Fun with Tic Tac Toe!

Not the game with X & O, it's the Tic Tac Toe Challenge where you pick the row and create a card! Can't remember playing with this one before but my friend Greta (GG Creations) is the Guest Designer for Challenge 070 so I'm giving it a go. Challenges are announced on Thursday and end at noon CT the following Tuesday so you really have to get in there and create quickly!! Here's the board:

Here's my card using the diagonal upper left to lower right - Polka-Dots, Coloring & Sparkle:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Ms Sparkle & Co A2 card & woodplank pp;

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor paper;

BoBunny Bold & Bright Double Dot 6x6 pp

Stamps - Hero Arts CL129 Anytime Messages (retired)

Dies - Hero Arts Watering Can and Flowers Fancy Dies &

Nesting Oval Infinity Dies

My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired)

Other - Yasutomo water color pallets (regular & metallic);

Stickles, 3M washi tape; foam tape; Black Soot Distress Ink

Had to laugh - thought I was being so artsy and putting a flower down on the "ground" but I noticed on the product page that it was done by a Hero Arts designer, and probably many others. Near catastrophe, I ran over the watering can die in my Vagabond with a couple tulip dies. Fortunately everyone survived although the back of the watering can got dented a bit... After diecutting the can and flowers from TH watercolor paper, I watercolored them, adding some definition to the can's edges with Distress Ink. Arranged the tulips in the can and decided you couldn't see the sparkle of the metallic watercolors so added some Stickles to the flower tops. Put it all on a card base and stamped a sentiment - done!

I'm also entering this card at Darnell's NBUS challenge since my watering can set is new and getting its first play. Also playing at a Blog Named Hero where the challenge is to merge old and new - my old being the 2010 sentiment. Guess the Infinity Ovals aren't getting any younger either! Thanks to the challenge blog designers for fun challenges and thanks to you for visiting!!

 

 

CAS one layer

Hey everyone - hope you're having a great weekend!! I'm playing along with two challenges today - CAS(E) this Sketch (#378 by Donna Mikasa) and Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge 11 over on the Hero Arts Blog. Here's Donna's awesome sketch (btw, she's a former Hero Hostess too - just waaay more talented than I!):

You can see Donna's amazing card with it HERE. While I was pondering the sketch yesterday and what I could do with it, Hero Arts announced its 11th Stay Crafty Challenge - it's to do a one layer card. Arrrrgh - not something at which I excel. Well, they do call it a challenge, right?! Decided to combine these challenges and here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - Anchor Paper soft grey linen cardstock

Stamps - Hero Arts CL535 Carte Postale (retired) &

CM128 Color Layering Water Lilies (sentiment)

Inks - Weathered Wood Distress;

Hero Arts Ultra Pink & Navy

Other - red, navy & grey pencils; white gel pen; Stickles

I started by stamping the postage stamp, masked it and stamped the post card, then the sentiment. Added some details to the postage stamp, including a light border with a navy pencil and some grey shading on the left side, and called it done. Not bad for a style I don't do well.... Hey, I noticed after my stamping that the Carte Postale set is from 2011, the year I was a Hero Hostess! Fun times indeed!! Thanks again to Hero Arts for selecting me back then and for being so good to me since!!

Thanks to the crew, especially Donna, at CAS(E) this Sketch and to Hero Arts for more fun challenges!! Thanks to you for visiting and happy crafting!!

More tag cards for Christmas Kickstart

Hey everyone - Jo & her elf Tracey are doing tags &/or cards with a tag (Challenge #32 Care to Tag Along) until the end of June over at Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I entered earlier this month and decided it was time to play again - can't be a slacker in building that Christmas card stash!!

Here's my first card with a tag:

Supplies: Paper Studio Old World Winter; Paper for tag by unk

Stamps - Hero Arts CG211 Magical Background & 

CL474 Special Wishes (both retired)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired)

Other - Hero Arts lace (retired); May Arts string twine

I'm trying to use stuff in the UFO box and this tag was in there sans twine (I added it today). Near as I can remember, the snowman was on a patterned paper and I carefully trimmed him and embellished him with Stickles and gel pens. Put him on a tag. A boring rectangle tag but a tag nonetheless. The brown and blue distressed-looking paper was from the same pack but I can't tell which brand - I made it ages ago!! Since Mr. Snowman looks a bit vintage-y, I found a pretty snowflake paper in the Old World Winter 6x6 pad by Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby brand) - just love the delicate music running through it - hard to see unless you look closely. I remember stamping the sentiment in brown and clear embossing it, then cutting the words to fit the tag. This was popular at the time. Couldn't stop making cards with tags now that I'm in the UFO box successfully....

Next, I have cards featuring tags my friend Heather (Stamping and Stitching) sent me. Thanks again, Heather!! She sent 5 tags of various design and I used a similar layout to make 5 cards. Different papers for each. Here they all are in one photo.

The "fun"?! was going through all my Christmas papers trying to find ones I liked with each tag. I had a large pile of rejected 6x6 paper pads by the time I finished but at least I found some appropriate (at least I think so) papers by BoBunny, American Crafts and Basic Grey. Found some yummy ribbon and twine in the bin, especially love the sheer purple, another upcycle from my friend Connie and her dentist.

Well friends, I'm supposed to be Misty-proofing since Misty the cat arrives next week. I figure I can continue to pull crafty stuff out as long as I put it tidily away. Wish me luck.... I have a disaster going on right now!!

Thanks, Jo, for another fun challenge & thanks to you for stopping!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

New Gina K card kit and vintage!

I spotted Jennifer McGuire's blog post on June 11th on Faux Monoprint using a new Gina K Designs kit and a beautiful script stamp. I only had two Gina K sets - Friendship Blooms, a collaboration with Hero Arts and the Autumn Wreath Builder set. No time like the present to add more so I quickly ordered the kit , Nature's Touch, and the Elegant Script background stamp. Good thing I acted fast because a lot of things Jennifer shows fly off "the shelves"; the kit is currently out of stock, probably didn't take long. When ordering I also watched a Gina K video - loved her presentation style, very relaxed and easy to watch. She does some live shows on Facebook so I watched one last night and tried to create along with her. Here's my creation:

Supplies: Paper - Gina K Sea Glass cardstock;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb

Stamps - Gina K Elegant Script and

The Best Flowers (a set in the kit)

Other - Copic Markers; Memento Rich Cocoa;

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass and Tea Dye

If interested, you can see my faux monoprint cards HERE. I have some work to do on that technique!! And the vintage too, for that matter - word to the wise, don't use 110lb cardstock to try to crumple! How I made it work was to bend the cardstock a bit in different spots that didn't crumple so I could add ink to the folds. My torn edges were a bit wonky but I went with it! Also, Gina did paper piecing to her flower so it stood out from the script background. Not me, I just scribbled some Copics on top and called it good. On another card (Gina made two to my one....) she stamped a solid silhouette flower (same one Jennifer used) and it looked amazing! Will try that next. I hadn't used my paper distresser tool in ages - used it on my sentiment circle. Didn't add any embellishments, am keeping it simple and flat for a long distance mail journey.

Got up early this morning and did a more traditional card using the same sets. 

Very quick and easy - the longest time was spent cutting a mask for the flower before stamping the script. I inked the script in Tumbled Glass then randomly added some Tea Dye before stamping on the white panel. Added Wink of Stella to the flower after coloring with Copics. Cut it with a retired MFT Blueprints stitched rectangle, matted in brown and added to the Sea Glass card. Sequins are from Hero Arts. The sentiment is from Gina K's Stately Flowers 7 set which includes the state flower of MN - can't wait to create with it!!

Thanks for stopping and you can find Gina K's great videos here. I watched Whimsical Wednesday for 6/24/20 while creating card one. Have a crafty day!!

Blue Rose Gift Bag

Hey crafty friends! I'm off to have lunch with my friend JoAnn tomorrow - a nice break from cleaning up my crafty messes (what I call Misty-proofing) so my brother's cat won't get into them! Misty arrives next week so I don't have much longer to get ready!! Anyway, I was sorting through all sorts of diecut and stamped goodies from my friend Heather and from others, plus stuff I had cut or stamped. It's a large pile - so I decided I'd better start making things with them. I made a card I'll post in future and then a fun gift bag, which I'm sharing today, to take to JoAnn with some mini chocolate squares:

Supplies: Paper - Momenta Watercolor 8x8;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb;

check pattern by unknown

Stamps - Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy (with dies)

Hero Arts CM351 Hero Greetings Mini Messages

Dies - Lawn Fawn Goodie Bag

Spellbinder's tag (retired)

Other - ribbon by unknown;

Doodlebug string

I found this fun Lawn Fawn mini bag diecut from Heather in my box; loved it so much that I bought the die, not that I've used it yet ... I made up the bag and found a fun ribbon in the scrap bin. My friend Connie gets all kinds of ribbon given to her by her employer, a dentist. They know I like them for crafting and this beauty was perfect. Now how to decorate it?

I had the Sunny Studio rosy set out to stamp some roses to send to Arlene with the July Card chain challenge card (you can still sign up HERE until July 6th). Don't worry, she knows about it as I was checking with her to see if her favorite color is still red. It is! Since the set was out and the ribbon had roses on it, light bulb - add a rose. So my final rose in each of the five steps was to use a blue ink. I had 5 reds and 5 blues all ready, plue 3 greens for leaves. Once you get set up, it's easy and fun to do multiples!!

That's it for today, friends! Thanks again to Heather for all the fun bits over the years and I'll get to it all - eventually.... Thanks for stopping & happy crafting!!

More Twofer Bubbles

Hey everyone - hope you're having a wonderful weekend! I had a great Father's Day with my family except for one sister who's in AZ. We played our favorite card game (Phase 10) and Dad won, coming from way behind to wipe the floor with the rest of us!

I was excited to get out into the world to have lunch with a friend last weekend - take out food eaten at a park, but hey - new normal... JoAnn's has a store near the park so I made a shopping run - hadn't been to JoAnn's in ages and I'm not one to use their online store. Anyway, since I last visited, JoAnn's expanded their Hero Arts stock - yay!! In the Hero Arts store I'd been looking at the new HA/Sweet Petunia MISTI in black (so classy, though why would I need another MISTI, you ask). JoAnn's had one - score! Plus I got the matching mouse pad so I didn't have to laminate another SSS grid - it's the little things, right? Anyway, I also spotted a 6x6 cling stamp with, you guessed it, bubbles! So I had to make another pair of bubble cards for the current Twofer Challenge. Here's my Twofer:

Jennifer McGuire had a fun video June 11th on faux monoprint (see her full post here). I decided to give it a whirl with my new bubble background. After clear embossing the image I laid down a lot of ink on it, then spritzed with water and ran it through my diecut machine with another paper atop. See the results below, far inferior to Jennifer's but I probably should've picked a different ink for my lighter shade - Tumbled Glass came out too light on the monoprint side. I thought I had enough water but maybe that was part of it.

No matter - I cut the light part off (you can see the pattern, oh so subtly) and used it for sentiments. I used the darker part (still quite light compared to the ink-to-paper side) and die cut some circles. Wasn't sure what I'd do with the circles at that point but I moved them around a card base several times. The original embossed piece was die cut with a stitched rectangle for my fish. Here's a closer look with supply list:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Black and Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb; 

Paper Studio Turquoise A2 card;

Momenta watercolor print 8x8 (for seaweed)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired) and 

Leafy Greenery (retired but they sell similar greenery);

Memory Box Seaweed Stalks (retired)

Stamps - Hero Arts Color Layering Goldfish and Bubbles Bold Prints

Inks - Memento Dandelion, Cantaloupe, & Tangelo; Versamark

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon, Pumice Stone

Other - Ranger clear ep; Copic black pen; Hero Arts lacquer, foam tape

When I made my previous entry (see it here if you missed it), I mentioned having stamped a couple of extra fish. I intended to use a similar background to the one I used previously but now I had a fun bubble background to try. It's busy, but I didn't care a whit!! Die cut some seaweed and a couple mat layers, & stamped a sentiment. Put it all together - done! Sent this one to Darnell and her hubby who have received it - yay!!

On to my Peace card (sympathy for a chorus friend whose mom passed). I had a plain card with the circles arranged but didn't like it. Noticed an Altenew flower stem left over from another sympathy card, laid it on the circles and viola - it tied it together. Gave the stem a quick color with Copics to coordinate with my card colors. Decided I needed a pale background paper and chose a winter paper but it works! Diecut a circle from the light monoprint for the sentiment, put it together, and done! Here's a closer look with supply list:

Supplies: Paper - Paper Studio Turquoise A2 card; 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White110 lb

Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow 6x6

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired) and 

Hero Arts - Nesting Circle Infinity Dies

Stamps - Hero Arts Bubbles Bold Prints; 

Stampendous Encouraging Words

Altenew Floral Sprig (with matching die)

Inks - Hero Arts Intense Black

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass & Mermaid Lagoon

Other - Copic markers; Michael's gems, foam tape

That's it for today! Will also enter Darnell's NBUS challenge since my bubbles are newly used. Thanks for two fun challenges, Darnell and crew. As always, thanks to you for stopping!!

         

Up in the Air scene

Hey everyone - I received the May 2020 My Monthly Hero kit this week - yay! With the virus and shutdowns in California, Hero Arts had been carrying on with just the family doing the work. Things will improve for them, thankfully, now that businesses are starting to reopen. I'm just so grateful to Aaron and his family for processing orders!! Will have to send them a card but today I'm sharing one for a friend - a little sky scene with an airplane pulling a banner. This one will fit with Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge 10 (ending June 25th 5PT) to create a scene. Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Momenta Water Color 8x8;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps and Dies from May 2020 My Monthly Hero Kit 

Dies - My Favorite Things retired Blueprints;

Hero Arts Nesting Cloud Infinity Dies

Other - Copic Markers; foam tape; Hero Arts Lacquer pen

and an old star gem from 2008!

This kit hasn't sold out as of this post's publishing so you'd still have a chance to order one. It's so cute I'm surprised it hasn't sold out yet!! I added a few bigger clouds using Hero's cloud infinity dies - love them and so handy for skies!! The HELLO banner is just an interior cut with no matching frame. No worries, I found a good match in my stash - it's an orphan though so I don't know which set it's from. The sky is simply a stitched rectangle die cut from a watercolor pattern paper - I have about 6 packs of it because I keep using up the blue pages - love them!!

I'll also share my card at the NBUS Challenge even though the May kit is a new never-before-used item versus an ancient one (I have plenty of those too!) On another note - over on The Card Chain Challenge we're celebrating 3000 cards sent around the world. Gail asked us to share a favorite card we received in the chain. I went back to THIS CARD  that Anette Hjerpaasen from Norway sent me back in January 2011. I loved Anette's trio of flowers and the big ribbon; wish I knew where she went - no cards posted since 2012... If you've ever played in this challenge, be sure to stop and check it out! Maybe it's time to start playing again - you have until July 6th to sign up for August.

That's it for today! Thanks to Hero Arts and to Darnell for the fun challenges and thanks to you for stopping by! Hope you're enjoying a crafty weekend!!

Purple roses and a pair of bells

Hey all - good to "see" you! Today I'm sharing a card for my old - oops, should say "former", lead singer from my retired quartet. Her birthday comes at the end of the month and we're getting together for a "deck chat" (outdoors with physical distancing) on Friday. Thought I'd save postage and take the card to her then!

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Ms Sparkle A2 card & teal wood grain; 

American Craft A2 card cut for the music panel;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Momenta watercolor 8x8;

purple/teal patterned - Prima Royal Menagerie 

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired);

Spellbinders Petite Labels One (retired)

Stamps - Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy (with matching dies);

Hero Arts It's Your Day (retired);

Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental

Other - foam tape; Hero Arts inks

Heidi loves purple, as do I! I may have mentioned before that, whenever the quartet rec'd a gift with four different colored items (such as vases, Christmas bells, etc), she & I had to bargain over any purple item - LOL. I hadn't tried the Sunny Studio roses in shades of purple yet and had a great time with them! I'm getting better at aligning, even if there was an oops now & then (I made two sets). When I went to stamp the fifth layer in a deep purple, it didn't show up well. So I went ahead and used black - worked great, I thought! I found one lonely piece of beautiful patterned paper in purple and teal to go atop my card base. I couldn't find the 6x6 pad anywhere but I know I bought it at Hobby Lobby some time ago. Wish I had more!! ** Update - found a card I made four years ago using a piece of it; updated the supply list - it was Prima, thought so!** I used a variation of the sketch by Julee Tilman as seen on the Hero Arts blog here.

Thinking of Christmas bells, I made the fourth and final bell card with the remaining two bells I had left (of the 9 I cut on Monday). Don't know what possessed me to use gold mirror cardstock for the card base so please excuse the phone shadow on the card (artfully? disguised by my name). I first cut a stitched rectangle and dry embossed it with an old Cuttlebug folder, matted in black, to cover most of the mirror card. A glittery oval frame grounded my two bells and I used another AJVD jingle sentiment. I had stamped a sheet of several for Betty and did one for myself before I put the set away. I've already entered the limit of three at the current CAS Christmas so I'm just sharing for fun...

Supplies: Paper - Mirror card from a Hero Arts MMH kit; Tim Holtz Metallic Jewels 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Paper Studio Glitter

Dies - AJVD Jingle Bells Die Set and

My Favorite Things retired Blueprints 

Stamps - AJVD  Jingle All the Way

Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Kitchen Weave

Other - foam tape, Hero Arts Intense Black ink

And in the continuing saga of the washing machine, a different new one was delivered yesterday (one from Tuesday leaked & went back to the store). All seems well so far - no leakage or other problems noted during the test cycle - whew! So I went ahead and started the oodles of laundry I've been saving for my new washer. Very nice - I'm so happy to have another item checked off my to-do list! Now to Misty-proofing. My brother's cat Misty will take a vacation with me in a few weeks and I'm trying to clean up all the crafty messes around here that she might get into. Problem is, the more I put away, the more I take out - when will it end?!

Thanks for listening to my craziness stories and for checking out my cards! Hope your having a great week!!

Jingle Bells - again!

I had some time last night after a frustrating time with a washing machine yesterday (more on that later). So I picked up some more of the bells I had die cut (three were used on yesterday's card) and made another card to share for the latest CAS Christmas Card challenge. I also cut a bunch of bells for my friend Betty - they went out in the mail today!  Here's my Jingle all the Way card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Tim Holtz Metallic Jewels 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Dies - AJVD Jingle Bells Die Set and

Stitched Plaid Cover Plate

Impression Obsession Pine Branch

Stamps - AJVD  Jingle All the Way

Other - foam tape, Hero Arts Intense Black ink;

Distress Inks - Gathered Twig and Pine Needles to shade the branch

I decided to try a single bell as an ornament on a branch. The stars stuck in when I removed the paper from the die so I decided to leave them in. Plenty of room for a sentiment and I chose a large one from the AJVD set. I used the plaid die from yesterday's card to dry emboss a panel - really liked this quilted look. Sorry Betty - this panel was going to you but the envelope got too bulky so I'll send you some later if you'd like....

And now a twofer - a variation on yesterday's card. I used a different color combo of bells from yesterday (I had cut all three sizes of bells in three colors to mix and match). Which combo do you prefer? I also added a second set of pine branches - I like this fuller look. And I squeezed a sentiment on - thought this Keep Calm and Jingle On was a fitting one.

Supplies: Paper - Tim Holtz Metallic Jewels and Kraft Metallic

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Dies - AJVD Jingle Bells Die Set and

Stitched Plaid Cover Plate

Stamps -  AJVD  Jingle All the Way

Other - foam tape, embroidery floss, Hero Arts Forest ink,

Pine Needles Distress Ink

So - the frustrating washer story: My washer developed a leak last summer so I spent the summer going to the laundromat (kinda fun; I met some nice people). Didn't want to deal with getting a new washer because I wasn't home that much then. So this summer, I decide to deal with it and bought a fancy new Speed Queen. The installers set it on a wash cycle to get the box dust out of it and headed out. Wasn't 5 minutes in and the washer was leaking - yikes! Called them and they took it away. A different new one should arrive today. Keep Calm and Jingle on indeed!!

That's it for today, friends - have a calm and crafty day!! Thanks for stopping by!

Jingle Jingle!

Hey everyone - hope your week is going well. I received two things yesterday - a reminder from CAS Christmas for their current challenge Bells & a package from A Jillian Vance Design containing, you guessed it, bells! So I got busy with bells! Here's my card (had to finish it this morning since we had chorus last night on ZOOM):

Supplies: Paper - Tim Holtz Metallic Jewels and Kraft Metallic

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Dies - AJVD Jingle Bells Die Set and

Stitched Plaid Cover Plate

Stamps - Hero Arts CL889 Holiday Pine Branches (retired) 

Other - foam tape, embroidery floss, Hero Arts Forest ink

For years I've been following my friend Rosemary's blog "Hey There .... rosigirl!" She makes amazing cards and has been a designer for many teams, including her current stint with A Jillian Vance Design. Last Wednesday Rosemary wrote their blog post with a lovely cup card she designed. She enabled me to finally buy something from AJVD, despite my resisting to add another company to my list of loves. They were offering 21% off in celebration of Jillian's birthday so I jumped right in and bought the cup set. Since CAS Christmas had a bell theme, I searched AJVD for bells and found the fun Jingle Bells Die Set and the Stitched Plaid Cover Plate which reminded me of some trellis dies I've seen on other blogs. Kudos to AJVD - I ordered Wednesday night & received my package on Monday - great service!! I'm sure I'll visit again!!

I cut the entire bells set out of three TH metallics, then decided the color combo I wanted for this card. I'll create other cards with the rest of the bells someday... Since I had my new cover plate, I decided to try the bells on it - liked it! Stamped and fussy cut a couple pines (too few?) and added to the plate. After arranging the bells, I carefully slid them out one at a time and tied embroidery floss to them (gluing the knot and trimming it so no dangles). Used the amazing Gina K. Connect Glue - love that stuff!! Added ultra thin foam. Slipped bell carefully back into its spot, then stretched the floss taut and glued the top in the center of the pines. Covered the top of the floss with the little bow. Added to a top fold A2 card - done! I also bought the Jingle All the Way sentiments set but I'll stamp the sentiment on the inside of this card - there just didn't seem to be enough room on the front!

So, thanks for the enabling, Rosemary!! I mentioned in my order comments that I love your cards and they wrote back that they love you too!! If anyone's interested, check out Rosemary's post using the jingle bells which I apparently missed back in 2018 (found it on a search after I bought the set). Darling tags on that post which could give you more inspiration for the latest Christmas Kickstart challenge!

I'll enter this to Darnell's NBUS challenge too since, not only are the bells and cover plate new, I've never used the Metallics Jewels paper (hmmm, it's been around here for over a year!). Thanks to the CAS Christmas team and to Darnell for fun challenges!! And as always, thanks to you for visiting!!

       

A Christmas Scene for Stay Crafty with Hero

Not quite Christmas in July but, hey, I need to build that stash of Christmas cards! Hero Arts posted its latest Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge to build a scene - I love it!

Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Neenah white and black

Stamps: Hero Arts CM119 Holiday Cheer, CL541 Snowman Christmas, 

CL800 Frosty Wishes, & DI36 Thank You Messages Frame cuts (all retired),

and CM379 Hero Greetings Christmas Messages

Other - Copic Markers; Stickles; Joy ultra thin foam tape

Hero Arts black gems and Intense Black ink

I really got a chuckle from Daniel's post on the HA blog for this challenge. He used an oodle of sets on his card - hey, maybe that should be the challenge - use at least 5 or more sets! While I have a lot of Hero Arts stamps perfect for scene-building, I started with a fun snowman set without any scene elements. I liked it so much when HA released it in 2013, I bought two sets of the dies just so I could cut two twig arms at the same time! Funny thing, this time I used no dies and the big snowman has no arms!!

When I opened my stamp set, a bunch of little masks fell out. I remembered doing a crowd scene with snowmen for a Merry Monday challenge back in 2017 (see it here if desired). I decided a trio of snowmen with a little house behind might be fun. Luckily I had saved a sample panel for arrangement of the snowmen, making it very easy to set up on the MISTI. I stamped the scarf, masked it, then stamped the two smaller snowmen. Added masks to the two snowmen and stamped the big one. Stamped the house, masked it and stamped the trees. It was a bit rough over the stitched rectangle I'd already cut so I filled it as needed with pen & pencils. Stamped the hills and removed masks. Ugh - didn't like the lower hill so I carefully trimmed around the bottom of the snowmen, hand cutting hills on either side. Die cut a second white panel, traced the cut hills on the back and carefully trimmed them. Added black line to the main piece and glued to a black mat, then added the new trimmed piece onto it. Boo-boo fixed!! Colored everything and added stickles to the snow lines. Had stamped and die cut a hat for big snowman - didn't like it. Spotted a birdy in the set with the two smaller snowmen & decided he would look cute atop big snowman's head! Colored him &, since his beak was open like he was speaking, he got a speech bubble with the sentiment. Woo hoo - used 5 sets, even though that wasn't my goal....

Thanks to Daniel for the scene inspiration (really amazing!) and to Hero Arts for the challenge!! You can play along until Thursday June 25th at 5pm PT for a random chance to win a prize - I'd love to see your scenes! Thanks for stopping and I'll see you in blogland!

Bubbles Twofer!

Hey everyone - TGIF!! It's another beautiful day to enjoy - hope you have one too!

I'm sharing cards I made for the current Twofer Card Challenge whose theme is Circles/Bubbles. I chose a Christmas tree for one of my cards to fit the theme at Christmas Craft Creations. Here's my Twofer:

When I saw the Twofer theme I immediately thought of a Hero Arts turtle set - was sure it had bubbles on it. Nope - it was the goldfish set!! Luckily, I had that one too. ☺ I decided to use the goldfish for an underwater scene with the bubbles. Then I spotted Trina (Phamtastic Design) from the CAS Christmas team who is guest designing at Christmas Craft Creations, somewhere I'd never been. She inspired me to make the Christmas tree card with the bubbles for baubles (say that three times fast!). Their June challenge theme is Christmas Trees and it can be any type of Christmas craft. though mostly what I saw posted so far were cards. More inspiration for me and a chance to add to my Christmas card stash - yay! Here's a closer look, starting with the tree card:

Supplies: Paper - Paper Studio cardstock; Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow 6x6

Dies - Hero Arts Fir Trees and Nesting Ovals Infinity Dies;

My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired)

Stamps - Hero Arts Hero Greetings Christmas Messages and

Color Layering Goldfish

Other - Colored Pencils; Hero Arts lacquer pen & Intense Black ink;

Versamark ink & Ranger Princess Gold ep; foam tape

Ugh, I left my LF stitched hillside dies at my "satellite studio". My sisters want to craft when visiting this summer so I left them a spare die cutting machine and a box of dies. Guess I'll have to reclaim some when I visit my parents! I improvised and used an oval die (mostly off edge) to cut a little snowbank to ground my tree. I cut two trees, one green and one woodgrain. Trimmed the stump off the green one and layered to get the woodgrain stump. As I eyed my bare tree thinking how to add baubles, I spotted the seaweed in the fish set. Hmmmm, my mind went to those gorgeous trees you see in Hallmark movies with the ribbon wrapped around. Tried stamping seaweed on a "test tree" - loved it, so embossed with gold on the card's tree. Then I arranged the three bubble sizes on my MISTI and stamped them randomly, masking off when one of the bubbles ran into a "ribbon". Colored the bubbles with pencils and covered with lacquer. Very dull in the photo but lovely in real life! I also left my star gems for my sisters so recruited a Hero Arts five sided flower for the tree's star. Diecut a soft bokeh background, put it together and stamped the sentiment. Ooops - bit of a black dot by the C - no problem, added a few more dots. Done! Now to the fish card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Momenta Watercolor 8x8

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Dies - Hero Arts Fir Trees and Nesting Ovals Infinity Dies;

My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 retired

Stamps - Hero Arts Hero Greetings Christmas Messages and

Color Layering Goldfish (with matching die)

Other - Hero Arts lacquer pen & Intense Black ink;

Memento Dew Drop inks - Pear Tart, Tangelo & Cantalope;

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn & Pumice Stone;

foam tape & colored pencil for shading; black pen

I'm making weekly cards for a friend and thought she'd get a kick out of this one. Planning ahead I stamped some more fish for another card (not finished yet), one for a couple. I did a male & a female fish for that card, giving the female fish eyelashes. Decided that would be a great idea for this fishy too! I gave the fishy bubbles on this card some lacquer for a lovely glossy dimension. The MISTI worked great to repeatedly stamp the rocks and seaweed at the bottom edge of my stitched rectangle "fish tank".

That's it from here - thanks to Darnell and crew for inspiration & a fun challenge & same to the team at Christmas Craft Creations. Thanks for stopping & enjoy the weekend!!

  

Here Fur You!

Thought I'd pop in with one last entry for the current Hero Arts Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge.

I really love the sketch by Julee Tilman (Poetic Artistry):

Here's my take on it:

Supplies: Hero Arts pool A2 card (retired); Pink Paislee Hello Sunshine 6x6;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps - Hero Arts CM151 Raining Cats & Dogs (retired)

Dies - Hero Arts DI197 Tag Infinity Dies and

DI 426 Nesting Cloud Infinity Dies;

My Favorite Things retired Blueprints stitched rectangle

Other - Foam tape; Copics; May Arts ribbon; Wink of Stella

I still had my fabulous Hero Infinity Tags out so made a tag for the rectangle element. The sentiment label turned into a cloud after I pulled out some fun Pink Paislee papers and I decided to put a kitty with umbrella among the clouds. If interested, go here for the other card I've made so far with this kitty. I colored this kitty in orange as I used to have two orange striped cats (passed away at age 19 so they lived good long lives). I hope this card brings a smile to a friend facing some challenges.

Thanks again to Hero Arts for a fun challenge; you still have until June 11th at 5pm PT if you care to enter. Thanks for stopping and have a wonderful day. It's definitely a gloomy, windy, rainy day here so I'm hoping for sunshine by the weekend!!

Father's Day early!

Hey there - I spotted my friend Dawn's fab masculine card on Saturday. She's on the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog Design Team - they're doing a Masculine/Father's Day theme this week. Since I need a Father's Day card for dear ol' dad, I decided to play along. Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Authentique 6x6 (from a mix);

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb

Stamps - Simon Says Stamp What's Brewing (retired);

Taylored Expressions Many Minis - Holiday (retired);

Hero Arts AR143 Cool Dad (Archiver's exclusive - retired)

Dies - Hero Arts DI345 Nesting Postage Stamp Infinity Dies

Other - Copics; foam tape; Paper Studio star gems;

Hero Arts Intense Black ink

I've probably told this story before but, when I was growing up, I toured with a Drum & Bugle Corps. Invariably, I'd come home from all over the US dragging little presents for my family. Poor Dad still has some of the cups I brought him. My fave is the one from Disneyland with Mickey Mouse on it. But I digress.... Dad still loves his coffee (not strong enough unless a spoon stands up in it!) so I decided to go with a coffee theme. The SSS cup stamp is outline only but I added the "Cool Dad" from an oldie but goodie by Hero Arts. I've not used the SSS set before - poor thing, it's already retired!! So I'll also enter this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

Masculine/Father's Day

 

Thanks for the fun challenges and thanks to you for stopping by!!

Care to Tag Along?

Happy Monday! I had a chance yesterday to create a card for the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge to use a tag. Here's my take:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Neutrals A2 card; 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb

BoBunny Winter Wishes Collection 6x6

Dies - Hero Arts DI197  Tag Infinity Dies;

Impression Obsession Snowflakes Die Set DIE024-X

Stamps - Hero Arts CL234 Winter's Butterfly (retired)

Other - Michael's gems; foam tape;

ribbon from a My Monthly Hero kit packaging

I already had my fabulous Hero Arts Infinity Tag dies out so that was my starting point. I started digging through my Christmas papers and found some beautiful BoBunny with browns, greys and pink. They reminded me of the neutrals in Julee Tilman's gorgeous card on the Hero Arts Blog for their Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge #9. I decided to use Julee's yummy sketch again and enter my card in that challenge as well.

The snowflakes in the IO set are very unusual in design - just love them! I picked the biggest of the trio &, considering the thick paper, it didn't want to cut all the little pieces. I even used a metal shim and did four passes in the Vagabond. Oh well, decided to go with it but made sure to glue the back so the bits wouldn't fall out. I did remove the outer circles of the snowflake and then added some gems. The beautiful sentiment is from a 2008 Hero Arts clear set; I should use it more often!!

Thanks to Jo at Christmas Kickstart and to Hero Arts for fun challenges to keep me busy. And thank you for visiting! Have a great week!!

Jingle Bells in June!

Hey there - I'm playing along today with the current CAS Christmas Challenge - Bells, hosted by Linda of Lin's Craft Corner, running until June 24th.

I remembered a cute Your Next Stamp set I used on a Merry Monday challenge back in 2017 (see it here). Thought I'd have another play with this set; in fact, I stamped a bunch of images from the set to have for future use!

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps - Your Next Stamp Holiday Postage (with matching dies);

Taylored Expressions All Tucked In - Christmas

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 (retired)

Other - various Copics; washi by unknown; foam tape;

Hero Arts Intense Black Ink and Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen

Haven't really figured out a way to have the word BELLS show up better - it's a very small outline and seems meant to be colored; maybe I'll try filling it in black next time... Really love this red washi and thought it would add the perfect frame to my sentiment. If I remember correctly, it was sent by my friend Heather. I'll say thanks again, Heather, whether it's this one or not - you've sent many!!

Thanks to Linda and the CAS Christmas crew for a fun challenge and thanks to you for stopping by!

Blue Roses

Hi all - if you spotted my previous post with the raspberry/rose/cream roses, I said I'd share some cards I made with blue roses. I love the Everything's Rosy stamp set from Sunny Studio and made several cards this spring with it, along with the matching dies. First up, a card for my friend Heather who had a birthday in early May. Given the mail issues due to covid19 she didn't get it on time but it arrived before the end of May - yay!!

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts Sunshine A2 card (retired);

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up green;

BoBunny Boulevard & Cottontail 6x6

Stamps - Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy (with matching dies);

Hero Arts CL139 Birthday Messages (retired)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 (retired);

Spellbinders Elegant Ovals S4-425; Avery Elle Quilted Frame

Other - Michael's gems; Inks - various Hero Arts & Memento

Heather loves blue and I had some beautiful BoBunny paper with some blue roses in it. I thought blue stamped roses would be perfect with it. What do you think? Heather loved them! Since I had the set out with the MISTI, I stamped a bunch of these roses. More ended up on my parents' anniversary card - they celebrate the day after Heather's birthday. I used some of the same papers, just in a bit different way. When I cut the quilted mat for Heather's card, I had a perfect frame left over. Decided to use it on the parents' card.

Supplies: see above plus - 

Sentiment - Hero Arts CL272 All Occasion Messages (retired);

Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Die

Many companies have narrow sentiment stamps that fit the TE strips. It's so easy to retain the negative and pop a strip into its slot for stamping. I have a stack of them ready to stamp! Well, that's it for today. I came home Wednesday to a dying water heater and spent yesterday with the plumber in residence installing a new one. He did the water softener and some valves at the same time - everything looks so nice. I'll have him back next week for some other piddly replacements that need doing. Now I can work on some Christmas cards for different challenges.

Thanks for stopping and have a great weekend!!