Another Sweet 16 Birthday Card

Being completely transparent, I will own that the background wreath on this card was stamped using my Concord and 9th Wreath Turnabout stamp set.  The transparent part isn't the stamp set, but the fact that I stamped it back in 2018 when I bought the stamp new!  I had a very enjoyable (as I remember it) stamping party with all my inks and patterned papers and I stamped wreaths and set them together with the matching patterned paper... in a plastic zip-lock baggie... for two years before I stumbled upon them here in the past couple of weeks.  I shook off my disappointment in my self (they were so pretty, why didn't they deserve to be made into pretty cards?) and set them on my workspace to be finished, finally finished, and made into cards.

When my mom and grandpa wanted to sent a card to my cousin's daughter for her 16th birthday, I decided to use one of these card fronts to create a unique and one-of-a-kind birthday card.  This card is the result and I'm so very happy with how it turned out!  The sentiment is a combination of stamp sets, a Penny Black stamp set ("sweet" is part of one stamp), another Concord and 9th stamp set (for the "16") and The Greetery Birthday Blooms stamps, though I fussy cut the entire sentiment out to make it contiguous.   So pleased that his card finally made it's debut.

A Pinwheel Sweet 16 Birthday Card

Ack!  I failed to get a clear picture of this card before sending it off to my cousin's daughter to celebrate her big day!  

I made this delightful Sweet 16 Birthday card using my The Greetery Pinwheel Party Stencil and dies, Birthday Blooms stamp and dies and Twisted Crepe dies.  The pinwheels were inked with Distress Oxide inks and the "Sweet 16" created from a couple different stamp sets.  The card was so fun to put together.  I will probably make a few more for the stash before I'm done!  I'm off to make another sweet 16 card for my mom and grandpa to send to my cousin's daughter.  Look for more Sweet 16 coming soon.

Another Patriotic Wall Hanging

My vision for what to do with my state embroidered wall hangings included finishing the project kit from Embellish It! which I intend to use in the same arrangement for my walls.  I ended up locating a couple of old pictures - forgive the coloring as this is just how they ended up looking because of their age!

The kit provided all the embellishments and I simply had to make the arrangement.  I'm very pleased with how this turned out and look forward to finishing the embroidery to go along with.  waiting for the frames to arrive...

Me and my twin sister with a cousin up in the Rocky Mountains.  We fished that day - not my favorite, but the scenery was the best in the land!

And the last photo was my drivers license.... old and out of use, I thought to memorialize this in the state where I now live.

 

Sending Love

I decided to do some quick die cutting and layering to create these fun (and quick to put together!) cards using my Waffle Flower Doily Circle die.  

In the end, simply adhering to a card front with a simple sentiment on black cardstock seemed to highlight the finished product best.  A fun day of card making!

 

Embroidery Projects - 50 States

One of my favorite local-to-Arizona artists, Ann Corbiere-Scott Designs recently partnered with Adorn It to release a series of Stitch It Hand Embroidery Kits, 50 States Stitch Series.  I fell in love and purchased the patterns through their Instagram account and a link to a Facebook sale.  Oh, I'm in love with the final results - the three states in which I have lived in my lifetime.  Arizona is where I have spent the past 36 years.  I married a native Arizona boy who has grown to be the love of my life.  We won't leave as my Arizona boy doesn't do weather (we don't consider the searing heat of 117 degrees forecast for this weekend weather!).  I have come to love the desert and it's unusual color as well as the beauty which is found throughout our great state.

Colorado is the state of my birth and where my heart is.  I think it is the most beautiful of all the states I've been to and the scenery captures my imagination.  We've taken the kids and visited often and some of my favorite memories are there:

1. I was engaged at the top of a mountain looking down into the valley and a lily pad-filled pond...
2. We took the kids through some of the caves to utter darkness, silence and wonder.... 
3. There is no more beautiful drive than through Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

The state where my heart is.

Lastly, the state of my youth - Minnesota.  I enjoyed a quaint and peaceful (read: safe) childhood growing up in small town Southern Minnesota.  This, too, is a beautiful state and I couldn't have asked for a better place to grow up being known and cared for by an entire town of people - learning to be frugal and practical and connected.  

Now I need to get these hung up in the house to enjoy them in the years to come.  I am so pleased.  I'd recommend the products, easy to do (though Minnesota had a LOT of stitches) and the result is stunning!

Just Keep Smiling

During this time of quarantine, Brandy and I miss crafting together.  It isn't that we did so often - we didn't see each other every week sometimes.  It's more that we can't see each other.  So I had an idea to create a challenge each week - one just for Brandy and she could create one just for me.  Brandy has to amp the idea up and came up with our official title:  Better Together - A Mix and Match Challenge.  As the quarantine process has extended and even though there are re-openings everywhere, out of an abundance of caution and love for our fellow citizens, we continue to isolate to help slow the spread of the virus.  As such, we decided to modify the challenge for the month of June.  Instead of a weekly challenge, we determined to use a capsule crafting approach.  Capsule crafting was created by Kristina Werner and you can see her take in these posts.  I explained how I chose my capsule supplies in this post.  

I used my capsule to craft this set of cards.  I didn't exactly follow the mood board that Brandy created (which I loved), but I did use up some patterned paper from the stash which I've had for easily over 10 years.  It's a K & Company paper pad and you can probably still get it at Joanns.  It is time to use that up!  I didn't use anything up, but I did use up about four of the 6 x 6 pieces of paper from the pad.  I'll claim the win!

My butterflies were stamped with Distress Oxide inks using my SSS Beautiful Day stamp set and then watercolored with various Distress Oxide inks.  I fussy cut the butterflies out for inclusion on my card.  I also found some cotton ribbon and matching pink seam binding to use to accent the cards.  

So pleased with how these cards came out.  I'm loving using my capsule.  I really want to get back to that mood board... maybe the next set.

 

Better Together - A Mix and Match Challenge Using Capsule Crafting by Andie

During this time of quarantine, Brandy and I miss crafting together.  It isn't that we did so often - we didn't see each other every week sometimes.  It's more that we can't see each other.  So I had an idea to create a challenge each week - one just for Brandy and she could create one just for me.  Brandy has to amp the idea up and came up with our official title:  Better Together - A Mix and Match Challenge.  As the quarantine process has extended and even though there are re-openings everywhere, out of an abundance of caution and love for our fellow citizens, we continue to isolate to help slow the spread of the virus.  As such, we decided to modify the challenge for the month of June.  Instead of a weekly challenge, we determined to use a capsule crafting approach.  Capsule crafting was created by Kristina Werner and you can see her take in these posts.  I explained how I chose my capsule supplies in this post.

This will be my last post using the capsule to craft some cards, our challenge for June.  I'm really pleased how these cards turned out.  I ink blended a background using Distress Oxide inks and then stamped with Oxide ink using my Simon Says Stamp You Are background stamp.  Using my Waffle Flower Sprigs dies and Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments for a sentiment strip, the card almost made itself.

I've so enjoyed our capsule crafting and look forward to July and the challenges ahead!

Mother's Day Cards

I love all things Tim Holtz and I could thin of nothing better than using some of his Wildflowers and Potted dies. I grew up in Northern Arizona and wildflowers are everywhere. Since Tim also lives in AZ, I like to think our flowers in particular inspired these dies.  As long as I can remember, wildflowers in jars decorated our tables, especially when we would go camping.  

I cut the Wildflowers from Bee Watercolor paper and I couldn't bee ( pun intended) more pleased with how they turned out. I painted them with Mission Gold watercolors.  I will say, these dies are not small and you do use a considerable amount of paper.  I point that out as you may want to use less expensive watercolor paper. I used the Bee because it is one of my favorites and I was making cards for very special people. I would use something less expensive if I were making these to donate or sell.

Depending on which picture you are looking at the pot is either woodgrain or terracotta.  While the woodgrain took a little effort, I love how the terracotta came out! They look so real, especially in person. I used a terracotta cardstock from the stash and Wild Honey Distress ink to shade it! 

Also depending on which picture you are seeing, the background are different, two are the Distress crayon Fresco and one is using a shiplap background that Dawn at Wplus 9 came out with a while back.