A quick easel card...

I made this dotted circle die-cut at friend and fellow-crafter Lynette's home a few weeks ago (thank you, Lynette), and have just now gotten it made into a card.

I decided to make a few easel cards, and this is one of them. I cut the flower out of green cardstock for the stem and leaves and then out of pink for the flower head. I used various inks to give it a little definition, and then added some black Nuvo Drops to the center.

The Happy Birthday was stamped onto some of the green cardstock. I had to stamp it several times in my stamp positioner so as to get the solid black background (only the background stamps).

I would have liked to have moved my sentiment up some and maybe to the left a tad, but I had a little boo-boo in the bottom right hand corner that had to be covered. I'm sure you all know how that goes!

Here's my easel card standing up. I just added three enamel dots under my inside sentiment to serve as my stopper.

Sorry for the crooked photos! I was taking them from an odd angle, trying to capture the best light.

And here's a peek at the entire inside panel.


















When I send easel cards, I'm always afraid that the recipient will think I forgot to glue part of the top down, so I enclose some simple directions.

I printed a bunch of these out years ago and keep them handy to enclose with my cards. I'm not sure where I found these instructions and illustration--somewhere on the internet, I'm sure--but I need to scan at least one of them so I can duplicate it and make some more. I either didn't save a copy or lost it when I switched computers.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I'm looking forward to cleaning and loading all our camping supplies into the RV. We'll be leaving soon on a short trip.

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

Masculine birthday card...

I made this card recently for a brother-in-law. I first found some playing card images online, sized them to fit on my card and then printed them out on cardstock. They were then easy enough to just fussy cut.

When figuring out what cards to use, I decided I should at least give him two pairs--maybe he could win the hand with them!

I had a pack of pre-made paper frames, so I decided to use one of those, and then I printed out my sentiments (front and inside) on my computer. I added the enamel dots for a bit of dimension.

Just a simple card interior, with room to write a personal message.

Men's cards are so difficult for me to make!! I know a lot of other cardmakers struggle with them, too. I've got quite a few male birthdays coming up soon, so I've got to find a few more ideas.

Most of the men in my life do not golf. I wish they did, because there are some cute golf-themed card ideas out there.

Do you have a favorite idea for a masculine card? Do share!

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

Cheryl

Crafters are the nicest people...

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to share a few hours of crafty playtime with Lynette of My Stamping Addiction. She was so kind to invite me over to her house (I live in Minneapolis and she lives in an outer suburb) to get to know each other and share some of our favorite techniques.

While there, Lynette graciously offered to give me some Christmas images she had stamped and not used. I was excited to receive them as they would help put a dent in my Christmas card production.

Since visiting with Lynette, I have colored all seven of the images and made them into cards.

I handled the first four in a very traditional way, coloring them with my ProMarkers, adding a green panel (1/8" on two of them, 1/16" on the other two) and tied with a red ribbon. My red card bases were some pre-cut ones that I bought at Michael's during the after-Christmas sales last year.

I added a gray shadow around my image but it's rather hard to see in this photo.

The inside was constructed the same way as the front of the card, only with a stamped sentiment (Penny Black).

With the last three cards I decided to do something a little different. I made a copy of the stamped image and sentiment. I fussy cut them out, then laid the copy on top of the stamped image while I spattered the panel with gold metallic paint. Then I used gold metallic cardstock as my shadow panel and a gold ribbon.

I didn't have enough gold CS to do a panel on the inside of these cards, so I accented with a narrow strip of it.

Thank you again, Lynette, for hosting me and sharing your fabulous supplies and tools. I'm so glad I finally got to meet you in person!

And thanks to all of you for stopping by my blog today. I hope you've got some fun plans for the weekend. And remember to laugh-- a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

Twofer Challenge: Bees...

I decided to hop into the bee-themed challenge over on the Twofer Challenge Blog, even though I didn't really have any bee images other than a tiny, realistic bee stamp.

 

I went searching on the internet for a clipart bee that had a bit more personality than my stamp. I found a cute little bee that was even in the usual black and yellow coloring. I pulled it into my Silhouette software, sized it to my liking, made a mirror image of it so that I could have bees facing each other, traced them both, and then made multiple copies for a "print and cut." That means I could print out as many copies of the bees as I wanted and then the Silhouette would cut them all out for me. No fussy cutting!

Here are the cards I came up with.

The first one is a Valentine and the second a birthday card.

Can you see those cute little bees and how they're facing each other? The only part I colored on them was their wings. I added a little aqua marker and then coated them with a glitter pen.

I punched out a few little hearts, inked their edges (like my big scalloped heart) and then gave them a top coat of clear Nuvo Drops. Of course, I wasn't satisfied with that--I had to go and scatter some little "pearls" of clear Nuvo Drops on the scalloped heart, too. In retrospect, I think I could have done without those. I just got carried away!!

The flight paths of my bees were drawn with a black fine point pen, and my little bees were popped up on foam squares.

The inside of my card was very simple.  I used another narrow piece of the pink glitter paper to frame my sentiment and added my little bee with his romantic flight path.

My second card is a shaker card. For my shaker elements I added sequins, microbeads and glitter. I think I could have left out the glitter, though. It has a propensity to cling to the acetate.

Once again, you can see my cute little bees, happily buzzing around the shaker. The shaker section is sort of representative of the hive, don't you think?

On the inside of this card, I added a little bee with his flight path.













Finally, I did make a third bee card. It's another birthday card, but for a belated birthday wish.

I figured that as long as I had more bees and more patterned paper, I might as well use them! I printed my sentiment, then cut it out with a  photo frame die. I also cut the photo frame from some fun foam. I layered the CS on top of the fun foam and then adhered the whole thing to some more white CS before adding it to my card.

All of my sentiments on these cards were computer generated.

Here's the inside of this card with yet another bee. And I still have a few bees left to use. Guess I shouldn't have stopped at just three cards!

I hope I've helped inspire you to join in on the "Bee Challenge" over on the Twofer Challenge Blog.

Today is a beautiful day here in the land of 10,000 lakes. I think I need to go out and walk around one of them.

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

Cheryl

Turning 16...

Last month, my granddaughter turned 16 and I never shared her birthday card, so here it is.

I stamped the image, paper-pieced the clothing and colored the hair and skin. That looks like a 16-year-old stance, doesn't it?

After adding the number die-cuts and inking around the edges of my panel, I adhered it to a 4" X 6" top-folding card base.

Here's the inside of my card, known as a "twist and pop."

Thought I'd give you a little closer look at the small panels.

I love making these cards, and one thing I have discovered, is if you round the corners of the interior panels, the twist and pop movement is a lot smoother.

It's kind of fun to go through my stamps and pick out images and sentiments for each of the little panels. It doesn't take much to decorate them.

I used a lot of stamp sets to complete this card. If you really want me to check on the manufacturer of any of them, just let me know in the comments.



My granddaughter wanted to take her driver's test on the day of her birthday. Well, you have to have completed all the prerequisite studies and driving practice (she had) and actually BE 16 to make the appointment (which would be months away) OR you could show up very early in the morning to get in line for one of the open spots available on the day of your birthday.

My granddaughter and her mom (my daughter) went to the testing facility at 2:00 a.m. to get in line as they had heard that if you're not there by about 4:00 a.m., there are already too many people for the limited number of spots. They were actually the first in line, but within a half hour there was another car in line behind them.

They tried to sleep in the car until the doors opened at 8:00 a.m. But if it was me taking my first driver's test, I would have been too nervous to sleep! Anyway, my granddaughter was able to take her test right away--and she passed!! Yay for Sophie! You go girl!

Of course, it has given me a few more gray hairs to think about my grandchildren driving, but it's a rite of passage and I just need to get over it.

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

Woodsy Father's Day card...

I have one remaining uncle, and I wanted to send him a Father's Day card. He's pretty special and was always so kind to his rowdy nieces and nephews. I wasn't one of the rowdy ones, of course [cough, cough].

I wanted his card to be a simple design, so this is what I came up with. I used a Darice wood grain embossing folder on my top layer, which I then lightly inked with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

Using some green cardstock, I cut out the Memory Box Fresh Foliage die. In looking at my photo, I think I probably should have inked the edges of my leaves--but it's too late now!  Anyway, I dismembered the Fresh Foliage, turning it into three different sprigs. I used two of them on the front and one on the inside.

My tag is an unbranded die with a little coarse twine through the hole, and I'm sorry but I don't recall the manufacturer of my stamped sentiment.

Here's the inside of my card with another stamped sentiment (unbranded) and that third little sprig in the corner. And that finished off my card, which I popped in the mail today.

Our guests from Germany left this morning to fly back across the big pond. I hope they have a safe trip.

I think I'm going to go on strike and not cook any more for a while. I feel like I cooked enough while our guests were here to last through the summer. That's not really true, but it sure feels like it!

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

I just want to hang with my dog...

My son and daughter-in-law recently adopted a gorgeous Golden Doodle puppy. For those of you that may not know, that is a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle. They were so excited about their new puppy, that I wanted to send them something in celebration.

First, I made them a card. I didn't have a Golden Doodle dog image, so I used a Silhouette design (#120773) of a Schnauzer, which I happened to already have in my Silhouette library. 

I modified it just a bit and tried to use shades of brown to make it look more like their dog. I added some silver Nuvo drops onto his blue collar. To give the eyes a little life, I used a gel pen to add a spot of white.


I shaped the layers a bit--especially the nose--and popped them up on foam squares to give some dimension to the card.

Finally, I purchased a couple of inexpensive t-shirts at Michael's. I happened to have some black iron-on vinyl (HTV), so I created a sentence in the Silhouette software with a paw-print for the "O" in DOG. The paw-print was a free clipart image that I traced in the software and then added to my design.




Here's a photo of my son and his wife with their new "baby":

Isn't that puppy cute? But look at the size of those paws! I think he's going to be quite big when he's full-grown.

We are experiencing some perfect summer weather here today, so I need to get away from the computer and go outside and enjoy it. Have a great day!

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #148: You're the Man, with an option of Anything Goes...

Today is the first day of a new challenge on the Let's Craft and Create blog, and I hope you'll participate. It's the perfect challenge for me, because I struggle to make masculine cards. I had to go searching on Pinterest and other areas of the internet to get some ideas that I could put together in a card. Here's what I came up with:

I searched and searched numerous clip art sites where I could find a tree that would work and a little flock of birds. I also searched for some Father's Day greetings, and found one that I could change a bit to read what you see on the card.

Once I had found all my elements, I put them together in a word document and printed them out on white cardstock.

After cutting my printed elements into A2-sized mats, I used some masking paper to mask off a square that included most of my tree top and birds.

Then came the fun part--blending some distress inks using a few blending brushes (love those tools!). I used Mustard Seed, Broken China and Dusty Concord distress inks.

When I was all done inking, I used a stitched square die that was a little smaller than my inked square and cut it out. That square was then popped up on a piece of foam and adhered back into place to give my focal point a little dimension.

Here's a look at the second card I made which is just the same except for the black card base and  black enamel dots.

I can't decide which one I like best--the yellow card base or the black.

My card interiors were also printed with the computer at the same time that I printed the card fronts. I am able to get two front panels and two interior panels for an A2 card on one piece of 8 1/2" X 11" cardstock.

So now it's your turn, and I'm excited about all the inspiration I'm going to see in your entries! Any help I can get in making masculine cards is soooo appreciated.

Hop on over to Let's Craft and Create and see what the rest of the Design Team has made to spark some ideas. Also be sure to check out the prize that is being offered this month.

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