The month of May brings two major celebrations for our family. The first is my hubby’s birthday. Pops got to celebrate with our youngest granddaughter this year for his birthday and we had so much fun with this little three year old. On a previous post I thought I would give me the card in the warm brown tones but at the last minute decided on something a little more fun.

After we celebrate hubby’s birthday, it’s time for our 45th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We are supposed to be having a long awaited sleep over with our two older grandchildren (8 and 10). It’s been at least 15 months since we had them for a sleepover and we can’t wait. So staying on the light side of our anniversary, I decided on this card:

Both cards’ sentiments are computer generated and the empty toilet paper roll was found on line as a free clip art item. I stamped my hearts using a Sizzix framelits w/stamps set in GKD cherry red ink and mounted it on a Bonnie patterned paper. The birthday card’s candles are a Hero Arts red rubber mounted stamp. I visited Pinterest to find these ideas.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek.

Using a new to me SU Blossoms In Bloom stamp set and dies as a thank you for my SU demonstrator, it fit in with the challenge at Make The Cards. The recipe for the 3 – 2 – 1 challenge is: 3 embellishments, 2 die cuts and 1 stamped image. My stamped image is the main floral image from the Blossoms In Bloom stamp set which has a watercolor vibe to it. My two dies are the coordinating dies for this stamp set which I cut in GKD Wild Lilac and Lovely Lavender cardstock. The three embellishments are tiny pearls.

There are a lot of options with this stamp and die set which could be complex or simple. Not part of the challenge but I decided to go simple with the next two cards which will be for my daughter and daughter in law for Mother’s Day.

The Happy die cut is a Momenta Little Yellow Bicycle word die set and the stamped sentiment is from GKD’s A Beautiful Life.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek.

Last day of April so let’s bring on the May flowers. Such a windy day today it feels like the unpredictable March winds but with little sprinkles of rain off and on all day. We could have used a nice soaking rain to wash away some of the pollen.

My card today will be entered into the Double D Challenges: April Showers challenge to include anything water related. My little bear is stuck out in the rain with a little buddy and thankfully an umbrella. My image is Penny Black’s “Sunshine in the Rain” which was colored in with some markers, my stencil is by Bonnie and I used some Nuvo Crackle Mousse in Celestial Blue mounted on a black layer and GKD’s Lemon Drop cardstock. The sentiment is SSS’s Follow the Rainbows stampset.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek. Have a great weekend.

An attempt at a challenging challenge of a clean and simple card consisting of a one inch strip with the optional twist of small stamps. Oh boy, I may be totally challenged but determined to play along with the AAA Cards group. I did find an older Stampin Up stamp set “A Little Bit of Happiness” which should I admit that it may never have been inked until now!! The stamp I chose was my favorite of the set because it not only has butterflies but dragonflies too! After stamping with versamark ink, I heat set with SSS white embossing powder then colored with Arteza markers. Well not really coloring just swiping the marker and attempting to blend the color edges.

I decided to add a little bling and I think my teardrop gems are upside down so now they can be called raindrops. Can I blame the upside down gems on pollen which have eyes itchy and red?

Thanks for stopping in for a peek.

It’s been awhile since I last posted but I have been working continuously on prepping cards for the “Making Cards for Troops” organization. May 8th my girlfriends for life and I will be getting together to assemble these cards. The group has requested all occasion cards but no holiday cards except Christmas so I’ve been working to cover a variety of cards. I believe I am up to 24 packs of 5 cards…..one original in each and 4 to make.

I was totally inspired by Bonnie’s card with the dragonfly about a month ago so this is my version of Bonnie’s gorgeous card. Of course my card is not as complex as Bonnie’s but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I decided on warm tones in kraft, ivory and brown. I need a nice gray not green gray but gray gray ink!

The stencil is TCW Sunflower Meadow designed by Carmen Medlin that I found at SSS. I inked that with GKD Kraft ink. My frame was made using two Waffle Flower A2 Lacy Layers Dies and a template that Lisa B had sent to me. Thank you Lisa. I use it often. Instead of the dragonfly, I decided on this soaring bird from GKD’s Springtime Silhouette StampTV kit and stamped in and the sentiment that I found on my desk in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. My cardstock was all Recollections from my Michael’s store. They have a nice variety of heavy weight cardstock in shades of four colors. Unfortunately, their layering weight is only 65 lb and not the matchy/matchy with the heavy weight cardstock.

I have to make one more of these for my sample as I decided to give this one to Will for his birthday on May 2nd. Thanks for inspiring me Bonnie and the rest of our Stamp Buddies. Next I’ll be case-ing Lisa B as I have the die cut from her Pantone color challenge card on it’s way to me, too.

The challenge for the AAA Cards is Two Quarters + optional twist Rainbow!!! Hmm! So I made some templated by folding a sheet of copy paper 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 into quarters four different ways. My single card has the two quarters in the middle of the card front. Using SSS Mix & Match circles stencil and Distress Oxide Inks, I completed my rainbow then stamped dragonflies from GKD’s Dreams Take Flight and the sentiment from Verve Stamps Thoughtful Florals.

I had fun creating this one and decided to keep going with my two quarters.

Same Stencil and Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Chat Cats stamp set and die and the two quarters are really on the corners of the card.

For this card the two quarters are in the middle and I opted for light blue cardstock. I think I should have stuck with white cardstock. Same stencil and rainbow inks and added SSS word die cut multiple times.

And my final two quarters are on the two edges and also on light blue cardstock with a GKD Massive Messages sentiment. I did add some GKD crystalline drops to my three cards not entered in the challenge. I’m trying to get into the habit that if I make one card to make at least a second or possible four of the same design for Mailing Cards for Troops organization.

Thanks for stopping in and taking a peek. Off to watch some baseball and our Phillies.

My adrenaline was flowing last night watching my Phillies with a come from behind win over the dreaded Mets so I decided it was a perfect time to play along with the As You See It Challenge #247 Blossoms theme Speed Challenge. You have 10 minutes to complete your card project on this challenge. So, taking a deep breath and gathering the cardstock, patterned paper, stamps, ink, markers and paper cutter, I was ready to begin. My blossoms and sentiment from GKD’s Whimsical Spring stamp set were both stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturine black ink on a piece of Recollections Sea & Sky patterned paper pad then colored with some SU and Memento markers. I added a few GKD Crystalline drops and Liquid Pearls in Buttercup adhered all the layers and DONE! Seven Minutes Flat. This came together so easily that I made a second one. Of course, it did take longer thank 10 minutes for the crystalline drops and liquid pearls to dry. Another fun challenge from AYSI.

Thanks for stopping in today and taking a peek.

The April challenge with the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge is Anything Halloween. Using their Inspiration Mood Board, I was focused on using greens and well that cupcake too. I die cut a circle from Spellbinders Classic circle dies and used some removable tape to adhere the circle to my card layer so I could sponge a variety of TH Distress Oxide Inks , then switched the circle with the outer mask to lightly sponge the inner circle and flicked the sponged background with some water. My cupcake was the largest one I could find in my stash comes from TPC Studio Cupcakes stamp set, my witch hat is Recollections Halloween clear stamp set which was stamped in black, clear heat embossed and fussy cut. The sentiment is SSS Halloween sentiment strips and added two green googly eyes to complete my card for this challenge.

With all that green, my first thought was frankenstein (my favorite and misunderstood monster), maybe another card for the challenge.

Thanks for stopping in for a peek.

Stay safe and enjoy your day.

Dies R Us Challenge DRU Challenge#166

A cousin birthday card and two challenges today. The Mix It Up Challenge Blog #48 is an Anything Goes + No Stamping challenge and the Dies R Us Challenge #166 Anything Goes + using any brand of die sold in the store.

I decided to go with a Hero Arts Flower Garden Fancy Die and Sizzix Happy Birthday To You Die (Sizzix is sold in DRU). After cutting the flower garden die, I colored it in the a variety of markers and decided on the larger word die to cover up the dark green leaves in the center. Hard to see but I also lightly sponged SSS Square Dance Stencil on the layering cardstock. The word die was cut in green and blue because I couldn’t decide which color I liked better so I stacked them and ended up with the blue.

I kind of like how this one turned out.

Thanks for stopping in and Stay Safe everyone.

Happy Easter!