Just a Note

  My friend Mary Anne sent me this embossing folder just about the same time as I ordered these Waffle Flower dies, so I decided to use them together.

supplies: white, kraft, and green cardstock, Taylored Expressions (retired) Sheet Music embossing folder, Waffle Flower Birdie Duo die-n-stencil, Hibiscus Branch dies, sentiment from Wplus9 (retired) Blanket Stitched Blooms, adhesive foam squares 

I love my birds, and this is the first one for me that is a die/stencil set!  It comes with 2 identical birds which are facing each other, plus a stencil that you use to color in all the parts, flipping it for the 2nd bird - genius!  I love how the bird turned out!  The branches are also a new purchase, as they were released along with the bird set, and are to scale with them.  They also include some flowers to add to the mix, but I left them off this time.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today - hope you're having a good one!

Summer Roses

Last month when there was so much Christmas in July going on, I thought I'd use some Christmas supplies and try to adapt them to everyday.  This BetterPress Winter Rose plate was an easy one for that transition.  It's a beautiful rose background, so I colored it in pinks and yellows, my favorite colors for roses, using the matching stencils in the bundle.

supplies: white, pink, and vellum cardstock, Spellbinders Winter Rose pressplate/stencil bundle, Pink Fresh Studio Fairy Dust and Rise and Shine, Simon Spring and Dublin, and Altenew Sand Dunes inks, Winnie & Walter (retired) Noelle Scalloped Rectangle die, Simon A2 Frames die, Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiments

Summer is going fast - hope you're enjoying it!

CASE-ing LaVon

 I saw a card recently made by LaVon on Instagram, that checked all my boxes, and immediately pinned it.

Today I have a card that CASEs it.

supplies: white, Audrey Blue, aqua, 2 green cardstock, Woodgrain cardstock, Spellbinders  Perfect Touch rectangle and Woodland Tales Fern dies, Tim Holtz Speckles stencil and Detailed Butterflies dies, tumbled glass distress ink, Hero Arts (retired) woodblock script stamp from Artistic Windows, Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiment, tiny heart sprinkles

I love cards like this where we can use all our creative supplies!  Thank you, LaVon, for the inspiration!

Butterfly Hugs

Happy 4th of July to my stateside friends - hope your day is a fun one!

I've been wanting to revisit a postal collage set of stencils that I got earlier this year, and use it with the other postage collage goodies I already own.  Butterflies are certainly a July thing, so today is the day!

supplies: white and black cardstock, Waffle Flower Spring Breeze stencil set, Altenew and Pink Fresh Studio inks, Postage Collage stamps, Postage Collage and Postage Collage Blocks dies

The stencil set consists of 5 stencils, 2 for the butterflies, 2 for the flowers and leaves in the background, and a final one for small details: butterfly bodies and flower centers. But when you cut the large collage die from the finished panel, you lose alot of the floral and leaf details, so today I decided to use everything and paper-piece it back together.  First I cut the postage-edge panel from the stencilled panel and also from a plain white panel.  Next from the first cut I used the Postage Collage Blocks die to cut out the 6 individual panels, then pieced them into the plain white postage-edge panel.  Next I stamped on the black details to make these look more like postage stamps.  Then I very closely framed that with a black panel, and finally popped it above the background that I had saved. 

This postage collage idea from Waffle Flower is a fun one, and I'm so glad they continue to add to it! 

Elegant Rose

I couldn't resist this set of stencils from Simon's April release, You Are My Favorite, especially after seeing Heather's idea using them mixed with embossing folders. I needed 2 cards for anniversaries this month - here's the one I made for my husband - it was 54 years this year!

supplies: white, yellow, and cream cardstock, Simon Elegant Rose stencil set, squeezed lemonade, mustard seed, fossilized amber, and mowed lawn oxide inks, sentiment from Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiments, an unknown heart embossing folder

Heather embossed her blank panel first, then stencilled it, and I did the same, using oxide inks.  Doing it this way vs. the reverse makes you work a little harder to get the color down, but I love the results!  This design is so large that all you need is a sentiment.  

Next I made another card in coral inks for our son and daughter-in-law.  This time I used a pierced cover plate that leaves a much smoother surface on which to stencil, smooth enough to stamp the sentiment at the end.

supplies: white and coral cardstock, Elegant Rose stencil set, spun sugar, saltwater taffy, abandoned coral, and mowed lawn oxide inks, sentiment from (retired) Tammy Tutterow/Spellbinders Tiny Sentiments, Simon Detailed Ringlet cover plate, tiny heart sprinkle

This is a lovely design, easy to line up, and will work for so many occasions!

Thank you for coming by today.

Flower Market Bouquet

 Here's a pretty set of layering stamps from The Greetery that has come and gone and I've only used them a few times......time to fix that!

supplies: white and periwinkle cardstock, pale yellow check patterned paper, The Greetery (retired) Flower Market Bouquet stamps and matching die, Simon Says Stamp Heather, Violet, and Iris inks, Altenew Warm Sunshine, Chamomile, and Grass Field inks, Simon Pretty Bows, sentiment from Waffle Flower Full Bloom Sentiments, Lawn Fawn Fancy Scallop Rectangle die

I've done this bouquet before in pinks, and wanted to try something else, and I really like this purple and yellow combo!  (The purples look a bit bluer here than they do in real life.)  I'm loving my new bows dies and garden sentiment set that I got recently, too.

Hope your spring is coming along where you live - this is my favorite time of year!

Birthday Cards from the Garden

 Time to replenish my birthday card stash, so I pulled out this favorite Hero Arts Flower Garden fancy die and made a couple cards.

supplies: black and white cardstock, Hero Arts Flower Garden cover die, markers, Simon Painted Happy Birthday dies, irridescent gems

I have used this cover die lots and lots, but not with a black background until today; I am always astounded how much the colors pop against it!  I layered the sentiment 3 times to make it stand out against all the busy-ness behind it.

Here's another one, going pastel this time.

supplies: white, yellow, pink, lavender, and green cardstock, Flower Garden cover plate, My Favorite Things (retired) Stitched Mini Square Square Stax die, sentiment from Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiments, adhesive foam squares

For this card, I cut the Flower Garden twice, attaching the first one to my pieced pastel backing, then cutting the 2nd one apart and coloring it to match the backing colors.  I attached the floral clusters to my sentiment square, then popped the whole thing above the card front.

It's amazing how different these cards can look!  That's why I love this cover die so much!

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!

Woodblock Wednesday: Wallpaper Flowers

 Here's my card for this month's Woodblock Wednesday over at Amy's blog.  The woodblock stamp I chose this month is from Hero Arts, called Wallpaper Flowers, dated 2009.

supplies: white, greens, and peachy coral colors of cardstock, Hero Arts Wallpaper Flowers, Simon Picnic Floral embossing folder, white pigment ink, Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms flower and leaf dies, sentiment from Waffle Flower Full Bloom Sentiments

And a bit of a closer look:

It is truly a treat to get out these old lovelies and use them again!  Be sure to visit Amy's blog HERE to see the other cards made for this month!

Spring Breeze Hello

I thought the Waffle Flower Spring Breeze stencils would be a fun addition to my collection, especially because of the butterflies.   I enjoyed bringing the design to life, and then gave it an overnight to decide how I wanted to proceed with my card.  

This morning I decided to try the eclipse/hidden message technique.

supplies: white and black cardstock, Waffle Flower Spring Breeze stencil set, Simon Saturated inks trios 3, 9, 12, 15 and 17, Winnie & Walter (retired) In a Word: Hello die, Wplus9 (retired) Hand Lettered Hello stamp

Can you see the hidden "hello"?  There are 6 layers of it, the topmost cut from my stencilled panel, then layed back into the design.  Here's another shot.

Hopefully this will brighten someone's day!  

Enjoy your weekend - it's turned chillier here again, after an 80 degree day recently.  That's too hot too soon for me, so I'll take this moderation. 

Washi and a Turnabout!

 It's gardening season!  From now through June is the best time of year for enjoying our gardens, before they get to the "jungle" stage!  Recently I was in the mood for making a turnabout background, but then set it aside until now, when I paired it with some washi florals.

supplies: white and green cardstock, Concord & 9th In the Garden Turnabout stamp set, Sunny Studio Fancy Frames Circle die, Hero Arts Infinity Nesting Circle die, Waffle Flower Full Bloom Sentiments, Pink Fresh Studio Fluttering Butterfly Washi and matching die,  (retired) English Garden washi, adhesive foam squares

I don't use circles enough, so I chose this pretty scalloped one and one from a nested set to use as my focal point.  After stamping my sentiment, I added the bits of washi, then lifted the whole thing above my garden background.

Are you a gardener?  My husband does all the hard work, and I just choose the flowers and admire them!  Thanks for stopping by!

CASE-ing Joy

My birthday was last month, and I got some gorgeous hand-made cards!  Among them was this beautiful one from my friend Joy.  I fell in love with it and wanted to make a stab at CASEing it.  Here's the result.

supplies: white, pink, and green cardstock, Simon Says Stamp (retired) Spring Flowers Background, Taylored Expressions (retired) Rosy Posy embossing folder, Paper Smooches (retired) Rad Roses die, Waffle Flower Full Bloom Sentiments, Scalloped Rectangle die, enamel dots and hearts

Joy's card was much more dramatic with black accents, and I loved how the stamped background coordinated with the embossed one and the focal image.  A tiny detail that I think made a big impact was Joy's shading here and there on her background stamp, just enough to make it a part of the design.  .So I used those elements, but different supplies and colors, with a Scribble Flowers theme instead.  All of my supplies except the sentiment are retired.  But it's a "joy" to pull out these oldies and show them some love once again.  

Thank you, Joy, for your beautiful inspiration!

Birthday Jubilee

 I've been needing to replenish my birthday cards, and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge pushed me over the edge!  It's their 16th birthday, so the challenge is to make some birthday cards.  Here's one:

supplies: white and Cotton Candy card, Simon's Jubilee embossing folder/die set, white pigment ink, markers, sentiment from Waffle Flower Sweet Lattice Sentiments, adhesive foam squares

This is such a pretty embossing folder, and it also includes a die to cut out the square motif, which is exactly what I did, coloring it in more pinks, and then popping it back in place.  I've used this die back when it first was released HERE, and still think that a whole set of these in different colors with different sentiments would make a lovely gift for someone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some Postage Collage Cards

 Playing with Waffle Flower Postage Collage goodies today, using the main die as a novel background and foregoing the postal details just this once.  I have 2 cards.

My first card is inspired by a childhood memory of watching a momma wren teach her babies to fly.  It uses a potpourri of supplies from lots of companies; unfortunately, many of them are discontinued.  The good news is that you can almost certainly substitute something that is current with a little searching.  I really love these birds with the heart wings from an old Wplus9 set.

supplies: white and colored cardstock, Waffle Flower Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Coloring Stencil, tumbled glass distress ink, Spellbinders (retired) Sweet Birds on a Branch (branches and leaves), Paper Smooches (retired) Birdhouse die, Wplus9 (retired) Folk Art Florals birds, a tiny flower die, sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Butterflies, natural twine, Doodlebug tiny heart sprinkles, tiny pearls for bird eyes

My second card uses my new Wildflower Silhouettes stamps that I finally got.  I love the idea of making various colored backgrounds for them!  

supplies: white, black, and gold cardstock, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Coloring stencil, scattered straw, carved pumpkin, and seedless preserves distress inks, blending brushes, Wild Flower Silhouettes, sentiment from (retired) Impression Obsession In a Garden

Do you have any of these postage collage goodies?  They certainly bring a breath of fresh air to our designs!

I'll enter these cards into this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Woodblock Wednesday

 I really enjoyed making my card for this month's Woodblock Wednesday!  The idea of mixing a collage postage die with small floral Hero Arts woodblocks came to mind as I was looking through my woodblocks to use this month.  Then I saw Linda's cards (rcwidow on IG) doing the same thing, and Colleen's cards from last month, and that made up my mind.  Here's my contribution for this month.

I had to do a wee bit of masking, but these smaller stamps fit into the openings perfectly! Here's a picture with the stamps I used, all of them Hero Arts from the early 2000s.  The "first class mail" and postage amounts are from  a Waffle Flower Postage Collage stamp set.  As you can see, I used the same colors that Hero Arts suggested on their stamps: yellow, pink, lavender, and green. 

supplies: white and purple cardstock, Waffle Flower Postage Collage die and stamp set, Hero Arts Angels in a Vase, Artist's Heart Leaves, Happy Spring (I believe part of a 2-piece set), Garden Blooms set of 3, punched butterflies

It was such a joy to use these again, as they were all favorites way back then!  Since the Simon Wednesday Blog is featuring Waffle Flower this week, I'll enter this into their challenge.

And because I had to know what these would look like cut apart, here's a bonus card.

supplies: white and green cardstock, Memory Box Pinpoint Leaf cover plate, Waffle Flower Postage Collage die and stamp set , Hero Arts Garden Blooms stamps, Winnie & Walter Spring cutaway

This time I only used the 3 stamps from Garden Blooms set, coloring each one in only one of the same colors I used above.  Then I arranged them on a panel of green cardstock cut with the Pinpoint Leaf cover plate, and added a die-cut sentiment.

You can see all the other entries at Amy's blog HERE.

Postage Collage and Design Papers

 Since last I played with my Postage Collage goodies, I've added another die to the group, the Postage Collage Blocks die.  I wanted this one so that I could use it with design papers, to cut out blocks the size of the openings in the regular Postage Collage die.  Here are 3 cards I made as soon as it arrived, and scroll down to see a bonus 4th card made a few days later.

supplies: Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Blocks die, Postage Collage stamps, all from Waffle flower, various design papers

Here are the individual photos; you will notice that I didn't glue down 2 sentiments that you see above; I've decided to wait until I need these cards, and then add something appropriate.

First up, I cut out the right side of a rainbow wreath from a Paper Rose Rainbow Twirl 6" pad.  One of the blocks was almost completely without detail (the middle of the wreath), so I added a butterfly.

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, Paper Rose Rainbow Twirl 6" pad,  Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Blocks die, Postage Collage stamps, and a postmark stamp from (retired)  Hero Arts Sending Love Mail, butterfly die from my supplies

My second card started with a fall scene from a Spellbinders Woodland Tales pad.  

supplies: white, gold, and a design paper from Spellbinders Woodland Tales 6" pad, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Blocks die, Postage Collage stamps, a woodblock postmark stamp dated 1997 from All Night Media

And finally, I chose a large floral print for my third card.

supplies: pink and cream cardstock, design paper from Carta Bella Botanical Garden 6" pad, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Blocks die, Postage Collage stamps, xoxo from Hero Arts Sending Love Mail stamps

In all of these cards, I used the Blocks die to cut out rectangles that then are glued inside the Collage die panel.  Then I did some overstamping before adding to my card front.

Here's 1 more example.  I think this floral panel was something digital that I had printed out years ago, then never used.  Here it is on the Postage Collage die.

Then I cut it apart and made this card.

supplies: green and white cardstock, a digital floral print, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Blocks die, Postage Collage stamps, (retired) woodblock Hero Arts December Mark, sentiment from (retired) Hero Arts Sunshine Daisies, white embossing powder

I have a huge group of 6" paper pads and I hope that this will help me to use them up more quickly!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

Postage Collage and Harvest Wreath

 Here's another play with my new Postage Collage bundle.  This time I started with a Turnabout wreath, and then cut the individual stamps apart.  

supplies: white and Doll Pink cardstock, Spellbinders Postage Edge Rectangle dies, Oak Forest 3D embossing folder, Concord & 9th Harvest Wreath turnabout stamps, picked raspberry, vintage photo, carved pumpkin, and dusty concord distress inks, Postage Collage Coloring stencil, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage stamps, Newton's Nook Autumn Newton sentiments

My card measures a bit over 4 3/4" X 6".  I wanted to make my card itself into a big postage shape!  

Here's a picture of the panel before I cut it apart.  I used my Turnabout Jig to position my panel, and one of the Postage stencils before stamping the design.  I wanted to use some untraditional fall colors this time.  You get a completely different look when you cut the individual stamps apart, don't you think?

The object of this whole exercise was to see what I could do with the basic bundle of Postage Collage goodies, and now I think even more that it is a very versatile set.  I look forward to incorporating them into future projects in all seasons.  That's not to say that I will not add to the collection with more of Waffle Flower's stencils and stamps to fill in these tiny little canvases!

Thanks for stopping by - hope your day is a lovely one!

Postage Collage and a Stencil

 Here's another entry into my experiments with the Waffle Flower Postage Collage products.  This time I started with an already stencilled and embossed panel from one of Altenew's Craft Your Life kits.

supplies: white and a mint mat from Scrapook.com Sunshine A2 paper pad, Waffle Flower Postage Collage dies and Postage Collage stamps, Altenew Watercolor Flowers Craft Your Life stencils and embossing folder, Pink Fresh Studio Perfect Sentiments stamps and die, adhesive strips

Unlike my 2 other cards, I did not use the coloring stencil.  I just cut the collage die direct from my panel that was previously stencilled and embossed.  Then I just added some postage stamps and lifted up a sentiment stamped in aqua.  

I'm having a ball!  I can see why these products are so popular!  Thank you once again for stopping by.

Postage Collage

 Still playing with my new Waffle Flower Postage Collage goodies, this time mixed with a favorite but sadly retired Simon Says Stamp floral stamp.

supplies: white, black, and dark peach cardstock, Postage Collage die, Postage Collage Coloring Stencil, Postage Collage stamps, Simon Says Stamp (retired) You Have My Heart floral spray, coral and jade markers to color, Spellbinders Curved Everyday Sentiments glimmer plate/die, Polished Brass hot glimmer foil

My process for this card:

    Cut out Postage Collage die from white cardstock

    Overlay Coloring stencil and stamp floral spray

    Remove stencil

    Color floral spray

    Add small Postage stamp details

    Affix to peach mat

    Add Curved sentiment

Next I want to do this again with a layering stencil - hope you'll come back for that in a few days!  Thanks for visiting!

A Postage Collage for Fall!

 I am probably the last person on earth to get these Waffle Flower Postage Collage dies, stamps, and stencils, but I made it at last, with a nice sale over at Waffle Flower a few weeks ago.  And I get it!  These are so unique and fun!  

I started with the main Postage Collage die and added the Coloring Stencil set and the original Postage Collage stamp set (I loved all the references on it to "sending hugs"!)  Could have gone on and on with their seasonal stencils to fill in with, but I thought I'd try to use what I have here before I jump down that rabbit hole!

Here's my first card.  I used all of the above, and pulled out an old favorite MFT stamp set called Harvest Mouse.

supplies: white and Audrey Blue cardstock, Postage Collage Die, Postage Collage Coloring Stencil, tumbled glass distress ink, Postage Collage stamps, My Favorite Things (retired) Harvest Mouse stamps, sentiment from Sunny Studio Autumn Greetings

I cut the Postage Die from white cardstock, then used one of the stencils to mask so that I could brush in a blue background in each cell.  Then I stamped, colored, and cut out the mice and a couple extra pumpkins, and arranged them on the postage panel.  I took a picture, removed the elements, and then stamped the postage stamps and a fall sentiment before gluing everything together and mounting it on an aqua mat.

I will be playing more with these new goodies - stay tuned!  Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Adding this to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Simon Says.......Fabulous Flowers

Welcome to a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

Fabulous Flowers is our theme this week, and the team is featuring Waffle Flower products.  I chose a Snowdrop set of stamps.

supplies: white and Cornflower Blue cardstock, Waffle Flower Snow Drop clear stamp set, Simon Snowflake Visions embossing folder and sentiment from Snowflake Season, white acrylic paint splatters

After coloring and cutting out the flowers, and embossing the background, I lightly splattered everything with white paint before putting all the layers together.  I glued the base of each flower down and popped up the flowers with some shallow adhesive foam squares.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $25.00 gift certificate 

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!