Something old......something new!

I came across this card I made a long time ago that has been sitting up on top of a very tall bookcase but fell over so I didn't see it for quite some time (tells you how often I dust.....yikes)  Do you do that too? Make a card and then let it just sit there forever...........geeze I have to get mailing out some of these cards!

Anyways.....I happened to pick up this Hero Arts digi butterfly I colored a week or 2 ago and looked at the 2 of them and thought to myself  "Well- would ya look at that- they are pretty much the same color.....I bet this butterfly would look great on here"!

So I put together something old and something new to come up with a card that I promise I will actually mail to someone!

I believe the foilage stamps are by Inkadinkado, and I sponged several shades of oranges and yellows around the outer edge. I came back and added some white and light brown highlights to the foilage. The digi butterfly is colored using Ranger distress inks and a few markers! Did a bit of paper piercing down the side, added a few brads, and that was it!

** I don't know if any of you like to read mystery/thrillers but I can't stop reading books by Greg Iles, his writing is fantastic and I've read about 5 of his books over the last month! Check him out- he's superb!

Thanks for stopping by!    Anne

Spring is here..... finally!

Just wanted to share my joy that we are enjoying such fabulously warm weather for March in Wisconsin and that even my daffodils are sprouting up and should be popping open by the end of the week- here is quick picture!

Since we all enjoyed the warm sun yesterday I snapped a few photo's of my dear son Joe helping to water the trees and flower garden. I think he had more fun just blasting the trees and powerwashing them!! He didn't seem to get that the trees need the water in the ground.....and that they don't drink through the bark. Oh- silly boys- they just love to do things their own way!

Hope the sun is shining on you today and thanks for stopping by! Anne

Happy Everything

Happy Everything, originally uploaded by Bubash.

I decided to play with the sewing machine today.....as you can see I need ALOT more practice sewing a straight line.

I used my Hero Arts Happy Day Animals stamp set, and my cling dot for the background. I even did a bit of watercoloring around the bunny using my acrylic paints. I used the largest scalloped square nestie here and my labels nestie shape as well. I got lucky and found a green button in my stash that matched pretty well also. The finished card measures 5x5. Thanks for stopping by and I hope the sun is shining on you today!

Anne

Spring Poppies!

Here is a card I created last night while playing with the alcohol inks! I really wanted to see how the inks would look on the blossoms.....and to be honest I didn't feel like taking the time to hand color them all in. I did the emboss resist technique on glossy cardstock. I stamped it in Versamark onto the glossy cardstock, poured on my white embossing powder and heat set it all. Then I used the alcohol inks using the colors watermelon, sunshine yellow, and sunset orange to get just the right mix of colors (I had to re-apply and play with this a bit). I just dabbed the applicator over the empty flower heads (using a dabbing motion and sometimes a wiping motion), and then came back with a clean felt pad soaked in the alcohol blending solution to remove any color left on top of the white. I literally sat there with a Q-tip soaked in the alcohol to remove the color in the teeny little intricate areas.......I was worried it would really stain the white embossed part badly but it didn't! I then came back and added the dots to the center of the flowers using my white souffle pen. Found a $1 Easter sentiment stamp- got out my border punch,  and all done!! I love the vibrant colors of this!! The poppy stamp is by none other than my favorite stamp Co. Hero Arts!

Anne

Another challenge Card!

This card was created for the weekley challenge at Inspire Swap Chat- hosted by my good friend Jacque! We were to follow the fold of this card- using any theme we like. I thought this paper from Stampin Up would be rather fun to use on the outside and inside of the card. I got to try out my new Hero Arts "Dots" background stamp on this as well. As you can see there was minimal stamping on my part.... I just let the paper carry the card along!

Here is the inside of the card! I love that paper with the clouds and the bird- fun don't ya think!

Card Recipe: Stampin Up "Sweet Pea" Designer paper

Stamps: Hero Arts sentiments & Dots background

button from my stash and hemp twine

Quickutz scalloped circle die

Anne

Yummy papers and a new punch!

I picked up these yummy papers by Bo Bunny yesterday and just had to play with them right away! I really am a freak for plaid paper ......especially soft girly colors and there were several coordinating papers to go with the plaid as well which made me very happy.  I broke in my new SU tiny tags punch and the friends sentiment is a coordinating SU set as well. I've had the leaf die as well but hardly ever used it..... so I tried that as well for this card. Lots of distressing here with my fave Ranger ink-  vintage photo. I had to color the brad in the center of the flower to match...... used one of my Bic markers for that. The sentiment is from a fave set from Hero Arts " CL140 Thinking of you".

Card Recipe:

Bo bunny papers: Kitchen Spice Nutmeg

Card base SU: Blush Blossom

Ink: Ranger Distress vintage photo

SU Tiny Tags punch

SU tiny tag stamps 118592

SU Little Leaves die

Assorted circle punch and scalloped punch

off white string- brass colored brad

Anne

Who's hiding in my Easter Basket?

 Stamps used: Hero Arts CG119, CL153
Sentiment See D's

Bazzill pastel papers

Versafine Black ink, Antique linen distress ink

Versamagic cloud white for BG

Copic markers and clear embossing powder

MS border punch, SU border punch
SU modern label punch

I found this basket image a  friend sent me last year in my image stash ......so I thought I would make a fun- kind of whimsical Easter card out of it. The paper that the basket is stamped on was very thin so I mounted it on a sheet of sticky back label paper to give it some rigidity when cutting it out. I also distressed it a bit using antique linen to darken it up a bit. I used some fun critters from Hero Arts to hide in the basket....they look so darn happy to be there don't they? In retrospect I prolly should have added some grass or a few eggs so it looks a bit more like an actual Easter basket, but I think it's ok just the way it is. Now I just wish I had more copies of the basket so I could make more fun Easter cards- this time with eggs and grass!

Thanks for stopping in ladies and I love all the nice comments you leave!

Anne

Spring flowers and a butterfly!

Stamps: HA C2899,C2901,F2661, F2897, CG120

Sentiment is by Impression Obsession

Bazzill papers (pastel collection)

inks: Ranger distress spiced marmalade, spun sugar, Marvy Yellow

SU modern label punch

Hemp Twine

Here is my second card made for the Hero Arts Spring challenge. I pulled out a bunch of my favorite silhouette stamps and inked them up using more of my Distress inks and regular dye inks as well. I came back and added some of the green inks around the base of the flowers using my distressing tool. Stamped a portion of the big BG Antique Writing stamp and then stamped the butterfly again and poppped it up for some dimension! All paper on this card is by Bazzill other than the tag, my dear friend Cheryl sent me a bunch of those pretty label tags to play with.

Our weather here in WI is been beautiful and sunny- we almost got up to 50 degrees yesterday and the snow is melting quickly- I can even see some grass poking out and I spied the first few tips of daffodils poking up as well- yeah spring is on it's way!

Anne

Spring is in the air

Here is a card I made for the current Hero Arts challenge to make a Spring or Easter card. I found this little musical note stamp in my stash and wanted to make it look like the little bird was singing sweet Spring songs. I've got another card in the works for this challenge too, just waiting for some good lighting to take a nice photo of it.

I'm still struggling how to go back to my custom layout with all the fun blinkies and such.......got it narrowed down to that stinking "Halloween Countdown" gadget,  but I can't seem to get it removed. Somehow I ended up with some advertising on my blog while I have been trying to repair it too......sorry as I know that is incredibly annoying....will try to remove that also. Hopefully I'll have my fancy blog back soon.

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday!

Anne

Masculine card Challenge

Inkadinkadoo Old script

Inkadinkadoo Fern

Hero Arts Sentiment

Distress inks: antique linen & peeled paint

Hemp twine

This week the challenge over at ISC is to make a manly card and the only stipulation was you cannot use brown anywhere on the card. So I thought why not try green and cream? I layered the stamps using the old writing first, then stamped the ferns, and when I stamped the green ferns I kind of twisted the stamp to make the image appear darker and fuller (does that make any sense?). I stamped the ferns again on the base using antique linen distress inks,added some hemp twine, stamped the sentiment, and all done!!
The inside of the card is stamped with the ferns as well. I really like it- and NO brown at all......that part was hard....

Anne