Golf thank you cards

With the cool winds of autumn approaching, I think it will be time to get back in to card making!

Here are two thank you cards I made tonight for the gals who organize the ladies golf league I joined this summer.  I've really enjoyed meeting new people and hanging out for a girls night once per week, it has been a highlight of each week, and I was happy to get to make these.

They were a bit of a challenge as they  needed to be big enough to accommodate many notes from many people inside, so I made them 5 1/2 by 8 1/2--> double the size of my normal cards, AND I added an insert inside each one so it is more like a book with multiple pages. 

This first one (above) is with a house mouse stamp, coloured using Copic Markers on Neenah Solar white.

The second one, below, was stamped with Black Soot Tim Holz Distress Ink and heat embossed with some sparkly glittery embossing powder.  It looks great, and worked out way quicker than colouring these very detailed stamps.  The stamps below are from a Stampin up set called "the back nine" which has been in my stash for VERY many years now.

For both these cards I pulled out my handy dandy "Bow-easy" tool.  Since it had been so long since I used it, I had to go watch a tutorial on you-tube to refresh my memory, LOL!

It felt good and satisfying to make these, so I think you'll see more things popping up here soon.  The past few months I haven't been doing too much crafty stuff--each time I dig out my stamps I miss my mom, with whom I spent many crafty hours.  But time is passing, and it seems perhaps its time to find the joy of playing with ink and paper again.

New forest die

Hi all,

Well, in the last couple of weeks I finished all my current swap cards, and even gotten some done for the next five months, LOL!  I wasn't sure what to do next, but I have some new dies I haven't used yet, and decided to play with this Birch Trio one.

The image is stamped a bit crooked, but I think it's still ok.  The image is stamped in black versafine, the water is sponged and the sky airbrushed.  I used SU markers (the old type) to colour in the boat etc, as the Copics make versafine smear.  The background is embossed on coordinations paper, and then sanded, and the trees were also cut from coordinations paper and sanded.

I'm really happy with how this came out, and glad to have another masculine card to add to my stash.

Another set of swap cards - new baby congrats

Finished off a second set of swap cards today, feels great to look at these all!

This one's for a congratulations swap.

I also decorated the inside a little bit -- I always like to do a little bit extra on baby and wedding cards, as these are more often to be kept for sentimental reasons.

The image is from Mo's digital pencil, and I coloured them with Copic markers.  The sentiment is from Whimsy Doodle Stamps.

A new year and a fresh start - welcome 2015

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope that 2015 is starting out to be a fabulous year for all of you.

It's been about a year and a half since I've had a chance to make cards and play with my blog, and visit your blogs.  I'm looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and having some fun and pleasure from crafting

You all know how life intervenes sometimes.  The past year and a half my mom was quite sick, and then passed away, so that took away a lot of my time and energy, and sucked all my creativity away.  I was also working in a really intense job with lots of overtime, and that certainly didn't help with finding time and energy for crafting or keeping in touch with friends.  Somehow I stopped crafting and doing lots of fun things, and hanging out with friends, and boy, do I miss everyone!  I guess we all have to deal with life as it comes up, and I'm hoping this new year is quiet, happy and uneventful :-)   I've just started a new, less time consuming job, which is a relief.  With my mom gone, it's lonely and I'm thinking that coming back to blogland will be a nice way to fill the gap.  It's 2015 now, and a fresh start!!  

To get started in the new year, I signed up for some card swaps and here is my first card for the first card swap, what do you think?

The image is from an SU stamp set, the paper is Graphic 45, Nesties dies, and the rest is from my stash.  I used the Copic air gun to get the shading around the image and on the sentiment, and added liquid pearls and stickler glitter as well, for the sash and flowers.