Peaceful Feeling

Since John is into his duck hunting. when I see something "duck" that catches my attention, I oftentimes purchase it.  While looking at dies from Gina Marie a few weeks ago, this die was moved to my shopping cart.  I know I mention when a card is easy to create and this one really was easy!  I adhered the die cut on a piece of Wisteria Wonder. I then adhered that to Whisper White cardstock.  On the black layer I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed using White embossing powder.  All was adhered to a white cardstock base and now I have a simple card that feels so peaceful.  Have a great day!

Card Sketches

Since I run out of ideas and I am more and more often going to Pinterest, I decided it was time to try card sketches.  On the left is one of the card sketches that caught my eye.  On the right is the card I created kind of using the sketch.  My card is different as I know for sure I did not place the strips of paper as they were placed on the sketch.  The biggest thing is that I adhered my strips of paper too close to the top of the card.  When I stamped the sentiment, there was way too much room on the bottom of the card.  So, I added another strip of paper to fill in that white space.  I should have stamped the sentiment in a different color ink.  I think that blue or green ink would have been a better choice. There is just too much orange.  But, it is not bad and I will play with the sketch again another time~~maybe using black and white!  Have a great day!

Group of Drangonflies

Finishing out the week with one more dragonfly card.  Today's card was very quick to create.  This was another image I had die cut over the weekend using the Detailed Dragonflies thinlets.  I used a sentiment from a retired stamp set, Whimsical Words.  This was probably one of my all time favorite Sale-a-bration sets.  The card base, sentiment and dragonflies were all made using Island Indigo cardstock and ink.  I used Avery Elle's Wonky Stitches die on the white layer and sponged the edges with Island Indigo ink.  Did you know that there are dragonflies and damselflies?  The damselflies are smaller and have slimmer bodies than the dragonflies.  I did not know that until I looked up dragonflies the other day.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

St. Patrick's Day

Lawn Fawn's Hats Off To You stamp set is very cute.  Since I don't have much in the way of St. Patrick's Day stamps, this stamp set came in handy.  The hat, shamrock and sentiment are all in the set.  Unfortunately, I lost the "happy" so I had to use the "happy" from a Sunny Studio Stamps set.  I colored the images using Spectrum Noir markers. They were then adhered to a white cardstock layer which was gently inked with Cucumber Crush ink and a Clarity brush.  After coloring and adhering little shamrocks, I decided that a few gold sequins were called for.  Have a great day!

Pretty Poppies

My friend, Paula, sent me an email that included a photo of a card she made with a new stamp set and dies she purchased.  The Pretty Poppies stamp set and dies are from Stampendous.  Paula colored the images using Gansai Tambi watercolor paints.  I forget the vibrancy of these watercolor paints.  Just beautiful.  She embossed white cardstock using the Cuttlebug folder, Swiss Dots, for the background.  At our next play date, she will be bringing this image for us to watercolor and I am really looking forward to it.  It sure is nice to have friends who enjoy stamping as much as I do.  Actually, it is nice to have such dear friends with or without the stamping!  Have a great day and enjoy this beautiful day!

Polka Dot Balloon

Today's card was created because I stamped the sentiment from Dragonfly Dreams and wanted to use it!  Since the sentiment was black stamped on white, I wanted to have a black and white color combination.  This was quite easy.  I used strips of paper from the Neutrals DSP stack for the edges and the polka dot paper from the Pop of Pink Specialty DSP for the balloon.  I created the string using the image from the Balloon Celebration stamp set and white craft ink.  The card needed a little something more so what else but star sequins!  Have a great day!

Avant Garden Thank You

I am in need of thank you cards, so I made a few of the card I am posting today.  After stamping the flowers, I then cut out one and used it as a mask so that I could stamp the little splatter without getting the splatters on the flowers.  The sentiment is from another Sale-a-bration set, So Very Much.  I know you have to spend $50 to get one of the stamp sets, but these are two sets in the SAB flyer that I can see myself using~~so free is good!  Have a great day and weekend.  Enjoy the Spring-like weather that is forecast for our area!   

You Are So Loved

Today is our 43rd anniversary so I thought a "love" card was in order.  Simple but elegant is how I would describe today's card.  I inked the section of the Shimmery White cardstock that would be under the butterfly using Marina Mist Ink and a Clarity brush.  I lightly splattered Marina Mist after inking the Shimmery White.  The butterfly was cut using one of Stampin' Up's Butterflies thinlets and Shimmery White cardstock.  Once again I am using the Watercolor Wishes stamp set which is part of the Watercolor Wishes Card Kit in the Annual Catalog.  I have used that set more times than I can count!   The decorative corners and the pearls complete this card and add that touch of elegance.  Have a great day!

Welcome Baby

I learned of a stamp company, Wild Rose Studio Stamps, so I had to check it out.  My goodness! They have some very pretty and adorable stamps.  I did not see dies that match their stamp images, but they do have a variety of decorative dies.  They also sell some pretty paper packs.  Today's card was created using Bella's Birthday Balloon stamp.  I stamped the image using Memento black ink and then colored it in using my Prisma Colored Pencils.  The two pattern papers are from the Icing On The Cake paper pack from Wild Rose.  The border around the stamped layer is cut from a die from Gina Marie Designs.  I haven't made a square cards in ages.  It seemed like a majority of the cards I saw on Pinterest created with Wild Rose Studio stamps were square.  So, I decided my card would also be square.  Isn't this just too cute?  Have a great day!

Love Is In The Air

 Happy Valentine's Day!  I have probably mentioned it in the past, but my Dad's birthday was on Valentine's Day.  He loved celebrating his birthday so it was like a National holiday in our house.  One year I had been sick a lot and my sister-in-law said, "If I didn't know better I would say you're pregnant."  We were in the middle of eating dinner and I very casually said, "I am."  A couple of seconds passed by, and my sister jumps up and said, "You're expecting?"  Everyone started hugging me and my Dad said, "This is the best present I could ever get!"  And that October, Matthew was born.  So as special as Valentine's Day is, it is even more special because I have years of memories of celebrating love of family and my Dad's birthday on Valentine's Day.  Today's card was made for special friends using the Lift Me Up stamp set and dies.  I am enjoying this stamp set.  It is very versatile and has great sentiments  Have a great day! 

Valentine From Kathy

We received a really pretty Valentine from my friend, Kathy Z.  I want to share it with you today.  Kathy used the Sealed With Love stamp set and coordinating dies together with pattern paper from the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack.  These items are in the Occasions Mini.  She also used the Happy Heart embossing folder and tied everything together with the solid black baker's twine (Annual Catalog).  I know she put a lot of time into creating this Valentine and I do appreciate it so much.  When I see an envelope with Kathy's return address, I always open it first as I know it is something special!  Thank you, Kathy.  Have a great day!

Valentine Plane

Another valentine for a cute little boy I know.  The plane and big cloud is from Lawn Fawn's Bon Voyage stamp and die sets.  The little puffy heart stream is from a retired Stampin' Up set.  And the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Love Letters set.  The airplane was colored using Spectrum Noir markers.  Before putting all the pieces together, I brushed the white cardstock layer using Marina Mist ink and a Clarity brush to lightly wash some blue in the sky.  These past few days I have been doing my fair share of coloring.  I have to concentrate so that I do not go out of the lines, but other than that, coloring is very relaxing.  When my sis and I were kids, one of our happiest moments was when we got a new coloring book and crayons.  We would color for hours.  I am nowhere near crayons right now, but I can close my eyes and smell crayons.  I wonder if years from now I will be able to close my eyes and smell alcohol markers?  Don't know that I would want to--lol!  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Orange or Pink?

The other day I posted a card with a single red rose.  Today I am posting cards using the same stamp set, Altenew's Amazing You, with multiple roses. I created an orange and gray card trying to copy a card I saw on the Avery Elle website.  I stamped the roses in Calypso Coral and then colored them using Spectrum Noir markers.  The stems and leaves were stamped in Smokey Slate and Basic Gray and also colored with Spectrum Noir markers. The "Hello" sentiment is from the same stamp set.   Yesterday I wanted to make the same card using pink and gray and a medium and small rose.  I stamped the roses in Melon Mambo and colored them with Spectrum Noir Markers.  The leaves were done as they were on the orange and gray card.  The sentiment on the pink card is from Stampin' Up's Watercolor Wishes card kit.  Both cards are very pretty and I would not mind receiving either.  But I do like using two small and two medium roses (pink) rather than two large and two medium roses (orange).  Have a great day!

Hey Valentine

Today's card was created by my friend, Kathy Z.  She made this Valentine for the oldest of her three grandchildren. The image is from the retired  Hey, Valentine stamp set and the paper is from the retired Stacked With Love paper stack.  When I saw the card, after thinking how cute it was, I thought, " How cute is that little parrot?"  Thanks for sharing, Kathy!  Have a great day everyone! 

Pretty Hot Air Balloons

Stampin' Up's Lift Me Up stamp set and dies just keep calling to me.  I think today's cards are so pretty.  The colors with the white balloon die cut are just so not what you usually see when you see hot air balloons.  For the card on the left  I used Flirty Flamingo and Peekaboo Peach for the pieces to line the balloon die cut.  The clouds are fairly "quiet" with lightly sponged edges.  Once everything was put together and the sentiment was stamped, I decided to adhere it to a layer that was die cut using the largest of Lawn Fawn's Fancy Scallops Rectangle set.  The Coastal Cabana/Pistachio Pudding card was adhered to Whisper White cardstock which was die cut using Avery Elle's die, Wonky Stitches and lightly inked using a Clarity brush and Coastal Cabana ink.  Of course the cards would not be complete if I hadn't added a few matching sequins.  Have a great day!

Love You Rose

This single rose, along with the remainder of the Amazing You stamp set by Altenew, immediately caught my attention when I saw it.  With Valentine's Day and our anniversary coming up, I made today's card knowing it would be a good card for either occasion.  I scored both the right and left edges using my SU scoring tool to add some dimension  and elegance.  I created another card using the same set and dies and will post it this week.  Have a great day!

Soft Sky Smiles

soft Sky Isn't today's card pretty?  For the background, I used one of the papers in the Falling In Love DSP in the new Occasions Mini.  After die cutting the balloon, I die cut another balloon using craft foam.  You have to be careful using glue to adhere the smaller areas so the glue doesn't leak out.  Ask me how I know this~~hahaha!!!  I then stamped the sentiment on white cardstock and cut it out using on of the Stitched Shapes framelits from the set that was introduced late last year. I layered that on a slightly larger Soft Sky rectangle.  The card needed a little something more, so out came the sequins and I actually had some that perfectly match the DSP.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Lift Me Up

Yesterday I received a Stampin' Up order from last week.  I ordered the Lift Me Up Bundle and you know me, I had to create something with it right away!  So today's card is the simple card I created using both an image and a sentiment from the stamp set and a die from the framelits.  I centered the hot air balloon in a die cut from Simon Says Stamps' Quadrangle Framelit.  This card would be perfect for graduation or retirement.  I have a feeling that tomorrow's card will also be created using the Lift Me Up bundle.  The bundle definitely has my attention.  Have a great day and keep warm!

Melon Mambo Flowers

Last week I posted a card that I copied from the Sale-a-bration catalog using the Avant Garden stamp set.  I mentioned that I probably should have made the card base Crumb Cake instead of Cantaloupe.  So over the weekend, I created the same card using Melon Mambo.  At first I adhered the white stamped layer to a Crumb Cake card base and I did not care for it.  So I layered the stamped white cardstock on Melon Mambo cardstock which I then adhered to the Crumb Cake.  Much better!  I don't think today's is prettier than last week's card, but it is pretty, too!  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.