Patriotic Flowers

 Independence Day is coming up on the 4th of July, this Monday. I really love the way my patriotic card turned out, especially the use of the flowers for the Use Your Stuff challenge. It’s not something I would normally think of!  The colors and stars was the theme from Cupcake Inspirations. I used the sketch from Atlantic Hearts, and I’m linking it up to Double Trouble for the unique backgrounds challenge. For my background, I stamped the flag and the sentiment, “Land of the Free.”

I colored my flowers by using the base and shade stamping method. The stamps on this set come this way, with backgrounds that line up perfectly to color in the image. The shading comes in the outline stamp.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Mink, White Daisy

Stamps: Beloved Bouquet, Home of the Brave

Ink: Candy Apple, Bluebird, Intense Black

Pineapple person

 I showed my daughter the pineapple Cricut cut, and she said, “Why does the pineapple have sunglasses on?” I showed her the inspiration photo from Just Us Girls and we had a good laugh that the pineapples looked like people. I even put a flower in it’s “hair!” I used the sketch from The Paper Players, rotated, and the code word, grid, from Addicted to CAS. I made a grid from a journaling box by drawing vertical lines over the horizontal lines.

I finally was able to open my new Cricut and get it set up in Design Space. Last year a lightning strike destroyed most of our electronics, including my Cricut expression. I used the insurance money to replace it with the Explore Air 2, because that way I could link up my cartridges. This pineapple was cut out with the Artistry cartridge. I don’t get much crafting time during the school year, and I mainly stick to knitting. But this summer, I have carved out an hour or so for paper crafting each day, so I’m happy to finally be able to use my new Cricut.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Black, White Daisy, Garden Green, Sunkiss Yellow

B&T’s: Calypso

My Stickease: Calypso

Other: Subway Tile embossing folder, Artistry Cricut Cartridge

Christmas Tidings

 This morning I made a card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, and I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps. I used the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder for the background panel. I like how it turned out!

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy

B&Ts: Holly Jolly

Stamps: Mary and Babe

Ink: Intense Black

Other: embossing folder (Cuttlebug), White Glitter Poinsettias (Christmas paper crafts -HL)

Love Blossoms

 This Love Blossoms is a neat stamp set I’ve never used before. I used it for the Fusion challenge and the color dare at Color My Heart. I chose Candy Apple to go with Capri. I don’t have any Capri, so I used an off-brand cardstock I had laying around. It is close. I decided on the black background to imitate the inspiration photo. I am also entering this into the challenge at Your Next Stamp.

Materials used:

Cardstock: white Daisy, Black, blue (colorbok)

Stamps: Love Blossom

Ink: Intense Black, Candy Apple

Hang in There

 Today I made myself a card for encouragement. I have been blue and having trouble getting control of my emotions. The word art at Word Art Wednesday is the verse that says if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, and that is encouraging to me. I’ve been struggling with feelings of condemnation, but the Bible says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and that helps me remember to not be so hard on myself.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I am so happy to have been chosen for a perfect princess for my card last week! The colors are from Color Throwdown. I chose Candy Apple, Willow, and Blush, with some yellow for the centers of the pink flowers. I’m also entering this into the Simon Says CAS challenge.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Pear Fundamentals

Stamps: Taste of Summer, Love So Sweet, Look to the Light, Sending Smiles, Tiny Typewriter (for the ampersand)

Ink: Candy Apple, Willow, Blush

Other: Pale Green Touch Twin marker (ShinHan)

There’s Gnome One Like You

 Today’s card uses the new sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches, the colors from CAS Colors and Sketches, and the theme of gnomes from Shopping our Stash. I used my Gnome Garden stamp set and colored in the images with a variety of markers. I have lost my red Touch Twin marker, so I had to grab a Crayola marker from my kids’ school supplies. But, hey, it was the right shade of red anyway!

The stripe and the card base are the reversible Fundamentals cardstock in Pear.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Pear fundamentals

Stamps: Gnome Garden, Love So Sweet

Ink: Intense Black

Markers: Autumn Terracotta, Pear, & Barn Red CTMH alcohol markers; Turquoise Blue & Clay Touch Twin Markers (ShinHan), Crayola Red marker

Purple Princess Castle

 Here’s a second card I made today, combining 5 challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch

Double Trouble (embossed background)

Cupcake Inspirations (purple, lavender, and pink)

Use Your Stuff (triangles -I thought the rooftops of the castle were perfect for this)

Heart 2 Heart (thin cuts)

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy, Gypsy, Pixie, Amethyst

Stamps: Princess Castle, Sending Smiles

Ink: Gypsy

Other: Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Thin Cuts

One-layer Wonder

 Today I made a one-layer card that I am actually satisfied with! The theme for Paper Players was to make a one-layer card. I used the color combination from the inspiration photo at Sunday Stamps. And the cupcake theme was for Paperminutes.

I found a card design I really liked, and decided to stamp the border at the bottom. I tied the red together by stamping the “Happy” the same color. The blue of the frosting was tied together by the little hearts and dots I stamped with the same ink. This is such interesting color scheme, but it really works. I chose Smokey Plum, Petal, Crystal Blue, Flaxen, and Poppy for my colors. I used water, a paintbrush, and ink pads to color in the frosting and cupcake wrapper.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy

Stamps: Cricut Artiste Collection Birthday, To My Bestie, In The Background, Field Trip Alphabet (I used the period to stamp the dots)

Ink: Crystal Blue, Petal, Smokey Plum, Poppy, Flaxen

Vintage Flying High at Christmas

 Today I stayed home from church with a couple of sick (recovering) kids, so after we watched the sermon online, I made this Christmas card. I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning, the colors red, yellow, blue plus choice (I chose green) from Just Us Girls, and the theme of flying high from Winter Wonderland. The vintage theme was from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

I used the Mistletoe paper pack and some Toffee ink for distressing to make it look vintage. I put it on a Canary yellow card base and added a soft yellow ribbon to tie it together.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Canary, White Daisy

B&Ts: Mistletoe

Stamps: Paper Bird, Card Chatter - Christmas

Ink: Bluebird, Toffee

Other: yellow ribbon

Simply Foxy

 Today I made a one-layer card for the challenge at Less is More. The theme is “One main image.” The theme at Addicted to CAS is dots, so I found an image with dots, and stamped it onto my base. It is a nice card to give to my husband I think. It says, “I love you” on the inside.

Materials used:

Cardstock: White Daisy

Stamps: Wild About Love

Ink: Autumn Terracotta 

Swing and a Miss

Yesterday I made a card. I sent it with my husband to give to his dad at a party last night. I stayed home with two of my kids who have been sick, and I’ve been under the weather myself. The card just didn’t come out the way I envisioned, but I gave it anyway.

I think part of the problem is that I tried to follow the 10-minute time limit from the As You See It challenge. 

The theme was Fast but Slow. It was a belated birthday card, and I had envisioned a little “by the seashore” theme with a turtle and a fence. The colors I had to work with, from Color My Heart, lent themselves to a sunset sky - coral and lavender with some green and grey and beige. I used the fence die from Your Next Stamp to be eligible to win their seashore challenge.

So once I had my idea and all the materials gathered, I set the timer for 10 minutes, but I didn’t finish before the timer rang! After about 15 minutes, it looked like this:

And my craft area had exploded. I knew I needed to color my images, and I thought it needed some blue water, so I worked a little longer, and it ended up like this:

I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but it says, “I’m just extending the celebration!” And “Happy Belated Birthday.” My father-in-law had his birthday last Friday, but we haven’t seen him, so I sent him this card last night. I think he liked it, even if it’s not one I’m completely satisfied with. Oh well, they can’t all be stunners at suppose!

Materials used:

Cardstock: Grey Wool, Desert Sand, Garden Green, Petal, Taffy, Lilac Mist, White Daisy

Stamps: Pun Fun, Card Chatter - Birthday, Perfect Day, Birthday Boy

Ink: Intense Black

Other: Watercolor Pencils, Fence die (YNS)

Wheel Wreaths

 Yesterday I made this card while the kids were finishing up their math lessons. We had been invited over to a friends’ house, so I gave her the card as a thank you for letting us hang out. I used the sketch and inspiration photo from Fusion. The colors I used were Charcoal, Olive, Desert Sand, and a touch of Sunny Yellow.

I wanted to give the feel of the wood slats from the photo, so I embossed my background panel with the vertical stripes embossing folder. I wanted a touch of interest on the wreaths so I added some red enamel gems. I didn’t mean for it to look Christmasy, but it definitely could be used for a Christmas card!

The inside says, “Let your light shine!” 

Materials used:

Cardstock: Grey Wool, White Daisy 

Stamps: Remarkable Wreath, Illuminate

Ink: Charcoal, Olive, Desert Sand, Sunny Yellow

Other: Hemp twine, Red Enamel Gems, Vertical Stripes embossing folder

Wordy Wednesday

 Today I made this card using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, the colors from Color Throwdown, and the theme of adding a sentiment for Simon Says. I’m also entering it into the inspirational challenge at Word Art Wednesday. God is faithful, and has compassion on us like a Father has compassion on his children. Fitting since Sunday is Father’s Day.

For the orange, pink, and aqua colors I chose Autumn Terracotta, Sorbet, and Glacier. I layered some paper from the Zoe paper pack and fussy cut some stamped images from the Love so Sweet stamp set.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Autumn Terracotta, White Daisy

Paper packs: Zoe

Stamps: Bible Verses, Love so Sweet

Ink: Autumn Terracotta, Sorbet, Glacier

Other: Coral Reef Sequins