Cozy Crop Productivity...

 Cozy Crop week went from Easter Sunday, April 21st, until the following Sunday, April 28th. This was my seventh consecutive visit. Ending productivity count was fifty completed cards. The beginning of the week wasn't as productive as the end of the week. I was a little "out of sorts" as the week wasn't going as I had expected...

 

 These are from a Queen and Company kit. Although the cards are lovely, I was quite disappointed in the kit. It was marketed as "all inclusive" but I discovered it was not. And for $39.95, I was not happy. There were NO instructions included and all paper used came from one 6" x 6" pad. This, of course, makes the paper go 10x faster. I purchased this kit because the colors were incredibly vibrant. In person, they were not. I know the people crafting with me were not happy with my "complaining" but it's difficult for me not to be vocal when I feel I've been taken for a ride. No more Queen and Company kits for me. Lesson learned... :(

 

 This card however, was my favorite and although not as bright as the advertisement, it's still a fun card and I love it...

 

Another crafter and I had a "foiling session". Of the fifteen images I did, only these four were "Cindy quality" (the airplane card has a background piece). I've thrown in the towel on this medium as well. WAY too much money to spend on product to only have 30% of it be up to my standards. I gave away most of the images to the other crafter...

 



 This had to be the most fun part of the cardmaking week. Susan Hiles, who has been with me all seven visits and sits next to me, took my box of  "partials" and helped me create twenty-one cards using items from the box. I was stunned! Some of these pieces are from cards made as far back as 2015. I've lugged these around for ages. Well, at least years anyway. This was SO, SO fun! And now, my box is very light weight... woot, woot!!

And, of course, I did make my five Christmas cards for April. Three designs but five cards. The poinsettias are from a W plus 9 stamp and die set. called "Christmas Rose Bouquet". The "peace" card was following a card I saw on Pinterest. I may do this one again... it's different!

 

 

So, another Cozy Crop week under our belt. The trip home, Susan and I critiqued the week and thought maybe a week was too long. Maybe it was. If everyone isn't meshing perfectly, the week can drag...

 



From a kit...

 This kit by Rubber Café came out in December 2013... can you say OUCH!! It included a stamp set w/18 stamps, 6"x 6" pad, 8.5" x 11" colored cardstock, pop-up stickers, ribbon, colored seam binding, candy shoppe dots, bling and an Inspiration Page.

 

 On this card, we weaved the center square with the colored seam binding. What a unique idea!! And the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner I absolutely loved and anchored the ends with the candy shoppe dots. EVEN THOUGH I had to fussy cut the banner...

 

 I used the pop-up tree sticker on this one for a very simple look. I love the cloud paper from the 6"x 6" pad... works perfect! Ohhhhh, that seam binding! No worries about bulkiness in the mail with this...

 

I used one of my border dies on the bottom and made my own tag for the focal point. I used up a few of the stickers too. Although I only made three cards from this kit, there are enough supplies to make at least a  dozen more...



My five for March...

 These are a Unity image I borrowed from a friends Kit of the Month (October 2018, I believe) and colored last month with my Copics.

 

I used paper from my Christmas stash, sequins and a star paperclip that was in some goodies Seongsook gave me when I met her at Christmas. The wonky die-cut piece behind is from Gina Marie Designs called "Loopy Rectangle". The sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn "Winter Fox" set. I thought the "warm" fit well with the scarf, boots and hat. I added a cardinal from the birds die-cuts by Impression Obsession and gave it dimension with Glossy Accents. It's an unconventional Christmas card but it gets the job done. And it's MARCH, I haven't missed a month yet!! YAY me!! LOL :)

 



Sideways Weekend at Deb's...

 I crafted at Deb's from Sunday afternoon, March 3rd to Tuesday afternoon, March 5th and thus, called it a sideways weekend. We worked with alcohol inks and foil, Distress Oxides and baby wipes and embossed backgrounds with Zigs. The first night, we colored with Copics (Newton's Nook and Unity images) shown in the bottom and right corner. They may take awhile to become cards... but they're colored!!!

 

 It was fun working with the alcohol inks and foil. The shine doesn't photo well but trust me, it's delightful! I made two panels but only this one became a card...

 

 This was Distress Oxides with baby wipes... this one, no sentiment needed. The stamp was Deb's and I forgot to write down who made it. I can't even remember if it was an unmounted wood or something else. How bad is that?
 

These two, I added Simon Says Stamp "you" die (stacked five times for dimension) and sentiment from Gina K Boho Flowers set...

 

 My FAVORITE of the embossed background with Zigs. This background stamp is Impression Obsession cover-a-card Layered Pansies. All white spaces left over, I used a gray Copic to fill in. Again, Deb's sentiment, not sure from where and the die-cut is from a set by Simon Says Stamp (stacked three times)...

This background, I used Copics instead of Zigs. The background stamp is by My Favorite Things called Roses All Over.

 

Another productive crafty time with Deb. Next craft time together won't be until Cozy Crop, which isn't that far off. Just watch this month FLY...

 

Birthday Candle Card...

 I was working on these cards back on February 21st... wait, what?!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN that was two weeks ago?!! Good grief Charlie Brown! Anyway, I found a card on Pinterest that intrigued me AND, I actually knew the cardmaker. How often does that happen? So, I did my best to CASE it. I had a couple other prototypes that I asked advice on from Seongsook's Stampers. This was the final product. I also, with my Geli-plate and acrylic paints, did my best to make matching envelopes. Pretty spot-on, right?!

 

The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up set called "Perfect Pennants". The paper pieces are from a 6" x 6" paper pad by DCWV called "the Birthday Wishes stack" from 2012. Both I've had for ions. I absolutely love cards with birthday candles on them. They just make me smile. SOOO, party on peeps...

 

My Five for February...

 I finished these a week or so ago but then left immediately to North Carolina for a family wedding. A pretty simple card but striking. It looks so much more elegant in person...

 

Using the second to largest of the Penny Black Antique Frame dies (shown above), I centered and cut a piece out of my 110# card stock to use as a template. Placing that with repositionable tape on my card base, I used Distress Oxides to blend a background.

 

Once blended and template removed, I used my MISTI to add the sentiment. The cardinals were die-cut using an Impression Obsession die. And the trees from the Tim Holtz Woodlands die set (shown above). A nice composition in the end and keeps me ON TARGET for my challenge of five Christmas cards a month... yay me!!

 

Scrap Paper Goodness...

 Back in the days before I knew about Pinterest, I would put pics of cards in a folder on my computer called "Card Ideas". I was doing some computer clean up the other day and thought, "Let's make one of these." The original card is shown below and was done by a fellow crafter named Pam Tetreault who made cards for Operation Write Home, just like I did...

 

 

The card on the right, is her original card. I THINK the year she did this was 2014. At least, that's the year I added it to my folder. Since I have NONE of the measurements, I had to do some "figuring"., which for me, takes FOREVER! Instead of the buttons she used, I used some flowers from the "Stitched Flower" set by My Favorite Things.

 

I'm pretty pleased with the result and if anyone knows Pam, have her come and take a look. I'd love her to know that she STILL inspires me... :)