Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  I am still making cards for the foster home in South Carolina so I am trying to make some male themed cards.

These cards were made from an old 6 x 6 paper pad.

The hello die is from My Favorite Things.

The bear stamp is from Impression Obsession and the speech bubble/sentiment stamp are from Impression Obsession.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.  They still make wonderful cards.

Happy Birthday Floral

I have been stamping this lovely floral stamp from Altenew in different colors.  I felt the blue was very beautiful.  The inks are from Gina K.  It is a layered stamp so all the coloring is done with your stamping.  It would also be beautiful colored and I want to try that also.

The design for my card is based on the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  It is a very versatile sketch.

I had sitting on my design table this little strip of glitter card stock which was begging to be used on a card and here was the perfect opportunity.  The sentiment strip completes the design.  The sentiment is from Gina K.

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Thanks for stopping by.

Masculine Birthday Card

I am currently working on birthday cards for a friend who collects them for nursing homes.  I decided to make a couple masculine cards.  It seems it is always easier to make a feminine card rather than a masculine card.

I have been doing some inked backgrounds using some new stencils from My Favorite Things which has the shape (rectangle) cut out of it.  I used three different oxide inks for the background. 

The current challenge at Seize The Birthday is to use a non neutral card base.  I used a dark blue (not navy) card base.

The silhouette stamp is from Gina K Designs.  The sentiment is also from Gina K Designs.  The sentiment is embossed in black on the blue strip.  It is very difficult to see.  I probably should have done white on the dark blue. 

Since I had the stamps out and the panels inked, I decided to make anniversary cards for my daughters who both have fall anniversaries.  The stamps are from Gina K also.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ocean Themed Graduation Card

Graduation parties are upon us and it is time to make cards for the lucky graduates.  2020 graduation is not what everyone expected.  It was a big emotional let down for so many graduates and their families. 

This card is for a special young lady - she is going to be majoring in Marine Biology from my alma mater where I also worked for over twenty years.

My Favorite Things baby sharks die made the best graduation card for a marine biology major.  The congrats speech bubble is a stamp set from My Favorite Things also.  I cut the graduation caps on my Silhouette.  The background was done with a stencil and shifting it to get the different colors. 

This is a slimline card.

I am entering this card into the current challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters which is beachy or ocean themed.  What is more ocean themed than a shark card. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

New Home Card

A sweet friend of mine and her family built a new home.  This is the card I made for them.  The patterned paper did all the work.

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New Supplies and a Challenge

I recently purchased a new stamp set and die from Altenew.  It is a beautiful flower that you could either color or do layer stamping.  I stamped off approximately 10 of these flowers and will work on making cards with them eventually but I had to make at least one card with my new supplies.

The current challenge at The Flower Challenge is Summer/Winter.  I made a summer card.

I stamped the flower with Altenew Inks and then I fussy cut out the flower.  I was unable to buy the die when I got the stamp.  I did some ink smooshing to add some color to the white background.  I stamped the floral image in black in each of the corners.  The hello was die cut from several layers of white and one layer of black.  The white base was matted with black and added to a white card base.
I really do like how the card turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Clean and Simple Floral Birthday Card

I am trying to make some birthday cards for a friend who's niece gives them to people in a nursing home. 

I had a background I had made awhile ago and I decided to use a floral die to cut out the focal point for the card.  (I was able to get two die cuts out of the piece of paper so also made a thank you card.)  I made a card base and then from the leftover paper I die cut a rectangle and adhered it to the card base so my whites matches.  I cut two additional layers of the floral die and glued them together.  After I had figured out the placement of the die, I stamped the birthday sentiment.  I then glued  the floral die to the front of the card.

The current challenge at The Paper Players is Clean and Simple with the optional twist of celebrate. 

The current challenge at AAA Cards Clean and Simple Challenges is Maxi White Space with the optional twist of flowers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies. 

A private Facebook group I am had a challenge to make a Western themed card.  I finally found a very old stamp set that was Western themed.

I decided to pair it with navy blue (denim), red checks and burlap to complete the Western flavor of the card.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to show some love for your old supplies.  Remember they still make great cards.

Big Hugs

I am getting a box of goodies together for a special family.  The little girl is my ganny baby and how did she get to be 9 years old.  She now lives in another state so I do not see her too often. 

I wanted to include a card with the few little things I picked up for her.  I also got her a gift card to Michael's so she can go buy herself some new crafty fun.  I decided to use the weekly sketch at My Favorite Things. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Ink It Up

The current challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters is Ink It Up.  

I love making backgrounds with my inks.  Recently I bought stencils from My Favorite Things that have a basic shape opening in them.  For this card I used the rectangle stencil.  I made six backgrounds with the same colors.  

After I had inked them up, I cut out each rectangle.  I then stamped the silhouette on it.  The foliage and sentiment stamps are from Gina K.  I fussy cut the sentiment out.  I matted the background with black and adhered it to a white card base.

This card I sent to my aunt and I used another panel and made a sympathy card for a friend who's mother passed away.

I am getting out my blue oxide inks next so I can make some masculine themed cards.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Twofer Challenge

I always enjoy when it is time for a new Twofer challenge each month.  It makes you stretch your creativity to use your stamp, die or stencil in two different ways in two different types of cards.

This month the challenge is butterflies.  

Here are my two cards.  One is a birthday card and the other card is a encouragement type card.

The butterfly stamp and the sentiment on this card are from Rubbernecker Stamps.  On this card I was first playing with my embossing folders.  I first embossed the background and then I sprayed it with a Dina Wakely spray paint.  I took another piece of white card stock and laid it on the spray painted embossed background and gently rubbed it.  I got a very nice soft design for my background for my sentiment and butterfly.  I also just sprayed some pieces of white card stock so I could stamp on them.  The butterfly and sentiment were stamped with black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I stamped and heat embossed the butterflies.  I then colored them with watercolors.  I made my background by painting the yellow and then adding the pink (yes it was pink) but combining with yellow you get orange.  If I had been patient and let it dry between layers, I might have gotten my pink.

And since I was having so much fun, since I had colored a couple of the yellow/green butterflies, I made a thank you card.  I thought I should share it also.

Thanks for stopping by.

Time Out For A Birthday

An online friend put out a request for friends to send her Grandpa Owen a card for his 97th birthday.  Due to Covid 19 they will be unable to be with him to help celebrate so these cards will brighten his day.

The current challenge at Time Out is Days Gone By.  What a great challenge for a 97th birthday card.  I don't think I can imagine all the different things he has seen in his 97 years plus he is a veteran of World War 11.  He probably saw things he would probably like to forget. 

My card uses a stamp from a Tim Holtz stamp set.  The sentiment is one of the many birthday sentiments I have.  The paper is a 6 x 6 pad I have been working on for awhile.  It is well aged.

I stamped the image on a piece of distressed oxide background with dark brown ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I used a scrap of the same background for the sentiment.  I just used different pieces of the paper for the remainder of the card.  It is all on a kraft card base. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Monday - the day to show some love for your old supplies.  Of course, the old supplies I am using is patterned paper.  I swear it keeps multiplying.

The stamp is from Stampin Up which I won in a challenge.  They are very cute little animals and easy to color.  I love the colors in the patterned paper.

These cards will be sent to a foster care home in South Carolina.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Graduation

It is graduation time for many students.  Normally it would be a time for parties and celebrations but times have changed.

I do hope to see this young lady and give her her graduation party.  No hugs but lots of good wishes for her. 

I am entering my card in several challenges.  The first challenge is Tuesday Throwdown - where the challenge is polka dots.  I used a big polka dot embossing folder to add texture to my background.  I inked over the polka dots with a distress oxide ink.

The current challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters is to ink it up.  I inked the background and the speech bubbles were smooshed into watered down ink.

I recently found a new challenge Watercooler Wednesday.  Their current challenge is All About Occasions. 

I was recently gifted many slimline envelopes (hundreds with a silver insert) so I decided to make a slimline graduation card.  I smooshed some Bristol smooth card stock into watered down distress oxide ink.  The bubbles and sentiment were stamped in black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  This stamp set is from My Favorite Things.  I then (after my first background failed) decided to dry emboss my background.  It was an interesting experience because embossing folders are not long enough to do a slimline front.  After I dry embossed the background, I did some light ink blending in the same color that I used on the bubbles.  I matted it with a navy blue paper from my supplies.  I made a small graduation hat to sit on top of the Congrats bubble.

I have one more graduation card to make.  I wonder if I will use the same design.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Going In Circles or Going in Flowers

Many of my posts on my blog are inspired by Challenge Blogs.  Challenge Blogs kick start your creativity - sometimes they make you think outside your comfort zone.  Sometimes we need to be pushed outside our comfort zone to try new things or use new products..  I also enjoy being a design team member because for me it helps me bring my best creativity to the challenge.  I never wanted to let down my fellow team members.  The two challenge blogs I was on currently took a break for six months so I am missing that kick start to my creativity.

This time I am inspired by the sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps.

This is a fun sketch because you can do so many things with the circles in the sketch.

I decided I wanted to use a new stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.  I love the word Hugs from the stamp set and all the different elements included in the stamp set.  I stamped out several sets of the elements for the card and used my Scan n Cut to cut them out.  I do love that machine.  It is so much easier than having to die cut so many elements.  I stamped with black VersaFine ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I colored all the elements with my Zig watercolor markers.  I have been playing with the markers the last couple weeks.

The background was made by scribbling the blue watercolor maker on a piece of acetate, spritzing it with water and then smooshing it onto the background.

I cut a piece of black patterned paper to mat my background. The blue flowers were glued directly to the background and the hugs and pink flower were added with dimensional foam.  Black enamel dots were added to the centers of the flowers.  It still looked a little naked so I added black splatters.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Today I need to make a graduation card for a special young lady.  We are suppose to have a heat index of 100 today (which is hot for Wisconsin) so I am definatly staying inside.  Have a wonderful day.

Tic Tac Toe - Kids Card

I discovered a new challenge blog and each week they have a tic tac toe board and you choose a line and create your card with the elements listed in the spots on your line.

The challenge is called Tic, Tac Toe.  This is the board for this week.

I chose the line embossing folder, stripes and bicycle.  I was very lucky because I actually had an embossing folder with a bicycle on it.  I had never used this folder so it was a perfect time to play with it and create a card. 

I have two different color versions of the card.

My cards will be going to a foster care home in South Carolina.  I really do like how they turned out.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I almost forgot to make a birthday card for a friend.  I always make a golf themed card for him but I have not bought any new gold themed stamps this year and I think he has a card out of all the ones I have.  He keeps all my cards which is very nice of him.

I found a vintage clip art which I used for the focal point.  I added a little color to the golfer.

The paper is very well aged from Die Cuts With a View.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Birthday Wishes

I am trying to get all my birthday cards made for the remainder of 2020.  Thank goodness for sketch challenges to inspire me to create plus wonderful images I have colored.

The sketch this is week is from CAS ON FRIDAY.

The flower, leaves and sentiment are from the latest Gina K card kit.  The kit has three stamp sets in them and I have not even used two of them yet.

The image is colored with Zig markers.  I then took the same Zig marker and scribbled it on some acetate, sprayed it with water and smooshed it on my paper front and  the panel the flower is sitting on.  This makes the background a little less white.  I added two pieces of patterned paper for the strips in the sketch.  The sentiment was fussy cut.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rainbows and Sunshine

Happy Fourth of July.  I am sharing a made I have made.  It fulfills many challenges.

I am using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. 

The challenge at Inkinspirational Challenges is Sketch. 

The challenge at Just Us Girls is Rainbows.  

The challenge that started this card is the current challenge at Paper Smooches which is Rainbows also.  The sentiment and rainbow are Paper Smooches stamps. 

 As I said the rainbow and sentiment are stamps from Paper Smooches.  I first smooshed the front panel in blue ink to give the background some depth and interest.  I then made a paper mask and inked on the purple circle.  I had this sun already done in my supplies.  I believe I have the die for it.  I glued the sun onto the card front.  The rainbow was colored with copics and adhered with foam to add some dimension to the focal points.  I did doodle around the edge of the purple circle with a black pen to define the circle some more and also bring some more black into the image.

This card will go to a foster care home in South Carolina.

Thanks for stopping by.