Gladiolus - Flower of the Gladiator

Hi crafty friends - I'm here with inspiration for our April Die Cut Diva Challenge - Anniversary or Birthday Cards. You can see my Diva post HERE but the card details and bonuses are below. First up, a card filled with Gladiolus flowers - I didn't know before Googling but they are called the flower of gladiators for their sword-like leaves.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock and Ombré A2 card; scraps

Stamps - Altenew Floral Frame (c2016 retired)

Dies - Altenew Craft-A-Flower Gladiolus

Other - Hero Arts enamel dots; foam tape

The wonderful Altenew is our sponsor this month,

donating a $30 gift card to our random winner!

Altenew's Gladiolus set falls into the Key Hole system of dies. It makes the die cuts much easier to assemble, although a lot of pieces cut at once were bewildering at first glance. Despite there being a printed assembly guide, watching an Altenew video definitely helped since this was my first use of the set!

I die cut the flower/bud pieces and leaves/stems from various scraps and assembled. This is easier if you keep the flowers separate (all petals for each flower come on the same plate; 3 plates for three flowers). I cut in 5 different colors so I could mix and match. Each flower has a different shaped key hole which helps. Arranged them on an ombré printed card. Stamped and fussy cut a sentiment. Popped the sentiment on with foam tape and added some pink clear enamel dots. I love, love, love how this card turned out!

I will add this card to The Creative Crafters Challenge #99 where Anything Goes and to Darnell's April NBUS Challenge #85 since the gladiolus dies got first play here.

How about a bonus? I couldn't resist pulling out some fave Altenew sets. First, another birthday card:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White'

Paper Studio A2 card; scraps

Stamps w/dies - Altenew Floral Sprig (c2016 retired)

Dies - Altenew Mix and Match Frames &

Garden Picks

Other - foam tape; Copic Markers;

white gel pen

I love this sprig and used it back in 2020 HERE. Stamped, die cut and colored with Copics then added to the layers of Mix and Match Frames, then to an A2 card. Added some die cut leafy sprigs from the Garden Picks set. Stamped and fussy cut a sentiment. Since there was a lot of interest from the layered frames, I left off any additional embellishments. The orange layer of the frames was cut from a patterned paper so there's a look of texture.

Threefer? Here's an anniversary card for my neighbors, Brenda & Al.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White'

Paper Studio cardstock; Spellbinders A2 card

Stamps - Taylored Expressions Inside Scoop - Anniversary

Stamps w/dies - Altenew Floral Sprig (c2016 retired)

Dies - Vintage label from Lea Lawson's SBC Fest kit

Embossing Folder - Altenew Dynamic Blossoms Bundle

Other - foam tape; Copic Markers;

white gel pen; Hero Arts enamel dots

I stamped and colored three floral sprigs in all. This yellow one went on top of an embossed panel that I'd sanded for texture. Added to an A2 card with a sentiment and enamel dots. Quick and easy but so pretty, I think! The 3rd floral sprig will make an appearance in future.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see your anniversary or birthday card in the Diva gallery!!

Hello Friend!

TGIFF friends - Happy Funn Friday with Craft Roulette Episode #315!

Supplies: Paper - Spellbinders A2 card;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Authentique;

Violet Studio patterned; Paper Studio cardstock

Stamps - Hero Arts Adorable Baby (retired)

Dies - Spellbinders How Does Your Garden Grow (DOML-Jul20);

Scrapbook.com Laura Graf SBC Fest kit;

AJVD Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Other - foam tape; Pink and Main gem;

Recollections puffy sticker

Mary Gunn Funn had Donna Mack (‪@purplepinkypromises202mainA‬) as her guest. Donna owns a store in the Kansas City area & many Paperganza attendees found their way there last year. I didn't get to go but maybe this year?! The wheel was kind and I quickly made a card within an hour.

• Project - Hello: I made an A2 card with a Hello Friend sentiment. 
• Colors - Strawberry Fields: I used red/green/white for strawberries and blue for sky. 
• Element - Hop(S)/Hopping: I added a bunny to my O. 
• Random - Big Letter(S): My HELLO is die cut from the biggest letters in my stash.

I die cut the letters, flower & butterfly and 3 stitched rectangles. Stamped, colored and fussy cut the bunny. Assembled and added a gem to the flower center. Quick and easy!

That's it for tonight! This weekend I'm doing the Pink and Main birthday card event. Hopefully I'll have something to share from that, although I haven't done the homework...

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty weekend!! 

Masculine Birthday Cards with Flair

Hi all - I haven't been blogging as much lately but I wanted to share the birthday cards I made for my brother. He had his birthday last Thursday but we celebrated early on Easter. Why cards, plural? I made one for me to give Junior and one for my dad to give him. Both were made using the new Hero Arts Friends with Flair Bundle. I'll let you try to guess which one Dad selected. 

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio Cardstock; Authentique Natural patterned paper;

scraps of metallic & kraft

Stamps/Dies/Stencils - Hero Arts Friends with Flair Bundle

Other - various Hero Arts inks & VersaFine Clair Nocturne

Stamped and die cut two of the birthday sentiments. Die cut the shirt parts for both, plus the icons, then assembled. The button-up shirt was stenciled with the coordinating stencil. Added to an A2 card. The first shirt was assembled right onto a blue card. The second shirt is designed to be at the angle so I added a piece of patterned paper behind it to fill the card.

Did you guess? So, my dad and brother both like suspenders; Dad chose card one. I liked both cards so it didn't matter which one I used. Junior loved them both! I will add card one to The Creative Crafters Challenge #99 where Anything Goes and card two to Darnell's April NBUS Challenge #85 since the bundle I used got first play here.

That's it for today! Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!!

Another Zoyfold!

Hey crafty friends - I've been busy helping my dad but still making time for cards! Tonight I watched Craft Roulette Episode #314 live and crafted along. Here's my take:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock; various pattern scraps

Stamps w/dies - Scrapbook.com Laura Graf SPC Fest kit

Other - Spellbinders ephemera; 

Hero Arts enamel dots

Host Mary Gunn had Emily Moore (‪@emilymooredesigns‬) who I'd not met before. She was making her first appearance and did great! She has a line of stamps, dies and stencils at her store HERE; I see her stuff at Simon Says Stamp & Scrapbook.com too, if you shop there. I must confess; I popped over there after the show to place an order! Watching CR can be dangerous for enablement! The wheel was spun four times, as usual, for the necessary parameters:

• Project - Zoyfold: A fun fold combining a Z-fold with a Joyfold; I crafted one with cardstock. 
• Colors - Easter Eggs: I chose common pastels used for Easter eggs (and Easter M&Ms which I consumed to heartily this season!). 
• Element - Seal(S)(Ing): I used an ephemera seal from an old Spellbinders card kit. 
• Random - 4 Squares: I trimmed scraps into four 1.25" squares and added to the Joyfold part of the card. 

I found an ephemera seal like you would put on the back of an envelope so built my card around that. I formed a Z fold by folding back the front of an A2 card, then added the mini card to fold over from the right (the Joyfold part). I chose some soft patterned papers for my squares, matted in white and added to the Joyfold part of the card. Covered where I glued it on the inside with a piece of the blue pattern. Added a stamped/die cut sentiment from the stash to the inside. Any personal message will go on the back of the pink card.

Here's a view from the top:

Oh, and the big news at CR is there's a continuous slide show running HERE with all the episodes playing one after the other! I estimate it'll take about a week to get to the present, then they'll start it all over again. It's a fun way to help encourage people as we try to get to 100,000 cards submitted (so far over 74,000). It's free to submit and if you'd like to try it, you can list me as a reference using code 62R (link HERE with info). Some big names are coming up as guests, including Kelly Marie from Lawn Fawn!

That's it for today - hope you're having a crafty weekend! Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Easter 2026!

Hey friends - If you're celebrating Easter, I hope it's a happy one!! My dad wants to go to Hubbell House, a historic restaurant in Mantorville MN, for Easter dinner so that's where we're headed later today.

I made a few Easter cards this year, some of which I've already shared. Here's the first of three favorites I made. This one's a mash-up of Spellbinders and Poppystamps:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock

Dies - Spellbinders Simon Hurley Bunny Buddies;

Poppystamps Nordic Basket, Nordic Border Set,

Nordic Lavish Border Set, Grosgrain Bow &

Folk Decorated Eggs (both retired);

Sunny Studio Slimline Nature Borders

Stencils - Spellbinders Mar 2026

Other - Hero Arts Irrisdescent Shimmer Spray;

foam tape; Copic Markers for shading

Lots of die cutting & assembling on this one, plus some stenciling. The bunnies and sentiment came from the Simon Hurley set & everything else was Poppystamps, except the grass in the basket (Sunny Studio). The ray sky was made with three of the stencil layers from Spellbinders' March stencil, then spritzed with shimmer spray. This one went to my friend Cat (Cat Luvs Paper). Since the bunnies, basket and borders were newly used, I'll add this card to Darnell's April NBUS Challenge #85.

Next I have a card with Simon Hurley's jumbo Easter egg die:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Paper Studio cardstock; striped by unk

Stamps - Spellbinders Feb 2023 club (retired)

Dies - Spellbinders Simon Hurley In Bloom Egg;

Birch Press Design Foliage Bunch

Other - Pink and Main gems; foam tape

I crafted the egg during a Card Chaos episode where we were tasked to add loads of bling. I think I did it! Because it was timed, I didn't inlay all the bits - just backed the purple piece with a white solid egg. Added it to an A7 card with some striped paper. It looked empty so I added the leafy bits. An Easter sentiment finished it off. This one went to my friend Darnell (djkardkreations) & her hubby. Darnell reported that the bling arrived intact - yay!

Finally, a sweet egg image designed by Angie Blom for Pink and Main:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Recollections A2 card

Stamps - Pink and Main Coloring Eggs

Dies - AJVD Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set

Other - Copic Markers

Stamped the image and colored with Copics, then die cut with a stitched rectangle. Stamped a sentiment from the same set & added the panel to an A2 card. I kept it simple for overseas mailing to my friend Gundi (papierelle) who received it last week. I also stamped one on watercolor paper but haven't tried painting it yet...

That's it for today - enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!!

Jasmine Pop Up Bridge Card

Hi everyone - I'm back with yet another Craft Roulette card - my 104th - yikes! I watched CR Episode #313 tonight and crafted along. Please excuse the evening photo as I didn't have my light box with me (visiting my dad).

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps/Dies/Stencils/Embossing Folder - Altenew Sweet Jasmine bundle

Other - Hero Arts & Memento Inks;

Hero Arts enamel dots

Mary had a CR member Kristin Mattarono (‪@kmatto_kmatto‬) as her guest, making her first appearance on the show. The wheel was nice and easy this week!
 

• Project - Bridge Card: I formed a bridge card with cardstock & scoring. 
• Colors - Salad: I used greens for lettuce/orange & yellow for peppers. 
• Element - Starts with "J": Flowers are Jasmine! 
• Random - Swipe(S)(Ing): I swiped two ways. 

I previously made two bridge cards (here & here) using the instructions from the video on Jennifer McGuire's June 1st 2023 post. Formed the bridge card per Jennifer's instructions near the start of her video, except I made the height 5.5" (she did 6"). The long way is 10 3/4", then you score at 1.25, 2.25 and 3.25 from both long edges, then fold into bridge. So easy and fun to do; I was easily able to complete my card during the show. 

I stamped and stenciled the jasmine image, then die cut and embossed it. I stenciled by swiping the inks rather than blending them with brushes - a different and kind of interesting look! I also swiped ink on the front panels before adhering the flower image. Added the stamped & fussy cut sentiment with foam tape, then added some enamel dots. 

Here's a view from the top:

That's it for today, friends. Check out Craft Roulette's website here for more inspiration. Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty weekend!!

March 2026 Card Chain Reveal

Hey everyone - it's time again for the Card Chain reveal; this time we're sharing cards that went around the world in March 2026. Twenty-five people participated & you can see the full reveal HERE. My card went to dear Jeanne in MN - we only live 30 minutes apart so I delivered the card in person & we went crafty shopping and had lunch out.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

Recollections A2 card & black cardstock;

Authentique & BoBunny patterns

Dies - Divinity Designs Quilted Triangles;

Lawn Fawn banner - can't remember which set;

words from stash - can't remember whose 

We had the following options when creating our March cards:

Color Palette Option

Sketch Option

Theme Options: Gnomes / House or Home / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Stamps / Patchwork

As usual, I chose the theme of friendship and this time I also used the technique of patchwork. I took that to mean patchwork quilt and used a quilt die. I die cut it 5 different times, mixed the patterns and made 5 quilts! This one was my fave. I assembled them all on a stitched rectangle and, since the quilt was a square, added a panel of one of the patterns to the bottom. Matted it and adhered to an A2 card base. A die cut "hello" and "friend" with a small banner comprised the sentiment.

I'm expecting a wonderful card from Gail in Norway. Gail helps run the Card Chain Challenge and does a great job! I'll add a photo once I receive the card but I told her to go ahead and reveal it so I can see it now! I'm helping my dad for a bit so I'll check the mail later this week...

That's it for today, friends. Want to play along? April sign-ups run until 4/6/26 - go HERE for details! You simply make and mail one card & then get one - so fun!!