Heart Wreath

Today's card is a mix of some favorite products.

supplies: white cardstock, a variety of solid papers from paper pads, The Greetery Boxwood Wreath dies, Spellbinders Mini Blooms & Sprigs flower dies and Flower Frenzy embossing folder, foiled sentiment from Birch Press Design Sugar Script Hot Foil Plate and Die set, teal glimmer foil, Fairy Jewels

I cut and assembled the Boxwood Wreath, then reinserted the center and added my foiled sentiment.  Then I cut and arranged the flowers.  This was then glued onto an embossed flower panel, and for a tiny bit of sparkle, I sprinkled on some teensy pastel jewels.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Peach Peonies

 The peonies this year were huge!  For once, the rain didn't ruin them, but we had a hot spell that hurried their life span and they didn't last long anyway.  I remembered this Lush Garden set of layering stamps, stencils, and dies, and paired them with a gorgeous 3D embossing folder that looks like peonies to me.

supplies: white cardstock, Altenew Lush Garden layering stamps, matching simple stencil, and matching dies, Altenew Garden Party, Green Valley, and yellow inks, Spellbinders Four Petal Floral 3D embossing folder, (retired) Tammy Tutterow sentiment die, Altenew Tea Party enamel heart

I used the darkest of each color family for the outline stamping, and the very lightest of each with the simple stencils to fill in the whole image.  

My peonies are the old-fashioned white, pale and dark pink ones, transplanted years ago from a neighbor.  I would love to have some that are this peachy color!  Do you have any unusual peonies in your garden?

Enjoy your weekend!

My Favorite Cards from June

 Here are my favorite cards made this month - they look like summer!

Thanks for visiting!

Summer Fruits

 I have 2 neglected rolls of washi tape that I thought I should give a little love to; they both feature summer fruits and flowers.

supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug Gingham dp, Pink Fresh Studio Blossoms and Berries washi sprigs, Sunny Studio Fancy Frame Circle die, sentiment from Berry Bliss

supplies: white cardstock, green dotted dp, Pink Fresh Studio Lemons and Blueberries washi sprigs, Stitched Scallop Rectangle dies, sentiment from Altenew Painted Greetings

I think these little sprigs are perfect for last-minute cards.  I have found that fussy-cutting the designs is pretty easy, though there are dies to match.  I store what I don't use all together.  Then it just takes some color coordination with design papers or inks and you've got a card!

Hope these have given you some inspiration!

Sending Smiles

 Here's another card with a hand-made plaid background, in cool colors this time.

supplies: white, Mint, Surf Blue, Audrey Blue, Peacock Teal, and a dark green cardstock, Pink Fresh Studio Dainty Plaid cling stamp and matching layering stencils, faded jeans (for stamping), broken china, and cracked pistachio distress inks (for stencilling), The Greetery Sunflower Botanicuts dies, Spellbinders Postage Edge Rectangle die, Simon Friendly Flowers sentiment, stamped in broken china

Once again, Simon's cardstock colors are a pretty good match for my distress inks!

Thanks for stopping by today - I appreciate your visits.

Brushstroke Blossoms

 I've been trying to use supplies that have been neglected.  Today's card uses some Tim Holtz Brushstroke Flowers dies, and I used solid cardstocks from some ancient 6" paper pads.

supplies: white, 2 yellows, 2 peaches, 2 greens cardstock, Lawn Fawn Rainbow Watercolor Wishes dotty patterned paper, Brushstroke Flowers 1 dies, a Tim Holtz Sentiments Label Sticker, Spellbinders Postage Edge Rectangle

This big fluffy flowers look like summer to me, and the dotty paper in the same colors makes a nice background for them. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Daisy Days - 2 Birthday cards

 Here's another hardly used set of stencils with matching stamps, dies, and even background papers that I have neglected.  I made this first one for a birthday in May, and enjoyed the processs so much I made another in a different colorway.

supplies: slate cardstock (for sentiment), The Greetery Daisy Days Fill-in-the-Blank paper in grey, Daisy Days stamp/stencil set, The Greetery Daisy Days die set, Pink Fresh Studio Rise & Shine and Altenew Green Valley inks, small blending brushes, Hero Arts Sending Love Mail sentiment

I made the 2nd card for a birthday, too, using another of the Fill-in-the Blank papers.

supplies: white and bright pink cardstock, same supplies as above (Fill-in-the-Blank pale blue paper), Simon Trio 15 Greens and Carnation and  Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine and Silverstone inks, blending brushes, Simon Birthday Circle die, adhesive foam to pop up daisies, scallop rectangle die from (retired) MFT Blueprints 20 die set

I decided I wanted the biggest flowers to be actual daisies in white, and to mix up the other elements with different colors.  After doing the "berries" in Carnation, I decided to use that color again for my sentiment.  And this time I die-cut the panel with a small scallop edge so that some white from the card base shows, to reinforce the white daisies.  I think this has a fun fresh feel with these colors, almost tropical!  

I'd like to enter this last card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Vacation, since the tropical vibe it gives off makes me think of summer. 

As always, thanks so much for visiting - hope I've inspired you in some way.

Old and New

 Since I have a little more time now, I've been revisiting some of my old cards for inspiration.  Today's card is a result of that, using some elements from THIS (first) card, mixed with a new embossing folder just released at Spellbinders.

supplies: white cardstock, various Petite Prints design papers from Doodlebug, Wplus9 Doodle Buds clear stamps, Pink Fresh Studio Perfect Sentiments stamp and matching die, Spellbinders new Splish Splash embossing folder, teensy enamel dots for flower centers

I chose 3 bright colors from the Doodlebug spectrum, a bright royal blue, bright orange, and hot pink, and stamped the flowers from teeny florals, the centers from gingham, and used a yellow dot for the very center of each flower, then paper-pieced them, adding a weensy enamel dot.  For the leaves I used all kinds of patterns: stripes, gingham, dots, graph, woodgrain, etc.  To me, this is quilting all over again, but in a fraction of the time!

Usually when I use more than 1 flower, I cluster them in a group, but this time I marched them down my card in a line, then just added a simple sentiment.  I think this embossing folder is going to be a favorite!  

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Anniversary Roses

 I took advantage of a Memorial Day Sale at Birch Press Design and brought home this lovely.  In my opinion, you can never have too many roses!

supplies: white, 3 peach shades, and 2 green shades of cardstock, Rose Bunch Contour Layers dies, leaves from Altenew Garden Picks dies, (retired) The Crafts Meow Sweet Sentiments

On her wedding day, this bride carried shades of blush roses.  These new dies are a perfect size, needing nothing else but some leaves and a sentiment.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Lacey Stitched Butterfly

 Now that I have a bit more time, I've been enjoying pulling out my existing supplies and enjoying them again!  Today I have a butterfly card.

supplies: white and pink cardstock, Memory Box (retired) Cottage Meadow design paper, Spellbinders Stitched Glimmer Butterfly dies, pink variegated embroidery floss, 6 strands,  Wonderful Script Sentiments dies, Mini Blooms & Sprigs dies, stamped sentiment from Winnie & Walter (retired), enamel dots

I wanted to use some of my Mom's variegated floss again, and chose pink this time.  After constructing my butterfly, I went looking through my old printed papers for a background for it - don't you think this Cottage Meadows paper is perfect?  So pleased to use up something "old"!  I also really liked Yana's lovely font that she used for her "beautiful" die - it reinforces the femininity of this design!  As I did once before, I added some teensy flowers to the butterfly - these ones mimic the paper well!  

Hope you're having a great day - thanks much for stopping by today!

Woodblock Wednesday

I've been enjoying finding a woodblock stamp to play with each month for Amy's Woodblock Wednesday challenge!  This month I have a Penny Black stamp called Scented Message, dated 2012, with a bonus sentiment from Paper Inspirations (no date shown). 

supplies: parchment cardstock, faded jeans distress cardstock and another in a slightly lighter blue, Penny Black Scented Message, Paper Inspirations Forget Me Not, Pink Fresh Studio Folk Edge Rectangle die, blue, green, and yellow markers

Everything I used to make this card is old - I used 12" cardstock for the blues, and a mottled creamy cardstock that I term "parchment" that I get at a local paper store, plus the 2 woodblock stamps.

Here's a picture of the stamps.

I hope you'll dig out your woodblocks, old or new, and play along too - you can find all the info here.  

Heavenly Blue

 .....that's the name of the Morning Glory seeds we plant each year to share a bean pole with a clematis.  The seeds take a while to germinate, and a little longer to climb, and set their flowers, but when they open they live up to their name in spades!!

supplies: white, Fog, blues from a Memory Box Ocean Blue 6" paper pad, Green Apple, Green Leaf, and Bazzill Gumdrop green cardstock, Altenew Climber Flowers layering dies, Simon Mini Slimline Lattice die, sentiment from Poppy Perfection, adhesive foam strips

Here's a photo taken in our garden in years past of these morning glories.  Isn't the color amazing?

Last year DH made the mistake of fertilizing this plant once it popped up from the soil, and we got a huge crop of leaves only, with maybe 5 flowers total!  Evidently they thrive on neglect, so this year, all they'll get from us is some water now and again!

Thanks for your visit today - I hope yours is a great day!

Sealed for Summer release from Spellbinders

Here are 2 cards that use several elements from the new Sealed for Summer release: the Floral and Vine 3D embossing folder, and the Glimmer Bouquet foiling plate. 

supplies: white and gold mirror cardstock, vellum, Floral & Vine 3D embossing folder, Glimmer Bouquet plate and matching die, Gold glimmer foil, Zig markers and water, Punch & Pierce Frame Sentiments dies, gold confetti

After embossing with this pretty folder, I foiled the floral bouquet and colored it, then cut it out and centered it on the embossed front, then added my sentiment with its shadow on vellum, along with some gold confetti to the centers of the smaller flowers and around the edges.  As always, the foiling takes this simple design up a notch!  And that embossing folder is another keeper!  

For my next card I went monochromatic, with tiny white touches.

supplies: white and Peach Sorbet cardstock, Sealed for Summer Glimmer Bouquet, Blush glimmer foil, sentiment from Illustrated Floral Glimmer set, Essential Glimmer Rectangle glimmer plate, peach alcohol marker, white gel pen

I foiled the bouquet and some older glimmer dies on a panel of Peach Sorbet cardstock using blush glimmer foil, then added some extra color and details with a peach marker and a white gel pen.

Thanks for coming by today - enjoy your day!

Love You

 Our 52nd anniversary was earlier this week, and I wanted to share the card I made for my husband this year.  I carried yellow roses on our wedding day.

supplies: Cream, Bazzill Gumdrop green, Green Leaf, several yellows, and Matte Gold cardstock, Simon Love Is Background cling, Vintage Photo distress ink, Honey Bee Lovely Layers Rose, The Greetery Love die

This lovely rose die has almost too many layers - I used 6 of them for the main flower, with 3 colors of yellow cardstock. 

Thanks for coming by!