Punch Art Spring Holidays Card

I took the easy way out this year and made one card to cover three spring events:

St. Patrick's Day, First Day Of Spring and Easter. 

I'm not sure how easy of an out it was though, 

working with those tiny punched pieces of card stock !

Below are photo collages showing the supplies I used

(most all of which were from Stampin' Up!)

to create each of the tiny pieces of punch art.

They are mounted on 1 1/4"  and 1 3/8" squares 

that are glued onto a Whisper White card base.

Each of the card fronts has been run through the Big Shot

with a large polka dot Texturz plate or a Chevron embossing folder. 

Punch out four tiny hearts (I used the smallest on the

Heart To Heart punch)

 Crease each tiny heart down the middle.

Trim out a stem with scissors

Glue onto a small circle.

Punch out one of each of the two smallest flower shapes

from the Boho Blossoms punch.

Lightly bend and roll the smallest flower to break 

the fibers in the card stock so you can separate it into two layers. 

Add color to the center pieces to make them darker if you wish

(or cut from different colored card stock to begin with).

Scrunch them together to form a sort of cup

then glue the bottom to the center of the flower.

It can be smashed down to be mailed.

Punch a 5 petal flower from the Spring Bouquet Flower punch 

and trim with scissors to make leaves,

hand cut out a stem.

Punch a small oval from water color paper.

Lightly dampen the paper.

Color with water based markers 

(I used Pink Passion, Yo Yo Yellow and Tempting Turquoise).

Use a damp water color brush to blend the colors

 together a little bit more to 

resemble a died egg.

Another variation ( a couple of which are in the 

photo above that shows several cards) is to punch

out eggs from already colored card stock then

add details with markers. I used a white Signo

gel pen to add details to mine as well as a bit of 

diluted ink to make the egg resemble the crayon resist

eggs I made as a child. I colored the card stock

with the ink first and allowed it to dry well before

adding the details with the white gel pen. 

I took advantage of the pop in temperatures here yesterday,

since it was nearly 70 degrees I opened a couple of windows in the house.

Because it was nice enough to open the windows to help air out the house,

and knowing it was predicted to be cold and rainy all weekend, 

I decided to make my yearly batch of corned beef and cabbage a bit early.

 I think I'll go reheat some for lunch =)

And if you are wondering, I simply toss a corned beef with two cups of water 

along with the seasoning packet that is included with the meat

into a 6 quart crock pot for 8 hours on low.

I add a head of cabbage during the last 2 hours of cooking.

Thanks for looking =) 

St. Pat's. Spring, Easter FB Timeline Cover Photos

I created new covers for my facebook timeline this month for St Patrick's and Spring.
They were created with My Memories Suite

Use coupon code  STMMMS23251 to get

$10 off your purchase of My Memories Suite V4 software

plus two extra freebies !

I rarely use facebook, but I do like to play around with my digital "crafting" programs when I find time and will make a new cover photo just because. You can create your own custom cover photos in a digital program by starting with a custom canvas size of 851 x 315 PIXELS.

Thanks for looking =) 

"Tardis" Card

Not exactly, but as soon as I saw this image from the Feeling Sentimental stamp set by Stampin' Up! that is what I (as well as many others!) thought of - and I knew I had to choose it as one of my free sets I earned during SaleABration so I could use it to make a birthday card for a friend.

Super simple to make, print out a Union Jack background (look for an image online or create one digitally with a program such as My Digital Studio 2+ from Stampin' Up!), adhere to card stock. Stamp and color the call box image, trim and layer on card base.

Image was stamped with Basic Gray ink, colored with Brilliant Blue ink and an aquapainter. I also added touches of Basic Gray ink. It was stamped on Whisper White card stock then mounted to Basic Black card stock.

Thanks for looking =)

March Days

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: 

when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.

~ Charles Dickens

Two Bite Brownies and a Tag

*Did you remember to set your clocks forward last night?*

A cousin held a game night for the cousins and we were asked to bring a snack. Mine were simple, a bag of Pepperidge Farms Baked Naturals Cheddar Multigrain Cracker Chips (so good!) and Two Bite Brownies made with a box mix, Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies by Ghirardelli (decadent!).

To make the Two Bite Brownies, follow the directions on the box to make brownies, but instead of placing the batter in an 8" x 8" pan as instructed, divide it up between mini muffin cups. I baked mine at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. I used a dark non stick mini muffin pan lined with mini paper muffin cup liners. I filled them about 3/4 of the way full. They puffed up during baking, nearly going over the edge of the muffin cups, but once they cooled they settled and just filled the paper muffin cup liner. My batch made 33 mini brownie bites. Those that tried them raved about them, but they were all being good and didn't over indulge so I brought several of them back home.

As I was baking them I was trying to think of a way to transport them to the get together, something other than a simple plastic container. I remembered I had a nice cookie tin leftover from the holidays that hadn't been recycled yet, burgundy with embossed designs on the lid . Then I thought, I may as well add something cute to the top - ya' never know, maybe someone will notice and want to know more about Stampin' Up!, paper crafting, etc. After all, there are going to be two weddings and a new baby in the family this year, maybe they would like me to help craft favors, invites, traditionally or digitally scrapbook something for them, so on . Then again my crafty endeavors are nothing new to them, I do make handmade Christmas cards and have mailed them each hand stamped birthday cards as well.......  regardless, I wanted to add something to the top to let them know what was inside the tin, why not make it cute.

So I quickly made a tag to attach to the top using supplies mostly from Stampin' Up! as the brownie bites were baking.

The tag was die cut using a die from the Apothecary set out of old card stock from Stampin' Up! and I don't recall the exact name. It isn't Naturals, but something along that line. It is cream with lots of teeny, tiny black speckles in it. This particular piece was a scrap that I had already stamped JOY on from a really old Stampin' Up! Christmas stamp set . Sorry, once again don't remember the name and am too lazy to dig through all of the drawers of stamps to try to find it right now especially since it isn't an image you can really see and fall in love with, would want to know the name to try to find it somewhere........... The JOY was stamped in gold ink, but it was barely visible so I never used the piece on my project . I thought it made a nice background to my handwritten label. I lightly sponged Baroque Burgundy (retired) ink around the edges, doodled a line and hand wrote with a fine point Sharpie. I made a couple of simple knot bows from Chocolate grosgrain ribbon then hot glued them on. I recently removed some buttons from an old shirt so I glued a couple of those on, too. I attached it the the metal lid with strong double stick tape.

Now, do I save the container and tag for future use or repurpose both of them ?

Thanks for looking =)

In Colors Thank You Card

Simple Thank You card I made using the 2012-2014 In Colors from Stampin' Up!

It's difficult to tell in the photo, but I made a wavy background on a layer of Whisper White card stock with the new Borders Scoring Plate for the Simply Scored.

Each of the Thank You embellishments was made with various circle punches and In Colors card stock. The "thank you so much" was stamped in each of the five different colors as were the flowers. The stamp images from an old retired stamp set.

I made faux brads using a 1/4" circle punch to punch out small circles and applied Crystal Effects to the tops.

I included the extra embellishments in the card if the recipient would like to use them to make cards of her own.

Thanks for looking =)

Quick Need For Speed Card

Not at all happy with this quick card, I know what I wanted to do with it

to add more to it but decided not to.

I'm going to make a better version of it soon for another recipient. 

I was in a hurry to get it done and out to the mailbox before the carrier

came so I didn't add much to this card to save on time.

Plus it was a belated birthday card and I don't have any long,

single line "Belated Birthday Wishes" stamps.

Sure, I could have made something on the computer,

printed it out and trimmed to fit, but I didn't 

want to waste more time doing that. 

It never fails, when I know exactly what I want to create

on the computer, something seemingly simple, 

it gives me headaches, not printing properly.

The checkerboard frame is an old, old stamp image from

Stampin' Up!, stamped with Basic Black ink.

The car (Need For Speed stamp set, Stampin' Up!)

was stamped, water colored then cut out and 

glued on top of the sponged ground and sky. 

I masked off the bottom of the checkerboard area

and sponged on Basic Gray ink.

The top portion was sponged with Bashful Blue ink

over a home made cloud stencil.

I wish I had white textured card stock, that would 

have looked a little bit better.

I thought about using an embossing folder on the background

then decided against it thinking it would be too "busy". 

Thanks for looking =) 

Another Cat Sympathy Card

Gosh, it just doesn't seem to end - friends losing their beloved pets...........

Using some more of the new Stampin' Up! goodies I just received.

All supplies used are from Stampin' Up! unless noted otherwise.

The cat in the basket is an old image from the Meow Meow stamp set, Stampin' Up! (I'll never part with it!)
So Sorry in Basic Black ink
Lace Doily background stamp in Creamy Caramel ink
Doily die cut from Going Gray card stock
Dark Gray textured card stock, unknown
Cat and yarn ball were stamped with Basic Black ink on Whisper White card stock then watercolored with an aquapainter and ink from my ink pads
Soft Suede lightly sponged around the edges of the Caramel layer



Thanks for looking =)

Get Well Poppies

Putting some of my new goodies to use =)

 Images were stamped then water colored.

lightly sponged blue ink on the background.

The tails of the ribbon are tucked behind 

the top layer then adhered in place with Sticky Strip.

All supplies from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Pleasant Poppies background stamp

Perfectly Penned = Get Well

Thoughts and Prayers stamp = "soon"colored with Basic Gray marker

Papillion Potpourri = small butterfly

Bitty butterfly punch

circle punch

Decorative Label punch

Whisper White and Peach Parfait card stock

Basic Black, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, 

Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi and Bashful Blue inks

Aquapainter

Stampin' Sponge

Paper piercer

satin ribbon, retired

Thanks for looking =)

Dozens Of Robins

There must have been a couple of dozen robins in the side yard today. This is just one section. With no outdoor cat any longer, the birds don't mind congregating closer to the house.

Yes, that is a little bit of snow on the ground. We received about an inch earlier in the day, but it didn't last long. There are still some spots of snow left on the ground in the shaded areas (and huge piles in parking lots) from the big storm almost two weeks ago.