Alphabuds - The Greetery Stamps and Dies Making a Stamp Set

I wanted to do something nice for my friends during this very unusual time.  We can't get together so I thought I'd use my new The Greetery Alphabuds stamp and die set along with my The Greetery Budding Beauties Spring stamp and die set and a classic Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies stamp and die set.  All that stamping resulted in piles of beautiful die cut images.  The cherry blossoms were a perfect accent to the patterned paper card bases from the stash and paired with the Alphabuds like they were meant to.

Between family and friends, I ended up with quite a pile.  A good bit of crafty time during this time of isolation (I haven't been out of the house for three weeks as my husband and son have been re-supplying the house) which helps keep me grounded and focused for the working at home.  Plus, I was able to write handwritten notes to my family and friends to brighten their weeks as they, too, stay home.

A Special Birthday Card

I have so enjoyed having a little more downtime through the holidays.  It made me want to go shopping in the stash for bits and pieces to see if I could put together some cards without much effort.  Both of these cards I'm sharing today were made from die cuts previously made for other cards and left as excessive from those endeavors.  This first one uses some Heartfelt Creations Poppy flower die cuts, Prickly Pear Mini-Butterflies die cuts and a gold flake covered frame.  I paired it with some patterned paper in the stash and am really proud of how delicate those flowers look with their Prill centers.

This next card is an almost exact duplicate of this card made for my SIL's Kentucky Derby inspired birthday celebration.  I figured there was no reason not to make this second card with all the leftover bits and pieces. 

So much fun and now my husband has caught on to the fact that I can "shop" my stash and make something pretty.  Hmmmm, on second thought that might not have been such a bright idea.  Oh well, I'll just have to keep crafting with what I have for a bit.

Purple-y Birthday Wishes

I'm going to apologize for the photo of this card.  It should be more crisp.  I snapped it quickly one Saturday morning last month before whisking it off for a lunch meeting to wish Brandy a very happy birthday.  I'd even forgot I had these photos until now!  

Those purple flowers are my first attempt at the Heartfelt Creations poppies dies.  I used a piece of light purple mulberry paper.  They were difficult to shape because the paper is so flimsy. However, I think they look rather realistic and they work so well with that patterned paper!  The butterflies are cut from coordinating patterned papers using my Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies dies.  A few metal keys (Brandy enjoys keys) and some heavy fibrous yarn for a bow and this card practically made itself.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge: Show Us Your Metal
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday: Challenge 228/229 Anything Goes

Gorjuss Girl - Ladybird

Brandy's image imspired me to find and share this photo of a card made a while ago.  I used my Gorjuss Ladybird stamp with Archival black ink onto Bristol paper.  I colored the image with my Inktense pencils and then die cut with a Spellbinders die.  The background paper is from the stash and made a perfect setting for this lovely girl.  The flowers were cut with my IO Spiral Flowers die and the butterfly cut from patterned paper using my Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies die.  Some floral sprig die cuts and a sentiment frame from the coordinating paper and this birthday card is done.  I am so pleased with how this turned out and I think the lovely lady who received this card felt special.

I hope March finds you happy and healthy.  I fly to Denver tomorrow to visit with my grandparents.  They will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Sunday and we'll all be there to mark and remember.  This is a monumentous occassion and I can't wait to see them!

City Crafter Challenge 298 - It All Began in Paris Number 3

Good morning!  I am back with third card made using my KaiserCrafts Bonjour stamp set. There is a certain challenge with being the guest designer over at the City Crafter Challenge Blog for the entire month of February.  Hostess Kirsty picked this photo to inspire us:

The theme requires only that your project be inspired by the photo.  The rectangular frame  was stamped with Archival black ink onto white cardstock.  I then stamped the Eiffel tower in the frame using my Simon Says Stamp Surf Blue ink.  I had a patterned paper pack out on my workspace and picked this for the background.  The entire frame was cut out with the die cut flowers and leafy swirls added to frame the image.  The background screamed for a teeny, tiny butterfly, so I cut this with my Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies die out of coordinating patterned paper.  You might be tired of this theme already, but I've decided to pick out one more experiment in color and finish the card so that I have a set of four.  

It's not too late to join us over at the City Crafter Challenge Blog and have some fun.

A Golden Birthday

I've mentioned before that my family celebrates your golden birthday.  This is the birthday where your age matches the day of the month you were born.  My son, Tim, approached me to make a card for his good friend, Jessica, as she was celebrating her golden birthday.  His actual request was to have me help him make a card.  I guess I was too enthusiastic, because I made this with little help from the man.

Here's the details:

• The flowers are stamped using my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms.  The gold is embossing powder and the white is white ink.  Both are stamped onto vellum and die cut using the matching dies.  
• The butterfly is made the same with my Prickly Pear Mini-Butterflies stamp and die set.     
• The leaf was die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Classic Leaf die which I then pressed into my embossing ink pad and heat embossed several layers of gold embossing powder.  I did this by sprinkling the first layer on the wet embossing ink and then heated to melt the powder.  While the powder was still wet, I pressed the image into the leftover powder on my workbench.  Powder clings to the hot image and I heated it up again.  There is probably 4 layers of embossing powder on this image.  The image tends to get very warm, so do this carefully!
• I gold embossed the swirl pattern onto the kraft paper that I had applied white ink to with a dauber.  I first inked through a stencil, but the shape was all wrong so I just kept rubbing the image, smearing the color until it became nondescript.  I also embossed the swirl 2 or 3 times to make the image more shiny and thicker.
• The edges of the kraft paper were embossed by rubbing the edge on my embossing ink pad and sprinkling with gold embossing powder.  I repeated this layer 3 or 4 times and am really pleased with the final look.
• The sentiment was printed out using my computer and printer at home.

I stamped and embossed more gold on the inside.  After my son shyly grinned when I showed him the card, he produced two boxes and asked me to wrap his gifts to Jessica as well.  What is a mom to do?  Certainly the days of asking for my help are limited, so I wrapped them up with some more shiny gold ribbon.  Needless to say, I receive a smiling thank you as he whisked them away, rushing out the door to go to dinner to celebrate.

I'm going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Inspiration Journal's Spring Blooms, what's more spring that butterflies and flowers?

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: Simon Says Anything Goes

and Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #176 Anything Goes

Such a Sweet Little Angel

Friends of ours welcomed their first grand baby a little while ago.  Oh goodie- a chance to break out my Heartfelt Creations Sweet Lullaby stamp set!  Here's the details:

• The sentiments were stamped in black Archival ink using my Sweet Lullaby stamp set and die cut using my Once Upon a Time die.  
• A white cardstock lacey circle die cut is edged with Worn Lipstick Distress ink which is layered onto top of a patterned paper Labels 18 die cut edged in Scattered Straw Distress ink.
• The flowers are stamped in black Archival ink using my Heartfelt Creations Classic Sunflower stamp and die.  They are colored with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and the centers are variegated prills.  
• The sprigs are cut from green cardstock using my Arianna Lace die.  
• Finally, the butterflies are cut from the same paper pad of patterned paper- MME's The Sweetest Thing Lavender using my Prickly Pear mini butterflies die accented with some pearls.  This die is just so cute- I've used it a lot lately and can't seem to get away from it...

Such a beautiful card, but that baby girl Evie is even more beautiful.  I have prayed for this young lady's safe arrival and gladly turn to praying for her and her entire family to enjoy this precious time.

I'm entering this card in the City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week #250 Use It Up.  I used leftover die cut butterflies, flowers, and even the Sweet Lullaby pieces were leftover from a previous stamping project.

I'm also entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: No Rules!  I just had a ton of fun making this card with my scraps and decided to share it there too.

Come on over and join the fun!

A Butterfly Card Set

I am just loving my Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies die.  I so adored the card I made last week that I just couldn't keep myself from making a couple extra.  I'm stopping in today to show you the fruits of that labor.  The concept is the same, but I choose different color and pattern combinations.  Do you have a favorite?  I think of all the cards I made the one above is my favorite.  Of course, that is true until I look at the next one- then that one is my favorite... and on and on it goes until I've looked through all six of the combinations that I made for this set.

I'll probably tie these up and give them as a gift. They will brighten someone's day.  Thanks for stopping in and seeing my production line card set.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamps: All Things Bright and Beauitful

Wordart Wednesday's Challenge # 169: Anything Goes

100% Fantastic Card

At the CKC Scrapbook convention in October, I picked up the Prickly Pear Mini Butterflies die.  I've so enjoyed working with the die and stamp set.  This card was inspired by a Pinterest pin.  Not a direct take, but the Simon Says Stamp Tilted Banner die and stamp set played a huge part in making this card fantastic.  A few pearl accents and these fluttering little butterflies landed on a CAS card.  100% Fantastic!