A Card Makeover

 Hello friends, I hope things are going well for you. I'm continuing to stamp during this heat wave and I'm enjoying a bit of a lull of summer activities. 

Do you ever lay awake at night thinking of all the things you didn't like about a card you made that day? Well it doesn't happen often, thankfully I am a very good sleeper! But yesterday's card (see it HERE) had some definite issues. Not a detailed focal point, and too busy with the papers I used.  I felt it was out of balance.

Here's the re-make! 

I took the same sketch and arranged the papers differently. Even though I like the largest panel of paper best, it really works much better in the background. I pulled out a bear who is happily relaxing and colored him with Copics to be used for my focal point. This time the sentiment was cut right out of the patterned paper. I backed it with card stock and foam tape for a bit of dimension.

What do you think of my card makeover? I'll be entering this again as take 2 at The Paper Players.  My stamps are from Penny Black, Special Day.

Thanks for stopping by! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Masculine Birthday

 As a scrapbooker turned card maker, I have always been drawn to designer papers. Last month I made the discovery of a tiny scrapbooking store in our very small town just a couple miles from my house! I met a new friend, thoroughly enjoyed having a look around and came home with a few papers. 

We live in a lake community so the papers from Simple Vintage Lakeside (Simple Stories) were a great find. They are featured on today's card. 

I layered two of my favorites pages with a white panel. Then die cut a

focal point with the boat extended past the die and trimmed with scissors. 

The only stamping? The sentiment! 

I'm playing with the challenge at The Paper Players. 

I am glad to have a masculine birthday card added to the stash. I really do appreciate your visit, and hope your day is enjoyable! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Color Hues #42 Black and Yellow

Welcome to my blog! June 1st is a special day! It's the beginning of my favorite month of the year, and the start to a new challenge at Color Hues! 

Black and yellow. Flowers? Bees? Butterflies?  How about a humorous birthday? 

 

I love the masculine vibes in the MFT stamps and dies called Get Down to Basics. I like how this looks in black and yellow! 

All the images were stamped, colored with Copic markers, die cut and assembled on the card front. For extra detail I added some DSP and Glossy Accents to the smiley face. The main sentiment was embossed with white ink. On the inside it continues with "OFFICE MEMO: You're Awesome!"

Speaking of awesome, be sure to visit the blog to see inspiration from the team that can't be beat! Thanks for your visit here today!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful! 

We are Family

 Hello there! It's been a snowy weekend and I've been happy staying inside and catching up on a few things. January is a big month for family birthdays and today that was my focus. A card needs to be in the mail tomorrow, so I got busy! 

My husband and I grew up in Maryland and his family spent lots of time on the water. When I saw the Gina K stamps depicting Magnificent Mallards I knew it would really help with those guy cards. The sentiments are specifically geared towards family adding to it's usefulness. 

My card is a CAS(E) of Mindy's fabulous card HERE. I was inspired by Jen's sketch at Freshly Made as well. Also entering at NBUS #34 as it's my first time using this set. 

That's it for me today! I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inspired By...Dad's Meal!

 A happy Thursday Hello and welcome to a fun new challenge at Inspired By! I loved this one and you will too. Check out Dad's Meal! 

This leaves lots of possibilities, doesn't it? I don't have any food stamps except cupcakes and cookies kind of images. But I did have stamps in my NBUS pile that were perfect for this challenge! Several of the guys in my life love bacon, but one special son likes to advertise his favorite food on his T-shirts with a punny quote. This card is for him! 

An apron die cut. Piggy, a hot dog. and a very cute saying = one super fun card. I love that oven mitt. Here's the inside. 

I am happy to be adding this to the challenge at NBUS - never-before-used-schtuff! I am slowly going through the stash and trying to curb the urge for new acquisitions, lol! 

Now it's your turn! Can't wait to see what you will make! Please play along and I will see you in the gallery. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

Supplies used: 

Stamps: Sugar Pea Designs - This Little Piggy
COPIC markers

Accessories - Silver foil card stock, Apron A2 Honey Cuts and Apron Barbecue Add-On Honey Cuts Accessories from Honey Bee Stamps. These sold out quickly but I found them still available at Ellen Hutson.

Music Speaks

Hello! 

I have a quick card share for this Friday using the Music Speaks stamp set from Honey Bee stamps. Another NBUS! As is the paper from Honey Bee Back to Basics Pack. 

Dr B is my favorite guitar and music lover. He approved this message. I look forward to using the images of various musical instruments with others in our family. 

I also thought it would make great guy cards. I love that the dies cut out the sentiments too, as well as every tiny music note. I added three metallic jewels that's centers shine as blue IRL. 

I am playing along at NBUS (again) and 

Freshly Made Sketches. I made this very clean and simple. 

I've had a good break from my well loved florals this month because of playing with the new. Expect something flowery sweet and a bit delicate soon! Hope you have a wonderful day.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Pine Branches Winter Birthday

Hello, friends! 
I have a hard time with masculine cards, but when it came time to make this one I knew I had supplies to make something special. For someone very special, our son. 

I'm sure by now you've realized that there are new stamping goodies in the house! I've been using the BotaniCuts Pine Bough Die (The Greetery) but I'm excited today to have added the Cozy Flannel Cover Die (Altenew). I love being able to create the look of a buffalo plaid so easily.

I began with card stock for the boughs and pine cone cuts and added sponged inks and colored pencil shading. The sentiment is from Uplifting Thoughts (SSS) and continues inside to say, " You are every bit of wonderful." 

I'm happy to have the layout from Cas(e) This Sketch to kick off my stamping.  My entry from last week was a CTS Honorable Mention!

Hope it's the beginning of a wonderful day for you and a great week. 
I appreciate your visit very much. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

          Make something beautiful!

Vintage Birthday

Hi there! 

I wondered whether to title this Vintage Birthday? Masculine Birthday? or Old -Timer Birthday? Ha! It really is all three. 

I'm glad to have it ready and made in a jiffy using the vintage papers from Graphic 45. They are vintage style and they've been on my shelves for a LONG time too. 

I paired them with a sentiment and a sketch. 

The Freshly Made designers come up with the best sketches!

The stamps are Autumn Leaves from WPLus9 and Papertrey's Just A Number set. I embossed the numbers in gold, but that doesn't quite show up in the photo. I bought the set for just this kind of card, where the numbers are needed to highlight the special number of years of the occasion. 

Hope you've enjoyed coming by today. Thanks for stopping by.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

You're A Classic

Good morning and happy Friday! Hope you're on your way to a great weekend.

I pulled out my Polychromos to color the car for a masculine card today. I liked being able to color this car as if it had a few dings and dents of a classic. Or vintage set of wheels.

 When I saw the argyle in the inspiration for the sketch I knew I would be adding another masculine birthday card to my stash.  And playing along with:

CAS(E) This Sketch 

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes. 

Now for the rest of the story. I keep thinking this card needs something. And it does. Because .... I lost the stamp I initially planned to use on it! You know how easy it is for polymer stamps to get stuck on something?  Well, the sentiment that says "Cruising by to say...." cruised itself right into hiding somewhere in plain sight. I chose a different sentiment after a long time of looking and left the banner mostly empty. Calling it done and squeaky clean!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Honey Bee - You're A Classic, Car Show

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Real Red, Smoky Slate

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black

Accessories: WPlus9 - Bold Banner Die, Wink of Stella, Polychromos Colored Pencils

You Matter

Good morning! Welcome to a new week. I am ready for some delightful fall days and I've begun by enjoying the sunshine as I type here on my porch. Not cool weather yet, but it is coming! 

My card today is clean and simple and inspired by two challenges. I began by stamping the background stamp called You Matter (SSS) onto white card stock and adhering it to a white card base. 

The leaves are loosely (WPlus9 Autumn Leaves) painted with Zig Markers and spattered with a bit of black, also added to the background. I love that thanks to the text stamp this card can be for encouragement or a birthday and is gender neutral.

I assembled it thanks to the great prompt and lovely samples at Freshly Made Sketches

and Time Out Challenges. 

I am happily going to get on with my day now. Some cooking prep and a pile of laundry await. Hope your day is wonderful!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Fall Foliage Birthday

Hello everyone, how has your week been?

I've had lots of time to stamp. I finally gave up holding on to summer and made an autumn card. How could I resist the Fir & Foliage 1 stamps from The Greetery? 

Making this card was a delight with the easily layering tree images Betsy designed. Creating a masculine birthday card, I used Distress Oxide inks in fall colors. This tree can be created in many colors to reflect the seasons.

I'm squeaking this in to the challenge at The Paper Players on its last day, they had a great sketch. 

Thanks so much for taking your valuable time to visit my blog today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Stamps: The Greetery - Fir & Foliage 1, Sentiments Suite: Birthday stamps and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Kraft

INK: Distress Oxide 

Accessories: embellishment is from SU

Celebrate You!

I made a card for a special guy's birthday today with a nautical theme. I have quite a few nautical elements pulled from my stash and enjoyed combining them. 

It came together easily using the Sketch from The Paper Players. I kept the colors classic and found the sketch gave a great opportunity to add some striped paper and a metal jewel to enhance the theme. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope your week is winding up well for you. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI: Summer Fillers set from Cloche Quarters; sentiment is from Sentiment Suites Birthday (The Greetery) and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Night of Navy, Real Red

Accessories: Jewel is from SU (ret); red twine, Anchor die is from Verve

Beach-y Birthday

  Good morning! How has your week been going? 
I've been on a roll with stamping and needed a masculine card this week. Nothing like a beach-y scene for a summer birthday!  I loved making the sponged background with Distress Oxide inks. 

Beginning with stamping the fence, I added embossing to the horizontal links. Love the way the fence image adds perspective to the scene. I also embossed the white ropes on the end post, and the sentiment. 

The posts and the bird images are layered tone on tone to give depth.

I'm playing with the Retro challenge again. I went searching for just the right stamp for the sentiment and came up with one from a very old set, Winter Woods. 

Retro Rubber Challenge 111

Completing the bottom line of elements was fun! Every beach scene needs birds, right? And a bit of white paint spattered randomly. Thanks for coming by! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Fenceline Summer, Winter Woods

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Kraft

Accessories: embossing powder - white, pewter

Life's a Beach!

Hello there, welcome to my post for Takeout Thursday. It's my day to have some creative fun and I sure did as I mixed and matched elements to make a bright beach-y scene. 

I loved the Beside the Sea clear stamps from Avery Elle, but what really sold me was the "Life's a Beach" sentiment. You know, Beach is my last name! 

Using Bristol smooth card stock, I stamped the elements in black, colored them with Zig markers and trimmed them out. I also mixed in an element or two from other sets that worked to complete the scene. The sea, sands and sky were sponged with Distress Inks and spattered with water for added texture. 

Although I didn't do too much planning this card came out just the way I envisioned it in my head. Don't you love when that happens? I really wanted it to pop with bright color.

Cheering to have added a masculine birthday card to my stash. I think this card works for anyone with a summer birthday.

It felt really good to post three projects this week. 
I am so glad that you stopped off at my blog to visit. Enjoy your day!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Avery Elle - Beside the Sea, Stampin' Up! - Waterfront

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Bristol Smooth

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Ranger Distress Inks, Zig Markers

Accessories: WPlus9 - Wave Border Die