Mushrooms for Autumn

Hello everyone!  I'm happy to share my first fall card of the (almost) season.  We still have a few days of summer left so I'm not letting it go yet, but I do love fall cards.

I've had this Spellbinders Mushrooms From Me To You 3D emboss & cut folder for approximately a year.  I bought the Scallop Labels and Tag dies at the same time and have used them quite a lot, but this is the first time for the mushrooms.  I don't have a good excuse for why I waited so long.  It's so cool how it works!  The dies go right into the folder with the paper so it literally cuts and embosses at the same time.  I guess I was under a rock again because I did not expect that.

So this is my result after simultaneously cutting and embossing, then "painting" with Tombow markers and blender, and embossing again just for good measure.  After all that I decided to smoosh it all over with Versamark ink and emboss with ultra-thick embossing enamel.  Loved it.  Slipped it into the folder and embossed again.

I embossed the entire folded grocer's kraft card base with my Tim Holtz Lumber 3D embossing folder.  Lined the inside with vanilla cardstock and will save the sentiment for later.

With all this embossing going on I naturally want to share in the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge.  It's plain to see I did not go with the optional "Balloons" twist.

I'm also sharing in the following challenges:

The Four Seasons Challenge -- Fall
NBUS Challenge #78 -- Never before used schtuff -- Mushrooms From Me To You 3D emboss & cut folder

  

Thanks so much for visiting.  It's been busy as ever here, especially now that Ridley has joined the family.  Two Golden Retrievers are definitely better than one!  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  None  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Stampin' Up Old Olive, grocers kraft, Cougar Vanilla  Ink:  Versamark for wet embossing  Coloring:  Tombow markers and blender  Other:  Spellbinders Mushrooms From Me To You 3D emboss and cut folder, Tim Holtz Sizzix Lumber 3D embossing folder, Spellbinders Scallop Labels and Tag dies, Ranger Ultra-Thick Embossing Enamel

Guesting with Color Hues Challenge: Blue and Red

Hello crafty friends!  I'm having some fun today -- guesting with the Color Hues Challenge!  I was so pleased with the invitation and couldn't wait to get started.

As you can see, our colors for this challenge are blue and red, with neutrals welcome as well.  I can't help but think "nautical" when I see these colors, and I had the perfect guy for the theme.  I'm so glad to bring him out for his first play!

I joined the Spellbinders Small Die of the Month Club just so I could have the Shipmates set.  I definitely do not have a Walrus in my collection and I think he's so cute!  There's a seagull in the set, too.  Quite a deal I thought, and bigger than I expected.  He fills up the card quite nicely!  The anchor and sentiment are separate.  I fell back on my trusty (older) Mintay Marina paper for the background.

Check out the amazing samples by the Color Hues team, and then show us your blue and red.  It'll be fun!  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Stampendous Ocean Sayings  Paper:  Stampin' Up Brilliant Blue and Real Red, neutral color scraps, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 110 lb, Mintay Marina designer paper  Ink:  Real Red for sentiment, other matching for sponging  Dies:  Spellbinders Shipmates, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, KaiserCraft Anchors  Other:  Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Sprinkle & Grow

Hi there!  Another card today -- a messy bouquet in a watering can.  I sure struggled with this one.  Ordinarily I cut everything from 110 lb white and then add color, but I thought this time I'd try and use up colored CS scraps.  Turns out it wasn't so easy with these skinny little stems and lighter weight cardstock.  Then trying to tuck them into the watering can... geez.  I'm sure I somehow made it more difficult than it needed to be, but I do have a knack for that.

Ultimately I guess it's kind of cute (?).  I won't go on about how I ended up with these colors and papers.  Cards have a mind of their own sometimes, don't they?  You go one way, they go the other.  Or is it just me?

The colored scraps are all from my sorted bags of Bazzill bits.  I added texture to the white panels with two different embossing folders.  The flowers are touched with Diamond Stickles which doesn't show up well in the photo, but you  can see all the texture from the cardstock and embossing in the photo below.

No challenges today.  Just playing a little before rushing off to do a bazillion other things.  Hope you have a happy day!

Stamps:  Gerda Steiner All Cats  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, scraps of textured cardstock, Forever Friends Kraft Notes designer paper (old)  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black for sentiment  Dies:  Spellbinders Sprinkle & Grow, Simon Says Stamp Pretty Bows, Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders  Other:  Diamond Stickles, Sizzix Flowers EF, SU Subtle EF

Twirling Tulips Twice

Hello and welcome!  It was a beautiful holiday weekend which brought with it a change in the weather and I'm thinking it might stay with us for a while.  I've certainly been enjoying it, and so it stands to reason there's less time in my craft room.  However, it's just enough and I have supplies to last a lifetime.  I probably don't need to tell you how much of it has never yet been used.

When Spellbinders had their most recent Warehouse Sale I picked up a few things.  How could I not indulge in a 3D embossing folder or two for only $3 each?  But wait... the Twirling Tulips folder I used today was only $1 !!!  No matter that it was released a year ago, tulips are always beautiful.  Have a look:

There are no dies with this folder, but all the tulips I used on these two cards came from the folder.  I embossed a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" sheet of Neenah 110 lb white -- lightly misted on both sides first to avoid cracking -- then cut out all the viable tulips and leaves.  I arranged them on a sticky sheet and colored with Stampin' Up! inks and sponge tipped eye shadow brushes.  I've been using this same set of brushes for a long time.  Rinse, squeeze, and they're ready to go again.

The first card is 4 1/2" x 6".  I covered the card base with an embossed panel of PTI Berry Sorbet, brushed with white pigment ink to enhance the pattern.  The layered Essential Arches were placed low on the card front to allow more of the embossing to show.  Added gems and a sentiment from my stash popped up on an oval.

The second card was made with leftovers which were too pretty to toss:

The decorative oval is from Spellbinders Infinity Punch & Pierce Plate, resting on one of their Essential Stylish Ovals.  The beautiful neutral designer paper is new-to-me Stamperia Dewdrops.  I recently won a $5 GC to A Cherry on Top and figured it would be just the right amount to apply to a paper pad.  Well... I ended up with five paper pads, but I have to say it was some fun shopping and I made wise choices in that all the papers I chose are specifically for backgrounds.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Sharing here:

Can You Handle the Pressure? -- Must use an embossing folder.  Anything goes or optional zoo/jungle animals.  I hoped to do the optional twist, but it remains to be seen if I'll have time.

Lots of talk today, and now I must rush off.  Thank you for visiting; I know you're busy, too.  Have a beautiful day!

Magical Deer and Tweet Cardinal

Hello and welcome!

Oh, happy day, I have two more cards for the Christmas box!  We'll start off with Spellbinders Magical Deer.  I used it once last year and didn't even realize until this year that I put its antlers on upside down.  How could I do that?  What a goofball!  Hopefully I've redeemed myself this year.

All supplies are listed below, but I will mention the baubles hanging from his antlers.  They are punched silver gloss cardstock coated with Diamond Glaze and hung on a string borrowed from the much older Memory Box Precious Hearts.  I was prompted first by the Christmas Kickstart Challenge in which Jo is asking for baubles this month.  I had my heart set on the deer so I was dragging my feet until I thought if Spellbinders could picture (on the package) the deer with a long tag hanging from his antlers, then surely I could hang some baubles.  I chose silver baubles as a nod to the mood board created by my friends at the Peace On Earth Challenge.  Sending my thanks to both challenges with links and graphics at the end.

Next is another Spellbinders die -- Tweet Cardinal.  I kept this card simple with a ready made frame from my card parts drawer.  Die cut holly accents a corner, and the sentiment banner gives him something to perch on.

I added Diamond Glaze to the holly berries, and you can see the holly leaves are also glossy.  The gloss was achieved by applying clear packing tape to green cardstock before cutting.  I learned the simple and genius packing tape trick from Natalie Bowers at NB Cards who I found during my late night YouTube excursions.

I have to give Natalie a shout out.  She's not selling anything, usually she can't even name the dies she uses as she oftentimes picks them up at a "charity shop".  I love that.  She'll take you step-by-simple step through creating the most beautiful backgrounds, and almost all her cards are ultra-CAS.  She created a Smoosher for smooshing watercolor backgrounds.  Don't knock it till you try it.  It makes smooshing so easy and neat.  She also makes her own glossy dots, which I've been doing for years, but her influence has prompted me to nearly give up purchased dots altogether.  Nearly.  I still have some in my stash, but I no longer buy them.  Most of her videos are only a few minutes long and it's amazing the ideas and inspiration she shares in that amount of time.

So here are the aforementioned challenges, plus NBUS for the Cardinal:

Christmas Kickstart #94 -- Bring the Baubles
Peace On Earth #80  -- See optional mood board
NBUS #70 -- Never before used schtuff.  My NBUS is the Spellbinders Tweet Cardinal.

  

If you're still with me after all that, then I appreciate your patience.  Have a happy day!

Deer:

Stamps:  None except inside sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80lb (base) & 110 lb(dies, red, dark gray, and silver gloss cardstock  Coloring:  Minimal with gray Copics  Dies:  Spellbinders Magical Deer, Impression Obsession Holiday Bottom Word Edgers, Memory Box Precious Hearts  Other:  Memory Box Frosted Pines 3D embossing folder, 1/8", 1/4", 1/2" hole/circle punches, JudiKins Diamond Glaze

Cardinal:

Stamps:  None except inside sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 110#, SU Garden Green for holly and Poppy Parade for layer under sentiment banner, scrap designer paper  Coloring:  Minimal with Copics  Dies:  Spellbinders Tweet Cardinal and Make It Merry Sentiments, Tim Holtz Sizzix Holiday Greens Mini  Other:  JudiKins Diamond Glaze for berries, clear packing tape for gloss on holly leaves, Scotch brand foam mounting tape for Cardinal

Nordic Deer

Hi friends!  The sun is finally shining (though a little cold and breezy), a few flowers are blooming, and in the middle of all that I made a Christmas card.  Well, gee, it's high time I started on some of the new Christmas things I collected before, during, and after the previous holiday season.  My motivation comes from the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge which I'm getting into just in time.

Today's card is all Spellbinders, from one of their amazing warehouse sales (last December?) -- Magical Deer, Tinsel Time Sentiments, Ski Lodge embossing folder.  The long rectangle is Spellbinders, too, but much older.  I love how it works with slimlines.  This one is 3 1/2 x 6.  I moved the focal panel off to the side so more of the embossing would show.

There was a lot of "getting acquainted" time during this crafty session.  The Tinsel Time Sentiments, for instance...  as it turns out, those letters are way too skinny for my patience.  It was easiest for me to nest the word and the shadow dies, and cut in white to result in a negative.  Then I cut the shadow again in red and layered the two.  I like the effect of the inset letters.

Peace on Earth Challenge #61 -- I was particularly inspired by the deer in the upper right corner of the board.
NBUS Challenge #61 -- My never before used schtuff is deer, sentiment, embossing folder.

 

That's all for this crafty week.  I'll see you again soon.  Take good care of yourselves and enjoy each day as it comes.

Brushed Butterflies and Tulips

Hello, friends, and welcome!  I think I'd better get busy here before you forget about me.  I never mean to be away this long, but you know -- Life.

Everything is okay.  The tree removal went relatively well.  Some fence boards had to be replaced, which our neighbor kindly pitched in and took care of.  The big crane left a large pothole -- more like a crater -- in our driveway.  It will have to wait a bit to be fixed.  The RV is parked over it so it's out of sight for the time being.

Meanwhile, I've still got some cards I haven't shared yet.  Today's makes were a fun play with some Spellbinders sets on loan from my friend (and yours), Michele.  I'm afraid I kept them a little longer than expected.  It's just like all my NBUS -- I dance around it quite a while before I actually sit down and make anything.  Then I wonder what took me so long.

So here we have the first card with Spellbinders Butterfly Burst die set.  The butterflies come with it.  The sentiment is an oldie Hero Arts.  I wasn't very imaginative considering I very nearly copied the picture on the package.

The next card is Spellbinders Artful Tulip.  The sentiment is Poppystamps.  Once again the idea came from the packaging, but I added a bit more because you know how I am.  I love these pretty little tulips.  The fancy frame is Marianne Designs Anja's Oval, an oldie.

I did the coloring with Copics.  I think that pretty much covers it so I didn't provide a recipe, sorry.  I was looking at my draft posts that need to be written up and I'm a little surprised at how many there are, and not a one of them features anything from my NBUS baskets.  I need to turn over a new leaf and start using that stuff!  See you soon!

Spellbinders Stylish Ovals Collection

Hello friends, and welcome back to my stamp room.  I'm a bit late getting the week started with everything being somewhat upside down and backwards at my house, but it's beginning to look like that's our new right side up and forward.  However, all is well in my Happy Place, and the view out my window is gradually changing to spring, even though it's a rainy one.  I believe that's what influenced me to make such springy cards with the new Spellbinders Stylish Ovals Collection.

(Many thanks to Yana and Spellbinders for sharing the product with me so I can share with you!)

There's much more to this collection than what I'm showing you here, but it's a start.  I chose three products to work with:

• Stylish Oval Birthday Wishes stamp set
• Essential Stylish Ovals die set
• Infinity Punch & Pierce Plate

Gee, I think I have some new favorite things.  For the first card I popped out the center of the punched and pierced panel and replaced it with a smaller plain white oval which allowed a border of blue to show.  I arranged the hand cut flowers over that with the sentiment and a sprinkling of clear gems.

I put those popped out parts from the first card to work on the second card with more hand cut flowers.  A little snip snip on one end of the flowers changed the look just a bit.   I hand cut the sentiment, too, and made a label for it with the smallest oval.  Blended a background panel (I must have been thinking of Easter eggs), added some gems... pretty!

For the next card I left the punched and pierced panel intact by using the die on 110 lb cardstock.  I carefully glued it onto the card front before any little pieces fell out.  I gold embossed the flowers and did even more snip snipping on these.  The two single flowers are a separate stamp in the set.  You can't see it in the photo, but I did the larger flower spray decoupage style -- there is a whole other flower spray underneath, colored and cut out, and the top layer is popped up.  Again, I hand cut the sentiment as well.

Well, that was fun.  I'm pretty sure I'll be going back for more from the Stylish Ovals Collection.  There are two items in particular...  It's just that they all work together so well.

See you again soon!

CAS Mix Up: Paper Piecing

Hi, there!  It's time for another CAS Mix Up challenge, and this time our host, Linda, is asking to see our cards featuring the paper piecing technique.  I can do that and I'll bet you can, too!  It's an old favorite.

Remember to follow the easy rules as listed on each of the two graphics shown here:

 

Video Tutorials:

Paper Piecing by Beate Splitcoaststampers

Stamped Paper Piecing - Jennifer McGuire

Stamping on Patterned Paper (Paper Piecing) - Kristina Werner

Paper Piecing Outside the Lines - Gina K Designs

Paper Piecing Tricks - Melanie Muenchinger

Easter is fast approaching and my card has already been mailed.  I decided to paper piece with dies this time.  The bunny die cuts an outline, which I did in white.  I cut two more times from two different patterned papers so I could piece the polka dot body areas.  The fancy egg turned out with some pretty shading from the blue paper.  I cut it again just so I could trim out a pink bow.  I'm not sure if the egg is technically paper piecing, but the bunny is, for sure.

A couple more notes:  The pink outline under the bunny was done by drawing around the bunny die on pink card stock, then cutting with scissors.  Been wanting to try that.  It helps it stand out from the background.  Also, I hope you can see in the photo that I embossed the egg die on the card stock and then set the die cut egg into it.  Learned embossing with dies from another CAS Mix Up challenge which linked to this Embossed Impressions video.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the fun cards in our CAS Mix Up Paper Piecing gallery.  The team and our talented guest designer, Bonnie (Paper Crafter at Large), have some fabulous inspiration for you.  Wishing you a happy day!

Stamps:  Hero Arts Easter Greetings sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest super smooth solar white, lime green scrap, retired SU designer paper  Ink:  SU Not Quite Navy and Pink Pirouette  Dies:  Spellbinders Small Die of the Month 2019 'Hop into Spring', Die-namites Delicate Egg, Impression Obsession Grass Border  Other:  Pink & Main Glossy Dot

Ranunculus Under Vellum

Hello, friends!  It's been a week or so since I did much of anything in my room and that's only because other projects around home needed attention.  When I think about all the stamps and dies waiting for me...

  😢

Then I saw this post by my friend, Maria.  Seriously, you have to see how many colored or partially colored images she has in her pile.  I have two very small drawers of UFOs (unfinished objects), but only 3 colored images I've been on the fence about.  Well, I was inspired to make some very CAS cards, one of which I'm sharing today.

The UFO is the colored image already die cut with vellum glued over top.  The Thinking of You die cut was also in the drawer.  You know how it is... an idea I was playing with that I wasn't sure I liked enough to turn it into a card.  If only the vellum hadn't been cardstock weight.  Turns out I like it just fine and it's already in the mail.

So now I'm linking to the challenge:

Shopping Our Stash #422 -- UFOs (unfinished objects)

Card details are listed below.  Thank you for visiting.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Ranunculus digi set  Paper:  X-Press It for image, wood grain textured cardstock for base, cardstock weight vellum, black  Ink:  Printer  Coloring:  Prismacolor pencils  Dies:  Spellbinders Thinking of You Woodland Scene  Other:  Rhinestones, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Twofer Card Challenge #16: Things with Wheels

It's time for another Twofer Card Challenge, friends!  We're doing "Things with Wheels" this time, so put your thinking caps on and go traditional or unconventional with your trains, planes, and automobiles, bicycles, wheelbarrows, lawn mowers, whatever... you get the picture.  This should be fun!

Below are the rules in a nutshell, but please see the Twofer Blog for more info.

I used another one of my new acquisitions for my Twofer cards.  It's Spellbinder's Truckin' Through the Seasons, which was the October 2018 large die of the month.  It was available for a while to non-club members, then not available, then available again... I kept missing out.  This time when it became available I snatched it right up, no hesitation.  As I write this it appears to be unavailable again.  Whew, I feel lucky!

So... I have a birthday card and a baby card:

The birthday card will be mailed to a guy friend in July.  Nothing like stamping ahead!  I put a frame over a pre-made Distress Oxide ink background, then the truck over that.  I had to slip a dog from another die set into the truck.  Wally or LuLu?  Our friend will appreciate it.  Frame is Memory Box Pine Forest Frame and dog is Amy Designs Cats and Dogs.  Sentiment from Poppy Stamps Sending Scribbles set.

Baby boy gets a plaid truck.  Why not?  Wouldn't it be fun to see this driving down the street?  Maybe I'll do polka dots next.  I have a feeling I'll use this truck a lot!  Banner is La-La Land Random Flags Banner and sentiment is an older Impression Obsession set called Straight From Heaven.

Well, that was fun!  I just know we'll see all kinds of your fun wheeled things in the Twofer gallery before it wraps up on the 24th.  You'll get a kick out of all the team samples on the Twofer Blog, so be sure and pop over there.  We have Hilary Jane and Cornelia guest designing for the May challenge, too.  Happy day!

See you again soon.  Wishing you all things wonderful!