Blissful Fall Duo

I have two cards for you today!  I know it’s been a while since I posted here.  We are in our forever home here in Greer, SC at last. We still have some boxes to unpack but most of it is done.  I’ve told my girls that I will not be moving again.  This is it!  I’m staying put and if I need to move, they will have to do it!  We are now close to family and love being near the mountains!  We can see them from here.

Both cards feature ink blended backgrounds using my newly acquired Taylored Expressions blender brushes!  I love these things.  The handles are so colorful and they lend themselves to keeping the ink colors into families just by using the handles as a guide.  How clever is that?!?!  Not to mentions that they blend the inks just like warm butter on hot pancakes!

My first card features the Greetery’s Botanicuts Sunflower dies and a new to me stencil company – A Colorful Life Designs that I picked up at Technique Junkies’ booth at the Stamp Scrap Art Tour (SSAT) here in Greenville, SC this past weekend!  All the info for this card is below!

·      Stamp set(s):    PTI – Never Enough Birthday (inside) & Garden of Faith Stamp (back) Sets 

·      Ink(s):  Gina K Designs – Kraft & Warm Cocoa

·      Paper:  PTI – Classic Kraft, Harvest Gold, Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, Honey Nut, Cocoa Bean, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado

·      Dies & Embossing folders:  The Greetery – Sunflower Botanicuts Dies; MFT – Happy Birthday Die

·      Embellishments/Other things of note:  A Colorful Life Designs – Splatted Grid Stencil; Nuvo Crystal Drops – Ebony Black and Crystal Glaze; Taylored Expressions – Blender Brushes

My second card is also fall themed and features an ink blended background and a sweet set from Papertrey Ink, a stencil from Taylored Expressions and those awesome blender brushes!  Here are all the details!

·      Stamp set(s):  PTI – Enclosed Leaf Mini SS  

·      Ink(s):  Gina K Designs – Red Velvet, Wild Dandelion, Tangerine Twist; Versamark Pad

·      Paper:  Gina K Designs – Red Velvet; PTI – Classic Kraft

·      Dies & Embossing folders:  PTI – Enclosed Leaf Die & Skinny Mini Banner Die

·      Embellishments/Other things of note:  Taylored Expressions – Feathered Stencil & Blender Brushes; Nuvo – Crystal Glaze; PTI – Gold Filigree Embossing Powder; The Paper Studio – Hemp Twine   

I have really enjoyed using my new #TEblenderbrushes!  I highly recommend that you go their website and place an order.  They are on back order due to the high demand for them but they are worth the wait!  And once your name comes up, they ship them really fast!  Great customer service!  And you’re supporting a woman owned small business too!  

I had a lot of fun back here in my restored – from moving twice in 3 months – craft room playing with all of these lovely things.  It was also nice to put away some of my stash of  – well let’s face it, hoarded 12 x 12 papers.  I made some cards for a realtor friend at our new church here with some of these classic papers.  I have no idea how old they were but I still loved them as much as when I first bought them! This is it for now.  Be on the look-out for the announcement that my daughter and I have launched our own Etsy shop later this fall where I’ll be selling some of my creations!

Many Blessings,

Donna

Of Cards and Daughters

               One of my strongest spiritual gifts, is the gift of encouragement.  I guess I chose the right profession – clinical social work, but I find myself often in need of cards to send to family or friends when I know that they are going thru some difficult times.  Both of my precious all grown-up daughters are facing life issues – not medical life threatening or anything like that.  But this world is a crazy place to live sometimes, and we all face challenges that are difficult.  As a mother, I just want to encourage my girls even though both are grown and out of the nest.  It’s just that mothering and nurturing instinct that never goes away.  So, I created these cards with each of my girls in mind.  

I most often use photopolymer stamps, but when I heard that Heather Nichols who used to design for Papertrey Ink had a release coming out over on Taylored Expressions, I HAD to check it out.  And I did, and I bought her lovely new stamps and die sets.  I’ve stopped buying rubber stamps because I love to see where I’m stamping BUT, using my MISTI and scrap paper helped me get everything lined up and straight so I just might be indulging myself more over at Taylored Expressions.  They also have a lovely line of stencils and embossing folders, too!  Be sure to check them out!

·      Stamp set(s):  Taylored Expressions – Simply Stamped: Feathers & Wild & Free Stamp Sets   

·      Ink(s):  PTI – True Black, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Hibiscus Bursts, Raspberry Fizz (black card), Lemon Tart, & Bright Buttercup (Aqua Mist card)

·      Paper:  PTI – Stamper’s Select White, True Black & Aqua Mist

·      Dies & Embossing folders:  TE – Simply Stamped: Feathers Die; Bead Board Embossing Folder; Honey Bee – A2 Double Stitched Frames

·      Embellishments/Other things of note:  Pretty Pink Posh – 6mm Onyx Sequins, Summer Flowers Sequins, 4/6mm Sparkling Clear Sequins, Zig Wink Of Stella – Clear 

There are some differences between the cards – which was caused by an error on my part but when that happens, there’s always more cardstock (I know I’m a hoarder there! LOL) and more die cutting to be done. My girls are different and so should their cards be, too! 

Thank you for stopping by for a visit!  Come back soon!  Sign up to follow and you’ll be notified of new posts, too!

Many Blessings,

Donna

PS:  Normally not two posts in one day!  We've been traveling recently so I got behind!