Let's Craft and Create challenge #218: Anything Goes or (Option) Add Flowers...

 

"April showers bring May flowers...," and so our optional theme this month at Let's Craft and Create is "Add Flowers." 

Anything Goes is always an option, but I decided to add lots of little flowers to my cards. 

Flowers always work for Mother's Day cards, so I created a couple of cards that I hope will make some Moms feel special.

I used two coordinating paper patterns on my card front. The seam between the two is actually curved, but you can't see it because of all the leaves and flowers. I first cut two panels that were exactly the same size. Then I used a curved die to cut them both in half at the same time. That way they fit perfectly together.

After joining the two halves with a little tape on the back, I adhered them to a mat cut from the same cardstock as the deep pink flowers.

I have a die that cuts out five little flowers at one time, so it was easy to get them all cut out quickly. The leaves were cut with a leafy garland die. I just used it twice on different shades of green cardstock and layered them. Quick and easy!

The sentiment was stamped, die-cut and popped up on foam squares. To further embellish the little panel, I added a flower and a few leaves.

Eqach flower has a gem in its center--a pink gem in the white flowers and a clear gem in the pink flowers.

A mat was also added to the inside sentiment panel and another flower embellished the center top.

 

This card was made in much the same way, but I did not add a mat behind the DSP. The letters for MOM were cut from the dark pink cardstock and glued directly to the DSP.

The sentiment "You are loved" was stamped, die-cut and popped up with foam tape. A single flower was added for embellishment.

This inside sentiment was also stamped (it's actually a combination of two stamps), and two tiny flowers were added for embellishment.

Now it's your turn. I just know you have some flower dies or stamps you could use. It's also possible to make flowers without dies, using punched circles, plain or scalloped. I've even seen cardmakers use small triangles as flower petals. I can't wait to see your creations!

Check out the prize for April and the inspiration projects created by the rest of the Design Team at Let's Craft and Create. 

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

Cheryl

We were meant to BEE together...

 

I was asked by an employee at the thrift store where I volunteer to make an anniversry card for him to give to his wife. I actually made five different cards so that he could choose the one he liked best. The rest will be donated to the store. This card is one that I made. 

I wanted to join in Darnell's (djkardkreations) challenge this week to use stencils. She has invited those who participate to post their results here. Sometimes I need a little "encouragement" to get my stencils out and use them, so this was perfect for me.

I began by creating an A2 card base and adding a panel of DSP. Then I cut a hexagon aperture through both layers.

I have a 3-stencil set that creates a shaded honeycomb design that I thought would be perfect. I used it to stencil another hexagon shape that fit the aperture.

My little bees were stamped, colored with markers, die-cut and then popped up on foam squares.

The little foam hearts came from a package of confetti that I have in my stash.

When you open the card, the pop-out section pulls the center hexagon to the inside. I stenciled another piece of cardstock, then cut it into two pieces and added them to my pop-out rectangle,

The sentiments on the front and inside were created with my computer before I glued the hexagon to it.

You can watch a video tutorial for this card, and a top-fold version of it, here.

I had so much fun making this fun-fold, that I actually made a few more cards like this for different occasions. 

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

Cheryl

Quick and easy Easter cards...

 

The small cross that you see on this card was a sticker that I found in my stash. I wasn't sure what to do with it, especially since it is so small. 

I pulled out my set of arched rectangle dies to see if one would create a nice-sized cut-out for it. Sure enough, one did. Since the cross was gray, I selected some gray DSP and cut it to size befire cutting the aperture. Then I took a scrap of white and used a pierced sunburst background die to create the pattern you see.

After gluing the pierced design directly to the card front, I used some foam tape to pop up the DSP panel. The photo at left shows some of the shadow and dimension.

The cross had some nice dimension, too with the flowers and aqua beads that were adhered to its front.

"Happy Easter" was stamped, die-cut and then glued directly to the DSP. I decided not to pop it up, because I didn't want the sender to have trouble mailing it without extra postage.

I stamped a white panel with an Easter sentiment for the inside.

I found this polka-dotted card base in my stash, and because it was a nice Spring color, I decided to use it for an Easter card.

The fancy cross was made with a two-die set: one die cuts the cross shape and one die cuts the fancy design. That way I could cut a perfectly-sized plain shape to put behind the fancy one.

I also cut two fern-like branches out of green vellum to anchor the cross.

The sentiment was heat embossed, die-cut and popped up with foam tape.

Finally, I added two aqua gems to finish the front.

The sentiment in the photo at right was printed with my computer, matted and adhered to the inside.

*****

It has been cold and snowy here the last couple of days. I never know what jacket to put on before going outside.  We did have a couple of hours of sunshine yesterday before the clouds, along with rain and snow, set in. It makes me just want to head down to my craft area in the basement and stay there until the temperatures reach the 70s at least!

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

Cheryl

Fractured Easter cards...

I have a large die that cuts a "fractured" design for card fronts. I decided to use it for a couple of Easter cards.

After making a couple of card bases in a very light peach color, I cut a fractured frame out of ollive green, which was the leaf color in the DSP I wanted to use. 

Once the frame was cut, I added it to the card base and then cut the coordinating pieces from the floral-pattern DSP.

The center square was cut from white cardstock, stamped with "Happy Easter" and popped up with foam squares.

For a final embellishment, I added a pretty butterfly from a set of stickers I had purchased at Dollar Tree.

I wasn't completely happy with the olive green frame, so I cut a second one out of the deep coral color in the DSP.

I then cut the coordinating pieces and glued them down, just as I had done for the first card.

Once again, the center square was cut from white cardstock, stamped with an Easter sentiment and popped up on foam squares. A pretty butterfly sticker was added for embellishment.

I love using butterflies for Easter cards, since they symbolize new life just as the Easter celebration does.

At left is the computer-generated sentiment I put on the inside of each card.

*****

It was a cold and rainy weekend in Minneapolis...until Sunday. On that day it was still cold, but the rain turned to snow. Ugh! I am so very ready for winter to be over and spring to begin in earnest. 

Our perennial flowers are really trying to poke their heads above ground, but as they do, the poor things get smacked with cold temps and freezing percipitation.

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

Cheryl

3D embossing on a wedding card...

I was inspired by a card my friend Lynette shared in this post. Thanks, Lynette! I thought the light inking on her card was so pretty, so I decided to make a couple myself.

Of course I had to use purple ink on one of them!

I should have used a darker purple ink for "congratulations," but once it was done I just decided to go with it.

I actually used green chalk on the leaves; using a Q-tip, it was easier to apply on those small areas.

I also tied a sheer ribbon around the embossed panel after it was adhered to a mat.

The sentiment was popped up on some foam tape.

This card was made exactly the same way.

This time I used a darker ink for the sentiment which made it easier to read.

In case you're wondering what I used to apply ink to the blossoms, it was a small round blending brush. It has short bristles, so it's pretty easy to control where it applies the ink.

Both cards had the same sentiment on the inside, but stamped with the appropriate color of ink.

Both of these cards were donated to the thrift store. I figure that wedding season is coming up very soon, so I'd better start making and donating wedding cards regularly.

The thrift store occasionally gets donated wedding dresses. I enjoy seeing the different styles that people used to wear.  A few decades ago, the puffy, fluffy look (think Princess Diana) was all the rage. Now it looks very dated, but I'm sure it will come back in style again at some point.

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

Cheryl

Easter greetings in blue and a "Hello, Spring" card...

 

This card came together with some leftover bits on my desk. The cardbase was a leftover one from some card supplies I had gotten from the thrift store. The pale teal strip down the middle was left over from another project. I stamped the sentiment, embossed it, and then glued it directly to the card front.

I chose the teal strip to go with the blue card base because of the colors in the pretty butterfly sticker that came from Dollar Tree.

The butterfly has a bit of sparkle on it, so I wanted to add some sparkle somewhere else on the card front.

I tried to cut a blue, self-adhesive glitter ribbon into strips, but, try as I might, I couldn't get them the same width. A much easier method finally occurred to me: I adhered a 1/8" piece of double-sided tape down each side. Then I took off the backing and sprinkled glitter over it. I burnished the glitter by rubbing it firmly with my finger before shaking off the excess.

The double-sided tape worked so well on the front that I decided to add some on both sides of my computer-generated sentiment on the inside.          

I have a friend who does not celebrate Easter, but I like to send her a card at this time of year anyway. This is the card I made for her:

The flowers were actually a one-piece die, but I decided to layer it. First I cut them out of green cardstock, then out of light pink and finally out of a darker pink. I cut the blossoms apart from the two pink die-cuts, putting them together as you see in the photo. Finally, I glued them to the green die-cut.

When I added them to my fancy white panel, I glued the stems down flat and put some foam dots behind the blossoms.

Before I adhered the panel to my card front, I tied a ribbon around it with a little tag attached. The tag and the stamp for the sentiment came from a set my sister gave me for my birthday (Thanks, Michelle!). The tag was actually a bit longer, but after die-cutting it, I moved the die up on the tag and cut it again (just on the bottom) to get this shorter version. 

I stamped a simple sentiment on the inside leaving plenty of room for a personal note.

I have finally finished all of the Easter cards I need for personal use, so now I will concentrate on making some to donate. I'll also start making a few Mother's Day cards to donate. 

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

Cheryl

AI images for Easter cards...

I found a couple of AI images online that were free to use. I thought they'd make pretty Easter cards, so here's how I used them:

The image that I used on these cards was perfect for this style of card. I cut my top-folding card front an inch shorter than the card back and sized my image to fit that space.

I picked three colors that were used in the image and chose some cardstock in those colors to make my bases.

Of course, the lavendar one was my favorite.

I had some pretty butterfly stickers from the Dollar Tree, so I used one on each card. I thought they were the perfect embellishments.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside to finish each card. The photo at left shows how it looked when the card was opened.

This was another AI image that featured flowers and butterflies.

This time I die-cut a butterfly for each card and then used some blending brushes to add ink so that they resembled the butterfly in the AI image.

I popped each wing up with a tiny foam dot and glued the butterfly's body directly to the card.

The scripty "happy easter" was also die-cut and glued directly to the card front.

As a final embellishment, I added a few gems.

Since I was printing out the AI image for these cards, I also printed out a sentiment for the inside.

I have saved this image and the inside sentiment in a Word document. If you use Word, and would like to have it, just send me an email (see the link under "Contact" on the righthand side of my blog's homepage).

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

Cheryl

A thank you and a vintage Easter card...

 

I was digging through my stash of borders the other day and found a short piece of the flower border used on this card. It was just enough to span the 4 1/4" width, leaving a tiny bit to cut off each side.

The card base had been cut long ago and was just waiting to be used. I thought the wood-patterned DSP was perfect as a background and a nice contrast to the deep red of the base.

In with all the other borders, I also found one that was a string of bees. I fussy cut two of them away from the border to use on this card.

The "Thank You" was die-cut and then backed with black cardstock before I glued it to the front of the card.

I stamped a simple sentiment on the inside. I think I should have put one of those bees on the inside, too, but the card was donated yesterday and sold right away.

I don't make many vintage-style cards, so this was a little out of my comfort zone. My crafty friend Donna (Design By Donna) gave me the vintage background panel a long time ago. Actually, she gave me several of them (thank you again, Donna!), but I had used all of them except this one.

Because it had some small pink flowers in the design, I added a vintage looking pink flower sticker toward the bottom.

The sentiment was heat-embossed with gold EP and popped up with foam tape. 

The fancy cross was die-cut, backed with dark brown cardstock and glued directly to the card front.

Because there was a bit of gold in the pink flower sticker (I know it doesn't show in the photo), I added a few gold gems to the cross.

The sentiment on the inside was computer-generated, and I added another flower sticker in the corner for good measure.

You may also have noticed that I did a little ink blending on the edges of my sentiment panel with linen-colored ink. I didn't add any ink to the sentiment area so that it would appear highlighted.

We are meeting with a flooring company today about having the wood floors in our entryway, living room and dining room refinished. We're hoping to have it done while we are away on an RV trip in late spring or early summer. We think it would be amazing to go on a trip for a couple of weeks and have the work all done while we are gone!

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

Cheryl

Using some scraps for Easter cards...

 

This card came about when I reached into my scrap box and found a long strip of the daffodil DSP. I glued it down to the center of my gold cardbase and then added a narrow orange strip on each side of it.

The sentiment shape with the yellow polka-dot edge was in my stash. I'm not sure where it came from. It might have been a leftover piece from a card kit. I heat embossed "happy Easter" and added it to the center of my card.

The little bird is actually a wooden button that my sister gave me. I added a cardstock wing (popped up, of course) to cover up the button holes.

I added three different sized gems for a little sparkle.

For this card, I adhered a floral panel from my stash. Then I cut a banner from a scrap of blue and added the heat-embossed sentiment shape on top of that.

Again, I added a little wing to cover the buttonholes on the bird and three gems to give my card some sparkle.

This is the computer-generated sentiment that I added to the inside of each card.

I loved making these cards. It always feels so good to use up some scraps and be pleased with the results.

Both of these cards were donated to the thrift store. I hope whoever purchased them feels good about sending them off to loved ones.                                                                                                                       

We returned on Sunday from a very quick trip to St. Louis, MO. My husband's cousin and her spouse celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Their daughter planned a surprise party, and it was fun to see how much they enjoyed it. It takes us 8 1/2 to 9 hours to get there, so we spent a LOT of time in the car on Friday and then again on Sunday. It was worth it, though, and nice to get away for even a short time.

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

Cheryl