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