Daisies and Butterflies

Hi everyone! Hope your week is going wonderfully! My card today features one of my favorite dies, Sketch Daisy, from the latest release. I have made so many cards using this die and all of its parts!



I started with a white piece of card stock cut 5" x 3.75".  Using the "smooshing" technique, I used Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a very tiny bit of Scattered Straw here and there for the background. If you haven't "smooshed", there are a number of You Tube videos that show how this technique works! I love it because this kind of background can be created in less than a minute!



I cut three of the Sketch Daisy from white card stock, and used the negative space as a stencil. I laid the daisies out first to see where I wanted to place them, then used this as a guide for the daisy backgrounds. I positioned the stencil under the flower, removed the die cut, and sponged first with Hickory Smoke. After offsetting the stencil, I sponged Stampin' Up Berry Bliss, offset once again, and lightly sponged another layer of Berry Bliss. I did this for each flower. I slightly curved the leaves and flower of the full die cut flowers, and glued down just the stems, placing them so that the flowers were directly over the sponged daisies, giving it a dimensional look.



I stamped the "Time to Appreciate" cling stamp onto the piece in the upper left corner. I just learned this stamp has been discontinued, but you may be able to find it by Googling it. Just about any sentiment would work though. I cut one set of butterflies from the Mini Butterflies die, sponging some with Berry Bliss and others with Hickory Smoke, and placed them as shown.  I added a little bling before adhering this piece to the A2 card base with foam tape.  Using different sentiments, I think this card would be appropriate for just about any occasion.

As always, I had fun making this card, and hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Delight

It's now officially Friday! I hope you're gearing up for a great weekend!

Oh my gosh, the holidays are flying by and Easter is coming soon!  My card today is a little different as Easter cards go.  It was a "delight" to make, but then I always have fun making cards!  So here we go ...


I started with a black card base, and cut a piece of white card stock to 5.5" x 3.75".  I sponged my favorite green ink, Peeled Paint Distress Ink, through the Distressed Grid stencil onto the white piece, keeping it light and sporadic. I then adhered this to the base, leaving a slightly wider margin on the left.

I die cut the largest egg from the Half a Dozen Eggs set from black card stock. I die cut two of the Tanglewood Frame dies from white card stock. On one of the die cuts, I again used the largest egg die to cut the egg shape from the background, making sure to include the flower.  I lightly sponged Shabby Shutters Distress Ink over all but the flower. On the flower, I sponged Squeezed Lemonade and shaded with Dried Marigold.  I then lined up and adhered the Tanglewood egg shape to the black egg. From the other Tanglewood background die cut, I snipped out the leaves and sprigs, sponging over these pieces with Peeled Paint ink. I also snipped out the flower and sponged on the same colors as the first one.

I adhered the snipped flower over the corresponding one, turning it slightly, and added some yellow Prills to the center.  I next adhered the snipped leaves over the corresponding leaves on the egg.  I used foam tape to adhere the assembled egg onto the card front.  I applied glue to the bottom edges of the other three sprigs and tucked them behind the egg as shown.  For the sentiment, I used washi tape to cover everything on the stamp but the word Delight, inked it with Versafine Black ink, removed the tape and stamped where shown.


I'm going to experiment with cutting other shapes from the Tanglewood Frame background! It's such a versatile die and so delicate. I hope you'll give it a try too!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Sketch Rose Branch in more ways than one!

Happy almost weekend to all!  I know ... once again, it's been a long time.

I was honored to have been asked to create 25 cards for the February 2016 Look Book for Memory Box, and spent several weeks working on this project.  So much fun!  Last week the project was completed, and you can view the book online by using this link: February 2016 Look Book.

So moving right along ... my card, which was part of Memory Box's latest Spring release blog blitz in early January, features the Sketch Rose Branch, and oh, the possibilities! You will see another card using this stamp further in the post.

I die cut two of this beautiful die, one in green and one in cream. I snipped out all the flowers from the cream die cut, including the buds, and glued them over the corresponding green flowers, adding pearls to the centers. I cut a piece of cream card stock slightly smaller than the green card base, cut a window using a die from the Rectangle Layers set and then embossed that piece. I sponged Peeled Paint Distress Ink through the Texture Tiny Dots stencil (unfortunately no longer available from Memory Box) onto a piece of cream card stock that was cut slightly larger than the window, and glued that to the card base.

I added the assembled Rose Branch to the front of the embossed piece and then popped that with foam tape to the card base. The sentiment is from the Springtime Bunnies clear stamp set, which I cut apart to fit the window opening. 

Here is another card using the same die:

Here I die cut the flower in white and colored the flowers, stems and leaves by sponging on Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.  The background is done with the smooshing technique using Scattered Straw Distress Ink. The sentiment is the Happiest cling stamp from Memory Box.

You can see another version of this card in the February 2016 Look Book!  So glad you stopped by!  

A Simple Merry

Merry almost Christmas!  Here is a simple holiday card that's fast and easy to put together.

I cut a 5" x 3.75" piece of cream card stock, and lightly sponged Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto this piece through one of my go-to stencils, Adornment ... love this stencil!  I went very lightly on the pouncing.  I cut the heart frame using the second and third largest hearts in the Glorious Hearts set from cream card stock and inked it with Peeled Paint.  From cream card stock, I cut the three separate snowflakes that come in the bundle, and then cut the Wintry Snowflake from dark green card stock.  I arranged this on top of and through the opening of the heart as shown.

I absolutely love how this die perfectly hugs this heart.  It perfectly hugs other shapes as well, and it's one of my favorites.  I cut another one from a rich red card stock, snipped off one of the red snowflakes, and added it to the heart center just for a pop of color.  I'll save the rest of the die cut for another card.  From the Moose Crossing stamp set, I snipped the "Merry" from the "Merry Christmoose" stamp, inked it in Fired Brick Distress Ink and stamped it as shown.  I added mounting tape to the back of the stenciled piece and adhered it to the card front.  I added mounting tape to the back of the assembled heart as well and adhered that to the top of the stenciled piece.  I added some glitter to the cream snowflakes for a little shimmer.  Easy peasy!!!

So glad you topped by.  I wish everyone the merriest Christmas and and a very Happy New Year!

Peaceful Birds

Oh my gosh, Christmas is coming so fast!  With that in mind, peace is the focus of my card today!

Clean and simple cards are my favorite style, with a little glimmer to top it off.  For the ornament frame, I used the third largest ornament from the Drop Ornament Layers set and the second smallest stitched circle from the Stitched Circle Layers set.  This circle fit perfectly inside the ornament, and I was able to cut them together from cream card stock.  I cut three of the Sketchbook Peace die, glued them on top of each other, and layered that over the frame opening.  I die cut the "fluffiest" of the three sprigs from the Floral Sprigs set, added red gemstones for the berries, and adhered that to the ornament as shown.  I added two of the birds from the Birds of a Feather Die.

I mounted the assembled ornament to a piece of light sand colored card stock that was embossed with a wood grain embossing folder, and then used foam tape to adhere it to the cream colored A2 card base.  With a few gemstones scattered around and a little Wink of Stella on the birds, this completed the card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Shimmery Shaker Ornament

Hello everyone!  Sherry here with a fun shaker card for you today!  Shaker cards are such a blast to make, and this one comes with lots of glitter and glam!



I wanted a shimmery background for this card, so I decided to use the Starry Night Background die.  I cut a piece of card stock to 5" x 3.75", die cut the background, and then layered it onto a piece of double sided tape, which exposed the "sticky" on the open stars.  I poured light blue Glitter Ritz on the openings, achieving the shimmer I was looking for.  I then die cut the second largest ornament from the Drop Ornament Layers from the glittered piece.  The ornament that is cut out can be used for another card.



I adhered a piece of acetate to the back of the glitter piece, then die cut another ornament from fun foam that was cut to slightly smaller than the glittered piece, and adhered that to the back of the that piece.  I gathered my sprinkles of beads, glass glitter and sequins, into the center of the card base, and then adhered the assembled front over the sprinkles to create the shaker portion.  I die cut all three of the Shimmering Snowflakes, plus one extra of the small one, from double sided tape, peeled off the top later, and covered the flakes with dark blue and gold glitter.  I did the same with the "Joy", and positioned them as shown.  



I had fun with this one, and hope you enjoyed it too!  Thanks for stopping by!

Starry Night Background

Shimmering Snowflakes

Drop Ornament Layers

Happy Fall!

Well, I'm back after a long hiatus.  During the intervening months, my mom suffered a stroke, and passed away a month later.  It's been tough for my family to accept that she's gone, and it's taken a while to get so many things taken care of, both during and afterwards. But she always encouraged us to keep on going ... in  her words, "Buck up and get over it!"  Miss her so much.

In the meantime, I've kept up with my Memory Box posts (except for a leave during the month of July), and have managed to teach a couple of classes ... I will post those cards in the days to come.  Today, I'd like to share a card featuring the Drifting Oak Leaves background stamp from Memory Box, along with a couple of other Memory Box dies and stamps.  This card can also be seen on today's Memory Box Outside the Box blog. 

A little side story … I completed the FIRST version of this card, and was about to photograph it when I noticed that something didn’t look quite right.  It finally dawned on me that I had the background upside down!  There was no way to salvage it without damage, so of course I had to make another one.  It wasn’t obvious at first, but there was no way I was going to post such a boo-boo!   

   

So on to the card.  I stamped the background using Distress Shabby Shutters on a piece of cream card stock cut slightly smaller than the base.  I cut the Autumn Border from cream card stock.  I wanted the leaves to hang down, so I trimmed the border down to two pieces of equal width, and one shorter than the other as shown.  I used daubers to color the leaves with Distress Peeled Paint, Dried Marigold, Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany.  I shaded the open area starting at the bottom with Frayed Burlap, then Rusty Hinge and then Dried Marigold, blending each into the other. I added some Wink of Stella glitter brush to all of the leaves. 

I stamped “Happy Fall” from the Autumn Birdie Set with Versamark Black Onyx ink, and the three little leaves from the same set with Peeled Paint.  I then mounted the shorter piece to the longer one with foam tape. 

I die cut the Tippington Vine from a dark green card stock, snipped it apart at the middle curly-cue and glued it behind the leaves piece, then glued the whole thing onto the Drifting Oak Leaves background.  I mounted the assembled piece to the card base front with foam tape, added a few gem stones, and that was it. 

To those who have checked my blog from time to time, thank you so much.  It means a lot that you haven't given up on me!  Have a wonderful day!