Love Parrots

Not quite sure what I will use today's card for~~Valentine, Anniversary, Just Because~~but it is cute. I was coloring stamped and either die cut or Scan N Cut images and couldn't just throw them away. So I added the little parrots to retired SU paper together with the die cut heart.  The "xoxo" was an SVG file that I downloaded and used in the Scan N Cut.  It fit perfectly on the heart~~after numerous attempts!!!!  I will add a sentiment at a later date.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Puppy, Turtle & Hearts

Friends and I had a crafting afternoon the other day and once again, everyone was busy.   Nancy was sharing some cards she found on the internet.  When I saw a card created with the Bella and Friends stamp set, I knew I would be making something very similar.  And here it is.  The sentiment is from the Pretty Pink Posh set, Thoughtful Greetings.  I lightly brushed blue and green ink on the white background and used scraps of retired paper to add a little contrast.  One of Stampin' Up's Stitched Shaped Circle Framelits was used for the white circle and I layered that on a circle that was cut with a Layering Circles Framelit.  Should I put a couple of little black hearts in the upper right corner?  I am thinking about that right now.  Have a great day!

Happy Bird-day!

As I continue to use the images I stamped and cut on the Scan N Cut, here is today's card.  The bird nest is from Stampin' Up's Flying Home stamp set.  For the image, I wanted to create a mat.  So I put a black piece of cardstock on the mat, in the same place the stamped cardstock was and increased the offset a bit. Pressed start on the SNC and it cut a perfect mat. The sentiment is from another set and was punched using a retired SU punch.

I show you the many successful things I am making with the Scan N Cut's help, but I still have my frustrations with the it.  It doesn't always cut each stamped image perfectly.  As a matter of fact, there have been two images that I cannot get the SNC to cut no matter what I try.  If not careful, the mat will still load crookedly and that really ticks me off.  But all in all, I am liking the machine a lot more than I used to like it!  Have a great day!

Love You Much

Since I cut out more than a few stamped images on the Scan N Cut, I have been coloring and using those images.  The images on today's card are from Simon Says Stamp's Springtime Critters set. The background was brushed with Distress Inks.  The images were all colored with alcohol markers.  I really like the font used on the sentiment stamp on today's card.  It is from a long-retired Stampin' Up set, Well-Scripted.    Little hearts complete the card`s cuteness!  And now I have an anniversary card, a Valentine or just an 'I love You" card.  Have a great day!

Happy 50!

Over the weekend, John and I went to a very nice 50th birthday celebration.   I created the shaker after adhering the "50" to the white layer.  I was planning on adding a stem of leaves off to the side and above the "50"~~but oops!  I adhered the top layer before the leaves were adhered.  Oh well.  The leaves looked nice inside the card, too! The flowers are from a stamp set from Fun Stampers Journey.  I purchased it a couple of years ago and maybe used it once.  At the time there were no matching dies.   So for today's card, I stamped the image and cut it on the Scan N Cut.  I probably should have played more with the SNC before now. I might have saved quite a bit of money not buying framelits and dies!  Have a great day!

Count My Blessings

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  For today's card I used Stampin' Up's Count Your Blessings stamp set.  This set was in the Holiday Catalog.  After coloring the image with alcohol markers, I cut the image on the Scan N Cut.  I don't usually color first as I want to be sure the image cuts right~~and it did.  I used another image in the set and Lemon Lime Twist to create the background.  I like the color combination of Lemon Lime with the retired Regal Rose.  And the Lemon Lime ribbon is really pretty.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Playful Kitten

Another cute kitten card created using Jessica's Kitten by Your Next Stamp.  The retired Stampin' Up color, Coastal Cabana, was probably my most favorite color from my 10 years as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Actually, I liked the In Colors from that time, including Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I do remember that Baked Brown Sugar was a color from that group that was not used that often by me.  The images were colored using alcohol markers and added to the plain and scalloped circles.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Heart Shaker

It pays to straighten up your supplies!  As I was making magnet cards for my new framelits, I came across a heart die (used on today's card) from Simon Says Stamp which I forgot I had.  Using stitched rectangles from Lawn Fawn,  I made the layers for the card.  After die cutting the heart in the red stitched rectangle, I added a piece of acetate, foam strips from Stampin' Up and sequins to make the shaker.  The foam strips really work well when making shaker cards.  If you are going to make a shaker card, remember to use your embossing buddy along the edge that will be facing the sequins.  By doing this, the sequins will not stick to the foam strip.  Have a great day!

Butterfly Basics

I continue to play with my Scan N Cut, stamping and cutting out images.  Stampin' Up's Butterfly Basics stamp set includes the flower image.  I stamped it and then cut it out on the Scan N Cut. The machine did a pretty good job of cutting.  This time though, I made the border .08 rather than .04.  I definitely prefer a smaller border.  Next time I use a cut image with such a wide border, I will pop up the image using dimensionals.  Spectrum Noir markers were used to color the flowers and the markers chosen closely matched Bermuda Bay cardstock .  The sentiment is also part of the Butterfly Basics stamp set.  Have a great day!

You're A Classic

Last week my brother-in-law celebrated his 70th birthday.  I wanted a card that was fun and  had a "70" on the front of it.  So out came My Favorite Things' Soda Pop stamp set and coordinating dies. The red layer was created using My Favorite Things' Stitched Cover-Up framelit.   The "70" was created using Stampin' Up's Little Numbers framelits. It is sometimes hard to believe that our friends and relatives are starting to hit their seventies~~and we are just a few years behind them!  Have a great day and find yourselves a little stampin' time!

Valentine Lip Balm

This past Sunday was Cricut Sunday.  As always, we had a fun afternoon that included crafting, talking, laughing and eating. (Kathy's soup and salad were very good and Nancy's brownies were the best!)  I wasn't sure if we would be getting together again before Valentine's Day, so I made the favors in today's post for the ladies.  The lip balm framelits and pouches are from My Favorite Things Stamps.  The individual Chapsticks are all candy flavored~~Hershey Kiss, Twizzler, Reese's, etc.  Since the colors on the individual Chapsticks did not match the pink heart paper I was using, I wrapped each Chapstick before putting it in the pouch.  The sentiment is from the retired Good Greetings stamp set from Stampin' Up.  Have a great day and be careful if you are out and about today.

Pawfect Birthday

Tomorrow is my friend, Cherie's, birthday.  I used My Favorite Things stamp set, New Best Friend, for her card.  The background was created using Distress Inks and brushes.  The little girl and her puppy were colored using alcohol markers.  Both the Peekaboo Peach and white layers were die cut using Avery Elle's Wonky Frames. Peekaboo Peach twine and a few sequins complete the card.  Have a great weekend!   Happy birthday, Cherie!

Those SNC Images

And what did I do with the images cut on the Scan N Cut?  I made today's cards.  Two of the cuts from the Whole Lot of Lovely DSP were used to make the pretty Thinking of You card.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Count My Blessings stamp set.  The color combination of Pool Party and Tranquil Tide looks pretty.  I used alcohol markers to color the rhinestones.  I never would have been able to fussy cut these images.

The puppy image, cut on the SNC, was used to create the cute birthday card.  The image and sentiment are from Your Next Stamp, Jessica's Puppies.  I already purchased the dies for this stamp set, so I really don't need to use the Scan N Cut.  But in the future, I might not have to purchase dies if I get this Scan N Cut down pat!  Have a great day and enjoy the warm spell!!!

Scan N Cut Images

Last week a friend of mine had a couple of questions about the Brother Scan N Cut.  I purchased one when this particular machine first came out over three years ago.  After using the Cricut for many years, I liked the idea of being able to scan in images/stamped images and having a machine cut them out versus using cartridges for images.  Well, the SNC was very frustrating as some of the stamped images easily scanned and then were die cut.  At the same time, many of the stamped images did not show up on the mat or get cut out.  I put the machine away as there were just too many things that needed to be worked out and went back to my Cricut.

After questions from my friend last week, I took out my Scan N Cut and started playing.  I had to update the machine and played with it for quite a few hours since then.  Yesterday, I stamped the little dog three times.  The image on the left was cut out using a MFT coordinating die. The image on the right was scanned and cut on the Scan N Cut.  The flowers and the oranges were cut out of 12 x 12 pieces of DSP paper.  After scanning the DSP piece, I then zoomed in on a portion of the paper I wanted cut.  Sure enough, the SNC did a pretty darn good job.

I have been having fun using the SNC again, but it still has some of the same issues that caused me to put the machine away.  Now that I am getting reacquainted with the SNC, it might be on my counter for a while!  Have a great day!

Carnations

My very favorite flower is the carnation.  I love their scent and they look so pretty.  A few weeks ago, Altenew released a new stamp set and coordinating dies, Build A Flower:  Carnation.  Today's card was created using that set.  The carnation is a four-step flower and it does take a little thought as to which colors you are going to use.  When I was making these carnations, I should have written down the inks I used~~but I didn't!  I do know that for one I used Flirty Flamingo and stamped off a couple of times for the different layers.  And then I used Melon Mambo and stamped off a couple of times for the other.  After stamping off, I am not sure which inks I used.  Next time I write down the ink steps!  The sentiment is included in the set.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

With Love

I used the Penny Black stamp set, Loads of Love, for today's card. This set has many cute images.  As a matter of fact, I used this stamp set last year and still have a couple of images I have not used.  I saw the layout for today's card on Pinterest and thought this image would look cute in a circle layered on a scalloped circle.  The image was colored with alcohol markers.  The sentiment is from an old Amuse stamp set that I use often.  Back in the day, Amuse had some wonderful stamps.  But they long ago closed shop.  The heart paper is one that I found at Hobby Lobby and contrasts nicely with the black and Crumb Cake cardstock. Have a great day!

Simple Thinking of You

Today's card is clean and simple.  It was created using images and a sentiment from Stampin' Up's Friendship's Sweetest Thoughts stamp set in the Occasions mini.  I simply stamped the images and sentiment using Chocolate Chip ink and colored the little images using alcohol markers.  Using dimensionals, I adhered that layer on top of the white layer that was embossed using the Layered Leaves embossing folder.  The card base was created using a long-ago retired color, Pixie Pink.  Have a great day and a great weekend!

Flying Home Thank You

Today's card was created using Stampin' Up's Flying Home stamp set.  After coloring the image with alcohol markers, I used the Layering Squares Framelits to layer on the white background.  The purple cardstock, Lavender Fields, is from My Favorite Things.  It looks like a deep, pretty periwinkle. The sentiment is from a retired SU set.  The little birds are also from the Flying Home stamp set.   This cold weather has me wanting Spring to come very soon!!  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Mermaid Birthday

I went downstairs to clean up my scrap room and ended up making one more shaker card.  For the background of the shaker and the top oval border, I used Brusho Color Crystals and water.  I have had Brusho crystals for quite a while, but rarely use them.  Then I saw that Stampin' Up now offers some colors of Brusho.   That prompted me to play with mine.  I first wet the water color paper and then shook both turquoise and purple Brusho Crystals on to the water color paper.  I continued to spritz water on the paper until I was happy with the look and dried it with my heat gun.  Again I used the Oval Stitched Shape framelits for the shaker.  The sentiment is a combination of phrases from two stamp sets, one from Sunny Studio Stamps and the other from Sugar Pea Designs.  I used alcohol markers to color the cute little mermaid and then added some sparkle using my Clear Wink of Stella glitter brush.  My Favorite Things' Mermazing stamp set is still one of the cutest I own.  Have a great day!

Happy Bird-day

Happy New Year!  Hope you all enjoyed celebrating! We spent the weekend celebrating with family and friends.  It was perfect.

After all the Christmas and thank you cards and the freezing cold weather the past days,  I decided to make a brightly colored, warm-feeling card.  Actually, I saw the Bird Banter stamp set in Stampin' Up's Occasions catalog last month and thought about purchasing it.  But, since I have a few cute bird sets, I decided the purchase was not necessary. So, yesterday I pulled out Clearly Besotted's Some Birdie Loves You set and made this cute shaker card.  Stampin' Up's Stitched Shapes Framelits made it quite easy to create the "shaker".   The adorable little parrots were colored using alcohol markers. Keep warm and have a great day!

2018

Thanks to my friend, Nancy, I have a pretty New Year's
card to post today!  With the cold and snow outside, the embossed snowflakes, rhinestones and glitter paper make it the perfect card!  I wish all a very happy, healthy and successful New Year.  May you be blessed with everything good.   HAPPY NEW YEAR!