Sunny and Gorgeous!!!

....that's exactly the type of day we are having and it's quickly melting away all the awful snow that we had Thursday and Friday.  I'm so happy to see the sun again the bright blue skies make the white snow truly sparkle.  It's also in the 40's and will be up in the 50's by Monday --- a wonderful week ahead and I'm excited for the warmer days and the longer hours of daylight that we'll have starting tomorrow with Daylight Savings Time in place!!

    Today, I'm working on a few cards and will also be playing in the 90 Minute Scramble being hosted at the Hero Art's Flickr Group which starts shorty, at 4 pm EST.    I will share more details and my card(s) after I'm done, but did want to get this post started, so I can also share the two cards I have finished up for other challenges.

   After making a silly mistake yesterday, I had to re-create a brand new card for the fun Inspiration Photo Challenge at the Hero Group.  Silly me, I was so excited, that I totally forgot to use ANY Hero products in the challenge?  Can you believe that?   That's me and how Fibro can quickly make me totally forget?  But, I still had a blast making this card, which is now being submitted to that challenge.

Inspiration Image!!

My Card

   Now that I have this one done, I can see that I really came up with even closer colors in trying to match and did that by starting with a Hero Art "Tide" folded card and adding on a variety of punched circles in "Pool" from Hero, and Deep Lavender and Yellow cardstock all from Bazzill.   My sentiment is also a Hero Sentiment and from my newest set - CL661 "It's Your Day" by Hero.   I also used the fun new "Ink Cubes" and the color Passion Flower, which is from the "Field Notes" cube set and one of my favorites!   

  My next card is one that I created for a Spring Card Swap being hosted over that the "Love" Handmade Group on FLickr.  This is another enjoyable group and I love that they are now hsoting card swaps, something I have always enjoyed but haven't had a chance to join in a while.  When I saw they were hosting a Spring swap, I knew I wanted to sign up   For my card, I started with the lovely Lawn Fawn Papers that were included in my March Card Kit, from SSS along with the pink and white polka dot paper, from Memory Box.   I totally love how well they go together and also have totally enjoyed all of the Card Kits, especially since they are designed by Kristina Werner, one of my all time favorite designers.      I love her style and know that I'll be hooked on these for quite some time.   I actually created a "friendship" card using spring inspired colors as my tie into to Spring.   My card will be mailed out on Monday and is going to Sheila.....Ssshh!!! Please, don't tell her I shared it here, as I want her to be surprised when she opens her package.  I also sent her a little RAK, but that is a secret I'm not sharing!!

   The "For a Friend" sentiment as well as the circular white die cut element, are from two of the Exclusive Stamp and Die Sets that Kristina has designed for Simon Says Stamp.  The die is from this set - called Apothecary Labels, and the sentiment is from this stamp set - For a Friend, which actually came in this month's Card Kit!!    You can see all of the Exclusive sets at this LINK!!

    And now, I'm happy to be back from having taken part in today's 90 Minute Scramble, which was hosted by Linda over at the Flickr site.   She challenged us to created "Embossed" cards and it was our choice as to whether we wanted to dry or heat emboss our cards.   I quickly pull out the "Garden Bouquet" Cling stamp, from Hero and inked it up with Versamark and stamped it onto white Neenah Cardstock and then Heat Embossed it in White.  I then took my "Soft Pool" Shadow ink and colored in the background "resist technique" and then cut it down to a nice size and layered it onto a white background.,  I added that to card I had made from Hero Arts "Pool" layering papers, the perfect weight for cards and I also love that the flip side if white!.  Then I simply picked out another set of stamps - Everyday Sayings, also for Hero, stamped "Thanks" onto some white cardstock and then punched it out and layered it onto a larger punched 'pool' circle.  To finish my card I added two simply borders, both in white for more contrast!!

  After having success with that card and more time to spare, I went to work on a second card and used the same Garden Bouquet Stamp, but with a totally different color combination.  I started with the new Layering Papers which now come in Charcoal and also pulled out some Taffy Cardstock which is from Bazzil.  I also grabbed two embossing folders and embossed two layers of the card layers and then used black ink and clear embossing powder for the flower image.   With time getting close I grabbed the same Sentiment set and pulled out the "Sorry for your Loss" sentiment and stamped it onto the Taffy cardstock with black Memento ink, which cut down to thin strip to fit under the flowers, that I had cut into a circular shape using a Nestie Die!

     And that's it for today!  Tomorrow I am heading off to a "Glitter" class at my LSS.  It's a class that teaches you the technique of using "Ritz" Microfine glitter with Peel-Offs or Double-sided Tape to create a look unlike no other - also known as "Burnished Velvet" and that's exactly how it feels on the aper too!  Very cool!!   Below are pictures of the three cards we'll make in class, courtesy of this week's Newsletter from Absolutely Everything.   I have done this once or twice, in card classes, but I always forget the correct steps and thought it would be a great idea to take a class to refresh my Memory!    It's a wonderful look since I already have money invested in the glitter and accessories, it's time I use them to good use.    Stay tuned for more details after class!  Hopefully, this time, I'll actually "Get It"!   For more on this fun technique, hope on over to the Ritz Site --  HERE!!

Sunday's Class: Basic Glittering with Peel-off Stickers

Sunday, March 10th