Have I mentioned my love of a butterfly motif?

 And hearts and leaves.  I digress, today I'm sharing a card I made using Bibi's butterfly collection from spellbinders.  I cut one of the smaller butterflies and stenciled it with distress oxide inks.  This card wound up going a totally different direction. I had intended to make an A2 size card, but it just didn't look right on the background I'd made for it.  So, I dry emossed some silver foil cardstock with a spellbinders embossing folder, made a small strippy background in coordinating colors for the butterfly.  (hard to see in pictures) I added some silver flat back pearls, added some silver and white twine, and added a happy birthday sentiment.  This card turned into a 5x7.  I was happy with the final product.  

Another special birthday

 It's my birthday month, so I'm sharing a special birthday card I made for my son's friend's birthday.  I really enjoy personalizing a card.  I think there is just something a little more special about it. I hope he enjoys it and I'm sure he'll enjoy the $10 in the pocket on the back!!   I purchased this design from Cricut DS.  I heat embossed the sentiment.  I dry embossed all the layering panels.

I used DS to cut the letters and I dove deep into my sticker stash to add embellishments.  I cut the 9 from DS as well. Each panel is 4.5 inches and it's an accordion fold concertina card that I found on Sam Calcott's youtube channel (Mixed Up Craft) She's an amazing card engineer.  Hope you enjoy!

#shopyourstash #useyourstash 2023

 I made these first two cards using distress oxides and the smooshing technique.  I cased these first two cards from a card I saw on Pinterest, I'm not sure the technique the pinner used.  I used my Tim Holtz wildflower dies on all three cards.  I had the inside from the rectangles and used them to make the third card using ink blending left on my blenders.  I heat embossed the sentiments from various, older stamp sets in my collection.  The ink blending was done on Tim Holtz watercolor card stock. I used stitched rectangle dies I've had from Stampin' Up in my stash for years.   Thanks to Helen from Crafty Mama Diaries on YouTube for inspiring this hash tag to USE our stuff!

Masculine Birthday, More strippin' it up

 I recently unearthed this happy birthday, wood block stamp and realized what a great background it would be.  I had left over strips of cardstock from another project and thought let's add a masculine birthday card to my stash.  (fyi, birthday cards are one of the fewest cards I personally send out) Also, raise your hand if you struggle with masculine cards ✋Sheesh, why is it SO hard???

 I messed up the stamping a little at the top, but again, I'm not perfect and I doubt the someday recipient will notice.  You're kind of stamping blind with wood blocks.  I really like how it turned out.  I added a stamps of life happy birthday die cut and pops of color in three shades to round out the design.  Matted with a thin layer of black and mounted to a 5x7 card base.  

A little ink blending

 This card evolved from my latest sympathy card.  I was just enjoying blending ink colors with distress oxide inks.  They blend so beautifully, especially on Strathmore bristol smooth cardstock.  I created a stencil on my cricut and while I was in the stencil making zone, I created a stencil with hearts as well.  Once I get through my "work" orders, I'll be playing with that.  

Maybe I'm longing for that warmer weather, which is something these colors evoke.  Our bipolar weather, went from 70 degree thunderstorms yesterday, to 28 degrees spitting snow today.  Indiana, you never let me down.  HA! 

I heat embossed this large thanks stamp and added black pops of color for embellishment.  Mounted on black cardstock with layering stitched rectangle dies on a 5 x 7 card base.  

This card feels just like Spring.

 Good old Indiana is throwing out her crazy weather as usual.  It was like 70 degrees today which is completely abnormal in February, but considering our weather history...maybe notsomuch. Anywho, I was asked to make a thank you card and I am determined to use my stash, specifically things I haven't used before. To be honest, I do not have a lot in my stash that has never been used.  I make it a point to use what I buy. That being said, there are occasions that doesn't always happen.  So, I pulled out this large die of the month that I've had from Spellbinders for some time.  Lots and lots of pieces.  Tedious, and I can't tell you how many times I had to re-cut pieces I lost. I also managed, in this work session, to dump my gold embossing powder all over my desk and onto the floor....not pretty friends.  Tedious, though it may have been, I always love how projects like this turn out when finished.  Super cute. Enjoy.

My grandmother's Mother's Day card

 I absolutely LOVE this collection from Spellbinders of Bibi's Butterfly collection.  It took some time, but I was able to add the entire collection to my stash.  I also used a set from Vicki P's birdhouse collection from spellbinders.  The flowers are from a spellbinders collection as well, that I already had created in my stash.  First let's talk about the card shape....is that not stunning???  I think an easel card is one of my absolute favorite styles to make, actually, I don't think, I know it is and let's just take that up a notch by making it a butterfly and 5 x 7 in size???  Yes, I am here for that.  True confession, this was my first time cutting the little birds and OH.MY.WORD. they are absolutely adorable.  Now I need to cut them in all the colors...maybe I'll do that tomorrow! I digress, I used an older Anna Griffin die for the Mom die cut and sub sentiments from an old lawn fawn set of stamps called Owl always love you...(I think,,not sure) The papers were cut from a 12 x 12 cardstock pack I got at Michaels I got for 5.00 on clearance, which I also love.  Gold foiled, water colored look...so pretty and also included solids.  

I know she will love it. 

"Strip it up" and Celebrate

 To quote the amazing Laura Bassen, I stripped it up.  I have a huge, I mean huge pile of colored cardstock scraps.  When I say pile, I mean all organized in the rainbow order (singing in the LB voice, go check her out, she's amazing) in a rainbow, colored cart.  I sort of hate having all those scraps and I like to make larger cards, and I'm not good about trimming the pieces I die cut...and the list goes on and on. I pulled out several large scraps using a color combo inspired by the slimline warm paper pad from scrapbook.com . Now, I'm not sure mine is a warm palette, but the color tones are there.  I just started cutting multiple strips of paper and adhering them to a 4 x 6 card front.  Initially, I ink blended a large butterfly for the focal, but it was just too busy.  I pulled out a hoard of flowers I cut probably a year ago, and laid them out on the stripped panel.  I was still struggling with a layout and somehow all the florals got a little wonky and I really liked it.  I cut some additional leaves in silver mirror carsdstock.  Cut out my celebrate sentiment, added some gems I got at hobby lobby and voila a birthday card was born.  I attached it to a 5 x 7 card base and stamped a sentiment inside.

One of my favorite types of cards

 I know it seems strange, but I really enjoy making a sympathy card.  I really hate the need for it, but that is the circle of life I suppose.  I prefer to have some on hand rather than having to make one when it is needed.  I recently purchased the unchartered mariner distress oxide ink. I blended with speckled egg and did a very small amount of black soot around the edge. I made my own "stencil" with my cricut.   This is a 5x7 card.  I stamped with a very old concord and 9th stamp set and used a black sharpie to extend the stem.  Messed it up a little, but I'm not hallmark.  I heat embossed the sentiment with Simon Says Stamp embossing powder.  

A little birthday love

 I'm all about using my stash.  I do get the embossing folder of them month from Spellbinders each month and I used the January folder for the background of this card.  The rest of the detail piece are parts from a small die of the month from Spellbinders several years ago.  I heat embossed the sentiment in gold and added a piece of gold foil cardstock on the back to give it some more shine.  The tiny flowers are from another Spellbinders set of slimline edge dies.  My inspiration came from a card on the Spellbinder's blog.   

I'm trying to "up" my photography game...HA, but all I use is my cell phone and my craft space is in my very dimly let basement.  Maybe you won't keep getting ugly backgrounds of my messy basement...or maybe so..time will tell.  😁

More "heart" inspiration for you.

 This is a 5 x 7 card.  I prefer to make larger cards; you will see that more as I post.  This card was created with a 4-part stencil I purchased on sale at Simon Says Stamp.  I used the two larger heart stencils and layered them using distress oxide inks.  The sentiment was stamped with a Penny Black stamp set.  Just a beautiful card with vibrant colors.  The piece is matted with a piece of holographic card and finished on the front with a clay heart.  This card was actually one of the few stenciled pieces I've done.  I only own about 5 stencils.  I really love a lot of the layering stencils companies are introducing and hope to add some to my collection as finances permit.  Thanks for stopping by.

My heart is still smiling

 I am addicted to my local gas station's fountain drinks.  I don't know what they do different, but it is the best fountain drink in my town.  We battled the flu hard and heavy over Christmas and my throat was raw from coughing.  A sweet friend of mine dropped by out of the blue with a drink from the gas station without even knowing how miserable I was.  Talk about putting a smile on my face and relieving my throat.  I used a die from my stash that I purchased years ago on sale. The stamped sentiment came from a fairly new stamp set I got on clearance at scrapbook.com.  I spy another Craft Consortium ink spots  background paper.  Have I mentioned I'm in love with those?  They look like alcohol ink backgrounds with gold in them...I'm inpatient nor do I have the funds to invest in alcohol inks and supplies at this time so these papers are a big win for me.  I used a crochet die from Tim Holtz on the border, these are gorgeouse dies as well. Satin gold Nuvo drops for accents. I believe the Thanks die is a Tim Holtz as well I picked up on clearance a long time ago. Another card you could easily use for Valentine's day. 

Thanks Beary Much

 I made this card to thank a friend for a night out to dinner.  She supports us in so many ways and is just an incredible person and friend.  I used one of the Craft Consortium ink spots paper pads for my background...I LOVE that line of paper pads and want to get them all in my collection eventually.  The card would make a cute valentine card as well. The sentiment is from an old, Hero Arts stamp set I got as a freebie from Simon Says Stamp many moons ago and I thought it paired nicely with this die from the Stamps of Life. It was a club set many years ago and the card was quick to make.  The bears arms cut so you can slip something in them, and I used a stitched heart from my stash to tuck in there.  I did a little spectrum noir alcohol marker coloring for his ears and pads of his feet.I added a little glossy accent to his nose to finish the card.  

A little love for my seestore

 My sister loves, and I mean, LOVES elephants.  I was laying down one night in bed and this card idea came to mind, as I stated in an earlier post, I want to do more stamping.  I had found this stamp set at goodwill last year and have no idea the brand, but I thought the images were cute and it was cheap!  Initially, I had wanted to color each elephant with some messy alcohol marker coloring as shown by Laura Bassen on her youtube channel, but it was not going well. I defaulted to coloring one elephant with my spectrum noir triblends.  The don't forget sentiment was in the stamp set and the I love you is from an old Stamps of life stamp set.  There is glossy accents on the heart in I love you. I still struggle a bit with get pen highlighting, too much...not enough...the struggle is real.  I sent it to her for Valentine's day and I doubt she'll care about the highlights.😂

How about a heartfelt feel better?

 I was inspired by a card on pinterest that used colored card strips to make a birthday card.  The pinner made her card a celebrate card.  I put my own touch on the card.  I used a die from Scrapbook.com and their warm slimline paper pad for my color palette.  Each color is represented.  I used some vellum as a shadow.  I used some enamel dots I've had in my stash, but the Rose pops of color match this paper pad very nicely.  The heart die is from Simon Says stamp, I purchased it a long time ago on one of their special deal days.  

Blessed

 I make a lot of thank you cards, and I love a heart motif.  Being that it is the month of love (and also my birthday month, bring on 47) I thought I'd share a few recent cards.  My medically fragile daughter  was ill over Christmas and each day someone blessed us in some way shape or form financially, groceries, or meals and I whipped out handmade cards to express our appreciation.  I saw this particular technique on Natasha Foote's youtube channel using Nuvo drops.  I have several Nuvo drops but have found that I prefer pops of color from scrapbookcom, so I wanted to use up some of my Nuvo drops.  Basically, you scrape the blobs of drops down the cardstock and you get this really cool mixed media...very, very neat.  I started and just couldn't stop.  Any of these would make cool valentine cards for anyone you wanted to share with.  

If you haven't seen the ink drops paper from Craft Consortium, go check them out, they are GORGEOUS.  This is one of the papers on the background of this card.  I purchased mine from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

 This card was my attempt at a rainbow look. Inked the edges with black ink and I think it helped it to pop.

And this little beauty is my favorite.  I really got a wide variety of looks on my hearts.  Added some embossing on the background sheets to complete the look.  I enjoy mixed media, but I just hate waiting for stuff to dry...love how these turned out.

Love is in the air

 My mom recently asked me to make some cards for her to put in her stash.  She requested a card for her hubby for Valentine's Day.  They live in the woods and he's a skilled builder.  I thought I would fashion a card that appeared as though their initials had been carved into wood.  I stamped the background with a Stamps of Life stamp set.  Heat embossed their initials on the heart "wood" which I inked on the edges with black soot distress ink.  His favorite color is yellow, so patterned paper to the rescue!  I realized that I really enjoy stamping.  I tend to die cut a lot because that is what I have access to most.  The goal this year is to get back to more stamping because I really love that aspect of card making.  

Galentine's for my gals

 Been a hot minute since I posted...HA!  That's the understatement of the year.  I'm going to try to stay on top of this blog. Hopefully, it will inspire you or just give you a smile.  Today I'm sharing a couple "Galentine Day" cards I made for two very dear friends.  These cards were CASed from Joy from her youtube channel, Create it with Joy.  She is an amazing cardmaker and she inspires me LOTS.  I used my Cricut to cut my tic tac toe board and my lay out is a touch different than hers, but really loved how they turned out.  I know my "gals" will too.