Sunny Sunflower

 I love sunflowers, they are so bright and cheery. I was excited to find a pack of several sizes sunflowers from Recollections. Here is one of the cards I made with one of them.

I used a Kraft card base. The tan paper was embossed with a swirly E/F by Cuttlebug. I swiped a Tim Holtz Tea Dye ink pad over the raised portions. The vertical strlp of cork looking paper is a retired SU Paper. I found the plaid in the scrap box. I added a butterfly sticker to the sunflower. He sentiment is also SU.

The design is a sketch at Sketch Saturday

Also entering at Can You Handle the Pressure with the addition twist of butterfly.

Shades of Fall

It is actually a hot humid day here. Typical summer weather. And woudn't you know it I have one of those awful summer colds.  This card has taken me all day to make what with 2 naps and 3 different stabs at creating a card. 

This  paper had floated to the top of the scrap box and it made me think of fall leaves. So I blended some yellow and red over it and die cut some leaves. Then shaded the edges with some brown. I attached the 2 outer leaves with a glue dot and then the center one is popped up on a dimensional. 

Here is the original paper.

I think I will go back and die cut another leaf to accent the inside.

The background paper is new to Stampin" Up! The overall design is trees. But sigh, it is too much effort to get up and go look up what it is called.😑  The sentiment is also SU., fussy cut, and popped up on dimensionals.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

I think I will go hit the recliner again. 

Graphics

There is a new DSP from Stampin' Up! called Boho Vibes. They are all different graphic and rainbow designs in bright bod colors.

I made this one for Let's Kraft and Create  that has a twist this month of adding  buttons. 

I used two patterns of the DSP and covered the seam with a scalloped strip. I dug out the box of buttons that hasn't seen the light of day in forever. I found some blue buttons in 2 sizes and lined them up on the left side. The hello is as old SU stamp. To mimic the curve of the stripes, I cropped the corner of the card base. 

Since I have used neglected buttons I will link up with The Neglected Stuff

Buttons on a card, requires extra postage but I am adding this to my collection for Send A Smile 4 Kids. They hand them out to hospitalized kids and don't send them in the mail.

Time Out Challenges with this prompt. I chose the word Bold.

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Flower Garden

 The new paper from Stampin' Up! called Florals in Bloom are perfect for the challenge at Card 4 Galz which is Floral Frenzy

This is the card laying flat.

This is the opened view.

And a 3-D view of how it stands up

The inside sentiment is from SU's Charming Sentiments. The Happy Birthday is an old stamp in my stash. The deckle edge circles are a SU die cut. It is popped up with dimensionals. 

I have CASEd Brian King's fun fold card. Check out his blog here to see the dimensions and tips about using the DSP. Thanks Brian for the inspiration.

Upcycled Note Card

 The Paper Players challenge this week is recycling. I call it upcycling. I do a lot of upcycled cards. A good source is the free cards and calendars from charities. This one is a note card I received from a friend.

The card was just a plain floral flowers. I addd a white border and put it on a Bubble Bath card base. The many thanks is a SU die, doubled up for more dimension. I enhanced the flowers by tracing the borders with star gel pens and Nuvo black dots in the centers. A flower garden needs a butterfly. This one is an unlabled sticker. 

Turtle-y Cute

I am having fun playing with the images in Stampin" Up!'s new DSP Turtle-y Cute. 

 Here is this cool turtle watering her plants. I fussy cut the turtle from one of the pattern papers. The stripes are the backside of the same paper. The flower vellum is a scrap from a retired SU paper. The sentiment is an old stamp fom Creative Memories. I added 3 pearls to the right side and 3 more to look like water drops coming from the watering can. 

The sketch is from Sketch Saturday with the twist of birthday card.

Also submitting to a new challenge for me As You See It where their challenge theme is water but also speed--make a card in less than 10 minutes. I did it with a few seconds to spare.

But my desk is sure a mess. It is a small work space and I usually clean as I go.

And just for fun, while I was playing with the turtles, I made another with this same sketch.

I'll be adding both of these cards to my stash for Send A Smile 4 Kids

Guilty Monkey

 I have a fun card to share today for Can You Handle the Pressure with a twist of zoo or jungle animals.

I show you a zoo escapee

I used a vertical stripe E/F and ran a black ink pad over it. Hoping it plants the idea of zoo bars. Since the monkey is in front of the bars, we can assume he has escaped.  Look at that guilty face grin. The monkey is a sticker from a sheet called Silly Monkey by Paper Studio. The hello is an old stamp from SU.

I am putting this in my stash for Send A Smile 4 Kids. I know the kids will love it.

I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps

Pair of Birds

Recollections Field Journal paper pad has a sheet that has 2 large circles with birds perched on the edge.  I fussy cut one of the pairs of birds to make this card. 

The card base is Kraft. I like the look and texture of Kraft for nature based cards. The wood pattern paper is also in the Recollections pad.The Mossy Meadow green and Pool Party blue are from my stash I used a cloud E.F on the blue. The sentiment is SU die cut and popped up on dimensionals.

I am entering at Cardz 4 Galz and The Paper Players. They both have "wings" as their challenges.

Nature Inspired

 This is today's sketch inspiration from Sketch Saturd

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I switched the orientation for my card.

The papers are from a Recollections paper pad called Field Journal.  There was 1 page that had 2 large circles with the birds in them. I trimmed it down to fit the 2 birds in an oval. The other papers are from the same pad. I added 2 black faceted gems. The sentiment is an old stamp. I die cut it an oval to coordinate with the large oval.  I set out to make a sympathy card but I think I will keep this one for Christmas. I like a few nature inspired scenes for Christmas or winter cards.  Should I go back and add snow to the branches?

On another note, does anyone have a solution to blogger not showing comments? I have gone to the comment tab and made sure they are not in a spam folder. They all look like they were published but do not show in the comments of each post.  Thanks for any help you can give,

Catching the Last Rays

Yesterday when it was 50 degrees and raining, I decided I needed some sun and a dose of beach.

 The challenge at Let's Craft and Create is no patterned paper. I used a line stencil to create the background. Using green, tan, blues, oranges, and yellows I made a beach scene. The palm tree, sunbather, and umbrella are stickers. I popped up the umbrella top and glued  down the handle. The setting sun is from the retired SU set called Swirly Bird I also popped up the sun.

I left off a sentiment and just put a blank liner inside so it can have multiple uses. I've put this one in my stash to send to Send A Smile 4 Kids