Cardz TV Gallery More Foodie Punnies

I was so excited to use my new Lawn Fawn Party Animals set. As soon as I saw the ice cream cones in the set I knew I had to use it for my next Gallery Design Team assignment with Mary's new Cardz TV Stamps More Foodie Punnies. This brand new set has some of the best sentiments to go along with food. My favorite thing about this stamp set is how you can combine the stamps to come up with different sentiments. Using the sentiment "I love you more than" there are nine food words to go along with it. I used Ice Cream for this card.  All of my papers are from Lawn Fawn Polka Mon Amie 6x6 paper pad. I used the Party Animals stamps for the bear and the ice cream cones. I stamped them, cut them out with the matching dies and then colored the images with my Copics. I used a kraft knife to cut slits in the bears paws so I could slip the cones into his hands. He was really hungry and wanted a strawberry cone and a pistachio cone, one for each hand. I made this card to send to my granddaughter Payton. She's going to love it. Whenever we are visiting with her and we go for ice cream cones "Pop" (my hubby) always teases her saying we're going for some weird kind of ice cream. Like bologna ice cream with chopped pickles. This story has been going on since Payton was about three. She's eight now and between her and Pop they can come up with some pretty nasty sounding ice cream. They just laugh and laugh playing this game. Thanks for stopping by today! I'm always happy to have visitors. Here's the stamp set and if you'd like to order it from Cardz TV stamps you can find it here.

The Cutting Cafe Cupcake Shaker Card

Today I have an adorable cupcake shaker card to share with you from The Cutting Cafe. I think shaped cards are always fun and different, but then do it one better by adding a shaker element. This cupcake came from The Cutting Cafe's 13 Shaker Card Templates and Cutting Files. I have a granddaughter with a birthday coming up and I know she likes interactive cards, so I thought this was perfect. Instead of adding all beads or sequins inside the shaker, I decided to add some actual stamped and die cut images. I used birds with birthday hats, party horns, party hats, cakes and little tiny forks and knifes and just a little sequins and beads. All the little images came from the Lawn Fawn Party Animal set as well as the sentiment. Make sure you stop by The Cutting Cafe Blog on June 21st to see all the cupcake creations from the Design Team. Thanks for stopping by today.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

I was excited to see what the Monday Challenge was this week at Simon Says Stamp. It's a plant challenge and I just got the Lawn Fawn Stuck on You stamps and matching die set. Living in Florida you see a lot of cacti and succulents. I'm not a big fan of the old picky cactus, but I love the succulents and they're so easy to take care. Especially, for a non-green thumb kind of person like me. I started with a black card base and then used the My Favorite Things Die-namics Inside and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Stax to create a white frame and an inner rectangle to place my stamped and die images on. I used Ranger Archival Inks in Fern Green and Leaf Green to stamp the cacti, then used Tea Rose and Orange blossom to stamp the pots. I hand cut a little banner for the sentiment, stamped howdy and this card was done.

Cardz TV Gallery Bigger Everyday Sayings

I needed a birthday card for my teenage grandson, so decided to make it for my Cardz TV Gallery Design. I know, I complain every time I have to make a card for one of my teenage grandsons (I have four of them). It was so much easier when they were little and you could put a cute little animal or something on the card. Teenage boys don't like cute. I wanted to use one of Mary's new Cardz TV Stamp sets called Bigger Everyday Sayings. Love this stamp set with larger size sentiments and I love the font, too. I wanted a CAS look, but still wanted a little visual interest, so for my background paper I used some cool woodgrain embossed paper that I purchased online from Ellen Hutson. Then I added an awesome die cut dotted black cardstock piece. The die cut is from Paper Smooches Dots and Dashes set. I love this metal die cut set. It has four dies, two emboss different size stitching lines, one embosses a solid line and the last one is this one that cuts little tiny dots out of the paper. It's my favorite and I use it a lot. As you can see I placed it on the diagonal along with my yellow dotted patterned paper. I used Versa Fine black ink to stamp the sentiment. I like using this ink then adding clear embossing powder over the top and heat setting it. It's a great way to get a shiny raised sentiment without using black embossing powder which tends to be messy. This Versa Fine ink stays wet a little longer than dye ink so you can add the clear embossing powder over it. I hope that you're remembering to check the Cardz TV Gallery every day. The Design Team posts a new project every day. You'll get inspiration on a wide variety of projects from cards to scrapbook layouts.

Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Blog Hop

I finally had a chance to sit down with my new "Be-you-tiful" die by Julie Ebersol for Ellen Hudson LLC, along with her Bohemian Garden stamp set. It's my first botanical flower stamp set. I also got the matching metal dies, though I didn't  use them for this card. I decided to try my hand at a little watercoloring with Distress Inks. I first stamped the flowers with VersaMark ink and heat embossed in white. Since I'm a beginner with the watercolors, painting inside the embossed lines is a little easier. I'll be entering this card in the Pretty Pink Posh watercolor blog hop and then sending it off to a friend out of state.

The Cutting Cafe Craft Supply Planner

Well, I went way out on a limb this week for my Cutting Cafe DT assignment, let me tell you why. This week the Design Team was tasked with the assignment to use Regina's brand new Craft Supply Planner. Unlike many crafters, I don't have a craft room or shelves and cupboards full of craft supplies. I keep my supplies pretty much to the bare minimum because I live in a very small space and make my cards at my dining table. Many of you know about hubby and I downsizing after retiring to a 500 sq. ft. home. Not having that many supplies to keep track of, I don't really need a craft supply planner to keep organized.

The only craft related supply that I have out in the open is my brand new cube organizer. Just a couple weeks ago I was out shopping with my crafty friend Jennifer. We always have the best time looking for craft bargains. While checking out the shelves at Walmart I came across this craft cube in the clearance section for only $6. It isn't really big so I thought it would fit nicely on my counter behind the dining table and was hoping it would hold my basic tools that I use each time I craft. One side of the cube has a magnet board on it so I originally thought I could disguise it with a few photos. Then the Craft Supply Planner file arrived from Regina with this awesome title page sentiment. It was just perfect to frame and add to my cube. I cut a black cardstock frame for it with Cricut's Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge. After I printed the page, I cut the sentiment out and mounted it to a coordinating colored pattern paper and placed it in the frame. The cube came with two ugly plain metal magnets. I embellished them with some felt layered flowers and stuck the completed project onto the magnet side of the cube.

Here's a little view of how my inks and acrylic blocks fit into the compartments. Yes, that's all the ink I have, other than the mini cube Distress Inks that I keep in storage tins inside my cupboard. Ten Ranger Dye Inks, VersaMark, Momento Tuxedo Black and four new Hero Arts Ombre Inks.

The other side of the cube has a drawer and a section with a lid that lifts up on top. This top section has a slit in it for ribbon rolls to pull through. I rarely use ribbon so I put my basic tools in there-glue dots, glue pen, small bottles of Glossy Accents and Matte Multi Media adhesive, mini mister, white gel pen, QuickStik, Wink of Stella pen, Post-It tape, waterbrush, and Dove Blender. The last side, which I forgot to take a picture of, has pegs where I hang my Scissors and tweezers. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the cube spins.

Before hubby and I downsized we had a huge home where we raised our five children. I was lucky enough to have an amazing craft room with all the tools and supplies, of which I only used about a quarter. Needless to say, I got rid of tons of stuff. Now that we have settled into our new tiny home and seen how much we love living small we are making adjustments here and there. Right now I have some lower cabinets where my supplies are stored in Ikea boxes. Recently, I've been having trouble lifting the boxes out of the cabinet because of arthritis and tendonitis in my hands. Hubby has been watching me struggle (and hearing me curse) and is taking pity on me. We have a small corner in the living area where I was thinking I might be able to fit another cabinet. After much searching, we decided to order a custom-made cabinet. The cabinet arrived today and when we took it out of the box it was damaged. I was so sad. Now we have to wait for another one to be built. I'll be sure to post a picture of it on my blog when it arrives. Thanks for stopping by today.

Online Card Classes Mask-erade Day 5

Another day another class. Today's class taught how to use clear embossing powder as a mask. I actually have two cards for today, but not without much ado. Why am I struggling with these classes so horribly? And why do the instructors make it look so darn simple in the videos. I spent many hours trying to duplicate Jennifer McGuire's balloon and elephant card. I failed at five attempts and threw them all in the garbage. Which brings me to my butterfly card. I used a butterfly stamp from My Creative Time to create this card. I stamped it with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I added a little watercolor around them with Tim Holtz Distress ink colors Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers. When the ink was dry I sprinkled on some Heidi Swapp gold mist and added a few sequins. I used the My Creative Time Sweet Wishes stamp and die set for my sentiment. The word is cut from pretty blue glitter paper from Cosmo Cricket.

Nothing I hate worse than admitting defeat, so after a good night's sleep I decided to try and tackle the balloon/cow card once again. This card also used the embossing powder resist technique, but was much harder to accomplish. First off, I didn't have any solid image balloon stamps so I improvised with oval and circle solid stamps. This card required stamping in the colored ink and then stamping over it with Versamark then heat embossing with clear embossing powder. I found that even though I embossed the green balloon before stamping the orange balloon, the orange ink didn't totally wipe off the green balloon. Since I was determined to finish this card I just kept going. When the balloons were complete I stamped the cow, colored it with Copics and then colored over it with a VersaMark pen so he could be heat embossed, also. Then I used a cloud die from Taylored Expressions and inked my clouds with Tim Holtz distress inks in Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean. My MISTI stamping tool was a God send to get the VersaMark ink over the top of the colored ink balloons. So glad I had it. My first attempt at this I tried just doing it by hand.

Online Card Classes Mask-erade Day 4

Today's class was using freezer paper for masking. It was another frustrating day trying to get this card made. I thought I was totally prepared with supplies for class this time around. Again, I'm a failure. I couldn't find my roll of freezer paper. I've talked before about how hubby and I downsized after retirement into a 500 square foot home. We are living the teeny home craze. I totally love my little place and I can never figure out how I manage to misplace things in this small space. We still have a couple boxes in our small storage area that haven't been unpacked. Not long ago hubby was going through them to see if we could pitch anything. He pulled my freezer paper out of a box and I was so excited to tell him I would be using it in my next card class. I didn't really have anywhere to store it in my kitchen so asked him to keep it out in the storage shed. Yesterday I asked him to get it for me. Do you think he could find it? Nope. At least it wasn't me that lost it. Not that it was that big of deal to replace it because it's inexpensive. But having to go to the store is a big ordeal for me. I can't just hop in the car and drive to the store. You see, I am legally blind and can't drive. That meant hubby had to take me to the store. The first store didn't have any so it was on to store number two. Thankfully, I found it there. I brought it home and now I have to get out the iron to iron the die cut HUGS onto my watercolor paper. I have an iron, but no ironing board. Nowhere to store it. I got out a towel and put it on top of my stove to iron. Classy, huh! I realize that I need to put a piece of scratch paper over the top of the freezer paper before putting the iron on it. I thought I grabbed a plain piece of scratch paper. Sadly, I didn't look at both side of the paper and ended up ironing the printed side of the paper onto my watercolor paper. Had to start over. Grrrrr! Finally managed to get the freezer paper ironed on. Started the watercoloring process, which I also struggle with. Inks and I just don't get along. It is virtually a no fail method to smoosh water color on. Only I could screw that up, too. It looked awful and the color seeped under the freezer paper. On to try number three. At last, semi-success. I'm not really happy with the final results, but I should get points of some sort after the trying day to accomplish it.

Online Card Classes Mask-erade Day 3

Sometimes I get really frustrated when I take these Online Card Classes. I never seem to have exactly what I need to complete my practice cards. My stamp collection is pretty sorry, if it's something other than sentiments. I've never been much of a stamper so I don't have very many inks either. Day 3 class is masking with liquid masking. I was lucky enough to find some inexpensive liquid masking in the art section at Walmart. I used a stamp from My Creative Times Build a Pretty Butterfly stamp set. After I stamped the butterflies I used a paint brush and applied the liquid mask over the top of them. When it was dry I used my one background stamp with some Hero Arts We Cement ink and stamped it on the right side of the card. Then I used Tim Holtz Distress inks in Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint to do a little watercoloring. My sentiment came from Cardz TV It's All Good stamp set.

Online Card Classes Mask-erade Day 2

This was a fun and pretty simple technique for this card. I cut a banner from masking paper and placed it on my cardstock base covering where the sentiment would get stamped later. I used the Tim Holtz Scribbles stencil to cover the card with transparent texture paste that I colored with Distress Inks-Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick and Spun suger. I let it sit for a couple hours to dry and then heat embossed my sentiment onto the alotted space. You really can't tell in the photo but the transparent texture paste (Ranger) dries shiny. Great look!