Wishing you a bee-utiful birthday...

 

I have this happy set of bee stamps with matching dies, and I finally decided to use them on a card. I think their poses are so funny--they make me laugh just looking at them. My sentiment was computer-generated and added with some foam tape.

I didn't have a honeycomb stencil (yet) to make a background, so I selected this yellow and white patterned paper by Stampin' Up. Now that I've received my honeycomb stencil, I'll be using that for backgrounds for these little guys.

I cut a stitched hexagon and then used a stitched background die to add some texture to it. I thought the stitched lines looked like the the flight patterns of the bees.

The hexagon was inked around the edges and popped up on dimensionals, as were the bees.

On the inside of my card I added a computer-generated sentiment and another of the bees.

This card sold almost immediately at the thrift store. It's such a happy card, and we all can use a little more happy right now!

As promised, here are a couple of photos from our trip to the Northwest.

We made a side trip to a town called Long Beach on the coast of Washington. It prides itself on having the "world's longest beach." I don't know if that's true, but it went on in both directions further than the eye could see, so maybe...

Those are some of my family members walking toward the beach entrance in the photo. As you can see, it was a cool and cloudy day--very different from the 100+ temperatures they had experienced in the weeks prior to our visit.

This is my lovely granddaughter Hadley running barefooted on the beach. It was a windy day, great for flying kites, and so much fun to visit the coast and listen to the ocean roar.

Each morning my son offered to make me a latte. They were SO delicious! He has a manual Italian espresso machine and even orders Italian coffee beans because he says they make the best coffee. I won't argue with that!

He's also got many flavors to add to your brew if you desire.

I like mine with no flavors, but lots of foam. As you can see in the photo, my lattes were perfect!

That's it for me today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

Arrow fun fold cards...

 These arrow fun fold cards really were fun (and quick!) to make, and I love how you can feature both sides of double-sided DSP (I have a LOT of it!).

If you want to see a video tutorial on how to make these, just watch Dawn's (from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts blog) here.

For this card, I used single-sided DSP from an old paper pad (5" X 7", I think). It has some glitter on it, so is really pretty IRL. My die-cut label was stamped and popped up on foam squares. I added a few glittery enamel dots to tie into the glitter in the paper pattern.

After adhering my two triangles of DSP to the inside, I stamped a sentiment there, too.

This card was made with an ivory card base. Instead of die-cutting a label I used a really old, heavy-duty tag shape. It was actually white, but I have a little cube of ivory ink which I swiped over it to achieve the ivory color. Then I stamped my sentiment and added a knotted ribbon and a few pink gems.

In this picture you can better see the thickness of this tag. I won a selection of these tag shapes years ago and still haven't used them all.

For the inside I used the reverse side of my DSP and added a stamped sentiment.

We are back from our trip to the Northwest (Oregon and Washington). Luckily, the weather was very temperate (highs of 70s and 80s) when we were there. I have a couple of pictures to share, but I'll do that in a future post, as I haven't even gotten them off my camera yet!

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

Cheryl

Wishing you a magical day...

 A couple more cards to sell at the thrift store:

I started out by cutting two white panels to fit my pink and blue A2 card bases. Then I grabbed several Distress Inks, my blending brushes and began to add some color to my white panels.

Once they'd been colored, I ran them through my Big Shot with a "starry night" background die, which cut all the little stars out of each panel. 

To get my stars to twinkle, I backed my colored panel with double-sided adhesive and rubbed some clear glitter into the little star apertures. The glitter stuck to the adhesive, and they really do twinkle when light hits them.

After rubbing in the glitter, I removed the backing paper from my adhesive and adhered my panel to a white piece of paper before attaching it to my card base. I wanted to make sure the stars looked white from the front.

I hand-cut a black base/ground for each card and glued it onto the panel. Then I die-cut my fairies and added them.

The sentiments were computer generated, die-cut and popped up on foam tape. I added just a hint of ink that matches the card base around the edges of each rectangle.

Inside each card I stamped "Happy Birthday" and adhered three irridescent stars that I had in my stash.

I love making cards like this, and most little girls love fairies, don't they? I think these will sell quickly, and then I'll need to make some more.

As you read this, we are probably still in the Northwest. I will share a little about our trip as soon as we return.

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

Cheryl

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #173: Anything Goes with option Punch It! (use a hand punch and/or die)...

 

This month, the option for our July challenge at Let's Craft and Create is to use a punch or die on your creation. I have lots of dies and use them often (almost always, if I'm honest), so I decided to challenge myself to use NO dies, only punches, for the special shapes I needed.  Here are the punches I chose:

The first two punches are by EK Success, the leaf punch is from Martha Stewart and the flower punch is by Recollections.

Here's the card I created:

I started by using a 3D embossing folder to create a dimensional background. Then i went digging through my papers and found some old (really old) paint sample cards--those cards you pick up at the paint or hardware store when you're trying to decide what color paint to buy. I had a few pale pink ones and decided to use them.

I punched my flowers from the paint samples and lightly inked their centers. I punched a few leaves from a scrap of pale green cardstock. To give them a little dimenson, I folded them in half and ran them through my crimper. I also inked their edges and ridges a bit with a dauber.

I also pulled out some heavy vellum and punched a few little leafy branches. Can you see them? They're a little more visible IRL.

The sentiment stamp I selected fit perfectly on the largest punched label. I ran the edges of my label across a gold metallic ink pad to define it a bit against the white background. It's been adhered with foam squares.

The tiny holes in the centers of my flowers were filled with gold from a Viva Decor pen. Also, I popped each one up with foam squares.

You can see the vellum "branch" pretty well in this picture. It is extending down from the center flower.

This is the inside of my card. I found a five-petal flower in my stamps. I think it's from a Bo Bunny set, but I'm not sure. It was stamped with Memento ink and colored with alcohol markers. The sentiment was also stamped.

Now it's your turn to give this latest challenge a try. The Design Team has a ton of inspiration for you. Just click here to see what they've created. Remember, you can always choose "Anything Goes" to enter, and you've got the rest of July, so there's plenty of time!

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

Cheryl

Happy birthday to an MVP...

 I have had a file for a card base sitting in my Silhouette file for a long time. I believe it came from here. A few days ago, I decided it was time to use it to make a couple of cards to sell at the thrift store.

The file contains the image of a base card in the shape of a baseball cap. I used the Silhouette software to create separate pieces for the bill of the cap (so that I could easily cut it in a different color) and for the inside panel so I could add a sentiment there.

I cut the card bases out of red, the bills from blue and the inside panels from white with my Silhouette. Then I die-cut the letters MVP. I could have used my Silhouette to cut these, but since I had the right size alphabet dies, I decided to use my Big Shot.

The button at the top of the cap is a large blue dot that came in a package of multi-color dots from Dollar Tree.

The dotted "seam" lines on the cap were added by hand with a red felt tip pen.

On the inside of the card I stamped "Happy Birthday," added a comma with a black pen and then cut the word CHAMP from black cardstock using a tiny alpha die set. When I want to adhere small letters like this, I line them up on my cutting mat grid and lay some washi tape over them to pick them up all at once. Then I turn the washi tape over and add a tiny bit of glue to the backsides of my letters. Finally, I pick up the washi tape (with the letters on it) and place it down on my card where I want the letters to be. After pressing them firmly in place, I can carefully pull off the washi tape, leaving the letters where I've glued them.

This was a quick and fun card to make, and I think it would be a great birthday card for any young boy who is into sports. It could also be made for a girl, using different colors, perhaps. I think a pink cap with a pale blue or purple bill would be really cute.

A few days ago, my niece posted a picture on Facebook of their peach tree--full of ripe peaches (she lives in Georgia). I am SO envious! I just purchased a few peaches at our local grocery store, and they were not good. I was so disappointed. I think we may just have to make a trip to Georgia next year at the end of June or early July to help pick my niece's peaches (wink, wink).

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

Cheryl

Stream of butterflies...

 

To make this card, I first created a slimline cardbase. Then, I cut two narrow pieces of white cardstock to the same height. I cut one edge of each piece with a curved edge die. Once that was done I used an embossing folder to give them some dimension. With an A2 EF you have to emboss half of each piece, turn them around, match the pattern up inside the EF and then emboss the other end. It's necessary to have a repeating pattern on your EF to do this.

I adhered a floral scrap of DSP onto the center of my card front, then adhered the white embossed panels with foam tape.

The butterflies were die-cut, adhered with glue, and a pearl was added to the center of each. My "Happy Birthday" sentiment was computer generated using the Impact Label font. Love this font! It's great for creating strip sentiments. I found it free on Dafont.com.

I added one more butterfly to the inside of my card, along with a stamped sentiment.

I really like making slimline cards, and this card helped use up some scraps of white and floral cardstock. 

This week we are heading out to Portland, Oregon, to visit a couple of our kids who live there. It will be the first time we've been on a plane in over two years. 

I am hoping the heat wave in the Northwest will have eased and we will have more temperate weather while we are there. I've been watching their temps and they've been ranging between 100-113 degrees Fahrenheit (38-45 Celsius) the last few days.  Today was 113, and I hope they do not top that!

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

Cheryl

Cat cards...

 

I have a few cat-themed stamps and dies, so I thought I'd make a couple of cat cards for the thrift store.

This little feline was actually in my card parts, just waiting to be used. I popped her up on dimensionals and then onto a die-cut square with wonky stitchlines.

Her eyes and collar had been covered with Glossy Accents and a little shading was added with colored pencils.

The inside has a simple stamped sentiment and party hat. I added an enamel dot to the top of the party hat.

This card was made with another die-cut cat that was found in my card parts and a computer-generated sentiment. After printing my sentiment and die-cutting my panel, I placed a circle mask in the center and then used a stencil to blend some ink onto the background. The little stars are tiny metal brads.

This picture is a bit blurry, but you can see from the shadow that my cat is again popped up on dimensionals.

I created a hairball by putting a little glob of glue near my cat and then adding some brown flocking powder to it.

I added another computer sentiment on the inside and a little more inking with my stencil.

Both of these sold quickly at the thrift store, as people seem to really like cards that include a bit of humor in the design. I definitely need to make more.

I am looking forward to the weekend. We actually checked the listings at our favorite movie theater (we use to go at least twice-monthly). We planned to go this weekend if we were at all interested in the film. Sadly, it was the new F9 film that was showing, and neither my husband nor I have any desire to see that one. When we do go to a movie, it will be the first time in 16+ months!

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

Cheryl