Funky Flower Card

I just can't get enough of my new Distress inks, the possibilities are endless! In fact, I just ordered a few more so stay tuned. Our mail carrier is going to think I'm a nut because I run to greet her everytime she comes to our house!
I made this card using Hero Art's Flower text stamp, it' the most huge wood mounted stamp I own. It measures 5 3/4" x 4 1/2", told you is was a giant! I love it because you can use it as a background stamp or feature the art work like I did on this card.
I used Stampin' Up! watercolour crayons to create the background by mixing several shades of blue for the sky and several shades of green for the grass, then used my homemade "shimmer smoochlike spray" to add speckles. The image is stamped in black Stazon, then inked like crazy with Peeled Paint, Broken China, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Concord Grape Distress inks by Ranger. I felt it was a bit dark, so I used a white gel pen to add some highlights and dots. I can't wait for tomorrow's mail to come!

Coffee Filter Flower Card!!

Well, it's January and like most people this time of the year budget is key! I happened to go to our local Dollarama and when I walked past the coffee filters an idea struck me...flowers of course! I made this flower using Stampin' Up!'s Daisies 2 XL die, and coffee filters. I saw some white paper flowers at the craft store last week and ended up using my will power and didn't buy them, but the idea just wouldn't go away! So, I did the next best thing and made them my way! I have to say I really like it and will definitely try this again! I used Distress Spiced Marmalade to sponge the edges of the center panel and flower center, finished with a Peeled Paint flourish, and viola a card for all of $0.25! Got to love that!

Distress Ink 4 Flower Card

You will never believe this, but I only used 2 colours of cardstock to make this card, black and vanilla! The beautiful colours are thanks to Tim Holtz and the folks at Ranger! I am lovin' my new collection of Distress inks and I challenged myself to see how many colours I could use on one card, grand total, 7!!
The card base is a 5 1/2" sq black card. The first layer is a 5 1/4" sq piece of vanilla cardstock that has been sponged with Spiced Marmalade and edged with Vintage Photo. The next layer of believe it or not, vanilla cardstock, has been stamped with a swirly flourish, embossed with clear embossing powder then blended with both Peeled Paint and Broken China. The squares under the flowers are black 2" and vanilla 1 3/4". The vanilla is edged with Tea Dye. The flowers are stamped in Broken China, Fired Brick, Concord Grape and Spiced Marmalade and edged with Vintage Photo. The leaves punched using Stampin' Up!'s Two Step Bird punch are from,you guessed it, vanilla cardstock, then sponged with Peeled Paint.  I topped off the flowers with some buttons, and voila, a colourful card make from black and vanilla  card stock!

Vintage Bird Medallion Card

Well, we've had the flu go through our house over this past week, and it sucked. So needless to say I haven't spent much time in my craft room, but I was feeling a little better today and managed to make a few cards. I tried out my new Distress inks that I got for Christmas and they are awesome to play with! I used Tea dye, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Fired Brick on this card. The pleated medallion is topped off with Stampin' Up!'s Two Step Bird punch. I also printed the music paper from a sheet of decorative paper and have to say I would definitely do it again. It's inexpensive and I'm happy with the results! I plan to have a 'pajama day' tomorrow and craft for the whole day, I can't wait!!

Scrap Ribbon Wreath Card

Well, I went to my craftroom today with every intension of honouring my New Year resolution of cleaning up my messy workspace, but I found this card...
Let's face it, crafters are hoarders! I live by a rule my quilting guru told me 20 years ago, "save it, if it' s bigger than a bear's nose!". I'm always looking for good ideas to put all the left over bits and pieces to good use. This card does just that!
I used a plastic ring that I purchased at our local fabric store and tied scraps of ribbon around it until it was full. Fold ribbon in half, wrap loop around ring and pull the tails through the loop. I used my glue gun to adhere the wreath to the card. Now if I make 10,000 more of them I  will make a dent in my scrap box!

Zentangle Flower Card

Have you "tangled" yet?! Zentangle is the latest craze to hit the arts/craft world! Apparently it goes like this, Zentangle is the noun and tangle is the verb. So I spent the afternoon tangling and tangled this card! Zentangle is doodling with a fine tip black marker to create patterns, usually on white paper. There are official patterns which I plan to try but for this card I stamped a large flower and doodled  it with black marker.  I haven't made too many black and white cards, probably because I love my paper stash so much, but I will definitely try it again. Happy New Year everyone!!

Cross Stitched Santa Figurine

My mother collects cross stitched Santa figurines and she has a beautiful collection which has really taken a life time of needlework to create. I made this figurine for her this past Christmas and he has made wonderful addition to an heirloom collection. He stands 13" tall and is 3 1/2" at the widest point of the base. His beard and fur are stitched from fluffy wool floss, and the picture does not show it but he's crusted in beading and metallic floss. Cross stitch seems to have fallen out of favor amongst crafters lately, but I'm hoping for a resurgence! It is a wonderful, relaxing art form and if I can persuade anyone to try it or return to it, I will!