Have a BEE-Youtiful Day

We are all supposed to be staying inside our homes to reduce the spread of this horrible coronavirus.  I have been using that time to play with some new (and old) stamps and dies.  I recently purchased a series of bee stamps from Honey Bee Stamps and used it on my card for today -- along with one of my favorite Karen Burniston die sets, the Photo Collage Pop-Up.

The front of my card uses part of a Beehive Card die along with a set of stencils.  There are four stencils in the set, but I used just two of them on my bee hive.  I love the way you can cut the opening to see the little Cottage Cutz bees on the inside.

The inside is where the fun happens.

Aren't those Honey Bee bees adorable.  I love the fact that the faces are on separate stamps, so that you can change the expression as you want.

Here's a little video showing how the collage mechanism works.

I've made many cards using the Photo Collage, and I have a feeling that I will be making many cards with those cute bees!

CCEE2013 Caffeine Awareness Month

Apparently, March is Caffeine Awareness Month; so Maryann concluded her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a coffee-themed card challenge.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do have some coffee-related craft supplies. I made a gatefold card using some dies, a nice big stamp, and coffee-cup patterned paper.  Karen Burniston had made a pop-up billboard card a couple of months ago, which I thought was a brilliant design.  It used her Surprise Ball Pop-Up.  I pretty much CASEd her card, adding some of her other dies (Coffee Cup Pop-Up and Coffee Charms).

Take a coffee break and check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more caffeine!

CCEE2012 - Wedding/Anniversary/Celebration

Maryann continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week.  Our challenge for today is to create a Wedding, Anniversary or Celebration card in white and black plus one other color.

I chose a wedding card and made it a round easel.  My "one other color" is the flesh color of the bride and groom.  I don't have any weddings coming up on my calendar, but I'll be ready when I need one!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what kind of cards my fellow team members chose to make.

Karen Burniston Surprise Ball Pop Up Critter

I am having so much fun creating critters with the Karen Burniston Surprise Ball Pop-Up die -- both one layer and two.  Today I have another one, a fox made with two pop-up balls.

The envelope in which he lives has some other cute critters with whom he shares his home.  I found it on sale at Joann last week -- great find!

Here's a short video showing how he pops up.  As you can see, his tail sticks out a bit from the envelope.  That's how you pull him out.

I have seen some really clever critters created by the members of the Karen Burniston Pop-Up Peeps FB page.  People just amaze me with their creativity.

CCEE2011 - Party Favors

Maryann continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers and asked us to create a bag, box or container that can be used to contain a party favor.  I'm sure like me, you've made lots of party favor containers.  I wanted to try something new, so I looked through the tutorials on Splitcoaststampers for one that I've never made before.   Success!! I found the directions for this cute Ice Cream Sandwich Box,

When you open the lid there are sections for some Hershey Nuggets and a Gift Card.  How cute is that!!!

I used dies from Karen Burniston's Ice Cream Sundae die set and some fun patterned paper for the elements of this cute box.  Note the gift card.  Culver's recently opened about a mile from my house.   Have you ever tried their Lemon Crumble Frozen Custard?  Absolutely delish!!!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more examples of party favors.

CCEE2010 - Floral Arrangement

Maryann starts her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week by asking us to make a card or invitation highlighting a floral arrangement.

My mom was a floral designer for many years, but I never reached her level of artistic design.  I do, however, enjoy trying.  The Karen Burniston Woven Basket gives a person the opportunity to venture into that area of "art."  I doubled the basket for my card today -- filling it with lots of colorful flowers. I added a few bees to help pollinate them!

As you can see from this picture, the basket of flowers folds flat for mailing.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see some more floral arrangements.

Designer Challenge -- ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

For this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge we are revisiting a previous challenge -- any one of them!  In case you missed it, my card for the November 2019 challenge (Holiday Accordions) was celebrating Christmas.  For my new card, I am celebrating St. Patrick's Day and honoring my Irish ancestors.    Last year I did an Ancestry.com DNA test to see if there was something in my ancestry that I didn't know about.  Guess what!  There were NO surprises -- 42% Ireland/Scotland, 50% England/Wales, 8% other.  Anyway, here's my challenge card, using the Charm Accordion die and some fun Irish-related stamps.

Like my original card, I put a full panel on the front with the accordion following.

I have accumulated quite a few $1 stamps from Michaels; and, aside from the fun leprechaun on the front, all the stamps I used on my card are very inexpensive ones -- which shows that you don't have to spend a ton of money while still have fun creating.

There were no Irish-related charms in this die set, so I chose the stars to hang between the panels.  A closer look at the accordion shows them off.

My original Christmas card for November's "Holiday Accordion" Designer Challenge used a gingerbread man and the Karen Burniston Alphabet dies.  The only Irish word I knew that I could possible spell out on my new card was Eire (the Gaelic word for "Ireland"), so that's why I went in a new direction.  Another change I made was to have the charm panels line up rather than stagger them.

It's always fun to take an old idea and update it.  I hope you try it with one of your cards.  Check out how the rest of the Design Team handled this fun challenge by visiting the Karen Burniston Pop-Up Peeps page on Facebook and visit their blogs if you have the time.

Scor-Pal More Than One Score -- Spring/Easter

The theme of March's Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge is Spring/Easter.  My card is a Screen Divider Z-fold card celebrating Easter.

To make the card, I cut my cardstock 5 1/2" x 10 1/2", scored it at 3 1/2" and 7", and then punched across the top with a border punch.  By punching a Fancy Label Punch in the center of each panel, I created the legs of the screen.

I've had that cross stamp for a very long time and love to use it on Easter cards.  The Easter lilies balanced each other on the first and third panel.

I hope you join in on the challenge over on the Scor-Pal blog.  If you don't want to make a Spring or Easter card, you can do anything else you'd like.  "Anything Goes" is an alternate challenge each month.  Post your card on the blog and you might win a $25 gift certificate!