50th Wedding Anniversary Card

 

Unfortunately, the snow did not miss us this time. So, we are having typical cold, snowy and windy January weather. Our neighbour on the north of us has been using his snow blower to clear our driveway for a few years now for a nominal fee, which is awesome. Yesterday, the neighbour on the south side of us decided to clear our driveway. It was nice of him but I had to explain that the other neighbour does it. He said he needed the exercise and wanted to thank us for being good neighbours. He’s a nice guy but a little hard to understand because he has a strong Jamaican accent. We are blessed to have such good neighbours. Until he bought the house, it was rented out to a variety of people, who were not good neighbours. But all is well with both of them.

I had a friend ask me to make her a 50^th wedding anniversary card. I had the Big Bloom die set on my desk so I used it again.

 

 The background is shiny white paper and th flowers are a specialty white paper which is really nice in wedding cards as well as anniversary cards. I’m almost out of it though so I hope I can find more.

 The flowers and leaves are all gold and white and I used the same method of flipping them over and using a large stylus to mold the back and then flipped them over again and pushed down in the centre to really give them dimension. I die cut some hearts and tiny circles from the same gold paper. There are several shades of gold and they don’t always look nice together. The gold die circle was from another die but I have no idea where I got if from. That is one die and it cuts as shown. The centre is another piece of the same paper as the flowers but it looks different because its flat. I had to audition several circle dies to find one that fit perfectly behind the gold circles. The sentiment is a gold peel-off. It needed something on the bottom to anchor it all so I added a strip of gold. She loved it. Whew!

That is all for Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Cheers

Violet

 

Purple Flowers

 

Well, we missed the last snow storm that hit areas about 45 minutes drive from here but it looks like we are going to have snow for the next 4 or 5 days so doubtful it will miss us entirely. Neither one of us like snow, cold and winter so we hibernate all we can.

Today I’m posting another card made with my new die set. I forgot to mention in the last post that all the flowers were laid on a soft pad and a large stylus was run over the wrong side and then flipped to the front with pressure just in the middle of the flower to give them dimension.

Here’s a purple flowered card. You can see the dimension in this card better than the last card.

I found this background paper in the stash and decided to use it in a card. It was a little smaller than 4 x 5.25 so gold peel-off strips were added around the edges with small ovals in the corners. The flowers were made the same way as the last card I posted; but used different bits and pieces. Lots of dies in this set. The sentiment was stamped on a fancy tag. It was then mounted on a dark purple card base.

That’s all for a cold and windy Thursday.

I seldom get any comments on my blog and a faithful commenter, Deb, said sometimes they don't go through. Sorry, I don't know why you cannot leave a comment. I just figured no one wanted too. Not sure how to correct this either. 

Cheers

Violet

 

 

Blue Flowers Card

 

Well, January is here with very typical January weather – cold with a cold wind along with snow showers off and on. Yuck. This image popped up on Facebook today and its exactly how I feel.

I decided to buy myself a new die set. I kept seeing cards made with it on a couple of sites on Facebook and decided I had to have it. It is a Spellbinder’s die set called Bold Bloom and I had Stamp Art in London, ON order it in for me. I love it! No buyer’s remorse here! Here’s one of the many cards I have created already.

This time I die cut the flowers in white and sponged ink in the middle of the large ones letting it fade out near the edges. The buds were die cut from white as well but I sponged blue ink all over the middle part only and once assembled, I really liked it. The small blooms were die cut in white and completely inked with blue but darker in the centre.  The flower centres were also die cut in white and glued on and some of the blue ink behind them leaked through which I was more than happy with. The flowers needed something to sit on so I die cut that fancy label from another old die set and then stamped the sentiment. The stems and leaves were die cut from green cardstock and glue on afterwards.  

That’s all for a cold January night of the 5^t

Cheers

Violet

 

Experimental card

 

It’s almost the end of 2024 and time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. I’m more of a plan for the future person and I plan to stay healthy and be creative. We had a very green and wet Christmas here in Ontario. In fact, yesterday it was 54F here – very unusually high temperatures for the end of December. Today it has been raining all day but still mild. More rain for the next couple of days too. It’s better than snow. I stay inside and make cards or quilt.

Today’s card was made using paper from a 6”x 6” paper pad that I had no idea how to use in a card.  I was tired of storing it and decided to just experiment with it. Here is what I came up with.

The original piece had roughly the same pattern on the left as the right. So the first thing I did was to cut it down to the 4x5.25. But that left the left side completely blank. So I pulled out a seldom used lace border stamp and stamped it along the left side. Not bad actually. Then I took the piece that was cut off and die cut a tag from it. That was enough to bring the same colours to the left side. A gold peel-off sentiment was added to the tag along with a tied bow. Then some die cut butterflies were added. It was mounted on a bright turquoise blue card base which really made it pop. It turned out better than I thought it would.

That’s all for a very wet Sunday December 29, 2024.

Cheers

Violet

 

 

GNOME CARD

 

We are back to mild weather for December with it being about 40F most days, but cooler at night. Possible snow tonight but then rain on the weekend. It’s doubtful we’re going to have a white Christmas.

Because of the postal strike here in Canada, I didn’t mail out any cards. I made a few but not as many as I usually do as no one wanted cards they couldn’t mail out. I made some Christmas cards featuring gnomes that I made last summer so they would be ready when I wanted to make Christmas cards. One of the gnomes didn’t look Christmasy so I decided to make him into a birthday card instead. This is what I came up with.

This particular gnome die has him sitting down so I cut a snowbank for him to sit on and another one near the bottom. I added a snowflake to his hat. Every piece of the gnome has to be cut out separately; inked and then assembled. That’s why I made them in the summer instead of one at a time when making Christmas cards. I have another die that says “happy Winter” and used yet another die for ‘Birthday’. The background was white cardstock that was lightly sponged with blue ink. I then pulled out a very old glue pad and stamped the snowflakes with glue and sprinkled on glitter.

That’s all for a mild Thursday on December 19.

Cheers

Violet

 

Skating Card

 

We have had a bit of every type of weather all week. Last weekend it was so mild we did more yard clean-up and our neighbour cut his grass. The areas about 40 minutes drive from us were digging out from the snow they got. It missed us again. Then it went from very worm to absolutely frigid and another dusting of snow. This weekend we are expecting rain. Crazy.

Today’s card was made with a die I bought without checking the size of it. I’m so bad at on-line shopping but we have no craft stores here except Michaels which does not sell stamps or dies or half the other card making items I use. So the card had to be made larger than my normal A2 size card but I was happy with it. Unfortunately, our postal workers are on strike so I cannot mail out all the cards I made for family and friends. Oh well, they will be still fine to go in 2025.

 

 For the background I just glued two pieces of cardstock together and added the green strip over the seam. The skates were cut several times so I could do each section a different colour and layer them. For the laces, I used a red marker to colour the strips. Then I just had fun embellishing the top of the skates and added the punched die with gold peel-off sentiments and bits. It was all mounted on a 5.5 x 5.5 white card base.

That’s all for a cold winter day on Friday, December 13, 2024.

Cheers

Violet

 

 

 

Two Cards

 

Well so far the snow has missed us….just us. Within about a 25 minute drive from here, they got dumped on. Roads are closed, hydro is out, school buses are cancelled and scads of accidents. However, we did get the cold wind and I do mean cold. Next week it will be way above the freezing mark. The odd weather continues.

Today I’m posting two cards as they are pretty much alike. These made great cards for teenage boys.

Both cards have a brick wall background made from an old embossing folder. I left the bottom bit unembossed so it would look like the floor. The tub was die cut and grunged up. The rivets are Tim Holtz eyelets. The presents are from an old Tim H die set as well. The sentiment is a black peel-off. They were quick and easy but perfect for teenage boys.

That’s all for a cold and windy Wednesday.

Cheers

Violet

 

A Glitter Scrappy Card

 

It officially winter here in Ontario. We now have snow that didn’t melt on contact with the ground like it did earlier in November. Areas just north of us are buried in snow but we just got enough to barely cover the grass. However, according to the weather network, we will get a lot of snow for the next 30 hours – yuck!

Today I’m posting a card using a die that I seldom use….but really, really wanted the set when I bought it….and used some left over paper bits as well. This is definitely a scrappy card.

I bought this diamond die set a couple of years ago and just have not used it to its full potential. There were several pieces of glitter cardstock left over from a couple of paper packs and I decided to use those up as well. So, several different pieces of paper were die cut; arranged on a piece of scrap paper; and then glued to a pink card base. The sentiment and squiggle under the sentiment are gold peel-offs.

That’s all for a cold and now snowy Sunday. Happy belated Thanksgiving to my USA readers. Hope you all had a happy thanksgiving and survived Black Friday sales.

Cheers

Violet

 

Masculine Cards

 

It’s mid November already! Time is marching by faster and faster. I’m finally getting over this virus I’ve had for over a month. Maybe I’ll get caught up on my crafting…..haha….never happening.

Today I’m posting two cards because they are so similar.

 

As you can see, these are quick and easy cards and ideal for men or teenage boys. The backgrounds are left over strips of paper glued to a card base, one green and one black. The presents were made from scraps; the edges were inked as were the bows. These were die cut from an old Tim Holtz die that has served me well. They were glued on in various angles just to add some fun to the cards. Cards for boys and men are a struggle but these ones fit the bill nicely.

That’s all for a dreary, wet Friday.

Cheers

Violet

 

 

 

Fussy Flower Card

 

Even though November is my least favourite month, it is doing its best to convince me to like it! The weather here is more like late September. Yesterday I walked around my garden and was surprised to see some flowers still blooming. No need for heavy coats yet. Its still ‘sweater weather’.

Today I’m posting a card I made that took a bit of fussing but it’s the kind of fussing I enjoy.

 
The paper background are strips left over from other projects but they were from the same paper pack so they go together well. Then the dark horizontal strip was added so the boots had something to sit on. Otherwise they would look like they were floating.
The fussy part was die cutting all the flowers and ferns; colouring the small pieces; and then gluing them on where they belong. All the coloured flowers are individually made. Yeah, fussy project. The butterfly was also die cut and it was added because I really like butterflies. Then a few blue gems were scattered on. The boots were die cut and coloured. The boot die was one of my better purchases because I have used it so many times. They almost look like cowboy boots here but they are supposed to be garden boots.
That’s all for a very mild Thursday on November 7, 2024.

Cheers

Violet