Cheery B-day Greeting

Back to the heat of summer again today. Our nice coooooool brake is apparently over. But it is a bit cooler at night. I am so ready for the change of seasons.
Okay, so I missed the color challenge (again) I started this card out for, but will make it in time for the
Flutterby Wednesday 201 challenge, to have butterflies or Fairies on your project. I will also enter this in the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge #165 (see sketch below).

One of my craft group had a birthday today. I had purchased this clear mini stamp recently, only to find I already had it (hate that-but my craft group loves it-they usually end up with my double purchases as presents). So I decided I would make a card with it for her birthday, then give her the extra stamp for part of her gift. (She is just starting out making cards, so she is a good candidate for my 'extras' I know she won''t have them!) This is a sweet little stamp that works up so quickly and has such endless possibilities. I colored it in with Copics, cut it out with Spellbinders labels 18, and sponged around it with Versa Magic Sea Breeze ink. I then traced around the die on the yellow CS and hand cut it for the mat. The green DP is Scribble Scrable 'Bric-a-brac', the flowered is Echo Park Sunny Spots. The colored cardstock is all from my scrap basket. I am determined to use some of those scraps up. I cut the butterflies with SU butterflies embosslit die, and the large white one I applied a bit of sea breeze ink to the edges and embossing then covered with versa mark ink and added clear embossing powder, heat set it, VM again and SU iridescent ice embossing powder and heat set again. The green butterfly Was cut with a MS punch, then I embossed it with a Sizzix embossing folder. I used a bit of punched border, and apiece of blue CS, which I scored with my score board. It's hard to see here, but I also added Stardust Stickles to the words, the green butterfly, and the center of some of the flowers on the DP.

Birthday Ship

Wow did we get the rain yesterday here in the U.P. of Michigan. Badly needed rain I might add. Will surely perk up all the gardens and lawns. Today it has turned a bit cool (60s), and a very brisk north wind, but sunny. It almost feels like a fall day. Good day to work on organizing my craft 'room'.

I have another masculine Birthday Card today. Very simple and easy, I really like the lines of this one.

 

I used the sketch from Clean & Simple #202. I turned the sketch on it's side so that I could accommodate this larger image. The image is a single stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs 'Ship'. I stamped it on Wasau Brite White CS with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. I colored the emblem in with Memento markers--Lady Bug & Dandelion- and backed it with blue cut with Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles. The sentiment is from Hero Arts-Birthday Messages stamped with SU Real Red on Wausau CS, cut with Spellbinders Mega Classic Ovals and matted on Bazzil red CS cut with Spellbinders Mega Scalloped Classic Ovals. The DP is from Paper Pizzaz (HOTP) Boys to Men Sara Papers.

A 'Feel Better' card

Two posts in one day-how about that!

I did not have any ambition today to do anything but play with paper, although I did go out and water flowers, do some weeding and deadheading flowers. And I did cook supper. Then  I felt I could play for awhile.

This is what I came up with this afternoon.

I used the sketch from the 'Clean and Simple 202' challenge, and the colors from the 'CR84FN color Challenge- Grape, Blue, Green.

                          

 I unearthed this piece of  DCWV DP from my papers yesterday and had all the colors for the CR84Fn challenge in the paper. I matted it on some Recollections green cardstock. I stamped the image on a scrap of white CS from my scrap bin , and matted it on green cut with the Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles die. I added a bit of stickles to the butterflies for a little sparkle.

Supplies:
Inks-SU Lucky Limeade, Ballet Blue Craft, Almost Amethyst craft; Stickles Stardust glitter glue; SU foam dimensionals

Lighthouse birthday

Today is my hubby's birthday. So I figured I better make him a card 8) I picked up this little lighthouse stamp at a rummage sale quite some time ago, but hadn't used it yet. It really is a nice scenic little stamp. There is no name on the block so I do not know the brand. I do believe it will be used more often now that I have tried it out.

I used the August sketch challenge  'I love Sketches'   from I love 2 stamp.             

I stamped the image on Neenah white cardstock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I colored in the initial image with Copics-the lighthouse, water, cloud, rocks and grass. Then I cut it out with Spellbinders classic rectangle die. While the image was still in the die extended the water and ground to the edges of the die, then added in the sky with Pebbles shimmer pastel chalks. I mounted it on a navy mat cut with Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangles. The DP is Paper Pizzaz Boys to Men. I added texture to the background mat with Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls Embossing folder. I added a bit of Stardust Stickles to the lighthouse windows for light.

Leave a comment please!

Freshly Made!

Wow, can't believe I even had the energy to finish this card last night. Had an explosion of beans in my garden-picked two 13 quart bowls Saturday night. Worked all afternoon yesterday cleaning and packaging beans. I now have 28 packages of bean in my freezer! And even had some ripe tomatoes, enough to eat. Most likely won't get enough to freeze, but they sure are good right off the plant. Yum!
On to my card for today. I am still working on masculine cards. This one would work for any age. I used the sketch from and will enter this in the Freshly Made Sketches #47 challenge:

The DP is from Paper Pizzaz "Masculine Sara Papers', the blue CS is Beckett Cambric Linen (love this CS) and the brown cardstock is from my scrap basket. The image is from CTMH Happy Camper stamp set. It's stamped on Bazzil ivory Smooth CS and colored with Copics. I cut the image out with Spellbinders Classic Circles and matted it on brown cut with SB Pinking Circles. When I stamped the sentiment (Verve-Big Wish) it didn't show up very well, so I covered the piece with Versamark ink and clear embossing powder to make it stand out a bit more. I distressed the edges of the label and the dark blue DPa bit, and added faux stitching around the background paper with a black marker.

Copics used: E23, E42, E30, W1, BG11, BG72

 

Clean and Simple Violets

I have a hard time leaving things 'simple', and so it was hard not to add extras to this card.

I used the sketch from Clean and Simple #203.

 I had colored this image up sometime ago, and it kept turning up on my work table, just begging to be used! It's from Flourishes 'Sweet Violets' set. It's stamped with Staz-on black ink on Bazzil Simply Smooth white CS and colored with Prisma Colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I added some Stickles for sparkle-purple to the heart of the violets,  yellow on the petals, and green on the leaves.  I cut it out with SU Labels Framelits, then traced around the die on purple CS and cut with scissors. I popped the image up with foam dots. I dug through my stash of DP scraps and came up with this bit from Paper Pizzaz Friendship pad for the accent piece of DP-I mounted it on a scrap of yellow CS.
Now, when I assembled my card I just couldn't leave those top and bottom borders plain. It just didn't do the image justice. So I used one of the border embossing folders from the Cuttlebug Nouveau borders set. Ed  just enough texture to make the whole card pop. Hope you like.

Rainbow Trout

Been a hectic couple of weeks around here. Had company from out of town, birthday parties, family dinners,  lots of stuff from the garden to process-just plain busy! I've made a few cards for some of the challenges, unfortunately I did not have time to post them all. Oh, well, I have cards now!!!
My first cad for the day if for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #181 Challenge-a sketch challenge. I had need of a masculine B-day card recently and realized I had been neglecting the 'boys' again. So I dug out all of my stamps with a masculine vibe to them, as well a my masculine papers. This stamp is from Flourishes 'What a Catch'. As a lot of the 'gentlemen' I know are avid fishermen, I knew this would be my choice for a few cards.
Using the sketch from Flourishes:  I came up with this card design:

The background DP is from Creative Memories (no idea the name)  that I picked up a couple years ago, but it had 'disappeared' in my stash-very masculine looking. The accent piece is from a 6 x 6 SU In Color hostess pad matted with some SU CS. I used a scrap of copper for the accent, and ran it through my CB with the Sizzix Diamond embossing folder. The scrap of brown border was laying on my table begging to be used on something, and it added just the right touch here.

I stamped the fish image on Beckett white CS with Memento Rich Cocoa and colored it with Copic Markers (W0, W3,N3, N4, C0, E29, YG23, BG13, BG10). I added a bit of Stickles to the water and sides of the fish. I cut the image out with ScrapyLand exclusive Wide Beveled Ovals die, then traced around the die on the green Recollections CS  and cut it out with scissors to mat the image. I stamped the sentiment from 'My Pink Stamper 'Birthday Crazy' with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Zing Copper embossing powder. Done!!!!!!!