My first attempt at a mixed media box that I've really not moved too much forward on because dang the overwhelming feeling of alllll of the many things I have that I could do to it. LOL

Mixed Media Antique Box Attempt

Handmade Mixed Media Gift Card Holder

So now that there is the wonderful world of Imgur out there and it's much easier to upload there, I might just start posting more here and on my card making blog. 

Aside from photography, which I haven't been partaking in as much of late, I have a lot of crafty, artsy, fartsy hobbies.  From card  and cake making, to glass painting, and acrylic painting.  I now have yet another one. Mixed Media art. 
I made my first gift card holder with lots of goodies I had in my craft/art supplies and a few new things I bought to help my hobby along.  I've uploaded images of it here.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out after initially not loving it too much.

Mixed Media Gift Card Holder

A Few New Cards

It has been a while since I have been able to post some cards!  It's also been a while since I have had time to make some.  I did get a couple hours last weekend to try out my new Gina K stamp sets and I couldn't be more ecstatic! 

I had ordered the "Label Borders" but I received the "Lacy Borders" on accident.  I contacted them to find out how best to trade so I could get the ones I wanted.  I didn't think I would use the Lacy Borders by Gina K. Stamp Set anyway.  They told me to keep them because it was their mistake.  So while I waited to receive the correct stamp set, I did a quick search to see if I could get some inspiration for using the Lacy ones.  I had determined if I couldn't come up with something, I would just pass them on to my mom.  I have gotten her hooked on Gina K stamps so I'm sure we'll trade now and then anyway so we can utilize the different sets that each other has.  So...back to the search.  I found a great simply sympathy card that I used with one of the new Memento ink pads my mom picked up for me when she was out shopping.  I LOVE the simplicity of this card!

Red Lace Sympathy

The next card I made with the Lacy Borders by Gina K. Stamp Set was a birthday card.  I am not sure where the paper flowers come from because they were from a set my mom had and she had just given me a few of them to add to my  embellishment box.  I wanted to do something else with the Lacy Borders after the sympathy card was so successful to me so I decided to try to emboss it.  I have a couple of beautiful bright colored embossing powders that I don't use too often because I just never really have anything to go with them.  When I dug through my powders, I was so excited to find the perfect one to match my moms flowers!  The papers are from a DK something or other paper pack (I have wayyy to many papers to ever remember where they come from) and the stamp is from one of Gina K's greeting sets I believe.  I'm super pleased with this card and I think I enjoy the Lacy Borders!  I'll have to lend them to my mom sometime because I think she will like them too!  

Sparkle Blue and Yellow Birthday

So, as I slowly step back from my duties as a long term Pop Warner football volunteer, I hope to be spending a lot more of my free time making cards and posting them here for my friends and family to view.

As always, thanks for looking.  Feel free to comment and offer any ideas for future cards that you might think of!

Mother's Day SOLD! :-)

Now that Mother's Day is passed, I can finally post my first sold Mother's Day cards. 

I was so excited when my kind hearted friend Reddy asked me to make a Mother's Day card for him to give his wife on her first mother's day with baby Rudrith!  I asked him what her favorite color was so I could have an idea on where to start.  She is a very pretty lady so I decided to use a pretty flower colored in pink!  With the leaves being green, the color combination was just perfect for some paper that I have wanted to use for a while!  I believe these papers came from K&C Company.

After Reddy got the first card, he asked if I could make a photo thank you card from Rudrith for his mommy to thank her for being such and AWESOME mommy!  I thought that was the sweetest idea I had ever heard and I absolutely LOVE this card and am so pleased with the outcome.  I used a circle die cut for his photo because he has the most perfectly pretty round face and head.  I know a lot of people think ALL babies are pretty but truthfully, they aren't.  A lot of them have baby pimples, peeling skin and look like ET.  :-D  Lol!  Well, baby Rudrith is definitely not one of those babies.  He is beautiful!  He has the most beautiful skin tone from his mom and dad who are of Indian descent.  He is the perfect mix of his mommy and daddy and I can see their resemblance in him in many of the photos I've seen so far.  I thought the color combination of Gina K papers made for masculine cards went perfect with this beautiful little man.  The buttons came from a mixed pack I received as a gift.

Reddy, thank you so much for taking a chance and ordering cards from me.  I am so glad you liked them.  Neeru, thank you for your kind words and I'm so glad you had a great first Mothers Day.  You have one adorable little cutey and I hope to actually get to hold him before he turns 16 and is a rotten teenager.  HAHA! 

Father's Day

Father's Day is just around the corner and I'm so excited that I'm ahead of the game by having already made both my father's and my father in law's cards!  That NEVER happens.  Usually I am struggling at the last minute to get something thrown together and am, most of the time, disappointed in the results. 

My own dad's card was made with Gina K's "By The Sea" stamp set.  I love this set and it's the first one I've used of hers.  I also used the coordinating masculine color paper pack and the ribbon is from a bag of ribbon my mom gave me.  The light house is colored with Copic markers and the embellishments are from a container of embellishments I have so I couldn't say whose company they are from. Lol!

My father in laws card was made with most of my old paper and the embellishments and ribbon simply come from my bucket of embellishments and ribbon so who knows who made them.  :-P  The stamp is a digital one named Aubery Bumblethorpe and I found him online at Just Inklined.  He is colored with Copic markers and I totally love the humor in him.  I hope my father in law will appreciate it too.  He makes me snicker every time I look at him.  :o)

I am going to start taking some photos of my Copic coloring notebook that I've started keeping for those who like to color as much as me.  I have found that it really keeps all of my stamps, colored and not colored, organized.  I've also decided to put paper samples in it so I have something to refer to when I decide to color a stamp.  I learned pretty quick that it's really hard to match a colored stamp AFTER it's been colored with no regard to paper on hand.  It's much easier to know ahead of time what papers will be used for the final image.  Hoping that sharing some things I've learned as I go will help someone else in the future.

Multi Fold Shutter Card

I wanted to share a card I made in a style that I learned through a tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers.  It's a bit time consuming to cut out all of the pieces but the result is well worth all of the time spent making it.  I've made four or five of them so far and though it's been a couple months since I've made one, I'm starting to get an itch to use some of the new print paper packs I've recently purchased so I think I'll make another one this weekend.  This is the first of this kind that Ive made!  I received a lot of great feedback on the colors too.   

If you are interested in learning how to make one, let me know and I'll post the directions!

Mothers Day Cards

I am way ahead of the game this year on Mother's Day because I've already made both my mother and my mother in law a card!  Brownie points for me for not buying store bought cards when I'm capable of making homemade ones.  0:-) 

So I just recently made a $250 purchase over at Stamp TV because I love Gina K's products...well, at least I thought I would love them when I watch her videos.  I decided to use my new products for my mom's Mother's Day card and this is the result.  The printed paper is from Gina K's Wisteria Lane paper pack and the stamps came from the Gina K Botanicals stamp set.  I also used her 120lb base weight Pure Luxury card stock to mat everything on.

My mother in laws card is a bit different and I chose my copic colors based on my background paper.  The background paper is from I believe a KC & Company stack I bought and the stamp is a digital stamp that I can't remember where I got it from.  Lol!  I'm having a lot of fun with my new Copics and I hope my mother in law likes her card too!

As I color more and more stamps with my Copics, I need to keep in mind that I should make cards along the way.  So far, I've stocked up on images to color but haven't the faintest idea what kind of card I will make with them.  Maybe I'll have to plan a weekend in June at my mom's with her friend Pam so we can all make cards.  I'll have to commit NOT to color while I'm there and use it as a weekend to just make cards with the images I've colored.  Maybe this weekend I'll get some time to make a couple too.  Ooh, I still have another Father's Day card to make!  I'll post both of mine after I've completed them!