Spreading some love with Cards

 Hello, friends!

Back in December I stumbled across a Facebook group called From The Heart that's dedicated to spreading a little love and cheer via the post.  Recipients are largely older people who just need a little pick-me-up. I remember my mom bemoaning the fact that as she got older fewer and fewer of her friends were left; it was hard on her.  I sent her a card pretty much every week and she loved receiving them.  At From The Heart we send cards for birthdays, holidays and just because.

I love to make cards but don't always have an outlet for them - perfect!

If you'd like to brighten someone's day and are interested in the group check them out HERE; cards don't have to be handmade.

Have a fabulous day!

Valentines Day Treat Boxes

I love to make little gifts for my preschoolers for the holidays.  These treat boxes are some of my faves.

I'm going to put little chocolate bars in these.  I'm sure that will be a hit with my littles, too!

I'm entering this is in the Lawnfawnatics 'lots of love' challenge HERE.

Happy Hallowtines Day!

Happy what???  Yes, there is a group of Halloween-lovers on SwapBot and one of our swaps is to create a card for Hallowtines Day - a fun, yet freaky, alternative celebration of Valentines Day.  The lovely couple that I chose to use to grace the front of my card is an image from Stampotique designed by Tracy Scott.

Aren't they fun...and a little freaky?

Of course, I couldn't just send this in a plain ol' envelope.  Here's a little mail art morph of Valentines Day and Halloween:

Happy Valentines, or Hallowtines, Day!

Love is in the Air...

Oh, those sweet days of youth!  Remember the classroom Valentines Day parties and everyone would bring the cute Valentines, there'd be delish sweets to eat and there was bound to be a box or two of conversation hearts in your Valentine treat bag?  I took a nostalgic journey making this ATC for a Valentines Day swap.

Media used: alcohol inks, Distress inks, old book

Happy (Early) Valentines Day!

Forever My Always Card

Love is in the air...

I made this card for the MFT Sketch Challenge #367 (wow, that's a lot of sketches!).  I was able to pull out my alcohol inks to make the background (Yay!  Haven't used those in ages) and also used my new stitched rectangle STAX dies, fishtail sentiment strips and Love You More stamp set.  

I rarely use patterned paper, but dug around in my stash to mix things up.  The heart panel is raised off the base with foam tape and then the sentiment strip is raised off that again with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting today!

MFT Sketch Challenge 365: You Warm My Heart

One of my fave MFT stamp sets is Hug in a Mug.  It must be the time of year (and my snowy view outside).  :)  The sketch for this challenge stumped me at first, but then the gears started turning until I ended up with this:

I colored some white cardstock with 3 colors of red Distress Inks and then die cut the hearts.  They seemed a little boring against the black background (diecut with the wonky stitch square die) so I used a seamstress wheel to perforate them down the middle and then only adhered them on the left side for dimension.  That's more like it!

Valentines Day will be here before we know it...I'll be ready!

Float My Boat Card

Well, it's Christmas Eve and I'm all ready for the big day.  That means my crafty creations are ready to move on to the next big holiday - Valentines Day.  :)  I made a little card for the Lawn Fawnattics challenge (fave LF stamp set).  This set always makes me grin; probably because I love the ocean. 

 

Happy 2018!

12 Tags of 2014 - February

Hey, it's not even the last day of February and I've got my 'tag' finished!  This month Tim used stencils, embossing, and a faux chalkboard technique on his tag.  See his HERE.  I created an ATC inspired by his tag with mixed results.

 

 

I created my background using a technique similar to his.  I schmeared some Pumice Stone and Walnut Stain Distress Inks on my craft mat and gave them a spritz with water.  Using a base of white cardstock, I dragged it through the inks, dried with a heat gun, and dragged it through the leftover ink again, dried, etc. until all of the ink was used up.  I distressed the edges with scissors and then inked them up with Walnut Stain.

I don't have a heart stencil so opted for a heart border stamp instead.  Using Fired Brick and Barn Door Distress Inks I stamped over the dried cardstock.  I immediately dumped clear embossing powder over the top and then heated it.  The embossing powder didn't stick very well - kind of spotty - but it's a background so no worries.

My chalkboard sentiment failed the first time (since I didn't read directions!).  I used Versamark ink and clear embossing powder on black cardstock and heated it thoroughly.  The chalk didn't stick since it was shiny.  Oops.  I repeated it heating only until it first started melting.  My result is okay, but it's a little hard to read.  Maybe because the font is fine-lined?  Or because I used Versamark and regular embossing powder?  Regardless, it's still legible.

Next, I liked Tim's metallic border but don't have the fancy stickers.  I went with metal tape, an embossing folder and a scallop border die instead.  After I cut the border I dabbed alcohol ink over the top.

 To put it all together and finish it off, I went with an inked up book page ripped into the shape of a heart and some red and brown bakers twine.

I'm still undecided if this is a success or not, but I had never tried embossing with Distress Inks or the faux chalkboard techique before - both of which I'd wanted to try.  So in that sense, it's a success.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy (Belated) Valentines' Day!

Showered With Love

When I made my Greetings from Seattle card a few days ago I rediscovered a stamp set that I had forgotten about.  The umbrella die came with a stamp set featuring some rain-ish images and quotes (very Seattle-esque, yes?).  With Valentines Day on the horizon, and attempting to get away from lavendars, pinks and reds, I made a little love card.  This would also be great for a baby or wedding shower so I'll either send it on its way to one of my favorite valentines or keep it in my stash.  ;)

My sewing machine is in a different room and it's kind of a hassle to haul it out.  One of my favorite little tricks is to use one of those sewing tracing wheel thingies to make stitch-like edges around cards.  For this one I added a few lines under the clouds as well to look like rain (use your imagination!)  :)

I haven't decided if this card is a little TOO clean and simple or if I like it as is.  Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts.

My next card is very Valentines-ish with those very colors that I avoided in the card above.  ;)  I made this to combine two challenges:  CASual Fridays - Make Your Mark and Stampotique - Love.  I wanted to do something different with the marker challenge so that was a little tricky for me but I'm a happy camper with my experiment - I think it worked.

Now chances are this has already been done but for me it was totally experimental.  I took a square background stamp and colored the top half with Copic R29 and the bottom half with Copic V17 (I had a thing for purple and red combos when I was little).  Next I randomly dripped some Ranger Blending Solution over it and quickly stamped on cardstock.  I freehand drew the hearts and punched out squares.  Pretty cool watercolor effect, doncha' think? 



 Off to make dinner.  The natives are getting restless...



Valentine Wanted ... or Not.

Here is my last Valentine offering for the shop (I think). 

These little wonders are perforated so you can hand them to your wanna-be Valentine and get a response back.  Great for the shy ones.  ;)  Get more info on them here.

It's funny.  My beloved and I don't really 'do' Valentines' Day because in our little kingdom every day is Valentines' Day (feel free to alternately say "Aaaaahhh..." or resist the gag reflex - whichever works).  At the beginning of the year I decided I really need to go through my supplies to get rid of things I haven't used.  I came across a lot of cool stamps that I had forgotten about.  Hence, Valentines' Day for Elves In The Attic was bigger this year than in years past; have to justify keeping all these little goodies that I still love.

On a totally different note, one might even say completely opposite, I have a new batch of stamps that I couldn't resist playing around with.  A good friend of mine recently finalized her divorce - it wasn't a pretty process.  To cheer her up I made this card for her:

 

 

Yeah.  I know that's not very nice, but it is kinda funny and I think it will make her grin.  That's what friends are for, right?

 

Cheers to you and Happy Friday!

Equal Opprtunity Valentines

My brother-in-law is gay and he and his partner got married a year and a half ago.  They are both wonderful, amazing people and I am fortunate to have them in my life.  I thought of them when I made these Valentines Day cards which I listed today at Elves In The Attic.

Wishing you love...all of you.