A tiny bit of Spring

Today is a rather dreary day, cold again calling for warm coats and gloves after having nearly a week of nice days. But the snow is quickly disappearing. And the sap is running sporadically  which doesn't make my hubby very happy at all! They want to make syrup and get it over with:)
Hard to believe Easter is next week already.
Here is a nice little spring-y card for the Monday Lunchtime sketch challenge #309 over at Techno Stamper.

I have had the stamp set 'Awash with Flowers' from Stampin' Up for a loooong time and am finally putting it to use. The larger flowers on this little panel are from that set. I stamped the stems with SU Old Olive and colored the leaves in with a blender pen and the OO ink. The small flowers and stems are from Verve Floral Whimsy set. I stamped the stems (second generation) with SU Pear Pizzaz, and the flowers with SU Daffodil delight and colored them with a Copic marker.  The little dragonfly is from Hot Off the Press Tiny words and Images set stamped in Momento London Fog. I so wanted to add glitter to his little wings, but as the card is for Operation Write Home I couldn't. I used the 'innies' from the corner stickers to accent his body. 

Design papers are from My Mind's Eye Happy Day and K&Co. Classic K paper pads. Cardstock is from my scrap bin.

Framed!

The challenge this time around at Crafty Cardmakers & More is 'You've been framed'. Over the past week or so I have been working at using up a bunch of the stickers that I bought over the last couple years. This one package had 2 sheets of  large floral stickers. So far I have made 14 cards with this package of stickers, and still have about 5 to go. Some I mounted on a die cut background, which left me with the negative of the cut-so I used those a frames for some of the cards.
Here is the first 'framed' card.

I used some patterned vellum behind this tulip sticker. Kept it simple and flat for OWH.  

Cardstock: Stampin' UP Rich Razzleberry , Very Vanilla

Stamp: My Favorite Things 'Essential Sentiments'

Accessories: Spellbinders Label 18, Printed vellum paper, Special Moments Tulip sticker & butterfly, S. U. Modern Label, S. U. Rich Razzleberry marker

Once Upon a Time

My second card today-I'm on a roll!

I made this card for my friends birthday. As spring is mighty slow at coming in our neck of the woods this year, I thought she would enjoy this little bit of Spring. She is a master gardener, and she has all these fairy houses and fairies around her gardens, including one garden that not only has all the above, but is all miniature plants. These Graphic 45 'Once Upon a Springtime' and Recollections 'Habitat' papers are so her! The challenge over at Fab 'N' Funky #210 this week is 'Once Upon a Time'-creations using images and papers that contain fantasy and/or fairytale creatures. These fairy papers are perfect.

My card base is S.U. Old Olive. I cut a mat of the Habitat fern paper, and layered some of the elements from the Graphic 45 papers on the top of it. I cut the mushrooms from the Habitat paper, and adhered them with foam dimensionsals (SU). The border is an EK Success punch cut from SU Very Vanilla CS. The sparkly button is also SU.

I added star dust stickles to the bees and fairy wings. The little bees are buttons with the shank cut off and colored with Copics. I mounted the tag on a mat of Calypso Coral CS (SU). I added dots of Ruby Stickles to the border.  

I think Deb will like the card.

I'm off to wash walls, and as I can finally open some windows I am getting ready to paint the trim in my hall and livingroom. 

Hope spring is making an appearance wherever you are! We can finally see that the snow is melting around here-things like plant covers and the garden trailer are once again visible. But there is more snow in the forecast. Ahhhh.......Really?

CAS Thinking of You

For my first card today I am using the sketch from the Clean & Simple Challenge #285 I will also enter this in the Addicted to Stamps & More #86, a clean & simple card.

I really like the big, bold sentiment for this CAS card. It really carries the card. As you'll see below, I actually made a few cards with this sketch, but this is the one that came out the cleanest :-)

Recipe:
Stamps: Card Chatter Sympathy-CTMH; Mosaic Madness-SU
Ink: SU Pacific Point
Cardstock: SU Pacific Point, CTMH White Daisy

 I really like the one with the butterfly, but I had to add the butterfly because I got ink there;), and the sentiment is slightly off-kilter. Even using the stamp-a-ma-jig I seem to have a problem getting things straight! 

Triple Treat

Still in the clutches of old man winter-another 3" of snow overnight!

The challenge at "Less is More' #164 this week is 'Three" of something on your card.
I have been going through my paper stash this week, reviewing what I have (tons, don't you know). I came across this Hot Off the Press Pad, Icy Rainbow. Love the colors and patterns in this pad. As I was making this card I knew I wanted to 'showcase' the beautiful background paper, especially that big flower.

I cut the flowers & leaves out of white cardstock with the Memory Box Norland flower dies. Colored them with Copic Markers, layered them and added white pearls to the centers. Added the butterfly and words die cut and the 'fence' border along the bottom edge.

Ingredients:
Tools: Memory Box Norland Flower, Cheery Lynn mini butterfly & words, Martha Stewart iron fence punch
Cardstock & papers: Hot Off the Press 8x8 Birthday pack, white scrap, HOTP Icy Rainbow
Markers: Copics V22, V25, V17, YG17, YG23, YG67, TH Dusty Concord distress marker
Accessories: SU tiny pearls, white Liquid Pearls, Cuttlebug

A passion for purple

Beautiful sunny day, but cold again. The birds have been flocking to our feeders in droves. And over the last few days we have had a super cool visitor, a Pileated Woodpecker. Isn't he the coolest thing? He looks so prehistoric. He's about the size of a crow. I wondered why all of a sudden we were going through suet like crazy. He has a hearty appetite. Hopefully our little grocery store has more suet-I'd like him to stick around for awhile.

So, on to my card for today. I found these cool digi images of vintage ladies a few years ago from Imag-e-nations. There are 8 images in different poses and colors. I have made a few cards with them, and they are still my favorites. I am using the sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday #313.  It's a simple layout and that's the way I kept the card-simple. The cardstock is Paper Pizzaz Birthday 8x8 pad, background is Paper Pizzaz-Icy Rainbow, and the bubble look DP is from an old Provo craft paper pad-which long ago lost it's cover. Sentiment is from Impression Obsession stamped in Momento Grape Jelly, cut around and inked around the edges with Momento Grape Jelly marker. A little purple rhinestone to finish it off.
To me it says 'serene'. Oh, and those vintage ladies? I discovered I can recolor the whole page to one color-woo-hoo-whatever color I need. Yes!

Stippled Blossom Thank YOu

Today I am sharing with you the card I made using background piecing and SU Stippled Blossom flowers. Love that stamp set. The Designers Choice Challenge (#312) over at The House that Stamps Built this week is flowers.

Over the last week I have been playing with the sunburst background paper piecing. Once I figured it out, I made a bunch of cards using the technique. And I was then left with these scraps, not enough for the sunburst background, but they worked well just to piece a simple background. 

It's hard to see on this photo, but after fussy cutting the flowers,  I gave them a bit of dimension with a foam pad and stylus. 

Stamps: SU Stippled Blossoms, SU Express Yourself

Papers: SU cardstock basic black and whisper white.  K & Co (don't know their name-a friend shared a pad with me & of course I failed to take down the name!)

Inks: SU More Mustard, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Pear Pizzaz, Going Grey

Accessories: Spellbinders Petite Ovals, Cuttlebug (to cut out oval), scissors, Studio 18 rhinestones