Thursday, March 31, 2022

#bunnywithasign

I hope you are familiar with the Facebook and Instagram accounts named dudewithsign and dogwithsign? I thought of these accounts when I grabbed this bunny stamp for my card. As soon as you see these accounts you will get why I made the hashtag for my card. Our latest Tic Tac Toe Challenge Board #155 is a lot of spring fun! I chose the center column top to bottom: Embossing, Rabbit, Patterned paper. (It also fits the bottom row left to right: Die cut, Patterned paper, Green.)





#dogwithsign


#dudewithsign







Products used:

Stampin' Up!: Cheerful Critters stamp set and circles embossing folder

Waffle Flower: Go Girl Winter die set (Poloroid die)

Hero Arts: Easter sentiment

Spellbinders: Hoppy Sunday Drive (egg dies)

Hashtag: computer generated

Prismacolor: colored pencils

Cloud Stencil: hand cut

First, I popped up the embossed circles panel I made on foam tape. Then I cut three Poloroid frames (one being grassy patterned paper) and adhered them together to be thick like the real ones. I stamped and then masked off the bunny and his sign so I could stencil my clouds. I colored the bunny with pencils, then ink blended white card stock in four ink colors so I could die cut the eggs. That's about it! Hope it made you chuckle!

-Carol


Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Relax

The Freshly Made Sketches 529 inspired me to make what I envisioned to be a zero edge pool on top of a high rise near the ocean. Don't ask me why I pictured this kind of a scene, but some new dies I recently got may be at the root of it all!





Products I used:

Ellen Hutson: Everything's Beachy stamp set (umbrellas and sentiment)

Simply Graphic: Les Nageuses (Swimmers in French) die set

PinkFresh Studio: Diagonal Stitched Rectangles

I curled and popped up the umbrellas with a few layers of foam tape to make this a bird's eye view card. I did make an edge for the swimmers to rest their elbows on while they sip a drink and look out at the view. How does that sound with summer coming? I'm in!

See you soon...lots of posts scheduled!

-Carol

Monday, March 28, 2022

Love You More Than

I recently bought this stamp and die set and couldn't wait to use it. I don't know what I like more, the font for the sentiments or the cute dies!!! I wanted to make something other than a card, and I happened to see a sandwich board somewhere and pictured a white wood one in front of a restaurant with a cute saying. I always enjoy a cleverly written sign in front of a restaurant. This is what I came up with:





When I saw Color Throwdown #685 I thought I could make my stamp set work so I could join the challenge. I die cut the taco and put it together. Then I used the scalloped rectangle die that is included in the set to make the sign. I cut a card base of 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" and cut a partial square out of the bottom while the card base was closed to make the legs. Next, I got out a woodgrain cover die I have and ran my sign though for a wood texture. I am still designing something to make the sign stand without doing the "splits" and falling flat. LOL! I want the recipient of the card to be able to open it and read a written message inside from the sender...or maybe write on the back of the sign? We'll see. I would like to think that the person who gets this card would stand it on her desk at home or work, or maybe I could make these for cute place settings when I am making a Mexican meal for friends.

Products:

Concord and 9th: Love You More Than stamp set and dies

StazOn: Jet Black ink

Woodgrain cover die: Sorry, I don't know where I got it.

Hope you enjoyed this idea, and come back soon for more ideas with this cute set.

-Carol

Saturday, March 26, 2022

You Are My Anchor

I just couldn't wait any longer to use my Spellbinders Build a Summer Birdhouse dies designed by Vicky Papaioannou. Our latest Photo Challenge at Just Us Girls #625 gave me a good reason to make something with them. I like that you can take what you want from an inspiration and make it your own.




I had this patterned paper that I just love, and the die set that I'm equally crazy about, so it was an easy card to put together. The sentiment is from a new set I just got from my Favorite Things called You Keep Me Afloat. I used Versamark ink to heat emboss it with silver embossing powder.

I will be making more summer birdhouses as summer gets closer...can't wait! Join us this week with our photo as your inspiration!

-Carol

Monday, March 21, 2022

#HappyBirthday

I have been thinking about making a card with these gift bags for a while, and when I saw a new challenge late last week, I had a really good reason to sit down and do it! Then I couldn't post it until our daughter opened it on her birthday this weekend. In case you are wondering, inside I wrote the hashtag #noyouarenotgettingapupppy in my written message to her. (She's an adult and doesn't live with us, but would still love to get one if she or I didn't have allergies!) She loves to shop and likes all the things in the bags. It was a lot of fun going through my stash to see exactly what I could put in them for her. She also appreciates the work that goes into making a handmade card. I am playing along at Double D Challenges where Something with a Handle is the theme.













Products I used:

Waffle Flower Flat Paper Bag die

Poppy Stamps Whittle Dog die

Mama Elephant: Holiday Bitties (bottle)

Stampin' Up!: Flower dies and Balloon Bash Stamp set (sentiment)

Sizzix Summer Days Thinlits (sunglasses)

Simon Says Stamp: Bikini dies

Tissue paper

Silver mirror card stock

Prismacolor pencils (to color the bottles)

Pink and Main: sequins

(Sorry for all the pictures! I just never like the angles or depth perception in my photos.) First and foremost, I like to put foam tape behind my bags so they aren't flat...and the bags have lines on the side that you can fold to make the bags appear to be 3D. They look kind of real in person that way! I chose silver card stock for the handles, on the top of the bottles, and as lenses in the sunglasses. I left the flowers white because I didn't want to introduce any more colors on the card. It ended up being a lot of fun making her this personalized card with her favorite colors and the things she loves. I even made a slim box to put the card in so it wouldn't smoosh the bags! When I am making a card for someone I know well, I think about her/him the whole time I am making it. Do you? 

She absolutely loved her card and we spent the weekend having our nails done together, eating out, shopping and going to the beach. She had a great time! And when she saw the puppy in the bag on the card, she said, "Puppy?!!)

Be sure to check out the Double D challenge...they have unique challenge topics that are really creative! See you back here soon!

-Carol


Saturday, March 19, 2022

Hello - Ink Blended Flower

This week at Just Us Girls Challenge #624 it is Color Week, and we are using ivory, soft rose and sage green. I was worried that I wouldn't have card stock in those colors, so I got out some inks and blended away! I am also playing along with The Flower Challenge #66 because I used my last scrap of a nice textured watercolor paper (saved/hoarded for a long time) for the flower.








I knew I wanted to pop up the flower (Stampin' Up! Blended Bloom) and leaves (Magenta) instead of leaving them flat, so I started by making two flowers on my last piece of a favorite watercolor paper (thinking I would be watercoloring and because of its thickness) and three leaves on regular white card stock. I heat embossed the leaves with Versamark ink and white embossing powder, and for the flowers I ended up just stamping with Stampin' Up! Going Gray Classic ink. I decided to ink blend both flowers with distress oxide inks because my practice piece of watercoloring just wasn't pleasing me. For the center of the front flower I used Prismacolor pencil for the pink stamens and a tiny ink blending brush for the green.  On the second flower I just ink blended with pink and a little bit of green ink. I cut away the outer petals of the front flower so that the second one would show from behind, then bent the edges up like real petals. I added some sequins in the center of the front flower, then glued the two flower sections together. Next, I arranged my leaves and glued them behind the flower. After gluing the flower to the card front I popped up the leaves with foam tape and bent the ends up a little. I had a Hello die cut that was black, but ink blended white over it to make it gray like the ink in the flower. I cut a thin strip of green card stock for the card front and after attaching it to the ivory mini slimline card base, I added the sentiment on the right side.


We hope you will join us this week for our Just Us Girls Color Challenge! Check out all the inspiration from the Design Team!

-Carol

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Hoppy Easter!

There's a new board at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge #153 and I finally got out my Spellbinders Hoppy Sunday Drive die set! The triplets in the back seat are my favorite!!! I used the middle row from left to right: Die cuts, Coloring, Easter Bunny.









This card is interactive because the car wiggles and wobbles (I used and action wobbler behind the car) down the road. The tiny die cut pies take patience to cut out and piece together, but they are so cute that I couldn't stop adding flowers, carrots, robin's eggs and greenery. I apologize for the video. I have no luck with iMovie or my phone when trying to add a video.

Products I used:

Spellbinders: Hoppy Sunday Drive die set
Stampin' Up!: Green Galore and Coastal Cabana Classic Ink pads
Blender brushes
Inadvertently cut egg shaped cloud stencil (LOL) We'll pretend it was on purpose.

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Apple of My Chai

My daughter and I have a special drink for cold (or any) weather. It is steamed apple juice with several pumps of chai...like Christmas in a cup! Spices galore! We have always gotten it at Starbuck's but now she has her own coffee maker and I bought her the pods and syrup to be able to make it at home. I was inspired by a black and white card by Kelly Parker Schirmer a while ago and have had it in my mind to CASE. This was the result and it happens to go with The Color Throwdown's latest challenge CTD 684: grey, yellow, tan, and black.




I used The Greetery's Coaster die and Cozy Cup stamp set. I used washi tape to tape off the rows on the coaster die and ink blended black ink every other row. I used the Pinkfresh Studio Kelly Alpha Lower Case dies to spell "chai" and made my own sentiment to go with it. I also used, for the first time, my new Pinkfresh Studio Braided circles dies to make the pattern on the background. I have a yellowish brown and a mediumish taupe-y brown in the cup o' chai and the rest of the card is black, grey and white. 

I am also going to share with NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) here because I finally tried the Braided Circle dies that I just HAD to have many months ago from Pinkfresh!



Hope you will soon be out of warm beverage season and into the iced drinks...although some drinks just have to be kept around all year!

-Carol
 

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Hello

More and more Easter and spring cards being made over here! This time the bunny is inside the house delivering Easter baskets. At Just Us Girls Challenge #623 it is Trend Week and we are using embossing folders. I am also entering my card over at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with dies and The Four Seasons Challenge here where Spring is the challenge.











I took my embossing folder and ran a piece of light tan card stock through my Big Shot in it. Then I very lightly dragged a Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake (light taupey brown) ink pad over it here and there to create a textured look. Next I dragged a Ranger Picket Fence (white) ink pad over it to soften the look. I cut it out with my SugarPea Card Front Elements Builder to get the stitching on the edges.

I cut a window and sill with my Stampin' Up! Hearth and Home Framelits dies. I stamped, colored with Prismacolor pencils, and die cut my curtains and flowers with HoneyBee She Shed add-on stamps and dies. I did add acetate for glass in the window. I also die cut a cute little bunny and sentiment (three "hellos" to stack and make thicker) with my Spellbinders Large Die of the month March 2021 dies and assembled them. (I had intended to have the inside of the card have the other side of the window and curtains, but adhered it before I could cut an opening in the card front...so that is why you may see another window inside...as if this is a double paned window like you have in cold climates.)

My little bunny is waving hello in front of a butterfly wallpapered wall inside the house...this was a fun card to make: creating a scene.

We hope you will join us with your embossing folder designs this week! Check out all the inspiration from the design team!

-Carol

Thursday, March 10, 2022

St. Patrick's Day

Spring sure has a lot of fun holidays, doesn't it? Needing a St. Patrick's Day card and wanting to join Color Hues Color Challenge's current Green and Gold theme, I played around with some green and gold papers and this is what I ended up with! I am sharing this with The Four Seasons Challenge here and Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies here.









Products I used:

Stampin' Up!: Scallops embossing folder

Sugar Pea Designs: Card Front Element Builder dies

Lucky die (not sure of origin)

Circle punch

Patterned paper

Super easy...even though I don't own the geometric dies that cut these shapes! I die cut three sentiments and glued them together to make the word sturdier and stand out. I punched two of each green circle too, in order to have them stand out as well. I cut out two plaid circles and cut one in half and the other into quarters, then adhered them to the green circles to make the pattern I wanted. I used my scalloped embossing folder for the background to have similar rounded shapes on it.

Check out Color Hues for the #cardsforukraine in the same challenge as this one and use that hashtag so the Ukrainian colors can be seen across the internet showing our support to them.

-Carol

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Delivering Smiles

 For our March theme, Christmas Craft Creations here is inviting you to join us with your slimline cards! I love the mini slimline card size and here is what I came up with this month. 






Products I used: 

Right At Home: Holidays Are On The Way die set

Spellbinders: Sunday Drive All-Occasion Sentiments

Simon Says Stamp: Drifting Stitches Borders

Oxide inks

white card stock

blender brushes

 sequins

baker's twine


I first ink blended areas on scraps of white card stock so there would be enough to make each car part, present and trees in the exact colors I wanted them to be. Then I die cut the parts and assembled them if needed. I also shaded the car with a darker red after it was cut out.) I took more white card stock and die cut the snow drifts for my card base. On another white panel I ink blended a blue sky, fading into white toward the bottom. I cut and inserted vellum in the car windows and stamped and punched out my sentiment. I placed and adhered all my parts and pieces to create the scene. I popped up this scene panel on a modified mini slimline card base measuring 7 1/2" x 3 1/4" and it was complete!

Come join us! I am enjoying having Christmas cards ready for next December as well as getting to play with my Christmas stash all year!

-Carol


Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Welcome Spring

I was admiring a card today using PapertreyInk Thank You Florals stamps and dies and saw a little spring challenge using their products...knowing that I have several sets that span many years, I decided to make this seasonal slimline card in soft spring colors. I am also playing along at The Paper Players Challenge PP581 where the theme is Spring is in the Air.



If you know PTI very well you can see that the CD case for stamps is an older set. I cut the frames using dies in two sizes, one inside the other, then stacked/adhered them three high each for thickness. I popped them up on foam tape for even more depth. I set the frames temporarily on the card for spacing purposes, then made a light pencil mark in the center of each. I removed the frames and stamped the wreaths from the PTI Wreath For All Seasons stamp set, using that pencil mark to center them. I hand cut the banner for the sentiment and attached it to the center frame.

I love texture or moving parts on cards. I think the frames really showcase the stamped images well. Maybe I should have made them shakers?!?!

See you back here soon,

-Carol


Monday, March 7, 2022

Hello Spring

I was told about the newer Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge. The current challenge there is Anything Goes with dry/heat embossing and Think Spring! I spent all day taking my time with this card, starting with the background. I am also entering it at The Paper Players Challenge where the theme is Spring is in the Air and The Four Seasons Challenge here where Spring is the season being celebrated!






I found a video on You Tube here that showed how to ink blend on the inside of the embossing folder on the side that has the the debossed pattern in it. (the side with the pattern recessed, not raised above the background) She ran it though the Big Shot after inking it up and out came the design on the card stock. I was not supposed to ink blend so hard that the design/pattern had ink on it...it should have been white. But then I saw where you could sand off some of the ink from the pattern, so that's what I did.

Next I die cut my bunny, flowers and the fence/gate and glued them all together. I decided to put foam tape behind the gate to have it be open a little. I decided to add an arbor, so I cut two dome dies to make the thin arch. (I later rounded the corners of my card to go with that arch.) I cut my sentiment dies out of three colors before I found one I liked, and added it to a vellum banner that I die cut. Last, I added three little pearls for an Easter feel and the card was done!

Products I used:

Spellbinders: Large Die of the Month March 2021

HoneyBee Stamps: Nested Domes dies

My Favorite Things: Garden Gate, grass dies

Stampin' Up!: embossing folder (older), pearls

Ranger: Distress Oxide inks

Bo Bunny: sanding emery board

I'd like to get a 3D embossing folder...there are some really great designs out there now and the texture is really detailed.

See you next time,

-Carol





Saturday, March 5, 2022

Good Luck

This week at Just Us Girls Challenge #622 it is Word Week: Lucky. I didn't think I had anything relating to luck, but upon taking some time to look through my stash, I found all sorts of St. Patrick's Day and shamrock stamps. I guess we all need to take the time once in a while to go through our supplies to remember what we have! I figured that the frogs are holding/throwing 4-leaf clovers, so that means they are lucky/have good luck! 




I used two Stampin' Up! sets to make this card:  So Hoppy Together (frogs) and So Happy for You (sentiment). I colored the frogs with Copics, ink blended the  background with SU classic ink, and fussy cut the bouquet of shamrocks (Ellen Hutson Bear Ware 3) and the single shamrock (SU: So Happy for You) after using Copics to color them. I used a grey Copic marker to make a "stone" path for the frogs to stand on. I cut the scalloped frame (Avery Elle) and added some Pretty Pink Posh jewels to complete my card. Hope it made you smile.

I hope you will shop your stash for something "lucky" this week and share it with us! See you soon.

-Carol

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Welcome Home

It's time for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge #151 and I chose the center column moving down: Flowers, Spring, 3D/dimensional card. I have been wanting to make a pinwheel tower card for a while now. I have a friend who, as spring arrives this year, is moving into her first home of her own. I thought a cheery card would add to her excitement! My idea is that each side of the card is a different room. My favorite part is the acetate window looking into the next scene: the patio.













I made my card base and added the patterned papers and cardstock mats. Then I stamped and colored my images and die cut or fussy cut them out and adhered them with Tacky glue or foam tape. It was like decorating a house! The hardest part was holding my breath while making the two-sided window with acetate and glue...I always get some glue on the acetate, lol. The last page says, "Spring is the time of plans and projects. Enjoy your new home!" (I looked up quotes about spring online to find something that fit the occasion.)

Products I used:

HoneyBee: She Shed Barn Add-on and Riding By stamps and dies

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers: Hanging frame 

Prismacolor pencils

Copic markers

Wink of Stella pen

Computer generated Spring sentiment


We hope you will join us this week for some springtime fun!

-Carol