I love upcycling!

It’s Friday, so time for another challenge at QKR Stampede!  Stop by the challenge, which is always “Anything Goes” and several prizes are awarded. Maybe you’ll be inspired to enter a card or two yourself? This week, this hilarious digi named “What eggs?” inspired me to make a card with a “week after Easter” theme. Even though we were isolated at home… my sweet hubby did pick up some treats on his last grocery run for “essentials”!  So, I do have to admit that several of them were sacrificed for the making of this card. (PS- they were YUMMY!)

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Simon Says Monday Challenge- “E is for…” (Easter Bunny) and Incy Wincy Designs- Footwear (I love that this bunny is wearing old fashioned tennis shoes like the ones that I wore most of my childhood. Actually, I did a bit of google research and tennis shoes were actually created in the 1830s when  “...vulcanized rubber soles [were] introduced by Charles Goodyear…”  So tennis shoes are nearly 200 years old? How knew?

 

Supplies: 

·    Digi Image- QKR Stampede (What Eggs)

·    Colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·    Sentiments- Computer Generated

·    Assorted background papers from my stash

·    Hersheys Kisses wrappers- from my pantry (I love upcycling… especially when there is chocolate in the deal!)

Entered into:  

Simon Says Monday Challenge- “E is for…”                                          

Incy Wincy Designs- Footwear                                                              

Scribbles Designs Challenge- #88 B is for Birds or Bunnies  

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge- April                                

My final card is special to me because it features petite flowers from the first flower garden I ever planted. Back in 1998 my hubby and I purchased a little home in South Dakota and I had such fun planting a garden. The vegetable harvest was not great (mainly because I discovered that I really didn’t like weeding it!) But my wildflower garden was glorious. I love that it was packed full of prairie wildflowers, which great no matter what I did… or didn’t do.. to them! My mom and I picked bunches of them and carefully pressed them in a half dozen old phonebooks. A few months later we had fun creating cards with them. We discovered that very carefully layering them between squares of acetate and packing tape preserved them beautifully. We created dozens of these clear pressed flower packets that fall. Over 20 years later, the blooms and greenery have retained much of their lovely color. For this card, I made a lovely oval frame with delicate patterned paper.  An upcycled sentiment and ornate die-cut finish of the card front. I love this card… mainly because it reminds me of my sweet mom! I inherited my love of all things crafting from her.  
I'm entering this card into several challenges including Path Of Positivity's Challenge #79- Style (I often use unusual items on my cards... like these pressed flowers. In this case, the items also have special meaning to me. I actually made several cards made with pressed flowers that I'll be sending to my sisters and sister-in-law that will appreciate that Mom helped in their creation) and The Butterfly Challenge (Color- Wisteria and Theme- Butterflies.)

  

Supplies: 

·    Pressed Flowers- From my flower garden in South Dakota

·    Front Sentiment and ornate swirled die-cut are upcycled from an old card

·    Inside Sentiment- Computer Generated

·    Oval template from my Scrapbook stash

·    Assorted background papers from my stash

Entered into:  

Double D’s Challenge- Showers & Flowers               

Outlawz Challenge- Saturday Paper Ala Mode- Romantic Garden     

Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #79 (Optional Twist- Style)

Butterfly Challenge- #140 W for Waterfall Card  

These days, with all that is going on in the world, having anything that helps things to feel “normal” is so important. Morning coffee is one of my favorite “normal” happenings. I’m blessed to be married to a sweet hubby who always wakes before me and starts the coffee. Ahh… the aroma of coffee brewing is truly heavenly in the early morning! A friend who knows that I love all things coffee gave me a packet of these wonderful B&W beverage napkins a few years ago. I made this card by separating the layers of one of the napkins, which leaves the coffee cup slightly translucent.  I gently tore around the edges of the coffee cup image and slipped a scrap of patterned paper behind the cup. I love how the subtle color and patterns show through.  I added a computer-generated sentiment, plus accents of vellum, puffy heart stickers and B&W washi tape to finish off the card. (I am sending it to the friend that gave me the napkins. I can’t wait until we can share a cup of coffee- in person- after this season of isolation is over!)

Supplies: 

·    Beverage napkin, vellum scraps, washi tape and assorted papers from my stash.

·    Sentiment- Computer Generated

·    Puffy Heart Stickers- Sticko’s from Walmart (The pack contains 113 assorted puffy hearts for just 99 cents!)

Entered into:  

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #434-435 Anything Goes                   

Crafty Catz Challenge- Anything Goes #502 (Optional twist- Paper Piecing)  

Polkadoodles Challenge-Week #16 Anything Goes