Poppies Again - and my thoughts about my Grand Calibur

OK - so here are two more cards I made using a Poppies die from Spellbinders. I wasn't able to cut through anything using the die and my BIGkick, which I have always loved and had no problems with, so I ordered a Grand Calibur from Amazon using a gift card I received for my birthday. I'll give you my thoughts on that at the end of the post.

For this first card, I cut the poppies out of olive cardstock and then again out of reddish-orange. I glued the red flowers over the olive. I cut a panel of white and added Washi tape around the edges and mounted on foam squares. I glued the poppies on the panel. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

For this second card, I cut the poppies out of a black, shiny, textured cardstock. I cut a circle out of red and glued the poppies on that. Then I cut a square from white and matted with black. The sentiment on this one is also from Papertrey. The base is kraft.

OK. My thoughts on the Grand Calibur. I'm not really sure what to say. Although it cut the poppies a lot better than my BIGkick, it still didn't work perfectly. I had to do just a little bit of cutting with my scissors. Then I tried cutting pieces using all of my new dies and the Grand Calibur. I hadn't tried them all in my BIGkick, but I had tried several of them and had failures with lots of them. I will say that for the most part, the dies did cut all the way through using the Grand Calibur. That was the problem with my BIGkick - not cutting through. So, that was better. I've heard from others about not being able to get the cut pieces out of the dies. That certainly was a problem. I used parchment paper between the paper and the die and that helped. And I would much rather have that issue than not cutting everything out. The Grand Calibur requires a lot more winding to get the platforms through. So, overall, I'm satisfied with the Grand Calibur. Honestly, though, I wish I hadn't bought the dies that I had problems with, and then I wouldn't have "needed" a new machine! And I just bought new plates for the BIGkick, so I'm not going to quit using it. I'll just have to use two for awhile. When I'm ready to give up my BIGkick, I'll have to get another plate for my Grand Calibur, as it doesn't come with a plate that you can use with embossing folders.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

One More Yellow/Black and Daisy Birthday!

 

Love this combo:) I only have one more of these daisies left, though. You may be seeing it again soon - who knows! I'm not sure I've ever used anything up before!

I cut the black circle with a Spellbinders die - using my Grand Calibur. I was going to do a post about it today, but I have to think about it more. It should be ready for tomorrow's post. The yellow patterned paper is from a Recollections stack. The daisy is from K&Co. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I embossed the yellow panel with a Sizzix folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Guy Birthday

When I was trying out some new Spellbinders dies on Tuesday (and having so many problems with them using my BIGkick) I ended up with some pieces that worked. Two of them were this design in navy and burgundy. I wanted to make another one, but didn't have exactly the same colors (I had been using scraps) so I ended up making all new ones using my oldest matstack (that I've had for about eleven years! Maybe I'll use it up some day!) I glued them to a white panel and matted with the same burgundy. The sentiment is stamped using an equally old ink pad that has never even been reinked. Amazing! (Ranger Archival Plum) This card is going to my nephew.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

CAS(E) This Sketch #60

I made this card using the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch #60. It's a very simple sketch, but I really like it.

I stamped the leaves using a Papertrey set. Then I stamped the sentiment, from another Papertrey set. I scored lines above and below the sentiment. The flower is from K & Co. I think I only have three of those daisies left. I might actually use something up! (And then I will miss them, for sure. LOL!) The patterned paper strip is from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Sketch Challenge - Plus Washi Tape

I had a little time (while Wyatt was napping. Thanks, Wyatt!) to make a card for the SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge for Wednesday. 

I got some Washi tape for Christmas and thought this would be a good use for it. The flower was pre-made, but I stuck a little Washi tape on a scrap of cardstock and punched out a circle from it for the flower center. The sentiment was stamped with the birthday stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Banner Greetings using Gumball Green ink. The greens match a lot better in real life! I mounted it on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Thursday

I've done "Christmas Sunday" for the past couple years, but I think I'll change to "Christmas Thursday." I link them up the to Christmas Card Challenge blog, and their posts are on Sunday, so I can never do the "theme" for the week. This way I'll be able to. I'm not quite sure I'm in the mood for doing Christmas cards, but I'll give it a try!

The theme this week is polka dots. I started with the patterned papers, which are both from Recollections. I stamped the sentiment, which is from Hero Arts. Then I stamped the snowflakes, which are also from Hero Arts. I matted with red cardstock and I mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares. One done! 

Thanks for the comments on my last post about the Grand Calibur. I ordered one on Tuesday! I got a gift card from Amazon for my birthday, so it was a perfect way to spend it, even though until Tuesday I had NO plans of getting a new machine:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Terri!

A birthday card for a friend. Happy Birthday, Terri!

I cut the poppies and the background out with Spellbinders dies. (I struggled and struggled with the Poppy one. Anyone else have problems??? I ended up having to cut a lot of the center portion with a scissors. I am not happy about that! I tried again and again, and I really don't think I'll be able to use the die.) I glued the poppy piece right on the labels 27 one and then mounted that panel on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a stack I got at Archiver's from Pebbles. The sentiment is from The Paper Company.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Hello Friend!

A little card to send along to a friend. 

The flower is from the Secret Garden set from Stampin' Up! I stamped it with Primrose Petals ink. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in SU!'s True Thyme. I sponged ink partway around the edge of my matting piece. After I even had the glue on, I decided to turn the mat around. I had initially planned to put the dark corner in the lower left. Not sure which way I like it best, but once I touched it to the paper, there was no turning back! 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

A Cheery Hello

I made this card is for yesterday's SplitCoastStampers Free 4 All challenge. The challenge was to make a card specifically for someone and mail it out. This card for the woman who cut my hair for MANY years but moved away to Arizona. She has sent me a Christmas card the last couple years, but I hadn't reciprocated. So, I'm sending her this card (along with our Christmas letter) to say hello and thanks.

The bottom layer was embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The yellow and white layers were cut with Spellbinders dies. I added a flower with gems for the center. The sentiment was cut with my Cameo Silhouette.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Winter Thank Yous

 I was actually in the mood for stamping yesterday afternoon, and Wyatt cooperated by taking a nice long nap! :) I needed a couple thank you cards and also wanted to check the challenges on SplitCoastStampers. The Ways to Use It Challenge is to use snowmen, snowflakes, etc. Perfect!

For both of my cards, I used a Dreamweavers brass stencil and white embossing paste. After using the stencil and paste, I sprinkled with ultrafine crystal glitter. The navy paper has slight texture and the snowflake paper is from a matstack by Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Flowers

Finally - I had the time and the mojo to make a couple cards! A little pressure of the upcoming birthdays may have helped, too:) At any rate, I made three cards last night. You'll get to see two of them. (One really isn't very blog-worthy.)

I stamped the background with a stamp from a Hero Arts set with Memento London Fog ink. Then I stamped the flowers (from Penny Black) with Versafine Black Onyx. I colored them with some watercolor pencils and then used my Aquabrush. I matted with some Stampin' Up! cardstock - Riding Hood Red, I believe. I added some black "gems" in the flower centers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Celebrating with Digital Two for Tuesday

Cora, over at Digital Two for Tuesday, is celebrating her 200th blog post, which was on New Year's Eve. She asked for six volunteers to help showcase her wonderful images, and I am one of them! Cora takes vintage images from old catalogs, magazine, books, etc., cleans them up, and then offers them for free on her blog. Isn't that cool and fun??

For both of my cards today, I used one of her images from June 10. She has so many flower images to choose from, and you know how much I love flowers! For this first one, I printed the image and then cut it out with a Labels 27 die from Spellbinders. I colored with Copic markers and sponged a little bit of light blue ink over the image. I added some Star Dust Stickles to the flowers. The sentiment is from The Paper Company Studio and I scored a few lines around it. The patterned paper is from a stack I got at Michael's.

For my second card, I made a stair-step card. (You can find other stair-step cards that I've made here, along with a tutorial in one of the earliest ones.) Again, I printed the image and colored with Copics. I matted the image with some Papertrey Ink cardstock. I cut the numbers using a Cuttlebug die set. I embossed the piece on the front with a Sizzix embossing folder, after stamping the sentiment.

Be sure to check out Cora's blog and see what her other guest designers have created. You will be amazed:) Thanks, Cora! (You can also find other cards that I've made previously with Cora's images by following this link.)

And finally, I decided to share this one, too. Our three-year-old granddaughter wanted to color something, and I had this image on my desk, so she got to color one, too:) She asked me to color the leaves for her, because they were "too little." :) I added Stickles to her flowers, too. She and her mom and dad and two brothers were here for about five days. It was a bit chaotic for a few days with them, along with our son, daughter-in-law and their two boys here for some of the time, too, but it was great!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

January - 2014! - Calendar

Wow! Not only is it a new month, it's a new year!!! Happy New Year, Everyone.

For this calendar page, I used a couple Hero Arts stamps - the snowman and the snowflake. I colored with markers. The "Happy 2014" was cut with my Cameo Silhouette.

If you are interested in making your own calendar pages, I have uploaded my file and cutting instructions. You can find the links under my blog header.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Belated Birthday - to Me!

Another tradition ... I post a picture of my birthday cards on my birthday. Oops - too busy this year:) My birthday was on Saturday - I entered a new decade as I turned 60. Here are the wonderful cards that I received. I happen to know that there are a couple other cards on their way. Sorry they won't be pictured.

My birthday was great and then on Sunday we celebrated Christmas with our kids and grandchildren. Fun times! Life will get back to "normal" on Wednesday afternoon. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Calendar Files

I actually worked ahead:) I have my blank calendars (all fifteen of them) cut and ready to be made. Hopefully this year will be a "calm" year in which I can get my 2015 calendars done earlier. My plan for the past couple of years has been to get January of the next year done during the current January, etc.  Some months worked out that way and some didn't this year.

At any rate, I have uploaded my file for 2015. You can find the link to the uploads under my blog header. As always, you are free to use them. I would love to hear from you if you give the files a try.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All! I hope you have special family and friends to share the holiday with and have safe travels wherever you may go. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, today and always.

Same tree and ornaments as last year - different house:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Winter Birthday

This card is kind of similar to one I made for our daughter-in-law earlier this month, but since I haven't anything else to share, you get to see it:)

The background is from a matstack from Recollections. I matted with shimmery silver. The sentiment is done with a brass stencil, white embossing paste and glitter. I matted with white and mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Thinking of You - Again!

Here is the other "Thinking of You" card I made on Sunday. 

Again, I used ivory cardstock. The flower stamp is from a Penny Black set. I colored it with Copics. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set. I embossed with a Sizzix folder after stamping and coloring. I matted with black.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Thinking of You

A Thinking of You card for a member of my stamping group. I made another similar to it that I will share very soon.

I stamped the image (from a Penny Black set) on watercolor paper and then I watercolored the flowers using Stampin' Up inks and an Aquarpainter. I stamped the sentiment (from Stampin' Up) and then embossed with a Sizzix folder. I matted with Old Olive. The main panel and the card base are off-white.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sunny Birthday

This birthday card is going to California, so I thought a nice sunshiney card would be OK for December:)

I got to spend some time in my stamping room on Sunday and this is one of the five cards I got made. Nothing much to it! I embossed the sentiment using a brass stencil and my BIGkick. I used black for all of my matting and the flower center - which I punched with an EK Success punch. The flower and patterned paper were from Michael's. The flower and sentiment are mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Sheri!

Here is the card I made for a member of my stamping group. Happy Birthday, Sheri!

I've spent some time recently "thumbing through" my stamps. This one screamed "Sheri" to me:) It seemed like something Sheri would use. I stamped her with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers and matted with green. The sentiments are from the same little set as the image - a dollar set from Inkadinkado.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Anniversary, Andrea and Dave

I totally missed an anniversary of a member of my stamping group. So sorry, Andrea! Here is the card I made for them that was about a week and a half late.

The flowers were stamped and cut out with Stampin' Up! stamps and die. I used Stickles on the centers and also popped one of them up. I stamped the leaves directly on the cardstock. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly. I added a thin strip of green - just because! I matted with the same green. (Gumball Green from SU!)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Third Birthday, Owen!

Wow - our grandson, Owen, is three years old today! This is the card I made for him.

Since he is a big fan of Mickey Mouse (we have to call him Mickey some of the time, and his friends are Minnie (me), Pete (Grandpa), Goofy (Dad), Clarabelle Cow (Mom) and Donald (Wyatt.) I of course had to make him a Mickey card. I couldn't find my Disney embossing folders, so I went on-line and found this image. I printed it twice and cut out the package and Mickey's head and mounted them on foam squares. The font is a Disney font called "Walter." I used black to mat the layers.

Starting in January, Owen will be going to preschool/daycare. I'll sure miss the little bugger, since I've been babysitting since he was two months old. It will be GREAT for him to go there, though. And now I have Wyatt to take care of and shower with attention.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Winter Birthday

Today is our daughter-in-law's birthday. This is the card I made for her. She loves Christmas, so I thought she would like this Christmas-y birthday card.

The background is from a Recollections matstack that I picked up on Thanksgiving. I embossed the white strip with a Cuttlebug folder and matted with shimmery silver. The sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) is embossed with silver embossing powder.

Life hasn't exactly become less busy! We hosted Thanksgiving and have had a lot of company. The Christmas cards all got mailed out and I finished my calendars, finally. We haven't done very much shopping, but we really don't have a lot to do. We made our list of people to buy for and noted a few ideas. I really want to get that done as soon as possible. I haven't done any card-making (until last night) for about three weeks, it seems! It actually feels kind of good to NOT be spending time in my stamping room and worrying about making cards for my blog! I have hardly been on the computer, too. Our weather has been COLD!!! And snowy, too! Yuck!!! Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and not too stressed by holiday preparation.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Sunday (On Monday!)

Since my calendar page went on yesterday's post, I'll do my "Christmas Sunday" on Monday. I actually made this card almost two weeks ago, and it is my last for the year! I got the Christmas letter done and the cards all went out the day before Thanksgiving. Whew! I really wanted to get them out early this year, since we have a new address and not everyone had it yet.

Another simple card, and I made five of them with various stickers. The ornament stickers are from the dollar area at Michael's a few years ago. The patterned paper is from a Recollections stack. I cut the vanilla circle with a punch and the green circle with a Nestability. The sentiment is from Rubber Stampede.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

December Calendar Page

The last month's calendar page from 2013. Unbelievable!

The trees were embossed with a Lasting Impressions brass stencil. I matted with shimmery gold paper. The sentiment (from Denami) was embossed with gold embossing powder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day! (To my American friends, and to everyone else, too, whether today is "Thanksgiving" or not!) I hope you all have someone special to celebrate and give thanks with today!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flutter By Wednesday - Thanks/Thankful

This week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge is to make a card with the theme "Thanks" or "Thankful." Be sure to include your fairy or butterfly! If there are at least 50 entries, there will be a prize, so let's all get busy creating! Then, link your card up the Flutter By Wednesday blog.

For my card, I went really simple. Imagine that! LOL! But, this is even simpler than usual. The background is a sheet of patterned paper. It's from a small matstack from Jodie Lee Designs that I purchased a couple years ago at a small scrapbooking store on our way home from a mini vacation. I just trimmed it down, stamped the sentiment (from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Thank You Kindly) with SU! Soft Suede, and matted with Soft Suede cardstock. We'd love to see what you all come up with!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it! 

This is the one Hanukkah card I made this year. I cut the snowflakes out of an iridescent cardstock that I've had for years. I used my Cameo Silhouette to cut them. I matted with a thin strip of textured light blue and a thicker strip of the same cardstock as the snowflakes. I printed the sentiment on my computer before assembling the card. Happy Hanukkah, Harriet and Bruce!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Sunday

A new Sunday - a new Christmas card. Not for long, though! I have two or three more to make. Yippee! I was hoping to get the Christmas letter done and printed yesterday, but didn't get a chance. Hopefully, VERY soon, as we are hosting Thanksgiving, and I really wanted them done before that.

As I reach the end and feel like I'm running out of time, they are getting simpler:) I embossed the design with a new-to-me Sizzix embossing folder. I stamped the sentiment (an oldie from Katie & Co.) and the holly leaves (from Repeat Impressions.) I colored the holly leaves and berries and then added red Stickles to the berries.

I'm linking this to the Christmas Card Challenge blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

No Card - But a Post:)

I scored some free cabinets yesterday. We picked them up last night and Jim (with a little help from me) got them put up tonight! (Just the uppers ones. The lower part is part of old dining room hutch.) I'm not sure what all I'll keep in them, but I've already got them at least half full! I put ribbons and punches and some paper in there so far. I think it will make my stamping room more tidy, as I had a lot of stuff piled up and not very neat looking. Now I'll be able to get my bulletin board hung and a couple pictures that I've wanted. It will be nice to finally have my stamping room all in order!

I haven't had any time for stamping lately. Seems like taking care of a two-month old and an almost three-year-old doesn't leave me a lot of time for anything else! LOL! I DO have four posts scheduled for next week, though.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flutter By Wednesday - A Sketch

This week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge is another great sketch by Design Team member, Kathy. We'd love to have you join in the fun! Just create your card based on this sketch, and link it up to the Flutter By Wednesday blog. Be sure to include your butterfly or fairy! If there are at least fifty entries, Danni will be awarding a prize.

For my card, I did something different for me. I started with the papers, working my way from the bottom up. It seems I usually work from the top down:) The papers are from a stack I bought at Michael's, but I cut it into six by six pieces and threw away the cover sheet, so I can't tell you who it's made by. Sorry. I chose to use this whimsical butterfly stamp from Inkadinkado. I colored with Copics. The sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) replaces the ribbon in the sketch. I guess I just kind of forgot about/ignored the three dots at the top of the panel. LOL! (Sorry, Kathy!) Looking at the card in the picture, I can see that I put the butterfly piece on crooked:( Maybe I can get it off and straighten it up.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Sunday

Here is my card for this week. I actually made seven of this one - with slight variations. On some of them, I positioned the panel on the right side, instead of the middle. One of them has silver glitter. Etc.

I saw these cards on Joan's blog, and really liked them and the "NOEL." So, instead of purchasing the file from the Silhouette site, I made my own. The NOEL and the red circle were cut on my Cameo Silhouette. I used my Xyron machine to apply the "sticky" for the glitter. The ornament top was stamped with a Verve stamp and embossed with silver embossing powder. I free-handed the ornament string. I used a punch for the holes to put the ribbon through. I'm submitting this to the Christmas Card Challenge blog. (Edited to add: As always the main challenge is just to make a Christmas card. This week's additional challenge is "sparkle and bling." Gosh, I even met the specific challenge!) This makes 66 cards done. I think I have about 14 to go. I still have to stamp a sentiment in them all, though, so I guess I still have a ways to go!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Anniversary, Nancy and Ralph

Here is the anniversary card I made for a friend in my stamping group. I thought it was appropriate that I used an image I stamped while I was at our Group Gathering. Nancy wasn't there, but now she can see something from there:)

The image is a multi-stamp set from Rubbernecker. I don't remember what colors I used. I matted with a dark blue. The sentiment is from Inky Antics and is stamped in black.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Simple "Guy" Card

I have a nephew who turns 35 next week. This is the card I made for him. Always so hard, but the main thing is to just send a card and let him know I remembered.

The main image is a retired stamp from Stampin' Up! (The set is called Vivid Greetings.) I stamped it with Midnight Muse. I only have five of the new ink pads from SU!, but I sure do like the way they work. The bottom layer is also Midnight Muse. I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder. That's it, and it will work just fine:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flutter By Wednesday - Open Challenge

Time for a new challenge from Flutter By Wednesday. This week's challenge is open - just be sure to include your butterfly or fairy! If there are at least 50 entries, Danni will be awarding a prize to a lucky random participant. Be sure to link up your card to the FBW blog.

I had these three butterflies sitting on my desk. They were cut from an Easter card I was working on. (Yes, silly me! Working on an Easter card. I don't even SEND Easter cards! LOL!) I glued them to a small piece of blue cardstock and embossed with a Sizzix folder. Then I matted with the same color cardstock using foam squares, after rounding the corners. I embossed a strip of the same cardstock and glued it to the card base. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. It's not exactly a fall card, but it will keep til next spring!

We'd love to have you join us this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Blue Birthday

This is the card I made for my mother-in-law for her birthday. She will be 96 tomorrow! I had chosen a different card, but my husband wanted something with a bigger sentiment, so he helped me choose what to use.

The sentiment is a large wooden stamp, and I can't read the label to tell who it's made by. I stamped it with Pacific Point ink and added Star Dust Stickles to it. I scored a double line all around it. I punched a circle out of Pacific Point for the flower center. I added Stickles to that, too. I also used the Pacific Point to mat the sentiment panel. The patterned paper is from a Recollections matstack.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Sunday

I sure am glad I started my Christmas cards when I did, because I'm starting to feel the pressure already! Since it's Sunday, I'll share this one with you.

I used some textured red cardstock and embossed it with a new (to me) Darice embossing folder. Then I sanded the embossing down, allowing the white core to show through. I adhered it directly to the card front. I stamped the sentiment (from Jillibean Soup) with Versamark and embossed with Detail White embossing powder. I'm entering this into the Christmas Card Challenge blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Fiftieth Anniversary!

It's my husband's brother and sister-in-law's 50th Anniversary today. Happy Anniversary, Dave and Betty! (They don't read my blog, though.)

I used shimmery gold paper for the background, the sentiment matting, and the numbers. I embossed the background with a Sizzix folder (available through Stampin' Up!) and matted with black. I printed the sentiment on my computer and cut it with an oval Nestability. The mat for it was cut with a Spellbinders die. The sentiment is mounted on foam squares. The numbers were cut using a Cuttlebug die set.

It's our anniversary today, too! :) It's "only" 39 years for us, though.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Purple Anniversary - and a Little Wyatt Update

Quick post. I had a little time to play in my stamping room on Monday, and this is one of the three cards I made. I hope to have some more play time soon!

The black oval and the flowers were cut with my Cameo Silhouette. I used foam squares to mount it. The patterned paper is from a stack from Recollections and the sentiment is from Inky Antics. I matted with black.

A quick update on our grandson, Wyatt. He had a doctor appointment yesterday, and he was up eight ounces from last Wednesday. Awesome!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flutter By Wednesday - Brown

Time for this week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge. The challenge is to use brown - and a fairy or butterfly, of course! Check out the blog for inspiration from the design team, then get busy creating your own challenge card. Link it up to the blog so all can see what you've made. If there are fifty or more entries this week, Danni has a surprise for one random winner!

When I thought "brown" and "butterflies," the two didn't mix very well in my mind. But I'm relatively happy with the way this turned out. I sponged three Stampin' Up! colors on a masked-off strip. (Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Close to Cocoa.) Then I used Chocolate Chip to stamp the butterflies (from Inkadinkado) and the sentiment (from Inky Antics.) I matted the panel with Chocolate Chip cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

November Calendar Page

Oh my gosh - it's November! Where has the year gone???

I masked off the center portion and sponged on More Mustard, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip inks. (I also masked off the sun/moon before sponging on the darker inks.) The tree stamp is from Inkadinkado and the sentiment is from Verve.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!