Let's Toast!

Happy Labor Day if you're celebrating in the USA! Kudos to all the workers out there! 

Tomorrow is my brother & sister-in-law's anniversary but also the Card Chain reveal day. Thought I'd share the anniversary card I made them a day ahead of time (they already have received it and love it!):

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White;

TH Classic kraft card stock;

Momenta watercolor print;

Lawn Fawn patterned (retired);

Spellbinders Betterpress Porcelain; scraps of black

Dies - Trinity Stamps Toaster Card;

MFT Stitched Numbers

Press Plate with die - Spellbinders You Are Everything Sentiments

Stamps - Pear Blossom Press Stamp & Die Bundle;

Other - enamel dots brand unk

I knew of Trinity Stamps before I got involved with Craft Roulette. They were stocked at my local stamping store Anchor Paper for awhile but not right now. So, since they give random prizes at CR, I started visiting their online store. I recently picked up a die set that I thought would make a perfect card for my bro & SIL; it's getting first play here. 

First, I die cut all the toaster pieces & assembled. Same with the slice of bread card. Since D&D have been married 30 years, I added those #s on the inside of the bread slice. A pressed sentiment sits on the toaster front, popped up with foam tape. Here are a couple additional views:

Isn't that little slice of toast card the cutest?! The card base is a full A7 card which I stamped on the inside (no photo) with a Taylored Expression sentiment (see that set HERE; it's a fave). Since my toaster set got first play here, I'll share at Darnell's NBUS #78.

I also made a card early this morning (more vampire hours) for Craft Roulette episode #282:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White; 

Authentique Latest & Greatest; Lawn Fawn Summertime;

Paper Studio A2 card; scraps

Stamps - MFT Aug 2018 Freebie;

Stamps w/dies - Lawn Fawn Simply Celebrate Critters (dies HERE);

Unity Happy Retirement (die HERE)

Dies - AJVD Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop Set;

MFT Pierced Rectangle Frames 

Other - Foam tape

Host Mary Gunn had Meg Daves (‪@ITeachStamping) as her guest. Meg has been teaching card making for 20 years; this was her first appearance on CR. She enjoys doing card sketches with a twist. As usual, they spun the wheel four times for the necessary parameters:

• Project - Card for a Teacher: I made a retirement card for my friend, Becky who will soon finish teaching first grade.
• Colors - Classroom: I used primary colors, plus the colors of the animals which might appear on a classroom bulletin board scene.
• Element - From The Country: I used 3 barnyard animals. 
• Random - Frame: I used a pierced frame die cut stacked 3 times. 

Simple stamping, die cutting, coloring & assembly. The wrinkle on this one is the LF speech bubble that's 5 continuous bubbles. I stamped the 3 sentiments every other one, then used a black marker to draw the missing edges. I trimmed into three pieces, leaving out the extra two bubbles.

That's it for today, friends! Hope to see you back tomorrow and, by the way, the Card Chain sign-up for September runs until 9/6 - details HERE.

Thanks for visiting and have a crafty holiday!!

A Retirement Bouquet

TGIF crafty friends! Hope you have a special weekend planned - those of us in the US will be observing Patriots' Day tomorrow in remembrance of the horrendous events of 20 years ago. It's also my baby sister's birthday so we have joy from that dimmed by the deep sorrow from 9/11/2001. But we will celebrate her birthday with a cake - no candles, she said.

For today I have another card featuring the Hero Arts Togetherness Bouquet - this time I stamped it onto watercolor paper and colored with Distress reinkers. You can see a mini slimline version I did last month HERE. The new version will go to my neighbor Therese who's retiring this month. She loves flowers and maintains a stunning garden that I envy.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah white; Momenta watercolor print;

Paper Studio silver A2 card; scraps of various greens;

Strathmore cold press watercolor paper; Co'redinations White Glove

Stamps - Hero Arts Togetherness Flower Bouquet;

A Jillian Vance Design Tweet Words; Altenew Floral Frame

Dies - A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Plaid Coverplate;

Hero Arts Togetherness Bouquet Frame Cuts;

My Favorite Things Blueprints 28 (banner - retired);

Spellbinders Sentiments One; CAS-ual Fridays Garden Fri-dies (retired)

Taylored Expressions Rustic Floral

Other - various Distress Reinkers; Michael's gems

I had to go on the hunt for white glitter paper today since my Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby) Christmas pad mix didn't have any left. Well, didn't find that Christmas pad at the Hobby Lobby I visited and they didn't have any single sheets of white. Then I tried Michael's - no luck. Finally found some at JoAnn's. Die cut Congratulations from the white glitter (it's a very subtle one) and then stacked atop some plain white ones. The little flagged banner is a really long one and I just did the trick of cutting down the end. The sentiment stamp actually says "Congrats on your retirement" but I just did some surgery and snipped off the Congrats - it'll come in handy as a single word later. I also stacked some white die cuts behind the watercolored bouquet for some dimension.

That's it for now. I'm sending this card to Watercooler Wednesday - All About Occasions Challenge and the current NBUS Challenge since my Tweet Words stamp set is new. Hope that's not too little of an NBUS, Darnell...

Thanks for stopping & happy crafting!

 

 

Sunshine and watercoloring

Mornin' crafty friends! I've been working on an idea for the current Let's Squash It!! challenge and it all came together this morning. I included sunshine so made a second card to play along at the current Twofer Challenge too - gotta love getting two cards done this early!! Here's the Twofer:

My element in common is the sunray stamp; it's from a My Monthly Hero kit which I hadn't used yet. On the retirement card I used it once, on the thanks card I flipped it to stamp a full circle  - made into a flower. 

The Squash It challenge is to emboss a nature item and watercolor. My starting point was the Tall Pines embossing folder embossed into watercolor paper. I sectioned off the two banks and then watercolored a lake, sunrise and sky, then carefully watercolored the trees - got a bit messy in spots, oh well... Next I stamped the sun and rays, then the duck and cattails, finally the sentiment. The card will go to a guy friend so I kept it manly. What do you think of my cloudy sky? I was quite happy with how it turned out just swiping & splotching some blue around. Here's a closer look:

Supplies: Paper - Ms Sparkle & Co A2 card;

Strathmore 140lb cold press

Watercolors - Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers

Stamps - Dec2020 My Monthly Hero kit &

July2019 My Monthly Hero kit (both sold out)

Paper Smooches All Year Cheer (NIB)

Ink - Taylored Expressions Oreo

Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz Tall Pines (retired)

For the thank you card, I started by stamping the rays twice on watercolor paper and then filled in the center with some Mustard Seed reinker. Then added a bit of Worn Lipstick. Then I hand drew a stem and leaves with Twisted Citron and Rustic Wilderness. Once dry I stamped the sentiment, die cut with a dot stitched rectangle, matted with black & added to the card. Popped a gem on the flower for some interest - done!

Additional supplies - Momenta and Doodlebug paper,

Honey bee gem; Hero Arts Say it All sentiment;

A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot Rectangle Backdrop

Since my sunray got first play today, I'm also entering the retirement card in the current NBUS challenge. Also in Watercooler Wednesdays All Occasion challenge. Thanks to all for the fun challenges and thanks to you for visiting!!

 

 

Twofer - your choice!!

Happy Sunday!! I've been missing in action this past week but just had to make time for the Twofer Challenge. For Challenge 36 Darnell & team offer the theme of "your choice"!! Here's my Twofer with my choice of dragonflies:

I'd been thinking of making a slimline card with the Hero Arts Color Layering Dragonfly so I started with that idea. When I put it together, I added the bitty dragonflies and I decided they would be my common element, rather than the bigger dragonfly. The slimline became a birthday card with the sentiment dividing the card in two. I die cut a Tulisa Collage from Poppystamps (sadly retired) into each half of the stitched panel, then backed it with a piece of printed watercolor patterned paper. Stitched panel came from an LDRS creative die set; my friend Lin (Sending Hugs) enabled me to purchase this set - a great value with 14 dies!! Here's a closer look with supply list:

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts (retired);

Momenta Watercolor; Neenah white

Stamps - Hero Arts Color Layering Dragonfly

Dies - Memory Box Little Dragonflies;

LDRS Creative Slimline Corner Scallop;

Poppystamps Tulisa Collage (retired);

Hero Arts Color Layering Dragonfly Frame Cuts

Spellbinders Glimmer plate - Everyday Sentiments II

Other - Crystal Stickles; silver foil

So, you need a different occasion for the second Twofer card, even though I had birthdays on my mind. Hmmm, had to think a minute. Then realized my brother and his wife plan to retire soon - I'll need a card for each!! Thought the bitty dragonflies would be pretty with a Spellbinders floral swag on an A2 card for my sister-in-law. Here's a photo of that one alone:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card;

Momenta Watercolor

Dies - Memory Box Little Dragonflies;

Spellbinders Floral Oval (retired);

Avery Elle Quilted Frame

Other - Michael's gems; Crystal Stickles;

CZ Designs Reverse Sentiment Strips - Happy

I'm also entering the retirement card at Watercooler Wednesday All Things Feminine.

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting and I hope to visit your blogs soon too!

 

Another retirement card!

Wow - a third person retired from my old workplace! I attended a party back in July and there were two in August - had to miss both of those parties due to other commitments but I sent cards. I didn't blog the July card because it was similar to the cat birthday card from May. The first retiree loooooves cats! Only difference was a butterfly instead of the balloon and a congrats sentiment. I posted the first August retirement card here and today I'm sharing the final card - for my friend Jim:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A7 card, Poptone Black Licorce, 

Neenah Solar White, & a scrap of Basic Grey grid

Stamps - Hero Arts CG279 Musical Clef, Impression Obsession MC185 Fore Retirement

Silhouette files - Design ID60862 Acoustic Guitar & 

Design ID37683 Music Flats Etc, plus text of a B and two 2s

Jim has played the guitar for years - in fact, we used to sing duets back in the day during our on-the-job training after college. Our group lived in an apartment complex during the 3 month training - we called it "Compound W" (real name Westwood Village) because the buildings reminded us of Army barracks!! As recent grads we didn't have a lot of money so we spent time gathered in each other's apartments drinking cheap wine and enjoying Jim's guitar playing. He's a huge Bob Dylan fan and we even got to see Mr. Dylan in concert! Jim & I ended up in different Wisconsin offices but our paths crossed again a few years ago, both working in St Paul MN. I'm sure he got a kick out of the card when he received it on Wednesday.

I've used the sentiment from a golfing retirement set before - it says "Best Wishes Fore Your Retirement" - I just cut the "Fore" out and used a teeny "on" from another set. The guitar Silhouette design comes with a lot of layers - I tried a version making a kraft colored layered guitar but didn't like it. I found the simple black silhouette worked best for my puny "Too sharp to be flat"!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back on Monday for the next Merry Monday challenge - my second week as a Guest Designer and my card is ready to go!

Congrats

Hi everyone - back today with a congrats card I made for a former coworker's retirement.

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts pool A2 card, Heidi Swapp Marquee Love glitter, Pop-tone Black

Pre-fab Die cuts - David Tutera Celebrate Lace Grid

Silhouette die cut - Design ID 207545 Welcome to the Farm

Die - Hero Arts DC149 Congrats Stamp & Cut

Jodie retired to pursue the hobby farm she's had for some time with her husband. I used to recycle my egg cartons by donating them to Jodie for her hens' fresh eggs. I wanted to do something that reflected the farm theme and found a fun Silhouette image. Sometimes the simplest idea turns out best!

Just four pieces to this card and done!! I adhered the lace grid to an A2 card, used foam tape to add the Silhouette image and finally applied the Congrats to the cow. Jodie loved the card - her party was last week but I didn't have time to blog the card until now.

Thanks for stopping and I hope you're having a crafty week!!

Decorating a Door

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I finally had a chance to photograph a card I started on Monday for Bonnie's Merry Monday challenge to "decorate your door". Last night when I got home (more on that later in this post), I spotted this beauty by the amazing Rosemary using some of the same supplies I worked with. I'm almost embarrassed to post my wreath when hers was so gorgeous.
Oh well..... here's my "door" with wreath:

Supplies: Dies - Hero Arts DI327 Branch Wreath Fancy Die, September 2016 My Monthly Hero kit (wreath and branches), DC195 Christmas Trimmings Stamp & Cut; My Favorite Things Die-namics Blueprints 13 (washi label)
Stamps - Hero Arts CL787 Holiday Petals & Leaves (flower), CL887 Color Layering Christmas Tree (sentiment)
Paper - Anchor Paper (tan); Target (woodgrain), Authentique, Hero Arts, Paper Studio glitter
Other - Foam Tape, Copic Markers, Stickles

After I read the challenge Monday morning, I started to create a stamped wreath that turned out wonky - I just had to scrap it! Then I decided to try the wreath die from the Hero Arts September My Monthly Hero kit, plus add-ons. Layering the dies, I ended up with a full wreath I liked. The stamp set from the stamped wreath was still on the counter so I used one of the flower images, masking it to make a layered flower. I finished it with some holly and a bow from another add-on set. Now, more on why I couldn't finish my card on Monday...

Last weekend we celebrated my baby sister's retirement from Mayo where she was an educator. She's moving to AZ so I helped her pack boxes. Then I came home Sunday night due to a Monday appointment and chorus where we had a Halloween party (I dressed as Judge Judy...). I took advantage of a free Monday morning to work on my Merry Monday card. On Tuesday I needed to go back and help Kari finish with her move activities. The movers had picked everything up on Monday so I helped clean and polish her old house. I'll definitely miss seeing her as often as I could when she lived in MN! Here's the card I made for her retirement:

Supplies: Stamps - Hero Arts CL838 Stamp Your Own Cactus; Impression Obsession MC185 Fore Retirement

Dies - Hero Arts DI112 3D Cactus Pair Frame Cuts, My Monthly Hero travel kit (can't remember which month - camera, sun, glasses); My Favorite Things Die-namics Blueprints 18 (diagonal panel)
Paper - folded card by unknown; Neenah Solar White, scraps of black and yellow, Pressed Petals Woven Paper
Ink - Tim Holtz Mowed Lawn & Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, Ranger Archival Watering Can (Wendy Vecchi)
Other - foam tape, Copics, google eyes

I thought it was appropriate to include a cactus and a sun for AZ, plus a camera since Kari enjoys photography. The sentiment is from a fun Impression Obsession Leigh Hannan golf set which says Best Wishes Fore Your Retirement. I simply did surgery on this clear stamp to cut out the "Fore" and then stamped a little "on" to finish it off for a non-golfer. I love the inside sentiment from that set too - "The joy of retirement is having nothing to do and all day to do it!" Kari loved the card and said it was "a keeper". Anyway, I wish her well in AZ and will now have another place to visit!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a crafty week! Not many weeks left until Christmas cards need to go out so be sure to head over to Merry Monday for some inspiration!!