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

Grad Card

 I need a graduation card with gold and black as the school colors. It just happens The Paper Players challenge has those very colors.

I cased LeAnne's card, you can see it here. Thanks LeAnn for the inspiration.

Black card base, Daffodil Delight mat, white card stock matted with gray and elevated with foam tape.   The Daffodil Splotch is from Gorgeous Grunge. The sentiment is an old SU one. The mortarboard is a sticker backed with the gray card stock and trimmed to create a shadow and make it firm enough to elevate  on dimensionals. 

Inside is a computer sentiment with black and Daffodil Delight strips

Laser Cut Butterfly

 Happy Easter to all. It is too chilly here to be outdoors. None of my family is here so I am being productive in the craft room

Card base is 4 1/4x11, scored at 4 1/4, 8 1/2, and 9 3/4. The purple piece is 2 1/4 x 10 1/2 scored at 5 1/2. Patterned paper is 4" square.  Put glue only on the inside bottom edges and glue in place. Hint: put a 4x4 white liner inside before gluing the purple strip.

The purple is stamped with a flight of butterflies. The accent on the front flap is a laser cut butterfly sponged with blue, purple, and black. It is flimsy so I backed it with a black square. 

Here is a side view

I am submitting this to Let's Craft and Create with the option of Beautiful Butterfly

Primary Colors

 Kids love bright happy colors. This is one of the cards I will be sending to Send A Smile 4 Kids

The giraffe and sentiment are from Whimsy Stamps.

I'm going to enter this at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is "white out"--no white on the card.  I sponged Balmy Blue behind the giraffe and on the sentiment. And Pool Party in the eyes.

Using the sketch from Try A Sketch on Tuesday

For Paper Funday I used 2 square dies

Spring Flowers

I am doing some Mother's Day cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids . What a better time to use spring flowers for the current challenge at Cardz 4 Galz

I used a Bubble Bath card base. The next mat is Highland Heather embossed with swiss dots. The 3x4 white card has some black dots stamped and then ephemora flowers glued on. The sentiment is an old one in the stock. There was a smudge of black ink that I masked with a glittery pink gem. Perfect cover for an error.

Tea Party

 I went looking in my stash  for something to make a Mother's Day card. I found a sheet of teapot stickers that are ++ years old. I always enjoyed doing tea parties with my granddaughters--before they moved on to the electronic age.

I am playing along with The Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. Once I got started, I realized I was ending up with a  "cover all"

The card base is SU Basic Beige. The basket weave is also SU. To add a little texture and satisfy the embossing square I used a linen texture E/F. It is not very noticeable but gives a little texture to the basket weave. Then added a die cut a deckle edge circle from a yellow vellum. The teapot sticker went on top of that. The ribbon is SU Crumb Cake. The sentiment is stamped on the backside of a scrap of the basket weave paper. For the sparkle elements, I winked the flowers and added some gold gel pen highlights in the flowers. To finish off I added more sparkle with some flat gems. I count a total of 5 layers.

Here is The Paper Players grid

Spring is Blooming

Spring has finally come to Southern Indiana. Warm temps, flowers blooming, trees budding out, and sneezing.

The papers are from SU's Lovely and Beautiful. I fussy cut the big flower from one of the papers, then offset it and trimmed the edges. I added 3 light green punched leaves.. The sentiment is also SU, die cut with deckle edge circle and popped up with foam squares, Finishing it off are 3 clear gems. I like clear gems because they reflect the background color. 

THis is for

Cardz 4 Galz  Splash of Green

The Paper Players CAS florals

Let's Craft and Create option of ppurple and green

New Flower Paper

 I have been doing a good job using up some stash papers. But sometimes you just have to break out some new papers. These are from SU. And I am certainly ready for some flowers. Mother Nature seems to be having a hard time losing her grip on winter here. Daffodils were up and blooming but then we had a 16 degree night. They got frostbitten! 

 I bought this in  a paper share. I think it must be an online exclusive but can't find it to tell you the name.  The little squares are from one of the Perfectly Paired pages. The base is Petal Pink and the dark mat is Secret Sea. Sentiment is SU.  The flowers don't exactly match but the colors coordinate.

You know while all the supplies are out why not do a second card.

On this one, I tried a graphic block square.  

Which do you like better?

These are from the sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge

Monochrome Green

 The new Gears and Textures set from Stampin' Up! is just perfect for masculine cards. The monochrome greens I used are Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Evening Evergreen

The card base is Mossy Meadow. The mat is a subtle patterned paper from SU and stamped with lines of green in the center. The gear elements are die cuts in Old Olive. The sentiment is an old one from SU! stamped with Evening Evergreen. 

This is for:

Cardz 4 Guyz

The Card Concept.  

Inspired by the greens and the white vase to make this clean and simple card. Even though the picture is feminine, I decided to do a change up to masculine.

More Butterflies

 It seems I make a lot of cards with butterflies. I like going to butterfly gardens and see all the pretty colors and them just flitting around looking for food. Sounds a lot like me--I spend a lot of time looking for food especially snacks, LOL!

Anyway, when I saw the new challenge up at Cardz 4 Galz--Wings I knew just where to look for inspiration. I just purchased the Days Like This Memories and More cardpack from Stampin' Up!. Seriously if you haven't tried any of the memories and more packs, you just have to order one. There are 54 double sided cards in the pack for $11.50. I have already made 15 cards from the designs and there are still a lot of cards left.

The background design is one of the 4x6 cards that I trimmed down to 5 1/4, The attached butterflies are punched from a scrap in the Subtles 6x6 papers. This one is soft and serene.

A look at another one made from the same card pack is bright and cheerful.

The centerpiece is one of the 3x4 cards in the pack. Again I trimmed down the 4x6 card and used the leftover strip in the inside.

Celebration

 This card is versatile for several occasions. Birthday, achievement, graduate, etc.

The DSP is from Stampin' Up! 6x6 pack called Subtles. One of the blue sides looks like sky. I embossed it with a cloud E/F. I die cut 2 sizes balloons from different sides of the same papers. Each of the balloons is shaded with coordinating color. Otherwise that would have ust faded into the background The balloons have dental floss strings.2 of the balloons are popped up on foam squares.  The card base is Balmy Blue. The sentiment is also SU stamped in Balmy Blue. I filled in the word with a clear star gel pen. It is popped up with foam tape. I added some sparkly gems for some sparkle. 

This is for several challenges.'

Can You Handle the Pressure. Anything Goes with twist of die cuts.

The Paper Players. Balloons and Birthday

Send a smile 4 Kidz. Birthdays for kids

Paper Funday Challenge. Anything Goes with twist of pastel colors.

 

Soft Sea Foam Sympathy

 I try to keep a stock of sympathy cards on hand.  It can be hard to make one at the time it is needed. You also would need one quickly and maybe not get your best effort.

The products are all from Stampin' UP!and in Soft Sea Foam color. 

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Here is a blue version

Masculine Valentine

 When I saw the new challenge at Lets Create Challenge anythig goes +from the heart, I was sure I had made something that applies. I am sharing my husband's Valentine.  It is safe because he never looks at my blog. He is techie challenged and probably doesn't even know what a blog is.

I added some gray check to a gray card base. A strip of white with the sentiment from SU across the center and 2 die cut hearts from shiny red paper are popped up on foam tape and complete the card. Easy Peasy! Just right for a man--not a lot of frou=frou. 

Gear Up

I just purchased the Gears and Textures set from Stampin' Up! It is a really good set for Masculine cards.

 The tweed looking paper is retired from SU!. I used several dies from the Gears and Textures set on the corner and three gears to accent the card.The sentiment is computer made and die cut with a deckle edge circle.

Inside I  did a computer sentiment and stamped one of the gear stamps over it. 

I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketch

es

I will also upload to  My NBUS (never before used stuff)

Thought of Love

I've been making Valentines for a Valentine's Vendor Market held yesterday. I was a bit disappointed with sales. It was very cold and piles of snow on the ground so attendance was low.

Anyway, this is one of the cards that did not sell.

I used a grunge stamp from SU for the splotches behind the die cut heart. The strip on the side is from a Recollections pad of paper. I tied a pink/white twine over the seam.  The sentiment is from SU. I cut it down and backed it with pink glitter paper.  Finished off with a red gem at the top of the heart.

Playing along with The Paper Play

ers

Cheery Coral

 18" snow and below zero chill factors has kept me confined to the house for 3 days. What else is there to do but spend the days in the craft room for a little fun.

The papers are from SU Subtles 6x6 pack. The stripe on the left is the reverse of the leafy print. I die cut 3 leaf branches to put behind the sentiment. The label is a Sizzix die cut set.. The sentiment is also SU.

I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketcheshttps

Flower Bouquet for Birthday

One of my retail outlets took all my birthday cards so I have been working on restocking them.

A pad of 12x12 paper by Recollections has a full page of bouquets. I fussy cut one of them for this card. The butterfly us from the same page. The sentiment is an old unlabeled one.  To add a little sparkle, I used gold thread behind the bouquet.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches making it iin landscape orientation.

Pink Valentine

 The challenge this week Try Stampin' On Tuesday is a sketch.

I have been working on Valentines. I couldn't think of mountains on a Valentine. But I did find this striped paper from a Recollections Pad called Speciality Pinks. I fussy cut along one of the pink stripe to make it look like mountains. 

To soften the peaks, I did a scalloped border at the bottom.  I die cut hearts and embossed them with 2 different  E/F folders The sentiment is from SU and fussy curt.