Darn Fibro.....

.....just when I finally think that I have this illness pretty controlled......Bam!!  I end up in a huge flare and realize that until there is a cure, that is simply not happening....Grrrrrrrrrr!!

     I had so much I wanted to do this week, but that's all off for now and all I want to do now, is alleviate some of the pain, get a least one good night of sleep and start to feel better.    I did go to Chiro yesterday and had to take an extra pain med last night, but it's still here and with a vengeance.

     I'm never totally give into this - but I know when it's best to totally slow down and let my body heal otherwise, the pain will only get worse.

      But, on a happy note --- if there is one --- I do know this too will pass and in time, I'll be back sharing new cards and enjoying life again -- hopefully soon!!

More spring themed cards!!!

   I am still having a blast with my newest Penny Black stamps and pretty much any stamps or images that remind me of Spring and Summer.

    I've had a great day of creating and those are always such nice days for me.  I have lots of new cards to share, but also finally had the "purple" highlights done in my hair -- something I thought would be kind of fun for a change and since I have such a love of Purple, I've wanted to try it for a long time.   I had some blondish highlights already, and so when I have my color and cut done yesterday, I have some foils added at the end and those were all done in purple.  The ones that covered the lighter highlights almost have a pink hue and they are fun too!   I thought I'd share a picture her to once again show just how much I LOVE Puprle!!

   That's not exactly my best photo, but you get the idea and these are more of a pinky purple color and are pretty subtle, which was my goal.  This picture was done right under a light and that's when they show up the most.   It was fun and some day I'm going to try some really deep purple, but that means I have to first bleach out my hair and then color it again and since I have hair that is never easy to deal iwth, I have to be careful!

    Okay, now moving on the the cards, the first few cards I am sharing and more cards that were inspired or had been started at "Card Club" which I go to at my LSS.   The first two are these adorable "Scribbly Birds" from this wonderful set of stamps by Dina Wakley.   They were stamped directly onto some of the new Prima tags, which I just love, as backgrounds.  And in card club we colored them (as shown on the first card) with Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol and Stumps..   Not my favorite medium, as I always seem to struggle with putting down enough color, but I think that's simply because it hurts my hands and I'm so used to color easily with my Copics.   I wish I had better luck with this coloring medium, as it looks awesome and some people love it, but for me, it's always a challenge and I never get the nice blending look I strive for.   On this card, I only colored the bird on the far left, the one that is red, yellow and green and if you look close, you can see that it did not blend out well and just is kind of yucky looking.  After that fail, I quickly moved to my Tombow markers and used them on stamp block and along with a water brush to color the rest of my birds.  That worked MUCH better for me.

  And on this card, I colored ALL the birds with my Watercolor markers and think this card came out much nicer!   I also added a doily to my background and this sweet little stamp which is from my new set of Penny Black Sentiments.  This set is called "Special Wishes" and I just love the "Happy Everything" Sentiment! 

   Still loving my new Penny Black Stamps, these next few cards, feature more of those images.  This first card was one from Card Club, as was my "fail" card, as it again was colored with Prisma Pencils, and on top of that I smudged my sentiment stamp at the very end.  Doesn't that drive you crazy when you spend a lot of time on a card and go to add the final element and mess it up!   ARGH!!   I also don't like the ribbon that we had and thing it's simply too red for the colors I used on my Poppies.   

 Thankfully, I was quickly back on track and very happy with these next day cards, which also feature more of my new Penny Black Stamps, including this pretty tulip stamp which is one of my favorites.  This one I colored the stamp first with my Tom-bow Markers, then very very slightly misted it and stamped it onto my paper.   I also did a second and third generation that I'll use for more cards.

   Followed up by another of the cards that I had started in Card Club and this one we did the second and third generation stamping all on the same card base, another nice look for a pretty Birthday Card.  This is another of my very favorite stamps from this release and I've already made about ten cards with this one stamp, amazing for me to use that same stamp that many times all in a matter of days.

  Moving on, this next card again is showcasing on the the new "floral' Cling Stamps from the same release and I absolutely LOVE all of the flower images and have happily bought them all and even the matching stencils!!   There is a mistake in this card, I won't tell you where, but even with the "oops" I still love how it turned out and for this card I used the stamp in combination with the stencil and the brand new 'smaller" circle shaped Blending Tool from Ranger, which is a fabulous new tool.  This new size makes it works in much smaller spaces, I totally LOVE it and will be slowly replacing all of my older blenders with these!!

  I even love the font and sentiment on this card, and found the very last one at my LSS the other day!  I know it's one I will use often and I just love the new stamp/stencil combos!!   

 This next card was created using one of the Wooden stamps, Noble, using the same method of coloring the stamps with Markers, I used Tom-Bows, but my Distress Markers or any water based maker would also work well.  Then add a tiny mist of water, (spray the mist well above your stamp), you want a very fine mist...this replace the older "Huffing" method of moistening the stamp with your "breath" just before you stamp.  It also works very well with a pearl mist...but again, you want a super fine mist...nothing heavy!!

 I am also very excited to tell you a bit about the "Hello" sentiment, which is also brand new and from a new company, called Winnie and Walter, who I first learned about from Jennifer McGuire.  I have fallen in love with their stamps and bought these two Sentiment sets, once of which came w with a matching "Cut" file, as part of a special promo.  Having that, I can also "cut" the sentiments using my Silhouette Cameo!  WooHoo!   If you hurry on over to the store now, there is even another "Freebie" cut file which you'll find HERE!!    You can also now buy both matching cut files for these Sentiment sets and they are only $1.99.   Oh and the store was named after their very own Pups -- Winnie and Walter, which I think is awesome, being such a dog lover!!   I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy this store and love the style of their stamps -- I've already joined their mailing list and was very happy to order and have my new stamps in a matter of days!   You know how we crafters are, once we see a new product we want, we also want it right away so we can play!   

   Phew!!  This is a long post, and took me quite awhile to get it done.  I actually took a dinner break to feed the pups and even me and also have to get up and move around, otherwise my neck and back are screaming at me before I finish.  If I am really sore and need to finish something on the computer, I have a really cute little purple frog, that is actually a microwavable heating pad filled with the scent of lavender and vanilla, which are also nice and calming.   I simply heat him up in the Microwave and he then can easily sit on my shoulders...snuggly warm and it feels good!   I have a white teddy bear that is also a hot pack and a purple longer hot micro pack that runs the whole length of my back.   Thankfully, I have learned the hard way to walk away from the computer, if the pain really starts to increase, otherwise the next day, I'm absolutely miserable and it's NOT worth that kind of pain !   

  

     And before I sign off I am sharing a picture of one of my loving Pups, Skye, who is not exactly a puppy any more.   I had both of my little Chiweenies at the Vet earlier this week and Skye, now weighs 22 pounds, and her little sister Zeva, is now up to 15 lbs.   They come a LONG way since the I saw their very first pictures and are now considered "adults" in the dog world, even thought they are only 15 months old.  Skye loves to hang out in my craft room, which is what she is doing in this picture, sitting in front of a bunch of my storage bins.  Sometimes the dogs even go under my desk, while I'm creating and I have have snuggle sacks in here, if the want to take a nap.   I spoil them, but I LOVE them very much!

Skye at 15 months!

Skye at 10 Weeks

She's all grown up!

Another day with Penny Black....

...and the more I create with these stamps, the more I am absolutely LOVING them.   And if I did not already have enough fabulous inspiration from yesterday's workshop, imagine my surprise when I found an email in my inbox this morning, which was about about an awesome Video Blog Hop by Penny Black to introduce all the fabulous new stamps that I have already fallen in love with!!   The timing could not have been more perfect and  I was delighted to have time this morning to slowly venture though and watch the amazing videos the designers put together!   Every one is fabulous and I am thrilled that seeing them all has given me even MORE wonderful ideas and techniques on how to use this new line.   You can bet that after seeing even more ideas, that I will be now be picking up some of the stencils that match the stamps I bought yesterday!  Yippee!!

  My first two cards featured this wonderful "Lily" image, which is a woodblock stamp they named - "First Dance", which I absolutely LOVE!  If you remember from yesterday's post, one of the cards I loved most from the class, featured this stamp, so I knew it's what I wanted to start with today, only I wanted to use a totally different color scheme and I did just that in creating these first two cards.

   For the Happy Birthday card, I started by picking out colors I wanted to use for my card and decided to go with a "Peach, White and Green" combination.  I do not own a lot of Memento Markers, but I do have a pretty good selection of water based markers, if I put them all together.  I have some from Stampin' Up, Tombow, Marvy and Memento and it's the perfect amount for me, as my main coloring markers are my Copics.  Today, I also stamped directly onto some "Ranger Watercolor Cardstock", which is a nice weight cardstock, designed to use with Distress products and water!    Once, I had my stamp colored with my markers, I simply misted it very lightly and then stamped it onto my watercolor cardstock and set it aside to dry, while I created my card.  I pulled out some Peach cardstock and some green patterned paper from Stampin' UP and cut up the sizes I wanted for my background, which I also then embossed in my Cuttlebug.  I also cut pieces to use as mats for my Lily and once it was dry, I added the Sentiment and put my completed my card!!

   And next is another "Lily" card, where I changed the colors slightly and brought in a little more pink and also misted the stamp a bit more to soften my colors more.   I also used one of my new "Prima Tags" as part of my background on this card, and simply cut it down to fit onto my A2 size card.  The sentiment is from the same set and my little bow was created with some polka dotted ribbon from Stampin Up!  As you can see it's the same exact stamp, but this card has a totally different look and the colors are also a bit more subtle, and really pop against the 'black" mat!!

   I also finished up one more card and this time, I changed stamps and used this gorgeous new "Tulip" one - called "Promise Me", that I had actually  bought a couple of weeks ago, knowing it was one we would be using in the Workshop!   I'm so happy I did, because they were all gone yesterday and I would have had to wait for the next order!!   

   This card was done in my favorite color, which I'm sure you know is Purple and I colored each of the Tulips in three different shades and did the leaves in two colors.  I then again, lightly misted my stamp and stamped it onto more Ranger watercolor Cardstock.   This turned out to be my favorite of the day, not so much for the design, but I am LOVING how the colors blended so well together!!    

  The background paper on this card, is also from a large set of patterned papers from Stampin' Up.  I love this set and the fact that it comes in double-sides paper, making it a bonus to have the two different designs to choose.   I used my MFT Circle Stax die to cut out my image and then cut a matching frame from some Deep Purple Mica Metallic Cardstock!  Once the tulips were dry, I again used the same wonderful set of Sentiment stamps and chose this "Special Day" for this card.  I loved the unique font and didn't to over power my tulips with a larger verse, this was perfect!!

   Now, I can hardly wait to be back at "Absolutely Everything" (my LSS), again tomorrow for the monthly card club.  I know we will be using more products from the Penny Black new release, plus I now know I "Need" to pick up a few more Penny Black goodies while I am there!!   I am beyond thrilled with this line and if things continue to go this way --- it could possibly become my favorite, imagine that!

A new Love -- Penny Black!!

   After taking a fabulous all day card-making class at my LSS yesterday, I have realized just how much I am growing to love the fabulous line of Penny Black products, not only the gorgeous stamps, but also their awesome dies!  I am totally LOVING the new "Happy Everything" catalog, which you can view and download HERE from the Penny Black site.  

   I knew the moment I saw the "Class Inspiration Boards" that I wanted to take at least one of the two workshops and happily I was able to take both the morning and afternoon session yesterday, at  Absolutely Everything.   And boy am I glad I did, because I feel in LOVE with this line and am finding the more I try PB products, the more I love them and want to add them to my collection!    I am not certain who designs the cards that PB creates and sends out to retailers for inspiration, but they are amazing and I have to say that every-time I do see one of their boards, I'm more and more amazed with the stunning designs.   I tried to see if I could find these on their website, as I'm sure they would be LOVED my many, but I could not find them.  If you are a huge PB fan and do know where they might be, please share and I'll add a link.

   The workshop was broken down into two sessions and in the morning we created the tan/sage cards, all in the same lovely color combo, which I will share first and will share in the order which we made the cards. Kudos to Terri, are teacher, who took the time to do a ton on prep and had most of our pieces and die cuts all done for us.   We had all the fun of doing the actually stamping, coloring, glittering and creating the cards.

  Morning Workshop

   Not only did I love many of the the images, I also LOVED the fabulous sentiments stamps and the die sets that were created as part of this line.   I also love the layering in each of the card designs and love that call four cards were done in the same color combination, yet they are all very different.   My favorite from the morning session is the second card, and that I have now added that lovely Hollyhocks Wooden Stamp, along with the "Kind Words" Clear Sentiment Stamp set to my personal stash.  I also love how we combined the two colors together in the actual stamping and of course, added lots of glitter and sparkle, which does not show so well in my photos.

    Another great thing about taking these kinds of workshops for me, is that new ideas and things that I learn to try, that I may never do at home.  I would never have thought about using those two colors together while stamping and likely would have stamped in black and colored my images in real life colors, which also makes a pretty card, but again, this is unique and oh so pretty!!

     And talking about "pretty" I love the afternoon "blue/green" set of card even MORE than these and that made the afternoon session even more fun for me.   These are the cards we created in that part of the workshop and I will again share them in the order we created them.

  Afternoon Workshop

   It's even hard for me to pick a favorite from the afternoon, but I think I would have to go with the third card, which features this gorgeous "First Dance" Stamp, another one I happily now own.  I also really like the fourth card and the fun design that we created, using this gorgeous "Poppy Patterm" Background stamp, along with one of the Sentiments from their new "Trendy Chalkboard" collection, which I also had to have!  

      All of the blue/green cards have lots of wonderful sparkle and shine, and we used a variety of pretty bue and green glitters, along with the "Super Sticky" embossing powder and background stamps, to create that wonderful look.   We also used Memento markers are our color medium for Stamping in the afternoon and achieved that wonderful watercolor look by coloring the stamps and then lightly misting them with water before we stamped on our cardstock!!  Again, a wonderful effect and so easy to do, all with products I already own!  

      This really turned out to be a fantastic day and while, it was a long day and I was truly beat by the end, it was so worth it.  Plus, I knew I could sleep in today and didn't have a lot I had to get done.  Now I can rest up before I head back to the store on Tuesday for the montlhy "Card Club" which is also another fun card-making class where we try out some of the new products and techniques.  I did take a sneak peek at the cards and I can say already, it's going to be a fun class.  The Friday night card club had already met, so all of the "sample" card were in the classroom from that event.  I noticed right away that we'll be using more things from Penny Black, Yippee!!

      Looks like we'll be making a lot of Spring inspired cards, which is just what we all need.   Oh, and if you happen to live on the East Coast, like me, I'm sure you are NOT at ALL happy to hear that they are predicting we may have a WINTER STORM this week!   Not to mention that the bitter cold is coming in tonight and by tomorrow morning, it'll be a mere seven degrees!    The morning low tomorrow is only seven degrees!   Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!   I dread cold and it makes me HURT all over...this is NOT a good start to the first full week of Spring?    The only upside is that any potential snow will melt fast if this forecast is correct, as it may hit 60 on Friday and that would be awesome!!   I'm hoping that part is right!

Lucky and Love...

...are two of the themes that both fit well into the cards I created today!   They are all also very much Clean and Simple cards and I'm working hard on making more of more of the this style and also trying to incorporate some of the fun ideas from the CAS 3 Class, which I'm loving and which sadly, is also winding down already!!

  Today, I am also very happy to be sharing cards also created for some of my favorite challenges and I'm starting with this first card which was created with two challenges in mind.  The first is the current Color Inspired Challenge over at Reverse Confetti as well as the new Sketch challenge over at Cas(E) This Sketch.

  

     I used the colors (Yellow, Green and Navy), from the Reverse Confetti Challenge along with CTS # 88 and came up with this bright and happy Birthday Card, which will work out perfectly for a friend who will be celebrating her birthday next week.   The papers are all from a new Stampin' Up Set which I loved because it's full of lovely Polka Dots along with other fun patterns in a variety of trendy colors.  This one is the 2012-2014 Color Design Paper Stack, and I also bought the 2013-2015 Stack, which comes in pretty pastel colors, a great purchase and a lot of paper for the money!!    I used a variety of my favorite dies to cut each of the elements.  The sentiment is from the "Lots to Say" stamp set, which I bought from  Reverse Confetti when I first found them.  It was stamped with Nautical Blue ink, from the Memento Luxe line. It's a stamp set I absolutely love and have already used many times, making it well worth the money!   I created the card base with some yellow cardstock and the little added bling is called "Candy Buttons" and is also new, at least to me, and is from Stampin' Up!

and here is different view.....

  My second card of the day is very much a CAS style card and although it is done in two layers, for added dimension, but I do think it will be sharing it over at the CAS Gallery as one of my class inspired cards.   The other inspiration for this card was the new MUSE Card and this amazing card that was created by Marion Vagg.

  I liked her idea of using a variety of rainbow colors and one die cut that she cut in a rainbow of colors, with only one being in black.   I took that idea and instead used my "Retired"  Stampin' Up Heart Punch with my new Lawn Fawn "Let's Polka paper to create a rainbow of hearts, all on a crisp white background.  To tie her her ONE black element and also use a word, I die-cut the word Love with this SSS die set in black shimmer cardstock and added it below my hearts!!   This also turned out to be my favorite card of the day!   I am always fond of  hearts, the word "love" and polka dotted papers.  Not to mention the color "Purple" in case you didn't already know that!!

  And that brings us to my third card today which again was inspired by another challenge, this one being the latest over at "Addicted to CAS" where our Code Word is "Luck". 

 

  This challenge has been on my desk for awhile and I was kind of stumped on ideas, until I started looking through my stamps for some inspiration and came along with little set, which is another of the fabulous SSS Exclusives, designed by Kristina Werner.   Once I started reading some of the sentiments I pulled off two, that worked out perfectly together.  I also then grabbed a little four leaf clover, which always is a symbol of Good Luck to me!  I pulled out some white Neenah card stock and started by stamped my Greeting in black and my little clover in a new Mint Green Ink, which is part of the Sweet Treats Collection, just released by  SSS!   The rest are simply strips of assorted green patterned papers that I pulled out of my scrap bin.   I added a little green pearl to the center of my card front, round the tops corners and then added it to a piece Bazzill Easter Grass card stock that I had cut and scored to create my A2 card base!!   I am really starting to use multiple sentiments to create custom greetings and I love that many of the new stamp sets are being designed to use in this way!!  Yippee!

   I tend to be drawn to sentiment stamps and I love unique and fun fonts and after seeing a set used in the Classroom I was very excited to find a new store called Winnie & Walter, which I just LOVE!   The set that I was first drawn to was this one, called "The Big The Bold and The Happy".  I think I saw it first on a card that Jennifer McGuire had recently shared on her blog.   Well, imagine my surprise when I went over to the store to buy it and then found that there are "matching" cut files (currently a freebie if you purchase the stamp set) that were designed to be used with this set.   Now I can can cut the same words on my Silhouette!!   Woohoo!!   I also found another fun Freebie Cut file and another awesome sentiment set,called The Big The Bold and You", that I just had to have!   I'm so happy I headed directly to the store, as I had tried to buy them at SSS, but they are all SOLD OUT!!  Something that happens VERY often once Jennifer or Kristina use it or share a link in class!   I've now learned to always check directly at the store and it turned out even better, because I never would have know about the Cut Files!   Winnie & Walter had now been added to my never ending bookmarked selection of awesome craft stores and I know it's one I will shop at again.   

   And one more fun new blog I found yesterday, thanks to my Ellen Hutson Newsletter, is the home of "Iron Craft", which is is fun take on the "Iron Chef" TV Food show, but with a Crafting Theme.  This is the creative idea of "Chiatali",  the blog owner and a wonderful designer, who is also a Software Engineer and Illustrator -- (Smart Cookie).  Her blog is called "Cuts Crops and Creativity" and that's where you'll also find the "Iron Craft" Episodes.  I can hardly believe I am just finding out about this now, but I already am loving it and have already subscribed to her blog, so I can keep up to to date and go back and review some of the designers who were part of this awesome idea last seasons.   Yesterday, started the first episode for this year and one of my all time favorite designers, Julie Ebersole, was the Guest Designer.   There is a fabulous video chat done between Julie and the each then create a card using the exact same supplies.  I really enjoyed it and think it's an awesome idea!  I plan to now to back and slowly catch up on the first 25 Episodes from "Season One", which you can find HERE!    I highly recommend you stop by and watch!  

It's Almost Here....

....and if you are wondering what in the world is she talking about, it's SPRING!   Only two more days until we officially start Spring, and I can't wait!   For so many of us, it's been a VERY long, snowy and cold winter and I am so happy that Spring is so close, followed by Summer, my favorite season!!   It's still pretty cold here, in the 30's today, but the sun is brighter every day and it's actually not unbearable to be outside.  The dogs are totally enjoying more outside time and we even took a nice walk on the weekend.   I will be happy to get back to walking daily and as soon as mud season ends, that's when we'll be back on track.

     Today, has been another great day in the Clean & Simple 3 Class and I have three new cards to share with you today, all based on latest two classes, which have focused on created one layer cards by coloring, in a variety of mediums.  I have to admit that one layer cards is a LOT harder for me, and I still can not seem to always make them ONLY one layer, but for the most part, I've cut back on my layers and have only use one card top, sometimes on a card base.

     For my first two cards, I used the exact stamp stamp, which is a new flower image that I have love.  I used it once already last week and twice today and can tell it's one I use often.  It's from Whipper Snapper Designs and is very fun and easy to color.   The name of this stamp is "Spring is Here" and to me they named it perfectly!!

    This is the first card that I created and this one is pretty much my true "One Layer" card for the day.  I started by coloring the image on a piece of white Neenah Cardstock and I used Tombow Markers with a Waterbrush to created a fun watercolor look for the card.   Then I took an oval die and cut the image out of the white cardstock and used the exact same die to cut out an oval in my card-base, which is one I created with some Hero Hues Layering Paper.   I then placed my image directly into the oval opening and cover the back with another piece of cardstock to help adhere it into place.

  Note:  I should have used watercolor paper and also a waterproof ink, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do, when I started.  Had I done that I think it would have looked nice and the black ink (Memento) would not have smeared when I colored it.

   The second card was also stamped on Neenah Cardstock, but that was on purpose, because I knew I would be using Copics to color it and again used Black Memento ink, which is perfect for images that will be Copic Colors.    This time, I layered the oval cut out image onto a plain white background, which another oval cut out and then to add a bit more color, I added those two pieces to some of my favorite lavender polka dotted cardstock from Memory Box.   I find I prefer a few layers and like to tie to my colors together and for me, it works!!   I do LOVE the amazing cards the designers have shared in class, but I feel like my cards are missing something without a little more layering!!  My main focus in the class is truly to create clean and simply cards and to limit my layers, when I can and when I feel it looks best on my cards!!

  And that brings me to my last card today, also colored with Copics, although I did try coloring on Watercolor Paper this time, and think it really pulls in a lot of ink.  I wanted to see if the blending might be different and it was actually a bit hard, since I think the paper is more porous, even so, I did end up with a cute little card and this one also features two of my newest stamps from Whipper Snapper.  I adore their dog images and have picked up quite a few in the last year or so!!

  This time I wanted a frame around my image, so I cut a little 4 1/2" square red Bazzill card base and then cut my image down to 4" by 4" which seemed to work out well.  This did not turn out to be my best coloring, but I do think it's because of how hard it was to blend the 'browns" using watercolor paper!   I do think blending with Copics works much better on the Copic approved card stocks, like Neenah and Cryogen, which is my favorite.

   And now it's time to feed my pups and then figure out what we want to have for dinner!   Tuesday is always an easy night, because it's Take Out and Alex will pick up all up something on his way home form work.  I think I want nice big salad and the place we often go has great salads and they all come with homemade Pita bread...Yummy! 

Happy Monday & Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

....here we are into the third week of March and this week is when "Spring" officially begins, at least on the calendar.  I'm not so sure it's going to be very Spring-like here for a bit, but I sure am happy that Winter will be over soon and the weather will continue to improve!    To those of you are Irish, my best wishes to you for a "Happy St. Patrick's Day".  May it be a fun, happy and lucky year for all and may you all enjoy lots of "green" goodness today!!

    Today also starts of the second week of the wonderful CAS3 (One Layer Card Class) and today's new inspiration was perfect for me at it focused on ways that you can "color" your very one-layer cards and 'coloring' is my favorite form of relaxing!   I feel in love with Copic Markers pretty much when they first started becoming very popular and I'm now very happy to own a wonderful collection and pretty much every color.   It took me over three years to build up that amount, but it's a investment and one that I'm very happy I made.  I still do need several refills and it will take time to buy all of those, but I happily have most of the ones that I use often and that's a great start.

     I have been a bit behind in class, yes again!!   No matter how hard I try to keep my schedule totally free, something always seems to come up and that's simply LIFE!!   Even so, I have been keeping up with the videos and do have a few new cards to share.  I'm working on more today and will continue to update, when I can!!

     This is one of my latest cards and it was created with a simple Hello die cut, which is one of the many from the SSS Exclusive Line.  It was also the first step in creating this card.  One I cut my Hello, I took out my favorite shades of Violet and colored it with my Copics and put it aside, after also coating it with a Clear Wink of Stella Marker.   I then masked off the section where the "Hello" was cut from and using a combination of Distress Inks, and Spray Mists from Ranger and Hero Arts, I created the background shown.  As for the "spots" I simply removed the sprayers from the bottle and tapped on the end to created the random dots and then to complete the card and fill in the background, I used my Shaded Lilac Distress Ink with a Blender tool and blended in the colors.  NOT:  I did heat set the "spatters" first so they would not smudge.

   Today's card was inspired by a card that Kristina shared and somewhat by some of the newer stamps and Die sets that are meant to be stamped/cut together to create a sentiment or phrase from a variety of sets or combinations.  For my card I used the large "Love" die which is also from SSS and I first cut then and used a combo of 4 different Copic RV color the letters in kind of an ombre look.  I then colored over that with a Wink of Stella Clear Marker.  Next, I chose a new stamp set from Reverse Confetti and stamped on the works "live your lie in" and then added my LOVE die to complete my little phrase -- Live your Life in Love!! I completed my card by taking a little wooden heart, which I colored black with another Wink of Stella Marker, added that on and then rounded three corners with my Corner Chomper!

   

   I did start a third card, which is my fail card and it's not one I'm sharing in class, as I just did not like the end result.  I think it would have worked better on a white background and I think the pink is too much!   But, as always I'll share it here, so you can see my best and worst of the day!!  I was going with the same basic theme and this time used the same set from RC, but chose different words that I wanted to go with the  "You" die cut, which actually comes with the "Love" one, both in the same package from SSS.

  The "you" die cut is NOT dry in this photo and has been coated with a layer of 3D Crystal Lacquer, to give it extra dimension and shine.  Once it is dry, I'll remove it from this card, which will be going into my paper recycling bin.    I am not heading back to the classroom for some more inspiration!   Wishing you all a wonderful week and hoping the snow is over for this Winter Season!!   (Crossing my fingers)!!

Feeling Good is a Good thing....

...and today I am very thankful and grateful to be feeling SO much better than yesterday.  Don't know what was going on with this body of mine yesterday, but I felt miserable and hurt all over.  Most likely a little Fibro flare, but on top of not sleeping the night before, I feel miserable and it could have easily been a day where I showered put on new jammies and went right back to bed....!!

    But, when you have two puppies and Scoutie, my big senior guy, there is no such thing as sleeping all day!  Having dogs, is much like raising children again, especially when they two are puppies and LOVE lots of attention.  Even Scoutie, likes attention, but he is older and loves to sleep, so sleeping late is a LOT easier with him.  The girls (Skye and Zeva) love to wake me up every day and then pretty much want to go downstairs, run outside and then eat!!!    They seem to have quickly adjusted to the time change and are back to being up bright and early, unlike me, who is a sleeper!

    Today, I was up pretty early, but that's because I went to bed, pretty much right after dinner last night and just could not keep my eyes open.  Plus, by then Hubby was home and it was his turn to take over with the dogs!!   I went to sleep in pouring rain, and had no clue it was going to change to snow by morning!  Yuk! My goodness the snow Gods are out to get me this year...it just will NOT stop and we are all so sick of snow and cold....Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!   Luckily, it was light and has now ended, but it's still more snow and that means it will take longer for the ground to ever be totally bare?    We have had a few "Spring Fever" kind of days and I would LOVE even more, unfortunately I do see any coming soon and the dreadful forecast for Saturday morning is only 9 degrees....Yikes!!

   Even so, all that I can seem to think about is warm sunshine, pretty flowers, green grass and all those wonderful signs that Spring is actually here.  Most of my cards have a spring feeling including the two I'm sharing today, both of which were inspired by the fabulous One Layer Card Class (CAS3) that I'm currently taking at the Online Card Classroom.

   Not to giveaway any of the class details, I can say that these are based on the newest techniques we focused on for Day 3 and Day 4 and I have more to do in this style, because I really LOVE the look of so many of the designers cards, as well as the amazing cards that are showing up in the class Gallery!!

  This was my first card and and does have a little "layered" heart on it, which kind of makes it a CAS layered card, but that heart is also placed exactly where it is to cover a mistake!!  OOPS!  I inadvertently smeared on a bit of black ink and I needed to cover and this is how embellishments can be used to fix those mixed up.

   I also broke out some of new newest stamps including this really bold Sentiment which is from a new set from Hero Arts called - Happy Today CL729, my background was created using another Hero Background stamp, called Tiny Flags S5881, which I just LOVE!!  I used a combination of inks, first for my stamping, which was done in Hero's Tide Pool and then for my ink blending, which was done in Peacock Feathers - Distress ink.   Both of these cards were created using  Neenah's 110# cardstock, which is exactly the type of nice quality cardstock that you really need for one layer cards.  

    Note:  That reminds me that I am in LOVE with the new Mini Ink Blending Tool and new Foam Pads that Ranger premiered at CHA.  I can't wait for them to arrive in stores, so I can add them to my collection.  I think the round pad and size will be so much easier to work with, especially seeing Jennifer use them in Class!!   Here is a photo "by Ranger", if you have yet to see them!   They also will be selling the new foam refills and those will come in packs of 20 -- WooHoo!  These both can be pre-ordered now at my LSS and also from Simon Say Stamp!!

   My second card of the day, was also done in this lovely shades of aqua and teal, and is a bit different than some of the cards in class, but is a One Layer Card.   I was going to cute the oval out and then use it like a mask for another card, but then came up with my own idea of makes this a Window Acetate card, and originally thought I would a sentiment inside that would show through to the front.  But, when I was looking for the right size sentiment, I came across this brand new stamp, "Spring is Here", which I had just purchased from Whipper Snapper Designs and realized it would fit in the open area perfectly, so I went with an image instead.  I stamped it in Black Memento Ink and then to keep the mono-tone feel of my card front, and then colored the image with assorted shades of Blue, Green, and Blue Green Copics.   The front of the card was stamped in Tide Pool Ink and also distress with the same Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, using this background stamp - also from Hero Arts/Basic Grey (CG628 - Fresh Cut Pebbles).

and in a close up view!!

    And that's it for today, but I am heading back to my desk now to try working on another idea that I saw in this morning's class!

....this is my lucky day!!!

...and I am very happy and excited to share a little fun news with you today!!   I was "Spotted" by Simon Says Stamp and one of my recent cards is being featured on their blog today!   To me this is such a wonderful honor and I was tickled pink when Stephanie asked me if she could use this card on their next "Spotted" post.   And on top of that two of the girls that are also members over at the Hero Arts Group, were also included in the same Spotted post, so I'm extending my Congratulations to Cat and Debbie, and also to the other designers, (Larissa and Tracy) who also were featured today.  My thanks to Simon Says Stamp for sharing all of our cards on the blog.

   This is another copy of the card that I created a couple of weeks ago.  I also owe credit to Kate, the teacher/owner of my LSS, who originally created a card similar to this. as part of our February Card Club.   I changed mine around, by using the Simon Says Stamp Clustered Leaves Die,  along with the gorgeous "Leanna" butterfly also from Simon.  I also added a different sentiment, which is very touching to me. When I originally posted this card, I did not know who designed the stamp, but after a little research, I found it was created by Verses and then began my search to find one to add to my collection.  I happy found it at fabulous store on Etsy!!

 

   Today is also another fun day in the new CAS3 Class over at the Online Card Classroom.  Today, we had more wonderful inspiration provide by three more of the awesome Guest Designers!   Their creative work led me to create two more of my own "One Layer Cards" starting with this first card, which I am also submitted to the current challenge over at "Neat and Tangled"  where the challenge is to create both the Outside and Inside of you card and that worked perfectly with the design I used on this card.  It was was fun to see that Jennifer McGuire was the Guest Designer there for the current challenge.  

   This is also another really fun way to make the inside of your card match with the front and I did that but first cutting off the bottom on my card front, using this very cool die "Curved Edge" from SSS.  I then picked out my papers, which are all from the new Lawn Fawn "Lets Polka" Collection (oh how I love Polka dots) and cut a one inch strip to go inside on the very bottom on my card.  You can see it from both the outside and inside because of me cutting the size of the front down.   I actually think I learned this fun tip in one of the other Online classes, but I've taken so many at this time, I can't begin to cut which one it may have been.  You can use this in other way, with a variety of border dies too.

  I used two different sets of Neat and Tangled Stamps -- Scrap Circles along with Ink Splash, which I stamped on with Black Versafine ink and Hero Art's Butter Bar Shadow Ink!   I also created the small circle border around the happy sentiment from the same matching patterned paper and did this using two Lawn Fawn Stackable Circle dies.    I finished off this card by adding some Sparkle to my ink splashes with a Black Wink of Stella Marker!

  My second card today is a new one featuring a sweet little Dachshund, named "Marley" who is from an adorable set of stamps/dies from Taylor Expressions.   I started by stamping Marley and coloring her up with my Copic markers and then die cut her with the die cut that include with the stamp set.  I then started on my background which I created with some more of the adorable "Lawn Fawn" Polka Dotted paper, as well as some scraps.  To create my little landscape scene I used this adorable border die from Memory Box and then used a circle die to cut a sun from some scraps of yellow from the card above.  I used the fun in-lay technique on the background, but I did actually adhere Marley and the sentiment on top...so I guess that may not technically be a true one-layer card, but it's pretty close for me.

    And now it's time for me to spend some time with my adorable dachshunds before they are ready for bed. They have been loving the warmer weather and having a chance to play outside more and more.  Now if all the snow would simply melt away and we get though "mud" season quickly, it'll almost be time to start planting flowers and spending the majority of the time "Outdoors"!!  I can hardly wait!!