Lavender Card

 

 

I had this post all typed last night and lost it as I tried to post it on the blog. So annoying. Trying again.

This was definitely a quick and easy card to make. I bought the 8” Stamperia paper pack called Lavender. Love it but like most paper packs there are two sides to each page so you have to talk yourself into cutting one or the other. I really liked this part of the page so I trimmed it down to 4 x 5.25 so it would fit on an standard A2 size card base. Before gluing it to the lavender card base, I wrapped a ribbon around card near the bottom and tied a small bow on it. Once it was glued down tiny silver gems were added.

That’s all for a very mild Wednesday.

Cheers

Violet

 

Quick and Easy Card

 

We barely missed the massive snowstorm that hit areas about an hour from us over the weekend; but, it looks like we are in for one on Wednesday night and Thursday. The older I get; the longer winter seems to last.

Well, my card that was nominated for card of the month did not make it to the second round - again. This is about the 4^th or 5^th time one of my cards was nominated but didn’t last past the first round. But I do thank any of you that happened to vote for it.

Today’s card is a quick and easy masculine card.

This focal image came from a cut-apart sheet in a 6” card pack. I cut them all apart and filed them in my binder, so I had easy access to them. I picked this out and stamped the sentient and the swirl on it. Then I picked another one that was darker in colour but I didn’t like the saying on it so I glued that one on an angle to a brown card base and then glued on the focal image. Definitely a quick and easy card.

That’s all for a typical cold February night.

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 quick and easy card

 

This is the start of our Thanksgiving weekend. We have been enjoying above warmer than usual temperatures for the last few weeks although cold at night. We even had a touch of frost the other night. However, we are saddened by the destruction from the hurricanes in the USA. The damage was incredible.

Last month I treated myself to a paper pack from Stamperia and I just love it. I bought the Lavender one. Here is one card I made from it.

 

I cut the background from one of the 8x8 pages and glued it to the brown card base. The butterfly is from my stash. The butterfly trail is gold peel-offs; as is the sentiment. This was such a quick and easy card to make…once I got over the shock of cutting into the paper!

That’s all for a lovely October day. Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers and happy Friday to everyone else. Have a wonderful, safe and creative weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

Two Flower Cards

 Well this was a very different Christmas. We are used to having a green Christmas but this year it was a record breaking high! Temperatures well into the 40F!…but rain and fog came with it with no end in sight. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday whichever one they choose to celebrate.

While watching my favourite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, on television, I like to colour stamped images while I’m sitting there. Here are two cards with the same image, but coloured in different colours. I think I used some inexpensive, like dollar store, alcohol markers on these. I have about 4 Copic markers that I bought about 10 years ago while visiting Michigan and the rest are dollar store ones. I just cannot justify buying Copics.

                                   

After colouring the flowers, I just found some card bases that seem to go well with them. The sentiment is stamped. Before mounting them I watered down some ink and splattered it across the card. Then fancy shimmer thread was wrapped around them. These would qualify for quick and easy cards but I quite like them.

Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

Flowers in Clay Pots Card

 Its hard to believe its almost the middle of November already. The time and the year is flying by faster than ever. I wasn’t feeling great over the weekend because of the rain, so I didn’t get too much done. I’ve been purging my craft room with limited success but I did manage to donate a lot of ribbon and embroidery floss. I love my stamps and dies so the only stamps that left are the old dollar store ones that I bought when I first started card making about 15 or more ago.

 I did recently pick up a couple new dies….ooops, that’s why the purging is not going well…. but these are unbranded dies that are so low in price, it didn’t break the budget… and I had nothing like them…. and they don’t take up very much room...yada yada!

This time I just used the clay pots.

 

I love these clay pots. There are two different sizes. The edges were inked with a dark brown ink and even added some smudges because they are sitting outside on a brick wall - courtesy of an embossing folder. The clouds were die cut and then grey ink was sponged around the edges for them. The flowers are actually from a sticker pack from the Dollar Tree. Then I just died a cord around the bottom of them. This would definitely qualify for a quick and easy card.

That’s all for a mild November day - it got to a high of 10C (50F) this afternoon but the wind made if feel colder. But the nights are right around the freezing mark.

 Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

A quick and Easy Card

 I’m back! I haven’t been anywhere but I’m back! It’s just been so busy that I haven’t even turned the laptop on all week. The weather has not been kind to me either. We’ve had some vicious thunderstorms which trigger off my brain disorders so I was not in a computing mood all week. I did go down to the lower studio (aka the basement) yesterday and started on 12 cards to donate to our local hospice. Just about finished them today. Twelve more to make. I usually donate 24 every month or so. Tomorrow it is going to feel like over 100F here and, of course, more thunderstorms! Same for Saturday. But on Sunday, the temperatures will drop down to our normal July temps in the 70’sF. Thank goodness. Love the heat, hate the humidity.

Awhile back I bought some crafting supplies from FB Marketplace and the lady I bought them from, threw in some extras. One of which is the flower on this card. There was only one so instead of putting it in the flower stash, I made a card.

                                      
 I don’t have any of these types of dies - poor me, I know. So it was fun to see how I could use it. I found some purple/wine cardstock that picked up that same colour in the rose and made a card base. I used the other part to create that stitched background. I’m really loving these stitched backgrounds. Then I searched through the purple stash to find some coordinating paper. I inked the edges with the wine Distress ink, glued them smaller one behind the larger one and then glued the flower on, tucking some leaves underneath. Then three rhinestones were added. The sentiment is a gold peel-off.

This was a quick and easy card but I liked how it turned out.

 That is all for a hot and humid Thursday, July 27, 2023.

 Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

A Warning and then a Card

 Wow! What a beautiful week for April! Its been in the 80’s and close to 90F all week……but they are predicting some snow for next Tuesday - that must be wrong!  I do believe Mother Nature is experiencing some PMS symptoms.

Before I post the card for today, I have a story …. with a warning … to share.

The card will be at the bottom of this post.

 The other day, Tim Holtz posted on Facebook a notice of his latest stamps and stencils, etc. And mentioned he would be on YouTube Saturday to demo them all. I made a comment about loving the new flower stamps. Then I got a message thanking me and asked me to join in on the LIVE CHAT with Tim. Sounds good so I clicked on it. It came up with his photo and info and asked a couple general questions, like, “how long have you been crafting and using my products”. Then I had to leave for a few hours and when I opened up Facebook later on, the chat was still on. Mmmm. There is no way Tim H. can ‘chat’ all afternoon. So I was suspicious. Also, where were the other people on the chat. Why just me?

Then the next couple of questions was for me to tell him a little more about me. Not happening…already suspicious.  I gave him the link to my blog. Got an immediate reply saying, ‘seen’. No computer is that quick that he could click on the link, wait for my blog to open up and then actually look at something.  So, now I’m wondering what the heck is this guy, (I named him Pretend Tim at this point), up to. I told him then, that I didn’t think I was chatting with the real Tim Holtz at all and it was time to end it.

He assured me he was the real Tim……asked me again for my info because, ‘after all I knew all about him’ and he listed all the companies he designs for - all easily found on the Internet - but then he added ‘and I love buying Telsa Stock’. Okay, now that is just weird.

So, I posted this photo of one of my earlier mixed media pieces….

 

 and asked him what the wings and key were made from. The real Tim would have known and responded immediately. Pretend Tim ignored it completely and asked if I had been following the Telsa Stock market. What? Definietly Pretend Tim. The real Tim does not have to peddle stocks to enhance his income. I’m pretty certain of that statement!

I had had enough. Called his bluff and told him I was done.

He kept asking me for more info. I told him if he contacted me again, I would just block him.  He finally gave up.

So, be careful out there. Question everything. This started out looking very legit but I’m glad I followed my gut instincts and cut him off.

 

AND NOW FOR THE CARD!

Last week I had to stop in to the dollar store for something, and took a walk through the craft aisle, of course, and found a 6” paper pack of the most beautiful teal patterned paper. I know, I know. I keep saying I’m one paper pack from being on Hoarders but I just couldn’t turn it down. So, when I got home and for the next few days (I’m grounded still) I made myself a challenge to use every bit of that paper pack and NOT make a couple of cards and then put the rest in the pile. Not happening.

So, I ended up making 10 cards, all different, used all but a couple of little bits of left over bits all from one paper pack of 8 pieces of paper and one page of various images (explained below) … and a few embellishments I already had, which also came from the dollar store.  

Card Number 1

 

 Now I’m not sure which ones I made first, but this was definitely one of them. The strip of butterflies was on a sheet that I thought were stickers. Nope. They used to be stickers but the company simply printed them on regular paper. Sneaky Petes! So I simply cut the strip off and added it to the side of the beautiful paper. I didn’t want to cover it up so it was just cut down to the standard A2 size. Of course, it needed a little more so I added the silver peel-off sentiment and small dragonfly and then added very tiny silver dots to the centres of the flowers. It was added to a lighter teal/blue card base. Quick and easy but so pretty.

Come back for the next in this “Teal Series” of cards.

That’s all for a beautiful warm Friday, April 14, 2023. Have a wonderful, safe and creative weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

Quick and Easy Card

     Another Monday, another day of wet snow and/or rain. The weather here has been terrible. We had a huge snow storm on Friday but then it rained and it was just a bit above freezing so we ended up with a lot of slush. I have tulips and other spring bulbs bursting out of the ground already. The snowdrops have been blooming for over a week which gives my spirit a lift.  I’m so ready for spring and summer!!!

    Today’s card was made by pieces just falling onto each other - some times it pays to have a messy desk!

                                              

 I was sorting out some bits on my desk, and making piles for each colour. The background was embossed but never used - brown pile. The striped bits - left over from another project - flipped them over on top of the brown embossed piece. Found the flower that I had fussy cut from something and never used and flipped it on top of the brown pile…… mmmhhh. Wait a minute, they actually look pretty good together. Tidying up can wait; I had make this card first. I played with the arrangement until I liked it and glued all the elements down; added the peel-off sentiment and strip under the sentiment: and mounted it on a darker brown card base. Done! Quick and easy but I liked it.... and why the desk seldom gets cleaned up completely. 

     That’s all for a cold and wet Monday, March 13, 2023.

 

  Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

A Flower Card

 We are having yet another ice storm! Very unusual to have even one major ice storm a winter, but two in one week is really rare. Most winters we get a bit of freezing rain but it doesn’t usually amount to much but not this year. The trees are once again covered with ice and lots of limbs are down - one large one on a hyrdo line so the north part of the city has no power. I cannot wait for spring! I’ve had enough of winter!

So, thinking of spring, I thought I would post a card that has nothing about winter on it.

 

 I was sorting out some left over bits of paper and this strip of roses fell onto the desk. Time to use it! This is definitely a quick and easy card. The paper came from a 6” paper pack and it was cut down to 5.25” x 4” so it fit on the white card base that is the standard A2 size of 5.5” x 4.25” leaving a thin white border. The rose strip, which was left over from a different 6” paper pack, was glued down the left side and gold peel-off strips were glued to either side. The butterflies were from a different source all together but the colours were right. The edges had already been inked with a wine ink sponge and the bodies were die cut from an old Memory Box butterfly die set. I always have a lot of these die cut and set aside so they are ready when I need them. I decided the butterflies needed a little bling so my trusty glue pen was scribbled around the edges and here and there on the wings and then Stampin’ Up very fine glitter was poured on. I use this glitter all the time and it seems to be never ending, which is great. I decided not to add a sentiment so I can use it for any occasion.

 That’s all for a very icy and cold Monday February 27, 2023.

  Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

Two Cards Today

 So far no accumulating snow here in this part of Ontario. We’ve had a few flurries but fortunately, it melted quickly. Suits me just fine.

Today I’m posting two cards because they started out with the same background, but finished differently.

  Both backgrounds are just two pieces of matching paper from my stash that I taped together at the back and then added a gold peel-off strip down the join. I’m back to using up the stash again.

Bird:

     For this card I stamped, coloured and hand cut the bird, the flowers and the leaves.. The branch was a die cut. Then it was a simple matter of attaching them and adding the peel-off sentiment.

Flowers:

I love this flower stamp and die set. I stamped and die cut several and the large one has a smaller one glued in the centre. I flipped them over and ran a stylus over the back to give them some dimension so they don't lay flat on the card. Small gems were added to the centres of all of them. The leaves came with the set so they were stamped and die cut as well. Then, once they were arranged and glued on, the peel-off sentiment was attached.

I think these will fall into the quick and easy category but I do like how they turned out.

That’s all for a cool but not cold Monday, December 12, 2022.

  Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds.This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

Quick and Easy Card

     The weather has cooled off but still not much rain. We had a cloud burst about 3:00 am but by the time I said, “It’s raining” it was over. Maybe tonight and tomorrow we’ll get a decent rain.

    Since coming back from a terrible train ride to Ottawa and back, (10 hours each way) I’ve been slow to get back to routine and get my energy back. It was great seeing family that we haven’t seen because of Covid and I was so happy to be able to watch my grandson get married, but the trip was stressful. So, I decided to just make a few cards but then I started making Halloween embellishments. I started out just die cutting some large silhouette dies but then decided to make the small embellishments so when I want to make the Halloween cards, the embellishments are done. I’ve enjoyed making these but if you don’t like fiddling with little pieces, these Tim Holtz Halloween dies are not for you. Yikes, time consuming big time!

    So, today I’m posting one of the cards I made last week. I’ve been trying to get a little more variety in my cards instead of layer, after layer, after layer. They take longer to make and sometimes I just don’t have the time or the energy to make them. So, quick and easy it has been.

                                          
    For this card I took a piece of double sided paper and cut it down to 4.25” x 5.5” to fit on a standard card size.  I made a score line about 1.5“ down from the top and in about 2”. then I made another score line about 2” down and meeting at the same place as the first one. Sorry, I don’t measure and really any measurement works for this technique. I made a cut halfway in between.  Then I folded back against the score line so the other side of the paper would show and glued it down with a tiny piece of double sided tape. A piece of darker wine cardstock was added behind the opening and a gold peel-off was added. Then I added this butterfly which was from a sheet that you popped them off - which left a weird coloured border around the butterfly and small bumps so it was hand-cut and then the edges were inked with a wine coloured ink. The butterfly was added with a strip of dimensional tape just down the centre. The body was a die cut from an old Memory Box butterfly die set. Left over bits of gold peel-off bits were added behind the butterfly.

    That’s all for a cool and windy Monday, September 12, 2022.

 Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

A Quick and Easy Card

     I’m back! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted because I’ve been away. My grandson got married last Saturday (see previous post for their card and quilt wedding present) and it was a 10 hour train trip from where I live! It was supposed to be 9 hours but it was an hour late both ways. However, it was so nice to see family that COVID has made it impossible to visit. I

    Today’s card could be considered quick and easy. I had some 6” paper packs with some designs I just didn’t know what to do with. Here’s what I came up with for this one.

                           
    The background was pretty but it obviously needed a little more to make it into a card. So the first thing I did was to stamp that sentiment in ink that was the same colour as the dark in the flowers. Then I die cut some wild flowers and glued them on. They look dark here but they are just a wee bit darker than that ink I used. The camera does like to change colours on me! Once it was glued on, small gems were added and I called it done.

    That’s all for a very rainy - yes, finally we got some rain - Sunday, September 4, 2022.

 

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

Quick and Easy Cards

 Our roller coaster weather continues. It was a very hot and humid few days but alas, no thunderstorm grew from it so no rain, at least not here. My sister who lives about 300 km from us had a thunderstorm rain tonight so she is a happy camper, as the saying goes, and so are her flowers as they were really starting to wilt. More seasonal temperatures expected starting tomorrow though.

When its too hot and humid to be outside working in the garden, I either sew or make cards, scrapbook, paint, etc. This week I decided to make some cards. Unfortunately, I’m always in need of sympathy and thinking of you cards so that’s what I made.

Here are two I made using the same die but different background paper and sentiments.

 I went through my paper stash looking for paper that had some various colours and shapes in it, but not flowers or anything bright; just tone on tone design. I found one wine coloured one and one green one so there are the two cards I made.

                            

These are very much quick and easy cards to do. The die cut is huge so it takes up a lot of the card front. These are standard A2 cards; 4.25” x 5.5”. The sentiments were stamped with VersaMark and embossed with white embossing powder. I’ve used this die for birthday cards as well but for them I sponge bright colored ink on a white card base to make it more festive.

That’s all for a hot and humid Sunday, June 26, 2022.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

Quick and Easy Card

 Sorry for the delay in posting this week. Unfortunately my sister died on Monday and I just didn’t feel like posting a card. She was very sick with pancreatic cancer so we knew it was going to happen but its still hard when it does happen. She lived out west so I haven’t seen her in years but we talked on the phone all the time….including on Sunday although she was too weak to say much. At least I got to tell her I love her one last time.

However, she had a strong personality and would be very annoyed at me if I let her passing interrupt my life too much. She was a big fan of my artistic endeavors so I post this card in memory of my sister, Bette. She always introduced herself as “Bette with an e” which always got a chuckle, and people certainly remembered her.

This card could be for any occasion and is a quick and easy card yet very pretty.

                        

I found that patterned paper in the stash and wondered what to do with it - not my favourite colour of green. However, I found a card base in the same colour and then found the ribbon in the ribbon stash - I have a lot of stashes!  Then I took those dimensional daisy stickers and added them. I think I might add some small leaves but I rather like the plain and simple look too. Not sure if its finished or not.

That’s all for a milder day weather wise….be even nicer if the cold wind would go down for Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

 Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

A Dragonfly Card

 We are staying just around the freezing mark and I can see the spring bulbs starting to pop up - a sure sign that spring is definitely on its way.

Today’s card is yet another quick and easy card but I like how it turned out. Sometimes it takes me an hour to stamp, colour and die cut or hand cut images to make one card and sometimes I do the opposite. This was one of the opposites.

                             
For this card several colours of Distress Ink were smeared on a long thin stamping block; then I used finger daubers to move the colours around a bit and then sprayed it with water. Then it was set straight down, without moving it, on a piece of water colour paper. I let it sit for a few seconds to give the ink a chance to soak into the paper. Once it was dry, the dragonfly and sentiment were stamped.

That’s all for a milder Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick and Easy 3D flower card

 There is a lot of sad world news right now but I will not comment on it because this is not a political blog. I will say that my heart aches for all those suffering right now. Let there be peace, please, let there be peace.

Today I’m posting a card using some flowers I bought at the dollar store. I went in for some glue and double sided glue strips and found a few packages of flower stickers. The flowers are 3-D and beautiful. I couldn’t pass them up. Here’s one card I made with them.

                                     
The background paper is from a 6” paper pack and it matched perfectly with the flowers. Some of the flowers did not have stems long enough for my card so I just die cut stems and then added some die cut leaves as well. The dark cardstock was added over the stems to ground them so they didn’t look like they were floating.

This is definitely a quick and easy card but so pretty.

That’s all for a cool but not cold Monday, February 28, 2022. It is right around the freezing mark and my winter-hating husband would say it is very cold.  

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.