Say Freeze, second installment

 I've not made even a dent in it, but here are some more 5" x 7" cards using this year's version of Michael's "Say Freeze".

This one uses the cute slipper dies from Spellbinders, called "Cozy Toes Slippers". So cute!

More using the "Cozy Toes Slippers" from Spellbinders.  The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  All the cards are decorated inside and have an inside sentiment.

The inside sentiment for this one was printed from my computer, in deep red.  Since I live in Florida it seems appropriate to wish for snow somewhere else.

More rain boots

 

Another set of rain boot flowers.  I've enjoyed these so much I went back and ordered the fall version which is hiking boots with fall foliage.

The background here is a panel I white heat embossed with My Favorite Things background of scripty writing, then ink blended with one or two Distress Oxide inks.  It's been so long I can't remember much about it. 

Dianthus get well

 

So, I guess my sister got Covid-19 for the third time. And it was during a cruise and she got put off the ship. Her significant other and my sister-in-law got to go on and enjoy the rest of the cruise. Some people catch all the breaks, right?

The flower die is Honey Bee Stamps Lovely Layers Dianthus, and the plaid paper is from an old My Favorite Things paper pad. 

More Christmas cards

 So, I pulled stuff from all the places for these.  What can I say, I put off taking pictures for as long as I could on these.

Here I've used Spellbinders' "Chill Bear" with a border die from Gina Marie Designs.  The blue background is made with Distress Mica sprays.  The "Fa La La" diecut is from scrapbook.com. What do you think, scarf or no scarf? Also I'm STILL using up card bases from my mom, 22 years later.  Who knew it would go on so long?

Another 5 x 7 card from the Michael's paper pad from last year.

Here I used parts from the Santa Lane mega kit from Spellbinders, with an embossing folder also from Spellbinders.  I used some gilding polish to bring up the design.

Here is a mix of Spellbinder dies and embossing folder, with a "Joy" die from My Favorite Things.  I used gilding polish on the background again to bring up the design.

There were several cards made with the moose from Gina Marie Designs, using this diagonal layout.

I used the cute little Whittle Deer from Poppy Stamps on this one.

Another 5 x 7 cards. They turned out to be quite popular with my freind that I gave them to.  I guess size does matter.

And, my last card (this year) with the Santa from the mega Santa Lane kit.

Back to flowers, again

When all else fails, crafty-inspiration-wise, go back to flowers.

These flowers were created from My Favorite Things' Stitched Flowers Dies. The centers on most of the flowers are Nuvo drops.

The greenery is cut with Paper Smooches' Foliage 1 and 2 dies. The Darice embossing folder with the text has been in my stash for a while, and the lumpy embossing folder is from Sizzix. The sentiments have been in my desk cup for a while also.

So, over the weekend I ordered ANOTHER Christmas card kit.  While I was on the site I also ordered more embossing folders and a few small die sets.  One of the sets I ordered is for layered flowers, and since I can't wait for them I pulled out these cuties from MFT and started layering them up. I hope I don't burn out before the new set gets here.

The card kit was ordered because I couldn't figure out any other way to get the particular die that comes with it any other way. I'm a little obsessed, I think. I took a few minutes to finally put the parts of the "Merry Everything" kit back in it's box, where it can rest until next time I need to do a bunch of Christmas cards.  I have enough for the next 3 years already, but who's counting?

Merry little elves (or gnomes)

Yes, I'm still making Christmas cards. Woo hoo!  Since Christmas is in the middle of the week and I can't take time off from work, I'm staying home this year. So, how about a sassy card, eh?  This one will accompany a gift card to a restaurant.

The elves are a copy of a set of dies from a company in Germany, so I won't be using them again. Sad, since I really like them. The cover sentiment and its speech bubble die are from My Favorite Things, and the inside sentiment is from scrapbook.com.  

Honoring Mimi by using her craft stash

My mom, Mimi, was an artist and a crafter. After she died in 2000, I took home a lot of her craft stash.

One of the items that had me baffled were card bases with fancy front edges. I'd never seen that kind before, and that was before I got into card making.  The card bases were in their original Jo-Ann's packaging.

Well, DUH, Mimi had cut the edges herself with decorative scissors. How many years did it take me to figure that one out?  About 17 years, that's how long.

This fall I am trying to use up pre-made card bases and since these are at least 20 years old, they must be among the first ones used.

This first card features a sentiment die, some glitter snowflakes, and some red decorative tape.  The tape is a dollar store find.

This card features the pink paper from Michael's called Sugar Blush.  It's one of the 6x6 pads I picked up just after Christmas last year.  The sentiment is a die from Simon Says Stamp, and the gold glitter snowflakes are from My Favorite Things' layered Snowflake Splendor kit from 2 years ago.

This card features the pink paper from Sugar Blush (Michael's), the layered tree from Pretty Pink Posh, and the sentiment from Concord and 9th.  I cut the tree parts from paper I had glittered with glitter gel. I also applied the glitter gel around the edges of the pink panel. 

For each of these cards, I put a strip of patterned paper on the bottom inside, to contrast with Mimi's fancy cut bottom edge.  I've a few more of these card bases to use up, and I will remember Mimi with each and every one I do.  I sure miss her.

GOAL! I reached 10 cards from one kit!

Yay, I did it! I made 10 cards from the kit. This is the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit for July 2019 called Be Yourself. Well, my self is a very slow card maker.

I had stamped a full sheet of bees in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, cut them out with the Brother Scan and Cut, and colored them with Copic markers.

For these two, I looked through my big old die stash to think of some backgrounds. The first card uses the My Favorite Things' Absolutely Fabulous die set. The bee on the bottom right is wearing a fabulous crown! None of my crown dies were the right size so I cut this one freehand.

Finally, the last of the 10!  The sentiment was printed on lightweight card stock and cut into strips with an orphan sentiment strip die. Orphan because it fell out  of a set and I can't remember which one.

Thanks for bee-ing there.

I can't seem to get enough of these bees from the July 2019 Simon Says Stamp card kit, "Bee Yourself".  In the above card I used some of the original group of bees colored with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers on Bristol smooth card stock. I had clear embossed them, so coloring them was easy!

I used a honeycomb embossing folder on the dark teal cardstock, and pieced the other papers in horizontal rows, then added my gang of 3 bees. They look like they are flying in formation, right?

For this one, I had stamped the bees with Versafine Sepia ink, both first and second generation stamping. Then I colored them in with my Zigs.  The background was stamped with My Favorite Thing's Bundles of Blossoms background stamp and white embossed. I then blended on some Distress inks in a couple of yellows and blues and sprinkled water over all.

The "thanks" diecut (from Lawn Fawn) was covered with the Wow/HoneyBee yellow embossing powder. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it is sparkly and shiny. I then mounted it on a strip of vellum. Everything is glued flat to the front, there are no foam dots on either card. The only dimension is provided by the sequins and Nuvo drops.

Feeling snarky, I won't deny it.

Why yes, I am feeling snarky.  I wanted the cat, and I wanted the fish bones, but I didn't have a sentiment that put the two together. Well heck, just go for it, right?

The cat is from Simon Says Stamp, and the fish skeletons are unbranded.  If anyone knows that the fish bones are a copied design, please let me know where I could get them legitimately.

The sentiments are from Simon Says and My Favorite Things.

On the next card I used a traditional sentiment, also from MFT. The brown cat's eyes are green, but they really disappear. I may go back and put Doodlebug Erie eyes on him.  Also, the back-facing cat should have more contrast, so I may change her up too. They had a lovely fish lunch, too

I used an old Amy Tangerine paper pad that I got at Tuesday Morning at least 4 years ago. Time to start using that stuff!

Edited to add:
I changed the contrast and enhanced the eyes on the forward facing cats:

Coffee themed cards, what could go wrong?

I fell into the alcohol ink fad and went a little crazy on this background.  I was determined to use it for the Spring Coffee Lover's Bloghop. But everything I did looked more like the fall to me. 

I used my coffee cup die from My Favorite Things, and the little fox was in my stash of colored critters. I think this one is from The Alleyway Stamps.

Next up, I used the cute little coffee cups from Simon Says Stamp, and a sentiment from Pretty Cute Stamps. I colored the inlaid bits with some more of the alcohol ink, or my Copic markers.

What could go wrong? Well for starters I didn't notice that this guy's arm fell out until I was editing the picture. What you can see is the backside of the washi tape that is supposed to hold these bits in place.  I  think maybe they are not sticky enough to do the job.

Secondly, the sentiment strip is covering the stamped and embossed sentiment that sort of disappeared into the background. 

Thirdly, my yellow Nuvo drops have gone funny on me.  The bottle is always clogged, and the drops are either too thick or spread too much by turns. I think it was the tapping that knocked the arm out of the coffee mug.

Do you see her crown? It's so tiny it disappears on her head. I do believe I need more coffee today.

Happy bee day!

Here is my entry into this week's sketch challenge at My Favorite Things. I had decided, based on the sketch, to use the "Hearts in a Row" die, like I did for a previous challenge. The previous one was a color challenge, though.

Here's the sketch:

Now, doesn't this look a a lot like this one from back in January?

Anyway, I used the Hearts in a Row die and the Meant to Bee stamp set. I did not do any coloring on this one. I don't know why I am avoiding coloring lately. I have another "Bee" idea for this sketch challenge, which I may slip in later.

Happy end of March, you all!

And a beary happy BD to you!

Today's card is for the latest My Favorite Things' sketch challenge, # 428:

I used MFT's Town Bear, and had them peeking through the peek-a-boo windows.  They are colored on mixed media paper with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.

Every sip of the way!

Somehow I missed posting this back in January when I made it, so here she is! That's another of the great frogs from My Favorite Things' Toad-ally Awesome, a wineglass cut from vellum from last year's "Wine Service", and a sentiment from MFT's "Good Time to Wine".

Bonus, the inside sentiment is also from "Good Time to Wine".

Trying to channel my inner Amy

I'm still on my flower kick. Today I tried to channel Amy R. from Prairie Paper & Ink.  A few years ago she did a set of water colored note cards that were truly lovely!  But I dived in face first without referencing the original set.

The cards were sketchy flowers, stamped in black and loosely water colored, then splattered, then die cut and stamped sentiments were added with unifying strips of black and white paper.

Here are mine:

First of all, Amy's were portrait style, and she had more room for the die cut sentiments.  The flowers are My Favorite Things' Sketchy Blooms 2, and the sentiments are MFT's Arrow Words.

Mine are colored with Distress Oxide Inks, and I am pleased with the messy way they came out.  I also splattered them with the Distress Oxide Ink in Black Soot.

I finished each one with black and white baker's twine, of which I have a giant spool.

My big take-away from this is that just because the pen says it's waterproof doesn't mean you can watercolor over it.  Copic Multiliners, I'm looking at you.