August Calendar

Hello-

I haven't had the purrmaids out for a while so they are frolicking on my August calendar page.

Happy August everyone, stay safe. Thanks for visiting.

Merry

Okay, bear with me one last post today. I had a fun few hours in my crafty space and had to share.

I'm closer to my 5 Christmas cards per month Goal now...these make the stash count 30.

Both Less is More and The Card Concept have Christmas themes this go round, and the colors at the card concept reminded me of my love of aqua/teal and red.  Its quite festive.  Less is More is asking for a one layer card...and there are two definitions...is it one layer meaning the card base (I went with this one  just in case) or one layer meaning its okay to have all your stamping on a single panel adhered to a card base.  What is your definition?

In any case here are my cards, one for each challenge using a new to me Avery Elle set.  It might be discontinued...I am not sure.

Peace is for Less is More, one layer.

Merry, is a clean and simple card for The Card Concept.


My words of advice if you get or have this and have  yet to ink it...stamp the word first then the greenery. Much easier to line them up.  My trash bin can attest to that fact.  Since its new to me, I am also going to pop over to NBUS#16 with both cards.

  

Thanks so much for visiting.

So Cool

Hello Again...

Feels good to be back in my crafty space.  I missed it. 

Here is a card for two challenges: Day of the Month Card Club - Ice Cream, and Fusion-Summer.  I rarely use the sketch at Fusion, but this time I used both the photo and the sketch.

An old Simon Says Stamp set Ice Cream Dream, is perfect for both challenges.  Are you eating a lot of Ice Cream this summer?  Hubs and I have been known to drive thru Dairy Queen masks in place to get a box of dilly bars...though hubs favorite ice cream is an ice cream sandwich.

Thanks for stopping by!


  

Thanks a Ton

Hello-
I spent the weekend down stairs where its nice and cool.  Now its time for the upstairs cleanning so I have to go to the heat...not as bad as it had been, but definitely warmer than downstairs.

Stamping Sensations has a all creatures great and small for their challenge this week.  I think my whale fits in as great...well big...lol.   I used the fab new stampin up EF called under seabed. Love it, but not what it did to my vagabond.  I had the sandwich wrong and now I have a new noise when it runs. Hopefully I didn't do too much damage to the gears.  The stamp is from MFT along with the sentimetn adn the shells are from CTMH.



Thanks for stopping by.

A friend that makes me smile

Hello-

Today I spent time (virtually) with Michele, who never fails to make me smile. We caught up, laughed and worked on projects together. We decided to both make cards using the Split 4 technique.  I first saw it on Marcia's blog, then I visited this You Tube video to get a bit more insight. 

I used the Forever Fern stamp set from Stampin Up...I love the set...and nothing stamps as crisply as rubber.  I wanted to make a few fall cards, as I won't make a lot of Halloween or Thanksgiving cards and this year I want to make sure to get more fall cards in the mail.

Here is the full sheet after stamping...(its the second one...I forgot to photograph the first...Michele and I were gabbing too much...lol)

And here are the cards that resulted from both stampings: I did add the speckles stamp after cutting them apart. The sentiment comes with the set and after stamping it crookedly on 4 cards I decided to fix it by using a die cut. I ran a black marker around the edge of the die cut to make it stand out a bit from the card panel.  I'm quite happy with these cards and I'm hoping some friends will be too once they are mailed.

My take aways from this technique:

I don't like landscape cards much, I prefer to make portrait oriented cards so I had to add some stamping after my first try to balance panel. Keep those score marks in mind.

If you want to die cut your panels for mounting on a card base, do not cut off the 1/2 inch to start.

Color choices will decide how the over stamping looks. Similar colors can stand more overstamping than different colors.

Give the technique a try and thanks for visiting.

Summer

Hello-

I've been staying in the coolest area of the house...downstairs and haven't visited my crafty space in DAYS.  So this morning I got up and played.  I made two cards, they're inspired by 4 challenges.

First up-

The challenges for this card are : Cas on Friday-anything but white so I have a blue card base as the predominant color and Double D - Lets go to the Beach.

  

My second card is also a summery card.

My second card was inspired by two challenges as well: Inspired By-Beach Life, and Watercooler Wednesday  - All about occaisons.

  

Stay cool...thanks for visiting.

Its Summer

Hello---

I truly dislike the heat. I'm also so sensitive to humidity having lived in a desert most of my life.   I'll be so glad once the temps go back to the 80's. Then I can handle the humidity.

Today  I made a summery card for two challenges - Inky Paws and Freshly Made Sketches.

I used Newtons Nook Design's Newtons Summer Treats along with their plaid stencil for the tone on tone card base. 

 

Thanks for visiting.  Stay cool.  Stay Safe.

Christmas in July

Hello -

How are all of you doing on getting a stash of Christmas cards finished?  I had set a goal of 5 per month.  I am woefully behind until today.  I usually make 5 cards of half of my designs, and the other half are generall one offs. I have 15 in my stash, and after today there will be 25....so only 10 down.  Easy to catch up in the next few months.

I have two cards for you today and I'll be entering them to 6 challenges.  Three challenges for each card.

First up, for CAS Christmas (Nativity), Die Cut Diva's (Christmas in July) and AAA Cards - ( Made in Minutes with the optional twist of Christmas in July) I made this card:

       

The die cutting was very fast, the sentiment stamping was quick too.  I added a bit of extra to it by dipping the diecut in clear embossing powder to give it a bit of gloss and clear embossing the black stamped sentiment.  The card base is Pacific Point from SU, the Die is from Penny Black, and the sentiment is from MFT.


My next card is for Just us Girls (Trend Week Long and Skinny),  Shopping our Stash (Christmas in July) and Christmas Kickstart (Hatty Christmas).

The slimline dies are from Trinity Stamps, the sentiment from MFT, and the hats from Tim Holtz Crazy things.  It was fun immersing my self in Christmas cards for a short afternoon session.  Thanks so very much for visiting.




          

Life is Better

Hello-
I had a late night video crafting last night. One of the gals likes to challenge me to case cards she finds online.  This morning I woke up to her latest challenge in our facebook group.

I quiet liked the card, the design and the colors.  Many of the stamps I do not own, nor do I have the designer paper used by the cardmaker. Here is a link to her card. 

I was contemplating a card for Challenge Up Your Life the theme is -- Vacation Mood, and this card resulted from the combined inspirations.

Did you check out Kristi's card in the link above?  I love this design and I have used similar ones on past cards. I enjoyed making my own patterned papers with CTMH's Hawaiian Hibiscus set, and the beachy pieces from Beachy Keen of  Freshly Made Stamps.  I used Darice's basket weave for the dry embossing on the card base.

Thanks so much for visiting!

CAS Mix UP

Hey there -

Another card tonight.  I decided to play with CAS Mix up.  After flipping through my stencils I settled on a rose stencil by Tim Holtz. 

First, I put a gold gel ink pen to the stencil and traced all the openings, next I sponged a very light layer of distress ink in worn lipstic over it.  I cut a portion off and mounted it over two strips of gold washing on either side.  I added a heat embossed sentiment in gold to finish the card.

This was a fun new way to use a stencil. IF you haven't tried it give it a go.  Thanks so much for visiting.

Celebrate

Hello-

I'm having a crafty evening with the local gals via messenger video chat rooms and here is the first card of the evening.

It is going to visit the two challenges that inspired it -- Freshly Made Sketches and Just Add Ink.  The sketch has a fabulous x like sketch across the front of a panel.  I dry embossed a panel and cut it across diagonally twice to make the top and bottom pieces.  Next I stamped and colored a Clearly Besotted flower with yellow and coral copics. It was fussy cut and mounted on the card center.  Lastly I added a sentiment strip and a few gems.

        

Thanks much for visiting.  Have you tried video crafting yet?

Twofer 29 Butterflies

Hello-

It's time for the next Twofer Card Challenge.  This month the prompt is Butterflies. 

As usual I picked out my stamp set, Butterflies from Hero Arts/Sizzix. 

The set contains 3 butterflies and a dogwood branch. Its a very old set, but I love it.

Remember for our challenge you need to follow the challenge rules below:

After choosing my stamps, I generally draw a sketch:

Here are the two cards together.

I hope to see your cards in the gallery this month!  Thanks so much for visiting.

Just for You

Hello  There-

I've been lucky to be pulled out of my slumps by engaging in video crafting with friends. I have a larger rauccous group of the local gals usually 8 or so of us, and there is the one on one crafting with my friend Peggy.

Today, I was thrilled to add another crafty friend to the rotation, Michele of  I Card Everyone. We got together via messenger chat rooms and spent a couple of hours chatting, catching up and working on cards.  I enjoyed it and look forward to the next time.

I spent my time working on one card for three challenges: Double D-Stitches, CAS(e) this sketch, and Just Us Girls -Rainbow.

I started with a rainbow of 6x6 colored papers, and then die cut lots of blooms and leaves from the MFT set Stitch Blooms.

They were layerd up on a panel of navy card stock then cut off on the diagonals as per the sketch--then adhered to the navy card base.  I tried a couple of different card base colors, but quickly decided navy looked best.

I added a bit of bling to the blossoms and some sparklie stuff along the edges.  A quick sentiment by Sugar Pea Designs white heat embossed on another piece of navy card and placed at the top of the panel vs the bottom...I just couldn't cover up that yellow bloom.

   

Thanks so very much for visiting. Stay cool.

Wish Big

Hello -

Did everyone survive the 4th?  In our neighborhood it sounded like we were in a war zone. So many people had fireworks.  Not small ones either, the big booming ones.  I just feel bad for all the animals that have anxiety.  Hopefully they are done now.  They've been going off for a bout 10 days now, but last night was by far the longest and loudest.

I finally got my crafty space cleaned up some...aka the vacuuming was done; seems to make the room feel clean when I am without small bits of paper all over the floor.

I am playing along at MFT today - with both their color and sketch challenge. I love the odd bit of botanical whimsy and I thought the colors would work well. MFT stamps are Bitty Birthday Wishes and Wild Flowers. I used the pinks and yellow on the baubles and colored over the stem with a dark green copic to incorporate all the colors.

 



Thanks much for visiting.

Just for you

Hello -

Another quick card before I call it a day in the craft room.

This one is going to visit the galleries for Fusion (the image) and Tic Tac Toe (Center Row flower, stripes, stencil).

I used NND's plaid stencil with brushed on inking in cornflower blue to make my "stripes".  On top I added a die from SSS and colored it with yellow and green shades from the photo inspiration. A white heat embossed sentiment finished the card.

    

Thanks so very much for visiting.

Treat yo self

Hello -

It's gonna be a scorcher here today, so I am spending the cool morning in my crafty space, then I'll spend the remainder of the day downstairs in the blissful cool...it might even motivate me to tackle a cabinet to reorganize it.

This summery  card is going to visit the galleries for Inspire by Challenge (colors), Watercooler Wednesday (Feminine Twist), and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Bright and Cheerful).

I'm loving the pinks and oranges for summer.  Now, if I could just find that popsicle.

  



Thanks for visiting, and stay cool!