A Cardful of Flowers

We've come to the end of another Craft Month. Here's the Big Finish: a card in a box. I used a couple of tutorials--a British one for the concept and another one to convert to inches. 

I used "share what you love" (how apropos) DSP in the razzleberry stripes and the dots. I pulled the colors from the dots to make the flowers. I stamped with rich razzleberry and blackberry bliss (stamping off) as well as Versamark. The cardstock is tranquil tide, (maybe) grapefruit grove, so saffron, basic black, and pear pizzazz. I used the wavy die cut for the stems and used some of the cast off as long grass-like filler. The sentiment is stamped in rich razzleberry; it is from the Berry Blessings Stamp set. 

The amazing thing about this card is that it folds flat for mailing!

Another amazing thing about this card is that I ran out of snail adhesive yesterday so this is all glue and glue dots. And not any fancy glue, Elmer's gel! I had 234 feet of adhesive and I ran out! I guess I did a lot of crafting this month. 
 

Oh, and just one more thing!

I made some edits to the card I did on Thursday, March 28. I added in the plaid hearts as leaves and I think it breaks up the color. Definite improvement.

Thank you all so much for visiting over the past month. I've really appreciated your comments and just knowing you were out there.

Stay well, friends. I'll regroup and be back soon!

Magical Swirls

I mentioned earlier that I would like to try the wreath in green for Christmas and here is the result. I added flowers in real red and a bit of bling. The designer series paper is Nordic Noel. It's cute, and I could add a sentiment, but the really interesting bit of this card is on the inside...

It's a magic wallet. (Watch the gift card closely.) I used JanB's directions but that is way more video than you need for this pretty simple card (seriously its 12 pieces of paper and four pieces of ribbon).

One more card, and I can take a rest. I really do appreciate those of you who stopped by and left a comment. Your notes were uplifting and helped me along on this challenge. Thank you!

Stella Swirls

I love this card! This is the card I want someone to send me if I have some kind of illness where I am confined to bed and need cheering up. 

This is Connie Stewart's version of a gatefold. I used her measurements and then stopped paying attention, clearly. Because I stuck the focal image on the wrong half of the card. (In my defense, I had the card the wrong way round when I did the tone on tone stamping with flirty flamingo.) The colors here are flamingo, mango melody, old olive, and sahara sand. I stamped off to create the color variation. I love the little dab of splatter--it reminds me of baby's breath!

I also used wink of Stella--a glitter brush pen--on the flowers. I think you can see it in that lower left corner. 

And the inside. I need to find a lovely "get well" sentiment I think. I'll keep an eye out.

W-fold Kite

 At yesterday's stamping retreat, one of the demonstrators showed how to make a W-fold card. I think it is definitely the lesser of the letter-fold cards. (See Z-fold here.) I embossed the blue (balmy? soft sky?) with the cloudy day embossing folder and mounted it on a night of navy card base. The poppy parade, granny apple green, and night of navy kites are on a background stamped with blue spatter. The red and green kites are popped up on dimensionals and the whole panel is popped up.

Inside, the kites are repeated. The "pop up" W-fold is mounted on the same blue as the card front, with granny apple green ombre paper mounted on navy. I stamped half the kite on the designer series paper (DSP). I've seen other people do this, and it looks like butterflies. It's evocative here. The sentiment is stamped in poppy parade, from curly cute. It's all mounted up because it was supposed to go on the front of the card but I didn't like how it fit, so I slapped it on the inside and called it good. 

I'm not sure I'm in love with the concept. I think I'd like it better if the four panels lent themselves to a story or something. The demonstrator's examples were just four pieces of DSP mounted on cardstock and why?

Stamping Retreat Swirls

 I have spent all day in a virtual stamping retreat with the Creativate team. I have watched a bunch of tutorials and made some cards of my own. I even did my first mystery stamping! But first!

One of the team made this gift card holder, and I put my version together pretty quickly. I "made" DSP with the stamp set using highland heather (first and second generation), not quite navy for the swirls, and granny apple green for the leaves. The cardstock is blueberry bushel. The ribbon is just something from my stash that matched pretty well.

On the left hand section, you can see the gift card holder. It has a little thumb notch so you can grab your gift card and go!

The sentiment is stamped in gorgeous grape with the sentiment from perfect pairings.

The morning started with a card made from four pieces of DSP. They were cut and put back together to make this patchwork design. This DSP is well suited, and I popped it on to pacific point card stock. On a couple of them I tied ribbon to look like ties! Isn't that more manly than a bow? (On one of the cards I had to camouflage a mistake.) The sentiment is from upsy daisy and punched and layered on pacific point.

The first set went so quickly, I thought I'd try it with a Christmas DSP (Merry Moments Stack, ret.). The sentiment is heart of Christmas, and I stamped it in cherry cobbler. I am going to need to get some cherry cobbler cardstock so that I can layer the sentiment. I think the card may also be cherry. This goes so quickly! I have never started making my Christmas cards so early. I don't want to jinx myself but...

Today I tried something I have never done before--mystery stamping! We were told to cut certain types of papers certain sizes and to get out a large sentiment stamp, to have embellishments and ink pads handy. We started by cutting up the DSP (field and flower) and had to follow instructions blind. I think mine came out pretty well. The card in the lower right hand corner may be a little sparse, but I could add loads of those punched flowers because they mimic the "filler" flower in the DSP.

At 7pm I got a delivery from Stampin' Up and not gonna lie, one of the sets I ordered would have been better on this card. 

There are a number of projects I look forward to trying over the next few weeks. This was such fun! Okay, one more presentation! Bye.

Snowman Swirls

Tonight, I went with a center stair card. I used a couple of tutorials as a guideline but cut the sides to 1.25" because I didn't want the snowman floating on a too large center panel. The DSP is from the merry moments stack (ret). I stamped two of the swirls and die cut the swirls from a sparkle paper. I added a wink of Stella on the large bottom swirl to give it some additional sparkle. I stamped half the kite to make the bow. It's stamped with mossy meadow. The jolly is die cut from Christmas greetings thinlits.

Pretty cute!
 

Done is Good

I just couldn't get the design to come together for this one. I probably needed a third color for the flowers. Eh. Stairstep card. These directions.

Bird Bath Shutter card

Longtime readers may recognize the tri fold shutter card; I made one for Craft Month in 2013. For a while, I was making these for everyone because they are pretty easy, and because they are impressive. For this card, I started with pear pizzazz cardstock. I added flirty flamingo dots and pear pizzazz stripes. There are four small blocks that I stamped with crushed curry, flirty flamingo, pear pizzazz, and pool party to bring all the colors together. Funny how I didn't think I was going to use this splatter stamp much.

That stamp really influenced this focal image! I was thinking that a bird in a bird bath splashes around and I was wondering if I could capture that. I think I may have overdone the blue just slightly, but I do think it looks like the bird is playing in the bath. I also used the splatter to make grass. The bird bath is the boat plus one of the the sails!

I stamped the bird and the bath and then masked it before stamping the splash and the grass.

The sentiment is from happy everything (ret).

Double Summer Sails

Summery! Isn't it? I went back to the popular joy fold card for inspiration. Here I paired the swirly DSP (from birthday bash, ret.) with Bermuda bay paper dry embossed, and a backing card of mango mambo. It doesn't actually match with the colors in the paper, but close enough! The boat is back with crushed curry sails topped with pumpkin pie stripes. The keel is stamped in mossy meadow and both the waves, tiny flag, and sentiment (curly cute) are stamped in Bermuda bay. The focal strip of DSP is layered on mossy meadow cardstock.

I think you can see here how the card works. It's a double flap fun fold from Connie Stewart. I stamped the boat again on the inside for added interest. I like how the double sided paper works here.

 

Fancy Foil Card Stock Fancy Fold

Tonight, I went with the super-quick corner tuck fold from Lisa's Stamp Studio. I needed to finish my book for book club, and happily I was successful (and The Memory Police is amazing!). I used a piece of foil paper cut with the large spiral and the medium spiral die cuts. I layered these as the focal image and stamped the small leaves in mint macaron. I also stamped the sentiment (from a little lace) in the same color. The focal image is layered on calypso coral cardstock. I used blushing bride dsp (the stripes). For the corner fold I decided to stamp the small spiral flowers and the kite string (since the stamps were found!) tone on tone in the corner.

Inside I stamped the sentiment with a small flower because I felt like I got away with something with how little I stamped on this one! Still I really like the big flower made just of dies. I wonder if it would be as attractive with regular cardstock?

Spring Kites

I hope your day was as beautiful as ours was. We took the dog to one of the Natural Lands Preserves nearby. The dude marveled at the mildness and said, "This is like 10% of our weather; it should be 70%." It is unfortunate that it will be oppressively hot and humid before we know it. But for now...

Today I made Lisa Curcio's Kite fold card. When I saw it, I thought I could incorporate the kite stamp but I wasn't sure where. But when she pulled out the DSP that went behind the kite, I had an aha moment! I stamped them randomly in mint macaron and so saffron (second generation). I'm not crazy how the so saffron came out. I swore I had the ink pad (or I wouldn't have chosen the polka dots for the kite!) so instead I had to use the markers. And they didn't come out even. Ah sweet variation!

When I was stamping, I somehow lost the kite string stamp. I'm not going to lie. This isn't the first stamp from this set I have lost. I lost the smallest swirly flower last week and it appeared yesterday. The set is photopolymer and that means 1) they are clear and 2) they stick to everything. So, no strings! (Also, after I finished this card the string appeared.)

This is what you see when you open the kite! Isn't that fun? Right now you can see the loose end of the kite string, but I'm ordering small self-adhesive magnets that will hold this part closed. Once I get them, they will cover the raw end of the ribbon. 

The whole card opens as well. I WILL be adding the string to this kite because it looks silly without it! Anyway, this is a real WOW card and it actually didn't take that long (and would have taken considerably less time if I hadn't lost the kite string and if I had so saffron ink.)

Spring Daisies

I've been thinking about using the daisy from the swirly bird set with white ink on colored card stock. (Seriously, I put myself to sleep--that is, allow myself to relax enough to sleep--by thinking about making cards!) 

Today I was scrolling through some fun fold videos and I came across this one at Ruth's Stamping Corner. She had also used the ornate garden DSP (this one is current!). I wanted to use the flowers that would match best with the stamp set, so I chose different designs. I stamped the daisy in white and then heat embossed in white on bumblebee. The base is early espresso. The bellyband is bumblebee with whisper white stamped in early espresso with sentiments from a little lace and honeycomb happiness. I also die cut three daisies stamped in espresso on bumblebee paper. 

I'm sorry I didn't take a photo of this one open so you could get the sense of it but Ruth did if you hop over. The big daisy print is on the front of the card and the green strip is on the back of that piece (folded over). The bumblebee with white daisies is the back of the card folded over. So, it's a regular A2 folded card, with about 1.5" of the rightmost edges folded to the left, decorated. Does that make sense? The bellyband holds it closed. I love that it's called a bellyband. Cards don't have bellies! Silly!

Sorry to be blogging so late, and when I am so punchy. I have to finish The Memory Police by Tuesday for virtual book club and I had to read 91 pages today to be successful. Of course I left it all 'til late! This is me we're talking about.

Crossover Gate

 

This card is a crossover gatefold. Like the gatefold card I made on March 7, the base folds to meet in the middle. On this card, instead of a focal square overlapping the middle, you have two focal strips. The DSP is all my love. The cardstock is lovely lipstick and whisper white. The swirly flower is stamped in whisper white on lovely lipstick and then heat embossed in white. That is popped up with dimensionals. The sentiment is from the tropical chic stamp set, punched out with the double oval punch, and stamped with flirty flamingo. The sentiment didn't fit on the small oval, and I really thought I needed to layer the white, so I punched the large oval twice--once in white and once in lovely lipstick. The lovely lipstick oval was cut in half and just adhered on the sides. It provides enough contrast from the DSP. The leaves are stamped in soft sea foam on whisper white and die cut.

You can see in the open card that the top strip was adhered on one side of the card and the bottom strip on the other. This means that you have to fold the card kind of like you are trying to self close a cardboard box. Know what I mean? The sentiment is also from tropical chic and is stamped with flirty flamingo. I die cut the wave for added interest in lovely lipstick. 

A Little Birdie Told Me

Today's card features a little crumb cake and calypso coral. I don't think that designer series paper (the irregular beige dots) is crumb cake, but close enough. The calypso coral is birthday bash (ret). The flower that became yesterday's rolling seas is today's nest. The nest die cut is overlaid to create texture. The crow is black (to match the true love dsp just peeking out around the focal stamp). His beak is crushed curry. I swiped the black ink off and colored it in with a marker

Here is the card open. It is the fun fold from Connie Stewart's YouTube live this afternoon; she called it a three panel card. I left off the ribbon because I didn't center the nest. 

I'm starting to lose my blogging mojo. Probably because card crafting is the only unusual thing that happens each day. {Sigh}

 

Come Sail Away

Not going to lie, I'm a bit disappointed with the black ink on this one. It was really sticky and came out spotty so I had to fill in with a marker and bleurgh. I also think I could have aligned the sunset circle and the pink die cut a bit better. 

I used poppy parade, melon mambo, mango melody, daffodil delight, flirty flamingo, and summer sun with the splatter stamp in a circle template. I don't know what pink that cardstock is surrounding the boat silhouette. The ocean is coastal cabana and Bermuda bay ink with either blueberry bushel or pacific point cardstock waves. The DSP on the left hand side is from maritime (ret.). The card is similar to a joy fold in that the front opens left to right. Here are the directions from Connie Stewart.

This is one of those cards that I could perfect a bit more, but I like it in theory!

 

Holiday Greetings

I haven't completely recovered from Monday. The poop just shifted from hobbies to work. {Sigh.} Do you think this is because I literally dropped poo on my shoe when we were hiking with Frida on Sunday? Just a bad omen for the whole week? If so, can you send the counter spell or direct me toward a talisman?

I was in bed thinking about my cards last night, and I wondered what if the wreath was a Christmas wreath? 

I probably should have cut it out in green instead of brown, but I had the matching brown and not the matching green for this paper. I probably could have gotten away with any dark green whether it "matched" or not. Nevertheless... I used the fun fold that Lisa shared last Saturday--the left part of the card opens. I was a little disappointed that more of the red flowers on the designer series paper (Holly Berry, retired) didn't show up. The card stock used was chocolate chip, very vanilla, and real red. The ink is real red. I also popped some rhinestones on it. I had thought about stamping some pinecones on the sentiment oval but that seemed like cheating. If I did this for a Christmas card--and I just might--I would add pine cones. I also might get red rhinestones and put them on a green wreath. Live and learn.

It's Tuesday, so I called Maggie. The occupational therapist was working with her so picked up the phone. I told her to tell Maggie it was Nikole (she seems to recognize me better by my formal name, and I'm guessing it's hard to tell the difference between Nikki and Mikki (her daughter)). The OT brought her some gum, and Maggie was disappointed by how hard it was. "Get me some tea," she says to the OT who probably thought a "thank you" would suffice. On the other end of the line, I was trying to prompt her to say it. Finally, she says, "My granddaughter says to say thank you." Not quite what I was aiming for, but when did my grandmother turn into a...person who doesn't say thank you?

Thank you for stopping by today. And leaving a comment. I have to say about halfway into this endeavor I do start running out of steam until the end is in sight. Those comments just help push me along. Thank you.

Berry Apple Flip

Heidi Collins designed this "flip up and flip out" card. I also cased the stamping from Chris Smith--on the outside anyway. I used granny apple green ink on granny apple green card stock and stamped the swirl and the spatter. I cut the curve from some random darker green. Sorry I can't tell what it is. I die cut the flowers from berry burst a 2017-2019 in color. I stamped them with blackberry bliss (the darker) and melon mambo.

 

You flip the card open and you are confronted (confronted? this is a card that really has something to say to you) with two flaps. I used the blackberry paper from the berry blessings DSP. 

Fully opened. I stamped the "doors" as the front, and added some die cut flowers echoing the front of the card. I stamped the sentiment with granny apple green ink; it is from curly cute.

 We took Frida on a hike today, just over four miles and she is conked out. She refused to take her water on the ground. She thinks she's human. 

Wherein I Do Not Become a Murderer

Happy Saturday! I spent the morning stamping with some friends on Zoom. I made three cards, designed by my friend. (Only one was a fun fold but I didn't use it for my Craft Month challenge.) She sends our directions on Wednesday and lets us know what we are making and how to cut all our papers. Here's what I made:

I think my favorite is "You're the Greatest." I think I like color too much for the monochromatic dog card. Poor pooch. It's fun to see how the same layout gets interpreted by different people. 

After lunch, I went back into the craft room to make this circle pop out card from Connie Stewart at Simply Simple Stamping. I started by stamping my own "designer series paper" with pear pizzazz, calypso coral, soft suede, and soft blue. I think I see here the drawback to my approach. But it was fun to make the paper. Maybe I should just have put the bottom piece of paper on the other side up (that is, the big blue swirl up instead of down)? At any rate, I stamped off the large coral flowers so that they were a bit lighter than the small coral flowers. The base cardstock is calypso coral and the circle and nest die cut are both soft suede. I folded the wreath die cut (the same one from the gatefold card, March 7) in half to make the nest. Looks extra nest-y, doesn't it? 

The card partially open so you can see how it works.

Today is Maggie's 99th birthday. I called to wish her a happy birthday, but we mostly discussed how she could die. Mostly, she wanted me to do it*. She told me I was smart. I told her I was smart enough to know most people don't get away with murder. (Hey, I have watched a lot of criminal investigation television!) "I'll tell them I asked you to kill me." Not if you're dead, lady, not if you're dead. 

* I told my aunt this. Apparently this is something Maggie talks about a lot because my aunt has suggested drowning her in the shower, throwing her out of a window, and suffocation but Maggie has nixed them all. I think she lacks conviction. Which will save me from same.

Anyway, my brother-in-law and two of my friends from grad school are actually celebrating their birthdays, so let's wish them well!

Spring Day

We've had some lovely weather and my first daffodils came up. I've been thinking spring! Today, I started with the color scheme certainly celery, pretty in pink, and pool party--very spring like combination. I then thought about the triangles from this triangle fold card by Jackie Bolhuis to stamp (in place of the DSP) and tried to imagine a spring scene. I really love the way the flowery parts look, and I would have used that blue splatter stamp on the kites but I thought it looked a bit like rain and only Ben Franklin flies a kite in the rain. I wish I could tell you that the cardstock I used was certainly celery and pretty in pink but I think they are just "close enough, let's use this!" The sentiment is from Above the Clouds (ret.)

Pinwheels Keep on Turning

The boat sail has become a pinwheel in this card. The "fun" part of this card is that the pinwheel banner opens to reveal the message. The swirly background does not open at all. 

Today, I had the windows opened while I worked and I listened to Frida whine. She had ensconced herself in the hedge between our yard and our neighbor's. He brings his cat out on a leash into the yard a couple of times a day and Frida really wants to befriend the cat. The neighbor thinks it's great. The cat, not so much. I could practically hear Frida's tail wagging and the cat's indifference. It was a lovely day today and I hope we have more and more reasons to keep the windows open.