Heartfelt Sympathy

 I did the stamping for these cards when I was in Des Moines last week for our Group Gathering. This first one is done with ivory cardstock. I placed the two stamps on my MISTI to do the stamping, and I stamped ten of these cardfronts. On this card only, I stamped off the tree and birds, then stamped again. I matted with black and placed on an ivory cardbase.

This one is done using white, and the tree is "full-strength."

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

Simple Anniversary

Vicki brought these Rubbernecker stamps (OOPS! I guess the sentiment is by Endless Creations) to our Group Gathering, and Kris and Georgia came up with this layout. I just CASE'd it. So simple and lovely. I first stamped the sentiment, then inked up the rose stamp, stamped it off once on scratch paper, then stamped over the sentiment. I matted with matching cardstock.

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

Tulip Ribbon

Kris also brought this fun ribbon for us to use! I colored the tulips with Copics. I matted with blue and then purple and added the sentiment - from Papertrey Ink. This butterfly has been sitting on my stamping table for quite a long time. I was just checking to see how a butterfly would work on this card, and realized this one was just the right color! I had originally used yellow Liquid Pearls, so I just used a Copic to color them purple. Thanks again, Kris!

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

Thanks, Kris!

Kris, a member of our Yahoo group, is so great about bringing cards for us to make. This is one she brought dies for. She came up with the layout, as well.

The flower, flower center, leaves and sentiment are all dies. Kris also brought the burlap. I matted with brown cardstock and used an ivory cardbase. So fun. Thanks, Kris!

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

Group Gathering - 2016

Our Yahoo group got together for our tenth annual Group Gathering in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday through Thursday. Well, it was the ninth one in Des Moines. Our first one was in Reinbeck, Iowa. We were a pretty small group this year - only five of us. But, as usual, we had a wonderful time!!! Left to right: Vicki, me, Kris, Georgia and Sheri. We spent our time shopping in Ankeny and visiting at our hotel on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and Thursday we spent our time at Outstamping Designs/Heirlooms by Design in Valley Junction. Marj is such a fabulous host!

The last three years, Marj has arranged a special-session card class for us. So fun! Here are the cards we made this year. The images are all stickers from Penny Black. This first card is 5 x 7 inches.

 This card is 4.5 x 6.25 inches. There is acetate over the sticker.

This card is normal A2 card size - 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

And this last card is also 5 x 7 inches. Aren't they so lovely!! Again - these are not MY creations. I only put them together:)

I can't wait to get together again next year!

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

Congrats

Our former next-door neighbors' son received his Eagle Scout badge in April. We were not able to attend the ceremony and life has been too hectic for me to even get a card to him until now. This is the simple card that I made.

The embossing was done with a Sizzix brass stencil in a folder. I used gold foil cardstock for embossing it. I matted with black and mounted on foam squares. The bottom layer was also matted with black. The card base and bottom layer are both off-white cardstock.

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

Graduation

 We have need of several congratulation cards, so I had to take some time yesterday to get them made. It was nice to have a little time for card making. I've been spending a fair amount of time at my mom and dad's house, sorting through their things. We're still trying to decide what to do with them. I think I'm leaning towards an estate sale, but I'm not sure yet.

At any rate, here are two graduation cards I made. They are basically the same but with different colors. This first one is for a grandson who is "graduating" from pre-school to kindergarten. The colors in the picture are not very true, but ... The cap is actually a blue foil. It is cut with Lifestyle Crafts dies. The stamping was done with a Stampin' Up! stamp. I cut the circles with Spellbinders dies. The background was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I matted with matching blue cardstock. The circles and the hat are mounted on foam squares.

This second card is the same except for the colors. The hat is black with a red tassel. The scalloped circle is red, also. It looks burgundy in the picture, but it truly is red:)

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

June Calendar Page

Here is my June calendar page. The stamp is from Repeat Impressions. I water-colored it using Stampin' Up! inks for most of it, and a brown marker for the chair. I wish I was there right now!

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

Flight of the Butterfly #2

I made this card for the color swap in our stamping group. (Luckily I made it a long time ago!) This month's colors are yellow and turquoise.

The butterfly is from a set in my current stack of Stampin' Up! sets in my project to use them all. The set is called "Flight of the Butterfly." (The first card with this set was on my blog on May 7.) It's a two-step stamping set. I stamped the yellow, then added the turquoise with the second stamp with the help of my Stamp-a-ma-jig. The sentiment is from the same set. The patterned cardstock is from Die Cuts With a View. I matted both layers with turquoise. I used Spellbinders rectangles for the butterfly layer.

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

Happy Birthday, Jonah!

Lucky for me, I had my cards for May all finished at the very beginning of the month - except one for our grandson, Jonah. He will turn three on the 30th. So, I had to quickly make him a card. The only thing he requested for his birthday theme was "cherries." So, I made him this card with a cherry on his cupcake:)

The dies and the sentiments are all from My Favorite Things. The bluish paper is textured.

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

My Dad

I've been away from my blog for a while. I sure hope I can get back to it sometime relatively soon.

I just wanted to let you know that my dad passed away this afternoon shortly after 2:00 our time. He had been battling cancer for many years and was a true fighter. It finally got the best of him and he left us to join my mom. He was 91 and had a great life and had lots of fun. Thank you for your prayers.

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

Washi Tape Birthday

Another simple card for today - my favorite kind:)

I simply added strips of Washi tape diagonally across a piece of cardstock, and then a birthday sentiment from Papertrey Ink. I matted with black and mounted on a white cardbase.

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

CASEd Birthday

I rarely go on Pinterest. Well, that's not quite true. I often go on Pinterest to see which cards of mine have been pinned, and that's all. When someone pins several of them, occasionally I will check out their boards and see what else they have pinned. Well, following that method, I arrived at this card. I really liked it, and did something that I VERY rarely do - I CASEDd her card. I totally copied the layout and changed the colors, the embossing folder, the flowers and the sentiment. Thanks for the wonderful card, Mary!

The embossing folder I used is from Lifestyle Crafts. I only embossed part of the panel. (I used my  Grand Calibur, which is large enough to be able to put the embossing folder in at an angle.) The flowers are from a Gina K set and I colored with Copics. I mounted that panel on foam squares and matted with white. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I added the white ribbon and bow.

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

Flight of the Butterfly #1

First of two cards using the Stampin' Up! set called "Flight of the Butterfly." (You won't see the second one for a while yet.)

The butterfly was done with two stamps. I first stamped the solid butterfly with a multi-color ink pad. Then I stamped the dotted edge with black ink. The sentiment is from the same set. I added two small gems and matted with light blue. I mounted on foam squares. I stamped the background with a flower stamp from the same set using the mulitcolor ink pad and added gems to the center of each flower.

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

Two Cards - Same Stamp

This flower is a great (old) stamp from Paper Inspirations. I used it for two different cards.

I colored the flower with markers and for this first one I put it straight up and down. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I used the same brown marker as the flower center. I matted with olive cardstock.

For this second card, I used the same markers as the first card. I stamped the flower at an angle. The sympathy stamp is also from PTI. I matted this panel with brown. Both cards open up from bottom to top.

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

Using Up Patterned Paper

I've had this patterned paper for several years, and am using up some more of it. It's from Lasting Impressions. (Thanks, Vicki!)

I used some of the big striped paper for the background. The flowers in the rectangle were a part of another sheet. There were also some "loose" flowers and leaves on the same sheet. So, I cut them out and added them to the already-printed flower by mounting them on foam squares. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set that is in my current stack. It's called "Favorite Greetings." I stamped it in black and added purple in the open areas with a Copic marker.

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

Masculine Birthday

A quick card I made for my husband's uncle. Although it kind of looks black and white, it's actually a pretty Soft Suede (brown) and ivory. The embossing was done with a Darice border folder and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

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

Flowery Birthday

This card is very, very similar to one I made a couple weeks ago. I used different patterned paper from the same matstack. And the same paper as the card from a few days ago. For this one, I matted with Riding Hood Red cardstock from Stampin' Up! (An "In" color from several years ago.) The sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and is one of my (many!) favorites. The butterflies were cut with a Memory Box die.

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

Happy Retirement, Jim!

Today is my husband's last day of work. Yahoo!!! Retirement, here we come! :)

Here is the card I made for him. The stamps are both from a My Favorite Things stamp set. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder. I rounded all of the bottom corners. The image panel is mounted on foam squares.

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

May Calendar Page

A very simple page for May. The stamps are from a set from Papertrey Ink. That's it:) I used my MISTI to make the stamping of fifteen calendars go a lot faster and be more precise.

You can find links to my Excel file for printing calendars, along with cutting instructions, on the blog page found under my blog title.

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