Have a birthday brew...

My SIL likes craft beer (there are so many of them available now!), so I made this card for his birthday.

I just love using this card fold. It adds so much interest, but is so easy to make.

I actually had to trace my bottle from a clipart image, using my Silhouette software. I then made one slightly larger to serve as the shadow. Finally, I used the "knife" tool in the software to cut the very top of the bottle off and use that piece to create a bottle cap, which I cut out of some silver cardstock.

My numbers were cut with 2" number dies. I cut them twice and glued them together to make them sturdier. The labels on the bottles were cut with various dies and then trimmed to fit my bottles.

Did you notice the bottle that says "Perfect!" on its label? That word is actually a stamp. I'm not sure what set it was from, but it was one of the few I had that would fit in such a small space.

I printed this sentiment with my computer and then cut it out with a pierced-edge die.

Can you see the "bubbles" near my sentiment? Those were created with clear Nuvo Crystal Drops.

The sentiment on this bottle (at right) was printed with my computer.

Well, that's it for me today. We did get another 6" of snow, but it's been melting like mad yesterday and today with temperatures well above freezing. I'm loving the balmier air and bright sunshine!

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

Hey, Foxy...

Isn't that little fox just so cute? He was made with an unbranded die set that includes the die-cuts to make a fox, a squirrel and a raccoon. He was super quick and easy to put together.

I had a tiny heart die from another set, so I used that to add to my little Valentine fox. Instead of trying to glue on the teensy die-cut eyes, I used some Nuvo Crystal Drops instead.

The heart behind my fox was cut with a Darice die and the  banner die is unbranded.

The oval die I used for my computer-generated sentiment is a Lifestyle Crafts die.

In my rush to get this card done, I managed to cut the inside sentiment panel too short. But this turned out to be a happy accident, as I simply added a couple strips of my DSP--and I really liked how that turned out.

I thought I'd leave you today with a couple photos of the blanket of snow that was left from last night's storm. We got 5 1/2" of the white stuff, and the weather people are saying we'll get another 5-6" this weekend. This photo is looking down the street from my front step.

Here's our front walk. Imagine another 6" on top of all that!! It seems we'll be spending another morning shoveling.

Do you see the red car parked in the street? Did you notice that the windshield wipers are sticking straight up? They were in that position all night and are still that way as I type this at 1:30 p.m. I'm not sure why they would leave them that way, unless they're afraid they will freeze to the windshield if left in their normal position. Go figure.

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

Twofer Challenge #2: Hearts

I love the challenge of the Twofer Card Challenge Blog: Create two cards per the theme that are different in design and for different occasions, but use the same stamp or die. It really stretches my imagination to try to achieve that!

Since this month's Twofer challenge is to use hearts, I dug out two small heart dies and starting cutting them out of some deep turquoise card stock.

After I had cut some of the hearts out of my strip of cardstock, I also cut them out of papers that matched the colors of my background DSP. I paper-pieced them back into the open heart shapes  and generously "winked" them to add a little sparkle.

To finish my card, I added a die-cut "Thank You" at the top. This was definitely a quick thank you to make, and since my stash of TY cards was getting low, I may need to make a few more of these.

For my second card, I added a few more heart die-cuts to the ones I already had from my first card. I drew a couple of straight lines (with a little arrow point on the bottom) and adhered my hearts with dimensional foam tape. A few flat-backed gems and a stamped sentiment finished another quick card.

I left both of my cards blank inside so that I have lots of room to write personal notes.

Here's a peek at both cards together. These were fun to make because they were so quick. You should head over to the Twofer Card Challenge Blog for a little inspiration and add your own entry. It's fun!

I'm ready now to dig into the Easter card-making process. How about you? I've been seeing a lot of Easter cards popping up online. I have a new chick-in-an-egg die that I am anxious to try. I hope it's as cute as I think it's going to be.

I've also decided to use some of the money I earned recently from editing a book to purchase a Sizzix Big Shot Plus. My poor little Cuttlebug is broken in two places. It still does the job, but I don't think it's long for this world. Do any of you use a Big Shot Plus? The wider base that will accept papers and dies that are 8 1/2" is what is so attractive to me. I can also then get a magnetic platform, which I think could be super helpful. If you have any thoughts or advice about this machine, I'd love it if you would share them with me.

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

The years keep sailing by...

This was my son's birthday card. I was so pleased to have thought of using a Sizzix embossing folder to create some waves on the bottom half of my stitched rectangle.

This is one of those twist and pop cards. In keeping with the sea and sailing theme, I added a few more die-cuts and sentiments  on each little panel.

I also fussy cut some banners from scraps of the same DSP that is on the front. Both DSP patterns come from the same pad that I won online years ago. I'm sure it's not even available anymore, but it's been a great pad for masculine cards.

I die-cut my anchor twice and glued the two pieces together to give it a little more depth. Then I tied on my piece of twine.

My sea gull panel looked a little bare when I had finished it, but I didn't know what else to put on there that would look okay. I thought of adding a piece of blue cardstock for the sea, but that didn't look quite right to me either...so I left it.

We are actually planning to travel to the Northwest this spring to visit my son and daughter who live there, so the "hoping to sea you soon" sentiment fit perfectly.


I always enjoy making these cards, even though they are a little time-consuming. They make a nice surprise when they're opened, too.

I hope you have a great weekend. It is colder again here, so I don't know that I'll be doing much outside, other than running some errands.

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

Quick and easy Valentines for the thrift shop...

As I have mentioned here before, I volunteer weekly at a local thrift shop. This year I decided to make some Valentines for them to sell. I really wasn't at all sure they would actually sell, but I thought it was worth a try. After all, every little bit they get they use to help people in the community.

Here are a couple of the Valentines I made:

Most of the Valentines I made (including this one) were small--3 1/2" X 5". For this one, I used a few die-cuts (the hearts are stacked with foam tape between each layer) and a single flat-backed gem. The sentiment was heat-embossed, using a stamp that came with a little Reflections Valentine kit.

The inside was sentiment (Hampton Art) was stamped, using my stamp positioner.

For this Valentine, I used a Sizzix embossing folder on the front of my card. Then I added a die-cut pink oval on which I had heat-embossed my Fiskars sentiment. The little heart/foliage die-cuts were actually part of a "thank you" die set, but I thought they worked perfectly here. Finally, I added some sparkle to the hearts.

The inside of this card was the same as the previous one.

While these cards were very simple, they still sold well. I donated 28 cards to the store, and I believe they all sold.

I wish all of you a

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you are able to spend the day with those you love. 

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

Cheryl

Three Valentines...

I think I ended up making about 50 Valentines this year! I won't share all of them with you, as I didn't even photograph them all. I was too busy trying to get them made and dealt with. Twenty-eight of them were made for the thrift store where I work. I put them in amongst the jewelry displays, and they all sold quickly. I was so pleased about that.

Of the ones I sent to family, here are three of them that I really enjoyed making:

I love this little mailbox die set. It is simple but really looks great when added to a card.

The mailbox die set is one you can get on eBay that is basically an "unbranded" die. The tiny envelope and heart is also part of the set.

For the bit of grass on each card, I cut a grass border with a Fiskars border punch and used a short piece of it around each post. The heart-patterned DSP on this card had a larger heart in a corner of the 6" X 6" piece, so I decided to incorporate it into my design. I attached a red heart to it with a foam square.

My sentiment was a freebie, and the tiny hearts on either side of it were the negative pieces from a die-cut that I used on the inside of each card. They were so tiny and cute that I saved them to use here.

See those die-cut heart borders? That's where those tiny hearts came from. The inside of each card was the same except for the color of the heart border. Once I had these heart borders cut out, I ran four of them at a time through my 1.5" Xyron, which made them easy-peasy to adhere.

I got my computer back today, and it is working well. The technician said he just had to "re-seat" the screen cable. I guess it had gotten off its chair and was wondering around in there, causing all kinds of problems. A very naughty cable!

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

A fairy wonderful birthday...

I made this card for my granddaughter who turned 10 at the end of January. I have three fairy dies, so I decided to use all three for this card.

I used a background die and several shades of blue Distress Inks to achieve my background on the card front.

On the  second panel (this is a three panel card) I changed the background colors to pink and purple. I think you can see here that I have "winked" the wings of my fairies. I've also added some tiny butterflies to this scene. Also, this sentiment and the one on the front have been computer generated.

The inside center panel features my final fairy sitting on a mushroom.  As you can see here, I have switched to greens and yellows for background colors and no stars in the sky - the sun has risen!!

My stamped sentiment on this panel was a freebie that came with a magazine. I love when the freebies are basic stamps or other tools that can be used again and again.

It was really fun to make this card. I love fairies, and it was fun to create three separate fairy scenes for a single card. I hope my granddaughter liked it, too!

I have--once again--had to take my computer into the shop because of flickering screen problems. I am typing this post on my husband's computer, which is the same brand as mine and problem-free! I just can't seem to catch a break when it comes to computers. Mine is only a little over three months old and SHOULDN'T be having problems. I let the computer store know how frustrated I am. Not that it will do any good. They did say they think it is a hardware problem, so I'm hoping they can just fix it, and then I can go my merry way.

This weekend we are going to go with some of our grandchildren to look at the ice palace that was built for the Winter Carnival in St. Paul (just across the river from Minneapolis) and intended to provide special entertainment for the thousands of Super Bowl visitors. It took over 4,000 big blocks of ice and $800,000 to build it, and I'm looking forward to getting up close and personal. We haven't had an ice palace for the Winter Carnival in quite a few years, so it's pretty special when we do. There are also lots of ice carvings to look at and other activities to enjoy, as well. I just hope it's not too cold.

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #134: Anything Goes or Mother's Day

There's another fun challenge over on Let's Craft and Create. We hope you'll join in on the fun of challenge #134 by creating a Mother's Day card or create an entry for our Anything Goes option.

I've opted to create a Mother's Day card.

I used a combination of branded (leafy branches by Memory Box) and unbranded (flowers and fancy rectangle) dies to create this card.

I think you can see in this photo that I've raised up my center oval die cut (it came with the fancy rectangle) with double-sided foam tape. It adds such nice dimension to my card. Before I did that, though, I heat embossed my Mother's Day sentiment.

My flower layers were cut from white cardstock--I'm not sure why it seems to have a bluish tinge in the photos.  I lightly inked the interiors of each layer of petals, did a bit of shaping with a flower molding tool, and then glued the layers together. I debated on what to use for my flower center and finally settled on a simple pink flat-backed gem.

This sentiment is from an unbranded clear stamp set, and I though it would be perfect for this Mother's Day card. I will be sending this to one of my aunts, and I sure hope they like it!

Now we'd love to have you join in this fun challenge (who doesn't like to make Mother's Day cards?) and post your entry here. The Design Team has some fantastic creations to inspire you and help spark your creativity, so be sure to check them out. Who knows, you may even win the prize being offered this month!

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