Super-quick Easter cards...

These are a couple of super-quick Easter cards that I made to donate. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the strip down the middle, then matted it with colored CS and added a couple of unbranded die-cuts. I tried a different position on each card for the "Easter Joy" die-cut. I think I like the tilted version (purple CS) best.

I used some spray adhesive to adhere my die-cuts to the embossed panel. I find that I have less mess and better adhesion with the spray, especially when applying to embossed CS.

My only other embellishment was a few self-adhesive rhinestones. This card was so quick to make that I actually made two more (one with gold CS and one with pink CS) for a total of four cards in about an hour.

 

The sentiment on the inside was computer-generated. I didn't have enough of the blue CS left for a full mat, so I cut four 1" squares and then cut each square in half diagonally. These triangles were slipped under the four corners of my sentiment panel for a bit of color.

I hope you'll excuse my shadowy photos for this post. It was a dark and dreary day when I took them, and you know what that does for our meager photography efforts!

The snow has finally gone from our yard, and I am looking forward to the spring green that is sure to come soon from the trees and other plants.

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

Fun fold Easter card...

This card was another one made for the thrift store and was a bit of an experiment for me. I saw the design online (not sure where) and thought it would be a great way to use some coordinating papers and stickers.

The flower and leaves are stickers. As you can see in the photograph, I have liberally "winked" the flower and added some Nuvo drops to the center.

The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly (I'm pretty sure, anyway).

The rhinestones were added for a little more sparkle.

In this photo you can see how the card is constructed. It's basically a card within a card. Since I added a matted sentiment to the left side of the inner card, I thought the right side could be used for writing a personal note and signing.

Here's a final peek at the inside of the card. I hadn't intended on adding the little round sticker, but a little smudge of glue there made me do it! I decided it adds an ok bit of color, so it was a happy accident.

I'm happy to say this card sold very quickly at the thrift store. I guess I need to make a few more of them.

Our snow has finally disappeared from the front yard (but not the back). It should all be gone by Sunday, though, as we are to get temps in the 60s tomorrow. I can't wait!

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

Fuzzy pink bunny...

This card was a quick make, because my fuzzy bunny is actually a felt sticker that I purchased at Michael's last year. They are such cute stickers and make for quick cards!

I especially love that they each have a fuzzy white tail. They came in a packet of several pastel colors, so I had fun using them with different patterned papers.  On this card, I've used some pretty Stampin' Up papers.

My fancy oval was cut with a Spellbinders die.

I didn't have enough of my peach-colored CS for a full mat of my stamped sentiment panel, but I did have enough to create a scalloped strip on each side. I wish I could tell you what brand of stamp I used, but I really am not sure (and I'm too lazy tonight to run down to my craft room and find it again. Ditto for the heat-embossed sentiment on the front of the card, too.).

Well, Spring has finally dipped her pretty toe into the waters of Minnesota (we have over 10,000 lakes, you know!). Warmer temps and lots of sunshine will soon have the world turning green around us. I'm anxious for some flowers to bloom to help shake off the winter doldrums. I hope Miss Spring has firmly established herself in your neck of the woods, too.

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

Here comes Peter Cottontail...and his entire family!

I got this unbranded bunny die not long ago and decided to create a few Easter cards with it. The Happy Easter is a Cheery Lynn die that I cut from some glitter cardstock.

This bunny die is actually "eggless," but it did cut the front bunny legs so that you could slip an egg under them. I used an "O" from an alphabet die set to create my eggs. Each egg is actually the middle negative cut of the "O."

I have used a little pink chalk on the ears. I put grey CS behind the holes for the eyes and pink behind the nose cutout.

For the inside of my card, I created a sentiment with my computer and then matted it with some aqua CS in the same shade as the floral CS on the front.

I have donated quite a few Easter cards to the thrift store where I volunteer. It is fun to see which ones sell quickly and which ones take more time. It helps me gauge what designs are more readily received by the public.

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

Twofer Card Challenge: Balloons...

I just had to enter the Twofer Card Challenge this month to see if I could actually come up with two different cards using a balloon(s) of some sort.

I have a couple of very small balloon stamps and dies, but I didn't think they would be quite right for this project, so I decided to use one of my hot air balloon dies.

For my first card, I used this unbranded die in the traditional way.

I used muted colors for my card, thinking that then it would work well for a masculine card. I used some yellow Nuvo drops as decoration across the front of my balloon, but otherwise stuck to red and blue for the colors. The sentiment was computer generated, and the clouds were cut from dies that came with the balloon die.

For my second card, I cut another balloon, but cut away the top and a portion of the bottom to create a bowl for my die-cut succulent plant (Sizzix). I think you can see that I also hand-cut a piece of dark teal CS to look like the inside of the bowl. I popped this up on foam squares and added a die-cut "Thanks so much" (unbranded) and a dry-embossed (Darice) section at the bottom.

But wait! There was still the top half of this balloon sitting there on my work desk. What could I do with it?

I created another "bowl," but this time for a bouquet of flowers (stamp by Crafters Companion). I stamped the bouquet with green ink, fussy-cut it out, and then added some flower-shaped sequins over the stamped flowers. I finished my bouquet with some white Nuvo drops for the flower centers and popped it up on foam squares. My "happy birthday" is another unbranded die.

So actually, this Twofer Challenge inspired me to make three cards. I love it when I can add three cards to my stash after a couple of hours of crafting.

Why not head over to the Twofer Challenge Blog and get inspired by all the unique ways to use balloon shapes on your cards. Even if you decide not to enter, it's fun to see so many creative minds and work.

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

Cheryl

Putting all my eggs in baskets...

If you read my previous post, you know I cut some tiny Easter eggs by using the middle cutout of a letter "O" die. Well, I cut a bunch more of those for the cards in today's post.

I also cut all of the floppy-eared bunny dies that I had used in the last post, but this time I cut them out of brown cardstock--for chocolate bunnies, of course!

My white panel was cut with a Spellbinders die, the little bow is the top of a Precious Heart die by Memory Box.

To get the look of blades of grass that were small enough to be in proportion to my basket, I punched out some of the small pine branches using the Martha Stewart Pine Branch punch. I cut them apart and then glued them to the backside of my basket.

For the inside of my card, I printed a sentiment with my computer and cut it out with an unbranded die.

For this basket, I used a narrow yellow ribbon to make a bow and glued it in place. All of my baskets have been inked with distress ink, too.

The only change for this card (other than different papers) was using a little twine bow on the basket.

My baskets were all popped up with foam tape, but I glued the handle in place at the top. I didn't want it to catch on something and tear.

All of the DSP I have used on these cards is by Stampin' Up.

These cards were fun to make and came together fairly quickly.

Today, I'm actually working on some Christmas cards. I don't have many in my box, so I need to get moving on those before the busy summer months begin.

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

Easter card production begins...

I have been working hard on making Easter cards for my own use and to donate. Here's the first idea I came up with:

The bunnies and the "Happy Easter" sentiment are unbranded dies. I didn't have a small enough egg die, so I went hunting through my alphabet dies to see if there was any letter with an oval cutout that would suffice for an egg. Sure enough! I found an "O" where the center cutout was the oval you see here. It worked perfectly for my "eggs." I popped them all up on foam squares for a little dimension.

My little bunny dies came with one little circle die for the round tail. I really didn't want to run this tiny die through my Big Shot 6 times for each card, so again, I looked around to see if there was something else I could use--and a quarter-inch single hole punch worked perfectly. I added some Wink of Stella to each of the bunny tails to make them a little more noticeable.

My "Happy Easter" was cut from glitter cardstock.

On the inside of my card, I decided to add a little bunny who was facing forward, so I drew in the eyes and mouth and used some Nuvo drops for a pink nose.

We are once again bracing for a snow storm, which is suppose to move into the area at midday on Saturday. They are predicting another 10-12" of snow [*sigh*].  Looks like we're in for a lot of shoveling--again. Hope your weekend weather is much more springlike.

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #145: Green things...

Hey, everyone! It's that time again, so get your creative juices flowing and join in the fun. We've posted the March challenge on the blog at Let's Craft and Create, and it's all about "green things."

That covers a lot of territory! You could consider anything from olives to frogs to "green with envy" as fair game for your project.  I chose to use the challenge as inspiration for a St. Patrick's Day card with a four-leaf clover. 

The traditional shamrock has just three leaves (often described as faith, hope and love), but on rare occasions, one is found with four leaves, adding "luck" to its attributes. It is also said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to represent the Father, Son and Holy Ghost when converting the Irish to Christianity. 

I decided to use the four-leaf clover because I wanted "luck" to be represented on my card.

I started out by selecting a flower from my bag of green flowers. I struggle to find uses for these, so I was happy to use one of them for this card.

I chose the checked flower, and then cut off one of the five petals. I found some matching green cardstock and also fussy-cut a stem for my clover, adding an enamel dot for the center.

Here's my "faith, hope, love and luck" clover after assembly. 

And here's a look at my card and envelope. The orange envelope was made with my envelope punch board. BTW, I have discovered the perfect sizing and scoring (which is a little different from what is listed on the board) for making an A2 envelope. Cut a piece of paper or cardstock to 8" X 8". Make your first punch and scoreline at 3 1/2", and then continue lining up at the previous scoreline and punching and scoring three more times (at 4 1/2", 3 1/2" and 4 1/2"). You'll get a perfect-sized envelope for your A2 card. I love that these dimensions allow me to use those 8" X 8" paper pads for envelopes, oftentimes putting the design to the inside and the white to the outside.

This is a flip card (made using an unbranded die set), and here you can see the "inside" of the oval that flips open.

I've added a computer-generated sentiment here and a little shamrock sticker that I had in my stash. I also put one of those little stickers onto my envelope.

Please head over to Let's Craft and Create to see lots more fun projects and inspiration for "green things." I hope you'll join in on this fun challenge and post your green-inspired project soon. 

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

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright, happy hours that stay with you all the year long.

Cheryl

Pretty little boxes...

In addition to making cards for the thrift store (where I volunteer) to sell, I also make little boxes. The boxes are sold in the jewelry department, so if a customer finds a piece of jewelry they want to give as a gift, they can also purchase a box for a minimal amount to put it in.

Not long ago I purchased an unbranded die online to make a pretty little box for jewelry purchases.

The above picture shows the die I purchased. Looks a little complicated, doesn't it? It really is quite simple to put together. You cut two pieces, adhere them together via the tabs and , voila!

The pink box shows what it looks like when you add the little rectangles of coordinating paper to the sides. I didn't want to cover up the pretty floral paper on the other box so I skipped that step for it.

Here's what they look like from the top.

And another shot from a little different angle.

Aren't they sweet little boxes? The store had no trouble selling them, and now I need to make a bunch more.

Oh, yes, the papers on both boxes are from Stampin' Up. Love their coordinating two-sided paper!

I'm sure you're tired of reading my nasty "weather reports" here on the blog, but I just have to whine a little to get it off my chest. We're getting FOUR more inches of snow today. I had to drive over to St. Paul for a doctor's appointment and what should have taken me 15 minutes, took 45. The trip home was even worse, taking more than an hour. I drove past a school bus (with children onboard) that had been in a fender bender with a van. Of course, there are accidents all over the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area because of the slick roads. Winter, I am SO over you! Go away!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day (even when it's snowing!).
Cheryl