Florida Thank You

We have been in Florida since February 21st. How lucky is that especially with a winter in Vermont like this one?  Blessed is what we are!

Our landlord is a wonderful woman from Canada, the first time we've rented from her. I hope we can continue to enjoy a great renter relationship in the future. It has been such a wonderful time here for John and me, and she has offered us the condo for two months next year. I sure hope we can make it work financially... a piece of heaven for sure! Right on this gorgeous ocean...

Here's the card we left for her...

This was a card I made in the OCC in February, one stamp set three ways. You can check back for details on how I used this PTI Flipping Out stamp and die set. I would have never thought to do the all over pattern, but love the way it came out! Will definitely make a few more of these in different colors. And the sentiment is PERFECT!

What a great way to think about February and March next year...

First April Birthday

Our grandson, Thomas will be five this year which means so many very important things to him. First he'll go to kindergarten in the Fall, just like his brother and sister. Secondly, he'll get to be with lots of other kids his age, and I know he will love that! He is just so social...

Here's my card for Thomas...

I made a shaker card because I know he'll like to do the shaking of pieces of sparkling gold. His name is die cut with my new dies and I love how they came out!

The gold diecut for "Sprinkled" came from the PTI Shakers kit, as did most of the other stamping.  I also used Jennifer McGuire's idea of fun foam for the window to make it safer since I have to mail it. 

So the fun foam layer is between the blue front and the white card base. It really makes shaker windows easy to design for me.  The stitched rectangle was the perfect shape for this card.

I hope Thomas likes it...  Happy 5th birthday Thomas!

March Birthdays

Although our daughter-in-law, Erica's birthday is March 1st, I think of it as February to get my card mailed on time! So I have included her card at the end of this post since I created it for OCC #4 and have already shared it there. The next birthday is our daughter Jessica, who hits a big number this year which will mean something to her as she is going through lots of changes right now.

While walking on the treadmill, I watch YouTube videos. I saw one today from one of my favorite card makers, Jennifer McGuire, about stamping and watercoloring with Distress markers. So that inspiration led me to this card. 

Here's my card for Jessica ...

The SU Flight of the Butterfly  stamp set, is stamped with different Distress inks and then watercolored with Distress inks on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I used the dotted butterfly impression and then put down just plain water, adding the color slowly and letting the water do the mixing.

I masked off the area for the sentiment just as Jennifer did. I wished that I stamped the butterflies in Antique Linen instead of colors, because I think it would have made the lines disappear. The background wash is Distress Salty Ocean done very lightly. I do like the result and will use this technique again.

Now for a quick look at Erica's card...

From PTI's Uncorked ... I used the faux ceramic tile idea from Julie Ebersole in OCC Day 2 - used the wine and red stemmed wine glasses, spattering black in the background of a white card base. The sentiment also from a PTI set, is gold embossed on a heavy vellum strip and gold and silver sequins were added for a touch of bling. I just love the shine on that faux ceramic tile technique!

Happy, happy birthday to two people I am very blessed to have in my life!

Valentine's Day

Again this year I made valentine cards for the grandkids and put them in the envelopes BEFORE taking pictures! So I can't document them here... I may yet decide to open those envelopes...

For the kids that can read... I made joke cards with Wplus9 Knock Knock Valentine set that was so cute! For the preschoolers, I made cards with a faux ceramic tile from the OCC #4 in Julie's lesson. I used a set from SSS Fun Images for them in a smaller size, 3x3.

The idea for John's card also comes from an OCC lesson, Debby Hughes and paper cutting...

The smart thing I did with this card, was to use self adhesive paper! It made the card so much cleaner when assembling! No showing glue on the edges. I did add some white gel dots to fill in some empty spaces though...

Without giving too many details for the integrity of the class, it was so much easier with adhesive paper! Inside I included the white embossing on "Always" ... 

Tell you what... that class was just great! So many ideas and lessons to look back on for new ideas. Well spent treat for myself!

Talk about brave...I'm also entering the Simon Says Monday Challenge for "H"... Hearts and Husband!

February Birthdays

In the Wright family we have three birthdays in February- all belonging to our son's family! Mason will be seven on the 6th, John will be 38 on the 11th and Carter will be 9 on the 16th...

Mason and John's card I made during the Online Card Class, so the new one I did was Carter... our baseball enthusiast! He just loves pitching and can't wait for the season to begin this year...

I made a shaker card and actually made baseballs small enough with a paper punch to fit in the shaker! I also added some beads and sequins so it would really shake!

The stamp set is PTI's 7th Inning Stretch, which I have used a lot with the dies, too!I made the shaker first on the white card base, surrounded it with 3 layers of foam tape, and covered it with plastic paper. The "sandlot" is PTI Classic Kraft, the bases are die cut with the smallest double stitched square die from white. I even made a pitchers mound, knowing Carter would be looking for it!

The pattern paper was added around the frame. The bat is attached with a piece of folded plastic to give it the appearance of hitting the baseball on the front for a grand slam! 

Here's a closer view... you can see how it moves...

The greeting is clear embossed on vellum after stamping in black ink. The "diamond" made the card a bit wider than a standard A2, so I had to make my own envelope, 6 x 6 1/2."

Happy nine year old birthday, Carter Thomas!

Here's another shot of Mason's card... a shaker from PTI's A-maze-ing stamp and die set. I followed an idea from Laura Bassen and made a real maze shaker... not an easy task for me! Using five die cuts that are glued together, and covered with plastic sheeting, the smallest seed beads are the inside of the shaker.

The greeting is right on the pattern paper with black ink, and a piece with "MAZE" is white embossed on black paper to stand out of the word, A-MAZE-ING!

Hope he likes it!

And John's card... taken from a lesson in OCC #4, it was perfect for John! All the paper pieces are glued in place, also not an easy task, but I love the look of it!

Happy birthday Wright's!

OCC- Day 7 One Stamp Set - Three Ways

What a great challenge! And after yesterday's fun card, I decided to use PTI's Flipping Out stamp and matching die set...

Here's a quick shot of all three...

This is a partial die cut with the flip flops on the "sand" added with foam tape on top of the white card base, partially sponged with the blue water.  I added the flip flops  with foam tape atop the partial die cut.

Here I used the overall pattern from Kristina's example, choosing the middle pair of flip flops to highlight. The colors are SU Summer Starfruit and Tangerine Tango. 

The anniversary wishes card highlights the simplicity of two pairs of flip flops with lots of white space. I like the elegance of this one on black...

So sorry to see this class end... I have really enjoyed every day's activities! Thanks so much to the instructors and the participants that shared so many examples in the galleries!

OCC- Day 6 Striped Background

For class today the background that Tasnim created was just amazing! I could envision a sandy beach and tried to create that for my card...

Love, love this technique! I used a white card for the base and sponged Distress Salty Ocean in "waves" making the curve go in one direction and then the other. It looked like a pool...

With another white cardstock, I partially die cut the flip flops from PTI's Flipping Out, creating the panel to be the "sand." Using the same curved line paper cut and a brown Distress ink to sponge the sandy waves, I sanded the area near the flip flops to appear as the foam on the shoreline. Stamping the flip flops separately, I added them with foam tape for dimension, with the straps and flower separately.

The water was sprayed with Shimmer Shine and the greeting embossed in white. The panel with sand was added with foam tape to rise above the water. 

Love the way it came out and will use this set for tomorrow's challenge of one stamp set three ways!