Piles of Fun

We had a beautiful weather weekend and I could almost feel a bit of Fall in the air.  Yesterday, a few of the Cricut ladies came over and we had a most enjoyable afternoon.  We did not craft but we had a lot of fun.  On Saturday we went to Jen and Mark's house. We had Maggiano's to go and Sydney drove with Mark to pick up the food.  Hard to think she is old enough to be getting her driver's license soon!  It was just a great weekend.

Luckily, I created today's card last week.  The stamped images were created using a set from My Favorite Things Stamps, Piles of Fun.  I first stamped the pile of leaves, masked over that stamped image and then stamped the little mouse.  I colored everything with Copic markers, using SU's Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the card base and retired More Mustard pattern paper to coordinate with the colors of the leaves.  Have a great day!

Happy Mail

The Co-vid pandemic has changed our lives in many ways.  When Jen, Syd, Matt and Mark come over, we sit in the driveway socially distancing.  When my neighbor children come to see if I can come out, we sit in the driveway and usually they bring at least one of their dogs, too.  We are the highlights of each others' days sometimes.

This year the Scrapbook Expo was kind of held online.  I thought, "I will at least save some money by not shopping at the convention center."  I was wrong.  That didn't work so well!  I started watching some of the classes online and got sucked into buying a few things.  One of the stamp/die sets I purchased, Happy Mailbox Cubbies,  is from Art Impressions.  (Actually I purchased two of their Cubbies stamp/die sets.  When I receive the second, I will be posting a card created with that set, too.)  It caught my eye thanks to one of my favorite enablers.  The die not only cuts the row of mailboxes, but it also cuts little slits in which to put your mail, notes and more.  The set even includes a little bird to perch on the mailboxes.

I stamped the image with black Versafine ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  And then I used my Zig Watercolor Brush Pens and a blender pen to color the images.  Before adhering  the image to the white cardstock, I brushed the white cardstock lightly using Distress Ink.  Actually this final image is probably the third attempt using the Zig brushes.  Using a blender pen instead of water with the Zig brushes made the coloring much easier.  I will be water coloring more often~~thanks to a video by Art Impressions.  Have a great weekend!

Fall Wreath

I really make good use of my Scan N Cut and my Cricut.  But sometimes, I appreciate punches so much more!  I open a drawer, choose the punch and punch~~no muss, no fuss.  So when I saw the set of three Fall punches, I ordered it together with the coordinating stamp set, Beautiful Autumn.   After die cutting a circle in white cardstock, I got to punching out leaves and an acorn.  Before adhering the leaves, I splattered the white cardstock with Cajun Craze ink, adhered it to another piece of cardstock and stamped the sentiment inside the  circle.  After arranging the leaves and a little acorn, the card still needed something else.  A green twine bow was the perfect embellishment,.  Have a great day and keep cool!

Sweet Sixteen

We celebrated Sydney's birthday over the weekend.  We met for ice
cream and as always, had fun at the parking lot party and being with each other.  Syd has always been my little sweetie pie, so I made her card using the My Favorite Thing's Sweetie Pie die set and their pattern paper.

When she opened her present from us, she was surprised and was crying because it was too much money that we spent! I told her we spent the money so long ago, we didn't really spend any!   She was very surprised and drove it home.  Little did I think, when we bought that car nine years ago, that it would be Sydney's.  John detailed the car, Matt filled it with gas on his way to the party and with 50,000 miles Sydney will have a few good years with it.  Have a great day!

Hiding Owl

Happy Friday!  The other day I colored a number of Halloween images for future use.  On today's card I used one of those images.  This particular image does have a coordinating die.  Before adhering it to the white cardstock layer, I stamped the "spooky" and then brushed gray Distress Oxide ink on the cardstock.  I added silver thread and then the owl image.  It was still to plain, so the stars grouping came in handy.  This was another fun card to make.

Supplies:
Stampin' Up:  Festive Corners and Have A Hoot stamp sets; Peek-A-Hoot dies; black and white cardstock; silver thread
Lawn Fawn:  Orange pattern paper

Have a great weekend!

A Relaxing Day

Today's card was created using a stamp set and dies from My Favorite Things.  As I was coloring the images, I thought it would be a cute birthday card for a dear friend. Once again, I did not purchase the coordinating dies for the stamp set and guess what?  The images did not cut out very well on my Scan N Cut even after coloring the image.   So for this card, I decided to stamp the image and not cut it on the Scan N Cut.  Instead, I cut the white cardstock and a layer using dies.  This is another cute MFT stamp set.

Supplies:
My Favorite Things Stamps:  Stacy Yakula's Always Bring A Smile stamp set; Elegant Rectangle STAX Die-namics
Miscellaneous:   Copic markers; sequins; Black Memento ink

Have a great day!

Little Treat Box

I mentioned last week that I purchased the new treat box die in Stampin' Up's new Holiday Catalog.  It is adorable.  The thing I will say is that you can easily make this treat holder using your Tag Topper punches, scoring and adding a little band around the bottom of it.  And I have done that on numerous times.  That being said, the die makes the entire box in one pass thru the Big Shot and scores where needed.

This favor will hold two Hershey Nuggets or two Hershey mini bars. I am sure it will hold a number of little candies.  The actual box part of the favor measures about 3/4" wide by 1-3/4" tall.  The tags are included with the box die.  I will make good use of this die and stamp set.

Supplies:
Stampin' Up:  Little Treat Box dies; Little Treats stamp set; retired Halloween DSP

Have a great day!

Little Owls

When my Stampin' Up order arrived, I wasn't sure which item to try out first.  Of course, it was the treat box.  I made a couple and will post them next week.  Today I am posting a Halloween card I made using the Have A Hoot stamp set and coordinating Peek-A-Hoot dies.

After stamping and coloring a couple of images, I cut the images out using the dies.  I was surprised to find out that the owl dies do not cut out the entire images.  The owl dies only cut the owls and leave the remaining section.  So I stamped and colored the owl images twice.  One I left the entire image.  The second I colored the part of the image that the dies cut.  The owl on the branch with the spider hanging from the tree cuts out the owl and spider (which I did not include.)  The little masked owl (on the card) includes the little moon when cut.  The great thing about this is that the images can be used for other occasion for a couple of the die cut images.  The pair of owls under the mistletoe, when die cut, could be an anniversary card or a friend card.  The owl on the branch holding the present when die cut can be a birthday owl in the summer without the snowflakes.  The owl with the bandanna on a branch could be a Co-vid bear! The Christmas owls are just cute and could sit on a stamped fireplace mantle or a shelf.  Cute set!

Supplies:
Stamping' Up:  Have A Hoot stamp set; Peek-A-Hoot dies; Black, White and Lemon Lime Twist cardstock
Miscellaneous:  Copic markers; Momento black ink; Echo Park Dots and Stripes paper

Have a great weekend!

Sweetie Pie

Monday was a good mail day!  I received my order from Stampin' Up and I received the die set I used on today's card from Hallmark Scrapbook.  The layout of my card was copied from a card that is posted on My Favorite Things Stamps. The pie, little hearts and the "sweetie pie" phrase are all included in the set.  I did sponge the edges of the pie crust.  Just by changing the sentiment, I can make a variety of cards to send to both Cards For Soldiers and Cards For Little Hearts when the gal starts collecting cards again.

Supplies:
My Favorite Things:  Sweet As Pie Die-namics; Stitched Basic Edges; Summertime Polka Dots paper; Sending Sweet Celebrations stamp set; Lavender Fields cardstock

Have a great day!

Getting Better

My dear friend recently had foot surgery so I made today's card for her.  The design is simple and coloring the little girl was fun.  After coloring the blanket and pillow to match, I decided to add polka dots to the blanket using  a Gel pen.  My friend is into sparkle, so the lime green glitter dots are the perfect embellishment for her!

Supplies:
My Favorite Things:  Bed Rest stamp set
Echo Park:  Striped paper from Dots & Stripes Collection
Lawn Fawn:  Stitched Rectangles dies
Stampin' Up:  Glitter Enamel Dots
Miscellaneous:  Copic markers

Have a great day!

Poppies & Butterflies

I woke up yesterday morning and as I was looking out the window, there was something on the back of one of the chairs on the patio.  As I looked closer, it was a beautiful butterfly!  We have quite a few butterflies, but this is the first blue one I have seen.

If I had time, I would have made a butterfly card, but since I did not, you get to see this pretty poppy card.  I saw the card on Pinterest and since I have the stamp set, I copied it.  This is one of those that looks nicer in person!

Supplies:

Stampin' Up:  Poppy Parade, black and white cardstock
 My Favorite Things:  Painted Poppies and Fluttering Friends stamp sets

Have a great weekend!

Postage Punch

I placed my order from the Stampin' Up Holiday catalog first thing yesterday morning.  I was going to expedite it until I saw that the cost for two-day shipping is now $27.  I did not expedite.  Hopefully I will see my order before two weeks!  SU changed their website and after placing my order, I was not able to pull up the order and print it.  I received the confirmation showing the items and the cost of each item, but not the total of the order including tax and shipping.   I also could not pull up my previous orders which have back-ordered items on it.  I am hoping this is just a glitch.  I did send SU an email requesting that we be able to pull up our orders just as in the past. I am sure they are quite busy with new orders, so I do not expect to hear from them for a few days.

Today's cards combine old and new Stampin' Up products.   I especially like the black and orange card because it is so vibrant and crisp.  The Pool Party card is very pretty and it is very soft-looking.  The sentiment on the black and orange card is from the Posted For You stamp set. The  font for the sentiments in this set is especially pretty.  The sentiment on the Pool Party card is from a retired set.

Supplies:
Stampin' Up:  Posted For You and Express Yourself stamp sets; Whole Lot of Love Designer Series Paper; Pool Party twine; retgired punch; Rectangular Postage Stamp punch (annual catalog)

Have a great day!

Miss You Pups

My Favorite Things has really cute stamp sets.  One of my latest purchases included their Woof Pack set.  I thought today's cards would be perfect cards for our military to send home to their loved ones.  After stamping and embossing many images, I colored and cut them out on my Scan N Cut.  During the week I will be putting cards on my blog using the other images.  Once everything was colored the cards were easy to put together.

Supplies:
MFT Stamps:  Woof Pack stamp set; Square Peek-a-boo window
Lawn Fawn:  Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies; Stitched Rectangles dies
Stampin' Up:  cardstock and retired Designer Series Paper; clear embossing powder
Miscellaneous:  Copic  markers; Brother Scan N Cut; Black Versafine ink

Changing the subject here.  Stampin' Up's new Occasions catalog is going live tomorrow.  I have a few things I really like, mostly Fall items. I know what I will be doing tomorrow!  Have a great day!