April Calendar Challenge

Time to turn the calendar to April, and I'm continuing with my participation in the calendar challenge with my friend, Sue Small-Kreider.  You'll find her April page here.

I know the saying is "April showers bring May flowers;" but I live in Florida, and we have flowers blooming all year long.  So my calendar page is a wheelbarrow full of flowers.  The wheelbarrow was made with a Honey Bee Stamps die set.  I stamped the flowers with one of the stamps in Honey Bee's Loads of Spring stamp set.  This stamp is actually an add-on to Honey Bee's Big Pick-up Tailgate, but it worked perfectly in the wheelbarrow by cutting the colored image in half and stacking the pieces in the wheelbarrow.  The grass was made with Karen Burniston's Nature's Edges die.

 I'm really having fun with this challenge.  I already have May's page done as well!

Twins

My daughter asked me to make a card for her to give to a co-worker whose wife just presented him with twins -- a boy and a girl.  I thought Karen Burniston's Fancy Label Accordion would be perfect because you can have several canvases on which to create.

The front label welcomes the babies, and the next two are decorated for each baby individually.

I was fortunate enough to have the same new baby patterned paper in both pink and blue, so that's what I used for the frames.  I decorated the centers with some baby-themed ephemera that I have had in my stash for a long time.

 

I hope her co-worker likes this card.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!  (I do have Irish ancestors.)  I made this card for a good friend who happens to be Polish; but today she's Irish, and she loves gnomes!

The base of this card is the Karen Burniston Circle Tag Book, a very generic die set that can be used for anything you'd like.  I had found some cute St. Patrick's Day patterned paper with lots of gnomes on it at Hobby Lobby some time ago and finally found a use for it.  I picked out four of the gnomes, fussy cut them out, and glued them to the circles.  I added a small oval that I found in the Popcorn die set and stamped a little shamrock on it.  I can sign the card there.

I wish you the Luck of the Irish today and every day.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Ocean or Lake

This month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge theme was "Lake or Ocean."  I chose "Lake."  My late husband was an avid fisherman, so I dedicated this card to him. It's a little larger than most of the cards I make -- 5" x 8" gatefold.  I had participated in Karen's most recent on-line class and had some "bait and tackle" paper left over.  I used it for the front of the card.

When you open the card, you find a campsite by a lake.  The tie-downs for the Tent Pop-up made the wider card necessary, as you can see from the picture below.

Here's a close-up of the happy fisherman -- happy because he has just caught a fish.

The new Fishing Boat Add-ons to the Boat Pop-up is perfect for that outdoors recipient.

Calendar Challenge - March

My stamping friend Sue Small-Kreider recently asked me if I wanted to join in with her new calendar challenge.  It sounded like fun.  She provided us with the monthly calendar pages that she stamped with the Spellbinders BetterPress, and we would decorate them.  She had made her calendar pages for January and February, but I didn't join her group until March.  Here is her calendar page.

My Irish ancestry always shows itself in March.  I love to make St. Patrick's Day cards, so I continued this tradition by making my calendar page in a similar theme.

I didn't have a leprechaun in the right proportion for the page, but I did have a small Riley & Company gnome who I dressed in green.  The pot of gold is part of the Karen Burniston Good Luck Charms die set; the clouds are part of her Tropical Scene die set; and the grass is from her Nature's Edges set.  I have several rainbow dies, and the one that worked the best for this scene is Trinity Stamps' Rainbow Builder.  I stamped the birds with a stamp I have had for many years; and unfortunately, I have no idea who made it.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I stamped a very small shamrock on March 17th on the calendar.

I'm looking forward to continuing this challenge for the rest of the year.  I hope you'll come back on the first of every month to see my calendar pages.

Craft Roulette Episode #255

One of my favorite card-making challenges is Craft Roulette.  By spinning the roulette wheel, you are presented with four parameters with which you are to make a card.  This week's parameters were:

    *    Project - an A2 card 

    *    Color - Valentines

    *    Element - February

    *    Random - Metallic or Foil

After much deliberation, I created this card:

    *    an A2 card

    *    a favorite Valentine color of red

    *    February is Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month

    *    Metal "wires" around the basket are silver metallic cardstock.

I didn't have any strawberry stamps, so I had to scour the internet to find some strawberry free clip art, which I printed and cut out.  The base of my card is the Karen Burniston Flower Pot Pop-up, into which I glued the individual strawberries.  I found some woven basket patterned paper in my stash for the outside of the "basket" and glued some silver cardstock around it to create "wires."  I found an appropriate sentiment for the front in a very old stamp set I've had for years.

Craft Roulette always makes you think.  Sometimes the answers to the parameters come easy; other times you really have to think hard about it.  This one was relatively easy.  I look forward to 7:00 on Friday nights each week for a new challenge.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge "Bouquets"

It's Designer Challenge time again for the Karen Burniston design team.  The theme this month is "Bouquets."  Karen reminded us that "bouquets" don't necessarily have to be flowers.

My card actually has two bouquets.  The one on the front is your standard flower bouquet -- made with pieces from the Flower Pot Pop-up (plus the Add-on set) and the Twist Flower Pop-up.

The bouquet on the inside is a "flower people" bouquet -- made again with the Twist Flower Pop-up, but with the Paper People as well.  The double Photo Fan Pop-up gives you plenty of space for lots of flower people.  I added eyeglasses from Tiny Accessories 1 to several of the people.

This would make a nice card from the gang at the office.