Dreaming of warm weather...and sunflowers!

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. We have been busy doing a few things for our bathroom remodel. I have been busy refinishing a wooden medicine cabinet that we think was original in 1927 when the house was built. We wanted to keep it if at all possible because it's really kind of cool. My husband has been working on the bathroom ceiling, getting it ready for painting, which we'll do on Monday, as the tile will be installed beginning Tuesday.

Recently, my sister came to Minneapolis to visit her son (who lives just a few blocks from me) and spend some time with her new little grandson. She kindly brought along a box of her dies and let me cut some images with them while she was here.

One of the dies she brought along was the Memory Box Bountiful Sunflower die. It is a fabulous image, and I used one of the cuts to create this card:

After coloring the flower center with a brown ProMarker, I put some double-sided tape behind this area and filled the open spaces with some brown glitter. This picture really doesn't do it justice. The sparkle is so pretty!

I think you can see a little of that sparkle in the picture at left.

I also added some yellow vellum behind the petals. It doesn't look like much here, but again, it's really pretty IRL.

I colored the stem and the leaves with a couple of green ProMarkers.

I also made a small slit on each side of the embossed frame (Darice Photo Frame embossing folder) through which I slipped my yellow seam binding and tied it over the stem of my flower. The embossed frame provides the perfect camouflage so that you really don't even see the slits.

























The inside of my card is pretty simple. The sentiment stamps for the front and the inside are from Technique Tuesday's "Thinking of You" stamp set. I also stamped a little green branch (from an unidentified stamp set) for some extra embellishment.

I want to say a special THANK YOU to my sister for sharing this beautiful sunflower die with me.

I also thank all of you for stopping by my blog, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Sympathy card for loss of a pet...

Recently a friend's 16-year-old Chihuahua passed away. I know this deeply saddened her, and I wanted to express my sincere sympathy. This is the card that I made for her:

The paw-print patterned paper was a freebie that I printed from an online source. I'm sorry to say that I don't recall exactly what site offered it, but I am so thankful they did as I had nothing like this in my stash. The striped paper that matches so perfectly was just a scrap I had in my ever-growing pile.

The teal-colored lacey oval die cut was made with a Lifestyle Crafts die. To get the white oval, I simply traced the inside of my die and fussy-cut it out. If I get edges that aren't quite smooth when I fussy-cut something, I simply use an emery board to smooth them out.

I saw an actual card with a sentiment similar to this. I changed it a bit to better suit my purpose and used it for this card.

I do hope this card brings a small bit of comfort. I have experienced the sad loss of a pet, so I understand how devastating it can be.

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

With sympathy...

As I was making a few cards for one of my daughters, I decided that a sympathy card should be in the mix. This is the card I made.

The "With Sympathy" die-cut was made with Dee's Distinctively dies and the fancy rectangle is a Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die-cut.

Before putting my card together, I embossed my green mat with Spellbinder's Cabbage Rose M-Bossability. These embossing plates don't seem to produce a very deeply embossed pattern, but I thought it still worked well for this card, especially since there is a subtle rose pattern in the beige (with bits of green) cardstock.

For my sentiment on the inside, I used a Technique Tuesday stamp and also a little dove stamped in green to coordinate with the card front.

We have been in the middle of a bathroom remodel for a few weeks now, but I think we are now on the downhill side. My brother will be installing the tile, and he is currently prepping the walls. Remodeling is a lot of work and a big mess no matter what, but when your house is as small as ours, I think it's even worse. There's just no escaping it! Luckily we have a second bathroom in our basement, but the trips in the middle of the night from our bedroom on the second floor (upstairs) can seem a little long. I know that I will love it when it's all done, and I'll be thankful that we were able to fix the problems and make it new and beautiful again.

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

"Get a wiggle on!"

Did anyone ever say that to you? I know my mother used to say that to me when I was a kid. I think I must have been terribly slow, as she would also often say, "Cheryl, you are slower than molasses in January!"

Anyway, when I was trying to use up some birthday card blanks recently, the "get a wiggle on" comment came to mind, and I made this card:

My cute little worm (can worms be cute?) comes from the Create A Critter cartridge. I added a brown base for my worm to "wiggle" on by cutting a strip of brown cardstock with a decorative scissor.

My card base was already printed with the birthday banner, so I simply added some green enamel dots at each end and in the middle for a little added dimension.

On the inside of my card, I added another little worm. Because it was so small, I opted not to cut out its layers. I think it looks pretty cute as a one layer worm, too. I colored his antennae black and drew on his eyes and smile.







It's terribly cold here today. It will be in the double digits below zero tonight. Hope my car starts tomorrow!

I still had a lovely Sunday afternoon reading (and napping) by a roaring fire in the fireplace. It felt so good on such a cold day.

Hope your weekend was lovely, too. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Two masculine birthday cards...

TodayI is the birthday of two wonderful men in our family - my uncle and my son-in-law. I thought my uncle might relate to and appreciate the retro typewriter from Spellbinders. My sister has this die and made several cuts for me, so I used one of them on this card.

I dressed up the die with a semi-circle of gray cardstock, on which I drew some radii and inked the edges. I also added a piece of gray cardstock behind the openings for the keys and spacebar and added some silver brads and black Viva Décor faux pearls.

The two decorative black strips are washi tape with a brad at the end of each.

It's fun to also add a piece of paper with a "typewritten message" on it, as I have done here. I decided to really personalize this card with my uncle's name on the paper.

My inside is pretty simple, with a sentiment mat cut with a Spellbinders Labels 8 die. The sentiment is from a Fiskars birthday stamp set.

My next card was made for my son-in-law. He's a really great guy, and I wanted to make sure he knew how much we cared about him. At the same time, I wanted the card to be fun. Here's what I came up with:

I started with some masculine/grunge DSP in a chevron black-and-white pattern for my base card. Then I added some layers of black, green and white squares. Each is on one thickness of foam tape.


My sentiment is computer-generated with a doodled border around the edge of the square. Since I cut one of my squares from that cute green star-patterned paper, I decided to die-cut a few more stars and glitter them up before adding them to my card.

I don't think you can see the sparkle very well in these pictures, but it's there!

Here's the inside of the card with a star-studded mat and a few more sparkly stars for fun.

Since our six children are grown adults with good jobs and lovely homes, they really don't need birthday gifts from us. We decided years ago to give donations to worthy causes in their honor instead.

For our son-in-law's birthday, we made a donation in his honor to the Heifer Project.  Here is one of the cards you can print out from their website.

We often try to select a charity that would be of interest. Our son-in-law is a terrific gardener, so we thought that something that promoted raising your own food might be of interest to him.

Do you do something different for your grown children's birthdays? I'd love some more ideas!

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

Valentine's Day has come and gone...

...but I still wanted to share a few more Valentines with you. I made these for some of the important adults in my life.

 This is my favorite doily die, and I have used it for many cards. It's from Marianne Creatables. I just love how it really dresses up a card.

I'm sure you noticed that I have backed my doily's center with some pink cardstock.

The scalloped heart was cut from some pink glitter paper with a Darice die.

I added a strip of the glitter paper across the bottom with a couple of melted pony beads.

I didn't take a picture of it, but on the inside I added another glittery heart and a simple "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment.

 

Here's another Valentine with lots of glittery goodness. The hearts are dimensional stickers. I backed them with some white cardstock to help them show up better and added some red sequins for extra sparkle. The sentiment stamp is from a really old set (not sure of the make) and it's been heat-embossed with red embossing powder.

 

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Here's a closer look at all that sparkle. And speaking of sparkle, I added a strip of double-sided tape where the two different papers join and sprinkled it with red glitter.

 This Valentine was SUPER quick to make. I simply cut a card base from some pretty cardstock, then added two red hearts, two white hearts and the "happy valentine's day" sentiment. Can't get much easier than that.

 This Valentine was one of my favorites. See those tiny red hearts embossed onto the card front? I did that with a small Recollections background stamp, some Versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

Because this stamp isn't big enough to cover the entire front of the card, I had to stamp it several times. I was really quite amazed that you can't tell where the design stopped and started again.

I will definitely be using this stamp again for cute backgrounds like this.

The hearts and circles were punched out and adhered to my banner. Then I added a tiny red gem to each heart.





















Here is the inside of my card - another punched heart and a matted sentiment.

Pretty simple, but I loved how it turned out.

Did you get all your Valentines made and sent?  It's wonderful to be retired and have the time to make cards for so many of the special people in my life.

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



A few more valentines for kids...

Here are four more valentines I have made for my grand kids.

I cut the cap on this one from the Total Sports cartridge.. The patterned strip across the bottom is Washi tape. The sentiment banner is a pre-made one (my daughter gave me an entire package of them), and I merely matted it with some red cardstock. The sentiment was actually a "happy birthday" rub-on. I didn't rub on the "birth" part and added that little punched heart and arrow, instead.

On the inside of the card I used the MVP cutout from the cap as part of the sentiment.

This card features a digital image I've had for...um...er...years! I've even had it colored up for at least two years. About time I used it, don't you think? The tiny hearts on the gray paper were stamped with a Recollections background stamp.

I love how his cheeks are full of acorns. Reminds me of my granddaughter's hamster, Chubs, who puts all his food into his cheeks right after you fill his bowl. Then he hides it in various places in his cage. Silly hamster...no one is going to take his food.

The little red hearts were made with a heart-shaped hole punch

On this card, the bowling ball and pin were cut from the Nifty Fifties cartridge and the hearts were punched out with a Recollections punch.

I cut this image out shortly after I got that cartridge (several years ago - sheesh!), and I've been waiting for a chance to use it. I decided it was perfect for a Valentine's card.

The final card I am sharing with you today is a cute little Minion card. I saw this idea on Pinterest. In fact, there are lots of Minion cards on Pinterest. This one was really easy. I simply added a black strip and two gray circles for his goggles. The googly eyes added lots of character.

I inked around my little pocket on his overalls to make sure you could see it. I put Glossy Accents on the gray circle around his eyes and drew on his crooked little smile.

I think you can see the shine on his goggles in this photo.  His little sprigs of hair are just narrow cuts of black cardstock that I glued onto his "head."

I love this little guy. I went to see "Despicable Me" with some of my grandkids and had the best time giggling with them over these little Minions.

Well, that's it for my valentines for kids. Hope you enjoyed them.

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

Hey, sis...at our age, we're going to need glasses!

I really love this "Celeste" stamp set from Art Impressions. It just makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope my sister Debra enjoys it, too, because this is the card I made for her birthday, which is today.

I'm entering this card in Passion for ProMarkers' Weed 283 Challenge: To Someone I Love.

I paper-pieced the sofa and Celeste's top and colored the rest with my ProMarkers.

For the background, I masked off my image and then spritzed on color using the Perfect Airbrush (from Perfect Paper Crafting) and one of my ProMarkers. I also inked the edges as a final touch

This is the first time I have used my Perfect Airbrush to add color to a card. I actually won this tool, along with two of the Perfect Layers tools and the Perfect Ruler. I absolutely LOVE these tools and use one or more of them in making nearly every card.

As an extra bit of dimension, I added some Glossy Accents to Celeste's wine glass and her cat-eye glasses. She is über-stylish, isn't she? Her earrings and bracelet were colored with a metallic marker with an overlay of sparkle from a glitter pen. Just wish that showed up in the photo!

Half of the sentiment (I masked off the rest of the sentiment with tape) was stamped and then cut out with an oval Spellbinders die. I added three little pearls with a Viva Décor pen on each side.

The rest of the sentiment was stamped on the inside of my card, along with "Happy Birthday" from another stamp set.

I used a wine glass image from yet another stamp set to create my criss-crossed glasses. I stamped the image twice onto vellum, heat embossed them with clear embossing powder and then colored the backside of each one. I cut them out and adhered them next to my inside sentiment. I thought it added a fun embellishment to the inside.

I hope my sis enjoys her card, her day and her entire year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEB!

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

Happy Birthday, son...

Today is my son's birthday, and this is the card I made for him. I saw a similar sentiment on a card in a store, so I used my computer to print out my own version of it.

I used two different fonts to print my sentiment. I think the smallest printed words are in Times New Roman. The larger font is called Caflisch Script Pro.

The patterned cardstock that I used for the sentiment panel is from one of my 6" X 6" packs and looks like weathered wood. I thought it would be perfect for this card. I inked the edges to distress it a even more.

I cut the mitt and ball from the Total Sports cartridge and inked the edges of all the layers to make it look like it was well-worn.

The inside of the card has the same DSP and patterned cardstock. Once again, I used both fonts for my sentiment and inked the edges of my papers.

I hope my son has a fabulous day today and an even better year. He is an amazing young man, and I am so proud of him!

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

Happy 4th Anniversary to Paper Smooches!

 

Paper Smooches is a great online company with some fun products. Recently I purchased a set of dies from them called "Dots & Dashes Wise Dies."

 

You can see there are four narrow border dies in the set. Two of them have slightly different stitch patterns, one is a simple straight cut that results in a nice, rounded edge, and the fourth die cuts a straight-line dotted pattern.

 

The photo above shows just the corner of a card I made recently using one of the stitch dies. You can see the stitched pattern along the edges of the pink DSP. I was able to add this stitched line to each side of my mat, duplicating the look of a stitched rectangle die.

 

 

Here's a picture of my entire card - a Valentine for a family member. The doily die-cut was made with a Marianne Creatables die, and the largest heart was cut out with a Lifestyle Crafts die. I used a Reflections punch for the small, pale pink heart.

 

 

I didn't want to put a sentiment on the front of my card, so I simply used an old Cuttlebug alphabet die to cut out some x's and o's to place across the empty space at the bottom.

 

 

I stamped a simple "Happy Valentine's Day" inside. I did go back later (after this photo was taken) and add another, smaller dark pink heart cut from the same cardstock as the one on the front. I felt it needed something on the inside to balance the detail on the front of the card.

 

Well, that's it for me today. Pay a visit, when you can, to Paper Smooches at www.papersmooches.net, but have your credit card ready. I know you'll want to buy something!

 

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

Cheryl