"We do not remember days, we remember moments." Cesare Pavese

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

wednesday with ajvd...

Hey there!  Happy end of May!  Wow... can't believe May is over... where did the time go?  I'm stopping in to let you know that I have a post up on the AJVD blog and here is a little peek:


Have a wonderful day and I hope you will take the time to head over to the AJVD blog for a look and to let me know what you think.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

two more cards...

Hey there!  Hope everyone here in the US is enjoying the long weekend.  As my blog title says I have a couple more cards to share.  The first one is for the current Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge to use florals, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use more then one stamp.  I will tell you that I had the card almost completed when I realized that when I placed the large floral image on my card base it was crooked!  When I tried to remove it I ended up ripping said floral image so I had to start over... ugh!   Thankfully it didn't take me that long to put the card together the second time!  I used the C9 Wonderful Florals stamp set along with the matching dies.  I stamped the main floral image using VersaFine CLAIR ink in Morning Mist and then die cut it with the matching die.  The word wonderful was die cut from white cardstock and then all the letters were stamped with the little square striped image from the set using Simon Says Stamp's Melon ink.  The letters were then adhered to the floral image.  I stamped the two flowers on to some plaid paper, die cut with their matching dies and then adhered to the floral image.  That was then adhered to some light purple.  I stamped the sentiment in the Morning Mist ink, trimmed it out and then adhered it to the card front.  Pretty simple, but I really like the little pops of color from the stamped letters and the plaid flowers.


The second card is for the May Viva La Verve challenge and once, again, here I am at the end of the month finally getting my card done for the challenge!  For this one I used lots of fun patterned papers from Pinkfresh Studio and the beautiful Verve stamp set Cake & Candles.  I pulled out papers that I liked together and the die cut all the various pieces of the layout.  The sentiment was stamped using Simon Says Stamp ink in Spring Rain and then die cut with an AJVD Polka Dot Circle die.  I added Buttercup Stickles to the flame for some sparkle.  All the pieces were assembled and then adhered the sentiment circle that I had matted with an AJVD Stitched Scallop Circle die.   To add a little something more I die cut some stars using a Verve die and then adhered a few to the sentiment circle.  Another simple design, but I love all the fresh colors in the Pinkfresh Studio papers.


Hope you have a wonderful day!

Thursday, May 24, 2018

two birthday cards...

Hey there!  As my blog title says I have two birthday cards to share today.  The first card is for the Essentials by Ellen pin-sights challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use more than one stamp.  I have been having a bit of a love affair with coloring on vellum lately.  I just love the soft look that you can achieve by coloring on the back of your stamped vellum.  The last card I made I used distress markers, but with today's card I decided to try using my Memento markers.  One of my favorite Essentials by Ellen stamp sets is the Mondo Hydrangea and so I pulled that out to use for my card.  I wanted my hydrangeas in opposite corners so I stamped the image on opposite corners of my vellum with watermark ink and then heat embossed in white.  Once that was done I die cut each image with the matching die.  I colored one hydrangea with a light pink and dark pink Memento marker (Angel Pink and Rose Bud) and the other with a light purple and a dark purple (Lulu Lavender and Grape Jelly).  The leaves were stamped and embossed and then colored with a light green marker from Stampin Up! and a Memento marker in dark green (Cottage Ivy).  I trimmed down a piece of woodgrain cardstock and then adhered all the pieces using rolled up glue dots.  For the sentiment I used stamps from the Essentials by Ellen Lovely stamp set.  The birthday was stamped directly onto the woodgrain cardstock and the phrase 'It's your' was embossed in white on medium gray cardstock, trimmed out and adhered.  


The second card is super simple and made for three challenges:  Reverse Confetti Stock You Stash (Birthday), Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.  I finally got a chance to purchase a couple of newer Reverse Confetti stamp sets and used one (Tall Blooms) for my card.  I knew the Tall Blooms stamp set would be perfect for the sketch! After two bad embossing results using Canson watercolor paper I switched to Arches Hot Press watercolor paper and got a much better result with my embossing.   Then I did some simple watercoloring using red and blue ZIG markers and clean water.  Once the piece was try I die cut it with an AJVD plain rectangle die.  The sentiment (from Tall Blooms) was embossed in white on vellum, trimmed down and then adhered using rolled up glue dots.   The panel was then adhered to a red cardstock base.  Super simple, but now I have one more birthday card!



Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  SSS medium gray, Tim Holtz woodgrain, PTI vellum; Stamps and dies:  Essentials by Ellen; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink, VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts; Coloring medium:  Memento markers, Stampin Up! marker

Card #2:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! Real Red, PTI vellum, Arches watercolor; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Die:  A Jillian Vance Design; Coloring medium:  ZIG markers; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

wednesday with ajvd...

Hey there... happy Wednesday!  I have a post up on the AJVD blog today and here is a little peek of my project:



I hope you will take a moment to head over to the AJVD blog to see the full card and to let me know what you think.   Have a wonderful day!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Precious Remembrance Shop New Release Blog Hop!

Hey everyone!!  There is a new stamp set available in the Precious Remember Shop store and the design team is having a blog hop to celebrate!  The new set is call Little Things and is perfect for scrapbook layouts, cards and planners.  You should have arrived here by way of Kelly's blog.  If you did not please head over to the Precious Remembrance Shop blog for the start of the hop.   For my card today I decided to go with a monochromatic look that is very clean and simple.  I stamped the triangle cluster image diagonally across white cardstock using Catherine Pooler ink in Rose Petals.  I stamped the cluster once and then stamped image a second time slightly offset to create a shadow effect.  I then stamped the long polka dot strip on white cardstock with the same ink, trimmed it out, tore the ends to make it look like washi tape and then stamped it with the sentiment.  The panel was die cut and then adhered to a white cardstock base and then popped up the sentiment strip with foam dots.  I adhered some light pink buttons (from Precious Remembrance Shop) to finish off the design.  Your next stop on the hop is my sweet friend, Greta!   Make sure that you hop through all the design team blogs and leave some love as there will be an opportunity to win the Little Things stamp set!  Commenting is open through May 25th.  Here is a look at the full set:


Have a wonderful day... happy hopping and don't forget to follow Precious Remembrance Shop on Instagram and Facebook!

Sunday, May 20, 2018

i love your kind heart...

Hey there!!  I have a card to share for a couple of challenges:  the Card Concept (floral centerpiece) and Inspired By (floral cluster).   I had made a couple of purchases from the Simon Says Stamp Fluttering By release and one of the things I bought was the beautiful Center Cut Flowers stamp.  I finally inked it up the other card to create my card.  I didn't make the card with either of the challenges I'm entering in mind it was just pure coincidence that my card worked for both challenges. Kinda like it when that happens... don't you?  I stamped the image on PTI vellum (love how thick it is!) with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed in white.  I colored the backside of the image using Ranger Distress markers in Abandoned Coral, Spun Sugar, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint.  I adhered the image to some Tim Holtz woodgrain cardstock and then added the sentiment from the SSS Take Heart stamp set that I embossed in white on black cardstock along with the die cut word. Finished with some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins.  I think this would work for the clean and layered category at the Card Concept.  I'm also adding this to the current Time Out challenge to be inspired by a quote.  After reviewing the challenge I realized that my card would work perfectly since I have used blooms and I think the sentiment fits very nicely into the theme of the quote.



Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI black, vellum, SSS gray, Tim Holtz woodgrain; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaMark; Coloring medium:  Ranger Distress markers; Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins

Friday, May 18, 2018

have a beautiful day...

Hello there!  I'm popping in with a card for a few challenges:  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (stencil it), Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge (stencil it).  Back in March I purchased the April Simon Says Stamp card kit and one of the items in the kit was a beautiful butterflies stencil.  I had used lots of items from the kit, but not the stencil and so when I saw the two SSS challenges I knew just what stencil I would use for those two challenges.   I pulled out a piece of woodgrain cardstock and stenciled some of the butterflies on to it using BoBunny glitter paste in Buttercup.   There are also little dots in the stencil and so I used BoBunny glitter paste in pumpkin to stencil some dots randomly around the butterflies once the yellow glitter paste had dried.  I then had to figure out how I was going to use the panel and decided to use it for the FMS challenge.  Because I didn't want to completely cover up the panel that I had just stenciled with the beautiful glittery butterflies and dots I decided to use vellum.  I cut down a piece of vellum into a square and then stamped the sentiment from the SSS Beautiful Day stamp set and the leaf image on the vellum with VersaMark watermark ink and then embossed in white.  I then colored the back of the leaves with two green makers and adhered the panel using rolled up glue dots placed behind the stamping.  I finished off the card by adding some sequins in yellow (although some look green) in two sizes and tiny silver ones.
Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Lemon Tart, Ranger Woodgrain, PTI vellum; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Stencil:  Simon Says Stamp; Ink:  VersaMark;  Glitter paste:  BoBunny; Sequins:  Simon Says Stamp

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine Crafts Blog Hop Day 2

Hello and welcome to day two of the Precious Remembrance Shop/Imagine Crafts blog hop!  Today I will be sharing two cards that I made using the PRS School Days stamp set and lots of fun Imagine Crafts products.  You should have arrived here by way of my PRS team mate Helen's blog.  If you did not, please head to the PRS blog for the start of the hop and the full list of participants.

The School Days stamp set has always been one of my favorite PRS stamp sets.  I just love the cute little school bus and that fun little pencil with the ABC/123.   My first card uses the ABC/123/pencil image.  I stamped the image on some yellow patterned paper using VersaFine CLAIR ink in Golden Meadow and then trimmed out the pencil.  I stamped the sentiment inside the pencil using CLAIR ink in Nocturne.  I die cut some patterned paper using a little notebook die and then stamped the image on the die cut with Nocturne ink.  I then sprayed the piece with Lady Bug and Paris Dusk Fireworks.  A second piece of patterned paper was die cut with the notebook die and then the two were layered together with the bottom one at an angle to the top one.  The patterned paper pencil was then adhered using some foam dimensionals.  I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit my card front and then sprayed it with Dandelion Fireworks and then adhered the layered panels.  I like the clean and simple yet mixed media look to the card.


The second card is pretty simple, as well.  I cut some grid patterned paper and then stamped it with the dotted line image to create some tire tracks using CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I stamped the bus on the same patterned paper that I stamped the pencil on in Nocturne, trimmed it out and adhered it to the grid panel as shown.  I finished off the card by stamping the border sentiment that has the little hearts and says I love school in CLAIR Twilight ink and then added some Tangelo irRESISTible Pico Embellisher.


That is it for me today.  Your next stop on the hop is Imagine Crafts design team member Steph Ackerman.  Don't forget to follow Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine Crafts on Facebook and Instagram and to leave comments on all the stops on the hop for your chance to win one of two prizes:  Totally and School Days stamp sets from Precious Remembrance Shop or a $30 Imagine Craft gift certificate.

Happy hopping!!

Supplies:  Patterned paper:  My Mind's Eye; Cardstock:  white; Notebook die; All other supplies are from Imagine Crafts and Precious Remembrance Shop

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine Crafts Blog Hop!


(For my regular Wednesday post on the AJVD blog, please click here.)
Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today and tomorrow the Precious Remembrance Shop design team is teaming up with the Imagine Crafts design team for some fun blog hops showcasing products from both companies!  I have always love Imagine Crafts (Tsukineko) inks and so I was super excited to have this opportunity to work with more of their amazing products for this hop!   The PRS design team was given the opportunity to pick an assortment of products from Imagine Crafts to use for our projects.  I had been hearing about the new VersaFine CLAIR inks and so I made sure to include those in the products I picked.  Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE  the CLAIR inks?   They are fabulous to work with providing crisp images every time!!  For todays cards I used the Totally stamp set and went very masculine for both cards.   There will be an opportunity to win some wonderful prizes and that information will be at the end of my post. You should have arrived at my blog by way of my fellow teamie, Helen's blog.  If you did not, please head to the Precious Remembrance Shop blog for the start of the hop and a complete list of everyone hopping today.

For the first card I used the paint stroke like image from the Totally set to create a pattern somewhat like argyle using CLAIR inks in Morning Mist and Twilight.  I then stamped the word totally in CLAIR Nocturne.   The piece was die cut with a large rectangle die. The little sentiment me/you/us was stamped on vellum using VersaMark watermark ink and embossed in black using Imagine Crafts black embossing powder and then trimmed out.  I adhered the sentiment strip using rolled up glue dots placed behind the embossing so they don't show as much.   I adhered the panel to some gray woodgrain cardstock and then added small, medium and large dots using the irRESISTible Pico Embellisher in Blue Danube randomly to the panel.

For the second card I had to do some surgery on my stamps in order to use them in my mini MISTI.  To start I cut up the sentiment that says that's all! and used each word separately to stamp the sentiment all that! in CLAIR Morning Mist.   The little word you're was part of a stamp that included a line so I simply cut off that portion so I could use just the word.  That was stamped in CLAIR Twilight.  I did not cut apart the stamp that contains the word really, but simply masked off the part of the stamp that I did not need, inked up the word, removed the mask and stamped the word.   The panel was die cut with a medium sized rectangle die and then partially embossed with a star embossing folder.  I sprayed the top portion of the card with some Fireworks in Paris Dusk for a bit more interest.  I stamped one of the stars from the Totally set on white cardstock using Morning Mist, trimmed them out and adhered to the panel.  Some gray baker's twine was tied around the card base and then the panel was adhered.

Now for the information on how to win some fun prizes!!  It is pretty simple... just do the following:

Hop Along and leave us some comments on each blog. 
Like & Follow both companies on Facebook & Instagram 
      Precious Remembrance Shop Facebook & Instagram
      Imagine Crafts Facebook & Instagram
Giveaway is open until May 19,2018. Winners will be chosen randomly. 
Have fun & Good luck!

And for simply doing those three easy things you will have the opportunity to win the either the School Days and Totally stamp sets from Precious Remembrance Shop or a $30 gift certificate from Imagine Crafts!!  Awesome, right?  Now off you go to the blog of Imagine Crafts design team member Steph Ackerman for some more inspiration!

Have a wonderful day and happy hopping!!

Supplies:  All supplies except cardstock, twine, embossing folder and dies are from Imagine Crafts and Precious Remembrance Shop


Saturday, May 12, 2018

A Christmas card...

Hey there!  Yes, I have a Christmas card to share today!  A very simple Christmas card, lol!  I have been working on lots of other projects and decided that I wanted to change things up a bit so I decided to make a Christmas card using the current Merry Monday theme and the MFT sketch.  I used some papers from the Echo Park Twas the Night Before Christmas 6x6 pad and a MFT stars die along with the MFT Merry Christmas dies.   I die cut the stars from some MFT gold glitter cardstock and the words from some of the patterned paper.  I also cut the words from cardstock in order to beef them up a bit.  Once I had all the die cutting done I layered up the patterned papers and cardstock on the card base and then added the stars.  Super simple, but now I have another Christmas card done and ready to go!

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI Fine Linen, MFT gold glitter; Patterned Paper:  Echo Park; Dies:  My Favorite Things

Friday, May 11, 2018

donut you know...

Hey there!  Hope you had a good week!  It has been teacher appreciation week here in the US and on Wednesday I had a little treat for my son's teacher.  She mentioned that she likes those chocolate covered donuts that you buy at the store and so I purchased some for her so she could enjoy them with her morning coffee.  All the stamps and dies are from Reverse Confetti.  I decided to go with a color scheme that matched the actual donuts.  After cutting all the pieces for the donuts and assembling them I added then to the tag that was die cut from white and brown cardstock.  The sentiment banner took a little bit of effort as I had to partially die cut it, stamp the sentiment and then flip the die and cut the other side.  Thankfully it turned out perfectly the first time... YAY!  And YAY... she loved her little treat!!   Going to add this to the current Inspired by challenge of sweet treats.



Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Chocolate Chip, PTI Fine Linen; MFT white;  Stamps and Dies:  Reverse Confetti; Ink:  VersaFine Vintage Sepia

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

wednesday with ajvd...

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Hope you are having a great week so far!  We are having beautiful weather here in the Pacific Northwest and so that makes me happy!  I have a card up on the AJVD blog today and here is a little peek:


I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full card and to let me know what you think.  Have a wonderful day!

Monday, May 7, 2018

pinata thanks...

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  This week is teacher appreciation week and I put together a card for my son to give to his Spanish teacher.  Our elementary school has been fortunate to have this program and my son has been a part of it since kindergarten.   He will give this to her on Wednesday along with some flowers.  I used MFT sketch 383 for the layout and the since this is for a Spanish teacher I thought using the MFT Pinata die would be perfect.  I die cut the piñata pieces from some striped patterned paper and the main body from white cardstock.  I then layered up all the pieces.  The thanks is also an MFT die and was cut from bright blue cardstock as well as three more times from white and then all layered together.  The fishtail banner (from MFT) was diecut from the same cardstock as the thanks and addition patterned paper was used for the mini scalloped stitched rectangle die cut.  I layered up everything on a white die cut panel and then adhered it to a white cardstock base.
Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT smooth white; bright blue; Patterned paper:  Lawn Fawn;  Dies:  My Favorite Things and A Jillian Vance Design


Thursday, May 3, 2018

flowers and a wreath...

Hey there!  Hope you have been having a great week!  Our nice weather has returned and I'm hoping that it holds out through the weekend as I have plans to meet up with a bloggy friend on Sunday!   In the meantime I have a couple of cards to share.  The first one is for Color Throwdown and Less is MoreLess is More has a wonderful sketch challenge going on right now and I love a good sketch so I had to play along.  I used the colors from Color Throwdown and watercolored the flowers and leaves from the Concord & 9th Wonderful Florals stamp set with ZIG markers.  Once they were mostly dry I die cut them with the matching dies.  I arranged everything on some woodgrain cardstock that I die cut with an A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot rectangle die.  The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th Posie Fill In stamp set and was stamped on kraft cardstock with VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink.  The flowers and leaves were stamped with VersaFine CLAIR ink in Tulip Red and Green Oasis.  I absolutely LOVE the CLAIR inks.  They stamp beautifully and are so versatile!  Finished up with some enamel dots in coral and green.


The second card is a bonus card of sorts.  April was customer appreciation month at Concord & 9th and on IG they are having a giveaway.  Simply make a card using something from the April release and post it on IG for a chance to win.  At first I thought I wouldn't be able to enter and then I remembered that I had purchased the Wreath Turnabout stamp set and that was released in April!  I have long wanted to purchase a turnabout stamp set, but haven't been able to because I don't have the original MISTI.   I purchased the Wreath Turnabout because I thought it might work with the mini MISTI and while it sort of works you don't get the best results.  So I decided to try making a wreath without the MISTI and it worked!  It took some trial and error, but I managed to get a pretty nice wreath.  At this point I'm not going to explain what I did as I want to try this technique with the other wreath in the set and see how goes.  But I will say that it wasn't as hard as you might think it would be!  To keep things from getting to complicated as I worked out how to create the wreath I used only two colors.  I die cut the finished piece with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle and then added some sequins before adhering it to a olive green card base.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  kraft, watercolor, woodgrain, olive; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies: Concord & 9th, A Jillian Vance Design; Sequins:  Ellen Hutson; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR, Stampin Up!; Watercolor Medium:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

wednesday with ajvd...

Hello!!  Can you believe it is May already?  It is also Wednesday and that means that I have a post up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek of my card:


I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project and let me know what you think!  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

mostly no stamping cards...

Hey there! I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I made using the Simon Says Stamp Kind Heart kit.  This kit is full of beautiful papers and embellishments from Pinkfresh Studio as well as two beautiful stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp and Simon Says Stamp ink cubes.  I made these two cards using one of the sheets of patterned paper in the kit and lots of puffy stickers plus some stamping on one of the cards.  Here is a photo of the two cards together.  I just love the puffy stickers from the kit.  There are also gorgeous epoxy heart stickers that I can't wait to use!  And the papers in the kit... gorgeous!!  Both cards are also posted in my flickr gallery as part of the current Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge of mother's day/flowers.

For the first card I trimmed down one sheet to fit a card front and adhered it to a white cardstock base.  I then adhered the flower puffy stickers so that it looked like they were attached to stems.  I finished the card by adding the sentiment (also a puffy sticker) that I popped up with foam tape.  The little bow was adhered along with some of the little hearts and I was done.   Going to add this one to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.










The second card was created when I realized that I should use the remainder of the paper.  I simply adhered the paper to a white cardstock base and then added the leaf puffy sticker.  I put some foam tape on the back of the flower and then adhered that an the little hummingbird.  I did things backwards (again!) and stamped the sentiment using the Simon Says Stamp Melon ink cube provided in the kit.  I should have stamped the sentiment before adding the puffy stickers, but things turned out okay thanks to my mini MISTI!  At the last minute I decided to add the little heart to make it look like an exclamation point at the end of the sentiment.   Going to add this one to the Time Out where they are challenging us to be wild... my wild is the hummingbird!



Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  All Supplies are from the Simon Says Stamp Kind Heart card kit and come from Simon Says Stamp and Pinkfresh Studio