A Few Christmas Cards

 Hello Again,

First, I want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas. Hope it was wonderful!

I only sent out 12 Christmas cards and one New Years card and forgot to take pictures of most of them. Awk! Senior moments taking over too much.

So here are three that I created.

This one is a CASE of one I saw by SU demo, Patty Bennett at Patty Stamps.

I 

I knew I had the flocked SU paper in my stash and used it on a Real Red top folding card base. For the bottom edge, I used a lovely SU die from the retired Curvy Dies set. The Merry Christmas greeting is from my often used Elizabeth Craft Designs Words 5 collection. 

I finished with a couple of ribbon scraps for a border on the flocked paper and added five rhinestone jewels from my stash for some sparkle. 

Next up is the card I made for one of my daughters and her two kids that are home from college.

They love snowmen, although long past making one AND we had a brown Christmas with no snow this year. A smidge came last night but only coated the roof tops. Sigh.

I embossed the background for some texture, but I don't remember which folder was used. Of course, 

the snow family is by Penny Black. The stamp was inked up with Encore Silver ink and colored with SU Blends alchohol pens. The little snow guy on the right is done with blue, but looks green for some reason in my photo.

My greeting is from a retired SU set called White Christmas with "... and sending every good wish for the coming year" inside. 

You can see some of my messy deak in the background here with some of the other cards I made this year. :-)

This final card for this post today was sent for fun to a friend who lives down South and never gets snow. I again used a gifted die card front from Linda W (StampinBari). This time in red, and I put navy cardstock behind. The card base is a nice weight white cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Again I used a die the above Elizabeth Craft set.

I want to enjoy the snow and even the cold for a while before doing any Valentine's Day cards. I no longer drive, so it is no hassle for me to love winter.

Happy New Year, my friends! 

May 2024 be a happy and healthy and creative year for you.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

All Red and Gold

 Hello!

This morning I finished a card that I made for the Color Hues Color Challenge #76 that is asking for Red and Metallic Gold cards. I like entering challenges and this one had me using supplies that had never been loved before.

My NBUS embossing folder and die set is from Memory Box, found in their Open Studio products. This set is called Marvelous Magnolia 3D Embossing Folder and Cutting Dies. The set is found a couple of places online.

The white card base is from PTI and I used SU Real Red cardstock for the topper. The embossing folder made a really nice deep image after I lightly misted the red paper. I used a hoarded piece of gold metallic paper from an ancient DCWV mat stack called Metallics. The die cut out three of the floral images so I used one to go a top its embosssed counterpart adding demension. I put another one inside. I like to continue something from the front inside. Do you do that too?

The sentiment is from the Elizabeth Carft Designs Words 5 set that I have used recently. I am adding this card to Darnell's NBUS #56, the November challenge for us to use new stuff. 

All done for now.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers. It will be seasonally cold here but all the food will be warm. :)

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again. I sure appreciate it when  you comment.

A Peony For You

 Hello,

Using my Misti, I stamped and heat embossed a lovely peony image from The Ton called Peony Duo. The set is still for sale on their site, actually a Mother's Day set that I used differently.

 I like how large the peony is dominating the card front. I used Brutus Monroe embossing powder in Alabaster White, before coloring. I colored the flower with a Stampin' Up! blender pen in Light Daffodil Delight. I tried to do some shading by adding layers of the ink. My coloring dyed the white lines, but they show a little. My photo makes the yellow look more pale than in real life. 

Thhis card was made for an entry into The Flower Challenge #86. I do love flowers and used to grow yellow roses when living in California. 

I do seem to prefer CAS for my card making, so this card is typical me. The card base is SU Basic Black. The sentiment is from  the above The Ton set stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black. I used an oldie but goodie SU punch to cut it out. The white leaves were cut from the SU Prized Peony die set. I layered a piece of white cardstock inside to finish up.

The card could be used for a birthday, feel better or encouragement, or even as a thank you card depending on what is put inside. I will probably make it into a birthday card as there are several birthdays in my family coming up soon.

It is a really beautiful day here in Minnesota, temperatures in the low 60's for heavons sake. In November? Am loving it! The winter and snow will be here before we know it.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

A Winter Birthday Card

 Happy Greetings!

I follow Loll whom I am sure you all know, and admire her creativity and friendliness very much. When I saw she was Guest Designing at Seize The Birthday #273, I decided to make and submit a card. First time playing there.

So here's my card. It is using the toppings suggesion which is to use neutrals only. The card was difficult to photograph due to the shiny silver paper that I used to cut out my greeting. If you click on it to enlarge, you can see that it says Happy Winter Birthday.

Lots of supplies from different companys helped me make this card. First and foremost is the lovely Sweater Weather die cut in white cardstock that was a gift from Linda W and never used. Thanks Linda! So am adding this card to NBUS Challenge #56. 

I found that the sweater plate Linda used is from Taylored Expressions. It is available a couple of places online. I found the words happy and winter dies in my Elizabeth Craft Designs Words 5 set. I cannot find this set anywhere, sorry.  I cut all the words from a piece of silver cardstock from DCWV Metallics Mat Stack, available lots of places.

Searching through all my birthday dies I cam across the large birthday die in a really old Papertrey Ink $5 birthday set. I like the different font.

To finish up, all was glued down onto the sweater grid piece and placed onto an A2 size card base in Stampin' Up! Basic Gray. 

That's it for now. I have another card almost ready to post, so see you later, I hope.

It's been a few cool nights and warmish days here in Minnesota. Love this weather. 😊

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

CCC For October 2023

 Fall Greetings!

Here is the card that I sent to Jo in England.  

I took some creative license with the sketch idea shown below, but followed the theme suggestion of bears. I just had to use my new Sampin' Up! punch. Isn't he cute? He's called Beary Cute and is out of stock right now. Hopefully the punch will be restocked.

I cut my polar bear from a Concord & 9th Neutrals Glitter paper pack which makes him even more special,  IMHO. Can you see the sparkle which I think is glistening from the sun? 😊

The sun is cut with an old circle punch from a snippet of yellow cardstock and the snow banks with a old SU Edg;ots die. Because I used snippets of paper I am adding this to The Snippets Playground #466 over there in England. Oh, I so wish I could visit!

The bear punch is having its first outing, so am also sendidng the card to NBUS Challenge #56. 

I used a white cardbase and a snippet of blue for the sky, not sure the exact color or cardstock. 

Finally, I said hello with a stamp from the SU Forever Fern done in Smokey Slate ink. Done!

We had snow yesterday, but it is almost all melted now as the temps rose above freezing. A whole 34 degree Farhenheit today. 

Theme Options: Bears / Balloons / Friendship

Sketch idea:

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

My 3 Halloween Cards

 Happy November 1st

Can you believe it is November? Before I get into making Christmas cards, I made the three cards below for my grandchildren. Two are away at college, but seem to like getting my cards and the third one is for my great-granddaughter who just turned 2. 

This is the one that went to PA to my granddaughter. The dsp is from an old ppaper ack I got from Stampin' Up! called Spooky Night. The cat I cut out from another piece of the paper using my kitty punch from SU. The punch is avaliable several places online. I tried to add embossing powder to to the black cat for texture, but not covering his eyes worked out best. 

The witch's hat is from a newer SU set called Bewitching that I bought last year. It is also available a few places online. This is probably not my best card. No excuse, but I like it.

This next one I again used dsp from the pack above helping to make it more masculine for my grandson. He texted me that he likes it!

The ghosts are dies by Poppy Stamps and the Boo is from my stash. I don't know the maker. The spider is a die cut from Cherry Lynn Designs that I've had forever. I found it is still in stock and on sale right now.  I cut it in black cardstock and made it dangle loosely using black string. 

This last card for my little great-granddaugher uses the above dsp on a white cardbase along with a black partial border. The fun pumpkins and cat is an old stamp from Impression Obsession called Pumpkin Kitty. Sorry, it is no longer available. 

So that's it. I hope you had a nice Halloween with some cute little costumed kids at your door.

It is chilly here with some of the snow still sticking. It'll be in the 40's next week. 

Bye for now. 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again and I love comments. :-)

A Cat At Christmas

 Hello Again,

My entry into Day 8 of the Christmas Kickstart Challenge honoring Janis Woolbright. She was a cat lover as I am, well dogs too, so I made this card with one of my favorite cat stamp.

For the Tic-Tac-Toe, I chose Patterened Paper, Scraps and Stamp reading down the right side.

My card:

The patterened paper is a snippet from an old Stampin' Up! Christmas paper pack that has been in my to use drawer. It has fuzzy dimension. I placed a rectangle of SU Real Red behind the DSP. I used a scraps of white card stock to stamp the kitty in black and colored her with colored pencils. I highlighted things with a black pen. This stamp is an old one from Inkadinkado. 

The sentiment I also found in my to use drawer all cut out and curvey. Time to use it, I thought. A kitty is a blessing in a home, don't you think?

My card base is SU Hunter Green, one of the few I still have of this retired cardstock.

To finish up I added three enamel dots from a new package just received from Altenew. 

Done today just after seeing the Challenge today with the tic-tac-toe. I was not a participant in the challenges by Janis, however I did know her from the Card Chain Challege and once sent her a card.

Another lovely day here in MN. The cool nights are perfect for sleeping.

 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

My World Card Making Day Creation

 Hello,

Did you all make a card for WCMD? I did and posted it a couple of places. Looking at the card more carefully, I decided the sentiment needed tweeking. Since my SU Chocolate Chip ink pad was out waiting to be reinked, I sponged it around the rectangle. Looks better, IMHO.

My computer savy has disappeared (I have a bad cold) so  I couldn't watch the Stampin' Up! presentations. But knowing I had all the supplies for one of their ideas, I made this card.

I started with the woodsy/leafy DSP using part of my 6x6 paper stack. The other side is this wonderful blue, so used the tall vase die that matches the Earthern Textures stamp set to hold some leaves. The two tan leaves were cut from snippets of paper in my scraps drawer, so I am adding the card to The Snippets Playground #464. The blue fern came from the same piece as the vase. The vase was double cut  for some dimension.

The card base is SU Very Vanilla which I rarely use, and the sentiment is from the above stamp set. 

A pretty easy card to make. I will probably send it to my daughter who has done so much for me lately.

Nice cool weather here in Minnesota with partial sun and clouds and temps in the 60's. I am okay that Fall is here and Winter not far behind.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

September 2023 CCC

 Greetings~

Posting this as soon as the Card Chain Challenge closes for September. This card uses the suggested autumn colors and the friendship option. *

I have had the paper grid cut out for some time and wanted to use it. The wonderful leaf die cut is from my NBUS Honey Bee set called Lovely Layers: Fall Foliage. The leaf idea is from Linda W.

The grid and the card base are from Stampin' Up! The colors are Pumpkin Pie and Crumb Cake. I die cut the Maple leaf from a snippet of the Crumb Cake paper then did some shading with Distress Oxide Spiced Marmalade and Distress Vintage Photo. The leaf is layered on another die cut for some dimension. 

The sentiment is from an oldie but goodies stamp and die set from Papertrey Ink called Mighty Oak. I just fussy cut around it for fun. Really, I kept stamping it crooked on scraps, so gave up. 

It has been a too warm summer for my taste here in Minnesota, so I enjoy the cooler days lately. I hope it is nice where ever you live, Fall or Spring time. 

I will add this the the NBUS site in early October and also the Smippets Playground challenge when it opens.

* Posting late becuase I've been sick AND out of town cat-sitting at my daughters. Getting better now. 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again. I love all your comments!

Some Dogs At Christmas

 Hello Again!

Tonight I am showing three more cards that I recently made. These were done for my rescue group Shih Tzu Rescue of Minnesota to sell at their annual reunion of all the dogs they got adopted in 2022 and so far in 2023. I made 24 cards in all.These three are showing Shih Tzu themed Christmas cards. 

This first one was made with a piece of SU wood plank themed DSP. For the pup, I used a wooden stamp from Dog Stamps Plus. The sentiment done in Real Red ink is probably also from SU, but I've put it away and now cannot find it.

Next up done in Tempting Tourquoise blue cardstock, is a Peace card. I added "on earth" below the peace word, but forgot to take a picture that way. The large die cut is in white. This Peace die is new to me from Penny Black and called Peace Edge. I didn't use the edge part. The same dog stamp from before shows him with a festive bow.

The last card shown below used another wooden Shih Tzu dog stamp, this one from Rubber Hedgehog Stamps. His bow is red to match the card base. I've had these doggie stamps for years! I twice matted the focal image that was done in SU Gumball Green for a Christmas-y feel. The setiment is from an older My Favorite Things set called Happy Pawlidays. This set is still available!

Time to head to sleep. I hope you like these cards. I'm told they sold well and I was happy to do them for a good cause.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

Woof Snippets

 Hello!

I've been busy making cards for my rescue group to sell at their upcoming reunion of all the dogs rescued and rehomed this past year. I've made 12 cards including sympanthy, thanks and happy birthday cards with doggie motiffs.

Since I used a lot of snippets to make this one, am entering it into the Snippets Playground Challenge #40.   Hopefully I am in time before it closes.

I had a pretty big snippet of white cardstock that I used to cut out the connected 3 woofs and just gluing them down. The fun woof die is by Seven Paper Baxter dies. Stampin' Up! Basic Gray and PTI white cardstock were used to make this card.

The happy birthday tiny sentiment is stamped in black ink, also from small snippets of paper. The two stamps are from the oldie My Favorite Things Label Maker Sentiments set. I just stamped and cut them out and did not use the dies.

Bye for now. The weather here in MN has been somewhat rainy but mostly hot and humid. I'm off on vacation soon, thanks to the generousity of my grandson and two daughters. Lucky me!

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

Card Chain Challenge for July 2023

 Hello There~

My card this month has been sent to Greece. Hopefully it will get there by the end of the month as per the rules. I have already received mine that came from England!

Here is the card and the inside too:

I am not sure why the inside picture looks like it is on cream cardstock, but in real life it matches the front white. The green dsp looks okay, though. That is by SU from the new Glorious Gincham pack and is called Lemon Lime Twist. 

Here is how I made this card:

White cardstock from PTI embosed with oldie from Darice called Quilt Blocks. The four corners of this mimics the sketch suggestion this month. I love all the shapes in the ef so used more with my use of the patterend paper. 

To cut out the circle and square I used two retired Su/Sizzix Stitched Shapes. I followed a video online on how to curve a clear stamp to show near a circle. The sentiment from Concord & 9th is called Kids Are Grand. This is still available. 

Finally, I took an ancient Stampendos stamp called Happy Messages for the finishing word inside. My cardbase is SU Basic Black and the ink VersaFine Onyx Black which are two of my go-to's.

So, my card uses three ideas from the challenge this time!

Theme Options: Fish/Circles/Friendship

I hope you all are having a nice summer and staying safe. I love all the green and flowers here in MN.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

Happy Fern

 Hello!

I've been collecting/buying goodies but not making card much this spring. My mojo was up and then down. However, this card, one that I made ages ago and recently tweeked, must get in the mail. It goes tomorrow to CA. *

I think my recipient reads my blog, so I'll post this after she hopefully gets it. Maybe a July post. 

The card base is Stampin' Up! retired Garden Green. I love this embossing folder, which SU still has available. It is called Fern 3D.

I was lucky enough to find a die in my stash that mimics the embossing folder. Retired too, it is from the Iconic Dies set. Another die cut is inside along with another embossed panel.

Gosh, more older stuff on this card... the greeting is from the SU Vertical Greetings set as are the white dots. 

Hope you all don't mind seeing the older things from my stash, I have been buying things for years! :-)

We finally got some rain last Saturday and Sunday, so I am grateful. The grass has been so brown around my place. But after all the days in the 90's we all are happy!

Take good care my friends and don't foget to mail out your cards. 😉

* She got it!

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

Swirls and Curves

 Hi Again~

It seems like forever since I made a card using a card part from my stash. Today I did it! I also wanted to use a new craft die set that arrived last week. Always in need of a birthday card, this is what I came up with.

I had a pretty Stampin' Up! retired Tempting Tourquoise cardstock card base ready to go to make an A2 size card. I will hoard treasure what remains of this cardstock as I do love it. I cut the surround die that holds the greeting two more times in black and glued them under the happy birthday to add dimension. Decided to do this after choosing to emboss the card. 

But even before I decided to do that, I knew I wanted to use a piece of watercolor paper with curvy waves done in shades of tourquoise rescused from my parts drawer. Sorry, I have no idea when or how I made this, but it went with the base card color. 😄

Using an older item from my huge stash of embossing folders, called SU/Sizzix Swirls & Curls, I embossed the whole card base. Anyone else do that? Gives a nice texture feeling when holding the card. 

The newbie here is from Gina K Designs called Die-Birthday Trio. It is currently out of stock, but hopefully she will ge more in before too long. I am adding my card to the NBUS Challenge #52 for July. Speaking of July, Happy Independece Day to all my readers who celebrate this holiday in the USA.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

June 2023 Card Chain Challenge

 

Greetings Fellow Card Makers!

I really took license with this sketch idea, but to be honest, I glued the flowers down before re-looking at the sketch. I used flowers instead of circles and some old lace from my stash does mimic the vertical line. So anyway, here is my card. It has arrived in Illinois. 

Starting with Very Vanilla cardstock from SU, I embossed an A2 side folded card with an old Spellbinders embossing folder called Horsehair. Next I added the lace piece.

The flowers are from SU's retired Prized Peony stamp and die sets. I stamped them using my favorite oldie but goodie color, Pretty in Pink. After die cutting, I cut off part of the largest flower that is shown on the lace. The cut off bud is glued on the inside along with a note to Chris.

For the final step, I stamped in Altenew Ink called Cloudy Night this sentiment from the Peony set above. The friends I've made in the CCC are prieless and I appreciate every one of them.

Lovely, but hot weather here in MN. Hopefully some rain will fall before too long. Happy 4th of July to you who celebrate. 

Product / Technique Options: Lace / Shaped Card

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.

CCC May 2023

 Spring Greetings!

This time my card has gone to Colorado. It is so much fun making cards and sharing cards, often sent over seas. 

I used the suggested colors this month, turquoise, navy blue and gold. As you can see, I didn't put a sentiment on the front of this card. Honestly, I couldn't think of what to say and where to put it. Senior moment(s) I think.

This interesting grid die is from an older but still available Spellbinders set called Chinese Traditional Fence. I used SU's Tempting Turquoise cardstock to cut out one of the two dies in the set. The gold rectangular panel behind is from my stash.

To incorporate the navy color, I cut a panel of Night of Navy and then glued down the whole focal point onto a piece of white. The MFT basic white c.s. is a bit textured with SU's retired Subtle embossing folder. Using the white piece I think highlights the pretty grid.

You can see some of the die cut pieces alongside my card. I think they look like Tetris pieces. Oh, I so love to play that game.

All in all, a pretty simple card. Inside I put a rectangle of the white plus a note saying to my recipient that she could finish and pass the card along.

I don't believe I have every used this Spellbinder's die, so am adding the card to Darnell's NBUS for June. I cannot post this until the May CCC challenge closes.

It has been so lovely here in MN the last few days and we are expecting temps in the 80's and 90's most of this coming week.  Too hot for me! I hope it is nice where you are.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come by again.