Halloween Card Swap & Other Treat

Hi, All!

Today I'm taking advantage of a Halloween Card Swap I was in with some amazing cardmakers who follow Lynne at Her Craftiness.  These cards are too fun not to share!  Hope you like them.  I loved receiving them.

For Lynne's card, I love the background paper - not to mention the fun sentiment!  She also sent the treat below - love the image!  You can see more of Lynne's super nice work at her blog - Her Craftiness. (Thanks, also, Lynne, for the "candy corn" treat!)

Lynne

I also wanted to share this fun card by Janet - I love how the open frame turned out!

Janet

Created by Vicky, this card celebrates Halloween with texture and sentiment and designs so fun for Halloween.  She's offered artistic inspiration, sharing her creativity.

Vicky

Jearise's card includes patterned paper with a fun image - and fun texture with an abundance of googly eyes, colorful twine, and a popped-up sentiment!  We have amazing cardmakers at Her Craftiness that offer tons of inspiration!  More of Jearise's ideas and inspiration can be found on her blog, Lorby's World.

Jearise

This is the card you can't miss - it is my favorite because I only have time for simple right now....and how simple is this with a B - some eyes - and a bow!  Such a nice, simple touch - yet it pops right out at me!  Great idea, Brenda!

Brenda

Anyhow, enjoy!  Be sure to visit everyone's blogs for more awesome ideas!

Pet Talk - the last of it

This card was made using a cat silhouette from Clip Art Best, along with the heart die from Spellbinders.

Pet Sympathy - with a Twist (Pink for Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge)

I am on a mission to finish up an order for pet sympathy cards (one more to go).  Added pink for this card, as today's Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge is Anything Goes with a Twist - of pink.

Pet Sympathy Cards

Hi, All!

I have some more pet sympathy cards for you today.  I love this little pup.

For today's cat card, I used Aurora Wings Sweet Dreams digital stamp.  Kadoodle Bug's Puppy Peeker - perfect for this type of card.

Colorful Image to Remember Kitty

Hello!

I'm here today with another pet sympathy card.  This time I created a card featuring a pretty kitten called Sweet Dreams.

Green Abounds

Good Morning, Everyone!

Happy Wednesday.  Whatever happened to "Ya know what day it is?" LOl!  I know - just could not resist.

I thought I would share with another pet sympathy card I made today - here it is.

I used a digital image from Kadoodle Bug - I was in a hurry, so I used their image as is.  But Kadoodle Bug also offers all their images in .svg files and digital stamps.

The sentiment is just created on the computer using Microsoft Word.

Easy Pet Sympathy

Pet sympathy cards are really popular with my customers - and for good reason.  They let your friends know you are thinking of them when they lose their pets.  They don't need to be fancy - today, I want to share an easy-to-make pet sympathy card.

If you make a pet sympathy card, I'd love to see - just leave a link to your blog post featuring your card in the comments below.  :D

So Sorry (Pet Sympathy)

Hi, All!

Today's cards continue my order for pet sympathy cards.  Did a little bit of everything - digital stamps and svg paw print files.  The first card is colored with the PrismaColor and baby oil method - actually pretty quick technique.  I see a little bit of baby oil residue around my flower - guess I'll have to work on avoiding that.

Suzy Bee's Challenge - Cards to Inspire You

This past week was extremely busy.  After a quick & crazy trip to Las Vegas last weekend, the week just hasn't stopped.  But dropping some things - finished with my One-Stroke class - quitting my day job (but not to become a painter - lol!).  I keep thinking I'm freeing up time - but I find as I'm making plans with others, we are now into February and March!  Guess it never stops.

But, as always, I try to get some cards in on the weekend - and here is the first card I've made in over a week.  It's perfect to let someone know you're thinking of them after the loss of their pet.

I'm also attempting to figure out just what is my favorite way of coloring digis - so you will see more of this little guy as I try to color him using Copics, Distress Pens, Colored Pencils - and whatever other items I've spent all my money on to find the perfect medium for me.  :D  This digital from 2 Cute Ink is colored using Adobe Photoshop.  While I love the perfect blending everyone else gets with their markers - I am thinking I may just end up coming back to this method for my favorite.  We'll see.

Suzy Bee's Blooming Challenge this week is ATG with a Twist - Stripes.  I made this card this morning before checking out Suzy Bee's - but since I had a striped background, am entering it in the Challenge.  Will make more striped cards later today to include.  Be sure to check out Suzy Bee's for some amazing inspiration!

Here is my second card - this time colored using EK Success Pigment Markers.  These don't blend - though with patience you can darken areas by going over them several times. 

Here's card #3 - colored with Copic Markers.  So far - no front runner...LOL!  But because of my heavy hand, I do prefer markers with hard tips.  I find it very hard to "stay in the lines" with Copics - the tips are too soft - but I'm pretty pleased with the pup.

This next card was colored with PrismaColors colored pencils and baby oil.  I think what I especially like about working with PrismaColors is that I don't fear of my ink running out mid-project.  With markers, there really is no way of telling how much ink is in your pen - I'm not fond of refilling - but replacing gets expensive.  With light colors, it's even sometimes hard to even be able to tell if there is ink there.  Of all the images so far, I think the flower looks best using PrismaColors.  I want to add - I just learned about blending with PrismaColors.  Many people use Gasmol or mineral spirits.  In my YouTube search for this, I saw a video for using baby oil instead.  I tried both - I prefer baby oil...the end product is nice and smooth.  With my hard touch, with mineral spirits I tended to blend so hard, I would almost tear a hole in the cardstock.

Okay, last one for the night.  This next card uses Distress Markers.  The YouTube video I watched for this technique uses a craft mat.  I don't keep mine out all the time - it's stored rolled up as I purchased it.  So to pull out this huge craft mat when I want to do some quick coloring wasn't ideal.  I just purchased a Sizzix crease pad - the packing material included two plastic sheets - perfect!  Small enough to be handy all the time.

Now the big question - which method did I like best?  Well, I think I decided it's not the method so much as it is my creative mojo for the day.  Last week I wasn't happy with any method - the impetus for me doing this today.  Today - I liked all the methods!  But I think if I have to pick a favorite, it's going to be the PrismaColors and baby oil.  While I'm "satisfied" with all the results - the PrismaColors actually turned out closest to what I intended.  And while PrismaColor pencils are expensive - they are much cheaper than all the other methods.  I'm sure I will lose pencils long before any of them wear out - and I bought 60 colors at Hobby Lobby for about $15 with my coupon and employee discount.  I think I have a winner!