50th Birthday

I had a request from one of my friends to make a 50th birthday card for her daughter.  There was a little twist to this request.  She wanted me to incorporate sharks and mermaids into the card.  After much thought, I put this card together, using the Karen Burniston Little Labels Pop-Up on the inside.

As it was a 50th birthday, I thought I should use some gold in the design, so I made the frame (Pinkfresh Studios) and the "50th" (Karen Burniston) from gold cardstock.  I had found that cool wave paper at Hobby Lobby several months ago and figured the shark would look cute behind one of the waves.

On the inside the Little Label Pop-Up holds both a shark and a couple of mermaids -- thus fulfilling the request.  I added a couple of Border Blend strips to the top and bottom of the card, as well as the larger label for a place to sign the card.  Those larger labels were created using dies from the Paper Frames set, which has labels of the same shape as those in the Little Labels Pop-Up.

I hope my friend likes this.

Happy Star Wars Day

It's Star Wars Day!!!   May the 4th be with you!

I made this card using a digital image from Paper Nest Dolls . . . 

. . . and the Rockin' Rectangle die from Karen Burniston -- with a little help from a clip art image of the Millenium Falcon.

Here's a short video showing how that die works.

Karen Burniston New Release - Sneak Peek Day 7

And my final sneak peek from the new Karen Burniston release is a mini slimline card featuring the cute little Bam Box.  My neighbor's daughter loves mermaids, so I made this card for her using stamps from Kindred Stamps and some fun patterned paper.   This is a "no reason, just because" card.

As you can see, when you open the card, up pop two more mermaids.

This side view shows the two Bam Boxes behind them.  BTW, the card is held closed with two small magnets placed under the patterned paper.

Tomorrow is the big reveal of the new release.  We've got a blog hop showing off many more cards using the new dies.  Comment on any or all of the blogs, and you might just win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burnison website.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Fireplaces throughout the year

The last Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for the year is a fun one.  All the DT members are using the Fireplace Pop-Up die, but each one of us is celebrating something different.  I'm celebrating Easter with my 5" x 7" card.  On the front I've got an Easter Bunny from the Spring Animals ready to give away some decorated Easter eggs.  The background scenery is some slimline designer paper from Whimsy Stamps, cut to size.

On the inside is my fireplace, all decorated up for Easter.  I used elements from both Fireplace Add-ons 1 and 2.  The scene in the window is the piece of designer paper I cut from the panel used on the front.  And actually, that "window" is one of the frames from the Slim Frames set.  I just added a cross piece to make it look like a double-hung window.

That cute bunny girl is from Paper Nest Dolls, colored with Copic markers.

I'm anxious to see all the different ways the DT has used this fireplace die for their cards.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 2

I've got another sneak peek of new release dies from Karen Burniston.  Today's sets are the Fireplace Pop-Up and Fireplace Extras 1 and 2.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and that's what this card is all about.  The front is a rather simple lead-in.

But the inside is where all the action is!

 I love this fireplace with all its little details.  The fireplace, fire, and log are from the main Fireplace Pop-Up set.  The tools and candles are from the Fireplace Extras 1 set; and the grate, clock and picture frames are from the Fireplace Extras 2 set.  I added a few stamped images inside the picture frames as well as the cute little vampire.  The ghost, BOO! and the jack-o-lantern are from Karen's Halloween Elements set.  Finally, the rug was made with the Ovals-Crosshatch set.

I tried a product I've never used before -- glow-in-the-dark embossing powder.  I'm happy to report that it does work, but photographing it is not easy.  Here's the best I could do.

I've got a couple more Halloween cards I'll be sharing with you later in the week.  I hope you'll come back to see them.

CCEE2232 - Peach Month

Frances continues her month as CCEE Stampers hostess by telling us that, apparently, August is Peach month and Monday (August 22) is National Peach Day.  So our challenge this week is to create a card that features one or more things that begin with the letter "P" -- a punched image, patterned paper, pansy, paint, person, or a product that is from a company whose name starts with "P."

I've got several things I can check off that list:  patterned paper, plaid, peach image, stamp from Paper Nest Dolls.

See how many "P" items the rest of the team found.  Their cards are on the CCEE Stampers blog.
 

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score"

I was recently asked to make a teacher appreciation card, so I combined it with this month's Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" -- just in time for school to start.  It qualifies for the "Anything Goes" category.

There are several different versions of Z-fold cards; this one is called a Z box fold.  In some versions of this card, the front horizonal strip goes all the way to the edge of the card.  I needed a little more room on that front panel, so I cut it short.

The image is a digital one from Paper Nest Dolls -- Teacher Emma, and the sentiment on the blackboard is from Kindred Stamps' Masters of Magic stamp set.

CCEE2229 - National Picnic Month

My last CCEE Stampers challenge for the month is to celebrate National Picnic Month.  It's the middle of summer, so I asked the team to include something on their cards that would be part of a picnic (picnic  basket, checkered tablecloth, picnic food, or even ants).

Some of my favorite stamps are from Paper Nest Dolls.  The one on my card is called Lemonade Avery, and she's bringing some lemonade to our summer picnic.

Inside the card I used one of my favorite go-to dies from Karen Burniston, the Katherine Label Pop-Up.  You can use this die for any type of card.  I put a checkered picnic tablecloth, picnic basket and a pitcher of lemonade on it.  Oh, look -- there are even some ants.  The new Mini Alphabet & Numbers were perfect for spelling out the operative word for our challenge.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more summer fun.

Scor-Pal "More than One Score" - 4th of July

As the 4th of July is right around the corner, I decided to make a card to celebrate it.  I recently saw a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for a 6-sided Pinwheel Card.  I thought it would make a cute card.  The two characters celebrating are from Paper Nest Dolls.

Even though this card looks like it might be complicated to make, it was quite easy -- just follow the tutorial!

CCEE2225 - June's Flower and Gemstone

Lynn's final challenge this month for the CCEE Stampers is dedicated to June.  She told us that the rose is the national flower for June, while the pearl is June's gemstone.  She asked us to include both of these beauties on our cards for this week's challenge.

Paper Nest Dolls makes such cute child images, and I chose one of them for my focal point this week  -- Emma with Rose.  I accented the center panel with three pink pearls -- thus covering both requirements of Lynn's challenge.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more cards dedicated to the month of June.

CCEE2222 World Oceans Day

Lynn's challenge for the CCEE Stampers this week is based on the fact that yesterday was World Oceans Day.  She asked us to celebrate the oceans of the world with a nautical-themed project of our choice.  Winds, waves, boats, birds:  anything related to oceans will do. 

I recently watched a youtube video that Julie Creek (of Creek Bank Creations) did in which she made a stand-up mermaid card.  Although I didn't have many of the items she used on her card, I was able to recreate a similar one using supplies I had in my craft room.  The only Creek Bank Creations item I had was the ocean edges die.  My mermaids are from Paper Nest Dolls; the fish are from LDRS, the sentiment is from Mama Elephant, and the seaweed & coral are dies from CottageCutz.  Everything did come together quite well.

As you can see from the next photo, it is a 3-dimentional stand-up card.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for more ocean fun.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score"

I recently participated in an on-line card class, and one of the cards we made was a split easel card.  I thought I would make another one for our May "More than One Score" challenge.  A split easel card is basically the same as a regular easel card, except that the "easel" does not go all the way across the base.

 Check out the Scor-Pal blog for some more "more than one score" inspiration.

CCEE2206 - National Embroidery Month

Liz informed the CCEE Stampers that February is National Embroidery Month.  Her appropriate challenge was to make use of stitching, faux stitching, cross-stitching, or any other embroidery stitching you might want to feature on your card.   For many years, my hobby-of-choice was doing counted cross-stitch.  I haven't done it in a while, but I still have lots of embroidery thread in a container in my closet.  And I'm sure I've got some unfinished projects in there as well.   

Cottage Cutz has a set of cross-stitch bordered dies, so I pulled out the oval ones to use on my card today.  After cutting out the oval, I used a blue pen to emphasize the stitching around the edge.  I didn't have a stamp specific to embroidery, but at least she's sewing!  And I've even included an example of one of my counted cross-stitch pieces in the photo.  I think I did that one about 25 years ago.

The inside of my card adds a bit of a surprise -- a pop-up element using the Karen Burniston Oval Frames Pop-up, decorated with some appropriate "sewing" images.  The scissors are one of the dies from Karen Burniston's Office Charms, and the other three items are stamped images from a stamp set from my old days on the MFP Stamp Shop design team.

Be sure to visit the CCEE Stampers blog for some more examples of embroidery-related cards.

CCEE2204 - Winter Olympics

Liz Williams starts her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a great challenge.  During the month of February, the world's biggest winter sporting event that happens every four years will be held in Bejing, China, for the Winter Olympics.  Liz asked us to make a card representing one of those winter sports being featured.  For embellishment, we were to add a little gold or silver.

I enjoy the figure skating competition.  The skaters always look so elegant gliding across the ice.  One of my favorite stamp companies is Paper Nest Dolls.  Those kids are just too cute.  Ice Skating Avery was perfect for this challenge, and I even added the Olympic Rings across the top.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for a virtual visit to the Olympics.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" Challenge

For the first Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge of the year, I made a Valentine Treat Box with a bonus --  it's also a gift card holder.  I found this tutorial on-line some time ago and made several of them for Christmas.  But I thought it would be cute for Valentine's Day as well.

The image on the front is a cute little gal from Paper Nest Dolls.  I thought that heart-shaped lollipop would be good for Valentine's Day.

When you open the card, you find the gift card.

And going a little further, when you pull out the drawer -- CANDY!  Who doesn't love Hershey Nuggets?

If you'd like to try to make one of these, they're pretty easy.

Dimensions are:

Drawer - card stock 5" x 7 1/4", scored on all four sides at 1/2" and 1 1/8"

Wrap - cardstock 5 1/8" x 7 5/8", scored at 5/8", 3 1/2", 4 1/8" and 7"

Card on top - cardstock 4 3/4" x 7", scored at 2 2/8" and 4 3/4" -- cut down the 2 1/4" panel to 2 1/2" for the gift card and tape across the bottom.

Mat piece on front 2 5/8" x 5"

Nugget covers 1" x 3"

CCEE2203 - Punch the Clock Day

For my final CCEE Challenge for January I informed the team that today is Punch the Clock Day.  I challenged them to put something time-related on their cards (a clock, a watch, a calendar, etc.)  If they didn't have any of those things, they could make a birthday card -- that's time-related.

I had to look deep into my supplies to find a clock, and I finally found this embossing folder.  I built the little scene in Word using individual digital images from the Paper Nest Dolls set called Build Your Nest.  The sentiment is from a very old stamp set from my days on the design team for Mark's Finest Papers.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more "timely" designs!

CCEE2202 - Penguin Awareness Day

Today is Penguin Awareness Day.  I challenged the CCEE Stampers to put a penguin or two on their cards.  My card has three!

I've recently become a fan of Whimsy Stamps' slimline paper packs, and the one I used on my card today is from a pack called Frozen. This is a mini-slimline card, so I cut down the paper to fit the 3 1/2" x 6 1.2" card. The Paper Nest Dolls penguins look right at home on those ice floes.

When you open the card, there's a little surprise.  The penguins jumped off the ice floes onto a a snow bank and have popped up on the Karen Burniston Little Labels Pop-Up die.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more Penguin Fun!

New Year -- New Things

 It's the first CCEE Stampers challenge of 2022.  It's a brand-new year, and I challenged the team to use something brand-new or something they've never used before on their cards.  It could be a stamp, a die, or even a technique.

I used something I just got (the die that cut the sentiment, which is also part of that combo stamp/die set) and something I've had for a while but never used before (the Paper Nest Dolls Dreamcatcher Ellie stamp).

On the inside of the card is a popped up Dreamcatcher mounted on the Karen Burniston Katherine Label Pop-Up.  This pop-up die is so versatile and makes a great statement.

I have a friend who loves anything Native American.  Her birthday is next month, so I think she will be the recipient of my card.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more new stuff.

C4C611 - Sketch Challenge

It's time for the Crazy4Challenges sketch challenge.  This month's challenge is a slimline card.

I'm still making a few Thanksgiving cards, and today's challenge card is one of them.  I used a digital image from Paper Nest Dolls and sized her to fit the white panel in the sketch, adding some autumn patterned paper, an appropriate sentiment, and some trim using one of Karen Burniston's Border Blends dies.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team handled this sketch.
 

C4C604 - Favorite Song

For this week's Crazy4Challenges challenge we were to be inspired by our favorite song to create our project.  Please be sure to list the song with your entry.  You can be inspired by the title, the lyrics, the overall theme or genre of the song.

One of my favorite singers these days is Ed Sheeran; and, when I first heard his song Castle on the Hill, I was really touched.   It brought back many memories of my youth -- not that we had a castle on the hill or anything, but the feeling of the song was very nostalgic.  So that's what inspired my card this week, with a little bit of Harry Potter thrown in for good measure.  The background paper is from a slimline paper pad by Whimsy Stamps.

If you've never heard this song, here's a link to a video.