Donna's Birthday Card

I am the hostess at the Mod Squad Challenge Blog this week.  One Happy Cuts is the sponsor and  one random entry will be chosen to receive a $15 gift certificate so go over the Mod Squad Challenge Blog and check out the challenge.  As those of you who visit my blog regularly know, I like to make cards, even those for challenges, for the special people in my life.  This card is no exception. I made this card for a very special lady whose birthday is December 25th.  Donna Phelan  is so talented and such a good friend and awesome cheerleader to all her crafting buddies. Her blog is fun to read because it reflects her positive attitude, sense of humor and creative imagination. If you have never seen her work, drop by her blog Donna's Blog  and say hello.  I wanted the card to reflect her tastes so I put this little paper flower garden of her favorite flower, hydrangeas, together for her.Then I used one of her favorite techniques, wood graining, for the background. I topped that panel with a beautiful frame from Spellbinders. It has so much detail and is both embossed and debossed. The center frame is from Sue Wilson's Vienna.   The sentiment. which describes how we all feel about Donna, is from Melanie Muenchinger's Buds and Vases. The hydrangeas are Spellbinders and the butterfly is Cheery Lynn.  

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Donna asked me how I made these flowers so here you go, Donna.  The flowers below are for a blue hydrangea for another special friend.  

Cut 4 large and 4 small stems  and 38 flowers

Ink the edges of the blossoms

Make a mark in the center with a green marker.

  

Use stylus in the center of each blossom so it curls up

Put one blossom on each of the stems.

Build your flower on the circle die cut that comes with the set.  Layer all the large ones making sure to offset each one.  Shape the flowers to face upwards. 

Finished flowers.

Flip Flops

My friend Judy Woodland is hosting the Mod Squad Challenge Blog this week and she asked for Anything but Christmas. Go over and check out Judy's fabulous card here. There is a $25 Kitchen Sink gift certificate for one random winner. Anyway, I think I accomplished Judy's challenge.  I designed this card for my college room mate.  I won't tell you how many years we have been friends, but it is more than ten. Sharon has a fetish for flip flops so I told her that I was going to send her some flip flop note cards.  I made ten cards using the same design but different colors that I will put into her birthday card box.  These were fun to make and I got all ten done in one afternoon.

I will enter this in the Mod Squad Challenge Blog

Christmas 2015

I make lots of different designs for my Christmas cards, but because I send so many cards I usually spend some time on one design that I like and make several duplicate cards.The only problem with this is that by the time I am done making cards I am not as fond of the design as I was in the beginning. 

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I started with this fabulous cover plate from Frantic Stamper.  Even though it is very intricate, it cut through with one pass.  Amazing!!!!  I knew I wanted a frame around it so I used my 5x7 Spellbinders Matting Stacks to create a frame.

 I wanted  the door of the church to be black and the windows yellow to imitate light.  I tried several methods but the one that I liked best is gluing small pieces of yellow and black paper in the appropriate spots.

I knew I wanted and evening scene so I used a circle mask for the moon and sponged blues and violets around it.

Next, I used and ink brayer and spotted  roller covered with versa mark over the panel and then heat embossed white embossing powder to imitate snow.

 Next I die cut my sentiment using an IO die.

I wanted snow for the bottom portion of the panel so I cut out some white glitter paper, and glued  the sponged panel and white glitter paper to the back of the cover plate. Next I glued the frame on top of the scene and then added the sentiment to the bottom of the frame. Then I decided to emboss the frame with a Swiss dot embossing folder.

This panel was layered on some lilac or blue card a then onto a white card base.

I added some deer, trees or snow flakes to finish the card.


                                         


I will enter the following challenges
Simon Says Die Crazy

Simon Says Winter Wonder Land

Simon Says Work It Wednesday Holiday Card

Dies R Us Winter Use Snowflakes

Snowman Side Step

I made a card similar to this last year for a challenge.  I liked it well enough to do it again for a few Christmas cards. Of course, I changed and added some things.  These darling snowmen are feebies from Beccy's Place.  You'll find a link to her blog on my side bar.  I printed and fuss cut them. See the snow ball in the snowman's hand and the pile of in front. He has been busy. I see some of these snow balls in a shaker card in the near future.  The picture does not show it well but there is some homemade snow on the trees fence and ground.

PTI  paper
IO  fir trees, fence trio, and bow from fancy ornament, cardinals from birch trees, and Merry Christmas sentiment
Tim Holtz  street  lantern


DRU Merry and Bright or White Here

Christmas Floral

I have not used this Marianne lantern die for quite some time.  It is a large die so the card is 5x7. I started by using a red frame that I cut with Spellbinders 5x7 matting basics and backed with some Swiss dot vellum. I believe the candle is from Joy Craft.  The poinsettia is from Spellbinders.  I will stamp something on the little Cheery Lynn fishtail die cut before I give the card away.  The greenery around the poinsettia is a combination of Cheery Lynn and IO pine branches.  I used some Tall Choloe from Memory Box  die cuts left over from another project to add some sparkle. I will enter this in the Cheery Lynn Anything Goes Challenge HERE , Mod Squad Challenge Blog Christmas Floral  HERE, and the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge HERE

Snowflakes on Wood

I got two cards done today. Both of them were simple to do. I did a card that is similar to this last year except on last years card I stamped and embossed the snowflakes, but this year I used dies.  I love this wood paneling technique.
The large die is IO Large Snowflake. It cuts several snowflakes at one time so I just used part of the die cut.  I will use other parts of it on other cards. A gingham bow and a Christmas tree wood charm, a gift from a friend, finishes off the card.   Thanks Judy.
 I will enter these challenges
 IO Challenge Season's Greetings HERE
Simon Says Anything Goes HERE
Simon Says Work it Wednesdays HERE



Large Snowflake DIE093-X
Pine Branch  DIE021-N

Snowflakes Die 100 F

Christmas Carolers

Another Christmas card is done.  I think these IO Christmas carolers are too cute. I will enter this in the
 IO Challenge Season's Greetings HERE
Simon Says Anything Goes HERE
Simon Says Work it Wednesdays HERE

Pine Branch  DIE021-N

Carolers  DIE221-H

Evergreen trees DIE217-E

Snowflakes Die 100 F

Monochromatic White

I used another one of my new Memory Box dies,English rose,tor this card.  I cut it from white card stock and coated it with Silver Inca Gold. I cut Spellebinder's oval from white glitter card stock and then tucked the rose die cut in the corner.  I stamped the PTI sentiment on some Swiss dot velum and put that behind the rose,  I put a rectangle frame around that and then did my floral sprays.  I used the Memory Box grape vine, woodland branch, and Frantic Stamper fern for filler. the flowers are from Wild Orchid. This card is for a special friend in my ladies' group who has a birthday in December. I will enter the following challenges. 

Memory Box Glitter HERE
Scrapy Land Monochromatic HERE

A Snowman Outside My Door

I bought this decorator paper last year from Heartfelt creations and I have been wanting to use the door scene ever since I bought it,  My fabulously talented and  good friend Barbara Campbell is the hostess at Stamp TV this week.  She asked for a snowman so I gave her one.  I paper pieced his hat and scarf from the same paper pack and then I fussy cut him and popped him up with pop dots in front of the door.  This is a 5x7 card.  I rounded the corners on the door and put him on a Spellbinders die cut out using the same  paper pack.  Don't you love it when the paper does the work.

Simon Says Christmas ChallengeHere

Stamp TV HERE

Monochromatic Lilac

This is a birthday card for a very special friend. She loves hydrangeas so I made the cute little hydrangea in the corner using a Spellbinders die that I just got.

 Now that I have learned to make the flower I will do more.  Scrapy Land was having a great sale on Memory Box dies a week or so ago so I picked up some beauties like this Sylvan Corner array of butterflies.

I placed the corner over a wood panel that I created using my scoreboard.  I put a frame over that and then did the floral spray in the corner. I used a Cheery Lynn fishtail tag which will say Happy Birthday when I find a small enough sentiment among my stamps,  My good friend, Judy Woodland, is hosting the Mod Squad Challenge this week and she asked us to make our own patterned paper. I think she had something a little more elaborate in mind but that would not have worked with this die so I kept it simple. 

I will enter this in the Scrapy Land  Monochromatic Challenge HERE

Mod Squad Patterned Paper HERE

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Lung Cancer Awareness

I'll bet my dear friends who follow my blog are going to be happy to see a different layout from me. I got to deliver my set to my friend and she was thrilled especially when I told her it only took one stamp to send them.  Because she has received my cards in the mail before, she knows that some cards cost a bit of change to mail, but I keep thinking if I bought those cards from Hallmark(and they do have beautiful designs) that I would have spent four or five dollars on the card.  The people I send  the cards to appreciate the love and time I have dedicated to design something just for them so I spend the money on the postage. I will enter this card in three challenges. The Memory Box challenge this week was to use glitter and the Mod Squad Challenge was to use silver or pearl so I put silver glitter paper behind the Mod Flower border that I cut three times and glued to the back of an off white frame.  I trimmed the excess from the sides and  then framed it again in black. I assembled my flower arrangement on the side of the frame,and  tucked a fish tail die cut by Cheery Lynn at the bottom of the floral arrangement. There is no sentiment and it is not secured because I am not sure who the recipient or the occasion will be.   Generally, I make cards with certain people and occasions in mind, but I do find it helpful to have some cards on hand that I can add a sentiment to and write a note on a moment's notice. I will also enter this in the Scrapy Land Challenge... Anything Goes and Simon Says Monday Challenge  something beginning with N.  I used some new flower that I bought from  Wild Orchid Crafts..  I have been following the blog a the uber talented Lisa  who creates masterpiece floral designs and beautiful bows (not going there  yet) on her cards.  I thought if I bought some flowers like she uses. I would be in her league..... NOT.  Drop over to her blog HERE and take a look.  I know you will enjoy.



Memory Box Glitter HERE
Scrapy Land Anything Goes HERE
Mod Squad Challenge Lung Cancer Awareness Silver or Pearl HERE
Simon Says Monday HERE

Dies Used  Poppy Stamps Mod Floral
Memory Box Tall Choloe that I embossed in silver tore apart and tucked in for filler.
Memory Box Sylvan Corner  the sweet little butterfly was cut from the die cut butterfly

CAS Bird on a Branch

I had this little bird and branch cut out and decided I would do one more card for my set. I always tell my gal pal, Donna Pheland that when I make a CAS card I feel like I have sent my child to school naked. This is no exception and the only thing special about it is that is was done in under three minutes.  I will enter it in the IO challenge just because it is a random draw and I might win. 

IO   Give Thanks Here

Stamp Set 

CL342 

IO Bird on a Branch Die - DIE161-N

Here is the last card for my gift set using the same layout.  I put some clothes on this card so I like it much better.  I used the same composition but switched the dies. It is nice to have some Christmas Thank-you's on hand.  I ended up with 14 cards so I am ready go on Saturday. I'll bet you are glad you don't have to see another card with the same composition.  I think I have exhausted it,,,,, for awhile anyway.

IO pine bough

Cheery Lynn holly leaves

Memory Box Tall Choloe embossed with gold embossing powder.

Spellbinders poinsettia

Gina K sentiment

Here they are all tucked in their envelopes waiting for Saturday.  I could not get all of them in picture but  I think you get the idea. No extra postage required.  Now all I have to do is make the gift bag.

Single Layer card With a Guy in Mind.

 This is my third post today.  It is amazing what you can get done when you are on a deadline.I realized I needed a card for a guy for this set and this is what I came up with.
I will enter this on the IO Challenge.  I sponged around the deer and added some spots with a white gel pen.  I also added some spots on the heart.

IO   Give Thanks Here

Deer Trio  - DIE080-N

Fir Trees  DIE084-V 

Ever green trees DIE217-E

DIE126-U  for the heart

Stamp Set 

CL342 

Yellow Butterfly

I mentioned in this morning's post that I liked the Butterfly on my card so much that I wanted to make a yellow one for spring.

This uses IO bird on a branch I just cut the bird off and Cherry Lynn Butterfly.  I thought the yellow was too bright so I softened it with some vellum. 

Fall Colors

As I said in my last post, I have been making a set of cards for a special friend who sends many cards.  I used the same composition on all the cards but varied the sentiments and the colors so she will have a variety  to send.  For most of the cards, I used a flower, but for this one, I used a butterfly for the focal image.  This is done with fall colors, but I like it so much I think I might make one for spring in yellows.   This fits in an A2 envelope and will go through the mail with regular postage. I just realized that I need to do a couple of cards that will work for a male.  Off I go to my crafting nook.
Again I got this idea for layout from Pinterest.  I found the designer(not always easy) and got her permission to case.  Sherry Hester Here.

Thought I would post the yellow one on this post also since this is the one entered in challenges so more people might see it. I like the spring version too. 

Frantic Stamper Ivy

Cheery Lynn Leaves

Cheery Lynn Butterfly

IO Wheat 

I will enter the following challenges

Simon Says  Wednesday Thinking of you HERE

Cheery Lynn Fall colors HERE

Scrapy Land Anythng Goes HERE

In case you are wondering what I do in the evening to keep awake while I sit with hubby as he watches television, I make flowers.  Lots and lots of flowers. I am going to use the poinsettia this afternoon  for another one of my gift set cards.  I have to be done by Saturday when we meet for breakfast. 

Winter Scene

At Christmas time we always need a few thank you cards on hand. I made this is traditional Christmas colors.  I will enter it in the following challenges. 

IO   Give Thanks Here

Simon Says Monday the letter N  I used a die that I had never used before the IO birch trees.

Here

I used the following IO dies

  Deer Trio - DIE080-N

Birch Trees  DIE079-U

Snowflakes Die 100 F

Fir Trees  DIE084-V

Ever green trees DIE217-E

Stamp Set 

CL342

Single Layer Thank You for Being a Friend

Since the last card I posted had several layers, I decided to make a single layer card. This is a card that is one of several that I will make for a friend of mine who is so very giving and thoughtful.  When anyone needs anything, she is always the first to volunteer,  She is a good friend not only to me,but to so many others also, With the exception of this card which will my personal thank you to her,the cards will be able to go through the mail and will not require any extra postage. I plan to make 12 cards with different sentiments including birthday and sympathy,  I will use the same layout for the cards so after I get all the flowers cut,sponged and put together and all the other elements cut the cards will come together easily.  So many challenges deal with saying thanks this week so I will enter this card in the following challenges. 

Frantic Stamper Ivy

Cheery Lynn Leaves

Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms

IO wheat

Gina K Designs Sentiment

Simon Says Wednesday Here

Mod Squad Thank You Here

Dies R Us Fall Colors Here

Scrapy Land Anything Goes Here

Here is one of the cards from the set. Since the flower is flat, she will be able to mail this without extra postage.  I used prills in the center of the flower.

Frantic Stamper Ivy

Cheery Lynn Leaves

Spellbinders Sunflower

Memory Box Tall Choloe

Gina K Designs Sentiment

I am also participating in Jennifer Mcquire's  Share the Handmade Kindness.  You can find the details here  

http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2015/11/sharehandmadekindesschallenge.html

I'll post pictures of the other cards as I get them done.   I got the idea for layout from Pinterest.  I found the designer(not always easy) and got her permission to case.  Sherry Hester Here.

Thankful for Peggy

This is a card for a special friend who is part of my ladies group. She recently sold her house and is moving to Southern California to be closer to her family.  We are happy for Peggy because she is finally getting her wish, but sad for all of us because we will miss her sunny disposition and beautiful smile. I decided I would try to compete with my good friend Donna Pheland, queen of layers, and see how many I could put on one small card.  With the floral spray I count seven. you can't tell from the picture but the paper behind the brick background is shimmer paper and the edges of the doily and chloe branch are embossed with gold.

I used the following dies

Diversions Brick cover plate

Cheery Lynn French Doily

Spellbinders Lotus Blossom

Spellbinders Royal Circle

Spellbinders Spellbinders Lacy circles

Cheery Lynn Horizon Fishtail Banners

Frantic Stamper Ivy

Cheery Lynn Leaves

Memory Box Tall Choloe 

Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms

I will enter the following Challenges

Cheery Lynn Give Thanks Here

Mod Squad Bold and Beautiful Here

Scrapyland  Embossing Here      I embossed the edges of the doily, the sentiment and  edges of the tall Choloe

Simon Says Wednesday  Anything Goes  Here

Simon Says Monday  Throw Back   Punch or Die Cut  Here

Sympathy

My sister-n-law on my husband’s side recently lost her father.  Since I was making the card, I decided that I should make one that reflected her taste.  She is a big fan of black and silver or gold so that is where I began.  The card came together much like I thought it would except originally I planned to have a butterfly where the flower is.  After playing around with it for a while, I decided that I liked the flower better. I have enjoyed the designs of  Olga Direktorenko. I particularly like how she uses vellum in her designs so I have been tryng that a lot lately. I started out with some designer black and white paper and covered with a piece of vellum. I glued two black Mod Flower by Poppy Stamps die cuts to a black frame and placed that on top of the vellum. I had some silver gray paper that I wanted to use but it was too thin to make a frame from so I glued the paper to some black craft foam which gave it strength and dimension.  I also cut some black frames.  The sentiment is from Heartfelt by Theresa Momber available at Gina K Designs.  I embossed it with silver embossing powder and cut it out with one of Sue Wilson’s Vienna dies that I backed with a piece of vellum and layered on black card.  For the decorations on the side used Frantic Stamper Spring  Ivy and  Memory Box Tall Chloe dies. I made the flower awhile ago so it was sitting in my flower box.  Added a few pearls so the card is ready to mail. 

Challenges

Memory Box Black and White Here

Word Art Wednesday  Here

Scrapyland      Embossing Here

Simon Says Wednesday  Anything Goes  Here

Simon Says Monday  Throw Back   Punch or Die Cut  Here

Thank You Guest Speaker

This is a card I made for a woman's group for a guest speaker.  I used a Spellbinder's cover plate that I embossed and sponged and placed a piece of vellum behind.  I embossed  a panel from Die-namcs  Blue Prints 11 with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and put a Cheery Lynn sentiment on it.  The rose is a bitty blossom by Spellbinders.  I wanted a larger rose so I glued two of the strips together. I added a few IO wheat die cuts a Die-namics leafy swirl and some Spellbinder leaves.  I will enter this in the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn    Anything Goes  Here

Scrapyland      Embossing Here

Simon Says Wednesday  Anything Goes  Here

Simon Says   Work it Wednesdays  Thank You Here

Simon Says Monday  Throw Back   Punch or Die Cut  Here

Snow One Like You

I created this card with two challenges in mind.  Paper Trey Ink has a different type of challenge during their release week. They call it Create Along With US.   They ask you  to create a project using inspiration from one of the designers,  They released a new coverplate this month and there were so many good ideas that I got from how the designers used it, but Betsy Veldman  added a stamped image behind the frame, and I loved that idea. Since there were some holiday cards included in the release,many of the designers added some sparkle to their cards with glitter so I used that idea too by cutting the coverplate from glitter paper. See the challenge and the entries HERE

Since my stamping buddy and mentor Donna Pheland is hosting the Mod Squad Challenge this week I also wanted to participate in that challenge which  is Winter with a die cut. Nothing says winter more than snow and a snow man. I created the look of snow by using some Versamark ink and white embossing powder. There are two prizes offered up this week to one random winner so go look at the challenge and join us in the fun and maybe you will win one of the prizes. You will find that challenge HERE

 The snowman and sentiment are from Gina K designs and the cover plate is PTI.







Here is Betsy's beautiful card using the new coverplate. 

Fall

My good friend Barbara Campbell is the hostess at the Mod Squad Challenge this week and she asked for a fall project in colors or images.  I have been following the Poppy Stamps blog and become a big fan of  Olga Direktorenko.You can find her blog Here .  She makes many of her cards using layers of frames with some sort of die cut sandwiched between the frames, dp and a layer of vellum.  I decided to try her technique.  I used Spellbinders A2 matting basics dies to cut the frames from gold and white card.   The fishnet die is a MFT dienamics die. and the pierced top die is from Spellbinders Celebration line.  I stamped the vellum with some leaves from Gina K designs Fall Foilage and embossed in gold.  I also found  a scrap of water colored paper in my scrap basket so I stamped the leaves on it and embossed in gold and fussy cut them.  The wheat is an IO die.  I don't remember the company of the flower die, but I used yellow card and sponged with cantalope ink. I used prills for the center of the flowers.  The sentiment is from Gina K Designs Sweetest Memories embossed in gold and cut out with a Spellbinders Labels 8 die. 

I will enter the following Challenges

Mod Squad Challenge Get Your FALL on  HERE

Simon Says Monday Autumn is in the Air Here

Scrapy Land Anything Goes Here

Pop UP

I love pop up cards and this set by Stampendous is so much fun to color.  I embossed the flowers in white and tried my band at water coloring.  The sentiment is on the bottom panel I added a Cheery Lynn butterfly to add some interest near the sentiment. I will enter this in the Mod Squad Challenge and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes HERE and the Mod Squad Challenge Blog Anything with WingsHERE