Friends ‘Til the End Card

Hi, all! Just here with a card I put together the other night. I haven’t had a particularly great deal of time lately to really craft. It’s been just a few minutes here and there, but finally… some creating time.

This was a really messy, fun card to make. I created the little colorful background paper with alcohol inks (from Ranger) and some synthetic EVO paper that was sent to me from Et Cetera Papers to try out. Fun stuff. It really takes nicely to alcohol inks.

I also die-cut the flowers from a piece of the paper and with a die from Simon Says Stamp! I tried it first without a shim. Found I really needed the metal shim to make it cut through the paper with that die. Might have been the intricacy of the die, in full disclosure, as I have not attempted it with other dies yet. But did want to disclose that. Rather than going freestyle with alcohol inks, I just colored the flowers with Copic markers. I first colored them in yellow and then changed my mind, adding some color with a golden orange over the top.

Everything else on the card is just basic stuff. Word cut from cardstock and with an old Papertrey Ink die. Same for the stamped words. They came from a really old Papertrey Ink stamp set. (I’ve been working lately to really pare down my craft stash …. as well as stuff in general in my house…. and get rid of stuff I’m not really using. This is stuff I’ve had and just have not used. It was nice to use it.) The square was cut with an old My Favorite Things die. Fun to use those things.

Alright! That’s it for me. I’ll be back later, gators. See you again soon.

Oink. Oink. Cluck. Birthday Card.

Hi, friends! Good to see you again. I’m back again to share another handmade card with you. Today’s card is a birthday card.

The good thing about online card challenges is even when they end, they are still out there to take inspiration from. I like to do that a lot… and not worry about the stress of linking up a project. So I was totally inspired by a closed challenge today to put this card together. The challenge? Last week’s “humor” / fun challenge from the Simon Says Stamp! Wednesday challenge.

The challenge totally inspired me to dig into my tub of my Simon stamps, which is actually a lot of older stamps. In it was this silly little Birthday Farm Animals set from Simon that I used for this card. I am almost certain, well, positive, it’s retired, but it’s still a darn cute stamp set that deserves to be inked up on occasion. 🙂

I have dies that go with the stamp. I noticed a couple of the dies totally had some matching up problems that I never realized before. (Trust me, I’ve had this set for a long time! I’m slapping my head over not realizing it before.) Still, I still used them to cut the goat and chicken but used my scissors to even things up. Hopefully, it’s not too obvious. It was a pretty easy fix and all…. and a whole lot easier than fussy cutting the whole image.

Going for the fun part of this challenge, I added wiggle eyes to a couple of the critters. I just wanted them to look super goofy! And I think I was successful there. Ha!

I also played with the sentiment stamps a little to add to the fun. I even used a sentiment inside the card that says, “Got Cupcake?” It made me chuckle at least.

Ok. That’s it for me. I hope you liked today’s card! I’ll be back later with another card. Thank you so much for stopping by.

A Cute Little Typewriter Card

Hi, friends!

Happy weekend’ing to you! I’m back with another card to share with you.

Today’s little typewriter card was inspired by Jennifer and Kristina’s Woven Windows lesson during Spring Card Camp 2 on Online Card Classes. I keep a little box of scraps by my desk and was like, “Hey, man. I’m going to give that a try.”

So I created the little window on this card with paper strips from that little box. Once I completed the window, I mounted vellum behind it.

I really liked the window and could have just gone with it on the card alone. But I’d stamped the typewriter and mouse (from Lawn Fawn’s Just My Type set) a couple days ago and really, really, really wanted to use them on a card… and I did. 😉 (By the way, the second sentiment on the card is from a Cathy Zielske Simon Says Stamp! set.)

To make the window pop, I did anchor the panel on a lot (and I mean a lot) of Crafty Foam Tape. The tape gives it some nice pop, but not too much. This card can still be mailed and all.

Anyway, I think this card turned out pretty fun. Hopefully, the friend who gets it, enjoys it!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by! I appreciate your kind words! See you again soon!

UnbeLEAFably Fun Cards

Hi, friends!

Alright. So I might be pushing it on the title of this post, but I wanted to share with you a trio of cards I created with the latest STAMPtember stamp set from Simon Says Stamp! Releasing today is the new Deco Fall set by Paper Smooches. It’s a sweet little set with leaves, a pumpkin, an acorn and a few phrases. You’ll find it and all the other STAMPtember products right here.

I really wanted to focus on the leaves for these cards and challenged myself to make three different (but somewhat similar) cards.

For all three cards, I lined up several of the leaf stamps on my MISTI and then inked them up with three different colors. For this first one, I stamped the leaves twice, once on white cardstock and once on a strip of kraft cardstock. Then I lined them up and assembled the card.

This card is probably the most basic of the three with me only stamping my row of leaf stamps once onto the card. That plaid pattern at the bottom? Created that in coordinating colors with Paper Smooches’ Buffalo Check stencil and good ol’ inking. 

I created this final card by stamping row of leaf stamps once on kraft cardstock. Then I rotated the panel and stamped them a second time on the opposite side of the panel. The sentiment strip? I simply cut a piece of white cardstock, stamped one phrase with orange ink and then stamped a second phrase on top with black ink.

By the way, since I really wanted the leaves to shine on these cards, I restrained myself from adding too many embellishments to the cards. I purposely kept things pretty simple by added stitches, thread and sequins. Such a light but nice finishing touch they add.

That is it for me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out these cards. I’ll be back again really soon with some more projects to share with you!

Fall | Winter Coffee Loving Cardmakers Hop – 1

Hi, guys!

The Fall | Winter Coffee Loving Cardmakers Hop kicks off today, and I was totally inspired to play and make a card for it!

Here we go!

This one uses images from an old retired stamp set (and dies) from Simon Says Stamp! called Winter Warmth. The words (and the little heart) are from the Christmas Cocoa stamp set from Technique Tuesday.

Nothing really fancy here. I colored the images in with Copic markers. To give the red mug a little sparkle, I rubbed a little glue on the heart and dumped some glass glitter on top. Easy peasy.

The patterned paper on the card? That’s some older stuff from Echo Park Paper. I kinda go crazy with stripes and polka dots papers because they are timeless and can be used right away….. or a long time later (insert: after I’ve hoarded away even more patterned paper. Wink!)

Alright! That’s what I have. Be sure to check out the link up for the hop. Lots of awesome projects have already been uploaded, plus there’s a lot of great sponsors taking part as well.

Be back again later, gators.

All the Bunnies Challenge: Day 4

Hi, gang!

One last day of bunny cards for Ashley and I! It’s sure been fun to push each other to make some cards with these fun stamps.

Meet my latest take on the challenge.

I created the little scene of sorts by stamping a bunny from the Baby Party Animals set from Simon Says Stamp! I stamped it a second time on a sticky note and cut it out to make a mask. I plopped the mask onto top of my stamped bunny and stamped it two more times. I removed the mask and added the stamped hearts (also from the stamp set).

I also added the burst thingys, which are actually spots of water from Lawn Fawn’s Some Bunny stamp set. The sentiment, as well, was stamped with that set.

Alright! That’s all I have. I’ll be back later, gators. Don’t forget to check out Ashley’s blog for her latest take on the challenge.

See you again soon, friends.

All the Bunnies Challenge: Day 2

Hi gang!

Just hoppy to be here again… for another take on the All the Bunnies Challenge with my pal, Ashley.

Meet today’s card.

I pulled out a bunny stamp (and flowers) from an older Simon Says Stamp! set called  Melody’s Easter for this card. It had not seen any ink in some time. I made it a personal goal awhile back to show more love to my “less loved” stamps. So, yeah, this challenge made it seem like a good time to use it. Cut the bunny and flowers with the coordinating dies too. 

I did some basic coloring with markers. A little blending but not too much. And to make the eyes stand out, I used some black Nuvo Crystal Drops. I “might” be addicted.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn’s Some Bunny stamp set. Lots of good words in that one for cards to make all year long.

By the way, the patterned papers are all from my scrap box, other than the white and gray one. That came from the top (errr… packaging?) of an old Studio Calico packet of papers. Always fun to do something a bit out of the box.

Alright! That’s all I have for you today. I’ll be back again on Thursday with another bunny card. Be sure to check out Ashley’s latest take on the challenge.

Technique Tuesday + Simon Says Stamp! = Stampy Fun!

Fun times, y’all! Really fun times!

My buddies at Technique Tuesday partnered up with my buddies at Simon Says Stamp! in offering a brand new stamp set. Debuting today is the new Sassy – You’re Not Normal (2.0) stamp set Simon Says Stamp!

This stamp set, designed by Technique Tuesday, is debuting today as part of Simon’s super fun STAMPtember festivities! It’s exclusive to Simon and is available for a limited time.

I know some folks on both sides of this deal. Yep. I do. And so I was lucky to get hooked up with an advance copy of the stamp set. (Thanks, guys!) So, yeah, I put together a couple cards to share with you.

Meet card no. 1.

The words (hahaha) and the pinwheel are from the STAMPtember stamp set. The little dotted line is actually from TT’s Felix the Frog stamp set. I’ve been using it a lot. Works with a lot of different images.

Meet card no. 2.

Speaking of Felix the Frog, here he is. I went full-on Felix here, pairing him with a pinwheel and a phrase from the STAMPtember set. Kinda fun, right? Well, I hope! 😉

And meet card no. 3.

This card here features just images and words from the STAMPtember set. As much as I am a mix and matcher when it comes to stamps, it sure is nice sometimes to just use images and words from one stamp set.

Alright. That’s all I have for you today. Be back again soon.

Today’s cards (9-5)

Hi guys!

It’s STAMPtember time over at Simon Says Stamp! Once again, they’ve turned September into a stamp-tastic celebration of all things stampy by releasing all kinds of stamps and partnering up with several manufacturers to release even more stamps.

I was tickled as could be to find an envelope in my mailbox a bit back from my pals at SSS with the new Artsy Shapes set, a stamp set they just released for STAMPtember.  (Thanks, Heidi!)

Couldn’t resist making a couple cards with the set.

Meet No. 1, and meet No. 2.

These were pretty simple to make! I cut panels of watercolor paper out to fit onto a standard size card and then stamped several of the shapes from the set with Staz-on (waterproof ink) onto watercolor cardstock. Then I just colored them in with watercolors.

I also stamped a phrase onto each panel with Simon’s recently released Encouraging Words stamp set. The typography goes nicely, I think, with the Artsy Shapes set.

Anyhoo, that’s all I’ve got in me today! Be back later, gators.

14 in 14: 11

Hello!

We meet again. Almost to the end of the 14 (love cards) in 14 (days) challenge with Ashley. Well, technically, it’s 15 days since we decided to take a break yesterday, but it just doesn’t have the same ring to it. So yeah, we’re still calling it 14 in 14.

Today’s card is clean and graphic and was a quick one to make.

I used a die from Simon Says Stamp! that I think is one of the coolest dies I’ve seen in a long time. The Heart Breeze die embosses stitch lines but also cuts out the hearts and small circles at the same time. Genius, I tell you!

To give it a little extra something, I used a white pen to add some additional dots to the design. I think it just kind of adds a little pop to take the card from cool to coolio. No, guys, not that Coolio. Although I am a fan of that Coolio.  Hello, karaoke! 🙂

The letter stickers are just some old stickers I had lying around. It was fun to put them to use. I’ve got to challenge myself to do that again.

Be sure to stop by Ashley’s blog to see what she is sharing today! And I’ll be back again tomorrow. Hope to see you then.