Before we can officially begin summer, although the temps in Pennsylvania this past week have definitely been summer-like, we need to say good-bye to school and celebrate those graduations!

My card today is for a dear young man who is graduating from high school and before summer’s end will be in Air Force bootcamp. My card used Taylored Expressions products.

We are celebrating with a combination graduation/farewell party this Sunday so of course he needs an additional card. Blue and Silver are Air Force colors and my tag was cut from Simon Says Stamp die and the other decorations are ephemera from my local craft store. I’m hoping his mom and grandmother don’t start crying when then see this one.

And last but not least a Pre-K graduation card for our youngest granddaughter. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. The owl is from a Gina K stamp set that escapes my mind and the banner is a Hero Arts, and somewhere in my many piles is the name of the apple die! The 2023 was Taylored Expressions precut.

So now that school is out for summer, I am sharing my graduation card with:

The Four Seasons Challenge June Anything Goes Summer Challenge.

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

Last month’s Halloween card project was a rainbow of pumpkins but this month it’s back to a more traditional Halloween fright night card. I started with some Brutus Monroe Color Burst powders sprayed with some water, added more powders, sprayed with water until I told myself to walk away. Today, I cut a circle mask and blended with a combination of Distress Oxide Inks, removed the outer mask and put the circle mask in place to add inks to the outer edges as well as some black soot. The tree and the border are the same stamp set from Gina K Designs’ The Giving Tree. Sentiment is from an old dollar bin stamp set from my stash. I added a little green layer behind the focal panel that was sprayed with some Distress Mica Stain.

Today’s card will be shared with multiple Halloween challenges:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge — June Challenge Anything Halloween Goes and their amazing mood board.

Halloween Crafts All Year Round Challenge May 15-June 14 Challenge #4

Most Magical Time of the Year Challenges Challenge #9 Anything Goes Halloween or Christmas sponsored by LeighSBDesigns

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

I started thinking about the Can You Handle The Pressure challenge to use an embossing folder with a twist of birds/birdhouses. I thought I had the perfect stamps and embossing folder in mind and when I found my stamp, it was a mailbox not a birdhouse. LOL….So I opted for an Inkadinkadoo bird stamp and a Sizzix embossing folder. I found a oval mask that fit perfectly over the embossed oval and blended some Distress Oxide Inks. Sentiment is from Taylored Expressions.

I did make a second card, well actually, this one was made first and put aside. Embossed my tree with the Darice embossing folder, then colored the leaves and tree with markers, sponged some blue ink for a sky background, stamped my “condo” birdhouses from a Gina K Designs stamp set “Sweet Friends”, and cut a frame from Taylored Expressions’ Frame in Frame 3 cutting plate, adding a sentiment also from Taylored Expressions. It seemed a little bare so decided to add some splatter which in Pennsylvania is also called pollen. Pollen is on everything and giving me a seasonal allergy attack.

Today’s silhouette card will be shared with:

Can You Handle the Pressure: Birds/Birdhouse twist

Just Us Girls #681 Silhouette and CAS Week. I think the silhouette has lots of white space so I’m considering it CAS even though I just realized it should be a CAS challenge week. It must be the pollen.

For the second year in a row, Mama Robin built her nest above our porch light. So I was very carefully going in and out the back door until Mama didn’t seem to be around anymore. No mama, no eggs, so hubby took the nest down. A little disappointing but really didn’t need bird poop on my patio.

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

I enjoy scouring the internet looking for new recipes. During the pandemic shut down my girlfriends and I shared recipes constantly. If there was a popular one, like Swedish Apple Pie it was shared over and over because someone wanted to prepare it but couldn’t find the recipe. That’s when we started our girlfriend recipe book. I now have 4 recipe books. I must admit that I didn’t make all of these recipes but it sure was fun finding, collecting and sharing.

The As You See It Challenge is a recipe which includes: Flowers, Die cut, Bow, Frame and Shades of Blue. My card has multiple shades of blue, a blue floral background with the occasional yellow, a frame, a bow and multiple die cuts. My card recipe usesTaylored Expressions’ Blooming Botanical stamp & stencil set for the background, Frame in Frame 3 cutting plate for my outer frame, Versatile Vases for one of my many dies, Flower Market stamp & die set and Bows die as well as the sentiment. I did add a oval die cut vellum under my vase so it didn’t get lost on the background. I debated on the sentiment and finally decided to add it.

My card will be shared with
As You See It Challenge #299 – Recipe for Framed Flowers in Blue

Hopefully I didn’t miss any of the recipe and my card will be a successful entry. 🙂

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

If it’s the month of May and the middle of Spring it is also Softball and Baseball season for our grandchildren. We divide our time between going to baseball and softball games for them. It’s been very a very chilly baseball/softball season and soon there games will be over so I needed to get this softball card made for our granddaughter. I decided on paper strips in a few different sizes and colors to represent the baseline of a ball field. The black and white stripes to represent the umpire were inked using Sugar Peas Designs skinny striped stencil. The Impression Obsession sentiment was stamped and heat set on vellum represents having fun during the games!

My card today will be shared with:

The Four Seasons Challenge: Spring Season May 2023 challenge.

Another fun and inspiring mood board but I opted to go in a different direction with my card.

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

The Taylored Expressions Daisy Dreams stamp, stencil and die set I believe will stay within my arms reach for awhile yet. I’m loving this set. After watching Gina K Designs Stamp & Chat Live YouTube video on Silhouette Stenciling, I decided to give it a try. After masking off the left side and bottom of my card, I ink blended oranges and yellow inks. I did stamp the Daisy Dreams image for the stems to show then used the layering stencils and inked all layers in black ink. My bottom edge got a little wonky so I had to cover with the die cut sentiment otherwise I would have placed that sentiment in a different location. It was a fun new to me technique.

I’ll be sharing my card today with Double D Challenges: FLOWERS.

The mood board has beautiful, colorful flowers but I decided on a different take on this challenge with the silhouette.

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

After reminiscing earlier this week when we celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary, I wanted to use the new Taylored Expressions Daisy Dreams stamp, stencil and die set. To continue on the daisy theme, I embossed my Lemon Drop GKD cardstock with the SimonSaysStamp Floral Field 3D embossing folder. This TE set may be my new favorite thing.

I’ll be sharing my card today with:

Can You Handle the Pressure? Challenge with an Anything Goes Embossing Folder Challenge With a Twist of Floral.

Did I mention that I carried Daisies in my wedding bouquet?

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

I was looking in my stash for a bird stamp set and my mind went on the hunt for one that’s a little wonky and fun. These three birds reminded me of the birds on a beach. So after coloring in my very colorful Inkadinkadoo birds stamps, I added a sand line and some clouds in the sky. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Colorful Layering Waves as is the Beach Fancy Frame. I did a little surgery on the die by cutting out the bottom portion and then adding the larger pieces to the card front.

I will be sharing my card with the

Triple B: May Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies Challenge

I was inspired by the lovely mood board to make a card for this challenge.

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

The May mood board for the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge inspired me to find my Gina K Designs Wreath Builder stencil and make some happy rainbow pumpkins. The stamps are from SimonSaysStamp’s “Boo Day” stamp set. Colored in my pumpkins and suckers with marker, added a layered circle for the sentiment and some patterened paper from my stash. This card style allows a square image without being a square card….so it works well for me and the US post office.

Today, I’ll be sharing my card with:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: May Anything Halloween

and

Halloween Crafts All Year Round — Anything Halloween

and

Most Magical Time of the Year — Anything Halloween or Christmas challenge.

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