Bucket of Lilacs

 

Hello fellow crafters!  Lilac bushes are just starting to bud. I can't wait to get some from my daughter's bush and put a bunch in my kitchen.  Their scent fills the entire room. This is what inspired me to create a card for a friend whose birthday falls in early May.

 

I began by using an Impression Obsession Square Cutout Border die to create the borders on the sides of a white piece of card stock. This created my focal panel which was matted with a shade of purple card stock and then adhered to a panel of darker purple card stock and finally to a white card base.

Using two dies from Spellbinders Hexagons die set I created a frame in white card stock. Dimensional tape was added to the back of the frame and then the frame was matted with  white card stock.

The bucket was die cut and colored with Copics. The Lilacs were die cut from shades of purple card stock and green card stock. These were positioned in the bucket and adhered. The bucket of lilacs was then attached to the hexagon frame using dimensionals.

Next, the framed lilacs were adhered to the focal panel. The sentiments were stamped in black ink, die cut and adhered as shown. This was the last step and my project was complete.

Here are the materials used to create this card:

Card Stock:  GKD Pure Luxury White, Vibrant Violet, Wild Lilac; SU Wild Wasabi, Smokey Slate 

Dies:  IO Square Cutout Border; Spellbinders Hexagons; Frantic Stamper Bucket and Pitcher, Spring Blossoms; Cottage Cuts Pierced Rectangles; Sue Wilson Double Pierced Rectangles.

Stamps:  Hero Arts For You Flowers; GKD Bitty Blossoms

Ink:  Versamark Onyx Black

Other:  Copic Markers, clear EF, adhesives, dimensionals 

Hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for stopping by and please drop by often.

Grand Piano Birthday

This is the card when closed.

This is the card when opened with the music stand upright.

Hello!  I hope all are well and staying safe during this very stressful time  and finding ways to cope and still enjoy life. I keep myself busy with cardmaking, watching favorite recorded shows and catching up on household chores (my least favorite). 

The card pictured above was made for a friend who requested a birthday card for his adult son who is an organist and a music lover.  Since I couldn't find any organ themed dies, I felt this grand piano theme would be an appropriate and perfect substitute.

 I began by die cutting the grand piano image in black cardstock. This was matted with gold mirror paper. Next, I worked on the inside of the card. The piano keys were die cut and adhered to the inside bottom. Then the inside message, which was computer generated, was adhered above the piano keys.  The music stand was die cut and attached. A music sheet with "Happy Birthday" was added to the music stand.

For the front of the card, "Happy Birthday" and the musical notes were all die cut in gold mirror paper and randomly adhered. To add a bit of contrast, a red strip of card stock was adhered to the bottom edge of the card front. My card was complete.

Here are the materials used in this project:

Card Stock:  GKD Black Onyx, White, Red Hot; Gold mirror paper
Dies:  Marianne Designs Piano, Memory Box Musical Motifs, Sue Wison's Happy Birthday
Other:  Happy Birthday music sheet (computer generated), adhesive

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you can find time to craft 

to take your minds off the challenges and anxiety we are currently facing.

Stay safe everyone!

Pocket full of Wishes

Hello!  Todays's card is one I made for the wife of my other nephew.  Both nephews' wives have birthdays in March.  I thought "a pocket full of wishes" theme would make a perfect birthday card.

I began with embossing a 5x5 inch panel with a Marianne Design EF. The embossed panel was then matted with navy and blue card stock,  all of which was adhered to a white base.

Using a jean's pocket template, I cut out the pocket in denim digital paper and added brads as buttons to the corners. The pocket was mounted on fun foam and then adhered to the card. The flowers were die cut, colored with copics and then adhered to the denim pocket image with dimensionals.  The leaves were die cut using green card stock and then added to the floral images  For the smaller flowers in the lower right hand corner, these were die cut with scraps of different colored card stock and the centers were colored with a black Sakura Glaze pen. The sentiment was computer generated on white card stock, matted with denim digital paper and adhered with dimensionals.  This completed my project.

Here are the products used in this project:

Card Stock:  GKD White, In the Navy,  Black Onyx;  PTI Spring Rain; SU Wild Wasabi;  scraps of various colors for flowers and leaves, denim digital paper

Dies:  John Next Door Cornflower Dies, Spellbinders Create a Sunflower, Rubbernecker Stamps Mixable Flower Stack, Spellbinders Matting Basics B

Embossing Folder:  Marianne Design Linen

Other:  adhesive, fun foam, dimensionals, copics, Sakura Glaze pen, brads

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you were inspited to create.  

Until next time......make it a great day!

Classy Shopping

Hello fellow crafters!  It looks like spring today here in my neighborhood, although tomorrow we expect a rain/snow mix.  But it won't be long until it really does arrive.  Looking forward to it.

The wife of one of my nephews (I guess she would be my niece???) recently had a birthday. I missed her birthday by a few day because I didn't double check the date. Any way, I made this card for her and expressed my apologies for the delay. 

I didn't know how large to expect the card to be so I began by creating the die cut images first and then determining how large the focal panel would be. The dress was created using a dress template I had. I added a ribbon to the waistline to make the dress look finished. Next, the shopping bags were die cut with various digital papers and tissue added.  The shoe box was created using a square die and a handcut lid. Finally, the shoes were die cut using mirror paper.

Having the die cut elements completed, I used an embossing folder to create the focal panel. This was then matted with black and then pink card stock and finally adhered to a white base card.

(PS:  because the card was late, I inserted a little tag partially peeking out of one of the shopping bags that read:  Oh $HOE!  I missed your birthday!  Get it???  LOL)

Here are the supplies used in making this card:

Card Stock:  GKD White, Black Onyx, Kraft, Bubblegum Pink; black mirror paper; various digital paper
Ink:  Distress Oxide Vintage Photo (to sponge the edges of the shoe box)
Dies:  Memory Box Gift Bag, IO Wedding Icons (shoes), Spellbinders Classic Squares
Embossing Folder:  Sue Wilson Textures-Linen
Other:  dress template, ribbon, tissue paper, adhesive, dimnesionals

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you stop by often.

Until next time....make it a great day!

Aging and Wine Birthday

Based on my previous wine themed card, here is one requested by a client who wanted to give her mother-in-law a birthday card along with her favorite bottle of wine. I thought this would be perfect.


This turned out to be a large card (7"x7"). Here are the supplies used in its creation:


Card Stock:  GKD White, Cherry Red, Kraft; PTI Dark Chocolate;  SU Garden Green, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum; MFT Tiny Checks Brights; digital wood panel paper.

Dies:  Sue Wilson Merlot, Grape Vine Border, Triple Column Set

Other:  Copic Markers, adhesives, dimensionals,

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks so much for stopping by. 

Until next time....make it a great crafting day!

Good Friends and Wine

Hello!  Hope you're having a great day.  Here in my neighborhood the sun is finally shining after several days of cloudiness.  There's something about sunshine that perks me up. And there's nothing like friends and wine to make a day even better. Hence the theme of this birthday card that I made for my best, oldest and dearest friend.

I began my cutting a piece of white card stock for my focal panel. (This card turned out to be large, 7x7 inches, due to the die cuts I used.) Next, I die cut two (2) wine rack images, overlapped the ends  and adhered them togther in order to fit the panel. The grape vine was cut and paper pieced and then adhered to the top of the wine rack 

For my next step, I die cut the wine basket image in kraft card stock and then cut the bottle out of the basket. The basket was sponged with ink along the edges.  I cut another wine basket image in white (without cutting out the bottle) and then colored just the bottle part with Copics and then adhered it to the back of the basket image.  In doing this it gave the wine basket some dimension. The completed wine basket was then adhered to the wine rack.

The wine glass was die cut, colored and shaded with Copics, and adhered to the wine rack. Finally,  the large grape bundle image and the sentiment were positioned and adhered to the card. The focal panel was then matted with purple card stock and then adhered to a white base card.

Here are the products used in making this card:

Card Stock:  GKD White, Green Apple, Kraft, Lovely Lavender, Warm Cocoa; SU Elegant Eggplant

Inks:  Distress Oxide Vintage Photo

Dies:   Sue Wilson Chianti, Grape Vine Border

Other:  Copic Markers, adhesive, dimensionals.

Next time you craft, invite some of your crafting friends,

 open up a bottle of wine and craft away!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pub Beer Birthday

The holidays are over and I was able to take a short break from making my Christmas cards.  But birthdays are coming one after the other and I get to indulge in my favorite pastime once again. The first birthday in this new year was that of one of my nephews. He had a birthday this month and this is the card I made for him. 

First, I prepared my base card in white card stock. Next, I layered it with gray wood panel digital paper from my stash. I put this aside to work on the images I planned to position on the card.

The pub sign was created in black mirror card stock. The hanging panel of the sign was snipped off and another one made using a die from Spellbinders Labels 22 and attached to the sign pole. The "PUB" and beer mugs were computer generated on white card stock and then cut with a smaller die from the Spellbinders Labels 22 die set. This was then layered on  the hanging panel. 

Next, the sentiment was die cut in black mirror paper, positioned and then adhered to the card. The beer pitcher and mug were die cut and colored with Copics. The beer foam was created using embossing paste.  The pitcher and mug were then positioned on the card and adhered with dimensionals. This completed my project. 

Here are the products used in the making of this card:

Card Stock:  GKD white, black mirror paper, digital grey panel paper
Dies:  Sue Wilson Three Cheers, Birthday Brewing, Spellbinders Labels 22
Other:  adhesives, dimensionals, embossing paste

Hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for stopping by and please visit my blog again soon.

Have a happy crafting day!

Autumn Birthday

My favorite season is autumn. It always reminds me of sunflowers, wheat, colored leaves, crisp air, my college days, football, chili and beef stew. And I LOVE to make fall cards. Here is another one that I made for my college roommate from many years ago. Our birthdays are 4 days apart and when in college we celebrated our birthdays together.

These are the products I used in this project:

Card Stock:  GKD Ivory, Kraft, Daffodil Delight, Vibrant Violet; SU Mossy Meadow, Wisteria Wonder; PTI Chocolate Brown; Gold Metallic (unknown)

Inks:  Distress Oxide Wild Honey, Memento Grape Jelly

Dies:  Spellbinders Create a Sunflower, Labels Two; Cottage Cutz Sunflowers (for the leaves only); Marianne Grape Hyacinth; MB Blushing Flower Branch; IO Wheat; Cheery Lynn Wheat Heads 

Other:  adhesive, dimensionals, ribbon, Wink of Stella. computer generated sentiment.

I hope you enjoyed this post and get inspired to create some beautiful fall cards. Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Come back again soon.

Sunflower Birthday

Hello Fall!  It is finally here....after 90 degree weather days!  And here is my first fall card this year, made for a former co-worker's birthday.  Sunflower and colored leaves.....the representatives of autumn.

Here are the products used:

Card stock:  GK Ivory, Kraft, Cherry Red, Daffodil Delight; SU Garden Green: PTI Dark Chocolate
Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Cottage Ivy; Hero Arts Red Royal; Wild Honey Distress Ink
Dies:  Spellbinders Create a Sunflower, Darice Leaves, SU Leaflets Framelits, Poppy Stamps Pointed Oval Frames
Other:  adhesive, dimensionals, computer generated sentiment

Hope this inspires you to create some fall cards. Until next time, happy crafting!

Blue Jeans Birthday

My daughter's birthday falls this month. She's a "Jeans" kind of gal and so I decided to highlight that as the theme in my card project for her. Here is what I came up with.....

I created my base card first in order to know how big to make the jeans image. I do not have a jeans die so I searched for a jeans template and tweaked it somewhat. I resized it to the size I needed to fit on the base. Next I printed it out on jeans card stock and recreated the stitch marks. I wanted the pockets to be open so I printed a set out and attached them to the existing pockets by adhering them on 3 sides leaving the tops open. I went over the stitching with a black marker and stamped a design in the center of the pockets. A pink flower was added to the pockets to make the jeans a bit feminine.  As a final touch I found and resized a jeans' label and tag and attached the label to the waist band and the tag to the edge of one of the pockets.

To my white base card I added a layer of GKD Denim card stock followed by a layer of pinkish wood panels. The jeans image was adhered to the base with dimensionals.  The sentiment was computer generated and popped on with dimensionals.

That completed my project and I was happy with the way it turned out.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hoping you have a great week!

Dragonfly Birthday

Hello, fellow crafters!  Today's card was created for my SIL who loves dragonflies and whose birthday falls this month.

Here are the products/tools used in making this card:

Card Stock:  GKD White, Bubblegum Pink, Black Onyx; SU Garden Green

Stamps:  SU Dragonfly Dreams Set

Inks:  Distress Oxide (various shades used in coloring the dragonfly)

Dies:  MB Blushing Flower Branch, MB Delicate Fern, SU Detailed Dragofly, Sue Wilson Double Pierced Squares, tiny circle dies (from various die sets)

Other:  craft scissors, dimensionals, adhesive, foam tape, black faux velvet, bricks EF

The dragonfly image was stamped, colored and die cut with its co-ordinating die. The floral images were cut twice, once in green and a second time in pink. The pink flowers were then cut off their pink stems and adhered (paper pieced) onto the green floral die cut. Black faux velvet centers were added to the pink floral images. The fern branches, flowers and dragonfly were then all positioned on the brick panel and adhered with adhesive or dimensionals.

The sentiment was computer generated, cut out with craft scissors and popped on the brick panel with dimensionals. The sentiment wording "Darting around...." was followed by the message inside the card which read....."to send you birthday wishes".

The brick focal panel was then adhered to the pink and black layers and then to the white base card. As a final touch, I added glitter to the dragonfly.

Thank you for stopping by!  And, til next time, make it a great day!

Flowing Floral Basket

Hello!  I have what I call a "phone pal" (instead of a "pen pal") that I have been friends with for many years. This is someone I've never met but had work related telephone conversations with frequently over the many years that I worked. Over time this led to a friendship and continued even into retirement and beyond where we would call each other and send birthday and Christmas cards. My "phone  pal's" birthday is this month and this is the card I made for her.

Using white card stock I die cut a panel with a rectangular cross stitch die. This would be my focal panel. Next I die cut a garden fence in white card stock and adhered it to my focal panel. A die cut grass edge was added to the base of the fence.

The basket was cut in kraft card stock and then sponged with Distress Oxide ink. It was adhered to the fence with dimensionals.  Next, the two (2) flower branches were die cut in green and the little flowers in violet card stock. Yellow card stock was used to create the flower centers. The little flowers were adhered to the branches which were then positioned and adhered to the panel.

To complete the scene, I added some die cut butterflies in violet, adding Wink of Stella to give them some shimmer. As a final touch a watering can was added which was die cut out of silver metallic card stock, sponged with gray ink, positioned and adhered to the fence at an angle.

For the last step, the focal panel was matted with violet card stock followed by white card stock and then adhered to the white base card both of which were cut with stitched rectangles dies. This last step completed my project.

Here is a list of products used:

Card Stock:  GKD White, Vibrant Violet, Kraft, Wild Dandelion, Shimmering Silver; SU Garden Green

Ink:  Distress Oxide Vintage Paper

Dies:  Sue Wilson Garden Circle Scene, Frantic Stamper Flower Basket, Bent Blossoming Branch, Avery Elle Butterflies, Leane Creatief Watering Can.

Other:  adhesive, dimensional tape, Wink of Stella pen, 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for visiting and please come back soon.  Any and all comments are most welcome and appreciated.

Until next time....make it a great crafting day!

Jukebox Birthday

When  I create my cards, I always hope to come up with a theme that personally relates to the individual I'm making the card for.  More often than not it takes me several days of bouncing ideas before I realize "that's it!"  The card above was made for my brother who was turning 64 this month. One idea led to another and this was the final result.

I began with adhering burlap to a red panel. This would be my focal panel.  The musical score "When I'm Sixty-Four" was computer generated and the edges trimmed with craft scissors and then sponged with Distress Oxide Vintage Photo ink.  This was adhered with dimensionals on an angle to my focal panel.  

My next step was to create the jukebox.  I die cut the jukebox twice.....in silver card stock and in red card stock. Wherever you see the red parts of the jukebox  these were the pieces that were punched out from  the silver die cut. Then they were replaced with red. I added a mini record to the jukebox to make it look authentic. When completed the jukebox was adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals.  

Since the song "When I'm Sixty-Four" is from the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a mini replica was adhered to the musical score.  The happy birthday sentiment was stamped on white card stock, die cut and then the edges trimmed with craft scissors and sponged with the same ink as the musical score.

This completed my focal panel. To balance the color scheme, I matted this panel with 2 more layers of card stock (kraft and black).   Finally, this was adhered to my base card.

Here are the products used in creating this card:

Card Stock:  GKD Pure Luxury White, Cherry Red, Kraft, Black Onyx, Whisper; Burlap; Silver and Red Mirror paper.

Ink:  Distress Oxide Vintage Paper, Versafine Onyx Black

Stamps:  GKD Country Roads 2

Dies:  Tonic Studios Rococo Jukebox Jive, Spellbinders Labels Trio

Other:  Mini record albums, mini record, adhesive, dimensionals, craft scissors, sponge dauber 

Thanks so much for stopping by!   Until next time, happy crafting!

Birthday Gifts Trio

Hello!  The wife of my younger nephew has a birthday this month. Here's the card I made for her.

Since I didn't know how large the card would be I started with my focal panel.  Using white card stock I cut a 5"x 6 1/4" panel. Next I die cut squares in various colors using a die from Sue Wilson's Ornate Pierced Squares.  These were then layered with matching dotted swiss digital paper. A white ribbon was added and the bows were die cut from 3 different die sets:  SU Pretty Pines, Memory Box Crisp Bows, and Frantic Stamper Gifts and Bows. These were adhered to the gift boxes and set aside.

Next, the frame was created from GKD Pure Luxury White card stock using 2 dies from Sue Wilson's Double Stitched Rectangles. This was then adhered to the focal panel using foam tape. The gift images were positioned and then adhered in the frame with foam tape.

The base card was created in GKD Pure Luxury White card stock and layered with digital patterned paper. The focal frame was then adhered to the prepared base card and my project was complete.

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you were inspired to make it a great crafting day!

Stacked Cupcake Birthday

Hello fellow crafters!  Here is a card I made for my nephew's wife's birthday. She is a master at baking and I thought I'd offer a little competition with my stacked cupcakes (chuckle).

I began with creating my base card in white card stock. It was layered with pink gingham digital paper. This was put aside to work on my focal panel.

A panel was die cut in white card stock. Before adding any images, I decided on a greeting and then had it generated by my computer. Since I didn't have any cupcake dies, I had to improvise. I created the cupcake liner by embossing a piece of pale pink card stock. To create the cupcake tops I used an oval die and a scalloped oval die and created 5 cupcake tops in various colors. I added glitter to each cupcake top and then positioned them one on top of the other. The candles were die cut and a Jelly Roll pen was used to add shimmer to the flames. I matted my focal panel with hot pink card stock and then adhered it to my prepared base card.

Here are the products used in this project:

Card Stock:  GKD Pure Luxury white, hot pink (unknown), various colors; gingham digital paper

Dies:  Sue Wilson Double Pierced Rectangles, Hero Arts Infinity Ovals, Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Ovals, Divinity Designs Birthday Candles

Embossing Folder:  SU Textured Impressions Corrugated Dynamic

Other: glitter, dimensionals, Jelly Roll Clear Star pen

This was a fun card to make. Thanks for visiting! 

I hope you enjoyed this post and will stop by often.

Happy Crafting!