Thursday, July 31, 2025

Another half-front card

This week's card is a variation of the half front card from last week, but with a "peek from underneath" wreath from one of our Seasonal Wreaths sets.  Without the bow it would be a perfect card to make flat-for-mailing.  You could substitute a vertical strip of patterned paper to keep things interesting.

I used a second layer of white card stock inside, as I knew I'd be using Copic markers and didn't want the colors to bleed through the back of my card.  I am running low in some colors of card stock so I needed to get creative about a border to emphasize the edges.  My solution was to make a loosely painted watercolor-y border using diluted distress oxide inks in colors similar to the Copics I used to color the pumpkins.  (Although this is the inside, it would make a lovely card front if you are so inspired!)


Here's a close-up of the corner with the focal image and sentiment.   I spattered the inside with the same distress oxide colors used in the border, along with some green and brown and also a little white acrylic paint. 

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These are quick and easy and great for those scraps of paper that are not quite long enough for a full card.  I think they're fun because they are just a little different from the norm. 
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Thursday, July 24, 2025

Christmas in July!


Card-making is so much fun when papers and stamps work together to form a cohesive theme or to tell a particular story.  Today's card uses two paper pads and one stamp set to set the scene for the beloved, familiar and heart-warming "T'was the Night Before Christmas." 


The idea for this card initially started with a leftover 4.25 x 9 inch scrap of white card stock (scored at 5.5) and a glance at our stockings/mittens bundle.  It was almost fully formed before I even made it to my desk.  This was one of those cards that practically made itself it was so quick and easy!  


The feeling brought forth by this stanza and these images is one of "All hearts come home for Christmas," the warmth of the holiday spirit, of faith, family, and friends.  So many wonderful, precious memories of Christmases past along with happiness and hope for the Christmases yet to come.  

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Enjoy our Christmas in July SALE from now through July 27th!  
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Thursday, July 17, 2025

Thinking of You...Be Strong!

Hello everyone!  I've been participating in Tour de Fleece since July 5, and everywhere I look it seems as though my fiber artist friends are spinning Summery "pool" colors.  As I was looking through my paper pads, my eyes were drawn to these lovely blue-greens, so I had to follow suit!  
 

This "splotchy" print looked almost like a map or globe, so I decided to stamp the Mackinac Bridge directly onto the designer paper.  I added a bit more blue and green to the stamped design in the appropriate spots, but most of the coloring was that grey-green for the bridge structure.  

I loved the way the colors of that paper were like spilled ink, so I took a piece of card stock and splashed and splattered it, then dragged it through some ink pressed onto my craft mat.  Then I added the sheet of designer paper stamped with a swan and sentiment.  (It's raining here today, so I may have to get a dry iron to completely dry and flatten the paper which was still a bit damp when this photo was taken).  

A very easy and fun card!  I hope you like it!

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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Sunflower Season!

 


Hello everyone!  I hope you have had a wonderful week!  It has been a busy one here since my birthday/4th of July and the start of Tour de Fleece!  


Sharon is hosting a sale of Stamp Simply's Florals through July 11th, so I thought it would be fun to feature one of those sets.  The sunflower set is one of my favorites, although I honestly love them all!  


I combined our vintage seed packet stamps/dies with the sunflower for this Summery card front.  I stamped the frame directly onto a sheet from Craft Consortium Grunge Light, bringing some of those pale pinks from the corner of the paper into my coloring.  Gradient colors get me every time!  (I might have to try my hand at dyeing some fiber or yarn to match the gradient of this paper!  It is SO pretty and so perfectly Summer!)  



It is full-on Sunflower Season in Florida right now!  Our grocery store is full of sunflower bouquets.  Giant blossoms!  

I used several distress oxide inks to splatter the entire card, hoping that it would give it a Summer-out-in-the-garden, hands-in-the-dirt kind of feel.  

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For those who are curious, here's what my Tour de Fleece is looking like so far!  I've got lots of spindles, in both Turkish and supported styles, and one wheel going.  Lots of wonderful color and a couple of natural undyed fibers as well. Tour de Fleece runs simultaneously during Tour de France...spinners set challenges for themselves according to their interests and skill level, taking rest days and challenge days right along with the Tour riders.  So much fun and always full of inspiration.  


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Thursday, July 3, 2025

Just Popping by to say Hi!


Recently one of my besties who is visiting the Pacific Northwest sent me a photo/video of a beautiful field of poppies, and that's what inspired today's project.  I was struck by the intensity of the colors and the peacefulness of the scene, the grasses and flowers bobbing their heads in the soft breeze and glowing in the light of that "golden hour."  I really wanted to try to capture that in a clean and simple card.    


The flowers in the photo were a variety of reds, oranges, yellows, and white but I chose colors here that would harmonize with this lovely designer paper.  I love the contrast of the paler portion of the background with the brightly colored blossoms.


I kept auditioning various ribbons and laces but in the end decided to just keep things really simple.  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the designer paper background and added some spatters to kinda tie it all together, hoping to let the paper and flowers shine all on their own.


Here's the inside.  I absolutely LOVE this "Just Because" sentiment since we really don't need a reason to send a card!  

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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Proud to be an American!

 

Hi y'all!

Since we live not so far from a naval air station patriotic cards are always in season, but I especially enjoy making them at this time of year.  Today's project was really fun, coming together with only one paper pad, one stamp set and a few dies.  


So fun and easy to mix and match these two-sided papers!  This patriotic floral is absolutely adorable.  

If you've been visiting here for a while, you've probably noticed that our fishtail banners die is one of my favorites!  The star is a Spellbinders die that I enjoy scoring and folding so that it is more 3-D.      


The easel fold is perfect for displaying a special card, but also adds extra "real estate" to show off more sentiments and stamps.  It's a 4.25 x 11 inch piece of card stock, scored at 2.75 and 5.5 inches.  Then an additional 4.25 x 5.5 inch card front is adhered to the bottom of the fold.


Here I have added the Pledge of Allegiance along with a heartfelt thank you.  I'm so grateful for our American service men and women and for all that they do to protect and defend our freedom.  

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If you're lucky enough to already own one of our Old Glory dies (the stamp sets are in stock but the dies are currently sold out) here is another "stepped up" option for the front of today's easel card.  
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Thursday, June 19, 2025

Celebrate Juneteenth! Let Freedom Ring!

When Sharon mentioned that I would be posting a card on Juneteenth and suggested a card using this verse, my mind was filled with memories from when I attended PT school in Galveston!  

Celebrating the holiday is a big deal there since Galveston is known as the birthplace of Juneteenth, where the end of slavery in the United States was declared on June 19, 1865.  It had taken more than two years for the people of Galveston to finally receive the "news" that the slaves had been freed as a result of Abraham Lincoln's January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.  

I was living in Galveston in 1980 (attending UTMB School of Allied Health Sciences from 1979-1981) when Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth a state holiday, so of course, it made a huge impression upon me.  Galveston hosts Juneteenth celebrations annually  (I love the words of their intro on this year's website).  The date became a national holiday in 2021.      

So my card for today is not a traditional red, white, and blue patriotic card, but rather a tribute to Juneteenth and Galveston Island's rich history with colors and images representing the ocean, sand, boardwalk and seawall (which was built from October 1902 to July 1904 after the devastating, catastrophic hurricane of 1900).  

The date of the original Juneteenth is displayed using dies from Tim Holtz Collector die set.   There's a bit of cheesecloth "fisherman's net" and a mother-of-pearl button to carry the island theme throughout.  


The inside of the card has another sheet of that gorgeous Ink Drops Earth background paper that reminds me of ocean, algae, seaweed, etc.  (It's on the front too but mostly covered by the "sand/seawall concrete" and "boardwalk" papers/textures).  

Lots of symbolism on this card!  And for even more symbolism...notice that that little star is not entrapped in the net.  Let Freedom Ring!  

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

4th of July Celebrations!


Hi y'all!  Just a couple more weeks until July arrives!  4th of July is a big deal in our household because my birthday is a few days before, and the 4th makes it easy to just extend the celebrating!  Besides, my husband is retired USN so we have always been a patriotic family.  Even with all of the craziness going on in our country lately, I still believe that the good ole US of A is the greatest nation on earth and I'm proud to be an American.  ❤️  I am praying for unity and healing in our land.  God bless America!  


I have had several patriotic paper pads on or beside my desk for a few weeks now, and I have wanted to use some of the little printed paper tags that are included, so that was the mission for today's 5.5 inch square card.   


This majestic eagle was a perfect fit and shape atop a Tim Holtz envelope, which is great for stashing a few of those little above-mentioned paper trinkets.  It's been a while since I have heat-embossed anything!   


These are all made from printed paper tags, die cuts, strips of card stock, a little stamping.  It may be a little corny but I couldn't resist using that "Uncle Sam hand" from the Tim Holtz Postale set.  I can just see the original Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster in my mind's eye!  (Here, in case you don't remember it!  It's been around since 1917!)


Here's the inside of my card.  Perfect for filling in a date and time and inviting a friend over to celebrate!

For years we have gotten together with the neighbors for a friendly neighborhood culdesac fireworks show, although with Nori (son's dog) here now, we will probably opt for charcoal snakes and sparklers rather than anything noisy!  

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Thursday, June 5, 2025

For Father's Day


Father's Day is less than two weeks away, so it is time to hurry and place your order so you can get to stamping!  For today's project I used a couple of sets from our Michigan series and several scriptures from a couple of our other stamp sets to make a card for my Yooper husband.   And I have to say...I sure do miss my dad!  ❤️

This project has hardly any coloring at all and even with all its different papers, stamps and die-cuts, was really quick to make.  I loved combining all these masculine prints (one from Scorched Wood and three from Metal Textures, including that cool steel tire tread pattern)...they work so well together.  


Here's a closer look at the Edmund Fitzgerald, stamped on texture printed paper with no coloring at all.  The only coloring on the entire card is the ship's wheel which has a very little bit of Copic brown.    


This fold is just a 4.25 x 11 inch piece of card stock scored at 2 3/4 and 5 1/2 inches. 


This is a peek at the underside of that circle that's adhered to the front and the center panel next to it.  I added scraps of some mappy paper from a discontinued pad that looks much like Vintage Emporium (I need to order that one!).  I wanted to include this "Train up a child" verse on this card as it is so perfect for a Father's Day card, so I stamped it onto another piece of that scraped metal texture paper that the ship was stamped and die cut from.  (I love that this fun fold gives lots of extra space for more stamps or designer prints).  


When the card is closed, the tags and little Father's Day sentiment are hidden, but when it is opened they are in full view.  


Here's a closer look at the tags.  

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Thursday, May 29, 2025

Farmhouse Fresh Peaches and Cream


Hi y'all!

Last week we saw a roadside stand with fresh peaches-for-sale, so Summer is officially not far off!  I have fond memories of fresh peaches and homemade vanilla ice cream with my cousins Karen and Sherrie, and their parents Uncle Roscoe and Aunt Marie (my dad's sister)!  I must've been around 10 and it was close to my birthday. We ate enough peaches and ice cream to just about make ourselves sick!  

Do you remember those old hand-crank ice cream makers?  I was small and usually got nominated to be the one to sit on a pile of towels on top of the thing to keep it stabilized while the guys took turns cranking until the ice cream was ready.  ðŸ¤£  


Isn't it funny the things that can inspire a card!?!  So I pulled out several Stamp Simply sets and a couple of paper pads and Copic markers and this was the result.  The colors of this background paper work really well with the designer prints from the other paper pad, and they make that peach really pop in the foreground.  On top of that, they seem pretty perfect for the nearly red hot temperatures we have been having lately!  


I use our Fishtail Banners dies all the time!  It's definitely a favorite! Here I added a few green pearls on that designer print for some contrast and counter-balance against the peach's one little green leaf!  


I used another sheet of the same brightly colored paper inside along with a sentiment and the little milk barrel from our Farmhouse series.  [With these stamp sets there's a straight line sentiment (Fruit) and this one (Farmhouse) where the words are stacked, so you can take your pick between the two!  I liked the way it looked with the milk can nestled in alongside so I used the Farmhouse one].

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