VERTICAL BIRTHDAY

This folio card was in my stash already scored, so I used it for a topiary birthday card.  The left side is taped down, and the dsp overs the fold.

After stamping the potted tree in a soft green, I used plain ol' ordinary markers to color over it.  I tapped on the green, colored the trunk and pot, then added the shadow.  After mounting the image to a green rectangle, I popped it on the card front with dimensionals.

For the greeting, I made a little banner from scrap and attached it at the top.  For embellishment, I added several tiny clear gems on the tree.

PAPER PLAYERS 301

This card was sitting on my desk from last week, and it fits perfectly for this week's Paper Players challenge--who knew??

The stamp is from an old set I have in my stash from my days as a demonstrator for The Angel Company.  Sadly, the company is gone, so I treasure my TAC stamp sets.  This one is so me...

FEMININE CARD

This was one of those cards that just "evolve" as I go along, and I love how it turned out.

First, I die cut some flowers from a leftover piece of watercolor paper that I used to experiment with Color Burst powders (purple).  For contrast, I also die cut some of the smaller flowers from some dsp.

After choosing the dsp for the card front and a coordinating piece of pre-printed vellum, I mounted them as shown.  Next I assembled the flowers and mounted them along the edge of the vellum.  The greeting, stamped on plain white cs cut down to form a banner along the side, is from the SU! set, "Vertical Greetings."  For embellishment, I used yellow gems for the flowers and a purple gem for the top of the banner.

LIVE, LOVE, GROW

The challenge with this card was to use acetate so that the terrarium looks like it's under a glass dome.  Cutting acetate to fit over the cover was next to impossible, especially since the adhesive would show.

The look was finally achieved by cutting the window square from a square frame die I got from My Favorite Things.  After die cutting the  window, I attached a square piece of acetate to the back with Score tape.  After gluing the terrarium to the card front,  I adhered the frame to the card over the terrarium.  Then I cut the card down to a square and added the bow to fnish it off.

I also used this stamp set for a birthday card.  Instead of the plants, I placed a birthday cake slice inside!

YOU CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS!

I'm always on the lookout for humorous birthday greetings, and Mama Elephant came through with this one!  The name of the set is Carnival Toppers.

After gluing the dsp to the card front, I simply added the saying and a cupcake from another set  (can't remember which one or where it is.)  Then I added the little flower and gem.  Finally, I used lilac embroidery floss on the left.

Very simple card to make.

GOODBYE MAY!

This started out as the calendar for May that I turned into a card.

After removing the calendar, I stamped "Birthday" on a scrap of white cs,  glued it over the word "May" and re-mounted the wreath  over the spot where the calendar was.  I sponged some sky and added a die cut "happy" above the wreath.  Then I mounted the panel on the front of a white card base.

I love that this perpetual calendar from the December Paper Pumpkin has done double duty as each month ends!

MUSEUM "REPORT"

Our inspirational trip to the NY Met. Museum of Art was a lot of fun.  Evelyn, Carolyn and I left my house around 9 am (after rush hour traffic was over) and arrived at the museum around 10:45.  After entering the museum, we first took a guided tour.  Since this was Carolyn's first visit (gasp!) I thought this would be a good way to get oriented.  I reminded her that the museum has artwork everywhere you look, but you have to ignore the displays you're walking through and focus on where you want to go...very hard to do!

The tour was of art in the Byzantine era and lasted one hour.  Our guide was very knowledgeable of the history as well as the art pieces she took us to.  She started with a map of the Mediterranean Ring (North Africa, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Middle East as it was in the time of Constantine.)  The arts included sculpture, architecture, silver and gold artifacts, and even a  stained glass window.  I suspect she had a Phd. but spoke on our level, answering questions from our small group as we went along.  The only downside of the hour was that the marble floors were very hard on my back but it was well worth it.

After lunch in the cafeteria (really a self-serve restaurant the food is so good) we went back upstairs and headed for the Arms and Armor hall.  Carolyn was amazed at the deailed artwork on all the pieces on display, especially those for the horses.  After all, if your horse goes down in battle,  you're going down with it!

Next was a special exhibit on fashion which was unexpectedly amazing.  The centerpiece was a wedding gown of the house of Chanel.  There were gold sequins and gems on a long train that sparkled under the bright lights and reflected in a kaleidescope  on the domed ceiling.  The other exhibits were from several other designers, the most fascinating of which was a cocktail dress made of straws.  They were all stunning!

Next, I took Carolyn and Evelyn to see one of my favorite paintings, a huge masterpiece of Joan of Arc as a young peasant girl..  From there, we went to see their collection of impressionist paintings.  After a stop to browse the gift shop, we headed for home, a bit tired from all the walking but happy to have done it.

Praise God for getting us home safely in heavy traffic going 70 mph or more!

HOSTESS THANK-YOU NOTES

It seems I've been making a lot of card sets lately!  This one was for my friend, Gail, who had a garden tea last week.  Several people brought hostess gifts, so I made a batch of these for her to use.

I wanted to make something reflective of the rose garden setting, and the Painted Petals set from SU! was ideal.  The leaves are from a Penny Black set, Petal Power.  The tiny flowers and dots were from my peg stamp drawer.

After stamping the leaves onto a die cut stitched rectangle, I started adding the flowers.  Beginning with the largest, I stamped the roses in Watermelon Wonder to match the card base.  Then I added the yellow clusters, the purple blooms and the blue dots.

The sentiment was stamped on a piece of white scrap, sponged with Watermelon Wonder ink and mounted with a dimensional.  Inside, there is a white panel with a flower stamped in the left bottom corner.  To finish it off, I also decorated the envelopes.

These were fun to make and I had all six done in record time!

GRADUATION THANK-YOU NOTES

When asked to make 16 thank-you notes for our grandson to use, I had to come up with something simple.  This wasn't as easy as it looks, but I've got a dozen made.  The last four will be a little different, I think.  What made this so time consuming was pasting the little pieces in the a, y and o of the letters that were die cut.

One thing that helped was Press and Seal wrap from my kitchen drawer.  Before running the blue panels through the Big Shot, I lined up all the letters on top of the wrap, added the "you" die and pressed the letters onto each blue  panel to cut the word and letters all at once.  The letters stayed in place for all 14 cards.  (A BIG thank you to Jennifer McGuire's husband who invented Press and Seal!)

The card is done in school colors, of course, with the panel mounted on the gold card base so that he would be able to easily write on the inside.

OFF TO THE CITY TODAY!

One day last week my friend Carolyn mentioned that she'd never been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, which is only an hour away.  Since that is my favorite museum, we decided to make the trip and chose this date.  So today, that's where I will be with Carolyn and Evelyn.  It's a rainy day today, which will not affect us at all since the museum has a parking garage attached and a cafeteria with great foods.  We'll start by going on a guided tour of museum highlights, then have lunch and then explore a few exhibits before leaving around 3:00 ahead of rush hour traffic.

Check back tomorrow for an update!

BTW, it's been awhile since my last post because I've been busy making 50 cards for our pastor to use as follow-ups after VBS.  I also made 5 thank-you notes with matching envelopes for my friend, Gail, who had a garden tea last weekend.  I'm now finishing up on a set of thank-yous for our grandson to use for his graduation gifts.  Once I'm done, I plan to post them--hopefully, tomorrow.

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???

Suddenly, I find myself being the grandmother of a high school graduate!

To celebrate, I made this card with his school colors.  Using a new set of number dies, star dies and "Happy Graduation" stamps all from My Favorite Things, I came up with this folio card.

Shown here are the front and inside of the card.




If you need a card for graduation, this stamp set has lots of great sayings, so check it out!

IN FRIENDSHIP

This card started out with a store-bought card base from AC Moore.  The muted colors make a nice soft background for the bold Botanical Builder dies, especially the deep scarlet flower.

The banner is from a set of two that I got at Frantic Stamper, which also includes a number of pre-curved stamps.  The die for this one comes out flat as shown, while the other one has embossed lines to fold the tails under for a popped up banner.

As you can see, I'm still have fun with this set of dies!

JUST BECAUSE

This card went out already, and I love how it turned out.  Again, the Botanical Blooms are on display!

The bottoms two thirds of the card front is covered with a piece of vellum for its softening effect.  The flower petals are sponged to give them some dimension, and the twine is added for texture.

The greeting is from the SU! set, Tin of Cards.

ANOTHER BOTANICAL BLOOM

 There just seems to be no end of ways to use the Botanical Builder die set from SU!  The greeting is from the Tin of Cards stamp set, which comes in handy often.  The butterfly was punched out of a scrap of silver glitter paper and embellished with pearls for the body.

I find I'm using more dies than stamps lately?  Are you?