Cheery Lynn Poinsettia Christmas card

Hello Crafty Friends.

Last weekend I went to my first crop with a bestie of mine, Janice.  We arrived at Old Orchard Inn on Friday afternoon and left late afternoon on Sunday.  During that time I slept less than 7 hours, completed 13 cards, started 2 cards, had a back massage at the spa and- most of all- had a fabulously fun time. :)

One of the first cards I made used a new die from Cheery Lynn, 3-D Poinsettia.  Here are the steps I used to create this card:

1. Distress Ink 2 sheets of white card stock using Distress Inks in Festive Berries, Barn Door and Vintage Photo. Dry.
2. Die cut three poinsettias from one of the inked card stock. Apply Distress paint Rock Candy to all three poinsettias.  Allow to air dry.
3. While poinsettias are drying, die cut doily from white card stock.
4. Cut patterned Christmas paper to size and apply gold ink to edge.
5. Cut Kraft paper, white card stock, and second sheet of inked card stock to size.  Mount to tent fold Kraft card.
6. Cut dried poinsettias as shown.  Apply Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut stain to edges.
7. Mount doily and poinsettia die cuts to card.
8. Apply Stickles to center of poinsettia and in open areas of doily as desired.

Aside from the drying time for the crackle and Stickles, the card came together quickly and fits easily into an envelope.  Perfect for making multiples this holiday season.

Supplies used:

• Cheery Lynn dies in 3-D Poinsettia, Dutch Daisy Square
• Ranger Ink's Rock Candy Crackle paint, Stickles in Gold and Distress Inks in Festive Berries, Barn Door, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
• White and Kraft card stock, patterned Christmas paper (unknown supplier)
• Sakura's Pen-Touch in gold

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a happy crafty weekend!

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn, AG

Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday AG

Word Art Wednesday, AG

613 Avenue Create, AG

Thank you and Goodbye Sweet Ella

Crafty Friends-

I usually do not share personal items on my blog but if you don't mind I would like to share on this post.  

Many of you may know that my husband and I do not have children so we share our home, lives and love with our furry family members.  Our Saint Bernard, Ella, was the center of our home and our hearts.  She was a beautiful girl inside and out.  She loved everyone.  She was always happy.  She filled my heart with joy and, most of all, love.  We took the best care of her to ensure she would have the best of health.  Giant breed dogs have short lives and we wanted our Ella to live as long and healthy a life as possible.

Three weeks ago we took Ella to the dog park.  It was a typical dog park day: she took a dip in the lake, had a little walk and wanted to play.  She was in her usual good mood and was enjoying the day.  However, my husband and I noticed that she started to bleed from her nose, then her eyes, then her mouth.  We took her to the vet and after numerous tests it was determined that she had a very rare immune disease called immune mediated thrombocytopenia with anemia.  Our vet warned us that some dogs do not even make it overnight after diagnosis.  It is a horrible, fast disease and big dogs do not survive it.  We were devastated.  Our vets did everything they could for her.  We did everything we could for her.  In a short amount of time she went from an energetic, healthy Ella to an Ella that I care not to ever remember.  On a Monday she was healthy and happy and by the following Thursday she was gone.  She was only seven.

Our home feels empty without her.  When I think of her my heart aches and I feel sadness beyond words.  Ella was sweet, innocent, loving.  She will always hold the most special, dear place in my heart.

After weeks of not crafting, I decided to make the veterinarians and staff a thank you card for taking such good care of Ella, my husband and me during this time.  Admittedly, it felt strange to return to my craft room and I was at a loss for what to create.  One of the favorite parts of my home did not feel the same and I thought that maybe I was returning to craft room too soon.  I decided to look at sketches and challenges for inspiration.  JustRite had a challenge to create something nature inspired and a nature theme was perfect for the thank you card as Ella loved the outdoors and her trips to the dog park.  

Below is the completed card.  Products and techniques are also listed.

All of the stamps used were JustRite stamps.  The roses are from the Rose Postcard Background stamp.  The roses were watercolored using Distress Markers and were fussy cut.  I applied Distress Stain in Picket Fence to soften the rose colors.

The Upcycled Woodgrain Background was covered with black archival ink, stamped once on a piece of card stock and then stamped again (did not re-ink).  The second stamped background was used on the card.  "Thank you" from Fancy Frames was stamped in black and then die cut using the smallest die from Spellbinders' Romantic Rectangles Two.

Thank you very much for stopping by.  Thank you to everyone who left comments on my blog, emailed, messaged, contacted me during this time.  I appreciated all of the kind words and hugs sent from near and far.  

Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Absence from blog

Dear Friends-

My apologies to everyone who has left comments on my posts and I have not responded.  I have been neglecting this blog and my commenting requirements for challenges.  Unfortunately there are some things going on right now that need my husband and my care, attention and time.  I plan on taking more time off from my blog, Quietfire Design and challenge blogs for the remainder of this month.

Best Regards Always,

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

"Friendship isn't a big thing"- Graphic 45 and Quietfire Design

Hello Crafty Friends!  Today is my day to post at Quietfire Creations and I used one of my favorite Quietfire Design stamps, "Friendship isn't a big thing":

The card used patterned paper from Graphic 45's paper pad "Kraft Reflections".  (The paper pad is available at the Quietfire store and is on sale right now for 30% off.  Great price...especially if you are a U.S. customer because the Canadian dollar is quite a bit lower than the U.S.!)

The card also used Spellbinders dies Labels One Card Front and Labels 47 Decorative Elements.  Feel free to hop on over to Quietfire Creations for more card details.  :)







Thanks so much for stopping by!  I do hope you enjoyed the card and don't forget to check out the sales right now at the Quietfire store.

Big Crafty Hugs,

Kathy Jo

Halloween Tag- EEK!

 Hello Crafty Friends!

You know what I love about crafting?  Getting lost in a project- just letting the ink, product, dies, colors, materials lead you to an end.  Sometimes that end is a completed project and sometimes the end is just a desire to create and learn about your own inner creativity.  And many times the end is the realization that all you created is an unusable mess and ends up in the recycling or garbage...but I won't get into that in this blog post.  :)

Last weekend I grabbed some new stencils I purchased (Tim Holtz' Halloween text and Shattered) and ended up an hour or so later with this colorful Halloween tag.  The tag base had Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves and Hickory Smoke randomly applied.  Next I used the Shattered stencil, Versamark and clear embossing powder.  Distress Stain in Picket Fence was applied and wiped off the embossed areas.  The background looked like a wicked spider web.

 Script paper from Tim Holtz' paper pad Regions Beyond was torn, Distress inks (Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain) applied on the edges and adhered to the tag.

 "EEK" from the Halloween stencil, paste and Distress Glitter (Shabby Shutters) was applied to the cut out frame from the Regions Beyond paper.  Tissue tape was applied to the corner of the tag.

 I cut out the owl eyes from more of the paper and glued to the inside of a random metal box embellishment.  Clear Crackle and more distress ink (Vintage Photo) was used on the eyes.

 I dyed a piece of burlap using Hickory Smoke ink.  Scrap pieces of ribbon and seam binding were also dyed and placed on the tag as shown.  The final step was using Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain along the tag edges.

The spooky, creepy, Halloween tag was completed.  Too fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  I do hope you enjoyed the tag...I know I enjoyed making it.  :)
Have a happy crafty day!
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This tag is entered into the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp Monday, Love this Technique (using crackle with distress ink and using Picket Fence stain over embossed areas)
613 Avenue Create, AG
Word Art Wednesday, AG
My Sheri Crafts, Tic Tac Toe (Ribbon, Metal Embellishment, Stencil)
Brown Sugar, AG but card
Creative Fingers, AG
Crafting With An Attitude, AG
Crafting Musketeers, Autumn Colors
Our Creative Corner, Autumn Colors

Zombie "I love you for your brains" watercolor birthday card

Hello Crafty Friends.

Today is my hubby's birthday and I made him a not-so-typical birthday card.  He and I both enjoy watching the Walking Dead together and the Brett Weldele set "Zombie Casanova" (by Stampers Anonymous) was a perfect stamp set for his card.  If you like the Walking Dead or zombie films, I definitely recommend this stamp set.  

The image and sentiments were stamped using black Archival Ink onto watercolor paper.  After drying I used my watercolor brush and Tim Holtz Distress markers to color the scene.  Numerous markers were used to create this zombie card: fossilized amber, broken china, evergreen bough, aged mahogany, vintage photo, fired brick, mowed lawn, antique linen, wild honey, peeled paint and walnut stain.  Note that the background is watercolored in entirety with blue sky...my camera just did not capture the light blue well.

Here is a closeup of the pants and shirt:

The hearts and the sentiment had clear crackle applied and then Distress Ink in Vintage Photo was applied over the crackle and along the edges (love applying ink over dried crackle!).

The inside is another zombie themed sentiment and more of the hearts:

When Greg opened the card, his eyes were huge and he said "This card is awesome!"  Yes!  Success!  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I do hope you liked the zombie birthday card.
Have a happy crafty day!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp Monday, I love this technique (inking over crackle)

Scrapy Land Challenge- Use an image and dies

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today starts a new challenge at Scrapy Land: any die cut from a brand Scrapy Land sells and an image (either stamped or digi).

 
Scrapy Lands list of dies is extensive!

For my project I used both Spellbinders and Sizzix dies.  The card base is white tent fold 4.25” x 5.5”.  Spellbinders’ Floral Ribbon Threader was used with My Mind’s Eye paper, Be Happy.  White embroidery thread was added to the die cut.  Next a scrap piece of paper was die cut using Sizzix’ Framelits Tickets.  Gold was applied to the edges.

Wendy Vecchi’s Coneflower was stamped on two different pieces of scrap paper.  The images were fussy cut and applied as shown.  Stickles was applied to the petals and the flower center.

Quietfire’s “You are Amazing” was stamped and die cut using Spellbinders’ Framed Tags 1.  Distress ink was added.  Gold thread was the finishing touch.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you liked my little card.  :)  I look forward to seeing your project at Scrapy Land!

Have a happy crafty day!

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday, AG
TTCRD, AG

MOJO Monday- using Verve's Peacock "You must be the change"

Hello Crafty Friends.

For several months I have been pinning watercolor projects on my Pinterest board in hopes that I could create something even half as good as the water color projects pinned.  (My goodness, cardmakers are so talented with their watercoloring.)  One person that I have enjoyed following is Kelly Klapstein of Kelly Creates.  She has shared projects all summer long using her Tombow markers and has kindly shared videos, too.  In the most recent issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine she created a beautiful poppy (see page 50)- and seeing that was the final push to play with my Tombows again.  Mind you, I am not brave enough to freely create images like Kelly but I did watercolor a stamped card image.

The card sketch followed this week's MOJO Monday sketch:

I changed it slightly for my card: 

The stamp set used is Moments Remembered from Verve Stamps.  It was colored using the Tombows and after drying gold Stickles was applied to the tail feathers.

It was foam adhered onto several layers of My Mind's Eye "Remarkable" paper.  The banner dies are my often used Cheery Lynn, Pierced Banners.

The inside has a sentiment from the Moments Remembered set and a piece of the MME paper.

The watercolor card was completed with a piece of yellow hemp.

Thanks for stopping by!  I do hope you enjoyed my wee step into the watercolor world.  Thanks to Kelly Klapstein for her inspiring watercolor projects!

Have a happy crafty day.

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:

MOJO Monday, Sketch

Cheery Lynn, Things with Wings

613 Avenue Create, AG

Word Art Wednesday, AG

Southern Girls Challenge, Layer it up

Daring Cardmakers, Watercolor

Autumn "Wish you were here"

Hello Crafty Friends.

SToday in Nova Scotia it is starting to feel a little like fall.  The leaves have not started to change but the temperature has dropped ever so slightly.  I don't mind as fall is a lovely time of year and I believe it may be our Saint Bernard's favorite season.  Summer takes a toll on Ella and she is constantly stretched out in front of a fan, is laying on the cool concrete floor in the basement or is in the lake taking extra long soaks.  But fall breathes life into Ella and the mild temperatures allow her to take long doggy walks in the cool air with her two BFFs.  We take a lot of photos of Ella in the fall as the forest provides a beautiful background against her white and brown coat.  It really is a wonderful season.

I tried to capture the changing leaves in my "Wish you were here" card. Wendy Vecchi's stencil Layered Tree was used with Distress Inks (Peeled Paint, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Tumbled Glass)  The gold leaves were made using Imagine Crafts' Creative Metallics in gold.

Quietfire Design's "Wish you were here" from the In a perfect world stamp set with Ranger Ink's Coffee archival ink provided the card sentiment:

Seam binding was dyed using Peeled Paint Distress Stain.  The sentiment was fussy cut and Wink of Stella in gold was applied along the edges.

The tent fold card base was made from Kraft paper.  It matched the Coffee ink perfectly.

Thank you so much for stopping by for the visit.  Have a happy crafty day!
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Kraft Journal, Autumn
Word Art Wednesday, AG
613 Avenue Create, AG
Sister Act, AG
TTCRD, AG

"Thank you" card using Graphic 45's French Country

Hello Crafty Friends.

It has been a few weeks since I participated in Cheery Lynn's Challenge- things have been quite busy on this end of the computer but I found time this week to play in the craft room.  Of course, the CL challenge was on my list of crafty things to do.  The challenge this week is texture.    The texture on the card is mainly provided by the corrugated paper and crinkle ribbon but other textures are present, such as vintage lace and twine.

The card front also has a Kraft pocket with a Thank You card tag (the sentiment is from Quietfire Design).

Cheery Lynn's Chicken Wire die (FRM144) provided the black patterned background.  The lovely lacy heart die from Two of Hearts (DL128) die cut Graphic 45's French Country paper and was adhered onto the front of the Kraft tag bag.  All of the paper is fro Graphic 45's French Country except the black tent fold card base.

I hope you like this French Country Thank You card.  Thanks so much for stopping by!
Have a happy crafty weekend!
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Cheery Lynn, Texture
613 Avenue Create, AG
Word Art Wednesday, AG

Guest Designer at the Butterfly Challenge

Hello Crafty Friends.

How exciting: I am a Guest Designer at the Butterfly Challenge!  Thank you very much, ValeryAnne- it is quite the honor!  The challenge this time is to make a project using a butterfly and yarn.  For my project I used butterflies fussy cut from Prima's Forever Green paper and silky blue yarn from Patons.

The card from the base up: black tent fold card stock, pastel blue card stock with distressed edges, weathered wood patterned paper (Prima's Forever Green) distressed edges, patterned paper die cut using Spellbinders' Imperial Square, spray misted (Dylusions' Pure Sunshine, Squeezed Orange, White Linen) die cut using Spellbinders' Captivating Squares, Quietfire's May the Wings of a Butterfly stamped sentiment die cut using the smallest die in Imperial Square. Stickles was added to the butterfly wings.

Thanks again to the Butterfly Challenge for having me as a Guest Designer!  I hope to see your butterfly project at the Butterfly Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy, crafty day!
Big Crafty Hugs,
Kathy Jo

Happy Birthday- Graphic 45 and Elizabeth Craft Designs die

Hello Crafty Friends! 

Today is my day to post at Quietfire Creations and I decided to make a cheerful and easy to mail card using the newly released Quietfire dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

Isn't it a beautiful die?  

Here is a close look at the fussy cut Graphic 45 flowers:

Of course I used Stickles on the flower centers.  Sure, I made an easy to mail card but that doesn't mean I can't add some shimmer!  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Feel free to hop on over to Quietfire...there is a lot of wonderful inspiration on the blog.  

Have a happy crafty weekend!

Hugs,

Kathy Jo

Scrapy Land Challenge- AG using dies

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today starts a new challenge at the Scrapy Land blog: Anything Goes using a die from a brand that Scrapy Land carries.  That is easy to do because their brand line is extensive:

For my card I decided to make another Christmas card to add to the stash.  (Another card complete...yay!)  Several dies were used on the card.  Starting from the tent fold base up: Spellbinders Detailed Scallops (black card stock), pale green card stock, Authentique "Irresistable" patterned paper, Spellbinders Elegant Ovals (Authentique Irresistible black), Cheery Lynn Dutch Daisy Oval Doily (pale green), and Cheery Lynn Peace Dove (white and gold).

 Tip: For the Detailed Scallops die I used 110lb card stock paper.  I find that weight works well when you want to make this style card.

Thanks for stopping by!  I do hope to see your creation at Scrapy Land!
Big crafty hugs,
Kathy Jo

Season's Greetings

Hello Crafters!

Today I am sharing a Christmas card using the "Season's Greetings" die from Elizabeth Craft Designs (die designed by Suzanne Cannon of Quietfire Design).

Elizabeth Craft's double sided adhesive sheet was die cut and silk microfine glitter applied. (This is the first time I used EC glitter and I love the silky smooth texture it creates.)  On a piece of white card stock I used Distress Stains in Picket Fence and Tumbled Glass to create the background.

Of course I wanted to use ribbon but in lieu of a bow I thought I would use a shiny ribbon buckle that was in my stash.  Unfortunately I did not keep the packaging but I do recall I bought it at Michaels.

Aren't the flourishes in the die beautiful?  Suzanne is such an amazing calligrapher...her work is always so inspiring!

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I do hope you enjoyed the card.  :)

Have a good day!

Big happy crafty hugs,

Kathy Jo