Are you tired of my Mother's Day cards yet?

I hope not, because I've got a couple more for you today.

This card features more of those unbranded dies I keep talking about. The lacy panel is one of those, as are the flower stamps with matching dies.

I just stamped a whole bunch of the flowers and foliage, cut them out with the matching dies and used them on various cards.

The gems are from my stash.

The interior of this card is pretty plain with just a computer-generated sentiment.

More unbranded dies were used here for the white background panel, the wood crate (cut from wood-patterned cardstock) and the grass. The flowers were some that I've had in my stash for ages. I actually got them at an arts and crafts second hand store here in the metro area. They were very inexpensive--like 25 cents for a small bag stuffed with at least a hundred of them. Every once in a while I put some of them to good use.

This card has another plain interior with a computer-generated sentiment.

Well, I have managed to get most of my annuals planted for this year. I still need to get a couple more, plus a couple of perennials and get them in the ground. Hopefully, I can take care of that this coming weekend. It always feels so good to get my planting taken done.

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #137: Ribbons, lace, twine OR anything goes...

I am so thrilled that Mother Nature has allowed Spring to make an entrance. That's important news in my neck of the woods, since we had the snowiest April ever! The arrival of warm weather also means it's time for our May challenge at Let's Craft and Create. This time we're focusing on using ribbons, lace or twine on our projects. Of course, you can always choose the "anything goes" option, but don't you have a little ribbon, lace or twine in your stash that is begging to be used?

Here's the card I made using a scrap of leftover ribbon and a little twine:

I needed a baby card as my niece just gave birth to a beautiful little girl. I had this cute little giraffe die (unbranded), and I really wanted to make a pink giraffe. With a green bow. Fun, right? Its darker pink spots were inked up while it was still in the die.

I cut my scrap of ribbon into three equal pieces, looped the ends together and adhered them behind my circle for a nice little embellishment.

My sentiment, by My Craft Spot (Bundle of Joy stamp set), was heat embossed.

This inside verse is from the same Bundle of Joy stamp set. I actually tried to stamp it with pink ink first, but I think my cardstock doesn't have a hard enough finish on its surface, because it looked a little fuzzy after stamping. That's why I finally stamped it in black, which was a bit clearer.

Now it's your turn to dig out the lace, ribbon and/or twine and create something fun. First, though, check out all my team members' makes over at Let's Craft and Create for some fabulous inspiration . And to tempt you just a little bit more, there is always a crafty prize up for grabs.

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

Mother's Day is around the corner...

...which is why I'm still making Mother's Day cards.

Here are a couple more I'll share with you today.

This card looks so delicate and pretty IRL. The pink band and the butterfly (MS punch) are both vellum. I heat embossed the sentiment and added a pearl to my butterfly.

My flower is an unbranded die with a pearl cluster added to its center. I bought a slew of these pearl clusters at least three years ago, thinking I'd use them often. They're pretty, but they add a significant "bump" to my card which requires extra postage, so I don't use them as often as I thought I would!

On the inside of my card I printed a sentiment with my computer and added a couple of tiny butterflies (Fiskars punch). The two butterfly punches that I used on this card get LOTS of use.

Here's another card using bold-colored cardstock that has some gold foil polka dots as a background for its floral pattern. It really is pretty.

I used a Spellbinder's fancy oval die for my sentiment and added a flower sticker from my stash that matched some of the flowers on the cardstock.

The fancy corner die-cuts were made with a Cheery Lynn die. I haven't used my corner dies in a long time, so I thought it was time to put them back to work.

To dress up my computer-generated sentiment on the inside, I fussy-cut one of the flowers on the cardstock and adhered it to a corner.

Since today is my oldest sister's birthday, I want to say,

Happy Birthday, Pat!

You can see the card I made for her here.

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

Cheryl

Origami boxes...

If you've read any of my posts recently, you know I make cards for a local thrift store. The thrift store sells them to support its various programs that help low-income families in the area. Those services include a weekly food shelf and daily bread give-away.

I've started to also make small decorative boxes to sell (very cheaply!) in the jewelry department. When customers buy jewelry at the thrift shop, it most often does not include a box. If they want to give it as a gift, they definitely want a box or pretty container for it.

Here's an example of what I make:

These are simple origami boxes that I've added a bit of embellishment to. If you want to learn to fold an origami box, check out these instructions. They're super simple. I use two different size squares of designer paper (not cardstock!);, one of them is cut 3/8" smaller than the other. The smaller square makes the box, and the larger square makes the lid.

Here's another view that shows you the depth of the boxes. You can use a little double-sided tape during the final step of putting these boxes together, if you wish, just to hold them a bit more securely.

I add a little shredded paper inside each box as a filler.

These have been popular sale items at the thrift shop - especially with Mother's Day looming.

If you have designer paper that you think you'll never use on a card, you could use it to make a box. And there's no rule that says the box and lid have to be made from the same paper. You could mix and match or use plain for one and patterned for the other. I hope you'll give it a try.

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

A favorite Mother's Day card...

This was a super simple Mother's Day card, but I really liked it. The background is some DSP that I found in my stash. I thought it looked like a cloudy sky.

The dies I used for the tree and sitting/reading children are unbranded. I love these images of children reading. We all want our children and grandchildren to be good readers, don't we? It makes life so much easier for them.

I heat-embossed my sentiment onto the charcoal-colored cardstock.

My inside sentiment was computer-generated. Like I said, this card was easy peasy! It was donated to the thrift store for them to sell.

One little anecdote from the thrift store: I was busy displaying some of my handmade Mother's Day cards in the jewelry case there. As I was doing this, a lady walked by and began watching me. Thinking that the cards had been donated by someone other than me, she said, "Some people sure make beautiful cards, don't they!" I just replied "they sure do" and continued with my task. She made my day.

Today is a gorgeous day outside. Our snow is now all gone. It's time to get outside and get to work on my plants! First, though, I'm actually going to wash my car. I can't wait to get it all cleaned up from winter driving. They salt the streets (it helps de-ice them) so heavily here in the wintertime and it ends up on our cars.

I hope you are enjoying some sunshine wherever you are. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Twofer Card Challenge #4: Pets...

Whew! As you can see in the graphic on the right, I am just getting this post done under the wire. Today is the last day to enter the "Pets" challenge over at the Twofer Card Challenge Blog. 

Here are my entries:

I've been wanting to use this cat stamp set (unbranded) for some time now, and I decided this was the perfect opportunity.

As I am still in Mother's Day cardmaking mode, I decided that one of my cards should be for the stack I am working on for the thrift store where I volunteer. The cards I have donated to the store are selling quickly, and I need to make more!

For this card I stamped my image on a My Creative Time stitched oval die-cut and colored it with my ProMarkers. I added a little flower (unbranded die) and part of a Cheery Lynn leafy branch die-cut.

The "love you" was actually cut from a sheet of designer paper. It's a very handy sheet as it is completely covered with little sentiments like this one. I popped it up on foam tape just over my die-cut MOM (unbranded alphabet dies). A ribbon and a few enamel dots from my stash finished it off.

The inside of my card has a computer-generated sentiment and a cat silhouette from the same stamp set that I used for the front of my card. I used a couple different colors of ink to stamp the silhouette so that it looked a bit like it might be the cat on the front of my card.

This card is very CAS. Once again I colored the image with my ProMarkers and chalked around it with blue chalk. Once the coloring was done, I used my craft knife to cut around the bottom of the flower pot so that I could slip a piece of DSP and a little white border (unbranded die) up underneath it.

The stamped and heat-embossed sentiment came from the same stamp set as my cat image.

I just couldn't figure out if any embellishments like enamel dots or gems would look good, so I opted for just a tiny twine bow beneath my sentiment.

The inside of this card is very similar to the previous one--a computer-generated sentiment and a stamped cat silhouette.

That's it for me today. If you have a spare hour or two and haven't yet entered the Twofer Challenge, you really should! It is a lot of fun to make two different cards, using the same stamp or die-cut.

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

Cheryl

Three more Mother's Day cards...

I have been very busy making Mother's Day cards to sell at the thrift store. Here are three of them:

This one was super easy because I let the pretty paper stand for itself. It came from a cardmaking magazine and worked really well for this card.

This stamp is an old one that I bought used. It's one of only a couple of Mother's Day stamps that I have, so I tend to use it over and over. I heat-embossed the sentiment, colored in the little heart with a ProMarker and added a flat-backed gem and a little twine.

The circle die is by Spellbinders.

The inside is pretty plain with just a computer-generated sentiment.

For this card, I cut the letters (unbranded dies) out of some pretty cardstock and then out of black foam. I glued the cardstock letters onto the foam and then onto my background CS.

I inked the premade flower (by Recollections) a little in the center. Actually, it's two flowers glued together with a pale pink enamel dot in the center. Then I cut a couple of leaves (unbranded die) and adhered it all to my card.

Once again, a plain interior with a computer-generated sentiment.

 Finally, I made this card using another piece of cardstock from a magazine as my background. I thought it was such pretty paper and perfect for Mother's Day.

My little die-cut bouquet was created from an unbranded stamp and die set. All it needed was a little bow of purple ribbon to finish it off.

And another computer-generated sentiment on the inside.

The Mother's Day cards seem to be selling really well at the thrift store. I guess pretty much every one gives their mother a card for Mother's Day, and I price them pretty low ($2.00). It is a thrift store, after all. But the low price is another reason I keep them pretty simple and quick to make.

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

Cheryl