Mother's Day Card

 Hello everyone.  Today I'd like to share the Mother's Day I made for my mom.

As I mentioned before, I haven't been feeling that great, and the mojo is slightly lacking.  So in times like this, I turn to the enormous pile of card kits that I have accumulated through the years.  I'd have to say that my favourite company for card kits is Hunkydory. I just love their gold or silver accents, their gorgeous images, the beautiful print quality of their images, and luxurious cardstock.  This card was made using the Hunkydory Concept 118 Card kit.  This card is called Garden Rose. 

The other awesome thing is that this kit comes with envelopes.  It's a bit difficult to measure the card with all it's elements sticking out in different directions, but when folded for mailing this card fits into a 7.25" by 5.25" envelope.  

My mom is currently staying with us, on holiday, so it was hand delivered.  She loves watching the blue jays in our garden.  They have breakfast and dinner at our bird feeders, bathe in our bird bath and believe it or not, spend the days chasing away the squirrels from the bird feeders. So you see, when I saw this card with two blue jays, I knew she was going to like it 😀

That's all for today.  I'll be back tomorrow to share another card with you.

Until then, enjoy the rest of your Friday and stay safe.

Hugs,

Happy Mother's Day!

 Hello dear friends and welcome back.  Today, I would like to wish all you a very Blessed Mother's Day! I would also like to take this opportunity to share the card I made for my mom ...

I used Honey Bee Stamps' Lovely Layers - Roses die set to create the rose. I cut the layers in different shades of cardstock and added a little shading using blending brushes.  The faux twine was created by using the Spellbinders Sealed Twine die.

Next, I got out my seal wax goodies and created the wax heart embellishment.

Although the leaves also come with different layers, I just used the largest layer and added a little shading to them.  On the largest leaf, however, I used two layers so it wouldn't look so flat.

I added Nuvo Crystal - Morning Dew, drops to give the illusion of dew drops. I must admit that I love the way they came out 😀

All the beautiful layers add a lot of dimension. I just glued the centers together and curled the edges a little. There was no need for foam squares inbetween each layer.

The sentiment was computer generated. The little rose bud is part of the Lovely Layers - Roses die set.

It is small but has beautiful dimension too, as I used all the layers for it. I thought that a little bow, from the Marianne Design Bows Punch die, was the perfect finishing touch. 

I love that this rose is on the larger side.  This is a 6.5" x 5" card, and as you can see the rose fills up the front of the card pretty nicely. It fits in a regular A7 envelope and, even though it has lots of layers, it is just about a 1/4" thick so no need for extra postage.

Well, friends this is it for today.  Enjoy the rest of your Mother's Day celebrations. For all the moms who are not having a joyful day today, know that you are in my thoughts and that I've said a prayer for you.

God Bless,

Crafty Gals Corner # 243 ~ Flowers for Mom

    Hello crafting friends and welcome back to another fun challenge

 starting today at Crafty Gals Corner! 

Challenge #243 ~ Flowers for Mom

 Our sponsors for this challenge are: 

(listed in alphabetical order)

Fred, She Said Digital Designs

Prize ~ $10 Gift Certificate

Fred She Said Designs offers a wide variety of digital products with a floral flair and cute characters too - Digi's, Pre-colored images, Papers, Sets, Fred's Flower Kits, and even digital cutting files.  Have some fun with Fred!

* * * * * * * * * *

Jan's Digi Stamps

Prize ~ $10 Gift Certifcate

* * * * * * * * * *

Using the Tulip Bouquet pre-coloured digi set, I created a variety of cards.

I used my Silhouette to cut out the Tulip Bouquets as well as the card base, making his a very easy card to put together and fabulous to make a few at a time.

Here are close ups of each individual card ...

I love easel cards as they stand up so pretty and close completely flat making it easy to mail.

I used a Butterly MS punch to cut out the little butterflies and also the butterfly stopper on the inside of each card.

That's all for today folks.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I would love to you see you play along with us.  You have until 12:00 pm, CST, on 13 June 2023, to link your project to our challenge.

Crafty hugs,

Same Die, Different Occasions :-)

Hello crafting friends and welcome back.  It's my turn to share a project on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog today, so I have a few cards using the same die but for different occasions.  I love background dies, they're so versatile and so easy to use.  Let's take a look ... (scroll down for the other cards)

I made this card thinking of Mother's Day, but it can be used for a Birthday, a Thank You, or even a Sympathy card.  The background die I'm using is the Floral Oval by Jeanine's Art's Vintage Flowers collection.  I added a layered tulip image to the centre, a few gems and it was done. Didn't take me more than 15 minutes to put together this side folding 5.25" x 5.25" card.

I have a special person in mid for this card. She's a very tropical and fun loving person, so this bright and cheerful card is going to make it's way to her to wish her a very Happy Birthday :-) The flamingo image is from a Tropical Birds cutting sheet by Marianne Designs.  Again I added some gems and another card done in under 15 minutes :-)

Like I mentioned above, background dies are great for any occasion at any time of the year.  This time I used this Floral Oval die to make a Christmas card. I also cut out a few poinsettias from the Holy Frame die set by Spellbinders. A few gems and voila, another card done :-)

For my last card, I added a rose from Build a Rose die set by Marianne Designs, a few gems and a little stitching.  I love this rose die because you can shade it in any colour you want and it always looks pretty.  For this card I used the Memento London Fog ink for the rose and the Memento Cottage Ivy for the leaves. 

It is better to do any sponging and shading while the die cut is still in the die. It gives your shading a sharper look. For smaller details such as the veins on the leaves, I normally a small makeup applicator to get the ink into the little spaces.

I know that I've mentioned this before, but for anyone who is visiting us for the first time, every now and then Dies R Us runs a big sale on international dies. During these times, you will find dies from companies such as Marianne Designs, Lea'bilities, and Joy Crafts among others. The best way to know about these fabulous sales is to subscribe to the Dies R Us Newsletter.  When you go to the store's home page,  scroll down to the bottom.  There you will find a box where you can enter your email address and be put on their mailing list.

In case you want to try your hand at stitching the triangles, I've included a little diagram with instructions that should help you :-)

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Well, crafting friends, that is it from me for today. I hope you enjoyed your visit and that I was able to inspire you to use your dies, create a project, and come play along with us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of every month.  Be sure to follow us on Facebook too.

Click below for:

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Till next time,

Crafty hugs,

Mother's Day

Oh boy, you're probably thinking that I'm very late sharing my Mother's Day card and you'd be right.  But life hasn't been that easy lately and has taken over most of my crafting time.  I'd still like to share with you the card I made for my mom and my Mother's Day gift from hubby and daughter.

So first onto the card I made for my mom, who is currently visiting us and made Mother's Day  even more special :-)

When I got this Stitch & Do kit (No. 61) and saw this momma swan with her babies (cygnets), it reminded me of my mom.  We are only two children, my brother and I, but my mom always kept us under her wings - safe, loved and pampered. So you see, this image was perfect for the front of my card.  I cut an additional little guy and placed him on the inside of the card. The greeting stamp is from the Cardz TV stamp set called Happy Days.

Now let me tell you about the gift I got from my hubby and my daughter.

I've wanted a fairy garden, for quite a while, to put on my patio. I think they are super cute and fun and a nice addition to the garden. My daughter recently made one to put by her front door and that got me going to make one for myself.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect. On Mother's Day, hubby surprised me with most of the goodies needed to make a fairy garden and my daughter supplied the rest :-)

So here is my little piece of garden whimsy ...

  

I had such fun putting it all together, and I'm so happy with the way it came out, that I'm already looking forward to my next project - a miniature mermaid lagoon :-) I have the perfect place for it, but it will be indoors.

Well, crafting friends, I hope you enjoyed my Mother's Day post even if it was late.

I have a few more cards to share with you, so look out for more posts to come within the next few days. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,

University Graduation

Good morning crating friends.
I would like to share with you one of the reasons I've been MIA the last couple of weeks.  This was one of the happy reasons ~ my son's graduation from the University of Houston.

I have to warn you that this is a long post, so if you have the time crab a cuppa and enjoy.

I can't believe how the years have flown by.

  

                        Pre School                       High School                        University

                        5 years old                       18 years old                       22 years old

It feels like it was only yesterday we were singing "I hope you Dance"

at his pre-School graduation and then we blinked and there he was graduating from university!

I can't begin to tell you all how very proud we are of this young man!

Of course being a crafting mommy, I had to make a few things for his graduation. So let me start by sharing the box card I made for him. I used elements from Silhouette cut files and from Simply Crafty SVG's files to put this card together. I also added a few die cuts and used the Swiss Dot embossing folder. Card stocks used are all from GinaK.

My mom also wanted a card for him so I made another box card.

This one was made using the Graduation "You Did It"  box card from Simply Crafty SVGs. If you remember, I made this same card for my son's girlfriend who is graduating next week, just with different colours and mascot elements. If you missed that post, you can see it here.

My son didn't want a party, just a nice dinner with his family.  So instead of making invitations, we decided that I would make graduation announcements. Since most of them were being mailed overseas, I had to keep it mail friendly.

I purchased a pack of linen textured card stock from Office Depot and started by printing the text.

Next I scored the cards and added the shiny red strip of textured card stock to the bottom 3rd section. Cutting and embossing the leaves, hat and diploma was very time consuming, but well worth it in the end, I think.  The grad hat and diploma are from Cheery Lynn Designs and the laurel leaves from Ali Express.  I made 32 of these 6" x 4.5" (when closed) trifold cards. I adhered a wallet size photo of Brian to the top fold on the inside.

To finish off this post I would like to share a wall decoration I made.
  I wish I had made the hat a little bigger, but to be honest with you, I could not find my 12" x 24" mat anywhere. I know it's hiding somewhere in my craft room, but I didn't have the time to search for it. So I used a full page of a 12" x 12" black card stock sheet instead. The logos were printed on glossy photo paper and all the lettering was cut out of black vinyl.

Well, friends I hope you enjoyed my post today. Like I told you, it was a long one but I had lots to share :-)

I will be back in a couple of days with a few more cards, so do come back a visit.

Till then,