"BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP" IN NEUTRAL

Last weekend, I enjoyed working on some note cards.  Of course, what's a card-making session without the Beautiful Friendship stamp set?  For these cards, I chose a very neutral palette with gorgeous embossed texture from Stampin' Up!'s Country Floral embossing folder.

The ink colors that I used were Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate, and Gray Granite.

My cardstock colors are Whisper White and Gray Granite.

The quality of the photos is quite bad and doesn't accurately show the subtle neutral tones, but these cards will be great for notes of sympathy.

How about you?  Are you finding some extra time for stamping these days?  If you're running low on supplies or just need something new, shop my web site!  

A TUB OF FRESH-CUT FLOWERS

Cousin Mildred's birthday is next week, and I have spent most of the month of April wondering what kind of card to make for her.  The idea for this card has been in my head for a while, and I even worked up the design in Cricut Design Space a while ago but didn't actually make the cuts until yesterday.

Oh how I 💗 this card!!!  It took a while for the machine to cut all of the small pieces and then putting them together took some time, but wasn't it worth it?!?!  I think I'm actually having a hard time letting this tub of flowers leave my house. 

Choosing the background for the flowers was something that I had not thought about, but I love gingham and decided it would be the perfect backdrop and not too busy.  I think Mildred is going to enjoy this card . . . for many days.  ;-)

A "DO GOOD, FEEL GOOD" PROJECT

One of my stampin' friends, Karen Culler, who is also a demonstrator, recently posted something on Facebook that got my attention.  She wrote:

"Ok Facebook friends and family, I need to get creative. The first 10 people who share their favorite quote or Scripture verse in the comments I will create something just for you. (I can only do about 5 sentences, so don’t make it a full poem, etc)”.

I loved this idea and told Karen that I was going to "steal" it.  Of course, I didn't know what I would make for whoever responded, and then Karen showed me the card-with-built-in-easel that she had made.  A perfect project needs no tweaking, and all I needed to do was the fun part . . . deciding how to decorate each card.  Following are the cards that I made:

They turned out great, didn't they?  The only problem I had was running out of postage, but a handful of stamps are waiting in the mailbox for the last two cards to get mailed.

I don't know of anyone who doesn't like to receive mail and, during this time when most of us are spending a lot more time at home, it's good to do something nice for someone else.  You don't even have to offer to personalize a project for someone . . . just put together a card or note and send it on its way.  It doesn't even have to be a card.  Whatever you enjoy making, share it with someone.

If this project has inspired you to make something or do a good deed, I'd love to hear about it!

STAINED GLASS WINDOW-SHAPED EASTER CARD

Happy Easter if you're reading this on April 12, 2020!  Today I'm sharing a card that turned into a more time-consuming project than what it started out to be, and it is also one of my most favorite cards in the history of ever.  

My plan was to design a shaped card that would look like a stained glass church window, and I was going to sponge assorted colors of ink onto the cardstock that would be behind the black frame.  The card was designed in Cricut Design Space and, when I attempted to cut two cards at one time, only one of them cut perfectly.  This was before it occurred to me to change the blade.  Anyway . . . after looking at the shaped card and the black frame, I thought it just looked like it was going to be too plain.

Being kind of sure that I wouldn't be sending this card to anyone, I decided to use markers to color the "panes" by holding the black frame in place on the front of the card.  Keeping the frame lined up was tricky as I changed from marker to marker but the more I colored, the more I loved the look.  Just seeing that white cross emerge from the colored panes inspired me to keep going.  Of course, the more I colored and the more I fell in love with this card, I began to see areas that I would like to have colored differently, but remember . . . I was just coloring to see if I liked the look.  

My finishing touch was going over each colored pane with a glitter brush.  I wanted to add a sentiment, but I didn't want to cover up any area of the window.  I also wanted to add ribbon, but I decided that the only glory that this card needed was the attention to the cross.  And so I signed the card, and mailed it to my parents.  I miss that we can't celebrate Easter as a family, but I'm glad that I was able to at least mail cards to my family members.

Easter blessings to you and yours!

SIMPLE EASTER CARDS

It's Easter weekend, so today I'm sharing photos of the cards I made.  I didn't make too many of them, and the design was kept really simple.  I  used my Cricut machine to cut the cross from designer paper and the word "Easter" from cardstock.  Stampin' Up!'s Pool Party ink was sponged on the white layer, and then the word "Blessings" was stamped with Soft Suede ink onto Pool Party cardstock.  Which stamp set did the word "Blessings" come from?  Well . . . it's from the 2006 Country Blessings set that is just too pretty to let go.

On a couple of the cards, I roughed up the edges and really liked the look!

Check back tomorrow for the card that I sent to my parents.  It's one of my favorites that I've made lately!

And . . . have a blessed Easter!

"VINTAGE TYPEWRITER" CHALK COUTURE PROJECT

My April 2020 Club Couture transfer (Vintage Typewriter) arrived yesterday, and what's not to love about a vintage typewriter?  

Today I took some time to decorate one of my framed Greyson chalkboards with the new transfer and an old one as well.  You are Enough was the February 2019 Club Couture transfer, and I love its floral images!

The paste colors that I used are Bright White, Daffodil, Sage, Orchid, and Storm.  If the video below will play like I hope it will, you can get an idea of the process of placing the transfers and smoothing the paste over the silkscreen designs:

DID YOU KNOW . . . Club Couture subscribers pay $19.99 per month (initially a 3-month commitment) and receive an EXCLUSIVE transfer + 3 paste packets (see first photo above), video and written project instructions, and FREE shipping?  AND . . . subscribers also get extra discounts (private sales, special deals) such as the "Make It a Banner Day" April 2020 promotion.  Through April, select textile surfaces are 50% off for Club Couture subscribers:

~ Hanging Banners

~ Banner Refills

~ Lumbar Pillow Cover

~ Square Pillow Cover

~ Pennant Banners

Click HERE to shop Chalk Couture products.  Click HERE to like/follow my Facebook page.

DADDY'S BIRTHDAY CARD

One of the reasons that I wanted my Cricut Explore to be back in business was so I could cut this card for my daddy's birthday.

The machine struggled a bit to cut the silver foil pieces, and it wasn't until the next night that it occurred to me that the blade could need changing.  Duh!  I wish I had thought about that before I put this card in the mail because the new blade was cuttin' like butter!

In the above photo, you can see how the card opens and get a glimpse at the sentiment.  It is so easy  and fun to take an image and turn it into a shaped card, and I think I could make shaped cards for days!

I didn't get a really good photo of the sentiment, but I love that the machine has the capability of writing inside the card!  That is quite awesome.  

Daddy's birthday is on April 10th, and this is the first time that I know of that his celebration will be delayed since we can't get together.  He'll have to wait for the gifts, but at least he already has the card.

FLOWER BOUQUET SHAPED SYMPATHY CARD

I had big plans this past week since I wasn't working (at my part-time job).  Most of those plans included projects in the home that needed attention, such as straightening up the pantry, working in my closet to move cool-weather clothes to the back and warm-weather clothes to the front, and shredding (which takes a HUGE block of time and creates a much larger mess than the stack of papers that needed shredding), etc.  I also worked in my craft room but didn't generate as much trash as I had hoped.  One of my goals was to get my Cricut Explore up to date with Design Space, which finally worked, and I even (with the help of my son) got the bluetooth working.  That was especially exciting because it hasn't worked in a couple of YEARS!  Of course, now that everything was ready to go, I got busy creating some Cricut cards.  The one that I'm sharing today is a copycat of this one that I made way back in 2013!  I needed a sympathy card to send to one of my childhood/early teenhood (not really a word, I know) friends and, while this isn't a typical design that I create for sympathy, I thought it was fitting for my friend.

In the above photo, the card is laying flat so you can more easily see the electronically-cut shapes and how they were layered.  Below is how the card looked while standing on display:

Didn't it turn out pretty?  I think it will be well-received by my friend--I certainly hope so!

MORE "POPPY MOMENTS"

I hope you aren't tired of seeing the Poppy Moments dies, but I'm just a little addicted to using them.  I promise that I'll move on to something else soon.

It seemed like I hadn't sent a card to "the elders" in a while, so I thought this little dilly would be a cheery design for them.  Aunt Betty, who used to enjoy tending to her many plants and flowers, told my mother that she got "the prettiest card with a big poppy!"  Maybe that shouldn't have excited me to know that she readily identified the flower; after all, whoever designed this product suite at Stampin' Up! must surely have done so with the intent of creating gorgeous poppies.  If "poppy" wasn't in the name of this product suite, I would never know that it wasn't just a pretty design that resembles a real flower.

Of course, my parents needed a pretty card, too, so I made this one just for them:

I'll tell you something . . .  it's not easy placing that gorgeous designer paper on the trimmer!  To most of the world, it's *just* paper but, for those of us who love our pretty paper, it's hard to talk ourselves into cutting it.  

Are you loving the poppies as much as me?  I know I've shared a lot of them, but I'll challenge myself to share something different in my next post.  😉