4-22-24

 Hello-

I really dislike making sympathy cards when needed.  So I try to make a few ahead and hope they'll stay in my stash a very long time. Unfortunately my stash is empty and I have need of a card. So I made two.

I used a Stampin Up set (Splendid Thoughts) that's been sitting waiting to be used for quite a while. I used Altenew's pool ink and a Bg13 copic marker to add some more color to the leaves. Some SSS Audrey Blue card stock, along with SU Basic Gray Cardstock. The sentiment comes from another SU set and is white embossed on the die from the set. I also chose two dies to cut to add to the stamped images.

I find the colors soothing. I am going to send this to Darnell's NBUS gallery.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

4-21-24

 Hello, 

Its a bit drippy here today after lots of bright sunny warm days in a row. Fortunately I LOVE the rain.

This card is going to AAA Card Challenge, with the option of anniversary.

 Colored with pencils, this wreath was a stamp off gift from my friend Peggy. I added the foiled sentiment from Spellbinders. A quick card in the brides favorite colors.

Thanks for stopping by.

4-17-24

 Hello Again,

We spent a week in Ohio to see the folks.  We were also there for the eclipse, it was amazing. The first one I have seen looking at the sun.  I had left over glasses from our trip to Utah in October, where we saw a 85% eclipse.

Monday was spent with laundry and Tuesday will filling the cupboards and fridge.  Today is more laundry and finally some crafty time.  I feel like its been forever...

Today's card will be visiting Seize the Birthday (with toppings) and CAS on Friday (Spring).

The bloom comes from Ellen Hutson's Pressing Thoughts, and the sentiment is from Pink Fresh.

   

Thanks much for visiting.

4-10-24

Hello- 

A quick share today. 

A friend sent along the leafy die with a birthday card, and I love it. It will be making many card appearances.  This card is a bit smaller than a2, once I finished the main panel I thought it was to empty at the top...so I lopped off the scallops.  It felt more balanced afterwards.  I am quite happy with it.

Thanks for stopping by.

04-05-24

 Hello-

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail from my friend Hilary. Its a stamp and die set from Uniko, Butterflies.  She also has the set so we decided to do joint posts today each using the set to make our cards.

 

I used only the small butterfly image, stamped and embossed on vellum in silver.  I die cut them and also backers for the vellum in the turquoise/aqua card stock I used as the base. They were layered up and I added similar color pearls over the "body".  I added layers of silver and the turquoise/aqua card stock to create the focal panel.

I also silver embossed the sentiment included in the set "Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze in and English country garden. 

Please go visit Hilary to see what I am sure will be a beautiful card here.

Thanks so much for visiting!

3-26-24

 Hello-

I had a lovely afternoon crafting with Peggy via face time.  I am limited on the time I am comfortable sitting at my desk crafting, part of the reason I am not posting as much.  But I had a lovely time today and played with a new stamp set from Stampin Up  Blueberry Bunches. The set has two images, and 5 sentiments.

I made a few cards for my stash.

  My thank you cards are quite depleted, so I decided each time I make cards there have to be a couple of thank yous in the batch.

  

It doesn't hurt to have a few just because Hello's in the stash either.

This one is just so busy, and uses clusters of the second image that were fussy cut and layered on the card, but I just love it for some reason...maybe because it is crazy busy.

Thanks for stopping by!
 

03-22-24

 Hello-

Hubs and I got out of the house before noon yesterday to go see some cherry trees...but before that I had a play with Simply Zinnia, a new Stampin Up set.  I love that Zinnia's are pretty much a single color - meaning that shading isn't a must.

ETA- I forgot to time my card, so I have removed it from the challenge.  I'll try another card.

We found a new place to view the Cherry Trees (which peaked last week along the tidal basin). Its usually so crowded with slow moving traffic, so we headed out to Hains Point in East Potomac Park just a short distance away from the tidal basin.  Afterwards we drove to the National Arboretum to look at more flowers and trees. My favorite Magnolia tree is there.

 

This is along Ohio Drive through East Potomac Park.

 

 

 

 

The magnolia in the largest square is my favorite tree in the Arboretum. I just love those yellow blooms. Prior to visiting here, I had only seen white and pink magnolia blooms. This variety is called Ivory, but it is a lovely shade of yellow.

Tonight and tomorrow promise rain, so I am glad we got out to see the blooms.  We usually go on my birthday, but I don't think they'll be holding out til next week.

Thanks much for stopping by.

 

03-20-24

 Hello-

Got a chance to face time craft with Peggy today. I needed two specific cards to get into the mail tomorrow.  So, I dug into that pile of "new" stuff, and a panel that I had cut for my Easter cards by did not use.

 

Truly, I have had this Uniko stamp forever, and today it finally made its debut.

This Stampin Up paper has been sitting around for at least two years maybe 3... The beige is the b-side of the blue.  The sentiment is also from Stampin Up.

 Well, now its time to put my feet up a bit before I head downstairs to make our salads with chicken breasts for our dinner.

Hope you're all having a good week. Thanks for visiting.

03-15-24

Hi,

Oh its time for some of the hardest cards to make...those darn man cards.  I love making the girly flowery cards, but it is my luck to have a lot of men on my birthday list...hubs, nephews, brother's-in-law, father's-in-law, my Dad, my Godson, a few friends from work and that adds up to TWENTY man cards a year. Yikes.

I have found that nature is the easiest way for me to overcome this challenge.  Stampin Up has a lot of nature stamps that work well for man cards.  Both of these cards feature the set Waterfront.  

I stamped the mountain, sand, and water twice to make it across the card front.  Added a gold embossed sentiment from Ellen Hutson.

This one has the stamps stamped once, then cut with an oval. I added the Honey Bee lovely layers rod and reel to the card over a backround stamp of Stacked Stone(SU) and a piece of vellum. The Happy Birthday oval covers a badly stamped sentiment, but I like the "new and improved" lol  look. Gotta save a card when you can.

So I've made 4 man cards this year of the 20 I need. Fortunately my last two April birthdays are gonna be girly cards.

Thanks much for visiting.

03-14-24

 Hello-

Time to seriously attack that bin of new stuff.  I have stuff not unpacked yet and I need to make room! So I grabbed a handful of items to use and cards will be made.

 Three items out of the bin...MFT's Happy You Day, PTI Love to layer charming brackets, and sizzix simple plaid die. Pearls are from SU and copic colors below.  (the caio marker is V000)

Next up some die cutting. The set is Friendly Florals from Concord and 9th.  Sentiment is CTMH.

For the card below the stamp set is Beautiful Bunny from MFT, sentiment is computer generated; Copic colors below, and the clouds are an MFT stencil - Rolling Clouds.

So that's 6 cello envelopes of stuff out of the bin...still have a ways to go...

Thanks for stopping by.

03/13/24

 Hello-

I am getting the last of my Easter cards done so they can go in the mail by the end of the week. My international cards have already been mailed.

 

The tulips are from Altenew. The die cut panel is PTI. 

The sentiment is from Avery Elle. I foiled the sentiment, then die cut it. Then foiled the left over foil piece using a full foiling plate and die cut them as well. The negatives give an outlined foiled sentiment. This is a win win 2x's the sentiments one set of foilings.

 I'll be placing these into the galleries at Double D and Triple B. One for each.

Thanks much for stopping by.

03-05-24

 Hello-

It's the same old story, when the vampire hours hit hard I get nothing done.  The only thing I can do is wait them out. So I am...waiting...impatiently!

I did manage to get inspired for a card by the mood board at Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. Those pink blooms are fabulous. 

Altenew's book engravings were inked up for the second time. I used the Cherry Blossom trio of Altenew's alcohol markers. I sometimes have a hard time finding the right rv copic shades to get the pink I want, and these markers are the perfect pinks. The sentiment is from SU's teeny tiny wishes.  

Oddly I have nothing sentiment wise for a bridal shower.  So this had to do.

 

Thanks much for visiting. 

 

02-29-24

 Hello-

I couldn't pass up a card for Leap Day, and Time Out has the perfect challenge inspiration for the card. 

The frog is from Gerda Steiner - Frogs, the die cut panel is Memory Box -Splashing Puddles (Thank you Darnell!)  The sentiment was computer generated and printed.

Enjoy the "extra" day everyone!

02-18-2024

 Hello-

Today I did something I have not for 8 months or so.  Had a face-time crafty session with Peggy.  Beginning last summer family visits for her and traveling for us along with her early bird morning awake time and my crazy sleep schedule resulted in no times where both of us were up for a crafty session at the same time. 

Although we speak often, there has been no crafting together for a long time and it felt great to get at it again today.

My card is without a sentiment, because it lends itself to many and I can add it when I send it.  I made 6, two with thank yous that are already in their envies awaiting mailing - but I forgot to photograph them before sealing em up!!

The inspiration for the card were the colors in the mood board at Just us Girls.

The papers, dies and stamp set come from Stampin Up.

Thanks much for visiting.

2-15-24

 Hello.

 I so meant to get this card posted yesterday.  The upside is  I get to share a photo of our day out as well.

 

 As we have in the last couple of years hubs and I went on a Love sign trek in Virginia.  One of our favorite beaches had 2 new loveworks installations.  ITs about a 45 minute drive so it was perfect for the afternoon.  

While hunting out the two signs, we found two more not mentioned on the VA Loveworks map. So that was a wonderful surprise. After finding and photographing them, we drove to King George and stopped at Vinny's Italian restaurant. 

They have the best pizza, and on Valentines day they'll shape it into a heart. It was a lovely day out, and it included flowers and chocolate as well...

 

I hope you all enjoyed a day with those you love, and doing things you love.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

2-10-24

Hello!

I spent lots of time in my craft room yesterday.  I pulled out a new set and had a play with it and my current favorite Waffle Flower Postage stamp die.  MFT makes so many cute little critter stamps that a marriage between the two works well.

I picked out 4 color card bases, and colored the exact same layout of stamps on each panel to match the card bases.  

Winter Kittens - MFT

Postage Collage Die - Waffle Flower

Sentiments - Stampin Up (they were a gift no clue to set name, but suspect it came from a paper pumpkin box.

Thanks for visiting.

2-9-24

 Greetings,

Recently my Dad and his wife sent me a surprise early birthday present...A Gemini foiling machine.  I had added it to my wishlist on Facebook and just a few hours later got a message from Amazon that something was on its way. I was surprised, delighted an overcome when I opened that message.

What followed is a round of shopping for hot foiling plates. One plate was perfect for Valentines. I made a handful of panels as  practice with a spellbinders hearts plate in red and pink foil.  I thought it would make a cute Valentine if it was a little card, so I cut my card bases to 1/2 of an A2 sized card. I colored a cute penguin from MFT,  and die cut a circle around it. 

I'm sending this card to As You See It , Nbus, and We love stamping.

I enjoyed working with a different size.

   

Thanks much for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

2-6-24

Hello--

Today, I am playing along at Tic Tac Toe.  I am using the bottom row, Rose, Markers/Pencils, Embossing heat or dry.

Several ladies I follow (Michele, Marcia, Linda) have made such cute cards from Waffle Flowers' postage collage set.  I had to get it. I have the die and two stamp and stencil sets. These are fun to make and quick.

I love that one has to option to use the die cut panel all or in part. Here I chose 4 of the panels, because I wanted a portrait sized card.

Thanks so very much for visiting.

  

 

2-5-24

 Hello!
Time to get those Valentines done.

I am playing along at CAS On Friday with this Valentine.  The images are from Simon Says Stamp.

I like sending Valentines to friends and family; and it needs to be not romantic, rather fun and a happy wish. I thought this fills the bill.

My Bloggy friend Darnell, has put together an acronym for getting the mojo going.  IDEAS... 

She plans on using it for a card the Monday of each week during the month.  If you'd like to read her post just click on the image below. I hope to play many Mondays.

 Thanks so very much for stopping by.

 

1-22-24

 Hello-

Monday is laundry day around here, so its a perfect time to make a card and do some organizing in the crafty space.

Green and Copper are the colors at Color Hues.  I knew I had what I feel is the perfect set for these colors. The large vase from Stampin Up's Earthen Textures, stamped and then embossed with rangers copper embossing powder took care of one color. SU's evening evergreen ink was perfect for the greenery, its a lovely deep green.

 

  

Thanks so much for visiting.

1-21-24

 Hello-

It's stopped snowing here. We got a few inches, not a lot but enough to make it look clean and white outside. 

The snow and a couple of challenges inspired these cards:

 This cutie is going to the gallery at CAS on Friday where the brief is winter.  I hope the swirlies and drifts don't bump this out of being CAS.

My next card took a small liberty with the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, but I think one can still see the sketch in the card. I flipped it on its side. 

 

Here is my favorite blink out the south downstairs window this weekend:

Thanks for coming by to visit!