My first circle side step card...

I've seen a couple of these cards on the blog and thought I'd like to learn how to do that.  I ran across a template by the very talented Marlena here.  And I'm finally pretty satisfied with my results.  Would I do one again?  Probably NOT!  lol.  It's not all about the difficulty of the card (which I did have several challenges with, but I had brain freeze and couldn't decide what I wanted to do other than add the beautiful heart doilies that I purchased here from Cheery Lynn Designs.  They have some of the most awesome dies.  My next one will be one called "Wittle Wickers".  I'm sure you'll be seeing these hearts around, as well as the doily I purchased called Canadian Kaleidoscope.

For this card, I used several different dies and a punch.  The spiked circle that the image was cut out on was a Nestibility I won a few weeks ago. The pendant die in white underneath the spikey one, and the hint of black that you see peeking out from the right behind the flowers is also a Nestibility.  The large 7-1/2" circle base for the card, was cut out with Cricut, as was the sentiment.  The gems are by Recollections; the black and white flowers are from Creative Charms; the white ones are from the bridal department of Michaels.  The white heart punched border you see is actually a corner punch by MS, used on a semi-circle about 1/8" smaller than the base. The image was colored with Promarkers and the distressing was done with Colorbox cranberry pigment ink pad.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Fab n' Funky Challenges - more than one fold
Crafts and Me Challenges - anything
Amber Crafts and Stuff - die cuts
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - girly
Craft Us Crazy - celebration
Paper Play Challenges - distressing
Do You Stack Up - bling
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - celebration
Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge - punch
Let's Ink It Up - die cuts, punches, no digis
Catered Crop - ovals, circles & die cuts
CES Challenges - die cuts
A Gem of a Challenge - anything but square
Gingerloft - anything but square
Creative Inspiration Paint - flowers

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll leave me a comment. 

Last of Sympathy cards for Men...

I'm so glad to have finished all of the sympathy cards for the men.  It's not really that difficult for me, it's just that I like to use brighter colors than I've used on the three cards here.  (I do like the color combinations, just not for so many cards back to back).  This image is one I colored about a year ago. The two previous ones I colored a couple of weeks ago.

This is about as close to clean and simple as I've gotten. This is a stamp from a company called: "Heartfelt Creations", from a little store, which unforunately I can't remember the name of.  I have always liked waterwheels, and couldn't pass this one up. It was colored with my Prismacolor pencils. And I added  clear Stickles to the water. The one and only DP is from K&Co. I didn't want to get too fancy since this was for a man, and a sympathy card at that. I did stack up the buttons, that were from my stash for an "altered" look for Top Tip Challenge.


 

Close up of Gristmill:

Insid of Card:

Close of sentiment:

This is about as close to clean and simple as I've gotten.  This is a  stamp from a company called: "Heartfelt Creations", from a little store I can't remember the name of.  I have always liked waterwheels, and couldn't pass this one up.  I colored this with my Prismacolor pencils.  And I added one of the clear Stickles to the water.  The one and only DP is from K&Co. I didn't want to get too fancy since this was for a man, and a sympathy card at that.  I did stack up the buttons for an "altered" look for Top Tip Challenge. 

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Pattie's Creations Challenge - green
Paper Cutz Challenge - anything
Totally Paper Crafts Challenge - buttons
Sugar Creek Hollow - anything
Totally Gorjuss - buttons
One Sitch at A Time Challenge  - for the boys
I Did It Creations - spring
Sketch & Stash Challenge - sketch (stash - stamp)
Clear It Our Challenge - buttons
Scrap-Creations - spring
Top Tip Tuesday - 3 or more buttons/optional - altered
My Partner in Crafting Crime - buttons

Thanks for stopping by.  I love to hear any comments you'd like to leave.

Hugs,

dj1952

Sympathy card #2 for a male...

This is the second of the sympathy cards I've been working on.  It's one of my favorite flowers for bringing in the house for its scent. The image is by Just Inklined Digital Stamps; and was one of the images I received for making a contribution to the "Help For Katie" fund.  I love magnolias as long as they are away from the house because anything you might want to plant under them will die.  Also the trees lose their leaves in the summer, when you wouldn't normally be raking leaves.

The papers are K&Co and just plain card stock.  I took the brown and ran it through my cuttlebug using a plaid folder by Sizzix.  After I embossed it, I dusted it with copper Perfect Pearls powder and then sprayed it with a gloss sealer.  I distressed the paper frame around the magnolia.  Then I added buttons and the lace raffia.

This is the inside of the card and the sentiment I stamped.  It is from one of the sheets of clear messages I purchased about "Memories".  On the back of the card I used a Scripture I find comforting from Revelation 21: 4, that says: "and he (God) will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away."

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Paper Works Co - sketch
I Love Promarkers - for a male & color with Promarkers
Paper Pretties - for a male
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything
Paper Play Challenges - embossing
Paper Cutz Challenge - anything
Totally Paper Crafts - buttons
Charisma Cardz Challenges - dies
CES Challenges - song - Sweet Magnolia Blossom
Sugar Creek Hollow - anything
Totally Gorjuss - buttons
The Crafty Pad - digi
One Stitch at a Time - for the boys
Cardmadfairy - nature
Gingerloft Challenges - dies
Catered Crop -  recipe - buttons, dies, flowers, stitching

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will make a comment.

Hugs,

One of seven sympathy cards...

This is just crazy.  Three of my friends had relatives who've passed away; and my dear MIL lost her youngest sister.  So that would have been four, but I feel that I also need to send one to her brother, sister and brother-in-law, since I know all of them.  I was able to give one of my past cards to my MIL, but I didn't have anything appropriate for the rest.  Having a mental block hasn't helped me much lately either.  On top of these cards, I have a couple of "get well" cards and some anniversary cards to finish.

I started looking through past stamped images and digis that I've already colored to see if I could save time there.  I found these swans that I really like. I colored them with my promarkers.  They are by Nicecrane Designs and can be found here.  I usually like to add a little more bling, on my cards, but since I'm going to be mailing this one, I didn't want it to be too bulky.  The papers are K&Co. and the stamp is by MS.  I used vellum to stamp on for the sentiment; a technique that one of my new friends, Natasha, has used on some of her cards.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

There She Goes Clear Stamps - sketch
Scrap-Creations - anything
 I Love Pro Markers - male & promarkers
Paper Pretties - male (sympathy card)
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything
Crafty Sentiments - animals
Paper Cutz Challenge - anything
Totally Papercrafts - buttons
Totally Gorjuss - buttons
Charisma Cardz Challenges - dies
CES Challenges - song - Swan Lake
Sugar Creek Hollow - anything
Gingerloft Challenge - anything
One Stitch at A Time Challenge - for the boys
The Crafty Pad - digi

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will leave a comment.

Faith - Last but not least.

Well, finally this is the fourth of the Sugar Nellie images that I purchased a while back.  Her name is Faith and I thought that she was gorgeous.  I know a few have made comments that they find the little girls somewhat melancholy, but I find that makes them more intriguing.  I used papers from DCWV and some from my stash.  I thought I was being really cool reversing the colors on the matting behind Faith.  But it took me forever to get the angle just right to cut the mat out correctly.  Then I realized that I had made the mat so that only an eighth of it even showed.  LOL. I've used my Prismacolor pencils to color her and I used various other items from my stash.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

I Did It - sketch
Paper Playtime - digi and anything
 The Corrosive Challenge Blog - green
One Stitch a a Time Challenge - charm
Craft Your Passions - anything
The Crazy Challenge - lovely ladies
Bunny Zoe's Craft - spring
Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog - green
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday  - stitching
Tuesday Throwdown - scraps
Flutterby Wednesday's - butterfly
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - anything
Desert Island Crafts Challenge - #1, #4, #5
Do You Stack Up - layers
Delightful Changes - butterflies
Meljens Design Team - green
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - yellow & green
Phindy's Place Challenge Blog - get well or thinking of you
Scrap Creations - anything
Little Claire's Designs - flowers
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - flowers
Aly's Sunday Challenge - anything
Ginerloft Challenge - flowers

Thank you for stopping in and leaving a comment for me.

Hugs,

 '

Angela's Candy - Three of Them

Wow, Angela, over at Angelwood's Crafting Corner is offering not one, not two, but three candy give-aways.  You need to become a follower on her blog, her daughter's and her "Magnolia" blog.  To see the complete rules you can stop over here.  Winners will be announced on April 18th.

I'm not going to tell but two of you I hope you win, because I'd like to be one of the three.  LOL!
Hugs,