BIRTHDAY CARD

While I had my fern stamp out, I also made this clean and simple birthday card.

After stamping the fern on a white cardfront, I also stamped the SU Happy Birthday on off-white cs with the same Olive Green Colorbox chalk ink. Next, I used a Nestie scalloped square to cut and emboss the greeting and "rolled" it on the ink pad to give it a shadowed effect against the white. Then I attached it with a few dimensionals.

For embellishments, I used a Hero Arts flower overlapping the fern and greeting. Using a Hero Arts small flower stamp, I added a circle punched from a piece of olive green cs scrap and added the three gold beads for a little glimmer.

This actually sounds more complicated than it was to make!

FINAL SHINGLES UPDATE...

...I HOPE!

Although I still get very tired by the end of the day if I overdo, I'm feeling much better. No more pain or itching. There are still occasional twinges now and then, which I've been told is normal for a few months after the symptoms recede.

I never thought I'd be so happy to be able to do housework and errands again! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayer support.

NOTE: BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO MY LAST THREE CARDS NOW THAT I'VE BEEN BUSY STAMPING AGAIN!

DIORAMA CARD FOR THE FAIR

With Vacation Bible School coming up at the end of next month, I'll be busy getting the crafts ready for 130 children. Since I wanted to enter something in the State Fair again this year, I had to get ready way ahead of VBS preparations!

I came up with this Diorama card for my entry. The stamp set is "Swan Lake" from Flourishes and it's really a pretty set. It was a lot of work doing the cutting, especially around the leaves in the upper right corner. The leaves were colored with a green Spica pen to add some glimmer. I also used a sparkle Gelly Roll pen on the water and the feathers of the swan. I didn't want to overdo such a delicate image with anything too elaborate.

Whether or not it's a winner, I'm happy with the way it turned out.

COLOR CHALLENGE

Here's my take on the Color Challenge posted HERE.

Using yellow, gray and white, a summery color combo, I used my sunflower stamp from Inkadinkado (a gift from my friend, Linda) and some dsp in my stash. The petals are colored with a Barely Banana SU marker, and the center is enhanced with some fine white glitter.

Enjoy!

FIRST MARQUEE CARD

When Jackie came over to stamp in the Tower last week, one of the cards we worked on was a Marquee card from instructions in a book. If only we had Jan Tink's video (HERE) it would have been a snap instead of a 3-hour trial and error marathon. Somehow, we just couldn't figure out how to attach the "curtain" so that it would open and close properly. Once we finally got it, though, we realized it should have taken less than a half hour to do.

Here's the one I came up with. Using stamp pegs of leaves and blossoms, I decorated the inner circle. The punched-out circle came in handy as a mask, although the inks probably wouldn't have shown up on the black anyway. The dsp scrap came in handy as a cover over the white cardstock of the base card. Then the leftover pieces were used to decorate the corners of the inside.

When opened, the curtains part to reveal a Hero Arts flower that was stamped on a scrap of dsp and glued in position.

After all the work that went into the making of this card, it will indeed be a special card for a special person!

FINAL DESIGN

Thanks for all your votes and comments on the Christmas card post. After some minor changes of Card #2 suggested by Susan Raihala of Simplicity fame (in a private email) here's what we came up with.

First, by restamping the greeting on lighter dsp and mounting it over the green, it's much easier to read. Using the BOHO Flower punch, I added some red in the center of the flower to make it more Poinsettia-like and added some dark green ferns. I also chose deeper colors of embroidery floss for the bow.

Lowering the whole greeting line down to the bottom third of the card made it more visually pleasing. It's amazing how minor changes can make such a major impact!

Tour of Our Yard

For a look at all the colorful flowers in our yard, click HERE.

WATERFALL CARD

I finally got around to trying a waterfall card, and it was fun! The pictures show the card closed and pulled down to reveal the message underneath. Dawn's video tutorial made it super easy. Check it out HERE. Click on Dawn's video links and scroll down to Waterfall Card listed at 5-10-08.

For my card, I used two shades of green to match the colors in the dsp and two coordinating SU markers for the flowers.

(The flowers are from the Hero Arts clear stamp set, "Big and Small Flowers." The stamp used on top is from Endless Creations, Inc. The hidden birthday sentiment is from SU "Whimsical Words.")

CAST YOUR VOTE

Which of these three Christmas card designs do you like best?

#1 is stamped on lightweight white cardstock, distressed, sponged and mounted over hunter green cs. The ivory Hero Arts flower has a gold embellishment which I colored with a red marker to match the red embroidery floss on the side.

#2 is also stamped on lightweight white cardstock, distressed and sponged, mounted over SU poinsettia dsp. The flower is ivory and the two-tone embroidery floss matches the colors of the dsp underneath.

#3 is printed on vellum (using my printer), then mounted over dsp that was distressed and sponged on the edges with Tea Dye distress ink. For a brighter look, I used a white flower with a gold embellishment.

The inside stamp says, "Let the song of Christmas fill your heart." All stamps used are from the new Flourishes "Christmas Music" stamp set.

Please vote for your favorite and add any suggestions you may have for improvements! (Don't forget to click on each for a closer look at details.)

Make a Wish

This dandelion stamp takes me back to my childhood days when we made wishes as we blew dandelion seeds off their stalks and watched them float away, like blowing bubbles. Later on, when weed-free lawns became more important, bubbles eventually did replace the dandelions!

Somehow the colors don't show up well here. The card base is from a package of Hero Arts Yellow cards and envelopes, much brighter than it looks, like the dandelions that pop up every Spring!

KING OF THE CATNIP

During the rain delay at the Nascar race in Pocono (only an hour from here) Archie decided to mellow out on catnip and rest up for the restart. The storm is headed in our direction and should be here within minutes. He'll probably continue his catnap right through it. Notice how tightly closed his eyes are!

(Click to enlarge.)

Shingles Update

I'm happy to report that I seem to be improving slightly. Yesterday afternoon, I drove to the post office to pick up my mail (3 miles) without as much pain as even earlier in the day. Today I'm going to try grocery shopping (16 miles, round trip)--what a thrill! (I mean that literally!)

For any of you who haven't had a Shingles vaccine, I strongly recommend that you get one ASAP. You don't want this, and I don't want it again. As soon as I'm over it, I plan to get vaccinated before it has a chance to return.

Thanks for all your comments and prayers--I cherish them all.