Best of the Bunch

Hi there!  I actually think I've made the deadline for Die Cuttin' Divas September Sketch challenge:

I played with paper scraps for this one.  I had some fall color snippets from an oldie but goodie Graphic 45 paper pad.  The apple die cut and sentiment are from The Stamps of Life.

Oh my gosh...I wished I had noticed that wild twine tail floppin' over the picture :(.  Oh well, the sun's gone behind the clouds so I think a retake of the pic would actually be worse!  Thanks for visiting!  I hope you're having a super weekend!

The first 21!

Hi friends!  I was able to make a couple of cards this morning.  It had been about a week and I swear I go through withdrawal if I can't play along with some challenges.  I had a birthday card to make for a very sweet young girl that is turning 21 for the first time :).  The Shopping our Stash Challenge #266 is to USE NUMBERS and the Die Cuttin Divas' Challenge #280 is BIRTHDAY and I'll be linking this up to both of them:

I stamped the background text (MFT) in Lawn Fawn's Hippo gray ink and layered it onto Memory Box's Graphite cardstock.  The rainbow-colored balloons were die cut (MFT) and watercolored with Distress Inks.  I also sprayed them with Modge Podge Hi-Shine to seal in the color and add some shine.  The silver balloon was heat embossed with PK Glitz Embossing Powder.  I die cut the numbers three times with Memory Box's Typewriter Numbers, layered them on top of each other, and attached to the special silver balloon.  Finally, the sentiment (MFT) was heat embossed on a black cardstock scrap, trimmed into a banner, and popped up over the balloon strings.

That's it for today.  I hope you're having a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

Juicy News!

When I saw the challenge over at Die Cuttin Divas, I knew I had to play!  Their theme for Challenge #274 was "Ants or Picnic."  I'm very attached to the wacky ants over at Doodle Pantry that are always getting into things, so I thought they were perfect for this card!  I also wanted to link up to the latest Ants in My Pantry Digital Challenge #19 (AG), so here it is:

The hungry ant is holding onto a watermelon die cut from the Stamps of Life that has been inked with Distress Inks, sparkled up with Shimmer Mist and a touch of Glossy Accents on the watermelon seeds.  The DSP is from MME, the sentiment is from Doodle Pantry, and I just doodled a border on the label which is attached by MME enamel dots. 

The card layout is based on the latest Freshly Made Sketch #245 that I flipped:

This was a fun and quick card to make and I'm so impressed with myself that I can actually link up to three different challenges before they close...LOL!  Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you're having some juicy watermelon this weekend!!

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!

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!

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