Abstract done with alcohol inks

Sympathy cards are always difficult. Making a card to send to a man can make this more of a challenge. The recipient of this card does a bit of painting and creates with mosaics. When I think of him, I think of abstracts, hence this card. The paper is black Yupo paper, the alcohol pearl inks are from Ranger. I cut out the image with a die from Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles that cuts both a rectangle and a very thin frame at the same time. I used the die a second time with green cardstock to create the green frame, then used the green with a script die cut greeting inside that read "with sympathy" before a handwritten message.

Ants are cute when they aren't real and in your kitchen

Photographed indoors on a gloomy day made the white paper look bluish-gray but the images were fun to color. The first one is Ants Drink Up, the second and third are from Ants At A Picnic, both sets are from Whimsy Stamps.  All are colored with Prismacolor pencils. 

I don't have a plan for using them yet. I think they might go into my journal on days when I don't have much to say but just want to post something cheerful. 

Graduation greetings

The graduation card is from Graduation Set by Art Impressions, colored with Prismacolor pencils.

The gift box held graduation cash and Smarties candy because the grad is such a smartie. The green paper is from Stampin Up. The specialty paper was purchased locally. Directions for creating this box can be found Here at The Paper Pixie.

Colorful Greetings

The first card uses stencils and dies named Pinwheel Party from the The Greetery.

This image and greeting are stamped from Chameleon Party by Whimsy Stamps. Coloring is by Copic markers and the background is a die set from Stampin Up called Best Plaid Builder.

Simon Says Stamp Creations

This first piece isn't a card. It was a practice piece that revealed how I was feeling about the news and Facebook posts that day. I like it and have mounted it on chipboard and it is currently propped up in my craft room.  The stamp is a large background stamp is So Beautiful from Simon Says Stamp, done on watercolor paper with Karin Markers.

This also uses a Simon Says Stamp set, Game Tile Letters. I made the game board on light gray paper, coloring some squares with  Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment was created in Word.

Gina K Inspired cards

With thanks to Gina K's Stamp and Chat YouTube videos on Mondays and Wednesdays, I used techniques shared there to create these two cards with Gina K inks, stamps, and stencils. 

Both cards used elements from the Nature's Touch Card Kit. The inks in the birthday card are Rina's Electro-Pop. The birthday greeting is a Stamps of Life die.

Whimsy Stamps: Hippo Fun in the Sun

When I saw an image on Whimsy Stamps' Hippo Fun in the Sun set, I had to have it. If you are of a certain age, you will probably be reminded of this Coppertone Ad:

Here is the stamp set and the first rendition of the hippo and puppy image:

I haven't decided how I will use the above image. It might go on a card or in a scrapbook. I colored over over the back of the bikini top in the above image and masked out the hairbow to make this a boy hippo in case I wanted to use this for my grandson.

Shortly after finishing this, a neighbor revealed that she cracked her tailbone. I used the image again in a Get Well card, but this time I masked out the dog and altered the bikini bottom to be a bandaid. I made the front of a card a window and placed the hippo inside the card.

The color is true in the first photo. The green background in the view above appears washed out but is a nice paper from Lawn Fawn's Dandy Day collection.

Unrelated to this, I made my second Hello Fresh meal, teriyaki pork chops (boneless) with roasted carrots and jasmine rice. I'm happy with this recipe also.

It looks like I threw the food on the plate a little carelessly, doesn't it? I wasn't just hungry, I was hangry! Those are sesame seeds on top of the pork and scallion greens on top of the rice. Some of the sesame seeds were browned in butter before adding the water, rice, and scallions whites which was a nice touch to the side dish.