Happy Valentine's Day!!

I have a new job!!  I'm working with Penny Black making cards for display boards that the company gives to customers who buy the stamps used in the cards on that board.  (Read that sentence again slower and maybe it'll make sense.  haha)

Angela is the designer of the cards and I make duplicates for as many orders as are received at CHA (Craft and Hobby Association convention) held in January. My friend, Peggy got the position for me and I love her for it! I'm getting paid for doing what I love and I get LOTS of free stuff!! The stamps I use to make the samples, the ink pads, coloring chalk and more are all free to me. It doesn't get any better than this!

The card above is my favorite of the cards I made this time around. Everything used on this card is new from Penny Black and will be available in stores soon. The background is a paisley stamp that I love! The coloring on the flower image is done with Pebbles chalk.

This is a Valentine I made for my love (of course it's my hubby!!) The paper is from My Mind's Eye. There is a Tim Holtz ticket and the felt flower and red brads are from American Crafts. The clock is from Vintaj I believe, the sticker on the bottom is Creative Memories and the twine is Jenni Bowlin's. I put some Glossy Acents over the true red hearts on top.

This card is made using a technique I learned from a class with Jennifer Maguire. The long strip is a background stamp stamped with Versamark ink and then stamped with a reverse image stamp with Distress Ink in Peeled Paint. This was then stamped onto glossy cardstock and left to dry. Once dry I inked the entire image with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and wiped it off. Such a pretty effect.

Well that's all for today!! I have added a new page to this blog for the book challenges so check that out if you have a reading addiction also ;-).

Blessings on you and your Valentine!

Lorelei 

Getting All Inked UP

Guess what? I'm a Fall girl. SHOCKER!!

 I love fall food, fall desserts (ooops back to food again), fall clothes, fall leaves, fall cards.... I could go on. Oh I forgot to say I just LOVE fall weather!! It's starting to be cooler in the evenings and mornings and I just love that.

I'm also just loving the Inspiration Showcase class I'm taking. Yesterday we worked on dry embossing techniques. I'll be sharing what I made with this technique soon. I have lots of embossing envelopes for my Cuttlebug but haven't used them much. After yesterday, Lookout world! I am loving the inking over (and under) dry embossing.

The card above is my favorite from the class so far. Nicole Magourik made a card similar to this and of course, being the Fall girl that I am, I just had to try my hand at my version of the card.

What do you think? You can make this card too. Here's how:

Stamp a big swirl (used Hero Arts Bold Flourish) or full card size stamp over book text with Versamark and heat emboss that with white embossing powder. Then ink up your piece with Tumbled Glass and Scattered Straw Distress Ranger Inks (did I mention that I love these inks?). Finish the edges off with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and spray Tattered Angels Marshmallow or similar mica based spray over the whole piece to get a little sparkle.

The flower is made by stamping the same flower 3 times with Versamark ink and embossing with white embossing powder and then cutting the flowers out and crumpling them up and layering them on top of each other.  An old Marvy punch I have was perfect for the leaves. I used a clear embossing pen by Ranger to draw the leaf lines and then embossed that with white embossing powder. Put it all together over a bow made of cord and add some rhinestones and pearls and wahlah!!

If you haven't already, get your Ranger Distress Inks out and play with them. The backgrounds you can make to enhance your cards will made you smile. Jennifer Maguire says she buys very little colored cardstock because she can always change white cardstock into the perfect color for her project!

I'm loving life, hope you are too.

Lorelei 

  

Inspiration Showcase

Seriously, who is your favorite cardmaker?  Of course it's Jennifer Maguire! Who else has the energy and  talent she does?  I love Nicole Magourik and Kristina Werner and others but Jennifer has the style that most often matches my tastes.  Her latest on-line class called Inspiration Showcase is packed full of inspirational goodness and beautiful card ideas and I'm only on Day Two!! The card above is a sympathy card I made for my husband's brother's in-laws. The technique here is stamping with paint and then applying ink to the the card and going back over it with a baby wipe to get the paint to show through. I love the softness of the imperfections of the stamped image. I also love using my favorite inks: Ranger Distress Inks. My new favorite color is Wild Honey!! What not green??? Not this time.

This card uses the same background technique as the card above but I added the panel on top with foam tape. On the panel I used Distress Inks over a white embossed image from Magenta.  The white embossing also resists the Distress Inks. This card is the beginning of my Thanksgiving stash for those members of our church who can no longer join us on Sunday.

Inspiration Showcase is the best class ever. It is so packed with wonderful, fun techniques all while using my favorite products. What more could a girl who has a passion for cardmaking ask for?

I hope you'll stay tuned, I know I'll have more to share with you shortly. I hope you're having a blessed week and can find the time to do what you love most!

Lorelei