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September 2026

A Trio of Christmas Cards

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It was my turn on the Memory Box blog this week, and I created a set of three CAS cards all featuring the Gilded Scroll Ornament. Each ornament was layered onto a different frame and all were die cut from watercolor paper. The ornament gets flattened out a bit when run through the die cutting machine, but there’s nice texture on the rest of the card.

This one used the Heritage Rectangle Frame–always a favorite of mine.

The frame on this one is the Cinched Frame.

And for the last card, I used the Fan Stitch Scalloped Arch Frame. For this particular set of cards, it is my favorite.

These are pretty quick to put together. Die cutting took the most time. The ornaments were very easy to put together.

As you can tell from this post, taking photos of my cards right now is a real challenge. The little light that we get in our old house is now much cooler, and there’s less of it. I’ve tried a lot of different products to solve these problems but none of them have proven very successful. It’s beginning to feel like another solution needs to be found.

Happy Birthday!

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Today is my oldest granddaughter’s fifteenth birthday. We celebrated last night because tonight she had horseback riding lessons. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, she’ll play in varsity field hockey games. She’s busy, happy, and doing well in school. Here she is with her youngest sister this summer when they both were playing in regional field hockey tournaments.

I purchased the dies for her card because the black hair of the Super Woman reminded me of her beautiful long, black hair. And because, of course, I do think she’s super!

The You Are Super die is from Spellbinders. The background is the Reverse Confetti, Stitched Rays which has long been a favorite of mine. It was die cut with some white shimmer cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The starts and sentiment are also part of the You Are Super dies.

I added some dots of glitter with a Gelly Roll glitter pen. The panel was added to a sheet of black glitter paper from Pinkfresh Studio.

This is off to Seize the Birthday: Add a sentiment strip, A Cut Above: Anything Goes, and the September NBUS gallery.

Color Hues #141

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Welcome to a new Color Hues Challenge:

Sheri has chose a wonderful color combination, and I had a lot of fun with it. 

As you can see, the purples I chose are more toward blue than pink. I think purple may have one of the widest ranges of hues. I did experiment a bit with the purples, but I had a larger selection of inks to choose from leaning toward the blues.

Once again I went rummaging through my Pinkfresh Studio collection, and came upon another product I received for a Create and Connect event (August 2025) but never used. I wasn’t particularly inspired by the samples for this product, but I am a huge fan of it now.

Pinkfresh Studio has some of the best stencils in the industry. I chose four purple inks and one green to color this stunning Chrysanthemum Bloom image. Once the stenciling was done, I die cut it as well as die cutting the image from a sheet of fun foam for dimension. It’s been a long time since I used that technique and it worked wonderfully. 

You can see that dimension here in a closer look. The sentiment strip is from Altenew’s One Go Birthday Greetings and added with a piece of thin dimensional tape. 

Please check out the Color Hues Blog for lots of inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Amanda.

We’ve been out of the country for the last two+ weeks. It was a fabulous trip, but I’m always ready to get back into the craftroom when I return. So many ideas. . . so little time! I’m sending this card off to three challenges: Seize the Birthday: Add a Sentiment Strip, Stencil Fun, and the September Pinkfresh Studio Challenge: Anything Goes.

Magical Fuchsias

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We almost always have a hanging pot of fuchsias on our side porch during the summer. When Alex Syberia released the Magical Fuchsia suite of products I knew I wanted them in my collection. Since my birthday was coming, I put them on my wish list. I received a very generous gift certificate, but by then, the products were out of stock. They were worth the wait. 

I’ve made three cards so far—two identical ones with the 3D embossing folder and stencil combo, and one with the Betterpress/Foiling Plate. I like both versions. There’s also a die set which I haven’t gotten to yet. 

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

Fall Dahlias

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I’m up on the Memory Box blog today with a floral card for fall. Dahlias are one of my favorite flowers, and the dahlias are the latest of the flowers to bloom here in Western New York. They don’t begin to bloom until mid-August and then bloom right through September if all goes well.

The Dahlia Stems Cling Stamp creates a 6X6 image. I used the Dahlia Stems Art Stencil to color the image, using just two inks with a light hand for the first stencil, and a heavier hand with the second stencil. Next I added some additional color to each petal with Copic markers. The leaves got a lighter emphasis at the bottom of each leaf.

The Happy Fall Stylish Script was die cut from the same cardstock, but I deepened the color with some ink blending. After adding the sentiment to the vellum shadow, I added it to the card. This sentiment lends itself to any number of occasions based on what you choose for the inside sentiment or in a personal note. 

Color Hues #140

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Nancy is our hostess for the September 1st Color Hues Challenge. When I saw her color combo, Dusty Blue and Brown, I immediately thought of The Greetery’s 3D embossing folders that I’d seen embossed with brown woodgrain cardstock, so that’s where I started.

I’d like to say it came together quickly, but I started with one embossing folder, played around with some options, and then started over with the Pretty Picado suite of products. This is the first time I’ve used the Pretty Picado Stencils, and I also pulled out the Capsule Star Studded Borders for the first time. 

Once the border was embossed I swiped a bit of white ink over it to soften the color and enhance the beautiful embossed pattern.  I used a couple of different blue inks for the stenciling. For the star border, which I love and think I will use a lot, I chose Matte Silver cardstock. The silver embossed sentiment is from the Pretty Picado Stamp set and I added some tiny silver pearls for a bit of shine on the stenciled panel. This shaped card is bigger than an A2 card, but fits nicely in an A7 envelope.

Check out the Color Hues Blog for more inspiration my wonderful Design Team and our talented Guest Designer, Michele, and join us in the gallery. 

I’ll be away when this post goes live, but will send this off to the September NBUS Blog when I get a chance. It’s always good to use a couple more new products!