I have found the one whom my soul loves

Another Valentine card made with a red and black color scheme.  I used Simon Says Stamp clipping hearts with some dies and stamps by Divinity Designs including the Happily Ever stamp set.

Love that you're my friend

I'm trying to be more intentional about letting my friends know that I am thinking of them.  This is one of the cards I made for a friend with that intention - she likes pink! - and one that I can have fun playing around with different colors.

I used the Simon Says Clipping Heart die with Distress Inks.  The "love" die is by Quietfire Design (and available at Elizabeth Craft Designs) and I typed up "That you're my friend" and printed it up on cardstock.

Love how clean and fresh this card looks!

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes

You matter

I found this adorable Sizzix Hanging Planter Set die set browsing through Hobby Lobby and since I'm going through a tiny potted plant stage right now so it was meant to be, right? 

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I went with this simple trio of cards until I get fancier.  Sometimes a nice simple card does the trick though.  The sentiments are from Simon Says Stamps You Matter stamp set.

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Add a Die Cut

Word Art Wednesday
Scrapy Land Challenge

Playing playing playing

Hello, there!  I've been quite busy since school started but I did get some play time in here and there.  This is a different kind of post - just going to share some cards I made with a friend.  It's great - she brings over new-to-me stamps and dies and we combine it with my toys.  Unfortunately we get so buys playing that I don't write down what we used.  But I'll let you know the ones I do know.  :)

Stamps and Dies used:  

Simon Says Large Hello

Our Daily Bread Designs Merry Christmas Border

Our Daily Bread Designs Happy Birthday

Memory Box Holiday Bunnies

Mama Elephant Playful Puppies

Have a great week!

Just Because

Hello!  Do you ever to send a card to say Hello or juBest because you feel someone would like to receive something other than bills and junk mail?  I love this new "Because" die because there are so many ways to use it.  Just because, Because I miss you, Because I love you, Because you're you... so many combinations.  Today I'm sharing a "just because" one by combining A Way With Words Because metal die and Elizabeth Craft Designs' Alphabet 1 -Caps.

I first started by sponging some distress inks in the background - Evergreen Bough, Picked Raspberry, and Shaded Lilac in an abstract pattern. I then adhered my word die cuts and Simon Says Single Roses.

 I used Copics to color my Because die cut to give it an ombre look.  

Thank you so much for looking!

Because metal die

Script love

Hello!  Today I am using a new die from Quietfire Design A Way With Words line.  It's from a set called "Baby love" but I used just the delicate love to make a Valentine's Day card.  I am casing  a card by Suzanne Cannon - you can see the original card (and many other beautiful ones HERE. at 0:35)  I first made a thin red mat to go with the script love.  The heart is Simon Says Stamp Heart of Roses - just a single layer of the die cut in white.  Any heart die will work.  

Since the love is so delicate, I used red cardstock adhered to double sided adhesive and then die cut it out so that I could stack it on top of each other four times.  

Sorry for the overcast tone - it's been cloudy here for the past few days.

Thank you so much for looking!

Baby Love

You are simply amazing

Here's the other card I promised with the versatile  You Matter stamp set by Simon Says Stamps.  I first clear embossed the sentiment on the bottom of a white layer. I  used distress inks to create my background and then splattered it with water mixed with some perfect pearls. I placed it on a black card base and added matching sequins.  To make the sentiment pop just a wee bit more, I went back and drew a shadow with a gray Copic marker.

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Stamp It (Monday and Wednesday)

Word Art Wednesday

Stamptember thinking of you

I admit I went a little out of control for this card.  I really really wanted to play with more of the colors from my recent Zig clean color brush pens and I'm still enamored of Altenew's Beautiful Day blooms.  I combined that with a set I received from Simon Says Stamps in honor of #Stamptember (thank you thank you thank you) You Matter.  Don't you just love that big bold *you*?  This stamp set is oh so versatile and useful!  I've got another card to share with you in a couple of days using this same stamp set.  

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Anything Goes

HYCCT Split the Difference

Hello!  Popping in to share my first card I've made for the Hope You Can Cling To challenge this year.  This is one of my favorite challenges - it's for a great cause and it's great to get your mojo going too!

I die cut the Simon Says Stamp big hello die and place it across a black strip so that it would pop against the background I made.  I love these roses from ODBD Fragrance stamp set.  I stamped them repeatedly on white card stock with black ink and then double matted it.  The hello was a little plain so I used my Copic to shade the bottom for some extra depth.

Hello CAS

Second post of the day to show you some very quick and easy cards I made yesterday.  It took me only an hour to make these two sets of 4 cards each.  (Do I need to throw in there that it was another snow day?  This time it was due to ice.  Better safe than sorry.  Repeat repeat repeat!  )  

I cut my large watercolor sheet into 4 and sprayed the top half.  I must say, I did it so that it would be quicker than using my brush but I am loving the bleed effect it had.  Then I went through and added my watercolor to the sprayed area, keeping in mind that I wanted to die cut the Simon Says Stamps hello word die out later.  I then used my heat gun to dry all four sheets, ran it through my Big Shot with the die.  I also die-cut the word die out of white card stock so that I could do some in-laying later.

I then adhered my watercolor sheets to my card base along with the white card stock.  Since my paper was rather warped from the watercolors, after I had everything glued down, I ran it through my Big Shot again with just the acrylic plates to flatten everything down - it's also a great way to make sure those pieces all stick!

Finally, I added some water drops using Crystal Effects.  That probably took the longest as I left it to dry overnight.  It was more subtle than I would like but there you have it - 4 quick cards.  

With all those lovely hellos cut out of the watercolor wash, I used my large stitched die from MFT Blueprints 15 and a chevron embossing folder to make another set of cards - even quicker than the ones above.  Best of all - no waste!  

Challenges I am playing in:

CAS(E) this Sketch #112

Simon Says Anything Goes

Virginia's View Challenge:  All Things Embossed

  

A Quick Hello

Hello!  Today I'm sharing a very easy and quick Hello card. As part of my church's welcome team, I send out note cards to our first time visitors so in order to keep up with them,  I like to keep it simple, quick, and flat.  :)

First, I die cut a base layer with MFT Blueprint 13.  I then sponged on different distress stains such as Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, and Broken China.  To add a bit of shimmer, I watered down some of  Tim Holtz Brushed Pewter Distressed Stain and splatter them across the sponged background.  Setting that aside to dry, I then die-cut my hello and some snowflakes from the Impression Obsession Small Snowflake Set.  For different seasons, I could then switch out the snowflakes for flowers or leaves.  Arrange and glue and voila, you're done!  Hope this helps you make some simple notecards to keep in touch with family and friends!

CAS Hello

Kids had another snow day earlier this week so here is my CAS card (I prefer to craft alone and in peace).  You could say that my snowflake embossed background was inspired!  :)  I wanted to make a card to a friend near Valentine's Day so I used some Pucker Me Pink craft sheet from Add A Little Dazzle.  I just think pink is friendlier than red.  The hearts were two of the smaller dies from ODBD Ornate Hearts Dies and the Simon Says Stamps hello word die was cut from metallic silver card stock.

I had mentioned earlier that cutting the craft metal sheets were so much easier if I glued them onto card stock first.  I had run out of my Crystal Effects and had purchased some Tombow Mono Aqua Glue a while back.  I LOVE my Tombow glue runners and buy them in bulk (www.Officesupply.com is the cheapest I've found) but I was really disappointed with this liquid glue.  After I had die cut the heart, the craft metal sheet just popped right off the card stock - which now had a shiny sheen of dry glue on there.  The Scor-tape, Crystal Effects, and glue runner all worked much better.  Just thought I'd share my experience!  

Challenges I am Playing in:

Simon Says Have a Heart

CASology:  Friend

Hello

Got a new die to play with - so great for quick cards.

I tried quilling earlier this year and it was not for me!  Not patient enough...  But I had all these quilling strips left so I weaved some to frame this double die cut hello word die from Simon Says Stamp.

Here I die cut out of a watercolor wash background and used the negative popped up.  Added some silver DMC floss and sequins. I really liked how this one turned out.

Not to waste anything, the card below uses the actual die cut.  I added another black die cut for a shadow effect.

Thanks for looking!

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Anything Goes

HYCCT1403: Stripping Down

HYCCT1429:  I've Got Your Back