Last week I participated in the new Online Card Class, Celebrate. There was a class kit designed by Kristina Werner and Concord & 9th which I received as a birthday gift. Our schedules have been busier than usual, so I still have a lot of cards I want to make. The first cards here are examples of four I created with the same design. Kristina had a brilliant idea for creating a “road map” of the design so it was easy to create multiples. My birthday card stash needed some updating and these were perfect.

The candles and sentiment are both from the Celebrate stamp set. The class cards were stamped on lightly colored cardstock, but I wanted a white background, so I die cut the panel with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 and layered it on a brighter card base. The sentiment was embossed in gold, die cut with the matching die and popped up for a bit of dimension.

The next two cards use the same candle stamps, but the candles are die cut and then arranged on the card. I made two cards, using different colors for the background as well as for the candles. 

Both of the background panels were dry embossed using one of the stencils from the Celebrate series of products. Laura Bassen taught this class. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to emboss with a stencil, but it worked great and it’s a technique I’ll use again. It’s a bit easier to see in this close-up.

The sentiment is one of three in the Birthday Script Dies. I die cut it in metallic gold and the shadow in vellum. 

I’m sending these over to Seize the Birthday. The main challenge is to use a frame. I’ll be back with one for that tomorrow. These are for the Anything Goes category.

Crafting has really been a last minute affair since we’ve been home. We’ve been so busy, it almost feels like I’m working again. Thanks to friend who gifted me a couple of her sunflowers from Spellbinders, I was able to get a card in the mail for a friend who had a knee replacement on Monday.

The card design is thanks for the many videos I’ve watched in the last few months from Jill Foster for Penny Black. I love this All in One Hexagon frame. I die cut an extra of the interior frames for a little dimension, and added some light ink blending behind the sunflowers.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Just Sentiments: Thinking of You.

This seems perfect for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Bright and Cheerful. I’ll send it to A Cut Above as well.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope it’s sunny where you are. We’re in the midst of a cool, gray and wet weather pattern that appears to be hanging on for awhile.

We’ve been home for week now, and I’m just beginning to feel like I have some control over all the things that need to be done, and all the crafting I want to do. I made time in last week’s insanely busy schedule to pull out my new Greetery Yay! product suite. We attended a party Saturday night to celebrate Betsy’s niece’s graduation with a masters in school counseling from the Simon School at the University of Rochester . The U of R colors are blue and yellow so that took care of any color decisions.

After seeing Lea Lawson’s card during the recent release from The Greetery, I used clear embossing ink on the third stencil layer. It’s is a technique I’m sure to use again. Each of the elements work so well together—as they typically do from The Greetery.

After stenciling the background, I die cut Yay! in gold metallic and layered it for dimension. The sub-sentiment was stamped in the same Pinkfresh Studio blue as the background, die cut and added with dimensional tape. I die cut a few extra stars and added three to finish the card. The card panel was added to the bright blue card base with more dimensional tape.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your week is off to a good start.

The card is going to the Stencil Fun Challenge where anything goes (not using the optional prompt: bouquets).

Before we left home for our trip to Europe I was determined to put my new Penny Black Tulip Bloom to use. I’m posting from my brother’s in the Hudson Valley tonight. We’ll drive to JFK tomorrow to fly to Amsterdam, and my post is just in time to enter the card in The Flower Challenge: Spring Colors which closes in about an hour. It was also inspired by the Double D Challenge: Springtime Flowers. I have some birthday cards to share as well, but I’m not sure I’ll get them posted while we’re gone. 

I kept the design clean and simple, and used another new product, Pinkfresh Studio’s Scalloped Grid which I cut down for a smaller panel. The tulip was cut from cardstock scraps and ink blended with some red ink which, sadly, does not show well in the photograph.

The sentiment was foiled in gold with the Pinkfresh Here for You sentiments. 

In addition to The Flower Challenge and the Double D Challenge, I’m sending this off to A Cut Above–it’s my last of three entries for April.

My post for the May 1 Color Hues Challenge is ready to post, so be sure to stop by for that! 

Happy Easter if you celebrate! Ours is a quiet one–church and a visit to our granddaughters who arrived home yesterday from a week in Florida. They’ll all be tired and getting ready for school to resume, so it will most likely be a quick visit to drop off our Easter cards and a small gift for each of them.

All three cards are the same design, just different colors. I might never have come up with this colorful design had it not been for a comment on my blog from Diane Hover which sent me off to her blog to see her Hey, Honeycomb Bunny from The Greetery. I had kept to more realistic colors for my first two bunnies, but really these colorful bunnies are just perfect for the girls. I chose the honeycomb balls first, then searched through my patterned papers and came upon Sunny Studio’s Gingham Jewel Tones which had wonderful matches.

Once I had the colors and the patterned papers all three came together nicely. I die cut the patterned paper with my friend’s Stitched Scallops from The Greetery. The Hey, Honeycomb Bunny and all the rest of the dies are from The Greetery as well. The little florals are from the Winter Medley collection, and the little bows were die cut from the Diamond Ribbons die. I didn’t bother to stamp and emboss the “directions” for opening the honeycombs since the girls are already familiar with the routine. 

Here they are with the honeycombs closed and then open. Keeping them open is a challenge!

And that’s a wrap for Easter this year. I’ve got several birthday cards to share that also use the Hey, Honeycomb products. They work so well for kids, although I did make one I think will go to an adult. No reason not to spread joy to everyone!

There are still some challenges around where one of these bunnies would fit in the gallery: AAA Colorful with a beautiful colorboard, Shopping Our Stash: Hippity Hop. and A Cut Above where they are always looking for die cut images. 

As promised on Wednesday, here are the two cards that didn’t make the cut for the Color Hues Challenge: Lilac and Aqua. The first card was put aside once I realized the “lilac” ink I had used was actually more pink than lilac. I turned this one into a mini-slimline, adding the Pinkfresh Studio Charming Floral Border to a stitched rectangle from Gina K’s Master Layout #7, using some dimensional tape. The sentiment is from The Stamp Market Foiled Card Phrases. It’s always good to have another birthday card in your stash.

The second card has to be eliminated from the challenge when I used a stencil brush that still had significant green on it. No way could it be called aqua.

It’s hard to see, but I cut the top of the card off and layered the Charming Floral Border over it. The sentiment from Spellbinder’s Curved Everyday Sentiments is on the bottom of the inside of the card. This has already gone in the mail for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s anniversary.

The first card is off to Seize the Birthday Challenge: Layer it, and both cards are off to The Flower Challenge: Spring Colors and the Pinkfresh Studio April Challenge: Floral Frenzy.

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