Happy New Year!!!!

My goodness, the week has gotten away from me! What with holiday celebrations, parties, gift wrapping and baking, I hardly know where the week went!

I hope you had a lovely wee with family and loved ones,,,,I know I did, and Santa was very good to me!

But, I'm finally back after taking the week to spend with my family,,,,,and then cleaning up our holiday mess~! And today, I have a card. This was such a sweet image from I DO NOT KNOW WHERE! I save a TON of vintage images for later use,,,,and I almost ALWAYS save them in a file marked with the poster's site,,,,,,,OR the name of the poster in the file name.

This time I did NOT. Not smart. (Kicking self!)

I searched my favorite sites, and found NOTHING. If you KNOW where I found this image, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

The paper I used for this card is a mixture of scraps,,,K and Company Cut N Paste predominate, but I do see some of my favorite MME Lost and Found paper here too! I cut the image and framed it with Labels 18, backed with TWO lacy ovals, a sweet ribbon, some pearls, some Michael's brand yellow ribbon, a computer generated sentiment and she's done!

Easy peasy, and NO copics!

I hope you have a lovely New Years, and PLEASE be safe! Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate your comments!

Challenge Time Again!!

Oh boy am I loving these challenges,,,I feel like they really inspire me and my cards have never been nicer!

Today, I have a pink and white and gold card,,,,,,which is the challenge at the Color Create Challenge blog HERE!

And oh, so pretty are these colors! so stop by and try your hand at a gorgeous card!

I've also used a sassy cheryl image (which are so danged cute I just can't STAND it!) "Going to see the Star" (colored in copics) which you can find HERE at Sassy Cheryl's shop!

And this week at Sassy Cheryl's challenge blog, the DT members are having a bit of fun trying to STUMP Cheryl! So stop by and see if you can guess who's card is who's! And it's extra easy this week, because it's ANYTHING GOES! So pop over and have some fun! You can find her challenge HERE!

So on to my card! I've used MME Lost and Found paper here, which is incredibly, deliciously YUMMYYYYYYYYYYY and I just had to buy a few pieces! I think I need the rest! Ive blocked 4 blocks of it onto kraft card stock, and then matted my image onto gold glitter paper. Some white doilies, white lace, a gold and pink stick pin, some delicious gold jingle bells (smaller ones this time!) for a bit of SHINE, and a few K and company dimensional stickers, including this gorgeous pink poinsettia, and it's DONE! It was easy peasy, and I totally think I got a ton of WOW factor out of such a little bit of work!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed!

OK, so I couldn't resist!!!!

I couldn't resist another post,,,,,,

I have here two cards made with the same Crafty Secrets stamp (I love love LOVE CS stamps!!!)

Mostly colored with Bic Markit's, but I did the skin tones with copics,,,,,,really, no one does skin tones like copics,,,,,

Bics are good pens,,,,what they LACK that copics do not lack is,,,,,

1.a large array of colors so that you can have several shades of the same color to blend with
2.that WONDERFUL brush nib
3.enough really LIGHT colors to use as a base for blending.

But if you really can not afford many copics, I suggest you buy a pack of 36 bics for 20 bucks at Staples,,,,,,

and then invest a few dollars in Copic Ciaos in 2-3 skin tones for blending,,,,,,R20 for blush,,,,,and a few really LIGHT shades of blue,,,,,green,,,,,,,yellow,,,,,,,whatever colors you use most,,,,,,,and a colorless blending pen,,,,,,

your copics WILL blend with bic Markit's,,,,,,they are all alcohol pens,,,,you can pick up the darker color bics on the lighter color copics and blend away,,,,,,

Then you can buy just a few copics as you can afford them,,,,,,it's a great money saver until yu can afford more!

WWW.Otakufuel.com has a great selection and sells the ciaos at 3.59 for each pen,,,,,,,and you only need to buy THREE to get free shipping,,,,,,a bargain, compared to some stores that might sell them for a few cents less,,,,,but you have to pay 8 bucks for shipping unless you are willing to spend 50 bucks or more,,,,,,,

I plan on ordering just 3 pens at a time after the holidays,,,,,just a little more than 10 bucks and I get free shipping :)

Now back to my cards,,,,,,,,as I said, the only copics here are the skin tones on santa and the doll,,,,,,the rest are bics,,,,

I used K and company paper and Bobunny Father Chrsitmas (which is AMAZING paper!) and colored both the santas the same,,,,,,

the triple loop bows were made on my own bow maker,,,,,,,,,and the red and white bow has a white single loop slipped through the knot,,,,,I love that effect!

Hope you enjoyed the cards and thanks for looking!

News,,,,,,,and a get well card.

Well, the news is better than expected. Betty survived surgery, which they did not expect,,,,,her color looks good, and she's wiggling her toes :)

at the moment,,,,,,,,we can't expect any more.

thank you for your continuing prayers.

I love this card,,,,,,,paper is highly glittered and gorgeous,,,,,,K and company Spring Blossom,,,,

I made the flowers out of spellbinders Rose Creations and the tiny ones are Die-Namics mini rolled roses,

Gems are Recollections, and ribbon and lace are Offray. Stamp is Cloud Nine. And I used my trusty classic ovals nestabilities to make the window.

I hope it cheers her as she slowly recovers.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed!!!!

Curiouser and curiouser

So last night at work, I made these two cards. The second one I made for my mother-in-law. She lost her husband about a year and a half ago, and I've been popping her cards ever since,,,,,,I worry about her. The first will probably go into the sell pile,,,,,,,,,

the funny part? I didn't realize until they were both done, that I made them using the SAME EXACT two papers,,,,,,,and I was amazed that I pretty much got two different looks. The first one I used a LaBlanche stamp on. I love LaBlanche stamps, but they did take some getting used to. A couple of tricks for really good stamping with LaBlanche,,,,,,,,use GOOD ink,,,,,I like either Versafine onyx black or Memento Tuxedo black,,,,,,Versafine beats out Memento just a teensie bit, but I have more colors of the Memento,,,,,,but when I want a nice, deep, dark, crisp stamp,,,,,,I pick up my versafine. (It was a bit too juicy when I bought it, so I had to sop up some of the ink with a paper towel, but now we are getting along just fine!)

The papers I used on both cards is K and Company botanical. GORGEOUS paper,,,,,,love it. I stamped the Lablanche bunny stamp on water color paper so that I could use my water color pencils without warping,,,,,,,another trick for stamping and water coloring with LaBlanche (or any stamp). Watercolor paper is FANTASTIC for this! Nice and heavy too! The butterfly is a punch by Martha Stewart,,,,,,,,large monarch butterfly punch, and I've used it a TON in just the two weeks since I bought it. Flower is recollections that I tipped a bit with purple water colors. The Nesties are Labels 4.

I like the bunny card,,,,,,,,but it looks a little "Easterish" to me,,,,,,

which is why I surprised myself when I made the second card for my Mother in law,,,,,

it doesn't look the LEAST Easterish to me,,,,,,,must be the bunny. Hm.

anyway, on that card I used the daisy fan deep edge punch by Martha Stewart and then embossed with the Textile embossing folder,,,,,the ribbon treatment is easy once you practice a bit,,,,,simply run a line of good adhesive and fold over and over again, keeping the folds to roughly the same size, sticking down as you go,,,,,,simple!

I layered my favorite black 3/8 inch velvet ribbon over the ribbon treatment,,,,,and then layered a string of pearls on top,,,,,,,finished off with some Recollections pearls and gems,,,,and a stick pin which, IMHO, is one of the biggest bang for your ELCHEAPO buck there is out there,,,,,and voila,,,,,,,easy, simple card,,,,,,I hope my Mother in law likes it,,,,it's being mailed in a clear box because it's simply too bulky for a regular envelope or a clear envelope.

Hope you enjoyed!