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Sending Sunshine

It’s been awhile since I’ve enrolled in one of the Online Card Classes, but when the latest class was announced I signed right up. It was called Brighter Days and the kit which I ordered from Concord and 9th includes stamps, dies, and stencils designed to create encouragement cards. After Christmas and birthday cards, I send more thinking of you cards than any other category and far more than I would like to send! It’s probably a function of my age that so many people I know are in need of encouragement.

The class ran last week. I watched all the videos but never got time to create any of the cards. Yesterday I sat down with the class supplies to create a card for a good friend who definitely needs a bit of sunshine. This is a combination of ideas from the class but not one that was presented by the instructors.


The first step was to decide what size card I wanted. I ended up with 5″ square card and cut a panel 4 1/4″ square for the stenciling. Kristina Werner designed all the products for this class and her expertise shows in the design of the Rainbow Rays Stencil which puts a white space between each of the rainbow colors. The three stencils separate the colors as you ink so the next stencil always covers the one you just inked. It means a lot less masking!


The clouds and sun were die cut from white paper, and I ink blended the sun. They are from the Weather Together Dies. All three clouds were attached with dimensional tape. There is a rectangular die for the sentiment included in the kit, but it was a bit bigger than I needed, so I turned to Ellen Hutson’s Essential Rectangles. I love the fonts of these sentiments. I used another of the stamp sets, Easier and Brighter, to create the inside sentiment.


This card is going to the Colorful Options Challenge which somehow I never seem to get to. Rainbow is always an option there. And it’s off to NBUS for all the new products used and works with Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. Week 1: Inking.

Clean & Simple Birthday

I have a card for two challenges today–Just Us Girls: Stencil Week and Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes. This card is for my niece, and I am really pleased with its simplicity.


The Folk Garden florals by Pinkfresh Studio have always been a favorite of mine. The stamp contains multiple florals but the die cuts them out separately. I don’t think I’ve ever used just two of them, but I’m pretty sure I’ll do it again. I chose the two florals and then die cut the square panel with Simon Says Stitched Squares.


All the florals were stenciled with the accompanying stencil before die cutting. I chose one of the Memory Box White Gold Foiled Greeting Tabs for the sentiment and then added the two florals with dimensional tape. The stitched square was added to the square cardbase with a panel of dimensional adhesive.

Two for Color Hues #134

Bonnie has chose Pink and Turquoise for this first of June Color Hues Challenge:

Although I had a few Ideas for this color combo, after I made my first card with The Greetery’s new Pretty Picado suite, I realized it was perfect for a two color challenge. And, due to a slight error in embossing one of the panels, I ended up with two cards! One is a traditional A2 card, and the other is a shaped card. I chose a darker hue of turquoise than in the challenge image above.


I used the Pretty Picado die and Capsule Basics on both cards. On the A2 card I stamped and die cut the greeting with the Pretty Picado stamp and die.


The white die cut fits over a turquoise panel that was run through the Pretty Picado Embossing Folder.


That’s where the second card got its start–I didn’t line the die cut panel up exactly with the embossed panel so had to redo it. There was nothing inherently wrong, however, with the first die cut panel. The Pretty Picado Cutaway die cuts a gorgeous sentiment that perfectly fits in the white oval. It was layered on an oval of turquoise paper.


I used one of the dies from Capsule Basics to create a scalloped oval card base, and added the white panel on the front. Finally, I die cut a pink border with the Capsule Basic Small Fixed Border and die cut the pretty open pattern from the Pretty Picado die. I added a few pink pearls from Memory Box that have been in my stash for years.


Thanks to a generous gift for Mother’s Day I was able to purchase quite a few of the products from The Greetery’s Fête and Fiesta release that just happened to land on my birthday! I’m already having a lot of fun with them–and have so many more cards I want to create.

Be sure to stop by the Color Hues Challenge to check out all the fabulous designs created by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Kim Miller.

I’m posting one of these on the new Paper Players TicTacToe Challenge, using the diagonal from lower left to upper right: happy sentiment, free, die cut.

For the Guys

I never seem to have a masculine birthday card when I need one. The Inkspirational Challenge: Cards for Guys came at just the right time because I needed one for a good friend whose birthday is this week. I pulled out two old favorites which I think go together perfectly: Pinkfresh Studio’s Gatsby Die Set and The Greetery’s Everyday Labels for the sentiment.


It’s a quick card to put together. Photographing it was a bigger hassel since Gold Mirror cardstock because of the gold mirror cardstock. I chose a lovely textured cardstock for the card base.


You can see it a little better here.

This is off to Inkspirational and Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes.

Woodblock Wednesday

No, it is not Wednesday, so this is a day late, but still in time to post on Amy’s blog.

Somehow I’ve never gotten back on track since we’ve returned from our trip. The days fly by, and most of the creating I’ve done has been for my Design Team commitments. There have been frequent, and fun, social engagements, time to watch grandchildren compete in a field hockey tournament, and more than the usual reading required for the three book groups I participate in. Much to my dismay, one of the groups changed the book for the May read from one I had already read to one that had 480 pages! It was The Searcher by Tana French, and I have to admit it was a good read. Nonetheless, yesterday I discovered that I had missed Woodblock Wednesday, so the first project today was to catch up with that.


The two stamps by Annette Watkins were right on top of the drawer I looked in, and I didn’t hesitate to pull them out knowing they’d make an easy CAS card. They’ve long been favorites of mine. I colored the flowers and foliage with Copic markers.


The sentiment stamp is perfect for a Thinking of You card which I need way more frequently than I wish. Luckily, since I was in a hurry, both stamps stamped perfectly the first time.


Hop over to Amy’s blog to see a selection of fun cards created with wooden stamps!

Flower-Filled Watering Can

It’s my day on the Memory Box blog. I love the Rustic Watering Can die. It’s the perfect size to hold a flower arrangement.


I die cut and assembled a LOT of flowers and foliage from the Arched Flower Basker recently, and chose primarily yellow and orange ones for this bouquet. The watering can was die cut from gray cardstock. I added a little darker ink blending to add some interest and dimension. After creating a card base from white woodgrain cardstock, I die cut a slightly smaller panel with the Heritage Rectangle Frame die and layered it on the card base. Once the watering can was added to the panel, I spent some time arranging the foliage and flowers in the can, tucking some behind others and some peeking out from the top of the watering can.


I chose one of the White Gold Foiled Greeting Tags for the sentiment, adding two tiny flowers as embellishment.

I’m sending this off to AAA Birthday Challenge where they’re celebrating their 6th birthday with an Anything Goes Challenge and to Darnell’s NBUS. The watering can is making its debut.

Two Clean and Simple Cards for Memory Box

It’s been a wild week, and although I’ve been busy at the crafting table in between commitments (of which there were far too many), I haven’t had a chance to photograph or edit most of them. These two cards went up on the Memory Box Blog on Wednesday. Last year I received a wonderful birthday card which I saved for inspiration. These cards are a close CASE of that card.

I loved the design and decided that one of the many florals in the Arched Flower Basket die would work perfectly for it. I love that just one small die from a large set can be inspiring on its own.

I created the card with yellow flowers first, and then made a smaller version with vellum flowers like the ones on the card I received. 


Both card bases were created with Fresh Snow Linen cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The first one is 5 1/2 X % 1/2 inches with a 5 X 5 panel layered on top with dimensional tape. The flowers were die cut from yellow cardstock in the Sunrise Paper Pack with gold mirror centers. Once the flowers were assembled, I arranged them on the panel, and glued a piece of white cord behind each flower. I tucked the ends under the panel and adhered the panel to the card base. For this card I stamped a small greeting with the Sunshine and Wildflowers stamp set on a strip of cardstock attached with dimensional tape.


I followed the same steps to create the smaller card, creating a 5” x5” card base and a 4 1/4” X 4 1/4” panel. I had a piece of lovely purple vellum in my stash and used that for the florals for the Arched Flower Basket and added Clear Fairy Drops for the centers. I chose one of the Happy Birthday Foil Greetings Black Tabs for this sentiment.


The weather has been less than ideal for Memorial Day. Yesterday it poured and the wind took down trees and power lines–luckily not on our street. There’s been no rain today, but it’s still way too chilly for the end of May and the sun is still hiding out elsewhere. The good news is I’ve gotten a lot done inside!

Color Hues #133


Tracey is our hostess for the mid-May Color Hues Challenge, and she chose a color combo just perfect for my new Spellbinder’s pansy dies.


Spellbinder’s Pansy Seed Co. was April’s Small Die of the Month selection. I’m not a long-term member of the Spellbinder Clubs, but occasionally I join in order to get a die I want. That was true in March (that die is being saved for a granddaughter’s birthday in the fall,) so I was already a member and loved the pansies.

Spellbinder’s Pansy Seed Co. was April’s Small Die of the Month selection. I’m not a long-term member of the Spellbinder Clubs, but occasionally I join in order to get a die I want. That was true in March (that die is being saved for a granddaughter’s birthday in the fall) so I was already a member and loved the pansies.


I die cut all the pieces for the pansies and leaves from Bristol cardstock and ink blended them with finger daubers. Once they were assembled, I went looking for a container and came upon The Greetery’s Seagrass Basket. It was die cut from Papertrey Ink’s Weathervane and Dark Chocolate cardstocks. I added tiny little metal brads to attach the handle after weaving the pieces of the basket together. 


Altenew’s Organic Linen 3-D Embossing Folder was lying on my table. It, too, is a new product and hadn’t even been put away, so I ran a piece of Simon Says Slate cardstock through it and attached it to a card base of the same color. After adding the basket to the card front, I arranged the pansies and leaves. The sentiment, from Pinkfresh Studio’s Beyond Happy, is gold embossed to pick up on the gold paper I used for the center of the pansies. I die cut two extras and layered them to give the sentiment a bit of dimension.

This is such a fun color combo, I hope you’ll join us in the gallery. It’s open until May 29th at 9:00 am so you have lots of time! If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the wonderful cards by the Design Team,

I’m sending this one to three challenges: The Four Seasons Challenge: Spring–pansies are one flower that can withstand our fluctuating temperatures, A Cut Above (Anything Goes for die cuts) and NBUS since the Pansy Seed Co. is new to me.

Just a Note

I’m up on the Memory Box blog today with a card featuring three of the new products from the Sunkissed Summer release. It has been awhile since I did any watercoloring so I pulled out my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to create this card.


I die cut the Wild Leaves and one of the Brilliant Butterflies from watercolor paper as well as a background panel. I used three different greens, mixing some together to watercolor the leaves, letting them dry between applications of the watercolor. For the background panel, I used a large brush to watercolor the whole piece in blue. Once it dried I die cut it with new Cinched Frames. The butterfly was last. I used some of the same blue as the background and added a violet to the edges of its wings.


This is off to the Double D Challenge where they want watercolor, and to Darnell’s NBUS–all these products have just been released.


It’s lovely to have some new products to work with, but the name of the release, Sunkissed Summer, is certainly a misnomer here. We’re definitely not close to summertime weather yet. The temps go up and down, but generally is just cool and, too frequently, wet and chilly. It looks like it will improve early next week. The test will be if it can maintain the warm temperatures! We’re off to buy some flowers at our favorite Amish nursery on Friday. I want to be able to put them outside without any fear of frost.

Happy Mother’s Day


It’s Mother’s Day and I have a card to share. Actually, there are two versions of this card. In the other version, the “Silly Goose” is headed in the opposite direction. My card is a very scaled-back CASE of a fabulous card by Kelly Lunceford. I adore these wonderful Silly Goose dies from The Greetery, and I thought they’d make fun cards for my daughter-in-law and her sister. We’ll all be together for brunch later this morning. 


For the background, I die cut an arch from gingham patterned paper and added it to a white card base. The Garden Gateway die was cut from woodgrain paper, and ink blended to add some detail and dimension. I’ve had this die in my collection for well over a year, and this is the first time I’ve used it. After adding it to the arched background, I die cut almost all of the pieces for the goose and the florals from white cardstock and colored them with finger daubers and a variety of inks. Her hat, the ribbon, and the flowers on the hat were die cut from colored cardstock scraps. 



The florals are both from The Greenery’s latest release: Bigger Botanicals: Jacob’s Ladder and Bigger Botanicals: Oregano. Once everything was assembled, I added the florals to the front of the gate, and finally, the Silly Goose with some dimensional tape. The sentiment is from the Silly Goose Sentiments stamp set and die cut with the coordinating die.

My daughter, Sarah, is getting a Jacquie Lawson animated Mother’s Day card. I didn’t decide to make Mother’s Day cards in time to get one to Wisconsin before today. Tracy and I did find a fun card that showcases paper crafting. Sarah doesn’t indulge in card making but she creates amazing gifts and works of art with her Cricket machine. I think she’ll like the card, and Hannah is sure to be a fan. I gave Hannah some card making supplies two years ago, and she make many cards for her friends and family.

This card is off to Darnell’s NBUS blog to celebrate finally breaking out the Garden Gateway die.

Gifts Galore

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I was on the Memory Box Blog yesterday with a festive birthday card using the Gifts Galore die cut set. I’ve used some pieces of the Gifts Galore die before, but haven’t created a card specifically for them. To start, I die cut all the pieces from white cardstock and colored them with Copic markers before assembling them.


Once that was done, I die cut two circles from the Round Eyelet Circle Frames and layered them on top of one another with some dimensional tape. I created the square cardbase and then added layer of bright green and yellow to the white card. The I spent some time arranging the gifts. Once I was happy with it, I laid a piece of Press n’ Seal over them and flipped it over to add glue to the backs of the gifts. That makes laying them down on the white frames easy peasy.


Finally, I added one of the Happy Birthday White Foil Tabs from Memory Box across the bottom of the circle with dimensional tape. 

I’m sending this off to the AAA Birthday Challenge where they’re celebrating seven years of creating fun challenges for card makers. It’s also off to the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge (they’re looking for Colorful.)

Just a Note

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We’ve been home for just three days from a fabulous trip to Croatia and Slovenia. I have photos to share later, but I want to send this card off to Just Us Girls Challenge where Carol is hosting the current challenge: CASE a DT.


Carol is a wonderfully creative card maker, and the minute I saw her card, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Here’s Carol’s beautiful card:

And here’s my take:


Like Carol’s, the background for my card is a piece of patterned paper. It’s from an old favorite 6X6 pack by Sunny Studio. I die cut the Spiral Notebook by Papertrey Ink from Fresh Snow Linen cardstock that reminds me of the texture of some expensive stationery. I added it to the background at the same angle as Carol’s postage stamp design.


The pen from The Greetery’s Pen Pal die was also cut from a scrap of patterned paper (unknown) with silver mirror cardstock for the nib and pen accents. Rather than stamp my sentiment as Carol did, I added a die cut from The Greetery’s Scripted Sentiments. The pen was added to the card with some thin dimensional tape.

It’s good to be back in the craft room again, and to have some time to create just for fun! I have 16 birthdays and anniversaries on the May calendar. Fortunately, many of the cards I need were created before we left, but I’ve been busy trying to get the rest of them done.

Color Hues #132

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It’s May 1st, and I’m always glad to see this turn of the calendar. In western New York, you can be pretty sure Spring will finally make an appearance and stay put. Stef has chosen a very springy color combination for our new Color Hues Challenge: Yellow and Blue.


While I was hunting for an embossing folder to use on another card, I came across the Altenew 3D Embossing Folder, Fragrant Florals. It’s been awhile since I stenciled an embossed design. I’m happy with the end result, but it was a bit more involved than I anticipated. Because I wanted two colors, it was necessary to do a lot of masking. This card represents the third attempt to get a clean result. I added some white gel pen to the floral centers to make them stand out a bit.


I pulled out two shades of blue, yellow and gray inks to color and shade the florals and leaves. I cut down the embossed panel in order to have a narrow mid-gray frame on a dark gray card base. The sentiment is gold foiled with Spellbinder’s You Are Everything Sentiments which fit in perfectly with the florals. I added a few gold pearls as a final accent.


Please hop over to the Color Hues Blog to see the variety of cards by my very talented teammates, and our Guest Designer, Greta! Then I hope you’ll head for your crafting table, and add a card to our gallery.

Color Hues 131

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Sheri is the hostess for the mid-April Color Hues Challenge and she’s chosen Coral and Green.

The first time coral appeared in one of our challenges, I had to do some research and some hunting through my supplies to find papers and inks that are coral. This time I had no hesitation, and I actually started with the design of the card in mind before choosing the stamp set.

It’s been awhile since I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Darling Dahlias stamp set, but it worked perfectly. I used the stencils to color it with a combination of Pinkfresh and Papertrey Ink inks. I tend to have a heavy had when it comes to ink blending, but have discovered that using the large Pinkfresh Studio blending brushes and standing up while applying the ink made it much easier to get the look I wanted. 


After cutting the coral cardstock panels with two sizes of Ellen Hutson’s Essential Rectangles, I die cut an oval from the same series in the middle of the smaller panel. I adhered the stamped piece behind the oval opening.  The dies in these sets cut the shape as well as a narrow frame. I die cut two so I could glue two frames together to provide a bit of dimension. That panel was added to the card base with dimensional foam. Finally, I added a gold foiled sentiment from Spellbinder’s Curved Everyday Greetings. 


I hope you’ll join us in the gallery for this pretty color combination. Be sure to check the Color Hues Blog for lots of inspiration from our Guest Designer, Kelly, and the always creative Design Team.

Guest Designer for Time Out Challenge

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Thanks to a win in February, I’m delighted to be the Guest Designer for the new Time Out Challenge: Pick Two. It’s interesting that the challenge I won was also a Pick Two. 


My card uses just two of the prompts: pastel and bloom. I was hoping to add a sentiment for hope, but I don’t have many and the ones I had were too large for the design of my card.


I started with a silver hot foiled image from Pinkfresh Studio, Folk Floral Stem. Although it’s long been a favorite, I haven’t used it in quite a while. There are two stencils for both the florals and the leaves. The second stencil for the florals was too stark for what I wanted so I added the pale pink to the bottom of the yellow florals to create some soft blending. It’s harder to see on the pink portion of the main floral but I did add more pink to the bottom of that as well. It does show up a bit better IRL. I used both of the stencils for the leaves, but tried to use a very light hand with the darker green ink. 

Once the floral was colored, I did cut it with the accompanying die. To create the white-on-white background. I ran a panel of white paper through the die cutter with the Penny Black, Texture, embossing folder. I cut that down to fit behind two of the Penny Black Elegant Frames that I glued together. I added the frame to the card front, then tucked the floral design in on top, adding dimensional tape under parts of the floral. I didn’t want to cover the design so found a simple sentiment in The Greetery’s All Occasion Script Sentiments. I embossed it in silver and die cut it. I love the script font, and it fits in beautifully with the curve of the floral design. The final touch was to add a few Pinkfresh Clear Iridescent Drops which add a bit of sparkle.

Many thanks to the Design Team at Time Out for the opportunity to play along with them for this challenge.