CCC for June 2022

 Hello from Minnesota,

I hope you are having a nice summer, not too hot or cool and with lots of pretty flowers outside and crafting supplies inside to keep you happy!

Here is the card that I sent to Lucille in New Jersey. Sending and receiving cards from all over the world is a real pleasure for me.

For this card I chose the Theme Option: Fluffy. Kittens are the best example of fluffiness in the world, in my opinion! 😊

The wooden stamp of the kitten is an old one from Inkadinkao. I've had it for years. She is stamped in directly onto the inside of the card base, using the newer Cinnamon Cider ink.  The  A2 card base is Stampin' Up! retired Balmy Blue. I cut the hole in the front with one of the Spellbinders nesting circle dies. 

A matching hole was cut into a piece of white c.s. that is embossed with the also retired SU/Sizzix embossing folder called Tufted Dynamic Textured Impressions. It covers the whole of the front making it look like the kitty is sitting on a bedspread. I have lots of embossing folders, and just cannot part with any of them.

To finish up I attached a trio of brownish enamel dots and the greeting from a KaiserCraft Mini Clear Stamps set.  For fun, I just fussy cut around the words. A note to Lucille is written inside.

I guess I've given some love to a lot of retired things in this post, sorry. But it is a good thing to do that, right?

Goodbye from summer in Minnesota. I am pleased that you came to visit.

Blue & Green & Alcohol Ink

 Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I am joining Color Hues #43 which is asking us to use blue and green on our card. I have watched several times a video by On YGo! Stamping showing how to use common rubbing alcohol to make backgrounds. 

Heidi Collins shows how to use the rubbing alcohol we all probably have along with Stampin' Up! Blends markers to make interesting backgrounds on vellum. Have a look at my finished card, won't you?

The marker colors smushed onto a piece of vellum from my stash, are Dark Misty Moonlight, Dark Soft Succulent and Dark Seaside Spray. The gist of the video was to heavily scribble alcohol markers onto vellum, then take a cotton ball saturated with 91% Alcohol and dab all over the colors. A final step was flicking alcohol fine droplets onto the colors. When dry, voila, a pretty background.

I see a darker green in this image than the Soft Succulent color used, so the card base and the leaf is done in dark green c.s. but I am not sure of the name or brand. The leaf silhouette is from Avery Elle, Pierced Hexagon die set that is still found on-line. The wide white border was done with a Papertrey Ink White c.s. and a Double Ups Rectangle die that is sold out now. There is a slight scallop embossed edge to the die, however it is hard to see in this photograph. 

I wasn't sure where to put a sentiment, so will decide when I get ready to send out the card. Any suggestions for me?

Thank you for stopping by, and please visit again. Sunny, breezy and cool today here in Minnesota. Great weather!

                               

CAS Christmas: A Wreath

 Greetings Stampers!

I am so very happy to have the CAS Christmas Challenge return now for June. Thanks Loll and the team, I've missed the inspiration! 

My card is a CASE of one I saw on-line in that I chose two colors of green to make the wreath. I found I have 7 different wreath stamps in my collection. Gosh, who knew? Anyway, here is my card. Apologies, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get a good picture, but I hope you can see the details.

The base card and frame are done with PTI Basic White with the frame from the still available Stampin' Up! Scalloped Contours die set. But it is retiring soon. The wreath stamp and die are from Memory Box, called Watching The World Bloom and is for sale many places. It is supposed to be a floral wreath, but I saw that it could look like leaves when done in green. I used SU new Evening Evergreen and retired Wild Wasabi cardstock. The wreaths were first  stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder then die cut. My Gemini Jr. got a work out as I made a few of these cards. 

In keeping with the CAS requirement, I kept the greeting simple using an old die from Elizabeth Craft Designs. Three little red pearls from my stash finished up this card. 

We are expecting some temps in the 80's today and this weekend, so making Christmas cards was fun for me. I like summer, but not the high humidity we get. 

Bye for now. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will visit again. 

                                        

Birthday Wishes for Twins

 Hello!

Today's card is a CASE of my own birthday card that was sent to me from Darnell in CA. Thanks, Darnell, I just love your card and just happen to have the darling elephant stamp set in my collection. 

Here is my creation:

My two great-nieces turned four last week so this is the card I sent to them. Next year, I expect I will need to send them individual cards. Right?

The precious elephants are from the fairly old Unforgettable clear stamp set by Wplus9. I got my set in 2015,  but I find it is still for sale!

To make my card I first stamped the three balloons to float up the elephants onto a piece of white cardstock leaving room for the main elements. A tiny numeral 4 from My Favorite Things  set called  Fabulous At Any Age  (available on-line) is on the center balloon. 

Next, on a scrap of photo paper I played with Ranger Distress inks in several pastel colors just smearing them across the the paper.  I've forgotten which colors exactly, but DO in Spun Sugar was one of them. I inked up the two outline elephants each in the blue ink then fussy cut them out. They are popped up with dimensionals. The card base is A2 size in Stampin' Up! retired Pink Pirouette. The die sentiment is a CutPlorations one from STAMPlorations called Birthday Wishes. Sold out right now, sorry to say. A few SU silvery rhinestones add some sparkle to the card. 

Did you notice the tail of the center balloon is pointing to the birthday wishes? My wishes to the girls are in the inside. So inside I put four Happy Birthdays cut outs in silver and white all in a row down the page. They were a gift from Lia, a Card Chain Challenge friend in The Netherlands. Dang, I forgot to take a picture. 

That's it for now. Cool today and some rain here in MN. I like it this way.😉

A Daffidill

 Hey, Hi and Hello!

Today is the revel for the May Card Chain Challenge, so am posting my card that was sent to Julia in Massachusetts for you all to see.  I am fond of this card, just saying. 😀

I made my card to follow the colors option for this CCC spring challenge. Daffodils blooming mean spring to me and I am lucky enough to have both the stamp and die used to make this card. 

The base card is Terracotta Tile and the daffodils are colored with Stampin' Blends markers all from Stampin' Up!  The stamp set and die are from Taylored Expressions called Big Blooms-Daffodils, retired now, I'm sorry to say. The sentiment strip is also from TE. It is from the Simple Strips In Reverse Collection - Everyday Occasions, and is still available. 

Splitcoaststamper, Pat Robinson sent me the lovely red rubber stamp. To follow the suggested monthly colors, the flowers were colored with Daffodil Delight using both the light and dark shades. A touch of Granny Apple Green did up the leaves. These alcohol blends work well as they are double sided with one end nicely pointed. No, I'm not a demo and I buy my supplies from SU and many other places!

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I love comments! Be sure when you comment I can reach you to come and see your creations.  Cyber hugs from a beautiful mid 70's and breezy day in Minnesota. 

Wishing Her Well

 Greetings!

The card today was made a bit ago and has been sent to my granddaughter at her college in Pennsylvania. She is finishing up final exams this week and will be coming home for the summer. Yay! She loves owls, so my card was made especially for her.

I bought this wooden stamp on Esty. Isn't it fun? I just love it! The owl was stamped in retired Chocolate Chip ink from Stampin' Up! and framed in Basic Black cardstock. A top folding base card is the same brown. 

The sentiment is from  the pre-printed Simple Strips In Reverse Everyday Occasions and die set by Taylored Expressions. This set and many others are still available with many really handy sentiments. I have several of this word strips and love them. Inside on another piece of white I wrote am encouraging note. 

Rainy and warm today in Minnesota with severe storms possible. A good day to create! Thanks for visiting and please stop by again. 

My Bird Card

 Hi There!

I noticed a challenge a couple of days ago that I believe I have never posted a card to before. So I am entering Freshly Made Sketches #533 with my birdie card. I liked the idea of the three vertical lines with a sentiment.  

Laying on my desk was this mostly blue and finished cut of a bird and a piece of black and white plank siding-like paper that just needed to be used. Papertrey Ink is where I got the bird stamp set and die. It's called Feathered Friends Mini 19 and is new to me this spring. Not sure where I got the patterned paper.

Here's my card and some details on how I made it.

It took me ages to figure out how to assemble the19 small stamps into a bird. I used my MISTI but it was still a struggle. But I did it!! Then the die didn't quite fit as the head on my final bird's head was crooked. Fussy cutting again to the rescue. Saved it any way. Yes I  know...it's hand made. LOL The colors I used are Memento Black, Concord & 9th Midnight inks and/or markers along with Stampin' Up! Brocade Blue (r), Bashful Blue (r) and a bit of Pumpkin Pie. The pre-printed sentiment is from Taylored Expressions. 

My good friend Beth in CA photographs wonderful pictures of birds, so this stamp set and the final card were made with her in mind. She makes many pop-up and intricate cards for friends but not regular cards, so I think she will appreciate this made especially for her.

I also had the black folded A2 card base ready on my desk, so with a piece of white c.s. inside for a note, I am finished and it's ready to mail.

Thinking of you my faithful friends who visit me. Hope your Spring or Fall is warm and sunny. Not here in Minnesota, yet, but Spring will arrive! Thanks for stopping by.

Dream Big

 Hello Friends!

Finished up my entry to the latest Let's Squash It! Challenge.  Number 19 asks for geometric and/or repeating patterns. I think my card has both! Can you see it?

Here we go. The embossing folder I chose to use is by Darice, called Quilt Blocks. I found it a few places on line, but mine is old. After running the folder through my Gemini Jr. I saw it as a white quilted bedspread, and so my card was born.

I knew that I had some images of animals or people sleeping, and after a search of my Evernote site, found these adorable pets sleeping and dreaming away. The set is by Elizabeth Craft Designs called Dreamers. It currently is on sale. 

I stamped the cuties with Memento and used Stampin' Up! Blender pens to color. I tried to do some shading, but my skill is still in progress. 

After fussy cutting out everything (seem to be doing that a lot lately😉), I popped them up with some dimensionals. I hope you can see the pup is dreaming of a bone. Why the bone is on a string is beyond me. The kitty just wants to play with a ball of yarn. 

The little Dream Big saying is from the Hero Arts Bookcase Peek-A-Boo set which along with the Dreamers set is new to me, so I am also posting this card to Darnell's NBUS #37 site.  It occurs to me that I did use snippets of paper for all the stamped things on this card, so I am adding this to Di and Sarn's Snippets Playground Challenge #426 too.

I keep track of the cards I make each month even if they are not blogged about. Do you all do that too? Am only at 4 this month, but made 3 more at my demo's workshop.  

Anyhow, that is all from me this time. Take good care and please stop by again. Comments are soooo appreciated. Hugs from a rainy Minnesota day and night.

 

A Couple of Easter Cards

 Hello!

Today I am posting two of the Easter cards that were sent to my grandkids. Am not sure what they do with them nowadays, as they are away in college. Oh well, I've heard that they love the cards. I've been sending them cards since toddler days.

Here is my grandson's card. 

I know that he has a great sense of humor so would like this one. 

The background/base card, I have to confess,  is pre-printed. I stamped the bunny using Memento Tuxedo Black. He has a hilarious expression, I think, and is by Stamping Bella. They say this Easter Bunny stamp is part of the Oddball Collection. I used Stampin' Up! Blender pens to color the little guy. The happy Easter greeting is inside along with a note.

Card #2 was mailed to my granddaughter at her college in Pennsylvania. She has called and loves it. 

I have CASED a card found on the Internet as I had all the goodies. Sorry, can't find who posted it first, but thank you. The stamp set used is Stampin' Up! Easter Friends. For some changes, my bunny was stamped in SU Soft Suede and fussy cut out. She is holding a tiny flower punched from Blackberry Bliss c.s. The SU embossing folder is called Ornate Flower and the card base is Garden Green. I used the greeting from the same set and fussy cut around it instead of the usual rectangle.

I hope you had a pleasant Easter if you celebrate and Happy Spring to all! Thanks for visiting. Bye from sunny MN today.

Tulips Abound

 Spring Greetings!

Like so many of you, I purchased the Stampin' Up! DSP Flowering Fields and now have made a card. I am so ready for Spring and for flowers blooming in my neighborhood. 

I am not sure what kind of special fold my card is, I probably saw it done online somewhere. If you know, please let me know in a comment. 

I just love, love this paper and its bright colors! To make the card, I cut a card base of SU new Evening Evergreen cardstock with an inch cut off of the opening side. Next I cut strips of the tulip paper to fit layering the inside piece over white for the message. 

Not having a die set of tulips, I used my Simon Says Stamp set called Etched Crocus Stems, which I think look like tulips. I used SU Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron scraps to make the flowers. It was a bit tricky gluing them down atop the green stems as I forgot to use double sided sticky paper before die cutting. Sigh. 😌

Here is the inside. More of the tulip paper and a couple of the tulip blossoms in the corner. An ancient (2013) Gina K stamp set called Vertical Greetings is where I found the birthday wishes. Several other companies have vertical sayings, but this one is a favorite of mine that still gets used. 

Because the flower heads are cut from scraps of paper, I am adding this birthday card to The Flower Challenge #66. I hope it doesn't have too many flowers!

Goodbye for now from another lovely day in Minnesota. Many thanks for visiting.

                          

Squashed It!

 A Springtime Hello!

Just finished up my entrant to the Let's Squash It! Challenge 18. My card making was fun but it took a lot of math and time. Once I figured out what sandwich to use in my ancient Big Shot to make the required embossing and debossing, it went OK. I like the card, it is Spring-like.

Picking the embossing folder was easy as I wanted to use my NBUS folder from Stampin' Up! called Ornate Floral 3D. So I'm adding this card to Darnell's NBUS #36 for March. 

Following the directions from Jo on this challenge team, I folded a card of SU's retired Tempting Turquoise paper in half, ran it through with one top plate and numerous pieces of old  cardstock to shim. When I opened it up, voila, both the  embossing and debossing showed. Hurrah! Next I cut the image to size and used a one inch piece of the same cardstock as the card base to cover up the fold crack between the two sides. 

Hunting through my oodles of flower stamps, I came across an old set from Altenew called Sunlit Flowers. I stamped and aligned two layers getting this pink flower. I used two of my favorite retired SU colors, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette. I fussy cut out the flower, made green leaves and mounted them with dimensionals. Lastly, I stamped in black ink the generic happy birthday onto a scrap of the white, fussy cut it out and adhered it. Another card done! 

Making cards is fun for me, although I find I usually have to have a challenge or person in mind before coming up with a design. Do you all need to do that also?

Bye for now from a really pretty Spring day here in MN. Temps in the 50's. Yay! 

 

                 

Peace For Ukraine

 Hello Friends,

I too am thinking of the people of Ukraine and wishing peace in their country. I finished this card only yesterday. 

Choosing a piece of cardstock from my collection of blue papers wasn't easy. I only had one sheet of this blue paper that seemed to work, so I do not know its name. Anyway, I covered the bottom part of the base card with a snippet from a large pack of Stampin' Up! 6x6 patterned DSP. The two shades of yellow squares in the paper adds some interest, I feel, plus it matches the sunflower.

The national flower of Ukraine is the lovely  sunflower, so I stamped, colored and fussy cut out this large one from some white cardstock. The stamp is from Penny Black, called Sunshine, and dated 2012. I used SU Blender pens in shades of yellow, green and brown to color this flower after stamping it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I mounted the cutout with SU Dimensionals. A tiny strip of black c.s. separates the two colors of the flag depiction. The simple sentiment is from an old Lawn Fawn set where I snipped off the word peace from a longer phrase. I am submitting this card to the Snippets Playground: Challenge #423 because of the leftover papers used.

I come late to the output of crafter's support for Ukraine due to my having some surgery. Am back home now and recuperating well. Take good care of yourselves and be happy and creative. I will too! 😊

Not A Valentine

 Hi There!

This card is what I sent to Arlene in CA for the February Card Chain Challenge. It was made to loosely follow the Sketch Option, shown below, and it also follows the Friendship Theme Option. 

So here is my card that is not a valentine, really. I had on my desk a leftover heart cut from an alcohol ink play session and decided to use it. I cut out 3 more and began the card. To follow the sketch, I cut a piece of white cardstock with a scallop die, part of Stampin' Up! Scalloped Contour Dies set and pasted it on the left side of an A2 folded card base. The cardstock is from SU called Magenta Madness. An easy-peasy card to make. Just added a small sentiment and I was finished! This sentiment is from SU's retired Bella & Friends stamp set. 

Inside I added the fourth heart on the bottom left corner and wrote a note to my CCC friend. 

I like making simple cards and am pleased with how this one turned out. I really like the colors. What do you think? To valentine?

Goodbye for now from Minnesota where we will get snow in March, but there will be signs that Spring isn't too far away. Yay!

A Coneflower Card

 Hi There!

It's me again. Today I am joining the new Snippets Playground: Challenge #422 over in England where so many of my blogging friends live. Hi everyone!

I took some artistic freedom in making the coneflower, but I have an excuse. I've had this plaid background done for over a year not being able to figure out how to use it. For some reason today I finally came up with an idea. So here is my card.

To make the flower, I took out a NBUS Honey Bee die set called Lovely Layers: Coneflower, and cut the layers in black to go with the black in the background plaid. The plaid had been done with SU's Best Plaid Builder Dies set in black and Crushed Curry paper. A snippet of the yellow I found in my stash makes the center. In fact all the flower parts are from snippets of paper in my over-flowing snippets drawer.

Just for fun, I decided to cut the leaves in green. Stampin' Up! Emerald Envy this time. I hand cut a stem. Next I chose the base card color. The green again, then I could glue everything down and my card front is finished. Inside I die cut and placed a bumble bee snipped in black and the Crushed Curry from the Detailed Bee Dies set. The set and the plaid builder set are retired.

I am also adding this card to NBUS # 35 over with Darnell and her friends.

Today it is supposed to start snowing that will last until almost Wednesday. I park outside, so hope the car is not plowed in. 😅

Daffodils

 Hello, again~

Tonight I am posting a card that has already gone in the mail, but wanted to show it here. Besides, I need to again thank Pat (imastamper on SCS) for the Taylored Expressions Big Blooms-Daffodils stamp she gifted me. Many happy thanks, Pat. I had the die but not the stamp! Both are retired now, I am sorry to say.  Anyway,  here I am showing the card I made with this precious stamp and its matching die.

It is hard to tell, and I took many photos, the card base for this CAS card is Stampin' Up! retired cardstock called Concord Grape. I wish they had not retired it as it is gorgeous! 

The flower was stamped onto a piece of SU So Saffron c.s. with black ink and die cut. I decided not to color the leaves green as I liked it this way.  Also, I wasn't sure of my ability to chose the right shade of green to use. LOL

I left off a sentiment on the front as the large flowers should take center stage, I think. Because I needed a birthday card done quickly, I ended up stamping happy birthday inside with SU's Stylized Birthday in my Concord Grape ink. It is a wooden stamp (retired). Used a piece of white c.s. Then I added a small punched out a butterfly in the same yellow paper and glued it near the lower left corner. To finish, I wrote a message. I do still enjoy using punches. Do you too? This one is retired SU Elegant Butterfly.

Gosh, so many retired goodies used on this one card. Sorry about that. I call my bedroom my stamp studio as it is full of old stuff and some new too, of course. Good thing I have a corner desk with drawers and a bookcase to hold many things. :-)

I digress. Got to close now and get some sleep. Have a good rest of this weekend, and stay safe, my friends. Thanks for stopping by. Happy hugs to all from MN where it will be in the high 40's tomorrow. Hurray!

An Odd Christmas Card

Happy Valentine's Day

Nope, my card is not a valentine. I mailed all mine off to my three grandkids. This card is for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge: February 2022. 

What do you think?

My card is a different 😉 take on a Christmas card, I think, but I wanted so much to ink up my unused snow covered houses stamp. The stamp is part of a set from Lawn Fawn called Simply Celebrate Winter. It is available several places online.

To make this, I first stamped the row houses twice in Memento London Fog Ink to get the them all along the border of the card base. Next, I used the Hero Arts Lacquer Pen and Puffing Powder that were part of a kit purchased a couple of years ago. Can you can see the puffy snow? 

Thinking I was going to make a night scene, I colored the windows with a retired Barely Banana Stampin' Up! marker. I could not figure out how to get the sky colored neatly and still have white space, so added the sun rays. This makes my card a daytime Christmas greeting card. LOL The rays were cut out with an Erin Lee Creative die called Sun Rays using a scrap of yellow paper. 

Lastly, I found a stamp that I figured would work. It is from the SU Curvy Christmas stamp set. Retired too, alas, but it feels good to use stuff that I have!

Another Christmas card done, but not my best effort, I feel. 

I do appreciate you visiting my blog, please visit again. Bye for now from Valentine's Day in snowy Minnesota.

 

A Valentine

 Hello There...

I made just one new valentine this year for one of my grandkids. Having seen lovely ones in the Color Hues Challenge #34  that asks for red and black, I got to work so I could participate. My card is a CASE of Tracey McNeely's recent creation.

Here is mine. 

This card is a special fold because when it is 
closed, the front reverse folded part with the hearts is hiding the inside. My heart cut outs on the fold make it festive, I think. Two of the hearts are bright Real Red cardstock and the black one is in Basic Black.  All the materials are from Stampin' Up! except the greetings which are from My Favorite Things and then Simon Says Stamp. The second picture shows the card open.

To make this card I inked up my very old SU wooden stamp called Buffalo Check and followed Tracey's directions on inking up large stamps. The hearts are cut with the retired SU/Sizzix Sweet & Sassy die set. I surely will keep that set as it has 15 different sizes! The card base is A2 size in Basic Gray.

I kept the inside quite simple just adding a smaller heart and the greetings. I think this card will probably go to my only grandson who is away at college. He will appreciate the humor.  

I am also adding this card to Di's newly re-launched snippet challenge called Snippets  Playground Challenge #421 as all the hearts were cut from snippets of cardstock. 

That is all for now. Thanks for visiting, and please stop by again. Good bye for now from a fairly mild winter day in Minnesota. 

                      

            

January 2022 CCC

Waving Hi!!

For the first Card Chain Challenge in the new year, here is the card I sent to Pat in Texas. It was fun to make and was the first time using the bear from my new My Favorite Things Polar Bear Pals stamp set. I see the set is still for sale. 

Naturally, the bear is ice fishing and was lucky to get so many fish. Maybe that is why he looks happy and is waving. Or maybe he wants a ride home. LOL

The bear and fishing bucket were stamped in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink on scraps of white c.s. and fussy cut them out as I do not have the die. I glued them onto a piece of white card stock dry embossed with the  Stampin' Up! retired folder called Softly Falling. The card base is Not Quite Navy, in a tent style card. SU markers were used to color the images.

I chose to use all three challenge Theme Options: new, scraps and friendship. I sure would like to meet Pat in person or any of my fellow stampers. This card also loosely used the Sketch theme for January.

Ice fishing is a big winter sport here in Minnesota, myself not included. But I do like the looks of the snow. Come visit me and I'll show you around at all the things we do outside in the winter. I loved to ice skate when I was younger. Bye for now. Please come visit my blog again. 

Merry

Hello~

I do like making cards in advance and have them ready for Christmas 2022. So here is my card for the CAS Christmas Challenge. 

I do know this card probably isn't CAS, Loll and Julia. Sorry, but I like it and the colors are right, right? I did have the flash option on in my camera hence the rainbow colors, but the card is really just all silver and gold!

The die I used to make this topper was made by Memory Box from 2016. It is called Poinsettia Collage.  I ran the die on a silver card base from Erin Lee Cardstock Cuts through my Gemini Jr.  Can you see the faint lines in the silver? I am not sure how those stipes came about. I find it difficult to get the right sandwich and all my plates are warped. Sigh. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate the help. 

The temptation was to inlay all the silver pieces back into the die cut, however I  needed to bring in the gold. So I put a large piece of generic gold cardstock behind it instead. From a small gold scrap I cut out just the Merry from the Hero Arts Fancy Merry Christmas die for the sentiment. The whole front is glued onto a white card A2 card base which will be nice for note writing inside when I mail the holiday card. I stamped Christmas on the white to continue my greeting.

I love to hear your comments. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Bye, bye from a freezing cold below zero Minnesota winter. Brrr.

You, Me & The Sea

 Greetings and Belated Happy New Year!

As soon as I saw the Let's Squash It! Challenge #16 calling for "Under the Sea" I thought of my little used seahorse stamp. So I got it out and started to work. Here is my finished card.

To make the card I took a piece of generic white cardstock and my Stampin' Up!  embossing folder called Seashells 3D. I believe it is still available. Anyway, I covered the embossing side only with Distress Oxide in Salty Ocean, added my paper and ran it through my Big Shot. That left the seashells white. Next I colored them using various D.O. colors and my blending brushes. 

The star of the show (IMHO) is the seahorse. It is from the retired Hero Arts Layering Seahorse stamp set. From a snippet of c.s. he started out inked in pale blue then I added other colors on each layer with the final layer in SU Soft Suede. I fussy cut him out and popped him up with dimensionals. A small snippet of paper was used for the sentiment. It is from the same H.A. set stamped in the above brown, cut out and popped up. Because I used snippets, I am also entering this card in Di's new challenge home Snippets Playground Challenge #419.

I have been pretty lazy so far in January, so this is the first card I made from scratch. Hopefully some more mojo will arrive. Thanks for stopping by. Please come visit again and I'd love for you to follow me. 

Bye for now from a snowy (again) Minnesota. 😀

      

 

December 2021 CCC

 Happy Holiday and New Year Greetings!

Here is the card I submitted for the last Card Chain Challenge in 2021. My card does tic-tac-toe by going across the top of the directions grid.

 Let's see: green, wish(es), die cut, animal, and white. I did it, right?

I started with a white card base, probably MFT and added pieces of Stampin' Up! retired Forever Greenery DSP where I cut out a circle in more white. The greeting saying happy wishes is in Encore gold ink on a stamp from Catherine Pooler's retired Spot On set. I see it as a continuance of the SU friendly greeting from the old Forever Fern set. 

My die cut little deer is from the October 2018 card kit by Hero Arts. Cute little guy! He is stamped in gold too. 

The card has wound its way over to England in good fashion. Happy to know that. I sure like being a part of the CCC. I hope to inspire you to join up in 2022. 

Love from Minnesota. It was a brown and white Christmas here and cold. Lots of snow now and more to come. Happy New Year. I hope you will come visit in 2022. Thanks for all your support this year. 💜

Saying Hello

Hello!

I am finished making holiday cards and it was a treat to do something else. My last challenge of 2021 is  Let's Squash It! #15 and that had me looking at oldie but goodie embossing folders from my collection.  Look at my card, can you see two ancient folders?

As this challenge tells us to do "anything" I've made an A2 top folding card with two folders and a die cut. First I embossed piece of S.U. Not Quite Navy cardstock with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. That was probably my first e.f. purchased! I gave my Cuttlebug to my daughter when I got a Big Shot, and now I've a Gemini Jr. Well, that's another story.  😉 

The second e.f. is from Stampin' Up! called Heirloom Frames 3D. It is a small  retired folder set with two folders where I cut out the center of the rectangular one  with the matching die. The floral-like scrolling is hard to see in my card photo, but I think it is pretty.

The hello die cut was a gift, so I don't know the maker. Sorry. I forgot who sent it to me, but many thanks! Recognize it anyone?  

So that is my last card for this year. I send all of you Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy and creative 2022. See you then. Hugs from a snowy but fairly warm Minnesota.

Merry & Bright

 A Happy Hello!

I am finally almost finished making my Christmas cards. Don't want to wait until the last minute. Ha ha. Seems I work better when on a deadline! I did miss the deadline for Pixie's Challenge #417 but the Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #418 is just opening. So here is my card for that.

This Christmas card I finished yesterday uses many snippets of red and white cardstock for the front. The card base looks almost black in my photo, but it is a new dark green cardstock called Evening Evergreen from Stampin' Up! I embossed it with an ancient SU plaid embossing folder for some texture.

The merry and its shadow dies are from Simon Says Stamp! CZ Design called Chunky Merry. I took scraps of SU Real Red for all the red here and white scraps from my huge pile of white pieces. The ampersand is part of Papertrey Ink Block Alphabet die collection.  This set is on sale right now at 1/2 price. And the shadowed bright is from SU set called Joy Dies.  

Inside I just have a blank piece of white c.s. stamped with a treasured PSX wooden stamp saying Wishing You a Wonderful Christmas. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I wish you all a Happy and Healthy and Peaceful holiday season and Happy New Year too. Hugs from snowy Minnesota.

Snowflakes

Greetings!

This card has been received by Helen in OH and is part of the sharing on the recent November Card Chain Challenge. The card is busier than my usual more CAS cards, but is pretty if I say so myself.  :-)  It for sure fits one of themes suggested (snowflakes) for November.

The background paper I cut to form the front of this card is from the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Aug - Sept 2021 catalog. I used a large white snowflake from the retired Snowfall Thinlits Dies set by SU/Sizzix to be the focal point of the card. 

To highlight the large white snowflake, I cut a smaller one from a snippet of gold DCWV Metallics Mat Stack paper. I have quite a stash of that and other old fancy papers that I pull out at Christmas card making time. 

Of course this card isn't necessarily a holiday card, but could be a happy winter or happy to see snow card for a skier friend. Inside for this one, I  stamped and added a friendship greeting to Helen, using another CCC theme. 

I happen to love snow, being a native Minnesotan. No fun to shovel out my outside parked car, though, but I love the looks of snow. Take good care my friends and stay warm and healthy. I hope you will visit me again. Cyber Hugs to you!

Stenciled and Embossed

 Hello Crafty Friends,

I have made a card for the most recent Let's Squash It! Challenge # 14: Stencil and Emboss. It was a bit of a struggle for me to make, but am pleased with it. What do you think?

To create this card I dug out a very old Stampin' Up!/Sizzix embossing folder called Lacy Brocade. If I have ever used it before, it has been years. Anyhoo, as we say here in Minnesota... well, if you were my Aunt Boots you would say that, next is how I made the card.

First using my newest Ranger Distress Oxide color called Iced Spruce and one of my newer stencils, I got to work. The masking stencil is a nice one by Taylored Expressions named Scalloped Rectangles. On white cardstock, I taped on the smaller frame leaving the inside rectangle for coloring. This set is readily available on Taylor's site. I used a Picket Fence Blender Brush for the coloring doing nothing fancy. I am new to trying to blend ink and will need to practice and to try blending two or more colors. 😉

Because of the layout of the embossing folder, I ran the whole card through my Gemini Jr. Fun! The whole card is textured! So I added a layer of white c.s. inside so a sentiment and writing can be done. The card is A2 side folding.

The three sprigs of gold leaves in the corner completed the card. I got them in a kit from Kim Webb at Just Paper, LLC and think they are really pretty.

I hope those who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day. I did with my grandchildren home from college and my daughter cooking. Thanks so much for vising me. Best wishes from me to you for the coming holiday season.

Christmas Bear and Friend

 Hello Crafty Friends

Today I am sharing the card that I made for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge November 2021. I really love this stamp and don't think I have used it before. Linking the card to Darnell's NBUS #32 also. The stamp is from 2010, by Penny Black called anything? What a fun name, I think.

Now for a look at my card. 

Isn't the bear and his little friend cute? 😃 I made a boo-boo on the top of my original front panel, so saved the day by cutting the image down with the next to the largest circle from Spellbinders Circles & Squares set which has been in my collection for years! For a mat, I used a small piece of Basic Black cardstock with the largest circle die.

For the coloring, I used several Stampin' Up! Blender pens and markers to color the happy friends. Too many to list here, sorry. I do like using the pens as they have a nice small nib on the one side to get into small spaces. The base card, top folding, is Basic Red and embossed with the Subtle Dynamic embossing folder. Too bad the folder is is retired, it is wonderful. I took my VersaMarker pen and some white embossing powder to the bear's hat for a little shine. 

Finally, to complete the card, I stamped Merry Christmas in the black ink with an old wooden stamp by SU set called Four the Holidays.

I am pleased with this card and know just who will receive it in December. I have about half of the cards made that I need, so am working each day in my studio/bedroom. Are you all done with your cards?

Goodbye for now. It's been cold, 30's here in MN, but my dog and I have sweaters.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you visit again.

 

Card Chain Challenge For October 2021

Hi Again!

This is the card I sent to LaVon in Illinois for the above monthly exchange  challenge. She has received it, so I thought I would give some information about it in case someone needs it.

I love this shoe stamp set, an oldie but really wonderful wooden set that I'll never part with. The set of 3 stamps is rightly called Fabulous You, is a retired Stampin' Up! set. The sentiment, a part of the set, goes perfectly, I think. Just for fun I stamped the sentiment and fussy cut around the words before adding it to the pink layer. Ebay has several of this set for sale. I used Versafine Onyx Black for the stamping.

A really simple card that was made with stash white cardstock mounted on a piece of retired Pink Pirouette cardstock. The base is Basic Black. I colored one flower on the shoe with a marker.

Inside on white c.s. I stamped a small butterfly from the same set and colored it pink. A note completed the card. I thought of the card as a friendship card which with shoes, were two of the suggested themes for October.

I hope October was a good month for you. Thank you for stopping by. It is chilly now in November here in Minnesota, but no snow yet. :-)