Father's Day cards, take two...

Over the next three days or so, I'm going to post the rest of the Father's Day cards I have made, just to be able to share them with you and as a reminder to me of what I made this year.

This was a simple card using some big word dies along with a few stars.

I started by using a strip of cardstock as a mask. I laid the strip across the center of my card and inked along it, darker next to the CS and lighter as I moved out. Then I rotated my strip 3/4" or so, making sure it still crossed the center of my card, and inked again. I kept doing this until the entire panel was filled with yellow rays emanating from the center point.

Once that was done, I adhered my die-cuts, and then glued the entire panel to my card base.

After finishing my yellow and white card, I decided to make one using a red, white and blue color combo. All of my die-cuts for these two cards were cut from glitter CS.

For the inside of both cards, I created a sentiment in Word and printed it from my computer.

These cards were made for the thrift store where I volunteer. When I took some cards into the store today, I barely got them priced when someone indicated they wanted to buy several of them. I am always so pleased when they sell!

We are getting ready for our first RV trip of the year. We plan to keep to ourselves on this trip, only visiting a few family members and a couple of national parks--and we will definitely be wearing masks when around others and regularly washing and disinfecting our hands. We'll take the necessary precautions to stay healthy and safe!

I will be writing and scheduling several posts, but I may or may not be able to comment on your blogs as much as I usually do. I promise to comment as much as possible, though.

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

Pretty floral hello...

Every now and then I like to send my two elderly aunts a card to let them know I am thinking about them. I think that it is especially important now when they have to remain in their homes as much as possible and it is difficult for them to socialize with their friends and neighbors.

This is a card I made for one of them. First, I made my card base out of some pretty floral cardstock I've had for ages. Then I cut the the flower sprig out of white cardstock and painted the outline and the rose petals with water colors. I cut the negative spaces of the leaves and other flowers out of colored/patterned cardstock and inserted those pieces into my die cut outline.

"Hello" was die-cut out of some gray cardstock and adhered to the white panel which was embossed using the Lifestyle Crafts Quatrefoil EF. I added some sequins and a lavender strip on each side (to match the lavender in the tiny flowers), and that was it! It was blank inside so I could write a note.

I wasn't sure this card would work AT ALL when I first started. I have a hard time using some of the printed cardstocks I have on hand. Especially when they have a bold print like this one. I think the white panel helped to tone things down, though, so it all worked out ok.

We are now enjoying the longest days (in terms of sunlight) of the year. In Minneapolis the sun is rising around 5:30 a.m and not setting until 9 p.m. Do you enjoy this change in daylight, or would you rather have a constant amount of daylight all year long?

I have traveled to Costa Rica three times in my life, spending 1-4 weeks there at a time. I have a friend there who owns a coffee plantation, and I love visiting her. Since Costa Rica is very near the equator, the days don't vary much in the amount of sunlight they receive each day. In fact, the days are pretty evenly divided between light and darkness--12 hours of each all year around. When I was there, I enjoyed being able to count on the sun coming up at 6 a.m. and setting at 6 p.m.

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

Twofer Card Challenge #28: Circles/Bubbles...

The most recent Twofer Card Challenge of Circles/Bubbles immediately caught my attention because I knew I had a circle die that I had never used. So, I'm not only entering the following cards into the Twofer Card Challenge, I'm also entering them into Darnell's June NBUS Challenge.

For both of my cards I used the circle die that cuts the cluster of circles you see on the right. For my seascape card, I used the die-cut as a stencil to ink in the bubbles coming from my fish. I actually added some Wink of Stella to the bubbles but it's just impossible to capture on my camera.

I started this card by heat-embossing the sentiment. The stamp is not a good quality one, so I had a little trouble getting it to look okay. This is an anniversary card for my husband, so it really doesn't have to be perfect. I know he'll like it, no matter what.

My sister sent me several of the die-cuts on this card--the net, jellyfish and starfish. It's so fun to be able to share die-cuts with each other. I just wish we lived closer so we could craft together more often.

I cut the fish and the conch shell using some dies I had on hand.

I also used a water stencil to lightly add some waves in the background.

I tried taking an angled photo to catch the sparkle on the bubbles, but no luck! You can see a bit of the sparkle on the jellyfish, though. My sister cut it from white glitter cardstock.

My second card is a simple thank you card, using the cluster of circles as a design element. I added a few sequins to some of the circles for a bit of sparkle and contrast.

The sentiment was cut from the same glitter cardstock as the circles.

I'm so glad the Twofer Card Challenge pushed me into using this NBUS circle die. Now I just have to come up with a few more ways to use it!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The weather is perfect here, so I plan to do some weeding in my flower beds and other yard work.

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

A father is someone to look up to...

The thrift store where I volunteer is open again, so I am making Father's Day cards for them. These two are in the bunch that I will take to the store this week. Hopefully, they will get sold!

This one is a top-folding A2 card. The sentiment is from Close To My Heart. I have simply colored in the banner, cut it out with a stitched square die and then matted it with some coordinating cardstock.

The shoes and hat were cut with an unbranded die set and then inked while the cardstock was still n the die.

This second card folds in the usual way--on the left side--and is put together the same way as the first card.

Inside both these cards is a simple, stamped "Happy Father's Day."

These two cards really came together quickly once I figured out what I wanted to do. I didn't pop anything up on foam squares, thinking they would be easier to mail if I kept them flat.

Making these cards brought back memories of my own dad. He loved tinkering around with electronics. And he was good at it! In fact, he built our first television from a kit in about 1955-56. I remember the first picture I ever saw on it. It was upside down because he had been making the final connections while it sat upside down on the table where he worked. I was just a little girl at the time and very excited about this new-fangled bit of "technology." My, how far we've come!

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

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #160: Punch it...

What? June already? It always amazes me how quickly time flies.

Today I'm here to talk about our newest challenge at Let's Craft and Create. The theme is "Punch it!" but you can always choose the "Anything Goes" option, so I hope you'll join us.

To start, I selected several punches and decided they would be the main tools in making my card. Here are the punches I chose:

The two white punches are by Martha Stewart. The little leafy sprig is an EK Success punch, and the well-used corner rounder is by Fiskars. One of the corner rounder's handles broke off, but it's still perfectly usable.

I happened to have a 12" X 12" sheet of this pink embossed cardstock, and I thought it would be perfect for my card. It was not so deeply embossed that I couldn't heat-emboss my sentiment directly onto the cardstock. After cutting and folding my card base, I used the corner rounder on the two outside corners.

I used the Martha Stewart border punch to create a trellis. I cut a 2 7/16" wide piece of white cardstock. I punch down one side, flipped it over, carefully lined it up and punched down the other side.

I fussy-cut thin strips of dark green cardstock to serve as my vines. Once I had them laced through my trellis, I added my punched sprigs.

The last step was to add some butterflies, made with the Martha Stewart punch from glitter cardstock and inked around the edges. One tiny pearl was added to the center of each one.

On the inside of my card, I added a white panel so I have somewhere to write a personal note.






Now it's your turn. I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge. For many of us, our dies have replaced most of our punches. If you're like me, you have even forgotten about some of the punches in your collection. Time to dig them out, dust them off and use them to create.

Check out all of the inspiration on Let's Craft and Create Challenge Blog and have fun!

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

George Floyd memorial...

Today my DH and I went to the memorial site, which is only about 1 1/2 miles from our house, where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis policeman. This has been a gathering spot for protesters and for those who simply wish to grieve his loss and honor his life.

Here are a few photos I took so that I could share them with you.

Cup Foods is a small convenience store at 38th St. and Chicago Ave. The area just in front of the store is where Mr. Floyd was killed.

This is in the middle of the intersection of 38th St. and Chicago Ave. When we arrived there were many people standing in a circle around this memorial site and speakers were taking turns addressing the crowd.

This outlines the place where Mr. Floyd lay with two policemen holding him down and one with his knee on his neck. It has been determined through an independent autopsy that Mr. Floyd died from mechanical asphyxiation.

Finally, here is a mural on an exterior wall of Cup Foods with many notes, bouquets of flowers and other items honoring Mr. Floyd's life.

We are still under curfew here in Minneapolis, but it has been shortened to 10 pm - 4 am, at least for today. I don't know if that is a new "weekday curfew" or simply a minor lifting of restrictions.

This is a lovely little restaurant very close to our house--just 2 1/2 blocks away. It had just opened a few weeks before the pandemic raised its ugly head. It had to immediately switch to "take out only." Because of the riots that have accompanied the peaceful protests, many businesses have boarded up their windows and doors to prevent rioters breaking them and looting whatever is inside. We often see protest-supportive messages on the plywood, like you see here.

Even our closest Dairy Queen is boarded up. I believe they are still open for business during regular business hours, and the plywood is just a precaution.

As you can see from these photos, even my neighborhood on the southeast edge of the Minneapolis city limits has been greatly impacted by this senseless homicide. I only hope and pray it is resolved with courage, grace, wisdom and justice.

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

Whimsical Christmas cards...

As you can see, I've been busy making Christmas cards. In fact, I made at least 5 of each of these.

For each card, I started with a pre-made card base that had a striped border all the way around the card front. After Christmas last year, I bought two packs, each containing 25 of the card blanks and 25 envelopes for 70% off at Michaels.

My tree was cut from green glitter paper. The tree die cut the garland openings, so I used double-sided tape on the back side to adhere some white cardstock and then sprinkled some white glitter into the garland openings.

The die also cut some small circular openings where I placed my flat-backed gems.

The tree and the star were popped up on foam tape.

On the inside I stamped a sentiment and also a tree border at the bottom. I colored in the white parts of the trees with a glitter pen.

This moose is pretty cute, isn't he? For this card, I took a green rectangle and cut my oval aperture, then dry-embossed it with a snowflake frame EF and rubbed a little white chalk over the embossed snowflakes. I die-cut my moose and assembled him so that he was peeking out of my aperture.

I added a wide piece of double-sided tape to the backside of my moose and aperture before gluing down my entire rectangle. Once that was done, I sprinkled white glitter over the open parts of the aperture and burnished it in with my finger. You can just see the sparkle if you look closely.

The sentiment dies came with the moose dies.

For this card, I matted my DSP with red and then added my die-cut Santa. I've inked the edges of the fur on his hat with Tea Dye Distress ink and used a couple of gray alcohol markers to add some shadow to his beard and mustache. His eyes and the berries on the holly were made with Nuvo Drops.

To create my sentiment, I used some alphabet dies to cut out my H's and O's, then glued them together. Once that was done, I simply adhered them to my card.

This was my favorite card of the bunch. I think I actually made 11 or 12 of these.  I die-cut the oval wreath from my green rectangle, backed it with 4" wide double-sided tape and adhered it to my card. I sprinkled some white glitter into the wreath cut-outs and burnished it in with my finger.

Then I die-cut and assembled my gnome and popped him up on foam tape. The sentiment is also popped up on foam tape.

For this inside sentiment I used two different stamps and two different inks.















On a more serious note, I'm sure you've all heard of the rioting that has been happening in Minneapolis. We are so saddened and a bit frightened by it all. I live just 14 blocks from where George Floyd was killed and the rioting and fires began. In fact the morning after the first fires we found pieces of burned debris that had blown into our yard the night before. I pray this is all resolved soon and justice is served. Please keep us in your thoughts.

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