Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Toys for Guyz

 My husband aways call tools his toys. I'm sure you've heard the expression "the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."  He certainly has fun playing with his toys.

 So I think my card will be good for the challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz Fun and Games.



I used a Kraft base, die cut a 2 1/2" square and then embossed it with a wood E/F. The papers are all scraps of a retired DSP collection. The tools (toys) are all stickers I found in my stash.

Here is how the card opens.







I don't know if this fold has a certain designation or not. I was inspired by Brian King. at stampwithbrian.com You can see his gorgeous floral card here. He gives the measurement and instructions for the card. Maybe we can call it the king fold. 

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Flowers and Butterflies

I am so ready for flowers and butterflies. Mother Nature just doesn't want to let go of the cold, drizzly weather . At least I think we are past snow.

I pulled out some patterns from a Recollections paper pad. In spite of Mother Nature, we will have butterflies.



The card base is Mossy Meadow by SU. The background paper is covered with leaves.. The center banner is cropped form a butterfly page. Behind the banner is a strip of vanilla. Then a circle of a green printed vellum. On top is a butterfly from Simple Stories ephemera pack. The butterfly is secured with glue dots in the center and small bit of foam tape to elevate the wings. I finished off with 3 irridescent gems around the butterfly.

The design is by Freshly Make Sketches


Also entering at Hand Stamped Sentiments with this mood board, although I used more greens, I did use the butterfly.


Friday, March 21, 2025

Sloth

 

Cardz 4 Guyz new challenge is S is for ________

S is for Sloth.

Sloths can move 5-25 ft per minute. Mostly they just hang upside down on a tree branch.  We saw sloths in the jungle in Costa Rica. I stood there and watched for 15 minutes and I don't think they moved  even one inch. 

So my "hang in there" is the appropriate sentiment.


The fern e/f is unlabeled. I swiped a green ink over them. The sloth, branch, and sentiment are also unlabeled.  Everything was fussy cut. I glued the feet to the ranch and put foam squares to pop up the body. I fussy cut around the sentiment, brushed green ink around the edges and popped it up on foam squares also.

Also entering this at Send a Smile 4 Kids where the challenge is Animal Cards for Kids.


Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Vintage Butterflies

 It has been a while since I have posted anything. This has been my month for medical appoints--lab work, family practice doc, heart testing, visit to cardiologist. Even took my car for a check up. And then there is all the stuff involved in filing taxes. 

I have made a few cards but not blogged any. 

I am playing along at Doubole Trouble Paper Crafting. They always have a fun challenge.

Thing 1:  Trouble Maker

says, "Did you know that March is National Craft Month? And to keep things interesting, also in March, is a special day set aside for 'Make Your Own Holiday Card'. 

"So let's get crafting... grab your scissors or break out your paper trimmer and dies, and get creative with the supplies in your stash. Go "Make Your Own Holiday Card" and use your creativity to inspire us with your own Custom 3-2-1 Recipe. Then tell us what items you picked from your stash for the ingredients in the quantities of 3 and 2. The quantity of 1 can be anything else from your stash.  

I went back to check their blog and see it says make a Holiday Card. So okay, let's call this one a Summer Holiday card to celebrate the butterflies return.


The butterfly E/F is unlabeled. The 3 butterflies are from an Ephemera Pack by Simple Stories. The 2 strips of lace were white so I used Tim Holtz Tea Die ink to antique them. I also used the ink to shade around the edge of the card. One  label is a die cut from SU as well as the sentiment. For some added interest, I put it on at a tilt..NOT! I actually got the stamp a little bit off straight so I put the label at a tilt thinking you won't notice. Was that a good save?  To represent the 3 little flowers, I added black Nuvo drops.

Thing 2 is use the sketch from Try Stampin On Tuesday


Thing 3 is to also upload the post to Try Stqampin' on Tuesday

Since this week is embossing on the I.D.E.A. creative plan  by Darnell I will add it to her blog as well.

And just because thy are fun to look at here are the photos on Double Trouble Paper Crafting


                          

Monday, March 10, 2025

Ferns

Let us take a hike through the forest in early spring and enjoy all the new undergrowth of ferns with  papers from Stampin' UP! Otterly Adorable DSP.




The blue watery paper is from the same set. The sentiment and leaves and ferns  are retired from SU. You have to search in the leafy design to see I have added some iridescent gems

Linking this up with Just Us Girls die week and birthday cards.

Also linking to djkardkreations because die cuts are week 2 of Darnell's I.D.E.A.inspiration

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Frogs

 In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I am using a fun Old Irish Toast.



The background check paper is from SU! To add texture, I used a checked Darius embossing folder on it. The sentiment has a black mat. 2 frogs are from Poppy Stamps. I found a green button in my stash and tied it with twine and attached with a large glue dot.

I've used the sketch from  Sketch Saturday with the option of including a button.


Also sharing with Can You Handle The Pressure  with the theme of lucky or St. Patricks

And Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge to use animals. I think the kids will get a chuckle about frogs in underpants 

Friday, February 28, 2025

Masculine Birthday

 A gentlemen in my church is having a 96th birthday next week. He is in assisted living. We are doing a card shower for him. This is my card. The picture reminds me of Melvin sitting in his chair reading the newspaper.



The background is Timeless Plaid from SU. The darker checks is the backside of the blue plaid.  The man is a Google clip art. The sentiment is an old unlabeled one. I punched out 3 cirlcles from copper metallic paper.
Inside I did a computer sentiment and added a strip of the brown check and 2 more copper circles.


I am submitting this to Cardz 4 Guyz challenge to use this sketch

Bright Birthday

 Spring has arrived in my craft room. This is the second day in a row I have made a spring floral birthday card. Don't we all love flowers and embellishments?

I am playing with Cardz 4 Galz challenge #244: Embellishments. Thanks to them for picking my card as the spotlight winner in the last challenge.

Today's card:


I used a yellow floral vellum from the Floral Delight Suite as the background.. I attached the vellum to a piece of white card stock so it would show better on the Daffodil Delight card base. Strips of green stripe across the bottom and top give me a place to anchor the vellum to the white card stock. The flower is a Memory Box die. I cut a green one and then a yellow one and paper pieced the yellow on top. I shaded the flowers to make them stand out. I put mini dimensionals behind the two larger flowers and glued the stems in place  The sentiment is an old one rom SU! I backed it with a strip of yellow print and the green stripe.

I finished it off with 3 iridescent gems above the middle flower. They don't show up much in the photo but IRL the really glisten.

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Floral Birthday

Making a birthday card to celebrate Time Out Challenges 11th birthday. This challenge is to CASE the designer Donna Mikasa of Three Umbrellas Blog. Go check out her blog, she is super creative.

Here is her creation to CASE


I am using Stampin' Up!'s DSPs Floral Delight and Serene Love. One of the Serene Love papers has large flowers all over it. I have fussy cut them to use as accents. The center flower is popped up on foam squares.


The sentiment is an old one from SU.

Inside I did a computer message and accented with 2 more flowers.




And oh there will be a prize. More motivation to play along.


Sunday, February 23, 2025

Study in Blues

 Today I am playing with a sketch from Sketch Saturday



The blue gingham is a vellum in the Delightful Wishes bundle. The dots and flowers are from the Serene Love online exclusive offer. One page of this paper has bunches of the big flowers. I fussy cut them. The small accent lower right is in blue glitter paper. The sentiment is also SU, stamped and fussy cut.

Inside, I have a computer made sentiment and a large single flower from the DSP


While I had these papers out, I made another card with 2 sets of the cut out flowers. This sentiment is an old one from SU!