Ala Michele & Bobby

Hello friends.  A couple weeks ago when I and Bobby went to Michele's house for a get together, both Michele and Bobby had dies that I cut out and brought home to make into cards. Today I have 2 of the cards I made to share with you.

This first card uses a die set from Michele and Concord & 9th called Cherry Nice, and it turned into a perfect birthday card for one of my granddaughters who is turning 5 next week (I swear she was just a baby last week!!).  Take a look...

I thought this turned out so cute, and I think my granddaughter will think so too!  This is a 4 bar size card (3 1/2 x 5 1/2) and the bottom of the card is dsp from PTI and the top white section was embossed with those sweet little cherries from Concord & 9th.  The cherries were cut from red cs and then ink blended around the edges to give them some definition.  The faces are actually from a bumble bee set from SU! and helps to make this card a little sweeter for Maddy!  The leaves and flowers were also a part of the set as well as the "sweet" die.

The BIRTHDAY WISHES sentiment was embossed in white on red cs and the red ric rac is from PTI's Skinny Ric Rac die.  Thanks for sharing Michele and helping me get this birthday card made actually ahead of time!

My 2nd card uses Honey Bees Winter Birds dies from Bobby after seeing her gorgeous card HERE.  I was so in love with the cardinal AND the color of the blue background that Bobby used that I had to try and replicate her card with what I had at home.  I ended up using poppystamps Bird House Pop Up Easel Dies and Boho Blue cs (SU!) to make a resting place for the cardinal.  I did a bunch of ink blending on the cardinal before putting the layers together, and then attached him to the house.

I was hoping my close up would show the glitter on the roof top and the snow on the bird house opening, but no such luck...grrrrrr!  My background was embossed with an older SU! embossing folder called Winter Snow and is still one of my most used ef's for Winter and Christmas cards.

I'm going to add both these cards to the Can You Handle the Pressure challenge since I used embossing folders for the backgrounds on both cards, and also the NBUS challenge since I have never used either of the dies before.

Thank you sooooo much Michele & Bobby for sharing your supplies and helping me with a birthday card and one more for the Christmas stash!  Crafting friends are absolutely the best!! 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

PEACE*LOVE*JOY

Hello friends.  Even though it's July and hot, hot, HOT, I am still plugging away at Christmas cards this month!  A lot of the online stores are having great sales on Christmas in July stamps, and I recently picked up a few things at great prices from Papertrey Ink, including the Vase Collection #12 stamp and die set.  I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and colors from the Peace On Earth Challenge to come up with this...

It was that milk can vase that pulled me in for this set, and also the simplicity of the greenery and berries!  And I love, LOVE the detail on that bow!  Here's a closer up:

My berries are looking a little smeared, and that's because they are!  I thought adding a little WOS to make the berries sparkle would be a great idea, until I remembered that WOS and RED don't mix...grrrrr!!  And of course they were already glued down, so it is what it is!  I die cut a 5 1/4" by 4" panel with an oval die and then used SSS's Holiday Greenery EF and layered it to a panel of Boho Blue cs and a white card base.  I did use foam tape behind the embossed layer and then replaced the oval piece and built my arrangement inside the oval.  I finished with a sentiment embossed in white on a strip of the Boho Blue cs using PTI's Christmas Blessings stamp set and also added a few red gems from PFS.  Other than the smeared red berries, I'm really pleased with the way this card came out!

You can find all the details to play along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge here, and this challenge is open till Monday, July 21st @ 3:00PM.

I'm also adding this card to the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge where I was inspired by the red, white, & blue color scheme on their mood board.  This challenge is only open till tonight (July 17th @ 8:00PM), so if you want to play along, you need to be quick!!

 And one last challenge to add to is NBUS #76 since this is a brand new stamp set to me, although I believe the set has been out for quite awhile!

 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

DD Beach Challenge

Hello friends.  Playing along with the DD Challenge today and they are looking for "Going to the beach" cards.  While I think my going to the beach days are long over, the weather here in my neck of the woods has been in the mid 90's with heat indexes over 100, so the beach is definitely the place to be!!

The timing of this challenge was perfect as I had just received some new goodies from Waffleflower that I think fit this challenge perfectly!  I actually have 2 cards to share with you, and the first one uses a stencil that I've had for over 2 years (I think) and never used, and also a small crab from WF's Happy Crabs Dies.  Take a look...

I stenciled the lined circle first (Newton's Nook Retro Sun & Palms stencil) with residual ink left on my pink, orange, & turquoise blending brushes, and then used the 2nd stencil to ink up the palm trees.  

 Isn't that little crab adorable?!  Well, I mean as adorable as a crab can be, right??!  I die cut the pieces from white cs and then ink blended with the same brushes I used for the lined circle.  You can just see the hint of blue underneath the top layer...I was going for a bit of a blue crab vibe here.  He was pop dotted for some dimension and to make him stand out a bit.  The sentiment is one of my all time favorites from Catherine Pooler called Vitamin Sea.  I finished with a few gems from PFS.

My 2nd card uses a few more new WF goodies, including the Coastline Die n Stencil, and the Inquisitive Crab Die.  I stenciled my background first with A Colorful Life Cloud Edger and then added the stenciled and die cut waves.  The ginormous crab was die cut from white cs and once again blended with coral inks from PFS.  I love, LOVE the size of this guy!!

I also added a strip of kraft cs at the bottom for my sandy beach and then finished with another Catherine Pooler sentiment from her Hook, Line and Sinker stamp set.  I also added a few gems from PFS.  

The DT has so many wonderful beach scene cards to inspire you to play along and you can find them all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Sunday, June 29th @ 8:00PM.

I'm also adding this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #75 since the Retro Sun & Palm stencil is a little older and never been used...cough, cough!!

   

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Peace On Earth #78

Hello friends.  Just a quick post with a couple Christmas cards that I think will work with the new Peace On Earth Challenge.  Here's the mood board...

I took my inspiration from the snowman in the top right corner and used a snowman stamp and die I received as a gift from my cousin last year (or maybe the year before??) and had never even opened the package!  Too cute not to use though and I paired it up with TH's BIG TIDINGS dies and came up with these 2 cards.

I started with a Boho Blue background (SU!) that I used a SSS Icy Snowflakes ef on and then lightly ran my white pigment ink over the raised snowflakes to make them stand out a bit more.  I die cut the NOEL (TH - BIG TIDINGS) from silver mirror cs and then added my snowman (Marianne Designs - Snowman) that I stamped in black and heat set with clear embossing powder before coloring with my Copics.  The little birdie is also from the snowman set and the tree is part of the BIG TIDINGS die set.  I also added a silver star from glitter cs to the tree and some clear sparkly stickles to look like ornaments also.

I also added glitter to the snowman's hat brim and the pom poms on his scarf.  Pretty simple card but I love the way it turned out!!

My 2nd card was done the same way except that I switched the colors to reds and used the word JOY from the BIG TIDINGS.  

I did do a bit of ink blending with a darker red on the bottom half of the JOY die cut, and the background was embossed using SSS's Filigree Snowflakes ef.  These both came together rather quickly and I'm thrilled that I have 2 cards done for next years Christmas stash!  

You can check out all the awesome inspiration from the DT over at the Peace On Earth Challenge right HERE and then play along if you still need to make some Christmas cards or even work on next years stash!  This challenge is open till Thursday, Jan. 2nd @ 8:00PM.

I'm also going to enter these cards in over at Darnell's NBUS Challenge since the snowman set has sat in my craft room for over a year, or maybe even 2 years.  Geesh...nothing like a little procrastination, right??!!  

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge #71

Hello friends.  Still trying to get back into the Christmas swing of things here so that I'm prepared come December and have a fun card to share with you today from inspiration from the Peace On Earth Challenge mood board.

The photo on the bottom right is what really inspired my card...the nutcracker!  I had bought Tim Holtz's Harvey set of dies almost a year and a half ago, and like most Tim Holtz die sets, when I opened the package and saw how many pieces there were, I closed it back up and put it away and then forgot about it!  It ended up really not being that bad (I've done worse ones, like the Santa one Michele and I worked on back in July!!), and I came up with a fun card to share with you!

He really is a cutie, isn't he?!  And I love his name...very fitting!!  I used scraps of colored cardstock to cut out all the pieces and then on some of the pieces (mostly the red, and the white feathers on his hat) did a bit of ink blending.  

For my background I used a piece of DSP from SU!'s Peaceful Prints...I love the plaid and snowflake combo!!  Behind Harvey I die cut the letters for the word JOY from The Stamp Market's Festive Foliage Dies.  I cut the letters from Real Red cardstock and again from white to make a shadow so they'd stand out more from the DSP.  I put foam tape behind the J & Y to add some dimension, and left the O and Harvey flat.  Pretty easy card once I got Harvey put together, and I think it turned out pretty CUTE!!

 I'm going to add this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge also, since I think waiting a year and a half to use a new die qualifies!

The DT at the Peace On Earth Challenge have lots of fabulous cards to inspire you to play along, so check it out and get going on those Christmas cards.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Sept. 19th @ 8:00PM. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Here Come the Snowmen

Hello friends.  Having with a little Christmas in July today, and playing with a new Waffle Flower Postage Collage Snowman stencil set.  Once I started, I couldn't seem to stop, so I have 4 cards to share with you today.  Here's the first one...

 I did some pretty traditional coloring by stenciling the background first with a couple shades of blue ink and then adding the 2nd stencil which added the nose, arms, and buttons.  I also added some white acrylic paint splatters for the look of snow.  I decided to cut the snowmen apart and make even more of a collage by adhering them to a background that I embossed with a new Spellbinders embossing folder called Hexi Snowflake.  To finish I matted with a black layer and a white card base, and then added a die cut sentiment from Waffle Flower and a few iridescent gems from PFS.  

I had a leftover image when I cut the collage apart and made a simple card using another snowflake embossing folder for the background (SSS's Filigree Snowflakes) and a strip sentiment from Gina K and a few silver gems (PFS).  Can't really see it from the photo, but I sprayed the embossed panel with Sheer Shimmer Mist, so the card has a lovely sparkle to it.

For my 3rd card I kept the collage intact and inked the background up using medium and dark Orchid inks from Gina K, and also sprayed the layer with Sheer Shimmer Mist to give the allover card lots of sparkle and shine.  My small round sentiment comes from Waffle Flowers North Pole coordinating set and I finished with a few Disco Ball Sequins (Gina K) and some black & white twine.  

My last card turned out to be my favorite with very non traditional colors in pinks and greens.  A little bit of extra stamping on this one using the North Pole set and a card base stenciled with the air mail stencil that comes with one of the basic stencil sets from Waffle Flower.  The sentiment is also a part of the North Pole set and was embossed in white on a strip of black cs and raised with a bit of foam tape.  More Disco Ball sequins and glitter finished this bright and fun card.

Going to add all of these cards to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as everything used here is never before used!  

Also going to add my first card to the Peace On Earth Challenge where I was inspired by the shades of BLUE in their beautiful mood board.

Thanks for sticking with me on another long post and hope you enjoyed all these cute snowmen!  I'm thrilled to be adding another 4 cards to my Christmas stash too...it really will be here before we know it!  (Although the temps outside would beg to differ...been a warm summer here in West Michigan this year!!)  Take care and stay cool!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

BotaniCuts: Wisteria

Hello friends.  Played with a new die set this past weekend from The Greetery called BotaniCuts: Wisteria and have 2 cards to share with you that I think fit with the Triple B Challenge perfectly!

Although I used mostly purples (Shaded Lilac & Wilted Violet DOX inks), I also added some Blueprint Sketch DOX ink that gave my Wisteria that hint of blue from the mood board.  Here's the first card...

I started by die cutting the blooms and leaves from white cs and then used my DOX inks to ink them up.  I also added some water splatter to the leaves and white acrylic paint splatter to both the leaves and blooms.  While those were drying I embossed a white panel with SSS's Vine Canopy embossing folder and attached to a white card base.

To finish, I added some glitter to the Wisteria, a few gold gems, and a gold foiled sentiment from Spellbinder's Everyday Sentiments II.  

 My 2nd card is VERY similar to the first, except that I ink blended a blue background on the card base by masking off the top and two sides of the card base and bringing the color down about 3/4 of the way.  This left room for my sentiment at the bottom using The Greetery's New Day Sentiments, which I've had in my stash for a looooooong time, and finally pulled out and used!  A couple Disco Ball Sequins (Gina K) finished off this 2nd card.

If you'd like to play along with this challenge, you can find it right HERE.  The challenge is open till Sunday, June 30th @ 8:00PM.

I'll also be adding these 2 cards to Darnell's NBUS Challenge since the die set and sentiment set from the 2nd card have never been used before.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Double D - Polka Dots

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals at the Double D Challenge where they are looking for POLKA DOTS!

How fun is this?!!  If there's polka dots involved, I'm there!!  I have stacks of PTI's dsp packs by color and the large and mini polka dot papers are my faves and used in SO many of my cards. Like this baby card...

Our youngest daughter was in need of a baby card for a shower for one of her girlfriends who is expecting her 1st baby in August and this Baby Face Sweet Pea Die from The Greetery (that I've had for over a year now and never used!) came in really handy!!  I started with my background using the polka dotted dsp from PTI in the color Green Parakeet and an old Cuttlebug embossing folder with dots.  For the pea pod I die cut everything in white card and then used Peeled Paint & Rustic Wilderness DOX inks to color everything but the two flower buds.  

The coordinating stamp set (Baby Face Stamp Set) has lots of different face stamps, so I stamped 3 of the peas with sleeping faces and one of the peas with a wide awake face...we'll see if the mama to be catches on!  Haha!!  I used foam tape behind the pea pod for some dimension, and then finished with a sentiment from the stamp set and a few iridescent gems from PFS.

The DT has lots of fun inspiration for you that you can find right HERE, and this challenge is open till Sunday, June 2nd @ 8:00PM.

 I am also sending this card to the NBUS Challenge since this die set has been unused for over a year now.  Good grief...I am so good at shopping but sooooo slow to use what I buy and THINK that I need!  Oh well, it did come in handy to make this baby card, so I'll justify that it was a good purchase!!  (Quit laughing Darnell!!!)

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!