Hello Stamplings!
I hope this finds you well or you soon will be!
I made some cards! There are so many challenges celebrating Valentine's Day, or Galentine's Day, or Hearts-n'-Love-For-No-Reason-Day that it's hard not to be inspired! It's "D = Dies/Die Cuts" week on the I.D.E.A.S. Calendar and I happen to have purchased a few things (cough) recently to help motivate me.
Today's NBUS feature is the "Jar of Wishes" from Pinkfresh Studio. All the rest of the schtuffs I used today are BUS!
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I cut the Jar of Wishes from a light gray cardstock and then again from vellum and used the matching stencil to add pink highlights. I cut the lid from a scrap of cork and then filled my Jar of Wishes with little pink and red heart flowers from Impression Obsession dies. The SWAK stands for "sealed with a kiss." Anyone remember writing those letters on the flap of envelopes back in the last century? SWAK is from Penny Black and it comes in a 3-pack with XOXO and I💗YOU.
For the background I used one of those O(ld)BUS narrow embossing folders, shown here with Ms. Val:
Just to be different, I alternated embossing and debossing down the length of the card front. Here's a close up of the card:
Playing with: Pinkfresh February Challenge and Little Red Wagon.
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Next I used a NBUS die that was a gift last Galentine's Day from my friend Ang, lovingly known to many of you across the pond as Mrs. Duck. Hammy calls it a quilt die because it has so many panels and there are so many designs you can make with it. My puzzle-lovin' heart had a ball!
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Playing with: Color Hues.
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Playing with: Just Us Girls.
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Playing with: Addicted to Stamps and More and CAS on Friday
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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*
And enjoy the Olympics! It's impressive to see all the athletes so dedicated to their sport, but it's also emotional as they alternate between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. It was so sad that Lindsey Vonn broke her leg, but she sure gave it her all!
And enjoy the Olympics! It's impressive to see all the athletes so dedicated to their sport, but it's also emotional as they alternate between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. It was so sad that Lindsey Vonn broke her leg, but she sure gave it her all!
As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and thank you so much for the warm welcome back to Blogland last week! I'll leave with my annual crocus photo. They are sure to bring a smile, especially if you are still snowbound and frigid! I'm sorry, what?
Such a great set of Valentine cards Darnell, you've certainly hit the ground running after your sojourn! Your jar is fabulously ingenuative with the SWAK, we use SWALK over here so it took me a minute to find the missing L was nowhere to be seen!! Thanks so much for sharing your pink and red 'quilt' heart with us at Color Hues too. :)
ReplyDeleteWOW, what an amazing collection of cards, Darnell! I love the ‘quilt’ die you’ve used.
ReplyDeleteLiz xx
Well, you've certainly recovered your mojo! The valentines are fabulous! I wondered how you had created the embossed and debossed background. I don't recall ever seeing a narrow embossing folder before--great effect! I love that jar with it's cork lid. How wonderful that you got a two-fer from the "puzzle" die! So happy to see you pop up in my Feedly list this morning!
ReplyDeleteYay! It's wonderful to see you creating again. Your cards are so fun and festive for Val-Gal-entine's Day. Thank you so much for sharing, Darnell. It's great to start a new week with a smile.
ReplyDeleteAll the cards are so pretty, Darnell xoxo
ReplyDeleteYay, your mojo has returned! I'll bet those loveable frogs brought it with them! This is an awesome jar filled with long stemmed hearts! Your quilted cards are all sweet, I love the stamped script and tiny hearts added to the first! Thanks for sharing at Color Hues! You made excellent use of this die with two more beauties!
ReplyDeleteWell, you were busy. Super fun cards of course I am partial to the JUGS card. Thanks for joining in. 😃
ReplyDeleteAll of your GAL n tines are awesome Darnell and thrilled you played along with us at Color Hues!! And thanks for sharing your beautiful Spring blooms...we still have around 3 feet of snow on the ground here, but we did wake up to a balmy 13 degrees this morning, so we're definitely on the way up (I think)!! Hope you have a great week my friend!! Hugs. :0)
ReplyDeleteOh, Darnell, what a joy to see you again! I hope the Mister is continuing to improve each and every day! Your cards are fun and awesome, never ceasing to amaze -- and YES, I remember SWAK like it was yesterday. So glad to see you again so soon
ReplyDeleteLovely fun cards - we say SWALK over here in the UK - the extra L standing for Loving but basically the same sentiment. How old are we! thanks for sharing with us at ATSM
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - such an beautiful array of galentine cards!! And of course I remember SWAK. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow so many cards! Love all the inspiration and realise I have to use my dies more... Love the jar of hearts that you made! Hugs, Gerrina
ReplyDeleteFun and cute cards. I especially love how you used cork for the lid of the jar, nice touch!
ReplyDeleteOnce you got in the groove you created your little heart out, Darnell, and your cards are all so fabulous. I love the cork top on the wish jar, and I'd love to know the name of that 'quilt' heart die. I hope it is available for purchase. I can see how you did your two-fer, or in this case three-fer with that die. Thanks for sharing one of them with us at Just Us Girls.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute line up of Gal-entines! I'm thinking that puzzle heart would be lots of fun to play with, and I see you did just that, using every piece. Love that gray textured cardstock, and the cute jar with the hearts stored inside, and your front and back heart embossing. I certainly do remember SWAK. I'm so old I didn't even realize it was out of fashion, sheesh. I adore your Valentine frogs and mushrooms out there in the sunshine, and how lovely it is to see the crocus and daffodils. My daffs are in bud, and there are so many other signs of spring as well. It's great to see you again this Monday, Darnell!
ReplyDeleteHi Darnell, great to see you again we also had SWALK here in Oz the L being a "loving" kiss! I'm amazed at how you used that folder on it. No blogging here but lots of cards, must do something soon!!
ReplyDeletePraying for Mister, good to see you.
Shaz in Oz.x
So wonderful to see that you've got your groove back, D! Four cards in one go? Deserves a Gold Medal for sure - and each one makes my heart pitter patter! I have quite a few of those little skinny EFs but you've really shown us how much cuter they can be by flipping and flopping each row! Such a clever idea!
ReplyDeleteAre those flowers current?? What I wouldn't give to see GREEN again let alone flowers!
Happy gal-entine's day, sweet friend - and welcome back as you have been missed dearly!
=] M
A wonderful collection of hearts. I really love the first one, especially how you used that embossing folder. What an inspired idea. I will try and remember it as I have some of those narrow folders somewhere xx
ReplyDeleteAwesome collection of cards Darnell! They are all stunning especially like hoe you altered embossing and debossing!
ReplyDeleteIt appears that I was so overwhelmed by your wonderful cards that I failed to notice that one of my faves, the puzzle valentine, was for Color Hues! So glad to see you in the gallery!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful collection of LOVE cards, my friend. The vellum jar is so awesome with the cork topper. Alternating the embossed and debossed hearts for the background is so creative and fun!! I still have that folder ... I bought that about 25 years ago. :) I love the "quilted" heart card ... red and pink are so pretty together - especially love the pink with the script ... it's beautiful! What a lovely gift from you friend ... cardmakers are so generous and kind. LOVE the gray and pink together ... again wih the lovely script paper - awesome! And finally another of your quilted designs. I love soft pink and soft green together. So happy to see that you are started up IDEAS again. I hope to play along weekly. It helps keep me motivated to be in my studio. :) Love you, Lolly
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to see this fabulous line up of lovely cards from you today! So happy to see you getting crafty again and sharing one of your marvelous makes with us at Just Us Girls!
ReplyDeleteSo many awesome Valentines. I tried, but couldn't pick a favorite. I love those quilt/puzzle die sets, too. I have a couple of them. In fact, you've inspired me to get them out and use them again. Thanks for the pic of the crocuses. I needed to see a bit of spring. This has been a hard winter--in more ways than subzero temps.
ReplyDelete:) More gorgeous creations!
ReplyDeleteIt’s lovely to see you and your mojo firing on all cylinders (another old saying 😂), I just adore all of your cards! xxx
ReplyDeleteBrilliant selection of love-themed cards - inspiration indeed!!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful selection of cards. Alternate embossing/debossing how fancy! I wondered how you did that when I realised it's a narrow EF lol. L x
ReplyDeleteSo pretty! I always love your ideas.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me so happy to have found your sweet Gal-entine over at the Pinkfresh site! Your detail on that card - the deboss/emboss alternating is so clever and adds so much interest to an already fabulous card. A great collection, Darnell!
ReplyDeleteSuch fun cards Darnell! I really love that SWAK jar. (and learned a new term...BUS. LOL!) My fav though is the one you posted with us....the quilted one. I love paper piecing and paper dolls. Thanks so much for playing with us at Color Hues!
ReplyDeleteWhat delightful cards to spread the love! Thanks for joining us at Little Red Wagon.
ReplyDeleteHello Darnell, Looks like you had a great day of crafting. I really love the new Jar die that you got. The Swak sentiment is super fun and what a great font. Love the backgroud too. As for the puzzle cards and the one for Color Hues, super idea and well executed. Love the light sentiment and the tiny hearts scattered about. Great job to use the negative too. Thanks for playing at Color Hues and take care!
ReplyDeleteSuch an elegant card! Thank you for joining us at CAS on Friday.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you again Darnell. These 4 cards are fabulous. Love that cute car with the heart flowers and cork topper. Very creative using the embossed and debossed rows. I also have that heart quilt die and you have inspired me to get it out and use it. Have a wonderful day my friend.
ReplyDeleteDarnell, these are all gorgeous!! Your entry in our challenge is a very pretty take on our "anything goes" challenge over at CAS on Friday!! A perfectly clean and simple card. Thanks for play along with us!! Deb Horst, DT #327
ReplyDeleteI knew your mojo will be back soon. All your cards are amazing. Hearts in the jar are great. Love the idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the Olympics in the same time zone. Close to me. Ski jumps are my favourite. :-)
Have a nice day! Hugs, Sonja
Fabulous set of cards, Darnell - especially love the background with embossed and debossed hearts!! Glad you're enjoying creating again!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Valentines! I love puzzles too so that second card rally appeals to me. But then again the jar of tiny hearts on stems also drew my eye as I have those Impression Obsession stems but would never have thought to use them in a jar! Love your crocuses!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great plethora of lovely and creative designs Sis! wonderful die cuts and embossing folder used here - I especially love the hearts inside the jar. Welcome back to creating! I've been watching the Olympics daily (and nightly if I missed something!) It's refreshing to be watching a peaceful event. It renews my faith in the world at least for these few weeks! Julia xx
ReplyDeleteCoccus's are welcome sign that spring is in the air and lots of colours just like your cards which are so beautiful glad to see yours post's coming up Darnell, its so nice to be watching the Olympics and we got a gold just the other day sending Hugs xx
ReplyDeleteGreat cards Darnell, as a Brit it always. makes me smile to see SWAK, in the UK it's SWALK (sealed with a loving kiss). SWAK make me think of thwack 🤣
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous collection of Valentine's day cards. I love when you can get two cards with one die cut. Thanks for joining us at Addicted to Stamps and More!
ReplyDeletesue n.
What a sweet card! I love how you've kept it simple with just the die cut and the sentiment. Thank you so much for joining us at the Addicted to Stamps & More challenge!
ReplyDeleteLike all, I love your valentines. Hope you and the Mister were able to celebrate and belated anniversary congratulations. Hugs.
ReplyDelete