Fabulous Day Card

Hello! I ended up having a little time to myself this evening when my hubby ran errands. So, once the washing machine and dryer were doing their thing... I decided to play.

Earlier in the week I found a really good deal on the Early Bird paper pad by Bo Bunny (2017), so I bought two. The colors in this paper are really pretty and I thought it would look good with the polka dot butterfly from the Hero Arts Stamp & Cut set. I bought the stamp set several years back and have barely used it. I love the polka dot butterfly, so I don't know why I don't use it more. Daffodil Delight ink by Stampin' Up! was used for the butterfly and Memento black for the sentiment and butterfly detail. That's it! I debated on adding embellishments but decided against it. Sometimes less is more! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend!

Challenges entered:

• 4 Crafty Chicks: Crazy Egg/ATG
• Craftyhazelnut's: Patterned Paper
• Jo's Scrap Shack: Anything Goes
• Shopping Our Stash: Quit Buggin' Me!!

Quick Bird Card

It's a twofer Thursday! The hubby has the day off tomorrow, so I'm taking some extra craft time today! There are a couple of challenges that inspired this Quick Bird Card. The challenge at Cards in Envy is to use Yellow & Black and Creative Knockouts challenge is Something to Say. I love this sentiment by Stampendous and the Birds on a Wire die cut by Spellbinders made this a quick and easy card. The patterned paper is from the Summer Mood paper pad by Bo Bunny (2017). To add a little sparkle three yellow sequins were added and that's it. So glad you stopped by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Challenges entered: Cards in Envy (Yellow & Black), Creative Knockouts (Something to Say), Simon Says (Anything Goes) and Word Art Wednesday (Anything Goes).

Fall Card with Die Cuts

Good day! If you're counting down with me... it's 23 days until the start of Fall! To get a head start on my Thanksgiving cards I made this Fall Card with Die Cuts. The stamp and die cut bundle will be released on September 5th in the Stampin' Up! 2018 Holiday Catalog. The stamp set is called Falling For Leaves and it coordinates with the Detailed Leaves Thinlits Dies. Cardstock colors include: Early Espresso, Fresh Fig, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. Woodgrain patterned paper was used for the background and it was stamped with Crumb Cake ink using a leaf stamp. To add a subtle pattern a piece of scrap orange polka dot paper was used for the bottom trio of leaves. The sentiment was stamped with Early Espresso ink and die cut with a Tim Holtz Alterations circle framelit. Three sequins were added for some sparkle and that's it. So glad you stopped by!

Challenges entered:

• Crafty Gals Corner: Anything Goes
• Mod Squad: Anything Goes
• Simon Says: Fall/Autumn
• Watercooler Wednesday: Anything Goes

Watermelon Bear Card

Hello and happy Tuesday! This cute little Watermelon Bear image is a freebie from Gerda Steiner Designs and I've had him printed for awhile. Finally today the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches inspired me to color him and make this Watermelon Bear Card. Since watermelon is a sweet summer treat it also fits well with The Paper Girls challenge for Sweet Summer Treats. The image was colored with Copic markers and die cut with a cross stitched oval die by My Favorite Things. Most the patterned paper is from the Summer Lovin' paper pad by Carta Bella (2014) with the exception of the green stripe which came from the scrap bin. The sentiment is where I did a slight deviation from the sketch. Since it has a round design I just decided to skip adding the twine and added the sentiment.  That's it! Thanks for stopping by.

Challenges entered:

• Crafty Sentiment Designs: Anything Goes
• Creates and Makes: Anything Goes
• The Paper Girls: Sweet Summer Treats
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #468

Home Sweet Home Card

It's Monday! Today I had an unusually early start to my day. I've already been to the grocery store, ran a few errands and made this Home Sweet Home Card. This card was pretty simple to make. The sketch at Sketch Saturday was used for the layout and I used the colored version of the Whimsical Cat image by Bugaboo Stamps. All I had to do was cut the patterned papers, stamp the sentiment (With You I'm Home sentiment kit by Unity Stamps) and assemble the card. Three aqua glimmer dots were added for detail and that's it! So glad you stopped by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Challenges entered:

• Cute N Crafty: Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: Anything Goes
• Sketch Saturday: Sketch #528
• Use Your Stuff: Lots of Colour

Such a Deer Card

Good day crafty friends! Today I'm sharing this Such a Deer Card that I made using the Deer Friend stamp set by Newton's Nook. The colors used come from the Inky Paws challenge to use magenta, yellow, tangerine and teal. It took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to use the colors. I played around with several other ideas and finally this design evolved. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The little deer are so sweet! 

My edge punches don't get used that much anymore, so I decided to punch some yellow cardstock to mat the focal area to. All images are by Newton's Nook and the background patterned paper is from the Happy Campers paper pad by We R Memory Keepers. That's it! 

Challenges entered:

• Cardz 4 Galz: Dies and/or Punches
• Crafty Friends: Animals/Birds
• Inky Paws: Colors
• QKR Stampeded: Anything Goes

Stay Cool Card

Hello and happy Friday! Last week we had a brief cool down with some rain and now the heat is back. So, if you're like me and counting the days until Fall arrives, there is 29 days until the first day of Fall. Until then... Stay Cool!

Several years back I won a challenge at Pattie's Creations and selected this Dog Days of Summer image for my prize. Isn't she cute? The image was colored with Copic markers and die cut with a square Tim Holtz Alterations framelit. All patterned paper is from the Sweet Summertime paper pad by Echo Park (2014). Some twine was added for detail and the sentiment was created on the computer, printed, punched, matted and added to the card. That's it! Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Challenges entered:

• Creative Knockouts: Twine
• Dragonfly Journeys: Dog Days of Summer
• Pattie's Creations: Anything Goes
• Stinkin' Inkers: Steamed Heat

Hoppy Halloween Card

Do you love making cards for Halloween? It's one of my favorite holidays to make cards! To send to my family and friends I make at least a dozen cards, sometimes more. I love the colors, patterned papers and the fun dressed up characters. Last week Newton's Nook released several new Halloween stamp sets and my favorite is the Hoppy Halloween set. It's hard for me to resist anything with cute bunnies! Needless to say this set immediately went into my shopping cart. Stamp LOVE... it's a thing!!!

To make this Hoppy Halloween Card I selected some of my favorite Halloween patterned papers form the Boos & Brews paper pad by Doodlebug Designs. The image was colored with Copic markers and die cut with the coordinating dies. A spider web border punch by Fiskars was used with white cardstock for detail and the sentiment was heat embossed. That's it! I'm glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

Challenges entered:

• Addicted to Stamps: Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations: Anything Goes
• Everybody-Art: Stamp 
• Watercooler Wednesday: Holidays

Fox Back to School Card

Hello and happy Tuesday! It's back to school for the kiddos and although I don't have kids I usually make a card for the occasion. This Fox Back to School Card will be given to the elementary school that backs up to my house along with a donation. Our neighborhood is having a school supply drive and I thought a handmade card needed to be included. The name of our neighborhood has Fox in it, so when I found this fox image I knew it would be perfect. Copic markers were used to color the image and the Frames & Flags die set by Newton's Nook was used for the blue frame. That's it, a pretty simple and easy back to school card. Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges entered:

• Crafty Sentiments Designs: Back to School
• Make My Monday: Back to School
• Simon Says Stamp: Back to School
• Sunny Day Crafting: Anything with Animals

Owl Wish Card

Good day! I hope you've had a lovely weekend. We didn't do much, ran errands, did laundry and went to the grocery store. Nothing too exciting! However... I did find a local store that received a shipment of Crate Paper & Echo Park 6 x 6 paper pads for $2.99 each and that was pretty awesome. Not that I need more paper but it's hard to turn down a good deal.

This afternoon I made this Owl Wish Card using the Owlie Wishes Sentiment Kit from Unity Stamps. The image was colored with Copic markers and die cut with a stitched circle die by My Favorite Things. Two patterned paper circles were die cut using some really old patterned paper by DCWV called Linen Closet. I thought the pattern coordinated well with the little dandelions on the stamped image. To accommodate the larger image size I made the card a little bigger than usual. The finished size of the card is 4.5 x 6.25. That's it! Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges entered:

• Aud Sentiments: Anything Goes + Sentiment
• Creative Fingers: Anything Goes
• QKR Stampede: Anything Goes

Manatee Card

Hello! Last month Newton's Nook released a super cute Manatee stamp set called Manatee-rific and I just had to add it to my stash. Today I made this Manatee Card using the new stamp set along with the waves stencil. Salty Ocean distress ink was used for the waves and the Mantee and accents were colored with Copic markers. The coordinating dies were used to cut out the images and everything was adhered flat for easy shipping. To add some green to the scene I used a foliage stamp from a Lawn Fawn stamp set. The outside frame is from the Newton's Nook Frames & Flags die set and the center oval was cut using a cross-stitched oval die by My Favorite Things. That's it! I'm pretty slow when it comes to crafting, so this Manatee Card took me most of the afternoon to make.

Challenges entered:

• Cards in Envy: Something New
• Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday: Feature a Creature
• Inky Paws: Summer/Beach Theme
• Little Red Wagon: Wild Animals
• Unicorn Challenge: At The Beach

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Birthday Card with Elephant

Good day! Did you know last Sunday, August 12th was World Elephant Day? I had no idea until late that night when I saw a post from the Tulsa Zoo. It was too late to make a card for the occasion but I did print out this image and laid it on my craft desk. The image is called Peaches Balloons by Bugaboo Stamps and it was colored with Copic markers. Marker colors were selected to coordinate with the retired Cherry On Top patterned paper by Stampin' Up!. I really love the bright colors in this paper! Warm Grays were used to color the elephant and neutral grays for the little mouse. A cross stitched oval die by My Favorite Things was used to die cut the image. To cut the mat a pair of deckle Fiskars scissors were used. The Happy Birthday sentiment was a freebie from Lawn Fawn that I received when I placed my birthday order. A punched circle was matted to a scalloped punched circle and that's it. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Challenges entered:

• Always Fun: Going Around in Circles 
• Catch The Bug: Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: Animals
• Cute N Crafty: Animals

Butterfly Belated Birthday Card

Hello! If you're anything like me, a birthday gets missed every once in awhile. Not on purpose, it just seems life goes too fast to keep up sometimes. One good thing about Facebook is it reminds us we have friend/family birthdays coming up. Getting a card in the mail is a completely different story!

This Butterfly Belated Birthday Card was made for one of my cousins. Her favorite color is purple, so I colored the butterfly from the Beautiful Day stamp set by Stampin' Up! with Highland Heather Stampin' Blends markers. The layout was based on the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink. Other Stampin' Up! supplies include: Marbled stamp, Memento black ink, Softly Falling embossing folder and silver sequins. The Smoky Slate cardstock circle was cut using a stitched circle die by My Favorite Things and the sentiment was stamped using the Hang in There stamp set by Lawn Fawn. That's it! Thanks for stopping by.

Challenges entered:

• Just Add Ink: Sketch
• Southern Girls: Stamp Your Mark
• QKR Stampede: Anything Goes

Falling Flowers Birthday Card

Happy Thursday! Lately a lot of my cards have featured critters on them, so I decided to make a floral card. This Falling Flowers Birthday Card features one of my favorite stamp sets by Stampin' Up! called Falling Flowers along with the May Flowers Framelit Dies. The images were stamped with Memento black ink and then colored with a mix of Stampin' Blend and Copic markers. The birthday sentiment is from the retired Watercolor Wishes stamp set and it was heat embossed with white embossing powder. For the background panel I did a subtle version of the Faux Patina technique using an embossing folder along with Crumb Cake cardstock, Crumb Cake ink, Whisper White Craft ink and clear embossing powder. If the Faux Patina technique is new to you here is a link to a great video tutorial. If you want to see all the cards I've made using the technique click HERE. The layout for this card comes from a couple others I found on Pinterest. Sometimes the hardest part of making a die cut floral card is arranging the flowers and I really like how the others were done. One of the cards was by Sue Miller and the other by Tina's Creative Studio. It's amazing to see how color changes the look of the card. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Challenges entered:

• Dragonfly Journeys: Flower Power
• Inspire.Create: Floral
• Pause Dream Enjoy: Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations: Favourite Stamp
• Tuesday Throwdown: Anything Goes
• Watercooler Wednesday: All About Occasions

Owl Just a Note Card

Hello! I hope you're having a lovely day. This afternoon I made this Owl Just a Note Card to add to my stash. After layering the patterned papers by Echo Park (For the Record 2 from 2012) I decided to add some stitching for detail. The Cute Owl image is by Bugaboo Stamps and it was colored with Copic markers. A retired sentiment from Stampin' Up! was used and three glimmer dots added for some sparkle. That's it!

Challenges entered:

• Catch The Bug: Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: Anything Goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: Anything with Critters
• Watercooler Wednesday: Feminine Anything Goes

Giraffe Baby Card

Good day! When I first started making cards I just made whatever came to my mind or I found a challenge for inspiration. Now that my stash has grown I'm more purposeful in my card making. A couple of weeks ago a baby boy giraffe was born at the Tulsa Zoo and I made this Giraffe Baby Card to send to the zoo staff. We went and visited the new baby last weekend and although we didn't get a great view of him, it was clear he is a cutie. While we were at the Giraffe exhibit we got to feed an adult male a few pieces of romaine lettuce, their tongues are amazing. It was a lot of fun!

To create this card the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch was used for the layout. The giraffe stamp is by Inkadinkado and colored with Copic markers. All patterned papers are from the Snips & Snails paper pad by Doodlebug Designs. The Cutest Baby Ever sentiment is from the retired Label Love stamp set by Stampin' Up!. A stitched rectangle die cut out the image and a deckle die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix cut the bottom blue layer. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Challenges entered:

• CAS(E) this Sketch: Sketch #283
• Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes
• DL.ART, Thankful Thursday: Baby
• Pattie's Creations: Anything Goes

  

Giraffe at Tulsa Zoo

Colored Bookmark

Hello and happy Friday! It's time for the start of a new challenge at Simply Create Too and this time we would like you to Make a Bookmark. August is a great month to make bookmarks for all those kiddos going back to school. For all the challenge details and design team inspiration click HERE. Simply Create Too is a monthly challenge, so you have until August 31st to link your bookmark creation. Hope to see your entry in the gallery!

The coloring bookmarks came from a coloring and creativity book called Super Cute World by Jane Maday. Since my Prismacolor pencils don't get the attention they deserve, this was a good time to put them to use. Two bookmarks were colored and adhered front and back to a piece of Call Me Clover cardstock by Stampin' Up!. I used a Scotch laminating sheet to finish the bookmark and then added some twine. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Heart Spots Card

Hello and happy August 1st! August is definitely not my favorite month, but we are one month closer to Fall and that makes me happy. This past weekend we went to the Tulsa Zoo and currently they have four snow leopards. The mother had three babies last year, two boys and a girl. My hubby and I love watching them. The boys are being kept apart from their mother and sister. Eventually they will go to another zoo as part of the species survival program. It makes me so sad to think about this species vanishing from our Earth. They are so beautiful!

Supplies for this Heart Spots Card include:

• Stamps: Heart Spots by Reverse Confetti and retired Thoughtful Branches by Stampin' Up! (grass).
• Inks & Coloring: Memento black ink and Copic markers, Warm Gray for the Leopards and Neutral Gray for the stone, YG17, YG25, V15, V17, Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends marker. Tumbled Glass distress ink and Wild Wasabi ink pad by Stampin' Up!.
• Other Stuff: Heart Spots Confetti Cuts by Reverse Confetti and Frames & Flags die set by Newton's Nook.

Challenges entered:

• Crafting By Designs: Anything Goes
• Pause Dream Enjoy: Stitched Dies
• Simon Says Stamp: Wild Things
• That's Crafty!: Animal Magic
• Word Art Wednesday: Anything Goes

Snow Leopard from Tulsa Zoo