Feline Better

Welcome back, friends!

One of my favorite crafty activities is to design cards with patterned papers or embossing and tuck them away in a drawer for future use.  No pressure to make a card, just having fun with the basics.  Now and then I remember to pull one of those out of the drawer and use it.  It can be fun to start from the bottom up and see what happens.

Today I started with a card base I'd created way back in February 2024.  I have some older than that, too, and it seems to me it's time to use some of the oldies in order to make way for the new ones I continue to make.  I chose the adorable and not-yet-used Inky Antics Charming Kitties #1 for this card.

I Copic colored and hand cut two of the stamps to line up three kitties on the front.  Are they not the cutest?  The sentiment is a vertical stamp, but I inked one word at a time to make a horizontal sentiment which fit better with the sketch.  Sizzix Woodland Borders add some pretty trim.  I'm loving those borders even more than I thought I would now that I'm actually using them.

I used every kitty in the set including the little guy who's pictured below, sitting inside the card with another sentiment:

Love!

I made the card specifically for a friend who is healing from an injury.  She'll just have to smile!

We all need to do more of the things that make us happy.

Take care, and have a joyful day!

Stamps:  Inky Antics Charming Kitties #1  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 & 110 lb, years old designer paper (Chatterbox maybe)  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Sizzix Woodland Borders, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Spec-tacular Vase

Hi friends!  I've had a few things going on, in and out of my craft room -- it's springtime, after all -- but the only thing I accomplished this week is to finally color up this Spec-tacular Vase by Stamping Bella.  I don't know why it's been so long since Stamping Bella has crossed my radar, but one day I stumbled upon the Spec-tacular series of stamps and I was completely enchanted.  There are a bunch of them at Simon Says Stamp -- look here -- and, oh, my gosh, I want them all!  Can you believe I narrowed it down to one?  I'm sure I'll be going back for more.

I picked up the Spec-tacular Sentiment Set while I was at it.  I have other stamps that will work with these sentiments, too, and one of them is set aside for coloring soon.

Today I watercolored with a variety of Stampin' Up inks, but the gray is Tombow marker.  I managed to include some very old Webster's Pages designer paper with the frame and hearts.

My Spec-tacular Vase will be visiting the following challenges today:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge #40 -- Anything floral goes, with optional mood board.
Addicted to Stamps and More -- Make your mark.
NBUS Challenge #85 -- My never before used schtuffs are the Spec-tacular Vase and Spec-tacular Sentiment Set.

I had a spectacular lot of fun with this.  I hope your day includes some fun as well.  See you soon!

Stamps:  Stamping Bella Spec-tacular Vase and Spec-tacular Sentiment Set  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Cougar Natural card base, very old Webster's Pages designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black  Coloring:  Watercolor with Stampin' Up inks and gray Tombow marker  Dies:  Memory Box Wrapped Stitched Frames, Paper Smooches Hearts

Daffodil Trio

Hello, and welcome to a new week at my happy place!

While spring is still fresh and young I thought I'd color some daffodils.  Those in my garden have long since come and gone, but Penny Black's not-yet-used Flower Scoops from last year will work nicely for a friend's birthday later this month.

The SSS Teardrop Pinpoint Frames on the pretty designer paper provided an extra feminine starting point for the base.  The additional mat was measured and cut with my paper trimmer, and the corners punched with an oldie but goodie decorative corner rounder.  I brushed the edges with Stampin' Up Mellow Moss ink and stamped a sentiment from another PB set.  Off to a good start!

The daffodil bouquet was colored with Tombow markers and blender on watercolor paper, then hand cut and shaped from the backside with a roller ball type stylus.  It's popped up on foam tape, plump in the middle with the edges curled back.  Three iridescent sequins finish the card.

Speaking of springtime and happy place...

Ridley's happy place is anywhere with a ball.  You can probably guess that on this April day he'd been chasing it quite a bit.  It can be hard to get any work done out there, but he's worth it.  The forsythia has now dropped a lot more blooms as the green leaves push them out of the way to have their turn in the garden.

Challenges today:

Triple B Challenge:  Birds, Butterflies, Blooms  -- Today I have blooms.
NBUS Challenge #85 -- My never before used schtuffs are Penny Black Flower Scoops and Simon Says Stamp Teardrop Pinpoint Frames.  I feel like a broken record as many times as I've linked to this challenge.

 

That's all for today, friends.  Wishing you peace and happiness and plenty of crafty time.  Thank you for visiting!

Stamps:  Penny Black Flower Scoops, Super Day  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Hammermill Premium 100 lb white, Paper Rose Flower Shoppe designer paper  Ink:  Memento Toffee Crunch for image outline, Memento Tuxedo Black sentiment, SU Mellow Moss shading on mat  Coloring:  Tombow markers and homemade blender  Other:  Simon Says Stamp Teardrop Pinpoint Frames, Marvy decorative corner rounder, iridescent sequins, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

April's Christmas Cards: Snowbird

Hello again, friends!  I'm going to share the card I made for the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge even though I'm barely making the deadline.  The important thing is that it inspired me to get busy.  My goal is to make two or more Christmas cards per month, preferably more.

The challenge board reminded me of this pretty Stamperia Dewdrops paper.  It's 8x8 double sided, enabling two card fronts from a sheet, so that's what I did.  Very simple with only minor differences.  The bird has appeared on my Christmas cards many times.  You know I've got basketsful of not-yet-used supplies, but I still turn frequently to the oldies.

Inside each card is this sentiment with a snowflake cut from the designer paper.

Total Christmas cards in the box:  13

It's better than zero!

I'll be moving along to spring now, thank you.

Have a beautiful day!

Peace On Earth Challenge

Stamps:  Inside sentiment Stampendous You and Yours  Paper:  Hammermill 100 lb premium white, Stamperia Dewdrops designer paper  Ink:  Stampin' Up Bordering Blue (bird) and Brocade Blue (sentiment dies and stamp)  Dies:  Memory Box Airin Bird Background and Snowflake Bird, Cottage Cutz Season's Greetings sentiment, Impression Obsession Small Snowflake Set  Other:  1/8" hole punch and Stickles Diamond glitter glue for snowflake centers

Double D Challenge: Tea or Coffee

Hello friends!  It's Double D Challenge time again and for this go around Darlene is asking for tea or coffee themed projects.  The pretty inspiration board is designed to help warm us up and get started.

 

The prize for a random winner is two packs of very pretty peel off stickers -- butterflies and teapots & cups.  I think I would love to color those teapots!

The team votes for creative favorites.  As always, there's more information on the Double D blog.

Let's play!

**********

Did I make a bird card or a coffee card?  Well... both, and it was a lot of fun!  I considered making this for our previous "Humor" challenge, but then I knew the "Tea or Coffee" challenge was coming up, so I saved it for now.

Simon Says Stamp Birdies met up with Cottage Cutz Cup of Love and opined with Art Impressions See You with a Latte sentiment.

I chose the very old BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper to play with because the swirly pattern from which I cut the frame loosely reminds me of a fancy latte.  In fact, the birds, cups, branch, and flower accents were all cut from the Phoebe paper.

The white eye dot was made with white acrylic paint and a very skinny brush.  Sometimes I forget the eye dot, but it really does add more life to a character.

A little note about using the designer paper for die cuts:  I like to glue a layer of designer paper onto cardstock before cutting.  It firms up the DP and saves cutting twice and then trying to match up the layers.  That was especially helpful with the branch and the birds' beaks and legs.  Maybe you do this, too?

I hope you'll visit the Double D blog, enjoy the team's cards, and then play along with yours.  Have fun, and have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  Art Impressions See You with a Latte  Paper:  Hammermill 100 lb premium white, BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black for sentiment, various SU inks for shading die cuts  Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Birdies, Cottage Cutz Cup of Love, Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets  Other:  White acrylic paint for eye dot

Lavender Note

Hi there!  This card has been sitting around for two months waiting for me to post it, so I think it's probably about time.  I made it for no reason other than the love of the craft and all these beautiful supplies in my toybox.  The Altenew Loving Birds 3D embossing folder was a new-to-me gift from a friend when I made the shabby chic card in this post.  I just kept right on playing with it.

The embossing was done on retired (probably) Stampin' Up Lavender Lace cardstock, then smooshed with white pigment ink directly from pad to paper.  I cut the embossed panel down to a corner featuring just one bird and some flowers.  It worked out nicely!  The background panel was brushed with gray ink then covered with paper lace -- a very old product from an out of business company.  I added die cut Memory Box flowers brushed with SU Lavender Lace ink, and a stamped and die cut sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp set.

No challenges today, not even NBUS.  Wishing you a beautiful day!

Stamps:  SSS Tweet Friend with die  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, Stampin' Up Lavender Lace, Paper Lace (old, out of business)  Ink:  Stampin' Up White pigment ink, Lavender Lace, Ranger Archival Watering Can, Distress Oxide Weathered Wood (background)  Other:  Altenew Loving Birds 3D embossing folder, Memory Box Clara Blooms

Fuchsia and Navy for Color Hues Challenge

Hello and happy Tuesday to you!

I'm playing along in the Color Hues challenge today, and I took this opportunity to crack the seal on a new-to-me Spellbinders die set, Vintage Florals, which I won in a recent Beautiful Blossoms Challenge.  Gosh, it's a pretty die set and I can imagine it even prettier watercolored.  I'll have to try that later.  Today I simply cut it from retired Stampin' Up sandable cardstock and sanded away.  Thanks for that reminder, Lynette!  I'm not sure what these colors are called, but today they'll serve as fuchsia and navy.

I made a simple arrangement on Spellbinders Molded Frame 3D embossing folder.  I'm not sure how it looks on your computer.  On my desktop computer where I do the editing it showed up the dimension quite nicely, but on my laptop in my craft room where I do the writing it looks washed out... sigh.  It can be so hard to get it right.

Two challenges:

Color Hues #130 -- Fuchsia and Navy
NBUS Challenge #85 -- My never before used schtuffs are the Spellbinders Vintage Florals (thank you, Donna!) and Molded Frame 3D embossing folder.

 

I'm so glad you dropped in to visit!  Take care, stay crafty, and have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  None  Paper:  Hammermill 100 lb premium white, Stampin' Up retired sandable cardstock  Ink:  None  Other:  Spellbinders Molded Frame 3D embossing folder, black gems, Scotch brand foam mounting tape to pop up one flower

A Tisket a Tasket A Bunny in a Basket

One more Easter card before the weekend.  I would have liked to do more, but I dallied too long.  Thankfully my bunnies will still be good for next year.  They're the only things I purchased exclusively for Easter, and I'll wager they could make the occasional appearance throughout the year as well.

This card is a mix of Simon Says Stamp and other brands.  The bunny and embossing folder are new to me from SSS.  The flowers are older, but a new-to-me find on Amazon when I was looking for something else not even craft related.  See, that's what happens.  Surely you understand.  They're by Sizzix and I like them a lot.  I thought about draping them across the top of the basket, but then remembered the Easter Eggs.  Now I have both!

About that basket -- I cut it in two shades of gray, but didn't like it for Easter so I smooshed all over with white pigment ink and embossed with some very old Stampin' Up Winter White embossing powder.  Sort of a creamy white.  You can see the powder gave it some texture, too, and now I think it's okay.

As for the embossing folder... well, it's a pretty thing that gives you all those flowers with a space in the middle to use however you like.  It provided just enough non-busy white space to highlight the bunny basket.  Also, you can see it's brushed with color.  I used pink and light orange, but it turned out disappointingly dark... so here comes that white ink pad again.  Smooshed all over and came up with it looking all soft and pretty.

Darnell has started a new month with her 85th NBUS Challenge (never before used schtuff), so I'm linking there with my SSS Fable Cute Bunny and Flower Frame 3D embossing folder, and my Sizzix Woodland Borders (flowers).

Thank you for your visit!  Happy Easter Weekend!

Stamps:  Retired Power Poppy sentiment  Paper:  Hammermill 100 lb premium white, two shades of gray, BasicGrey Sugar Rush designer paper  Ink:  Various Stampin' Up, Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Ink blending with brushes  Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Country Basket Bouquet (basket only), Fable Cute Bunny, Nested Eggs, Poppystamps Lovely Gift Bow, Sizzix Woodland Borders (flowers), Impression Obsession Grass  Other:  Simon Says Stamp Flower Frame 3D embossing folder, SU Winter White embossing powder (very old)