Card Making and the Dollar Tree Store

I found a sheet of beautiful blue butterfly stickers at the Dollar store.  They were three dimensional - so very pretty.  I knew they would make some perfect cards.

I used the weekly sketch from Case This Sketch.

I had been cleaning and found a pad of paper which had this black and white print in it.  I thought it would work perfectly since I had no idea where my black and white stripe paper was.  Anyway a black and white stripe where the white stripe was a pure white.

I used my distress inks and put the ink on some acetate and laid it on my card front.
I love how you get a variation in color when you do this.

The blue matches perfectly with the butterflies.

Here is a side view of the butterfly. It lays flat in the envelope so it won't be an issue to mail it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Freshly Made Sketches

I got a chance to play along with the sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches. 

I flipped my design the long way.  My flower was a little too big for the sketch the way it was designed.

This is a new floral stamp from Fun Stampers Journey.  There is lots of detail in the flower.  I stamped on patterned paper with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with white detail powder.  The black stripe (which has a pink tinge in the white area) was on the design table.  The sentiment was heat embossed on another piece of the pink patterned paper.  This same paper is the mat.

The paper is double sided.  If you look closely at the white area, you will see a faint cross stitch design.  The pink ombre stripe is on the back side.  I got a pack at Tuesday morning.  I always look for white or cream paper with a faint design in them - this adds additional depth to your design.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

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

I dug in a box of old paper and was able to make a few of these cards.

I love these colors. 

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Easter #2

Another Easter card using my bunny deck of cards from Michael's.

I used a new background die and new sentiment stamp for this Easter card. 

Happy Easter #1

While puppy sitting, I wanted to share an Easter card I made.

My Easter cards this year were made with bunnies from a deck of cards I bought at Michael's for $1.

Add some bright fun plaid and other others and a beautiful die cut, you have a fun Easter card. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

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

More simple birthday cards for my Hero Box.  I love how a large sentiment makes a simple card something special. 

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays - yes it is Saint Patrick's Day - but I made a Christmas card.  It is time to get started on those so I can just mail them out next December rather than frantically created. 

I actually know who this card will go it.  I have three little great great nieces and I mail each of them a different card (so this year - they will each get a snowman card).  I want them to remember their Aunt Barb. 

Paper Smooches has started up their challenges again.  I have missed them.  I love my Paper Smooches stamps so it is good to get them out and play.  I especially love the snowmen I have. 

The challenge this month on the Paper Smooches blog is a sketch.  This is a fun sketch with lovely layers.

I turned the sketch on the side to accommodate my image.  Several layers of pretty pink and teal paper to show off the sweet snowman.  The sentiment was cut in half to fit in the space.  There is a blingy snowflake in the left corner. 

Stop over to the Paper Smooches blog and play along with their challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hello Spring

We are anxiously awaiting Spring here in Wisconsin.  We have a couple days of warm so we will bask in the sunshine for the next couple days.

I bought a new sentiment from Whipper Snapper Stamps that says Hello Spring so I wanted to use it.  I also reacquainted myself with a very old stamp and die set from Hero Arts.  I believe I used it last week on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

The sketch  this week at Freshly Made Sketches is an easy sketch to do. 

I flipped the sketch.  I used a die to cut an opening in card stock that would match the front of my card front.  I stenciled the shape on using a shade of Distress Oxide Inks.  The flower was stamped on Bristol smooth paper and colored with Zig markers and Distress Oxide Ink.  The little bee was already stamped and colored from many years ago.  All I had to do was die cut it.  The background paper is not white - it is a very light shade of grey.

Thanks for stopping by - and I hope it is spring in your neck of the woods. 

Easter Is Coming

I am frantically trying to get all my Easter cards completed this week.  I  took the easy way out this year and I am using an Easter bunny image which is from a deck of cards that I bought at Michael's for $1.  I gave some away but have lots to create with.

I decided to cut a card base with my Silhouette.  I used Bristol smooth card stock for the base of the card so it is very strong.  It will stand up. 

I am going to enter the card in the Monday Simon Says Stamp challenge where the challenge is Easter Inspired.

The cards are very shiny so for this card, I just brushed on some gesso to take the shine away.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hello Flamingos

I have been having fun playing with these flamingo stamps from Gina K Designs.  They are showing up in many of my creations.

Today I was inspired by the sketch at Case This Sketch. 

 
And of course, the weekly challenge at The Paper Players is any shade of pink and of course, your flamingo is pink along with a pink mat peaking through the embossed card front.

My flamingos are hanging out on a Hello die cut ready to make the recipient smile when they receive it in the mail.  I am going to make this card for my shut ins that I mail cards to.  I know they will all smile.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

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

A very simple birthday card.  I made 6 of this design.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies

Happy Easter

While shopping at Michael's one day, I found a little deck of cards with a bunny on it holding a bouquet of flowers.  This gives you 52 chances to make a fun card. 

I did share with some friends in a facebook group I am in.  I sent six people the bunny card as a design element and today we get to see how everyone used their card.  It is very fun to see.  I am using this bunny as the focal point on all my Easter cards.

Here is one of the cards I made.  I am entering it in the monthly challenge at Dies R Us where the challenge this month is to use pastel colors and at least one metal die.  I used two metal dies on this card.  The plaid is cut with my largest wonky stitch die and the white scalloped frame is also a die.  The yellow inside is what is cut from the scalloped frame so there must be a yellow scalloped frame floating around my design room.

The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn.  It is from a 6 x 6 pad which is all plaids.  I do wish they sold this size of plaid in 12 x 12 pieces.  The design is always larger on the 12 x 12 pieces.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful Sunday. 

Happy Little Stampers March ATC Challenge

It is March and time for a new ATC challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  

The challenge this month for your ATC theme is

An ATC (artist trading card) is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.  It is a very small work surface but you can do so many wonderful things with this size art.

Since the theme for March is Sparkle, I first painted my ATC background with Twinkling H2O's.  I have not used these paints for so long.  They have a twinkle, sparkle to their finish which fits in with our challenge.  The sentiment is from an old Christmas stamp set.  The stars are from a new stamp set.  The sentiment was heat embossed in silver.  The stars are heat embossed in a white powder that has glitter in it.  I added clear Stickles to the inside of the stars and it absorbed the color from the base.

Please join us this month at Happy Little Stampers March ATC challenge and get your sparkle
on.

Mixed Media Fun Card

I am in a private group on Facebook where we are all card makers.  We met many many years ago and have kept up our friendships and added new friends along the way.  We have card exchanges every couple months and this card is for the humorous card exchange.

I am entering my card in the challenge at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.

The card started with two dictionary pages which were adhered to card stock with gel medium.  A layer of white gesso was put on each page.  Distress oxides were used to color the pages.  On the top layer a stencil was used to add a subtle design with the same color oxide ink as the background.  I then used the same stencil and added clear glitter embossing paste.  It really sparkles.

The image was stamped with black VersaFine Ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  The lady's dress was colored with another shade of distress oxide inks.  I printed the sentiment on card stock which was colored with the distress oxide inks and then ran it through my printer.  I used my Silhouette to cut a speech bubble and I traced around the words and fussy cut out the speech bubble.

I bunched up some black thread and used this as a focal point for my speech bubble to sit on.

Here is a close up of the speech bubble.  You can also see both layers from using the stencil.

Here is a close up of my lady.

I am also entering this card into the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog where the challenge is Girl Power.  Well we have a girl and she is talking on her phone. 

I had so much fun making this card.  I hope it brings a smile to the recipient.

Thanks for stopping by.

March Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

It is time for a new die challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  This is always a great challenge because it is always "anything goes".

I used all new dies on this card.  The top layer of paper is very old but it was the perfect shade of pink to go with the ombre stripe that is behind the large floral die cut.

I used a metal shim to cut out this die so it would cut all the petals of flowers.  I wonder if I did something wrong because I rolled it back and forth in my machine and now my metal shim is warped.  I hope it still does what it is supposed to.  Have you ever used a metal shim and has this happened to you.

I used dark grey as the accent color for my mat and part of my sentiment.

After the card was assembled, I spritzed it with Dazzling Diamonds Spray from Tattered Angels.  It gives such a subtle sparkly finish to the card front.  I added pink and clear sequins to finish off the card.  I never know when to stop when adding sequins.  In the middle of my sequins I added a clear sparkly stickles.

Here is a close up of the floral die cut.

Here is a close up of the sentiment.  It did not quite fit perfectly across the bottom so I just overlapped the O on top of the f of friend - kinda puts an emphasis on the o in  hello.

Please stop by this month and play along with us with the March Happy Little Stampers March Die Cut Challenge.  

Feel Better

I wanted to send a friend a get well card.  I thought the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches would help me along the way to design this card. 

I had the Lawn Fawn Watercolor 6 x 6 pad sitting on my design table so this pad provided my background paper for this card.  This is a wonderful pad - the look of watercolor - but you don't have to do it and you don't have to wait for it to dry.

One of the samples reminded me of a old stamp and die set I had.  I dug - miracle of miracles - I found it.  The images were stamped on Bristol Smooth Paper and colored with Zig Markers.  I then die cut them out.  The sentiment is from Ranger Ink.

I am also entering this card into the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge is to use your coloring markers.  I used my Zig watercolor markers. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media March Challenge

How time flies.  It is time for another mixed media challenge at Happy Little Stampers. 

The challenge this month is friendship.

I spent a couple weeks with friends in South Carolina and wanted to send them a thank you card.  Their friendship is so important in my life and wanted to make them a special card.  I actually bought this stamp at Hobby Lobby on their great clearance lately. 

The background is colored with Dina Wakely heavy bodied acrylic paint.  I used three colors on the background:  lime, sky and turquoise.  The sentiment background is turquoise.  I added a clear glitter embossing paste through a stencil.  It really sparkles.  The sentiment is heat embossed in silver.  The card base is silver card stock.  The sentiment was matted with the same card stock.  Silver thread was added behind the sentiment which was pop dotted.

I then sprayed the entire card with Tattered Angels Dazzling Diamonds so it sparkles.

Here is a close up of the sentiment.

Please join us this month at Happy Little Stampers and celebrate friendship with a mixed media creative project.  

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

It is time once again for a new Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  By doing these Christmas challenges, by the time December rolls around you will have a few cards made and you may have found one design you like to make multiples of.

This month the Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers is

I like to use fabric on my cards and floating around my design table was this little square of fabric with a reindeer on it.  I thought he would be perfect for my challenge card for March.  All of the paper except for the dark brown I used for matting was in my scrap box.  What a great way to make a card.  Of course, you like the card and you don't have any of the same elements to make additional cards.  (insert sad face)

When I use fabric on a card, I adhere a light weight paper backed fusible web to my fabric.  Once this has cooled, I tear off the paper backing and adhere it to some plain white card stock.  I then cut out the image I plan to use so it has a clean edge.  I added dark brown ink to the edge of the fabric square.  The one thing you need to remember when using fabric (especially images that are in a square or rectangle or any shape) they are not square.  I did try to mat it with dark brown card stock but the uneven edges of brown card stock showing did not make me happy.  This is why I added the dark brown ink.

The sentiment is heat embossed and die cut with a circle die.

Here is a close up of the reindeer.

The sentiment and deer image are popped up with foam adhesive.  A light brown twine was tied around the strip of paper.  I had bought a package of wooden stars during the holiday season and they added the perfect finishing touch to the card.

I did find more of this fabric so I may make some more of this card, of course, now I will have to hopefully find some of this paper in my stash or go buy some.  UGH.  Do you too have too many card making supplies?

Please come join us this month for our Happy Little Stampers March Christmas challenge.

Oldie Moldie Monday

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

I had an entire sheet of these sweet little bears colored and I cut then out using my Scan N Cut.  The first card is all Basic Grey paper.  The card was something else but it did not work and the little bear covered the tear I got in the paper removing the previous design.

I got my Washi Tape and made 6 of this design.  The green matting was cardstock I have had for many years.  The stamp is an old one.

This is such a fun and sweet card and could be sent to any age.

Remember to show some love to your old supplies.