Just Fluttering By

This card is for Flutterby Challenge #81 at Danni's Dreams.  This week is an open theme, so we can do any kind of card we want as long as it has a butterfly, fairy, OR angel on it.  Danni is adding angels to the Flutterby Challenge for the Christmas season.  Notice that the faux brads on my card are glittery today.  I used Stickles, rather than Crystal Lacquer on them. I wanted to draw out the glitter in the background paper.

Today is the last day to sign up for my blog candy if you haven't had a chance to.

Blessings

• Phone visits with my mom and sister yesterday. :)
• Happy Mail.
• Our friend, Lloyd, is continuing to progress well after his accident.
• Fresh apples in season. Mmmmmm........

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Faux Brad Instructions

I've had several people ask me about how I made the faux brads for the card in my last post, so I figured I better get busy and share the instructions.  It's very easy. For those of you who missed my last post, I make the faux brads, because they don't add extra weight or thickness to an envelope when mailing.  Thank you Lydia for "posing" so I could take photos for this little demo. :)

Materials Needed:

Card Stock
Small Round Punch
Crystal Lacquer, Aleene's Paper Glaze, or like product
Non-Stick Craft Sheet or Wax Paper

Instructions:
1. Punch circles from card stock with a round punch.  I use either 3/16" or 1/4" size punches, depending on what I'm doing.

2. Place circles on a non-stick surface.  Coat circles with Crystal Lacquer. Make sure you get it all the way to the edges.

3. Let dry.  It's humid here and usually takes overnight.
4. Using paper adhesive, adhere the flat side of the faux brad to your craft project where you would normally use a brad.

***Helpful Hints:

• Metallic or textured card stocks make very pretty faux brads.
• Thin sheets of craft metal can be punched & made into faux brads.
• I make up extra faux brads each time I make them, so that I have them ready to use when I need them.
• To make glittery brads use Stickles or adhesive and glitter, rather than Crystal Lacquer.
• Use shaped punches to make shaped faux brads such as hearts, stars, etc.

Edited to add: Several people have asked me what I'll do with all of my brads and other embellishments now that I'm trying to make flatter cards.  They will still be put to good use.  I'll use them on cards occasionally, but mostly I'll use them in my scrapbooks and on gifts and other dimensional projects.  I can't give up embellishments. :)

Here's the card I made with the faux brads shown being made in the above photos.  Wouldn't you know that these faux brads didn't turn out as nice as usual! But I used them anyhow seeing I wanted to get this on my blog for those who are interested.  So please don't let these faux brads make you decide you don't want to try this. Look at some of the ones I've used on past projects and you can see that they do look better. (In fact there are faux brads on the card in my previous post.) You can learn from my mistake today's post.  I put the Crystal Lacquer on way too thick and it dried with a dimple in the center of each faux brad.  :(

I wasn't sure if I liked the red brads on this card, so I just laid them on the card for my first photo.  Here's the card without the brads.  Which one do you like best?

Blessings

• Mark found a winter coat for me today at the thrift store.  I'm all set for cold weather & it's still in the high 80's each day. 
• Happy Mail :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Watch for Falling Leaves

Hello friends.  The rectangular element on the left of the card I'm sharing with you today is made from a napkin.  If you enlarge the photo you can probably see that it has some glitter on it.  In my quest to make flat cards that are easier to mail I have started using faux brads on my cards.  My friend, Kim, taught me how to make faux brads. I'm not sure if I make my faux brads exactly the way Kim taught me, but she definitely gets credit for the original idea. I'll share a faux brad tutorial one day soon.  For the faux brads on this card I used real copper and it iodized.  I decided that added to the interest of the look of the brads.

Blessings

• My nieces have been sick with the flu and they're getting better.
• Happy mail!!!  My sister sent me 3 Magnolia Tilda stamps - my very first Tilda stamps!!!!
• Extra time with Mark on his week off during quarters.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

I can't believe it!!!

I just found out that I am the winner of $50(US) at my choice of online scrap store from Kary.  This is her awesome blog candy for her 30th birthday.  I can't believe I won!!!  I had to call Mark at work and tell him, because I'm home alone with the dogs and they weren't getting into my whooping, hollering, and doing the happy dance. :) Thank you very much, Kary. This is so exciting!

Wishing you a wonderful 30th birthday, Kary and many, many more.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Red Friday

Hello my friends.  Here it is Red Friday again.  A day when I like to pause and remember our heroes that are serving our country at home and abroad.  Please take a moment to remember them and their families in prayer today and every day.

This is a card I made to add to my stash I'll be sending to Operation Write Home.  OWH sends handmade cards to our heroes to send home to their families and friends.  My photo doesn't show the stippling on the front of my card or the layers very well.  As I often say, I'm a stamper not a photographer. :)

As the time draws closer I'll be giving you more details about the Veteran's Day Blog Hop on Saturday November 14th.  Hold that date, because there will be lots of great cards to see and blog candy galore to win.  

Blessings

•  My sister's latest body scan was good!!!!
• My other sister is doing well after her knee replacement.
  
• Lots of phone chat with my sister this week. 

 Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fall is in the Air

The scene on this card is stamped with stamps from My Paper Moon.  Mark drew these stamp images many years ago, so they are extra special to me.  The clouds are sponged in.  The background stamp on the brown card is the Stampin' Up plaid stamp.  You can't see it very well unless you enlarge the picture.

It actually feels like Fall here today.  It is cool enough to have the windows open and tonight it's supposed to get down into the 50's.

A few weeks ago I showed you our crazy wild flowers that had grown to be 6-9 feet tall and were getting just one small flower each on the top of the plants. Flowers have bloomed all over the plants and they are very pretty now as you can see in this latest picture.  The bees and butterflies love them.

Blessings

• A phone visit with my sister. Such a treat. We don't get to fit one in very often.
• Mark found a brand new jacket for me at a thrift store.  Just in time for cooler weather.
• Mark found some good used books for me at garage sales today.  I was on my last one.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Red Friday

Hello friends.  It's already Friday again and here on Inky Hugz that means Red Friday, so that I can show my support for our country's heroes.  Today I want to share a little of what is going on in my community to support our troops.

A great group in our community that supports out troops is the Military Moms Prayer Group. They meet weekly to support and strengthen one another and to pray for our military heroes at home and abroad.  They also send wonderful care packages to our heroes at Christmas and Valentines Day.  Members in this interdenominational group include not only those with sons and daughters in the military, but also those who just want to support our heroes.  Meetings are every Thursday from 5-6 p.m. at the Women's Refuge 1850 Lemon Ave. Vero Beach.  For info call 772-231-2221.  Photo: Military Moms Prayer Group members Roma Anderson (L), Linda Contrelle (R).

This week's card for our heroes is another Valentine.  As many of you know, I really enjoy making humorous cards. :)  I found this cute image on the Coloring Fun site.  There are some terrific images there.  If you want to make cards for our heroes to send to their families and friends, please check out Operation Write Home. They make it so easy to get involved.

Blessings

• Some much needed rain.
• Card making with my daughter.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Hugs and Flowers

I like the colors I used on this card. They just caught my eye the day I made this card. They aren't typical colors for me.
There was great excitement in our backyard today. Princess discovered a Gopher turtle there. It was her first encounter with a turtle and she was very intrigued. She was disappointed when it wouldn't move. :)

Blessings

• Lydia's help while both me and Mark have been feeling bad.
• My camera. It's fun to be able to grab it and capture a memory of something like Princess and the turtle.
• Our rather flexible lifestyle.

Have a fantastic day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

An Envelope Full of Fun

I had something else planned to show you today and then noticed this card in my pictures and realized that I hadn't ever shared it with you. Many months ago one of the Yahoo groups I belong to had a fun challenge. We were each given the name of a member to send an envelope of stuff to. The member had to make a card using only the products in the envelope. We could color an image and use adhesive, but otherwise we couldn't add to what we received in the envelope. My envelope of goodies came from Viv and I fell in love with this image from Faerie Song Stamps. Plus Viv sent papers in my favorite colors, so my card was easy to make.
Isn't the iridescent paper gorgeous? Viv made my challenge a delight.
I sent my partner, Kim, this wolf image from Sarasota Stamps, because it made me think of Montana where Kim used to live. What I didn't think about is that the image and the card size are different from what Kim normally works with, but she took it right in stride. I absolutely love the card she made for me.
Here's a close up of the wolf. His colors are deeper in person.
This is the wonderful blog candy that I won from smARTworks. It's such a versatile sheet of stamps. I'll be using them for both card making and scrap booking. Thanks so much Susan. I love the stamps. :) When you visit the smARTworks site be sure to check out each of the tabs. There are all sorts of things going on there.

Blessings

• A phone visit with my mom. :)
• My friend surprised me with 4 gorgeous new outfits and a new purse yesterday. Wow! Am I loved & spoiled or what?
• The wonder of seeing the world through a child's eyes.
  

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Red Friday

Here in America many wear red on Fridays to symbolize their support for our troops. Operation Write Home, the organization that sends handmade cards to our Heroes to send home to their families and friends, is asking us to take Red Friday one step further and show our support on our blogs. I'm proud to be a participant of Red Friday on my blog.
This photo was in the news recently and really touched my heart. The four year old little girl in the picture is holding her daddy's hand, because she doesn't want him to go back to Iraq. We need to remember not only our heroes that are serving all over the world, but also their families as they are courageously going on with life at home while their husband, daddy, son, brother, or boyfriend is away serving. Let's remember to pray for our heroes and their families each day.
This is a Valentine card I made that will be sent through Operation Write Home. I'm not one to make cards way ahead for a season, so I'm learning to do that as I make cards for our heroes to use. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. :)

Blessings

• Mark is improving.
• We're having a peaceful hurricane season.
• My little dog, Princess. She's such a faithful companion to me always, but especially when I'm laid up.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Just Magnolia Challenge

This is my first time to take part in the Just Magnolia Challenge at Just Magnolia Challenge Blog.
For this challenge we had to make our own flowers for our cards and the cards must have a Magnolia image on them. This challenge fits right in with my new "Back to the Basics" card making philosophy of using flat embellishments. I don't know this Magnolia Tilda's name as I received her in a swap, but she sure is sweet. :)
Blessings

• Lydia has a 99.4% grade point average for her first semester of college!!!
• The Dr. told Mark he had to take two days off of work. This is a blessing, because Mark needs to rest and get well and he often won't do so on his own.
• Happy Mail :)

Have a lovely day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Back to the Basics

This card is the beginning of my move to get "Back to the Basics". We had a satellite post office that was letting me send lumpy and thicker cards with only a 44 cent stamp on them, but sadly it has closed. Now the other post offices are charging 88 cents and up for lumpy or thicker cards. As much as I love my family and friends I honestly can't afford to pay that much to send a card. So I'm now making my cards flat enough to be sent with a 44 cent stamp. This is proving to be a fun challenge and I'm actually liking the cards better than my old lumpy or thick cards. :)
I think I'm using more creativity to find ways to embellish the cards. Plus this is the way things were way back when I learned to stamp. Thus my reason for calling it "Back to the Basics".

Today's card is for Flutter By challenge #77 at Danni's Dreams. For this challenge we had to use the color sapphire. I think this is the first time you've seen me use a fairy, rather than a butterfly for the challenge. I have my friend Sue to thank for this. She sent me a whole bunch of stamped fairy images to color. Thanks again, Sue. :)

You can see the Shimmerz on the fairy's wings in this photo and the Ice Stickles on the stars. I paper sculpted the stars to make them dimensional. I used Star Dream card stock to go with all of the shimmer and glitter.

Blessings

• Gifts from friends. Three things I used on this card were a gift from friends - just because.
• Mark's ability to take care of the problems that come up with our computers. We'd be in trouble if it was up to me. lol
• Some friends that helped me out this week.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Happy World Card Making Day!!!

I hope that you've had a chance to make some cards today. I've been working on cards on and off this evening and have several finished and more in the works.

The House Mouse card I'm sharing today is one I made awhile back for my mom. When you look at the close up photo below and read the sentiment you will probably guess that my mom and me talk for a long time on the phone. :) We don't get to talk nearly as often as we would like to, so when we finally talk we have a lot to say.

The card is made with my Eek, eek, eek House Mouse stamp and a mouse print stamp by Judith. I don't know who makes the sentiment. It's an um stamp that I received in a swap.

Blessings

• Loving family and friends who have brought care packages for Mark today, because he's very sick.
• Everything is so green and lush around our home still (with no watering) despite the fact that our county is having a bad drought. I so enjoy seeing the natural beauty out my windows.
• A phone chat with a friend I haven't had a "visit" with in awhile.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

What's Red & Black & White All Over?

The very first Tilda card I've shown on my blog! I absolutely love the Tilda images, but don't own any.......yet. Someday. :) I received this darling image from a friend and made this card for my sister. When I colored this image I was still using my Prismacolor pencils for skin tones, but wasn't happy with the uneven look they gave the skin. I've since switched to Prismacolor markers for the skin tones and am far happier with them. I'll show you an image colored with them in a future post. I'm not sure why the picture came out so small. I had it set to be large, but... Anyhow I was too tired to start over by the time I noticed. :)

Early in the summer Mark planted a patch of wild flowers outside our backyard fence. One variety kept growing taller and taller all summer, but never bloomed. The plants now range from 6 - 9 feet tall and this week they started getting regular size flowers on the top of the huge plants. They look so funny. But it looks like they are going to fill out and bloom all over the plants, which will make them far more attractive. I didn't get the bloom on the top of the tall plant Mark is standing by in my photo, but you can see a small orange flower to the left and above his head on a different plant.


Blessings

• Our friend Lloyd used his walker to go out to the grain bins by himself twice so far this week!!!
• Lydia finished her term papers tonight!!
• My sister came through her knee replacement surgery safely.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly