Happy Bee-day!

I know not everyone loves bees like I do and I know some people are allergic which is definitely problematic, but I think their fuzzy bodies are wonderful and I am fascinated to watch them busily visiting flowers. I have a couple of people in my life who I think about when I think about bees. One of them is my sister, whose name, Deborah, is supposed to mean “the bee” (growing up I definitely understood the whole “sting like a bee” metaphor when it came to her enforcement of the space she required me to give her!) She is celebrating a birthday this month, just like Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I made her a fun bee card, if you can bee-lieve that!

I struggle with designing cards. I always like to look for inspiration in the form of a sketch or a card that uses the same products. In the case of this card, the stamps and dies I wanted to use were from Hello Sweetums which is no longer in business, so when I searched the name of the stamp set I found a number of different cards with similar themes, but different products.

I really liked the way Dana Kirby used the small stamps from the set to create a background paper that was tone on tone as well as how she spotlighted her sentiment and a few images from the set in a simple shape:

There are not as many small images in the Bees Knees stamp set I was using, but I still felt like I could use the same idea.

Here’s what I did:

I couldn’t resist using my hexagon dies for the shape and I colored the flower with my sister’s favorite color (I love this kind of inspiration!)

I didn’t want to use the cute birthday sentiment on the front and then be left with nothing on the inside, so I thought the Hive Five! would be fun for the front and the inside looks like this:

Thankfully, my sister doesn’t follow my blog so this will be our secret until her birthday at the end of the month!

I loved the cute images in this stamp set and am very thankful for Dana’s design inspiration and the theme and color inspiration my sister provided!

I hope you have a fabulous day! Please let me know if you have any tips for how to design your cards! I’d love to hear them!

Happy crafting,

Ruth

Products I used on this card :

Hello Sweetums Bees Knees stamps and dies

Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark 

PinkFresh Studio BASIC LABEL FRAMES Essentials Die Set

GEMINI Die-Cutting & Embossing Machine

My Favorite Things Pineapple Prestige Card Stock

Neenah Classic Crest 80 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE

Bazzill LICORICE TWIST Card Shoppe Heavy Weight 8.5 x 11 Cardstock

Lawn Fawn JET BLACK Premium Ink Pad

Spectrum Noir DULL GREEN BLEND TriBlend Marker

Spectrum Noir GOLD YELLOW BLEND TriBlend Marker

Copic Sketch Marker B00 FROST BLUE

Copic Sketch Marker B02 ROBIN’S EGG BLUE

Copic Sketch Marker Y13 LEMON YELLOW

Copic Sketch MARKER Y15 CADMIUM YELLOW

Zig Memory System Wink Of Stella Pen (I used Black 010 and Clear 999) these are really nice with a very fine tip I used for giving a touch of sparkle to eyes, antennae [black], and wings [clear])

Kuretake ZIG 2 Way Glue Pen – Chisel

3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons, Pretty Cute Turtle!

Hi! I’m so glad you’ve stopped by today! I’ve got the cutest way to say “I’m sorry that I didn’t get your birthday card and gift to you on time” to share here and on the Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons blog.

I’m not good about getting cards into the mail. I make them personalized and really enjoy the process, but sending them is another story. This card was created with water-colored paper which needed to dry and I knew that I wouldn’t have the gift made in time so I just worked on the papers and set it aside for cutting until the other day.

Here’s the result:

I just thought this sweet turtle would be the best way to deliver my belated greeting (inside it says “I’m just extending the celebration”). Wouldn’t you feel cheered up and appreciated if you got this cutie in the mail?

This party animal comes from the Birthday Critters Cutting Files which has all sorts of cute animals – check them out:

I really felt that the turtle might take a long time to deliver that cupcake (it’s a long walk from Chicagoland to Minneapolis-land.) Now I think my next late card will need to be the elephant because he would never forget!

OK, now I want to go and play with the elephant, but I suppose I should tell you about how I created my card and share another picture:

Before I did my Distress Stain watercolored background and sentiment strip I stamped the sentiment and banner images and embossed them with clear embossing powder. Distress Stains in different strengths were then “painted” onto different pieces of watercolor paper and allowed to dry. After cutting the pieces out and assembling the different elements, I used my Wink of Stella markers to add some shimmer to the cupcake and the turtle (shell, eyes, and mouth) and I used some twine on the top of the hat with a pearl to top it off. I love working with all the layers of these files. They have so many wonderful details and add a lot of dimension (especially with the 140# watercolor paper). I don’t even need to use dimensional adhesive very much to have the dimension I like (I did use foam tape behind the top of the cupcake so that it would be supported where it wasn’t touching the shell.)

Oh, and that awesome card shape – it’s from the shop, too! It’s the A2 Card Bases 1 Cutting Files. I really like a nice shape for a card base and a wonderful way to get my sentiment in was with the horizontal strip that’s part of the design!

You know what this card would work for? The current Go Green challenge over on the Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons blog! If you’ve got any belated birthday cards or just people who are celebrating and love cute animals, you could whip up a couple of these cuties, too! Check out the details for the challenge here!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day and you’re able to get some happy crafting time in! As I’m writing this post up, it’s a very miserable cold, wet day outside and that works for me so I can create a couple more cards today!

Take care. Thanks so much for visiting and happy crafting!

Ruth

Pretty Papers, Pretty Ribbons, Pretty fast and easy

Hi! It’s my day to post over at Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons. I don’t tend to take the fast and easy route very often, but to be honest, I ran out of time for my more complicated project so I’m sharing with you just how easy it is to get a cute, simple card ready very quickly.

My daughter’s friend loves giraffes and she thought it’d be cute to use the giraffe from this collection:

Safari Love Cutting Files

You will notice the balloon is different on our card. I just switched out the balloon from this collection:

Birthday Panda Cutting Files

resizing the balloon for the size that worked well with the giraffe, added the numbers, picked the papers (mostly following the colors of the design), and got cutting. My daughter did all the gluing and she really thought it was super easy to put together compared to other designs she’s done. That’s one of the things that I love about playing with Lisa’s files – they are so easy to work with.

Not much of a story here! I used velvet paper for the nose and cheek pieces – because for me that adds to the cuteness and pearl papers for the balloon and numbers and real twine for the string, because I love twine!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’ll join in our Get Cookin’ challenge (the birthday cake or cupcake from the Birthday Panda cake would have qualified this card!) Click on the name for details! Also, we had a blog hop yesterday with blog candy as well as a freebie. Be sure to check my post for yesterday for all the details about that before the goodies are all gone!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day!

Happy crafting!

Ruth

Supplies I used: Cardstock – Doodlebug Design, Paper Accents, Recollections, Stampin’ Up!; Velvet Paper – SEI; Twine – Twinery; Adhesive – ScrapPerfect, Zig.

 

Cute Cake Card!

Hi! Thanks for stopping in! I’m here to share the card I created for my niece, whose birthday is just a few days before Christmas. I like to try and make her day special by sending a gift and card in the mail. I usually see her on Christmas Day, but I think it’s nice for her to have something that helps her feel special on her birthday!

This is my design team post for Pretty Papers, Pretty Ribbons and I thought the cake shaped card found in the Birthday Panda Cutting Files was super fun, so I created my niece’s card with that.

I embossed some of the more plain papers, added some inked edges, colored a little, added some pearls and bling and very quickly I was done! I’ll be entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Bling it On!

Quick and easy, but hopefully also something that will add some joy to my niece’s day.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have lots of energy and inspiration to get everything you were hoping to get done for Christmas checked off your t0-do list!

I love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave a comment below!

Ruth

What materials did I use?

Cardstock from Stampin’ Up!, Patterned Paper and bling from Bo Bunny, Pearls from Close to My Heart, Marker from Bic, Ink from Tsukineko, Embossing folders from Cuttlebug, Smooch Pearlized Top Coat from Clearsnap, Digital die cut machine from Silhouette, Manual die cut machine from Provo Craft, Adhesive from Scrap Perfect, Xyron and Zig.

 

 

Sweetest cupcake card!

Hi, everyone! I have been feeling a bit of crafting withdrawal lately, so I decided I wanted to make a card. I can always use lots of pretty birthday cards and I really thought this sketch from Delightful Inspiration:

was really fabulous so I thought I’d use it to create a nice card today!

Here’s my card!

I used:

Cardstock from Stampin’ Up! and Paper Accents (the cupcake flowers and the flame have a slight shimmer to them!)

Patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye

Ribbon from Close to My Heart

Cutting files from Daniela Angelova (cupcake part) and Sara Hurley (greeting)

Silhouette Cameo Digital die cut machine and Silhouette Glitter Pen

Adhesive from American Crafts, Glue Arts, Imaginesce and Scotch

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you have a wonderful day! I’d love it if you left a comment to let me know you came by!

Ruth

Dashing through the crafting?

Speed is not something that I strive for normally in my crafting. Care, detail, thoughtfulness, design those are the things that matter most to me when I create. However, there are definitely lessons that can be learned through stretching from one’s comfort zone and trying new things, so I tried the 10 Minute Craft Dash! Motivation is important, so I have to say that the possibility of a prize was the main reason why I had much interest, but in the end I’m glad I tried and I definitely learned a few things:

1. Textured cardstock is not a good stamping surface if you want to use finely detailed stamps that you want to retain their detail
2. Stamping is generally not a good speed crafting technique. Too many ways to mess things up and I seemed to have found them
3. It’s better to do something quickly than to put if off because I “don’t have the time”! Who doesn’t have 10 minutes to spare

Now, along with the 10 Minute Craft Dash you know there needed to be a sketch for inspiration. It just really helps to keep things headed in the right direction crafting-wise. I found that Seize the Sketch had a great one this week and I thought I could make it work for me:

Seize the Sketch is a new challenge blog. Isn’t this a great start?

Along with the other two challenges, Seize the Birthday has a challenge to create a birthday card, as does Scrappin-n-Chattin Yahoo! group and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge was monochromatic, so my card was born. It was OK to get supplies ready before starting the clock, so here’s my set-up. Stamps mounted on blocks, sketch in my head, post-it for masking, ink pad and embellishments nearby along with tools and adhesive:

Yes, my craft area is crowded with lots of different supplies…

And yes, I do make cards in colors other than yellow and black, it’s just that recently I’ve done a couple yellow and black ones (the stamp set gave me the inspiration for the main color for this card:)

Hey, it’s done (and with 7 seconds to spare!)

I’ve had this awesome stamp set for quite a while now, but am in denial that I should make cards for belated birthdays. Who am I kidding? Very few birthday cards I give are on time! I should make a whole drawer of these – let’s see in two hours I could have 12 made! Or maybe the next time I should make 12 regular birthday cards and keep them “in stock” so I’m ready! To be honest, it’s not the making of the cards that is challenging it’s getting them into the mail…Sorry everyone who I owe a card. Maybe you’ll be getting one of these very soon!

Challenges entered (in alpha order):

10 Minute Craft Dash Birthday Bash

Scrappin-n-Chattin Birthday card

Seize the Birthday

Seize the Sketch #1

Simon Says…Monochromatic

Crafty supplies:

Card base – DCWV, Stamps – The Craft’s Meow, Ink – Tsukineko, Sequins – Hero Arts, Smooch top coat, Glue Dots adhesive.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I’d love to hear if you have any advice for how to craft fast or if you just want to tell me that you love the color yellow, too!

Ruth

Shhhh! Keep this a surprise!

I’m in Summer Card Camp 2 at Online Card Classes http://onlinecardclasses.com/summercardcamp2/. There are lots of techniques, design tips, color combinations and challenges. I was lucky enough to have won a spot and am loving it!

This week there was a great color combination, especially for making masculine cards, three great card sketches and then on day 2 there were so many different wonderful embossing techniques to try! Well, the wheels got turning and I came up with an idea for Scott’s birthday card (his birthday is the end of next week!) So, I want to post my card on my blog and into the gallery for the class in a timely fashion and hope that what I suspect is true  – Scott doesn’t read my blog ;-)!

You can’t show this to Scott until after next Friday, the 26th!

The embossing technique that Amber Kemp-Gerstel (http://damasklove.blogspot.com/) used takes different colors of embossing powder and creates an ombre effect. I don’t have too many colors of embossing powders, so I just used different colors of inks and clear embossing powder! Still a great effect, don’t you think?

I used Close T0 My Heart cardstock in Colonial White, Crystal Blue and Cocoa, Papertrey Ink Around & About Sentiments and Big Birthday Wishes stamp sets along with CTMH Universal Backgrounds, CTMH pigment inks in Colonial White, Pear, Olive, Crystal Blue and Cocoa, Clearsnap clear embossing powder, Sakura Pigma pen, word bubble file from Silhouette by Jamie Koay and Scotch Adhesive.

Not as ground-breaking a card as I’ve done in the past, but he’s wanting a fairly low-key 50th birthday, so I’m hoping this fits the bill for him!

I hope you enjoyed! If you have any questions please feel free to post them in the comments section below and certainly any nice comments you leave will totally make my day nicer! Thanks for visiting today and remember not to share this with Scott!

Birthday card for Erin!

The birthday girl turned 14 on July 8th! Here she’s enjoying a relaxing morning opening her cards and gifts from her brother and from Scott and I.

The bar is set pretty high in my house for birthday cards. I distinctly remember my son telling me last year that his card needed to be awesome (maybe this has something to do with the major creation I made for my hubby Scott’s birthday which always falls during the county fair near our house.) Anyway, I should share that card with you someday (something I often forget “Hey, I have a whole lotta projects that are already done and photographed that I could share on my blog…” LOL!)

To try and stay on topic just a little. Erin’s card this year was inspired by her fun spirit and love of rainbows, by the wonderful file I found at the Silhouette store for a pop-up many-tiered birthday cake on the inside and some fabulous balloons that spell out “wish” for the outside, some great papers that she seemed to like from CTMH and fun clouds that were SVG’s from Bird.

I loved the embossing on this paper! It added a fun bit of shine to balloons and background alike!

I won a spot in the Online Card Class Summer Card Camp 2 and the colors for this paper collection really worked well for the color inspiration this past week!

The clouds are velvet paper from SEI – so very fun!!!

I changed things up a tiny bit by cutting the candle top twice so I could get yellow flames.

(The next time I make this pop-up, I’m going to make it so that the candles don’t go past the top edge so that way they can’t be seen from the front.)

Fabulous details: All papers and marker are CTMH (Dream Pop collection papers), cut files are from the Silhouette store (Sweet Afton balloons and Rivka Wilkins pop-up) and clouds from Bird  http://www.birdscards.com/, Twine from Twinery, Adhesive from Scotch, Tombow and Zig.

I hope you enjoyed! I’m pretty happy with my daughter’s reaction (my family is usually quite sweet when they receive their lovingly created works of art!) Thanks so much for visiting!

Ruth