Getting back to my Zig Pens

 For Christmas, my husband gave me some

stamps and dies that I requested and

I got around to playing with them.

These are Simon Says Stamps, 

the one on the left is 'Sketch Ranunculus'

and the one on the right is

'Spring Flowers'.

I am just loving how these came out!

I have got to play with my Zigs some more.

Christmas Cards

 Christmas Card sending seems to

becoming a lost tradition. Fewer and fewer

people are sending cards.  I think it's a shame. 

My mother use to send them and her list

had 40-50 people. Mine was no were near that many.

We got the fewest last year that we'd ever

received, so I cut my list back. And I took a short cut

 on making our cards this year.

I went with the 'print and cut'

option instead of piecing.

I think they came out cute though.

Well next year, I can't say I will be making or

sending any, as this year we got only 4.

WHAT????

Like I said, a dying tradition!!

Another version of 'watercoloring'

 After mulling it over for quite a while, I decided to 

bite the bullet and purchase the Zig Clean Color Real Brush

pens by Kuretake.  And being a crafter and not 

doing things half way, I had to have the 80 pen set.

I do not regret this purchase at all!!

I sat down and decided to try my hand.

I am not a painter, but a crafter!

But I am happy with the results!

Something simple

I'm trying my hand at using watercolor pencils instead

of distressed ink to do some coloring with.

Here's a card I just fooled around with, while not

perfect, it came out fair I think.  I will continue

 to practice.

A Birthday card

I had a friend ask me the other day if

I would make a card for her for her grandson's 1st

birthday.

The theme is Mickey Mouse, so this is 

what we finally came up with.

I thought it came out pretty cute.

Happy Mother's Day Card

It's nothing really fancy actually,

but here's my mom's Mother's Day card.

I decided I wanted a shaped card this time so

I found a label shape in

Cricut Design Space that I liked and

decided to go with that.

I stamped and embossed the flowers

on watercolor paper and 

painted them with Tim Holtz' Distress Inks.

Then I cut the shape around the flowers

and cut the card and inside piece. I added 

ribbon to help fill up the white space and

a little bling.

Sailing away.......

I needed to a masculine card for

a birthday coming up.

I thought I could not go wrong with

the sailboat card from SVGCuts from their

set 'Seaside'.

I thought it came out pretty cute.

And it was very easy

 to make.  I could even use the

base for another style of card.

Bird Crazy.....

Seems everyone has gone crazy over the

Tim Holtz Crazy Birds

stamp set and dies.

I am no different, I had to order

the mini set version.

Had to play around with it just to 

decide how I wanted to color them.

This one is done with pencils. The eyes,

mouth and wings are layered.

With the eyes and balloon have

Glossy Accents applied

for the shiny effect.

Shadows applied to the card surface

along with a tag that was printed and cut

with my Cricut. Along with some

accent dots.

More flowers

I've gotten into painting flowers lately,

I can't seem to stop!

Trying something new....

I am quite happy with the results on this card.

I used the 'Peonies' stamp set from Avery Elle, embossed it

then painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

The Happy Birthday is from Simon Says Stamp 'It's

Your Birthday' set.

I hope the recipient will be as pleased with it.

But only God can make a tree!

I stepped back into something that I had tried

my hands at a few years ago, Art Journaling.

I am a bit rusty, but here's the latest  one.

Trying new techniques...

I try to expand my techniques  by watching

Youtube videos and checking

out Pinterest, etc.

I've decided to try my hand and some

painting options, be it

with distress inks or watercolor, etc.

Here's my first tries and I have to say,

I am rather happy with the results.

I used distress inks on these and

kept them simple.

Now, I am not a painter by any means,

but I am happy with the results.

Happy Easter

SimonSaysStamp Card kit for February came

in quite handy for my Easter cards.

Here's a look at them.

And here's a closer look at each one.

I wen back and added a small bunny on the

shaker area.

The yellow bunny on this one has a cotton tail.

Thanks to a q-tip!

A few gifts for friends......

These have been on my list of 'To Do's

and I finally got around to getting

them done.  I love the way the came out

I think my favorite one is the fox.

But the 'blue bird' of happiness isn't too bad either....

But I do love owls as well!

And there was one more gift......

Wedding gift

I have a daughter-by-another-mother, well

actually, she is my bff's daughter and I

love her dearly.

She's getting married and I wanted

to make something special for her.

We can't go to the wedding but will

be passing thru town a 

couple of days ahead of it

so, I wanted to get it

done so I could drop

it off to her mom.

It was a pain to get that vinyl

to stick to the back glass

but it finally did.

I hope she will love it!

Inspiration

Some times we all need inspiration for other sources, and I

got a bit last night.

I was trolling YouTube and found a video

by Shari Carroll.....I've taken an on line

course from her before.

Anyway, I found some inspiration.  She put together

a couple of quick cards and I decided

to try my version of them.

I rather like the way they came out.

The inside says 'Smile' and 

I thought I'd share these

with a couple of friends

that I have.

Simple projects

I have a friend who's birthday is on Feb 29th.....this year she

is having a real one since there is a 29th....most years she

has to celebrate it on the 28th.

I just made her a simple card this time.

I was looking for something to do while the

hubby watched sports on tv on Sunday afternoon

and I decided to try my hand at the

3D Flower Decor cartridge.

I love peonies, I have my grandmother's bush

that has been transplanted way too many times,

but it goes with me where ever I go.  And I've

managed to share some of it with friends when

I do dig it up and separate it.

Anyway, here's the little project I did.

I thought it came out cute.

A quick Valentine card

It's been a rough week but I wanted to take a bit of time

and make a Valentine card for a friend.

I like the way it came out.

Here is my sweetheart Piper, we lost her a

week ago and it's been a rough week without her.

We got her ashes back the other day and for now, I thought

the box a bit too plain, so I helped it out a bit.

All done

So, I finished the Hexagon quilt......in record time for me, only took
about 4 days to quilt.

I kept the quilt pretty simple by just quilting straight around the zig zags of the 

hexagons on either side.

I bought the fat quarters at Walmart, matching fabrics in three

different colors.  I threw in some white to go with it

and I rather like the way it came out.

I think it is time to give the hands and fingers

a rest from quilting for now. :)

It's been a while.

I had not realized that it had been so long since I posted anything.

I've been busy, just not sharing.

I finished my queen size quilt.  One of my favorite patterns,

I just enlarged it to make a quilt, here's a smaller version....

This one is just a lap size quilt that I had made previously.

Then there was this smaller quilt

for wrapping up in while watching television.

It was a pretty quick one.

Isn't he cute......got the idea from Lori Nunemaker, her's was

make with felt.

Then there was Christmas cards to be made.

And other throw.....this one is paper pieced hexagons.

In the quilting stage now.....

One of these days I'm really going to have to give 'machine quilting' 

a try.....these all are hand sewn and quilted.

Then this morning I just felt the need to work

with some paper.  Still thinking about

whether to do the greenery skirt or not.