For Vicki

My cousin recently lost her house in a fire. She, her husband, kids and pets all made it out safely, but they lost almost everything. Dan and I decided to send them a little something to help them begin to replace their stuff. I considered sending a sympathy card, but I felt a bright and uplifting card would be better for her. Even faced with all of these hard times, she still remains positive. The inside of this card will read “Sending happy thoughts” along with our personal messages.

AFAS7 001 copy

Stamp: The Greeting Farm
Paper: DCWV, Bazzill, The Paper Co., Hot Off the Press
Accessories: Spica clear pen, Pebbles, Fiskars scallop punch, black liner marker
Copics: B01, B02, B21, BV00, BV02, E00, E02, E33, E37, E47, E49, G21, G24, Y00, YG01
Sketch: Anyone for Anya #7

I’m Back!

Where have I been? Around, but obviously not doing much craft blogging. I had a hard time towards the end of last year and it’s taking me awhile to get back into the swing of things.

I’m toying with the idea of closing The Greeting Garden, since I don’t have the time to keep it updated. Instead, I’ll start an Etsy store. I’m also considering combining my craft blog with my personal blog, but I’m worried about losing some of my readers from both. I haven’t seen too many crafters who also talk about personal stuff on their craft blog. Maybe just a separate page on the same site? I don’t know…still considering all my options…

I’m also trying to clear my head by clearing my space! I’ve signed up to participate in a craft supply yard sale. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell my old stuff that was just cluttering my craft room and make way for the creative juices to flow. I’m really hoping I don’t end up buying everyone else’s old stuff while I’m there though. LOL!

Here are three of my favorite cards that I’ve made in December and January. Two are obviously Christmas cards, which I did in bulk for a craft fair. The other is a birthday party invitation that I made in bulk for my cousin.

Chef Ian

It was my brither-in-law’s birthday. I originally made him a blue toned card, but was informed by my husband that just because it was blue, didn’t mean it wasn’t girly. I think the blue flower may have been overkill. So it was back to the drawing board! This time I made sure to pick neutral colors, and not a single flower in sight!

ChefIan001

 

Stamp: The Greeting Farm
Paper: DCWV, Bazzill
Accessories: Foam tape, black liner marker
Copics: E00, E02, E34, E37, E47, R59, B33, G43, Y17

Cats. Lots of Cats.

My aunt needed a cat card. Being me, I couldn’t stop at making just one!

Card #1 (Starting at the left, going clockwise.)
Stamp: Unknown cat image, from image swap
Paper: American Crafts pp, PTI cardstock
Accessories: Good Impressions rub on sentiment, Recollections heart brad, black pen, white pen
Copics: E02, E31, E33, E47

Card #2
Stamp: Stampendous
Paper: Basic Grey pp, PTI cardstock
Accessories: Nestabilities
Copics: C1, C3, E15, E33, E79, R59, YR09, Y08, G17, G99

Card #3

Stamp: Great Impressions
Paper: Basic Grey, PTI
Accessories: Distressing ink pad, Joanns ribbon, white gel pen, 3D tape
Copics: E02, E29, E31, E33, G99, YG17, Colorless blender

003 copy

Howdy Birthday

My dad’s birthday was August 15th. He just moved to Texas and considers himself “home.” I knew this image would be perfect for him!

 

006

 

Stamp: In Style Stamps

Paper: Adorn It, SU

Accessories: 3D tape, black pen, white pen

Copic colors: R29, R39, E00 E02, E09, E31, E33, E37, B01, B21, B24

oops…

I’m in the airport and just noticed that my scheduled posts didn’t go through last week. Oops! Operator error! I’ll post when I get home. Sorry to anyone who checked here for a challenge photo!

Lady Rose Dragon

This card is for two challenges. One is for Card Patterns and the other is for Copic Creations. The Copic Creations challenge was to color anime eyes. I need to get more stamps that have big anime eyes! It was hard to color Lady Rose Dragon’s eyes and ensure the color stayed in the area it was supposed to. Thank goodness for white gel pens!

No stamps this time – I was browsing Deviat Art and stumbled across Princess Elemmiriel’s page. She drew this gorgeous sketch called Lady Rose Dragon.

lady-rose-dragon

 

Here’s a close up for those who want to see the eyes… It was hard to capture the details with my camera. If anyone has any photo tips for flat images, I would appreciate it!

closeup

Image: Lady Rose Dragon – PrincessElemmiriel
Copics: 0, E00, E02, E33, E37, YR00, G02, G21, G24
Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper, The Paper Company cardstock
Accessories: Ribbon, white gel pen, printer, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, foam tape

New Challenge Blog

There’s a new challenge blog in town! Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenges will be up and running on August 15th. They will come out with a new challenge each month. To celebrate, they are offering awesome blog candy! Head over there and check out the details for your chance to win.

blog_candy____cc

Anyone for Anya DT Call

Anyone for Anya is holding a DT call. I decided to apply, even though there are already close to 50 people who look like they are interested! They provided a sketch and we create a card with any colors, paper or embellishments we prefer.

angelanya01

I’m pretty proud of how it turned out! I colored the image using copics and a clear Spica pen on her wings and halo. I layered using double sided My Mind’s Eye paper, Bazzill White and SU Riding Hood Red. Then I decided to stitch around Anya. I didn’t have a small enough needle for my sewing machine, so I hand stitched the diagonal stitches. Then I tied some ribbon around the entire base and popped both Anya and the sentiment up on 3-D foam tape. You can just see a peek of the interior in this photo. I trimmed out one of the flowers from the patterned paper to add a focal point inside. I really wish you could see how shimmery her wings are. They add a perfect amount of bling to the entire image and since there’s multiple layers of the glitter, they turned out almost a warm gold.

Stamps: The Greeting Farm – Angel Anya, Stampin’ Up – True Friend sentiment
Paper: My Mind’s Eye, Bazzill, Stampin’ Up
Inks: Versafine for image, SU Real Red for sponging
Accessories: Ribbon, foam tape, Spica glitter pen, thread
Copics Used: 0, E00, E02, E09, E33, E37, E47, R000, R39, R46

Here’s a close up that shows her coloring and shading at a better angle.

angelanya02

True Friend

Here’s a card for a SCS sketch challenge. It was very simple to make. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the butterflies are popped up to give them dimension.

true-friend

Stamps: Stampin’ Up True Friend
Ink: Versafine
Paper: Bazzill cs, DCWV pp
Embellishments: Kaiser pearls
Tools: Martha Stewart butterflies punch, paper piercer