Sadly I’m often in need of sympathy cards and struggle with making them right when they’re needed. The sentiment is from Extra Grand Sentiments by JustRite, stamped in Stormy Sky ink. The butterfly is from the Beautiful Butterflies Kit by Simon Says Stamp and is stamped in Soft Stone ink. I like using a butterfly on a sympathy card because it is a symbol of immortality.  The card base is Stormy Sky with a white sentiment panel attached on the inside. Quick and easy to duplicate. I’m entering this in the Mod Squad With Sympathy Challenge.

Since I already had the strip from Holiday Tapestry on my MISTI and the sentiment on my mini MISTI, I decided to make some more Christmas cards – this time in landscape mode. I used a Blue Denim card base with silver EP. The sentiment is also embossed in silver on Blue Denim and matted with Metallic Silver CS. It is nice to have several of these made up for my stash. I thought the blue would make a nice masculine card so I’m entering it in The Male Room Christmas in July Challenge. I’ve also been inspired to enter this July Rudolph Days Challenge.

Little by little I’m adding to my Christmas stash so maybe I won’t be so rushed come December. The strip from Holiday Tapestry was stamped in VersaMark on Plum Punch CS and embossed in silver. The sentiment from the same set was also embossed in silver on Plum Punch with a Silver Metallic mat. I’m entering this in Perfectly CAS and The Sisterhood of Crafters. Both challenges require embossing – either heat or dry. I enjoy heat embossing and need to do it more.

I’ve been tossing around some ideas for the latest Color Hues Challenge to use Lime Green and Aqua. Most of my ideas were involving flowers, which would have involved lots of coloring. While I like coloring flowers, aqua just wasn’t doing it for me for flowers. Then in the middle of the night it came to me – plaid. Don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before because I love plaids. I got out my Plaid Layering stencil from Taylored Expressions. I sponged the first layer in Ocean Mist, then turned the stencil and sponged Key Lime. Then used the second layer and sponged the thin lines in Ocean Mist going both directions. When I went to die cut the sentiment from Ocean Mist CS, I decided it was too light – I’d sponged the color on pretty heavy when I used the stencil. So, I took a scrap of white and sponged heavily with Ocean Mist, then cut the sentiment out three times so I could layer for dimension. I trimmed the plaid piece down using Master Layouts 1. My plan was to make a landscape card, but the holes cut in the sentiment kind of made it blend in with the background. Then I turned it the other way and voila! The sentiment landed over more of the Key Lime and that worked. Since the outer edges of the plaid were Key Lime, I decided on an Ocean Mist card base, but the color still seemed too light. So I sponged around the edges to deepen the color. I like how it turned out and I have another birthday card for my stash.

The color challenge at Just Us Girls is to use yellow, teal and gray. I stamped the cheery sun from Hello Sunshine by Simon Says Stamp in Obsidian, then VersaMark and embossed with clear EP on Sweet Corn CS, then matted it with Tranquil Teal. I die cut Sun Shine from the Gina K Designs Sunshine mini set from the Tranquil Teal mat. “Sending” is from Beautiful Balloons – the font matches the die cut sentiment nicely. The card base is Soft Stone.

For the card below I stamped the sun in Wild Dandelion, then VersaMark and embossed in clear, then used Copics to add a bit of color to the face.  The mat is a piece of Grass Green that I had use to die cut something else from the center. The card base is Wild Dandelion.

Christmas in July seems to be the theme everywhere. Getting started Christmas cards this early is not a bad thing as I’m always hustling at the last minute to finish cards. The background panel is created by brushing Red Velvet ink over a poinsettia stencil. I stamped the large poinsettia from Winter Flower by Gina K designs (2018 incentive) in VersaMark on vellum and embossed in gold. It’s a very elegant sentiment but doesn’t show well here. I used the matching die to cut it and die cut another poinsettia from a scrap of Red Velvet CS to layer behind it. The vellum really softened the red. The sentiment is from the same set, embossed in gold. The tiny poinsettia was cut using and old Spellbinders die, Holly Frame. The die cuts four at a time, so I layered them together for dimension and added a bit of bling from my stash for the center.  I’m entering this in the following challenges:

Retro Rubber Challenge Blog (RRCB162)

Mod Squad Vellum Flowers

Gina K Monthly Mix Christmas in July Challenge

A special friend made some masks and other items for me recently. Since one of the masks was red gingham with ants, I made this card to thank her. The gingham stencil from Newton’s Nook was just perfect. The ants are from Picnic Parade from a Simon Says Stamp kit. The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Thankful Flowers kit. I’m entering this in the Double D Summer Gingham Challenge.

I thought I’d missed all the red, white and blue challenges, then I discovered this one at Color Hues a new to me challenge. The flag and patriotic background are from the new Red, White & Blue set and the sentiment is from Old Glory, both from The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. The pattern paper from the America pack by Echo Park and the patriotic baker’s twine are also from The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. The sentiments were stamped in Blue Denim. The flag was colored with Copics R27, B28 and Y28 for the flagpole and cord. Then I cut it with the matching die. The fun fold card came from Pinterest. The card starts out as a tall top folding card (11” x 4 ¼” scored at 5 ½”). Cut 3” off the front of the card. Then cut white panels measuring 4” x 2 ¾”, 4” x 2 ¼” and 5 ¼” x 4. The PP is cut at 1”.

This is for the Word challenge at Just Us Girls – to use script on a card. I had a lot of fun recently using the beautiful Blossom paper pack from Graphic 45. Some of the images I used had sentiments. For this card I matted one of the journaling cards with Peach Bellini, cutting the sentiment that came with my Gemini Jr. before attaching it.