Sixty is Glitzy

Our sweet teammate Carol has come up with a fun challenge for Just Us Girls #779 for Word Week: Number. Use some sort of a number on your card. It could mean number of years old, anniversaries, a year, a date, etc. The design team has come up with a good variety of ideas for your inspiration. For fun, I went with a rhyming phrase for one of the birthdays that end in a zero.

Products I used:

Simon Says Stamp - Monstera stencil set

Alex Syberia - Foxtrot Alphabet die set

The Greetery - Postal Frames rectangle die

Distress Oxide ink pad

Distress ink pad

Silver and white glitter card stocks

Rhinestones

My card has a "glitzy" white glitter background and silver glitter letters for the sentiment and I added a few rhinestones for even more sparkle. To keep with the festive feel, I used bright, happy, pink inks for the monstera leaf. Don't you think the post office should make some cheerful stamps this summer with elements of the season?

So, make a card for someone that has a number on it for our challenge and we will see you in the gallery!

Carol

Happiness Comes in Waves

Continuing summer mode card making, I made a two cards for today using the same products plus some older hibiscus dies. Our Just Us Girls Challenge #778 Die Week is specifically layers. Sweet Ina asks that we use dies to make layers on the card. 

For both cards I started by ink blending my background, then stamping the tropical silhouette images. I used a cloud die for the black framed one and cut a wavy stencil for the water.

Starting with the white framed card, I die cut the collage frame and decided that two of them glued together would make the frame stand out better over the background. Then I adhered the frame/background piece to the A2 card base.

Next, I die cut and assembled the flowers and leaves, then arranged them on the collage frame. I popped some of the flowers up on foam tape for depth. I finished the card with a few sequins to match the flowers. I count five or six layers with the pieces that are added to the hibiscus for detail.

For the black silhouette card I added sunglasses like a card I saw here on Pinterest. My sunglasses card has four layers.

We hope you will sharing some layered cards with us this week. The team and our special guest Joanne James have given you lots of inspiration. Be sure to visit their blogs for inspiration.

Products I used:

Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Beach Days stamp set, Postage Collage Tropical Sunset dies, Postage collage Collage Bocks die

Altenew - 3D Hibiscus die set

Papertrey Ink - Beach Bag dies (sunglasses)

Ranger - Distress Oxide ink pads

Thanks for stopping by and checking in!

Carol

Happy Retirement!

I am definitely in summer mode with my cardmaking now and have been waiting for a challenge to fit this die set that is NBUS. Also...there is a person close to me who is about to retire and I needed a special card for the occasion. Our latest Time Out Challenge #290 is Pick Two: Recycle, Repeat, Ribbon, Bold, Weather, Place. You must use at least two of these in your design, but you can also use more than that. I used Repeat, Bold, Weather and Place. I have two trees and two pillows, the colors are bold, and the weather is good at the beach.

Products I used:

Honey Bee Stamps - Hammock die set

My Favorite Things - Life's a Beach stamp set

Ranger - Distress Oxide ink pads

Altenew - Obsidian Black ink pad

I started by watercoloring on a sheet of watercolor paper.  I created different sections in each color I needed for the palm leaves, the pillows, the hammock, etc. After it all dried, I die cut the elements from their corresponding colors. The trees have lots of palm fronds that give a nice texture and real-feel to them.

Next, I assembled the trees, hammock and pillows, then ink blended the background on the front of a white A2 card base. I was going to spatter some water on the background so I ink blended a bit roughly, then decided to leave it alone and not risk ruining the card with bad spattering. Last, I adhered all the elements of the beach scene and stamped the sentiment. 

We hope you will join us for our Pick Two challenge. Make sure to visit the team's blogs to see how they were inspired and also our guest Jaydee of Stampin' with Jaydee.

We are sponsored by our own Design Team Member Kate Lesh with this Sizzix Thinlets Die Set 664379, Garden Shed by Sophie Guilar as the prize for this challenge.

Be sure to join us...you can choose two or more of the words/concepts to make your card. Can't wait to see your creations in the gallery!

Carol

Hello Summer

I save mail and wrapping paper that can be recycled later into a card design. I have many Tommy Bahama envelopes and cards because they have beautiful florals on them. This card is a fussy cut project from a TB gift card. I am playing along with Freshly Made Sketches square card sketch and The Paper Players Recycling is In! 

Products I used:

Tommy Bahama card florals, fussy cut

Simon Says Stamp - Script Hello die

Sizzix - Vacation Words Block dies

This is a clean and simple CAS card. I decided to pop up the fussy cut flowers to look like they are hanging from an arbor. The green enamel dots add a little sparkle and shine in addition to the happy sentiment. That's it!

Happy summer to all!

Carol

Flowers for You

The colors over at Color Throwdown CTD833 are so pretty and the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #688 called out to me also, so I sat down to make a card using both sets of parameters. I dug out some old Stampin' Up! designer series paper that I have had for eons and cut into it.

Products I used:

The Greetery - Botanicuts Geranium dies, Pretty Pot die, Market Basket Sentiments stamp set

Avery Elle - Wonky Scalloped Frames die

SU! - Designer Series Paper

Altenew - Obsidian black ink pad

After a bit of die cutting, I assembled the flowers in the pot and adhered them (with foam tape) to the card front that I had already completed with the patterned paper and mats. 

I die cut and stamped the scalloped frame and tucked it in under the flowers. The flowers have optional extra petals and I added them to be able to bend them to look a bit more real.

Fun card to make!

Hope you have a nice weekend and are ready to welcome June already! Thanks for visiting.

Carol

Mini Postage Collage Thanks

When Waffle Flower recently came out with the mini postage collage frame I couldn't resist because who doesn't love miniatures of things: puppies, kittens, postage collage dies?!! This one is under 2" and has the matching stencil like its larger counterpart. SO cute! And the mini wax seals...come on!!

Our Just Us Girls Challenge #777, CASE a Design Team Member, is this week and you can CASE the colors, layout, postage, floral, wax seals or something else from my card or any of our cards as you wish. You need to tell us who you CASEd and how you took our card and made it your own.

Postage collage mini card closed.

Postage collage mini card slightly open.

Postage collage mini card wide open.

Using the mini collage die and stencil was just like the regular size...just as fun, but faster. I looked all through my stamps to find tiny images to stamp on the collage. It ended up being a heart, a bee and a bow. I decided to cut gold "stamps" instead of trying to gold emboss those tiny rectangles, and that led to gold for the one wax seal, leaves and stems. The seals are sooooo cute. I knew I had small sentiments and grabbed one that was good for the occasion I needed. I popped up the two envelopes and the mini card on foam tape.

Products I used:

Waffle Flower - Postage collage Mini Seals die set

Stampin' Up! - Dots embossing folder

Spellbinders - Aura sequins

Random mini stamps

Concord and 9th: Mini ink pads

Gold cardstock

We hope to see you play along this week. It will be fun to see what you create from our cards!

Carol

Good Times and Tan Lines

It is definitely summer now where I live. Hot temps and getting humid. (Insert sad face) Well, pool party anyone? For our Just Us Girls #776 Stencil week I chose to make a bird's eye view of a pool with bright umbrellas around it! I used two different stencils for my card.

First, I grabbed some dove grey cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot with my Ellen Hutson A2 Piercing Plate 2 for texture on the pool deck.

I die cut the pool edge three times using my Waffle Flower Nesting Rectangle Frames die set. I adhered the three rectangles together to raise the pool edge.

When the nesting rectangle die cuts the frame, you also get a center rectangle. I took one and stenciled pool water with My Favorite Things Perfect Pool Water stencil using a Ranger Tumbled Glass distress Oxide ink pad.

I made a white A2 card base and adhered the pool deck and pool to it.

Next, I die cut and stenciled pool umbrellas using my Waffle Flower Beach Umbrella Die-n-stencil set, using a Ranger Candied Apple distress ink pad. I added Tim Holtz idea-ology red pearls to the umbrellas. Then I popped up the umbrellas around the pool on foam tape and added some Concord and 9th Dew Drops (to look like splashes of water from the pool).

Last, I stamped my Colorado Craft Company Beach Life sentiment with Chipped Sapphire distress ink and adhered it to the pool.

We hope you will grab some stencils and join us this week! Thanks for visiting!

Carol