Balloon Twofer

 The Twofer Card Challenge this month is Balloons.

I chose a hot air balloon with a cute chick from DeNami Designs. 

The first is a graduation card for a local school with the school colors of black and gold.

The designer background is from a pre-printed card set from The Paper Studio. I colored the balloon and chick with gold star gel pen and SU blends. It is popped up with a foam square. The SOAR is die cut in cold metallic paper with Tim Holtz dies. I added 5 punched gold star accents. Inside, I added a strips of black and metallic gold to reinforce the school colors.

The second card is a Valentine

I used an SU embossing heart folder on the background. The arrow is a die cut from CAS-UAL Fridays Stamps. The sentiment from SU just fits on the arrow. 

This second one is also for Let's Squash It!! #5 challenge with theme of Love and Red.

For this one, I used the sketch from Fresly Made Sketches

Congratulations Grad

 I usually need a few graduation cards so when the challenge from Make the Cards Challenge popped up in my feed, I immediately thought of graduation.

I love the Dr. Seuss book Oh the Places You Will Go" for graduation quotes.

The background is from a card set I have had for a few years. The front and back are both decorated with the world map design. I cut it in half and can make 2 cards from it. I did the sentiment on the computer, die cut it with an SU die and backed it with gold foil paper. The balloons are from DaNami Designs. I colored them with gold star gel pen and black which are the school colors. The balloons are popped up with foam squares. Inside is a quote from the book and the congratulations sentiment.

I added strips of gold foil paper and black to further emphasize the school colors.
 

Bunny Hugs

Sharing another Easter card. 

 The papers are Highland Heather from Stampin' Up!. Die cut edges are from SU Quite Curvy. The bunny and sentiment are Unity Stamp Co.

The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Easter Chicks

 Well, wouldn't you know, we have had weeks of gloomy days. But on groundhog's day the sun comes up bright and light. So if the groundhog sees his shadow is it 6 more weeks of winter? Or is that only 6 weeks until spring? Not too concerning if you can spend your time crafting. 

I am thinking spring, no matter what the groundhog says.

Make the Cards Challenge #2 is to use shades of purple

How fortunate to find a background paper that has all the shades. It is from Ms. Sparkle at JoAnn's. But I didn't stop there with the purples. The gingham is a scrap from Stampin' Up! The chick and sentiment are also from SU. I colored the chick with Stampin' Blend pens. Accents are 3 punched flower blooms in a very pale purple. I placed 3 Nuvo drops to the flower centers.

This will go to Send A Smile 4 Kids. I made a whole set of these in spring colors. I think the kids will be delighted with them.

Pink and yellow

And even in green and blue.

Victorian Valentine

 This is the view outside my back door today

So guess where I am spending the day.

I have a commission to make generic adult Valentines--mostly for women. In my paper file, I found this beautiful roses paper from Graphic 45. I turned it into this. It reminds me of the antique Victorian looking Valentines.

I used an ivory cardstock base. Knowing I wanted to use gold accents, I traced the lines of the roses with a gold gel pen. 

A gold ribbon, scrap of vellum, ivory ribbon, gold die cut heart (SU) and an arrow die cut (CAS-UAL Fridays) with a sentiment from SU finish off the card.

I used the sketch from the inaugural Make the Cards Challenge

Generic Valentine's

I had a regular customer call and request some generic adult Valentines to send to some shut-ins. Here is one I made.

 Since she will be sending to mostly females, I thought pretty flower paper would be appropriate. These papers are from SU Sale-A-Bration. I die cut a scalloped pink heart and sponged some darker pink on the edges. The SU sentiment just barely fits on the die cut arrow. 

I used this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Cheerful Get Well

Wow, I am using a lot of get well cards this winter. 

I just received the Many Mates Bundle from Stampin' UP!. and used it for this get well greeting. I am having fun playing with the medallions backgrounds. They really dress up a card.

I added a Daffodil Delight mat to an Old Olive Card base. Then the medallion cover. The banner is a strip from Paper Blooms DSP, free in Sale-A-Bration catalog. Anchoring the banner are 2 strips of diamond die cuts also in the medallion set cut from a scrap of Old Olive.  

The sentiment is from the Many Mates set. The label cut from a scrap of white is also SU but I can't tell you which set. I have taken a bunch of SU labels and put them together in one case so I don't have to search through a bunch of stamps to find the right label. 

I had a whole sheet of birds left from last year's Bird Ballard DSP. I used the Scan N Cut to cut them out. So handy to have one ready when it is needed for a little accent. A few yellow sequins bring in some bling.

I rotated and used the sketch from The Paper Players

Also submitting to Pixie's Crafty Workshop snippet challenge #395.

Also sharing  to Darnell's NBUS blog.

Daffodils

 It has been a cold, gloomy, rainy January so far but today is bright sunshiny one. Hooray! So I was in the mood to make a sunny yellow card with the promise of the fist flowers of spring. I call this one an explosion of daffodils.

I used an SU Daffodil Delight card base. The stamp set is a retired one from SU (You're Inspiring). I stamped the row of daffodils across white cardstock and added 2 rows of ribbon. Then I stamped the larger daffodil image, colored it with Stampin' Blends and die cut with an oval die. The oval is popped up with foam tape to make it "explode" off the page. I left the sentiment off until I decide what occasion I will use the card.

Playing with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches 

Magical Princess

If I had the magic, I would be transporting myself to a tropical island. It is cold and snowing here--not sticking to the roads yet. Since I am not magic, (nor a princess), I created a little magic in my craft room.

 It isn't a tropical island but a winter paradise. The snow hills were die cut with SU Quite Curvy die and lightly sponged with 2 colors of blue. The background is from a boxed set of cards from The Paper Studio. The set was called Stargazer and the fronts had constellations on them. I cut off the back to use for the front of my card. It is on SU Tempting Turquoise (retired) card stock. The princess and castle are from My Favorite Things, colored with Prismacolor pencils and then die cut. The shooting star and sentiment are from an unbranded set.

Entering in Just Us Girls Color Week 567: 3 Shades of Blue. In addition to the Tempting Turquoise, I used Balmy Blue and Bermuda Bay. Then there is the navy blue in the background.

Cute Chick

While I had the papers and stamps out, I decided to make more Hey Chick cards.  See the other one here .

Papers, image, and sentiment are Stampin' Up!  The embossing folder is Cuttlebug. I thought maybe the swirls looked like fluffy chicken feathers. And the 3 die cut leaves at the top look like chicken feather also.

I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches