Sympathy Card

When a long-time friend's mother passed away recently, I realized I had no sympathy cards in my stash, so I quickly made this one. I stamped the background with a little wooden leaf stamp (gifted to me by Mary Anne) with Versamark and embossed it with white ep. I also used a stick stamp by Judith for the little speckles, done just like the leaves. I sponged Spun Sugar distressed ink all over the panel, and then used a SB labels 25 for the silver-embossed SU! sentiment, adding some satin ribbon and a few tiny pink gemstones.

I'm sharing this with the Cards in Envy challenge this week which is "Pretty Pastels."

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is just perfect!

Carol

Another Card for Mother's Day

 The challenge at Cards in Envy is to make a black and white card. A small pop of color is ok too, so here is what I made. I'm not sure I'm fond of these colors for a mother's day card, but it's done, and hopefully someone will like it. I pulled this unknown piece of dsp from a pack I bought without a cover and die-cut the Simon Says Stamp large heart doily in white. I took some red crochet thread and stitched around the inside of the heart for that little pop of color. The sentiment is from SU! and the heart-shaped gemstones are from Hero Arts.

That's all I have for today, but thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Keeping it Simple

I used a GinaK Stately Flowers #6 rose image for my card today. I colored it with Copics, and die-cut the panel with Lil Inkers stitched rectangles, matting with a narrow black mat. The dsp is from a black & white paper pad I snagged for a bargain price at Tuesday Morning because the cover was missing, so I'm sorry I have no idea who the manufacturer might be. I love the delicate old-fashioned lacy look of it and I thought the rose looked perfect with it. I'll add the sentiment whenever I use this card. It can be a great Mother's day card, or used for many different occasions as well.

I'm entering this into the Cards in Envy - "Keep it Simple" challenge.

Wishing you a wonderful day whatever you happen to be doing! Thanks for taking time to stop by!


Carol

One Wild Ride

There's a blue and red card challenge going on over at Cards in Envy this week, so here's my entry using SU!'s One Wild Ride stamp set that I borrowed from my friend Mary Anne. I used Lil Inker stitched rectangles to cut the soft stone image panel and the Pacific Point blue card base. The sentiment was stamped on white and cut with a Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, moving it to each side to cut to the size I wanted. The inside says "Said no one ever!" The red banner was heat embossed with silver on red and fussy cut, then popped up on foam tape. I have a friend who rides a motorcycle and this will probably be heading his way soon.

Thanks for checking in today, and I wish you a great Monday!

Carol

Some Bunny Loves You

Here's a Valentine made with a Lawn Fawn stamp set and some black & white dsp from a huge paper pad I bought for a song because it had no cover. I embossed the background with a SU! ef, and cut a couple banners, adding the image panel on top. The little bitty banner at the top was done with a SU! punch and I added a punched red heart along with a tiny white brad to the center. The final touch was to add some liquid applique to the bunny's tail and puff it up with a heat gun.

I'm sharing this with the Cards in Envy "Be My Valentine" challenge.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. Happy stamping, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Pink & Gray

Sorry for the bad photo of today's card. It's a cloudy day here and no sun = bad pictures!

The challenge at Cards in Envy this week is to use the colors of pink and gray, so I pulled out some pastel pink bazzill cardstock along with some pre-embossed designer paper I found at Tuesday Morning for a bargain price. I die cut the heart with a SSS thank-you heart die set, then stamped it with a SU! Pictogram Punch sentiment, adding a silver mirror card punched heart done with a SU! mini heart punch. The scalloped heart border was done with a SNSS die in both pink and basic gray cardstock, and I interchanged the gray hearts into the pink for a little fun interest.

Most times I make 2 of each card to build up my supply, so I made a 2nd card of this design but I had a smudge on the sentiment...

so I added some sparkly gray and silver twine tied into a little bow. The only other difference is that this version has a gray card base while the one above is pink.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a great day whatever you happen to be doing!

Carol

Season of Joy

I made a CAS card - something you rarely see on this blog. Hah! I was playing with an older MFT stamp set, using the sentiment for the cards in the previous post, and found this cute little bird I'd forgotten about. I stamped him on white, colored with Copics, and die-cut with a GinaMarieDesigns stitched square. I matted with a die-cut SB scalloped square from a snippet of green lying on my table, then did a final mat with another die-cut square of red. I used a MB woodland branch to die cut a piece of branch for him to perch on. The sentiment is from a retired SU! stamp set.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges...

HLS January Christmas challenge - anything goes /optional twist - "joy"

Cards in Envy - snow bird challenge

Snippets Playground weeks 263 and 263 - must use snippets

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a happy freezin' season! Winter is here with our morning temperature of 10 degrees!!  Brrrrr!

Carol

Christmas Horse

This beautiful and amazing horse stamp by B&J's Art Stamps was gifted to me by Princess Judy Palmer recently and I was so happy I found some extra time to play with it over the weekend. Since my husband and I are both avid horse lovers, I made this card for him for Christmas. I stamped and clear-embossed the image on watercolor paper, coloring it with a combination of watercolor crayons and pencils. I fussy cut the image and placed it on another water-colored background, creating a wreath to go around his neck with some fussy-cut holly leaves and red gemstones in 3 different sizes. I added some red and green chalk-colored banners on the side that were stamped with a Merry Christmas sentiment. The image panel was die cut with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die to give it a defined border. If I'd have remembered to leave some white stockings on his legs, this horse would look exactly like the one my hubby once owned :)

Thanks again for your generosity PJ - I know my husband is going to be very surprised and happy with this Christmas card this year :)

I'm sharing this with the Cards in Envy - celebrate the season challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Monday!

Carol

Pink and Purple Birthday Card

I've had this Hero Arts cupcake image in my stash for a long time and decided it was time to make a card with it. I made a herringbone background with strips of purple/pink papers; then die cut that panel and the card base with Lil Inker stitched rectangles. The tag was made with a SU! punch, and I pierced the top using a SU! piercing template before adding the dsp layers. I paper pieced the cupcake wrapper and added glitter to the frosting along with some glossy accents to the cherry on top. The sentiment is from SU! Teeny Tiny Wishes. I added a snippet of ribbon to the top to finish this birthday card.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Cards In Envy - Wouldn't that be "Sweet" challenge

the Snippets Playground #259 - must use snippets

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a fantastic Monday!

Carol

Quilted Thank-You

I made a set of quilted Christmas thank-you cards with some leftover snippets of SU! Christmas dsp, and today I'm sharing one of those cards. I began with 1" punched squares, cutting some in half, and the others cut in half diagonally. I arranged them in a pattern that was pleasing to my eye and glued them onto a 3x3 square. I added an I.O. die-cut button to the center, cutting strips of matching green cardstock to weave through the buttonholes. The colors are cherry cobbler, gumball green, and white, with a SU! sentiment done in cherry cobbler ink.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

the Snippets Playground #257 - must use snippets

Cards in Envy Challenge - make a thank you card

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful week ahead. Good luck with Cyber Monday shopping too :)

Carol

Purple & Green Sympathy Card

When I'm in the mood, I make several sympathy cards just to keep on hand, and this is one of those cards. I began with a Gina K cardstock base of Wild Lilac, embossed a frame with a Spellbinders scalloped petite oval, and added a white die-cut petite oval to the center. The flower was cut with a Darice Daisy die in Wild Lilac, Gumball Green, and Basic Black, and I fussy cut the lilac flowers to glue right on top of the green. The black flower centers seemed to balance all the colors together for me. The sentiment was done with SU! Teeny Tiny Wishes and 2 SU! punches.

I'm sharing this with the Cards in Envy challenge - to use purple and green colors. How could I not play along with this challenge as purple and green is my favorite color combination!?

Have a happy Monday and take good care!

Carol

Framed Birthday

I found a couple random pieces of red glittered paper, so I pulled out a long-neglected Inkadinkado birthday sentiment and decided to make a birthday card. I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white card, then die cut it with a Gina Marie stitched oval. To create the frame, I used 2 smaller stitched oval dies; placing one inside the other to cut the glittered frame, then placed that over the larger white oval. I created the card base frame with 2 Lil Inker stitched rectangles, again creating the frame by cutting the 2 pieces together. I added some tiny flowers done with SU! punches and little pearls inside them.

I'm sharing this over at the Cards in Envy challenge which is to "frame it."

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Carol

Happy Fall Y'All

There's a lot of work that went into this simple card, but I covered most of it up! LOL The background panel is composed of 1" squares of some long-retired Basic Grey Indian Summer dsp that I pieced together and die-cut with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle. The panel on top of that was sponged with distress inks in fall colors, then I spritzed a leaf stamp with water and pressed it into the inks, leaving a shadow image of the leaves. I used a SNSS Cocoa Mouse image and sentiment, coloring the leaf with Copics to match the inked panel beneath it. I used an EK success leaf border punch to get the tiny leaves and acorns for the lower border. All layers were cut with Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies.

I'm sharing this with the Snippets Playground #247 since I used lots of  snippets.

 I'm also sharing it with the Cards in Envy "Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall" challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Monday whatever you're doing.

Carol

B.F.F.

I had this cute free digi image by Chrissy Armstrong in my files for quite a while, and finally printed it, colored it, and made a card with it. I used Copics to color it, and added some colored stickers from my stash for the "Best Friend Forever" theme. (sorry for the glare on the "F" sticker) I die-cut the image panel with a Gina Marie Designs stitched square die, adding a snippet of ribbon with a dog-bone brad. The black mats for the stickers were cut with a Gina Marie Designs stitched circle die and everything was placed on a Pacific Point cardstock base.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon #358 - "Fur-ever Friends"

Cards in Envy - "For the Kids" challenge

Shopping our Stash SOS#268 - Mary Had a Little Lamb - use farm animals

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Wednesday!

Carol

It's Hip to be Square!

The challenge at Cards In Envy is to make square cards, or cards with squares on them. I used my Gina Marie stitched square dies to create a square thank-you card. I just layered some brown, orange, red, and honey cardstocks, placing a MB vivienne butterfly on top. Of course I cut the butterfly in several colors, swapping the inserts for assorted colors. For the final touch I added some very tiny gemstones to the body and antennae. The inside has a nice thank-you sentiment.

I'm also sharing this over at the Snippets Playground #243 which is to always use snippets. This butterfly has plenty of those!

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Monday!

Carol

Butterfly Birthday

I found this piece of pretty cardstock in my stash that looks like it was water colored, so I designed this card around the colors. I used 2 MB butterfly dies; the Darice, and Vivienne to make the butterfly. The "birthday" word die cut is by SNSS, while the "happy" die cut is from SSS. I used turquoise and Melon Mambo card stock, along with some matching sequins.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Cards in Envy "wings" challenge - use anything with wings on your card and make it flat enough to mail in an envelope without extra postage.

The Butterfly Challenge #59 - "P is for Punches and/or Pink." I went with the pink color of Melon Mambo.

Thanks for checking in and I wish you a fabulous day!

Carol

Lemonade Anyone?

I've been using pre-made elements on cards lately, trying to clean up all of the unfinished items that I've accumulated through the crafting years. This herringbone background was made with 1/4" strips of cardstock left over from various cuttings. I just put them together in random fashion and ended up with a summery mix which I toned down with a black card base. The image is from IO and I colored it with Copics, adding some wink of stella to the lemons in the pitcher, as well as the cherry and strawberry. The sentiment is from SSS. I'm entering this into the Cards in Envy challenge which is "Summer Cards - or cards with hot colors."

I wish you a great Thursday, and I think I'm going to go make a pitcher of lemonade now. Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Cocoa Mouse Cards

Here's my favorite character to stamp and color - he's Cocoa mouse and he's from Sweet'n Sassy Stamps and he's sending some get well wishes. I colored the image with Copics, adding fluorescent blue to the band-aid, along with some tiny stars and hand-drawn squiggly lines above his "boo-boo." The paper is ancient, and I believe it's from the Wild Asparagus collection if memory serves me correctly. I die-cut the image with a Gina Marie stitched squares die.

The challenge at Cards in Envy this week is to use "stripes" so I'm entering this card there.

Lately I've been trying to make at least 2 of each card to fill up my stash, so I made a different one using this SNSS Cocoa mouse image:

This was done in shades of pink & brown, using snippets of matching designer paper, and a couple snippets of ribbon. I attached the ribbon with a pink brad and called this one done.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Carol

Masculine Birthday

Today I have another masculine birthday card, done with some silver and red mirror cardstock and the SB sprockets die set. The background was done with a SB M-bossabilities kickin' rubber folder with charcoal cardstock, sponged with pumice stone distress ink to give it a weathered look. The horizontal panel was done with smoky slate cardstock, embossed with a diamond plate ef and katted with black. The sentiment is by Lily of the Valley, and the red dots were done with a hole punch and covered with glossy accents.

I'm sharing this over at the Cards in Envy challenge which is "no girls allowed" - in other words; make a masculine card.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Monday!

Carol

Blue Thank You

I have a quick and easy thank-you card to share today. I cut a tag from some royal blue cardstock, and added a KaiserCraft Thank-you die cut in white, attaching it to the Recollections polka dot dsp with 3 white mini brads. See? I told you it was quick and easy :)

I'm sharing this with the Cards in Envy "Deep Blue" challenge.

It's blue, and it's Monday, but there's no connection :) We have brilliant sunshine today, so it's going to be a bright Monday for a change :)

Thanks for checking in and I hope you make the most of your day!

Carol