random reflections

Time Out: Loving

The current challenge at Time Out is "Loving" and although it's definitely time to think about Valentines, I have a wedding card to share. It's another CAS design, but one I love and will definitely use again. It would work for a wedding, anniversary, or a Valentine, I think.

One of my favorite ever products from Papertrey Ink are their Mix and Mat dies. Each set has three dies that come grouped together. You can die cut them as is, or separate them and use two together, or each separately. In this case, I used the two inner dies from the "Pretty Brackets" set die cut in white.

I trimmed it down and used foam tape to add some dimension before adhering it to a white card. I'm a huge fan of white on white, and all the card needed was a some heart from My Favorite Things heart dies cut from Pure Poppy cardstock.

I love the stitched edge around the middle die cut on this Mix and Mat die. I decided against adding a sentiment to the front of the card, and went with the wedding messages on the inside. 

Happy Birthday Hannah and Caleb

Hannah and Caleb have a shared birthday. On January 30th, Hannah turned 2 and Caleb turned 7. It's the first year in many that we were not present for the birthday celebration. We did share the lighting of the candles and singing of "Happy Birthday" via FaceTime. When we were here in October I gave Sarah two sparkler candles from Paper Source in the shape of 2 and 7. A friend had told me about them and said they were what they used for each of their children's birthdays. I thought they were really cool, but it didn't turn out so well. As soon as Sarah lit the sparklers, Caleb jumped out of his seat and took off, and Hannah started to cry. There's no blowing out sparkler candles, so we just had to wait for them to die out! By the end, they were watching with some trepidation.

Thanks to Adam for the photos

 

We waited until we arrived on Saturday to give them their gifts and cards. Caleb is quite an artist, and wanted to know if I'd colored in the images in his card. I got a "Good job, Grandma!" response when I said I had. Hannah tried to figure out how to get the fairy off the card, but Sarah explained how the card was put together, and it survived the inspection.

Here's the inside of Caleb's card. Given the circumstances, it was the perfect sentiment. It's also from the Winnie and Walter set.

I purchased this Neat and Tangled stamp set ("Later, Alligator") with Caleb in mind, but expected to use it to make a card with a favorite expression of his, "See you later, Alligator." I was going to leave it with him when we go home. But instead, I used it for his birthday card, and thought the alligators would look cute holding the banner from Winnie and Walter's "Wish Big" stamps. During the Black Friday sales, I purchased a small set of the Picket Fence "Life Changing Blender Brushes." I have to say, ink blending is easier with them, although I ended up using a Tim Holtz "Distress Blending Brush" as well on the grassy area to add a bit of texture. All the cloud dies are from Papertrey Ink.

The minute I saw the December Hero Arts Stamp Kit, I knew it was ready-made for a grandma with four granddaughters. This card is a close CASE of one Nichol Spohr posted at the tune of the kit's release. The patterned paper is from an old Studio Calico 6X6 paper pad and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Balloon Bash."

Hopefully, you can seen the addition of the glitter pen to many of the stars on the patterned paper, and the Nuvo glitter to the wings. I also added a sparkly Amuse raspberry star to the sentiment. (It's funny how tilting the card makes the left side of the card base appear blue.)

Happy Birthday for Two Challenges

I'm back with a CAS birthday card for the current challenges at Seize the Birthday and Wednesday's Simon Says Challenge: Use Something New.

Sometime in November I purchased two dies I'd been eyeing for some time: the Pink Fresh Studio's "Dainty Blossoms" and the Noteworthy Frames. After Christmas I had time to play with them. Today's card uses only the "Dainty Blossoms," but I'll be back later with some cards using both dies. I love the way they look, but I must admit that die cutting the blossoms requires some time and patience even with a metal shim. I do not, however, regret either purchase. 

This card uses just two of the eight dies included, both die cut from metallic cardstock (which might have been one of the reasons they didn't cut so easily.) I adhered them to a white card and added a bow tied with beautiful silver cord that my friend, Michelle, gave me. The sentiment is embossed with Platinum embossing powder on one of Papertrey Inks "Skinny Mini Banners." I almost didn't order that set of dies, but I'm already glad I did. It was the perfect size for one of Simon Says "Tiny Words" phrases (another new purchase with a lucky blog win from Simon Says.)

It's cold and raining here, and we woke up to no heat. A heating contractor is due here in an hour or so, and I'm hoping it's a simple fix. We certainly don't want to leave the house without any heat while we're away for a week.

 

CAS on Friday: Christmas Card

The latest challenge on CAS on Friday is "Make a Christmas Card." I've shared a few of the cards I made, but haven't shared the ones I made using the tags for Tracey McNeeley's 25 Christmas Tags challenge. I spent the better part of a day right before the holiday turning some of the tags into cards. They've all been mailed now, so it's a good time to share. I'll be entering the first one into the CAS on Friday challenge.

The card I'm entering is the only card I made this year in non-traditional colors, and it's one of my favorites. 

The tag uses Papertrey Ink's "Warmest Wishes" set. I ran the beautiful Altenew embossing plate through the die cutter with Raspberry Fizz cardstock, mounted it on a top-folded white card, and added the tag. 

Here are a few more:

This card went to Hannah. Sarah set me the cutest video of Hannah opening the card and giving it a very close examination. My grandchildren are young enough that I don't expect much appreciation from them. Sometimes the card is destroyed in just minutes. It's the pleasure of making it that matters. In this case, the card was truly appreciated, and it survived the holiday season.

Using the Simon Says stencil "Falling Snow," I covered a black card with white embossing paste to create a backdrop for the tag created with Neat and Tangle's cute "So Foxy" stamp, Simon Says "Merry and Bright" and "Diagonal Stripes." 

This turned out to be another fave:

I die cut Simon Says "Diamond Pattern" from Blueberry Sky paper (PTI) and left the die cuts remain in place. I adhered it to a card made from "Spring Rain," and then added the dimensional tag created with stamps from PTI's "Winter Hills" and the "Tag Sale 10" die.

The next card uses the same "Diamond Pattern" die cut this time from Pure Poppy cardstock. In this case, I released all the little pieces to expose the white card behind the cute penguin tag stamped with My Favorite Things "Chill Wishes" and some more embossing paste with the "Falling Snow" stencil by Simon Says.

And one more:

The tag for this cards was die cut with PTI's "Tag Sale 4" and the beautiful holly (and die) are from Hero Art's "Happy Holly Days" which I watercolored with Zig markers. The bow was die cut with a die from Concord & 9th's "Mistletoe Card Frame." It's hard to see clearly, but the tag is mounted on Pure Poppy that was embossed with Papertrey Ink's "Tintype" Impression Plate. 

When I started making tags for Tracey's challenge I didn't expect to turn many of them into cards. In the end, I think I created 15 or 16 cards from the 26 tags. I ended up needing all of them so it turned out to be a worthwhile endeavor.

 

 

 

Photowalk #1 and 5 in 5

One thing I wanted to do this year was come up with a photography project. I've completed two Project 365s, and didn't want the pressure of taking a daily photo. In addition, I wanted to be more deliberate about the photography and was looking for a theme when I chanced upon the idea of 52 Photowalks. Perfect! It will get me outside every week, regardless of the weather and encourage me to find some new areas to photograph. 

We arrived in Racine, WI this morning on a beautiful, very warm, January day. The warm temperatures will be gone tomorrow so I wasted no time getting out. Tracy and I drove the short distance from Sarah's home to the Wind Point Lighthouse. I took about 20 photos in the area, but am sharing just five of them taken within five minutes for Sandi's 5 in 5 meme--this month on the 5th!

Next week's photowalk will be even more fun. Sarah has a week-long conference in Orlando, FL, and we're all flying down several days ahead of time to take Hannah and Caleb to DisneyWorld for several days. Then we'll leave her there for her conference and come back to Racine with Adam and the kids.