random reflections

Woodblock Wednesday: February Edition

When I recently needed a get well card, I went to my wooden stamps and came up with this cute one. I can't read the company's name, but it came from St. Louis, and one of the dates on it is 1994. 

I was in the midst of making valentines, so stuck to the same colors: pink and red. I used Copic markers for the lid on the pill box, but used my red Staedtler triplus fineliner to color in the heart-shaped pills. I die cut the image with Reverse Confetti's Pierced Round Top die and then die cut the next size in pink, and added it to a gray card base.

I added three little red hearts die cut with Hero Arts Infinity Hearts and The Greetery's Cupid's Arrow.

I'll be soaking up the sun in Aruba when this post goes live, but hopefully, will get it linked up to the Woodblock Wednesday post on Amy's blog.

Breezy Blossoms

The night before we left for vacation, I actually found time to put together two cards. After using the Betterpress, the Breezy Blossoms were then colored using the accompanying stencils. This was all done so long ago that I don't remember a thing about it. After die cutting them, I put them in a little plastic bag and stuck them in my "Work on This" box. I had dumped them on my desk, and before cleaning up to leave, I sat down and figured out two ways to use them.

This card uses a NBUS coverplate, Modern Design Blocks. It came as part of the August 2024 Pinkfresh Create and Connect event. I never seem to get to all the class cards, let alone the Make & Takes, but eventually I get around to using the products. I layered it on a mint card base, and then die cut two Nested Elongated Balnket Stitched Ovals, also by Pinkfresh.

I layered just one stem of the Breezy Blossoms, added a sentiment with a Memory Box Black Tab Birthday greeting, and three enamel dots. 

This card also uses a cover plate that came with a Create and Connect event, the Stitched Octagon Cover Plate. Concord and 9th's Grapefruit cardstock was a great match for one of the inks I used coloring the florals. This card uses a number of different stems grouped together.

I die cut two of the Pinkfresh Notched Corner Frames, bumping the top one up with some dimensional foam. Another Black Tab greeting and some enamel dots.

I'm sending these off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge blog as well as NBUS - these are a perfect fit! I'm also adding them to the February Pinkfresh Challenge where Anything Goes, and Seize the Birthday without the Topping. 

Just a Note

I'm CASEing myself with this card. It's the same general design as my previous cards with an addition of a strip of patterned paper from Papertrey Ink's Three Piece Suit paper pad which has been in my stash for years. I needed a masculine card for a note of encouragement, and luckily, The Paper Players are looking for CAS Masculine cards. 

With the exception of the patterned paper, all the dies used are from The Greetery: The pen (Pen Pal), the postal background (Postal Frames), and the sentiment (Scripted Sentiments.) 

When the Pen Pal dies were introduced, Betsy showcased some of them with patterned and stamped papers, so I gave that a try which I quite like. 

In addition to the Paper Players, this is also off to the Word Power Challenge where the sentiment should take center stage. 

 

Pink Magolia

I recently won a very generous gift card at Pinkfresh Studios. I've been saving the lovely gift certificate I received for Christmas, but I had no trouble spending the money I won! Most of the order were for things that had been on my wish list for quite some time, but I also purchased the stamp and die, Magnificent Magolia, from a recent release. Once I was done making valentines, I was anxious to get it out for a play date. 

The first step was to emboss the image in gold. Then I chose a group of three pink Copic markers and two green markers. I considered two different dies for the background, but settled on the Notched Corner Frames which I die cut in white after die cutting the magnolias. Both were added to a pink card base.

The sentiment came from another, older, Pinkfresh floral set, Nothing But the Best. I had forgotten this lovely birthday sentiment which also included a die. It, too, was gold embossed, and I added three Clear Drops in Blush from Pinkfresh.

Looking out my window it's hard to imagine that magnolias will be blooming in a few months. We've gotten several inches of snow every day for the last several days. Around noon today, the sun came out, but the wind is so cold it feels like -7°. Our snowblower "died" yesterday, so Tracy has had to shovel our long and steep driveway. We cancelled a meeting scheduled meeting here to night, as there is no easy parking on our street if the snow is piled up. Fortunately, if all goes well, we'll be headed toward warmer climes this coming weekend. 

Pinkfresh has changed their monthly challenge so "anything goes," I always think I'll get an entry in, and I should, since I have a very large selection of Pinkfresh products. So this is off to the Pinkfresh February challenge.

I chose pink for the magnolias since The Flower Challenge is looking for pink, and a birthday sentiment so I could play along with Seize the Birthday, without the topping this round. It's also off to Darnell's NBUS, and follows along with her I.D.E.A.S. which this week is embossing. 

       

 

Color Hues #104

Mid-February, and here in Western New York, we're in need of some fresh, bright colors. Bonnie has chosen a perfect combo for the next Color Hues Challenge: Coral and Yellow.

Frequently, I turn to orange in my card making, but I rarely think about coral. I did some searches on the internet to be comfortable with the difference between orange and coral--they are very close! Then I wanted to find an image to watercolor. I thought I could blend the coral and yellow for a floral, so chose Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina. We live just a block away from a fabulous park which has a large collection of magnolias. There are two yellow magnolia trees, but I must admit I took some liberties with the brightness of my hue, and with the coral centers-a bit of creative license!

I stamped the design on Arches 140# watercolor paper, and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I found two watercolors in my collection that worked well: Lemon from Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolor Set. and Coral Reef from The Stamp Market's Color Crush Watercolor Palette Pans. I used two shades of brown watercolor from the Altenew set for the centers. 

The sentiment from The Greetery's Tagged Elegance was stamped on Arches watercolor paper and die cut with the accompanying die. I'm determined to get to all the NBUS dies and stamps in my box, and the dies for this set were purchased during the Christmas release last year but it's the first time I've used them.  A simple black border attached to a card base created with Gina K's Coral Reef cardstock finished the card. I did try some coral and clear embellishments but they all seemed too busy.

I hope you'll join us! As always, you'll find lots of inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Teresa. The challenge will be live until February 27th. 

You're Doggone Great!

I have one last valentine to share before the holiday arrives. Each Tuesday and Thursday I work with a group of five first graders who are enrolled in a Spanish speaking class at a nearby elementary school. Nearly all the instruction is in Spanish, and I do not speak nor do I understand Spanish. It turns out that I don't need those skills since my job is to help them read in English. All five have good verbal skills in English so communicating is not a problem. Progress with reading English is slow, but they never seem to lack interest or enthusiasm for the process. It's the second year I've worked in this class, and it's been a wonderful volunteer experience. 

I have a lot of cute valentine images, but they all use a play on words that I didn't think my first graders would get. Explaining "doggone" good won't be too hard.

This valentine uses one of my oldest stamps sets, Papertrey Ink's Tiny Treats and one of my newest dies, Altenew's Picture Perfect. 

Luckily I found a set of five Paper Source A4 cards and envelopes which made this an easy valentine to put together. I colored the puppy with a Copic marker and used a red Staedtler triplus fineliner for the hearts. 

I'm adding this to Darnell's February NBUS gallery since I've now put the Altenew frame to good use.

 

A Mailbox Filled with Hearts

I've really had a fun time this year creating valentines. I originally bought this Spellbinder die, Parcel and Post, to create a valentine. I've used it for several occasions, but this might be the first time it's shown up as a valentine.

I already had a red mailbox in the folder that I had die cut earlier. Once I assembled it, I looked through my embossing folders for a good background and chose Taylored Expressions' Subway Tiles.  I used the smallest of The Greetery's Nordic Hearts for the front of the mailbox bordered with a gold metallic scalloped "frame." The sentiment embossed in gold is from The Greetery, Sentiment Suite: Love.

Then it was just a matter of diecutting hearts from a variety of papers, adding a bit of glitter to one, and assembling the letter going in the mailbox. 

This valentine is off to the Time Out Challenge. It's a pick two and I actually used three: layer, heart, love. It's my third, and last, entry into the Just Us Girls: Use a Heart Die--there are several here. 

 

Long Story Short

Tracy gave me the Vintage Type die by The Greetery for Christmas. I thought it would be a good idea to use it to create my valentine for him. 

I had borrowed a friend's die a year or so again, so putting this together went pretty quickly. The sentiment is also from The Greetery, Just My Type. It's a great set, and there were several ways to combine sentiments. I'm a fan of this one. Here's a closer look:

I'm sending this off to Festive Friday where I used Red, Gold, and a Love Sentiment. It's also off to the Colorful Options Challenge. It's been awhile since I've played along with them. 

Nordic Heart

I definitely misspoke in my last post. I did, indeed, buy two other die sets in January--both from The Greetery. Nordic Hearts was part of their recent release. I'm using it today for another valentine, but it will be in rotation all year since it's perfect for anniversaries as well as thinking of you cards. The Cupid's Arrow die feels more like a valentine purchase, but elements of that die will also work for other occasions. I made a valentine for my grandson with Cupid's Arrow, but put it in the mail without taking a photo of it. 

This valentine (I made two of them) are off to friends, both of whom are wrestling with health issues. I chose the colors from The Color Throwdown Challenge: pink, brown, and white. I chose to use watercolor paper for texture on the card base. It's not a pure white but I hope it counts. 

I used the border die from the largest of the three hearts in the set to dry emboss the front of the card. Then I die cut the mid-size heart and border from kraft and pink cardstock. I love the delicate design on the heart. 

The sentiment is also from The Greetery, Sentiment Suite: Valentine, stamped in pink on kraft and die cut with My Favorite Things Itty Bitty Strips. 

In addition to The Color Throwdown, I'm sending this off to CAS on Friday: Valentine and a second entry to Just Us Girls: Use a Heart Die. 

Mix and Match Hearts

The only purchase I made for valentines this year was Concord and 9th's Mix and Match Hearts. I started out die cutting many different colors of hearts which gave me a nice collection of not only hearts, but the frames for them as well. I played around with different layouts but ended up making three of the same design, but differing colors, for my three granddaughters here in Rochester. 

It takes awhile to inlay all the hearts, but it's worth the time. There is an accompanying stamp set which adds words to the hearts. I tried using multiple words, but ended up liking one heart with a word, layered with some dimensional tape. 

You might notice a few pink hearts with some ink blending. I found a panel I had ink blended some time ago, and used it as one of the panels, and of course, got an array of ink blended hearts as well. You can see that panel in the last of the three valentines.

The sentiment on all three cards is from Simon Says Love You Greetings which I die cut with My Favorite Things Itty Bitty Strips. 

Not surprisingly, there are multiple card challenges looking for hearts and valentines. These are off to four of them:

First up, Just Us Girls is looking for Heart Dies (plenty of those here!) I'm also sending these to Double D where the challenge is Hearts and to A Cut Above where Anything Goes with a Die Cut. And last, but certainly not least, it's off to Darnell's NBUS. For a change it didn't take me long to put this die to use.