Hello friends and happy weekend to you! As we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving at the end of this month, I think this is a perfect time to create a few thank you style cards to use throughout the year!
This brings us to a new monthly challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “Thank you Card” this month. I look forward to seeing all of the projects in the gallery for this one. Here’s what I came up with:
I thought I’d try out a mini slim sized card for this one and the tall larger flower was a great fit for it! I used the Taylored ExpressionsNatures Canvas Card kit (no longer available).
For the background panel, I embossed a kraft cardstock piece with the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder and the went around the edges with the same color ink and then added some brown and white splatters before attaching it to a mini slim top folding card base. I also die cut a frame from the TE Mini Slim Frame in Frame dies out of white cardstock to place over the embossed layer.
I stamped, hand colored and die cut the flower. I used one of the greeting panels (from card kit) to gold foil and cut out the coordinating sentiment with it to pop up with foam tape over the flower stem. It was then finished off with some gold gem/rhinestones.
I hope you’ve been inspired by my thank you card and will join in the fun with us this month for the challenge! **NOTE** This will be my final project for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge as a design team member. I have enjoyed my time and wish Caz all of the best for the challenge blog in the coming year as well. Thank you!
Hello friends! Welcome to the start of a new week for mid-September! I think Summer actually DID come back to us as we’ve set record high heats for this time of the year! I think I’m ready for those cooler temps to come back! Ugh! I know it won’t be long now and we can start enjoying trips outdoors as we look forward to picking apples and all Autumn festivities that we do!
Today is time to share a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “USE A SNGLE FLOWER (floral image)” this month. Flowers seem to be everyone’s favorite. Here’s what I came up with:
Mine is a single sunflower image. My husband planting them in our backyard this year and they were so pretty! Of course, I forgot to take a photo of one before they died off.
The items I’ve used came from an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp including the stamp set called Sunflower Fields. There is a single sunflower image that I thought would be perfect for this challenge, plus I can use more items from my stash!
For the size of the flower image, I wanted it to stand out, so I used a tag and twine from the kit and decided to make this a mini slim card size.
For the background: I used a piece of watercolor cardstock and gold heat embossed the “Romantic Script” background stamp (retired) from My Favorite Things and then used some oxide inks swiped on glass with spritzed water to make a “smooshed” background. I also used these same colors to watercolor my flower with. (except the green, I only used that for the flower) I also used some gold watercolor to splatter over the tag. I only splattered the tag because I didn’t think it would show very much over the card background.
I cut the smooshed watercolor panel to fit over a kraft side folding mini slimline card base. I die cut the flower and the sentiment to attach over the tag, added some twine and then used foam tape to pop it up over the ink smooshed background. Lastly, I’ve added some yellow sequins to finish it off.
I hope you will take some time to pull out a single flower and join us in the challenge this month! Looking forward to seeing your creations! Thanks so much for dropping by!
Hello friends! This will be a pre-scheduled post as I’m away for a bit, so this is going to be a very short and sweet post from me.
There is a new challenge today over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! Our next letter is ‘H‘ and the hostess has chosen “H” is for HOME *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter* I hope you will find some time to play along! Here’s what I’ve created:
I have pulled out an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp called “Home Sweet Home” and used some of the cloud papers that came in the kit along with the stamp set to make my little square on the left.
This is a mini slimline sized easel calendar. It folds flat for mailing and then sets up with a base at the bottom. (I figured a message could go on the back.) I got the Square Calendar Tear-Offs as well as the Landscape Calendar Table Tent Base from Taylored Expressions. The “slash marks” on the home sweet home square also came from the TE Square Tear Off Calendar Stacklets Die Set which is how I was able to cut out the square to fit onto the design too.
Obviously, I have August 2025, but I also have 2026 calendars that I will have to replace for the new year. I really love making these calendars every year to give as gifts and I thought it would be nice for someone moving into a new home as well.
Thanks so much for dropping in today! I hope you will take a look at what the design team has for inspiration and join in the challenge with us!
I’ll have another scheduled post for tomorrow to share my monthly Art Journal Page.
Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and looking forward to a great weekend coming up! We are having a heat advisory for the next several days over my way, so I thought it would be a great idea to stay indoors and craft! I also thought this would be a great time to catch up with some posts sharing some things that I’ve worked on the first part of this year that I hadn’t gotten a chance to share with you.
LONG POST – pull up your chair with your favorite beverage and enjoy!
I thought I’d share the Taylored Expressions Virtual Stamp Joy that I did back in March. I actually spent the weekend attending the classes and creating as I followed along. I managed to get all of the projects done the day after the event was over, but failed to post all of what I had made due to the fact that I was busy helping two different people move…and then life just got really busy after that as well! LOL
*I also have added an additional event from Taylored Expressions this last weekend called “Summer School” which concentrated on foiling techniques. Although I’ve done foiling before, I sure enjoyed seeing new products and learning a few new techniques too! (These four cards are at the end of the gallery photos below)*
If you’re on my website, just click on the images below to enlarge the photos and view any details underneath each one. ENJOY!
Dimension Class-ink blending and splattering die cutsDimension Class-markers over die cutsDimension Class-stacked die cuts for layersDimension Class-liquid watercolor smooshing with die cutsInteractive Class-Light Up CardInteractive Class-Light Up Card pushing button to activate itInteractive Class-Pop Up CardInteractive Class-Pop Up Card when you pull up on the tab to reveal message and flowers pop upInteractive Class-Rip Strip Card – when the recipient pulls on strip, it reveals messageInteractive Class- Spinner Card – bee spins and moves along curved trackSession 1 -stenciling on perforated papersession 2 – watercolor panels using Karin Brush markerssession 3 – stamp a stack using quad stencils to make four cardssession 4 – marker coloringsession 5-ink blending on stamp and embossing over imagesession 6-calendar easel card with message padsession 7 – ink blending over glitter cardstockSummer School-double foil technique and using markerSummer School – clear foilSummer School – foil paste and sprayed foil techniquesSummer School – Foil paste over color cardstock
I always love to learn new things with stamping/crafting along with all of the fun new products that come out too! I know I REALLY don’t need to purchase more things, but when cool stuff comes out, it’s really hard to pass it by! I think doing these classes and joining in on different challenges help me to use these fun things up!
So I hope you’ve enjoyed my post sharing all of the things that I’ve been doing! I will have another post sharing more things that I haven’t shared yet too! In the meantime, I’ve also been working on a scrapbook which has been fun and something that I haven’t done in a really long time! A baby can do that to you! LOL
Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends! I’ll be seeing you soon! Have a great weekend!😊
Happy Friday my friends! Are you ready for the weekend? I know that I don’t have a regularly scheduled workday every day, but I can still always feel a weekend ahead! LOL Hopefully I can enjoy some time doing some fun projects that I’ve been wanting to get to and go outdoors!
Today starts up a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! We are now onto the letter “B” and the hostess has chosen “B” is for Butterflies (use more than TWO of them.) *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter* I hope you will find some time to join us in the gallery! Here’s what I’ve created:
I do love me some butterflies! I love using soft pastel colors for the Spring months too! I have used this set before, but I have gotten it back out again for my mini slimline card today. I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Beautiful Butterfly Wings & Coordinating dies to complete this.
I white heat embossed the three wings onto vellum and die cut them out. I also used the die cut to cut out the colored cardstock butterflies for each one along with their center antennas. Glued them together and set aside to work on the layout.
The base of the card is mini slim size of 3.5″ x 6″ side folded. I die cut a white layer with the TE Pettie Scallop Mini Slim dies and then layered another white piece using the Stitched Mini Slim dies. Before I attached it, I splattered some black paint over it.
I then attached each assembled butterfly to the layout design and added the white heat embossed sentiments between them with foam tape. The sentiment came from the TE Fluttering By Mini Strips & a coordinating strip die. I finished by added a rhinestone in the center of each butterfly.
**Just a special attention to the tab pages I’ve added at the top of my blog that shows I now have information about purchasing a handmade card from me as well as another page of craft supplies I have available for purchase if interested. I will regularly update so check back often to see what’s there!**
Thank you for taking the time to stop in and share your support! It really means a lot and I enjoy hearing from you! Whatever your weekend brings, I hope there’s some good in there somewhere!
Hello friends! I hope that you had a great Valentine’s Day yesterday however you chose to celebrate it! We chose to stay indoors where it’s warm and watch a movie!
And speaking of love, this brings us to the February challenge over at Sparkles Monthlyand for this month, our hostess is asking for a “Love Card (for anyone you love)” . Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the design team has created for you. Here’s my project for this challenge:
Aren’t these heart sweaters adorable?! I had fun making a couple of cards to send to my kids (whom I love) for Valentine’s Day. I was actually able to create two similar cards using a stencil set that allows you to make 4 sweaters at one time.
And here’s a closer look at the other card I made. I know I could’ve used just one sweater for each card, but I thought these sweaters were too cute, so I decided to use all of them! I’m thinking one of my sons would probably wear a sweater like one of these and the other would think it’s ridiculous! LOL Regardless, at least they each know that they are loved by me!
I also had these fun TE Snarky Valentine Insiders panels that I gold foiled. I have to share some snark with those I love too! LOL (Click on the photos above to enlarge them if you’re on my website.)
I thought I’d share another card I had made for someone I love that was given to my husband for Valentine’s Day yesterday. (Sometimes, I have to wait until he gets it before I share!):
This pup and his boing heart hat cracks me up! Look at that face! I actually made this last month during a Craft Roulette challenge. I decided that I liked it so much that I put a Valentine greeting on it for my husband to give him on Valentine’s Day.
I used the Taylored Expressions Puppy Love (retired) stamp setand colored in this cute pup with Copic markers and die cut him out. I stamped the TE Gingham Check BG Stamp in black ink over red cardstock. I splattered some white Copic Opaque over top.
For the lace, I white heat embossed the border stamp from the TE Flip the Lace stamp/die (retired) over the Toffee cardstock and placed beneath the check background piece. I added a black strip between the two and then popped the dog on it. I stamped the “Seriously” from the pup stamp set and the Valentine greeting from the lace stamp set together and fussy cut them out to pop up with foam tape on the card. I added a few white hearts around the pup. The entire card is a mini slim from a pre-cut and scored Toffee card base.
Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope that you enjoyed these “love” cards or have been inspired to make and send a card to someone you love too! I look forward to seeing what you share in the gallery this month!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Challenges:
Critter Crazy – #95 Anything Goes With a Featured Creature (Bottom card only)
Hello friends! Just wanted to pop in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to share some final Christmas creations that I’ve made basically within the last few weeks! Some of these are cards that I’ve sent friends and family and some are recent makes for Craft Roulette challenges.
(These are money holders for Christmas with recycled wrapping paper)
(This is a diagonal joy fold card design)(Tri-Panel Card for me was 3 layer panels on the front! LOL)
(Always stepping on those tiny gems on my floor!)
Hopefully the next several cards have been received by everyone they were sent to, but if not, maybe the surprise will be which one you will get! I don’t like making several at one time, so I’ve split up the design in sessions using the Taylored Expressions Make It Merry Stamp Set along with the Happy Half Sheets: (I’ve made my own “map” with the images)
Hope you’ve enjoyed all of my Christmas projects this year and a very special thank you for being apart of the crafting journey with me! I’m so thankful for the friends I’ve met along the way!
ALERT!! GIVEAWAY!!
Since this is the season of giving, I would like to gift someone that would like to receive this set that I have collected myself (over the entire year as an extra) to give away to someone:
If you’re NOT familiar with Taylored Expressions, this is a collection of the “freebie” rubber stamps that a person receives when placing an order. Each month the stamp image changes to something else. I have not only collected a set for myself, but I’ve also collected another entire set (12 rubber stamps) to give to someone else that would like one! I have included the sturdy laminated Collection card, in addition, a sturdy plastic sleeve in which to store it all in. Plus, I’ve also included a set of 2025 tear-off calendars in a package of ten to go with it!
You can purchase these in the store here under the Pretty Postage Collection, but I’m giving them all away in one set for the entire year as I’ve collected them. I did NOT include the Pretty Postage die set that cuts out the images, but you can purchase your own by clicking on the link.
If you are interested in this give away from me (no affiliation with any company), please just leave me a comment below to tell me that you’re interested in the give away. THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO DO, BUT YOU HAVE TO TELL ME IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN GIVE AWAY!
You will need to leave your comment below by January 3rd, 2025 to enter. I will announce here on my blog who won by January 5th, 2025. (The winner will need to be in contact for mailing out prize.)
P.S. If you have been collecting and looking for one you’re missing, let me know which month and I’ll see if I have it as I have several months that are extras! (I know that I do NOT have any August left, though.)
Just wanted to send out a little Christmas cheer to a crafty friend! It doesn’t matter where you live, I will be happy to mail it out…so please don’t let that stop you! It’s just a special gift from one crafter to another to enjoy!
Thank you for making my crafting journey a special one and for joining me here to share inspiration with one another! Looking forward to more in the coming year!
Wishing you and yours a VERY Merry Christmas with lots of joy and love!
(I will be back after Christmas (Saturday) to share an art journal page with you!)
Hello friends! November has come with the pretty leaves on the trees and the coolness in the winds. I always turn to comforting “things” this time of the year and it always gives me a sense of peace before the year comes to an end. A warm fuzzy blanket, socks/slippers, sweaters, etc. is what I usually turn to. What is your comfort “thing”?
I promised to share with you the fun things we did over at the “Inky Escape” event that I recently attended and it was wonderful to see all of my crafty friends again for laughs and fun together. I think I miss them already!
I lifted this fun photo from the Inky Stamper FB page as I don’t have any photos other than seeing what others took. There were a total of 18 of us this time:
Everyone received a “swag bag”…but the case this time was a Christmas stocking full of fun goodies and one of them was that everyone received cute fluffy socks. I’m not exactly sure which one is me in that photo, but I did have a polar bear sock! LOL We each placed one foot in the circle and Chelsea took the photo.
And speaking of the “swag bag”/Christmas stocking…here’s what we each received:
When I got to the event, there was this black stocking on my table with the cute tag attached to it with my name. Each person received a personalized tag on the swag bag, plus the “skull” dies that were used to create the tag which was inside the stocking! There are my polar bear fuzzy socks (I’ve already washed them up by hand so the colors wouldn’t bleed in the wash…and they’re so warm and fuzzy!) I also received the cute “Christmas bulb” drink holder with a candy cane straw and a little ghost stopper for the top! We used these containers to hold the “Jingle Juice” that we drank at some point! And then I received a light up Christmas bulb necklace that has different settings when you push the button the back. The theme for this event was called “Merry Spookmas” which you can see the greeting for that on my personalized tag. So fun!
And speaking of fun…here are all of the Make-n-Takes that we created during the event. We sat and made 4 projects and then two of those projects were “bonus” makes using some other special items. (There is a “story” about one of them, but you can check out each project up close in the gallery below.)
*If you are on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge and scroll downward to see more information about each photo while it’s enlarged.*
Camel stamp set used. Images were stamped on colored cardstock and cut out.I TOADally FROGgot to run the black cardstock through an embossing folder! Doh! Orange Cream candy cane inside pocket with paper bow and frog on wobbler.My favorite stamp set of this release is the Gifter set. He was stamped on cardstock and cut out. Present was paper pieced inside his arms.Cute gingerbread treat container came complete with gingerbread cookies wrapped with twine!Bonus make-n-take was easy peasy with some very cool Aall & Create washi tape that made this image!We chose the “winter” gnome that we wanted, but mine was so messed up I had to ditch it! I came home and made a birthday one that similar from my own card kit stash! LOL
The first four make-n-takes were made using the brand new Inky Stamper release that came out during this event! You should go check them out now on the website! (They’re all shown on the home page under “Featured Products”.) My favorite is that darling “Gifter” stamp set! I’m sure you’ll be seeing something from that set soon from me! *wink*
And since I was there to “crop” (as they say), I brought some things to work on that I really wanted to get done. So I decided to pull out some more Inky Stamper images to color and make a “Sheetload of Cards” using the September Sheetload of Cards Template by Crafty Al. If you’re not familiar with her, check out her You Tube Channel and look for all of her “Sheetload of Cards” videos to see how you can find instructions for each month. #SUYSSep2024 #ShowUsYourSheetLoad
I utilized her template to create the full 12 cards as demonstrated. The dimensions of the finished card design is 3.5″ x 6.25″ which I really liked as it helped to use up the full 6″x6″ size of those paper pads! Also, you don’t have to create envelopes for these as they fit perfectly inside those #6 envelopes (3-5/8″ x 6.5″) that you can find at any office supply area of a store.
As you can see, I used a variety of images that I stamped, colored and cut out for each design. I matched up my design papers to coordinate with the images. All of the images I used are from Inky Stamper. All papers come from a variety of Doodlebug Design papers.
Here’s a closer look at two of the cards I made from the set so that you can see how the card opens up and the greetings on the inside of each card. (Sentiments come from Taylored Expressions.) You can also see the coordinating envelopes next to them with the matching critter stamped in grey ink.
These cards are on the way for a special charity for ill children patients to help lift spirts and I hope each one will!
I know there were so many things going on during the event that I was even surprised that I got all of these finished. They were mostly finished with the exception of the greeting which I added when I got home. I had plenty to do while I was there and also enjoyed all the activities too!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my post today as well! I thank you so much for stopping in!
Hello friends! It seems like this month has really flown by as I now realize that Halloween will be here next week and I wanted to get some cards sent out that I’ve made!
So here are my Halloween cards for this year….I had so much fun!
This one was so much fun putting together and it wouldn’t have been put together if it weren’t for the parameters on Craft Roulette #237 this week! The four parameters consisted of these – 1. Project: Pop Up Card, 2. Colors: Trick-or-Treat, 3. Element: Boutique and 4. Random: jewelry
I used the Lawn Fawn Platform pop-up dieand the build a house die with the Halloween add on plus a few other dies and stamp sets all from Lawn Fawn. The front “welcome” sentiment was printed out from my computer and I made up the “Bougie BOO-tique” language to fit with the parameters of the challenge.😆 These ghosts are all blinged up and hanging out around their favorite “BOO-tique” to catch up on all of the latest trends in style! One is wearing a necklace, another a tierra, another carrying a purse, another styling glasses with bling and the front ghost has earrings and a sparkle wand.
The background was done with the Lawn Fawn Platform Pop Up Add On around the back of the pop up. I ink blended and then splattered with white Copic Opaque White mixed with water to get the starry night background. This card went to my husband because he really enjoyed it and said that it wasn’t going anywhere, but it does lay flat for mailing.
This card was done for an Inky Inkspiration Challenge over on FB for September and they were asking for a slimline card. I’m more into making the mini slimline size rather than a full size, so that’s what I went with! I’ve used the cute Bat stamp set for all of the images, except for the background panel, which you’ll notice it looks like a BINGO card and it is! It was the game that we played in a Zoom class that I took with Inky Stamper and we actually used this Bat stamp set for the projects we made and the BINGO card was included. I decided instead of throwing it away, that I would use it as background paper for my card. I just stenciled in some gray clouds over top and stamped some bats from the set with it. The rest were just cut out and placed on the card with the bat being popped out with foam tape.
(I would’ve showed photos from the class, but I forgot to take photos of them!)
And here’s another card I made for World Card Making Day using the fun sketch from the Inky Stamper Inkspiration Group on FB. I’ve used this really CUTE Zombie stamp set from Inky Stamperfor this card. I had so much fun coloring him up!
And this last card I made for someone who loves the spookiness of the season almost as much as I do! I pulled this really cool image from an older paper pack by Whimsy Stamps. In fact, all of the images on this card came from this store.
I die cut the image out with the WS ATC Antique Frames including the sentiment that was white heat embossed. The background was black heat embossed with the WS Vintage Wallpaper stamp over kraft cardstock. I sponged some black ink around the edges which was also cut out with the WS Wavy Pieced Rectangle dies. I cut out a few ghosts from white cardstock using the WS Boo die set and sponged some green ink at the very bottom edges.
I thought it would be fun to make the eyeballs of the skeleton and the edges of the ghosts glow in the dark, so I used some glow-in-the-dark embossing powder over them and finished off the sentiment panel with green gems. (It’s too hard to take a photo of the glow-in-the-dark!)
Well that’s it for me today with all of the Halloween cards! I hope you’ve enjoyed them or have been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you again on Saturday with another Art Journal Page for the month!
Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far and enjoyed a nice Valentine’s Day yesterday with some yummy sweets! We enjoyed some treats of our own! 😉
Today I have a new challenge to share with you for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge blog and this month the lovely Dawn would like to see some “Hearts & Flowers” on your creations! Although Valentine’s Day is over, I think hearts are great for adding any time of the year, so check out the inspiration from the design team and here’s what I’ve made:
I’ve made a mini slim card using the Taylored Expressions Hearts in Bloom Layering Stencils which are so great for mass producing several cards at once. For this card and the other cards below, I decided I wanted to use the TE Hearts in Bloom Foil Panels which works with these stencils. I foiled them with gold foil. I think the foiling adds such a pretty shine and glitter. I also used the TE Love & Hugs Foil Panels for the sentiment and die cut it out with the coordinating die set.
So after foiling everything, I used the stencils to create the pretty bouquet of flowers with the hearts in it and then added a frame around the edge with a TE Diagonal Stitch Mini Slim die that doesn’t cut anything, but adds those slash marks. I used some foam tape to pop up the foiled sentiment and just attached everything to a coordinating mini slim card base.
I couldn’t just make this one to show you, so here is the whole set of cards I’ve made together:
Those stencils create all of these patterns at one time. I just lined the foil panels up at one time and then used each stencil for the colors. If you didn’t want to use the foil panels, you could also just use the stencils on one sheet of cardstock and then cut them apart to make the card fronts.
I found these sets to become very addicting! And just like that, two of them have been sent out!
I’ve been really busy with creating behind the scenes and I will be sharing more soon! I will be around to see what’s been going on with you all shortly! I really appreciate your kindness and support…it really means so much!❤️ Thanks for stopping in!
