Popsicle Cards

Hi Everyone!

When I was growing up there was a penny candy store not far from our house that everyone called "Charlie's" because it was owned by a man named Charles Nichols.  On hot summer days we'd go to Charlie's to buy a popsicle for 7 cents.  Back then popsicles came with 2 halves/2 sticks.  My favorite flavors were root beer and cherry.  Now most popsicles seem to have one half/one stick.  My favorite flavor these days is lemon. 

I played around with 2 of my popsicle stamps yesterday.  One is small and one is large and both are from Impression Obsession.  I started by pulling out some epoxy stickers and then I grabbed some ink pads and stamped small and large popsicles onto white tag.  I sprinkled clear embossing powder on each stamped image and used my heat gun to create shiny cool popsicles.  Then I fussy cut the popsicles and added a mini popsicle stick to each of them. 

It was fun to look through my sentiment stamps and to add different messages to each card.

I rounded the corners of a few of the cards to make popsicle shaped.

Which card do you like best?  What's your favorite flavor popsicle?

Have a "grape" night!
Carol

Let's Hang Out

Hi Everyone!

I am sitting at my computer taking a break from cleaning up what I call the greenish-yellow plague...POLLEN!  Raise your hand if you can relate.  I no sooner wipe down the window sills, the table top, and the kitchen counter and more of that disgusting greenish-yellow powder appears!

Today I took everything off the top of the microwave and cleaned that flat surface.  Then I realized that all of the kitchen gadgets and the containers they are stored in also had a coat of plague...so I cleaned them.  I looked at the disgusting tops of my spice jars...and cleaned them.  The wire shelves where I store my cookbooks and the casserole dishes, crockpots, and dutch ovens all had a fine coat of green powder.  I tossed anything that would fit into the dishwasher, wiped some things down with a damp cloth, and hand washed the rest. 

There's still pollen to clean, but I am wiped out and calling it a day.  Or maybe I'll get a burst of energy in a little while and will tackle the hutch, the shelves on the wall, the tops of the stove and refrigerator...

Meanwhile, I have a stack of cards to photograph, but found a couple of cards in my photo file that I haven't shared with you yet. 

I used some patterned papers from Jillibean Soup's "Watermelon Gazpacho Soup" 6" x 6" paper pad to create this card.  There are 4 clotheslines on a page and 12 clotheslines in total in the pad so I'll have to think of lots of ways to use them. 

Paula asked me for a "Congratulations" card so I decided to use my current favorite stamp, that funny little bird, from The Alley Way Stamp's "Priceless Joy" clear stamp set again. 

That bird reminds me of a marshmallow with wings!  Maybe I could cut off the wings and make it be a marshmallow.  So-o-o many possibilities. 

By the way The Alley Way Stamps is releasing 3 adorable new stamps sets on June 1.  I NEED them!  So do you!

Okay, I guess I should really think about cleaning the top of the stove before I cook dinner.  I did make some yummy cole slaw first thing this morning.  Hmm, I could cook on the grill!  Oh, wait.  I'll bet that's REALLY covered with the plague!

Have a great night.

Carol

Quick and Easy Cards Part Two

Hi Everyone!

Today I am going to share some of the other cards I made with the K&Company cutouts I had in my stash.  The cutouts are a very light tag weight.  I adhered some of them directly to my layering papers.  I used foam tape on others and used a lot of the tape to make them stronger. 

Here's another card I made for Paula to give to her husband.

The text is from Lawn Fawn's "How Delightful" clear stamp set.  The borders are from Martha Stewart.

I have made cards like this next one before, but I used a Mason jar cutout on this one.

I used my Fiskars grass paper punch to cut some grass from grass patterned paper.  The ladybug is a Favorite Findings button.  "Caught a Bug" was created with a Lockhart stamp and "Feel better soon" is from Inky Antics.

Paula will like this one too.  We once had a similar wagon.

I used a stamp from Hero Arts "Joy Ride" clear stamp set to create the text.

Here's the last card for today. 

I used a stamp from Hero Art's "Sew Artsy" clear stamp set to create the dress form.  The text is from Lawn Fawn's "Just My Type" clear stamp set.

Now I must package up Paula's surprises and head to the post office. 

Have a wonderful day!

Carol

Quick and Easy Cards Part One

Hi Everyone!


I have had such a productive weekend.  In addition to doing lots of household chores I created 35 cards, a gift box, and a gift card.  I am calling about a dozen of the cards I made "quick cards" because they were so simple to create.


A few months ago I found some K&Company cutouts in the clearance section in Michaels.  They have been sitting in my stash waiting patiently for me.  It was hot and humid yesterday so I decided it was the perfect time to sit and "play" with them. 


My sister Paula asked me to make her a wedding card that had a dog and cat on it.

The text on the card is from the Hero Arts "Best Wishes" clear stamp set.


I am mailing Paula a package tomorrow so I also created some "surprise" cards for her.  I think I've mentioned that she loves the outdoors.  She also loves to give her husband Rob cards so I created some cards that she can give him.  I sponge painted the layering paper on them. 

I used a Martha Stewart border.  The text is from Lawn Fawn's "How Delightful" clear stamp set.  I used a gold Uniball gel pen to draw the light rays that are coming from the flashlight. 

The grass is a scrap of patterned paper.  The text is from Lawn Fawn's "Cruising Through Life" clear stamp set. 

The text is from Lawn Fawn's "Clear to See" clear stamp set. 

I'll be back tomorrow to show you some of the other "quick cards" I created. 

Have a nice night.

Carol

More Cards using The Alley Way Stamps

Happy Friday Everyone!


It has been a VERY LONG week and I am so happy that it's finally Friday.  Last night I created 2 more cards using "Talk to Me" and "Priceless Joy" from The Alley Way Stamps.  In yesterday's post I told you how pleased I am with their service and the quality of their stamps.  Today I want to add that I am impressed with how clearly even their tiniest of messages print. 


I think I will be sending one of my sisters a set of cards called "Be Unique" because I have already used "be unique" on a third card and can think of a lot more ways I can and will use that stamp. 


Here's the first card for today's post.

I stamped the darling car from "Priceless Joy" onto some floral paper and some red tag. Then I fussy cut both images and used a craft knife to cut out the windows.  That was a little tricky for me as I am not great with a craft knife, but I think all of the windows look okay.  You cannot see this in the photograph, but I added some clear transparency film behind the cutout windows to make them look as if they have glass in them. 


I used brads to add hub caps to the cars.  The "exhaust smoke" coming from the tail pipes is actually a cloud die cut.  As you can see I stamped "be unique" on one of them.  I used some black ribbon with white stitching for the road...you've seen me do that on other cards. 


The background on my second card was actually intended for my first card, but I decided that the floral car didn't stand out well enough with the floral hill, so I set it aside briefly and ended up using it for my second card. 

I used Twinkling H2O's to paint my butterflies.  Due to the size of even the spots on them they were very easy to paint.  I stamped just their antennae onto my layering paper, fussy cut the painted butterflies and attached just the "caterpillar" part to the card.  I creased and lifted the wings just a little to add dimension to them. 


I wanted the word bubble and text to really stand out too so I stamped them onto white tag and fussy cut them before I adhered them to the card.  The word bubbles in "Talk to Me" are hollow so you can mix and match the text stamps that you use with them. 


I should mention that the floral and green dotted papers are from Jillibean Soup.  I love those small prints. 


And that's it for now!


Have a nice weekend!
Carol

Alley Way Stamps

Hi Everyone!

This is going to be a rather long post because I want to share some information with you.  I also have 3 new cards that I am dying to show you!

On Sunday I participated in Denami Design's Pretty Pastels Blog Hop.  As I hopped along the blog to see what the other participants had created, I stopped to look at
Barbara Murphy's creations.  I love many of her cards, but especially love the cards that she posted on this day.   I really liked the car and airplane images that she had stamped on those cards. 

I had never heard of The Alley Way Stamps so my next stop was to their web site.  I was drawn to the images on many of their stamps and thought I'd give them a try.  I behaved myself and ordered just 2 sets so I could check out their service and the quality of their stamps.  I couldn't have been more pleased with their service.  I ordered the stamps on Sunday night and they arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday afternoon.  I am also thrilled with the quality of their stamps and plan to order more sets very soon.

The first 2 sets I ordered are called "Priceless Joy" and "Talk to Me".  "Priceless Joy" has the car and airplane images that first caught my eye and also has an adorable bird, elephant, bee, butterfly and more.  "Talk to Me" has some phrases that I know I'll use often and a variety of word balloons.  I am always looking for word balloons and now I have some!

I've only had the stamps for a day, but have already created 3 cards with them.  I used stamps from both of the sets I had purchased on these cards. 

Here's my first card.

Don't you just LOVE that bird!  I paper pieced him and didn't adhere the wings to the card so they would look as if they were flapping. 

I used the bumble bee stamp on my second card.

I added a pair of vellum wings to the ones I stamped. 

I stamped the elephant over and over again for my third card.

My card reminds me of a children's book called Elmer the Patchwork Elephant.  You can see that I stamped elephants on gray and polka dotted paper, fussy cut them, and adhered them to elephants that I had stamped on my layering paper. 

I hope you like the cards as much as I do and if you like them or don't like them I'd still love to have a comment from you.  Perhaps you can tell me which card you like best. 

Be sure to check out Barbara's blog and The Alley Way Stamp's web site too.  I am sure you'll enjoy both of them.

Have a nice night!
Carol

Birthday Cards

Hi Everyone!

I am definitely on a cardmaking roll so be sure to stop by for the next few days to see what I have been creating.  One of my dearest friends, Susan, will be celebrating her birthday in a few days.  Susan and I have been friends since she was 14 and I was 15.  That's more than 40 years of friendship!

I made a couple of birthday cards and haven't decided which one to send to Susan.  I used papers from the 6" x 6" "Birthday Bliss" paper pad from Creative Imaginations. 

Here's the first card I made.

The text is from the Hero Arts "Sending Smiles Message Stamps" clear stamp set.  This is a very cool set of stamps because there are messages for the front of the card and coordinating ones for the inside of the card.  Inside the card it says, "I hope all your wishes come true".

When I use a 6" x 6" paper pad I store it in a quart size storage baggie.  As I cut the papers I store all of the scraps in the baggie so if I need a coordinating scrap I can easily find it.  I decided to use some of my scraps to create my second card.

I used a banner die to cut the party hat and added ball fringe to the edge of it.  It's adhered to my card with some foam tape.  "Celebrate" is a message sticker from the package of birthday stickers from Punch Studio that I told you about the other day. 

Have a wonderful day!
Carol

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

Blue Felt Embellishments

Hi Everyone!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day to you.  I have been busy creating cards for next Saturday's craft fair.  I found some blue felt embellishments from Martha Stewart and SEI in my stash and decided to use some of them on today's cards. 

The whale is a Martha Stewart felt blue applique sticker.  The message stamp is from Denami Design.  The border pieces are from K&Company.    I ran my white tag through a Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl embossing folder.

The giraffe is a felt embellishment from SEI's Playday collection.   You'll find them in their
clearance section.  

The elephant felt embellishment is also from SEI's Playday collection.  The text was stamped with a My Sentiment's Exactly wooden rubber stamp.

The rocking horse is a Martha Stewart blue felt applique sticker.  I ran my white tag through a Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder.  I highlighted some of the embossed dots with a Copic Frost Blue marker.

This adorable elephant is also a Martha Stewart blue felt applique sticker.

Break time is over!  Must create more cards now. 
Have a wonderful day!
Carol