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The Wishful Snowman

It’s definitely unusual, but this is the second post for today! One of the dies from the Memory Box’s new Christmas Cheer release is a cute snowman, The Wishful Snowman.”  This card went up on the Memory Box blog this morning. I opted to keep it simple, creating a landscape of glittering snow, bare tree branches, and a bright blue sky. 

Although the glittering snowflakes in the sky are hard to detect in the photo, they doe reflect the light when the card is in your hand. I added a gold star to the snowman’s hand. This Wishful Snowman is sending lots of good vibes for a Merry Christmas.

I’m way behind on creating Christmas cards. A couple of years ago I started creating sets of cards each month, so by now, I’d have nearly 70 cards in my stash. Not so much this year, so every single one is a win. I’m sending this off to Addicted to Stamps and More where creating Christmas cards is the current challenge.

Paper Players: Sketch Challenge

A sketch challenge is not often where I start for a card design, but as soon as I saw the sketch from The Paper Players, I knew just what I wanted to do.

One of my recent purchases from The Greetery was the Tile Style stamp set. It’s a beautiful set of tiles in two sizes. I used three of the larger ones for this card. The tiles were stamped and then die cut with one of the Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Labels.

I embossed the blue panel with a Stampin’ Up embossing folder and added it to a white card base. I purchased the embossing folder several years ago from eBay, and never had the packaging so I don’t know what it’s called. The Thinking of You White Gold Foiled Greeting Tab from Memory Box worked perfectly for the sentiment. The gold foiling prompted me to use two gold hearts die cut from Simon Says Holiday Shapes. They were added with tiny pieces of dimensional tape.

It’s always good to have another encouragement card in the stash.

Shortbread Shapes Tiled Birthday Card

Knowing that the end of July through the middle of September is incredibly busy, I’ve spent most of my crafting time making sure my obligations to the Color Hues and Memory Box Design Teams are completed. Now what time I have can be spent on using some wonderful new products I’ve acquired this summer. 

The Greetery’s Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Tiles was top on that list. I experimented with a few design ideas, but ended up with a monochomatic card that I’m quite happy with.


After die cutting the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle in Vintage Cream cardstock, I ran it through in the Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Tiles 3D Embossing Folder. The details are so beautiful, the card doesn’t need much embellishment.


For the sentiment I die cut the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle Label and added just one of the embossed tiles narrowly framed with gold cardstock and a sentiment from the new Simple Everyday Mini Sentiments embossed in gold. I didn’t center  the sentiment top to bottom, so I added three Pinkfresh Studio Gold Pearls. That was a mistake that actually improved the card, and when I make another (as I surely will) the three gold pearls will be right there. 


This card is off to a very special event at Darnell’s NBUS site—be sure to click through to read about the amazing number of cards submitted from 2020 until today created with Never Before Used Stuff! I’ve contributed quite a few myself, but this is the first one for July. It’s also off to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes. 

Birthday Balloons

The Seize the Birthday Challenge: One or More Numbers came at just the right time. I have a birthday card to share that I made for my great-nephew who turned two recently. 


The Stamp Market’s Balloon Essential dies and Birthday Balloon Greetings are proving to be a good purchase. I’ve used them several times for kids’ birthday cards, but know that switching from the bright colors to metallic balloons will make great cards for adults as well. Once again, I pulled out the Lifestyle Crafts tiny stars embossing folder. It’s so old, I don’t know what it was titled when it was released. I chose a bright Kelly green, orange and yellow color combination. The number 2 was die cut three times with Papertrey Ink’s Block Numbers, also a very old product. 


In addition to Seize the Birthday, this is off to the Neglected Stuff Blog since I pulled out two old products for this card.

Fish Friends

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The current Just Us Girls Challenge looking for stencils was perfect timing. I finally had time to make a card just for fun! During a recent Concord & 9th sale, I picked up the Fish Friends bundle. I don’t have anything like it, and I love the whimsical look of the fish. It also has a wonderful layered die set which I hope to get to soon.


I stenciled the fish with three Concord & 9th inks: Watermelon, Creamsicle and Harbor. When using the Watermelon ink I varied the pressure to add some darker areas to the fish bodies. It’s a 6X6 stencil, so I cut it down with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 dies, and layered it on a Stamp Market Sea Glass A2 card base. Interestingly, the C&9th Harbor cardstock wasn’t as good a match as the more aqua Sea Glass. 


The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Bitty Birthday Wishes. I added quite a few clear drops by Pinkfresh Studio thinking they looked a bit like water bubbles. 

In addition to Just Us Girls, I’m sending this off to the Stencil Fun Challenge, a last entry to June’s NBUS and an entry to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. This is a fifth week so the S stands for Stencils.

Happy Anniversary

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When @thegreetery introduced the Pretty Picado suite of products, Betsy made a beautiful wedding card with white and cream. I used the same colors for an anniversary card for my niece and her husband. The main panel is backed with gold metallic cardstock, and the beautiful dies from Pretty Picado and the Capsule Basics suite do all the rest of the work!


This is going to be a “go to” for anniversary cards for awhile. I’ll need to make a list of who I send them to so they don’t get the same card two years in a row!

I’m sending this off To Addicted to Stamps and More: Diecuts or Stencils.

Abstract Mountain

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Father’s Day was Sunday. My cards were done on time, but this is the first time I’ve had time to edit photos and get a blog post written. Some unexpected commitments have kept me busy in the craft room, but it will be awhile before I can share them.

In addition to the Father’s Day cards, I needed a masculine birthday card. I thought the Ellen Hutson Abstract Mountain die would be great for both. I tried a new technique which didn’t work all that well, so went back to ink blending and using cardstock to piece together the scenes. It makes sense to make multiples with this die since you have make die cuts of six different colors of cardstock. I ended up with four inkblended skies that I liked so had two Father’s Day cards (one for Matt and one for Tracy) and two birthday cards. My son-in-law in Wisconsin got a gift certificate with the Father’s Day message.


While I was looking for something else, I came upon this Reverse Confetti Stitched Window Cover Panel. It works really well with the Abstract Mountain die, but only three of the mountains show. All the rest of the cards were die cut with an Ellen Hutson Essential Arches die and in the end I prefer them. (All four of the photos were taken at the same time, in the same place. Why this one has a blue cast to it is anyone’s guess. I thought I’d be able to color correct it, but neither my phone’ editing progam or Photoshop Elements wanted to cooperate tonight.)

The sentiments for both of these cards are from Pink & Main’s Special Day stamp set.


The birthday sentiments are from Memory Box, Black Gold Foiled Happy Birthday Tabs.

The AAA Birthday Challenge: For the Boys is still open so I’ll send a second entry off to them. This is a very old die set so I’m sending one off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge as well.

Color Hues 135

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Carol has chosen the new colors for the 135th Color Hues.Challenge:

I purchased the Spellbinders Sunflower Serenade last summer but have never used it. I wanted a Clean and Simple card and it was just perfect. I die cut it from yellow cardstock and added some ink blending to the middle of the flower before adding the centers in two shades of brown (one of our acceptable neutrals.) 


Two squares were cut with Ellen Hutson’s Essential Squares. A slightly smaller one from My Favorite Things Black and White Basics paper pack and one size larger from black cardstock. I miss MFT; their patterned paper packs are one of my favorites. After layering those onto a white card base, I added the sunflower with a square of dimensional tape. 


The sentiment is one of Memory Boxes Gold Foiled Greeting Tabs. After adding the greeting, I wanted some gold with the sunflower. I tried a couple gold leaves, but they were too much, so I went with my favorite Pinkfresh Studio gold pearls.


Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visit and your comments as well! I hope you’ll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge blog to check out the fabulous designs created by our team and our Guest Designers, Barbara Campbell and Diana K. We would love to see you add a card to our gallery. It’s open until 9:00 am on June 29th.  

This card is off to Darnell’s NBUS and to the A Cut Above Challenge—Anything Goes with a die cut.

Balloons for the Boys

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We have two grand-nephews (both named Finn) whose birthdays come close together. A friend loaned me The Stamp Market Birthday Essentials, Birthday Balloon Greetings, and the accompanying dies. I die cut a huge pile of balloons in different colors and after making these two cards, tucked the rest away for future cards. Once I saw the Birthday Balloon Greetings and dies, I ordered a set of my own. I know I’ll use them on the balloons I tucked away, but I’m quite sure they’ll be pulled out for other birthday cards.

Both cards use the same layout, and the same background (a tiny starts embossing folder by Lifestyle Crafts which has been In my collection for years!) I chose different colors and different sentiments, adding some gold stars to the second card.


I’m sending the second card off to AAA Birthday Challenge: For the Boys.


Thanks for stopping by. I’m enjoying the sunshine and warm weather we’ve been having, but splitting my time between the yard and the craft room. The open window here is blowing in a wonderful warm breeze.


Just a Note

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I’m on the Memory Box blog today with a sentiment-focused notecard using flowers from the Arched Flower Basket, the Woven Flower Basket and the Flower Basket Bouquet dies. I used the largest of the Cinched Frame dies to create a shaped card. The front panel was cut from a pretty teal paper from the Lagoon Paper Pack. I die cut a second frame from white cardstock (so it’s easy to write a note!). I scored about 3/8” down from the top of the white panel to create a hinge and glued the two pieces together.



The next step was to cut a third Cinched Frame in white for the focal panel. I chose a teal cardstock just a shade darker from the Lagoon pack for the sentiment, die cut and stacked three of the Just a Note dies before adding them to the center of the front panel.



Then I just needed to arrange my flowers which were die cut from various papers in the Lagoon, Sunrise, Blush, and Greenery paper pads. I’m sending this off to the Word Power Challenge (focal point is the sentiment) and A Cut Above Challenge—die cuts!

Clean and Simple Birthday Cards

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I pulled out a Penny Black stamp that I have never used to make a birthday card for a friend. The stamp set, Charisma, had four floral images in vases, and I ended up making a set of four cards. It’s always good to have some CAS birthday cards on hand. 



The card design is from Jill Foster, the card designer behind Penny Black. Her introductory videos are fabulous, and one series showcased a variety of designs.



I stamped all four images and colored them with Copic markers and then die cut them with the accompanying dies. I embossed a sheet of cardstock with the Penny Black Textured embossing folder, and then cut four strips with my paper cutter. I adhered them to the bottom of each card and added a narrow strip of white paper above them. 



The sentiment from Penny Black’s Delightful Day was stamped in black.



One of these is off to NBUS, one to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes, one to Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Anything Goes, and one to Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays.

Sending Sunshine

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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

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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

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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

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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.