So Many Cards

 Hi All,

I'm bombarding you again with a bunch of cards I've made recently!

I'll start with the one I made for today's Inspiration Challenge over on SCS.  The website is "Greenheart" and I chose this cute bird plate as my inspiration.  I "thought" it was a good choice for a quick, CAS card that I could use some of my new K&Company stickers on, but noooooh!!  It took on a life of it's own and consequently took me all morning long!

The card ended up with 8 layers, a punched and dry embossed flower, a small rosette, the bird sticker and some dimensionals between the layers. 

  







The next photo is of some of the Easter Cards I made.  Using my fav TH rossettes, I attached them to a card base, stamped a bunny ($1 bin stamp!) onto coordinating DP, and added heart rhinestones.  Super quick.

The next photo is of a couple of First Holy Communion cards I made using vellum stickers.  I have had that sheet of stickers forever - Dollar Store find so I couldn't pass them up when I found them years ago, but never used them until now.

Lastly, my favorite.  Some of you "oldie" stampers may remember, "back in the day", before "Movers and Shapers" dies became a hot item, we had those small, thick Sizzix green dies.

It occurred to me that they work exactly the same way as the Movers and Shapers dies, but without the base plate that is needed to keep them magnetized to the base.  Duh.  Anyhow, I don't have nearly the number of those green dies that I used to, but I did keep some (yay for the hoarder in me!). And there's lots of them for sale on e-Bay for about $2.50 - $3.00 ea.   

To make the card, I cut out a white panel, positioned the die three different times on the CS and ran it through my Big Shot. The reason these thick dies work better for this technique than the thin wafer-type dies is because they don't leave a square impression around the negative piece that is left. 

I positioned my DP pieces on the base so that a different piece would show through each negative space and then popped up the panel dimensionals.  The DP in the background is KaiserCraft Peachy Keen collection that Stephanie (aka SmilinStef) gave me. Thanks Stephanie!!  So love that pad and those colors!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!
 

Oh My That's Sparkly!

Hi Friends,
Yesterday I stopped by my LSS (since I was in the neighborhood, ahem..) and picked up this crazy sparkly, thick CS!  It's almost chipboard, it's so thick, which is awesome because it runs beautifully through my Big Shot.  The paper is American Crafts "Glitter Palette".  I sliced off a section of several of the colors and die cut some flowers and leaves to play with.

I checked out the Etsy Challenge for this week and this really bright and colorful handbag caught my eye so I chose as my color inspiration. 



Then I checked out this week's FS over on Splitcoast to find inspiration for a card to make so I could use these insanely sparkly flowers and came across this "Dogwood Fancy" card by "MBRCuties25" -- who is this weeks FS!  It worked great as a jumping off point so here is what I came up with:

The dies I used are Sizzix Paper Sculpting Daisy and the leafy branch is from SU's Bird and Branch punch.  The pom pom trim and sentiment are also SU.

 TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Best Day Ever Card

Supplies Used: Verve "Wishing You" stampset. White, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip CS. Chocolate Chip Craft Ink. SU Top Note die, Sizzlet Cresent Tag die. SU Soft Sky DS ribbon. Assorted misc jewels. Big Shot, Floss Threader, clear stretchy wire.

Congratulations to NancyRuth!! who's gallery is featured this week over on SCS! Her cards are always outstanding, I love her work!! I chose to case her "More Congrats" card from her gallery. She is the Queen of the Top Note die ;) , so I knew this was a wise choice!! I copied her layout and used the same die, but changed out everything else to materials that I have. While I was working on the bow, I decided I wanted "tails" on it. You know, the two hangy-downy ribbon pieces that fall under the bow? I had used the original tails to wrap around the card layer so there were none left to hang down; all you saw were a couple of loops across the ribbon. (See the "tail-less" bow in this shot.) To add the tails, I pulled out a floss threader so I could pull another piece of ribbon through the bow's knot. (I swear I don't know the real use for these threader things, but I use them to thread ribbon through small holes!) Push the end of the threader through the knot of the bow, but don't pull it all the way through. Stop at about the point where you have the end of the threader through the knot and the loop of the threader still sticking out. Now you want to take your piece of ribbon and put it through the loop hole, about half ways through the loop. Now you grasp the end of the threader and start to pull on it so the ribbon piece follows the same path the threader is going -- through the knot. Sometimes it can be a struggle, depending on how tight the space, but if you tug it, sort of back and forth, it comes through without damaging either the bow or the ribbon piece you're pulling through. And there you have it! The ribbon has come through the bow knot without having to untie or redo the bow! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

SU Bigz Flower Folds Die

Wow, having so much fun with this new die form SU!! So I have a couple of cards to show you that I made with it. First, this is an exploding type flower card. I just cut one of each size of the flowers from the XL Sizzix die and layered them onto each other. Here I used SU's Parisian Breeze DP. I stamped a sentiment from the Riveting set in Chocolate chip, punched it out and layered it onto a larger punched circle of Chocolate Chip CS. Adhered it to the center of the flower. Next, laid a wide ribbon on top of my card base. Then folded each petal, one on top of the other. The outermost flower should have the last petal align with the direction of the ribbon so it holds everything closed when its tied up. Hold the flower closed with your finger and knot your ribbon around the folded up petals. Next card is this Tent Topper card that I made after seeing today's SCS Weekly Inkling #175 (seriously, there are one-hundred and seventy-five newsletters already!!). My "topper" is another series of graduated, layered die cut flowers made with the Bigz XL Flower Folds die using SU Thorougly Modern DP. This flower does not use the largest flower on the die like the first card I made, and this flower is intended to stay open. The center is a beautifully crocheted flower handmade by my friend Anne Harmon (aka Inking in Red), and the brad in the center is from a KC&Company from their K Sera Sera collection. The bottom panel is texturized with the Herringbone Cuttlebug folder on Chocolate Chip. I made a bow with the Bow Easy (which, really, isn't all that easy folks, but it makes awesome bows!!) using "Celebrate It" 5/8" Basic-Basic ribbon from Mike's. TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Mr. Do Bee Always Says Thank You!

The Doubledog Dare gals post a new Challenge every Tuesday here on SCS. I am finishing up on the two I am (was!) behind on before I leave on my trip. Up first: Romper Room Challenge by Charlene (aka Where M&Ms Gather). We were to make a Mr. Do Bee card (using a bee somewhere on your card, of course) teaching a young child one or more good manners. I used my Cricut to cut out a "B" with the Storybook cartridge, my "SU Exclusive Billboard Sizzlet strip die" (that's a heck of a label, huh?) and Big Shot for the "Mr. Do" letters in red. My little bee guy is by Rubber Stampede and he was stamped twice. He's colored with copics and accented with a gold half back pearl. The "Thank You" sentiment is from the SU Favorite Teddy Bear set, and you can probably tell by my "classy" (ughh!!) chicken scratch that I doodled the "always says" words. LOL!! Next up is this card I made for our DDC that Bev (aka Beestamper) hosted. She created this coolioolio sketch for us to follow for our challenge: Fun huh??!!! My DP is SU Patterns Pack, the CS is Not Quite Navy, Blue Bayou, and Baja Breeze. The ribbon is SU Doublestitched Soft Sky. I used a Mary Englebreit 3-D sticker from Michaels (they come 3 to a pack, super cute in the $1 section), and my Nesties for the layered panels. The border was made with SU Scallop border punch. The little stamped praying hands are from the Fishers of Men set by Our Daily Bread. TA DA!! Done!! All caught up and now I'm gonna go pack!! I'm headed to NYC with DD Leslie and DS Judy for a girls weekend in the Big Apple to celebrate my 50th!!! (DH didn't want to go with us but said he'd send me as my BD present!!) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Rubiks Cube?

Supplies: SU Asian Artistry, sentiment SU Kind and Caring Thoughts. Ink: Old Olive, Basic Brown. Supplies: SU 3/4" punch and Sizzix Movers & Shapers Horizontal A2 & Four Window Panes (Kit #1). CS: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede.

I just LOVE today's CAS Challenge on SCS! We are directed to the website Art.com for inspiraton, one of my favs, I visit there often, both for work and myself!! (When I have to purchase wall art for the office, that's where I shop!). I figured on sitting down tonight and surfing all through the site which I totally enjoy doing, but I spotted this one picture on the main page and my search ended! I totally love this painting: Mediterranean Gold And so it is my inspiration piece! I loved the colors so I decided to go with the geometric look and colors. I ran a Very Vanilla panel through my Big Shot using the 4Window Panes die, then punched coordinating colors with my 3/4" punch that fit perfectly inside the windows with a slight "frame" around them. The Very Vanilla panel and the 4 colors are all popped up on dimensionals. The image and sentiment are from SU's new Hostess sets Asian Artistry and Kind and Caring thoughts. CAS, easy peasy!! In the end, I know...it looks like a rubiks cube!! LOL I hope you like it anyways!! Thanks for checking in!!