Fun in the Sun

Time was running out on The Outlawz Progressive Freebie challenge. So I finished the card to play along.

The image is from Elena Zinski Art called Amelia Mermaid. I die cut the image multiple times with MFT Stitched Squares. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and die cut multiple times with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. The chevron paper is a scrap from my scrap box. The blue paper is from Paper Pizazz called Pool Water. The sun is die cut from Spellbinder's Sunny Days and inked with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Inks. I backed the layers with black card stock. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Progressive Freebie challenge: use Amelia Mermaid image
• Sketch-N-Scrap: sketch 
  
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes 
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes

That's it for me tonight. Tomorrow we are volunteering at Teacher's Warehouse. Our schedule is once again picking up as things open up. We wear masks and wash hands frequently! Please stay safe!

Donna

Silent Night

Well, I can't say I am running around a lot but my time gets eaten up with other things and I don't seem to have a lot of crafting time these days. We are back to volunteering once a week at Teacher's Warehouse. Opportunity House ask me to do some computer work at home. And just the general household chores. It's all very time consuming. LOL! Last night I made a fast and easy Christmas card.

The image with sentiment is from Scribbles Designs called Silent Night Wreath. It's one of my favorites. I colored the image with American Craft markers and die cut the panel with the stitched rectangle from MFT Blueprints 13 (retired). I added a green panel behind. It wasn't as large as the panel but I thought it gave the card a different look than my usual mat. To finish it off I added red and green sequins and filled each one with Dimensional Magic. I am entering these challenges:

• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes Christmas
• Simon Says Monday challenge: going around in circles
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas

It's supposed to be stormy all afternoon so I hope to get some crafting time in. Right now I'd better figure out what's for dinner and get some lunch. Stay safe, please! Hugs to you all.

Donna

Oceans of Fun

It seems like a short week this week. We've been rather busy; much busier than the last two months, but we got a few things done. Monday we came home from visiting my FIL in Cincinnati and didn't get home until late afternoon. Tuesday wasn't too busy. Wednesday we had the twins all day. Today (and tomorrow) we are picking up supplies from schools that are closing their doors for Teacher's Warehouse, one of our volunteer places. TW takes donations and gives them out free to teacher's in a 5 county area. So these schools that are closing have lots of stuff that we can give out to other teachers. Schools may be running on different schedules next year. The principal we talked to today said they could be running two sessions a day rather than one long day to lessen the numbers in the classroom at a time. They just don't know how it's going to work yet. I am glad that I am no longer on that side of the desk anymore.
So I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to do much crafting. But today's lesson on Spring Card Camp 2 really interested me. Today was all about water color wash. I have usually shied away from using water color. I have a set but don't use it much. So after watching the video today and seeing the cards they made I gave it a try.

I used three colors of blue and one color of bluish-green and washed the card. Really made a nice background! We bought a new printer and my DH really did some research because I wanted a printer that made one straight pass rather than turning the paper. Our old printer wouldn't print on card stock because it always got stuck. So this new printer printed this wonderful sentiment right on my water color paper. The sentiment is from We Are 3 Mermaid Wishes sentiments.  The sailboat is from Gina K Enjoy the Sunshine (retired). I love how this turned out. I'm going to have to practice more with the water colors. I am entering these challenges:

Time Out challenge: free

Addicted to Stamps and More: picture inspiration

The Outlawz Paper ala Mode: seaside fun

Seize the Birthday: totally tropical

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

That's it for me tonight. Tomorrow is another day of collecting supplies for Teacher's Warehouse. It was fun today to check out all the things being donated. We do some triage to take only things we know we can use. Thanks for stopping by. Really appreciate those who ;eave comments for me. Have a super day tomorrow!

Donna

Birthday Bear

I've been absent for a short time as we traveled to Cincinnati to help my FIL with some things around his house. So we spent the weekend after having the twins all day Friday. We intended to come home early this morning but it rained and his roof was leaking so we stayed to try to help the leaking until we can get a roofer in to put on a new roof. Always something going on. So it was later this afternoon until we got home and I needed to go to the grocery as I left my FIL with groceries from our house. This evening I had a chance to sit at my craft desk for a bit. I am behind on my Spring Card Class 2 but decided to deviate tonight and do a birthday card.

The image is Birthday Bear from QKR Stampede. I colored his with Spectum Noir markers and fussy cut the image. The background paper is from Paper Adventures and has a shimmer to it, die cut with the Blueprints 13 stitched die, but I embossed the paper with birthday balloons embossing folder.  There are two different ribbons stacked together. The bottom ribbon that is the teal color is stitched across with a brown stitching. The top ribbon is a very sparkly clear ribbon that gives the card lots of sparkle. I added a sticker embellishment from a Miss Elizabeth's birthday set (flower with a ribbon). The bear and the flower are popped up with foam tape.I am entering these challenges:

QKR Stampede: anything goes

C.R.A.F.T challenge:birthday

Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge: sketch 

Catch the Bug: bingo (3 layers, die/pinch, embossing, or ribbon, players choice (animal image), stitching)

Incy Wincy Designs: anything goes

Our week suddenly filled up really fast today. One of our volunteer positions is asking for help on Thursday and Friday to pick up school supplies from schools south of us that are closing their doors. So Thursday and Friday we'll be traveling and packing up supplies to bring back to Teacher's Warehouse for distribution to other teachers. Wednesday we have the twins all day. So I hope to get some more cards done tomorrow. Time to catch up on class assignments. LOL! Our area is beginning to open up some things. We are not in a hurry to rush out to anything right now. We'll definitely be wearing masks for quite some time. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start. Take care!

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

Sparkly Left Overs

For the last 2 days I've been working on color blocking. You can see my first post and my second post. But I had some leftover pieces and rather than pile them on my desk I decided to make something right away.

This was a great way to use up the leftovers that I had. I didn't have any pieces big enough for the frames so I used black and white card stock.

I used MFT Collage Cover-Up die and die cut pieces from the collage with the three color embossed panels. I didn't quite have enough of the squares so I used the black and white card stock squares to fill in. And the reason that I didn't have enough squares was because I missed a piece of the blue embossed panel, so I used it for the "you" on this card. The sentiment is from MFT All About You stamps set and die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. The "you" is die cut with MFT You Trio die-namics (retired) and popped up using fun foam.

This card is similar to the first except the sentiment but the sentiment and die cut are from the same MFT stamp and die sets. The only difference is that I cut the "You" from white card stock three times and stacked them instead of using fun foam.
That's it for me today. I am super happy with these cards. I hope your week is going well. It's hard to believe that the weeks are going fast again. When our shelter at home order began it seemed like the weeks went slowly. Maybe since the weather is getting nicer it seems to move faster. I was hoping to get our garden planted. We have the plants that we've been carrying in and out of the house. But the nights have been so cold that I've been reluctant to plant. But Thursday is supposed to be in the 70s so I hope to get them planted tomorrow. Rain come starting Thursday and sticks around through the weekend. More craft time I suppose. Take care!

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

Fetching you a Happy Birthday

Another card from the Dueling Darling kits from 2018-2019. I unfortunately don't have the supply list from this kit so I am not sure of where this image and sentiment come from.

But I tracked the stamp set down. It's from Newton's Nook called Fetching Friendship. The image and sentiment are from the same set. I don't know where the designer papers are from. Or the embellishments that were sent with the kit. But I used a stamped bone and the Go Fetch brad. The sentiment was die cut with Quikcutz Tags. I added the hat to the pup's head. The card base is red card stock and the backing layers are black card stock. I am entering these challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
Sweet Stampers challenge: animals/birds
Seize the Birthday: anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper: use patterned paper
A Bit More Time to Craft Extra: anything goes

We have the twins again tomorrow so there won't be time to craft. I hope to be back with something new for Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by. Have a safe and healthy week!

Donna

This Buds for You

A little departure from my class this evening. The image is for the Limited Runs Progressive challenge this month.

The image is Tulip Monster by Limited Runs. I colored her with American markers. The checked paper is a scrap from my stash. The base is orange card stock I used MFT Blueprints 13 stitched A2 die for the white background. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags (retired). I added a flower and a gem. I am entering these challenges:

MFT Sketch challenge: sketch

Alphabet challenge: C is for checks

Crafty Friends: flowers

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: dies or punches

Crafter's Cafe: anything goes

I love punny cards. I'm going to send this as a birthday card to my BIL. He's a beer drinker.  So I think he'll get a kick out of it. That's it for tonight. I'm ready to call it a day. Thanks for stopping by once again. Hope your weekend is going amazingly well! Stay well!

Donna

Sending Love

Today in Spring Card Camp 2 it's all about sentiments. I have a sentiment that I die cut for the first Spring Card Camp and didn't use. I also have 4 backgrounds already completed that I'd never made into cards for the first card camp too. So this card was pretty easy to put together.

The background was created with a stencil and DO inks: Wild Honey, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers. I used the MFT Star Grid stencil with the inks. The die cut is from the Die Cut Essentials magazine #61 from Tonic Studios. I have a stack of these magazines and I haven't found the time to use them all yet. This is one that I haven't used but it makes a perfect message for this card. I die cut two more and layered them together to make some texture to the card. It has a backing die cut too which I did in black card stock so the inks and the white would pop. To finish off I used some Lucy Gems Bridal Mix. I am entering these challenges:

Creative Knockouts: favorite embellishments(Lucy's gems)
Simon Says Wednesday challenge: dies and punches
Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critters (butterflies)
NBUS challenge: use never before used schtuff

It was windy and chilly today. I made a quick trip to the grocery store this morning. I finished some odds and ends around the house and took a walk to mail a couple cards to friends this afternoon. I hope it warms up a bit so we can get our garden planted this week. My Mom's rule of thumb was that it was safe to plant outside after Mother's Day. Last night we hit 31 degrees so that's too cold to plant. Thanks for stopping by today. Make it an awesome weekend. Be safe!

Donna

Friendship

For Day 3 of the Spring Card Camp 2, we are to take a stencil and dry emboss a background. I've actually never used a stencil to emboss so this was fun.

The stencil I used was Altenew Leaf Burst stencil. Since I did it on white I was afraid that the embossing wouldn't show in the photo so I used Twisted Citron to rub some ink over the embossing. I added an image from Bugaboo Stamps called 4 Block Tulip Square with a black card stock backing. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings. A simple card but looks really nice with that embossing in real life. I am entering these challenges:

Catch the Bug

The Outlawz Paper ala Mode

Digi Choosday

A Bit More Time to Craft

A rather quiet day today after having the twins yesterday all day. It was gorgeous weather yesterday and today it's cold and windy. Really glad we had the kids yesterday when they could be outside and enjoy the weather. Arthur was enamored with twirls maple seeds. Since he is short they didn't twirl very well for him so he would hand them to me and say "watch," which is what I said to him the first time I showed him. Valerie was busy with dandelions. She likes to pick the flowers but she also likes to pick the ones that have gone to seed and run her fingers through to watch them fly. I can picture our entire yard this summer being nothing but dandelions. LOL! She'd love that. Time to move on for tonight. Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my creations. Take good care of you!

Donna

Striped Background

The Day 2 Spring Card Camp 2 class was all about making striped backgrounds and all the different ways you could do it. Jennifer McGuire showed us how to mask and ink the background. That's what I did for my card.

So I picked three of my favorite DOIs to use for the inking: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Fossilized Amber. I masked off portions of the card stock and used blending brushes to ink the stripes, sometimes overlapping the other stripe to blend the colors, sometimes leaving white space in between the colors. I recently inventoried my stamps and found several older sets that I didn't remember I had. So using a Gina K set called In Stitches (retired) I added some interest by adding in some dots, flowers and dashed lines. The sentiment and image was stamped in Versa Fine Onyx black ink after my stripes had dried. The image is Daisy Patch Swirls (retired) from Heartfelt Creations. I cut the panel down with MFT Blueprints 13 (retired) stitched die panel. I have no idea where the sentiment comes from. I won it years ago in a blog candy. It was all by itself with no labeling. I finished off the card by adding some sparkle to the middle of the flowers. Using an embossing pen I embossed the middle with glitter embossing powder. 

I am entering these challenges: 

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Catch the Bug; anything goes
• Simply Create Too: use flowers
• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday: anything goes

It's been a very sad day around here. My son called early this morning to let us know that the guy who had been my sons swim coach in high school passed away yesterday from cancer. Dave had a HUGE influence on my boys as they went through high school. He will truly be missed. Thank you for stopping by today. I need to sew some face masks this afternoon.Maybe after that I will get back to creating for today's Spring Card Camp 2 class. Be safe and take care of you!

Donna

Masking Part 2

So this morning I played with reverse masking. Tonight I played with masking again. I started looking through my dies to make the mask and decided that I'd use one of the MFT Pierced Star die (retired). Now unfortunately that was about all the planning I did for this card so it took me a very long time to get this together.

Using masking paper I covered the front of the card after die cutting the star out of the middle. And then I had this panic moment when I thought, "what am I going to fill the star in with?" Little flowers and hearts didn't seem appropriate so I started looking through my stamps. I decided to use Fresh Squeezed Stamps Happy Hexagons (no longer in business). I also used a small heart from Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts. After the mask came off I die cut the piece with MFT Blueprints 13 Stitched die (retired). So after I had the star complete I had to find a sentiment and I really couldn't find something that I liked. So I settled for this sentiment about wishes (like on a star) from Create with TLC. The sentiment is die cut with Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2.  The ribbon is from my stash. I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: use dies and/or punches
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Penny's challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Crash Your Stash: ribbon

That's it for me tonight. Thank you for stopping by and visiting me today. Looking forward to a new technique in class tomorrow. Please stay safe and healthy! We;ll be playing with the twins tomorrow.

Donna

Day 1 Masking

Spring Card Camp 2 began today and it was all about masking. I decided to try reverse masking first and love the results I got.

The photo is terrible to actually see the mask and if I would do this over, I'd make the circle mask in the middle bigger so it was more noticeable. Live and learn. But the reason I went with this circle was the scalloped edge from MFT Blueprints 13 (retired). I really liked that. And to make that more prominent I started by inking around the mask with Seedless Preserves DOI. You can barely see that in the photo. I cut the front panel with MFT Blueprints 13 stitched die. Then I inked stamps from Gina K Wreath Builder stamp set in shades of purple (flowers and hearts) and green (foliage). Inks used: Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac and Mowed Lawn from Distress Oxide; Cosmic Berry and Purple Wine from AlteNew; and Spring Rain from Simon Says. The alphabet is Lawn Fawn Quinn's Alphabet dies. "mom" is popped up with purple fun foam.  The underlying sentiment is from MFT More Essential Sentiments and die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips and popped up with foam tape. Another fun class. I'll try to get the other masking project done later today. I am entering these challenges:

• Modsquad challenge: a day for mothers
• Double D challenge: use shades of purple as your main focus 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafty Cardmakers: celebrations
• Simply Create Too: use flowers

This card is for my daughter. Hope to do something on the inside that the twins can help me with and then they can give it to their Mom for Mother's Day. Working on a couple more card today too. So hope to get back again. Take care and stay safe!

Donna