Thank you banner die - perfect for quick cards...

Recently, I purchased a couple of Die-Versions banner dies, and this was one of them.

This die cuts so beautifully, and even though it is a very delicate shape, the die-cut falls right out of the die. It is sized to fit across an A2 card (5 1/2" X 4 1/4").  As you can see in the photo above, it is perfect for this size when it is used as a landscape card. 

I've added a few black sequins for bling. The flower was a white Petaloo flower that I've colored with my ProMarkers. The foliage was cut with the Memory Box Fresh Foliage die, which I cut apart to get just the pieces I needed.

Here's another way to adhere the banner die for a little different look. Some more colored Petaloo flowers and sequins, and another card is done - lickety split!

For this final card, I once again hung my banner across the length of my card. This time I added two flowers with leaves. Before you ask what kind of weird-colored leaves those are, look at the little flowers in the DSP. They are the same strange color, and I was only trying to match it.

Here's a close-up, so you can see what I'm talking about.

This die is going to come in handy when I need a quick thank you card (which happens more often than you might think). I ordered another banner die when I bought this one, but I'll show you that one in another post.

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

Geranium get well card...

I always plant geraniums in a couple of large planters by my front door. I often also plant a few in my front flower garden, but they're almost always red. The most prevalent colors for geraniums seems to be the various shades of red and pink, with a few white ones thrown in for good measure. When I was going to color this image, I did a little hunt online for other colors of geraniums, and I found some that looked like this:

I used my ProMarkers to color it and then put it away in my images file. Recently, I pulled it out and matted it on a piece of black cardstock to be the focal point of a get well card. I'm not even sure anymore where I got this image. It could be digital or from a stamp I borrowed. I'm sorry I am unable to give credit where credit is due! If you happen to recognize it, please let me know in the comments.

The color of the card base matches the fuchsia pink in my geranium pretty closely. It actually looks quite dramatic IRL. The dotted line that you see around my green mat was done with one of the dies from the Dots & Dashes set of border dies by Paper Smooches. Don't you think it adds a nice detail?

I stamped my sentiment with Versafine ink onto a Spellbinder's Fancy Labels die-cut. There are three labels in the set, and this one is my favorite. It provides just the right spot for two fuchsia pearls.

On the inside of my card, I added a white rectangle matted with black so that I would have a place to write a personal note.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Spring day, wherever you are. It is 60+ degrees here today (and even much warmer in the sun), so I've been enjoying an opportunity to paint a little towel rack outside that will go in my new bathroom. It is so much easier to do those kinds of chores outdoors.

It won't be long now and our bathroom will be back together and looking better than ever. I can't wait!

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

Another red and green card for the Merry Monday weekly challenge...

I couldn't help myself. I just had to make another red and green card for the Merry Monday Weekly Challenge #148. This one took much longer than my previous card, but I'm happy to add another to my stack of cards for Christmas 2015:

I actually really love this red and green plaid paper. It and the red snowflake paper come from the same Christmas stack--a 12" X 12" Recollections paper pad called "Sugar Plum." It has lots and lots of pretty papers, so I know it'll help me create hundreds of cards.

The holly vine was cut with a Darice die, and I added some white pearls with a Viva Décor pen. I'm really liking this Darice die, along with several others that I purchased a while ago.

The little alpha tags were cut with an old Cuttlebug die set that I purchased used when I first got my Cuttlebug years ago. I haven't used these dies much, but I thought they would make a festive banner for this card, especially after I backed each one with some green glitter cardstock.

I also added some double-sided foam tape behind each tag to hold it in place.

The inside of my card was decorated with some more of that pretty plaid paper. Doesn't it look like it might be the perfect pattern for Santa's flannel pajamas?

The stamp is from a set by Penny Black called "Christmas Cheer." My red card base (white on the inside) was a Recollections pack of 50 cards with envelopes that I got at Michaels. It was highly discounted after February 14 as part of their Valentine's sale. Love when I can take advantage of those sales!

Well, maybe now I should get busy on some Easter cards. I need about 15 of those, too. Yikes, I'd better get a wiggle on!

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

A card for Merry Monday...

I am trying hard this year to keep my Christmas card making under control so that I have all the cards I need by the middle of November. Not sure I'll be able to pull it off - I need about 85 cards - but I'm giving it the old college try. I've made about 18 or 20 so far. Here's one that fits nicely into Merry Monday's challenge #148: Red and Green.

This card was pretty quick to pull together. First I used my Dee's Distinctively Merry Christmas die to cut the words out of the green DSP. Then I also cut them out of some white cardstock and placed those into the negative space. Some of the tiny cuts (like the itsy piece in the top of the letter "s") were a little tricky to get back in, but all in all it went pretty smoothly. I had put some double-sided tape on the back side of the cutout, so when I added the white die-cut, it was held firmly in place. I just had to make sure I got it in right the first time!

The embossed panel was made with a Darice 2.5" X 12" Snowflake embossing folder and the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch. I added a little Versamark ink to the raised images by gently rubbing my ink pad along the top of the cardstock. I used some sparkly clear embossing powder for a little bling.

I added some red enamel dots around the sentiment to accent the little red dots that are already in the pattern of the paper.

On the inside of my card I added a few sparkly snowflakes (Recollections punch) and a glittery strip (glitter rubbed onto double-sided tape) at the bottom. The sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

Have you started making any Christmas cards yet? If you have another system for getting them done without too much stress, I'd love to hear about it.

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

Dreaming of warm weather...and sunflowers!

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. We have been busy doing a few things for our bathroom remodel. I have been busy refinishing a wooden medicine cabinet that we think was original in 1927 when the house was built. We wanted to keep it if at all possible because it's really kind of cool. My husband has been working on the bathroom ceiling, getting it ready for painting, which we'll do on Monday, as the tile will be installed beginning Tuesday.

Recently, my sister came to Minneapolis to visit her son (who lives just a few blocks from me) and spend some time with her new little grandson. She kindly brought along a box of her dies and let me cut some images with them while she was here.

One of the dies she brought along was the Memory Box Bountiful Sunflower die. It is a fabulous image, and I used one of the cuts to create this card:

After coloring the flower center with a brown ProMarker, I put some double-sided tape behind this area and filled the open spaces with some brown glitter. This picture really doesn't do it justice. The sparkle is so pretty!

I think you can see a little of that sparkle in the picture at left.

I also added some yellow vellum behind the petals. It doesn't look like much here, but again, it's really pretty IRL.

I colored the stem and the leaves with a couple of green ProMarkers.

I also made a small slit on each side of the embossed frame (Darice Photo Frame embossing folder) through which I slipped my yellow seam binding and tied it over the stem of my flower. The embossed frame provides the perfect camouflage so that you really don't even see the slits.

























The inside of my card is pretty simple. The sentiment stamps for the front and the inside are from Technique Tuesday's "Thinking of You" stamp set. I also stamped a little green branch (from an unidentified stamp set) for some extra embellishment.

I want to say a special THANK YOU to my sister for sharing this beautiful sunflower die with me.

I also thank all of you for stopping by my blog, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Sympathy card for loss of a pet...

Recently a friend's 16-year-old Chihuahua passed away. I know this deeply saddened her, and I wanted to express my sincere sympathy. This is the card that I made for her:

The paw-print patterned paper was a freebie that I printed from an online source. I'm sorry to say that I don't recall exactly what site offered it, but I am so thankful they did as I had nothing like this in my stash. The striped paper that matches so perfectly was just a scrap I had in my ever-growing pile.

The teal-colored lacey oval die cut was made with a Lifestyle Crafts die. To get the white oval, I simply traced the inside of my die and fussy-cut it out. If I get edges that aren't quite smooth when I fussy-cut something, I simply use an emery board to smooth them out.

I saw an actual card with a sentiment similar to this. I changed it a bit to better suit my purpose and used it for this card.

I do hope this card brings a small bit of comfort. I have experienced the sad loss of a pet, so I understand how devastating it can be.

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

With sympathy...

As I was making a few cards for one of my daughters, I decided that a sympathy card should be in the mix. This is the card I made.

The "With Sympathy" die-cut was made with Dee's Distinctively dies and the fancy rectangle is a Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die-cut.

Before putting my card together, I embossed my green mat with Spellbinder's Cabbage Rose M-Bossability. These embossing plates don't seem to produce a very deeply embossed pattern, but I thought it still worked well for this card, especially since there is a subtle rose pattern in the beige (with bits of green) cardstock.

For my sentiment on the inside, I used a Technique Tuesday stamp and also a little dove stamped in green to coordinate with the card front.

We have been in the middle of a bathroom remodel for a few weeks now, but I think we are now on the downhill side. My brother will be installing the tile, and he is currently prepping the walls. Remodeling is a lot of work and a big mess no matter what, but when your house is as small as ours, I think it's even worse. There's just no escaping it! Luckily we have a second bathroom in our basement, but the trips in the middle of the night from our bedroom on the second floor (upstairs) can seem a little long. I know that I will love it when it's all done, and I'll be thankful that we were able to fix the problems and make it new and beautiful again.

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