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

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Happy Last Day of March!

 Hello and happy last day of March everyone!  Can't believe it is the last day of March and Easter is just days away!  I had Easter in mind when I created today's project for the A Jillian Vance Design blog.  Here is a little peek:


I hope you have a lovely day and Easter!  Don't forget to head over to the AJVD blog to check out my project!

Sunday, March 28, 2021

More Easter Cards...

 Yep... back with more Easter cards!  Gotta get them done... Easter is in one week!  The first card is for the Pinkfresh Studio monthly challenge, as well as Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   The Pinkfresh challenge this month is flowers so I just used that and took more of my color inspiration from the SSS mood board.  I stamped the Pinkfresh Studio/Altenew collaborative stamp set called Celebrate Today on watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then watercolored very simply with Altenew's 12 pan watercolor set.  When dry I die cut it with the matching die.  I trimmed a piece of white cardstock down and then ran it through my die cutting machine in a pretty lattice design embossing folder that I have had for years.  I added a little strip of light gray cardstock at the bottom and then adhered my panel to a white cardstock base and added the floral image.  The sentiment is from A Jillian Vance Design.  I stamped it on white cardstock with the Nocturne ink, die cut it with a banner die and attached.  Finished off the card with some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.





The second card is just a bonus card, really.  I got the March Glimmer kit earlier this month, but just never found time to make anything with it.  I was using my Glimmer the other night to make... yes... Easter cards and Glimmered the sentiment from the kit along with the layering daisies for my card.  I used the Spellbinders Essentials rectangle dies and the inserts that are part of the set on the large pink rectangle and the smaller white rectangle.  The sentiment and the daisy were glimmered using Rose Gold foil, but you really can't tell.  In real life the Rose Gold foil looks so pretty with the pink cardstock.  I layered the rectangles on my card base, added the rose and then finished with a Trinity Stamps Something New pearl in the center.  


Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Friday, March 26, 2021

He is Risen...

 Hello!  Still trying to make some Easter cards and here is another one I got done.  This is for the Revese Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge, as well as the Card Concept and a new to me challenge called Day of the Month Card Club.  I found this challenge through my good friend, Greta!  Both the Card Concept and Day of the Month Card Club challenges feature butterflies.  I pulled out the RC Stained Glass Butterfly stamp and die set and did some Copic coloring using colors from the Card Concept inspiration photo.   The buttefly and the leaves were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before coloring.  I used the mid sized RC Lacy Scallop rectangle die to cut white cardstock that I stamped with the sentiment from the RC Easter Blessings stamp set.  I then arranged the butterfly and leaves on the panel.  I die cut some purple cardstock with the largest Lacy Scallop rectangle die and adhered that to a white cardstock base.   The sentiment panel was then adhered to that.  I thought about adding some sequins, but obviously didn't in the end.  My card would fall into the clean and layered category at the Card Concept




Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!


Thursday, March 25, 2021

Simon Says Stamp All the Feels Release!

 Hello, hello!   Simon Says Stamp's All the Feels new release is now live and you can shop it here! (Affiliate link used).  Simon was kind enough to send me the super cute Bear Hugs die set to create with.  Thanks, Simon!   When I saw the die set I immediately thought of Mother's day and Father's day cards.  So I created to cards in that theme.  

As you can see for the Mother's day card I went with white, pink and a little bit of soft gray.  For the background I used the Simon Says Stamp Heart to Heart background stamp.  I stamped it in a medium pink ink and then again with watermark ink.  Clear embossing powder was applied and heat set.  I then used Spun Sugar distress oxide ink to ink blend the background.   The bears were die cut from white, pink and soft gray and then layered on the backing piece.  I love that Simon included a backing die for this set!   The sentiment is from a very old Simon Says Stamp Valentine's day stamp set called Roses for You that has a matching die.  I die cut the love you and then stamped the outline with the medium pink ink.  Additional words were cut, layered behind the top one and then adhered below the bears.  


The Father's day card is a little bit stepped up from the Mother's day card in that I used the Center Cut Geometric Pattern background stamp and die cut the center circle and then popped it up on my card base.  The bears were cut from two shades of brown cardstock and then layered along with the red heart.  I used the same sentiment that I used on the first card.   I finished off the card with some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew for the bears' eyes and noses.  

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you check out the new release right here!

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Happy Spring!

 Hello!  Are you playing along with the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's blog hop?  The hop ends on Friday and there are a ton of prizes available to win.  A Jillian Vance Design is a super sponsor.  Just click over to the AJVD blog to see my coffee themed project.  Here is a little peek:


Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to head over to the AJVD blog to see what I made!

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Easter Blessings...

 Hello!  Hope you are having a good day.   Popping in with a card for a few challenges:   Paper Players, Fusion and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   The Paper Players challenge is to create a clean and simple card with an animal.  I have a butterfly on my card and so I hope that counts, but if you look really closely at the light blue oval there are tiny rabbits on it.    The inspiration photo at Fusion features eggs.  Obviously I didn't use eggs on my card, but I did use the sketch and I tried to capture some of the colors found in the inspiration photo.  Finally, I used three different patterned papers per the SSS Wednesday challenge to use two or more patterned papers.  The papers and the butterfly are from a Spellbinders kit from 2020 called Feeling Hoppy.   I die cut the two rectangles using the Spellbinders Essentials Rectangle dies.  The oval was cut with an original Spellbinders classic oval die.   The sentiment is from A Jillian Vance Design and was heat embossed in white on vellum.  Even with the patterned papers the card is very clean and simple. 



Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!


Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope everyone is having a great week!   Today is St. Patrick's day and I have a St. Patty's day inspired card up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog.  Here is a little peek:


I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out the project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Monday, March 15, 2021

a shamrock and a peony...

 Hello!  Hope your week is off to a good start!  We have had a little bit of snow here in my corner of the Pacific Northwest.  The weather report actually calls for rain, but it is cold enough that the rain is coming down as snow!  Won't be sticking around, tho... thankfully!  I have two more cards to share.  I have been in a crafting mood lately and finally participated in a couple of challenges that I always want to take on, but mostly never seem to get the chance to do.  First up is a card for the current Inspired By challenge.   I have a couple of rainbow dies from MFT and used one that is sort of wonky to create my rainbow.  I die cut green glitter cardstock and gold mirror cardstock then alternated the two for my rainbow.  I die cut scrap white cardstock three more times with the die and adhered those to my top pieces to create a nice sturdy rainbow.   I die cut three small hearts using the AJVD Stitched Dot Hearts die set from green glitter cardstock to create my shamrock and the stem from the gold mirror cardstock.  I adhered the rainbow  to a panel of white cardstock and then added the shamrock.  I couldn't find one sentiment in my large collection of stamps that had anything to do with luck!  So I ended up using this lovely verse that is part of a sympathy stamp set from AJVD.  Originally I stamped it in green directly on my panel under the rainbow, but it wasn't straight!  I didn't like the look of the green so I when I restamped it on my banner I used watermark ink and embossed it in gold.  I like that much better!  Also sending this off to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use green.



This next card is for the MFT sketch challenge.  I always want to play along with that challenge because I love a good sketch, but never seem to find the time.  I did this weekend... yay!    I pulled out the MFT Peony Perfection stamp as it is perfect fot the sketch and I had never used it!   I love floral images, but get a little intimidated by how complex they can be.  I never know if I'm putting the shadow in the right place, but I decided that I just needed to get over that and color things how I think they should be and so I did!  I used my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers for the coloring as well as a couple of Polychromos color pencils.  I stamped the image using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink on smooth bristol cardstock and started coloring.  Once the coloring was done I trimmed out the flower.  That was a trick, but I got it done!  I used the MFT Rectangle Extraordinaire to create the element across the card.  I blended on distress oxide in Tumbled Glass.  Going heavy on the top and fading down to the bottom.  I then die cut the panel with a rectangle die.  I adhered the flower in the center and then stamped the sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp) in Tumbled Glass distress oxide underneath.  I also discovered that apparently I do not own any stamps that actually say Happy Easter!  So funny!  Anywhoo.... I finished off the card with lots of sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.



Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Friday, March 12, 2021

circles and a hot air balloon...

 Hello!  Hope you had a great week.  We are ending out week here in the Pacific Northwest with lovely weather!   With the lovely weather comes gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier and the Olympic mountains.  Never get tired of either of those!  So... I have two cards to share.  The first one features circles.  I used the Color Throwdown combo for this card as well as a stencil from the Hello Beautiful release at Simon Says Stamp.   I used Speckled Egg and Pumice Stone distress oxide inks for the ink blending making sure to blend the two where they meet in the middle.  I then die cut the for you (from Simon Says Stamp) from kraft cardstock three times and adhered then together.  The stenciled panel was die cut with a Spellbinders essentials rectangle die and adhered to a light gray cardstock base.  I adhered the die cuts and a small happy birthday sentiment that I stamped using the Simon Says Stamp Birthday Word Mix stamp and die set.   


This next card is for Freshly Made Sketches and I used the Spellbinders February card kit.   All Spellbinders card kits include a die set and this one included the fun hot air balloon that I used for my card.   I started by die cutting the hot air balloon from scrap cardstock so I could create a piece to use as a backer.  I simply traced around the outside of the die cut and then cut out my backer.  I then die cut the balloon from patterned paper.  I adhered the backer to my patterned paper balloon and then pieced all the little sections of the balloon (minus a few pieces) back in.  I then die cut two more balloons from white cardstock and adhered the outlines over the top.  I finished off the balloon by adding Rainbow Fish pearl embellishments from Trinity Stamps.   I die cut the cloud patterned paper with a Spellbinders essentials rectangle, added the score lines and adhered it to a card base from the kit.   The sentiment is from the stamp set included in the kit and was stamped in VersaFine Clair Nocture.  I then adhered the balloon with foam dimensionals.  


Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day.  Affiliate links are used where possible (at no cost to you!).

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Happy Wednesday!

 Hello and happy Wednesday everyone!  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog and here is a little peek:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Thursday, March 4, 2021

floral cards...

 Hello!  Hope your week is going well.  We had some really nice weather the other day, but as is the case in the Pacific Northwest this was fleeting and our typical late winter/early spring weather returned... rain!  Oh well.  I have a couple of cards to share today.  First up is a card for this week's Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.   My card started out one way, but ended up as you see it now.    Originally I used my Glimmer to create the three panels that appear in the FMS layout, but they didn't foil completely and were a little off so I decided to scrap that idea.  I was going to use an old Simon Says Stamp set that contains images of daffodils with that card so I continued on with that part of the card idea, but switched the panels to crosses from another old Simon Says Stamp Easter set.   I stamped the daffodils in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored them very simply with Copic markers.  I added some depth with Polychromos pencils.   I ink blended a panel with distress oxide ink in Squeezed Lemonade and Lucky Clover.  Funny aside... I could have sworn I had Mowed Lawn distress oxide ink, but I do not!   I die cut the crosses, adhered them to the panel and then added the daffodils.  I die cut the word Easter (it is part of the same set that the cross came from) from vellum four times and adhered them together.  I was going to leave it that way, but didn't like it so I added the glittered die cut to the top.  I still wasn't happy with the card so I decided to stamp some leaves, color them with a green Copic marker and then add them to the daffodils.  Still not sure about it... let me know what you think.




The second card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use florals.  I guess my first card works for that, as well.  I created this card using more products from my Spellbinders Whimsical Forest card kit.  One of the dies from the kit is the fun frame that you see.  I die cut it from gold cardstock, as well as additional cardstock and adhered them together.   I die cut some white cardstock, as well as patterned paper from the kit with the Spellbinders essentials rectangle dies.  I embossed the white layer and then layered them on a card base from the kit.  I then adhered the frame and all of the floral pieces that came from one of the ephemera packs from the kit.   The hello was created by die cutting the shadow image from white cardstock and then stamping the corresponding word hello in dark blue ink.  The sentiment was then adhered to the front of the card as you see.


Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!


Wednesday, March 3, 2021

something a little different...

 I hope you found my blog title intriguing.  I have something a little different up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today.   Here is a little peek:


I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out my post.  Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

it's your day!

 Hey there!  Popping in with a fun little card I put together the other day.  My creativity has been lacking of late and so I pulled out the Spellbinders September card kit called Whimsical Forest.    There are tons of cute products in this kit!  A cute stamp set, fun dies, puffy stickers, ephemera pieces and so much more!  If you really want a card kit that is a great value check out the Spellbinders card kit club.  If you join a Spellbinders club not only do you get a great kit (there are die kits, glimmer kits, stamp, etc.) each month, but you also get extra savings on items from the Spellbinders website and a free gift at the end of the year!  A win, win in my book.  Just click here to find out more about the card kit program.   For my card I mainly used items from one of the two ephemera packs in the kit.  I just love that little gnome on the snail!  I found a little frame and a few other pieces that I liked to go along with the gnome.  I die cut patterned paper from the kit (you get an entire 6x6 paper pad!) using Spellbinders Essentials rectangle dies.  For the smaller of the two rectangled I used my Glimmer hot foil system, one of the plates from the t February glimmer kit and black foil to create the scalloped frame.   Once that was done I arranged and adhered all my pieces.  I finished with the puffy sticker sentiment and a few little puffy stars (also from the kit).  


The layout for the card is based on the sketch from the current Paper Players challenge so I will be posting my card there.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

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