A Happy Hello

This garden background that I stenciled has a little mushroom house peeking out of it. I made it for our Just Us Girls #842. It is Anything Goes Stencil Week, hosted by our teammate Sue. I didn't use all of the openings in this three piece layered stencil set to keep it simple. The house is so easy to piece together and is a cute set from Poppystamps.

Here's what I used to make the card:

• Poppystamps 2655 Large Mushroom House craft die
• Altenew Blooming Flower Bed stencil set
• Lawn Fawn free gift sentiment, Stitched Hillside Borders die
• Concord & 9th ink pad
• Ranger distress ink pads
• Patterned paper scraps

I built the house first to know which inks to use for the stenciling. I shaded many of the parts of the house, the chimney, and smoke with blending brushes. On an A2 panel I stenciled with a light hand in order to avoid overpowering the house. I die cut the lawn to ground the house and stamped/die cut the sentiment on a banner. I matted it to separate it from the white background.

While I didn't make the stenciling the main event on the card, I had it cover most of the card to be obvious for the challenge. What will you make? Can't wait to see!

Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Corner Bakery

A few years ago we were visiting family in the St. Louis area and they took us to St. Charles one evening where we walked on actual cobblestone streets and where all the little businesses had decorated their store fronts and windows with pumpkins and other Halloween props. I took a few photos and have not forgotten how cute it was there. (See below) 

Here's a bakery I made today for our Just Us Girls Challenge #841 mood board with our hostess Vicki. I liked the pumpkins and takeout cup on the bottom of the mood board and went from there. Coffee and pastries, why not? (Chai for me, please!) Be sure to take some time to visit the blogs of our design team and our guest Julia to see how everyone was inspired to make their cards.

Real pumpkins carved to decorate a store inside and out. I remember the pastel decor inside this store and all of the fun decorations outside. I made a bakery because we visited one and got some yummy things to eat along the way down this street.

I used Concord & 9th Pop Up Shoppe dies and Poppystamps Pumpkin Patch dies. My card includes copper metallic card stock, thick acetate and card stock scraps. I stamped the bakery sign with Altenew Obsidian black ink. The card base is A2 and top folding. The bakery pops up, but folds flat to mail. I have made quite a few of these using different themes. It takes a lot of steps, but it's fun to see it come to life.

Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to see what you create!

Carol

Wish You Were Here

We have a fun idea for you at Time Out Challenges #322 with our latest Inspired By theme. What are the Seasonal Colors Where You Live? I live in Florida, USA, where we do not have distinct seasons...sun and warmth almost all year, with less humidity in winter and it might get cool in winter (60 degrees F.) for a week or two in January or February. So I made a card with the pretty sunset and water colors we have most of the year.

We look forward to cards in our gallery from all over the world! The different hemispheres will give us a fresh perspective on seasons in other places. It should be an interesting challenge! You can take this current season or make a four seasons card if you like. Be sure to explain your card so we understand what you are portraying.

Our wonderful sponsor, Gina K, is generously offering a $25.00 store credit as a prize for our Challenge Winner, who will also get an invitation to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge.

We are joined by Donna Phelan of Crafting By The Beach, and winner of Time Out #317 as Guest Designer. 

What I used to make my card:

• Pink Fresh Studio Coastal Paradise stamp, stencil and die sets
• Distress ink pads
• Concord & 9th ink pads
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

I am in love with these Pink Fresh products! They stamp and stencil perfectly, cut beautifully! I can't wait to make more things with them. 

Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Deliver By December 25th

I have hoarded this one sheet of Pink Fresh patterned paper forEVER! I love the city map with the Christmas theme all over it. This is just a small portion of it. Inspired By #IB406 is Maps...and I couldn't resist using some of my coveted paper. My card mimics the girl on the street with its colors and a warmly dressed gift giver carrying packages somewhere. 

In the last picture you can see the legs that swing back and forth, which hopefully in this case isn't due to slipping on the snow. I popped her up a lot on foam tape to give the illusion of being closer than the streets behind her. I added stars, skates and sentiment puffy stickers in the same colors. I liked that the sentiment refers to delivering something by Christmas. I wish I had bought a few pieces of this paper. The back is pretty too.

What I used:

• Pink Fresh Studio Holiday Walk patterned paper (Oh What Fun suite), Happy Holidays puffy stickers, Diagonal Stitched Rectangles
• Spellbinders Shopping Spree dies

This is my first Christmas card of the fall season and I am getting the itch to continue. I have some that I made in July too. Hope you are crafting this weekend. I have to get some chores done, so I'm off!

Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Swimming by...

I am participating in the CASE It IG Hop for September 2026. We are a group of papercrafters who love our hobby and admire others' work so much that we ask them permission to Copy and Selectively Edit something they've made. This month I am CASEing Jane Taylor's (@purplejt) wonderful mermaid under the sea card. Using what I had on hand, I recreated her card. 

What I used:

• Honey Bee Stamps Swimming By stamp set
• Avery Elle The Reef stamp set
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad, Artist Markers
• Simon Says Stamp Wonky Stitched Rectangles die set
• Concord &. 9th Dew Drop Assortment
• Distress ink pads
• Rhinestones
• Watercolor paper

I loosely mimicked the water on her background with ink blending, I stamped some plant life in black. I wet my hand under the faucet and  flicked water on it. Instead of drops I got a mottled background. I ran the panel through my Big Shot to get the swirling stitching on it that reminds me of moving water.

I stamped and colored the mermaid and shells, then fussy cut them. After arranging and adhering them to the scene, I stamped the sentiment and added the embellishments for parkle and to look like air bubbles.

Hop along with us and see all the cards that were CASEd and the resulting "copies" of them by our group. You can start at my account, #sawithadtomakeit. It's a fun one to see how we made the original cards our own.

See you over there!

Carol

Have Candy Will Haunt

I don't think this cute little smiling ghost will haunt anyone, but it WILL find ways to get candy! This is a new Stamptember die set from Simon Says Stamp (along with the two adorable pumpkins from Poppystamps) and Simon's Reverse Spooky Halloween EZ Strips for the sentiment. I could not wait to use them and Freshly Made Sketches #753 gave me a reason to get started!

The little ghost has a cute house in non-traditional Halloween colors and I had to get a little orange in, so the house has pumpkins outside for decorations. I know I CASEd Donna's pumpkin card idea but I don't think she'll mind. 

Have you started your fall cards? Halloween? This card definitely got me in the mood to make. more like this one.

Hoping you have a nice weekend,

Carol

You Got This

A former coworker friend (who lives far away) and I text daily over our Wordle and Connections games. Our friendship goes back to about 1981 when we were new teachers. We got into rubber stamping back then, even doing long road trips to visit any new stamp store. Now that we have these online games we talk just about every day about anything and everything along with our latest game attempts. I am playing along at Inkspirational Challenges #375 Scrabble Tiles.

My second word "cover" is code for covering boo boos with bling...I usually smudge ink last minute on a finished card and have to cover it up. Insert eye roll.

What I used:

• Stampin' Up! Just Perfect Alphabet stamp set
• Waffle Flower Go Girl stamp set
• Hampton Art Stamps (wooden stamp) Alpha Collage stamp
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad
• Versamark Watermark stamp pad
• Concord & 9th Enamel Hearts

It took hours to come up with words on a theme to make this cardmaking-centered board. This is the second time I've made one and it is not easy! I cut my own squares and stamped each letter on them. I'm glad I had a use for a favorite alphabet (background) stamp! I don't care that the letters are wonky...it will still get two of the many things we share to her as a surprise in the mail.

Have a nice day!

Carol