This was bugging me....

I just hated the way the Real Red ink looked under the Crystal Effects in this card I just made.

It didn't really match the paper anymore so I stamped the heart again with Riding Hood Red (a darker red ink) and it actually matches better with the cardstock!

What do you think?

Here's a close up of the original stamped with Real Red ink:

Here it is with the Riding Hood Red ink (ignore the cloudy bit on the right it's still drying!):Here is the full card with the changed out heart!

Much better don't you agree?

I guess I'll have to keep that in mind when using Crystal Effects - sometimes you need to stamp darker to match your paper!

Valentines' Card Redo

Sometimes I like to redo cards that I've made in the past.

I made this card year's ago (2007) using Living Large (a retired Stampin' Up! set).

I just redid the card - a couple of times - and I changed a few things.

First of all instead of using the marker over pencil technique (like in the original) I coloured in the images with COPICs (R39,R59, E21, 100 and C1 for shading).

I applied the C1 just to the right side of the image for more of a "shadow" rather than all around the image like I usually do in a "glow". See a close up of what I mean below.

I know it's not my best colouring job but it is the best I can do right now - chemo is playing havoc with my eyesight!

AND instead of using the scalloped circle punch for matting I used the scallop border punch and "scrunched" it around the circle.

Rather than reinvent the wheel I will direct you to Ilina Crouse's blog HERE to see how it is done.

Another Valentines' Card

I made this simple Valentines' card using a tried and true layout favourite of mine.

Can you see the background?

In real life you can see the Filigree background much better (Real Red ink on Real Red cardstock). Can you believe that I used Real Red ink but the ink lightened when I added the Crystal Effects. It's not too bad here but in reality it's almost pink!

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #4

I recently swapped with Sandra Farrell and she turned me on to this local challenge blog - Stampin' Royalty.

Today I was in the mood to make some Valentines' so I decided to use the layout from this week's challenge as my starting point.

Here's my first card for the challenge:Check out this satin bow!How about this velvet rick-rack!This second card uses the same layout but instead of the tag I used a heart.I enamelled the heart image with Crystal Effects.

Valentine's Treat Box

How cute is this!

I saw this treat box on several blogs and decided that I would make one of my own today! It's made using the Sizzix Petal Card Die.

The embellishment is from the current Stampin' Up! promotion Love You Much stamp set.
I attached the ribbon with my crop-a-dile and these heart shaped eyelets.

Designer Make & Take

I'm participating in a "Meet the Designer" Night at Scrap Arts in North Vancouver!

This is a FUN & FREE event this Friday, January 23rd from 5 -7 pm. If you're in the area call the store at 604-980-8811 to reserve your space.

It's going to be "buffet style" event with all the store's designers participating. Many regular customers are expected and every customer that brings a friend to Scrap Arts will receive a little gift.

The cards have to be quick to make and cost very little (I'm using white card bases and scraps).

Here are the cards I'm making: I love this curved/tabbed greeting technique:

There are 3 layers on this card.