Happy Independence Day!

 Today we celebrate July 4th in the US as Independence day and I have a quilt card to share with you done in the colors of our US flag which is red, white, and blue. 

I used a MFT quilt die with some older retired SU! papers as well as a sentiment die from Lil Inkers to add the word Celebrate. I added a tiny punched red star in the center with another tiny die-cut star in the center of that one. I randomly added sparkle with tiny gemstones as well as bits of red, white, and blue glitter and mirror papers done with a hole punch. I sent this to someone celebrating a birthday recently but it's also perfect for the July 4th holiday.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Stars and/or Stripes

The Four Seasons Challenge - Summer Season July 2024 Season

A Cut Above (Use Die Cuts) - Start this new challenge off with a "Bang!"

Colorful Options July 2024 - Flags

Craft Rocket Challenge #116 - Summertime

Word Power #7 - Make Your Sentiment the Focus

Thanks for stopping by today and remember to keep your pets indoors when the fireworks start later today. Please use caution with fireworks too and have a safe and happy July 4th celebration.

Carol

USA

 I recently won this fun stamp set and stencil by playing in the Allsorts challenge, and with July 4th almost upon us, it was time to make a card with my new goodies. The stamp set and stencil are both by AALL & Create. I used the red. white, and blue patriotic theme, except for the Statue of Liberty which was colored with shades of green Copics. I added a stitched die cut oval, circle, and rectangle to place the stamped images on, and added a few tiny die-cut stars from my snippets box to finish this card.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

The Allsorts Challenge Week #787 - Way to Grow or the A/G option

Just Us Girls Challenge#733 - A/G using a Stencil 

July 2024 Stencil Challenge - Use a Stencil *OPT Shades of Blue

NBUS Challenge #64 - Never Before Used Schtuff (stamps and stencil)

Colorful Options July 2024 - Flags -USA flags are red, white, and blue

My links are finally working again and all it took was a power outage to fix it. It looks like I was missing an update in trying to resolve that issue, but everything updated once the power was restored. Our power went off Saturday night at 11 and didn't come back on until after 7:30 the following morning, so I guess my computer needed that long rest 😏

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day whatever you do.

Carol

Birthday Card

 I needed to add birthday cards to my stash and I often use this simple design because it makes great use of snippets and it goes together quickly. The embossed background was made with a retired SU! embossing folder and the main image was made with 3 die-cut circles in 3 different sizes; split in half and arranged to create the circle. The sentiment was heat-embossed with white ep on a strip of black and I added a tiny clear gemstone accent to finish this one.

I will share this with the Colorful Options challenge for January 2024 which is celebrating the colors of Iceland. Use one color, or any combination of colors shown in the photo below, or make a rainbow colored card if you wish.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone had a nice time welcoming in the new year. Have a great day!

Carol

Neon Birthday Card

 My friend's grandson will soon be celebrating his 5th birthday so I put this little card together for him. I made a panel of colorful strips of PTI bitty box basics dsp that I've had for probably a decade or more and placed it on a black card base. I used many different die cut pieces to put this together and if you want to know any specifics, let me know in a comment and I'll get back to you with those. Those 5 tiny candles were done with a tiny birthday candle die and I added glaze pen accents to the flames. I added a pre-printed SSS sentiment, then added 5 gems to the number 5 just to bring more color onto the card. I don't often use black for a child's card, but I think this works with all the different colors.

I'll share this with:

 the October 2023 Colorful Options Challenge - Neons

The Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - A/G

 

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

A Snarky Halloween Card

 While at a friend's house some time ago, she showed me this hilarious stamp and matching sentiment that she found at a craft show, and I had to make several copies to bring home because I couldn't stop giggling LOL

I colored this witch with fluorescent Copics and die cut it with a MFT stitched circle die. I used a retired SU! black doily underneath it and added the sentiment along with some random black Nuvo drops and placed it on a SSS Orange Peel cardstock base. It certainly makes a statement for Halloween doesn't it? LOL

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge for September - A/G Halloween

The Colorful Options September 2023 challenge - Outrageous Orange

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

I spotted this on a sign on the way home yesterday and since my card is snarky, I figured I'd add this to the post for an extra giggle. I don't know who comes up with this stuff, but I'm grateful for the chuckles LOL

If you fall down in your driveway, it's your own asphalt.

Keep Smiling! 😊

Carol

Patriotic Cards

I thought I'd share some more cards I made for July 4th. I used lots of snippets of metallic and glittered cardstock along with sequins and gemstones and anything that sparkled to create these cards. The Celebrate die is from Lil Inker, and the larger stars were cut with Sweet 'n Sassy star dies. The tiny star embossing folder is from Darice and all those tiny stars and diamonds were doo-dads I saved from previous projects.

For this design, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder that reminded me of stripes. The smaller red star was done with a SU! retired mini punch.

Here are 3 of them together with the star embossing folder. All done in red, white, blue and silver.

 I'm entering the first card into these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge  - A/G

Four Seasons Summer July 2023 Challenge - A/G Summer related

Colorful Options July 2023 - use Red, White, and Blue

Allsorts Challenge week # 735 - A/G or optional Summertime

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Quilt Cards

I was recently trying to use up some designer paper bits and I guess the patriotic bug hit me as we approach the July 4th Independence day celebration here in the USA. I went with the red, white and blue color scheme which are the colors of our nation's flag. I used a MFT quilt die to create this birthday card, adding a die-cut sentiment from Gina Marie Designs. I added the tiny fishtail banner with a heat-embossed "happy" done with white embossing powder. The star in the center was created with a retired SU! mini star punch and a die-cut negative from a star border by SSS that I've had for years. The person I sent this to is celebrating her birthday today.

 I made a 2nd card with those SU! snippets of paper to create this card. I put the die-cut celebrate on the front and put a large "YOU" inside along with fireworks exploding in the sky. I made it for a friend of mine who's birthday is on July 4th, so she always loved the red, white and blue colors and especially loved that her birthday was on a national holiday and there were fireworks to celebrate each year. Sadly, she passed away 2 weeks ago just shy of her 82nd birthday, and exactly 2 months after her husband of 62 years passed. I'm sad that she won't get to see and enjoy her card this year, and even more sad that I lost a life-long friend, but I somehow find comfort in knowing she and her husband are together again in another realm.

I'm sharing the first card with the Colorful Options July 2023 challenge which is red, white, and blue.

Thanks for stopping by on this Sunday and I wish you all a great day.

Carol

Blue Glitter Thank-you Card

 I made this thank-you card with some blue glitter paper and some MFT stitched horizontal dies. I also used assorted heart dies and a KaiserCraft thank-you die with some pre-embossed cardstock. This was quick and easy to make and the glitter paper did all the fancy work for me!

Sharing with the Colorful Options May 2023 challenge - Blue

Quick and Easy today, but thanks so much for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful spring weekend!

Carol

Sympathy

 I dug deep into my paper stash and found these snippets of some long-retired SU! papers and made a sympathy card with them. I guess you could say I've hoarded them, but I thought these pretty colors and patterns would  work for a sympathy card which I needed to make. The butterfly is an unbranded die that a friend gave to me years ago, and I used a MFT notched border die which was also a gift from a friend years ago that I use quite often. The sentiment is SU! teeny tiny wishes (r) and I added 3 diamond gems to the butterfly to finish it.

I'll share this with these challenges:

The Snippets playground #453 - must use snippets

The Sisterhood of Crafters "Butterflies" Challenge

the Colorful Options May challenge - Blue

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful day in May! April sure did fly by quickly didn't it??

Carol

St. Patrick's Day Gnome

 I wanted to make a St. Patrick's day card with a gnome, but I had to improvise as this cute Inkadinkado stamp has nothing to do with St. Patrick's day at all. As a matter of fact, he's holding a big flower and has a little bumble bee on his hat to represent spring. I cut 3 shamrocks with Taylored Expression dies from gold, dark green and grass green and turned the flower into a "bouquet" of shamrocks! I added a little sparkly green sticker to the center, and added a shamrock sticker to cover the bee on his hat. The clouds were done with T.E. stencils and Tumbled Glass ink, and I added die-cut clouds and a rainbow (done with Lil Inker dies) that I've had in my snippets box for quite some time. The grassy border was done with a SNSS grass die and the horizontal border was also in my snippet box conveniently done in a green color. I die-cut the gold and pastel green bits from scraps and a SSS hexagon border die, and carefully glued them into 2 of the rows pf the border. I heat-embossed the SU! sentiment in gold on another snippet of green and matted it with white. The tiny butterfly was also heat-embossed with gold and colored green and was made to cover up a big boo-boo! Lesson learned - do NOT squeeze your Wink of Stella glitter pen on top of an almost finished card! It left a big glob of silvery goo on the clouds, so I just covered it up with a green and gold butterfly. I colored the gnome with Copics and a gold glitter pen and after much work, I finally called this one done! LOL

I got this card in the mail earlier this morning, so hopefully it will be received in time for the St. Patrick's day festivities.

Here are the challenges I'm entering this card into...

The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge - use the color of GREEN

the Colorful Options March 2023 Challenge - GREEN

Try it on Tuesday Challenge - go GREEN

The Allsorts Challenge #719 - A/G *option a trio of something (3 shamrocks)

the March Stencil Fun Challenge - Must Use a Stencil *Option CAS

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow,

and may trouble avoid you wherever you go!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a happy Monday!

Carol

Shamrock Treat Boxes

 I have friends coming by later today so I made a few of these St. Patrick's day treat boxes that hold a Lindor truffle candy inside. I used a Lawn Fawn tiny gift box die set to create the boxes; then used the matching stitched circle die with some gold mirror card to make the golden "coins." I have a lot of shamrock stickers I've collected through the years, so I put a large one in the center of the coin, and placed a smaller sticker on each of the other sides of the box. I've always loved making little treats to hand out to others and I managed to use most of those stickers at the same time.

I'll share with these challenges:

Colorful Options March 2023 - Green

Color Hues #59 - Green and Gold

The Double D Challenge for March - everything is coming up Green

Wishing you all a very happy Monday as well as a great week ahead. 

Thanks for stopping by, it's always nice to see you 😉

Carol

Another Bird-Day Card

 I'm not a big fan of the color pink, but this image just needed to be pink, so here goes. I believe the image is from Lindy's Stamp gang and I stamped it at a friend's house many years ago, and recently dug it out of the cobwebs and decided to finally turn it into a card. I colored it with Copics and layered it with black and pastel pink snippets of cardstock. The background paper and polka dot strip were also snippets of designer paper. The sentiment is also from LSG and I die cut that panel with a SNSS ticket die, rubbing a black marker around the edge to make it more visible. That tiny little cake is a brand new item I'm using for the first time. I recently won a cute Sizzix thinlits die set and the birthday cake was part of it. I cut it from the same panel of pastel pink and some white, coloring the frosting and strawberries on top with Copic markers. Hopefully this brings a smile to the person who receives it on their birthday. I have a friend who dreads (perhaps even HATES) pink flamingoes, so I might send it to her as a snarky card just for laughs :)

Entering into these challenges:

The Snippets Playground Challenge #447 - must use snippets

NBUS Challenge #47 - something never before used

Colorful Options February 2023 - Pink

Stamping Sensations February Challenge - Anything Stamped

with an option to use this sketch

We Love Stamping February Challenge - Anything stamped

with an option to use a stencil

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Carol

Thanks

 I made time to make another card by using up many strips of paper lying on my desk for quite a while. I adhered matching strips to a scrap of white in a herringbone design; then die-cut the panel with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle. I die-cut the card base as well. The sentiment panel was done with a Spellbinders labels die, and I added random silver and white stems found in my snippets box. I added a layered punched mini flower. The sentiment was die-cut 3 times and stacked, then covered with glossy accents for a little shine. I added 3 large rhinestones and a smaller one to the flower center and called this one done.

I'm sharing this over at the Snippets Playground Challenge #444. This time the challenge has a theme - "anything but Christmas" 

Also sharing with the Colorful Options January Challenge - basic black

Either I've forgotten how to center text on my blog, or blogger has done away with it because I can no longer do it the way I've done it for years. The new year will bring many more changes along with it I'm sure :)

Thanks for dropping by and have yourself the best possible day.

Carol

Red, White, and Blue Thank-You

Hello and a very happy Monday.

Happy Independence day to my American friends who are celebrating today too.

 I didn't make any July 4th cards this year, but I did make this card some time ago and decided it was just too busy to post it LOL Then today I decided since I had nothing else to share with the red, white, and blue patriotic holiday, I'd post it anyway.

I had a small piece of red, white and blue striped dsp which had pastel blue stars on the reverse side. The tiny border had the dark blue background with tiny stars, and I found another snippet of red & white striped paper. I randomly cut all the pieces into bits, then added a full layer of adhesive onto a 4x5-1/4 piece of white cardstock with my Xyron. I randomly added the bits to the adhesive, leaving gaps between them, then sprinkled on some white pearl embossing powder and heat set everything. Next I die-cut a piece of the striped paper with a MFT diagonal stitched die, and placed it across the front with a snippet of ribbon behind it. The Thank-You die cut by Kaisercraft was in my snippets box (a pre-cut with a different color) that I colored up with a dark red Copic. As if this wasn't already busy enough, I added a couple red mirror card stars done with a retired SU! mini punch!

Lastly I placed it on a dark blue card base.

Here's a little close up of that pearl embossing powder.

I'll add this to the Color Hues #44 Challenge which is

the colors of Red and Blue.

Also adding to the Colorful Options Challenge for July 2022

which is red. white, and blue

Thanks for stopping by and make it a wonderful day!

Carol