Happy birthday, Old Soul...

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by!  I have something a bit special to share with you today!  February is one of those months that has a ton of family birthdays in it.  I managed to have most of the cards completed over the holidays, but saved one for later.  I always seem to put off making my kids cards to the very last minute (maybe trying to slow the aging process?), and while this card was finished in time for her big day, it was a bit of a race to get it completed. This may not seem like a 'go to' choice for a college student, but then again DD#1 is no average girl!  I used FOUR stamp sets to create this card! That may be a new record for me!

The truck image is from Country Livin' and I had to add the sweet pup from Beautiful Ride to the back! 

The cat and flower pot are from Sitting Here and the sentiment is from Perfect Pairings.

I probably spent more time on this one card than I did on the other cards combined!  It was so much fun to incorporate everything DD loves on one card.  She is a bit of an old soul, enjoying everything vintage, and LOVES fat fender trucks.  Her love of them is slightly surpassed by her love of animals and gardening, so I think I've managed to get things covered with this one card!

Mushy Mom Moment:  As I was coloring this card, I spent a lot of time thinking about her and how our move had affected her.  She is a country girl to the core, and when our dreams of building in the country were dashed, she took it every bit as hard as her mother.  The move to our new home was exciting in the fact that she would have her own room and I would finally have my craft studio, but we were both sad that we would no longer have 2 acres to call home (even if it meant being crammed in a small mobile home...).  We held onto the fact that we could still spend time in the country and even camp out on the land when we wanted a break.  Unfortunately, the 'powers that be' changed those plans for us and we no longer had the chance to buy the land for ourselves.  We love our new home very much and it has been an adventure to work together to make this place ours, but there is still that yearning for wide open spaces in our hearts.  She recently announced that when she graduates, she is going to save her money and buy a small farm.  She's even invited me to come visit whenever I like to help tend to her chickens and baby goats!  I am so proud of her acceptance of the present and her dreams for the future.  I know that whatever direction she chooses to go, it will be with all of her heart and she will enjoy every moment of the journey.  What more can a parent want for her child...

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope I didn't bore you too much with my ramblings! Have a terrific rest of the week!

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, soft suede, kraft, Ink-memento tuxedo black, soft suede, assorted markers and colored pencils, Stamp Sets-Country Livin', Sitting Here, Beautiful Ride, Perfect Pairings, Accessories- Studio Calico wood veneer stars, ovals collection framelits, square lattice embossing folder, linen thread, lace tape (from stash)

Happy 7 year Blogiversary!!

Hello! Today is a very special day here at Black Shadow Creations! It is my 7 year Blogiversary and I can honestly say I am so excited to still be here!  Over the years, there has been an ebb and flow to my posting due to various reasons, but I still enjoy creating and sharing in Blogland.  I have made some wonderful Virtual friends and have gained so much information and knowledge over the years.  I've also noticed that paper craft blogging has lost some of it's popularity...

Why be a follower of a blog when you can simply search Pinterest for an idea? Not to mention there are so many new ways of communicating and sharing now... However, Facebook, Pinterest, and the other forums don't offer a genuine way to tell your story or a way to really get to know about the artist you admire.  My girls argue that no one has time to 'read' that much and this is why they love Snapchat and Instagram.  Personally, it makes me more than a little sad that we have become so busy that we don't 'have time' to actually connect with other people...  This is why I will continue to blog (as my real life schedule allows) and visit other's blogs.  There is something so comforting and human about not only seeing someone's creation, but learning about their inspiration and motivation.  It's like actually talking to your favorite artist.  Imagine how fabulous it would be to see a Monet painting and have his words telling you about the day he painted Water Lilies, or sharing in Van Gogh's sufferings as you looked at Wheat Field with Crows (believed to be his last painting).  It is in the spirit of these thoughts that I am offering some Blog Candy and the opportunity to share YOUR blog with others!

The candy is a surprise (partly because that's just fun, and mostly because I haven't finalized exactly what or how much I'll be giving!) and there will be more than one winner!  I'm not going to require 'following' because I only want you to do that if you really want to, but commenting is a necessity!  Sharing on your blog is perfectly ok, but also not a requirement.  When you leave a comment, please leave a link to your blog (if you have one) and I will be putting together a post with all of the links for others to enjoy.  On March 22 (one month away!), I will 'draw' a name (or more) and announce the winner(s)!  This blog candy is open to anyone since some of my favorite artists/bloggers aren't in the US! *I do have comment monitoring, but as long as you're not spamming or scamming you'll be accepted! Only one entry per person, please! Don't be greedy!!*

I'm going to end this post with a reinvention of my very first blog post creation!  You can see the original gift card holder here! This is an easy to make gift card holder using a paper towel tube, patterned paper, and some pretties!

3D Christmas Greetings!

Hi! I have a super quick post today using a decoupage kit to make Christmas cards.  I am so happy to see that storage box filling up with completed cards and I'm hoping they will be mostly completed by Thanksgiving this year! One can hope!!

I had mentioned a trip to my LSS during their big clearance sale and the goodies I had purchased.  One of those bargains was a Christmas A4 Decoupage Pack from docrafts Papermania.  This kit is called Pocket Full of Posies, and while it wasn't on the clearance tables, it was still a great deal.  I made four cards from the set and still have enough for 4 more!  Here is the complete set...

and closeups of each individual card...

The photo quality isn't the greatest since my camera didn't want to cooperate... but you get the idea!  While I like the 3D idea and the images are very pretty, I'm not completely sold on the whole kit thing.  I love being able to do my own thing and use whatever strikes my eye, but for quick, pretty cards the kits are perfect!

Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful week!

Cowabunga!! Having a little birthday fun!

Duuuude! So awesome you are here! TOTALLY!!  Ok, I'm done now...  How else could I introduce today's cards?!  I mean...NINJA TURTLES...Hellooo!!!

A recent check of my card stash let me know I was in desperate need of some cards for kids birthdays.  Now we know I have more than enough stamps, but unfortunately the kiddos in my life range from itty bitty and cute to I'm too cool to get excited over a birthday card (but don't stop making them for me...).  Most of my stamps are perfect for itty bitty, girly, or adult male, but nothing in the range of "I'm too cool".  Fortunately, I don't mind going shopping for some new things, especially if I know I really need them!  I found a super cool and fun 12x12 paper featuring the TMNT and knew it would work for those boys...um guys...  I wasn't sure exactly how these would turn out because there was one larger focal image and the rest was similarly sized background.  I ended up making 5 cards from this one sheet of paper!  I really like how the focal image worked on the first card, but have to admit that the others turned out pretty awesome too!  My biggest challenge was finding words/sentiments to fit.  I have NONE in my stamp collection and had NO luck finding something at my local scrapbooking store... I finally resorted to my cricut and MDS to make the perfect additions.

I cut the word DUDE! on different colors of cardstock, matted them on black and then again on the coordinating color.  I used the cricket cartridge Jubilee and also dusted off my Xyron sticker maker for these. So glad I didn't have to attempt gluing those skinny letters on there!

I created a postcard design in MDS to make the inside sentiment for the cards.  I love MDS for creating multiple or similar projects.  After I made the first design, I simply added more pages, changed the font color on the word Awesome, and printed them out! Piece of cake! Or should that be pizza?

The best thing about these cards is that two of them are going to grown, adult men!  Two of my nephews were a part of the original TMNT crew and still enjoy them.  The oldest was so wrapped up in them when he was younger that he would stop and look in every storm sewer to see if they were there! The other is now sharing all of his memorabilia with his son.  Great memories and I know they'll enjoy this flashback!

I hope your day is Totally Awesome and thanks so much for stopping by!

Card Recipes: Paper- Sandy Lion TMNT designer paper, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Basic Black, Whisper White, Accessories-MDS, Cricut cartridge Jubilee

Throwback Thursday-Winter Cleaning

Hello and welcome back for another Throwback Thursday! Today's card is a little bit of 'stash' and an upcycled card front.  I'm not sure how old the card front is since it was in a pile of goodies I unearthed during the move. The 'love' ticket came from a SU kit that I've had for a while.  Even the card base was in my stash.  I think it's SU cardstock, but I'm not positive since the color doesn't match the purples I have in my file.  It's a little frightening how many things I have saved over the years!  Good thing I've started 'winter cleaning' to put these things to good use!

Another quick and easy card to add to my completed stash.  So easy that I really don't have any extra tips to share!  I am slowly making a dent in my pile of things to use, and I'm thinking once that pile is gone, I'll start another! Who knows, this could be the year of using up all of those things that were set back for 'someday'!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Lots of layers for a Merry Monday

Hello! I'm back with two more Christmas cards and I'm so happy that I've been able to make time to create my Christmas cards early!  Today's cards were completely inspired by a trip to a local paper crafting store!  They were recently having a HUGE clearance sale to make room for all of the goodies they ordered from their trip to CHA and I decided to see what treasures I couldn't live without.  Yes, I know I still have lots of supplies in boxes that haven't been unpacked... Yes, I know I'm on a mission to use up my older stash items so there will be room for the aforementioned boxes... Yes, I know I really didn't NEED anything... Thankfully, I also know that most creative people (including my sister who totally enabled me on this trip) will understand exactly why I needed to go!

I showed a lot of restraint and didn't buy a ton of things, but there were a few bargains that were too good to pass up.  One of these was a decoupage pack kit with two really sweet Christmas images.  I've seen others use these, but hadn't tried them myself.  I really liked the 3D effect of stacking the layers and these will make great cards for family members with younger children.  Because the pieces were so layered and detailed, I kept my base to a bare minimum of embossing with a folder.  Other than the time it took to put the layers together, these came together in literally minutes.

The only thing I wasn't thrilled with was the font for the word 'Joy', but I was quite limited by the size of the tag and only had one alphabet set that would work...  

I bought another Christmas set (not on clearance, but still a great deal) and will be playing with that next week.  This set has quite a few more designs and coordinating papers, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it will take me!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Card Recipe:  Paper-whisper white, card making kit (tossed the paper without thinking to get the name...), Stamp set-Designer Typeset(ret), Ink-memento tuxedo black, Accessories-Snowburst ef, Cuttlebug Star Blanket ef

Valentines Banner(aka: I told you I would use that...)

Hi and welcome to my Throwback Thursday/Told You So post!! My DH is known for his eye rolling technique when I'm insisting that we shouldn't toss something because it can be used later.  I hate to admit that I probably save way more than I should, however, I do manage to use just enough to tell him 'I told you I would use that...'  Today I'm sharing a banner that not only uses more of those circular I 💓You pieces, but it also uses a worn out hair pony.  Yes, you read correctly... a hair pony! I regret to share that I didn't have a before picture of it. You probably would have questioned my sanity, but the 'after' is so pretty, I think you'll agree that I did ok! 

 My girls loved having pretty hair ponies to match every outfit and over the years I can't tell you how many were broken or worn out and tossed.  Except this really sweet pink sheer fabric pony...it had rhinestones on it... and it was just so darn cute... even if the elastic was severely stretched out and not functional any more...  So DH really almost rolled his eyeballs completely around when I put it in a container to save for 'later'.  I think there may have been an "Are you kidding me?" or a "You have lost your mind." but in the container it went-for several years...

When we moved, I rediscovered it, took it out of the container, and put it in a tiered basket stand so I would be more likely to use it.  When I decided to use the circles to make a Valentines banner for our mantle, I spotted the pony and KNEW this was what I was saving it for!

 

the paper part of the banner-layers of slightly grunged pretty paper

the finished project- just look at that pretty pink 'ribbon' separating the pieces!

This banner was truly a 'stash' project! The circles and the pony of course, but the twine that was used to string everything together came off of a Christmas gift.  Saving that was a no brainer, as it was a huge piece of fabulous twine!!  When I asked DH to help me hang the banner, he commented on how cute it was.  Then DD2 looked at it and asked "Is that my old pony on there?"  Cha! Ching! Score one for the hoarder thrifty crafter!  DH just laughed and said "I know... Now I'm not allowed to comment on you saving trash anymore...".  Of course, we all know he will and it will be complete with another wonderful eye roll.  But that's ok.  I'll just have to prove him wrong again!

Project Recipe: Paper-whisper white, pretty in pink, Patterns Love DSP (ret), Ink-real red, soft suede, crumb cake, Stamp Set-Sweet Centers (ret), Accessories-Banners and Hearts framelits, an old used up pony, twine, Very Vanilla lace trim

Another Merry Monday!

 Hello! Well, I've managed to get a few more Christmas cards created over the weekend and it is feeling pretty good to get the stash started this early! 

Today's addition to the pile was inspired by some super cute paper I bought a week ago.  DD#1 loves everything vintage and has recently fallen in love with older vehicles, especially the round fender trucks!  We didn't find paper with those (which probably would have been an easier delivery of the tree...), but Hobby Lobby did have these adorable cars hauling home their freshly cut trees. I'm wondering how sappy the windshield was by the time they arrived at their destinations! LOL! Anyway...I kept these pretty simple since the paper was too cute to cover up completely.  I also managed to use more ribbon that has been in my collection for a while.

I also had a bit of assistance on these.  Nessie decided she HAD to be a part of the action and pass her judgmental gaze over my work.  I'm not sure whether she approved or not, but she did seem content to watch the process.  If you notice, she is sitting on the notepads I keep on the table for inspiration and jotting down reminders.  She will not sit on the bare tabletop, but delights in perching on the printer, notepads, DSP...you name it!  Such a silly cat!  Shadow however, is quite happy to curl up on his bed and take a nap while I work. Yes, he has his very own dog bed in my studio...spoiled, but definitely deserving of it!

I am so grateful that you stopped for a visit and hope you will come back again soon! Have a wonderful week!

Card Recipe: Paper-Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, pattern paper from Paper Studio, Ink-memento tuxedo black, Stamp Set-Wacky Wishes (ret), Accessories-circle and starburst framelits, riding hood red striped grosgrain ribbon (ret)

Throwback Thursday-More Valentines

Welcome!  I am so glad you are here to witness the using of some very neglected pieces of paper!!  Today's Throwbacks are Valentines and I am almost embarrassed to admit how long these things have been hanging around...  I don't even remember cutting the large pink heart, but it was stuck in a folder of Valentines stickers and papers.  The circle 'I 💓You' came from one of my kids school Valentine projects. These are old enough that I don't have a picture on my blog of the original, so it was sometime before 2011...yeah...  Anyway, there was a ziploc baggie full of these that were the punched out centers of  heart shaped candy holders.  They were almost in the trash can when I thought "I could make Valentines and use these up..."  I think I heard a collective sigh of relief from the bag as I set it on the 'make something' pile!  I am happy to report that there were only a few left when I finished making my cards! You can see what I did with those in a few more days!! So cute!!!!

A little Dazzling Details, a little embossing...

More embossing and Dazzling Details...

I love how the right embossing folder can take a card from 'eh' to 'WOW' with very little effort!  Of course, I had to add a little sparkle to give them some extra pizzazz!!  I now have all of my Valentines finished and there's still plenty of time to address and mail them! Woot! Woot! Add to that the fact that I've used up some older goodies and I'm having a pretty good week!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Card Recipes: Paper-whisper white, real red, pretty in pink, Patterns Love DSP (ret), Ink-real red, Stamp Set-Sweet Centers (ret), Accessories-Dazzling Details, Boho Chic ef, Happy Heart ef, and a Paper Studio embossing folder