Sunny Smiles

Hi Everyone!

As I drove to work yesterday I was thinking of how tired I am of cloudy and rainy days.  It's nearly the end of May and we've had warm temperatures, but only an occasional sunny day.  I am guessing that many of my friends must feel the same way and so I decided to make a sunny card for my dear friend, Annie, who turned 90 a few months ago.

I have a list of all of the messages that are on my clear stamps in a file on my computer.  I scrolled through the list and found a few messages that had the word "sunny" in them.  I decided to use the text and basket from a Hero Arts "Sunny Smiles" cling stamp set for Annie's card. 

I used a sun die to cut out some suns and drew smiles on them.  I used two of the eyeglasses stamps from Lawn Fawn's "Clear to See" clear stamp set to stamp out some eyeglasses.  I fussy cut them and used glitter markers to color their lenses.  I adhered them to the sun cutouts with pop dots to give them some dimension. 

Here's Annie's card.

Hope that your day is filled with sunshine!

Carol

"Flower Frog"

Hi Everyone!

As you can see in the photograph to the right of this post my wooden stamps are displayed in flatware organizers on the walls in my craft corner.   Not sure how long ago I took that picture, but it must have been a while ago because now additional stamps are displayed in flatware organizers on the window sill and along the back side of my work table.  The organizers are the perfect depth for wooden stamps.  I rotate the stamps about once a month so that the current holidays, season, etc. are directly in front of me.


For weeks now whenever I glance up at the stamps I see the "Flower Frog" from Hero Arts smiling down at me.   I decided it would be fun to use that stamp to make my sister Paula a card.  Paula loves to be outdoors.  She hikes and camps and works with her husband, Rob, in wildlife conservation and research. 


I sponged painted some white tag and adhered it to a blank card.  Then I repeatedly stamped a discontinued "Long grass" stamp from A Muse Artstamps onto the tag so that it resembled the stems of cattails. 


I stamped the "Flower Frog" onto 2 papers from Lawn Fawn's Bright Side collection and fussy cut the frog, the frog's head, and the frog's flowery tummy.  I stamped the log from Lawn Fawn's "Critters in the Forest" clear stamp set onto a scrap of brown patterned paper, masked it, and stamped it again to make the log longer.  Then I adhered the log to my card and sat the frog on the log.  I used some foam tape to adhere the frog's head to its body.  When I think of frogs I think of huge bulging eyes and found the perfect ones for my frog in my wiggly eye collection. 

I stamped dragonflies from Lawn Fawn's "Critters in the Forest" clear stamp set in the grass and sky and used glitter markers to color them.  I squeezed gold Stickles onto some of the blades of grass to create cattails.  The sun was cut with one of my most used dies. 

Have a great night!
Carol

A Sister is a Precious Gift

Hi Everyone!

While I was shopping a few weeks ago I found some pretty dimensional stickers from Punch Studio in TJ Maxx.  There were packages of birthday, flower, brother, and sister stickers.  I purchased one package each of the birthday and sister stickers and two packages of the floral ones.  I didn't buy the brother ones.  I love my brother dearly, but I know he could care less about a handmade card. 

I have 3 sisters.  Jeanne and I live in Massachusetts.  Paula lives in Washington state and her twin, Pam lives in California.  I am 10 years older than the twins and have often felt more like their mother than their older sister.  Although we rarely see each other we try to keep in touch by phone and e-mail.  As soon as I saw the messages on the sister stickers I knew they'd be perfect for cards for my sisters. 

Here's a card that I created earlier today.  I apologize for the darkness of the photo.  It's cloudy and dark today and I couldn't get a more vibrant picture. 

I used a Sizzix Movers and Shakers die to cut the 4 squares on the card.  The flowers and lacy border were paper punched.  I am pleased with the feminine look the colors, pearls, and lace give the card.

Will hopefully be back tomorrow with more cards to share.

Have a nice night!
Carol

Happy Summer Bright Bite

Hi Everyone!

While I was catching up on my blog reading I spotted this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger.  This week we are being asked to create a papercrafted project that was inspired by this image.

When I looked at the image I immediately thought of the raspberry, lime, orange and lemon popsicles we used to get at the corner store when I was a child. 

Happily I had the perfect popsicle wooden rubber stamp in my collection.  I stamped and fussy cut a popsicle in each color and adhered a tiny wooden popsicle stick to them.  I used a paper punch to take a "Bright Bite" out of each of them. 

I sponge painted the layering paper and added a die cut sun to the sky.  I tore 2 grades of sandpaper to use as the sand and "stuck" the popsicles in the sand.  Found some "dripping popsicle" stickers in my stash and added them to my card. 

Have a great night!
Carol

Denami Design's Pretty Pastels Blog Hop

Good Morning Everyone!

Blogger isn't letting me edit this post so I apologize if it's all crowded together when you read it.  I will try to edit it again later today.

It's going to be a beautiful day.  Welcome to Denami Design's Pretty Pastels Blog Hop.  Here are the details for this hop:

When: The blog hop starts on May 20th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until May 21st, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

If you started at the beginning of the hop you have arrived here from Suzanne Bier's stunning blog.

If you get lost along the way you can always return to the Denami blog for help. 

You are currently at Carol Hartery's blog. 

When a friend recently asked me to create some shower favors I was more than happy to help her.  She wanted something quick, easy, inexpensive and pretty and the colors to be mint green and lavender.  The favor we decided upon was perfect for this hop. 

We used a dark Memento Grape Jelly dye ink to stamp the outlines of Denami Design's
Demi Double Circle and Small Umbrella wooden rubber stamps onto scraps of pale purple tag.  We colored in the outline of the circle, the umbrella and its handle with a Memento Lulu Lavender marker.  The color is a soft and pale lavender. 

We fussy cut the circle and mounted it on a scalloped white tag circle.  We adhered the scalloped circle to a lacy white border we created using a Martha Stewart lacy edger punch.  The border has a piece of lavender Washi tape across the middle of it. 

We attached our lavender creation to a piece of mint green tag that we cut and folded to create a tea bag sleeve that holds 6 tea bags.  The instructions for creating this tea bag sleeve can be found on Teri Anderson's amazing blog at this link.

Our tea bag holders are pretty pastels and were quick, easy, and inexpensive to create just as my friend requested.

Before you hop along to Pat Quinet's inspiring blog please leave a comment on my blog and possibly become a follower of it. 

Enjoy the rest of the hop!  Hope you'll visit my blog again soon. 

Carol

A Couple of Cards

Hi Everyone!

I've had 4 busy days in row and haven't had time to work on the cards I still need to create for Saturday's craft fair.  But I have a couple of cards to share with you today.

I used some of my papers  and stamps from the CK Conference on this first card.  The stamps are fromThe Stamps of Life's "Flowers2share" clear stamp set.  The legs on the table are mini popsicle sticks.

I noticed that the tablecloth is a bit askew, but I guess in my case it makes it look a bit more realistic.

I love the layering papers on this card.  Imagine standing on a mountain of sprinkles!

Hope you enjoy the rest of the evening.  I plan to watch TV and work on my cards.
Carol

Baby girl cards

Hi Everyone!

I found a package of K&Company's Die-Cut Cardstock from their Itsy Bitsy collection in my stash.  The die cuts in this collection are just for baby girls.  I decided to use them to make just a few more baby cards. 

The die cuts are adorable, but because they are cardstock, not chipboard, are thin and flat on their own.  So to add dimension to my cards I put foam tape behind each die cut before I adhered them to my cards.  

The message on the card was stamped with a My Sentiments Exactly wooden stamp.  "Baby girl" is a piece of a K&Company border.  I just love how cute the popped out chicks look. 

I stamped my message, colored it in, and then ran the white tag through a Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder before I adhered it to my card.  The chicks along the bottom of the card are a piece of a K&Company border.

I think that each of the cards is sweet and am amazed at how much cuter they look just by popping out the die cuts.

Hope you enjoy this sunny day!
Carol