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

Thanksgiving Card for a Friend

 I put this card together using a Lawn Fawn die and Gerda Stein stamps. I colored everything with Copics and added a leaf I found in my box of snippets. 

The inside has a happy Thanksgiving sentiment. I just love those cute little mice and all the colorful harvest vegetables.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

The Allsorts Challenge Week 754 - Friendship or optional A/G

Just Us Girls Challenge #705 - Thanks or Thanksgiving

Veteran's day honors going out to those who served. We wouldn't be a free country today without your sacrifices. I'm thankful for all of you.

Also a happy heavenly birthday to my mom who would have turned 100 today!

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day.

Carol

Birthday Kitty

 Today I have a card made for a special little girl who has a birthday coming up next month. I used some royal blue cardstock along with a Spellbinders scalloped square die and a Lil Inker die-cut sentiment. The Penny Black image was colored with Copics, and I added some glaze pen rainbow colors to the balloon. The little banner is brand new and from a set of Sizzix thinlet dies I recently won. I had to add a touch of pink to this card since it's for a girl. The ef is by Cuttlebug and I die-cut the sentiment 3 times, stacked it, and covered it with glossy accents.

I'm sharing with these challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure- A/G must use an EF *optional rainbows

Critter Crazy Challenge #72 - A/G but must use a critter

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge for March - A/G *optional Easter

NBUS Challenge #48 - Never Before Used Schtuff

Just Us Girls Challenge #670 Word Week - Rainbow

Seize the Birthday Challenge #257 - A/G *optional -Card for a Child

Happy Little Stampers March Challenge - A/G with Dies

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

I saw a sign yesterday with some good advice: "Don't take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time." 😄😊

Carol

Valentine Hearts

  I have another Valentine to share today that's all about the hearts! I used a few remnants of my red glitter paper from SU! along with one of their (r) embossing folders to make this card. The large heart was die-cut with a stitched heart die that is unbranded. I used a mini SU! punch to cut the smaller hearts and placed them in a random fashion just for fun. The sentiment was computer generated and I used a hexagon punch to make the fishtail banners. The finishing touch was to add few random black Nuvo drops for some more added sparkle. 

Sharing this with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - fun with dies

Can You Handle the Pressure? - A/G use an embossing with a twist of "Hearts"

Just Us Girls Challenge #666 - word week "sparkle"

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by and I hope your day is a good one!

Carol

Happy Heart Day

 While digging through my stash I found this cute Penny Black stamped image and decided it was time to make a card with it. I colored it with Copics and glaze pens and added some glossy accents to the red hearts on the cup. The background hearts were done with a Heidi Swapp stencil and some Ranger Spun Sugar pink ink. The sentiment was done with a very old SU! set and layered with a panel swiped with more Spun Sugar ink. For the final touch I added 3 tiny sparkly heart stickers.

I'll share this with the following challenges:

Stencil Fun Challenge for January - A/G with a stencil

optional theme "winter"

Just Us Girls Challenge -Word Week #662 - Heart

Penny Black January Saturday Challenge - A/G

Optional "Something New"

I'm wishing for a little sunshine today as the past two days have been gloomy and cloudy. Wishing you all a great weekend and thanks for stopping by as always!

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

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

Peace on Earth

I found this pre-cut Lawn Fawn snowflake in my box of snippets and decided it was time to make a card with it. I'd used some SU! glittered red cardstock to cut it, along with a little bit of silver mirror card. I also had the pre-cut white panel in my snippet box and it seemed to work perfectly for what I had in mind. I pulled out my remaining sheet of glittered cardstock and die-cut the Die-Versions sentiment and decided that's all this card needed.

 Since I had the red glitter paper out, I cut another Lawn Fawn snowflake and decided to make 2 cards. I also cut another Gina Marie Designs white panel. For this version, I used a few tiny dots of Smooch around the snowflake just to make it a little bit different. These aren't traditional Christmas colors but black seemed to be the only card base I liked with the red and white. I'm leaning toward peace on earth sentiments this year because with so much unrest in the world, we can all use peace in our lives more than ever.

I'm sharing the first card with these challenges:

Just Us Girls  Color Week Challenge #628 - red, black, white

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #14 - A/G Christmas

Happy Little Stampers April Christmas Challenge - A/G *opt. glitter

Krafty Chicks Challenge #607 Week 2 - A/G Christmas

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful week ahead. Winter reappeared here yesterday and it's still hanging around today with winds, colder temperatures and rain mixed with sunshine. We had a hint of spring recently but hopefully it will return soon and stay here for a while before the hot summer temperatures slide right on in! I washed the extra bed blankets and stored them for summer over the weekend and last night I could have used them again! Bad timing on my part 😉

Carol

CAS Birthday Card

 Today I have a quick and easy birthday card that was made with a 

(now-closed) MFT image. I colored this with Copics and added a pre-printed Simon Says Stamp sentiment, along with some pink Nuvo drops for the finishing touch. It's all on a bubble-gum pink card base from GinaK designs.

I'll enter this into the Just Us Girls Challenge #603 with this gorgeous photo  inspiration

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful day!

Carol

Mother's Day Tulips

 Happy Tuesday everyone!

I found a strip of soft pastel striped dsp in my stash and it reminded me of spring, so I paired it with some pastel yellow cardstock and this stampendous image to make a card for mother's day. I colored the image with Copics, and added a stamped tiny butterfly from the SNSS serene silhouettes set, coloring it with Copics and a glaze pen, and adding highlights with a fine black marker. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the flowers to give them a soft shimmer, and added a SU! Teeny Tiny Wishes sentiment along with an EK bricked punched border. The image panel was die-cut with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Just Us Girls Challenge #578 Word Week - stripes

The Paper Players PP535 theme challenge - spring flowers

the Flower Challenge #55 - pretty pastels

It sure is great to see all those beautiful spring flowers blooming after such a long winter!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to stop and smell the roses :)

Carol

An Anniversary Card

 My SIL and BIL have an anniversary coming up soon, so I made this card for them. After watching a recent video by Jennifer McGuire I had to try my hand at making a card using her technique. I started with a panel of gorgeous grape cardstock, and used a (r) SU! ef to emboss large roses onto it, then swiped it with a white craft ink pad. I die-cut an oval from a panel of white, then embossed that with an Anna Griffin ef and placed it on top. The floral image was a sample from STAMPlorations that was colored with Copics and then clear embossed to bring the colors to a deeper level. I placed it partially in the window and added the sentiment to the top; and finally added some lavendar Nuvo drops here and there for a little sparkle.

I'll share this with these challenges:

The Flower Challenge #54 color - shades of purple

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #667 - celebrate

Just Us Girls #575 Trend Week - use an embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by and do have yourself a fantastic weekend! I'm going to lose an hour's sleep tonight when the clocks get turned back, but I'll be grateful for the extra hour of daylight that will come in the evenings.

Take care - kindness matters!

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

More valentine Love

 Here's another valentine I made this year, using SU! (r) dsp with itty bitty hearts to make the background along with a stitched die-cut heart. I used a nesting set of stitched heart dies to cut the larger white heart, and cut a smaller heart from it - inlaying the red heart and adding a smaller heart for the silver-embossed sentiment. The white heart was embossed with a Sunny Studios ef that has tiny little hearts. I added a little heart brad for an accent, and placed all the hearts on a silver heart-shaped paper doily I've had for eons. The little bear was made with a SSS bear hugs die and I added some silver embossed negatives for his ears and heart to match the sentiment. The "friend" sentiment was heat embossed with white on black and done with a Mark's Finest Papers (now closed) sentiment stamp.

I'll share this card with the following challenges:

Just Us Girls Challenge #570 Word Week  - Valentine

The Paper Players PP527 Challenge - Hearts and/or Stars

The Double D Challenge - Valentine Love

the Craft Rocket Challenge #78 - Love

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #672 - anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by on Super Bowl Sunday. If you're watching the game, have fun and enjoy all those great snacks!

Stay warm!

Carol