Hot Dog! It’s Birthday Time!

Hello friends! As you know, I’ve been TRYING to get my MOJO flowing and I REALLY appreciate the feedback that I’ve gotten from you and others about things I can try including non-craft related things! (Honestly, right now in this world with what is going on, it is hard to concentrate along with worrying about my own family in different ways…so that doesn’t help either!) But I’ve been trying to find things to keep my mind focused and try new things that are interesting to me…so I will just keep going along and see what happens!! I would like to continue with as many “stamped smiles” as I possibly can right now….we all need that at this time!

Today’s card was made for my son’s birthday that was this past Saturday:

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I pulled out an older Simon Says Stamp card kit and used the So Pun Friends and the I Chews You stamp sets along with the coordinating dies. I’ve used the cardstock and cute Doodlebug So Much Pun Papers that came with the card kit as well. The tag was cut using the My Favorite Things Stitched Tag dies. I created the hole at the top of the tag with circle punches and the twine is from left over packaging.

I cut the tag shape out again with more of the papers from the kit and then popped up the image tag with foam tape and added some white enamel dots.

On the inside I stamped a birthday greeting and made a pocket to hold a gift card for him. We usually take him out to dinner for his birthday, but since he’s moved away I had to send him a gift card instead. Bummer…

Here’s a closer look at the cute smile face images that I colored up with my Copic markers. I cut out the food images with the So Pun Friends coordinating dies. For the sentiment, I stamped the speech bubble from the I Chews You stamp set over a piece of the Doodlebug papers and then added the sentiment from the So Pun Friends stamp set in the center of the speech bubble. I then die cut it out with the I Chews You coordinating dies.

I used some blue distress ink to blend some color over the center of the white area on the tag and then popped up the speech bubble with some foam tape over that area. The hotdog at the bottom was also popped up with foam tape as well.

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I actually had some fun pulling out this older card kit to play with and who could resist a hotdog smiling at you?! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping in and for your continued support! It’s very much appreciated and I hope that I helped bring a smile or inspiration to you today!

I actually have a couple more birthdays coming up that I need to make cards for, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of those in the near future too!

Challenges:

Not Just Cards – March Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – Etc, etc, etc (3 enamel dots and 3 food images with smiles)
Cute Card Thursday – Celebrate!
TIME OUT – Birthday with optional twist: die cutting or fussy cutting
Seize the Birthday – #185 Touch of Green or Anything Goes

A Vintage Love

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week! I must be really wishing for flowers as this seems to be my theme this week!…along with watercolor and heat embossing! LOL!

Today I wanted to share a card I’ve made for an anniversary:

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As you can see from the card itself, my parents have been married for 55 years. So when I saw this Simon Says Stamp LE Valentine 2020 card kit, I knew that this would be a great way to start using the kit immediately!

I actually really didn’t know what direction I was going to go with this anniversary card and I just started pulling things out and switching different items to see what I wanted to do. I sampled the stencil with the metallic paste from the kit and really liked it, but when I pulled out my copper metallic mirror cardstock, I decided to heat emboss over the stencil with the same copper EP that I used on the sentiment for this card.

I’ve also cut out the numbers with the copper metallic mirror cardstock along with the layer behind some of the papers from the card kit. I’ve added another heart strip of the papers from the kit at the top and used one of the butterflies from the kit to go over the piece of lace I’ve added from my stash. The layers were all attached over an A2 sized top folding card base. Lastly, I added some white hearts that were actually from a different card kit. LOL!

I wanted to share a closer look at the flower. The stamp set in that card kit is so stunning! I’ve white heat embossed the flower and leaves over some watercolor paper and then used my Clean Color Real Brush markers to color it with. I’ve used some foam tape to pop up the flower over the stenciled heat embossed piece that was cut out with a circle die and attached to the card front.

You can see the shimmer over the butterfly wings that I’ve covered with a glitter brush pen. I only glued the center of the butterfly so that I could pop out the wings a bit.

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Although this card looks a bit simple, there were a few steps to the stenciling and heat embossing some of the elements.

I hope you like it! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednsday – Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #382 Anything Goes
Allsorts – Take Flight
Creative Fingers – #178 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC256 All About Occasions
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #124 Anything Goes

Working in a Winter Kit!

Hello friends! If you live around my area, then you know that it’s in full swing Winter Weather time! We do have snowflakes in the forecast for tomorrow, but hopefully it’s not too bad!

So while we’re thinking of snow, I thought this would be a great time to share with you all of the winter style cards I’ve made using a brand new subscription card kit that I’ve got going from Pink and Main. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy some crafty winter inspiration!

So my first card kit from Pink and Main was the December 2019 Winter Wonderland Crafty Courtyard Box which is no longer available, but they have this month’s box out which I will I get soon! Here’s what I’ve made for the December box:

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Yeah, I know! That’s a lot of cards, right?! I was surprised myself how many cards I was creating from this kit and I could’ve just kept going as I still have plenty of supplies left! I needed to make a few more cards to send out after Christmas for the ones I missed and send out thank yous…so this came in handy actually!

P.S. Every single one of these cards were completed with an envelope too! (So far so good on my New Year’s Resolution! Yay!)

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My first card here is a “see through” design using acetate for the center of the design. I have used a Bold Snowflake die from Pink and Main NOT included in the kit, but overlayed it with another foam snowflake and button that WAS included in the kit.

I stamped snowflakes from the stamp set in the kit and added some “dots” with Stickles over the design too.

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This card was pretty simple, but I love it! I’ve used the sentiment die that was included in the kit and die cut it with the sparkle cardstock from the kit as well as the pretty snowflake papers. All I did was stamp 3 snowflakes and added another dot of Stickles to the centers. I chomped the corners at the bottom and done!

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For this particular card, I’ve decided to make a ‘Z-fold’ card design and if you’d like to know the measurements and/or how to see one put together, then please check out my video tutorial on it here – “Coffee Style Z-fold Gift Card Holder“.

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This is how the card folds closed. It folds down to an A2 size. I love how the colors look on this one! Everything on this card except for the greeting on the inside was from the kit.

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So I wanted to use lots of those papers from the paper pad included with the kit and they were double sided so I had even more choices to deal with! LOL! I decided to make square panels for my layout and use those sparkly silver snowflakes from the kit to place over top. I heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set at the bottom.

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This card was just destined to be a square design. I wanted to use my Reverse Scallop Square dies from Pink and Main for this one. I’ve also used papers from the kit as well as the silver sparkle paper and snowflake. I took a snowflake embossing folder fort he background. I used sequins from the kit and filled the centers with more of that silver Stickles. (I got a bit of the prop over my sentiment there. LOL!)

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I wasn’t finished using that “Reverse Scallop Square” die set, so I took it to die cut some embossed snowflakes and layer them over some of the papers from the kit. The middle of the card has a strip of the awesome translucent tape included in the kit. I covered the middle of the snowflakes with a rhinestone and pop up the embossed sentiment with foam tape over the tape.

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And this last one was hubby’s favorite. I took the largest image from the stamp set in the kit and heat embossed it over a watercolor panel. Then I took some Distress Oxide ink spritzed with water over a glass mat and brushed them over it and splattered some with with a brush as well. I die cut the sentiment from the die included in the kit with the sparkle paper in the kit and finished the design with more sequins filled with Silver Stickles.

I had “SNOW” much fun with this kit and creating these cards! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well and have been inspired in some way!!

Thanks so much for stopping in and I enjoy seeing what you have say! I loved reading all of your New Year’s resolutions and NOT resolutions too! LOL!!

I’ll see you again soon my friends! 🙂

Challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz – Blue is the Color
Arty Divas – #12 Anything Goes
Classic Design– Anything Goes
Creative Inspiration – Something New or Something Old
Challenge Up Your Life– Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday – Snowflakes!

Spots and Dots for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a great week so far. The month of October is flying right through and I know once Halloween gets here, it will be the end of the year before we know it!

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week! We are looking for “Spots and Dots” on your creations this time! We look forward to seeing your take on this one!

For my card, I decided to keep it rather simple:

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This card is using items from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday Limited Edition card kit which has since been sold out, but I know that you can still purchase a few of the items that were included in the kit.

I started out by taking the SSS Celebrate stencil from the kit and spread on some Deco Foil Transfer Gel over a white piece of cardstock from the kit and let it completely dry before moving on. After it was dry, I took the Rainbow Shattered Glass transfer foil sheet and put it through my laminator. It looks so pretty and shinny with a wow factor to it! I cut this piece down and layered it over a black scallop square die cut panel. I then layered these pieces over the green colored Tim Holtz Metallic paper from the kit.

For the square card, I used a black top folding 4.25″ black card base and then layered another piece of that green metallic paper over it. I took a ‘dotted’ piece of paper from the Honey Bee Over the Rainbow papers (included in the kit) and layered it over top of the metallic green. Then I added my foiled balloons panel over this.

Lastly, I took the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday stamp set and white heat embossed it over a piece of black cardstock that I trimmed down to a banner and popped up over the card with some foam tape.

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I really didn’t want to add too much more to it as it was for a male and I think with all of that foil and shine, it really didn’t need much else! I think it’s fun, simple and really cheery looking especially with that foiling done.

I know that I’m getting this fun kit out again very soon as I am in need of another birthday card to send to someone that needs a good birthday cheer!

Challenges:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1941 Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers – Sparkle
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC243 Masculine Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing a bit of myself with you! Wishing you a beautiful day friends!

Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello there friends! Have you been busy with your Christmas festivities? I am doing a “run-run Rudolph” right now and trying to finish up my Christmas cards let alone some baking, preparing for a Christmas dinner and finish wrapping up presents!! It is the fun of the Holiday Season and I enjoy spending time with my family, so I look forward to seeing them all!

It’s a new challenge today over at Cute Card Thursday! Since it’s that time of year and busy, we made this any easy “ANYTHING GOES” challenge for you!! We are looking forward to seeing what you’re making!

Since I am trying to finish up some Christmas cards, I thought I’d try and work on some doing “mass production” of a design. I only do so many of these before I have to switch things up, but I thought these turned out pretty cute:

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I have used the My Favorite Things “Filled with Joy” card kit (sold out) to make these plus I have pulled out the MFT “Simply Snowflakes” stamp set (retired) to clear heat emboss the background and then rubbed some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink over it. The panel was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Blueprints 27 and the heat embossed sentiment strip was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips.

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Here you can see how I’ve pieced together the snowman. The die in the card kit cuts out everything including the letters. I’ve cut his top hat with some black felt paper that was also included in the kit and then I decided to cut out the snowman head so that I could cut out those tiny eyes and mouth with the felt paper as well! So, if you happen to get this card from me, please be sure to rub your finger over the felt pieces in his hat and face!! I very carefully and lovingly placed each tiny felt dot in!! 🙂 I think that the blue snowflake background really makes him stand out even more!

On an even closer look at the card, you can see that I’ve added a sequins snowflake to each snowman’s hat and then added some sequins to the card background. I filled each one of these with some silver Stickles. The snowman head was popped up with a foam circle and the rest is just glued down.

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll be back again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Daring Cardmakers – Snowflakes Falling
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Always Fun – Snowman
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Double D – Let it Snow!

Food and Drink at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! It’s time for a new Cute Card Thursday challenge! This one may have a tendency to make you a little hungry as we are asking for your “Food and/or Drink” creations to add to the challenge gallery this week! We really look forward to seeing what you come up with for it!

Here’s my take on the challenge:

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LOL! I can’t help but giggle at these silly puns and especially with the smiling faces on the food images too! 🙂 I just had to grab the Simon Says Stamp “I Chews You” card kit and I couldn’t wait to have a play with it! Everything that I’ve used on my card including the paper all come from this card kit.

There were some pre-scored card bases, so I used one of those for my card base, then I took a strip of the colored stripes paper and a thin strip of the gold glitter paper included in the kit and glued it on at the bottom with the glue included in the kit.

I then stamped the images and colored them with my Copic markers. I put the “salsa bowl” at the bottom so it looks like it’s setting on top of the colored stripes. I added the speech bubble with the punny sentiment inside of it too. I then added the sequins from the kit and then filled the centers with some Nuvo Crystal Drops for the centers.

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Here you can see a closer look at the coloring of the images. I’ve also added some shimmer with a Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter Brush Pen over the “salsa” images. I know that it shows it as “guacamole”, but I’m more of a “salsa” person myself and decided to go for that instead. Hubby is not a guac fan either, but we love to eat Mexican food! 🙂

Thanks for joining me today!. What’s on your menu?!

Challenges:

Moving Along With the Times – For a Man
Seize the Birthday – Anything Goes
CASology – Menu
Addicted to Stamps and More – Clean and Simple
Watercooler Wednesday (WWC192) – Marsha’s Masculine Anything Goes

Follow Your Dreams and More Christmas Fair Project Entries

Hello friends! I have usually posted on Fridays to share some updates on my crafty projects and such, but had some other things to take care of and hubby has been working different hours here and there, so I thought I’d pop on here for Saturday instead!

I made a card for a FB Group yesterday, but thought I’d share it here as well:

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The background papers were included with the kit, and I have cut a portion of a piece to put on the top section of my card front. For the cactus silhouettes, I have taken the Nuvo Dazzling Blue Glitter drops from the kit and used a brush to push it around. (You can see a closer view of all of the glitter in the photo below.) I took a piece of black card stock from my stash to mount this piece and then I heat embossed the sentiment (from the kit) with white EP. I then took some 1/4″ Tear-iffic Tape to go across the bottom portion of the background piece. I then took the gilding flakes from the kit and attached it to the tape. I then took that entire black piece and mounted it onto a piece of craft foam. I then attached it to a top folding white A2 sized card base which also came from my stash and not the kit.

Here’s a closer look at the image and all of the glittery fun texture on this design! (You can see here how the cactus in the background really shimmer and have a unique texture by applying it!

If you take a look at that circle behind this image, I have cut out a white piece of card stock with a stitched circle die and then covered the entire piece with the Orange Marmalade embossing powder…it is so stunning how this EP looks IRL! There are some very fine gold mica powders in it that make it really amazing looking! Not what I expected the first time I used this, in a good way! 🙂 I then took the feather that came in the kit and added some Nuvo Liquid Glue to the ends of it and then sprinkled on some Ultrafine Sassy Silver Glitter and attached it behind the image with foam tape.

For the image itself, it came in the kit already pre-colored and sized to fit on the card. I have fussy cut the image and put some foam tape on the back with the feather and embossed circle. I have used the rest of the Nuvo Crystal Drops from the kit and used these to color in the image with a small brush to push the glitter around.

I sure had fun with this card and will be pulling out my kit again to make more, I’m sure! I like to “mix” things up a bit with them instead of making them all uniformly the same.

I also have some more projects that I haven’t finished sharing with you from what I’ve entered into my local County Fair this year, so here’s some more Christmas projects that I’ve made and had entered:

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The category for this one was “handmade ornaments – set of 3” (They were all supposed to be similar in nature as well), so of course being the paper crafter that I am, I made 3 ornaments using paper crafting items from my stash! 🙂

A while back I had bought a large supply of bamboo embroidery hoops because I wanted to have a try at making these ADORABLE ornaments that I found a tutorial for last year on Splitcoaststampers.com – CLICK HERE to check out the tutorial and make one for yourself! (That tutorial called for a 3″ hoop, but mine are a bit larger at 4″ here.)

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So for my ornament here, I used a stitched circle die to cut those lovely plaid papers from Lawn Fawn (looks like it retired!) and then I also cut another stitched circle from some gray colored papers to match. On the Gray circle, I white heat embossed the Tim Holtz Mini Weathered Winter Snowflake and then took a sponge dauber to add a bit of white ink in some places. I placed a wood veneer snowflake over top the center of the heat embossed snowflake and then added a dot of silver Nuvo Crystal Drops in the center.

For the outside of the hoop, I’ve had this silver tinsel in my stash for a few years (looks like the package says it is for a mini tree decoration. LOL…IDK!) I glued it around the edge of it, attached a silver bow at the top and then ran some silver cord around the top for hanging on the tree. They are simple, quick and easy to make, but I had lots of fun with it for sure! So, it was nice to have placed third as a bonus!

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This is one of my entries for “Hand-Stamped item Other Than a Card”. (I will share my other two entries for this category on another post coming later on!) If you had followed along with my other blog or “know me” on Splitcoaststampers.com, then you may have seen the tutorial that I made for them called “Shaker Money Holder” (Click name to view tutorial or click the photo for it on the sidebar of my blog here.) I basically took the same concept for it and adapted the measurements to make it a gift card holder instead.

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I have been wanted to play with this really fun stamp set from Pink and Main called Christmas Mugs which I’m sure I’ll be using again this year! Yum! 🙂 It was the perfect complement for gifting a Starbucks gift card! (This was one of the “many” purchases I had made when I went to the Collinsville, IL stamp convention earlier this Summer! So happy that Pink and Main had a booth there!)

For this shaker gift card holder, I stamped the candy cane from the same stamp set with some red Staz On ink before adding the shaker contents to it. I had fun coloring the mug image with Copics and glitter gel pens. I’ve also added some shimmer to the liquid in the cup with a Shimmer glitter pen. I then fussy cut it out and used my Xyron machine to make a “sticker” with it to attach to the plastic. I white heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set over red card stock, die cut it with a banner die and attached it in the same way I did the mug. If you follow along with my tutorial, i was finished off in a very similar manner.

Now looking at this photo, I’m thinking it would have been cute to add one of those snowflake accents to the center of the bow or around the red banner! LOL!! It was fun and easy to make regardless and will be nice to have on hand for Christmas! It was also very nice to see that it got placed 3rd too!

Hope you have enjoyed my post today and seeing the things I have been so busy with creating this, Summer! I always look forward to Fall and the end of the year projects so I know things will start getting really busy soon!

Thanks so much for dropping in!

*With the exception of the above card, I won’t enter the Christmas projects in any challenges due to the fact that I had made these in July. *

Challenges for card ONLY:

Use Your Stuff – Summer Fun (What could be more fun than laying in a suncatcher? LOL!)
Papercraft Challenges – Summer
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + a sentiment.
Creative Knockouts – Sparkle and Shine

Fluttering By

Hello friends! Have you already seen a couple of different styles now on my blog? LOL! I’m trying to get one on here that I think I would be comfortable with for a while…so far I’ve settled on this one! 🙂

So I’ve been “outta the loop” for a while and feel a bit rusty, but I thought the BEST place for me to start is with some of those card kits that I keep on hoarding and then it just sits and never gets used…so I’m going to stop hoarding and start using! Besides, all of the contents are already right together and you can’t go wrong with that, right?!

So I’ve pulled out an April 2018 Simon Says Stamp card kit (sold out) with some butterflies and thought it would be great to work with! I needed some “pick me up” cards that I’m sending out to a couple of fellow crafty friends who need a lift in spirit and hope this will help send a smile their way:

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This card was simple as I just used some papers from the kit, colored the images with my Copic markers and attached to design. I colored some white glitter paper with a yellow Copic to get that color above the patterned paper.

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This is probably my favorite one as I love the pop of black everywhere. I used some of the Mermaid Lagoon Oxide ink from the kit to ink blend, distress with water and then added the Copic colored butterflies.

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This one was inspired by Sheri Carrol’s card design. I obviously like her design better, but I find it amazing just how different a design can turn out from each person.

I saw that the Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop just started today (Yay!) and so I hope to be back later this evening with something fun for that! I haven’t played in challenges for a while and it’s always fun to create using some fun themes!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my butterfly cards today and please let me know if you’ve stopped by so I can see what everyone is doing! Would love to know how you are!

*Don’t forget to share a smile today! 🙂

I would like to enter one of these cards into the following challenges: