Colorful Birthday

 It is sad that any child should be sick and in the hospital. Doubly so when it is their birthday. I am happy to contribute to Send A Smile 4 Kids mission to see that hospitalized children get cheer cards. Every child likes balloons and that is the theme of my card. What a fun, colorful card to celebrate a birthday.

The background paper is Berry Burst by Stampin' Up! The pattern papers are some left over pieces of Memories and More card pack by SU. I used a punch for the balloons and attached twine for strings. The orange and purple balloons are glued down and the yellow one popped up. The sentiment is from SU and stamped in Melon Mambo, then fussy cut and popped up with diminsionals. To bring out the green from the papers, I added a scrap green and white stitched ribbon. 

Also posting to Lets Craft and Create challenge

Challenge #232 - AG + Penny for your Thoughts

Beach Scene

Are you a beachy person or mountain person?  I like both but today it is off to the beach for Cardz 4 Galz

The card base is Cloud Cover. The background paper is from the Paper Medley pack from SU.  I used the curvy dies to cut the sand from Crumb Cake.  A Tim Holz Tea Dye ink pad was dragged across the sand to give it some depth.I used a small circle stamp to make the sun peeking out behind the palm tree. I think the palm tree die is My Favorite Things.  I die cut the palm tree top with Crumb Cake and then cut just the top with a green in my stash and glued it over the Crumb Cake.. Then I did highlights with Stampin' Blends. The fence is from a package of chipboard die cuts by Stamperia. Grass is a die cut from On The Horizon. The sentiment is an old one from SU.

I hope you will be able to enjoy the beach sometime this summer.

I roughly interpreted this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

The word week at Just Us Girls is Summer

Will add the TIME OUT challenges of pick two I actually have 4: summer, sun, water, vacation.

 

Transportation

What pre-teen and teen boy doesn't like a skateboard. Our town even has a skateboard park for them to do their tricks. Send A Smile 4 Kids monthly challenge is Planes, Trains, Automobiles, or any form of transportation. For kids who can't drive yet, skateboards are a good way to get around. I don't think I would recommend playing a guitar while skateboarding though.

The DSP is from Stampin' Up!. The picture and sentiments are digitals. The digital was even colored, Gotta love that--no coloring. Quick card.

Go to Sketch

Go to sketch. When stumped for design, I go to this sketch.

 The DSP if from SU (now retired) but I don't remember the name, Garden something. The base is Golden Glow. I had an extra strip of the DSP left over and made a  banner in the center which is matted with a piece that is the reverse side of the floral paper. 

The sentiment is SU as well as is the label punch. To emphasis the sentiment I surrounded it with 3 punched flowers centered with clear gems.

Just so happens that Freshly Make Sketches is featuring this layout this week.

Also playing with the tic-tac-toe chart from The Paper Players using the middle vertical row: flower, free, Patterned Paper.

Cheery Hello

This is the reason we never throw away even the smallest scraps. You can make really cute cards with even 1 1/2 inch squares.  

 The patter papers are from SU. I backed them with a black mat. I started with a plain white background but that was kind of boring so I used a large circle E/F from Cuttlebug. I think it coordinates well with the circle print. The card base is Lemon Lime from SU.

I don't know who makes the hello die cut. I have had it a long time and don't have the original packaging. I took a bunch of my word sentiment dies and put them together on a magnetic sheet. It is easier to find the one I want without sorting through a bunch of different packages. I used one layer of blue and one layer of black. I tried it at the bottom of the card and it just seemed unbalanced so I glued it across the squares. I repeated the blue and circles with 3 blue gems along the stripped pattern. 

I've used the sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday moving the sentiment up to the center

Also linking to Can You Handle the Pressure with embossing and embellishments.

I am adding this card to me stash for Send A Smile 4 Kids I think these bright colors and designs will cheer up a sick child.

Another Guy Birthday

The ongoing use of papers from my stash never makes a dent. There is always more. All the papers here are from that stash.

The white mat is embossed with circles with a Cuttlebug E/F  I added a 2" strip of patterned paper from SU that looks like bolts then added a strip of a silver pattern. I cut 2 "bolts" from a darker grey using 2 hexagon dies. I added a silver center to the solid center from the hexagon frame. The sentiment is SU matted on a strip of silver.

Made for Cardz 4 Guyz challenge is Squash It--use an embossing folder.

Guy Birthday

 Our neighbor has a birthday next week. This is the card I made for him.

The linen paper and the basket weave are from Stampin' Up!. I added a narrow copper strip alongside the basket weave. The gears are from the Gears and Textures die cuts, also SU. This set is perfect for masculine cards. It comes with a variety of stamps as well as the die cuts. I did the sentiment on the computer and die cut it with a deckle circle. I think the edges look a little like gears too. Hubs on the wheels are 2 square faceted pewter brads from my stash. They are kind of thick for mailing but I will be hand delivering this card..

Inside I typed another sentiment and lined it with the basket weave paper.

I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

In the Mountains

Can you believe it is time to be thinking about Father's Day cards?  Paper Funday Challenge of anything goes with an option of mountains or coast gave me the perfect inspiration for my card.

This scene was created with SU's retired Wetlands stamps. I did a stamp off technique to give it a watercolor feel. The sentiment is an old stamp in my collection. The DSP is also SU. 

Inside I copied a sentiment from my home Hallmark program and repeated the pine tree stamp.

 

Bees

 I recently discovered preprinted card fronts for A2 cards from Whimsy Stamps. They come as a set of 8 fronts and strips of sentiment. I just finished some with bees on the front. Timely for Cardz 4 Galz new challenge to use bees. 

It feels almost like cheating to use premade card fronts but I added my own personal touches.

I trimmed the picture down to 4"x5 1/4 and glued it to an A2 card base of SU's Daffodil Delight. I used a clear gel sparkle pen on the wings and Wink of Stella on the flowers. I added a small die cut cloud from the Playing in the Rain set.  I trimmed one of the sentiments and added it across the bottom corner. This is going in my stash to send to Send A Smile 4 Kids

Sunny Birthday

 I just received new DSP from SU,  I had to break out some and make a card.

The papers are Painted Illusions. Crumb Cake base. The gold vellum is die cut with a deckle circle to indicate a sun. The sentiment is also SU. 

Inside, I added a narrow strip of the DSP to a computer printed sentiment.

The sketch is Try Stampin' On Tuesday