{ Now and Forever }

I kept looking and looking at this Creative Imaginations paper at my LSS.   It is the 'Breathless' line by Marah Johnson, which is actually a tribute to the Twilight series.  Beautiful? Yes.  But, what would I do with it?  Could I create a Card that would do it justice?  In a word? Yes.

I chose the 'Midnight Garden' patterned paper for both my inspiration and my Envelope.  I used a white Card Base and layered it with a panel of the varnished 'Midnight Sonata' patterned paper, which I heavily distressed using my boning tool and then inked in brown.  You can get a better look at the details on the pic below:

I then layered an argyle cut from Wild Card over the distressed panel, using 3-D dots.  For my rose, I used Wild Card again and cut the rose three times.  Once in black (for the base), once in green (for the leaves and stem), and once in red (for the bud).  After trimming the red and green roses and discarding what I didn't need, I inked the leaves and stem in brown, lightly distressed them, and adhered the green stem directly to the black stem.  Using 3-D dots, I adhered the red rose bud to the black rose bud and lightly inked the edges in brown. I then adhered the completed rose directly to my argyle cut, at an angle. 

To finish the Card, I cut a length of Creative Impressions 1.5" Crepe ribbon and tied it in a pretty bow around the whole Card, like a present.

I was thrilled with this one!!

{ Have a KILLER Birthday}

I have always loved to read.  I went to the bookstore a couple weeks ago and got a few new books.  But, I learned something.  New books = nothing else getting done.  I just cannot put down a new book.  Sigh.  Not really a good thing.

Today's Card was difficult to make.  I finally decided that it was because I don't spend my spare time at the beach...I spend it at the MALL! lol

I was inspired by the faboo Maren Benedict, who made THIS killer Card.  I thought the concept was very different and fun.  I wanted to put a twist on it, though.  I decided a pinwheel Card would be a good way to express my Sentiment:

I used the Life is a Beach (LIAB) cart (which is a summer must have, btw) for the ca-ute shark. I needed something both cute and menacing and he completely fit the bill!

I used Wild Card for the sun, Zooballoo for the waves, Paper Doll Dress Up for the sand.  Now, by  turning the wheel, Sentiment TWO is revealed:

 And, finally getting to the killer part, Sentiment THREE:

I lightly inked the waves in white.  Also, it's a little hard to see in the pic, but I inked the shark teeth in white and "colored" them with a white gel pen.  Then, I covered them with Diamond Glaze to make them stand out a little more.

The "sand" is actually Ultra Fine Flower Soft, called, appropriately enough, 'Sand'.  lol

The Card itself  is a cut from Wild Card,  and I have used it before.  However, this time, I decided I would create my own, CDS.  I don't know why I wanted to reinvent the wheel.

Ok, that's it...have a killer day!