Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Here's one of a few last minute Christmas cards I made - this one for a youngster. I used a SNSS snowman image and sentiment, coloring with Copics and making a plaid scarf with markers. The snowy drifts were done with Lawn Fawn stitched hillside dies and my Big Shot, and I added a few die-cut small IO bunnies to look like they're playing in the snow. I added some eyes and noses with fine markers. The star was made with a MB Star of Wonder die and some glittered gold paper, and the border on the side is a die-cut MB Frostyville border. I added a strip of turquoise cardstock behind the angled image panel to break up the red and white, then added diamond stickles all over the card to look like snow and make it sparkle.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown #TT372 - anything goes

Words 2 Craft By W2CB#48 - keep Christmas in your heart

Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Christmas (must use manual die-cutting machine)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - simon says stitch it

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

Carol

Open Sea

I pulled out my SU! Open Sea stamp set and had a play with it recently, resulting in this card. I used vanilla, cool caribbean, kraft, and early espresso cardstock colors. The kraft panel was heat embossed with white ep using a Kaisercraft background fishing net stamp. The ship was stamped with early espresso ink and tied with some teal colored twine. The blue panel was embossed with a SU! seaside ef; adding some brown enamel dots, while the card base was embossed with a SU! decorative dots ef. The anchor was cut with metallic gold using a Marianne die and I wove some neutral twine through it. The sentiment is a single stamp from SU, heat embossed with white on espresso card stock, and I used a light colored Spectrum Noir marker to add a touch of blue color.

I'm sharing this with the following challenges:

Words 2 Craft By W2CB#42 - keep love in your heart 

(my take on the challenge is that no matter how far you travel, you'll always be in my heart)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Emboss it

(I did both heat and dry embossing)

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Happy Spring!

Today I have a card that began with a herringbone background piece I made some time ago with assorted strips of green dsp. I found it in my box of pre-made schtuff and decided to emboss it with a Cuttlebug Geometric rings ef. Embossing also helps hold those strips tight to the cardstock when you do this technique. Next I pulled out a snippet of green/blue dsp and used that for the longer panel, adding a strip of zig-zag felt to the side. The Whipper Snapper pre-colored image and dsp panel were both lined with black, and the SNSS sentiment was white embossed on black for a little contrast. I used a retired SU! mini punch for the flowers and used a black marker to dot the centers.

I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch #402 to create my card

I also used the Words 2 Craft By W2CB#421 - Springtime = party time theme.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great day today!

Carol

Turning 7

This is the first time I tried this folding technique for a card. To be honest, I don't remember what it's called or I'd direct you to the tutorial I used?! {edit: It's called a Z-fold pop up card, and the tutorial is on Splitcoaststampers HERE} It folds flat for mailing but opens up to expose some hidden panels where you can pop up anything on clear acetate for a fun card. This is for my DGD who turns 7 in a couple weeks. I started with a turquoise card base, adding a CB happy birthday embossed panel. The die-cut number 7 was done with SU! dies loaned to me by my friend Mary Anne (thanks again M.A.) and bejeweled with all kinds of gemstones. Girls like sparkle, right? The cupcake was done with my Cricut and covered with frosted stickles to look like icing. Icing has to have sprinkles too, so I dotted the icing with different dots of colored stickles. The party hats were cut with my Cricut in 2 different sizes and embellished with stickles in assorted colors. The word "Happy" is from a Simon Says Stamp die set, while the word "Birthday" was done with a Sweet 'n Sassy die, and colored with Spectrum Noir markers. I added a little black dog done with an I.O. die, along with a little corner flower gem sticker on the top right. You open the card and see all the party balloons and hats dazzled with glitter...

and lots of 7's to represent her new birthday age. It was a little tricky learning to use the clear acetate strips and place them where the hats and balloons would show, but I think I got it. The sentiment inside was a pre-stamped/pre-cut sentiment panel that I just stamped "To our granddaughter" inside. I hope there's enough glitz and sparkle on there to please a 7 year old :)

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown #338 - add a clear element to your project

Words2Craft By /W2CB#40 - N.U.M.B.E.R.S. /school theme

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Butterflies in Flight

I pulled out my neglected pack of Blackberry Bliss cardstock and paired it with Hello Honey to create this card. I treated myself to a set of dies called "Mixed Media" from Tim Holtz in an after Christmas sale and I've used one of them to cut the fancy upper corner on this card. The large butterfly was done with a MB Vivienne and Darla pair of dies, and the body/antennae portion was covered with gold stickles. The tiny butterflies were done with a retired SU! sizzlet and I added some gold nailheads randomly on the card. The sentiment was gold embossed with an unmarked wooden stamp I found at my local scrapbook store.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Words to Craft By W2CB#7 - "change" - {a caterpillar changes into either a                                       moth or a butterfly}

Tuesday Throwdown TT327 - anything goes

SOS #287 - all that glitters is gold - I used gold stickles, ep, and nailheads

Snippets Playground #265 & #266 - always must use snippets

Thanks for taking time to stop by, and as you leave, i wish you a wonderful day ahead!

Carol

You Are a Cutie!

I made this card for hospitalized kids, hoping it will bring a smile to the child who opens it :) I used a Tim Holtz crazy dog image, coloring with Copics and fussy cutting him to pop onto the SB labels 18 die cut panel. All the papers were snippets from my overflowing stash, and the sentiment was stamped at my friend's house, so I don't know who makes the stamp.

I'm sharing this with the Words 2 Craft By challenge W2CB#34 - "Happiness is a warm puppy."

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day. It's going to be an unusual 85 degrees here in PA today, so outdoors I go! There won't be many more days like this before old man winter rears his face once again :)

Carol

Just Keep Swimming....

I have a card today that was made with a retired Deedees Digis digital stamp set which includes a mason jar and pre-colored digital mini fish. After printing, I colored the jar, lid, and water in the jar with Spectrum Noir markers. The sentiment was computer generated, and in keeping with the watery theme, I added some random bubbles, die cut with a Memory Box Loopy Rings die and some matching Spectrum Noir colored snippets of paper. The image panel was die cut with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle, and I added some matching twine that came with a mail order (which I saved for future use). The card base is cool caribbean (yep, I still have 2 sheets remaining in my stash of that long-favored colored cardstock) with a celery green mat between the 2 panels.

I'm entering this into the Words2CraftBy challenge #31 which is "just keep swimming."

Thanks for stopping by and while summer's here, I hope you'll just keep swimming too. Have a great day!

Carol

Wedding Love Birds

I made another wedding card to add to my stash, and this time I used a Gina Marie Flourished Swans die. The Coastal Cabana embossed "water" was done with a new SU! "Seaside" embossing folder, while the frame was done with a retired SU! "Tulips" embossing folder. The silver-embossed sentiment was done with a retired SU! set called "Well Scripted." The flourishes were done with a Cheery Lynn die; separated and randomly placed to fill in the lower portion of the card. The tiny white flowers were done with a SU! mini flower punch and I added white pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty to the centers. The final touch was to add a little color to the faces of the swans.

I'm sharing this with the Words 2 Craft by W2CB #30 challenge which is "New Beginnings."

I'm also taking it over to show Parsnip and the gang at the Snippets Playground #233 which always requires us to use our snippets.

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

Carol

Hello Sunshine!

It's spring, and time to kick up your heels and get outdoors in the sunshine! Today I have a card that makes use of a fun Penny Black cow & frog image as they're having fun in the sun. The panels of Pool Party and Island Indigo were cut with Gina Marie Designs stitched squares. I pulled a pre-cut stitched sun die cut from my doodad box and used MFT stitched circle dies to make the orange center. The frog is a brad, and the mouse is a Gina Marie Designs die cut that I added just for the fun of it.

I'm sharing this one over at the Words 2 Craft by (W2CB #28) which is "April Suns/April Showers."

I hope the sun's shining where you are today - it's beautiful here in PA and I'm loving it :) Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

Man's Best Friend

I have a card today that honors man's best friend. I guess the idea came to me after watching the Westminster dog show last night :) I used a SSS image, stamped and colored with Copics, then paper-pieced Simon's little red scarf :) I cut the panel (along with the red and black ones) with Lil Inker stitched rectangles. The SB diagonal chevron die-cut background was done with my Big Shot. I added a stamped and die-cut heart using SU products, then added several sizes of smaller punched/die-cut hearts to scatter about the card randomly. The sentiment is from SSS.

I'm sharing this in the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown #281 - layer it up

February Cuttlebug Mania - I {heart} you - use hearts

Little Red Wagon #329 - Use a Pop of Color (red)

Words2CraftBy (February) - Heart's Devotion

Snippets Playground #216 - use snippets

Whimsy Stamps Challenge #91 - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

White Sympathy Card

My stash of sympathy cards has dwindled down, so when I saw the Cards in Envy challenge was "white on white," I decided to add some cards to my stash. I used a Cuttlebug Geometric Rings ef for the background, adding a Darice Ornate Oblong Frame die cut for the middle portion, which I embossed with a SU! square lattice ef. The center oval is part of the Ornate Frame set. I die cut some MB prim poppies and put them inside the small oval, adding a silver-embossed sympathy sentiment (SU!) and tied a piece of sheer ribbon to the bottom. I love the soft look of white on white for sympathy cards, so I may have to make a few more.

I'm also going to enter this into the Words2CraftBy challenge which is to base your card on these words of inspiration - "The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings." I may have a twisted sense of what this quote represents, but losing a loved one is a new beginning to learn to live life differently.

Thanks for stopping by and do make it a great week ahead!

Carol