Bright Cheer

Happy Memorial Day. Thanks to all who are actively serving in the armed forces. Condolences to those families who have lost loved ones in wars and conflicts. May you have happy memories as you pay honor to them.

My card is not specifically a patriotic one but I am sending good thoughts to those who are remembering lost loved ones. Something to brighten your day.

I used a floral Sizzix embossing folder to make the background on yellow paper and then rubbed a white ink pad over the surface. 3 strips of ribbon add bright color to the edge. The sentiment is from SU. Then I added 3 candy dots for a little bling. SU calls them enamel dots but don't they remind you those strips of paper with edible candy dots we had as kids?
I used this photo from Just Us Girls for inspiration.
 

Grad Card

I've been saving this card for someone posting a graduation card challenge but so far haven't found one. But, Always Playing With Paper has a sketch that fits the design of the card.  Is that a little backward--make the card and then find a challenge it fits? Not the usual way we do it but in this case it works.
Here is my card

Our local school team is Stars with red/white/blue as school colors. To accommodate the large star I had to go with a 5x5 card. The stars are all die cuts from SU's Star Framelits. The stars are attached to a red strip of paper tucked between the white and red layers. The white layer is embossed with stars. The grad hat and sentiment are from Stampabilities. When you flip up the star, you find another die cut star and sentiment--also Stampabilities.

On the back of the card is another star that is only attached at the sides and bottom. I tucked some folded money into the top. 

You think this grad is going to be seeing stars?

Here is the challenge sketch.

Another inspiration for my card was from Karen Hasheck at Karen's Kreative Kards.  I totally cased this cute grad card.

Choo Choo Birthday

I have a cute little boys card to share today.

The images are strips from 12x12 paper called Little Boy Borders from Echo Park Paper Company. I stamped sentiment words from SU's Crazy About You on to punched out clouds. I think the clouds look like the puffs of steam coming from the train.

Entering in Tuesday Throwdown challenge of For A Child.

And CASology 

I'll also be adding this to my collection for Send A Smile 4 Kids. They are having a Bright Colors for Kids challenge.

65th Anniversary

Wow! 65 years. That is being married way more years than being single. Longtime friends at church are celebrating 65 years today. I had to run into the craft room to make them a special card before the party. I checked at The Paper Players because they post a new sketch every Sunday and I needed quick inspiration.

I also did a quick internet search for the anniversaries. Nothing specific for 65 but all the ones around that are gold, silver, diamond and precious gems.  I went with a combo.

The background is called Reflections from Michael's. It is a sparkly silver/diamond design. Gold doily from SU. Sentiment is an old one from The Angel Company. I found some sparkly blue number stickers in my stash--I guess blue would be topaz?

Now off to the party!

Birthday Boy

CAS-ual Fridays has a challenge to make masculine birthday cards.


I used a precolored digi from Free Dearie Dolls Digistamps.

Sentiment is from SU. DUDE die cut from Tim Holtz letters.
I am also submitting this to Send A Smile 4 Kids for the Bright Colors for Kids challenge.
And bright colors for the girls

Tags Kit

I recently purchased a tag and bag accessory kit from SU's retiring product sale. I didn't necessarily need it for tags for gifts but I do like to use tags on cards. There were some great accessories in there also, like the paper doily here and some tiny gold paper clips too. It was a good deal,

I have been playing with vellum lately and this pretty green one was laying on my desk begging to be used. I used an old flower stamp to make the background. The sentiment is from the separate words in SU's Crazy about You set. I had the green/white twine in my stash. A few sequins add a little happy to the card.
I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch

Penguin Dads

Since the male penguin holds the egg on his feet and protects it until hatched, it is very appropriate to have penguins on Father's Day cards.

This one is the fun loving droopy shorts dad. The penguin and sentiment are from My Favorite Things. I paper pieced the shorts with a scrap and then used the left over piece, punched out cheverons and used them as an inside accent.  The stencil, also MFT is done with SU Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise, and a dab of Color Box Royal Blue. Dad is from SU. I don't usually use gems on masculine cards but these aqua gems remind me of water drops.I added Glossy accents to make the penquins shiny.
The design is a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches


The stenciling for CASology

Using the same sketch, I also did another penguin with stamps from Unity Stamp Company. I used paper from a 6x6 stack of animal themes--don't have the label any longer. This one for the more professorial Dad.

Fairy Godmother

I only have a short time to craft today. I made 1 card to satisfy 3 challenges. And then, Murphy's law took over. The computer wouldn't open the photo program. I had to shut down and reboot. And it decided to take it's sweet time doing that. So now of course, I really only have time to make 1 card.
The Pool Party base and the background vellum are from SU. The vellum kind of looks like animal hide so I went with the hippo and sentiment from Too Much Fun Rubber Stamps. Star gel glitter pens to color the image. Sequins for even more sparkle.
The Paper Players  Although, my hippo is just too cute to really be a "wild thing"

Just Us Girls

Mojo Monday sketch

Another Tuesday Throwdown

I can't believe how many serious illness and sympathy cards I have needed lately. So to refill my stash, I made another Thinking of You for Tuesday Throwdown I think with the right sentiment, you can use most Thinking of You cards for sympathy also.

I cleaned out my box of wrapping papers the other day and found this gorgeous rose print. I had just spotted a card on pg 111 of the Stampin' Up! catalog (see it here). My wrapping paper looks very close and I decided to case that card. The gold foil doily piece and the sentiment are from SU. I used the Botanical Blooms dies to make the flowers. A little Wink of Stella gives them some shine. That is a sheer pink ribbon with a double bow on the edge. And then the gold thread is tied in another bow on top of the pink one. I like the way the gold thread weaves through the banners.
I did a sentiment on the computer and then used the large rose from SU Rose Wonder set, colored it with a light pink marker, huffed on the stamp and then stamped it over the sentiment. I like the subtleness of it yet it gives something extra to the inside.

Butterflies

I must have had some kind of ESP. I made this card over the weekend.

And today I checked some challenges and found butterflies to be the featured word at
Just Us Girls

and Thinking of You the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown

The gray polka dot paper is from a bag used at a craft shop. To give a little grounding for the butterfly I used a stamp from the Mixed Media collection from Stampendous. Some yellow/gray/white DSPper from SU is used at the bottom and for the larger butterfly which is a thinlit die from SU. The small butterflies were punched out and then some grey spatters added for texture. The sentiment is also from SU. 

Dads

It is time for Father's Day cards at Send A Smile 4 Kids. I used this sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch

to make a clean and simple and quick card for a Dad

I used some grunge stamps from SU and Stamplorations to apply background in SU Baked Brown Sugar to a Kraft cardstock. The Dad is from SU and done in Real Red. 3 brass glue on brads add some bling while still keeping it masculine.

Birthday for Granddaughter

One of my granddaughters birthday is next week. She enjoys doing art projects at school. I bought her an art set and one of the adult coloring books for her birthday gift. I like to color images for cards but I think those intricate designs in the adult coloring books would drive me crazy. They are advertised to be relaxing.
Her favorite color is pink so naturally that is the basis of her card. (Melon Mambo from Stampin' Up!)

I pulled out my pink prints and chose this paisley which also has a little purple and bright green in it. Then attached a purple scallop border (Fiskar). The sentiment is from SU. I thought the fill in letters would be great for the coloring theme of the gifts. I filled them in with different color star get glitter pens. She also loves all things sparkly. The cupcake and ice cream cones are from a set of miniature images that no longer have their label. Using a Cuttlebug impression folder in a swirl pattern gives interest to the background and repeats the paisley pattern.
I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches but rotated it.

Here is the inside of her card. The sentiment is from my Hallmark program but I did the words in all the different colors from the front.

While I had all the pink DPs out, I used the sketch again and made a card to go in my collection for Send A Smile 4 Kids. I had leftover flowers from SU's Botanical Blossoms from another card I had made. They fit perfectly for the accents here. 

Grin and "Bear" It

I love the Winston Bear birthday stamp set from Newton's Nook. I think he just looks so puzzled as in how can I possible be having another birthday!

One of my favorite zoo animals is the panda. I stamped Winston on a stitched tag die cut from Paper Smooches and colored him like a panda in black and white with colored pencils. The party hat and gift are separate stamps in the set. They were colored and then cut out and glued in place. I used a couple of green patterns from my scrap box for the backgrounds to make you think of bamboo forests where pandas live.

I used this sketch from Newton's Nook

Also linking up to The Challenge. Their sketch is so close to the Newton's Nook I decided I could use the same card.

Anything Goes

As the challenge this week at Tuesday Throwdown is anything goes, I went with a gift bag instead of a card. Well, I did cards too but my entry for the challenge is the bag that holds the cards.

A friend requested some get well cards. When I was putting them in the bag, scraps of paper that I had used for the cards was laying on my desk. I decided to decorate the bag and tag too. She can use it for a little gift for someone.The sentiment is from SU's Watercolor Words done in Melon Mambo ink. I used Gorgeous Grunge dots stamp to add some interest to the background. The flower is die cut from Botanical Blooms set.
Here are the cards that I used the pink papers on