Botanical Blooms

The new Stampin' Up! designer papers, Botanical Blooms, are all so pretty. They just seem right for very special Mother's Day cards.

The sentiment is an old one from Michael's bargain bin on a die cut circle tag from Sizzix and then adhered to a punched scalloped circle. I added a lace band and tied the tag on with linen thread. The little white flowers are cut with the coordinating Botanical Blooms dies
Lace for the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown: Add lace.
And the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Penguin Dad

Yesterday, I cleaned out some drawers in my craft room. I found some papers I had forgotten I had. This b/w harlequin one was in that stash .I've been wanting to make some b/w cards and this one said Father's Day to me so here is what I did with it.

The penquin is from The Unity Company. Doesn't he look like a studious Dad? Hard to tell here but I glued on some google eyes for some fun factor. It is stamped on a tag that has a punched top from SU. The dad is also from SU done in Real Red. I found the coordinated ribbon in my stash and tied it on with red and white twine. Inside is the message from the Unity Company saying "you're pretty awesome"

The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Good Day for Sailing

Well not here in Indiana--a little too cold still. But I'm sure it is a good day for sailing somewhere.

I water colored background with SU Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise, Baked Brown Sugar. I had some strips of blue weathered board paper so cut them into pieces to resemble a fence. Stamped seaweed from SU Wetlands in the brown sugar. Punched cloud was sponged with some Basic Gray and a little Pool Party and popped up with foam tape. The sailboat is a very old stamp. I tried to go for the shadowy look so stamped it in Baked Brown Sugar after stamping off once. It was a little too dark so I painted some white over the sails. The sentiment is from The Angel Company. I had some die cut dragonflies laying on the desk so glued a couple of them on the seaweed. You may have to click on picture for a larger view to see the dragonflies.
I still wasn't sure about the sailboat so I tried the whole thing again and stamped the boat in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder. Which do you like better?

I am entering challenges at Just Us Girls

And CASology going for warm summer day as my weather inspiration.

For the Boys

For: Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge to make a card "for the boys".

This cute little robot is from SU's Boys Will Be Boys stamp set. I colored it with gold and silver star gel pens and green and blue colored pencils. Sentiment is from SU's Perfect Pairings. The stripe paper is from my scrap stash.
I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Mother's Day

This week's inspiration from Just Us Girls is a beautiful trio of pastel colors.

I sponged on SU colors Daffodil Delight, Blushing Bride, Wisteria Wonder. on white and secured it to Blushing Bride cardstock from SU.

Then stamped the sentiment from SU in Basic Black. Adding a pink ribbon and punched butterfly finished off the card.
Inside, I repeated the sponged colors and stamped another SU sentiment.

Cool Cat

I went to Heritage Stamping and Craft show last weekend. Found the coolest stamp from gray Wolf Graphics. I just knew it would be the best image for cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids

I stamped the cat in SU Baked Brown Sugar on the circle and on a scrap. I cut out the legs and tail and attached them at the top to give a 3-D look. Kind of looks like this dude is about to kick that beach ball. The sunglasses are done the same way and coated with Crystal Effects. Sentiment and beach ball are from My Favorite Things. DSP is retired SU.
I used this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Rainbows

I have a CAS card for Curtain Call challenge of Rainbows with this gorgeous inspiration picture.

It seemed like it was going to be simple until I started measuring to get the stripes evenly spaced.. There really are times after elementary school that you need to know division and fractions.  I cut 1/8" strips of primary rainbow colors and glued them on to the card base. The sentiment is from a set of kid's sayings that I found at Michael's. I backed the sentiment with the blue color and popped it up with foam tape.The card looked a little plain so I glued on rainbow colored sequins to add a little bling.

Challenge

This sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch was quite a challenge for me.

I have trouble with leaving lots of white space. And I was blanking on what to do with that little right angle feature. So I moved the sentiment up there. It just makes a little larger right angle--and haha, fills up more of the white space!

I used a sentiment from SU's Watercolor Words  The aqua polka dot paper is a piece of tissue paper. I tried going for the faux silk but didn't get the tissue crumpled enough so I ended up with just some tissue paper with wrinkles. But by then it is already glued in place. Remember in junior high how we would decorated the dots in our words with little hears--especially if it was our boyfriend's name? That is what I did with a punched heart over the j, To sparkle it up a bit, I used a clear star gel pen and traced over the letters. 

I think a junior high girl will like receiving this card so I will be sending it to Send A Smile 4Kids and submitting it to their Spring Colors challenge.

Scrappy Thanks

I have been trying to make a dent in my scrap file pile  and I do mean pile. I think it is secretly multiplying overnight. Is yours doing that?
Since I needed to replenish my thank you cards, I used some scraps of papers and the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

The thank you is from SU. The bird die is from Sizzix.
and 3 more

So there, I used up the last of the purple plaid. Wonder what will multiply tonight while I sleep?

Spring and Flowers

Oh boy, am I ever ready for spring flowers to start blooming. So over the cold, gray, dreary days. The sun popped out here today. So let's celebrate spring with Just Os Girls word challenge

The DP is from Paper Studio. The banners are from my scrap file--or should I say pile, as that is what it is becoming. Sentiment is The Angel Company on a Stampabilities label die. The flowers are cut with a new SU die, Botanical Blooms. I can see so many possibilites for this one. I love how the upper one allows to lift up the petals for a little dimension. I added a couple of small pearls to bling up the flower centers. Since this is a NBUS die set for me, this will be my 3rd and final entry at DJ Kard Kreations NBUS challenge. If you haven't entered, better hurry. And she is offering prizes too.

Good Luck with Yoda

When I saw this inspiration picture from The Card Concept for shamrocks, patterns, and greens,

I wondered what I could make for the kids for Send A Smile 4 Kids. There is not time to get a St. Patrick's day one done. Well, Yoda is green--so what could I do with that? Using this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Here it is.

My card concept is clean and layered. The sparkly green is from WalMart. The pattern is a scrap from SU. I printed out the Yoda picture from an online source and cut it out. Then did the sentiment via computer. I'm not sure the hospital staff will like this one as the green sparkly paper really sheds its sparkles. I have them all over my desk, hands, clothes, and probably my face too. (Janet, I promise I will put this in a baggie before sending it to you)

 Reminds me of the story about the woman late for a gyn appt. grabbed a washcloth off her sink, washed up and went to the appt. When her daughter came home from school that afternoon she asked her mother where was the washcloth with all her sparkles that she left on the sink that morning.

The green sparkle paper is NBUS so I will also link this one to DJ Kard Kreations NBUS challenge

Happy 29

I have a friend who jokes that she is always 29--even after her youngest child passed 29!! So this is for her:

And the inside:

Products are all from SU. The numbers, I've been "saving" for DJ's 6th NBUS Challenge.

Just Us Girls photo week challenge is about 29, so I am posting it there too.