M&M fun...

My sister has two sweet little granddaughters, and she made these super cute cards for them. Aren't they fun?

As you can see, she used some different sizes of circles for the body, feet and eyes and just some narrow strips of cardstock for the arms and legs.

I'm not sure which cartridge she used to cut the hands, but I know there are hands like these on many, if not all, of the Disney cartridges. I have the Mickey & Friends cartridge and I've seen similar hands there.

She hand cut the eyebrows, drew on the smiles and stamped with "m." A little shading and some tiny buttons for embellishment finished them off. So cute, and I bet her granddaughters loved them! I'm really glad she let me share them here on my blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Christmas cards in April...

Well, I managed to finish some Christmas cards for the month of April...with a little help from my sister.

I do not have the cartridge, Simple Holiday Cards, but my sister does. I asked if she would cut a few of the "Have a Merry Christmas" trees for me, which she did and sent them to me in the mail. I covered the front of each cut with spray adhesive and then covered them with white glitter. I also cut a pale blue mat, embossed it with the falling snow embossing folder and lightly ran a white ink pad over the raised snow dots.

I then sprayed the back side of my now glittery die cut and adhered it to the blue mat. These layers were adhered to the card front.

For the inside of the card, I used a Flourishes sentiment stamp and added a delicate snowflake cut from a pale blue glitter cardstock.

Here are three of the seven cards I made in this style. They were so quick and simple to put together, even though the glitter was a little messy.

I also made four tags to add to my collection. The bell ornaments were stamped with a Flourishes stamp and Versamark ink. I embossed them with sparkly silver embossing powder and then filled in the tiny open spaces with my white gel pen. The "Joy" was die cut from some scraps of silver glitter paper.

The other two tags were decorated with some Christmas images that were included in one of my holiday paper stacks. I simply added the crochet thread to the candy cane and some die cut holly to the other.  Oh, yes, the tag shapes were cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I will write the "to" and "from" on the back with a white gel pen.

That's it for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Boy's birthday card...

A while ago I made my daughter a few birthday cards to have on hand when her children are invited to birthday parties...and this was one of them.

I think this monster truck image is a great one for young boys. It is from the Father's Day cartridge and only has two layers--but it's easy enough to add additional layers just by cutting it in other colors and piecing it together. You can see in the photo that I've used four colors/layers: blue, black, dark gray and silver.

The sentiment is one of those dollar stamps from Michael's.  I stamped it in Versarmark ink on black paper and then heat embossed it with some sparkly silver embossing powder. I love how it turned out!

The banner flags were made out of washi tape. I hand drew the cord and the tiny bows at either end. I will definitely be using this idea again. It was so fun and quick to make and I think it adds the perfect touch to the card front.

Inside the card I stamped a birthday sentiment and layered it onto some of the same DSP that I used on the front. Simples!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Sweet baby cards by Nadine...

I am so lucky to have a special person in my life who lives in Germany and shares my love of cardmaking. Nadine makes gorgeous cards that are perfectly detailed. Recently she shared with me that she has been suffering from "baby card fever." I was delighted when she sent me some pictures of her beautiful cards (made during the course of her "affliction") and gave me permission to share them on my blog.

  Aren't these cards precious? I love the stork and baby image. She used a Spellbinders Floral Oval die for the card on the right.

Here's another photo of the two cards that were in the first photo plus an additional card with a red mat and a red scalloped oval mat. Really love that one!

 Here are some similar cards in blue.

Nadine made the inside as delicate looking as the outside, using a pretty border punch and a pale-colored mat to match the color on the front.

For these cards, Nadine used a Marianne Creatables baby carriage die. This die is so intricate, even incorporating some embossing on the bottom portion of the baby carriage. The sentiment, herzlichen Glückwunsch, means "congratulations."

Thank you, Nadine, for allowing me to share your cards! They are really wonderful, and I know that the new mothers who receive them will be thrilled.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day. 

Cheryl

Happy Easter with a Cadbury egg holder...

No Easter card in this post, but a quick little Cadbury egg holder. At the last minute, I decided to make these for my grandkids who will be spending part of Easter Sunday with us.

They are super easy and quick to make. Here are the instructions:

1. Cut a 2" X 11" piece of cardstock and score at 4 1/2" and 6 1/2". Use a punch or a die to create a decorative end at each end of the 11" piece. I used one of my label dies to create this look and then punched a hole through which I could thread a short piece of ribbon and tie a single knot.  Use a 1 1/2" circle die or punch to create a hole about 1" up from one of the score lines. This is the hole through which you will be able to see the Cadbury egg.

2. Cut a 3.5" X 3.5" piece of cardstock and score at 3/4" on all sides. Die cut or punch a 1 1/4" circle in the center of the square. This is the circle in which the egg will sit. Cut the short score lines on two opposite sides to create tabs so that you can form the square into what looks like the lid for a box. You should end up with a "lid" that is 2" X 2" X 3/4" and has a hole in the center. This "lid" will be adhered open-side-down to create a little platform for the egg.

3. Put double-sided tapes on two opposite 3/4" sides of the lid. Set the lid (open side down) on the 11" piece of cardstock so that it is centered between the two score lines and the adhesive ends are to the inside. Lift up the front piece of the 11" strip and adhere it to the front of the lid. Do the same with the back piece.

4. Tie the two ends together with a short piece of ribbon. Add a glue dot or dimensional to the bottom of the egg to help it stay in place when you place it in the hole. You can certainly add other embellishments to make these much cuter. Since I did this as a last minute thing, mine are kind of plain. At least the cardstock is brightly patterned! Next time I'll set aside some time to do a better job.

You could change these up a bit by using scalloped punches or dies, or even using an oval punch for the front hole, rather than a circle one. Some little bunnies, chicks or die-cut Easter eggs would look cute on the outside.  Maybe next year...

I hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Happy Easter...

Here's another Easter card with some flowery DSP and butterflies. The vine underneath the butterflies was made with the Martha Stewart Vine Trim punch. I inked the edges of the leaves to give it a little more dimension and to help it stand out against the DSP. The sentiment is a circle stamp from one of the dollar bins at Michael's. I stamped it with Versamark and then embossed it with purple embossing powder and layered it on a doily die-cut.

I used some liquid pearls for the butterflies' bodies, and I also dotted some of it around the vine. The butterflies were cut twice with a Martha Stewart punch and layered. The top layer is actually punched out of pink vellum. It's hard to see that it's vellum in the photos, but I thought it looked quite nice IRL.

There was so much happening on the front of the card, that I decided to keep the inside simple. Just a purple mat and a butterfly stamp. I stamped the butterfly on scratch paper first and then stamped it above my sentiment without re-inking.

Once again, I used a sentiment from Hannelie at Desert Diva. You'll find her Easter sentiments here.

Well, I did make a few more Easter cards, but I think I'll spare you from looking at more of them.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Sometimes pretty paper is almost all you need...

I've had this pretty patterned paper for quite a long time. Not even sure where or when I got it. When I looked at the fairly large flower design, I thought it looked like it could just stand alone, with one of the flowers framing my sentiment. To add just a bit more interest, I added some white ribbon and pierced a border around the edge of the card.

Here's a look at the inside of the card. I used a Spellbinders Labels 8 to cut the rectangle for the sentiment. I didn't want to add another black mat, but I did want the edges to be defined, so I ran a black Sharpie marker around them. I like the way that turned out. I also cut out one of the tulips on a scrap piece of the paper and added it as an embellishment.

I tried a little trick with my ribbon. I added a narrow band of Fray-Check to the ribbon at an angle where I wanted to cut it. I let that dry and then cut the ribbon through the Fray-Checked area. If you check closely, you'll see that the cuts look very clean. No fraying at all!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Yellow and blue together are perfect for an Easter card...

I really love  this color combo. It just seems so fresh and springlike to me. I used some Tim Holtz distress inks (Broken China and Mustard Seed Yellow) for the flowers. They were stamped with a Sizzix/Tim Holtz stamp and cut out with the matching die.

I added some liquid pearls to the centers for a little added dimension. I was actually surprised at what a difference this little bit of added dimension made to the look of the flower.

The flower stems were stamped directly onto the scalloped rectangle (cut with a Lifestyle Crafts die), and then the flowers were popped up on some foam squares.

A little more of that pretty gingham paper, another scalloped rectangle and a yellow flower with a couple of ribbon tails on the inside.

I actually didn't have any yellow ribbon other than some 1/8" stuff, so I colored a piece of 1/4" white ribbon with my yellow Spectrum Noir marker. It worked perfectly, and gave me the ribbon I needed in just the right color.

Have you ever colored ribbon with an alcohol marker? You can color white, of course, but you can actually color any ribbon as long as the marker you're using is a darker shade than the ribbon. I've even colored black and white patterned ribbon with markers.

The inside sentiment on my card is some lovely word art from Hannelie (Desert Diva). You'll find her blog here and her Easter sentiments here. I really love her work and have been using it a lot on my Easter cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Easter cards with pretty scallops...

Here are a couple of Easter cards that both have scallops as part of their design.

 This card is super simple in its design. The little bunch of flowers is a sticker and is adhered to an oval that has been cut and matted with Spellbinders dies. I couldn't resist using this cute dimensional sticker when I saw how perfectly it matched the patterned paper. I used my Fiskars scalloped border punch to add the scallops to the bottom of the  card base.

The little bouquet originally had a pink gem where you see the tiny bow. I decided that I wanted to bring out the small amount of lavendar in the paper, so I carefully removed the gem and replaced it with the bow.

The inside of the card is simple, as well. I used a little strip of the patterned paper to add some scallops at the bottom of the sentiment.

This card is a great way to use up some scraps of DSP. All three of these papers come from the same paper pad, so I knew they would coordinate perfectly. The only "putsy" part of this card was to make sure I had three pieces that covered the face of the card and were equal in width.

Another simple sentiment on the inside, decorated only with a scalloped strip  from one of the papers on the card front.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Beautiful wedding card...

My sister created this lovely wedding card using the Elegant Edges cartridge for the top mat, the Darice Argyle embossing folder for the center mat and the Perfect Bow die from Simon Says Stamp. I'm not sure if she cut the sentiment out on her Cricut or if it's a stamp or sticker. I forgot to ask her about that. Maybe she'll leave a comment and let us all know.

Isn't it pretty? The string of silver beads around the center panel is the perfect embellishment! I love how she added a short string to each tail of the bow, too.

Thanks, Michelle, for letting me share your lovely card.

And thank YOU for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Pink and white Easter card...

 As I was making my Easter cards, I realized that I didn't have a single one with a traditional bunny on it. I had to make at least ONE with a bunny!

I had this lovely pale pink Core'dinations cardstock that I wanted to use for this card. I embossed it with the Darice 5" X 7" Plaid embossing folder. I actually sanded the top of the embossed cardstock, but because the color is nearly the same on the outside as it is on the inside, the sanding didn't show any real contrast. I heat embossed "Happy Easter" onto a vellum banner which is attached to the front of the card underneath the two little tiles you see at the end of it. I think I also added a tiny bit of vellum adhesive under the sentiment, itself.

The bunny was cut from the Kate's ABCs cartridge. I cut it a couple of times out of white cardstock and glued the layers together. Then I flocked the bunny (love that stuff!) and added a white bow and a pink pearl for an eye.

After I had placed my bunny on my card with some foam dots, I realized that it was just kind of hanging there in mid-air and needed something to stand on. I used my Fiskars grass border punch to punch a little grass and trimmed it so it would just fit around the bunny. I also added a tiny pink butterfly (also a Fiskars punch).

For the inside, I printed the sentiment using my computer, then inked around the insert. A little strip of cardstock and two more sparkly tile embellishments finished it!

Have you finished all your Easter cards yet? My sister informed me that she has made 30 of them - a dozen ahead of me (not that we compete....much). I made a list today of all those family members and friends that I want to send Easter cards to and discovered that I need four more. Back to the drawing board...

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

"Hoop" you have an awesome day...

I decided to take a little break from Easter cards, and share a birthday card I made a while ago.

I made these two cards for my daughter to have for her "card drawer." Her kids seem to get invited to lots of birthday parties, so it's nice for her to have a few different cards on hand for those occasions.

The basketball and hoop were cut from the Father's Day cartridge. Can you see how I debossed the basketball with the Swiss Dots embossing folder?  I debossed it a second time in a slightly different position so that the indentations didn't look too evenly spaced. When you do this, you have to go back with an embossing tool and and re-do the first indentations, but that only takes seconds.

The Father's Day cartridge is a "lite" cartridge, but I use it quite a bit for male cards.

The inside was the same for both cards - just done in different colors. I added the faux stitching with a gel pen. These were very quick cards to make, but I like the way they turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Pretty posies all in a row...

Sometimes just a simple line of flowers says it all. I pierced straight lines for the flower stems and then joined the pierced holes with a green gel pen for some faux stitching.

The flowers were punched with the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch and some colored gems added to the centers.

The inside was decorated with a single flower, and the sentiment was computer generated. Easy peasy!

If you're looking for some quick Easter cards to make, this one takes only minutes.

We had a lovely day today, and although it was only in the 40s, much of our snow has melted. Predictions are for near 60-degree temps on Sunday, so I am hopeful for most of our snow to disappear. It's very sad when there is still snow on the ground on Easter Sunday!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

An Easter card without flowers...

What? No flowers? Nope. Not on this one.  It's one of only two Easter cards that I managed to make with no flowers. The word "Easter" is actually a glittery foam self-stick embellishment that I picked up for just a few cents after Easter last year. It also came with the word "Happy" in the same foam letters, but I opted to stamp "happy" on a little tag (Spellbinders die), instead. The glittery letters match the yellow glitter lines in the DSP so perfectly.

The cute little chick is a stamp from the dollar bins at Michael's. I've colored him with my ProMarkers, cut him out with a circle die and popped him onto a Lifestyle Crafts nesting doily circle die cut.

The inside is fairly plain. I used a simple decoration made from a strip of the same DSP that I used on the front of the card. The glittery strip adds a fun bit of sparkle.

Snow update: We definitely got the 6-10" that was forecast. When I was shoveling the walk this morning, it seemed a lot closer to 10" than 6"!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Have a great weekend, Cheryl

My favorite Easter card so far...

This card is also very "flowery," but I actually really like this one. I think it's the brick wall behind the floral wreath that I really appreciate. LOL

I brayered the top side of my Tim Holtz embossing folder with "bundled sage" distress ink, then carefully closed it onto a white piece of cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug. I think the "bundled sage" was the perfect color! I happened to have some cardstock that same color to use as my mat.

To make the wreath, I used two circle dies, one evenly spaced inside the other on a piece of white cardstock to cut a 1/4" wide ring that was about 2 1/2" in diameter (outer edge to outer edge). I used three different leaf punches and three different flower punches. I also used three different colors of cardstock for the leaves and, as you can see, three different colors for the flowers. Once I had everything punched it was easy to assemble the wreath. I put a glob of glue onto a scrap of paper and just lightly dipped each leaf or leafy branch into the glue and then adhered it to the ring. Once all the leaves were on, I shaped the flowers with an embossing tool and began to adhere them.

After the flowers had all been adhered, I added the double bow and some Viva Decor liquid pearl to the center of each of the flowers.

It honestly didn't take long at all and was kind of fun to put together.

After the wreath was thoroughly dried, it was easy to adhere the whole thing to the front of the card.

For the inside, I used one of the beautiful sentiments from Hannelie (Desert Diva). She creates absolutely wonderful word art and shares it all with her readers. You'll find her blog here and her Easter sentiments here.

I think sentiments are some of the hardest parts of card making, so I really appreciate Hannelie's generosity.

You can see in the photo that I added a few flowers to the inside of the card, too. I had some of the flowers and leaves left over after making my wreath, so I thought this was the perfect way to use them up.

I hope you enjoyed seeing another one of my flowery Easter cards. We are supposed to get 6-10" of snow tonight, so I NEED to keep looking at these flowers to maintain any semblance of sanity!

Thanks so much for stopping by and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day. If you see someone running amok in the snowdrifts laughing like a crazy person - it'll be me. Gone mad with the onslaught of yet another storm!
Cheryl

It's been a loooooong winter...

...and I guess I'm craving flowers, because most of my Easter cards are very floral-focused.  Here's what I mean:

The 3-dimensional flowers on this card are each made with 3 different punches and adhered to a Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die cut. Although it doesn't look like it in the photo, I tried to match them to the pink, blue and purple flowers in the DSP. I think they look much better IRL.

The leafy flourish was made with a Cheery Lynn die. There are actually two of these flourishes on the card.

The framed "Happy Easter" is a stamp - one of those dollar stamps from Michael's - that I heat embossed and then cut out. I colored the little frame with a ProMarker and added the tiny lavendar bow.

On the inside, I mirrored the front design by using some more of the DSP and another of the die cuts for the sentiment

Hope you enjoyed seeing another of my flowery Easter cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Finally, some Easter cards to share...

...and not a moment too soon. In fact, if I don't get them all done in short order, it'll be too late to even get them in the mail. I've managed to make 16 or so, but don't worry - I'm not going to share them ALL with you today--just a couple of them.

My first card was pretty simple:

I cut a scalloped oval with a Spellbinders die in a piece of white card. I cut the blue mat to size, placed the white card (with the cutout) on top and slid my oval die between the two until it was in the right place. I used some washi tape to hold it there and then ran it through my Cuttlebug to cut out the oval. The sentiment is stamped directly onto the card base.

The flourish is a Cheery Lynn die. I cut the leafy flourish out of some adhesive-backed cardstock to make it easy to adhere onto the card.

The flowers were made with two different sized punches and a Viva Decor pearl pen for the centers.

I thought this card was okay, but a little plain, so I decided to try again:

I used the same process on this card, except I dry-embossed the top layer of white card. I was much happier with the result!

Here's a close-up peek at the sentiment and the flowers and flourish.

Do you ever have trouble with Liquid Pearls, Viva Decor pearls or glitter glue remaining a little sticky even after you've given it ample time to dry?  I sprinkle on a little baby powder and then blow off the excess to cure this problem.

This is a little peek at the inside. In seeing how plain it looks in the photo, I think I should add a flower or two before I send this out.

Edited to add: The inside sentiment is from the wonderfully talented Hannelie (Desert Diva) who shares her artwork with all of us. You'll find her Easter sentiments here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl