A special card for someone special

 Yes, I made those flowers....again....time consuming, but so worth it and so beautiful.  My friend needed a card to say goodbye and congratulations all in the same card, so this is what I came up.  It's a 5x7 easel card.  You know how I love an easel card...it's a goto for me. The soft colors are a great backdrop for the darker flower focals.  I dipped into my stash for some acetate butterflies that just so happened to match my color scheme.  I added some vellum leaves cut from my cricut (while simultaneously mutilating two pieces of vellum in the process. I need to use a new mat) I had some mint pops of color to embellish the card.   The inside of the card features a favorite bible verse (fitting this particular occasion) from Stamp simply store.  I also added another acetate butterfly.  My oval dies are an old set from Spellbinders and I used 5x7 stitched rectangle dies for all the other papers. The paper collection comes from an old kit from crafter's companion that I purchased at Tuesday Mornings about four years ago.  Hope you enjoy this beautiful card.  

It's all in the details

 Ok, pro tip....if you are making a project for someone else, in my case, a card, and the person gives you lots of details, you might want to keep that straight as you create...HA! Simple, right?  I'm going to blame my little oopsie on the fact that I usually get multiple distractions while I'm creating.  

Yep, let's go with that.  

So, the card is for a retiring gentleman, I added all the little details, finished the card only to realize the very next day that I messed up the number of years on his retirement.  ACK!

Thankfully, it was a relatively simple fix, but I could not remember the font I used, so I used a different one.  What you see in the picture is the wrong number of total years.  That is the picture I got before I fixed and already had it packaged.  Now says 41 instead of 42.  

Thank goodness I caught my mistake!!! Please excuse the dish towel and "life" mess in the background 😉

An easy coloring project

 I gotta say, I'm not in love with my blending here, but at some point, I just have to be satisfied with what is done.  This is almost a one-layer card. I made it for a sweet friend who is quite the artist in her own right.  I know she'll appreciate the effort even in its' imperfection.  I used all the images from the stamp set and colored with my triblend markers.  I love coneflowers.  They are such happy flowers, of course, I don't think there's a flower I don't like.  I did use an additional sub sentiment from an old stampin' up stamp set.  I added some iridescent gems in the corner.  I cut the panel with a Kat Scrappiness scalloped stitched rectangle die.  I really wanted this to be a one-layer card, but I don't like to see the ink bleed through the other side of the cardstock.  So, I cut it and popped it up on foam tape.  

Clean and simple #5

 Once again, I reached for another paper pad from CC ink drops line.  This pad contains beautiful oranges and yellows.  I used some sizzix dies from my stash and what was going to be layered squares took a turn.  Literally.  I heat embossed the sentiment from a scrapbook.com gratitude sentiment/die combo.  I added black gloss pops of color to complete the card.  I love using my supplies and being able to use up my stash.  

Clean and simple #4

 Technically, I should have started with this card first, as it was the jumping off point for the previous cards I've posted in this series.  I was inspired by a design team member from Stamp Simply.  You can view her design here. This is how mine turned out.

Clean and simple series #3

 Today's clean and simple-ish card features another beautiful butterfly sticker.  Admittedly this card is many not quite as clean and simple, but really, there's not much going on in my humble opinion.  I used a paper from one of my ink drops paper pads. I specifically chose this patter to match up with the butterfly.  I used my Tim Holtz wildflower dies to cut florals from black shimmer cardstock.  I finished it off with a stamped sentiment from a concord and 9th stamp set in my stash.  I used the spellbinders hemstitch rectangles to cut the paper and added black shimmer cardstock behind.  

Clean and simple series #2

 In this card I featured another paper from Craft consortium in the Ink drops line.  These papers are so beautiful and as I'm not able to delve into alcohol inks, these really fit the bill for me.  I used a dimensional butterfly sticker from my stash. I'm not sure you can tell but there is glitter embedded in the wings.  I used spellbinders die from my stash for my focal point image. I had to stamp it three times to get it just right, so there are actually three layers of the die stacked together, waste not want not. HA! I finished the design with a blue clay heart that I colored with my triblend markers to get the colors to match.  

Clean and simple series

 This is just about as clean and simple as I get.  As I've mentioned, I'm making many gratitude/thank you cards.  In these next few blog posts, you're going to see a lot of similar cards that I think are pretty easy.  I used oval spellbinders die from my stash to cut the beautifully, stunning craft consortium ink drops paper.  I added a butterfly with gold embossing. (Top tip, these are sold at my local dollar tree off and on and you get a ton, and they are cardstock) I stamped a sentiment from the gratitude stamp set from Scrapbook.com and added a sub sentiment that I heat embossed in gold. I added a scattering of red candy hearts to finish the design.  After looking at it a while, I decided to corner round two of the opposing corners and I think it added a little interest.  

Bless yer heart

 So, here are some of the products I picked up from Whimsy Stamps when I won the video hop.  I've been in love with this cow since she was released.  The fence posts, grass, and nail heads are a die set from the company as well. I colored my heifer with my triblend markers. I used tumbled glass and rustic wilderness to blend in a little sky and grass.  I found a little bird stamp/die in my stash from Spellbinders that I thouht had the same whimsical style as my scene.  She was a last addition.  I added glossy accents to her red lips and sparkle pen to her bow.  The little flowers were ones I already had made in my stash.  This is a 4 X 9 card and it fits in a standard business envelope.  

This card is going to my friend that I refer to as my Barnabas.  She prays for me, encourages me, supports and teaches me so much about becoming a more mature woman of God.  Her dad happened to be a dairy farmer, so I thought this cow was a perfect fit for thanking her.  

In hindsight, I wish I had added some little bumblebees in the sky, but this is already in the envelope, ready to deliver.  

Fish are friends, not food

 The big shark in Joy's stamp collection reminds me a little bit of Bruce from Finding Nemo, don't you think?  I'm making thank you cards and tried to think outside the box, and I thought this was perfect.  What can be more supportive than a support group???I reverse stamped the hammerhead shark and colored all the sharks with different alcohol markers so they would have slightly different appearances.  I embossed the background panel with a FSJ embossing folder that looks like bubbles.

I cut the little sign post with my Cricut DS and inked it around the edges before I applied it.  

Today is the last chance to get in on Joy's Beachy Sharks card kit. Go check it out and definitely find her on youtube.  She's amazing. 

 

Smile!!

I'm using Joy's shark stamp set again in celebration of her launching her new Beachy Sharks Card kit.   You can still pre-order this kit until May 14th, go check it out!!

This guy is the big "happy" one in this set.  I just love his sharky grin.  This card started out as shaker...I went several different ways and I finally tore it apart and finished it as it is.  I'm more satisfied with this version.  

This card is a 5x7 circle flip it.  Don't you love the little sentiments...now you're singing it in your head, right? LOL.  I used papers from my stash and all the dies included in the die set.  

I used a spellbinders card kit for the shellebrate sentiment.  

I hope this birthday card brings a smile to your face as well as the recipient who it goes to.  

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A fintastic thank you card

 Today's card is another thank you card, as I have many to create to thank so many people for their kindness during Matt's surgery.  These little sharks are images from Joy Baldwin's stamp set she designed and had made for shark week last year.  She does a whole week devoted to cute little shark cards.  These sharks are the two smaller sharks on her stamp set as well as one of the sentiments. Joy has created another large stamp set and curated a card kit so you can craft along in her shark week series in August.  The kit is currently on preorder on her website, Create it with Joy.  It is only available to preorder until May 14th.  Go check her out on her website and youtube channel.  She is an amazing creator.  

As I said, my card features the two smaller sharks from her original stamp set and I think they are pretty fintastic.  I colored them with my spectrum noir triblends.  I used my spellbinders arched dies to create the frame and materials from an old spellbinders card kit of the month to create the scene.  

I WON!!!

 I can't even believe it.  I have watched youtube for years.  I have followed blogs and participated in hops for as long as I can recall.  At the end of April, Whimsy Stamps had a video hop, which I participated in and I WON!!!  Made my day.  I received a 100.00 gift card to their shop.  I still feel so blessed.  It's been rough around here in the last several months....(or 16 years, but who's counting) but specifically since September 2022 it's been rough.  Visit me here if you are interested in more of those tales.  Anyway, I thought I would share some cards I made with older product that I own from Whimsy Stamps.  I cannot wait to work with the product I have had on my wishlist since 2021.  I have to give a shout out to Joy at Create it with Joy, for being the first person to introduce me to Whimsy Stamps.  After my initial purchase, I started following the creators from the Whimsy Stamps design team and they are all awesome!  Go check them out!!!

Hap-bee Birthday

 This is actually very similar to a card I made a few years ago.  A friend of mine wanted the original immediately.  She recently asked me reproduce the card for another family member.  This is a mini slimline.  I used Cricut DS to cut the honeycomb background and beehive.  The bees ( from the Stamps of Life) I stamped, colored, and fussy cut,  added glossy accents to one set of wings and diamond stickles to the other wings.  I used scrapbook.com black pops of color to make the bee trails. The hearts are candy hearts from a stamp company, but I've had them so long I cannot remember. 

 

And I finished the cards

 that I said I'd never make again 😂😂😂Just sharing here so the color variations can be seen.  There were 3 of the purple and 4 of the blues. I'm not sure I can decide which is my favorite!

Birthday Shaker

 When I started cardmaking, I didn't do any celebratory cards.  Mostly, I made thank you, encouragement, or sympathy cards.  In this season of life, I'm currently making tons of birthday cards and a lot of masculine cards.  I don't know why, but I generally default to rainbow cards for guys, the struggle is real on these masculine cards.  I also enjoy making shakers so this card has it all, rainbow, birthday, shaker.  I stamped the background with the party animal stamp set from Scrapbook.com.  My seed beads were gifted to me by my oldest daughter and my bonus daughter.  After I created the background, I loaded it into my cricut and cut the name out.  Ta-da...assembled and ready to go!

Isn't he the cutest???

 I made this sweet card from a stamp set created by Joy, from Create it with Joy.  You can find her on youtube.  She does a week long series of shark themed cards for her shark week.  She created this stamp set last year.  This year, she has created a new and bigger stamp featuring this cute little guy and also procured a card kit that can only be ordered from now until May 14th. Then, in August when she starts shark week you can make along!!  So fun!! Go check out her channel to learn more here . She is an incredibly talented card maker/ creator.  

I dry emobossed this background with an old cuttlebug folder, colored this little shark with spectrum noir triblends, added some water droplet embellishments, and it's hard to see, but I coated his great big smile with glossy accents.  I added some gel pen highlights to finish it off.  

Let the AUDventure begin

 I was asked to create a card for a young lady graduating from audiology school.  Her parent said she loved travel and wanted something unique.  I have to thank pinterest for the play on words, but this is how the card turned out.  She loved it and I hope the recipient does too.  It was quite large and I used Cricut DS to create the outside and stamped the sentiments on the inside as well as her name (not pictured)