Floral Harmony

It's quite nice having the freedom to use whatever I'm in the mood for when I want to make a card!  Today I chose a 3D embossing folder with matching dies that were right what I needed to lift my spirits on the snowy day I made it.  When I looked out the window and saw only dull colors, these flowers were the ticket.

supplies: white cardstock, Simon Says Stamp (retired) Floral Harmony 3D embossing folder with 3 flower dies, sentiment from Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments

It was a bit fiddly, but I used markers to color in all the smaller flowers first, then after cutting, coloring, and embossing the 3 large ones, glued them into place.  I like this sentiment set because of the feminine font and because it's nice and small and doesn't cover up much of the flowers.  I fussy-cut around it after stamping to conserve even more space.

How is your winter going?  One thing that I'm enjoying is the gradual return of more daylight every day!  

I'll add this to the Can You Handle the Pressure challenge for this month.

Hope your day is a good one - thanks so much for stopping by!

Some Masculine Cards

 I have 3 birthday cards to make for February, all of them for men.  So here's a share of 2 of them.  This first one's a CASE of a card that Hannelie made a few years ago - what a gorgeous design!

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, Altenew Watercolor Stripes stencil, Sea Shore inks, Prim Heart die used as a mask, leaves from Verve Bloom & Grow, sentment from Simon Says Stamp Joys of Spring, aqua enamel dots

And the 2nd one uses my go-to elements for masculine cards, leaves and woodgrain.

  

supplies: brown and several green cardstocks, a wood design paper, leaf dies from Tim Holtz, Neat and Tangled, and a cute little freebie from Taylored Expressions, I think, sentiment from Hero Arts Sending Love Mail and matching die, bright green embossing powder, circle die

I'm pleasantly surprised with the new update from Apple that I got back in January.  I took this picture just after our monster snowstorm and the skylight in the room I always take pictures in was completely snow covered, and thus much darker in there than usual, but the photos were amazingly bright without any tweaking!

Do you have a "recipe" for making certain kinds of cards?  

Happy Heart Day!

 It's one of my favorite days!  I have 2 cards today, a girly one and another for one of our sons.

supplies: cardstock in white, yellow, greens, and shades of lavendar and mauve, Doodlebug tone-o-tone designer paper, Spellbinders Lace Heart die, Mini Blooms & Sprigs flowers and leaves, Flower Frenzy 3D embossing folder, and sentiment and die from Floral Framed Glimmering Heart set, adhesive foam squares

After cutting out all the flowers, I bent them upwards just a bit for some dimension, then covered the heart with them.  This is in honor of my Mom, who loved these colors.

I couldn't find a card for our oldest son, so I winged it.  It couldn't be mushy, but I wanted to let him know we love him.  

supplies: red and kraft cardstock, woodplank design paper, Tammy Tutterow/Spellbinders Primitive Heart die, The Greetery Fit to Be Tied Bow die, sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Just a Love Note stamp set

I wanted to use this woodplank paper for a background, but had only some scraps of it left, so I cut those strips into squares and pieced them back into a kind of parquet design.  And I used a bit more to stamp my sentiment.  

The stamp set is from 2012, and has more tiny Valentine sentiments - such a treasure!

Hope your day is special!

Some Old Favorites for Valentines Day

 When I need to make a card and am out of ideas, I often go back through my blog looking for inspiration.  Today I thought I'd post some of my cards made with Valentine's Day in mind.  You can click on each picture and be taken back to the original post.

Hope they might help to spur your imagination if you're stuck!  I'll have a new one on the 14th to add to the collection - hope you'll come back then!

Thanks so much for visiting.

Some New Goodies!

 When I saw PTI's Build a Bouquet dies, I knew I "needed" them!  They are a wonderful set, with lots of different flowers and leaves to mix and match each time.  After constructing my bouquet, I decided to set it against this lovely Tim Holtz Doily embossing folder.  So this is a mix of something old and something new.

supplies: white, black, and colored cardstock, Tim Holtz Doily embossing folder, PTI Build a Bouquet dies, sentiment from Spellbinders, adhesive foam squares to raise bouquet

I'm getting lazy already in my "retirement"; I really did try to find the source for the sentiment die I used.  But it was in my scrap basket, and after spending about 5 minutes searching, I decided that it was probably already retired anyway, so why bother?  Whatever it is, it was just the right size!

As always, I thank you for stopping by today - hope you have a good day!

Woodblock Wednesday!

I was cleaning for Christmas, dusting the shelves that hold my woodblocks, and found this in the process.  I decided to use it for my card for the first Woodblock Wednesday of 2026.   It's a quilt stamp from PSX from 1994, labeled only with a product number, K-1305.  

supplies: red and white cardstock, PSX quilt woodblock, sentiment from (retired) Hero Arts clear Made with Love set, red ink and white embossing powder, red marker for border

This would be a sampler quilt, made for a special occasion, like a wedding, or to showcase many different blocks at one time.  

You can see more cards using woodblock stamps at Amy's blog HERE.

Cardinals in the Snow

As much as I complain about winter, one thing that is pure joy at this time of year is watching the birds at our feeders.  In the last few years it seems like there aren't as many cardinals as in past years, but when we get a snow, then they appear, almost always in pairs, and 3 or 4 pairs at a time!  They are gorgeous at this time of year, all the redder against the snow!

So I decided to make a card to recreate those times.

supplies: colored cardstock, white glitter cardstock, a snowflake embossing folder, rubbed with white ink,  Spellbnders Tweet Cardinal and branch from Sweet Birds on a Branch, Simon Says Stamp Four Seasons die and stamped Winnie & Walter Big Bold Seasons sentiment, several small snowflake dies

What's your favorite bird to see at this time of year?  I love the chickadees and woodpeckers.

SnowDrops!

Hello!  Long time no see!  How was your Christmas? 

Ours was magical!  We thoroughly enjoyed being with our kids and grands and can't wait to do it again.  They all left by New Year's Eve, and then the de-decorating took some time, but I think we're back to normal now.  It's been strange not working on cards everyday, but I've substituted some reading and doing online jigsaw puzzles.  But in my mind I've been thinking about what I'd like to make for my first card for this year.

Our weather has been all over the place since last we were together, anywhere from the frozen tundra and a decent amount of snow to balmy 60 degrees.  In years past we'd be in sunny Florida for the winter months, but those days may be no more, so I decided to find beauty in what I'm given.  

I thought these sweet little snowdrops reflected the season nicely.

supplies: white, aqua, and green cardstock, retired Honey Bee Stamps Pierced Fancy Flakes cover plate die, tumbled glass ink,  Simon Says Stamp Snowbell Bouquet and Pretty Bows dies, and a sentiment from a retired Spellbinders stamp/die set called Sending Sentiments, Audrey Blue ink

That sentiment will work for lots of occasions, I think.

Thanks for stopping by today.