Another Fun Birthday

 The current challenge at As You See It Challenge is A Feather In Your Cap.  I had just finished this card when I discovered the challenge. At my age all my friends are laughing about getting older so I use this design a lot. I'm not sure where I got this sentiment but is most appropriate for a fun birthday.

The embossing folder on the Daffodil Delght background is actually fern leaves but I think it also looks like feathers and appropriate for a bird character which also has feathers.  This startled looking bird is a digi by From The Heart. I colored it with Daffodil Delight Stanpin' Up! blends. The balloon is coated with Wink of Stella. The sentiment is done via computer.

The fun is on the inside.

I did this via computer also. Adding another red winked balloon ties it all together.

Birthdays

 I have been furiously preparing for a Christmas Market next week. So I haven't blogged much. People, especially my age, like the humorous cards that make fun of age. Here is one I have done.

I used a black mat and embossed it in argyle with a Cuttlebug E/F. I grabbed a bunch of different colored scraps and die cut numbers from Tim Holtz dies. The sentiment is original done on the computer and then die cut with a deckle circle. The circle is popped up on foam tape. I glued the numbers randomly and at different angles.

Inside comes the humor

I am playing along with Can You Handle The Pressure requiring using an E/F with the optional twist of numbers.

Forest Trees

Playing along with Can You Handle the Pressure with the option of trees. And As You See It Challenge asking this question

I'v probably made 20 cards so far. I was in a mass produce mood so I made 10 of these

I used a forest E/F from Stampin' Up! for the white mat. The trees are die cuts from Kokorosa Studios. Before glueing them to the card, I sprayed them with glitter spray. I added to the forest scene with a small reindeer from Die Obsessions The Peace is an old stamp in my stash. Then I added 3 snowflake gems. 

I made a few more in the reverse colors.

Which do you prefer? green trees on white or white trees on green.

Polar Bear

 My 2 retail shops have been so busy I have not had time to think about Christmas or winter cards. I now have a little break from that and with the relief from the searing summer heat, my thoughts turned to Christmas. When I saw the challenge from The Paper Players CAS and Bears I had to break out this NBUS die cut for a cute Christmas card.

The paper is from a craft resale shop so unlabeled. It reminds me of the colors of the Northern Lights. So it had to be a polar bear card. I found the polar bear dies on Amazon. It comes with several poses of bears along with skates, skis and the scarf. The skates are die cut from metallic silver although one looks black and one looks green. Shiny metal just does not photo well. The scarf is a scrap of lavender and white stripe highlighted with a Highland Heather blend pen.  I added a fussy cut Santa hat from clip art. The sentiment is an old retired Stampin' Up! one. 

Frame It

Let's Craft and Create new challenge is anything goes with added challenge of Frame It.

I have used Stampin' Up!'s Splendid Autumn 6x6 DSP. I think nature scenes are always good for sympathy cards.

I trimmed the paper to 4 x 5 1/4. I used a rectangle die to cut a portion out of the center of the DSP. Then I cut a rectangle frame from a Sizzix die. I glued the frame on, then attached the cut out rectangle into the frame using mini dimensionals. The SU sentiment is stamped on the 3/4" piece that I trimmed off the top of the 6x6 paper. I added some orange gems to emphasis the orange flowers in the design.

Halloween for Kids

Bring your coffee, I have a long post with a fun gallery of Halloween cards to share. I love making fun non scary Halloween cards for kids. So when Send A Smile 4 Kids asked me to be a guest designer for September, I was thrilled. This month's theme is fall/Halloween cards.

 Number 1 is a fun fold called diamond flap CASed from a post on Paper Panacea. Cheryl makes super fun fold cards. If you go to Cheryl's blog, she gives you a link to make this card.

I was able to use a bunch of my Halloween paper scraps for this one. The ghost and spider are stickers. The tiny boo is an old stamp from SU.

It opens like this

Number 2 is called dutch door fold. The witch is a retired SU stamp.

It opens like this

#3. Another fun fold with scrap papers and a ghost sticker.

It opens by pulling up on the boo section. You can either decorate the inside or leave it blank as I did because SAS4K hospital personnel wants space to write their own words. The pumpkin is a holograph sticker.

And last but not least is a bright colorful one. This is just a standard A2 card.

Again, a ghost sticker. The pumpkins are an old wooden stamp. They were colored and then fussy cut. The bat is from SU, again stamped and fussy cut. The B is die cut from black glitter paper. The swirl E/F is by Sizzix.

I hope these cards will bring a lot of cheer to  hospitalized children.

 

Hydrangeas

I recently shopped my Stampin' UP! demonstrator's retired products table. I found this beautiful pack of 6x6 Hydrangea Hill DSP. It makes the prettiest feminine cards.

The card stock is Old Olive. The patterned papers are all from the pack of DSP. I fussy cut one of the large hydrangeas from one of the papers. The sentiment is retired SU. 

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for inspiration.

 

Soft Muted Pumpkins

 I love the new Glow of Autumn Paper that was a product of the month for August by Stampin' Up!. The colors are softened and there is a bit of glimmer to the paper too.

This is probably called an extended gate fold or maybe just a pocket card. The base is Golden Glow cut at 5 1/2 x 11. Score at 3 3/8 from each end. The folds will over lap and you will cut at a diagonal 2" down on the left side and 1" down on the right side. The DSP is cut at 3 1/2 x 5 1/2. The tricky part is where to cut the diagonals on the DSP. As you can see, I didn't get it exactly right on the right side. If any one has a hint for doing that, please share.

Glue the bottom edges and the inside of the right fold to form a pocket. The sentiment is SU on Very Vanilla. punched out and mounted with dimensionals. Then 3 iridescent gems.

Inside I did a computer statement on Very Vanilla and trimmed it down to fit in the pocket. A hole punched at the top and ribbon will give the recipient the idea to pull it out.

I'm entering this in The Paper Players challenge of CAS Looking Forward to Fall

Blue Skies

 Cardz 4 Galz theme for the current challenge is "Blue Skies"

I found this 49 and Market paper for 1/2 price at a local craft shop. The soft blue reminds me of a muted sky color.

I dressed up the muted color with some shine--blue glitter strip, silver rub ons, and silver ribbon under the sentiment. I added 3 tiny butterfly gems.

Details: card base is SU Cloud Cover. The sentiment is retired SU stamped with Hydrangea Hue. The butterflies are SU. The silver rub-ons and ribbon were in the stash with no labels.

BOO

Still working on Halloween cards. 

 I've used papers from my stash. The orange dot paper is distressed on both edges to meet the requirements of Let's Craft and Create challenge of distress papers. The ghost is a die cut from Impression Obsession. The big letters are Stampin' Up! dies cut from black glitter paper. I did extra O's in white to use the center punch outs for the eyeballs. I added 2 punched black pupils highlighted with white gel pen.

Here is the inside:

The sentiment is done on the computer and accent papers to match the front.