Lots and Lots of Catching Up!

This post brings me all the way back to March! At least I am still in 2015 :) My tag swap partner was Tracy and our theme was International Women's Day. The first photos are from the envelope and card I made and sent along with the tags. The card was on heavy card stock, almost like watercolor paper. It has a mix of water colors, stamps geli prints and oil pastels and the envelope is sharpie and water color markers.

This is the front and back of an extra goodie, an ATC card embossed and painted with the same theme. Front and back.

Pictured below is the tag, front and back. I used sprays, stamps, deli paper, oil pastels, gel pen, beads and an extra bit of card stock to make the book that dangles from the bottom.

 A close up view of the book's front and back.

The inside pages of the book relay a quote from Malafa Yousafzai, the young lady that is pictured on the front of the tag. The taliban attempted an assassination on her just for attending school. She is now an activist for women's education.

My daughter spent a couple weeks in the hospital in April. She is doing much better now :) During that time she had several visitors who were very thoughtful and brought gifts for her. There were also a couple birthdays that she missed so I got busy making all the thank you and birthday cards while staying with her in the hospital.

At this point, I was really starting to miss the google + community that has kept me inspired to keep creating. I made some time to make some art cards and send them out to some of the ladies...I need to make some more to send out to the rest of them :)

Some stamp carvings for my sister....

I also attended a Fairy Tale Themed ATC workshop where we made our ATC's and then we were able to trade them with each other. Below are my Frog Prince themed cards.

I couldn't resist making this next piece for one of my daughter's friends. She loves to make art and she is one huge supporter of mine :) It started as an ivory wallpaper sample so it is very flexible. The paint, modeling paste, glue and deli paper stuck to it just fine! I have a few more samples that I can't wait to get started on.

Next up...June tag swap tags!

Thinking of You Card, Hand Carved Eraser Stamps and February Tags

First up is my latest addiction! Carving erasers into stamps is really so much fun and instantly gratifying. The hardest part was deciding what design to carve. I'm putting together a small care box for my daughter which will include these stamps and notecards, stamp pads and markers. As you can see, her name is Jennifer, her friends call her Jen.

A friend of my husband's was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, so I decided that sending a card might help his spirits.

Next up, February "Love" themed tag swap. this first one is centered around a funny vintage photo! I love her heart shaped hairdo and the arrow going through it :) I just used some scrapbook paper and stamps, uniball gel pen, some plastic glasses and derwent aqua pencils. I used to knit lots a few years back, so two of the tags have some saved up yarn attached through the holes.

The back is all scrapbook paper, a sweetheart stamp and lacy heart stamp :)

This girl is a stamp on deli paper colored with water color markers. The red background is made with inka gold mixed with water. The heart is another stamp filled in with white crackle paint and a hint of a very watered down red water color paint marker. The butterflies and words are also stamped and colored.

The back is covered with a piece of deli "under paper" that had been used under sprayed cheesecloth.  I used a little bit of highlight around the little boy and added L O V E inside some of the heart with the uniball gel pen. There is an embossed frame using red and gold embossing powder around him and on the bottom two corners. The border around the card is made with the red inka gold as well.

The last tag started with the sun rays embossing folder. I used some texture cream and some sprays and many different color oil pastels to the entire card. I added the lady in love and her beau with a heart frame. 

The back of the tag is colored with red inka gold and a paper doily which was sprayed with tattered angels and heidi swapp. I cut the vintage photo in a heart shape and bordered it with some glitter.

A quick card I made out of water color paper, water color pencils, stamps and of course, a white uniball gel pen.