4th of July Cards

Good Morning Everyone!

I have another 4th of July card to share with you today.

I used mini porcupine balls to create the fireworks.  Mini porcupine balls are 1" balls that have little flexible rubber points.  Some are rounder than the ones in my photograph. 

You can find them in party stores. I clipped a clothespin to a ball before I dipped it into a puddle of paint. Then I pounced the ball onto a sheet of tag so that a spatter of paint was left on the paper. I did that over and over again using red, white and blue acrylic paint. 

The patriotic puppy was created with a Serendipity stamp.   I used a Hero Arts clear stamp from their Celebrate Everyday set to create the text.  The dog's shirt was colored in with a couple of red Copic markers.

If you have children they would enjoy painting with porcupine balls.  Potato mashers, dish scrubber brushes, and bottoms of soda bottles are also great for gadget painting.

Have a great day!
Carol

More Valentines!

Good Morning Everyone!

I cannot believe that I haven't posted for 5 days.  I guess I was too busy creating cards to notice! 

Most of you have seen "Riley" cards in other posts.  Riley is Jeanne's adorable little dog who NEVER stops barking.  Since the  "puppy with heart" stamp from Serendipity stamps reminds me of Riley I use it over and over again when I am creating cards for Jeanne.  This card will be Jeanne's valentine this year.  I found the ribbon in my stash and thought the words on it suited Riley's relationship with Jeanne perfectly.

Marie has become my tea drinking buddy.  She's a coffee drinker in the AM, but a tea drinker after dinner.  Every night she makes each of us a cup of tea with a splash of milk and Splenda.  This card will be Marie's valentine.  
The background papers are from the American Crafts "Abode" collection.  The "big cup" is a Hero Arts cling stamp.  The text was created with an
A Muse Artstamps.  

As you know I LOVE everything about SEI.  I follow their blog on a daily basis.  It's through their blog that I learn about their products.  It's through their blog that I become inspired on ways to use their products.  It's through their blog that I learn wonderfully creative ideas and techniques.  Last week I read Audrey Yeager's "Heart Garland Tutorial" and immediately sat down and created some of those hearts.  I hung mine from pegs on my favorite display shelves that MaryBeth gave me several years ago.  I am hoping to make more of them so I can hang some in my bay window.  Valentine's Day is coming fast, but happily the hearts are quick and easy to create.

My "Chickie with a heart balloon" valentines received such a positive response that I made more of them.  This card uses the same sketch I used last week, but I changed the layering paper and love this card even more.  The layering paper is from the American Crafts "Abode" collection.  We are going to make this exact card in my paper crafting class tonight for Lexington Community Education.  The chickie stamp is one of the many chickie stamps that Denami Designs creates for us. 

I am planning to spend the day cooking.  My schedule is happily becoming packed with teacher trainings and classes so I want to fill my freezer with meals we can grab. 

Have a great day!
Carol

Happy Days

Hi Everyone!

On Friday Robbie will celebrate his 25th birthday. Late one night about a year or so ago, he called me to his room. "Listen," he said to me. I listened and heard the hooting owl that he had heard. We sat in the darkness listening to the owl calling out again and again. Hooting owls are rare in our neighborhood so we were both excited about Rob’s discovery. We heard the owl a few more times over the next few weeks. On night’s that we didn’t hear it, as we were calling out good night to each other one or both of us would "Who-o-o."

I am guessing that story sounds sort of silly to those of you who are reading this post, but there’s more to the story. Robbie and Marie both asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day and I mentioned some choices of clear stamps from PaperTrey Ink. Rob went online and discovered that the stamps he had planned to give me were out of stock. On his own he scrolled through all of the stamps that are shown on PaperTrey Ink’s web site and discovered their "Wise Owl" stamps. He wasn’t sure if I already owned them or not and didn’t want to give away his discovery to me so he took ALL of my stamps into his room and checked through them to be sure. He was delighted to discover that "Wise Owl" wasn’t among my collection and ordered them for me.

When the package arrived Rob was as excited about his gift as I was because he had found and selected "Wise Owl" on his own. He gave them to me along with a very special note that ended with the words, "Love, Guess Who-o-o."

And so I created this "Who-o-o" card for Robbie’s 25th birthday. I know it will be meaningful to him. The branch on the card is from PaperTrey Ink’s "Take a Bough" collection. The owl is from PaperTrey Ink’s "Wise Owl" collection. The moon and the leaves are stickers from Recollections.

Riley, is my sister Jeanne’s dog. She loves Riley as if she were her biological child. I’ve created several "Riley" cards for Jeanne over the past 6 months or so. When I saw the "Patriotic Puppy" stamp on the Serendipty Stamp’s web site I knew I had to buy it to use on a card for Jeanne. "Happy 4th of July" is a stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps. I used Stickles to highlight the fireworks that are a part of the stamp. The background fireworks are stickers from Mrs. Grossman. The flag and dish of food are also stickers.

I loved the fireworks stickers from Mrs. Grossman so much that I decided to use them on a card of their own. I already had the blue sticker letters on my table so I quickly added them to the card.
It didn’t take me very long to create those 3 cards, but I am guessing the recipients will all enjoy them.

Have a great night!

Carol