Life Is So Good!

It may be hot, rainy and humid, but everyone is having a great time.    And I did go swimming with the dolphin, too.  But Sydney is a much cuter subject!  Have a great day!

Striking PInk & Black

As you all know, I am into the flower in the You've Got This stamp set.  And once I got the die, I am liking the flower even more.  The pink background was created using a little sprinkling of Brusho Red watercolor powder on a piece of watercolor paper that was quite wet.  As I moved the watercolor paper around being sure to get the entire piece covered, it was very pink.  Rather than adding more sprinkles of Red Brusho, I left it pink. I thought it was very pretty.  I then diecut the flower I had made a while ago (colored using the ZIG Real Color Brush Pens) and adhered it to the pink background.   Black and white layers on a white card base made this a very striking card.  Have a great day!

Taylored Expressions Beach House

Today's card was another coloring card, which I really enjoy.  The image is from the Taylored Expressions' Coconut Cove stamp set.  I heat embossed the image and then colored it using Copic Markers.  Now, truth be told, this is the third attempt!!  The first two I totally went out of the lines and it was very obvious.  But this turned out pretty cute.  I then used my markers to color in the beach, sunny horizon and sky.  For the water I added little waves using a liquid gel pen.  For the sand, I used the tip of a Copic marker to create little sand granules.  A fun card which reminds me of the tropical beaches I so enjoy.  Have a great day!

Brushed Strokes

After watching Nikki play with the Stampin' Up stencils, I decided I would try the new Brush Strokes background stamp. The stamp was inked with Soft Sky and then stamped on Whisper White cardstock. I embellished the background  with flowers from the Flower Shop set and coordinating punch, a few leaves and a few sequins, too.  The little banner is from Banner Banter and matching little punch while the sentiment is from Watercolor Wishes.  Blackberry Bliss certainly looks pretty next to Soft Sky and the Blackberry Bliss ink stamped nicely over the Brush Stroke background.  Have a great day!

Brusho Butterflies

Last week I posted a couple of cards I created using Brusho Watercolors.  The other day I decided to use Brilliant Red with Lemon Yellow Brusho colors.  I ended up with a pretty orange color.  The cardstock I used showed too many little water puddles, so again, I just cut out butterflies using framelits.  Now for those of you who are into the butterfly framelits, I used the small die from the Bold Butterfly Framelits for the smaller orange butterfly and layered that on top of a small solid butterfly from the Butterflies Thinlets set.  For the large orange butterfly I used the medium die from the Butterflies Thinlets and layered that on a Daffodil Delight butterfly diecut using  the solid die from the Bold Butterfly Framelits.  Confusing as I type it, but the two sets of butterfly coordinate nicely. I splattered the white layer using and image from Gorgeous Grunge.  On a different note, I just got a peek at the new Holiday Mini which goes live on September 1.  I think I will have a decent wish list!  Some very cute and pretty Christmas sets.  And cute Halloween items, too.  Have a great day!

Red Flowers

I received the die for the flower in You've Got This and am very pleased with the die.  Since I like the flower and seem to use it often, I am happy I purchased the die.  For today's card, I stamped the flowers with  black Versafine ink and embossed them using clear embossing powder.  To color the flowers, I used the Brilliant Red Brusho powder.  I sprinkled some of the powder onto an acrylic block, sprayed it with water and painted the flowers.  The sentiment is from a retired hostess set, Express Yourself.   I don't know what I was more excited about~~the Brusho Watercolor Powder or the die!!  Have a great day!

A Baby Card

Yesterday was Cricut Sunday.  As always, we had an enjoyable afternoon.  Nikki was wondering about the stencils in the Stampin' Up! catalog.  It just so happened I had them but never really used them much at all.  So she created a couple of backgrounds using Marina Mist ink.  The gingham background was created using the Stripes stencil and sponging the ink first horizontally and then vertically.  I thought  a sail boat would be cute on this background, but I didn't have a toy-like sailboat.   When the ladies left, I pulled out the retired Teddy & Train stamp set and created this card.  I colored the teddy bear with my Prismacolor colored pencils and Gamsol and adhered it to the red embossed layer using dimensionals.  I think it is cute.  Now who needs a baby card?  Have a great day!

You're In My Thoughts

I wanted to make a pretty card for John's Aunt Paula who recently had surgery.  I started with the Soft Sky card base and then added the Whisper White layer.  I used the diagonal score plate for our scoring tool to create the diamond pattern.  I had a small piece of white cardstock that I had sponged with Soft Sky ink a while ago and I die cut that using a framelit from the Artisan Label set.  The sentiment is from the Watercolor Wings stamp set, stamped using Chocolate Chip ink.  I thought about adding little flowers in the corner, but sometimes more is not necessarily better.  Have a great weekend!  Stay cool and find yourself a little stampin' time. 

Trying Something New

I have mentioned Jennifer McGuire in previous posts.  Well, thanks to another of her videos, I had to try Brusho Watercolor Powders.  Yesterday I experimented with both blue and purple powders.  These watercolor powders are very intense and also can stain your clothing.  For the butterfly card, I saturated a piece of watercolor paper with water and then sprinkled the Ultramarine blue powder all over it.  It was pretty messy and my heat tool came in handy.  It did not turn out that great so I cut it down and used a butterfly framelit in the center where it looked the worst.  I was able to break up the section that didn't look that great and then I placed the diecut butterfly into the negative space.  The sentiment is from Sheltering Tree.  I actually think the card is very pretty.  I was experimenting with Brusho purple and blue powders on Whisper White cardstock!  I used too much water and in some places too much powder.  So once I dried the cardstock,  I just die cut balloons and stars from the sections that looked okay.  The sentiment is from Cottage Greetings.  Stampin' Up's retired Brilliant Blue cardstock and ink paired up very nicely with the color of the Brusho powders.  So after playing with Brusho powders, I see that they will take a lot of practice to create things as beautiful as Jennifer McGuire creates.  I am just glad I only bought a few of the colors instead of a set of 12~~lol!!!!  Have a great day!

Tropical Tweets

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid a new coloring book and a box of crayons was a treasure.  My sister and I used to spend hours coloring and we so enjoyed it.  Well, according to an
article in Sunday's Tribune Parade magazine, coloring is this summer's hottest trend. Coloring is a great stress buster.  When coloring you use both the right and left sides of your brain and get totally absorbed instead of being stressed out.  There are even adult coloring books out there with subjects such as animals, paisley designs, etc.  So today I am posting a card on which I colored, a card I created for Jenny last week.  The stamp set is Avery Elle's Tweet, Tweet used together with the dies that match.  The card design is one I saw on Pinterest.   All of the pieces were heat embossed using Versafine black ink and clear embossing powder.  The Copic markers were great for making very bright, cheerful birds. I cut a Daffodil Delight circle and sponged Tangelo Twist ink around the edges.  After adhering the bird perch, I placed the tropical birds on the perches, added the sentiment and musical notes and flowers.   The next time you are feeling really stressed, find a picture to color, grab some colored pencils or markers or crayons and spend a little time coloring!  Have a great day!

Another You've Got This Card

The flower on today's card was water colored during the last card class and has been sitting on the counter ever since.  So yesterday I decided it was time to put it to use.  So I took out my scissors and fussy cut the flower.  After doing the cutting, I am very happy that I ordered the framelit from Dave's Dies for the next time I want it cut out! I like the brightness of the Daffodil Delight but as I look at the card, I dislike the butterfly on the stem!  That butterfly will be going away very soon.  And what I really like is the sentiment~~from the stamp set that comes with the Watercolor Wishes card kit.  Have a great day!

Sydney's Cake-In-A-Box

Yesterday we celebrated Sydney's 11th birthday.  Today I am sharing the cake-in-a-box card I made for her.  After her response to the one Cherie made for me, I had just had to make a special one for Syd.  I included the little elephants from WPlus9's Unforgettable stamp set, as Sydney thinks those little guys are so cute.  The balloons are from Lawn Fawn.  I will say that I have really gotten my money's worth from both the Unforgettable stamp set and the Lawn Fawn balloon dies.  After making this one, it will be easier and less time-consuming when I create the next one.  Thank you, Cherie, for the idea.  Sydney was delighted.  Have a great day!

Birthday Cupcake

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time creating Sydney's birthday card.  Her party is this Sunday, so I can't post the cad just yet.  Instead, I will post another card I made.  I wanted to use the cupcake from the Avery Elle stamp set, Bring On the Cake.  After coloring the cupcake with Copic markers and die cutting it, I attempted to create a shadow around it.  Well, that didn't work out as well as I had hoped.  It isn't horrible, but it surely isn't as nice as I see on other cards.  But it's okay because the pretty sentiment from Stampin' Up's  Cottage Greetings gets all the attention!  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Watercolor Wishes

I received my Watercolor Wishes card kit and I must say~~I like it very much!!  Yesterday afternoon I opened it to check it out and ended up making the cards.  Today's post includes four of the 20 cards in the set.  The only thing not included is the adhesive.  When all the cards were complete, I had a few "leftovers" as far as embellishments go.  I mentioned to my class ladies that I would like to do a class where each person pre-purchased the kit ($35 + tax and shipping) and then everyone can work on them together.  Now that I have completed my kit, I think it is an even better idea.  And when all is done, we each have 20 cards, a great stamp set that can be used over and over and we have had a fun afternoon.  I will be sending emails to the ladies in my card classes with this information in the near future.  I rather enjoyed stamping and assembling these lovely cards without having to diecut embellishments or even cut the card bases and score them!!  Anyway, it was a fun project to work on and the cards are cute, most of them being downright pretty.   In addition, the designs on the cards can be used as card sketches for future cards.  Have a great day!

A Nautical Card

I never have enough masculine greeting cards.  So yesterday afternoon I grabbed the stamp set, From Land To Sea, and created this card.  The DSP is from the retired Maritime collection.  It goes perfectly with this stamp set.  The sentiment is from the Wetlands stamp set.  The one thing I did differently on this card:  rather than use dimensionals for the white layer, I adhered white craft foam to the entire back of the white layer before adhering to the card front.  I have watched a few videos where crafters are using the craft foam to give a sturdier backing to their cards when they go thru the mail.  My question is whether or not this will take extra postage as it is pretty firm and adds an extra 1/8" of thickness.  It does give the card a nice finished appearance.  The card will be on the board, so next time you are here you can see what I am talking about.  Have a great day!

I So Like Today's Cards!

The other day I saw cards created by a Stampin' Up demonstrator from Germany and immediately knew I had to recreate her cards.  And as you can see, I did!  I used the Kinda Eclectic and Crazy About You stamp sets, the Hello You Thinlets, a sponge and ink.  I used my handheld star punch for all the little stars.  On the Melon Mambo card I used a framelit from the Gift Card Envelope Thinlets for the "birthday".  I do use that framelit  often.  On the Coastal Cabana card, the Washi Tape punch was perfect for the birthday sentiment.  Have a happy day!

Cottage Greetings Card Kit

I have mentioned in the past that I really like the stamp set, Cottage Greetings.  At the time I ordered the stamp set, I also ordered the card kit.  Last week I had a chance to make one set of the five included in the kit.  (The kit includes a total of 15 cards.)  The cards shown here were assembled according to the instructions included with the kit.  The cards all measure 5" x 5" and come with the envelopes.  Keep in mind though that when sending square envelopes, you do need extra postage~~I am almost positive that is 22 cents additional postage.  All of the embellishments and even silver envelope liners come with the kit.  (You do need to supply ink and adhesives and the sentiment stamps you will use.)  After assembling the cards, I stamped the sentiments and then added all of the cute little embellishments.  I think the cost of the kit is well worth the $16 plus tax and shipping.  So did many others. The Cottage Garden Kit is already on backorder and no one is sure when they kit will be back in stock!  But the stamp set is available!! The stamp set costs $16 plus tax and shipping in clear mount or $26 in wood.   Have a great day!

Happy 4th of July!

The celebration of our independence officially begins today!  We will be going to a cookout on Saturday and I wanted to bring a little favor for everyone.  This is what I decided on when I saw Hershey bars at the store.  After wrapping the candy bar in navy cardstock, I wrapped red ribbon around it and attached the white star to the ribbon.  The sentiment is from a Close To My Heart stamp set that I have had for a while and the sentiment fit perfectly in the star framelit.  The new silver metallic thread in SU's annual catalog is the perfect addition to the ribbon.  The favor was cute just like that, but I added additional little stars to the wrapper.  Have a great holiday weekend.  Be safe and enjoy!

Butterfly Sympathy Card

One of the gifts I received for my birthday is the very pretty Memory Box die, Kensington Border.  I needed to try it and just grabbed a piece of black cardstock to do so.  The border was so pretty that I added it to a piece of white cardstock to do something with later.  Well, a few minutes later, I decided to use it for a sympathy card.  Not only did I use the retired Love and Sympathy set, I also used the retired Beautiful Wings embosslit to create butterflies to add to the white space.   Those two items might be retired, but I will be using them for  a long, long time to come.  Have a great day!

Indigo & Black Butterflies

Most of the butterflies I stamp are bright and/or soft.  But for a change I made a card using Black and Island Indigo butterflies.  I truly like the Watercolor Wings stamp set,  I enjoy the three step stamping and the sentiments are simple and pretty.  This particular color combination made really striking butterflies.  As I look at the card right here, it needs a few pretty sequins!  And I will be adding them when I go downstairs later on.  Have a great day!