Hooray!

Gray skies today so I finished two cards in my happy place!  The second card is for the latest challenge over at the Die Cuttin' Divas with a Birthday theme (#272):

I used three different dies on this card:  Hooray banner (Die-Versions), stitched rectangle (MFT), and stars (Mama Elephant).  Memento inks were used for the background and I added the fun sentiment from MFT under the banner.  A little Glossy Accents on the die cut stars and this is ready to go!

Thanks for visiting today ~ Have a wonderful (and hopefully warm) 4th of July!

How Sweet It Is...

Hi friends ~ Now I have that song playing in my head over and over and over!  My card today is for the latest CASology Challenge (Row) and Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday (Wafer thin die or stencil):

I just received the Simon Says Stamp Ice Cream Cone Parade die and had to give it a whirl!  The cones were die cut out of Bristol paper, popped out of the "parade," colored with Zig Clean Color watercolor brushes, and then inlaid back into the negative.  After smothering with Wink of Stella, I added some "drips" using Nuvo Crystal Drops in orange.  I have to get more of these!  It's like a little party in a bottle and dries so round and shiny :-)  Lastly, the sentiment from The Stamps of Life was stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.  Scary...should have done it first but thank goodness for the Misti!

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

Cards in Envy: It's a Great Day for a White Wedding!

Tis the season for weddings and Cards in Envy is looking for wedding cards or anniversary cards this time around.  Create any size card celebrating these special events ~ just make sure it fits nicely in an envy with no lumps or bumps!

My beautiful niece is getting married this summer and her bridal shower is coming soon.  I decided to celebrate her shower with this card:

I actually partially die cut the front of this card, then die cut another dress (Memory Box) to layer over the top of the partial.  I wanted to decorate the dress up with silver ribbon and sequins and its the only way I could think of doing it and keeping the inside of the card clean!  The DSP is from DCWV.  Here's the inside sentiment from Hero Arts:

We hope you'll play along and look forward to see your wedding/anniversary projects!  Thanks for stopping by :-)

Die Cuttin' Divas - Father's Day Challenge

Hi all!  This week's challenge over at Die Cuttin' Divas is for Father's Day:

This is a pretty new challenge for me.  I discovered it last week and think it will quickly become a habit!  I love die cuts and tend to always have at least one on almost every project. 

Going with the challenge theme, this is the Father's Day card I created for my brother:

He has a pond in his background with lots of goldfish and a few precious koi.  I say precious because they have survived the heron and raccoons...so far at least!  I die cut the koi three times in orange, white, and black shimmery cardstock so I could inlay a koi-like pattern.  Here's the other stuff I used:

Cardstock:  Blue Ombre by DCWV
Stamps:  Clearly Besotted (sentiments), Impress (sea grasses), and Winnie & Walter (bubbles)
Die:  Koi by Spellbinders
Inks:  Memento
Other:  Glossy Accents on the bubbles

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ Have a great Father's Day weekend with your loved ones!

Muddy Paws

Hi friends!  The Cue Card for CASology this week is Masculine:

I had one last Father's Day card to make and get in the mail by today.  This one is for a dear friend.  He has no "human" children but is an excellent Dad to his rescued fur baby.  He is also a bit of a clean freak so I thought muddy paws would bring a smile to his face ~ at least on the card!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have an awesome Father's Day weekend with loved ones!

BOOM!

The challenge this week over at The Paper Players is a color theme:

Red, White and Blue!  I usually make 4th of July cards for family and friends and was playing around with a layout for this year. 

I was going for fireworks, using a sparkler stamp that I have, masking off the stick.  I also used two small "burst" type stamps that I had in my stash.  After stamping, a little dab of stickles was added in the centers.  I mounted the fireworks show onto red cardstock and inked up a thin strip of white with the same color of blue ink to add along the edge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Real #1 Dad and Faux Metallic

Hello friends!  This morning I put together a Father's Day card for my Dad.  He'll be 94 years old next month and he'll always be #1 to me! 

I used Hickory Smoke Distress Ink to ink up the rectangle layer then used white Perfect Pearls to give it a brushed silver look.  Then I dry embossed the cardstock with one of my favorite guy embossing folders (Lifestyle Crafts).  It looks like the bumper of my truck :)  The #1 Dad die cut is from Die Versions which I cut out of black cardstock and heat embossed a couple of times with clear embossing powder.  It's hard to see the shine in this pic!  Lastly, I added 3 brushed silver embellies from Heidi Grace.  I hope Dad likes it!  Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a great weekend!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

The Paper Players - Father's Day

Die Cuttin' Diva's - June Sketch

CASology #201: Sunshine

Woohoo, we have sunshine here today and a sunshine challenge this week over at CASology:

I found this Folk Art stencil in my stash and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've used it (what a surprise :).  I pounced it with Delicata Golden Glitz ink and stamped the sentiment (MFT) in VersaFine Onyx Black.  I still felt it needed a little more "shine" so I lightly sprayed the entire card with gold Glitter Blast through a piece of plastic canvas that gave it just the right sparkle. 

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you have some sunshine in your neck of the woods!

Words 2 Craft By #30: New Beginnings

Welcome back, W2CB friends!  To kick off the summer, our challenge for June is "New Beginnings."  Feel free to interpret this any way you'd like, such as a wedding, graduation, retirement, new job, new flip flops...you get the idea :-). 

I happen to have a favorite niece that is getting married in August.  I'm very excited for her and her husband-to-be as they begin a new life together.  They're as cute together as these love birds!

And here's a pic of the inside because I absolutely adore this sentiment from Taylored Expressions!

I'm sure I stamped this straight but it looks a little bit crooked in the photo.  I'm blaming my cropping abilities!

Anyhoo, we hope you'll play along with us this month and celebrate a new beginning!  Thanks so much for visiting today :-)

Cards in Envy - No Girls Allowed!

Hi CIE friends!  You guessed it - it's a masculine card this time around for the latest Cards in Envy challenge.  Any theme is welcome:  Father's Day, Birthday, Thanks, etc.  Just make sure it's flat enough to fit in an envy :-)

I distressed a very thin piece of balsa wood with Distress Inks and then stamped the image and sentiment in VersaFine Sepia ink.  I was going for a wood burned look...what do you think?  The DSP is from Hobby Lobby and I added gold stitching with a gold Sharpie.  The thin wood stars (Hobby Lobby) were also inked up a bit and adhered with Multi Medium.

Please come play along with us and share your manly cards!  Thanks for stopping by :-)

Anything's "Popsicle!"

CASology's Cue Card this week is CAS and so appropriate to celebrate their 200th challenge!  Congrats on this huge milestone and I just wish I had discovered this challenge earlier.  I haven't been playing along for very long but I'm so inspired by the uber-talented design team.  I typically make multi-layered cards which I enjoy, but find the CAS style much more challenging.  In other words...it's not as easy as it looks and sometimes take me a long time to be simple!  Thanks, CASology, for taking me outside of my comfort zone :-)

Here's my card - I'm celebrating nice warm spring weather here and looking forward to orange popsicles with my grandson this summer!

I started with an orange splat of color and popped up a mini popsicle die cut (The Stamps of Life) that I smothered with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents for a shiny, sparkly treat.  It looks like it's melted a bit!  The sentiment is also from The Stamps of Life.

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ Have a wonderful weekend!

SOS #254 - The 4 Elements

This week's Shopping Our Stash Challenge is to be inspired by the 4 Elements:  Water, Earth, Fire and Wind.  Since I live on the coast, it was an easy choice...Water, of course!

The "stash" part of this card is a roll of washi tape that I've had for at least a year that looks like waves.  I knew it would come in handy one day!  I layered the tape five times and tucked in the whale die cut (sponged with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink) from Memory Box.  I added a little vellum water spout colored with Copics, a small enamel black dot for his eye, and a sentiment from Impress.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you're having a good week!