Ahh… Summer!

I love being a "Contributor" for Beccy Muir at Beccy's Place. It’s so fun to receive an invitation every few months to create cards and other paper items using either a new digi set or an “Encore” (old favorites) set. This month I am using an encore set named “Bird Song.” I printed the beautiful digital scene image onto Kraft cardstock and added a bit of color with alcohol markers.  Then, I had fun adding highlights to the tall grass and a spider web with a white gel pen, bringing the scene to life as if touched by early morning sunlight.  The sentiments are from another one of Beccy’s sets named “True Beauty.” I decided to add scraps of music score paper and a few die cut treble clef to reflect the bird songs that fill the air at sunrise. Ahhh… I love sweet Spring and Summer days.

 

Supplies: 

·    Digi- Beccy’s Place Digital Set  (Bird Song Set)

·    Sentiments- Beccy’s Place Digital Set  (True Beauty)

·    Diecut- CAS-sual  Fridays (Treble Clef)

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

·    Assorted cardstock and patterned papers from my stash

Entered into: 

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #440-441Anything Goes                   

Cute Card Thursday- Challenge #635 Critters

Outlawz Challenge- Festive Fridays                                                       

Di’s Digi Stamps- Include a Sentiment                                                  

Outlawz Challenge- Saturday Paper Ala Mode- Encouragement            

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge- May                                 

Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #80 (Optional Twist-Feathery Friends)

I love this sweet little Pixie that I recently won in a challenge at The Paper Shelter. Decided that it was time to let her spread a little light and happiness. (Because butterflies dancing in the spring breeze do represent happiness to me. And these tiny little ones that are part of the digi are so adorable. That said, it was challenging to fussy cut them… without any de-winging occurring!) I looked for the perfect background paper and decided to use this simple foliage print from an upcycled Kleenex box then added colors to the little Pixie to match. The sentiments are computer-generated. (I didn’t print off any extra little butterflies but will do that before I use this card. The inside sentiment looks pretty bland without the color and fun that dancing butterflies will add!)

 

Supplies: 

·    Digi- The Paper Shelter (Pixie)

·    Sentiments- Computer Generated

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

·    Floral paper- from an upcycled Kleenex box

·    Assorted cardstock and vellum from my stash

Entered into:  

The Paper Shelter- #428 In the Nature/In the Sea

Sketch N Scrap-Card Sketch #170         
Lemon Shortbread Challenge- Anything Goes #120

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Recycle                                                          

Polkadoodles Challenge-Week 21 Anything Goes                                   

A Perfect Time to Craft 2020-Anything Goes- Challenge #5-2020

Several years ago I discovered a wonderful week-long Blog Hop that focuses on my favorite beverage- COFFEE! I’ve spent several happy hours in my craft room the last few days making coffee themed cards while enjoying warm mugs of the brew. 

Here is another card for the challenge. The intricately patterned coffee cup die is from Stamplorations. I’ve had it for over a year, and this blog hop, plus the NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff)! Challenge is encouraging me to finally use it. When looking for background papers, I found a square of the lovely colored stripe patterned cardboard, upcycled from a Kleenex box, on my craft table, and love how it looks under the die-cut pattern. The background for the card has a story behind it…that spans a few decades. In the late ’90sa friend and I became demonstrators for Stampin’ Up. We loved stamping together and found lots of “kindred spirits” through parties that we hosted. One of these new friends was named Molly… and she was an avid stamper! She actually encouraged us to open a stamp store in a small town in South Dakota and worked for us in helping get the place up and running. She was a creative and adventurous stamper… always finding new things to try. This pretty background was made by laying white cardstock across three craft tables in the back room of our little store, making sure that they were spaced very closely together.  Then, we lined up small bottles of cheap bubbles, added several drops of dye inks (a different pastel color in each, plus in one we tried a few drops of gold pigment ink), shook them up, and started blowing bubbles over the paper. It was actually kind of magical watching the bubbles drop, pop, and leave a wonderful impression. We kept going, adding more colors and more bubbles, sprinkling in lots of laughter, until we liked the results. We ended up with 80 A2 sized card fronts, each different but lovely, upon which we could create. This is the last one that I have… and using it is bittersweet because our friend Molly passed away 12 years ago after a long fight against breast cancer. I miss her creativity and laughter and her outgoing personality. So I decided to emboss the bubbly panel with Hello greetings and tie a “miss you” tag on the mugs handle. After enjoying it for a while, I plan to send it on to Molly’s daughter, sharing the story about how it came to be. I know it will bring a smile to that sweet face that so looks like her momma!

 

 

Supplies: 

·    Die Image- Stamplorations (Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies)

·    Front sentiment “Miss You” tag from a Lili of the Valley set (Everyday Sentiment Tags)

·    Embossing Folder- Darice “Hello Word Collage”

·    Striped background paper- from an upcycled Kleenex box

Entered into:  

CoffeeLoversCardmakers.com- 2020 Spring Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop  

Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Flowers with Embossed Background
Scribbles Designs Challenge- #89 Brads, Buttons or Bows     

NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff)!-  Challenge # 14  

Incy Wincy Designs- Anything Goes                                                      

Crafty Catz Challenge- Anything Goes #507 (Optional twist- Spots and/or Stripes)