B is for...Blackboard Technique and Birthday Balloons

Recently Richard Garay, Fun Stampers Journey President and Co-Founder, demonstrated the blackboard technique in this video.  It's a quick and easy technique, using black card stock, clear embossing ink, and pan pastels.  I remember using chalks for this technique a LONG time ago! :-) This is one of the three cards we'll be making at my April 22nd card class.

For this card I used the balloon paper from the Magical Journey Prints collection (PP-0038) and one of the wonderfully wonky cakes in the To You stamp set (SS-0083).  I've never used this stamp set without lots of coloring - so it's a bit of a change for me.  I think I like the simplicity.

Don't forget to check out the other A-Z blogs this month. You can find the list on this Facebook page.
I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see what I come up with for C - I have an idea, but that could certainly change between now and then!!

A is for...April Fools Day!

Good morning! I just discovered the "Blogging from A to Z" challenge via a friend of mine, Susan Berg. Check out her blog at SuseADoodle Do - she's an amazing artist and all-around nice lady whom I hope to meet in person some day.

I'm a BAD blogger, so decided the April challenge would be a way to at least try to increase my blogging. The "A" post was supposed to be Saturday - I'll see if I can catch up!

So, on April 1st my hubby and I were in the truck heading home to southern Colorado from a warm and pleasant couple of weeks in southern Arizona.  We hit the state line between New Mexico and Colorado on Raton Pass and THIS is what met us!  Luckily by the time we made it home, the snow was patchy and the fog had lifted, but the 1-mile stretch of dirt road to our place was pure, sticky mud! We had to hose off the trailer before we could start unloading.
 
We're back now to our beautiful blue skies and sunshine, so I figure this was just Mother Nature's April Fool's joke on us to welcome us back!!!

Spring!

Yesterday my first daffodil bloomed.  My first EVER daffodil! I'm thrilled - they've been coming up every year, but this is the first time they've actually bloomed. Or if they've bloomed before, I wasn't here to see it....I think I lucked out this year, as we don't leave on our spring trip until tomorrow. 😀
  
The wire makes it a bit hard to see, but those are the cages I have to put around the tulips so the rabbits can't eat off the leaves.  Who knows, maybe I'll even have blooming tulips this year too! (Of course I won't be here to enjoy them.

I'm working on a little sewing project also. It's The Ultimate Wallet by So Sew Easy - and it's a FREE pattern. Can't get much better than that.  Of course after I started I realized I didn't have enough of the fabrics I had chosen, but found some that is a close enough match at JoAnn's yesterday. I wish I could have found more of the adorable alligators, but I don't remember where I got that piece. 😕

I love my Brandt's Boulevard Wallet (Chris W Designs), but want more card slots. And my current Necessary Clutch Wallet  (Emmaline Bags) is amazing and it's been WELL used, but I've been wanting a different fabric just for a change. I've discovered I love making wallets, and have made several NCW's for various folks in my life. I'm going to try graduating to larger purses when we get back from Arizona. I have to blame Rachel Anaya for getting me addicted to making wallets!!! She is an incredible sewist and makes beautiful wallets and purses, as well as other gorgeous items. If you get a chance, check out her blog at TigerInATornado.

Top: NCW - Bottom: Brandt's Boulevard

March Technique Blog Hop

A Year of Card Techniques - March

Hello! This would have been my post for our monthly blog hop of card techniques, but due to some personal and technical issues we had to postpone this month’s hop to April.

We apologize for the inconvenience but we promise, our next hop on April 21st will make up for it. Please join us in April for a brand new hop: “Stamp Set Showdown”. Hop along and leave a comment at all of our posts because we love to hear from you.

Every month one winner will receive a prize for commenting on the blog posts throughout the hops. We will draw a winner on each Saturday before the next hop goes live and the name will be announced in the upcoming hop.

This been said, our February Blog Hop Winner is

Jennifer Earley …Congratulations!

Jennifer, please contact Claudia Henderson to claim your prize!

We also will add another little incentive for all of you who leave a comment on our blog hop posts…Some of our blog hop members draw an extra winner and give away one of their creations each month.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for April 21st and if you haven’t done so already, check out our past hops:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing 

• February-So Sketchy

Thank you for your understanding and support. Please spread the word about our monthly blog hop - “A Year of Card Techniques." We hope to see you back here often.

Sincerely, 

Wilma

My First Bloom Box!

I joined a Fun Stampers Journey Bloom Box group last month. Our 6-month hostess club was finished, and the February Bloom Box was SO beautiful...seemed like a great time to start! Five of us got together for a couple of hours and were able to finish 3 of the 4 card kits and today I finished the last one.  I really really love this butterfly, and the colors are gorgeous.  I jotted down the measurements of all the pieces in the kits so I can make more!  Here are the results - aren't they awesome?!?

The two on the left are very dimensional and they're all SHINY! (There's no such thing as too much glitter!)

I honestly don't want to ever give these away.  They just made me happy as I was creating them!

This month's box is called Punny, Punny and is a very different style from last month's.  That's one nice thing about the Bloom Box, is you get a variety of styles and colors.  I'll post those four cards one of these days.

March Class - Masculine Cards

Thanks to a suggestion from the lovely ladies in my February class, we'll be focusing on some cards for the menfolk in our lives on March 4th. I'll be sure to take a selection of sentiment stamps also, so they can be personalized a bit. I'm glad they mentioned this idea - I tend to focus a bit much on flowers. If you happen to stop by, let me know what you think!
  

February Technique Blog Hop

FEBRUARY - So Sketchy

Welcome to a Year of Card Techniques 2017, a year-long series of monthly blog hops focusing on techniques for card makers.  Each month we feature a different technique, card fold or product.  We’ve assembled a team of ten card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll get a great variety of cards and ideas.

If you arrived here from Claudia's blog, then you're on the right path.  Don't worry if you missed a stop - I've listed the links for the entire hop later in the post. Remember, we love to hear from you, so please follow along and leave a comment. There will be a special prize waiting for one of you each month this year, selected from all comments on the hop. See prize details below, and please join us the third Saturday of each month for a new technique.

Our challenge this month was to create cards inspired by this sketch. It really WAS a challenge for me!  I'm pretty good at copying other people's cards :-) but hadn't worked from a sketch before. I think it was a good creative stretching exercise - and I think I'll try doing it again one of these days. Here's what I came up with (apparently I tend more toward horizontal layouts if this selection is any indication!!!).

I decided to rotate the design for this all-occasion card.

This one was inspired by a fellow coach, Jeanne Bobish.
My photography leaves a little to be desired!

I suppose the shark should be lower to match the sketch...

Glass Blooms - my favorite stamp set

I used masking and glittery gel pens on this CAS one-layer card.

A couple scraps of marbled paper from last month and a leftover piece
of a watercolor technique I was trying.

I tried to stay fairly true to the sketch on this one.

The cupcakes are paper-pieced - another piece of marbled
paper left from last month!

This super-cute stamp set called "Easter Bunny" is the February Prize, sponsored by Claudia Henderson. Its retail value is $17.95 but you can get it free! Be sure to comment on all the posts for a chance to win. It will be given away to some lucky someone chosen from all the comments on the hop as of March 4th. The winner will be announced on March's hop. 

And here's today's lineup in case you get lost along the way. Thanks so much for visiting!

Theresa - http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/…/february-technique-blo…
Amanda - salnclts76.blogspot.com
Kim - http://katydidcards.com
Sandy - http://www.scrapbookblessingsclub.com/.../february...
Claudia - http://claudiahenderson.blogspot.com/.../a-year-of-card...
Wilma - You are here!
Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
Lisa - http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com/.../a-year-of-card...
Jodie - http://stampin-jodie.blogspot.com/.../a-year-of-card...