Daisy Favors

Yesterday was Cricut Sunday and as always, it was very fun!  The favors I made were quick and easy.  The candy is from Dove and the daisy wrapping on the chocolates was what caught my attention.  The tags and the little cardstock trays inside the packages were created using one of the new In Colors, Grapefruit Grove.  It is a pretty shade of orange and extremely close to the old and retired Peach Parfait.  The ombre ribbon went from yellow to orange and matched the Grapefruit Grove and yellow daisy wrapping paper.  The 2" x 8" cellophane sleeves are very useful when needing or wanting to add little favors at a party or even just to give someone a little treat.  Have a great day!

Birthday Flamingo

Reorganizing and uncluttering my scrap room has been taking up time these past days.  I am finding quite a few items for my sale table.  Colors I do not use or which are similar to other colors are adding up. Therefore, I am selling those items.  For example, I have Cameo Coral cardstock, ink pad and refill on the table.  I love the color, but it is so very close to Flirty Flamingo that I don't need both.  I have unopened packs of Stampin' Up 12x12 cardstock.  I haven't used any of it for a long time, so those pack, too, are moving from my storage space to the sale table.

And then there is the Regal Rose that I used for today's card.   Regal Rose is a keeper as I have nothing close to it and I do use it.  I thought a Regal Rose flamingo would be quite pretty~~and it is.  I used the Fabulous Flamingo stamp set, which is also a keeper.   The body of the flamingo is a three step stamp.  I used Regal Rose ink, stamping off twice for the lightest, once for the full flamingo and direct stamping for the third image.  Have a great weekend!

Lovely Floral

I had an opportunity to purchase a couple of items from the new annual catalog and I did.  One of those items is the Lovely Floral Embossing Folder.  The Pretty In Pink card is quite simple.  After embossing the center of the card front, I added it to a black layer.  The sentiment is from The Sheltering Tree stamp set.  Pretty card.

The Soft Sky and Basic Gray card is a step up.  I embossed the image closer to the top of the card, leaving space for twine and a sentiment.  The sentiment is from one of my favorite Stampin' Up sets, Sincere Salutations.  Since I had gray sequins, I added a few.  Another pretty card and  if I make a couple more using the embossing folder, I will have a nice gift set to give to someone.  Have a great day!

Fluttering By

While going thru cardstock, I found some retired Pretty In Pink.  And it is pretty!  I used my scoring tool to add some texture to the Pretty In Pink cardstock.  The Marbled background stamp was inked with Pistachio Pudding and it is very light.  Actually, you can hardly see it.  The sentiment is part of a digital stamp from Tiddly Inks Stamps.  I printed it on white cardstock and then cut it using a Stitched Oval framelit.  The butterflies are in a pale green and match the Pistachio Pudding  marbled background.  The little pearls are an item that will be in the new annual catalog. Have a great day!

Cantaloupe Crisp Birthday

I have been sorting cardstock, ink and refills and deciding which Stampin' Up colors I want to keep and which I will be selling,  While doing that I stopped to create today's card using Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock and Designer Series Paper.  I  came across the two pretty butterflies which were watercolored on Shimmery White cardstock.  The other thing I came across was a retired three corner punch.   I am sure that I used it at least once before.  The sentiment is from Cottage Greetings.  Have a great day!

Card For My Artist

Yesterday was a celebration of the Schaumburg School District 54 Board Room Artists.  (In an earlier post, I posted a photo of Sydney and her swan art.) There was a gallery walk during which we viewed the projects of 28 students, one from each school in District 54. The talents of these young people amaze me.   Their art work will be on display for the next year in the School District 54 Board Room.

This is the card I made for Sydney.   How perfect to have the Stampin' Up Swan Lake stamp set.  The background layer was stamped using the Marbled background stamp and Soft Sky ink.  I will say it again~~I am so very proud of Sydney!  Have a great weekend and enjoy the Spring weather!

Lifting Ink Technique

The other day I was watching a video on Simon Says Stamp.  The video was showing how to use distress inks and a shammy to give texture to your cards. The shammy she used is the Absorber which is a full size shammy you can purchase on Amazon.   The shammy is pretty big and can be cut down in size to make it more manageable and/or to share with a number of your friends.  For this technique, you add Distress Inks or Distress Oxide Inks to your cardstock. Then take the wet shammy (not soaking wet) and scrunch it up, patting it against the inked cardstock,  The wet shammy lifts off some of the ink.  I have two samples of cards I made using this lifting ink method.  The sentiments on both cards and the hummingbirds are from Pretty Pink Posh.  The rose is from Altenew.

Do you remember the home decor painting trend from about 20 or so years ago?  You painted sections of a wall and then used Saran Wrap to remove some of the paint?  That is what I thought of as I was making the backgrounds for these cards and laughing about how this looked pretty bad on all four walls in a bedroom!!!  But it is pretty as a card background, though!  Have a great day!

Space Explorer Again

I mentioned the other day that Cherie gave us the makings for our own Space Explorer card.  Cherie's card was so cute, I had to make a card using those pieces.  Mine turned out to be a shaker card.  Both pattern papers used on today's card are from Lawn Fawn.  I have had them for awhile and the little stars are perfect for a little astronaut.  I used Stampin' Up framelits to create the stitched circle around the shaker.  Poppy Parade cardstock was a good match to the little stars and we have a Poppy Parade card base, too. My Favorite Things has some of the cutest stamps.   Have a great day!

Spring Fling

You would think I had enough birdhouse stamp sets, but then along comes another!  The birdhouses on today's cards are from RG Studio 360 and they are digital.  (I even played with the sizes of the birdhouses before printing them up and cutting them on the SNC.)  This digital set is free.  After playing with the sizes of the birdhouses and printing up the set, I then cut the birdhouses on the Scan N Cut.  The "hello" on the striped card is part of RG's set.  Not only did I cut it out, I also cut out a mat for it.

The sentiment on the blue card is from a retired Stampin' Up set.  The little birds are from a Sunny Studio Stamp set.  While I was going thru my supplies over the weekend, I found that I have plenty of Bashful Blue cardstock so I might as well use it. Bashful Blue and Soft Suede are a pretty color combination.  Have a great day!

Space Explorer

Paula and Cherie came over yesterday to play in the scrap room.  Cherie made the cutest card and it is today's post.  She used My Favorite Things' Birdie Brown set, Space Explorer.  There is a circle in the card front thru which you can see the inside  of the card.  When you open the card, there is another little astronaut and Saturn.  Cherie gave us the components to make this card and I will do so during the week.  Isn't this too cute?  Have a great day!

Happy Day To You

I liked yesterday's card and I really like today's card!  I think it is about the color combination~~two of my all-time favorites, Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay.  I used the Seasonal Layers framelits to die cut the chair and flowers and then I decided to make this a shaker card.  Stampin' Up's foam strips make it very easy to create the shaker part.  The very pretty sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh, the Mermaid Mix.  The sentiment is from the retired Friendly Phrases Stampin' Up set.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Poppy Parade

I decided to see what old Stampin' Up items I have, knowing I would find Poppy Parade cardstock and ink.  And I knew I had Mossy Meadow, another returning color.  I used the Jar of Love stamp set and framelits for today's card.  The larger flowers were stamped with Poppy Parade ink, stamping off once for the lighter part of the flower.  Crushed Curry was used for the smaller flowers and Mossy Meadow for the stems and leaves. The white cardstock layer against the embossed Poppy Parade cardstock is nice and crisp.   I added sequins and the word "wish" to complete the card.  Looking forward to seeing all the new colors.  Have a great day and enjoy the Spring day!

Cute Flamingo

Over the weekend I was looking at Pinterest and up came cute cards with the Fluffy Flamingos stamp set from Clearly Besotted.  So I decided to ki copy one~~sort of.  I stamped the cattails on the white layer and after coloring the little flamingo, I pop-dotted him in front of the cattails.  The card was finished but there was too much white space.  So I splattered droplets of Pool Party ink on it.  Well, I think it was cuter with too much white space!  This is one of the stamp sets that just makes me feel happy when playing with it.  Have a great day!

Stampin' Up released their retiring product list and their Annual Catalog to the demonstrators.  The catalog goes live at the beginning of June.  They have "revamped" their color families~~keeping colors, adding new colors and moving colors around.  SU has also redesigned their stamp pad cases.  As far as colors go, I am sorry to see Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky go away.  But they are bringing back Coastal Cabana and Flirty Flamingo (and others). The retiring list is on SU's website.  The new catalog info is floating around the Internet.

Today's card was created using a couple of products that will carry over to the new cattie:  Flirty Flamingo cardstock; image from the Wood Words stamp set; and ovals from the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  The green ink is Wild Wasabi and it is being retired.  Have a great day!

Baby Chicks

Matthew brought home his baby chicks on Saturday.  They are four days old and just adorable!  For now, Matt has set up their pen in his Master whirlpool bath!  They have shredded bedding, little heaters, food and water.  They need to get used to Matt since he will be collecting the eggs and cleaning the coop.  Over the weekend, Syd and Jen came out to see them.  By the time they are ready to lay eggs, they will be very used to humans with all of us oohhing and aaahhing over them! As promised, here are a couple pics of the little things.  I have grandpuppies and grandbirds but never thought I would have grandchickens~~hahaha!!!  Have a great day!

Flying Home

Happy Friday!  I am still thinking Spring, even though the weather isn't! The stamp set I used for today's card is Stampin' Up's Flying Home which is in the Occasions Catalog.  I was going for a Key West look as I was coloring the birdhouses, but it also looks a little like the Southwest.  I used two of my favorite retired DSP papers, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana.  The new catalog comes out on June 1st and I am hoping they bring back the In Colors from back in 2013~~or at least a couple of them.  The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted stamp set, Sweet Little Sentiments.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

In The Sky

Today's card is another I created with the help of Pinterest and the Scan N Cut.  I have Stampin' Up's Lift Me Up hot air balloon stamp set and dies, which I really like and have used a number of times.  As I was browsing images on Pinterest,  I saw the bows on the balloon and basket of this image and had to save it.  Alcohol markers were used to color the hot air balloon and then I cut it out on the SNC.  I used a retired SU embossing folder for the upper portion of the Soft Sky cardstock and then added score lines using the scoring board.  The sentiment and clouds are from the Lift Me Up stamp set.  I have seen many hot air balloons, but I can't remember ever seeing one so dainty!  Have a great day!

Birthday Flower Cart

It is hard to believe it is Spring with our weather lately!  I thought a card that feels like Spring would help brighten your day.  The image is from Stampin' Up's Friendship's Sweetest Thoughts stamp set.  I colored the image using alcohol markers.  The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn and I used two dies from Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle dies for the image and layers,  The base for this card measures 7-1/2" by 5-1/2".  It is scored and folded at 4-1/4". Since the back of the card is an inch wider than the front of the card, I used a strip of the same plaid paper on the inside.   The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn and if I didn't have scrapbook paper overload in my craft room, I would be buying sheets of each color plaid just to have it.  I used this paper for Easter favors and not only did it cut and fold beautifully~~it just looks pretty!  Have a great day!

Pretty Orchid Plant

John gave me a beautiful orchid for Easter.  The orchids are a lemon/lime color~~so pretty.  I had purchased a digital stamp from Tiddly Inks earlier and now I had my inspiration.  While printing the image, I decided to add a sentiment, too.  I centered "Happy Mother's Day"  under the orchid plant  before printing what would be the card front. I used Spectrum Noir markers to color the image and Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle dies for the white and Lemon Lime Twist layers.  (After taking pictures, I saw an area I did not color and a little going out of the lines on one of the leaves.  Fixed.)  Years ago, we lived a couple of miles away from an orchid grower.  They had every kind of orchid you could think of and some were so tiny, they looked fake.  It was very peaceful to walk around their greenhouses. Unfortunately, they closed the business a few years ago. Have a great day!

Creative Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter with Mark's family.  We truly are blessed to spend our holidays together.  Each year I dye Easter eggs.  This year Syd was here and she got very creative.  She took the eggs beyond just dying them!   Aren't they so cute?

While Sydney was here for a couple of days, she became a Scan N Cut expert! Today's cards were made by Sydney.  She found clip art she liked on the internet and printed those images.  She then cut them on the SNC and created the cards.  I was cooking dinner when she came upstairs with a special shadow box for her Mom and Dad.  She embellished the glass with decorative corners and a pretty "family" in vinyl!  I asked her how she did it and she said that she took out a piece of vinyl, lowered the setting on the blade and cut everything out!! Since she was enjoying the SNC so much, my original SNC went home with her.  Have a great day!