Every Good and Perfect Gift

Hi, I'm over on the Quietfire Design blog with these cards - hop on over to see how I made them and what I used.

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Flower Power

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes

Memory Box : Spring Flowers

Spellbinders Kaleidoscope card

These ornament cards below are a CASE by a card I saw on Instagram by @azcrafty using the Spellbinders June small die club kit - Kaleidoscope trio.  I used the Impression Obsession Pine branch and drew the lines suing a T-ruler.  

The second card I sponged a soft green and yellow background reminiscent of a tree with warm lights.  I think I like this one much better than the patterned background.  I also figured a much better way to do the ornament tops for the second card.  I die cut a larger circle around the round kaleidoscope die and trimmed off pieces to make the tops so that they would be perfectly curved.

Summer Fun cards

I am so ready for the beach - it is my happy place and I wanted to make a couple of cards to thank the owners of the condo we would be staying in later this month.  I kept the cards simple but with lots of die cuts.  The 

The first one is a regular 4.25" x 5.5" card and I used different shades of blue for my ocean. I added a layer of sand for my beach chair to go on and sponged a bit on the torn edges to give it a bit of interest.  Adding some brown dots just to make sure you know it's sand!  :)

I liked how the card turned out but it was just a wee bit crowded for me.

So I changed the size of the card to a 5" x 7".  I simplified the ocean and added some clouds to the sky instead.  Now I had room for two chairs under the umbrella and a pop of red with the sailboat.

Which do you like better?

I find it interesting in the pictures that you can't tell one is card is larger than the other until you look at the word die cuts and see how they fit on one card versus the other.  I hope that gives you some ideas on die combinations and space!

Live like someone left the gate open

... but please don't actually leave the gate open!  My Shadow would run out and not know the way home!  But he is super happy chasing rabbits and squirrels which we do not want inside our own fenced yard.

It makes a really cute card though!  I picked up this Arbor die by Rubbernecker at the Scrapbook Expo and knew it would go perfectly with this stamp from Quietfire Design.  I sponged the sky and added the arbor - die-cutting the gate a couple of extra times to be used as the fence.

I layered up some grass dies by Impression Obsession and added tiny flowers (the stamens the Bougainvillea die by Elizabeth Craft Designs).  By arranging the flowers in a different patterns in different colors, I got the look of different flowers even though they are the same die.

Another find from the Expo were these two dogs from Art Impressions Dog House Cubbies.  I think that hound is actually laying down but I made him jumping with joy to go with the sentiment stamped about the garden scene.  

 I did not glue the gate down but used the latches as a hinge for the gate so it would open and close.  (My kids say it looks like the gate is closing on the door but I say he's busting out. In-house critics are the worst!)

Live Like Someone left the gate open mounted stamp set

Challenge I am playing in:

Simon Says Anything Goes

Hero Arts Lily pond

I saw this die by Hero Arts and had to get it because I have a little pond with fish and besides that, it just looked like a fun die. I sponged a light blue circle with a darker blue ink around the edges and Copics to color the fish and lily pads.

The base is a 5" x 5" card and the cut out border is by Impression Obsession.  

My little pond in my backyard last year

My mom's has HUGE kois!

Challenge I am playing in:

Simon Says Anything Goes

Hippity Hoppity

Some snow attempted to waylaid my monthly crafty play date but we still managed to get in a few hours of play.  My friend brought over this this cute basket and between the two of us, we had enough dies to create this cute little scene.  Memory Box, My Favorite Things,  and Impression Obsession dies were used.  The tiny flower are from Elizabeth Craft Designs' Bougainvillea die and were perfect for replacing the dot of the "i" in the hippity hoppity - I can never find those things after I die cut them!

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Create a Scene

Scrapy Land Challenge #109

Advent Gable boxes

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family/friends and that you ate your fill (and perhaps more!)  The day after Thanksgiving is not Black Friday for me (I hate shopping) but the official start of the Christmas season.  Though it seems I decorate earlier and earlier each year, I don't have to justify it any after Thursday.  :)

This year I started very early because the design team at Quietfire inspired me to make Advent boxes with the Gable box die.  25 boxes!  It went together very fast because I did not make them very fancy - I just gathered every little Christmas/Winter die or die cut I had - and I had a lot apparently.  Here they are lined up on the mantel.  The big white numbers are die cuts from Lawn Fawn Louie's 123.

 

A closer look at my arrangement.

So funny story - we had bought a second smaller tree a couple of years ago for my boys to decorate with all their ornaments from school and other craft times.  Of course, these ornaments would not be in gold, red, or silver which is the theme of the "big" tree.  So this second tree would be where those went - but this year I commandeered even that tree and decided it would house the advent boxes better than the mantel would!  Fortunately, they are boys so they did not care much as what is under the tree is much more important to them.  So here are the same boxes on a Christmas tree!

In case you're wondering what are in those boxes, they contain our Christmas to-do list... things to do every day as we count down to the 25th.

The children are about to experience firsthand how grammar and spelling is very important.  The 25th is of course "Open presents" but someone forgot an "s!"  Should I leave it as is or warn them?  Haha!

Cards for encouragment

I'm running short on cards with Scripture on them so I made a few after die cutting and coloring all the different leaf dies I have in my stash.  They include Impression Obsession, Verve, Spellbinders, Darice and Memory Box... cause you never know what size you need!  

Back to playing in challenges:

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

His love endures forever

Today the temperature is dropping and I believe fall is here to stay for a bit.  Yay for sweater weather!  I've been playing with all my different leaf dies and here is the first of some cards I made on World Cardmaking Day.

The center stamp is one of my favorite verses that I lettered for Our Daily Bread Designs. 

Back to playing in challenges:

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

On the Horizon

Here's another card from my crafty play date using some nautical themed dies:  Memory Box Diving Dolphins die, Poppystamps Seaside Lighthouse die, Impression Obsession Shore Birds and grass dies and stamps from Essentials by Ellen Stay Salty.  The side step card die by Our Daily Bread Designs was perfect for making this kind of card with lots of depth.  

The sand, water, and sky were all sponged using distress inks.  The Sakura gelly pens (Stardust and white) are perfect for adding details to the water.  The sentiment was embossed in white.

Creating scenes of dies are really fun - it's even more so with a special card fold like this side step card.

Celebrate

Hello!  I have a surprising number of family and friends with birthdays pretty close to Christmas.  So one must make sure there is a separate card for birthday!

I had an extra die cut of the Impression Obsession Gift Border that went perfectly with the Celebrate die cut from Quietfire Design.  I colored the gifts with Copics and brushed over with a clear glitter Wink of Stella.  The cut out a blue corner and added several layers of the Celebrate die cut.

Celebrate metal die

Thanks for looking!

Christmas gifts

I knew I wanted to paper piece this Gift border die as soon as I saw it but it came a whole lot easier once I realized that I could hide the bottom of the cards with the craft card stock.  I was trying to cut it just right until I realized I didn't have to!  I then used my Copics to color the Merry Christmas die to make the ombre colors.  The inside has the other half of the die (that says Happy New Year) inside out of gold card stock.

Challenges I am playing in :

Impression Obsession Quick Christmas Card

Word Art Wednesday

Progression of cards

 A friend came over with some dies that I don't have in my stash (love having a friend who shares this same paper crafting passion!) and we ended up making some great cards.  One of the dies she had is the Impression Obsession Peace Dove die which goes perfectly with the Peace die from Quietfire Design.

We then used the same layout and made a shaker with the Memory Box Tall Evergreen Circle.

Later I thought it would also be great to add some snow to the tree and make it a winter card!  See my thought process there?  Lol!

Peace Metal Die

4 Seasons Metal Die

Challenges I am playing in:

Scrapy Land Challenge:  Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday

Simon Says Ice Inspiration