My forever friends and I try to get together at least two times a year to make cards to be given to troops for their use. I prep all of the cards pack and they then we have our “class” This past Thursday the seven of us worked on these cards completing these cards and are mailing 201 cards to the Making Cards for our Troops group in Maryland. Lots of laughter, lunch, strawberry rose wine ice cream floats and our project was completed. These were the ones we worked on together. I had an additional 30 cards in my stash from joining in on challenges and some on line classes.

Thanks for stopping for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay COOL. We are heading into another heat wave in Pennsylvania. We have promises of rain every day but it seems to miss our area.

Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenges Challenge #8 is Summertime Buzz. I was thrilled to learn and be inspired by all of the designer cards for this challenge but most especially by our Stamp Buddy Lisa K’s card. Lisa is a guest designer for this challenge and her card is awesome. For my card, I cut some yellow and black strips of cardstock and adhered them to a piece of copy paper then stamped my image from SimonSaysStamp’s Bee Yourself stamp set. I wasn’t quite sure on how to incorporate the dragonfly twist but decided on sponging in some clouds using Inky Antics Cloud Stencil for my background. Dragoflies are Gina K Designs’ Dreams Take Flight stamp set.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay COOL!!

A new month and a new Halloween challenge with the Two Old Bats…LOL…I love and can relate to the name of this challenge blog. The challenge is an Anything Goes but as always a really fun Inspiration Mood Board and this month I thought I would go cute with the sweet red cat but with a little spooky sky background which makes flying on a broom a lot easier.

My stamps are from a Michael’s Recollection stamp set, the moon was created using Tim Holtz moon mask stencils blended with frayed burlap. Halloween sky is also Distress Oxide inks in Pricked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot and a little splatter using Copic Opaque white ink.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay COOL!!

Just Add Ink’s Game #614 theme is Just add…under the sea. I’m working ahead with my birthday’s and this little grand-friend will be 6 in September and starting kindergarten so I figured she would love a little magic for her special day. My background was from a patterned paper pad in my stash but I added some bubbles to the upper portion with a Sizzix embossing folder, The sea’s vegetation was stamped from Gina K Designs’s Quite a Catch stamp set and my main image, tiny fishes and sentiment are all from Technique Tuesday’s Nancy and Nick the Narwhals stamp and die set. Super cute stamp set.

Thanks for stopping for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and STAY COOL!! Another heat wave is on it’s way to PA.

The Make the Cards Challenge is a technique challenge to use a black cardstock background. On my black cardstock I stamped with versamark ink the border wildflower background stamp from Hero Arts/PinkFresh Studios collaboration set “You Make a Difference”. After heat embossing the gold embossing powder, I used a white colored pencil to color in certain areas of my flowers and then used different colors of colored pencils to complete the background. After adding the sentiment from the same stamp set, I cut some frames from Taylored Expressions A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate in gold cardstock. The sentiment frame was popped up by adding two frames under the gold.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay cool. Temperatures are heading higher again tomorrow in Pennsylvania.

Double D Challenges

Blue, Purple and Green is the challenge with Double D Challenges and Along the Edge + In the Sea is the clean and simple challenge with AAA Cards Game #220 so I attempted to catch two fish (mermaids) with one card!!

After masking off the top portion of my single layer card, I ink blended Ocean Mist GKD ink and then pulled out a new to me Brutus Monroe Whirlpool stencil and blended with navy ink (BLUE) and along the edge. After stamping the Mermaid’s Tail stamp from Essentials by Ellen I colored the scales in with a variety of Purple and Green markers which may be a little difficult to see the color variations. Stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set in GKD Wild Lilac ink to complete this card. Fun challenges and awesome mood boards.

Thanks so much for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay cool.

Anything goes embossing with a twist of the beach is the challenge with the Can You Handle the Pressure group. First thing I need for the beach is my chair and an umbrella and of course a pair of flip flops. My required embossed image was made using a Cuttlebug ProvoCraft embossing folder…sorry no name on this one. I lightly sponged some kraft ink on the raised embossed area and mounted it on navy cardstock. The flip flops on my sandy panel and the fussy cut beach chair and umbrella are from Gina K Designs Hello Sunshine stamp set.

Fun challenge as always with this group.

A great weekend which began with a visit to our 4 year old granddaughter and then led to some extra card making from our granddaughter and grandson. Chase made a card for his sister Brooke’s birthday (forgot to take a photo) and our Brooke made these two fun cards.

Love these Grouchy Pets from C C Designs and apparently so does Brooke. The poodle is cotton candy colored and the slim line card is for when Brooke feels extra sassy. She did a great job. She’s double digits today….omg growing up too quickly. It was a great weekend for us .

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and stay cool.

The new Anything Christmas challenge with the Peace on Earth group has another intriguing mood board for inspiration and I was drawn to the buffalo plaid. Using my The Crafters Workshop Buffalo Plaid stencil, I blended black soot Distress ink on red cardstock, adding a black panel and Taylored Expressions A2 thin frame cutting plate for my red border. White heat embossed the sentiment which is from Gina K Designs’ Holiday Tags set, SimonSaysStamp’s Sensational Snowflake die and reindeer die from my stash were cut in white shimmer cardstock from my Michael’s. This looks like a good masculine card but I really kind of like it.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and STAY COOL! Yikes, it’s out in Pennsylvania!!

Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies is the challenge theme with The Sisterhood of Crafters and you may use one, two or all three. What are the chances that I would have an old Inkadinkadoo red rubber mounted stamp in my stash that really has Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies! I opted to stamp them on Gina K Designs Watercolor Floral patterned paper pad then use the spotlight technique to highlight one dragonfly. The dragonfly was stamped and colored with KaiserCraft gel pens and a Clear Star Gelly Roll pen. Waffle Flowers A2 lacy layers dies were used to die cut my panels and SU circle punches.

I added a sentiment from Gina K Designs’ So Many Sentiments included in the Watercolor Spring kit and then wasn’t sure if I wanted or needed a sentiment. Here is the card without the sentiment.

What’s do you all think? I didn’t adhere the sentiment yet as I am curious what you suggest.

Thanks so much for taking a peek. I appreciate you and your time. Take care, be safe and STAY COOL!