Special silhouette card...

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy birthday, Harold!!

He is a very special person - so kind and compassionate, and a wonderful father and husband to my sister. I wanted to make a special card that really reflected him and his life.

He has always raised cattle and horses (he lives on a farm in the northern Great Plains area of the U.S.), so I decided to look for some clip art of a man on a horse. I found a great silhouette, which I imported into my Silhouette software and traced. I then used my Cameo to cut it out from black cardstock.

I created a little scene with some distress inks and a stamp that could pass for prairie grasses, and then adhered my cardstock silhouette to it.

I used the Cuttlebug folder "Bird Call" and a little light sanding of the embossed design to create the "prairie grass" look on the left side of a green matte for my scene. Finally, a couple of small ovals for my sentiment and some twine finished off the front of my card.

I used another foliage-type stamp to dress up the inside of my card and add a little color.

I hope my BIL has a wonderful day and a very special year. I also hope he enjoyed receiving this card made especially for him.






My daughter and her family will arrive this evening to spend the Memorial Day weekend with us. We had planned to go visit them, but, as often happens, plans changed. We're just excited to see them no matter where it happens!

Have a wonderful weekend wherever you are, and if you're in the U.S., I hope you are able to enjoy some special time with family and/or friends remembering those who have lost their lives in service to our country.

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

Smooth sailing...

I am trying to build up my stash of masculine cards, so when I saw a sailboat card cut file (Design ID #93203) in the Silhouette Online Store, I decided it would be a good addition to my files.

Here's what the card looks like once it is cut and put together:

Isn't that a peaceful image? If you look closely, you'll see that I added a darker color for the water with some navy blue chalk.

Here's another one with a slightly different color card base. Once again, I chalked with a different blue where the water would be. Although you can't really see it in the photo, I added some clear glitter to the moon and to the white lines in the sky.

I created a sentiment for the inside of my card and printed it out with my computer. I also found a simple sailboat stamp in my collection and stamped it beneath my sentiment.

This card was super quick to cut out and put together. Love to have these kinds of card files in my arsenal for those last minute needs.

So...do you have plans for the Memorial Day Weekend? We're planning to take our little RV out for the first time this summer. We'll be heading to North Dakota to visit my daughter and her family (three grandchildren to kiss and hug - yay!). We could stay with them in their home, but we thought it would be a good time to make sure everything is copacetic with the RV.


First though, we've got to get all our supplies loaded and our clothes ready to go.

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

A toadally awesome birthday card...

I promised to make my brother a card to give to his grandson on his 6th birthday. I did a little search online and decided to purchase a cutting file for this cute toad and layered sentiment from Miss Kate Cuttables.

Isn't he a cute little toad? He comes compete with his little birthday hat, to which I added a sparkly gold enamel dot at the top. I also added Glossy Accents to his big eyes.

My "Wishing you..." sentiment circle was computer generated.

Notice the cloudy sky behind him? I created that with a piece of torn CS and some sponged ink.

Mr. toad was placed into my framed aperture with some fishing line. In order to sandwich the fishing line between two toads, I simply mirrored the image and cut two of them with my Silhouette.

Instead of cutting out my sentiment words, I used my Silhouette sketch pens to "draw" them on a piece of white CS. Then I had the Silhouette cut the entire sentiment out along with the black mat underneath it. I used markers and gel pens to fill in the letters, since the Silhouette drew the outline of the letters and didn't actually fill them in with color.

 Here's a peek at the inside, where you can see the mirror image of Mr. Toad and how he is suspended in the aperture. You can also see my sponged clouds. I used some Post-It notes to mask off the bottom of my card where I printed my sentiment with the computer.

This was a fun card to make. If you wind the toad a few turns and then carefully place the card in its envelope, it will automatically unwind when the card is first opened. A fun little extra for the birthday boy!

We've had some warm weather for a change and my lettuce seeds have sprouted and are now sporting tiny little leaves. Not big enough to harvest for a salad yet, but it won't be long! I LOVE fresh vegetables from the garden, so I'm keeping a close eye on my lettuce to make sure the many bunnies that live in our neighborhood don't harvest it first!!

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

A Christmas card in May...

When I saw the challenges at Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge Blog and Passion for ProMarkers Challenge Blog, I knew I had to make a card to enter both of them. After all, I am WAY behind on making Christmas cards!

The Merry Monday challenge is to use a snowglobe image on your project, and the Passion for ProMarkers challenge is to use spots and/or stripes. In looking through my Christmas supplies box, I found just the right stamps for the job.

I had this cute Sizzix snowglobe stamp and also these fun tree stamps, which are by Hampton Art. I decided to create a little scene using these stamps, along with a Darice embossing folder and a "joy" die-cut by Sizzix/Tim Holtz.

I stamped my little snow globe and colored it with ProMarkers, adding shading with blue and grey markers to the snow and globe and using three different brown markers for the stand. Once it was colored, I covered the globe portion with some double-sided sheet adhesive, sprinkled it with clear glitter and burnished it in. The sparkle really adds a special touch to an otherwise simple stamp.

You may be able to see the sparkle a little better in this photo.

Next, I stamped my trees on white CS and colored them with ProMarkers. The polka dots on the first tree were black since I had stamped with black ink, so I used an opaque marker to make the dots white. Like the snowglobe, the trees were fussy cut. The snowglobe and the plaid tree were adhered with foam tape for a little added dimension.

I added a bit of twine as a finishing touch. I thought it nicely tied in the kraft cardstock that I had used for my card base.

I kept the inside of my card pretty simple, using only the embossing folder that I had used for the front to add a little interest and dimension.

So that's one more Christmas card done and dusted! I definitely need to make a lot more of them in the coming weeks to catch up to my 6-10 cards per month goal. But with the warm weather and brilliant sunshine...that's probably not going to happen. I'll surely be scrambling again in November to get them done.

I hope your week is going splendidly. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A Brusho background...

Back in March, I was fortunate enough to win a starter set of 12 Brusho Crystal Colours from the dynamite Darnell at DJKardKreations. THANK YOU, AGAIN, DARNELL!!! 

Darnell is an amazing blogger and hosts the NBUS (Never-before-used-schtuff) challenges. If you haven't visited her blog before, you really should. It's entertaining and inspiring at the same time.

In my quest to learn more about Brushos, I went searching the internet. They're made in the UK, and I think they must be similar to Ken Oliver's Color Burst powders. If you would like to see a short video of introduction to Brushos, click here.

I am almost always a bit tentative when I try something new, so for my first attempt at using the Brushos, I decided to create a simple background for a card.

I sprinkled some of the orange and yellow crystals on some watercolor paper and then spritzed them with water until I had the desired look. I don't think my photo really captures the vibrancy of these colors. They nearly pop off the surface of the paper!

I added a Spellbinders die-cut (Shapeabilities Whimsical Tree), some sequins and a heat-embossed sentiment to finish my card.

The black tree looked awesome against the vibrant background.

I am going to try my hand at making a few more backgrounds and mixing colors before I move on to anything that actually requires some skill. :)

These crystals are oh so fun to play with, but because of the intensity of the colors when water is added, you have to be a bit careful not to use too much and not to sprinkle them where you don't want them. But they are definitely fun to use.

Today is going to be a beautiful day here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, so I need to get some outside time. I think a brisk walk is in order!


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

Pretty closure birthday card...

This is the card that I made for my now 13-year-old granddaughter. It coordinates with the "Orange you glad..." basket that I shared with you in this post.

I used another Silhouette file, ID #61678, to make this card. I love the happy birthday on the front, and I think I'll be using this sentiment cut file on other card designs, as well.

As you can see in this photo, I added some Wink of Stella for a bit of shimmer on "birthday."

This photo shows you just how the ribbon closure works. You can also see here that I added some yellow paper on the inside of my card (only on the right side), because my CS was white on the backside, and I wanted the yellow to show through when the card was closed.

My inside sentiment was stolen CASE'd from a wonderful cardmaker named Donna at Design by Donna. She created this sentiment (I changed it only slightly) and used it on a card in this blog post.

I added some sparkle with a glitter pen to the word "sparkly." What 13-year-old girl doesn't like a little sparkle? Thank you, Donna, for creating such a wonderful sentiment!

In this Silhouette cut file, even the back is covered with DSP, as you can see on the right. Isn't that awesome?

I really LOVE this card design, and I know I'll be using it again and again. It's so quick and easy to cut out and put together.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

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

Cheryl

Orange you glad it's your birthday...

I had a little lightbulb moment when I thought of creating a little basket of goodies for my granddaughter who just turned 13. Wow! T.H.I.R.T.E.E.N. It seems like we were celebrating her birth just a couple years ago!!!

Anyway, to celebrate her special day of becoming a teenager, I decided to create a fun little basket of goodies as one of her gifts. Here's a peek:

As you can see, I made a fun little tag to hang on the handle of the basket. I used my favorite tag again from the Silhouette Online Store (Design ID #77389). The flowers were some that I had in my stash and the bit of greenery was made with an EK Success punch.



I really didn't use a specific pattern for this basket. I simply took a 12" X 12" sheet of cardstock and scored it at 3" on every side. I followed the usual instructions for making the bottom half of a box. Then I took a strip of coordinating cardstock, scored and folded it in half the long way and glued this onto the edge of my basket to give it  finished look. The handle was added with yet another strip of CS that was adhered to two opposite sides.
 



 

One of the fun parts of making this basket was shopping for lots of "orange" goodies to fill it. I found the "My Goodies" bag in Joann's for less than $3 (on sale, of course). I also found the orange bandana there for just a couple of dollars. I added some orange nail polish, Reese's candy, orange Tic Tacs, orange gum, hair elastics and some cute striped panties. My granddaughter was SO embarrassed by the addition of the panties. They're so cute though, and I think they'll be really comfy to wear.

I've got some ideas for other colors of baskets (For example, "Don't be blue, it's your birthday!"). I think they're a fun way to honor a special birthday, and the kids sure seem to like them.

I kept my orange theme going and made this decoration for one of her other gifts, which I had wrapped in a yellow and white patterned paper. I used more flowers from my stash, and the letters were stamped individually and then heat embossed.

Her birthday card also fit in with this theme, but I'll share that with you in my next post.

I finally got my seedlings and seeds (lettuce, onions, squash, etc.) planted yesterday before the rains rolled in. Our weatherman is saying it will rain every day this week. I don't usually luck out by getting my planting done BEFORE it rains. I guess the force is with me this year. he he Hopefully, everything doesn't get too waterlogged.

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

One more Mother's Day card...

I couldn't resist making this last Mother's Day card with a Betsy Bluebell image by Penny Black. She's just so darn cute!

I used some Spring-like DSP for my background and then added lots of little red butterflies (Fiskars punch).

Betsy was stamped and colored with ProMarkers (love them!) and then cut out with a stitched oval die and layered onto a red oval.

There was a bee and butterfly included on the stamp, but I was careful not to ink them up when I stamped Betsy, because I wanted to add a 3D butterfly, instead.

My sentiment stamp is one of those random ones that I picked up at a thrift store.  If you look closely, you'll see that I outlined my circle with some Wink of Stella glitter and also added some to the butterfly there. It seems I just HAVE to add a little sparkle every chance I get.


The red lace you see peeking from behind my oval is a Recollections adhesive-backed lace that I picked up at Michael's after Valentine's Day. I think it was 70% off at the time.

On the inside of my card, I simply added another matted oval with my sentiment and some more butterflies.

I'm entering this card into the current challenge (Week 344 - Nature) over on the Passion for ProMarkers Challenge blog.

Speaking of nature, I was able to get out and mow the lawn for the first time today. It's supposed to hit 87 degrees Celsius here, which is absolutely heavenly!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and are able to enjoy Mother's Day with an important woman in your life -- who doesn't necessarily have to be your mother!!

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #113: Breast Cancer Awareness, Pretty in Pink...

The challenge this month at Let's Craft and Create is a very special one. It seems we all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer, and we simply must continue to bring attention to this disease and support those who work to find a cure. One of the ways that we, as crafters, can do this is to focus some of our creations on this important cause.

Here is my card for this challenge:

To create the pretty background pattern for my card, I used the embossed wax paper resist technique. I learned this technique by watching Gina K on Stamp TV here. This technique was super fun and resulted in a gorgeous pattern the very first time I tried it!

My wavy scalloped border was made with Spellbinders S5-180 Borderabilities A2 Curved Borders Dies. Love the special touch they add to a card!

The tag on my card was cut out with my Silhouette. It is Design ID #77389. I just love this tag because it's designed with a little pocket that contains a card on which you can write to/from or a little message to the receiver.

I used my Silhouette to write "Believe" on the front panel on my card and to write the affirmations on the little white card that fits into the tag pocket.

I left the inside of my card blank and adorned it with only the ribbon for breast cancer, which was also cut with my Silhouette (Design ID #102637).

Now it's time for you to head over to Let's Craft and Create to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. I know you will be blown away by their awesome creations and inspired to head straight to your crafting space.

Please join us this month by sharing your own creation that helps continue the fight for breast cancer awareness. I can't wait to see what you make!

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

Mother's Day is around the corner...

Here are a couple of cards I made to send to some special mothers in my life.

I decided to use a Betsy Bluebell image by Penny Black, colored with my ProMarkers.

I did alter the image just a bit. There was a butterfly and a bee above the watering can, but I was careful not to ink them up when stamping. I wanted to add my own 3-D butterfly (Fiskars punch) to add a little dimension to my card.

My sentiment was computer-generated. I also took a small leftover piece of ribbon, tied it in a single not and adhered it to the left of my sentiment with some Glossy Accents.

Inside, I covered the right side of my card with some thinner pink cardstock. This view also clearly shows the edge treatment on the front, which was made with some Spellbinders Borderabilities dies.

Here's a second card, made the same way, but with different papers. Instead of a little piece of tied ribbon on my sentiment banner, I added another butterfly.

I also cut my image out with a stitched oval die instead of a circle.

I've definitely got to get my cards in the mail today or they'll be late!!

My big plans for Mother's Day are to spend some time in my flower beds, planting some annuals. We've had a bit of sunshine and warmer weather, so the landscape looks very green right now. In fact, I also need to start mowing the lawn.

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