and learned that HER DIABETES IS GONE!  She lost alot of weight through her kidney failure and this was a positive result.  We were stunned and so incredibly thankful for some good news for her.  One less thing complicating her care and her life.  Praise God! 

Happy Father's Day, Dad

I didn't have alot of time to make a card for my Dad so I decided to use my new My Favorite Things die with some masculine patterned paper.   I hope he likes it.

Supplies:  Imaginisce patterned paper, Hampton Arts Stamp, Ranger Black Enamel accents, Copic marker (R27)

Happy Anniversary! (repost with better photos)

Two of my favorite people are celebrating their anniversary today *OK, it was yesterday) --- Ken and Jennifer!  Happy Anniversary to my dear friends.  I remember their wedding vividly and what an amazing day it was.  A day full of love, happiness and laughter.  I wish you both those things for the rest of your lives together.  I love you! 

This uses a technique that I learned in Jennifer and Shari's class... Trapped resist.  You start with a piece of glossy paper and stamp Versamark on  your "main" image.  Used Hero Arts' Flower Bird Garden cling stamp.

I then inked up this stamp with Ranger Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. 

Then kiss the two stamps together so that the fabric pattern is now on the Versamark background of the bird stamp.  Then stamp with it on glossy paper.  Let it dry.   Once it has dried apply Ranger Peeled Paint Distress Ink over the top.  It will adhere to the un-inked part of the paper.  The blue, Fabric stamp image is "trapped" under the versamark so it just shows through where it was stamped.  Love this technique!

Here is the card from class

 

Shadowing

I am amazed at how much faster I can create when I choose something to be inspired by.  I know that I sometimes get stuck in the creative process when I have too many choices.   This card is one from Jennifer's class that shows a shadowing technique that I had never done.

We started by stamping the image in white ink.   The ink is Colorbox Frost White pigment ink.  It's a very wet ink so you have to give it some time to dry (or hit it with a heat gun).  Then slightly off of that image stamp it again in a color.  This is stamped with Hero Grass Chalk ink.   This is the perfect tool to do this because as you lower it to position it you can see exactly where it is going and adjust it as you need to...

I made two more cards using this technique.  The first one uses Hero Cerulean Chalk Ink.  The background cerulean note card is embossed.  Since the Hero paper has a white side when it embossed the white showed in places.  I decided I kind of liked it so I kept it that way!

I also made a read one using Hero Punch Chalk Ink.  The background paper is Hero Designer paper.  I stamped the Friends Definition stamp over top of it in the Punch ink.

Truly inspired by Jennifer

In the last few months I have had the privilege of being a student in card classes of Jennifer and Shari.   I have not been able to create for awhile but I'm finally able to play around with techniques I learned.  Here is a card of Jennifer's. 

I am going from memory which is always dangerous...   But the background was really cool because it's something that you think will never work.  We covered the paper with Broken China Distress Ink from Ranger (pad to paper) and then stamped over it with the Hero's Fabric cling stamp with Scattered Straw Distress ink that was sprayed with water.  It created this gorgeous color of green.  I know.. yellow and blue make green!  But stamping a lighter color over a darker one shouldn't work.  Aw.... except for the magic of Distress Inks and a little water.

As you can see there is a circle cut out and I saved it.  Figured I would make a simple card using it.  So pretty I hated to throw it away.

Supplies:  Spellbinder die; Prima flower; Hero arts Fabric stamp, greeting stamp, pearls;  Tumbled Glass distress ink