Fourth of July cards...

 I made a couple of cards using an old Sizzix die set that creates this card. It cuts the base and the different layers.

I cut the word "Happy" from a Happy Birthday sentiment die. The "4th" was cut using a number die set that also included the "th."

This is how the card looks when it is opened. I left some room on the circle for a signature.

I also made a couple of cards like this one. Again, I used the "Happy" from a Happy Birthday sentiment die. I added thin strips of red glitter cardstock on each side of the white panel. 

I did a bit of inking on the die-cut pieces for my ice cream cone. I didn't pop any of it up. I thought with the busy background paper, this card had enough going on.

I had a couple strips of  this patriotic design that were about 3 inches wide and 12 inches wide. I cut a few banners from it to decorate some cards. The large "4th" was either a Silhouette or Cricut cut that I had in my stash. I simply glued it to my card and stamped "Happy" at an angle.

This is another card I made with one of the banners I had cut. The word "Celebrate" was stamped and the punched stars were glued randomly.

I had some DSP in my stssh that featured this fireworks design, so I used that for my background layer on this card. 

I cut the red and white striped piece from the same paper I had used to die-cut the banners for the previous cards. After adding it on the left, I die-cut a large number four and the "th" and adhered them directly to the card front. The word "happy" was stamped and popped up on a foam strip.

Even though this card front had quite a bit of glitter on it, I added some red gems for even more sparkle.

This is the sentiment I created on my computer and used for all of my Fourth of July card designs except the first one.

I sent out only two of these cards to my two elderly aunts. The rest were all donated to the thrift store.

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

Cheryl

A little birdie told me...

 

I had such fun making this card. I loved cutting out the bird and assembling it. I inked all the different parts first, of course.

The sentiment was printed with my computer, die-cut and popped up on dimensionals. The bird is also popped up so that it can properly sit on top of the sentiment panel.

The corner die-cut was made with an old die--I've had it for years--and you can apply ink through the openings in the die, which you can see I have done.

I think the bird is supposed to be a chickadee--one of my favorite birds. I ink-blended it to look somewhat like the chickadees we have around here.

I found a free image of a grumpy cat online and added one of them to the inside of my card.

I have made several cards similar to this one in the past, and I always hope they bring a smile to the recipient's face.

Do you enjoy making "funny" cards? I know that Riley & Company  has a lot of funny sentiments and images. I've been very tempted to buy some of their products, but I've resisted so far. I'm not sure I can hold out much longer, though!

Finally, here is a photo of the waterfall that is just blocks from our home. It is really roaring after all the rain we've had. Some years it has dried to a trickle, so it's a treat to see it so robust. We could feel the spray from the high ground where we took the picture.

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

Cheryl

Adding a bit to the background...

I always admire card makers who can add some texture, color, and other special features to the backgrounds of their cards--features that are simple, sometimes elegant, and do not overpower the card design. I added a couple of dies to my collection that will (hopefully) help me do just that.

The special background piece for this card is the double line corner. That was actually cut with a single die. The lines are so narrow that it's hard to get them straight when you put liquid glue on them. I have vowed to cut them from adhesive backed cardstock in the future.

The white strip in the background was embossed with a leafy design. The polka dot panel was popped up on dimensionals.

The flower was cut with an old Tim Holtz die and the "Just Because" die is one I've had for ages.

I added a few Nuvo Drops to the flower center.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside with navy blue ink.

The white die-cut in the background is another new die that I got recently. I love the simple texture it adds behind my flower. 

The little white tag is a pre-cut one I had in my stash. I stamped it with "Happy Birthday," added a bow, and popped it up on dimensionals.

I have a few old factory-made paper flowers in my stash that the thrift store gave me. i took a dark pink (mauve?) colored one and added some die cut flowers to it. Before gluing them all together, I did a little inking on the die-cuts and also die-cut and inked some leaves.

I stamped a fun sentiment on the inside.

*****

We are having a light fixture moved this morning. When our kitchen was remodeled, we had to move our dining room table a bit because of a doorway change, and now the ceiling light is not centered over it. It's been bugging me ever since! 

I finally contacted some electricians and found one who could come right away and move it. I will be so happy to have it centered once again.

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

Cheryl

Wedded bliss...

 

I purchased a new wedding die recently. It cuts this blissful, newly married couple, and I thought it would make some fun wedding cards.

The taupe-colored paper that I used for the mat and the die-cuts has a lovely sheen to it, but, of course, it doesn't show up in the photos.

The die used for the fancy corner is an old one that I've had for years. I like it because it is so delicate.

I did my best to match the ink I used for the sentiment to the taupe color in the die-cut. I used a couple of different colors of ink that I had in my stash. It doesn't match exactly but it looks pretty close IRL I die-cut the sentiment and popped it up on foam tape.

The background DSP is a white on white pattern with a bit of a sheen to the swirly design. It was perfect for this card.

I added another fancy corner die-cut on the inside, as well as a stamped sentiment.

I made a couple of these cards to donate, and I'm sure I'll be making more. I think they'd be pretty using other soft colors for the die-cuts and mat.

*****

Today was my day to volunteer at the thrift shop. It seemed extra busy with lots of customers. That may have been because it was raining almost all afternoon and everyone was looking for an indoor activity. Some of them seemed very happy when I added a new pile of handmade cards to the basket. All of the ones I had brought last week had sold, so the regular card buyers were anxious for more to choose from.

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

Cheryl

Get well floral...

I recently made two get well cards, but they both look just like this one, so I'm only sharing one of them. 

I started by cutting two 4" X 5 1/4" panels--one from the floral paper (from an online file) and one from the subtle pink design. I stacked them and then cut them at an angle. Because neither design was directional, I could make both cards the same by flipping the panels around for the second one. 

As a finishing touch, I added a die-cut, stitched strip of cardstock to cover the seam. It was cut from the same cardstock as the card base.

I have a set of small dies that cut the little flowers you see in the bouquet on the circle. I cut them out of white cardstock and then inked them in the various colors that were in the floral paper. After gathering them all into a bouquet, I topped with with a tiny punched bow.

Quite a long time ago, my sister had sent me a slew of these little bows in different colors of cardstock. I have used them from time to time, but now that I see how perfect they are for finishing off this little bouquet, I think I'll be using a lot more of them.

My circle was popped up on foam tape.

Almost as an afterthought, I added the butterfly. It had been in my butterfly box, begging to be used!

I stamped a couple of sentiments on the inside and added the last few flower sprigs that I had not used on the front.

I really love making at least two cards at the same time and this layout is perfect for doing just that. If you haven't tried it yet, I can definitely recommend it.

It has been a stormy week here in Minneapolis. It has been cool and rainy, hot, humid and rainy and constantly windy. I hope Mother Nature gets it out of her system and settles down soon!

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

Cheryl

Cards from kit leftovers...

Occasionally at the thrift store where I volunteer, items come in that the employees feel will not sell. Not long ago, a few leftovers from someone's card kits were donated and they asked me if I wanted them. Well, you KNOW how I answered that! Here are a couple of cards I made from some of those leftover pieces:

This card uses the little tags, the oval label and the punched apple from the small collection of pieces. 

I popped up the bottom end of the top (blue) tag, just  to add a little dimension.

I also popped up the gingham-edged oval, after stamping thank you on it, and the apple punch-out.

I added a few red enamel dots and a baker's twine bow to finish off the card front.

I used a fun stamp on the inside and added another apple punch-out.

On this card, the little flags for the banner, the "Hello" label, the strip of gingham and the hearts were the kit leftovers. I added the background DSP, the baker's twine and enamel dots, and the adhesive-backed, glittery letters to spell the word "friend."

I cut 1 1/4" off the bottom of the card front to create a more interesting fold.

The little green banner was popped up on dimensionals.

I was happy to have a chance to use some of my adhesive letters. I have quite a few of them and don't use them nearly enough.

This is the inside of the card. I added a stamped sentiment and a couple more of those heart punch-outs.

These two cards used up most of the leftover kit parts, and, of course, I donated them right back to the store. 

The store gave me a few more collections of leftovers from old card kits, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more cards made from them in the future.

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

Cheryl

A card for Tuesday Morning Sketches...

My cardmaking friend Donna (DesignByDonna) is a member of the Design Team for Tuesday Morning Sketches, and she inspired me to take part in the current challenge #760. Here's my interpretation of the challenge sketch:

I actually pulled just two pieces of double-sided DSP from my scrap pile, both having come from the same 6" X 6" paper stack. I cut them to the sizes I wanted and then flipped two of them over so thaat I used all four paper patterns on this card. 

I wanted to add something to the center of my card, so I looked in my box of stickers and other bits and found this quilled butterfly.

The colors of the butterfly went so well with the scraps of papers I had used, so it was the perfect choice.

Finally, I looked in my pile of pre-stamped, pre-cut sentiments and found the one you see on my card. I popped it up on a thin strip of foam.

I added a stamped sentiment to the inside to finish the card.

I do like following sketches, so this was a fun exercise. Thank, Donna, for inspiring me!

*****

Our dog, Mickey, has been enrolled in another training class. This time, he is being trained to heel. I told my DH that I wanted to opt out of this training, so I'd let him take Mickey by himself. He thought it would be fine if just the "boys" went. LOL

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

Cheryl

Wedding wishes...

 

I have some dimensional wedding cake stickers and I try to use one every once n a while to make a wedding card. Most of the stickers are made from silver and white card, so that is what I chose to make this card. The card base was a matte gray and the top die-cut panel was a textured metallic gray.

I also had a few store-bought daisies to use up, and I thought they were perfect for this card.

The swirly paper behind the oval is actually a patterned vellum. I liked the contrast of the swirls to the more geometric design in the top panel.

The "Congratulations" was heat embossed with silver embossing powder and then die-cut and popped up on the card front.

The stamped sentiment on the inside was also heat embossed with the same silver embossing powder.

It always feels great to use up a bit of my stash. Many of the stickers I have (including the wedding cake stickers) were given to me, so I didn't have a plan for them when I received them. But I'm so glad I have them for a quick wedding card when I need one.

We are getting ready for many upcoming family birthdays, reunions (both family and school) and other gatherings. It's going to be a busy summer!

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

Cheryl

More Father's Day cards...

 

I have an old 12" X 12" paper stack that has masculine, outdoorsy patterned papers. It also has a few punch-outs.  Both the papers and the punch-out letters used on this card front are from that stack. I popped the letters up on dimensionals, but everything else was glued flat to the kraft card base.

On the inside, I used a computer-generated sentiment. I left enough room in my sentiment to add a die-cut fish that I ink-blended to resemble some of the fish on the card front.

This card happened when I noticed some bits and pieces laying around on my work surface--the chair die-cut, the small piece of striped paper and the tiny tags. I simply picked out a coordinating paper, die-cut the letters for DAD a few times so I could stack them, and punched a narrow border. I found a piece of twine in my stash to add to the tags, too

Once again, I turned to my computer to print out a sentiment that reflected my card front.

This card used a new die set that included the grill, utensils and a bag of briquettes. Since this is the first time I've used it, I'm entering this card into this month's NBUS challenge #63. 

After selecting my blue card base, I added a panel cut from a really old 6" X 6" stack that had all kinds of positive adjectives on it in differrent colors. I thought it was just perfect for a Father's Day card. 

I printed the sentiment onto white CS and cut it out to fit across the front of my panel. Before gluing it down, I inked the edges to give it a more finished look and to match the inking I had done around the edges of the DSP.

I didn't pop anything up on this card front, so it's very mailable.

I used an alcohol marker to add a little bit of orange to the flame. I also did a bit of inking on the gray parts of the grate and grill stand.

I used my computer to print the sentiment on the inside and added the die-cut sack of briquettes above it.

On Saturday night we had 15 family members at our house for a backyard barbecue. My husband did all the grilling, so I'm going to make him one of these cards for Father's Day.

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

Cheryl

Silhouette graduation cards...

 I made a few graduation cards using my Silhouette Cameo.

I used the Silhouette to cut the mortarboards (with tassels), the year and the white shadow. It was a freebie SVG file from Printable Cuttable Creatables.

The tassel was cut from gold metallic cardstock. I punched a few stars from it, as well.

I stamped the same sentiment on the inside of each card.

The SVG file for this card was also a freebie from Printable Cuttable Creatables.  I have purchased files from them, too, but they are very generous with their giveaways. If you have a cutting machine that cuts SVGs, it would be worth checking them out.

The tassel and the numbers 0 and 4 were cut from gold metallic cardstock. I cut a light grey shadow so that it would show up better against the white embossed background.

I used the really old Cuttlebug "Argyle"  embossing folder. I chose it because it has a repeating pattern. Since this is a slimline card, it would take two passes to emboss the entire panel, and the pattern allowed me to easily line it up for a continuous design..

This is the inside of this card. I also made a card with the same front but with pop-out fireworks on the inside. I just forgot to take a photo of it before I sealed it in the envelope for my granddaughter!

This is a picture of my granddaughter's high school graduating class at their ceremony. It was held in an arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. You can probably guess from the photo that there were thousands of friends and family members there to cheer them on.

The class is so large (680+ students) that it took over 1 1/2 hours for them to read the names and let them walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Of course, there were speeches and musical numbers, too, so the entire ceremony was about 3 hours long! The good part about having it in an arena this size is that each student can be clearly seen on the Jumbotron as they walk onto the stage for their diploma. 

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

Cheryl