Sailing Away

 Thinking of cool water can add a little bit of relief in these hot summer temperatures, so I pulled out 2 different Sweet 'n Sassy stamp sets to make this card.  I colored the stamp with different Memento inks and stamped it onto white, adding Copic marker accents to the image with assorted shades of blue to give it a water colored look without doing actual water coloring. The sky was done with T.E. cloud stencils and some tumbled glass ink. The sentiment was stamped on a Lil Inker stitched die cut and the image was backed with navy cardstock.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

 The Allsorts Challenge Blog Week #738 - Summer Blues

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #327 - On The Water

The Male Room Challenge #176 - Travel

Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge for July - A/G

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're managing to keep cool where you live. Have a great day!

Carol

Garden Gnome

I had the Inkadinkado Garden Gnome stamp set on my table and stamped another image from it for the first time. I colored it with Copics, adding Wink of Stella glitter for a little subtle sparkle. I added some yellow glaze pen accents to the little bee on his hat and used a gold paint pen for his belt buckle. The Pink Fresh sunburst stencil set got it's first outing too with this background and I added a Lawn Fawn sentiment to finish it. I used Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies for the image and card base panels, backing the image with a piece of black cardstock.

I'll enter this card into these challenges:

the July Stencil Fun Challenge - A/G using a stencil *opt. birthday theme

NBUS challenge #52 - never before used schtuff (stencil set, stamp)

We Love Stamping July Challenge - Fabulous Florals with *opt. A/G

Stamping Sensations July Challenge - Summer Flowers with *opt. A/G

the Happy Little Stampers July Stencil Challenge - A/G

Thanks for stopping by today and may this day be a good one for you!

Carol

Summer Birthday Card

 Today I have a summery birthday card to share with you. While sorting through my overwhelming supply of stamps, I found this long-forgotten Black-Eyed Susan stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers (now closed) I stamped it and colored it with Copics, Markers, and glaze pens; adding Nuvo black drops in the center and dotting some orange with glaze pens after it dried. I fussy cut this flower and placed it on a white card that was stenciled with Tumbled Glass distress ink and Taylored Expressions cloud stencils. I die cut the large and small sun images from Lil Inker (also now closed) with scraps of orange, red, and yellow. The birds and dragonfly were done with an older Sweet 'n Sassy stamp set, while the sentiment was done with a Taylored Expressions stamp. The grassy border was done with an unmarked wooden stamp I've had for years.

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

Four Seasons August Challenge - A/G with a summer theme

the Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge August - A/G 

AAA Birthday Challenge #40 - A/G Birthday

Craft Rocket Challenge #95 - Flowers

Just Us Girls Challenge #645 - Use a Stencil

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a very happy, pleasant day!

Carol

Stenciled Birthday Card

 I made this card a while ago and forgot to post it. I started with a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock, stenciling it with white ink and a Tim Holtz stone stencil. I added a die-cut Cheery Lynn stem along with some polka dot flowers done with SU! mini punches. I placed some tiny pearls into the flower centers. The sentiment is a pre-print from Simon Says Stamp and the frame was a left-over remnant I found in my snippets box.

I'm sharing this with...

The Happy Little Stampers July Stencil Challenge - A/G

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a great day whatever you're doing!

Carol

Yellow Floral Birthday Card

 While I had my Altenew Dahlia stencils out recently, I decided to make another card with them using the color yellow. For this background I used Distress inks of Lemonade and Mustard. The flowers were stamped on pieces that match the card base, clear heat embossed, and fussy cut. I die cut the centers from polka dot dsp and placed them on the centers. The leaves and flowers are both from a very old Hero Arts Stamp set that I've had probably 8 years or more. The sentiment is by Sweet 'n Sassy (from 2009) and I colored inside the letters with a matching Copic marker, and placed it all on a die-cut MFT fishtail flag banner. 

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

The Retro Rubber Challenge #182- Flower Power

HLS May Stencil Challenge - A/G with stencil

The Four seasons May Spring Challenge - A/G Spring 

Craft Rocket Challenge #92 - Birthday

Just Us Girls Challenge #631 - Word Week - "Flowers"

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Spring Birthday Card

 I'm trying to use my older purchased items instead of buying new. Today's card makes use of older dies, snippets of cardstock and designer paper and an embossing folder.

I started with the Joanna Sheen Daffodil die I've had for quite a few years. I cut it from snippets of green, yellow and orange, fussy cutting portions and interchanging them to look like the color of daffodils. The tag was cut with a Lawn Fawn die, and I added a heat-embossed gold circle to the top, adding a little twine bow. I stenciled the tag with a Data Dots stencil and some Pumice Stone distress ink before placing the flowers on top. The green strip of designer paper is by SU! and the yellow panel is from a paper pad by Teresa Collins (very old). I embossed the card base with a Cuttlebug pinking stitch EF and added a pre-printed sentiment from SSS, backing it with a snippet of black card. I'm pleased with how this turned out and it will be going in the mail in a week or so.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge #66 - use scraps

Dies R Us Challenge #189 -A/G using dies sold in their store 

(Lawn Fawn)

Seize the Birthday #234 - Green & White or A/G

the Allsorts Challenge Blog week #668 - Feminine

The Little Red Wagon #636 - Emboss everything

Happy Little Stampers March Stencil Challenge -A/G

That's going to do it for me today, but thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you're in the midst of having a great week!

Carol

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Here's a little card I made to mark this special day that has a rainbow, white clouds and a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. 

I started by stenciling some clouds with Taylored Expressions cloud stencils and some Tumbled Glass distress ink. The rainbow and clouds were made with Lil Inker dies from snippets, and the stitched clouds were covered with Wink of Stella for a little shimmer. The pot was made with a SU! ornament punch (r) and I added some golden coins with a tiny circle die; adding a TE die-cut shamrock on the front along with some some sparkly gemstones too. The sentiment  was done with a very old Crealies text tag die, adding a SU! (R- 2009) teeny tiny wishes stamp along with a couple stickers I had in my stash.

I'll enter this into....

the Retro Rubber Challenge #178 - A/G must use stamps older than a year

the Happy Little Stampers March Stencil challenge - A/G using a stencil

Thanks for stopping by and as you celebrate this St. Patrick's day, keep this in mind...

As you slide down the banister of life,

May the splinters always be facing the right direction.

Carol

 

Alfie

Here's a valentine I made with a favorite stamp from my collection. This is Alfie, a stamp from Unity that I've treasured for years! I stamped the image with light grey ink, then colored him with Copics, adding a few darkened highlights with a marker pen. I used a MFT stitched circle die along with a Spellbinders scalloped circle die in darker blue to place Alfie on. I used some T.E. cloud stencils to create the sky along with Tumbled Glass distress ink; then added the Inky Antics (1999) sentiment. I finished the card with a few tiny glittered heart stickers I've had for ages!

This might be my favorite Valentine I've made this year so far.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

Critter Crazy Challenge Blog #59 = A/G featuring a critter

A Place to Start challenge #202202 February 2022 - A/G

(Optional - My Fauna Valentine (include a critter)

the Happy Little Stampers February Stencil Challenge - A/G

Dies R Us Challenge #186 - Valentines/Love 

(Must use dies sold in their store) - Spellbinders

The Paper Players PP577 theme challenge -

Love & Friendship

That's going to be it for me for today, but I hope your week is off to a good start, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Carol

Magical Birthday

Weeks ago I received a free gift pack of shaker elements with an order from Kat Scrappiness that I wanted to use, so I made a shaker card for a little one. The shaker elements are faces of cats, chicks and other animals and come in an assortment of fun colors. I stenciled the background with a Catherine Pooler stencil and some LuLu Lavender ink from Memento. Each shaker element was made with retired SU! punches and a few bits of lavender cardstock. I added a pre-printed Simon Says Stamp sentiment panel and added a few sequins with droplets of lavender Stickles in the centers and called this one done.

I'm entering this into the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #509

Also entering into the last Cute Card Thursday Challenge #683

This challenge blog is sadly closing with this final A/G challenge

{the link party for this reached maximum capacity, so I won't be entering there after all}

Also adding to the Happy Little Stampers October Stencil Challenge - A/G

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Friday is going well. Our power was out all afternoon and it's raining and windy, so it's not the best of weather, but I'm happy the power came back on shortly after 4 PM!

Take care and have a fun Halloween weekend!

Carol

Bitty Birthday Flowers

         

This card has already been sent, so now I'll share it here. I stenciled the white card base with a data dots stencil and some pastel blue ink, then die-cut a stitched frame of turquoise and embossed it with a retired SU! ef. The branches were die cuts also, and the itty bitty flowers were created with a retired SU! mini flower punch. I dotted the centers with black Nuvo drops and added a pre-printed SSS sentiment. The butterfly and bee were done with SNSS stamps and colored with glaze pens.

      I'll share this with the following challenges:

 The Flower Challenge #60 - the color turquoise

The Happy Little Stampers September Stencil Challenge  - A/G

Addicted to Stamps and More #413 - birthdays

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a terrific Thursday!

Carol

Birthday Bouquet

My card today was made with dies and punches. I used a snippet of teal-colored dsp and matted it with lavender using GMD Venetian Label Dies. The vase was created with a retired SU! ornament punch, snipping the bottom off and adding a purple and white twine bow. I made a branch in white using a SU! Bouquet Bunch framelit die, and added mini lavender flowers done with a retired SU! mini punch. I added teal-colored gemstones to the flower centers and added a small sentiment. I did some very light stenciling with a Data Dots stencil and a stencil brush, using Lulu Lavender ink. I had to reduce the brightness of the photo for the stenciling to show in the photo.

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:

The Color Hues Challenge #18 - purple and teal

Seize the Birthday Challenge #214 - Make it a Bouquet

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - use dies and/or punches

Happy Little Stampers May Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Happy Little Stampers May Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

I hope your Wednesday is a good one, and I hope you're having beautiful weather like we are here in PA today! Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

 

Easter Bunny

 I recently won a prize from STAMPlorations and chose this Broken Glass stencil for my prize. I thought it would make a pretty Easter card so that's what I made. I used distress inks and small brushes to color it. I used  Tempting Turquoise cardstock to make the card base and mat, and used some MFT stitched oval dies to make the focal point. I stamped the (r) SU! bunny image with Memento ink and colored it in with a light tan marker. I used some pink for the eye and ears and used a chocolate marker for the nose. The grass was made with a Sweet'n Sassy die and I added a little bow that was recycled from another card.

I'm going to enter this into the challenges listed below:

NBUS #24 - the stencil is brand new

2 Crafty Critter Crazies March - use a critter

Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge - a/g

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - a/g

Craft Rocket Challenge #79 - use dies and/or spring

Just Us Girls Challenge #574 - word week "animals"

STAMPlorations March Stencil challenge - a/g and must use a stencil

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

Carol

Cards with Flowers

I made a couple of cards with flowers cut with SU! Bouquet Bunch framelit dies. The flowers were already pre-cut and in my snippet box, along with assorted stems, leaves and greens so I decided it was time to put them all to use.

First up is a birthday card. I used 3 of the die-cut flowers and added a die-cut stem and leaf, attaching it all to a die-cut stitched oval, and placing it on a plum colored piece of cardstock. The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set, heat-embossed on black with white ep and trimmed into flag tails with a hexagon punch. I added some Nuvo Crystal drops to the flower centers for a little sparkle

 

Next up is a card with a sentiment from a brand new Gina K designs stamp set that I bought some time ago and never used. I created the clouds in the sky with Taylored Expressions stencils and some Tumbled Glass distress ink. The flower centers were dotted with Black Nuvo drops and I stamped some birds, a dragonfly, and a butterfly with Versafine Onyx black ink. The sentiment was heat-embossed on black with white ep.

Both cards are for the Twofer Challenge #4 - flowers

I'm also sharing the 2nd card with

the STAMPlorations blog January Stencil challenge - a/g

Also sharing with the Happy Little Stampers January Stencil Challenge - a/g

Also sharing with the NBUS Challenge #22 - (sentiment)

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope your week is off to a good start!

Carol