Happy Retirement

It's Saturday already! The last week of school is always crammed full of special activities. We had a kindergarten celebration, 5th grade graduation, playday, meeting next year's teachers, and parties. I have a few days off before Summer School begins, so hopefully I'll have more playtime.

Fortunately, I did find time to make a card with my newest purchase from Altenew for a retiring colleague. This card was made using the Painted Flowers set and their brand new inks. I used Green Fields and Red Cosmos to stamp my flowers. I purchased all three of their new mini inks packs. Each pack contains four ink pads in graduating shades of color with 1 neutral color pad. I love how crisp the images stamp with these inks.

After stamping these artsy looking flowers, I die cut the panel with - you guessed it - SSS Stitched Rectangles. I adhered fun foam between the panel and the card base and added my favorite embellishment, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins. 

I'm adding this into The Friday Mashup #215 - It's All About 3! challenge. Following the rule of 3s, I've used 3 flowers and 3 sequins on my card. I chose not to follow the sketch to create a mashup. 

Now I have to run. My son just called while I was typing this to say he gave his girlfriend an engagement ring. I am over the moon excited! Have a great weekend. Enjoy!

                                                                          Pam

Sharing Paper Arts Club Cards

Hi! Today I'm sharing some cards I made for my Club meeting tomorrow night. As I've mentioned before, we are so very lucky to have a local Paper Arts Club. Lyn Bernatovich, the very talented designer of Lyn's Paper Petunia has been running the club here for several years. We meet once a month to make cards and other paper arts projects, learn techniques, swap cards, have challenges and just have a fabulous evening.

Our swap card this month was to use patriotic colors to create a card of any theme. I went with a masculine birthday card using Authentique Genuine paper and  DCWV Foil CS. The stars were die cut with My Favorite Things Star Stax. I used Mama Elephant Landscape Dies on the pp and the sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Keep in Touch, Too stamp set.

Our Paper Arts Club donates a Christmas tree to our local art museum to auction every year that is decorated with our handmade cards. This month we needed to make a get well card. I watercolored one of my Bird Crazy birds with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and popped it up onto my card base. The sentiment is from Verve and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

This month our challenge was one we haven't done in a long time - a spotlight card. I stamped The Artful Stamper Flower Bunch twice, once to create my card panel and once on a snippet of scrap CS. SSS Stitched Circles dies were used to die cut the small black and white circles that create the spotlight. I colored the white circle with markers, added Clear Wink of Stella to the flowers and adhered to the stamped panel with foam. The panel was cut with SSS Stitched Rectangles and added to my card base with fun foam.

 I'm popping these cards into some challenges.

Card #1 - Sweet Sunday Sketch

                Seize the Birthday, no topping for me

                Uniko Studio Challenge #22: optional twist - masculine

Card #2 - Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - use your favorite technique and/or product. I'm loving watercoloring, those crazy birds, my stitched dies and PPP sequins!

Card #3 - Pixie's Snippets Playground

Wow - if you're still with me, thanks for hanging in! Have a great week. Enjoy!

                                                                          Pam

So Long

Today I have a card to share that I made for a co-worker's daughter to give to her teacher. Her teacher loves giraffes, so that's what went on her thank you card.

This very cute giraffe is an image from the Your Next Stamp Fred and Ginger set. She's stamped in black and colored with Zig Clean Clear Color Brush Markers. The sentiment is a combination of Lawn Fawn Smitty's ABCs and a 'thank you' of unknown origin. (Yes, even though I made this card yesterday, I don't remember which set I used. Sad.) Of course the stamped panel was die cut with SSS Stitched Rectangles and added to the card  base with fun foam. I just had to add Glossy Accents to her beautiful eyes.

I would like to add this to these challenges:

     Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge # 149 - Clean & Simple (& it's their 3rd birthday!)

     Inkspirational Challenge #85 - Word Prompt:  Wild

Only 3 half days of school left for the kiddos. They are so ready for summer vacation. So are we! Have a great week. Enjoy!

                                                                          Pam

Graduation Cards Catch Up

Hi. I've been spending most of today finishing cards I've been commissioned to make. I'm sharing two more graduation cards. The first is one I've made with another one of the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps.

Isn't that bird the cutest? I just love these.I used my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to watercolor my bird on Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper. Love these brush markers! The bird was fussy cut  and adhered with foam dots over a stamped image on white CS that had been die cut with SSS Stitched Rectangles. The stitched panel was then adhered to a card base.I added a cap and diploma from Impression Obsession Mortorboard & Scroll dies. The sentiment is Verve Happy Graduation.  

I would like to include this in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which is "use your favorite technique/product" this week. Right now I am loving water coloring, Tim's crazy birds and my new Zig markers.

I also finished a graduation card requested by a colleague for her son. He wants to study architecture in college. I found the perfect paper in my stash.

Unfortunately, I do not know the brand of the paper. It was in my stash of travel papers and is a collage of many buildings in Europe. I paper and ink distressed the edges of the pp and the blue mat, and adhered to a 5x7 card base. The sentiment is a combination of sets and matted in both the blue and brown papers. I added the pp to the inside, along with a piece of cream CS that was ink distressed. A graduation cap was stamped in the corner. My co-worker wants to write her own message inside the card, so I left the rest blank.

Tomorrow begins the last week of the 2014-2015 school year. In retrospect, it is amazing how quickly it has gone by. Have a wonderful week, Enjoy!

                                                                      Pam

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all dads. I lost mine 16 years ago and still miss him so much. I was thinking of my dad when I made this card. He was a roofer his entire life and always had a hammer with him.

This stamp was purchased from the Our Daily Bread booth at the recent stamp show I attended and is appropriately named Father's Day Tools. After stamping some kraft CS, I colored the images with markers and cut the panel with SSS Stitched Rectangle dies. I adhered it to a brown mat and added a tool brad. A piece of  kraft CS was embossed with a woodgrain EF. I then added brown ink over the raised areas of the embossed piece. Fun foam is adhered between the embossed card base and the tool panel. 

I am adding this to the Crazy 4 Challenges: C4C290 which is to make a masculine card.

I hope you all have a wonderful day with your dads, if you are fortunate enough to still have them with you. Enjoy!

                                                                    Pam

Way to Go!

I wanted to quickly post a box card I made in our school colors. Have you ever made one? I've made several and they are so fun. It was snapped up in a hurry by a colleague and I have several orders for more. Guess what I'm doing today?

The box card measures 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" and was made from white CS. I added orange panels to the inside and blue on the outside. Sorry, but this photo doesn't show the blue on the outside. The graduation dies are from  Impression Obsession: Grads Tossing, Grads Walking and Congratulations. The number balloons were die cut using  Avery Elle Numbered Balloons Elle-Ments and the Way to Go is from the Avery Elle Circle It stamp set.

Let me know what you think of my box card. This is a pretty simple one. You can make them as elaborate or as simple as you like. Maybe I'll try one with the balloons popping up from one of the inner cross panels. Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy! 

                                                   Pam

Muse Challenge #122

Hello. Can you believe our local high school graduations are next weekend? It seems like we just started the school year. I made a graduation card inspired by the latest Muse challenge that was created by super talented Marion Vagg. Sadly, this is Marion's last DT post as a Muse.

Here's my card -

This is Marion's fabulous card -

It's easy to see I was inspired by the balloons. My balloons were die cut with Avery Elle Number Balloons dies and DCWV Foil cardstock. I used our school colors of orange and blue to make the number balloons. The grad cap and diploma are dies from Impression Obsession. Twine from my stash was used to tie the balloons together and they are anchored by the diploma. The sentiment is from SSS Inside and Outside Greetings.

That's all for now. Have a great week. Enjoy!

                                                                              Pam

Can't Stop

Happy Friday! I'm back with another card for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. Today is the last day of the hop and it's been great. So much inspiration out there.

Don't you just love that stamp? It' so true. I can't stop drinking the coffee. When I saw this stamp at the Technique Junkies booth at a recent stamp show, I had to buy it. I just could not leave without it and a couple, ummm few ok, maybe several others. In my defense, they were having a special - buy 5 stamps, get 1 free. I may or may not have purchased a couple (maybe 3) specials. Come on, who can pass on free stamps? (No, you cannot.)

Anyway, I digress. I added this "can't live (yes, live - not leave) without it" stamp to a white card base. The coffee ring and splatter is the image from the Amuse set that I used for the sentiment on this post. A thin strip of black was added to the bottom of my card. 

That's all for today. I need to double and triple check that I have everything for my niece's baby shower tomorrow. Then I'll check it all again in the morning. I haven't shared anything I made for it yet because I wanted it all to be a surprise for her. Wish my sisters and I luck that it all goes well. You know I'll be drinking LOTS of coffee tomorrow.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy!

                                                                     Pam

CASology #150

Hello. It's so hard to believe it's Thursday already. I'm just popping in with a quick post and a card for the  CASology: Graduation challenge.

This was made with this stamp I purchased at the stamp show a couple weeks ago. I colored the tassel with my gold Wink of Stella pen, the books with my red and fussy cut the image. A white panel was adhered to a gold piece of DCWV glitter CS and then added to a black card base. I then added the cap and books  with foam. The sentiment is from SSS Inside & Out Sayings and was inked in gold Delicata ink.

Hopefully, this is CAS enough for this challenge. I usually don't add this many layers to a CAS card, but I thought this one needed the extra gold mat. If not, I totally understand. 

Have a wonderful Friday! Enjoy!

                                                                Pam

Addicted to Stamps #148

Happy Tuesday evening! This is the first night I've been home in a long time. No ball games, concerts, dance recitals, nothing. I so much needed uninterrupted time to review all the prep for the baby shower. I think we're ready - finally! So here I am with a new card.

                                                   

I told you I couldn't stop with these birds. When  I saw the Addicted to Stamps blog post about their newest challenge, which is Holiday, I was thrilled because - lo & behold - I had an image ready. I totally CASED Cornelia's card here. I hope you don't mind, Cornelia, but I loved your card so much, I had to. 

My Tim Holtz Bird Crazy bird was water colored with distress markers, cut out and popped up onto a piece of watercolor paper. Some of the watercolor was splattered onto the card with a paintbrush. I then used some of the CAS-ual Fridays Rad stamps to create the sentiment. A new stamp from Our Daily Bread - World's Greatest, that I purchased at the recent stamp show, was added at the bottom. I had to add Glossy Accents  to his eyes. Love him!

Let me know what you think about these crazy birds. Would you believe that the first time I saw this stamp set I didn't really like it? Now I am definitely bird crazy (pun intended!) Enjoy!

                                                                         Pam

Dad You Are My Hero

Today I have another card for the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by sweet Paulina from Pretty Pink Posh.

Finally, I used my Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps and now I can't put them down. I am absolutely in love with every single one of these crazy birds. I water colored two of them with a water brush and various Distress Markers that I had smooshed on my craft mat and sprayed with water. Also, I splattered some of the ink onto my card with a paintbrush. After the birds were dry, I fussy cut them and adhered them with foam tape over the same stamped image on my card base. Doing that eliminates the need to try to cut the feet and hair. Those eyes just begged to be covered in Glossy Accents.

The "Dad" sentiment is from Papertrey Ink World's Greatest stamp set and the "you are my hero " is from a SSS Exclusive Kelly Purkey set that was included in the June 2013 Simon Says Stamp Monthly Card Kit. 

I will enter this card into:

     PPP Watercolor Blog Hop

     The Paper Players Challenge #248 - Masculine Card

Have a wonderful week! Enjoy!

                                                               Pam

Follow Your Dreams

I'm back with my second post of the day. I was so taken with Vicki Dutcher's beautiful card that I really wanted to play in the Muse challenge this week. Also, it's Vicki's last card as a DT member. Here's my card -

This is Vicki's beautiful card -

For my butterflies I used Altenew Painted Butterflies. I also used Altenew's new inks in the mini sizes to stamp the layers - Green Fields, Red Cosmos and Summer Afternoon. Don't they layer beautifully? Now I  can't wait to use these inks on my other layered stamps from Altenew. 

I die cut my stamped panel with two of the SSS Stitched Rectangles,  creating a frame. I adhered both to my card base, inlaying the stamped panel into the frame. The sentiment is from my stash. A scattering of Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins in both 4mm and 6mm finished off my card.

I will enter this into:

     Muse Challenge #120 - inspired by Vicki's card

     Addicted to CAS Challenge #65 - Butterfly

As always, thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my card and if you've tried the new Altenew inks and/or their layered stamps how you like them. I'm hooked! Have a wonderful week. Enjoy!

                                             Pam

Dad - You are a Classic

Hi! Just a quick post so I can squeeze into a couple challenges before they close. This is a simple one layer masculine card that's suitable for a birthday, Father's Day or any other reason to give to a dad.

I used a stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps that I bought at a stamp show last year. I cannot find it on their website.The images and sentiments in this set are fabulous. Every stamp on my card came from this set. Just look at that old pick up truck and those gears! 

I am entering this into these challenges:

     Sweet 'n Sassy - Let's Hear It For the Boys!

     CASology: Week 149 - Vintage

     The Pink Elephant Challenge # 301 - Masculine Birthday

     Simply Create Too Challenge #87 - Masculine

     Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Masculine

     Addicted to Stamps and More: Challenge #147 - Make Your Mark

Have a great rest of the weekend. Enjoy!

                                                                     Pam

Watercolor & Coffee Lovers Blog Hops

What a week! It was filled every night with games, concerts or working on the shower. Eek! It's in less than a week already. The centerpieces are finished, the games are ready, the prizes are wrapped, the paper products are purchased and the food is ready to be prepared. (Wonder if I have something to wear.)

I've definitely needed a lot of my coffee this week to keep going. There are 2 new blog hops this weekend that I really wanted to participate in. One is the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Blog Hop that Paulina is hosting and the other is the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop hosted by Amy Tsuruta. 

In between shower preparations today, I decided I needed to make something for these two great hops. I managed to create one card that I will enter into both. At the Rubber Stamp show I recently attended, I purchased the Tim Holtz Coffee Mini Blueprints stamp set. I heat embossed the coffee cup with black EP and used my Vintage Photo Distress Marker and a water brush to watercolor the coffee cup. The panel was watercolored with Peeled Paint and Broken China DI. I then die cut the panel with Mama Elephant Landscape Trio dies and adhered it to a Neenah card base. The sentiment is from an Amuse set. I also added some PPP sequins.









Ok, back to work for me. I still need to finish Father's Day and Graduation cards. I'll share some soon. The weekend is flying by. Enjoy!

                                                                    Pam

Click Your Heels Together Three Times

Good Monday morning! Time is running out at the CASology: Week 148 Challenge - Story. I just had to use another stamp that jumped into my bag at the stamp show this past weekend. This is from one of my all time favorite stories.

The stamp was purchased from the Technique Junkies booth, which was one of my favorites. I know I bought quite a few stamps from there and learned some great techniques that I can't wait to share. It was inked in black onto Neenah CS. I added Stickles Fine Dry Red Glitter to the shoes. Then the panel was adhered to red glitter CS and added to a card base. Love that story because there truly is "no place like home".

I'm off to begin the work week. Have a great day. Enjoy!

                                                                         Pam