Embedded die technique

As many of you know hubby and I have been on the road for much of the late spring and summer. While visiting in Michigan, I had a really fun opportunity to see my two aunts. My call to visit them found it was their day to attend a cardmaking class at a local scrapbook store. They asked if I would like to go with them. Duh, a paper crafter pass up an opportunity to visit an unknown scrapbook store, I don't think so.  I have one of the best husbands in the world. Since I'm unable to drive because of my visual impairment he has to take me everywhere I go, including a trip to visit my aunts. This guy sat all by himself at my aunt's house while the three of us went off to take the card classes. What a guy!

I've recently become enamored of word dies and making cards by cutting out the word on the front of my card then cutting the word in another color to insert in the opening. I found this thanks die at the scrapbook store which, by the way, had the largest assortment of metal dies I've ever seen. I was trying to explain to my aunt how this technique would work. I thought there was no better way than to make a card sample for her. I decided to make a card thanking them for taking me along to the card class and use my new word die. I cut the word out of my white cardstock and then used a light blue cardstock to cut the word for insertion. I used another metal flower die from My Creative Time to scatter a few flowers on the card front. This is such an easy technique, but really packs a unique punch. I have some new word dies coming from My Creative Time and I can't wait to get them so I can make some more embedded word cards.

My Creative Time Challenge

For those of you who read my previous post you know that we are going to be moving to Florida after selling our camper we stay in during the summer months in Michigan. Right now we are staying with one of our daughters. We are trying to cram in a few more visits with our kids, grandkids, and friends. Next week we are taking our granddaughters to an indoor waterpark and overnight hotel stay. I'm looking forward to that. Anyway, I digress, we had nothing on the agenda today and since I have all my craft stuff packed in boxes for the trip sitting here I decided to get a few things out today and make a card for the challenge going on at My Creative Time. It's a sketch and color challenge (as shown below).

I wish you could have seen me trying to gather supplies to make this card from different boxes. I was really limited on my papers. I managed to find a kraft cardstock, a beige tone paper and a darker blue. I picked up the red and lighter blue in my pattern papers from WRMK. As an aside, yesterday I was really stressing out over how we're going to get the things I want to take to Florida to fit in the car. (Namely my craft supplies). I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave all my 6 x 6 paper stacks behind. I'm going to be shoving those babies in every nook and cranny of the car. I'm really glad that I won't have to be taking my craft supplies back and forth anymore. 

My card is a standard A2 size and I made it into a Z-fold card then added a 2 inch strip of dark blue topped with a 1.5 inch strip of beige. Then I cut assorted size stars from patterned papers and scattered them around, adding some dimensional foam to a few of them. My sentiment is from the Teeny Tag Holidays stamp set.

Life changes and creating

Hello my crafty friends! Well, just as I was ready to settle into our camper for the summer, life has taken a turn. Hubby and I thought long and hard about our decision to sell our camper and make our time in Florida permanent. We decided that when we arrived in Michigan we would put a for sale sign on our camper. Yesterday at about 4:30 pm hubby put a for sale ad up on Craig's list and this morning at 7:00 am we received our first phone call from a prospective buyer. A newly retired couple asked to come and see it. They drove three hours to get here and loved the camper and bought it. Can you say fast? Oddly enough, when we put our home on the market to sell three years ago the same thing happened. The first people to look at it bought it. It was sure a shock to sell it so fast. The buyers want to take possession ASAP so we will spend the next couple days getting our stuff together to be out of here by Monday. We're a little sad, but ready to move onto the next phase of our life. We've made many happy memories in our little home on wheels.

I made this card to send to our neighbor down in Florida. She is a widow and is very excited to learn that we will be returning soon.  I made this window card using a few My Creative Time goodies and my Silhouette. First I cut the frame using the Stitched "Capture" Frame die and then I measured the size of the center opening. I cut an opening on the front of my card the same size as the opening using my Silhouette then placed the frame over it. Next I cut my bicycle using the Way to Go stamp and die set. I thought it would be cute to add a dog to the basket of the bike and I cut that using the Classy Girl and Fur Baby die set. I added a few flowers to the top of the frame. I used the Stitched Pretty Flowers and Leaves dies for those. My sentiment is from the More of My Favorite Sayings stamp set.

I was so hoping to get back to my regular postings, but now we will be on the road again. When we leave the northern Michigan campground we will head about three hours south to stay at our daughter's and visit with family until after the 4th of July. Then we will start meandering south visiting with friends in Ohio and family in North Carolina. I'm hoping to be back to our place in Florida by the end of July, but who knows how long hubby will have the urge to travel. I'm pretty sure he will want to travel longer than I will. I really just want to get home and settle into the next phase of life. We will be using the monies from the sale of our camper to add a room onto our tiny place in Florida. I'd really like to get that construction project completed by the end of summer. Stay tuned for more of our adventure.

My Creative Time Father themed project

Hello my crafty friends. Wow, it's been a very long time since I've had the chance to post. My followers know that my last post went live while we were traveling from our winter home in Florida to our summer home in Michigan. After arriving hubby and I spent some time on our long awaited reunion with kids and grandkids. It was a wonderful and treasured time. We also spent some time helping out some of our kids with a few home repairs and time at the hospital with our youngest granddaughter while she underwent some tests and procedures (and what a trooper she was).  I'll be posting some scrapbook pages in the next couple of weeks that will document some of our time with family.

I was finally able to sit down today and get out my crafty supplies to make a card for the challenge going on at My Creative Time. I was so excited to get to use some of Emma's newest release products. The card I made is for hubby for Father's Day.  I used the new Anchors and Heart Dies, the Speech Bubble Sentiment Die, the Hey Sailor stamp set and the older Chunky Jar Accessories set for my small tag.

To put this card together I first cut an A2 size card with the fold on the short side at the top of the card (portrait style) from red cardstock. Using the Speech Bubble die I placed it about a third of the way down the card front and cut off the bottom two thirds. Then I added a textured striped paper from a Hobby Lobby Paper Studio paper stack called Cape Cod (with nautical themed papers) behind the speech bubble. Next I used the word dies from the same set to cut "you are" and added them to the speech bubble. With the base of the card complete I went to the Anchors and Heart Die set and cut out the larger of the two anchors from navy blue cardstock and the anchor chain from a gold cardstock. For my sentiment, using the Hey Sailor stamp saying "your are my anchor", I masked off the you and are and just stamped "my anchor" onto my little tag and attached it to the anchor.

It was so much fun to make this card today and I'm so glad we're settled in and I can get back to creating. I hope you enjoy some time to create, too. Thanks for stopping by.