Birthday Card for a Friend

 One of my friends is having her 75th birthday and her daughter was looking for 75 people to send her a birthday card. So this is the card I will be sending to my friend. 

Materials:

Simon Says Beautiful Butterflies stamps and dies

Colored with Distress Inks

Sentiment from the same set

Patterned Paper

Gem embellishments

Challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: anything goes

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge: sketch 

Patties Creations Design Challenge #213: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Donna

The Letter S

 It's good to be back home! Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter, son-in-law and twins. So I am in cooking mode right now. But I did manage to get a card done this evening for thee letter S.

This is an S-fold card and I used a tutorial from Beccy's Place website. The image in my file is named Snowfolk Set but I don't see it on the website. It may be retired. I used the pre-colored image and die cut it with Gina Marie Designs Wonky Ovals. I added a frame line of black marker.

The inside of the card displays patterned paper from Recollections Christmas collection. I used Gina Marie Designs Wine Bottle Label die. The top sentiment is from Beccy's Place Snowman Set. Another set I didn't find on the website. The "Merry Christmas" is from Simon Says Stamps Abstract Holiday. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards: Day 21 the letter S (S-fold card, snowmen, stitching)
• Scrapping4Fun challenge: winter/Christmas 
  
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything Christmas goes

Hope your weekend is restful and crafty. Stay safe! Peace and all good!

Donna

Warm Holiday Wishes

Happy Saturday! Today was the most gorgeous spring day here. Temps reached the 70s. I turned over a part of our garden this afternoon and put my little plants out on the porch for the day. I now have zucchini, butternut squash, tomatoes, and marigolds sprouting. I also have planted jalapenos, spaghetti squash, red peppers, and basil, but they haven't sprouted yet. We've already planted onions and radishes in the garden. But I need to get some cards done before the end of the month, so I tried unsuccessfully this afternoon to get something done. Finally finished one card.

I used a retired set from Gina K called Winter Foliage. It's one of my favorite sets. I used MFT Green Elf ink for the needles. For the pine cones I inked MFT Latte first and then "rock and rolled" Memento Rich Cocoa ink. Afterward, I used Prisma Color pencils to add more shading to the pine cones. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps Big Holiday Wishes. I added the front to a red card stock base. I am entering these challenges:

• Rudolph Days challenge: anything Christmas goes
• Sparkle Christmas challenge: clean and simple
• Merry Little Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Winter Wonderland challenge: trees

We have the twins tomorrow. I wish it would be a day like today so we could run outside a lot. But it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I am hoping it will pass through overnight and be not so bad tomorrow. Hope you are having a sunshiny weekend. Take care! Stay safe. Peace and all good!

Donna

Love

 It's been a busy Tuesday. We had about 7 inches of snow between last evening and overnight. My DH went out about 8:30pm last night and shoveled about 5 inches of snow from our driveway. This morning I helped him shovel about another 2 inches of snow. So the scenery is pretty outside. It did close the schools so Opportunity House was closed but we still had our board meeting over Zoom. So I didn't get as much time to craft as I had hoped. I did get one very quick card done this evening.

I did my background on watercolor paper. I ripped the bottom edge of the paper. It's been taped to my desk for months and I decided I had to use it and clear it off my glass matt. LOL! So I saw a card by craftysuze that used "swinking" and I had never heard of that before. So I found this blog post from Laurel Beard that showed a number of different ways to use swinking. I chose to do the direct ink to paper. I used 4 mini cubes from AlteNew to swipe the background. I sprayed the background with water and then dried with a heat gun. I used three die cuts on this card. I cut the background with MFT Blueprints 13 (retired) Stitched A2 size die. Then I used Simon Says Stacked Hearts to place over the background. Finally I die cut MFT Huge Love die three times and then stacked them on top of one another. I used the die cut as a stencil to get the letters straight on the card. I like the way this turned out. I hope to use this method again. I am entering these challenges:

• Cupcake Inspiration challenge: for those you love
• Scrapping4Fun challenge: wedding, Valentine, Friendship
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: love, Valentine
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: love is in the air
• Modsquad challenge: all about love

That's it for me tonight. Tomorrow is my other eye surgery. It should go just fine. But dilating my eye will likely give me another headache. We'll see if the sun comes out. If it's cloudy tomorrow it will be better. Take care and stay safe! God bless.

Donna

Special Friend

 Happy Friday and welcome to the weekend. Where did this week go? And Oh my, January is almost gone too. Time certainly is flying by! Tonight I have a special card for a special friend who has had a very difficult time for the past year. Her husband has been in and out of the hospital with a number of medical problems and because Of Covid restrictions she hasn't been able to visit him there. She spent Christmas without him. Recently she fell and injured her leg. She's using a walker to get around. So I wanted to send her something to cheer her up, I hope.

I cross-stitched the little square message with the flowers as a keepsake to let her know that my thoughts and prayers are with her and her DH. I cut the front out of the card using Spellbinders Classic Squares Large. It's not quite square as I cut a little more out in one direction with the same die. I adhered the cross stitch material to the front of the card and then added a backing so that you wouldn't be able to see the back of the stitches on the inside of the card. I used a new to me stamp set from Simon Says Stamps called Beautiful Butterflies and the matching dies. I stamped 3 butterflies with Versa Fine Onyx Black ink and colored them with Spectrum Noir markers, then die cut them with the matching dies. I stamped the "long distance hugs" circle stamp on the front and added the butterflies. I need to finish the inside off before I send it off tomorrow. Hope you like it as much as I do!

I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday: stitching, real or faux
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday: anything goes
• Love to Craft: anything goes
• NBUS challenge: use new schtuff (SS Beautiful Butterflies)

We still have snow on the ground but tomorrow and Sunday we have rain predicted so we may not get a chance to have the twins build another snowman on Sunday when they are here all day. We'll have to find something else for them to do. Arthur is still very into the marble run that he got for Christmas and he plays with that a lot when he's here. Maybe we'll have to get the sand out this weekend. We've gotten some new cookie cutters they haven't played with yet. I certainly hope your week has been a good one. Enjoy a relaxing weekend. My weekends tend to be busier than my weeks and I'm usually glad to see Monday roll around. LOL! Please stay safe and God bless.

Donna

Let's Celebrate

 Happy Sunday night! Are you watching football? We don't have TV so I usually don't get to watch football. But I like to keep tabs on the scores. This morning we had freezing rain, so we couldn't go pick up the twins at our usual time. So it was after lunch before it warmed up enough for the streets to clear. So we had the kids for dinner instead of lunch. Now we are watching "Fiddler on the Roof" on NetFlix. But I did get a card done yesterday that I didn't get posted.

I made the background using Gina Marie Designs Fireworks Stencil. Using a number of different distress oxide colors. The die cut Balloon Bouquet is from Simon Says Stamps. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Hero Arts It's Your Day. The Let's Celebrate sentiment is from Simon Says CZ Designs  Sentiment Strips Reverse Birthday I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: make your own background
• Scrapping4Fun challenge: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts challenge: anything goes
• Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge: anything goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: 6th birthday celebration
• AAA Birthday challenge: stencil background

The kids were fun today. My DH fixes electronic toys for Opportunity House and when he brings them home to work on the twins get to play with them. So we had 3 new boxes of toys for them today. They had a blast  rummaging through the three boxes of toys and trying them all out. Well, that's it for me today. We have a busy week ahead so hopefully I will get some time to craft in there somewhere. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Thinking of You

  Happy Tuesday! I hope your week has gotten off to a great start. Yesterday I spent a good part of the day catching up with pricing for Opportunity House. I was a bit behind. But I am almost caught up until I go back to the store on Thursday. I am sure there will be more bins waiting for me. LOL! But today I got a little time in between house work to make a card.

This card features 3 tea cup images from Bugaboo Stamps: Teacup Flowers 2, Teacup Flowers 1, and Violet Teacup. Each image is colored with American Craft Markers and die cut with MFT Stitched Circles. I used blue card stock for my base. The first layer is dotted vellum. The flower designer paper is distressed. I haven't had that tool out in a while so thought I would use that for a change. The sentiment is from Simon Says Beautiful Butterflies stamp set. I fussy cut the sentiment and backed it with black card stock. I am entering these challenges: 

Catch the Bug challenge: bingo (distress, Bugaboo image, die/punch) 

 Atlantic Hearts challenge: sketch 

 

 

Scribbles Designs challenge: The Power of Eight (Scribbles 8th Birthday!) use 8 things on your card: card base, dotted vellum paper, flowered paper, 3 teacup images, sentiment and black layer

Incy Wincy Designs: anything goes

Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge: anything goes

Blogger has not been cooperative tonight so this post has taken me "forevah". And I have no idea how it's going to actually look when it goes up. I'll apologize now. That's it for me tonight. Thank you for stopping by. Please stay safe and God bless!

Donna

More Thank You Cards

 I hope your weekend has been wonderful! Mine has been very busy. We had friends for dinner and cards on Saturday and I spent most of the day cooking and cleaning. Today we had the twins all day. After dinner I had a chance to work on some cards. One of the volunteer jobs that I work at needs Thank you cards so I found a bunch of these Simon Says Stacked Hearts that I already had die cut so I am using up things from my stash to hopefully help them with their thank you card needs. 

I used the die cuts from Simon Says Stacked Hearts and glued them to the fronts of the cards. I then used the die cut hearts from many die cuttings to glue some hearts back into the stacked hearts. I added the sentiment stamp "Thanks" to each of the cards. The cards are simple but they really donlt want or need anything fancy and over the top. I am entering these challenges:

• Scrapping4Fun challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: thank you card
• Stay Crafty with Hero Art challenge: include a heart
• C.R.A.F.T challenge: anything goes
• Penny's challenge: anything goes

I hope to get some time to craft tomorrow and be back to show you a new project. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I hope your week gets off to a great start. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Thanks Fur Spoiling Me

 This is the last of my Christmas Thank you cards. I will hand deliver this card tomorrow to a friend so I popped a lot of things up with foam tape.

The images are from Stamptember promotion at Simon Says Stamps along with a collaboration with Newton's Nook called Pocket Full of Happy. Unfortunately when the Stamptember stamps sell out they are usually gone for good. It's such an adorable stamp set with matching dies that I used to die cut the images. The cute images are colored with Spectrum Noir markers. The sentiment is from the same set and die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitched Rectangles (retired). All the elements are popped up with foam tape. The semi-circle is die cut with Spellbinder's Classic Scalloped Circles. I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch (I flipped the sketch so the sentiment was at the top)
  
• The Male Room challenge: animals 

  
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter (or 2)
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Love to Scrap challenge: anything goes

That's it for me today. No more time to craft. Tomorrow we are back to both of our volunteering jobs so we'll be gone most of the day. Hope you are staying safe and healthy. God bless!

Donna

Sympathy

 I finally got the cards sets completed that I am giving as Christmas gifts. I made 4 more birthday cards and 2 sympathy cards. I forgot to take pictures of the birthday cards when I got them done. I wrapped the cards and then thought how stupid that was. But I did get a picture of the two sympathy cards that I finished off the sets with.

The cards are similar but just a little different. I used the same die as the focal point: Birch Press Caprice Hearts die. This is a three layer die and I used scrap blues for each of the hearts. I used slightly different colors so they have a little different look. I inked the backgrounds with Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide inks. The sentiments are from Simon Says Stamps Sympathy Greetings Mix. I used two of the greetings on the first card. The banner greeting is heat embossed on a black card stock banner. The second card I used Versa Fina Black Onyx ink to add the sentiment.  I love the hearts. I'll have to remember them when I start making Valentine's Day cards. I am entering these challenges.

• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Love to Craft: anything goes
• 613 Avenue Create: anything goes

I am super happy to have the card sets done. I am going to start on the Bugaboo Stamps Holiday Chaos challenge. I am so glad that they are giving us extra time to do the challenge this year. I just haven't had time this week and they are already on Day 6. Hope your week has gone well. Thanks for stopping by today. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Happy Birthday

 I really hadn't meant to take an entire week off from crafting but since I crafted almost every day in November and I had some things to catch up on around the house. And I wrote and mailed my Christmas cards. We had the twins twice in the last week; one of them was an overnight last night. I was up with both of the kids last night so I am tired this evening. I am trying to get some card sets put together for Christmas gifts. So this is a birthday card I made using a napkin.

The background balloons is the napkin. Likely it's from Dollar Tree but I've had them for a while. I matted it with black card stock on a green card base. The sentiments are new to me from Simons Says Stamps. These came from the CZ Designs birthday set. You just cut them out and glue them on. Very handy! This was a pretty easy to do card. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Festive Friday: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft Extra: anything goes
• Love to Craft: anything goes
• 613 Avenue Create: anything goes

That's it for me tonight. I hope to get a good night's sleep tonight since I won't have to sleep with my eyes open and get up with the twins several times. Hope you are all well. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 27: The Letter X

 I wasn't sure that I'd have any more time to play today but I managed to get one more card done this evening. Day 27 is the letter X from Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. In year's past I used Xs and Os to mean kisses and hugs on a Christmas card. This year I switched to a Valentines Day card.

The cute panda image is from Wild About You from Beccy's Place. I fussy cut him and inked him around the edges with black marker. I die cut the red heart from Spellbinder's Scalloped Hearts. The sentiment on the heart is heat embossed with black embossing powder. The sentiment is from Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts (retired). The X and O stamp is from Another Simon Says stamp set called Big Holiday Wishes (retired). The designer paper is from the Paper Studio. the card base is black. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 27: the letter X
• Crafter's Cafe challenge: embossing
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge: festive color combo
• 613 Avenue Create: cute critters

That's it for me tonight. We will likely go out to our other property tomorrow into Sunday so I won't have much time to create. I'll have to catch up when we get home. Thanks for stopping by today. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Puppy Pockets

 I am back for my second post today. It's raining now and looks like it could rain all night long (unless it turns to snow if our temperatures drop). My schedule is clear until Thursday so I won't mind if it snows tonight. LOL! It's way too early for snow but it wouldn't be the first time we got snow in October. I did get to play a bit more this afternoon and I took a page from Jennifer McGuire, who likes to make more than one card at a time. 

The images and sentiments are all from a new stamp set and dies that I bought during Stamptember from Simon Says Stamps. The collaboration set was from Newton's Nook called Pocketful of Happy (no longer available). I colored the puppy pocket with Spectrum Noir markers and used the paw print from the set to add some embellishment. The designer paper is from Francis Meyer, Inc. I die cut the A2 die from MFT Blueprint 13 and then cut it in half diagonally, to use on two different cards. The sentiments are different for each card. One says "Sending you ... paw-sitive thoughts!" The other says "Pocket full of ... Birthday Wishes." I am entering these challenges:

• Sketch-N-Scrap: World Cardmaking Day Sketch #4 
  
• NBUS challenge: use never before used schtuff
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper challenge: use patterned paper
• Jan's challenge: anything goes

I am going to try to find more time for crafting tomorrow. We'll see if my DH has other ideas. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe, be healthy, and God bless!

Donna

Color my Life

Happy hump day! A gray day today outside but I spent half of my day going through my jewelry. I decided it was time to get rid of some of the things that I no longer wear. We are storing up lots of stuff to donate as soon as things open up again. So I didn't get to my desk until late this afternoon. The class today for Spring Card Camp 2 was all about Faux Dip Dying. Here's what I came up with.

I used Distress Oxide inks to water color the background on water color paper. You tear the bottom edge before you start water coloring. I used Artist Bear from QKR Stampede. The image is colored with Spectrum Noir markers, fussy cut, and then popped up with foam tape. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Color and Sunshine (retired). I stamped part of the sentiment with Versa Fine ONyx Balck ink and the word "color" with DOI Seedless Preserves. I like this one!

I am entering these challenges:

QKR Stampede: anything goes

Simon Says Wednesday: animal fun

2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter

Addicted to Stamps and More: clean and simple 

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday: anything goes

I am not big on water coloring but this technique was fun to do. I may try out more of these later. The weather should turn warmer tomorrow (finally) but the rain also comes with it. Sounds like we'll be in the monsoon season over the weekend. I am hoping (and praying) to get my plants in the garden tomorrow before the rain starts. I guess that will depend on whether my DH get the garden rottatilled this evening or not. Thanks for stopping by. Be safe please! Hugs heading your way!

Donna

More Sparkle

Hope you had a wonderful day. As Tuesday winds to a close, I can honestly say that I got a variety of things done today: laundry, dishes, cleaning, some organizing, a walk outside and 4 cards, two of which I will show you in this post. This is a continuation of yesterday's Spring Card Camp 2 class. You can see my first card here. Now for part 2.

I followed Laurie's design on these two cards just like I did yesterday but I love how they turned out.

For this card I used Simon Says Stamps Single Roses dies. I haven't pulled these out in a very long time so it was nice to give them some love. I used two of the three colored panels that I embossed yesterday. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags (retired). I didn't add any embellishments because I liked it just like this.

For this card I used 4 embossed panels in various heights. I cut two white strips that I added across the panels. The die cut "You" is from the MFT You Trio dies. And the secondary sentiment is from MFT All About You stamp set. To finish it off I added some enamel dots in approximately the same colors as my panels. I am really loving this color blocking technique. Using the glitter embossing powder on the panels really makes these cards sparkle!
I am entering these challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
Crafty Friends: flowers
Simon Says Wednesday: use dies and punches
Simply Create Too: use flowers

My DH and I are going to go for a walk. I hope to get my other two cards posted tonight also. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and healthy!

Donna

Sparkling Background

Good Evening! We had a great time with the twins today. They wear me out. We couldn't be outside as much as I'd liked because it was chilly, but we did go out for a while: took a wagon ride, twirled maple seeds and sent balls down a plinko track that we created. They have a blast doing that. Valerie climbed into the shower, figured out how to turn it on, and was surprised when she got all wet. We laughed! This evening I started the day 6 technique of color blocking. I really don't think I've done this before but if I did I didn't know the name for it.

The three color blocks were created by embossing the Simon Says Leaf Background (retired) with glitter embossing powder. I cut the embossed background into sections and I'm following the exact design that Laurie Willison showed in the tutorial. The die that I used was one I used earlier this week. I wanted to try a tip that Laurie gave us and this is the only die that I have a shadow with. The die is from Die-Cutting Essentials #61 from Tonic Studios. I die cut with white card stock, 2 fun foam cuts and then the shadow out of vellum. You sandwich is the card stock and one fun foam die cut on top, then the vellum and the bottom layer is the last layer of fun foam. It gives it fun texture.  Tomorrow I'll finish off the other two cards and post them.  I am entering these challenges:

QKR Stampede: anything goes
Simon Says Wednesday challenge: dies/punches

Have a wonderful evening. Thanks for stopping by today. Please stay safe and healthy! As things open up again I'm sure that you need to take extra care. Come back again soon!

Donna

Second Generation Stamping

Day 19 of our Spring Card Camp was all about second generation stamping and making multiple cards using it. This wasn't a new concept for me but I really don't use it much; so it was fun to really try it out.

I'm sure you can tell which flowers I stamped first and which ones I stamped second. It amazes me how much ink is still on the stamp after you stamp it. I guess that's kind of wasteful. I used AlteNew Bold Blossom stamp set and coordinating dies. I used this before and had such a difficult time lining up the second layers that I put it aside and haven't tried it for quite some time. But it worked out fairly well this time. The background paper is from my stash. I found a pink and green gingham paper and just interchanged them on the two cards. The banner die (in white) is from Lawn Fawn's Stitched Party Banners as is the circle die I used. I used black card stock for some of the layering to pop the colors.

This is the first generation card. I used AlteNew Puffy Heart and Purple Wine ink to do the flowers and the leaves are Twisted Citron DOI and MFT Elf Green inks. The sentiment on this card is from Simon Says Watt's Up? stamp set (retired) and I stamped it right to the paper with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

This is the second generation stamped card. The ink is much lighter than the first. Using my MISTI makes the stamping go much faster as I just rotate the card stock to stamp again. The sentiment for this card is also from Simon Says called Prayers. I stamped the lead in sentiment at the top with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and they die cut the word prayers twice: once with black card stock and once with black fun foam. I glued those two together and popped up the word. The flowers on both cards are also popped up with the leaves tucked underneath.
I am entering these challenges:

• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Wednesday sketch challenge: sketch 
• Scraping4Fun: use die cuts

Today is the last day of Spring Card Camp 1. They have decided to do a Spring Card Camp 2 at Online Card Classes. The new class begins May 6th. If you've ever wanted to take a card class or learn something new this would be an awesome class to take. I've loved every minute of it and I still have several days that I haven't even gotten to work with yet. Lots of fun and I have a lot of cards to send out. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you are safe and healthy!

Donna

Revisiting Spring Class Day 6

Today I worked on the second template that we got in our Spring Card Class. You can see my cards from the first template on my Day 6 post.

For this template I decided to make some Christmas cards and use a paper pack that I won in a challenge. All the designer paper is from Couture Creations Be Merry and Classic paper pack. I glued each template to scrap white paper and then die cut with MFT Blueprints 13 stitched A2 die. I can't say that I love this paper. I prefer happy colors for Christmas but these will make great male cards.

I used the template to cut all the pieces at once and then matched up each of the papers. For this first card I used MFT Delightful Deer. The sentiment was computer-generated, die cut with Spellbinders Grommet Tags and adhered to the card front with black brads.

For this card I die cut Memory Box Winterland Tree three times and glued them to the card front at various levels. The stars were cut from MFT Blueprint 13 die set. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday Christ is Born. I backed the sentiment with black card stock.

For the last card I used Simon Says Big Holiday Wishes (retired) for the sentiment backed with black card stock. For a little color I added memory Box Holly Leaf Border.
I am entering these challenges:

• Rudolph Days: anything goes for Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Sparkles Christmas Challenge: Christmas critters
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper: use patterned paper
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas

That's it for me tonight. Hoping to get some more play time tomorrow. Be safe and stay well. Praying for all of you, my friends!

Donna

Card Class Day 11

If you've been following my blog you'll realize that I jumped from Day 7 of my class to Day 11. There's a couple reasons for that. Some of the ideas and cards really appeal to me and I am anxious to try them. At least one of the days I don;t have the materials necessary to do the technique (although to be fair I haven't watched the video all the way through yet so she may have given an alternative). And I hope to go back and revisit those that I have skipped. One of them I already have background done but haven't gotten around to decorating the cards yet. So last night I started on Day 11 and I finished them this morning.

The rainbows are made from nesting circles dies. So you can get four rainbows out of one die cutting of circle dies. Why do I only have 3 cards? because as I was experimenting with embossing powder I ruined one of my rainbows. More on that it a little bit.

So I die cut my rainbows using my MFT Stitched Circles Stax. I then inked up the circles with distress oxide inks: Candied Apple, Wild Honey, Green Clover, Salty Ocean and Seedless Preserves. Then I cut them in 4ths to get 4 rainbows. I used my MFT Cloud stencil to create the clouds and then inked them with Salty Ocean. I stamped the sentiment from Simon Says Stamps Color and Sunshine (retired). For the word "rainbow" I stamped with 4 different colors of ink. That was a trick they taught us earlier in the class. I used Spectrum Noir Sparkle marker on the rainbow. The layers are popped up with foam tape. So after I had this card done and photographed my DH pointed out that my rainbow abruptly ends. So I am going to fix this by die cutting some additional clouds to cover the abrupt ending.

My second care uses pretty much the same technique as the first but I used a different trick for additional sparkle. Dawn (our instructor) suggested covering the rainbow with glitter embossing powder. I didn't have any but she said that adding glitter to clear powder would work too. So I found that I had two containers of clear embossing powder and I found a package of micro fine glitter that I bought years ago after a workshop that I took and never used it. So I dumped the two together and I had glitter embossing powder. You might be able to see it on the rainbow in this photo but I think you can see it better on the next card. I also embossed the tops of the clouds. This has such a wonderful sparkle to it and the glitter does not rub off all over your hands and clothes. (Although I think my jeans have been embossed with some glitter. I have a tendency of leaning my embossing against my leg when I'm running my heat gun.) The sentiment is from Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts.

I did this card exactly like the second card above with the embossed glitter but the sentiment is different but from the same Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts. The card base for this card is light grey. The other cards were white. I am super happy with these card. Dawn also had another way to do rainbows that used color paper scraps. I really want to try that one too. So look out for more rainbow cards. LOL!
I am entering these challenges:

• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything  
  
• Monday Simon Says Stamps: create a scene
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• NBUS challenge: use never before used schtuff: Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts stamps

Our weather is bee-utiful today. But tomorrow is supposed to turn stormy. So I am headed outside to soak up some sunshine and take a walk. Yesterday I spent 2 and a half frustrating hours on the phone with my medical insurance. In the end we found out that they had my insurance and my husband's insurance information mixed up. They were billing his to my insurance and mine to our old insurance before he retired last year. I sure hope we finally got this straightened out as his insurance is about to change again when he turns 65 and gets medicare. I have a few more months before that happens. Anyway, if you have good weather please enjoy it. Be safe. Stay well!

Donna

Spring Card Class Day 7

As the weekend comes to a close I'm sharing my Day 7 cards. My cards didn't work out the way they were supposed to because I didn't have the kind of die Laurie used. It was supposed to be a word die with a die cut that cur around the word. So I tried to do it with a word die and then a square die around it.

I used the Neat & Tangled Polygon stencil (retired) to create the backgrounds with Distress Oxide Inks: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Wild Honey.

I die cut MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Squares and Simon Says Small Hello from the front of my first card. The hello die cut is popped up with fun foam. I heat embossed the secondary sentiment on black card stock. The sentiment is from MFT More Essential Sentiments. Since the square seemed to be so much bigger than the sentiment I added my bling inside. The sequins are filled with Dimensional Magic.

For the second card I was supposed to take the rest of the fun foam and attach it to another die cut. But it occurred to me that I would never get the square the the hello dies lined up exactly the same was again. So I die cut another hello out of black card stock and glued to the front panel. The secondary sentiment from MFT More Essential Sentiments  is heat embossed on black card stock. I added a 3D sticker for a little embellishment.
Tomorrow we are taking card of the twins all day. They keep us hopping. I'll have to run to the grocery store first thing tomorrow to get some fruit for them.Thanks for stopping by today. Be safe! Stay healthy.

Donna