Kitty Coffee Card

Good day! Are you playing along with the Coffee Lovers Spring/Summer Blog Hop? If it weren't for a couple of my crafty friends posting their creations I would have completely forgot. It's going on until Friday, June 1st, so there is still plenty of time to join the fun. This Kitty Coffee Card features a stamp by Whipper Snapper Designs called Kealy. I ordered it a few months ago to use during the hop. The image was colored with Copic markers and then die cut with a stitched oval die by My Favorite Things. All patterned papers are from the True Stories paper pad by American Crafts (2014). The layout is from this weeks sketch challenge at The Paper Players and I'm also entering this card in the Creative Knockouts challenge to use Furry Friends. The sentiment stamp is by Hampton Arts and I used a black marker to mark through the word love and write the word coffee. For the final touch a bitty blue butterfly was added and that's it. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Floral Happy Birthday Card

Hello and happy Monday! It was a busy weekend at my house but I did manage to make this Floral Happy Birthday Card. My birthday stash is really low and my family has several birthdays in the coming months, so it was a good time to make a birthday card.

This card was inspired by the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Autumn Floral
• SU! Only: Shape Up!
• Gem of a Challenes: Birthday

All supplies are by Stampin' Up! and include:

• Paper: Crumb Cake, Fresh Fig, Sweet Sugarplum, Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso and Whisper White cardstock along with Wood Textures designer series paper stack.
• Stamps: Oh So Eclectic (florals) and retired Tin of Cards (sentiment).
• Inks: Crumb Cake, Fresh Fig, Crushed Curry and Old Olive.
• Other Stuff: Eclectic Layers Thinlit dies, dimensionals and retired old olive sequins.

That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Miss You Card

Hello! I've got a quick post to share this Miss You Card I made using this weeks sketch at The Paper Players. My creative motivation is still on the fritz, so I used supplies from the Oh Happy Day Card Kit by Stampin' Up!. I added a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock behind the yellow striped paper and three gold sequins for detail, other than that everything was from the kit. Easy peasy!!!

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

Sweet Hedgehog Birthday Card

Today we welcome the month of June and the launch of the new Stampin' Up! catatlog!!! Have you found your new favorite product yet? There are lots of wonderful new items to choose from! Click here to check out the new catalog.

To make this Sweet Hedgehog Birthday Card I've used the new Affectionately Yours dsp and the sweet hedgehogs from the hostess stamp set called Love You Lots and they were colored using Copic markers. The layout is from Paper Play Sketches and I combined it with the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge at The Paper Players. I used the top row across for Yellow, Twine and Birthday. The yellow panel was embossed using the decorative dots embossing folder. For a little more detail I added a butterfly charm and three yellow sequins. The green really overpowers the yellow but hopefully there is enough yellow on this card for the challenge. I'm also entering this card in the Ooh La La Creations challenge for Critters with 4 Legs.

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

Elephant Love You Lots Card

Good day crafty friends! This Elephant Love You Lots Card will give you a sneak peek at a new hostess stamp set called Love You Lots that will be in the 2016-2017 Stampin' Up! catalog. Using the elephant stamp I have finally attempted the mirror image technique. It came out pretty good, the mirror image isn't as crisp as the original but I don't think it's too off. I did watch a video to help with this technique, you can find it here.

The inspiration to create this card came from The Paper Players challenge to use a "wild thing" on a CAS project. The elephants were stamped using Tip Top Taupe ink onto Sahara Sand cardstock and then fussy-cut. To ground them I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and added some Wild Wasabi die cut grass using an Impression Obsession die cut. Then I embossed the clouds on the top portion of the white panel. Adding a red sparkle heart and the sentiment were the final two details and this card was done. I'm also entering this card in the "Anything Goes" challenge at Crafting from the Heart. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Hippo Cycle Feel Better Card

Hello! Today I have a quick post to share this Hippo Cycle Feel Better Card. The Hippo Cycle stamp is by Stampendous! and I colored the image with Copic markers. In case you're wondering, I didn't search for an image of a hippo on a bicycle, it's one of those finds where you see it and it makes you laugh so you buy it.

For this card all patterned paper is from the Garden Party paper pad by Pebbles. The image was die cut using a cross-stitch oval by My Favorite Things and matted to a piece of Blushing Bride cardstock that was cut using a pair of Fiskars deckle scissors. Using Memento black ink the Feel Better sentiment from the Sassy Salutations set by Stampin' Up! was stamped directly onto the patterned paper. Everything was adhered flat to the card for easy shipping and the final touches were three sequins and some Seaweed twine from The Twinery. That's it!

This Hippo Cycle Feel Better Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Bicycle
• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark
• Creative Moments: Anything Goes w/ Twist Showers/Rainbows

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

Simple Watercolor Wings Card

Hello! We are getting some much needed rain today and that makes me very happy. The rain is a great excuse to stay indoors and make a card. I made this Simple Watercolor Wings Card for the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: CAS Butterflies
• Come and Get It: Things with Wings
• CAS on Sunday: Tic Tac Toe (middle row down)

All supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! I used patterned paper from the Pretty Petals paper pad, Watercolor Wings stamp set, Bold Butterfly framelits, Decorative Dots embossing folder, Washi Label punch and a strip of retired Old Olive dsp. The ink colors for the butterfly include: Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral and Basic Black. Pretty simple!

This was such an easy card I went back and made a second one using different colors. The Watercolor Wings stamp set is probably my favorite at the moment. I love butterflies and the color combinations are a lot of fun to play with. The below butterfly is stamped with Soft Sky, Pacific Point and Basic Black.

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

Music Good Job Card

Hello! This year I'm only making cards with a purpose. Yesterday I mailed off 16 Valentine's Day Cards for the Cards From the Heart Card Drive. Last night I made this Music Good Job Card for my niece who performed in a choir concert last Friday. It feels good to make cards you know someone will enjoy.

To create this Music Good Job Card I've used a sketch from The Paper Players Challenge. The sketch was perfect to fit the larger Good Job sentiment by Stampology into a circle. I used a stitched circle die by My Favorite Things along with my Big Shot. The You Rock sentiment was created using the Crazy About You stamp set by Stampin' Up! I used the color red for my niece's school colors. The red patterned papers are by Authentique and the music note paper is from The Paper Studio. For some sparkle and detail three gold sequins were added and that's it!

This Music Good Job Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Sketch
• Use Your Stuff: Sequins or Glitter
• Crafting From The Heart: Anything Goes

A lot of my time lately has been spent sewing! This Peanuts Blanket is my latest project and I've made baby burp cloths to match. 

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

Fall Kitty Birthday Card

Hello! It is finally starting to feel like fall here in Oklahoma and that makes me very happy. There is still plenty of green in the landscape, but some trees are starting to get their fall color and the grass has stopped growing (that makes the hubby super happy). So, today I felt inspired to make a Fall/Autumn colored card. My cousin has a birthday in a couple of weeks and she loves cats, which gave me a good reason to use a new Newton's Nook stamp set. The stamp set is called Hello Fall and it was an exclusive set to Simon Says Stamp (currently out of stock). The image was stamped with black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I've kept the layout casual to play along at The Paper Players Clean and Simple Leaves challenge. I used a stitched rectangle die cut by Lil' Inkers along with Scalloped Edge die cut by Avery Elle. The sentiment is from the Wetlands stamp set by Stampin' Up! and the patterned paper is from the Into The Woods dsp by Stampin' Up! That's pretty much it! This card is also linked to the following challenges: Stamping Sensations (Colours of Autumn) and Crafty Cardmakers (Autumn Colours).

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

A Witchy Haunt Ya Later Card

Are you counting down the days until Halloween? Just in cause you haven't done the math there are only 24 more days until the streets are filled with trick-or-treaters eagerly accepting candy from providing strangers. I always buy too much candy but it's hard to determine how much my hubby will consume before the big night. I've tried hiding the candy from him, but he finds it. I've also tried buying candy he doesn't usually eat, but he eats it anyway. This year I'm putting off buying candy until right before so it doesn't go missing like the years before.

This Witchy Haunt Ya Later Card was made using the sketch from The Challenge at Always Playing with Paper. Although I ended up centering the middle patterned paper instead of it being more to the left, for no reason other than my drawing of the sketch wasn't as detailed. The witch and sentiment are from the Haunt Ya Later stamp set by Stampin' Up! and the patterned papers are from the Happy Haunting dsp by Stampin' Up!. The stitched circle was made using a die by My Favorite Things and the sequins are from Close to My Heart. I colored the image with a mix of Copic markers and a Stampin' Blender marker and ink pads. I did add a little clear Wink of Stella to the Witch's dress and the band of her hat. That's it!

This Witchy Haunt Ya Later Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Challenge: Sketch
• The Paper Players: Halloween
• Get Creative: Halloween

Glad you stopped by my blog and enjoy the rest of your day!

Casual Fall Owl Card

Making casual cards is a nice change of pace. I didn't have to search through patterned papers or fret over selecting the right embellishments, I just stamped. Although the hubby said it is a little boring, it's exactly what I had in mind. This Casual Fall Owl Card features an adorable little Feathery Owl stamp and Branch stamp both by Impression Obsession. The Happy Fall sentiment stamp is by Sugar Pea Designs from their Nuts About You set. After stamping the owl with StazOn Timber Brown onto Very Vanilla cardstock, I used my aqua painters to give him a little color using Tim Holtz distress inks in Frayed Burlap and Brushed Corduroy. The branch was stamped with Walnut Stain distress ink and Brushed Corduroy was used again for the Happy Fall sentiment. Using a Lil' Inker stitched rectangle the entire panel was cut and then adhered to a dark kraft card. That's it! I'm glad you stopped by and enjoy the rest of your day!

This Casual Fall Owl Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Clean-and-Simple Fall
• My Time to Craft: Owls

Gold Butterfly For You Card

It's time to say goodbye to August and that makes me HAPPY! I wanted to make one more card for this month and had some time this afternoon to make this Gold Butterfly For You Card.  I combined the Tall & Skinny Sketch at Mojo Monday with the Tic Tac Toe challenge at The Paper Players. The middle row down was used to create this card and that includes: Circle, Embossing and Mint Macaroon. The finished size of this card is 3.5" x 6".

Most of the supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! unless noted, here is the ingredient list:

• Paper: Very Vanilla cardstock, gold textured cardstock by Recollections and patterned paper from the Pretty Petals paper stack. 
• Stamps: Kinda Eclectic and Bitty Banners 
• Inks & coloring: Gold emboss powder and Mint Macaroon stampin' pad.
• Other Stuff: Big Shot, polka dot embossing folder, heat gun, ribbon by Decorative Trim (Hobby Lobby in the sewing section), Bitty Butterfly punch, stitched circle steel dies by My Favorite Things and stampin' dimensionals. 

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

Sweetbriar Rose Card

It's sad when you buy a stamp because you really love it and then it sits unused for over six months. That's the case with the Sweetbriar Rose stamp featured on this card. I really love it but always thought it was too large of an A2 sized card. This week The Paper Players is having a square card challenge and I thought it would be the perfect time to use this neglected Sweetbriar Rose stamp.

To create this Sweetbriar Rose Card I created a 5.25" square card from Whisper White cardstock. A slightly smaller piece of Soft Sky cardstock was cut and then the patterned papers from the Painted Blooms dsp. Then I stamped the image using Memento Black ink onto watercolor paper and then die cut it using a stitched rectangle die by Lil'Inkers. Then I watercolored the image using Aqua Painters and Classic Stampin' Pads in Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green and Soft Sky. The sentiment stamp is from the Wetlands stamp set and I added a Daffodil Delight bitty butterfly from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set accented with faux pearls by Recollections. It's rare that I use ribbon because I love twine, but I added some Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon for detail. That's pretty much it!

This card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: It's Hip to be Square
• The Friday Mashup!: Square Shaped Card
• Penny Black and More: Summer Flowers

All supplies by Stampin' Up! unless noted. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back soon.

Bold Butterfly Feel Better Card

Earlier this week I made a masculine feel better card and since my stash of cards with this sentiment is low, I decided to make this Bold Butterfly Feel Better Card. Stamp sets used on this card include: Watercolor Wings, Painted Petals, You've Got This and Sassy Salutations. Butterflies and flowers are my favorite part of outdoors in the summer and I've used my favorite colors. The Blackberry Bliss flowers were stamped onto whisper white cardstock and then I went back and filled in with Garden Green leaves. I was inspired by this card HERE by Lisa Young. When I found it while doing a search for violets a few weeks ago, I had to know if she used designer paper and no, it was hand stamped. So, I tried it and I think it turned out okay. The center panel was stamped with Mint Macaroon and the sentiment in Memento Black. For the butterfly I used Daffodil Delight as the base, Hello Honey on the edges with Blackberry Bliss for the detail. The body of the butterfly was highlighted with black Stickles to give it a little shimmer. To add some embossed detail, I used the Decorative Dots embossing folder and that's it! This will be one of the cards I'll have a hard time giving away. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!!!

This Bold Butterfly Feel Better Card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: The Great Outdoors
• Allsorts: How Does Your Garden Grow
• Suzy Bee's: Anything Goes w/ Floral Twist

Neutral Flower Hello Card

It's been awhile since I've made a card using only neutral color tones. So this afternoon I sat down and created this Neutral Flower Hello Card. The layout is from this weeks sketch by Nance Leedy at The Paper Players challenge. I used the You've Got This stamp set by Stampin' Up! and patterned paper from the Go Wild designer series paper stack. The flower was stamped and fussy cut twice. Once on Whisper White cardstock and then on Tip Top Taupe cardstock. The white layer was cut a little generous and the taupe was cut right on the black line. Then they were adhered together. This made the flower stronger and helped to highlight the stem against the patterned paper and lace. Using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and Sahara Sand ink, I added some splatters directly onto the patterned paper. To get the black circle elements, I used a large lid from embossing enamel with black ink. The white circle was stamped with Sahara Sand ink and the Hello from the Crazy about You stamp set was added in black. A little Tip Top Taupe lace ribbon layered with another strip of patterned paper secured with three staples to the right. Using several dimensionals the flower was adhered on top at a slight angle. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day! 

Red Flower Thanks Card

Okay, I'm running out of creative names for my blog post titles. So here it is a Red Flower Thanks Card. I made this card using the colors from The Paper Players challenge to use Real Red, Pool Party and Island Indigo. The layout is from the lunchtime sketch TSSC365 at Technostamper and I'm also entering this card into the Craft Your Passion anything goes challenge. Most of the supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! except for the Dot Fade stencil by Tim Holtz. Here is the supply list: Base card in Pool Party, Whisper White, Island Indigo and Pool Party cardstock, stampin' pads in Pool Party, Island Indigo and Real Red. Petal Potpourri, Another Thank You and Bohemian Borders stamp sets. The Flower Medallion punch and a sponge dauber. That's it! I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!!!

Fishy Card for Dad

Good day and happy Tuesday! It's time for another challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week the theme is Texture. I've used dry embossing and twine to create texture on this Fishy Card for Dad. The base of this card is natural cardstock accented with Antique Linen distress ink on the edges and then topped with papers from The Paper Loft. Using the Decorative Dots embossing folder by Stampin' Up! and more natural paper with distress ink I created the embossed panel. Wrapped around the panel is some twine that I recycled from a gift package. The fishy image is from the By the Tide stamp set by Stampin' Up! and stamped using Always Artichoke ink. It's worth noting that the ink takes much longer to dry on the natural paper, in fact I finally took my heat gun to it. Next time I'll use some clear embossing powder on the image to prevent any smeared images. The dad sentiment is part of  a larger stamp that I masked and is by Hero Arts. The finished size of this card is 5.25" square. This fishy card was made with my hubby's dad in mind for Father's Day. He loves to fish!

We would love for you to make a masculine card with texture and play along this week. Click here for more inspiration from the design team.

This Fishy Card for Dad is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: Masculine
• Crafty Boots: Father's Day
• My Time to Craft: Male

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

Stampin' Up! 2015-2017 In Color Card

Hooray for the new Stampin' Up! Catalog. The 2015-2016 catatlog was launched yesterday but I was called into work, so my plans for a blog post had to be postponed. When the new in colors are released, I like to make a card using only those colors. The 2015-2017 colors include: Cucumber Crush, Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder. These colors had me a little stumped with using them all together but The Challenge sketch at Always Playing with Paper saved me!!! I used five flags from the sketch to represent each new color. The patterned paper is from the Cherry on Top Paper Stack and the stamp set used is called Sprinkles of Life. A portion of the proceeds from the Sprinkle of Life stamp set go to Ronald McDonald House Charities which made it easy to justify my purchase. :)

The second challenge I used to make this card is from The Paper Players and this week they have a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  I used the bottom row across, die-cut (ovals), patterned paper and any shade of yellow (Delightful Dijon). To lighten the Dijon color on the ice cream cone, I sponged on some Craft Stampin' Ink and rubbed it into the cardstock really well. I fussy-cut the cone and used the new Tree Builder punch to punch out the ice cream. The final touch was adding the three silver sequins. That's it!

If you haven't seen the new catalog click here for the pdf version. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Lobster Birthday Card

Happy Tuesday! I can't believe it's the last week of May, it seems the weeks are flying by. This week at Cardz 4 Guyz the challenge is to use Gingham/Checks/Plaid. Hopefully, this theme will make it easy to create a masculine card. To create this Lobster Birthday Card I used the paper stack called Adventure Bound by Stampin' Up! (only available until June 2, 2015) the By the Tide stamp set for the lobster and the sentiment is from the retired hostess Morning Meadow stamp set. The colors used are: Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. I've used the sketch challenge PP246 at The Paper Players for the card design. That's it!

We hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz. Click here to see more inspiration from the design team. I can't wait to see what you create.

Helping me clean my desk is Mr. Tazzy. His idea of cleaning is knocking everything onto the floor. If given the opportunity he will hide my stamps in his special places. He loves anything that will fit under the pantry door. When I'm not crafting I have to place large sacks on top of my desk to keep him from playing.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Floral Sympathy Card

Good day fellow handmade card enthusiasts! I have a new Floral Sympathy Card to share with you. To create this card I combined three challenges: The Paper Players (color), Retro Sketches (sketch) and SU-Only (flowers).

All supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up!. Some are current and some are very retired but still loved. Here is the list:

• Paper: Whisper White, Pistachio Pudding and Sahara Sand cardstock. Patterned paper from the All Abloom paper stack. 
• Stamps: Flowering Flourishes, Bloom for You, Bloom with Hope (hostess), and Language of Friendship.
•  Inks: Classic Stampin' pads in Lost Lagoon, Pistachio Pudding and Sahara Sand.
• Other Stuff: Polka dot embossing folder, Fun Flower punch, Boho Blossom punch, 7/8" scallop circle, scallop edgelit die, stampin' dimensionals and basic pearls.

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