Love is in Bloom

To see my post for My Time Made Easy please scroll down or click here.

Today's challenge at CropStop is to include a bird in your project.  I love this paper from Graphic 45 which has a bird in the lower corner.  I added another bird to my project and then added a birdcage and a ton of hand-made flowers & greenery!  (the dies are listed at the bottom of my post)

Here are some close-ups of my card and all the lovely details!

I used foam squares to pop up the birdcage and some of the ivy.  I used my Scissors to cut the foam squares down to size when needed.  You can see a few of them in the image below - underneath the bars of the birdcage.  

I used a craft molding mat and a flower making kit to give dimension and shape to my flowers and leaves.  

I used Stickles and/or liquid pearls in the centers of the flowers.

Some 3-D goodness:

Thank you for coming by today!  I appreciate each and every visit and I especially love receiving comments!  I hope you will join us this week at CropStop and show us your projects using birds.

Other challenges:

Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge

Joan's Garden: hand-made flowers

The Shabby Tea Room: inspiration photo

What's in it:,

Carousel Bird Cage, Fancy Blossoms, Primula Blooms, Fruit Punch Stickles, Buttercup Liquid Pearls, Ribbon - yellow with white sheer dots, Scotch Foam Tape, Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape , Tool kit for flowers, Paper Blossoms molding mat, Ivy Vine, Bird & House, Love is in Bloom - MTME's Tending the Garden digi stamp, Waltzingmouse acrylic stamp Very Vintage Label 4,

For A Real Sweetheart

Good morning!  Today's card has been through some transformations as you will see.  I had such a hard time making this card come together.  The only thing that I ended up with that is the same as my original idea is the main image.  The paper, pink scalloped circle, white doily and swirls, etc were all added as the day went on.  It seemed as though everything that could go wrong DID.  Computer glitches, printer stopping mid-printing, etc.  But I was able to get the card done in time to go in today's MTME Pretty Patterns challenge post.  *whew*

Then I decided to add some  more fancy stuff - some pearls around the heart and some flowers... and even embossing the little pastry with clear embossing powder!

In the view below you can see how shiny the white doily and swirls are.  I also added some shiny to the pastry with my Gelly Roll (Sakura) "clear star" glitter pen.

In the view below you can see how pretty the pearls are.

And finally: I like to show the layers and 3-Dness (I know, not a word... but it describes what I want to show, right?  lol) of the card.

Thank you for stopping by!  I appreciate each visit and comment.  I hope you stop by the MTME Pretty Patterns challenge blog and see what the other design team members made for you today and it would be great if you played along!  

What's in it:

MTME digi stamps - Sweet Sentimentals  & Sweet Treats.

MTME digi paper -   Candy Kisses  (I changed the background color from brown to black with my digital program - Photoshop Elements)

Other challenges:

Joan's Garden: 

• Make a card and/or tag using some kind of hearts
• Use any kind of embellishments 
• Use, pink or red with white
• Do some kind of embossing

CMC Copic Challenge Group: go retro 

Easter Blessings

Happy Belated Easter Blessings.  I apologize for not posting this before Easter... instead of posting the Easter card that I made for my in-laws, I went with my husband and sons to their house and spent some quality time with them.  I took a long weekend off from blogging and blog-hopping in order to spend time with family, go to church and express my gratitude to the Lord for his sacrifices for me.  I'm so very thankful for the opportunity I will have of seeing my daughter and living with her again someday.  We went to the cemetery to honor her.  We sure miss her sweet smiles and laughter.

For my card I used Joan's recipe challenge #15:

• Color challenge : White and Gold
• Use some Embossing
• Keep it simple with out any or very few embellishments
• Easter Card

And here is what I came up with:

I used the Textile cuttlebug embossing folder for the bottom part of the card.  I scored two lines on the back of the card just above the folder embossing and just below the top of the card.  I hope you can see it in the close-up.  I used "super fine detail" gold embossing powder for both the sentiment and the frame.  Around the edge of the oval I used a Gold Leafing pen... I tried to get it as even as I could but it has been a long time since I used it and the tip had dried paint in it... I'm not sure if I could safely rinse it out?  I don't have much experience using it.  I was surprised to find that the tip is more like a brush than a marker like I was expecting. 

 

See how shiny the gold is in the light?  ooohhh, shiny!  (That sure doesn't help those of us with ADOS syndrome = Attention Deficit OOOOHHHH, SHINY!!!)  And trust me - I have it BAD!

 

I made the bow out of white seam binding... it was a little wrinkled but not like the antique stuff I've been using.  I felt that this card needed a more crisp look.  The plastic flower center is a button!  I love buttons!  I will usually stock up on them when I see them on sale so I'll have them on hand when I'm crafting in the middle of the night.  

 I also used WaltzingMouse Stamps' Sketch Challenge:

 

The Waltzing Mouse Stamp sets I used are:

Holiday Labels #14

Spring Baskets

Other great challenges:

 Paper Play Challenges:  Easter/Spring

Craft Your Days Away:  Easter

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you had a Blessed Easter!

Quiet Moments

I'm so excited to be able to participate in Joan's challenge this week. We are to use any JustRite stamps.  Here is my entry:

 

I used JustRite Quiet Moments for the image.  I love this image... it reminds me of my sweet daughter who would sit by me and lay her head on my shoulder.  We would hold hands and talk and talk.  I miss those moments but am so very thankful for the many wonderful memories I hold dear.  I'll be using this image again, that's for sure!

I colored the image with copics and paper pieced the little girl's dress.  The wings are separate stamps which I think it brilliant - that way you can do what I did and use them as 3-D or even eliminate them altogether.  I was very tempted to leave the image as a mother and daughter (humans) and not fairies... but I like how the wings turned out. I embossed the wings with detail white embossing powder on vellum, cut them out and attached them with mini glue dots.  I also popped the flowers up with pop dots.  This project is VERY 3-D!  Love the third dimension!  I cute the image out with Spellbinders and popped it up on Webster's Pages die.

I also added some shinny glitter (I hope you can see it here):

I purchased the Quiet Moments stamp set at Joan's Garden.  Joan is an amazing friend and I love to order from her - and she only charges what it costs her to ship... that's so nice to know, isn't it?  You can search her blog for the items that she sells (for instance if you are looking for a JustRite stamp set click on JustRite in the labels section or you can even type in the name of the stamp set in the search bar)  If you can't find what you want, email Joan and she will most likely be able to find it for you.
Thank you for stopping by.  I appreciate all comments!

Yellow Rose Sympathy Card

*Update* - I've added all the details about this card which was SO FUN to make!

Here's my card for Joan's challenge:

I made this Sympathy card for a dear friend of mine who's husband passed away recently after a long difficult battle with cancer.  My friend, Kathy, also has a son with CHD (congenital heart defects).  That's how I met her online over 10 years ago.  

Here is what you need to do for Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #4....
1.  Use Yellow and Green for your colors
2.  a piece of trim
3.  a frame to call attention to your focal point
4.  embossing

You will have until next Thursday (February 3) morning 6:00 AM EST to link your card/project. A winner for the prize will be chosen from a Random drawing and will be announced Friday morning (February 4). You can enter more than once.

You can see that I not only framed the yellow rose but I cut the opening all the way through the card so the rose could be seen.  It's really hard to see in the photos but the butterflies were cut out of glitter paper.  It gives a touch of shine in real life.

I used copics to color the rose and leaves and I embossed the frame so it's kind of shiny.  Below is a picture of the copics I used and the stamp pad color for the frame.  The Spellbinders nesties are also in the photo so you can see how I cut/embossed them in my Big Shot.  I used Scotch removable tape to keep the nesties in place.  I am careful not to put the tape on the stamped area because even though the tape removes easily without tearing the paper, it can leave the paper a little sticky.

I love the sentiment.  I'm so very grateful for all the support I have from family and friends since my daughter passed away 4 months ago.  I hope my friend feels that love and support from me and hopefully many others as well.

Here's a view of all the lovely dimensions on this card.  The white trim did not have the little white pearls on it but I thought it added just the right touch.

Here's a photo where you can see the embossing on the card a little better.  The hardest thing about this challenge is that I kept wanting to add pink to it!  haha!  I'm a pink flower type person but I think this turned out ok.

Thank you so much for your visit and of course EVERYONE loves comments!

What's in it:
Stamps: All from Gina K Designs =  Botanicals, Friends, Year of Flowers, Lovely Labels 2
Paper: Prima's Annalee, Neenah Solar White, Coordination's Glitz and Glam green glitter paper.
Ink: Momento Tuxedo black, Stampin Up Daffodil Delight, copics
Ribbon:  Stampin Up So Saffron Polytwill
Embellishments: white floral trim - from my stash (I don't remember where I bought it), Kaiser pearls
Tools: Spellbinders circle nestabilities and labels fifteen, Big Shot, Martha Stewart butterfly punches 

 This card qualifies for the following challenges:  

           Joan's challenge

           Stamp TV Sketch Challenge STVSKSP11