Fall Harvest

...a very simple layout for this Fall card.

The image is from JustRite's Autumn Blessings Set. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored it with Copic markers. I added Glossy Accents to the bow....shiny and dimensional.
I stamped the border before I cut the oval using a Spellbinders' die. The border is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx and embossed with clear. The corn image is centered in the oval and fastened to the back, then all glued to a 3 1/4"x 5 3/4" white card.

This close up shows the shine on the bow. Not visible is the dimension of the corn. I "puffed" it up by embossing from the back side with a paper stump. It's so easy to know where to emboss because the Copic markers bleed through the paper.

Happy Harvest!

-judy

OWH Blog Hop

Today, I'm participating in Operation Write Home's Blog Hop.
OWH sends handmade greeting cards overseas to our service men and women so they can send cards home to their friends and families. It's a great service! Please consider making and donating some cards!!! You'll find more information on the OWH website.

If you just happened to stop here and want to start at the beginning of the Blog Hop, click here for OWH's blog.

My first card is for Any Hero.....sent with a personal message to be given to any service person.

Stamp is from B Line

I had to dig into my stash for this card.....other things took precedence over stamping this week. I didn't have a patriotic card on hand but I know any service person will appreciate a note from "home". I will write a personal note of thanks in this card when I send it to OWH to be sent overseas.

For my Valentine's card, I started with a felt "love" by Creative Impressions.

I embossed the paper behind it with a QK Goosebumpz and over stamped with Penny Black Scrolling Along, a viny pattern with tiny hearts. The red scallop was cut with a MS punch. I added a crumpled vellum heart inked with Distress Vintage Photo. The card front is Graphic 45 paper from their Christmas line. It has lots of tiny hearts in the pattern! I added distressing around the edges. Some brads, bits of ribbon and a piece of lace finish it off.

The stop is Kalo Designs by Stacy! I checked out her website earlier this week. Love the story about her new puppy!

I sure hope you enjoyed stopping! Please stop again!

-judy

A Year of Fun

A whole year!!! Can you believe it? I've had this blog a whole year. It still seems new. That must be because I enjoy writing and posting photos. It's so fun to share my creations!

A big thanks to all of you who've followed my journey! It's been fun!

I thought I would have time to create something today in honor of this anniversary. It didn't happen. Still, I do have something special to share......

...a new paper ornament!

I've had so much fun making these with folded paper lace!

This center image is from JustRite's "Christmas Treasures". I stamped it with Midnight Blue StazOn on aqua shimmery paper. I cut it out with a Spellbinders circle and added Art Institute Crystal glitter to the stars and border. It's matted on a Petite Scalloped circle cut from deep turquoise Bazzill paper. The lace border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch. Once it was folded and glued to the backing, I sprayed it with Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist. I used another circle of shimmer paper on the back. A narrow ribbon loop forms the hanger.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you've enjoyed your stay!

Smiles to you all!

-judy

Happy Birthday, Kathy!

Here's a card in celebration of my sister's birthday....


.......no, it's not her birthday card! She doesn't have that yet. She's coming to visit so I'll give it to her then. I could hardly show all of you her card before she sees it.........actually she'd see it here, too!

She created this card and sent it to me awhile back. I've enjoyed it setting on a shelf of honor in my stamping room. Now you can enjoy it, too!

The stamps are from Tim Holtz' "Life Adventure". She added some cancelled stamps from a package that I sent her. A great embellishment! The little alphabet letters add a nice touch to the string.
The verse inside says "enjoy the journey". That stamp is from Tim's "Just Thoughts" set. The back of the card has another verse from that set:

"Learn to pause...or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you."

That's what I'm doing today...(besides blogging and creating)....as I'm off from work.

A Day to Celebrate...

......our Veterans! Happy Veterans' Day!

.......my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday Kathy!

........my 1 year blog anniversary!

WOW!!! I can hardly believe it! I remember being a bit nervous about getting this started.....mostly about learning how to use Blogger. It seems silly now! How I love writing and posting! It's been a great journey! Thanks to all of you for keeping me inspired!

I have several posts for today......first of all to honor all our veterans.

Thanks to each and every one who have fought for the freedom of this country and who continue to preserve the freedoms we so enjoy!

I created this tag to honor our Veterans using Artistic Outpost stamps from the Hero set.

I first stamped the flags which were inked with Ranger Adirondack Denim and Cranberry. I wiped any ink off the areas that I didn't want to stamp.....I didn't want the border. I gave it a light misting and stamped it on a tag.

From there, I added an Eclipse mask so I could add the background images. I picked and chose how I stamped them repeating parts of the music staffs and printing. I left the mask in

place to add distress inks starting with Antique Linen, then

Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Black Soot. In the first photo you

see the mask in place with the edges distressed.

The second photo shows how it looked after I removed the mask. I didn't really like the stark edges of light color around the flag. The 3rd photo shows how I added Distress inks to smooth the

transition around the flags and verse. I left some areas lighter when I distressed to highlight them. To finish it, I added 2 stars near the verse.....these were antique copper which I inked with StazOn Midnight Blue. I used a piece of vintage ribbon with stars at the top. I rubbed some Distress inks over it to "antique" the stars which were white. I tied a tiny navy ribbon around it and added another star. When I use brads in this kind of layout, I cut the fasteners off the back and just mount them with foam tape. It's so much easier to position them especially when deciding where to to put them. It seems if I punch a hole for a brad invariably I want to move it. This way I don't remove the foam backing until I'm sure of where to put them.

Please honor our Veterans today wherever you are. We are so blessed by their dedication to protecting our nation!

Another Paper Lace Ornament

Good Morning All!

I have another paper lace ornament to share today. Remember the ornaments that I posted on October 21? (just click on the date to take you there!)

This ornament uses the same technique only the edge is created with a Martha Stewart edge punch. Once the edge is punched, I accordion fold it, glue the ends together and make an ornament......with a few more steps.

The center stamp is from JustRite's "A Merry Little Christmas Set". I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with white.

I left the back side blank so I can use it as a tag for a package..... a tag that is a gift in itself!

I have another class scheduled to make the ornaments shown on my blog post of Oct. 21. It's on Tuesday, November 10th at Fond Memories. If you'd like to attend, please email FM.

Enjoy!

-judy

A Little Christmas Tree

I just posted this card on Artistic Outpost's blog.

The tree and "Merry Christmas" are from AO's Christmas Stories set. I wasn't sure if I liked this little tree....until I stamped it. It's so cute!

I used Memento Cottage Ivy, Cantalope and Rich Cocoa inks to stamp the tree on white paper. I rubbed Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress inks around it. Then I added dots of Gold with a Spica marker for ornaments on the tree.....a little hard to see.....as well as to the swirling star. I added tiny dots of Glossy accents over the Spica Gold.....making them dimensional ornaments!

"Merry Christmas" is stamped with Rich Cocoa and clear embossed. The label was cut with a Spellbinders' die. The loops at the ends of it are tucked behind the green dot paper. I used Distress inks and Spica Gold on it, too.

The patterned papers are from Graphic 45.

Enjoy!
-judy

A Bird in a Wreath

Here's a card I created with transparent stamps from "...in a pear tree" by Penny Black. I stamped the wreath with Memento Bamboo Leaves. I stamped another bird with Cottage Ivy to cut out and mount on foam tape. The bird is colored with Copic BG15. I added a touch of color to the ornaments, too, before adding the Stickles. I added Eucalyptus and Xmas Red Stickles to the leaves and berries. The little red bow is metallic floss. "Joy" is stamped with Rhubarb Stalk with Xmas Red Stickles over the letters. I just cut the tag shape around the word. On the red mat I stamped "joy, peace, noel" repeatedly with Versamark. The edges of the aqua mat are colored with Copic BG15 because I couldn't find a paper color that matched.........a perfect match to the bird.


Here's a closer look at the little bird and the glitter on the leaves and berries.

Enjoy!
-judy

Hurray for Sunshine

What a joy to have sunshine and warm weather!

We have had rain and clouds and below normal temps for most of September and October, even temps in the 20s.

Today, it was 62 degrees! I was almost hot as I worked outside to put some garden things away. Definitely not complaining! It was finally warm enough to roll up my garden hose!

Once I finished my winterizing chores, I grabbed my new camera to capture some of the fall colors. The barberry bushes are so bright out among the brown leaves and tree trunks!

All these photos were taken out in my shade garden usually green with hostas now all frozen and covered with leaves.

This tiny barberry seemed so bright against the old logs, rocks and leaves.

Tiny red berries of this barberry stand out against a Lamium plant (one of the few green plants left).

These purplish blue berries are from a Solomon's Seal plant. They are so striking against the bright barberry leaves.

....a bright lime heuchera still vibrant among the leaves....

Another heuchera with deep pink undersides on it's leaves, almost buried in brown tree leaves.

A few sun garden photos.........

.....late fall colors of Autumn Joy sedum. I love how this plant holds it's shape all winter.

These 2 mum flowers survived the frost next to the ground......now a flash of color in the drab surroundings.

This is a garlic chives seed head. The flowers are so pretty......very white and airy. I even like the seed heads for winter garden interest but the seeds grow everywhere. Most years I cut them back.......maybe with some nice November weather I'll get that done yet.

I hope you enjoyed this peak at the colors of my fall garden. It was so nice to be outside on this warm November 1st.

.......more stamp art next time....

smiles

-judy

P.S. Blogger wasn't cooperating with me in lining up these photos.............who knows how it will look when I publish this.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween cards for my grandchildren.......

Nothing scary.....just plain Halloween fun!

I used a Penny Black Transparent set.....spooky!.....for all 3 cards. These cats are so FUN!

I used watercolors for all of the images.

The "moon" back ground on this card is sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists: Lemon Meringue, Candlelight and Dreamsicle. I masked the cat so he isn't sparkly. I added "stars" to the blue paper with Saphire Stickles.

For the next 2 cards, I stamped the cat first. Then I masked it to stamp the pumpkins. I added "stars" to the sky with a stamp from PB "crystalline" using Versamark.
I added a mask over the pumpkins leaving the mask in place over the cat, too, and then created the background with sponged on Distress inks: Brushed Corduroy, Black Soot, Broken China, Faded Jeans. The stars resisted the ink. I added Stardust Stickles to give them sparkle. I also added Stickles to the bat, pumkins, ground and the cat's hat using Black Diamond and Yellow.

This cat with his cape has the same Distress background with Stickles added for sparkle. His cape and mask are covered with Saphire and Black Diamond Stickles.

Hope your Halloween isn't too scary!

.....just plain FUN!

Enjoy!
-judy