Giraffe Life

Hello Everyone:

It has been several months since my last post and for that I apologize.  Life has been very busy this summer and very stressful.  We have taken several short trips this summer and really enjoyed the time as a family.

Changes are in the work in our lives as my husband has resigned from his pastorate and we are now looking for a new church to minister in.  So I am sure that blog post will be spotty for a while since there is so much to do when getting ready for a move.  I will try to be better and not let as much time go by.  Thanks for understanding.

I have made several cards over the summer and I am currently working on items for a craft show so I will be sharing those over the next few weeks.  Here is a card made this summer with the Gina K designs - Wild About You stamp set.  I am absolutely loving this set and use it all the time!

The background of this set is made by taking wax paper and crumpling it up.  Then you place a piece of card stock on it and iron it.  Then add some ink and you have a wonderful textured background perfect for this stamp set.  I then also added some stamps to the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by:

 Marcia

Mountain Wilderness

Hi everybody:

Today I have a fun card for all those outdoor lovers you know:

I started by sponging the sun, then the sky.  I then stamped the mountain twice to look like a range of mountains.  I colored those with grey copic markers, then stamped the tree line with green ink.  I then sponged the green grass area in front of the mountains.  I stamped the bear on a piece of scrap brown paper with brown ink, then cut him out.  Added the bear with pop dots and I was done.

Supplies:

Stamps - GinaK designs - Mountain Wilderness

cardstock - GinaK designs pure luxury, SU

Momento ink

Copic Markers

Thanks for stopping by:

   Marcia

Beary Nice Birthday

Hi everyone:

I have a fun spring birthday card for you today.  This was made for my a young girls birthday.

For this card I got out my crayola markers and colored directly on the stamp.  I then huffed on the stamp to activate everything then stamped on white card stock.  Matted that on pink and yellow and the card was finished.  It fun to color right on the stamps sometimes :)

Supplies:
Stamp - stampabilities - Beary Nice Celebration
Card Stock - GinaK designs
Crayola markers

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Grad Time

Hey everyone:

We had a lot of graduation parties to attend this year, so I need a quick card that I could make lots of.  Here is what I came up with.

This is a quick card where I stamped the image and greeting in brown ink, added some brown ribbon, on brown card stock, then layered it on kraft card stock.

Supplies:
Stamp: Unity - All about the journey
Cardstock - GinaK designs - pure luxury
Ribbon - Hobby Lobby
Ink - Momento

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Whimsical Spring Birthday

Hi Everyone:

I have a pretty birthday card I made for a good friend of mine.

Here is the inside:

I stamped the bird on the branch then wanted to add more branches around it.  So I stamped with another branch at different angles so it appeared the bird was in a tree.  I couldn't find any background paper I like so I made my own with the same branch stamp.  I then layered it on some brown card stock and added an orange ribbon to pick up on the berries.  Inside I used the same branch stamp again around the greeting.

Supplies:
Stamp - GinaK designs - Whimsical Spring
Cardstock - GinaK designs Pure Luxury
Nestabilities
Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by:
    Marcia

Youth Group Thank You Card

Hi everyone:

I found a picture of this card and realized that I never showed you.  For Easter this year, our youth group put on a very dramatic skit.  We wanted to give them a note to let them know we appreciated them serving during the service with the skit.

Here is their card:

This card was mostly done on the computer.  I knew I wanted to use Psalm 100 on the card.  I copies the words from Bible software, formated it, changed the font color, then I layered it over an image of a cross.  After I printed it out, I layered it on blue card stock, then on a white card base that I had embossed with zebra print.

Thanks for stopping by:
    Marcia

Happy Birthday Jessica

Hi everyone -

Today is my daughters birthday - she is turning 15.  It's a big time in her life - almost done with her freshman year of high school and just got her drivers permit last week.

Every year for my girls birthdays I let them pick what shape they would like their cake - over the past few years I have made cell phones, jungles, dolls, etc....  the list goes on and on......

This year she has requested a music note for her cake, so being the crafty mother that I am, I coordinate her card with her cake.

Here is her card for this year:

I stamped the microphone image in pink, then cut out with my lacy ovals nestabilities, sponged it with some distressed inks, then layered on pattern paper and card stock.

Supplies:
Stamp - Unity Stmap Company - Singing Souls
Ink - Momento - Rose bud
      - Tim Holtz Distressed Ink - antique linen, victorian velvet
Pattern Paper - piece from my stash
Card Stock - Ginak Designs Pure Luxury - Brown
Nestabilities - lacy oval

Thanks for stopping by:
      Marcia

Play Date Cafe PDCC130

Hi everyone -

I have a quick tag that I made for a birthday present.  I made this using the colors in this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge.

I cut the tag shape out on my cricut then cut a smaller white piece to layer inside, rounding the corners like the tag was.  I then stamped my image and greeting with London Fog (grey) ink, sponged over it with angel pink ink, added some rhinestone and twine.

Supply list:
Stamp - GinaK Designs - Garden Silhouettes
Card Stock - GinaK Designs - Pure luxury - Ocean Mist, White
Ink - Momento - London fog, Angel pink
Twine - Twinery - Stone

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Quail Birthday

Hello everyone:

Today I have a fun wilderness card for you - as you can tell I love making scenes with my stamp sets - its so fun to put things together that remind me of all of Gods beauty!

I started with the mountain stamp - stamped it once then masked it to stamp it again to look like a range of mountains.  Then I stamped the row of tress in front of my mountain range.  I then sponged the sun, sky and water.  I colored the mountains, added the shore line and colored.  The bird is stamped on scrap paper cut out and place on the scene with small pop dots.  I added some extra grass also along the shore line.  This was so much fun to keep adding things to in order to get the scene I had pictured in my mind.

Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs - Mountain Wilderness (mountains, trees, bird), By the Sea (grass), Follow Your Dreams (seashore), King of the Grill (Happy Birthday)
Card stock - GinaK designs

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Riley Birthday Picnic

Hello Everyone:

I have a fun picnic card for you today - great for all those summer holidays coming up also.

I stuck with a traditional red, white, and blue theme.  This is picnic Riley, which I colored with a red check tablecloth.  Then I found this scrap piece of pattern paper that went so well with the tablecloth I colored.  I added some red pieces and mounted it all on a blue card base.  Classic but fun picnic.

Supplies:
Stamps - Riley picnic
             - Happy Birthday (not sure just one I picked up somewhere - it has no label on it anymore)
CardStock - SU
Pattern Paper - scrap from my bin (can you tell I'm on a mission to use some scrap up)

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Mother's Day Card

Hello Everyone!

Today I have a card I made for my mom for mothers day.  My mom loves to look out at a relaxing lake and watch sailboats.  So I created a little scene to mimic what she loves.

Here is the inside:

I am absolutely loving creating window scenes with this window die - it is so easy.  I sponged the background water and sunset with momento ink then stamped the boat and seal gulls in black.  The boat is colored in dark grey to give the silhouette look.  For the window frame itself, I used my wood grain stamp then cut out the window.  I really love how this turned out!

I made a couple more similar cards as I needs some birthday cards.  Basically the same, just slightly different looks.

Supply list:

Stamps - GinaK Designs - By the Sea

               Cornish Heritage Farms - Wood grain background stamp

Card Stock - GinaK Designs Pure Luxury

Pattern Paper - Some scraps from my scrap bin

Window Die - Grand Madison Window die

Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by:

  Marcia

Hunter Birthday Card

I needed a card for a teenage boy's birthday and I had nothing in my stash.  He is a hunter (as are most of the men and boys in the UP), so I thought a little scene with this buck would be perfect for him.

I created the sky using momento ink and some sponge daubers.  A great resource for how to create sky backgrounds is Theresa Mombers blog - she does picture tutorials.  I try to recreat the look here and added mountains in the background.  I stamped the buck then masked him off and sponged a hill shape for him to stand on in black ink.  When stamping the buck I got a sumdge next to him, so I added grass with my Copic marker to cover it up.  I then stamped the cute little sign and cut it out.

All stamps are from Gina K designs.

Thanks for stopping by:

Marcia

Happy Anniversary

This morning I have a quick card for you that I created as an anniversary card.  I give so many anniversary cards to friends, but always have a difficult time coming up with something that is appropriate.  I recently got this cute stamp set and it made the prefect card.



I stamped the stamp in versamark ink then embossed with black embossing powder.  The background paper was a piece of scrap that I had in my scrap bin.  I have been on a mission to use paper from my scrap bin before even looking at other paper.  Its been fun and rewarding to be using so many of my scrap papers.

Supply list:
stamp - GinaK design -
background paper - scrap I had
Card stock - GinaK designs pure luxury

Thanks for stopping by:
    Marcia

Emerging Flower Pot

I have another card that used a fun technique:

For this card I started by stamping a background image.  Then I stamped the flower pot over the background with versamark ink and added clear embossing powder.  After I set the powder with my embossing gun, then I sponged over the image with brown ink.  You can see the background image under the pot.  I then layered the image on pink, brown, and cream card stock.  The brown and pink background pieces were embossed with a cuttlebug folder.

Supply list:
Stamps - GinaK designs - Timeless Textures, Fresh Start
Card Stock - Brown, pink, cream
Momento ink
Cuttlebug folder

Thanks for stopping by:
     Marcia

The Play Date Cafe PDCC125

Hello Everyone!

I made a quick card for the Play Date Cafe Challenge.  The challenge was to make a card using black, white and a touch of brown.  You can find the contest here.

Here is my creation:

I used a window die to cut out the window frame - I love this die - it makes window scenes so easy!  The touch of brown is the wood on which the pelican stands.

Supply list:
Stamp: By the Sea - GinaK designs
Cardstock - GinaK designs pure luxury
Pattern Paper - a scrap I had in my scrap bin
Window die - Grand Madison Window die

Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Sponged Layer Sailboat

I love to look out on the water on a warm summer day and see a sail boat drifting by. 

For this card I started with my white card base.  Then I got out a nestabilities die to use as a shape and sponged my water and sea inside the die.  I added my boat and birds to the water scene and colored the boat in with copic markers.  I stamped my pelican once on the card base and them on another piece of card stock.  I colored the image and cut it out (bird only - legs and pier are on card base), then I place it over the image I had stamped on the card using pop dots.  The red corner piece were added to cover up a smudge, but I really liked how it added a pop of color to the card that I thought it needed.

Supply list:
Stamps - GinaK designs - By the Sea
Momento ink
Copic markers


Thanks for stopping by:
     Marcia

Paper Quilt

I have another fun card for you.

For this card, I cut up some scrap paper I had and laid it out in a pattern I like.  Then I sewed all pieces to the white card stock.  I creates a fun background paper.  I liked it so much I didn't want to cover it up with a main image, so I put a smaller image in the corner so you could still see all the quilt pieces.

Supply list:
Stamps - You are not alone - GinaK designs
Card Stock - purple and white
scrap paper, momento ink

Thanks for stopping by:
    Marcia

Baby Gift

Today I have a quick project I made for a friend that recently had a baby boy. 

I often make fleece tie blankets for friend that have babies.  They are quick and easy to make and provide a nice place to lay the baby while the mom is doing other things.  This is some material I have had for a while, but no one had a baby for a while.  I like to look for fun fabric on sale to have on hand when I need it.

Here is the card I made to send to them with the gift:

This is a 4x4 card with matching envelope.  I love this image of a baby's hand and a parents hand, so I thought it was perfect for these new parents.


Thanks for stopping by:
   Marcia

Athletic Boy

Here is a quick card I made for a teenage boy who is very into sports:

I love the sports bag, basketball and running shoes.  These were the perfect image for him.  Our school colors are blue and gold, so I used that for the colors of the card and envelope.

Thanks for stopping by:
    Marcia

Distressed Newspaper Bear

Today I have a card where I played with a bunch of distress inks:

I started with a piece of newspaper.  To this piece I added wild honey and crushed olive to the paper by blotting the ink directly from the pad onto the paper.  Then with a sponge dauber I added tea dye ink.  Then I crumpled the paper up and added vintage photo ink to the raised places.  Where I thought it needed more I crumpled that section again and added more ink until I got an image I like.

Then I stamped the mountain, trees, and bear.  Instead of coloring, I decided to sponge on my main image with the same ink combinations to tie all the colors together.

Supply list:
Stamps - mountain wilderness - GinaK designs
Ranger distressed inks - wild honey, crushed olive, tea dye, vintage photo
Card stock- black, yellow, cream
Newspaper
Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by:
     Marcia

Cracked Glass Barn

Happy 1st day of Spring everyone.  We are having a beautiful day here in the UP of Michigan.  This just makes me want to get outside and work in my flower beds.

Today I have a very interesting project for you. 

This technique is called cracked glass.  You can see a video for this technique over at StampTV - Cracked glass video.  (I love all the videos on that site and have learned a lot of new techniques from there).  Basically to do this technique you stamp, cut out and color your image as normal.  Then cover the entire piece with versamark ink and clear embossing powder.  Heat the powder and while it is still warm add more embossing powder.  Do this so you have 3 to 5 layers of powder on your image.  Then you place it into the freezer for a couple of minutes.  The image will curl and then you bend it flat, which causes all the cracked glass lines.  I then added some distressed ink over the cracks so they were highlighted more.  Interesting look and technique.

Supply list:
Stamps - Farm life
Copics - E09, W-5, E37, YG67
Wood paper was a scrap I had in my file
Card stock - SU - forest green

Thanks for stopping by:
      Marcia

Busy Time

Hey everyone ~ life sure seems to be busy these past couple of weeks.  We have had a teen spa night, women's retreat, craft day, potluck, and pastor's fellowship all within a couple of weeks.  Also my mother-in-law was hospitalized.  She is doing much better now.

All this to say that my crafting time has been very limited the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to get a couple things done.  I will try to get pictures of those projects in the next few days.  Thanks for being patient with me.

Thanks for stopping by,
Marcia

Dry Erase Board

I watched a video over at StampTV on how to take an acrylic picture frame and turn it into a dry erase board.  So I thought that would make a great gift for my sister.  I used the colors of her great room.

It is really easy - Just cut your base paper to 8" by 10" then design the way you want.  Leave open space for them to write their notes on.

Supply list:
Stamps - Whimsical Spring, Holiday basket - GinaK Designs
Paper - SU
Momento Ink - London Fog, Danube Blue

Thanks for stopping by:
Marcia

Mountain Sunset

I lived in Utah for several years and watched the sunrise over the beautiful Wasatch mountain range.  Thinking about all those mornings inspired this card.

I have always enjoyed camping high up in the mountains beside a lake.  We have spent some wonderful times as a family camping.

I sponged the background sky and lake with momento ink.  Then added some color to the images with copic markers

Supply list:
Stamps - All from GinaK designs - Happy Camper, Follow Your Dreams
Card Stock - SU - Brilliant blue
Memento ink - black, danube blue, rose bud, angel pink, grape jelly
Copic Markers

Thanks for stopping by:
Marcia

Play Date Cafe PDCC 120

I recently discovered this blog that has a new fun challenge every week:  Play Date Cafe.

This weeks challenge was to use

Baby Blue...Orangesicle...Basil

here is the card I made for the challenge:

In honor of Theresa Momber sponsoring the challenge this week I used her stamp set Whimsical Spring.

Supply list:

Stamps - Whimsical Spring, Fanciful Tags

Pattern Paper - DCWV - Cafe Mediterranean

Card Stock - GinaK Designs Pure Luxury - white, ocean mist, creme de menthe

Nestabilities - classic large oval, lacey circle

Markers - Bic Mark-it - sunset orange, oceanview blue, margarita green

Ink - Momento - summer sky, tuxedo black

When I make cards I usually make 2 or more of the same design as I have lots of people we give cards to.  Here is another card I made using all the same supplies and inspiration, but a different pattern paper.

Thanks for stopping by:

Marcia

Wise Old Owl

I have a very quick card for you today that I made for an older man's birthday.

This was such a quick and easy card to make!  Sometimes I love that kind of card and other times I want to spend time coloring and cutting and making it the way I picture it in my head.

Supply list:
Stamp - Sketched owl by Stampabilities
Card Stock - GinaK Designs pure luxury - chocolate brown and ivory
Pattern Paper - Mirabelle by Paper Studio
Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by:
Marcia

Fleur Anya

Happy Friday Everyone!

My girls had a 4 day weekend last week and I enjoyed some fun family time with them.  Tonight we are hosting our youth group girls for a sleepover and spa night, along with some Biblical teaching on modesty and purity.  Then next week I have a women's retreat that I am organizing.  So you can see these past couple of weeks have been packed full of some things.  I have been working on a couple of cards but have not finished them yet, but I do have some that I have not posted yet so I will share those in the next week.

So for today I have a fun little lady to share with you:

Isn't she a pretty one.  I won this stamp set and even though it is not a style I would normally buy, I think she is great and I have thought of several little girls who would love a card with her on it.  For her dress I  paper pieced with a pretty scrap of paper I had on my crafting table.  Then I designed the card and colors around that.

Supply list:
Stamp - Fleur Anya from the Greeting Farm
Nestabilities
Copic Markers - E51, Y02, Y06, RV24, 100
Sakura pen - Pink Star
Twinery
Pearls
The background paper was another piece of scrap that was on my desk.

Thanks for stopping by:
Marcia

Blog Candy Alert

Hey everybody:

I just wanted to let everyone know that Melanie is giving away Spellbinders dies over on her blog: http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/

Make sure you enter to win.  Follow her blog too - she gives great tips.

Thanks for stopping by:
Marcia

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope every one has a wonderful day!

Today I have a birthday card for you:

For the flowers on this card I used 3 techniques:  First I  stamped the flowers in blue ink, then I did the rock-n-roll technique around the edges add the darker blue ink, and I finished each flower by thumping the center with a dark brown marker. 

The center panel is layered on chocolate brown cardstock then onto a nice blue.

Stamps used are from GinaK designs:  Pressed flowers and mountain wilderness (greeting).  Cardstock is from SU and GinaK designs.

Thanks for visiting:

Marcia

Clown Riley Birthday Card

Wow ~ Time sure has flown by these past couple of weeks and I realized I haven't posted for a while.  Well not to worry as I have several projects to share with you in the upcoming weeks.

Today I have a quick card I made for a little girl's birthday.

 Clown Riley

This is a square card.  I colored the image with copic markers: E15, E47, YR23, and BG15 and Sakura clear star.  Used momento black ink.  Cut out images with Nestabilities standard circle large and lacy circles.  Pattern paper is paper studio - birthday extravaganza.  Card stock is Gina K Designs pure luxury  - turquoise sea. 

Thanks so much for visiting:
Marcia

Riley cards for my sister's Christmas present.



This is the last set of cards that I made my sister for Christmas.  These all feature the fun moose Riley.  This first card has lots of glitter and pink for a young girl.  What little girl wouldn't want a  horse for their card? 

This card shows Riley driving a car.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up.  I love this car paper in the background.

Another fun card with Clown Riley.  After I colored him I added my glitter pen on top to make it sparkle.  I picked out this pattern paper and then colored the image to match.

What a fun little boy card.  Most boys at sometime pretend that they are cowboys.  We even have cowboys and horses on the pattern paper.

When you live in the upper peninsula of Michigan like I do, most boys (even girls) are out hunting with their dads as soon as they can walk.  So this fun hunting Riley makes such a cute card, especially with the camouflage background I added.

Thanks for coming by

Marcia

My sisters Christmas gift

I created a bunch of all occasion cards for my sister for Christmas.  They were included in a little bag with a bunch of other goodies.  I tried to give her a variety of cards.  I love doing scenes as they are very versatile cards.  Shown are several of the cards I gave her.  All stamp sets are from Gina K Designs.  The card stock is also the Gina K Design pure luxury card stock.  Enjoy.

This was a fun card for someone who likes to fish.

This card is stamped with purple ink then I added clear embossing powder.  I then colored the flowers with a yellow crayon and then used distressed inks over the top.   I love how this turned out!

This is such a quick and easy card - but so pretty!  This is a single stamp that I inked up with memento rose bud ink.  Put a pretty ribbon around it, layer it, and stick it on a card base and its ready to go!

For this card I used my crayola markers and thumped on the stamp.  I love the varied colors this technique gives.  I used a cuttlebug folder to emboss the background.  I ink the folder then ran it through to emboss.  Such a great way to make a background that matches.

 This is such a pretty card.  I used this fabulous pattern paper with the cardinal image.

That's all for today - but I'll be back in a couple of days with more cards that I made for my sister.  Coming up ~ some fun kid cards.

Thanks for visiting
Marcia

Table Runner

I have been very busy crafting over the past month.  I made a stack of all occasion cards for my sister (which I will be sharing in the upcoming days); gift card holders; a package for homemade deer jerky; and a table runner for my mom.

This table runner has been a work in progress for a couple of years.  It was very time consuming so I would work on it for a while then set it aside for months.  Praise the Lord I finially finished it!  It is all embroderied by hand and took countless hours.

Hope you enjoy ~ come back in the next few days as I will be sharing some of the other projects I did for Christmas gifts

Marcia