Rocking Horse

Giddy up, partners!!!

Yay, I finally need a Welcome Baby card! Don't wooden rocking horses bring back nostalgic memories? Handmade wooden rocking horses are a true work of love and heart!

The rocking horse image below warmed my heart and made me smile. I hope you like it, too. It's in a stamp set that is on super sale right now at Paper Smooches for just (ready?) $6.50!!! They have quite a bit on sale right now. Just click on the "sale" link -- dies start at $2.15! Lots of stamp sets are under $8.00. I just missed the February card challenge but enjoyed coloring this cutie in neutrals and as CAS as possible (for me).


Stamp Set: Knick Knacks by Paper Smooches
Cardstock: GKD 120# white and Neenah Desert Sand
Ink: Memento Tan
Wonky and Stitched Dies by Gina Marie; Heart die by Paper Smooches
Prismacolor and Crayola Color Pencils
Sakura Clear Sparkle Gel Pen, Glossy Accents, Score Tool (for the wood floor) Gold Mirror card, plain twine, craft foam & Scor Tape

Mahalo for coming by the blog!ra

The Calla or Peace Lily

Aloha!

The Calla Lily. It is not a lily at all. The botanist made a boo boo and it just stuck being called a lily. However, it is a cousin to the Anthurium - a red, heart shaped flower with yellow spike in the center. And what do Calla Lilies and the box jellyfish have in common? Neither need a mate to reproduce! ;)

Here is a lovely painting by Henri Matisse depicting his interpretation of these gorgeous flowers:

by Henri Matisse

The Calla Lily comes in a rainbow of colors. This one started out as a white one, but evolved into lime yellow. It's colored with a strange combination of color pencils, Copic markers and Memento markers. Then I covered it with clear sparkly marker - it glows.


Stamp Set: Elegant Florals by Theresa Momber for GKD, as well as the sentiment in Gina's Stippled Flowers set; Background is MFT Bundles of Flowers
Cardstock: Neenah 110# white and Bazzill lime color
Inks: Gina K. Designs
Crayola and Prismacolor Pencils, Copic and Memento markers
Nuvo Clear Sparkle Marker
Yellow dots by W+9; Oval & scallop dies by Spellbinders; Corner Rounder; ribbon, craft foam layer & glue dots

Thank you for coming by!!!

You Light Me Up

Aloha!

It's a sunny and warm day here, very warm after the cold snap (cold for us). It was 19 degrees above us on the mountains and it was brutal for a few days. Felt like central Oregon, the high desert, during the winter cold. I won't try to convince you lololol!

Here is a Lawn Fawnatics Color Challenge I would like to try and play along with:

When I was a little girl of about 4-7 we lived in Tennessee, way out in the country. I remember riding a bike down empty back roads through green, rolling hills to go visit a super sweet teenage girl who used to let me ride her big horse. She would walk ahead of the horse while holding the reins, letting me ride slowly through a meadow filled with tall grasses and flowers. Some early evenings my brothers and I used to run around to catch fireflies in an old jar. They used to have a little stanky metallic smell. They were beautiful to me and we let them go after an hour or so. Now for this card :) 

Aiming for a nighttime sky, I used watercolor paper and the ink smoosh technique. I was inspired by Kristina Werner who was inspired by Laura Bassen. It is a popular, easier technique but it took me about 10 tries to get an acceptable color. I have no idea what I did with my watercolors, so I used markers instead.

After coloring and die cutting the fireflies, I adhered them to circle punched vellum pieces. I covered the background layer with copious Wink of Stella clear to give it some major sparkle, as well as covering the fireflies. Then I heat embossed the sentiment with a silvery gold embossing powder on vellum and that's about it. Took me a couple of days because of how slow I'm getting :D

Stamp Set: "Summer Charm" by Lawn Fawn

Watercolor paper by Strathmore

Background: Tombow Markers, water and Wink of Stella

Fireflies: Copic Markers, Wink of Stella

VersaMark and Platinum embossing powder by Simon Says Stamp

Vellum Glue Dots & Scortape; Round paper punch; craft foam

Sequins by Pretty Pink Posh

Mahalo so much for stopping by!

Panda Mail

Aloha!

Here is a card for our sweet, hardworking, never-complain mail lady ♥  I've been thinking about how long it's been since giving her any kind of recognition so today is the day.

Today is the first day I haven't needed to wear enough clothes to look like someone from the Yukon since last Friday. Low 70s is more like it for this time of year and that's what the scene is about. No brutal winds or downed trees, calm ocean with no white caps :)  Boy, do I feel for everyone who is covered over in snow, ice and darkness right now. Big hugs!!!


Stamp Set: "Incoming Mail" and the palm tree from "Summer Days," both by Mama Elephant: Starry Sky background by Hero Arts (embossed on the white layer)
Inks: Memento (sponging) and Copic markers; VersaMark
Cardstock by GKD
Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen and Sharpie White paint marker
Hero Arts Clear embossing powder

Mahalo for coming by!!! ♥

Lots of Lavender

Aloha!

Here is another CAS card using an easy technique to get a bit of stained-glass look to any lined image. Just heat emboss it, preferably with a metal finish powder. Take any markers, (water or alcohol) and tap different colors inside each small area, just like a stained glass piece might have. You can create this on cardstock, acetate or vellum. If you use vellum, the colors will look best if you add them to the back side of the embossed layer. I used a scoring tool to create a border as well as a die to cut a zigzag finish.

I made several of this design, then embossed different sentiments to adhere when it's time.


Stamp Set: "Lots of Lavender" by Stampin' Up
Inks: Coloring with Copic Markers
Cardstock: GKD 120#
MFT zigzag die
Silver Embossing Powder; VersaMark; Corner Rounder Punch

Thank you for stopping by! Here's to an early spring for those

of you living in the bitter cold areas!

Layered Flower Hello

Aloha friends!

This is a simple, quick card. I sent it to a lady who works at our health insurance company because she helps us to qualify for lower costs, reviewing and renewing our application every six months. This went with our latest renewal paperwork. Without that help, we could not afford 90% of the care and medications we receive! Here's to people who really help the community :D !!!

You can see I tried to poke a few holes by using the piercing tool, but it ended up getting cut off during the final process. There are few left on there. I love when the sentiments can be curved into different shapes! Thank you for stopping by, and here's to an end to the brutal cold in the midwest & east of the US and Canada!


Stamp Set: Altenew Majestic Bloom; Hello by Hero Arts
Inks: Simon Says Stamp
Cardstock: Gina K. Designs
Corner Rounder; Red gems; piercing tool; Wink of Stella (all over the flower)

Mahalo for stopping by!

And here is a warm hug filled with aloha for you ♥