A new thing

 Wow - it's been a long time since I've updated this blog.  I went off social media at the beginning of the year and am now easing back with instagram.  I also think there are some changes with blogger coming up soon so I don't even know if you'll be receiving emails when I do post.  So if you're on instagram, I hope you pop on over and follow me there at @yourstrulybydiana

The other reason I have not been posting as much is because I picked up another hobby - crocheting and I've become a total yarn addict.  Will I use much of what I make? I actually don't know but I do love making pretty things.  It's also gardening season so there's that also!  

But I did pop into my craft room to make a special card for our BSF teaching leader for her retirement as she starts something new.  I created the verse digitally and then added all my favorite dies to it - the butterflies just went perfectly with the new theme.  Poppystamps and Memory Box always were my favorite butterfly die designers and I never tire of using them.

Challenges I am playing in:

Poppystamps : Flowers and Butterflies

Simon Says: Anything Goes

WordArtWednesday

Bonus: Some of the crochet projects I made: Shawls and mini backpacks

Every Good and Perfect Gift

Hi, I'm over on the Quietfire Design blog with these cards - hop on over to see how I made them and what I used.

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Flower Power

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes

Memory Box : Spring Flowers

A whole lot of flower cards

If you follow me on instagram (@yourstrulybydiana) you may remembered that I shared a row of Tim Holtz's Wildflower series cut and colored and sitting in the Oui yogurt jars of which I have way too many.  I've "picked" the flowers from my paper garden and have given them a place on cards.

This was the perfect time for me to play with different backgrounds.  I wanted them pretty subtle to highlight the flowers and Bible verses or lyrics.  I just made each card with one color of flowers.  For several of these, I used Tim Holtz's 3D woodgrain embossing folder and then sponged them to bring out the detailed grains.

I also used a leaf stencil for two of the cards.

This yellow one with a plain gray background - I found the background I had intended a couple of days later because my craft desk was such a mess.  I wanted to finish this set of wildflower cards so I just used a gray one and doodled an imperfect frame around it.

I love this tone-on-tone stenciling.  It was so soft and peaceful looking.

I made so many of these because I want to mail them (and other cards) out to encourage and brighten my followers and friends' day since we're all cooped inside the house.  So if you haven't, please follow me on Instagram or facebook to enter in my Happy Snail Mail event that will happen later today.  

Flowers and Scripture

I've had the Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set for a while now but I recently just bought the matching dies - wow, it has really made it so much easier to play with.  Since I'm not stamping directly on the card base, I can mess up coloring/stamping and it's not so "ah, noooo!!!!" type of mistake.  It was also a lot easier to place the smaller leaves and buds as well as play with the color combinations.  I highly recommend buying the dies to go with the stamp set!

Challenges I am playing in:

Word Art Wednesday

Simon Says Anthing Goes

Blessed is She who loves flower dies

Today I'm sharing a set of card I made after I sat down and colored a bunch of Tim Holtz's wildflower dies.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them but it was fun just to try out different color combos.  I created a simple layout with them, found a stamp to match the layout (it's usually the other way around) and made several cards.  As you can see, I could not decide on a base color but I think all the neutral toned card stock worked just fine.  :)

Here's a couple of quick videos of me coloring the flowers with Zig and Tombow markers.

This last one is a little different but just as quick and easy!

Stamping over watercolor background

My friend brought over this beautiful landscape silhouette stamp set by Sweet and Sassy Stamps and we found a card we wanted to case.  The original card looked like it might have been brayered or sponged but I tend to have a very heavy hand when I use inks.  So I used watercolors instead.  My friend Kelly and I also have learned that we should make more than one card of the same design (especially if we mess up on any one of the steps!) so on this we made two.  

The first one inked up much crisper on the mirror stamping (I used the Stamp of Life one) but for I could not get it to do it again for the second card.  So the water was not as calm on the second card. Lol!

The Bible verses are by Verve and Our Daily Bread Designs.

ODBD 10th Anniversary

Our Daily Bread Designs is celebrating its 10th Anniversary!  Wow, congratulations to ODBD!   I first noticed ODBD because of all the stamps containing Scripture and I thought how wonderful it would be to encourage others through the word of God and I've been hooked ever since.  There are two sets released today but of course, I focused on the ones with the Bible verses.  :)  And the new circle dies are so amazing - hope you like them too!

And of course I had to add some butterflies on one of my cards.

Tip for the second card:  I used Distress Oxides to color my die cuts which were cut with extra heavy paper so that they would not get wrinkled when I applied my ink.  It also adds a bit of dimension too.

Normally when I make a card I think of someone who could use a particular verse.  This time, I think I needed both of these verses for myself.  

God Verses 2

Fancy Circles Dies

Filigree Circles Dies

Romantic Roses Paper Collection

Squares Dies

ODBD Bitty Butterflies Dies

Double Stitched Circles Dies

Challenges I am playing in:

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes

ODBD March Release

It takes a special kind of patience for planting spring bulbs.  I prefer some instant impact - if I've been working in my garden, I'd like to see a little more than freshly mounded dirt!  But I do plant bulbs and in the spring... wow, the sight of little green things poking up cheers me right up! Since our February has been so warm, I've already got signs of spring in my little garden.  Yay!  Even if you don't plant bulbs, you can too with the March release of ODBD.  And the great thing is - they can be of any color.  Lol!

So here is my take on this month's release.  I did a little bit of partial die cutting and some fussy cutting for this simple card below.  I hope you like it!

  

Easter Greetings

Beautiful Blooms Paper Pad

Pierced Circles Dies

Pierced Rectangles Dies

More birthday cards with ODBD

I've gotten better about sending birthday cards but oops, I think I missed a couple in the busy-ness this month.  However, I did manage to get this 9th birthday card to my niece.  It's a side step card made easy with the ODBD die.  To get the pattern on the candles, I left the paper in the die and used distress oxides to sponge through the openings.  It's great for embossing but I like this version of it even more.

The second is a quick and simple shaker card using the round balloon die for my shaker element.

ODBD Vintage Borders Dies	Side Step Card Die	Birthday Balloons Dies	ODBD Birthday Bash Paper Collection
Rounded Rectangles	Double Stitched Rounded Rectangles	ODBD Celebrate	ODBD Bitty Borders Dies
Happy Birthday Script Die	Birthday Candles Dies