My Buddy Barb

As some of you know, I am participating in the Summer Card Camp which is hosted by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. Super-amazing and talented gals. It is a great class. This is the Week One Color Challenge. Not my comfort level colors, even though I consider myself an island girl and these are very tropical.

I made this card using the colors and a new water color technique for my final entry in Hero Arts' monthly contest.

The nifty technique is to scribble water color crayon (they are so much fun!) onto an acrylic block, mist it with water and stamp it onto water color paper. I love the look. The stamps are Hero Arts(CG298 and CL490).

The twine, button and pearls are from my stash. That is a brad new EK Success border punch - love it!

And the adorable flower? Well, that is from my wonderful friend Barb! Isn't this world amazing how we can develop relationships with folks from everywhere? Barb has become such a special friend through the Hero Arts flickr group, our blogs and so many "places" and interests we share. She is the dearest lady - always a kind word for everyone, just full of joyful talent, most inspirational, lots of fun and tireless energy! I can't tell you how delighted I am to have found her - I so enjoy her! I feel so close to her, yet we have never met. Ain't life grand?!

Anyway, Barb recently did a neat thing on her blog where she made a beautiful series cards that was inspired by the work of another talented gal. They had a contest where names were drawn from all the comments they received. Barb drew my name and I won her lovely prize!  Random?

Can you believe this fantastic orange gift that arrived in my mail? Not only was it chuck full of flowers in the most wonderful colors and lots of ribbon to simply die for - she made me a super-adorable card! Just for me! A Barb original! Don't you just love that glittery center and that gorgeous lace! Such a special gift! Thanks so much, Barb - you continue to amaze me.

I Hear Music!

I know that this card isn’t going to win any design awards. It is the story that is so special. I have a dear friend, Hossie, who was actually a close friend of my Mom’s – they were in nursing school together when my Mom was only 19 years old. One summer when I was about 7 years old Hossie came to California for a visit. She thought it was great fun to chase after the ice cream man, who usually came down our street right before dinner.  My Mom wasn’t so happy about that.

After that, every time Hossie wrote a letter to my Mom or sent me a Valentine or something, she would always enclose a dime for the ice cream man. I know – 10 cents! I must be really old, eh?

So, this has been a running joke (ha - get it?) between us for over 50 years! She is still very dear to me. Gary and I went to visit her in Pennsylvania a few years ago and we had great fun. Hossie shared memories and stories of my Mom from when they were both such young and happy nursing students – things that I have never before heard.

I have had this sentiment stamp for years (another garage sale find!), thinking that someday I would use it to make a funny card for my friend. Last week I was reading the extraordinary Lisa’s blog, where she encourages us to “Make it +Mail It” and I had thought that this would be a great time to just do it.  That evening I went to my local scrapbooking store and I saw this adorable ice cream truck stamp (2-7052E). Just perfect for my card, and 50% off! As my Mom would say, “It was meant to be!”

So, today is the day that I finally put it all together for my Mom’s sweet friend. I know she will get such a kick out of it. Thanks, Lisa, for the inspiration.

Love you, Hossie!

Lily Pad Cards!

“I became a Member of Lily Pad Cards today! Go become a member for a chance to win a collection of Hero Arts stamps. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, July 15!”

Memory Box

There is a great company out there that I have just recently discovered called Memory Box! They have great stamps and some fantastic dies, some of which are coordinated with their stamps. What a score! I used their products to make two additional cards for Lucy's Lovely Lines sketch challenge (see yesterday's post) at Lily Pad Cards. 

For this first card (on the right) I used their "Tree of Birds" stamp. I watercolored the tree with ink pads, water and some Liquid Pearls. The tree is raised with dimensionals. Fun! The background is Hero Arts' Envelope Pattern (S5507) stamp. The cute label is cut with Memory Box's "Pastry Labels" die set. The sentiment is by Savystamps.

For the second card (on the left) I used the "Orchid Branch" stamp and matching die. I love that I didn't need to cut the image out with scissors! I made the banner sentiment with Hero Arts CL047 using a technique that I recently learned - I rolled the banner around a pencil, one end one way and the other end is rolled in the opposite direction. I added some Stickles, lace and pearls from my stash. I love this fresh look.

Thanks to Memory Box for the great products and for sponsoring this challenge. Of course, thanks to the amazing gals at Lily Pad Cards who rock when it comes to inspiration.

Lucy's Lovely Lines at Lily Pad Cards

Hello everyone! Wow! What a great summer weekend I had. I hope you all had a great one, too. I am posting this tonight because I have a couple of card classes tomorrow so I will be short on time. 

This card was made for the "Lucy's Lovely Lines" challenge at Lily Pad Cards and for the Hero Arts June contest to use water coloring. 

Here is Lucy's sketch and my take on it.  I used Hero Arts CL315 set. I water colored with Distress Inks, added a piece from a vintage dress pattern and some twine from my stash. For the sentiment I broke out this cool brass charm that I have been hoarding for years - it was just too perfect. Fun! I will be back tomorrow with another take on Lucy's sketch - she really inspired me!

Have a great week and thanks for looking.

Last of the Grads

Good morning everyone! Happy Summer for real. I was shocked because I went into my local Michael's store on the first day of summer and saw that they had some Halloween stuff out! Seriously! Too much. Couldn't we at leaset get through the 4th of July?

You may remember that I mad this Graduation card for our dear Emily who graduated from law school. We have had a couple other graduations worth celebrating.

This card is for a special guy and I wanted it to be very masculine, yet cute. For the great notebook texture I used another Tim Holtz embossing folder by Sizzix in my Cuttlebug. The paper has a white core and I sanded it to bring out the design. The key is by K&Company and the Hero Arts smart bird is watercolored on kraft paper. I finished it all off with some matching ribbon from my stash. Perfect for a wonderful guy. Congrats, Dominic!

This next card was lots of fun to design and make for our dear Melli. We have known her for her entire life and are so proud of her.

Her school colors are black and orange. I wish I could have photographed this card better, but it was difficult. It is a tri-fold card and the front is a circle. There is a sentiment and a gift card holder inside - a bit of a challenge to put together. I even made a matching envelope.

And what else does a new grad need? Thank you notes! So, I made a set of 20 matching notes and embellished this adorable mini-lunch box to hold them. Because I made so many of the notes, I kept the design fairly simple, using Hero Arts little graduation owl again. I added some ribbon and gave each a little flower. Lots of love to you, Mellisa!

 

Have a great weekend - enjoy the summer. We have a wonderful weekend plans starting with music in the park tonight. Perfect summer fun. Thanks for looking.

I'm Just Ribbon Ya!

I wanted to finish one more ribbon project in time for the Lily Pond Cards Ribbon Challenge. The gals over there really rock - such fantastic ideas!

For the background tag I was inspired by the amazing Lisa Spangler who showed us (Tag You're It!) how to use Distress Inks and Washi Tape to create wonderful tags. Now that I have some tape, I've been wanting to try it. I used Hero Arts lacy CG168 stamp on the tag. So much depth. Love it!

Lots of different ribbon on this project. I added stripes of ribbon to the Tim Holtz Dress Form die cut, wrapped some textured fiber ribbon around the waist, put a ribbon knot on the button die cut and tied on a sweet little Memory Box die cut label with a bow. I just don't think there is room for any more ribbon!

Thanks to the Lily Pond gals and Lisa - all great connections I have made who inspire me so very much. Thanks to you for looking!

Congrats on the New House!

My dear friend Sylvia and her husband sold their big house in South San Francisco where they had lived for 20+ years and they bought an adorable condo at the coast. They can even see the ocean (when it isn't foggy)! Wow! A new chapter in their lives and a new adventure. I am so happy for them. I made them this card to congratulate them on the big move.

It is extra perfect because Sylvia drives a blue VW Bug (the stamp is by Elzybells Art Stamps, G0073, made in Canada)! I even used my Hero Arts Magical Background Stamp to make fog. Lots of fun! In keeping with this month's Hero Arts challenge, I colored the image with watercolor pencils and my aqua brush.

Good luck, Sylvia and Robert! Wishing you lots of happy memories in the new abode (especially in that room that is dedicated to the new grandson)! Love you!

Make It + Mail It Monday

Well, just pretend it is Monday. I need to head out early tomorrow, so I am doing Monday's post tonight. Yep, you guessed it - it is another Make It + Mail It inspired by the incredible Lisa Spangler. She rocks my boat and gets me thinking! Thanks, Lisa! I decided to make a quick set of 6 textured cards in my very favorite colors and that would be easy to mail.

I got out my trusty embossing folders, some white core paper in yummy colors, a sanding block and went to town! The stamps are all Hero Arts and the cute labels are made from a great die set I just got by Memory Box - love them! I adore hearts, so I used them on four of the cards and my trip to the Farmer's Market on Saturday inspired by the colorful veggies. 

So, here they are. Here is a closer look of the middle one which is going out to my cousin in NY who is on Weight Watchers (as am I). I wanted to give her a little encouragement. I love that carrot's expression and that entire stamp set.

Father's Day

Good morning everyone! This weekend is Father's Day so I am sharing a card I made for my dear Uncle. He is an avid golfer, so I featured this guy from Graphic 45 paper. Love the vintage look. The background is the Fabric Design from Hero Arts on watercolor paper. To complete the vintage look I added a key from K&Company and a distressed sentiment from Hero Arts (CL498) which I cut with Nestibilities in my Cuttlebug.

I am glad that I was able to spend last week with my Dad. So many happy memories - I was blessed with a loving & happy childhood for which I am most grateful. Love you Dad!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping in.