Sorry to not have posted anything much lately.  My husband is now in home hospise care, so I will try to post whenever I can. 

Decided to do a rather simple design.  Used StampinUp paper and stamped leafy design on paper. Using a StampinUp stamp, colored flower with watercolor pencils and highlighted the design with sparkles.  Added a gratitude sign backed in black paper.  Popped up the flower on chiffon ribbon.

I tried something I haven't done before -- making a circular card with three circles that open up one after another.  Although this isn't my favorite card, I will probably try this one again .  I began with the little circle, then created the second circle just a wee bit larger and finally the larger circle.  I tinted around the edges with blue chalk to highlight the circles.

As each circle opens, the message is face up -- not as it looks in the top photo.  I wanted to put "a little birdie told me"  but didn't have any room to add that.  This card is time consuming, but why not give it a try?

 

I liked making this card. This was another card for a man.  I didn't want it too complicated.  The background paper is a shiny bronze color which doesn't photograph very well.  I used soft blue chalk around the heart.

It always seems difficult to find ideas for cards for men.  Either you use a fish, a boat a tool,  or some kind of hunting thing.  But all men are not like that.  So it is difficult to find a card suitable for them.  I came across these little guys sometime ago but don't remember what website.  This is a simple card, but I like the message.  This card is for a friend I have had for over 60 years!

It seems that I send out more birthday cards than anything, so I tend to make most of my cards birthday cards.  This is a cute little girl from Tiddly Inks.  I love the background paper and tried to keep the card relatively simple since the background was so busy.  Just used my copics and my cuttlebug for this little card. 

Here's another Sassy Cheryl design. She draws the cutest little girls.  Since most of my cards go to women, I enjoy these little ones.  When younger I used to draw these characters myself, so these appeal to me.  I used my spellbinders for the three circles, colored her in with my copics and highlighted her with a bright ribbon and Prisma paper.  This time I left off the message and figured it was self-explanatory. 

Thought I would try something different today.  This was a design I chose from Digital 2 from Tuesday.  I like the look of some of the old-time pictures.  I used my water color pencils to highlight this one.  Since I am married to an identical twin, I rather enjoyed coloring this one, picturing my husband and his brother playing in the water.  However, the watercoloring looks better on the card than in the photograph,

To all my friends, I had a little time last evening, when I couldn't sleep, to make a card for my sister-in-law.  I love the little TiddlyInks figures and enjoyed working on this one.  It is a very simple card, but one I think my sister-in-law will appreciate.  At least she can be a star for her birthday. 

To all our friends, Dennis and I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our message to you:  We want to share with you the Glory and Wonder and Miracle of this Holy Season
Love, Marian and Dennis

Hello to all those who visit my blog:

As many of you know, my husband has a very serious illness very much like ALS, which is called Supra Nuclear Palsy.  At this time I want to spend every moment I can with him.  For that to happen, I need to suspend the time I spend making cards.  If time permits, I will add a card or two from time to time; but my husband is my primary concern right now.  Thank you to all who have visited my blog.

This little girl is a digi stamp from CherylsDigiStamps.  She has several cute little girls and boy stamps.  I have had a need for a great many thank you cards, so this was one that went to a dear friend who would contact me each day to see if I needed help.  (That's a real friend!)

I used my copic markers and StampinUp paper, along with Spellbinders.  It has been difficult to get back into stamping after my surgery.  But hopefully I will be able to post something each week.

Fall always reminds me of leaves -- we have 19 oak trees on our property and the fall season is spent raking, so a card with leaves is very appropriate.  This stamp set of four leaves was the first stamp set I ever had from Stampin Up.  All of the colors used on this card are Stampin Up papers. 

Well, folks, I am on the road to recovery, but it has not been easy.  Anyone who has had knee replacement surgery can vouch for that.  If you can withstand the pain for about six weeks, you will survive.

I love this little girl and have used her quite often. It has been difficult to get back into the swing of things right away.  Hopefully I will be able to add a new picture about once a week.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

To all my friends who have visited my website over the past year or so, I will not be posting anything for about two weeks.  I am having a knee replacement  surgery on Sept. 4th and will be out of commission for a week or two. 

I tried something a little different here.  I'm not a big fan of antiquing but thought I would try it with this one.

It is interesting that in photographing this card the center design was embossed in gold, but does not show up that way -- it looks like black ink.  It is much prettier in gold, hence the gold ribbon at the top.  After scoring the lines on the white paper, I antiqued the paper and sponged the edges to antique them.  I added tiny pearls at the crosshairs.  Lacy spellbinders were used on the blue paper.  I'm all for trying new things, but this isn't one of my favorite cards.

Here is another photographic card of a view of the historic town of Stockbridge, Vermont.  This is typical of an historic New England town.  New England is beautiful any time of the year. 

Those of you who live in Virginia might recognize this picture -- Mabry's Mill -- which is along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.  I love to take pictures of landscapes, as well as closeups of flowers and people.  The Blue Ridge is one of the most spectacular sites in western Virginia. 

When I first started making cards, I used photographs which I had taken, some closeups of flowers and others of landscapes.  I mounted them on special cards made for 4 x 6 photographs and on the inside I would put either a spiritual thought or a quote I found appropriate for the person to whom the card was being sent.

From this point, I decided to try my hand at the cute and clever art of stamping cards which has been a very enjoyable creative undertaking.  Card making is a very creative outlet and allows one to make something creative and fun in a very short time as opposed to painting an entire picture.

Here's another SassyCheryls Digi Stamps.  I used my copic pens, added a little button to the flower, mounted the drawing on colorful blue paper after tinting the edge of the design and attaching a bright yellow paper as a background.  The message at the bottom was punched out, using a StampinUp punch and backed again in yellow paper.