My Wisconsin grandchildren recently attended a huge family reunion on their father’s side. When we asked about their favorite activity, they both responded “canoeing.” I’ve had this stamp for almost two years, and every summer I think I’m going to get the card made for them before we spend a week on a lake with them. Their response was the motivation I needed to finally get the card made. It’s an interactive card, and I would have never managed to figure it out it in a reasonable amount of time without a wonderful “how-to” video by Jessica Frost Ballas for Ellen Hutson. The stamp set, Peek-a-Boo Pals: Camp Wanna Stamp, was a collaboration with Ellen Hutson and Avery Elle. My card is definitely a CASE of Jessica’s card.

I started by stamping and coloring the animals and canoe and cutting them out with my Scan-N-Cut. The next step was to ink blend the sky and water for the background. Next was to assemble the My Favorite Things  Twist and Turn interactive die which allows the paddles to move back and forth when the white tab is pulled. Once that was accomplished, putting it all together went fairly quickly. If I had better video skills, there’d be a little video showing how the paddles move back and forth. These two photos are the best I could do. Both critters lean to the left and the paddles move to the right.

The card arrived in Wisconsin earlier this week, and was a big hit with the six year old. Not sure what the eleven year thought about it. He was busy making zucchini muffins while we were talking.

The current Double D Challenge is The Great Outdoors, so this is a perfect match! We’ll be on Big Twin Lake in Michigan in August with Sarah and her family. We have a boat for the week, but I’m not sure about canoes. It also fits this month’s Colorful Options where the colors are red, white, and blue.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the new Color Hues Challenge.

I was the lucky winner of an Altenew gift card several weeks ago. I didn’t have anything specific in mind, so I waited for a sale and was able to pick up several items I like quite a bit. This Abstract Seascape die for a slimline card is one of them. The photograph below is a bit confusing since I laid the card on a blue slimline envelope to photograph it. The card base is white, and I’d retake the photo, but one of the challenges ends shortly. I may retake it tomorrow and edit the post. 

Once I had chosen the blues and yellow (see the inspiration board for the Sunday Stamps Challenge, piecing it together went quite quickly. The card took an unexpected turn, however, when I went to chose a sentiment. We have a BIG anniversary coming up, and this will be my card for my husband. He never reads my blog (to my knowledge) and I won’t post it on Instagram until our anniversary.  I do know, however, that he will definitely like the design.

The sentiment embossed in white on black and bordered with a scrap of the aqua cardstock is from Papertrey Ink’s Sun and Moon set. Here’s the perfect inside sentiment from Papertrey Ink’s Seas of Life.

I’ll add a long letter inside, so I don’t think I’ll add an anniversary greeting. The sailboats which I stamped and fussy cut are from W+9’s Dockside.

The colors came from the Sunday Stamps Summer Days Inspiration photo. Just Add Ink’s challenge is for an inlaid die design, and Addicted to Stamps and More is Use a Die or Stencil.

 

 

 

There are a lot of bridge cards being made this week. First, Jennifer McGuire published a wonderful tutorial, and then Freshly Made Sketches posted this challenge:

I didn’t expect to have time to make a card, but circumstances opened up just enough time today. The challenge closes in less than an hour, but here’s my card!

It’s a free standing card, but folds and fits into an A2 envelope. After creating the card base, I used The Greetery’s Wicker Weave stencil to create some patterned paper. Once that was done, I need to find some way to create the bridge, and luckily found Papertrey Ink’s Shape Shifter Circle 2 which was just perfect. The sunflowers are from My Favorite Things’ Sunflower Wreath die and were already assembled just waiting for this card.

I had also already foiled the sentiment from Spellbinder’s Yana’ Special Sentiments. This is such a fun design, and I’m sure another bridge card is in my future. I’m also sending this to NBUS since it’s the first run for the Wicker Weave stencil.

 

 

I was inspired by several challenges to pull out four different hydrangea stamps to create a few cards. I have three finished, and it turned out to be a rather educational experience. The biggest challenge was completely my doing. I intended to watercolor the images, but when I stamped them I used Neenah 80#. It actually turned out alright but I’ll wait on the last challenge until I redo the stamp with watercolor paper. All the images were cut with my Cut-N-Scan which I purchased over the winter holidays. It has proven to be a great purchase. I don’t own any of these dies and the Cut-N-Scan actually does a better job than I sometimes do with a manufactured die. I was unaware of the Cut-N-Scan until I started watching videos using the Silhouette and the Cricut. The Cut-N-Scan is very user friendly, and although I’ve yet to explore all the possibilities with it, I’m quite happy with it’s scan and cut abilities. I can do sentiments as well as images. In this case, I die cut all the images before watercoloring them. 

The next challenge was finding appropriate colors. I stuck to the current colors on the Color Throwdown Challenge: pink, purple, and green. I was also interested in playing along with Just Us Girls where the challenge is Pastels. The colors for the Color Throwdown Challenge are much more vibrant, so I toned it down for the JUGS Challenge. I’m also sending one of these to Triple B: Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms. 

In order to come up with some different pinks and purples, I used three different mediums. I often use the Altenew 36 Pan watercolor set as well as my Zig Watercolor markers, but this time I also pulled out a set of Lyra Aquacolor crayons which I’ve probably owned for 20+ years. I can’t remember the last time I used them. It’s easy to see how different the colors are in each example.

So, finally, here are the cards!

For Color Throwdown I used the Gina K  Heartfelt Hydrangea and The Ton’s Easy Expressions: Birthday. I used the Zig Watercolor markers. The label on the pink markers says “light pink” but it is surely glowing against the purple.

I used a Dick Blick premade scalloped oval that I embossed with the Dotted Lattice embossing folder from Taylored Expressions. I used some dimensional tape on the sentiment and added a few gold pearls.

The pastels for the JUGS challenge were done with the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set. To deepen the colors a bit, I applied one light coat, let it dry and then added a second coat of watercolor. I mounted it on two Reverse Confette Pierced Rounded Top dies and used a beautiful sentiment from Gina K’s Sweet Sentiments.

The only embellishment were a few purplish pink enamel dots. I also used some dimensional tape to pop up the floral arrangement.

Finally, the hydrangeas colored with the Lyra Aquacolor crayons. Several months ago, I added The Greetery’s Arched Sentiments to my order. I already owned Ellen Hutson’s Essential Arches and wondered if The Greetery’s sentiments would work with them. Indeed, they do, and this is their inaugural debut! I stamped a birthday greeting from The Greetery’s Sentiment Suite: Birthday set in the middle of the arch and then added a series of arches and frames before adding the flowers.

I found the florals in a very old Papertrey Ink set, Friendship Jar: Summer Fillers. I’ve always loved the Friendship Jar sets, but it’s been a long time since the summer fillers made an appearance, and I’m quite sure I’ve never used the hydrangeas. This one is off to the Triple B Challenge.

Well, that was one long post, and if you made it to the end, thanks for sticking with me!

My daughter-in-law’s niece just graduated from American University in just three years. Being unable to attend classes in person the first two years, she actually was able to manage enough extra credits to finish a year early. We’re all very proud of her accomplishments, and equally glad that she’s decided to do graduate work here at the University of Rochester.

Her card is very definitely a Clean and Simple one, but rather elegant, too, I think. I’m also a believer that the Clean and Simple space does not need to be white. 

I started by die cutting the sentiment from Penny Black in the Enchanted Evening cardstock by Papertrey Ink. I repeated the die cut with shiny gold cardstock and inlaid it before adding a narrow gold border.  

I added it to a white card base and then attached the motorboard 3-D sticker that I luckily found in my stash. 

I’m sending this off to three challenges: Less is More: Anything Goes, Addicted to CAS: Celebration, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion.

 

 

Last week a friend loaned me The Greetery’s  Botanic-cut: Morning Glories. I had a lot of fun ink blending the flowers and assembling them. I ended up making three sets of them, and die cut a couple more from white for later. I chose the purple ones for today’s card knowing that would work for the Double D Color Challenge. You can use one of more of the colors in the Inspiration Board.

I also decided to give the trellis card design a try. I originally saw it on Bibi Cameron’s blog, but since then several card makers have used the design as well. Everyone’s is just a bit different. 

Cutting the strips off the card front is the first challenge. I used five as shown in Bibi’s blog, but I think next time I’d try four instead.

Luckily, I had a die cut sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio’s Farm Fresh stamp and die set which fit on the top section perfectly. Most of the cards I’ve seen elsewhere have stamped their sentiments on one or more of the slats on the trellis. Although I didn’t photograph the card standing up, it does stand up easily and looks great.

In addition to the Double D Challenge, I’m sending this on the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes, and to the Triple B Challenge: Birds, Butterflies and Blooms where using their Inspiration Board is totally optional as long as you use 1-3 birds, butterflies and blooms. It’s my first time playing along with the Triple B Challenge and I opted not to use the Inspiration Board this time around.

I had just enough time yesterday to pull out two new products from The Greetery to create a card for The Flower Challenge. The prompt this time is “Use Your Favorite Flower,” and the link closes later today. 

I have lots of faves, but the hibiscus is right on top of the list. Typically in the summer I have one in a pot on my patio. This year I wasn’t able to find one the right color and also the right size, so I’ll have to settle for now for the new Botani-cut, Hibiscus, from The Greetery. 

I must say I’m quite impressed with how easily these dies are to assemble. I die cut them from Spellbinders white Specialty Flower cardstock. It has an interesting texture, but is very easily shaped to produce more 3-D like flowers. After die cutting them, I used some Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink blend each of the pieces and then assembled each flower. The background is also one of the new products from The Greetery–the Woven Cane Background die. I must say die cutting this makes quite a mess, but I knew I’d love it. We have several caned chairs that I inherited from my great-aunt’s home which I love.  

I added the Woven Cane Background to a white card base and then arranged the florals. The foiled circle sentiment is from one of the Pinkfresh Studio collections of premade sentiments and fit perfectly tucked in with the flowers. 

This is also another entry to Darnell’s NBUS June Challenge! I’m doing a better than average job of using new (or old and unused) products.

 

 

As you know, I enjoy playing along with different card challenges. It’s not often, however, when the challenges align with my need for specific cards. Usually I add the card I’ve made for a challenge in my box of cards “to send” without anyone particularly in mind. This week, however, there were challenges for three cards I needed to make. First off, Maddy’s birthday card. Her birthday isn’t until July 7th, but Matt and his family left for a three week vacation yesterday so we celebrated here before they left. I made a very summery birthday card which fits for Addicted to Stamps: Birthdays and The Four Seasons Challenge: Summer.

I’ve had these popsicles dies from My Favorite Things since last summer, and this is the first time I’ve put them to use. I added clay sprinkles to the middle one, and some glittery sugar to the other two.

I had a harder time deciding how to design the card but settled on an old dotted embossing folder by Cuttlebug and a Stitched Rectangle (Simon Says) layered on a Raspberry Fizz card base. The sentiment is also from My Favorite Things, Every Flavor of Happy. This card is also going to Darnell’s June NBUS for never before used stamps and dies!

Next up is an anniversary card for dear friends. CAS on Friday’s current challenge is Love–just perfect. 

This card came together quickly thanks to a box filled with envelopes of already die cut or stamped elements. I already had the red embossed panel (Honey Bee Pierced Fluttering Hearts) with the circle cut out of it, and the sentiment banner, so it was just a matter of finding a piece of black and white striped paper (My Favorite Things) and die cutting a red heart. I used my Gina K Master Layout 1 dies to create the layers for the white card base.

I like this card enough that I’ll probably use the design again.

Finally, Shopping Your Stash has an interesting challenge right now called Sentimentally Yours. They’re looking for cards where the sentiment is the focus. Our beloved Music Director and organist at our church is retiring at the end of June. I thought this older Papertrey Ink stamp, Year of the Psalms: February was perfect for my note of appreciation and thanks.

After embossing the sentiment in silver on watercolor paper, I taped off the edges and watercolored an ombré panel in blue. I layered that with a thin border and added it to a navy card by Memory Box which has a white interior perfect for writing a note.

There are a couple more challenges out there that match my card needs, so I’ll be back in a day or two with some other offerings.