Cool Summer Fun

What could be more fun or cool than floating in the pool on a hot summer day?

I used a line stencil from My Favorite Things and sponged on 4 different blues. The cutie penquin is also from MFT. I stamped it on white scrap, colored it with pencils, then cut it out. It actually has feet but I snipped them off so he would appear to be floating. Then stamped the sentiment between the lines.
This is for the summer treat challenge at The Paper Players. Their image is of ice cream cones but they emphasized it did not have to include ice cream.

And while all the supplies were out, I did a second card

This one is actually a case of Karin's card at Peppermint Pattys-papercraft.blog. This is another stencil--actually called giraffe--from MTF. My water looks a little too purple. I think that blue must have a lot of red undertones. Here us her card,

Kuddly Koala

Even though Koalas are wild animals, they look so cute and cuddly. That is why I made this card for Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge of cards with animals.

Kraft cardbase, SU designer papers. The stamp from SU looks like this

I masked off the thinking of then stamped it in Chocolate brown on white cardstock. Then added  happy and for from the Crazy About You set. To make the card more gender neutral, I wanted to use a balloon in place of the flower. If you do not have a balloon die, use a 1" circle punch, cut a tiny triangle and glue it to the base of the circle. I added a twine bow.
Here is another card where I stamped the koala and fussy cut him and perched him on top of hugs, a stamp from Hero Arts.

When I fussy cut the koala, I cut off the flower and string so used black scrapper's floss to make a string for the balloon.
Oh, yeah, I also was chosen as a top 3 pick last week at SAS4K with this card. Thanks DT.

Watercolor Beach

As I mentioned yesterday, I am playing around with watercoloring and especially watercolor washes. Today it is a beach theme for Curtain Call challenge


On the front, I used SU's Baked Brown Sugar, Tempting Turquoise, and Pool Party to color wash on watercolor paper

After drying it with a heat gun, I stamped on seaweed and a sand castle (old clear stamps with lost labels) in the Baked Brown Sugar--stamped off once. Very faintly, there are a pair of bare feet prints at the base of the sand castle.I punched a cloud, sponged on some of the turquoise, and the word dream from Newton's Nook Daydreams.  

The flip flops are inside: stamped and fussy cut.

I am loving this water coloring. Next to try is coloring some images. I'm going to have to be finding some more watercolor paper soon.

Playing with Watercoloring

I finally am taking the plunge into experimenting with watercoloring. I love the look it gives. So I finally purchased watercolor paper and aqua painters. I checked out some SU videos on YouTube. Then this sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch seemed to be saying 3 stripes of watercolors.
 
So here's my attempt

I chose SU's Mossy Meadow, Lucky Limeade, and Certainly Celery. The dandelions are from Stampendous and the sentiment from SU both stamped with the Mossy Meadow. There are 3 slightly tinted green gems on the dandelions. This was my 2nd attempt at this card.
 I learned on the first that the paper must be completely dry before stamping on top. I tried to blend in the running colors but it turned into a messy splotch so I covered it with some ribbon. I don't know, maybe I like the one with ribbon better.

So I am certainly open to suggestions about this water coloring procedure.I think next I will try some blues and tans for a beachy theme.

The Tool Man and Super Stars

My husband's hobby is woodworking which is always requiring some kind of new tool. Or so he says!! The masculine, anything goes challenge at The Kraft Journal and Mr Handy Man at Tuesday Throwdown are perfect for making DH a birthday card.

The DP is from a DCWV Christmas pack but it reminds me of a flannel shirt. The tools are dies from Marianne Designs Creatables.I used the SU tag topper punch on the tags, placed an eyelet through the hole and tied it up with hemp cord from Hemptique (available at Hoppy Lobby) and red Bamboo Cord from Darice. The sentiment is SU stamped in Cherry Cobbler with more sponged around the edges.
I did a greeting on the computer for the inside.

The layout is from the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

And my second card with this sketch for my granddaughters who finished 2nd and 5th grades with high honors.

Patriotic Thanks

I am preparing my last box of cards for Operation Write Home. They will no longer receive cards after August 1. That is a good thing as it means a lot of troops have returned home. But now I need to find another charity outlet for my excess cards. Any suggestions?
So this is a thank you card for Any Hero

Everything here is from Stampin' Up except the blue check DP from my scrap stash. The thin strip of gold is from SU's envelope liners that were in a kit. It always photos as black but IRL it is very shiny. And I now see it is also very crooked! ugh!! I stacked 4 layers of "thanks", bottom to top is black, red, white, blue. If you squint and look real close you can tell there are layers. Click on the image to get a larger view.
I was inspired by the sketch from Mojo Monday

Just Us Girls challenge is stacked die cuts so I will link up there as well.

Sweet Treats

Another yummy sweet treat for a summer birthday.

I made a waffle cone by cutting a triangle of Kraft paper and running it through Big Shot with Cuttlebug's argyle embossing folder. The strawberry, orange, and lime sherbets were made with a cloud punch. I used the cherry from the top of a cupcake stamp, colored it with Tombow marker and cut it out.  The sentiment, DP, and card stock are from SU. For some bling, I coated with sherbets with clear glitter glue and used Crystal Effects on the cherries. Does it make you want to run out for an ice cream cone?
Design is sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Summer Birthday

It is no secret among my family and friends, I do love sweets. All kinds--ice cream, cupcakes, pie. So for a summer birthday, I went with strips of DP from SU with all those sweets on them. The background paper is called Crisp Cantaloupe but I see it as Orange Sherbet.

The cupcake stamp is an old, old one but still a favorite. I colored the cupcake paper with pencils, made sprinkle dots with star gel pens and then coated the frosting with clear glitter glue. To create shine like one of those maraschino cheeries, I coated the cherry with Crystal Effects. The sentiment is also from SU. Inside I added another cherry to accent the computer made sentiment

Tuesday Morning Sketches provided the inspiration. Check them out. There are prizes being given away this week.

Frame It

That is the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown
I am making some cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids and this critter from SU's Cheerful Critter is so fun for kid's cards.

The card base is from a DCWV box of pre-embossed cards--so half your work is done for you. This one has a blank square in the center but it wasn't large enough for the critter so I made a canvas with a 2 1/2" square of scrap cardstock. I wanted this little guy to be peeking out the window which is why he is off center. The frame is 1/4" strips of black. The birthday sentiment is from Newton's Nook stamped in SU Real Red and punched out with 2 SU label punches.
I love the thought of being able to cheer up a kid in the hospital. 

Dictionary Paper

For the pick three challenge at The Kraft Journal I chose black, dictionary paper, and masculine.

The Kraft card base is embossed with a Tim Holtz design. I added Tea Dye distress ink to the dictionary square to make it look vintage. This dictionary paper was in a grab bag I purchased from The Kraft Outlet. But you can buy old dictionaries at yard sales and just rip out the pages. I like to use a page that might have the definition of the theme I am using. Then I stamped hello from SU in StazOn black. Framed it out with strips of black.
Here are the selection options from The Kraft Journal.

Also linking up to The Paper Players

Fairy Godmother

This week's challenge at Send A Smile 4 Kids is "For the Girls". What little girl, or big girl for that matter, wouldn't like her fairy godmother to visit and grant her birthday wishes.

The card base is from a box of DCWV embossed cards. Found the box of 40 cards for $2.00 at a yard sale. Great deal!!

I punched pink, gold, and white circles. The stars and middle circle are a bright shiny gold but it sure didn't photo well. The fairy has lost her label so I can't give credit there. I colored her with colored pencils and star gel pens. Sentiment is Stampabilities done in SU Melon Mambo.

And while I had the supplies out, just go ahead and make another card. Right?

This one is without a sentiment so it can be used for any occasion. The strips on the left are stickers.

Father"s Day

For my son:

because I am proud of the father he has become. He is a divorced Dad and does a really good job with my granddaughters.

The notebook stamp is from Technique Tuesday. Other stamps are SU, The Angel Company, and Inkadinkadoo. Inks are SU Chocolate Brown and Tim Holtz Tea Dye. Kraft card base and other paper from the scrap box.

For my son-in-law:

because he is a loving husband to my daughter and a really great Dad to my grandchildren. 

Tim Holtz Impression Plate. Stamps are SU and Stampabilities. Ink is SU chocolate brown. Again Kraft card base. I thought he would like this film strip border as he is a photographer and is on Instagram.

Since I used Kraft card bases, I am posting this with The Kraft Journal.

Grad Cards

Today's sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

I have 2 cards to share. The first is pretty much a copy of the sketch

DPs are SU and Bo Bunny. Sentiment is via computer--from a Hallmark sentiment. Inside:

The other is a bit more freedom with the sketch

Stamps here are: airplane by Stampabilities and clouds by SU (in the Send Me Soaring Set)

Gold metallic strip is from some SU gold envelope liners. 

Letters cut with Cricut..Yeah, I actually used my Cricut today--it has been awhile. I glued the letters using the Press N Seal technique. If you don't know about lining up letters with Saran's Press N Seal wrap check out this video here by Laurie of Soapbox Creations It makes letter placement so easy.

Sunny Days?

Well, not here but somebody somewhere must be having sunny days. It is a bit chilly with drizzling rain here. In my cleaning purge last week, I found some borders that were begging to be used. So with Curtain Call challenge

it is time to use the Sunny Days border.

I don't have beach ball stamp so decided on a set of colorful balloons floating above the beach. The 3 balloons stamp is a very old one with lost packaging and labels. I stamped it twice on white cardstock and then once on a scrap of white. After coloring with colored pencils, I fussy cut out the one on the scrap piece, added black scrapper's floss strings and popped that one up between the other two. Then I added the 3 borders on the bottom. The borders were a $1.00 special at Michael's. That was then attached to a yellow card base. Inside I added a sticker border of floating balloons.

I hope this brought cheer to you today.

Butterflies Diecuts

I am having so much fun with the thinlet butterflies set from Stampin" Up, They make such beautiful cards. This set will get a lot of use as I love to put butterflies on cards.

The DP is from the watercolor paper from SU from 1 or 2 years ago.. I still have a few scraps of it. I guess I have been hoarding it. A new spring resolution after cleaning out my craft room is to use up a lot of the paper I already have before buying any more. How long do you think that will last? hahaha!! I repeated the curve of the flower petals with a scalloped border in yellow. I wanted the butterfly which is cut from the same DP to stand out so I punched out a flower and backed that with a punched yellow circle. The sentiment is PTI and punched out with SU word window punch and backed with orange with their label punch. The orange pearls were some I found in my embellishments stash.

The Paper Players has a tic-tac-toe challenge. 

I chose the bottoms row of die cut, patterened paper, and yellow. I actually made this card before I looked at the Paper Players blog. Great minds, huh?