Polka Dot Birthday

 I have been spending time in my craft room going thru everything.  I do this every once in the while and it was overdue!  I came across a bunch of pre-cut pattern paper.  I can't remember what it was cut for specifically, so I used that paper for today's card.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's retired Express Yourself stamp set.  The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock and cut with SU's Decorative Label punch.  I did sponge the edges to give the die cut a little bit of a distressed look to match the distressed look of the paper.  Many years ago, I made a "layer" which was a bit larger than the label punch.  I cut many of this "layer" on my Cricut in just about every color SU had at the time.  When I showed these layers to my friend, Paula, we had a good laugh over what was I thinking when I cut out so many of every different color of SU's cardstock!  And now, one of hundreds got used!  You might be seeing this punch/layer combination a lot in the future!  Have a great day!

No Stamp Easter Cards

The other day I saw a card on the internet and the layout caught my eye.  The fact that it was an Easter card made me think about a pack of paper I purchased a few weeks ago.  I went down to my scrap room yesterday and took out that package, a collection from Echo Park by Lori Whitlock, Celebrate Easter.  In the package there are a number of different papers.  Included is a page of journaling cards. Rather than stamping, I cut those little cards and used those cards as the center of my cards.  I think the cards are adorable and I will be making more.  Have a great day!

Easter Eggs

Today's card was created after seeing a card on Sunny Studio Stamps' Facebook page.  Since I have a few 6-1/2" x 3-1/2" envelopes, I decided to make a smaller slimline card.  I used Lawn Fawn's Eggstra Special Easter and Sunny Studio Stamps Chickie Baby and Eggs To Die For stamp sets and coordinating dies for this card.  The eggs were watercolored lightly and just as on the card on Facebook, I did not completely watercolor the eggs.  A few adhesive dots were added.  Have a great weekend!

47 Years

Yesterday John and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary.  I have a hard time thinking that 47 years ago we said, "I do!"  Old people celebrate 47th anniversaries!  We are getting up there, but not old yet!  We enjoy the bluebirds that come around our house in the summer and last year we had them in the winter.  Since I have been looking for them again, I thought a couple of little bluebirds would make a cute card for John.  I used the Springtime Critters stamp set from Simon Says Stamp because of the cute birdhouse with the heart and the little birds.   I colored the images with alcohol markers and cut them with my Scan N Cut.  After adhering the images to a piece of white cardstock that was cut with a scallop die from Lawn Fawn, I adhered that to a blue background layer.  The sentiment is from a retired Stampin' Up set.  It is the perfect card to take our mind off of the snow and cold and to know that Spring is not far away!  Have a great day!

Snailed It!

Today's Valentine was created by my friend, KathyZ.  She used Stampin' Up products including the Snailed It and Lots of Heart stamp sets and the Many Hearts die from the Occasions catalog.  Kathy also used the Detailed Hearts die from the annual catalog.  And then there is the pattern paper and the Stampin' Blends alcohol markers.  She put a lot of time and product into this card~~and she made 24 of them!  Thank you Kathy.  Love it!  

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a sweet Valentine's Day!

Simple Love

I did not have a card ready for this morning, so I am posting a card I saw on Facebook.  I have copied this card, making two which are similar.  I just mailed them this morning, so I will post another day.  I used Stampin' Up's Large Letters dies for my cards and SU's heart punch  from a couple of years ago.  If you have letter dies, this is easy card to wish someone love for any occasion, not just Valentine's Day.  Have a great day!

Valentine Box Card

The other day I received a surprise in the mail.  It was a package from my friend, Nikki. She purchased the SVG file from Lori Whitlock and gifted me with three ready to assemble Valentines!  She sent me the link to a video showing how to assemble.  Thank goodness she did or they would have never gotten sent, much less assembled!  I must have watched parts of the video four times.  Everything was all together~~success!  But then I had to add the pieces such as the hearts and the envelope.  I should have done that prior to assembling.  But it is all done and cute as can be!  Looking forward to assembling the others soon!  Thank you so much Nikki!  It was a nice surprise and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.  You amaze me that you work full-time, have a one year old, a husband who works shifts and you still take the time to let others know you care!  Have a great day!

Love You Lots

Happy February!  We sure did get a lot of snow!  Little Charlie loves it.  He jumps into it, puts his face into the snow and eats it, too!  The neighbors were happy to see John cross the street to help them out with their driveways.  His ATV with plow attachment got a workout yesterday.  At least it wasn't frigid cold.

And while John was clearing snow, I was working on Valentines for our great nephews and nieces.  I saw this card design on a Simon Says Stamp video and thought I could use products I already have to make similar Valentines.  The stamps I used are from SU's retired Heartfelt stamp set.  The hearts were created using SU heart punches and dies   Inside I have a little mouse from a My Favorite Things stamp set or a little otter with a heart~~also from MFT.  In order to center the inner heart with sentiment, I used temporary adhesive to adhere the inside heart to the back of the outside heart, applied glue and then closed the card, carefully removing the inside heart from the temporary adhesive.  Now when the card is closed, you do not see any of the inside heart.  For a finished look, I adhered a solid heart to the back of the outside heart and signed our names on it.  There is probably a shorter way of trying to describe what I did, but hopefully seeing the picture makes the directions clearer.   Have a great day!