Just Saying Hello-Send A Smile 4 Kids

 

Hello, happy May! This month at Send A Smile 4 Kids we're creating planes, trains, and automobile cards!  I started by embossed a white panel using a Darice cloud embossing folder and adhered that directly to the card. I created a focal panel using a stitched circle die from My Favorite Things and patterned paper from We R Memory Keepers For The Record 6x6 paper pad. I adhered that to the center of the card using foam tape. I cut down a small banner from the same paper pad and adhered it in the upper right of the card overlapping the focal panel. I broke out an oldie but goodie for this card and stamped the plane from Lawn Fawn's Bon Voyage onto Copic-friendly white cardstock. I colored it with my alcohol markers, fussy cut it out, and adhered it to the focal panel using more foam tape. I punched out a few dies using an EK Success cloud punch and scattered them around the focal panel. The sentiment was stamped with Memento tuxedo black ink and Lawn Fawn's Grand Greetings stamp set. I fussy cut the sentiment out, popped it up with foam tape, and adhered it to the bottom of the card. I finished this adorable card off with some enamel dots from Concord and 9. Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Be sure to stop over at the Send A Smile 4 Kids blog

to see how everyone else was inspired!

Just Bee-cause

 

Hello and happy Saturday! We got a snow last night and it's around 21 degrees here today in Southeast Missouri. It's a bit cold to play outside, so I opted to do some light house cleaning and card making today. This card was created for the latest Freshly Made Sketches card challenge. I created my card by embossing black cardstock from Stampin' UP using a Momenta honeycomb embossing folder. I adhered the panel to my white A2 card base. I then added a strip of patterned paper from Pink & Main's Spring Color Pop's 6x6 paper pad to the botton. To help distinguish from the embossed panel and the patterned paper I punched an edge of bright yellow cardstock from Hobby Lobby using a EK Success decorative punch. I adhered that strip at the seam between both panels. I then stamped the bee, the sentiment, and the decorative leaves from the Hampton Art's Hello Honey stamp set using Memento tuxedo black ink. I added a bit of color to the bee and the sentiment using my alcohol markers. I then die cut the panel using a decorative die from Spellbinders. I popped the panel up off of the card using 3M foam tape and added a few black gems from Ki. Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

Dad You're A Star-Send A Smile 4 Kids

Hello and happy May 1st! This month's Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge focuses on cards to give to dads/grandpas/special men. To create my card I started by stamping the sports shirt, football, and foam finger from the Alley Way Stamps Touchdown stamp set onto patterned papers from the Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sports and Echo Park's This & That 6x6 paper pads and fussy cut the images out. I layered some basic black cardstock from Stampin' UP onto my white A2 card base and then layered more patterned papers from the Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sports on top. I added a small 1/2" strip of the basic black cardstock to break up the patterns. I then die cut a white piece of cardstock using a Spellbinders simple circle die and matted it onto a larger circle of basic black using a pierced edge circle die by My Favorite Things. I adhered both circles together and glued them directly onto the card using my snail adhesive. I then stamped the letters DAD from the Alley Way Stamps set onto the sports jersey using Memento tuxedo black ink and then using selective inking I stamped the "you are a star" from the Altenew Apothecary Labels stamp set below it. To finish off my card I added 3 small circles that I cut from the same Graphic 45 paper pad using a small circle punch from EK Success and adhered them directly to the patterned paper in the upper left hand corner. I can't wait to see how everyone else is inspired this month!

 

Celebrate Your Big Day With Cake

Hello and thank you for popping over to my blog today! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far. Today's card was created for the latest The Male Room challenge. To create my card I started by layering some Stampin' UP basic black cardstock onto my white A2 card base. I then layered some plaid black and white pattered paper from the Pink & Main Spring Color Pop 6x6 paper pad on top. I cut down another strip of the basic black cardstock and treated it with my EK Success powder bag and then stamped the sentiment and cake using Versamark clear ink and heat embossed everything with Ranger detail embossing powder in snow. I edged the sentiment panel with some more black and white patterned paper from the same paper pad and adhered it down to the card. To finish off my card I added a few onyx black 6mm sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. I hope you like my card and don't forget to leave a comment. 

Fall Leaves Thank You

Hello, happy Monday! Fall is here in full effect in Southeast Missouri and the foliage is simply gorgeous, so I was excited to create something reflecting the rich, beautiful colors of the season. I will be submitting this card in both the The Card Concept and The Paper Players card challenges. To create my card I started with an A2 base of crumbcake cardstock from Stampin' UP. I layered on a piece of plaid patterned paper from the Echo Park Reflections Fall 12x12 paper pad that I had die cut using a stitched edge rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs. I then die cut a fishtail banner using more of the patterned paper from the same paper pack and a die from Jillian Vance. I wrapped the bottom of the banner with some brown sugar bakers twine from We R Memory Keepers and adhered it directly to the card. Using a leaf punch from EK Success I punched out more of the patterned paper and heat embossed it with some Recollections brown sugar embossing powder and a sentiment from the WPlus9 Strictly Sentiments stamp set. I popped the leaf up off of the card using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals and finished the card off with some pretty rich bronze sequins from The Ton. I hope you like my card and thank you for visiting my blog today!

With Love-Coffee And Cards With Celeste And Deb

Hello and welcome to the April Coffee and Cards with Celeste and Deb collaboration. This month we have another fun guest designer joining us, my friend Maria Giselle, who I had the pleasure of meeting at a Copic coloring certification class in St. Louis two years ago. And here's a fun fact about the three of us...Deb, Maria, and myself are all in the healthcare industry and we all share a love of card making and crafting!

So, despite mother nature doing her best to hang onto winter (in our area at least) we thought it would be fun to use the above photo as our inspiration and focus on a springtime project. I used the inspiration photo quite literally and started my project with a piece of basic black cardstock from Stampin' UP and prepped it with my EK Success powder tool. I then stamped the wreath from the WPlus9 Valentine Wishes stamp set onto the cardstock using Versamark ink. I then selectively sprinkled some Zing embossing powder in rouge onto the flowers and then Recollections embossing powder in snow white onto the rest. I then stamped the sentiment from the Winnie & Walter The  Big, The Bold, and the Happy stamp set in the center of the wreath and sprinkled more white embossing powder onto it. I hit it with my heat tool to set it and then added some white dashed lines around the outer edge of the card using my white gel pen. I added some fun foam to the back of the panel and popped it up off of my white card base and that completes my card. Love how clean and simple this is but offers so much impact. I may have to duplicate this card using different sentiments in the center! 

For my coffee selection this month I opted for a Dunkin Donuts mocha macchiato and as a side bonus I got a donut for free with my purchase! Coffee and a donut? That's a win in my book any day! Now be sure to pop on over to Deb and Maria's blogs and check out what gorgeousness they've created! Thank you for stopping by today and be sure to leave a comment and subscribe. 

Life Is Better With Friends-Coffee And Cards Collaboration With Celeste And Deb

Hello and welcome to the October installment of coffee and cards with Celeste and Deb. This month we have the wonderfully talented Chris Franco joining us as our guest designer. We all decided to do a color challenge this month for our collaboration. I won't lie...I struggle with color challenges. My brain just doesn't think of the color scheme first when designing a card. I usually start with a stamp and then select patterned papers and let those factors dictate my color choices. It's just the way my brain works. Since these kind of challenges are tough for me I decided to keep it simple. 

To create my card I started with the bird stamp and sentiment from the Unity Stamp Company's December KOTM, Always Been You. I stamped both the sentiment and the image onto Copic-friendly cardstock and trimmed it down into a small panel. I colored the birds using my alcohol markers, trying my best to stick to the colors in the challenge photo. I selected a pretty paisley patterned paper from the Authentique 6x6 Essentials Collection paper pad and adhered it directly onto my card base. I adhered a small white paper doily that I got in the baking aisle at Hobby Lobby directly on top of the patterned paper and then adhered the focal panel right in the center of the card. To finish off this adorable card I added some black dashed lines on the top and bottom edges of the panel, rounded the corners using my EK Success Corner Chomper, and added a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh in both the 4mm and 6mm sizes. I hope you like it! 

As for my coffee choice this month, I just had to pop into McDonald's for a sweet treat of a spiced pumpkin latte because...you know! It's October and it's "pumpkin spice everything" season! Now be sure to pop on over to Chris and Deb's blogs and leave some love for them in the way of a comment!

Do More Of What Makes You Awesome

Today's card was created for a friend who is sending care packages to a cousin just recently diagnosed with leukemia. When she told me that he loves to play with Legos I knew I had to make a fun Lego card. I went onto Pinterest and found a fun card that I could CASE. To create this fun card I started with some plain black cardstock from Stampin' UP and then layered on blocks of primary colored cardstock that I got at Hobby Lobby. Using a 1/2" punch from EK Success I punched coordinating circles and popped them up using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped onto some plain white cardstock and is from Unity Stamp Company. To finish this fun card off I used a white gel pen to add some highlights to the Lego dots. I hope you my friend's cousin likes his card. Thank you for stopping off at my blog today and I hope you like my card too!

I Pick You

Today's card was created for both the Sunday Stamps and AAA Cards Challenges. To create my card I started by layering a beautiful piece of plaid paper from the Basic Grey 12x12 Olivia Collection paper pad onto my white card base. I then layered on a large strip of turquoise cardstock from Hobby Lobby directly to the center of the patterned paper panel. I added some faux stitched lines using a Memento tuxedo black dual edge marker. I die cut a circle of plain white cardstock using a pierced edge die from My Favorite Things and went around the edge with the marker again to create faux stitch lines. I then stamped the mouse, pumpkin, and leaves from the My Favorite Things Harvest Mouse stamp set onto some Copic-friendly cardstock and die cut the images using the coordinating dies. I colored them using my alcohol markers and adhered them onto my card using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I prepped a piece of black cardstock from Stampin' UP with my EK Success powder tool and stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set using Versamark ink. I heat embossed the image using Recollections snow white embossing powder. I cut the sentiment down into a small strip and adhered it directly to the focal panel. To finish this adorable little card off I added some clear Wink of Stella to the leaves, pumpkins, the sweater and boots. I hope you like it and I thank you for visiting my blog!

Thanks A Latte

Gotta love when you find something so fun and so economically priced, right? I was visiting my daughter and granddaughter this weekend and we popped into her local Hobby Lobby. I was too excited when I found this fun coffee stamp set by Stampabilities for the ridiculous price of $2.99!!! I had to snag it and the fun little slab of birch wood that I used for my photograph. I'm still trying to beef up my photography but I'm still not quite there yet. 

Anyway, I created my card by matting some early espresso cardstock by Stampin' UP onto my white card base. I then die cut a piece of Canson cold pressed watercolor paper down using a Gina Marie Design stitched rectangle die. I prepped the paper for embossing with my EK Success powder tool. I stamped the coffee beans from the stamp set all over the background and heat embossed it using Zing embossing powder in chestnut. After that cooled off I added some "coffee stains" to the background using a paintbrush and some Tim Holtz distress ink in walnut stain. I mounted the panel to the card and added another strip of espresso cardstock that I had added some stitched lines to by using a Paper Smooches border die. I stamped the sentiment and the cup onto a pierced oval die panel that I die cut using a My Favorite Things die. I stamped the cup again and colored it using my Copic markers and fussy cut it and mounted it to the panel using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. A bit of Glossy Accents on the heart of the cup finished my card. I hope you like it and thank you for visiting my blog!

Happy Mother's Day Mom

My second card today was created for the AAA Cards Challenge. To create my card I started by cutting a piece of white cardstock down slightly smaller than my card base. I prepped the cardstock with my EK Success powder tool and then stamped the beautiful mandala image onto the paper using Versamark clear ink. I then coated the panel with Recollections snow white embossing powder. I heat set the panel and then inked it using Tim Holtz distress ink in picked raspberry. I wiped the panel down with a clean baby white to get the ink off of the white embossing. I then cut down a piece of vellum that I got at my local Hobby Lobby. I prepped it with the same powder tool. I stamped the sentiment using Versafine onyx black ink and Concord & 9th's Sophisticated Script stamp set. Once stamped I covered the panel with some Recollections clear embossing powder and heat set it. I glued both panels down to the card base and added some 6mm sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. The inside of the card reads, " Good Job Mom. Happy Mother's Day!" My mom loved it!

Scooting By To Say Hi

Today's card was created for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge. This fun card was created by layering some pumpkin colored cardstock from Hobby Lobby onto a white card base. I then die cut the focal panel using some yellow cardstock from Hobby Lobby and embossed it using a fun graphic embossing folder from Lifestyle Crafts. I adhered a small strip of vellum at the bottom to add a bit of interest and added some black dashed lines. I then stamped the scooter from The Paper Smooches Spiffy Scooters onto some white cardstock and fussy cut it out. I stamped the same image again and fussy cut them panels out to adhere to the base layer. I adhered all of the pieces together and popped the image up off of the card using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I stamped the flower from the same stamp set and colored it to coordinate with the papers and adhered it to the scooter using more foam dimesionals. I punched the cloud using an EK Success punch and added some black dashed lines around the outer edges and popped it up using foam dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment onto a white strip of cardstock and adhered it directly the card and added more dashed lines.  I love how adorably it turned out. I hope you like it and thank you for visiting my blog today! 

Hay There!

Today's card was created for the latest Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge. I created my card by layering some fun farm themed patterned papers from the American Crafts Heartland Farm 6x6 paper pad onto my white card base. I then stamped the images from the My Favorite Things Hay There stamp set onto some white Copic-friendly cardstock. I colored them using my alcohol markers and fussy cut them out leaving a small white border around them. I created a scene by die cutting a sloped hill using a Paper Smooches border die and coloring it green to look like grass. I added a few stitched lines along the top edge to help define it more against the patterned paper and adhered it directly to the card. I popped the adorable little images up off of the card using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment from the same MFT stamp set, trimmed it down and cut the ends to create a fish-tail banner, and popped it up off of the card using more foam dimensionals. For a finishing touch I rounded the outer edges of the card using my EK Success Corner Chomper. I hope you like this adorable little card and thank you for visiting my blog today!

Delivered With Love

Today's card was created for the latest Watercooler Wednesday Challenge. I started by embossing some Stampin' UP basic black cardstock using a heart embossing folder by The Paper Studio. I layered that directly onto my white card base and rounded the corners using my EK Success corner chomper. I then stamped that fun truck from Unity Stamp Company's A Guy And His Truck stamp set onto some white Copic-friendly cardstock. I colored the image in using my alcohol markers and then cut the panel down to fit my card. I popped it up off of the card using some 3M foam tape for a little dimension. I finished this fun card off by added some faux stitched lines at the top and bottom of the panel and then a bit of shimmer to the hearts using my At You Spica clear glitter pen. I wish I could have gotten my camera to pick up that shimmer and shine but I just couldn't get the angle right on the photo. Anyway, I hope you like my fun little card and don't forget to leave a comment. I appreciate each and every one of them!

I'm Wild About You

Today's card was created for the latest Send a Smile 4 Kids challenge. To create my card I started by layering some pretty patterned papers from Chickaniddy Twirly Girly 6x6 paper pad onto my white card base. I then stamped the adorable little giraffe from Unity Stamp Company's Wild About You stamp set onto some Copic-friendly white cardstock. I colored the giraffe in colors that would coordinate with the patterned paper and then cut the panel down. Using my EK Success corner chomper I round the left upper and right lower corners on both the card and the focal panel. I adhered the panel to the card using 3M foam tape for a bit of dimension. I added some black dashed lines around the focal panel and the coordinating panel in the center of the card for some added contrast. I added some pretty pink Stickles glitter glue to the balloon and the spots on the critter. For a final touch I added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in ebony black. I plan on forwarding this card to my friend Sybrina for the latest Valentine's card drive. Thank you for visiting my blog!

Joy To The World

This card was created for the latest Shopping Our Stash "Stickle Me Elmo" challange. The challenge is to use Stickles or any sort of glitter pen on our project. I created this card using some pretty patterned papers from Heidi Swapp's Noel 6x6 paper pad and a My Favorite Things Pure Innocence angel stamp. I stamped the angel onto some Copic-friendly cardstock and then paper pieced her gown, wings, the horn, and the bird onto the image after coloring and shading all of the pieces. I die cut the focal panel using a Spellbinders die and added some clouds that I'd paper punched using an EK Success punch. I stamped the sentiment onto one of the clouds using The Taylored Expressions Big Bold Christmas stamp set. I adhered the panel directly to the card and added some black stitched lines around the outer edges, some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and some glittery detail to the headpiece, wings, horn, bird, and the sentiment using my Sakura gelly roll clear star pen for pretty shimmer. I tried to pick up how shimmery it is with my camera but had a tough time. I hope you can make it out. 

Coffee & Friends

Today's card was created for the latest Just Us Girls challenge. I have to admit, I never think to use my smaller stamps to create all over stamped backgrounds but I really had fun with this one! I picked up the awesome Altenew Coffee Love stamp set during a recent Blitsy sale and thought it would be the perfect set for this technique. I started with a white card base and layered on some Stampin' UP early espresso cardstock. I then stamped some of the images from the stamp set onto some white Copic-friendly cardstock using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored them in using my alcohol markers. To fill in some of the blank spots I stamped the coffee beans from the stamp set using Gina K. charcoal brown ink. I mounted that panel directly onto the card. Using the same brown cardstock as the base I prepped it with my EK Success powder tool and then stamped the sentiment using Versamark ink. I heat set it using some Recollections white embossing powder and my heat tool. I trimmed the sentiment down to a proportional size and mounted it onto my card using some 3M foam tape for some added dimension. I plan on sending this card out to my January partner for the Coffee Lover's Card Swap. I hope you like it!

Christmas Brings Out The Kid In Us All

Today's card was created for the latest Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge. The challenge was to create a fun winter theme. I realized after I saw the inspiration photo that I'd not used my Recollections Polar Pals stamp set all year to create a single card and thought this challenge would be the perfect excuse to remedy that. I started by prepping a piece of white cardstock with my EK Success anti-static tool and stamped the snowflakes from the stamp set using Versamark clear ink and then heat embossed them using some Recollections embossing powder in snow white. I then inked the panel to create a sky using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in broken china. I die cut a snowy slope using a Paper Smooches edge die and some more white cardstock. I stamped the polar bear and the snowman onto Copic-friendly cardstock, colored them using my alcohol markers, and fussy cut them out leaving a white border around the outer edges. I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set onto the snowy bank, adhered the snowman behind it using my Zig 2-way glue pen. Using my Copic BG10 marker I created a small lake onto the snowy bank and popped my polar bear up using Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. I love how adorable this card turned out and hope you like it too!

Coffee And Cards With Celeste And Deb-Part 2

Welcome to the second week of my collaboration with my friend Debra Davison of Meticulosity. We are doing a coffee and card collaboration every Sunday for the entire month of October. This week we decided to focus on the color pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month. For my card I opted to focus on the people who take care of those suffering with cancer; whether that be a doctor, a nurse, caregiver, family member or friend. Coping with cancer is hard on everyone involved and I wanted this card to pay homage to those who are strong in the face of something horrible because I really do think they make a difference in the lives of cancer patients. For my card I started by layering on a piece of basic black cardstock from Stampin' UP that I had embossed using a honeycomb embossing folder from Momenta. I then prepped a piece of Canson coldpress watercolor paper using my EK Success powder tool and stamping the images from Unity Stamp Company's You Can & You Will stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink. I then heat set the ink by sprinkling on some clear embossing powder by Zing. I stamped the butterfly image twice...once onto to main focal panel and again onto a second piece so I could heat emboss it and fussy cut out the three butterflies. Using Tim Holtz distress inks in spun sugar, picked raspberry, and black soot I watercolored the background using a smooshing technique and added some flecks of black by flicking my brush against the back of my hand. I painted the three separate butterflies and mounted them up off of the card using some 3M foam tape. I popped the butterflies up using small pieces of Stampin' UP foam dimensionals. As for my coffee, again...my choice is always going to be black Seattle's Best French Roast. I know...boring! Please pop on over to Deb's page and show her some blogger love by leaving a comment and/or subscribing! Thank you for stopping by!

It's Your Special Day

Today's card was created for the latest Unity Show & Tell Facebook sketch challenge. I started by layering some pretty patterned paper from Studio Calico's Take Note 6x6 paper pad onto my card, following the sketch. I then die cut a piece of white Copic-friendly cardstock using a Gina Marie Designs wonky stitch rectangle border die. I stamped the image from Unity Stamp Company's Grace of Letting Go stamp set using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored her in with Copic markers to coordinate with the patterned paper and then popped the panel up off of the card using 3M foam tape. I used a 1/2" circle punch from EK Success to punch the three smokey grey dots that I used as a coordinating element and adhered them directly onto the card using my Zig two-way glue pen. To finish my card I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Crazy Talk stamp set. I hope you like it!

Note: I found out yesterday that I won the challenge with this entry!