For (my) Mom

With all the Mother's Day cards I made I had not yet made one for my Mom.  I wanted to make something extra special for her - after all we all want to make our Mom the perfect card, right?  At first I wanted to make an easel card and I sat down to make it and out popped a Tri-Shutter card.  That was a long way from an easel card but I'm glad.  It turned out nice I think.  I know that she'll like it.  So, you wanna see it?  Of course you do!

She likes blues so that's what I went with on this card.  The base is Soft Sky that I layered with paper from the Maine Blueberry collection.  I stamped the image from PSX and colored it in with my pencils and gamsol.  I cut out the flower image and Certainly Celery base with my oval and scallop oval nesties and attached it to the front of the card.  The sentiment is from Paper Parachute and I stamped it in with Brocade Blue ink.  The butterflies are punched out with the SU! butterfly punch.  I added some primas and some shimmer paint around the main image and I was done.

I thought that it turned out fairly nice, don't you?  I know that this one is a keeper.  Like I said blues are her favorite colors.

What have you made for Mother's day?  I'd love to see - leave me a link and I'll take a peek! 

Have a super great day!!

More Mother's Day

I've got some more Mother's Day cards to show you.  I sure hope that they give you some ideas, some inspiration.  When I blog hop I love to take a peek at what everyone makes, I'm sure you do to.  No matter how hard I try to re-create something that I've seen (case) I just can't.  There are some cards that I want to make just as they are - but my hands and my brain don't work like that.  It is always different.  But if there is ever anything that you see on here and you want to case it, I am more than happy to have you do so.  It makes me happy to know that you like my work that much - all I ask is that you give me the credit.

Enough of that...  Let's take a look at the cards...

I whipped up this card yesterday afternoon.  I had purchased some of the Melon Mambo DP and I don't think that I've used it, til now.

I stamped the image from Memories of the Heart.  It's an old set that a goodie ~ I think that it's perfect for Mother's Day.  I stamped the image and used my watercolor crayons to color it in.  I cut it out and used some stickles on the flowers and set it aside while I put the rest of the card together.  I took a light pink piece of linen card stock and layered the Melon Mambo DP on top of it.  I took my nesties Labels Nine and cut out a piece of the pink linen card stock and stamped the word "Mom" in Rose Red ink and attached it to the card.  Once that panel was adhered I attached a length of organdy ribbon and attached the whole panel to the card front.  By then the stickles was dry on the flowers and I attached the image to the front of the card.  I finished off the inside and I was complete.

I'm still not sure about this card.  I love the flowers in the Full Bloom set - I've used them a lot for various things, but I'm still not sure about this card.

The base card is Pink Pirouette (I'm so GLAD that this color is coming back!!) and I layered it with Pretty in Pink and some Georgia Peach DP.  I added a piece of ribbon that was in my scraps because it has the same colors as the Georgia Peach DP.  I stamped the swirl from Judikins in Close to Cocoa ink directly on the DP.  I then took a piece of Blush Blossom paper and crumpled it and inked the edges, also with Close to Cocoa ink and adhered it to the card.  I stamped the images from the In Full Bloom set and colored them in with my watercolor crayons and added that panel to the card over the Blush Blossom panel.  I also stamped 3 more and colored them in and cut them out and pop dotted them on to the card a little offset from the others.  I stamped the word "Mom" in the lower left corner and a little stickles to the flowers and I was complete.

A lot of times I will stamp an image and if I can I will look for it online and provide a link to it just in case you would like to see where they are offered ~ however the Mom, Mother's Day and the swirl stamps that I've used in these cards are no longer available that I can tell.  The Happy Mothers Day stamp that I used inside these cards I did find on EBay, but I felt a little weird posting that link for the benefit of someone who I don't know.

I will try to come back later today and show you another card...  So, see you later!!

Snowy, snowy Tuesday

Good snowy morning to you! Can you guess what the weather's doing here? Yup, snowing. It started last night. We've been getting snow, rain, freezing rain and sleet since last night. Just about all the schools are closed again today. The news report said that there is over 421 school and business closings. Hubby was in hopes that they'd call work too, but they didn't. While it's so pretty to look at I'm just glad that I don't have to go out in it.

Thank you everyone for the kind comments about my Mom. The doctor called yesterday with the test results. It looks like Mom's been having a series of small strokes. Isn't there sign's of this? Don't you think we would of been able to notice that? Sure, she's forgetful, but we thought that was just age. They said diet will help - not that she does not eat right now. She has a bad gall bladder that they can't take out because of her lungs. They said she wont make it thru surgery - but other than that they've told her to take aspirin every day. I just watch her close.

Ok, enough of the bad. Let's get to something good, ok.

Betty stopped by last week for a play day. Of course we chatted quite a bit, then we went out to eat. But when we got back I got to stamp some of these images that Betty brought. This is a SU! set that I don't have and of course I had to ink it up. It's called Listen with the Heart.

The base card is Riding Hood Red. I layered on a piece of DCWV white then another piece of Riding Hood Red that I stamped the swirls from my Fancy Pants-Pollen Dust Collection with white and black ink and added a length of red organdy ribbon. The image and sentiment panels I stamped with Real Red and added a piece of vellum over the top with small eyelets and I was done!

We received a phone call this weekend that my cousin passed away. He was quite sick for some time and he was waiting to hear back, he was in need of a lung transplant. I wanted to make a card for his wife letting her know that I was thinking of her. I did not want to make a sympathy card because I know from experience that sometimes even though they are to let the person know that you are sorry for their loss, it can make you even more sad. I just wanted her to know that I was thinking of her, so that brought me to this card.

Of course one of my favorite sets of paper is the Bella Rose collection from SU! I think that it is so pretty, and it matched the stamp that I wanted to use on the card.

The stamp is from PSX (one of my first from 1992). I stamped it on watercolor paper and used my watercolor crayons to color in the image. The base card is Basic Black layered with Pink Pirouette and Bella Rose DP. The image panel is also layered with Basic Black and Pink Pirouette and I sponged some Purely Pomegranate ink around that layer. I tied a length of white organdy ribbon around the base panels before adhering it to the card. The sentiment panel is actually a boo-boo. I was going to use my Fancy Pants Pollen Dust set instead of the Bella Rose paper and I did not like how it turned out so it went to the scrap pile ~ then I pulled it out for this piece. I stamped the sentiment "Thinking of You" in Purely Pomegranate over the scrap piece and paper peirced it before attaching it to the Basic Black panel. I also sponged some Purely Pomegranate ink around that layer also. When the card was put together I thought that it needed something so I added a little bit of "bling" to it with my Sakura gel pen. I hope that it brightens her day.

That's all I have for today. I hope to see you again tomorrow!
Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Joani

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Another day's gone by and I could not focus on just one thing! My mind jumped from this to that ~ thus the title of today's post.

First things first. I needed to make another card for my MSN group - Cards Made by Hand (hey, where have I heard that?) so I opted for quick and simple. The stamps are from MSX, and yes I have all of them!

The base card is Real Red (of course!) and I've layered Lovely Lilac and a piece of DP from K&Company over it. You can't see it too well unless you click on the picture, but the stamp is a 2 part stamp. I first stamped it in Real Red, then the 2nd part says "Red Hat" is stamped in Lovely Lilac. I sponged Real Red around the image panel. I took a length of purple ribbon and wrapped it around the panel before adhering it to the card. The tag says "red hat babe" and is stamped in Almost Amethyst and I added a red eyelet and attached it to the card with a pop dot.



I'm in another swap called Monochromatic. I thought that shades of pink were in order for this little cupcake!

The base card is Pink Passion. I layered a piece of Rose Red and a piece of the polka dot paper by O'scrap! on to the card. I stamped the image (one by TAC of course!) on to a white panel and colored it in with pencils. I sponged Pink Passion ink around that panel and I layered that on to a piece of Pixie Pink and the pink check paper that I've had forever. I cut a length of pink ribbon and attached that to the panel before adhering it down. I made a photo corner from scrap and placed a pink eyelet in the center of it. Once adhered I stamped the saying "share your cake" in Pink Passion ink just above the ribbon (IRL is can be seen better than in the picture). Once it was put together I added a little stickles to the icing and I was done.


OH!!! I so have to tell you! My dear friend Betty from Ladybug Scraps came by the other day. We planned on going to lunch then coming back and crafting. Well, that was a double bust. Life once again got in the way and we did not get to have lunch together, but she did come over. And no, we did not craft either! Things never end up the way I plan. But we did have a nice visit, and we did sit in the craft room. But we just chatted.

Well, Betty knew that I've been wanting a scor-pal and she was kind enough to bring her's over. She left it for me to use, and use I did. I needed to make a card for my neighbor, and my DD's BFF - yes, they are one in the same. So of course having the lovely scor-pal to play with I went to work and made a mini milk carton and card for them - and a little box for one of my DD's teachers who likes crafty little things.

The image on the card is from Whipper Snapper. I stamped it and colored it in with pencils. I then punched the image out with my Mega Scalloped Circle punch and the panel behind it with my Giga Scalloped Circle Punch. I then doodled dashes and dots around the 2 layers with my gel pen. I layered the scallops on to a piece of green vellum, added the eyelets and word window punch before adding it to the Green Galore card base. Once it was all in place I added some stickles to the circle around the image and I was done!

The little box and milk carton were done in Glorious Green and stamped with images from the PSX - Irish Blessing acrylic set. I also crimped and shredded green construction paper to add to the milk carton. I punched holes in the top of the milk carton and threaded some green ribbon thru it to keep it closed. The tag is the large shamrock from the PSX set that I stamped with Green Galore ink and cut out. I attached that with a piece of silver twine.

Some of you have also asked me how I've added my signature to the end of my posts. Well, that's easy! Just go to My Live Signature and type in your name. It will give you a HTML code to paste into your blog and add your signature. What I've done is save the code in a word document and pull it up to copy and paste when I'm at the end of my post. When your at the end of your post, if your using blogger just switch from COMPOSE to EDIT HTML and go to the very end and paste. Then switch back to COMPOSE and make sure it came out ok. Very easy ~ trust me, it has to be if I can do it!!!

Well, that's all for today. And I hope that some of you have a chance this weekend to try out my blog candy sketch. I've been adding more and more to my list of goodies that I'm going to send. Go ahead, try the sketch!

Just a few cards....

Ok, if your in an upcoming swap on my MSN site ~ close your eyes :)

I needed to make a card for an Asian swap that I am in. I just knew which stamp I wanted to use, but now to sit and do it. Can you believe that I've had this stamp for years and never used it? I did pull it out the other day and stamp it on some glossy paper when Betty came by with her alcohol inks but never to use it and color it in.

Well, yes ~ I colored it with my pencils. Silly - of course!

The base card is Real Red. I layered a piece of gold cs under the Yuzen Washi paper from The Paper Palette. They have awesome papers. And yes, I've had this paper for years too, I just never used it. I know, I know - hoarder!! I stamped the image from Magenta colored it in and mounted that to a piece of Basic Black cs. I also inked part of a stamp from PSX and used just the fish and the saying. I layered that on to Basic Black also and added a charm with a glue dot. So simple and it turned out so pretty!!

Another card that I made for another swap (remember, close your eyes) Things with Wings.

The main card is Real Red. I layered a piece of Basic Black and a piece of the black & white check to the card. On the left side of the card I ran a length of red ribbon down it. I stamped the images from Whipper Snapper and colored them in with pencils and gamsol then sponged Real Red ink around the panels. I then layered the main image with a piece of Basic Black and all with Real Red. The saying "enjoy life" is from a Technique Tuesday set. And that was it.

I'd like to remind everyone that I have blog candy up for grabs!!! I have it listed at the top of my blog where it will stay til the challenge is over. I have already added 2 more items to the list ~ those items are for me to know and you to find out :) So go ahead and play the challenge...

And for those of you who did not know, I'm now official! I am a TAC angel #4215 and I am so excited about it!! I am hoping that I will receive my kit by this weekend. Once I do I will post a message and if anyone is interested in TAC products you can get in touch with me!

Have a great day everyone!