Christmas in July

Hi guys. Not a whole lot of crafting happening in recent weeks. Too much other stuff to do -- outdoors! :) I'm LOVING summer!!! :)


...after saying that I guess it's a little strange and funny that I'm showcasing a Christmas card during the summer...but oh well. :p

I loved working with the Christmas Trees embossing folder. It definitely made this card a fast card to put together.

challenges

LEJ Designs -- Anything Goes

Loves Rubberstamp -- Christmas in July

Simply Challenged - Christmas in July

Sweet Stamps -- Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door -- Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown -- Anything Goes

Anything Goes Challenge Blog -- Anything Goes

Graduation

Hi guys. It's the end of the school year. Lots of graduations happening. A time to celebrate great accomplishments. A time to look towards the future. A time to dream -- to DREAM BIG! :)

I've had this piece of "graduation" designer paper in my scraps box for months...waiting for some inspiration. Today I finally decided to used it...and I love what I came up with. :)

I used a new Cuttlebug folder I bought recently...

and a Stampin' Up stamp from their "Happy Greetings" stamp set. I love that stamp set -- the sentiments can be used for a wide variety of cards. :)

I also added some black bling...and a cute little diploma from my stash. I like how it turned out. :)
 

 Challenges:

Simon Says -- Anything Goes
 Pause Dream Enjoy -- Anything Goes
Make It Monday -- Anything Goes
Sister Act Card -- Anything Goes
Pan Pastel -- Lots of Layers
Word Art Wednesday -- Anything Goes
Stamp with Fun -- Celebrate
Crafts and Me Challenge -- Anything Goes

For Dad

Hi guys. Well it's been pretty busy around here in recent weeks. Plus, the weather has been too beautiful outdoors to spend  a whole lot of time inside. :) So I'll have to show a card I made awhile back...

this is the card I made for my dad for Father's Day.

I wanted to change it up a little from the cards I've been making recently. I love the Clean and Simple look, and that's generally what my cards turn out to be. But for this card I decided to try incorporate some vellum. I have a Fiskars "Family Legacy" vellum paper sets booklet with absolutely gorgeous vellum pages. So I started with that...

Then I created a word art and printed the sentiment onto the vellum.

I added a Cuttlebugged background ...and some designer paper as well. (scraps, scraps, scraps!) :)

I used the bow-easy to create a perfect bow...(absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE that tool!!! -- it makes perfect bows every time...and it's soooooo simple to use!)

And here is my finished card:

challenges:

Pollycraft Challenge: Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenges: June Challenge: Masculine

Art Impressions Blog: Masculine Cards

 CCEE Stampers: CAS Masculine card
DL Art: Cards for Man
The Sisterhood of Crafters: For the Boys

For Mother

Hi guys. I know it's long past Mother's Day...but I didn't get around to show casing my card then...so I figured now is as good a time as ever. :)

My card features a Flourishes stamp called "Forget Me Not Notes". I love this stamp set -- especially the big bouquet image. Since my mom is big into flowers, I figured the stamp fit perfectly. :)

I colored the stamped image with alcohol markers. I think I'm hooked now!!! I love love love images on cards...and now I'm also big into coloring images. I think I've discovered a whole new world of cardmaking!!! :)

I want to give a shout out to Silke over at My Life. I love her cards...and this card is big-time inspired by her cards. ...with a few little differences to make it my own. :)

Using my Martha Stewart Score Board I embossed some lines across the top of my card's "white space" ...to give it some detail. Then I added some beautiful ribbon (love the fact that it has hearts on there!) and tied it all off with a bow.

challenges for this card:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesday -- Anything Goes
Rhedd and Rossie Challenge: Blooming Lovely
Fresh Brewed Designs -- Lots of Flowers
Creative Inspiration: Anything Goes
Oh La La Creations: Inspired by Nature
Milk Coffee Challenge -- Load on the Flowers
Crafty Ribbons -- Anything Goes with a Ribbon
Craft Dee BowZ -- Anything goes with Handmade Bow 
613 Avenue Create -- Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge -- Ribbon and/or Lace 
Created with Love -- You Lift Me Up

The rubber Buggy -- Anything Goes

Butterfly Thanks

Hi guys. I love working with Stampin Up stamps. :) I also love Love LOVE butterflies! :) So when I saw a Stampin Up "Flight of the Butterfly" set on a garage sale a few weeks ago, I grabbed it. It's quite versatile...and lots of fun to play with.

Today I want to show you all one of the cards I made with the set. This is also my first attempt (ever) at paper piercing...but I turned out quite nice. I love trying new techniques -- and paper piercing's always been on my "to try" list, but for some reason I never got around to it. So anyways, here's the card:

I  used dimensionals on the butterflies

Here's a full-view of the card:

Thanks so much for coming by my blog today. And thanks to all of you who leave comments...I love reading what you think of my cards and projects. :)

 Challenges for this card:

613 Avenue Create -- Anything Goes
Challenges for Everybody -- Anything Goes 
No Matter Which Challenges -- Things with Wings (must include stamp) 
Paper Creators Crafts -- Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs Challenges -- Anything Goes

A Little Note

Hi guys.I love the new Flourishes stamp sets. I was the lucky winner of a blog hop and I got to pick a stamp set. I went withe the "Forget Me Not Notes" set. It's super cute...and "Forget Me Not's" happen to be one of my favourite flowers as well. :)

This is the first time I'm colouring a stamped mage with any type of markers. This image was colored with Alcohol markers...and I love them! Great tip made it so easy to colour all the small areas. :)

So here's a look at my card.

You can't really tell from the photo, but the white background does have some score lines. I'll have to do a better job to capture the details next time. :)

Challenges for my card:

Lawnscaping Challenges: Clean and Simple
Without Words: Flowers
DL Art 109: Flowers
Bitten by the Bug: Give it away/Pass it on/Celebrate the Joy
 Sentimental Sundays: Clean and Simple
Simon Says Stamps: Flower Power
Creative Inspirations Paint -- Anything Goes

Help please

Hi guys. I bought a bunch of Stampin Up supplies at a garage sale last week. Afterwards I looked through it, and saw these....

Now I just have one question -- what are they???

I assume they're some type of dies for a cutting machine. I've seen some papers that were obviously cut with these specific shapes...but how do I used them???

Can you help me out? At least tell me what they're called so I can google them and get a tutorial or something. thanks :)