Rainbow anniversary

 I have really enjoyed following the Alphabet Challenge Blog over recent months but have been putting off entering a card until they got back to the "A's" again and that is this week.  I've been wanting to make a casual style anniversary card for a young couple as well as make another rainbow-style card, so I combined the two with this result:

I stamped the "happy" in several colors and to make it more casual, I added the "anniversary" in rather casual style on the side.

G is for GET WELL

I almost never have a card that is suitable for a get well card for a man so I decided to make at least one to have on hand for those occasions when we want to send a card to one of our friends but don't want a flowery card.  Here is what I came up with:

I die cut the word "hello" from black card stock three times and glued them together on top of each other then attached it to the front of the card using foam tape, which accounts for the shadow you can see.  The inside of the card just says "get well soon" and I stamped a faint brown leaf outline to look like the leaves are coming out of the words.  Simple, but by using the blue and green striped paper as the background on the front of this card, I think I accomplished my goal of making it pretty masculine!

F is for FRIENDSHIP

I got a new stamp set last week that includes some word strips that are negative, that is, the words are white on a black background.  I felt a little nervous trying them out for fear the words would not actually stand out, but that nervousness was unnecessary, as you can see on this card I made!

This is going to be a busy week but if I have time, I am definitely going to try out some of the other word strips in the set.


I use a lot of friendship cards so this card will get put to good use.

E is for ENCOURAGEMENT (in watercolor)

I have been trying my hand at using watercolor pencils to create color and shading on some of my cards.  Things like this are a big challenge to me because of my lack of artistic skills, but I figure I'll never learn if I don't at least try.  I have watched some YouTube videos to help me understand the principles of shading and color, as well as how to wet the pencil marks to turn them into the watercolor effect. (I have not gotten brave enough to take any art courses yet!)

I also have not kept up with my effort to make a whole series of alphabet cards, as I had planned to do way back in September.  I had made an "A for Anniversary" card (you can see that one HERE), "B for Birthday" card (look HERE), "C is for Congratulations (HERE) and "D is for Dream" (HERE).

This past weekend I tried my hand at this by following the directions to make two cards.  The first one is an "E is for Encouragement" card for the next installment of my alphabet cards.

On this card, I stamped the lines and leaves on a piece of watercolor paper in a dark grey ink, then colored the leaves and water-washed them.  I squirted some green spray ink on the plain area before I stamped the message.  I attached the panel to the card front using foam squares to add a little extra dimension and when it was all put together I found it interesting that the effect of the coloring on the stamped panel made it look like the panel is a cream color against the white card background, even though the panel is actually white also.  All in all, I liked the way it turned out.

On this second card, I covered the card front with the daisy paper, then colored the flowers and stems using the watercolor pencils, then painted with the water brush.  I "fussy cut" the petals before layering them on top of the flowered paper.  For the "hello" I die cut two white and one black word and layered them on top of each other, off-setting the black word just a tiny little bit so there would be some contrast to show up the word better, and popped the word up on the card using foam squares.  I really like the way this card turned out.

Both of these cards were made using specific instructions/ideas from a kit for doing watercolor cards, but now I think I'll be brave enough to do my own original ideas.  My biggest challenge turned out to be controlling the amount of water I used on my brush, and only practice will improve that~

D is for DREAM

After a busy couple of weeks when I have not gotten many cards made, I finally was able to sit down and learn a new technique and in the process, a new card for my ABC cards.

I got a kit that teaches you how to use aqua markers (water-based inks) and I've had fun trying it out.

I used pink, yellow and blue markers to paint the background of this card, and by blending the colors, got some green and purple in there as well.  The kit included die cut words ("dream" being one), and lots of stamps.  I used the dandelion flower stamp and one of the butterflies.  I painted the butterfly using the new markers I had, then I glued the butterfly's body on the card after bending the wings a little bit so the butterfly is more 3-D.

I added a scripture sentiment on the inside that I think goes along with the "dream" on the front: "All things are possible to him who believes."

C is for CONGRATULATIONS

This is going to be a busy week and I am not sure I will get much done in the craft room, but on Saturday I made my C card to keep myself on track with this new goal of mine.  One thing I have discovered in the several years now that I have been making cards is that there always seems to come an opportunity to send a card for which I had not anticipated and for which I have no card.  Congratulations is one of those ... every time I have needed a congratulations card I have had to go in the craft room and make one because I had none on hand in my "stash" of extras.  This card is going to go into that box of extras so I can have it when I need one next time, and who knows when that time will come?!

Anyway, here it is:

I heat embossed two blossoms with black , cut them out, and just added a bit of Worn Lipstick distress ink to the centers.  The butterfly is from a die that I cut out from white card stock to which I had applied some Worn Lipstick and a tiny touch of purple.

The card is all red so on the inside I stamped one of the flowers in black and added some white word stickers I had (not sure where they came from).

B is for BIRTHDAY

Maybe I should say, "B is for Butterfly Birthday" since I used some more of some butterfly paper I had in my stash for this card.  I use a lot of birthday cards since I am the designated sender of cards for my Sunday School class, besides all the other birthdays I send cards for.

In any case, it seemed appropriate this time around to make birthday my alphabet card for the B's. 
So here it is:

A is for ANNIVERSARY

One of the blogs that I have really enjoyed following is Just Stampin' and over recent months, Jeanie, the blog author, has been making a series of cards representing each letter of the alphabet.  It has really inspired me to see her creations and the other day I was thinking about how many cards I've made, many of which I have not photographed and shown on my own blog, but this might be a good way to challenge myself to remember to make a record of some of my cards as I make them.

Sooo... starting today I am going to do my own ABC cards.  And I am going to try to remember to record them here as I do them.  We'll see if I am successful!

I have made so many cards in recent months for all sorts of occasions.  I love making cards and scrapbooking because it is never the same thing twice in a row (I would never make a good factory worker!).  The thing about doing an ABC challenge is finding new reasons to make a card, or at least, a reason that I don't often have.

My first submission is a case in point... I have lots of friends who have been married a long time, but we don't exchange anniversary cards.  However, my friend Jane is newly married and coming up on her first anniversary, so this is a great time to make an anniversary card!

Here it is!

 Doesn't look like an anniversary card, does it?!  And of course, it could actually be for any occasion with the little "Just for You" sentiment!  Can you see where I cut a slit in the covering paper there on the left side?  I folded the cut down and put some different butterfly paper on the folded section and cut out a little butterfly from the paper and glued it onto the white section.

As I said, it isn't really clearly an anniversary card from this view, but...

... when you open it up, there it is!  I kept the inside pretty plain and simple after the fancier front, but there it is ...

A is for ANNIVERSARY