Poppy Stamps Blooming Garden

I had a few minutes to play and decided to make a card for the Poppy Stamps Challenge Blooming Garden. Again many of the card parts were on my desk from other projects.  I learned from Jennifer McGuire that you never bring out a medium for a background and just make one. She creates many more than I ever do, but while I have certain colors I am working with I make several and put them in a background container for future use.

 I cut the Sylvan Sprig Poppy stamp die and then went to my flower stash for a flower. This one was made from a Cheery Lynn daisy strip.  The sentiment dies were still on my desk from a card I did earlier. I liked the combination so I used it again. The Happy is from Karen Burniston and the Birthday is Sue Wilson.  I love frames and have several. I love mixing them together. I used an IO frame on the outside and a Frantic Stamper on the inside frame for this design. 

Memory Box CAS

I had some time to play today so I decided to play in a challenge. I looked at some challenges  and decided on the Memory Box CAS.  I started looking the my stash of dies from Memory Box and believe it or not I found this white panel made with Memory Box Wild Flower die just waiting to be a card.

  The die was cut out of a corner and then  backed the negative with velum. I added a little color to the die cut with copics and then laid it pack in the panel.   I colored the velum on back with shades of red and green. I guess I did not like it at the time because I stuck in the MB envelope, but when I saw it I knew I had my CAS Card made.... well almost. I put the panel  on a black card base and added a sentiment.  The happy is from Karen Burniston and the Birthday Sue Jones.  The darling humming bird is from Poppy Stamps. I added a few sequins for accent. I know a few of you might consider this CAS, but for me it is definately CAS,  I like how it turned out. 

Double D Black and White

Wow!!! We had so many amazing water color cards for our last challenge.  You guys are amazing. We hope you all find time to join us for this Black and white challenge over at Double D Challenge Blog.  Plenty to inspire you here. 

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I took my inspiration from the two bottom photos. 

I took the center of the die and used a Tim Holtz Stencil and some molding paste.  I covered the molding paste with white glitter.

Preciuous Marieke - Dies - Fantastic Flowers - Square Flowers Frame

The large butterfly is one I have had forever from Cheery Lynn. The little butterflies came from a Memory box die that I think has been retired.


The prize for this challenge is this Memory Box butterfly Frame.

The team has outdone themselves once  again. So go take a peek at Double D Challenge Blog.

IO Birthday Challenge

I always need birthday cards, and I remembered that the IO challenge HERE was birthday cards so I pulled out some of favorite dies and made this card. 

I used the following IO dies.  

HERE

Dies R Us April Showers

April 15th and we have a new challenge for you at Dies R Us.  Just think water, April Showers

(water related ... rain, ocean, umbrella)  I started with a Chepo die that I wanted to use but I did not know what I was going to do with it.  Then I got a post from a friend, Lisa Babitz, that had a cute tutorial with it. So that is where I got the idea for this card.   I make double Z fold cards all the time but never with a pop up, but Lisa"s directions are easy to follow.   

I cut the umbrella die three times in white once in blue and once in checks and did some paper piecing. I added a circle of heavy card stock behind the umbrella to give it more stability. 

I cut the extra raindrops from the umbrella panel and put the under the IO clouds. 

Lawn Fawn Hillside Pop Up

 Chepo Rainy Day

Impression Obsession Clouds

Chepo Unicorn Font

We hope you will join us at Dies R Us for this water related challenge. One random participant will win a gift  card from Dies R Us .

Double D Watercolor

Wow! What amazing gingham designs we had for our last challenge. All the designers had a difficult time choosing favorites. They were all amazing. 

Now why don't you drag out your favorite water color medium and play along with us at Double D water color challenge. Draw inspiration for your project from this beautiful Mood Board. 

Many of my teammates really know how to water color beautiful scenes and flowers, but I am not one of them so I used one of my favorite water color background technique,squishing, which does not require any talent.  I applied distress inks to an  acrylic block and spritzed with water. Then I put my water colored paper on top. Just like magic a water color background.

 I liked the  the pink and yellow colors on the bottom right so I used fossilized amber and pickled raspberry, and shabby shutters for a bit of green. I wanted  some shine so I used Kuretake Starry Gansai Tambi watercolors to get a gold veins and shine. Unfortunately, the shine does not show in the photo. 

                                         

                                              

 I also water colored my flower.  I applied squeezed lemonade to the center part of the flower turned the flower over and gently spritzed with water before shaping.

Here is the prize for this challenge.  If you play along, you will have a chance to win this pretty paper pack.

                                          

We can't wait to see your entries at Double D . They are always so inspiring.

Dies R Us Anything Goes

Anything Goes using dies by companies carried at the DRU Store.  I made a candy box for this challenge.`

Elizabeth Craft Happy Frame

To make the frame to hold the candy I used Elizabeth Craft Happy Frame XL.Since I wanted a 5 by 5 frame, I cut four pieces of paper at 5 1/2 by 4 which is a little smaller than the die. The nice thing about this frame is that you can make it  square or rectangle and in almost any size you want.  

Poppy Stamps Musical Happy Birthday

I used a heavy weight(140 #)  water color paper so the frame would be sturdy. I cut the straight edge of the four pieces to five inches in length.

I decided to add a little color to the frame so I uses a stencil and sponged some wilted violet distress ink on to all four pieces. 

                                     
Fold each one of the score lines. Use a strong adhesive to glue each side of the frame. Fold the bottom to the top for a perfect fit.

Tip ( Not This Way)

TIP   Before you start gluing assemble the box.  I watched the video Happy Frame Video and I still glued  the first one wrong and had to make two more sides.  If you have things lined up you are less likely to make a mistake.  There is also a front and back side  so if  you are making a box make sure you glue the front side up.  Ask me how I know... lol. 

Next I cut the out side of my box. For a 5X5 frame I cut a piece of paper at 51/4 by 11 and scored at 51/4 and 5/3/4

I glued a piece of ribbon down the center.  I wanted to tie a bow so I cut about 24 inches of ribbon. 

Poppy Stamps Musical Happy Birthday

Then I glued the frame to the back and side of the box. I individually wrapped some Hershey's  nuggets with some decorator paper and  put them in the center of my frame.

I love my Sue Wilson Festive Frame.  Who says that flower has to be a poinsettia? Yes, I know dogwoods in some people's world are not purple,but my husband is a horticulturist and I know how they are always experimenting to get new colors and varieties so I am sure one day there will be purple dogwoods, but they probably won't have prills in the center. 

 I had a ton of fun making this little candy box.  You will be seeing more of them because I am making them to sell at a craft booth at a Walnut and Wine Festival. The proceeds of the sale goes into a scholarship fund.  The festival is right before Mother's Day so I thought this would be a nice gift for Mom. In the meantime,this one was personalized and  went in the mail to a special friend.   

Sue Wilson Poinsettia Garland

Elizabeth Craft Dogwood 2

Karen Burniston Birthday

We hope you will join us at Dies R Us Challenge Blog for this Anything Goes Challenge.