Black Ice Technique - My First Attempts

Hi there everyone. First of all....let me introduce you to a new follower. Her name is Mary and her blog is here. Thanks, Mary for stopping by.

So my following cards are a new technique I learned. First heard of it on Brenda's blog. I watched quite a few YouTube tutorials, each one different from the other. This is what I came up with.

In this card, I used an embossing folder. Lightly rubbed the black ink on the silver card stock. When I got the effect I wanted then dried it with the heat gun. The second layer was the embossing ink, covering the whole card, then heated with heat gun. 

Here I just used a flower stamp....I think I pressed too hard and got those streaks , but it looks okay. Forgot to add some gems to these two cards like I did with the 4th card below.

Same thing with the card above and below. Big streaks down the middle. Hey, but it still looks good. Each card has it's own personality.

The card above, I added a little color to the peddles and center of the flower.

These two cards were some of first samples of Black Ice. (I seemed to have a heavy hand which left streaks down the middle). The card on the right came out okay.

I think I will try red and green card stock (just thinking ahead for Christmas.)

So this week looks kind of quiet, not much planned. I need to work on some Aflac reimbursements. Maybe this will be a good time to do that. Still waiting for Spring to come....but I have a feeling it is not far away.

My dryer is working great. JP knows how to run it. The new car radio/CD player works great, I showed JP how to work that too. Hospice got their cards, now I am working on the next batch for May 4th. I think some of the cards above will make it to the Hospice box.

Time to close here, JP will be home soon, have to figure out what to make for him for dinner and do a few dishes. So it looks like I did some work....lol!! Have a great evening and keep looking up ~ better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

Making Cards At Betty's House

Hi there everyone. Well, finally we met at Betty's house to make cards. She took the summer off to enjoy the summer with her family. Don't really blame her....everyone needs a break and time off. Today I will show you the cards we made at her house. I took pictures right away....so these cards were fresh off the press.

I like this card which was colored with Copic markers. We pretty much used the colors we wanted so each of our cards were a little bit different color wise.

Another neat card. The flower is stamped with versa mark then embossed. We colored the back side of the flower then cut it out. and place it on the card and added the gems and bow.

I really like this card, I think it is actually 3 different stamps. Betty let me borrow the spider with the heart. I will probably use it for Valentines. But I like the way she set the spider on the daisy....so cute. We then colored in the image with copic markers.

And here is a leaf turned into a cute fox. His ears are made from a butterfly punch....must remember this for cards next year. She already colored in the fox we just rubbed black ink on his face and added the nose and eyes.

Well, I think I will close this post for tonight, you all keep looking up cause better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Card Making Kind of Day

Hi there everyone. How is life going with you???  Yesterday was a card making kind of day. We usually meet once a month, but for the next couple of months, we won't be meeting, because the rode outside Betty's home is getting widened and repaved....so I guess it will be a mess for a while. So September will be our next card making day. Here, you see the following cards we made.

I took these pictures outside on the front porch. So there was a little more light to play with. Betty has lots of die cuts...so the fancy oval and flowers are a die cut, we colored the flowers and leaves in with Copic markers.

In this picture, the coloring in, was the light house. The frilly vine is a die cut. Then we layered the papers and ribbon and embellished with the bow and gems.

In this picture, the background is patterned paper, the flower was stamped on a iridescent paper and then embossed. We cut out the flower and colored in some of the pedals with pink copic markers. Very simple but elegant.

This was the first card we made and the duck is colored in with copic markers. Again, some of the lovely oval die cuts that Betty has.

I have not been able to get down to the basement in the last couple of days to make cards. The heavy rains caused a little flooding in our basement and backyard. The dehumidifier had been running for 3 days and there's still lots of moisture in the basement. Hope all my papers don't get wrecked.

I still have the chore of putting everything back together after the Rebuilding Together people replaced the basement windows. Everything had to be moved from in front of the windows, so needless to say I have plastic containers full of stuff on the floors and not on the skids, like they are supposed to be. I may have a mess down there that I don't realize I have yet. There might be a few cardboard boxes on the floor....oh well, maybe this weekend.

Well time to close here, hope you have a wonderful couple of days. JP and I are planning on going and getting a few ideas on a "garden walk" on Saturday, hopefully the weather will be nice with no rain.
Cheers ~ Louise

How 'Bout Some Flowers 2 Keep Us Warm

Hi there everyone. Burrrrrr.....it is chilly outside!!!! The kitchen window thermometer says 5 degrees......oh baby it is cold out there. I have not ventured outside for almost a week and may have to break down and do some shopping tomorrow as the refrigerator is getting low on food and I need some fruit and vegies for my smoothies.

For today's post I thought a few flowers would warm us all up and maybe help in "THINKING SPRING." Just think....a few more months and we will be seeing some of these beauty's in the next 5 pictures.

Hummmm I wonder....maybe this is why time flies, because we are always looking forward to the next season. Maybe....just maybe....enjoy where we are at for the moment. Ahhhh....take in the beauty of the moment, the snow and cold, the wind, ice and fog. All creations of God and all for a reason. Who knows, maybe diverse weather brings on and helps these flowers to do their very best to make things beautiful for us....I don't know...just thinking.

So here is my beautiful rose bush in the front yard. I do nothing special to protect her during the winter, just put a plastic covering around the base and cover her with leaves. This year I gave her a shot of coffee grounds, maybe about a cup and in the spring she'll get some fertilizer. I read some place that coffee grounds were good for roses and actually for vegetables too. We'll see, so far I think I will give the coffee grounds to the roses and experiment with other flowers for now.

My beautiful peonies.....the bush was so full this year. I actually shared some of her blooms with a few neighbors. I wanted to cut the plant in half and start another bush in the front yard, but never got around to it. Maybe this year. I may have given the peonies some coffee grounds in the fall too.

Here is my white rose bush in the back yard.....this is a newer bush and she produces long stemmed white roses....only thing is, she is a late bloomer. Last spring I thought she had died, because there were no new sprouts, almost dug her up, but then one day a new baby sprout showed up. Finally she took root!!! I gave her some coffee grounds in the fall, maybe that will perk her up some. No pun intended.

My wonderful hibiscus. I bought this plant at Walmarts maybe about 6 years ago for a whopping $1.50 and she just keeps blooming and blooming. I keep her in the house during the winter in a south window and water her every other day. Oh yes, fertilize every couple of weeks or so. No coffee here though.....yet. In the spring when the weather warms up she sits on the porch most of the summer and thrives beautifully.

Oh my brown eyed susans.......I love these flowers. They volunteer to grow where ever. I can always count on them to pop up some place in my front yard. Not sure where they came from....maybe a bird dropped a seed and that was where it started. I usually let the seeds dry on the stems in hopes that they will spread and bloom for next year. Then I cut the flowers off and save what seeds are left for the next year. For some reason, as hard as I try, cannot seem to get these flowers to grow in the back yard. I don't know.....maybe there is too much shade.

Well, I guess I shall close for now, have to go pay some bills and take care of household chores.....yep, a woman's work is never done. Have a great day and keep warm and cozy, looking up everyday. Cheers ~ Louise

A Few Cards I Made 4 Hospice Meeting Today

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful week, busy, full and fun packed with much to do.

My week was full of much activity, mostly making cards for Hospice, voting, cooking, paying bills, shopping, computer stuff, house cleaning, winterizing the front and back yard....the normal things of life.....of which I am still trying to figure out what normal is, so whatever normal is? I guess this will be what my normal is. Does that make sense?

So in the above picture is my Thanksgiving card. Just a simple turkey, colored in with copic markers, layered on an orange back-ground which was run through the cuttlebug with a pumpkin folder. Then sprayed with a gold mist. I have about 8 more cards to make, those will be sent to a few friends and family.

This neat card is stamped with some of my new stampin' up stamps. This can be for a birthday, thinking of you or thanksgiving too.

Again these are all Stampin'up stamps. The three thanksgiving people is a stamp I must have gotten over 10 years ago....one of my older stamps and probably one of the first stamps I bought for thanksgiving.

This is one of my newer stamps from Stampin'up. I really enjoyed making this card. Stamped and embossed, then painted with pearl-x, it was fun trying to blend the colors together. This one is in pretty blues.

Same card as above, but this card is in reds with a different color card background.

This card is in the greys and whites. So there you have it. A few cards in my "portfolio". I might do a few more and put them on my Etsy store. As soon as I get my Thanksgiving cards made. Then, on to Christmas cards for Hospice and sending out to friends and family.

Well, time to close and make it a day. Have a great day and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

More Cards In Fall Colors

Hi there everyone. How are your days going? It was a beautiful day here today....I love these fall days, wish they could last forever. Thought I would get a blog done this week, as I will be busy cleaning house the next few days. Family from Chicago are coming for a visit....so you know how that goes....lots of dusting and cleaning before they come. I have been so lax in my cleaning lately....oh well, what gets done will get done. Just hope I can get those dishes out of the sink and keep them out for at least a day or two...hahahaha!!

Been working on some more cards. Mostly for Hospice, as the next meeting will be 11/7, I need lots of Birthday and Thinking of you Fall and Thanksgiving cards. Sooooo, a few cards every night will build a good supply. I usually like to have at least 50-75 cards in the stash.

So the top card, Birthday Blessings will be one of the cards included in that stash. Bought some turquoise ribbon today, so I will use that instead of the white. I saw this idea on the Internet, on a blog, but can't remember where. Liked it so much, but did not have the stamp. Hunted high and low and finally found it at JoAnn's. This card does not look exactly like the card I saw, but it's pretty close.

In the above pic, this is one of my new embossing folders, I just dabbed ink on the leaves to give it that fall effect. I may use some orange ribbon instead of the white for the next few cards.

I invested in some "Stampin Up" stamps. Been having lots of fun working with them. In the above picture is one set. I have seen many, many ideas using these stamps, so I am looking forward to making lots of cards. I like the idea of drawing free-hand, the frame around the card, really adds to the card.

Now in this above picture is my own idea, just playing around with the stamps, this is what I came up with. Colorful and fun to do.  I will be adding these cards to my Etsy store in the next week or so. As soon as I get more cards made, I will add them to this blog.

Have a great rest of the week and keep looking up.
Cheers ~ Louise

Wordless Wednesday

A Few More Cards and a Diet

Hi everyone, hope you had a great day. I did, nothing too exciting, got a few things done around the house. Put up a few decorations and changed the dinning room table cloth to red and changed the Fall centerpiece to Christmas with red candles. Tomorrow the ornaments will go on the little tree, had to find the plastic container that holds all the ornaments.

Today, I started a 7 day diet....hopefully to lose 4-5 lbs. It's more like a cleansing type diet. Today was fruits and water. Tomorrow, vegies. Wednesday, fruits and vegies. Thursday will be wierd, bananas and skim milk and diet soup. Friday, add some rice and tomatoes, vegies and protein. Saturday, vegies, rice, soup. Oh and lots of water, 10-12 glasses a day. My choice of excercise will be walking Kylie around the block and riding my staionary bike 3-5 miles a day. I will see how it goes this week, and how my blood sugars do. The Doctor had put me on some medication to lower the blood sugars and then my weight shot up and sky-rocketed to a number I have never been before. Really have been feeling very uncomfortable in my own skin. So I thought I would give it a try. February I have to go see the Doctor and I would like to be a little bit lighter when I see him again.

My biggest battle is keeping JP fed and keeping food in the house he likes. Oh, and not eating and tasting the food I prepare for him....cause I am always taste-testing everything I make for him. I'll see how this week goes......(sigh).

I don't think I added these cards to my collection. Although, come to think about it, I did post this card earlier, but the flower was a stamped flower. This flower is made out of tissue paper. I punched about 6 layers of tissue with a round punch. Then made a hole in the middle and put a bracket through to hold the circles together then scrunched the tissue up to make it puff up. Fun to make cards.

This is my Santa card. Stamped about 10 Santa faces, coloring him in last year. Turning him into some cute cards for the Hospice group.

Well, time to close this blog for today. You all have a great couple of days, and I will be back to tell you how my diet is going. Keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise