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

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

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

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

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

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

Cards for Ukraine

Cardmakers from all over the world are flooding the internet with blue and yellow cards to show support for Ukraine in this nightmare they are living. I wanted to join in this effort, as does the Color Hues Color Challenge blog. If you decide to participate, be sure to use the #cardsforukraine on social media.

Products I used:

Concord and 9th: Thinking of You stamp and die sets

My Favorite Things: hearts stencil 

Prismacolor pencils

Wink of Stella pen

I ink blended, then stenciled hearts on a white panel with blue and yellow inks, then cut out the sentiment from it. I die cut, stamped, then colored the floral frame and added Wink of Stella for sparkle. That's it.

I hope you will join the Color Hues challenge so we can continue to let the people of Ukraine know we are at least praying for/thinking of them. One Ukrainian, Yana Smakula, who is well known in the cardmaking world, is updating her Instagram account to let her followers know what is happening where she is...and she for one, is seeing the support from around the world whether it be prayers, cards, donations, or other help being sent to her country. I know there will be more help needed as time goes on, but this is a start.

-Carol