Some shaker fun in a jar...

I love shaker cards, and these two were so much fun to make. I have an unbranded die set for the jar. I cut the frame out of Dollar Tree Foam Core. It's just the right thickness to make a perfect shaker.

The little tag comes with the die set, and it fit my stamp perfectly. The leafy flourish is a Cheery Lynn die, and the flower dies were also unbranded. I used a piece of leftover packaging to make the clear front on my shaker jar.

I decorated the inside of my card with a couple of scalloped borders, I made them with my largest scalloped rectangle frame.

My sentiment was computer-generated.

My second shaker card was made exactly the same way with different DSP and cardstock.

Here's a peek from the side so you can see how thick the Foam Core is. The sequins have enough room to easily move around.

The centers of all my flowers were made with Nuvo Drops.

Another computer-generated sentiment finishes off this card.

I think this shaker die set will be fun to use for Christmas, Valentine's Day and even Halloween. Wouldn't it be cute as a black, green or purple jar with a bunch of little pumpkins or spiders in it? I can't wait to give that a try.

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

Pretty coneflowers...

I always admire pink coneflowers (Echinacea) when I see them. Their color is vibrant, and the fuzzy-looking centers are very impressive!

When I received a coneflower die set (unbranded), I decided to try my hand at making a card that featured them.

I cut the coneflower petals from pale pink cardstock and then used my Promarkers to add some depth of color to them.

The petals of the flower on the left look a little discolored because I have a smudgey scratch on the lens of my camera (arrrrrgh!). We are ordering a new camera this week, so I'm hoping my photo quality improves once it arrives. I like using an actual camera rather than my phone.

I'm not sure you can tell, but I applied a layer of glue to my flower centers and then covered them with dark brown flocking. They look quite fuzzy IRL.

Do you ever use flocking on your cards? It really is fun stuff, but I tend to forget I even have it.

The inside of my card has a stamped sentiment. Sorry, but I have forgotten the brand name for this stamp, and I am much too comfortable on the sofa to get up, go downstairs and find it.

As you read this, I am having fun with my sister who lives 500 miles from me. We are probably in her craft room sharing our dies so that we can each have a few new cuts to play with.

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

A few forgotten cards...

As I have mentioned many times on the blog, I make cards for a local thrift shop to sell to help support their community outreach programs. Around holidays like Mother's Day, I often make so many cards for the store that I forget to share them all.

Here are three cards that I made back in April:

I love this curved stamp and die set that makes a card look really special. This stamp set, along with the flower dies and letter dies are all unbranded. The papers are from Stampin' Up.

After cutting out my layers of flower petals, I inked the center of each layer with a little darker pink ink. Then I added some tiny dots of Nuvo Drops to the center. I loved the dimension this added to my flower.

I see my picture is actually upside down (oops!), but you can still see the detail on the flower.

My inside sentiment was stamped, using a couple of different sets. I also stamped a leafy flourish which I embellished with some pink Nuvo Drops.

This card started with some pretty Stampin' Up paper. I stamped and heat embossed the word "happy" (unbranded) and then added my flower and leaves. "Mother's Day" was also heat embossed on some coordinating cardstock.

My flower die set is also unbranded. The center was made with white Nuvo Drops.

The sentiment in this card was computer-generated.

This rose image and leaves was created with a layered stamp set. I had to stamp my rose first and then mask it off in order to stamp my leaves "underneath" it.  I used two fine point pens--gold and black--to add the stamens in the center.

A heat-embossed sentiment and a few sequins finished it off.

I added the same computer-generated sentiment to this card as was used on the previous card. I think you can see that I've inked around the sentiment panel with a little pink ink.

I'm happy to say all these cards sold. Customers seem to buy a lot of Mother's Day cards at the store. Maybe they think moms will appreciate a handmade card.

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

It's your birthday, make some noise...

This was a card for one of my grandsons last month, and I discovered today that I had never shared it here on the blog.

Boys probably don't need to be told to "make some noise," but as a grandmother, I figured it would be fun to do just that!

My sentiment on the front of the card was computer-generated.

On the inside of my card I created a pop-out mechanism for a die-cut drum set (unbranded). I cut the drum set a couple of times and glued them together to give it more strength and stability. There are some pretty skinny parts on it!

If you look closely, you'll see that I even added his name onto the big base drum with some letter stickers. My sentiment here was also computer-generated.

I used a black glitter brush pen (Spectrum Noir) to add some sparkle to the cymbals and to highlight some of the lines on the drums.









This is a simple card, but one that works well for boys. I have five grandsons, so I love it when I can use the same card design for more than one of them.

We've had a stormy morning today--rain and wind with dark clouds making it seem more like it should be early evening. I guess I won't get any gardening done today.

My little single-cup coffee maker has bitten the dust and crossed over the coffee-colored rainbow bridge. It was one that used regular coffee grounds, not the K cups that so many of them require nowadays. I will be using my French Press coffeemaker until I can find a replacement. Any suggestions on a good one?

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

A new home is so exciting...

We were invited to my niece's housewarming recently, so I made a card to give to her along with a bottle of champagne to toast the occasion. And while I was at it, I decided to make two cards, since another niece had also just moved into a new home.

Here are the two cards--same design, but slightly different.

For this one I used a distressed polka-dotted paper as well as a green floral paper to create my landscape. I'm always a little hesitant to use distressed paper, especially when the rest of the papers used are not distressed. Do you hesitate in using distressed papers?

My house, trees and fence came from an unbranded die set and were easy to cut out and customize.

The clouds are by Impression Obsession and the "Congrats" die-cut is by Hero Arts. I printed "on your new home" on my computer. I know it looks crooked in this photo, but I think that was just the angle at which I took the picture. I have a TERRIBLE time taking good photos.

I used a different house from the same die set and some different papers for this card. I also embossed the roof, but I'm not sure that was a good idea.

All the grassy areas on the two cards were cut with stitched border dies from Paper Smooches.

Speaking of homes, my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter left this morning to go back to their home in the Pacific Northwest. It was so much fun to have them here and very sad to see them go. I had a bit of a hard time saying goodbye. They are so far away and we just don't get to see them often enough.

Now I need to look ahead, though, and get things in order for a trip to visit my sisters and attend a family wedding. My nephew's son is getting married on July 27, and I'll be driving about 500 miles to go to the wedding. My DH is unable to go because of business reasons, so it'll be just me on this trip. I don't mind though. I rather like a trip now and then by myself.

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

Commissioned card...

A friend who has a twin sister was turning 70 and asked if I would make a card that she could give to her twin. I dug into my trusty "mature adults" stamps and came up with this card:

I thought this image was perfect for "mature" twins. In fact, it won't be that many years and my own twin daughters (whose 42nd birthdays were yesterday) will fit the profile for cards similar to this. he he  [Don't get upset with me, girls, for saying that!!]

This is another easel card. I rather like making this type of card.

You can see that my stopper is a rectangle raised up with some double-sided foam tape. I've added a die-cut "Happy Birthday" to the rectangle.

You can't see it when the card is in its easel position, but there are three die-cut candles above the happy birthday rectangle.

Here's one more look at these glamorous gals. The white-looking glasses are actually silver, done with a gel pen.

I'm getting a little better at coloring these images, but I still need to work on my skin tones. One of my problems is I don't have a full set of alcohol markers--only a couple of each color. Without a full range of skin tones, it's hard to get proper shading. Luckily, there are more brands of alcohol markers available these days, so maybe the competition will bring the price down.

We are looking forward to my son, his wife and our granddaughter coming to visit this weekend. They live in the Northwest, so we don't get to see them nearly enough. I'm so excited to have them here!!



Have a great weekend, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Sympathy in blue and silver...

Today's card features another die that my friend Lynette let me use when she and I had a little crafter's playdate recently. This die is beautifully intricate, and I thought it made for a lovely sympathy card.

Usually, I would have placed this die-cut vertically on a card, with the lacy ends at top and bottom, but I thought it looked so pretty this way. I only added a stitched oval with a heat-embossed sentiment from MSE! Stamps.

My enamel dots were made using a silver Viva Décor Pen.

Here's a look from another angle at this pretty die-cut.

My interior sentiment was also heat-embossed and is from Stampendous. I love how this card turned out, and it has inspired me to look through my own dies to see if I have anything that will work the way this one did.

When you read this we will just be returning from a week-long RV trip to Illinois. Both my DH and I LOVE taking off in our RV on little (or big) adventures. This year we will only take short trips, but next year we'll plan another 6-weeker.

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