Irish Blessing

Happy March Everyone! This month at House of Cards you can use the following colors and/or Make a Scene.  Look at those moo cows! How cute are they!

Make a Scene and/or Use Color Palette 

I am mostly Irish (in fact, I have a family tree that dates back to the 1500's) and I have had this Irish Blessing stamp since 1999.  It's one of my oldest, but most cherished stamps.  I really only use it for St. Patrick's Day and I should break it out more often; it really is a lovely poem. 

What I Used to Make my Card:
Vanilla Card Base (square 5 1/4" x 5 1/4")
DCWV Linen Closet Stack (I have the OLD one, picture below)
Irish Blessings Stamp, PSX, K-2483
Hero Arts MMH January, heart die (sold out)
Martha Stewart Medium Scroll Heart Punch (discontinued but available)
Poppy Stamps Dianna Border Die, #1029 (retired but available)
Green and Gold Glitter Cardstock
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

Before I get into the tutorial on how I made this card I have to share about the heart on the upper Dianna Border (the green glitter die cut.)  I knew I wanted to put a heart in the middle of the border and I happen to have the Hero Arts January My Monthly Hero kit still on my desk (shocking! Not really) so I decided to try one of the heart dies included in the kit.  I cut the heart out of gold glitter card and it fit perfectly on the border.  I felt it was kind of blah, so I fished out the Martha Stewart punch.  I have had this punch for ages and have never used it but I thought it would work to spice up my card. So, I punched out the heart in the same green glitter card and the hearts fit almost perfectly!!! I mean, it was like they were MADE for each other! I was SO excited but since this card wasn't posting until this month, I had no one to with whom to share this with, until now.  The Man didn't share my enthusiasm, but I know all of you will!

Another look at the card. If you enlarge
this picture you can see the texture of the dots.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, back to your regularly scheduled program.  I made a square card out of vanilla card and cut the dotted panel out of the DCWV Linen Stack.  You can't really tell, but the dots on the panel are raised just a bit.  I stamped my sentiment on a piece of scrap vanilla card and trimmed it down to fit in the middle of the card.  Then the border and the heart were die cut, and the over heart punched out.  I adore how this came out; it is so sparkly in person and I am awestruck by how cool that heart looks.  When things come together and look even close to what I picture in my mind it is a good day! 

Thanks for reading and I do hope you will join us at House of Cards! Grab your cow stamps, your green goodies from your stash and make some cards.  We would love to see what the prompt inspires you to create.  Fondly, Christi

PS: Here is the picture of the DCWV Linen Closet Stack I use.  Seems that this one is retired and they have come out with another one, so if you are looking for the papers I used be sure you get the "old" Linen Stack.  If you do an internet search for the stack, you can find it in a multitude of places. 






I am entering my Irish Blessing card in the following challenges:
Frilly & Funkie - Welcome Spring
Work it Wednesday - Use the Color or Word Green
Paperminutes - #476, Spring
Crafting by Design - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers - #183, Go Green

It's irritating when. . .

A good blogland friend of mine has been struggling with some health issues so I decided to make her a get well card.  I recently bought this Newton's Nook Designs set from another blogger who was getting rid of it and ever since I got it, I've had this type of card in the back of my head.  It feels good to get it out and my head appreciates the room I've made :) 

What I Used to Make my Card:
Kraft Card Base
Tim Holtz Ideaology Motif Paper - wood grain (discontinued but available)
DCWV Chalk Stack
Ellison LetterEase Helvetica Medium White Letter Stickers (discontinued)
Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs
Computer Generated Text
Newton's Nook Naughty Newton Stamp Set
Newton's Nook Naughty Newton Die Set
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
DCWV Le Tres Chic Stack 12 x 12 (Amazon link but available elsewhere)
Clean Color Markers in Mid Brown, Beige and Oatmeal
White Gel Pen

The best thing about this card, aside from the fact that it is a get well card is that I got to use something old (very. very old) and something brand new to me in making it.  The white letter stickers have got to be at least 11 years old and as I said prior, the Naughty Newton set is new to me.  I love when I can use up some old stash to make room for some new stuff.  I started this card by

Another look 

stamping the kitties on cardstock in Jet Black ink.  I set them aside and started to brainstorm how I was going to make the chalkboard; I knew there was no way I was going to write on it as I definitely would have messed up somehow, so I computer generated the front and the saying on the inside.  I don't typically write on the inside of my cards but this one kinda needed a bit more explanation.  I used the DCWV Chalk stack for the actual board and wrote the lead part of the sentiment with the Ellison stickers.  I attached the second half at the bottom ensuring I had plenty of room for the scratches.  I wanted the chalk board to look like a chalk board so I dug out the wood grain pattern from the Motif paper and colored it with the Gathered Twigs paint.  I stuck it under my trusty tile to dry and stay flat.  

While that was drying I went back to the kitties.  The kitties that I chose to use already have scratches attached to their claws but I wanted to make sure the

The inside of the card

marks were visible against the black board so after I die cut them, I carefully trimmed the scratches off.  I colored the kitties using Clear Color Markers, but, since I cut them out of regular cardstock and not watercolor paper I just colored them lightly. 

Once the Distress Paint was dry, I used my CAMEO to cut a square in a piece of the wood grain paper so it would frame the chalkboard. I attached the chalk paper behind the frame and set it aside to cut the background paper out of the Le Tres Chic paper stack.  I wanted something that would give the card some interest but not overwhelm the elements.  I think the Kraft colored flowers on the light blue is a perfect fit.  I trimmed two pieces of the background paper and adhered one to the front of the card and one to the inside of the card.  I put the chalkboard and kitties on the front of the card and used a white gel pen to ink in the scratches.  

I hope you enjoyed my little "feel better" card and I hope my friend enjoys it when she gets it :) Fondly, Christi 

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Rubber Dance - Layers
Die Cuttin' Divas - #305, Animals
Cuttlebug Mania - It's a Zoo Out There
OLLCB - #222, Die Cuts