Delivering Smiles

Our Just Us Girls Challenge #764 is Anything Goes with a Stencil, so what will you make?

These window scenes remind me so much of Denver. There is a building downtown affectionately known as "the cash register" because of its shape, and it is in this stencil in my opinion. (Third building from the left)

The pen in this first photo was made by a dear Colorado friend.

I made a second card because my first one looked a lot like the sample in the Spellbinder's shop. I also wanted to try to make the Denver-colored skies.

I used Spellbinders products on this card:

Vista View Window die

Background Scapes stencil set

Sunday Drive All-Occasion stamp set

I used Ranger Distress Oxide inks to stencil. I recently picked up some Hero Arts White Pearl Hero Paste for the snow on top of the mountains. I also popped up the window off the stenciled scenes with foam tape. 

Back story to the second stenciled scene: The view from Red Rocks Amphitheater (in Morrison, Colorado) looking east at green open space until it gets to the downtown Denver view. (Just left of the sun in this photo) The view gets you every time you attend a concert there. After dark, stars fill the sky and you can see downtown in the distance all lit up. This is a sunrise shot and sunsets are even more intense. At Red Rocks you can do a Yoga class, see a summer movie at Film on the Rocks, or attend many concerts. Lots to do there.

Photos by Colorado Josh Photography. Check out other beautiful views of this venue.

Back to cardmaking...We really hope you will get out your stencils and join us this week at Just Us Girls! I think stenciling is a fun task...do you? 

Carol

Thanks

It is time to celebrate Time Out Challenge's 11th birthday and for our Challenge #283 we are doing a "CASE the Designer" theme using Donna Mikasa's beautiful card shown below. I fell in love with her stenciled flowers, dry embossing, and colors immediately! Here is my card for this special occasion.

Isn't her card beautiful with all the texture and vivid colors? I love how she stenciled over an embossed panel. I need to try this technique. 

Products I used:

Ellen Hutson - Mod Floral die

Spellbinders - Yana's Layered Script Sentiments die set

Waffle Flower - A2 Nested Domes die set

Sizzix - 3D Textured Impressions Honeycomb Frenzy embossing folder

Stampin' Up! - Classic ink pad, aqua painter

Concord and 9th - Mini ink pad

Gold cardstock

Foam tape

I knew I wanted to used my Ellen Hutson Mod Florals die, so I went to Pinterest to look for ways other cardmakers have used it. On Donna's blog ThreeUmbrellas I read about a card she made with the same floral die. 

I grabbed a couple of white A2 scraps and some ink pads, along with my aqua painter (water pen). I dabbed ink from one color ink on my glass mat, then picked up the color with my aqua painter and kind of scribbled here and there all over one of the panels. I did the same with another ink pad, filling in most of the white spots. When the panel dried, I die cut the florals.

She used two layers of this die, so I started the process again on another panel using two green ink pads. When it was dry, I die cut the florals. I took another ink pad and painted a darker green on the leaves. I. positioned the greener florals behind the pink ones and glued them together here and there before cutting them down/adhering them to peek out from behind the arch.

I had the idea to die cut an arched window on the front of an A2 card base and have the florals peeking out from behind the arch. I adhered mine and realized that the back side of them had to be covered, and after much thought, I found an embossed hexagon panel and adhered that to the inside back of the card base. Since the embossing is two sided, it made a nice looking inside front of my card.

The sentiment came to mind because it is small and dainty like the flowers. I used the floral die one more time to add a few gold centers to some of my flowers. The florals are popped up with foam tape from the embossed panel.

If you are still with me, thanks so much. I think you will love the team's cards as much as Donna's. Join us for our birthday celebration and if you are chosen as the winner of this challenge. Gina K is sponsoring us and is offering you a $25.00 store credit and you will be invited to be a guest designer for a future Time Out challenge.

We would love to see you in the gallery!

Carol Mc

 

2025 Calendars and a Sewing project

In January I told myself I would finish a long awaited sewing project and I did! But first, I made a 2025 calendar to stand on my desk, and made extra calendar materials to take to a stamping session at a friend's house. We get together once in a while and bring cardmaking packets for each other to complete. Here is what I made and then what I prepared for them to  make. 

There were two blue nautical ones, mine and one for one of the ladies. The beachy ones were for the other two ladies. I used Concord and 9th lifesaver and starfish dies from the Seaside Post die set (it was from a camp they held), and letters from Lawn Fawn: Oliver's Stitched ABCs die set. The patterned paper is from Pink and Main. I ordered the little calendars online. There is an Impression Obsession die cut easel on the back to stand the calendars up. I die cut the patterned paper rectangles with a Pink Fresh Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die.

My sewing project has quite a history.Years ago in Colorado I used to go to an amazing new fabric shop (now gone) where they stocked the type of fun, bright, modern fabrics that I love. I bought several fabrics from a line by one designer. Fast forward to about a year ago, I cut out the future placemats with this bright cheerful fabric and put it away. In January, I got it out and finished them in a couple of days because I mentioned in a post that I was planning to finally make them. Here they are. 

I used the Quilt-as-you-go method (Missouri Star Quilt Company video) and I topstitched on both sides of each seam before adding the next strip of fabric. Now we are avoiding using them because I hate to stain them! I will use them for the first time when our daughter flies home around her birthday. These aren't ironed and I did handstitching to finish the binding. They are about 16" x 15", quite large, because the last ones I made lasted at least a dozen years and they shrunk over time from all the washing and drying. I have some blue fish plates that might look cute on these.

That's it for today. I wanted to show these two fun finished projects from January 2025.

See you here again soon,

Carol

Valentini Time

I came up with this card idea by accident, and I know it fits the Craft Roulette #255 parameters!

Project: A2

Colors: Valentine

Element: February

Random: Metallics or foil

 

My A2 card is made with two shades of red with metallic gold cardstock for the martini glass/hearts/word "time" and an ink blended red-fading-to-pink drink in it. The February "Valentine" became Valentini for this card. Funn parameters this week!

Products I used:

Spellbinders - Olive Martini dies

Stampin' Up! - Alphabet (big, older thick black dies with several letters on each)

Simon Says Stamp - Whoa! You're Amazing die (used letters for "time" and made a T)

My Favorite Things - Love Speech Bubbles dies (tiny hearts)

Gold cardstock

Distress inks (for the beverage itself)

This is a card I will make again in a variety of colorways. I am not ready to move on to making the next holiday cards. Valentines are so fun!

See you soon,

Carol

Create Art

Cardmakers like creating things. The funny thing is that we cut apart paper and put it back together again. There are so many quotes about creating things and I like this one.

"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." - Albert Einstein

This week at Just Us Girls #763 Moodboard challenge we are asking you to take a look at our moodboard and create something from what you see. You can start with a theme, the colors, specific elements or something else you see. I chose to go with the bright colors, patterns, and long items like the straws and candles. Check out what the team and our guest Stephanie made for your inspiration.

I used The Greetery's Pen Pal dies and scraps of patterned paper. The postage stamp die is also from The Greetery. I die cut it from white and layered it onto a piece of dove grey cardstock. 

The metal parts of the pens are cut from silver cardstock and the sentiment is from a set called Paint Your World Sentiments from Spellbinders. I used an Altenew Obsidian black ink pad to stamp and some Pink and Main enamel dots to embellish the card a little. 

Making the pens is like paper dolls. Pick your colors/patterns and mix and match the parts. So fun!

We hope you will join us this week where you get to decide what to make based on what inspires you in the mooboard! See you in our gallery?

Carol

Hello Crafty Friend

This week at Just Us Girls Challenge #762 it is Word Week: Friend. This "Hello" edger die set by Penny Black from Hero Arts is so easy to use and quite versatile. The companion Hello Builder stamp set has 12 sentiments and a Hello, too. I used the dies for my New Year bottle tag and now a card. I may "need" other edger dies.

All I had to do for my card was die cut the word and its shadow, die cut a white flower from my Sizzix Geo Floral Frame die set, and punch out a gold center for it. I used my current favorite foil printed paper pad by Park Lane called Amersterdam Big Deal for the background.  I popped the flower up on foam squares and used my Altenew Obsidian black ink pad to stamp the sub sentiment. I like that I have this stamp for cards to send to my crafty friends!

Will you join us this week with a friend sentiment card? We hope so!

Carol

go girl, go

The latest Time Out Challenges #282 is a Photo challenge. It runs from February 13th-26th and is generously sponsored by Kim Heggins of Running Stitch Designs. Kim is offering a beautiful handmade bag to the winner of our challenge, and that person will be invited to be a future guest designer with Time Out. Here is my card which was inspired by the bag!

I went with patterns in black and red like the bag. All stamps and dies are from Waffle Flower under the name Go Girl. It is like playing with paper dolls, die cutting and choosing haircuts, clothing and accessories. Fun! The embossing folder is from Stampin' Up!

Be sure to check out all of the cards made by our team for your inspiration. We also have our guest Arlene Rose of Sundaystamper Papercrafts joining us with her inspired card!

We can't wait to see your cards in our gallery, inspired by the photo.

See you soon,

Carol

Floral Valentine Heart

I have had this die set for a little while and saved it for Valentine's Day. I think it is my last Valentine of the year. There is a visual on the back of the package that really helps know what to cut out and which colors to repeat. I made this for the Color Throwdown Challenge ctd826 using pink, brown and white. I have seen this set used with so many great color combinations in colors that are not what we think of for leaves and flower centers, so I decided to try it out with the CTD colors this week.

Products I used:

Spellbinders -  Blooming Heart die set (December 2022 Large Die of the month)

Stampin' Up! - Leaves embossing folder

Scraps of cardstock

My medium pink is a sparkle cardstock. I found this brown in my stash that reminded me of the brown on their graphic and then I grabbed two other pinks and a dark brown. The cookies in the graphic have been gnawing at my stomach all day...but being Superbowl Sunday I am not wanting to go to the crowded store to get ingredients. Don't they look yummy?

Hoping your Valentines are made and sent...the rest of mine go in the mail tomorrow. It is such a fun holiday for me for cardmaking.

See you soon,

Carol

Love Shaker Card

I love shaker cards but 98% of the time I make a mistake in the process...this time was no different. In the end, it all worked out. (It's in the mechanics) I made it for a very special person and I know it will bring a smile. I couldn't resist using a favorite Valentine candy in my photo, cinnamon hearts. I am playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Bright and Cheerful as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Love is in the Air.

Products I used:

Honeybee Stamps - Love A2 Cover Plate, Hearts in Bloom Layering stencils

Picket Fence Studios - Diva Hearts shaker embellishments

Ranger - Distress Oxide ink pads

Concord and 9th - Mini ink pads

Reverse Confetti - You tag die

I made a card with the letters from this card that were die cut out of the frame. I am saving it for next week, so come back by to take a look!

Carol

"Love" Post card

I am in the midst of making more Valentines so they can get in the mail ASAP. My sweet daughter gave me some amazing crafty tools for Christmas and I wanted to use them right away! I came up with this post card "card" using the Waffle Flower Postage Collage Love stamp set, WF Postage Collage die, and The Greetery Postal Frames die. I also cut the heart for the postage stamp on the post card and the little hearts from my Pretty Pink Posh Valentine Mug Additions die set. 

I am sharing it over at the Paper Players Challenge #PP723 where the theme is Love is in the Air.

I used gold glitter paper as well as some gold paper that feels like thick vellum. I picked Distress ink pads in Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral for my stenciling. I stamped with my trusty Altenew Obisidan Black ink pad. The best thing about this card is that the P.O. machines should leave it alone and not mangle it. It has very low layered "stuff" on it.

Hoping you are having fun with Valentine cards. I have loved making and getting them since elementary school when we got to make them at school and exchange them into boxes or bags that we decorated in class.

Happy February!!!

Carol

be my valentine

I forgot to get out this pretty heart last year and made sure I did for this year's Valentines Day. Lisa is our hostess for Just Us Girls Die Week #761: Use a Heart and I knew that this Greetery die set was perfect for the challenge. It only takes a minute to die cut once you choose your papers! Do get out your heart dies and join us this week! Check out all of the team cards as well as that of our new February guest, Stephanie Severin. I am also playing along  with this card over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Bright and Cheerful and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Love is in the Air.

Products I used:

The Greetery: Heart Arrow Die set

Simon Says Stamp: Wonky Rectangles die set

Stampin; Up!: P.S. I Love You stamp set

Concord and 9th: Mushroom mini ink pad

Park Lane: Foil Printed Paper Pad - Amsterdam Big Deal

Gold vellum sheet

White cardstock

The patterned paper sheet that I chose for my background is just one of many fun and pretty patterns in this paper pad and it matched my gold arrow! I stamped my sentiment on a scrap of this paper and fussy cut it into a rectangle. I chose this stitched rectangle die to cut the rectangle in order to keep the swirly pattern theme going. I plan to make more of this card design because it is simple and quick! I channeled my friend Karen Walker's sleek style (Instagram post) when making this card. 

I decided to also play over at The Paper Players Love is in the Air. Lots of Valentine fun over there!

Will we see your heart die creations in our Just Us Girls gallery this week? Hope so!

Carol