Simple card in blue and yellow...

I like a yellow/blue color combo, so I decided to make this card using those colors. My yellow decorative strip on the left side of my card was made with a Fiskars punch (I think) and my lacy oval is by Lifestyle Crafts. The little flower branches and the banner are unbranded dies.

I used some yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops to create my little yellow "berries" and the larger "dots" outside of the oval.

If you look closely you can see that I've shaded my banner just a tiny bit at each end to help with the illusion of a fold. To do this I used a very light gray alcohol marker. I find that light gray is a very useful color for adding shadows to white and even to other colors.

I just happened to have some 1/8" yellow ribbon in my stash, so I've added a tiny bow to finish it off.

This card was super quick to make. I just needed to be patient while my Nuvo Drops dried. I have a terrible time waiting for that to happen. I cannot count the number of times I have flattened them out because I kept working on the card while they were still wet! When that happens, I use a craft knife to scrape them off entirely and start over. Sometimes I can save the card, sometimes not.

I have company from Germany and Alabama right now, so it's a busy household. Lots of cooking going on, but one of these nights I'm going to insist we go out to eat. Cooking is NOT my favorite thing to do anymore. I'd much rather be crafting (which is also hard to do with so much milling about the house).

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

My first try at cutting foam board...

So...I had to jump on the bandwagon and try my hand at cutting some foam board from Dollar Tree with one of my dies.

The "hello" on this card is what was cut from the foam board, and it cut beautifully! The foam board looks to be about 3/16" thick prior to cutting. It was, of course, compressed when run through my Big Shot, but it still has lots of dimension. I love how it turned out.

It's really difficult to show just how much dimension it has, especially with my photography skills (or lack thereof).

I've read that you can color it with alcohol markers, and I plan to try that next. I'm not sure if you should color it before or after cutting, so I think I'll try both and see which works best.

The piece that I purchased was about 20" X 30" (for $1), so I can get a lot of die-cuts out of it. Isn't it fun when you find something so inexpensive that works so well?

Today I will attend the funeral of a friend who was also a staff person at the thrift shop where I volunteer. She died suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep and was only 63. She had such a big personality, and I really enjoyed spending time with her. I miss her so much already. Life is precious; we cannot waste a moment.

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

Another fun Twofer challenge...

The theme of this month's challenge over on the Twofer Card Challenge blog is "beverage." Since I'm a latte lover, I decided to go with a take-out coffee cup. I had one small stamp set with such a cup on it, but the images were too small for what I had in mind. I found a simple clipart cup online, which I was able to trace, size and cut out with my Silhouette. I designed it in five pieces to be glued together. First of all, I cut the black background. The top was cut in two pieces, and the final two pieces were the cup and the sleeve. I could have added the buckle to the mix, but I thought it would be just as easy to cut it out with dies. Glitter paper can be hard on the Silhouette blades!

Here are the cards I created:

I think there was a smudge on my camera lens when I took this photo, so part of the card on the right looks a little hazy.

The fancy circle is a Spellbinder's die and my little witch is an emoji stamp by Bo Bunny.

The sparkly spider was cut with an unbranded die, and my sentiment was computer generated (I used the "Chiller" font).

I dug into my box of Fall/Halloween papers and found some scraps I thought would work. The newsprint background paper is actually a scary story.

I stamped my sentiment on the inside with a very, very old stamp. I'm not sure anymore who made it. It's probably one of the first Halloween stamps I ever bought.

The spider is another die-cut, sans the sparkle this time.

The idea for this cup came from Pinterest. I used a couple of small square dies to cut the buckle from some glitter paper. The snowflake embossing folder is by Darice.

The oval for my sentiment (freebie stamps that came with a magazine) is from My Creative Time.

My tiny bit of holly was actually from a penguin die set. It was the decoration for the penguin's hat! I've added three little red pearls for berries.

The sentiment on the inside of this card is from a Recollections stamp set. I try to pick up one or two new sets every year during the post-Christmas sales.

As you can see, I've added another bit of holly, this time with three tiny punched circles (from a 1/8" hole punch) for the berries.

The Twofer Card Challenge is so much fun, I hope you'll join in. Just click on the link to see lots of great inspiration and all the details about the challenge.

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

Trying a new card fold...

I saw an idea on Pinterest that showed a new card fold and decided to give it a try.

I wasn't enamored of the fold, when all was said and done. I started out with a piece of cardstock that was 4 1/4" X 11". It was scored in four places.

When it was folded up, it ended up being only 3 1/2" X 5 1/2". You can see that I had to hold it shut to take the photo. With all those folds (and all my embellishments) it really didn't lie flat when folded. I actually made a belly band for it, but didn't like the look of it, so decided against it.

This is the front panel. The only branded item here is the yellow circle which came from a Sizzix die set.

The sentiment was heat embossed, and the ice cream bar was stamped with a two-step stamp set and then fussy-cut.

Although you can't see it in the photo, I added some sparkle to the "drippy" part (it's very faint) on the bar with a Wink of Stella pen.

My second panel has some fun ice cream cones that were also stamped and fussy cut.

The fun papers that I've used on this card all came from the same 6" X 6" paper stack called "Boy Crazy" by My Mind's Eye.

The enamel dots you see on each decorated panel are some I found at the Dollar Tree. They were just the right color assortment for this card.

My last panel features a couple more ice cream bars. I know the heat-embossed sentiment is really hard to read in this photo, but it actually is clear and easy to read IRL. It just says, "Happy Birthday to you."

I've played around with this type of fold, and I think I've figured out a better way to achieve the same look with a 12" piece of cardstock and only three folds. It ends up closer to the size of an A2 card. I'll see how that works the next time I feel inspired to give this idea a try.

I have been working hard on getting ahead in my cardmaking. In fact, August cards are done and I'm ready to start working on September. I'll be sharing what I've made in the weeks ahead.

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

Earring card...

One day, when I was sorting through the jewelry donations while volunteering at the thrift store, I came across two brand new heart-shaped beads. I thought they might sell better if I made them into a pair of earrings. So I took them home, made the earrings, and also made a card so they could be sold as a complete package.

I found a pretty piece of paper in one of my 6" X 6" paper stacks to use as a background on my card.

The oval and the fancy label are both Spellbinder's dies, which I've inked along the edges with some Tea Dye Distress Ink. The turquoise dots on the fancy label are Nuvo Crystal Drops. As I look at the photo now, I wish I would have put a couple dots on the oval above the earrings, too.

I made a box envelope for this card, because the flowers add a lot of dimension, and I didn't want them to be flattened in a regular envelope.

I made my little rolled roses with an unbranded die and added some Nuvo Crystal Drops to the centers. I also sprinkled on a little yellow glitter.

This is the inside of my card. I used a piece of light-colored, patterned cardstock. I can't recall if it was from the same stack as the floral print or not, but it coordinated nicely. The colors are soft enough that it can easily be written or stamped on.

The weather in Minneapolis today was picture perfect! Sunny and warm, but not so warm that I had to turn on the AC. I should have spent more time outside, but I really need to get cards done for the many family birthdays coming up in August (I think there are 6). I made a good start on them today.

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

Twin happy birthdays...

My twin daughters had a birthday this week, and these are the birthday cards I made for them:

I have long admired the cards I've seen online that were made with the Stampin' Up Beautiful You stamp set. I also saw an interesting card fold and decided it was time to try it for myself.

The dresses in each image were paper pieced. I used a Darice embossing folder for the top of my card and stamped a border (no packaging, so don't know the brand) at the bottom.

My flowers and leaves were cut with unbranded dies and inked a wee bit.

On the inside of each card, I used a stamp I purchased at the thrift store where I volunteer. I colored in the two large words and added a coating of glitter to the word "AWESOME!"

This is what the cards look like from the side. They actually fold up nice and flat, as you can see in the top photo, and fit into an A2 envelope.

I thought it was a fun card to make, and I plan to make more in the future.


It's a beautiful weekend here. After some hot, muggy weather, the humidity and temps are dropping a bit, making it much more pleasant to be outside.

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

Purple Christmas ornament...

Purple is my favorite color, so when I decided to make a few cards with a Christmas ornament on them, purple was my color of choice.

My sister had asked me to purchase a bag of used stamps for her at the thrift store where I volunteer. One of the stamps I purchased for her was a large partial pine branch. Because I liked it so much, I decided to stamp a few panels with it before I gave it to her. I should have written down the name of the manufacturer, but I didn't. I'm pretty sure it's Stampin' Up, though.

I had some black "starry sky" paper in my Christmas packs, so I used some of it for my background. I stamped the image (twice on each card) and a sentiment (from Michael's $1.50 bin) with Versamark and heat set them both with some Wow! embossing powder.

My ornament was cut with an old Quickutz die out of purple glitter CS and some glossy silver CS for the cap. I also popped it up on some foam tape.

I added a tiny purple ribbon bow at the top and drew a silver line with a metallic marker for the string.

Don't you love that purple sparkle?

Here's the inside of my card. Pretty simple.

I made four of these cards. I wish I had stamped a few more of them. They were pretty quick to put together, and I do like how they turned out.

We've been hot and sticky here. I've had to close up the house and turn on the air conditioning. I really prefer to have open windows with gentle breezes blowing fresh air in, but the air outside right now is awfully hot and muggy. They're predicting heat indexes of over 100 degrees in the coming days.

Hope the weather is perfect wherever you are!

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #139: STARS & STRIPES (Anything USA/red, white & blue)

Today marks the start of another fun challenge at Let's Craft and Create. This month, it's all about stars and stripes in red, white and blue. That said, while I have plenty of red, white and blue cardstock, I have no patriotic patterned papers. You see, this is my very first crack at making a USA Independence Day card.

Luckily, I found some freebie papers online, so I printed out a couple and set to work. This is what I came up with:

I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest. I used my Sizzix Circle Flip-It die set to create the base and to cut the decorative papers.

I actually printed out only a 1/2 page each of the star and stripe patterns. It is plenty to make two of these cards.

I love this little fox die set (unbranded), and isn't he cute in blue?

I hand-cut a little patriotic hat for him and added a star that came from cutting out a portion of a "starry night" background die (you can see it in this post). The stars are SO tiny that it makes them a little difficult to adhere, but they were the perfect size.

There actually are die-cuts for the eyes and nose, but they're so tiny that I decided to use Nuvo Crystal drops in blue, instead.

My "Happy" came from a "Happy Birthday" die-cut and "4th" is from an unbranded numbers die set.  I also added a few more of those tiny stars here.

It was fun to create this card, especially since I was a 4th of July cardmaking virgin. he he

Now it's your turn. Dig out your red, white and blue papers and join in on the fun. You'll find lots more inspiration from my teammates at Let's Craft and Create.



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

Sit back, relax and enjoy your day...

This is a birthday card for my brother-in-law, whose birthday was in late June. I used a large woodgrain stamp to create the main panel for the front of my card, which was eventually popped up with foam tape.

Once I had stamped my panel, I cut an oval shape out of it. Then I went to work on my little scene.

First I blended some distress inks to create the colors of my background. Once that was done, I stamped the tree (Stampin' Up) with brown ink. I also used some ProMarkers to add a little shading beneath my tree.

The clouds were cut with Impression Obsession dies. I added some shading to them with a gray alcohol marker.

The chair and flipflops (unbranded) were cut twice and adhered together to give them a little more dimension and stability.

Happy Birthday was computer generated.

I love these little flipflops. They're VERY tiny, but make a nice little embellishment on a card.

As with all my masculine cards, I kept the inside simple. This one has a computer-generated sentiment.

















I will be posting quite a few birthday cards in the coming weeks. We have SO MANY family birthdays in July and August. Right now, I need to get busy on birthday cards for my twin daughters. Their birthday is coming up very soon!

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